The Culture of the Mall

In Singapore, the shopping mall rules supreme. It is where everything is. Besides the regular stores, the grocery stores are located in the mall. Restaurants are located in the mall. And not just food court restaurants, the nice 5 star restaurants are in the mall.

The malls are also organized by type. For example, Paragon is the high end mall, with Versace, Gucci, etc. United Square is the children's mall, with many children's clothing stores. Sim Lin Square is the IT mall. Or if they carry diverse lines of products, the mall will be organized by floor. For example, at Paragon, the fifth floor has the children's clothing stores as well as Toys R Us. Of course, there are common stores among the malls, the most notable being Cold Storage, which is the grocery store.

The other interesting thing is that nearly all malls have a playground in it. This is great for rainy days. The city of Singapore actually has quite a few public playgrounds, in good shape (there is no graffiti), but since you spend so much time at the mall, or as a way to lure people to your mall, there are playgrounds there. Vivo City actually has a water play area in their playground (it is outdoor).

The malls are quite competitive in terms of trying to get people to come, with many promotions of "spend $50, get a free gift" but we have found that in terms of prices of the actual goods they are pretty much the same wherever you go, so comparison shopping is not needed.

Prices are not as great as we had thought, and there is 7% GST (I think it's 7% maybe 6%), but selection and sheer volume certainly beats Nassau.

Oliver & Martin

Do you think they look alike?

Oliver:
Martin:
Well, all newborns look alike.

Martin has grey eyes for now, Oliver's were always brown. I'm sure Martin's will darken with time though. But would it be striking if they didn't? Oliver has dimples, Martin doesn't.

But they are both the sweetest babies. We are so blessed.

Some pictures

I've emailed some pictures to family, but here are some for the rest of you.

The men in my life:
And here is Martin hanging out in the play gym Auntie Lana bought Oliver. Poor Martin, it's a lot of hand-me downs he'll be getting. Ah well, such is life.

Here Comes the Rain again

falling on my head like a memory....

It rains in Singapore A LOT. Like almost every day a lot. Usually in the morning. Right now (it's about 1:00pm - messing up my theory) it is pouring rain. Underwear soaking if outside for 0.05 seconds, pouring. Thunder and lightening. Now, this kind of weather is nice once in a while, but almost every day, gets a bit old. Plus it is cloudy here a lot.

There are advantages to living in the tropics (besides dengue fever). We never have to deal with jackets, sweaters, pants or frankly socks. Joe keeps saying that he likes wearing his slip on sandals all the time (apparently tying up shoes is a hardship for him).

But I miss the sunshine and blue sky. Though when it comes out, it is freakin' hot. Although its freakin' hot when the sun isn't out.

In fact, the other day, Oliver said he could not go swimming because it was not cloudy. Apparently he can only swim on cloudy days.

Sigh, I miss Nassau weather. It was really ideal. Joe and I have agreed that we will retire in the tropics - either the Tropic of Cancer or the Tropic of Capricorn. Not the equator.

But don't worry, I won't post complaining about the heat in January and February. I know that would just be cruel.

Monday Craft Update

Well, there is no craft update, as I did nothing this week, so I thought I'd post a list of the 2007 and beyond projects.

Projects to be completed before September (ha ha!):

• Cross Stitch Baby Sampler for Martin

• Just need to fill in the name and details
• Need to do name on Grandpa's also
  

• Knit baby blanket for Martin
• About 50% done
  

• Knit balls (various people)
• One done knitting, just needs stuffing.
  

• Website - label all Oliver pictures

Projects to be completed in 2007:

• Cross Stitch Christmas ornament for Paulina
• Knit Toy
• Videos - bring all videos up to date
  

Ongoing projects:

• Teresa Wetzler Dragon
• Cross-stitch ocean numbers
• Crochet Pooh Bear
  

2007 Completed Projects

• Knit hat for Brent
• Knit baby blanket for Lianne
• At least one knit ball
  

Book Review: I'll Love You Forever

This is a children's book. I don't know where we got it from, but we recently discovered it with our move. Unfortunately Oliver really likes it. I say unfortunately as I'm a blubbering mess when I read it. I have yet to make it through the book without crying.

