The Jennifer Blogs

I hate saying goodbye. I asked my friends to meet me at the Red Elephant for dinner one last time before the kids and I head back to Singapore. The turn-out was amazing. I am so completely touched by all the wonderful people I have in my life. I cannot tell you how blessed I feel to know that at any time I could call on any number of people to help me out of a pinch, and any of them would be there. Some people go through life with one or two really good friends. I don't know what I did right, but it must have been something pretty amazing to know that I have countless wonderful people in my life.

Oh, and let me say that the Red Elephant is pretty amazing. The staff is just WONDERFUL. The food is fantastic. The prices are definitely affordable. I will sing their praises to anyone who will listen.

Seeing these girls again was one of the best days of my life! Sometimes you just don't know how much you miss someone until you see them again and wrap your arms around their necks. (Okay, so mostly it was around their torsos since I can't reach most of their necks.) It felt so good to see these women with whom I share so much history.

Going home was supposed to be a mini-reunion of sorts. Unfortunately I didn't get to see everyone I had hoped to see. This year is my 20 year class reunion. I missed my 10 year because my brother got married the same weekend. I didn't really think I'd be able to manage going home in July for the reunion after being home for the holidays, but after having just a small taste of these girls' friendship again, I really hope I can make that work too. I'm dying to catch up with them again and see all the people I missed on my winter trip.

Funny thing is, none of these girls has changed. My mom used to say that when I was a kid. She'd get together for her class reunion every five years and talked about how none of her friends had changed. I thought that sounded ridiculous. Of course they've changed in five years, ten years, fifteen, etc. But now I know what she means. It's been 20 years since I've been home and I recognized every one of these girls. I only wonder if I still look the same to them?

I had to laugh because my friend Kara said she always thought of me as Peppermint Patty. Not just my red hair and freckles, but she said I was kind of bossy to my little brother, whose name is Charlie, just like Charlie Brown. Moi? Bossy? I think she remembers a different person. I much prefer to think of myself as the Little Red-Haired Girl.

I made the arrangements and I'm goin' home. Well, to one of my homes. Medina, New York.

I grew up in Medina. It's where I went to first grade. And second. And third. And every grade through the first half of my sophomore year in high school. Then my parents decided they had enough of the bad economy and enough of the snow, so they put our house up for sale and one month later we were in a fully-packed truck bound for Florida.

Since 1988, I've been back to Medina just a couple of times. The last time I was home was 1989. I remember bits and pieces of that trip, some memories more vividly than others. Most of those friends I have talked to a few times on Facebook, but only in recent months. I'm hoping to see as many people as possible while I'm back there.

Tonight I talked to my old friend Lisa Payne. Well, it's not Payne anymore, but that's how I remember her. She was my best friend in elementary and middle school. We grew apart a little bit in high school since we didn't have many classes together, but she will always be one of the people I remember the most in my life. On the phone, we talked about so many things we did together as kids. My most vivid memory of Lisa was the first time she came to my house after school. I made us macaroni & cheese. She was worried my mom would be mad. She must have asked me half a dozen times if not more if I was sure my mom would not be mad that I was making us macaroni & cheese.

When I wrote the title to this blog, it dawned on me I called Medina "home." The funny thing, on this trip I have also called Baton Rouge, Louisiana "home." I did the same thing with Lakeland, FL and Ocala, FL. I also refer to Singapore as home. I guess for me, home is where my heart is, and I have left bits and pieces of my heart with my friends everywhere I have lived. But Medina was my first home and holds the biggest part of my heart. I can't wait to go home.

This blog is for my dear friend, Yumi. Some encouraging words:
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. ~ Henry David Thoreau
Fall seven times; stand up eight. ~ Japanese Proverb
When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn. ~ Harriet Beecher Stowe
The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be only the beginning. ~ Ivy Baker Priest
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny compared to what lies within us. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

And possibly my favorite one for you, Yumi, is this:
Remember, when the Japanese mend broken objects, they aggrandize the damage by filling the cracks with gold. They believe that when something's suffered damage and has a history it becomes more beautiful. ~ Barbara Bloom

Feel better, Yumi.

We've been trying to get together for ages, and finally Joe Augustin and I got together to talk radio!

We hooked up at Starbucks near my chiropractor's office. It was nice that he brought his wife Adele with him, too. I had never met either one before, but follow them both on Twitter and have been their friend on Facebook for a while as well. I felt like I was having coffee with two people I had known for ages!

