My Aussie friend Julia, mum of Nathan's best mate at school, sent me two excellent emails today. One email touted M&Ms' promotion for breast cancer awareness, and the other email was to do with how she spent last night. In her car, in the rain -- by her seven-months-pregnant self. When she had been trying to join us for an all-too-rare mum's night out for dinner and "The Devil Wears Prada".
Poor babe!
Actually, both emails tie together in that those of us lucky enough to slog succesfully to the cinema nonetheless had no joy at the concession stand on the way in, where our quest for M&Ms "show trash" came up cold. Yep, Siam Paragon's otherwise fine theatres carry no chocolate treats for moviegoers to feast upon during the show. But then today I learned that M&Ms are more than simply delicious candies that never melt in my hot little paw. These are candies with a conscience!
First, as for the M&Ms email. Anything that raises funds for breast cancer research resounds with me because my mum is a survivor, going on seven years since beating the monster. She was diagnosed when my first son was two weeks old.
Julia's email included some endearing Aussie-centric terms. But checking M&Ms' official site reassured me that the company is running the promotion globally. Here 'tis:
"The maker of M&M candies has teamed up with the Susan G. Komen Women Breast Cancer Foundation to raise funds through the sale of their new "pink & white" M&M candies. For each 8-ounce bag of the special candies sold, the makers of M&M (Masterfoods) will donate AUS50cents to the foundation. The next time you want a treat, please pick up a bag (now sold in stores nationwide) -- you will be donating to a great cause and satisfying your sweet tooth. Just think...If each of us buy one bag or two...How much will be donated. Buy a bag for a friend...Please pass on to all your family and friends. Also any pink finger buns from Bakers Delight for AUS$1.20 -- the whole AUS$1.20 goes straight into a donation tin for breast cancer research."
Right. "Pink finger buns". Something about that sounds so...erm, wrong, to me. I guess that's just my hopelessly prurient mind projecting onto a harmless pastry. But if sales of "pink finger buns" raises funds for breast cancer research -- well, then, indulge in as many "pink finger buns" as you can, by all means!
The next email described how the rain gridlocked Bangkok's traffic and thwarted Julia's efforts to join us. Unfortunately stories like hers are all too common. Always having lived near a Skytrain, however, I've never experienced such a nightmare myself. Rolled up my trousers and stumbled barefoot through dirty, slimy floodwaters, sure -- but never sat through the infamous hours-long, rainy rot-dtit. Here is her ghastly tale of woe; it might help you remember, the next time you have the choice to hoof it, take the Skytrain, or ride in a car during a torrential Bangkok downpour, that the car option is just NOT ON.
"Well, at least I had an eventful evening, I guess. Being relatively new to Bangkok I didn't realise how bad the traffic could get in the rain. I should have caught the BTS [Skytrain] but I've been avoiding it since about 25 weeks along [in the pregnancy]. Last night I just wanted to hop out of the car and walk!
I left home at about 6pm as I wanted to get there a bit earlier to buy a black tie for Damien as he is at a funeral tonight. One of his staff at the embassy died two days ago but that's another story. Anyhow when i pulled out of my driveway, Soi Lang Suan was pretty flooded and I had a fleeting thought to turn back but the traffic didn't seem too bad and after all I had a 4WD so I thought I would be fine. Well, as I got closer to Siam the traffic and roads were horrendous. I hoped for the best but I thought I might have to bail. At 8pm when I texted you to say i wouldn't make it, was on the corner debating whether to turn left to Siam or right toward Central. I decided to turn right . Little did I know I would be stuck there for another three hours.
Well, by the time it got to 8:30pm I decided to call Damien as I was in walking distance from our place and at that point I'd been in the car for two and a half hours. I was hungry, dehydrated and hot because the aircon wasn't working properly whilst i was idling. I decided to turn the engine off for a while just before Damien arrived as the cars temperature was getting pretty hot. Big mistake!! When I tried to start it up again it wouldn't start of course.
Anyway Damien arrived to me being a total mess and he hadn't had the best day either because he was the one that had to tell most of the staff in his office about the passing of their colleague so you can imagine what mood he was in by the time he got to me. Luckily some lovely Thai guards helped us push the car eventually when the traffic started moving into a hotel car park and we organised to have it towed throughout the night. We got home at about 11pm and they towed the car once traffic cleared at about 2am. Thank God we didn't have to wait around for it."
May my friend's nightmare serve as a vivid reminder the next time we're tempted to seek refuge from the rain in a cosy ol' taxi!
For an interesting twist on the topic of the "pinking" of breast cancer awareness, there are three articles I link to from my website, http://www.honestmedicine.typepad.com, that I think you might like to read.
To access these three articles, please go to the links on the left side of my site, and look under “articles of importance."
1)"Welcome to Cancerland: A Mammogram Leads to a Cult of Pink Kitsch," by Barbara Ehrenreich. A classic.
2)"Chemo Concession" (contains some surprising information about the chemotherapy industry)
3) “Vaccine Against Cancer,” about a really interesting cancer treatment being used by a doctor in Germany.
All three articles will give you another perspective on the “think pink” phenomenon. I hope you will find them informative. Thanks very much for giving them a look!
Sincerely,
Julia Schopick
http://www.honestmedicine.typepad.com
Posted by: Julia Schopick | October 12, 2006 at 11:25 AM