And frankly, the book turns creepy in the middle of it, making it that much more embarrassing. The main refrain of the book is "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be" and the mother says this to her child. She sneaks into his room at night and picks him up. Cute when he is a baby, and a toddler. Okay when he's nine. Getting a bit odd that she picks him up when he is a teenager. Down right creepy when she drives across town with a ladder on her car and breaks into his house at night (plus she's super strong as she can lift her grown son in her lap while he is asleep).

But I am still a blubbering mess reading it.

Today when changing Oliver's diaper, he said "thank you Mommy" for changing him. I said "you are welcome", Joe piped up that Oliver will have to do it for us when we are old. Oliver responded "When Mommy old, I change Mommy's underwear when it is poopy". Where is the video camera when you need it?

Quick update

Sorry I haven't responded to any emails. My goal is to start next week. This week has been crazy, with being Martin's first week home, plus Oliver has had a touch of the stomach flu, so he was home from school 3 out of 5 days. So I never get any time to sit down and type.

I also apologize about pictures. We do have some pretty nice ones, and Joe now has found a hosting solution so hopefully the website will be back up soon. In the meantime, I'll get Joe to download some pictures and I'll email some.

Martin is an excellent baby, he nurses well and quickly, and falls asleep pretty well on his own. He has a couple of wakeful periods in the day, during which time I try and do some tummy time as well as playing (i.e. staring) at toys. We also try and get him outside once a day.

Oliver is in excellent spirits despite having a bit of the stomach flu. He is the best sick person I know. He's adjusting to Martin, but there have been some meltdowns. We are learning as we go.

All About How it's going

Hmm, I think I'm going to have to stop my "All About" titles, I'm having a hard time coming up with them.

Martin is settling into a routine of sorts. He sleeps about 2 hours at a time, sometimes only 90 minutes at night. Luckily he nurses quite fast, and he's only up for about 20 minutes, time for a change and a nurse. We didn't swaddle him last night, and he slept the exact same pattern, so I think no swaddling for him. We are terrible at it, and it just causes everyone frustration.

Oliver was a bit under the weather yesterday, so he stayed home. He's quite clingy to me, and last night and this morning I think he started suffering from "Martin in here to stay" syndrome. But Joe was able to feed him breakfast as I had a shower.

We are off today for mine and Martin's checkup. And get this, I'm not wearing mat clothes!! I'm wearing my jean skirt (which is normally big in the waist as all skirts are) and a normal tshirt. I'm looking good in fact (I got to do my hair - what a difference in mood to have your hair look good). Well, I just heard Joe and Oliver go off to school, so I'm going down to eat breakfast!!

I'll update later with Martin's doc appointment.

UPDATE:

Doc appointment was good, even though it was 45 minutes late. She kept saying Martin is a beautiful baby, so we have it as medical fact! I can't recall his weight, but it's above his birth weight. But the odd thing is, they measured him with his clothes and diaper on. Martin is thriving, input and output are really good, and she said she doesn't need to see him until his one month appointment.

Once I get the weight from Joe, I'll update it here.

Monday Craft Update - August 20

Well, not too much to report. Did about 8 rows on Martin's blanket before his arrival. Including the night I was in labour and didn't know it! At hospital knit one stripe of a baby ball.

Probably won't do much this week as every free minute will be taken up by sleep!

Paulina's update much better, with a very beautiful page.

Movie Review: Finding Nemo

I realize this isn't a "new" movie, but we recently introduced it to Oliver. He likes it quite a bit, not as much as Cars, but frankly, nothing would. I was worried he would be scared by the barracuda at the beginning and Bruce the Shark, but he wasn't.

As I'm sure you have all seen the movie, I won't go into what it is about. I find the colours in the movie just beautiful.

So I recommend it to your 2.5 year old (if you have one!).

All about Hormones

Last night was a bit rough. Multiple wakings, lots of nursing. I've since read that his nursing level is quite normal. As Oliver didn't nurse at first, and frankly I had to wake him for feedings, this was a change.

Today was better though, until about 5:00. I just started crying and I didn't know why. I didn't stop crying until around 7:00.

My milk is in, and apparently flushing out the hormones at the same time. Again, I remember being a bit teary with Oliver, mostly from frustration over nursing, but nothing like his. Hmm, maybe I had quick baby blues to go with my quick labour.