It's been a long time since I've actually been in radio. I've been doing voice-overs for a long time, now, and radio from home, but actually working in a radio station doing what radio station people do? Yeah, that's been a long time. So it was awesome to share war stories with someone else who is out of radio, but misses it.

Joe is sort of a legend in Singapore radio. He's worked for every radio station on the island and is currently hosting a podcast with a former morning show partner, Shareen. It's actually quite funny, but definitely not kid-friendly and some of the stuff will go over your head if you don't understand Singapore culture. Look for it on iTunes if you're curious, though. It's called The Shareen & Joe Show.

One of the things we talked about was training locals in voice-over. Keep in mind, Singapore is a tiny island nation. It's possibly as big as Rhode Island in the US. Possibly. You can go around the entire island/country in about three hours if you felt so inclined. So, when Joe told me that I probably have more experience in voice coaching than anyone in Singapore, I only felt proud for a moment. Then I realized that this is a pretty small country, and that's like saying I have the most experience of anyone in this room.

Think about it, the entire island of Singapore doesn't have radio/voice over experience. Just like the entire U-S doesn't have experience. So if you take all the people in Singapore who have ever worked in radio and then put them in one room, you could fill a high school cafeteria, possibly. That's probably being VERY generous. Then you say that I have the most experience. Yeah. Not so hard to do. Not as big a compliment anymore. But it's still easy to capitalize off of and we are talking about doing just that.

We talked about a few other things, too, but nothing I'm really comfortable sharing at this moment. Just know that bigger things could soon be coming and I'm very excited about my cup of joe with Joe! Hopefully Round 2 is coming soon.

My kids don't really remember life before Facebook. They're fortunate to grow up in a time when the Internet is something you can take for granted. It wasn't like that for me.

It was just a few months before my sixteenth birthday when we moved from New York to Florida. That was pretty traumatic for me. I was in tenth grade and had been going to school with the same people since first grade. I remember how angry I was with my parents for making me pick up and move.

Keeping in touch back then was hard. Sure, it’s not like we had the Pony Express or anything. We could write letters, but nobody did. Long distance telephone calls were very expensive. There were no cell phones and no unlimited long distance calling plans.

My friend Chris came to Florida to visit me a few months after we moved. She was such a great friend, but we had a hard time keeping in touch and eventually grew apart.

I graduated from high school, went off to college and the Internet was introduced. At first it was dial-up modems and very slow connections. Of course, we were just amazed that this virtual world existed. Speed (or lack of it) meant nothing. You dial in, go make yourself a pot of coffee or some lunch, come back and spend the next hour trying to log on to a bulletin board. It didn’t take long for the Internet to expand. The speed increased and more information became available at your fingertips.

Then Facebook came around, and with it the opportunity to have virtual class reunions. It’s been so nice catching up with some of my old classmates online. Having gone to two high schools, I’ve got a lot of people to catch up with.

Very cool that last week an old friend I’ve been looking for for about 20 years found me on Facebook. It was incredibly cool to catch up and learn some of the things I learned.

Maybe with Facebook we’ll never have to worry about buying the perfect dress or losing 20 pounds before attending a class reunion. We can just do it all online and post our best photos. All the fun with none of the stress!

I love Singapore for a lot of reasons. Probably the biggest reason is the melting pot of people. I have met other Americans, sure, but I've never in my life met so many Aussies, Brits and Indians. Then there are the Malays, the Thais and the Singaporeans themselves. There are also plenty of Chinese people here, and a few Japanese. All in one place!



I have one British friend who has introduced me to the practice of kissing on both cheeks. The first time we met - when I had dinner at her house - she greeted me with a half-hug and a kiss on my left cheek, then a kiss on my right cheek. Actually, these were more "air kisses" than actual kisses on my cheeks. I just rolled with it. I saw her again recently and I knew what to expect this time, so it was no biggie to do the mwah! on the left side, then the mwah! on the right side.



Later D'Ette wanted to know, "Mommy, why do you guys kiss on both cheeks every time you see each other?" I told her, "I think it's a British thing and we wouldn't understand. I kind of feel like an idiot doing it." She said, "You look like one."



I may look like an idiot (and sort of feel like one), but I also feel so posh!

