Sunday, April 13, 2008

BabyCenter or UrbanMoms?

Getting the hang of preggo state in USA can be strange [I, of course, dont speak like I know what its like in India..I am guessing, less dramatic??]. Some discoveries so far in the past 5 months:

1) The Internet is a scary place.

Yep, i know. My asparagus, rice and soup comes from the Internet. Am eternally grateful and all [cleaning up my inbox to compensate for the insult]. But honestly, when am prattling on about 'consumer created content' online, and 'the voice of of the Netizens', I purely talk of rotten tomatoes and yelp. But medical madness, and the aha! moment strikes. Its much more likely scary stories get shared more than joyous ones. Which is fine if some moron found 25 rats in his room coz he assumed 'Stardust' was name of hotel with stars, not that of a seedy motel. But whoa! if you manage to walk the maze and find that your twitching toe condition during pregnancy could be because some person in Texas had the exact same condition only to discover a missing eyelash on the ultrasound, woe to the spouse. [doh.not me, my job is just to freak out and share the nauseating nervousness].

2) You need to figure out Website loyalties.

BabyCenter or Urban moms? Depends. yep, they all got discussion boards ["see my baby bumppp!!! DH is sooo sweet! I am sooo teary-eyed!!"]. But one has to have one's loyalties set straight early on. If you invest time in creating a login [Am SFDesigal, for all ye mom site hounders] and readin the umpteen discussion boards that go 'i am sooo upset..I just discovered i HATE pickles and icecream! sniff', you better pick one. I am a silent observer in both websites. And might give into urban moms if the damn site will add what is commonly known as C-O-N-T-E-N-T. Till then, am sticking to a hackneyed version of the classic 'Great Expectations' restructured for the expectant parents. Its fun, honestly. I can't picture Mrs.Havisham going 'your baby is the size of an avocado', of course. But its fun to imagine her doing so!


3) Ultrasounds or Doppler sounds dont have to make you cry.

Well, unless the doc is being pesky and takes a hellalotta time and you are umm, hungry. I broke my mom's arm during the first ultrasound. And giggled at the Doppler sound coz it sounded like kiddo was going 'bhook bhook bhook' [as in 'hunger hunger hunger' in Hindi]. I was hungry too, so there for instant bonding!

4) Pregnancy Retail industry oughta make Graduation, Wedding and other 'life event' industries beg on its knees. Literally.

It wins. Hands down. If I had to mark the revenues earned in the pregnancy/new baby industry against any other of those life event ones, it blows away the mind. I am not even talking 'do you want your ultrasound photo on a locket' knick-knacks. Yep, that means YOU babies-r-us! and YOU Motherhood Maternity!! Items purchased so far:

Preggo outfits [coz nothing fits. Am sooo jealous of preggo women in India waltzing around in Salwar Kameezes. Phruu]
Two pregnancy magazines. [here is an odd thing--these magazines KNOW the lifetime of their membership is 10 months at the most. Its like a magazine for the High School senior. Or, magazine for those with casts on legs. you get my point? wherez the REPEAT VALUE???]

and that was only in the first two months. Nothing ever since though.

5) Babies are supposedly expensive.

Or so am told by popular websites' baby expenses calculator. You going back to work and daycaring the kid? Add on a few more thousands. I figure, what the hell. If my outflow is more than 500+ every month after kiddo arrives, i might as well, you know, practice from now on right? [opening up tabs of amazon and gap.com in rapid successsion]


Breaking the expenses news gently to spouse,
Peps.

Back..what's new?

Hmm..back after more than a year to blogging..yowza!! Let's see now, what changed since the last time I blogged [pulling out fingers to count]
1) Moved to San Francisco, can now officially wince when someone says 'Frisco' [you see anything about SF on this page? yep. thats the point]
2) Moved jobs. Work a block from abovesaid place in the city. Yep, yep luckyass commute n all. Yep, I can peek to see if the boss goes in before I do. Nope, I dont nap at home during lunchbreak. Jeez, isnt that what conference rooms are for?
3) Jan 1st 2008 shocker #1. Got an iPhone.
4) Jan 1st 2008 shocker #2. Got a 'yes' on a preggo test.
5) Discovery #1 of the year: Both have solid potential to eat up my time.

There, thats the status update [folding up 5 fingers now to type furiously back].

So whats the perpetual misfit sposed to blog about now? plennty of fodder for thought..pleeennttyyyy. [stacking up pregnancy magazines neatly onto one side and glancing woefully at a foggy SF evening in April when the day had 78 degree heat wave. Bah!]

Figuring out whats the electronic equivalent of chewing tip of pencil,
Peppy.
Update: Wait!! Been more than TWO years..wtf!! what was I doing not blogging for two years? getting a life or smtg?? j/k!