All About the First Day Home

We (Martin & I) signed out of the hospital today. He's been doing pretty well at home. He is nursing like a champ - maybe too much of a champ, he seems to do little feeds of about 10 minutes (of good solid nursing) then falls asleep and awakes around 90 minutes later for more. Or else I'm misinterpreting signs (which is entirely possible). But he's been asleep since about 6:00 now (it is now 8:00) but he has been constantly held. Oh well, they say you can't spoil a newborn.

I'm a bit confused how to dress him. It's quite warm here. In the hospital, they only had him in a diaper shirt and swaddled him. No hat. So I've been doing the same. Martin seems to enjoy being swaddled, though he is loose right now.

Oliver was really good today. He was happy to see me (I was a bit worried about that), and I played with him some. He didn't get jealous when I nursed Martin, and luckily Martin slept right through Oliver's bedtime routine so I got to do that. Martin is sleeping on Joe right now, and I think Joe is asleep also!! Once Martin awakes, we'll give him his bath and then try to get him settled for the night.

Wish us luck.

All About Martin Daniel

Had the baby. Super fast labour. Started at 4am, delivered at 5:43am.
Martin Daniel
8.0 lb, 3.63 kg
52 cm
Singapore, August 15, 2007

This blog may not be for the faint of heart. Its Martin's birth story. If not for you just scroll past the text to the picture.

I lost my mucous plug around 8pm on Tuesday night. I decided that this would be a good time to get caught up on Y&R. In preparation, I put a shower curtain under my sheets.

I awoke around 1:00 for the usual pee break. I awoke again around 3:45 with a mild contraction. I've been having those for a while, Braxton-Hicks is what they are called. The next contraction was at 4:00, stronger but not bad. Then I just felt like I had to be on the toilet the entire time. I kept waiting for my water to break but it didn't happen.

At 430ish I decided we should go to the hospital as I wanted drugs. We arrived 15 min later, I was in total pain starting to panic. They checked me out, I was already 8-9 cm dilated!! No epidural for me.

They did give me gas, which helped. It was probably the concentrating on breathing that really did it.

Doctor came, and I really wanted to push. Water broke. 2 pushes later out came the head, one more for the body and Martin Daniel was born. Joe said he was quite blue but he pinked up nicely and looks quite good for a newborn.

He was born at 5:43, so you can see how fast that was.

He has already nursed and did it like a champ. He's sleeping right now and so should I.

Here are some pictures of the little guy. Handsome isn't he?

All about Nothing

Still here. Still gestating.

Monday Craft update - August 13

Victory is mine! I beat Baby ToBe.

I found the thread to be very knotty. I almost had a knot in every single thread, so I was forever undoing knots, or I just left them in. I don't know if it is my technique or poor thread.

Back to knitting the baby blanket. I did about 4 rows. Its been a while since I worked on it, so I have to re-memorize the pattern.

Course, Paulina had to upstage me this week and finish a sweater, but I'm very pleased with myself for beating the baby for this project at least.

All about Knitting Needles

So, I'm back to knitting a baby blanket, that the baby will have no use for. Oh well, it has cables, and I always wanted to learn how to do cables. I really like them, pretty fun. However, they work better when you "throw" the yarn instead of "pick" the yarn for your knitting style.

The blanket is on circular needles, as most blankets are. I'm using Addi Turbo which are supposed to be quite good. Honestly I don't really like circular needles, I don't think it's anything against the brand, as I don't like other brands of circular needles. I find that you are constantly pulling the knitting along, it invariably doesn't slide that well, plus I don't like the way that the loops are so big compared to the string (or whatever the wire is called that makes knitting needles circular). But you gotta do what you gotta do.

I'll use straight whenever I can.

And yes, my next post (which will be the Monday craft one, will be the "Victory is Mine" post).

Movie Review: Cars

Joe bought Oliver the Disney/Pixar movie Cars. Well, as one could expect with my little future gearhead, Oliver just loves the movie.

But actually, it is a pretty good movie. I'm sure the jokes would be even funnier if you followed Nascar, and knew some of the in jokes.

It is a very good preschooler movie, in that there are no scary scenes, lots of jokes for the kids, and well, it's about CARS. I think the first time we watched it, he sat through the entire movie without moving. Now, he'll get up after a bit and go play, but he likes having it on in the background.

