alanyeo In my opinion, BYOBD is an effective island-wide campaign. Big enterprises like NTUC Fairprice, Cold Storage, IKEA had participated spontaneously by encouraging its shoppers to bring their own bags, purchase reusable bags or donate 10 cents for each plastic bag. These results in creating public awareness for reducing the massive use of plastic bag. Although the campaign aims to discourage the excessive use of plastic bags, not everyone would be environmentally conscious and reduce the use of them. It may require some effort choosing the right shopping bag before heading out to marts. I believe that the it will take some time for Singaporeans to cultivate this habit

teckii93 Personally, I feel that the BYOBD has achieved it's desired results - creating awareness about plastic bag issues. We cannot deny the fact that we do see an increasing number of people using renewable bags these day, given by several retailers. A National Environment Agency survey found out that about two thirds of shoppers supported a more frequent BYOBD. This is certainly a pleasing sight. I hope that this scheme can be stretched further to produce greater results. Perhaps one day, this scheme will not just only take place every Wednesday, but everyday. Doing our part for the environment should be a normal routine, no different from things like brushing our teeth.

yongjin I feel that BYOBD has being quite effective as much more shoppers are using reusable bags. Although not every Singaporeans are doing that, but definitely the numbers are increasing. I feel that there should be more campaign to lets shoppers know the importances of reducing use of plastic bags. If everyone do their part to keep the environment clean and green, it will makes Singapore be a better place to live in..

alanyeo Sharing common sentiments as teckii93 and yongjin, however, i strongly disagree that the campaign to be a daily affair or more of it. The results may be detrimental. For example, if one shop for groceries and necessities fortnightly/monthly during the weekends, it would be inconvenient/expensive to bring/purchase 5 to 10 reusable bag. Problems like misplace of trolley may surface for those shoppers who purchase in bulk. I would support the current BYOBD. It is a soft approach for Singaporeans to attune to the green trend.

jy791 It is necessary to support the enviroment and to encourage people to keep the use of plastic shopping bags to minimum, bring your own shopping bag. According to the NEA survey, more than 200 retail outlets under Dairy Farm, FairPrice, Sheng Siong, Carrefour, Cold Storage, Shop N Save, Giant Hypermart and Prime took part and have shown that from about 2/3 reduced to 1/3 of Singaporean do not supports shopping bags. It is a great improvement of our beloved Singaporeans. However the habit of bringing your own shopping bag to cut down on the use of plastic bags, will take some time to cultivate. I personally felt inconvience is not an good reason for not bringing the shopping bag.It is like, some bring their umbella out even it is not raining. I believe Bring your own bag day would be effective if it is a daily basis, and give customer $0.05 discount instead of paying the plastic bag if they use their own shopping bag.

jy791 I understand your viewpoint on disagreement with daily affair for those who shop for groceries and necessities fortnightly/monthly. I agree that purchasing 5 to 10 reusable bags cost more than plastic bags but if we see this yearly(eg 5years), the one who shops actually helps the enviroment a lot. Reusable bag have bigger capacity and durable than normal plastic bags and I personally think reusable bags would be a better choice. (get a bigger reusable bag with wheels like luaggage also can)lol

alanyeo Agreeing with jy911 that from the NEA survey, one-third of the Singaporeans who do not support, will need time to attune to this campaign. These are the infuriated shoppers due to the inconvenience reasons. Then again, results may be detrimental should the campaign goes 24/7 or to the extreme - no plastic bags at all. Eg. Shoppers will switch to smaller "convenience mart" in the heartlands and avoid those mega marts with no plastic bags at all. It will arise more social issue just to solve one. BYOBD started with 1st Wed of the month since 2007, then extended to every Wed two years ago. Again, i maintain my support to the current campaign, it is effective, taking a soft approach for the significant one-third who don't.