Tonight I met my neighbor Moik in the hot tub. He lives across the hall from me and just moved in with his wife last month. We've never had an opportunity before now to chat.



Moik and his wife Maria are here for about the same amount of time we're here, so it looks like they'll be neighbors for the long-haul. I learned that today Moik and Maria went to Malacca and got some great deals on designer handbags and Polo shirts.


I told Moik we hoped to visit Australia this Christmas, so he was telling me what I needed to know. For instance, don't. Don't go at Christmas cuz it's too freakin' hot. Something like 40 or 42 degrees (which is over 100 degrees Fahrenheit). So yeah, duh, it's on the opposite side of the world from America, so of course. So now we're not sure if we'll wait and go in April or May when it's cooler, or if we'll just go someplace different at Christmas. That Moik. He's a wealth of information.



I just like saying his name. Moik. Moik. Moik. It's actually Mike, but when he says it, it sounds more like Moik and it's too fun to say.

This is the time of year my friends and family all send me those letters that allow me to look back with them on where they've been and what they've done in 2007. I've enjoyed reading them and am grateful to those of you who've shared with me. However, I'm not going to do it. 

For one thing, I have two children and with that comes a certain degree of memory loss. As a parent, I look forward to losing bits and pieces of my memory. It's far better to forget things than to remember all the crap they've put you through the past year. For another thing, I have two children and with that comes a certain … oh wait, I think I may have said that already.



Another reason is the only significant thing that really occurred this year was our move to a foreign country. How on else am I going to entertain you with the things that happened in January through September?



So instead, I present to you A LOOK AHEAD. Here's what we know will be happening in 2008. I'm sure there will be much more to add to this list, and maybe at the end of 2008 I'll have it all written down so that the stuff I've forgotten will be in print and I can send out one of those retrospective letters myself.



January:

1: New Year's Day. The Japanese will be celebrating the Year of the Mouse. Or maybe it's a Rat. It looks like a mouse.


8: We will be traveling from the US back to Japan after an extended holiday visit with friends and family. 


17: Marso is taking the day off work so we can all enjoy a tour of the sumo stables. We will also be allowed to watch the sumo wrestlers practice for about an hour.




February:

1: Jen turns 36. Mighty close to 40.



March:
We are supposed to be in Singapore by April. The operative word here is "by." That means we will need to be moving sometime in March. This will be a busy month for us as we search for the perfect place to live for the next two years of our lives. We'll be looking for a place with a gym and a pool. Singapore is HOT. 

I'm excited that some friends of ours from Louisiana – the Despinos – will probably be joining us for this adventure. Chad will likely be accepting a position with the company for the Singapore part of the project.




April:

23: Jean-Luc turns 15. I'll lose more memory.

By now we hope to have found a church in Singapore where we can serve in areas where God has gifted us. Ideally it will also have an excellent youth ministry so Jean-Luc and D'Ette can also get involved.

We will also have the kids enrolled in Tae Kwon Do and/or gymnastics in Singapore. There was no place to put them in Japan because none of the schools we found offered instruction in English.




May:

11: Marso and I will celebrate our eighth year of marriage. I'm going to ask for a puppy.


13: Marso turns 52. Mighty close to 40. (that's what we're telling him) If I didn't get a puppy for our anniversary, I will give Marso one for his birthday.




June:

13: The kids' last day of school




July:
We'd like to take a summer vacation. Maybe Australia.




August:

31: I will be so skinny you won't recognize me.




September:

2: Marso and I celebrate our eighth anniversary again. That's the beauty of going to the justice of the peace before the altar. You get two anniversaries!


8: The kids start their second year at Laurel Springs School.


28: D'Ette becomes a teenager. I will lose more memory, more money, and at this point Marso and I may be the dumbest we've ever been.




October:
We have friends who have promised to come see us in Singapore. This might be the best time of the year to come. Singapore is very tropical year-round, but it will probably be best to come during winter months, even though there's no such thing as "winter" in Singapore. Kind of like Florida.




November:
There's a lot to be thankful for, and it's on Thanksgiving Day every year that I make the kids write down a list of things for which they are thankful. Maybe in 2008 we will be beat out "Jacob Petro" on Jean-Luc's list. In 2007, Jacob was 10 while Marso, D'Ette and I didn't even make the Top 50.




December:

25: Our friends the Bigsbys will come to Singapore to use their timeshare and spend Christmas with us.