As Joe says, the movie has it all, a hero, who needs to reform his ways, a love story and beautiful scenery. If you watch it, make sure to watch the credits also, they are pretty funny.

All About Baby ToBe

Had another doctor's appointment today. Apparently the baby's head has dropped. It's funny, with Oliver, he was sitting a lot more on my pelvis that this one. I could barely turn over in bed. This baby likes to kick me in the rib cage, but I do think it is a bit lower now.

Doctor doesn't understand why I want to work at home from now on. She said, if you go into labour at work, you'll have 20 people to help you get to the hospital. Umm, thanks but no thanks. She did say if I wanted to try and get labour started she'd do a sweep for me, but I hear they hurt. To which she replied "not as much as labour". I asked for an epidural right now, but she said no.

Oliver was one week early, and she said I could expect the same, so that would make this baby's due date on Wednesday. But just you watch, I'll be late with this one!!

Today, Oliver was saying "When the baby get bigger, I share my toys with the baby.". Isn't he sweet. And I'm writing it down, to show him, when he won't share. ;)

Some information on the baby at 38 weeks (ignore gender references):
Your baby has really plumped up. She weighs between 6 and 7 1/2 pounds (boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls), and she's nearly 20 inches long. She has a firm grasp, which you'll soon be able to test when you hold her hand for the first time! Her organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb.

Wondering what color your baby's eyes will be? (No, they will be brown. The only thing is will they be black like Joe's and Kate's or brown like Oliver's.) You may not be able to tell right away. If she's born with brown eyes, they'll likely stay brown. If she's born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time she's 9 months old. That's because a child's irises (the colored part of the eye) may gain more pigment in the months after she's born, but they won't get "lighter" or more blue. (Green, hazel, and brown eyes have more pigment than gray or blue eyes.)

Happy 42nd Birthday Singapore!!

Today is the 42nd birthday of Singapore. We did nothing special for it (except stay home from work and school).

This year, the National Day Parade (NDP) is being held on the water. I believe it's because the old stadium was torn down. The view actually would be perfect from my office, but we didn't go.

Here is some information from Wikipedia, copied without permission.

The National Day Parade (Abbreviation: NDP, Simplified Chinese: 国庆庆典, Malay: Perbarisan Hari Kebangsaan) is a national ceremony in Singapore that, as its name implies, includes a parade on Singapore's national day on August 9, in commemoration of Singapore's independence that is usually held in the Singapore National Stadium, Padang. For the first time in 2007, it will be held in Marina Bay and future NDP will be held here until the new sports hub is completed around 2011.

• The 1968 parade was held during the monsoon season. Some participants and spectators in this parade discussed this issue after the National Day Rally Speech in 2005.
• Princess Alexandra was the special guest of the 1969 parade, which not only celebrated Singapore's 4th birthday, but also celebrated the 150th anniversary of the founding of Singapore.
• Songs for Singapore were first commissioned in 1984, beginning with "Stand Up for Singapore".
• A major change in concept to the NDP was made in 1986. Celebrating Singapore's 21 years of independence, the parade was held in the evening for the first time at the National Stadium. That year also saw the debut of flashlights for audience participation, and grand finale fireworks, following the theme song for that year, "Count On Me Singapore". A large national flag was formed by 7,000 students at the National Stadium, dressed in red and white. Since then, all parades were held from dusk to night, in exception to the parades in 1989 and 1990.
• The Presidential Gun Salute was fired inside the National Stadium in 1994 & 1997.
• The music video of the theme song for the 1999 parade, "Together", was shot by Hong Kong director Tsui Hark, who captured Singapore's multi-racial harmony.
• Flashlights were designed like mobile phones for the first time in the 2004 parade.
• The funpacks in 2005 and 2006 were designed by students from Temasek Polytechnic.
• The National Stadium hosted the NDP for the very last time in 2006. To pay its tribute, the giant cauldron was lit up in the stadium.
• Four guns were used for the Presidential Gun Salute in 2006, instead of the traditional six, due to space constraints as a part of the stadium site had been converted to a car park.
• Apache attack helicopters made a debut in the 2006 parade.
• SAR 21 was being used by the Guard-of-Honour Contigents for the first time in the 2006 parade.
• The 2007 parade will be held for the first time at Marina Bay.
• The 2007 parade will see the largest orchestra ever put together. Made up of 240 musicians from the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, the Singapore Chinese Orchestra,Malay and Indian Ensembles and the SAF Central Band.