jy791 Hopefully the issue of no plastic bags at all in mega marts will not happen, if this happens definitely it will cause many problems. At most we return the items to the cashier without buying. Country such as Hong Kong, impose a price of HK$0.50 (S$0.10) to each plastic bag. The levy is to reduce waste. Majority supports the campaign, commented that they don't think it's inconvenient. For their child's sake, it's necessary to support the environment, and collecting 10cents is reasonable. And ofcourse some commented its daylight robbery. However, If the people think HK$0.50 cents is too high a levy, it will have a deterrent effect and people will use fewer plastic bags, said the source. I believe daily campaign will be more effective than having on every wednesday in a way to remind us. But well,the decision of the campaign is like how ERP gantry or Electronic parking system is built, we can only complain and complain at the end of the day...we still follow. To maintain Singapore a more green environment and clean country, it just takes time.

jy791 The BYOBD has been an effective campaign. It is not a matter of cutting costs or the impending fee for consumers who do not bring their own bags. The real crux of the matter is that every bit counts when it comes to saving the environment. Similar to the Earth Hour initiative, one may wonder what difference does it make by switching off the power for a single hour. This is merely a drop in a bucket as the saying would go but every drop helps to get the bucket full. Some people may not even have the intention of saving the environment directly but with the BYOBD, it somehow creates a trend by which people follow with a herd mentality. Well, of course there are those who would not mind paying that extra few cents to save the hassle of bringing their own bags. There are also those who shop in bulk and do not have the option of bring that many bags for themselves and end up having to pay the extra few cents. Sure, the discount given to those who bring their own bags is a good way to entice more supporters of the campaign. But how long will the carrot on the stick last? When inflation hits the shelves, the discount will be negligible. Will the shops increase the discount amount? If they indeed do so, this is going to be a chain effect. Anyway, concluding, I feel that all in all this is a good initiative.

weiliang I have been working in fairprice for 3year plus. Seeing the behaviour of customer using plastic bag before and after the byob campaign start. Before BYOB campaign is being kick start people are using plastic bag which are provided by the company and i didn't see any customer bring their own. But when the campaign is start, people are complaining of it as they don't really know why should they bring there own bag. But for some they did their part to bring it. As they knowing that bring their own bag will cut down the waste of plastic bag which in turn cutting down the pollution causing by plastic bag to the earth. And the earth does not belong to us only, it's belong to our future generation. And as time goes by people bring in there own bag which make them less relied on plastic bag and there is no more complaning of this campaign. And nowaday the recycle bag are more durable then plastic bag which can contain more item. And people are using it as it's more fashionable with lots of design on it. Which give them the reason to use bring it. Fairprice also did their part by rewarding 10cents back to customer for bring their own bags for their purchasing item. Which is why more customer are being encourage to bring it doing their part for the enviroment and saving their money. Which they can use the money they save to purchase recycle bags. More and more company are joining in this campaign, as they know that using less plastic bags can cut down on their company cost. But most importantly is that to reduce the enviroment threat cause by plastic bag. And to cultivate people of all age to bring their own bag habit. What i can conclude here is that the campaign is a success. As it has make more people to aware of the enviroment threat, and practising minimizing the threat cause to the earth.

alanyeo Yes, the campaign had came a long way and I agreed with weiliang that, "earth does not belong to us only, it's belong to our future generation." To preserve earth for the future, it takes time to educate the public and cultivate this unique habit since the effects are not instantaneous. I would support more of BYOBD at it's current pace. Definitely not on a daily basis that would have negative effects on the business on all participating outlets. I shared the same thoughts of the previous qoute like, "At most we return the items to the cashier without buying." is one of the many detrimental results expected from 'daily' BYOBD. After reading much of the comments and websites, I believe that BYOBD campaign aims to educate the future generation primarily rather the current folks. As such it was implemented on an incremental pace since 2007.

