journal features

babysitting

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Tokyo, 2009.02.28

It's always a pleasure to babysit when Mari's off on errands or doing something like her singing lessons. Ken and I have come a long way from the less than perfect first incident of his being under my sole care. Now we can play with toys together (he's learned to assemble a few pieces of Duplo, for instane) and generally pass the time in a constructive manner. Kenny can even play with toys on his own, which is great.

Speaking of babysitting, I was surprised to learn today what it costs to hire a babysitter in Tokyo. It's about ¥2500 and hour, which is more than $CA30! By comparison, in the late 80's I earned all of $2/hour babysitting.

rand()m quote

If I had my life to live over, I'd try to make more mistakes next time. I would relax, I would limber up, I would be crazier than I've been on this trip. I know very few things I'd take seriously any more. I'd certainly be less hygenic... I would take more chances, I would take more trips, I would scale more mountains, I would swim more rivers, and I would watch more sunsets. I would eat more ice cream and fewer beans. I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones. Oh, I've had my moments, and if I had to do it all over again, I'd have many more of them, in fact I'd try not to have anything else, just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of my day. If I had it to do all over again, I'd travel lighter, much lighter than I have. I would start barefoot earlier in the spring, and I'd stay that way later in the fall. And I would ride more merry-go-rounds, and catch more gold rings, and greet more people and pick more flowers and dance more often. If I had it to do all over again - but you see, I don't.

—Jorge Luis Borges