Actually, I just heard the fireworks, but couldn't see them. We did hear the jet fighters go overhead.

Two weeks ago, Joe and I were out for dinner, we saw a firework display, which I think was practice for the NDP.

For all the details on the celebration, click here.

All About Hooky

So on Tuesday I decided to play hooky. Well, not really, as I did tell the boss and took a vacation day. Oliver had a birthday party at 3:00, so I decided I would take a day off work so I could attend.

It was a pretty busy day though, Joe and I went shopping to two different malls (missing our exit to one mall, which involved some sniping in the car at each other). We ate lunch at Din Tai ?? something. It's a Taiwanese chain and has really good wonton soup.

The birthday party was good, but Oliver is like his mommy, and is sometimes intimidated by the big kids. There was a bouncy castle, and I really had to convince Oliver to go in it. Like the birthday party the other week, he didn't really want to go in because there were "too many kids". I was the only parent/adult who sat at the edge of the bouncy castle and Oliver would keep running to me.

The kids went swimming. I was the only adult that went in the pool (and hence, didn't really talk to any adults). But I'm big and hot all the time, and frankly, I have a fun time with kids. Even when there are "too many kids".

Back to my theme of hooky, Friday will be my last day in the office. I'm going to start working from home next week.

Movie Review: Sicko

We watched Sicko the other night. I do enjoy the Michael Moore films, but I knew this one would be slamming the insurance industry, so I went in a bit more cautiously.

I thought the movie was good. I had to laugh a little bit about the line about insurance companies profiting off of people's health, and how that wasn't right. Just so you know, insurance companies can profit off of people's death's as well. For life insurance, we want you to live forever (vampires would be the perfect insured). For annuities, we want the payments to stop as soon as possible (fruit flies would be the perfect the annuitants).

Back on point, the US is the only G8 country with a privatized medical system. There is of course, a lot of resistance to moving to "socialized" medicine within the US, particularly by those who would lose out financially (i.e. insurers, medical providers, etc.).

We have lived now in both public (Canada) and private (Bahamas, Singapore) health care systems. Honestly, if something were to happen to us, we would most likely move back to Canada, so that your tax dollars could take care of us.

The movie was good, not a balanced point of view, as the movie kept referring to health care as "free". Which it is not, it is paid for by tax dollars. But health care costs as a percentage of GDP are the highest in the US. That mostly is due to the inefficiency caused by administration of all the insurance companies. In the public system, one payer (the government), one form.

Monday Craft update

Did tons of cross-stitching this week. I completed the crab square, so all the sea animals are stitched. I've brought the border around, so I only have 1/4 of the border left, plus the order that goes around the name. Maybe if the baby holds out for another week, I might have it all done except the name and details.

All About Oliver

I was thinking, I don't want to post, as I sound like I'm bragging, but then I thought, it's my blog, I'll post what I want. Besides, it's mostly family that reads anyway.

Oliver was so good this weekend. On Saturday night, we had friends over for dinner. They brought their children, who are 4 and 2 1/2 (i.e. same age as Oliver). During dinner, the kids ate at the small kids table. Oliver sat and ate and ate. He didn't ask to be fed, he didn't get up once, nothing, he just sat and ate. The kids had so much fun together playing too. Oliver didn't get mad about anyone touching his toys, nothing.

Tonight we went out for an adult dinner with another couple. He was so well behaved at the restaurant. He played quietly until the food came. He ate all his food (he was like an eating machine) and after dinner, even though it was already 8:00, he sat quietly (and watched the Cars movie Joe put on his Palm). You seriously could not ask for a better behaved child at the dinner.

All about Stemcord blood

Eew, that's kind of an icky heading. Anyways, we have signed up to have Baby ToBe's cord blood banked. After the initial fee, it's only $200 a year, so not very much. Of course, like insurance, you hope you never ever have to use it.

We decided to do it, even though we didn't do it for Oliver. For Oliver, it was never mentioned, and we would have had the blood banked in Florida. If you gave birth on a weekend, you couldn't even do it as FedEx doesn't pick up on the weekend. So we never really explored the possibility.