p1068957 Jiying-To me personally, i felt that it is a very good campaign.Apart from that, till today it did not actually achieve success. when it first launches this campaign i felt happy that people has already start to conserve the environment by recycling your own bag.But think again what are they using to recycle? It is still a Plastic Bag which is non-biodegradable. why couldn't we follow people in America that uses a bag/ paper bags to hold own stuff after shopping ? but i can't defeat the idea that indeed it was an effective campaign as it does rises awareness to human beings in the world to conserve the earth, to protect the earth. Indeed, in Singapore, i realized that more people are aware that they should protect the earth, and many shopping malls or supermarkets practices BYOBD or to provide shoppping bags that can be bought at the cashier counters. And that certain people would actually purchase the recycle bag and uses it, instead of using plastic bags. At the same time, you would also see another kind of people.which are those "Kiasu" type of people that requests for more than one plastic bags when they made payments at the cashier counters. Hence, in overall.it was a very useful and great idea of BYOBD campaign.But in terms of how effective it is, i believe that it has still got a long way before it really achieve success...

jxchin I personally agree 3 R - reuse, recycle , renew.. is the way to prevent environment become bad . But i total disagree that The Bring Your Own Bag campaign will a not good way because some will be willing to pay for the bag and some will go any day other than that day . And during sale season and weekend , the usage of the bag is more compare to weekday . And why the campaign is not set on every weekend , the usage of the plastic bags will reduce much more because lot of people tend to go shopping on weekend

weichao I feel that BYOBD has being quite effective as much more shoppers/individuals are using reusable bags in Singapore when doing shopping and etc. By doing this action will make Singapore a better environment and clean to live in. But not all singaporeans is doing this as it inconvience and not practical for office worker working as many people forget to put reusable bag in their office bags when they are rush for work from their house. What i can conclude here is that peoples still need time to adopt to this BYOBD campaign.

han To me personally- This BYOBD campaign is not as effective as it seem. It is only held on Wed which most of us usually wont go shopping on that day. As @jxchin said, if held in weekends, it is much more meaningful of this campaign. Thus, it will carries out the real purposes of the BYOBD campaign. It is true that every effort you put in counted. Fortunately, more peoples participate in this campaign even though it is not held on Wed. Therefore, i hope more peoples will carries out this BYOBD campaign into part of their daily lifestyle. This way, singaporeans will be more positive and actively toward gogreen activities.

zjj In my opinon, this campaign is not so effective.First, only a few people will go shopping on wednesday, this means the campaign is not so popular. Second, people will prefer the "convenient" mart, which offer plastic bags. Some people may think that government should introduce a new policy which all shops should stop using plastic bags. However, there is a large amount of people who reuse plastic bags to contain rubbish and throw them away. Some of them really have environmentally conscious, but they cannot find any repalcement which is as cheap and conveinient as plastic bag. Consequently, if we cannot find a suitable substitute, singaporeans cannot reduced the use of plastic bags.

ozrj I feel that the BYOBD is not very effective as very little people are willing to bring reusable bags. Most of them will feel that it is very troublesome to bring reusable bag everywhere they go and they would rather give up on the discount given for bringing their own bags and even to pay for the plastic bags they use. Of course, there are still a handful of people who are willing to bring their own bags on the BYOBD. However, they are too used to using the plastic bags given and very often will forget to bring the reusable bags, in the end, they still have got to use the plastic bags the shops provide. In my opinion, more days of a week should be made the BYOBD so that Singaporeans are get more exposed to situations in which they have to use their own bags instead of using the plastic bags provided. I believe that the campaign will be more effective in that way as people will get used to bringing their own bags by needing to bring it more frequently.

hello I feel that BYOBD campaign is effective to a limited extent. Only minority people (for example those who really care about the environment and housewives etc.) would bring their own plastic bags. However for the majority of the public, firstly, they forget about this BYOBD because they are too used to have the plastic bags given to them at the end of their purchase. Eventually would still purchase the plastic bags. Secondly, they can choose not to make their purchase on Wednesday. They still have others days to buy their goods from the supermarket which provide them with the plastic bags. Although it has created public awareness that we should reduce the amount of plastic bags used but it has not achieved its ultimate goal of reducing the excessive use of plastic bags. I feel that we should have this BYOBD campaign more days in a week so that they are ‘consistently reminded’ about this campaign. Only then the campaign will achieved its ultimate aim. Otherwise it will take some more years before it will achieve its final goal.

