Ok, enough socio-political rambling (is that what you'd classify this stuff as?)--on to much more interesting topics.

Such as my fixation with all things Japanese.

Why, you ask? Stuff like this is an example of just one of the many millions of reasons why.

I read this article in the Washington Post a few weeks ago--“Despite ‘Mommy Guilt,’ Time With Kids Increasing” (March 20, 2007)-- with a feeling of déjà vu. I have read this same article at least once before in the Post--apparently there is more than one guilt-laden sociologist mom out there who has done this same study before. And as those articles made me laugh in the past, this article made me laugh yet again at the lengths to which women today go to reassure themselves that working outside the home does not deprive their kids of mommy time.

The basic premise of this study is outrageous—let’s bend the laws of time and space to prove once and for all that it is actually possible to “do it all.” It is a physical impossibility for a person to be both at work in an office until 7 pm and home with the kids during that same time. This is not a judgment, just a fact. What, now only time spent down on our knees playing Legos or teaching our babies sign language counts as actual time spent with them, and time spent cleaning the house or cooking doesn’t? Or the notion that evening and weekend hours spent exclusively focused on all things kid—ferrying them back and forth to sports events, spending “quality time”—does this mean that these kinds of hours actually count double compared to the mundane hours stay-home moms spend with their kids during business hours?

This is in no way meant as a judgment on working moms—I am one myself—but a plea for women to stop over-analyzing their decision to work outside the home. This is yet another instance of women today being obsessively competitive and perfectionistic, feeling they have to one-up previous generations prove that they are not only as good as the June Cleavers of years past but actually better. Mothering is not a contest and women need to get past the notion that there is some formula by which they can win.

Tokidoki must mean "totally random and awesome" in Japanese.

I'm teaching myself html; let's see if this works:

How cute is this?

Excellent! Now you can look forward to seeing many more cute things; of course, you'll have to click on the links because I haven't yet learned how to just put the picture right in the post.

Today there is an article in the Washington post about the "risks" of teens multitasking

I am a 38 year-old single mom and as much of a multi-tasker as these teens. I'm a writer and all day I alt+tab back and forth between email, internet, and work--on two side-by-side computers! When I'm home I'm rarely sitting down--I'm cooking and serving dinner while cleaning the kitchen, running downstairs to do a load of laundry, running upstairs to put away clean clothes, then finally, after the kids are in bed, working out while catching up on the show's I've Tivo'd. I’d say that, for the most part, multi-tasking is pretty much a constant for me all day, every day.

Ok, so yes, maybe I have ADHD--or maybe I just need to use every minute of the day as efficiently as possible to get everything done. To me, I'm just not willing to let things slide--I could just have a "something's got to give" attitude and give up working out or cleaning house because I work full time and have kids. But I'm just not willing to do that--to me, if having a clean house and clean laundry and staying in shape means that I wake up at 6, get to work at 7, leave at 3 to get my kids and spend from 3-9 being mom and housewife, then spend the last hour and a half of the day taking care of myself, then so be it.

Multi-tasking does have its downsides: I do feel like I’m on the go most of my waking life and often feel disjointed like a bee flitting back and forth between tasks. I do sometimes give myself a break to try to slow down and center myself--some days I do just let myself skip the laundry and the cleaning and the working out and instead just read a book or watch a movie. It's those times where I do feel the effects of the constant running and doing. Pre-kids and work and divorce and especially pre-internet, I used to be an avid reader; more often than not I am literally unable to sit and read for more than a few minutes without either becoming distracted or falling asleep. I am actively working on regaining the focus and calm that I used to enjoy and I do find it's a constant struggle.

On the whole, though, for teens multi-tasking might not be the worst thing in the world, given that their lives are likely to demand that skill as they progress into adulthood and, in many cases, juggling marriage and kids and career. In today's "have it all" culture, the only shot at coming even close to having it all is being able to do ten things at the same time.

I did have to roll my eyes, however, at the comment that even though kids are making good grades while multi-tasking, they might make even better grades if they were more focused. If the cost of multi-tasking is having "only" a 3.85 GPA then I'd say it's not even worth discussing the "risks."

I give up on trying to remember how to post to my old blog from three different computers, so we'll see if I can at least remember the username and password to post here instead.

So much is going on/has gone on that I don't even know where to start, so I guess I'll just leave it at hi and I'll be back to write more hopefully soon.