Here, when we attended the hospital tour, there was a talk on it. While the technology for using the cord blood is really still in it's infancy, there is a lot of potential. In addition, finding matching cord blood for mixed racial couples is difficult. There is also a good chance, that Oliver could use the blood. Again, we hope that will never happen.

What's interesting is that there are stem cells in other parts of the body, your bone marrow and your actual blood have it too. But cord blood is considered the best, as it is the richest in nutrients (or something) and hasn't been exposed to chemo, etc.

We are pretty happy with our decision to bank the blood. Let's hope it's one of our biggest waste of money.

All About Baby ToBe

Well, had my weekly visit today. I asked for an u/s picture, as I was thinking I could scan it for you, but the baby is really to big for that now. The doctor thinks anytime in the next 10 days. Just watch, I'll be late with this one.

She didn't really give me any stats on the baby this time. Still doing well. Lots of movement. In the proper place (head down and dropped). The baby doesn't feel as low as Oliver did, as I had a lot of pressure on my pelvis with him. This one likes to kick me in the rib cage. I actually think I have a bruise inside!

We are going tomorrow to learn about the storage of the cord blood, so no baby tonight please!! Guess what tomorrow's blog will be about?

All about August 2, 1969

On August 2, 1969:

• President Nixon visited Romania
• Bob Dylan makes surprise appearance at Hibbing HS Minnesota 10th reunion
• The Grateful Dead play live at Family Dog at the Great Highway (whatever that means)

but I know two people who weren't able to make it to the concerts, or to Romania with President Nixon.

Garry and Sandra were too busy tying the knot in Williamstown, Ontario.

Garry, a tall lanky fellow from Saskatchewan, with Buddy Holly glasses, but none of the coolness, met Sandra, a pretty nurse in training in Ontario, when he was in Ontario as part of belonging to the Armed Forces. I don't know much about their dating history, except their first double date wasn't with each other!

Both are from farming families. Garry's family were prairie farmers, and Sandra's family were more dairy farmers. Apparently when Garry's dad saw Sandra's family farm, he exclaimed "I couldn't even turn my tractor around on it!". Ahh, but Sandra's family farm had something that Garry's didn't. Maple sugar trees. Mmmm, maple syrup.

For their honeymoon, they took a cruise down the St. Lawrence. Ahh, young romance, what could be better. I know - staying married for (wait, I need the calculator) 38 years!!! That's almost as long as Paulina's been alive (tee hee!). And thanks to their positive role model of a marriage (as well as Joe's parents for being married over 40 years), the chance of me getting a divorce is statistically decreased. Thanks!!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!!

Book Review: Phantom

Phantom is book 10 of the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. I have the complete series in paperback (and I wonder why we have so much junk!).

I have enjoyed this series quite a bit, but this book isn't the greatest. The big finale war is coming, so it was a lot of war, torture, etc type of action in this book. I prefer when things are a bit more lighthearted. But the book promises that the next one is the last one, and I see that hardcover is to come out in November, so probably another year for paperback. My favorite books from this series was probably the first one, "Wizard's First Rule" and one mid series "Faith of the Fallen".

But that said, I read the entire book in under a week, and it was nice to read something that wasn't a parenting book, a business book or something related to work. It was a page turner.

I've read fantasy (not science fiction) for a long time now. I started with Anne McCaffrey and the Dragonriders of Pern. In fact, in grade six or seven we had to do a book report, I asked the teacher if I could do mine on a trilogy! Gee, I wonder why I wasn't popular.

Most fantasy novels share several themes, all going back to Toilken:

• There must be magic.
• Low technology (usually around the middle ages)
• There is a build up to an epic battle.
• Usually the "Keeper", which is basically the devil, is holed up in the mountain.
• The hero (almost always male - hmm, maybe I should write one with the female hero) falls into the role and is reluctant to do it.
• The hero will fall in love.
• There are wizards and witches, usually both evil and good ones.

Another series that I'm reading (which it feels like it will never end) is the Robert Jordan, Wheel of Time series. It is starting to drag. I think one 800 page book only advanced the plot on week, as there are 5 main characters he follows. But I'll stick with it (even though I'm pretty sure the good guys will win).