yinmonmonthin In my opinion,I am totally agree with ozrj.yes......most of people will feel that it is very troublesome to bring reusable bag everywhere they go. We can't say that we will go for shopping everyday after work or go straight home end of the day.So, my suggestion is that we should use paper bags at all at every shops ,supermarkets and fairprice in each and every country to reduce the environment threat cause by plastic bags.

fareed To me I agree with BYOBD to a certain extent. I agree with the idea of bringing your own bag as an evironmental awareness campaign as to lessen the use of plastic bags.Research shows that the use of plastic bags can cause environmental damage as it takes up to 1000 years to decay properly. In addition to that, it is non renewable as it is made from petrochemicals. However I feel that youths will not start practicing it everyday. The awareness is an interesting concept as it allows shoppers to feel less discouraged to bring their own bags rather than a reused plastic bag everytime. It is also less troublesome to bring your own bags as plastic bags can be torn easily. However, the awareness can only be interesting if creativity is mixed with concept. BYOBD is interesting when an idea of art mix with concept where we can make decoration to our own bags to shop. It's a concept of style as it can reach out to the youths too. All in all,Awareness campaigns are the first step to raise awareness to people. the second step is for someone to practise it. The environment is ours to control and protect. It's our home. It takes years to make effort to save the world but it takes seconds to destroy it.

hkh I feel that BYOBD campaign have not been as effective as it seems. The campaign should have increased the number of days to like 3 days per week. I do not think having 3 days per week for the campaign will discourage people from shopping. I feel that BYOBD campaign should emphasize more on the disadvantage of using plastic bags and the advantage of enviroment bags. I feel that the cost of plastic bags that should be paid on BYOBD days should increase to 30-50 cents. This is to encourage people to buy enviroment bags for shopping and refrain from using plastic bags. Having only wednesday as BYOBD day, people will simply avoid that day to shop. Although increasing the number of days of BYOBD campaign will discourage people from shopping but is it worth the cost of saving for the enviroment bags to purchase lower quality product or purchase from shops that you did not frequent. I feel that BYOBD have not done enough to increase Singaporeans awareness to plastic bags disadvantage.

ss13 Personally, i think BYOBD is a good campaign to encourage singaporeans to bring their own shopping bags. But singaporeans are not really using it to our advantage as plastic bags are still being given out. If supermarket were to stop using plastic bags, maybe singaporeans would bring their own shopping bags. Its not a burden to carry your own shopping bag. The shopping bag can be fold and be kept in our bag. It is not a difficult task to do. I agree with hkh that this campaign have not done enough promotion to encourage singaporeans to bring their shopping bag.

zhihui In my opinion, this campaign has proven to be effective. Taking my mum as an example, she would definitely bring her own recyclable bags when heading to Cold Storage or Giant hypermart. Not only does the recyclable bag help in conserving the environment, it is also more convenient for us when 2 - 3 plastic bags worth of goods can be placed in 1 recyclable bag. We save the environment and at the same time make things easier for ourselves! From what I observe when I visit the supermarkets myself, there are people using the recyclable bags even on other days other than Wednesday! However, to further improve the objective of this campaign, I feel that there is a need to slowly increase Bring Your Own Bag Day to Bring Your Own Bag Days. Rather than just restrict the campaign to a day, make this a part of our lives and a habit for us to culture.

faisal I personally feel that this BYOBD campaign is not effective. Although it encourages Singaporeans to bring their own bags, many still chooses not to participate. I agree with ss13 that Singaporeans do not use this opportunity to actually help the environment and plastic bags are still being given out. Therefore the problem here is that most Singaporeans are not aware about this campaign. For example, frequent customers like a mother or maids are usually more aware about this campaign but unlike us who seldom shop in those participating retailers are less likely to know. So, to create awareness in the campaign, more shops has to participate in this campaign to provide awareness to the different age groups.

