My first time! How was it for you?

I asked the question on FB yesterday - shall I or shan't I? Start blogging, that is. Everyone is doing it (well, lots of people, anyway) but I wasn't sure if anyone would want to read my ramblings. And I don't use that word lightly! Well, the answer was a resounding YES :) So, here goes. It's my first time, so bear with me!

Before I go any further, I would like to stress that this is NOT going to be a blog about our life with diabetes. Diabetes will get a mention, of course - it's part of our life. But it's not the sum total of our life - or even a very big part of it. We respect it and control it, and sometimes it drives me nuts. But I don't hate it - it has brought us many blessings and made us stronger as a family. Our family life is about so much more than dealing with diabetes. In the words of Sir Steve Redgrave...."Diabetes has to live with me, not I with it".  It tags along and we deal with it on our terms. End of.

Actually I meant to start yesterday - and that would have been a good day to start. (But the day ran away with me, and I didn't get time!)  What a day, though. That mine rescue in Chile was amazing. I followed the news updates all morning while I was working, and got all teary. I can't imagine how those guys must have felt after 10 weeks stuck underground, wondering if they were going to die, how much longer they were going to be there.....to be brought up ALIVE and reunited with their families must have been incredible. I should think it was a life-changing experience for all of them. Some of them said they were blessed, lucky, etc. - I didn't hear any one of them say anything bitter, resentful or otherwise negative. What a lesson to learn. Their spirit, their courage and their bravery are inspirational. I'd like to remember 13 October 2010 as a special day - I hope the world does too. That rescue was a triumph.

Apart from that, yesterday was a good day for many reasons! I found much to laugh at yesterday :) The fact that the UK is the 4th most-admired country in the world, for one - coming in behind.....wait for it.....FRANCE! That made me chuckle. Apparently we are 13th at making people feel welcome. I'd like to know who was surveyed, to produce these results. Locals? Tourists? Immigrants? Residents of other countries who've never visited? Which countries - which continents? Note to self - must Google this survey and look into it further.  Interesting!

Then, I listened to the Baseballs album that I'd downloaded on Tuesday....giggled at the fact that this is a GERMAN band that has done a rockabilly cover of "Three Lions", which was the England football song for the European Championships in 1996 and recalls England's World Cup win over GERMANY in 1966. Brilliant!

What else happened yesterday? Well, a good friend who's expecting triplets had her 20-week scan (at 23 weeks) and it was all good news :) SO happy for her! Also, after missing out on my morning workout for a number of reasons I managed to make it to the gym after the kids were in bed, instead of collapsing in a crumpled heap like I often do at the end of the day. Work went well - 2 pieces in before the deadline. Friends came round to play in the afternoon and the kids had a lot of fun :)

So, on to today.  It is looking good so far. I ran 5.5km this morning - an improvement on the two 5km runs earlier this week and last week. My legs are improving, I think - although this morning's run was HARD! I was so tired - clock-watching all the way. But I did it :) The kids went off to school happy and Isabel's BG is stable - she's had a good few days, actually, since we did a big tweak last week after a long chat with Dr Lee, and the new Silhouette sites. I dropped Bob at work and we had a completely clear run both ways - I was home by 9am :) Lots to do today - got to go and get more insulin, white shorts for Joshua for his UN Day Parade tomorrow, and some other bits and pieces. Then it's back here for lunch, then Isabel's swimming lesson and an afternoon by the pool, then the dinner/bath/bed routine, then an evening of work. Should be a good day!

Listening to the new track by Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow right now on the radio. Gotta love it - might have to pop into the iTunes store and download that one :) 

So, how are my ramblings so far?

I will finish with a little 'vignette' of life in Singapore. I heard an interesting story this morning, about a major local bank and their move to one of the many new buildings currently under construction in the CBD.  The bank has bought real estate on many floors, including the 5th floor, on which they planned to put one of the biggest departments (including a big server room, workstations, trading floor, etc.) The head of this major department has apparently put his foot down and refused to move to the 5th floor of this new building, which isn't even built yet (it's about 9 storeys high right now), because it's "bad feng shui".  He has insisted on having the 38th floor - which isn't one of the floors that the bank has bought! He was told that the 38th floor wouldn't take the server room as the plans don't include reinforced flooring at that level. He said "that's not my problem: bad feng shui on the 5th floor, I want the 38th floor". The upshot is that the bank is in heated discussion with the construction firm and the developers and the real estate company to a) buy the 38th floor and b) get the plans changed so it will be built with reinforced flooring.  Wow. This just shows you the influence that superstition and feng shui holds over people here in Asia. It's serious.

Bye for now - I have to go and run a bunch of errands!!!