dgwm Personally, I feel that with this campaign it is quite useful as it brings the people awareness to cut down the use of plastic bag. As big enterprises company like NTUC is helping it out by having no plastic bag on wednesday. They even charge slightly lesser for those who bring their own bag to put their stuff on other days. In my opinion, I feel that singaporean is still not very environmentally conscious. As most of the shopping mall is still using plastic bag. It will need some more times for singaporean to get used of this idea where they will bring their own bag to shopping. Thus, some solution I got are this company should at least set more then one day not to have plastic bags. This way it will help them to cultivate their awareness even more and be more enviromentally conscious.

shakisdoinghiswork When it first started, I thought this was a horrible idea. But over the years I've seen it grow into something worth noticing. My mother goes to the market almost everyday to get stuff. Then one day I realized that she was bringing plastic bags with her. Curious I followed her to the stores that day and a whole load of people actually brought their own bags. It may be just my neighborhood, but given time I think this could really grow into something big. It could even expand to 2 or more days. I guess its hard to evaluate the effects of this initiation now. Over time, who knows?

jiao485573 In my opinion , i feel this campain is a very good idea. The government always trying to encourage the people to practice recycle or ther ways to conserve our environment. However, not every one will practice it. According to the Greenpeace website, around 100 million tonnes of plastic are produced each year. However, these plastic bags are non-biodigradable. With this campain, singaporean may develope a habit of bring their own bags and reduce the use of plastic bags and help to conserve our environment.

samuel0906218 To what i feel, this campaign is a good idea to bring awareness to singaporeans that plastic are non-biodegradable and they should cut down on the usage of plastics.As burning of plastics causing the earth o-zone layer to be destroyed, causing global warming and climate changes issues. However, not everyone will practice it. Singaporeans tend to have the "kiasu" attitude and they would rather take more then they need to keep at home for their own usage. Furthermore, they are not used to having this kind of practice in bringing their own bags. Therefore i think this campaign is not effective enough yet, and also singaporeans are not trying to more environmentally conscious neither in reducing plastic usage.

gogreener Another alternative, choose 100% oxo-biodegradable plastic bags. However, reducing and reusing plastic bags are still the way to go!

greenism Haha, Shaunmaniax, congratulations for hitting the quota. Hahaha. Well, indeed you're right. After months of planning, the day of the event is finally here and I'm glad to say, we did it! Though the journey has not been smooth sailing, I believe that we have all gain something from the experience. Let us all take it in, positively and grow from it! This journey has also been meaningful. It has brought all of us closer; new friendships were formed and existing ones grew stronger. Hey, it's a once in a lifetime experience and God knows, this is probably the last opportunity where we all get to work together. As for this forum, it has been a great platform for all of us to share and exchange our views on green issues! In a nutshell, I feel that the green movement that SP has initiated has been a successful one!

wahidah Hear hear, we've all become better, greener (hypothetically speaking) people, and it's nice to come out of the campaign process alive, and proudly say we've learnt something.

jittelicious Hahaha! Yes I think this forum really has helped many of us go green, regardless of whether we meant to or not. I think it's safe to say the quota made many of us scramble to search for environmental information on the internet, and I think through that, each of us learnt something!

pizzamizza Well, I can say all of you are right. The price is right! The price of our enthusiastic hardwork is perfectly right to accommodate to the need of the whole event itself. To add on, consciously or subconsciously, we DID learn a pointer or two if not all.

toinkie yeppp! I've really learnt a lot from planning and organising this campaign! And boy, did I feel awesome to survive this whole process and I'm proud of us!!! Also, this forum has helped me more aware of the environmental issues around the world

thelion Indeed, by going green, I have lost a bit of weight myself. I tried having a fiber diet—a diet with higher fiber content. Fiber makes you feel fuller longer, so you won't actually cut down on the amount of food you consume. Do note that recommended daily fiber intake is 25g[or some might say 18g]/ Unfortunately, many believe that by having a diet with much higher content of dietary fiber, you loose out on the taste of your food. I beg to differ. Try consuming wholemeal bread with butter/peanut. There is so much more taste to it than plain boring white bread. Perhaps it might take a while for some to adjust to the sudden difference in taste[but isn't it normal when we try something different from what we usually eat?], we just have to believe that it is worth it. If you tend to have constipation, here is another important reason why you should start consuming more fiber in your meals. Dietary fiber holds water, which makes excrement looser and easier to release. Fiber is good for your heart and soul--A diet rich in fiber helps prevent heart problems. Here are some examples on what you can start eating today because they might just be your type of food! 1. Potatoes, remember to leave the skin on because a lot of the nutrients and fiber are actually present there! 2. PASTA LOVER? Make the switch now! Wholegrain pasta is definitely the healthier choice. The difference in taste is not noticeable, plus you feel full much faster…which means you will not overeat! 3. Go NUTS with…well, nuts! Because Mixed fruit, nuts and/or seeds are often available in snack-sized bags. Now that you have learnt so much, isn't it time to do something about your diet?

jittelicious Haha cmo and thelion are definitely know their stuff. Many people have the misconception that eating healthy means no carbs and no fat, or that it is a diet full of supplements. Simply eating a balanced diet of whole, natural foods, while avoiding processed food is the way to go. Avoiding processed food means less pesticide, less preservatives, and less chemicals in our body. Not only will it benefit your body, it will benefit the environment as well!

sptammy According to ABC news, Phil Edwards, co-author of the letter and senior statistician at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the United Kingdom, mentioned that eighteen percent more food energy is required in many populations where there is a large prevalence of obesity, and that more transportation fuel energy will be used to transport the increased mass of the obese population. I think staying trim and fit is not only a responsibility we have for our own bodies, but also to the environment and our community.

sean03 In a sense I think this is a very positive sign of what we can expect in the future. In this way it really is a win-win situation! I just wonder if plastic cups and bags can be recycled into something else as well?

mjquek In view of such fashion trends, it would be heart-warming to see if designers could use environmental-friendly fabrics or even recycled materials for their fashion runway clothes. Imagine if clothes could be fashionable yet environmental-friendly! If that day comes, it would be a huge leap towards a greener Earth!

alrickoh03 yes ive seen an increasing number of girls carrying handbags around made of recycled material. Just a thought, it would be awesome if designers could incorporate such a practice into maybe our t-shirts, trousers, accessories etc... This may not seem feasible as of right now, like having a t-shirt made of recycled paper. However, with technology these days why not right?

xyrhs Upcycling is a process of re-engineering wastebound materials into lifestyle products of much higher value and desirabilitiy. echo #02-12 Wheelock Place Tel: 6733 1188 Singapore's very own shop who sells upcycled products. It's the go-to place for designer eco brands. Started by Terence Yow, an enterpreneur and self proclaimed "latecomer to the eco-awareness movement", Echo's product consist of bags and accessories. Going green with creativity, I believe, with such innovations, be it in terms of profitability or in going green, if more and more people adopt such innovations, we will all move on to another level. Afterall, green is the new black, right?

alvin2 I feel that it is an excellent idea in utilizing useless products to create things/products that we actually need.

codenamebutter That's true. For the New York Fashion Week a couple of years back, most of the world's biggest names in fashion such as Marc Jacobs, Versace, Jil Sander, and Narciso Rodriguez had joined the eco-scene designer Stella McCartney in participating in Earth Pledge’s FutureFashion runway show, which will feature their one-of-a-kind designs made from recyclable, sustainable, and earth-friendly materials. The show promotes renewable materials and production methods and with the increasing awareness of environmental issues taking root, one would notice that they are much broader options when comparing the price of a normal cardigan to another cardigan with the exact same design but made out from organic cotton.

farhana Just one word: AWESOME(: Yes currently, there are many designers who are trying their hands in going green(read: NY fashion week as highlighted in the above comment) and green trends will then escalate and this is an excellent way to reach out to the consumers out there(:

hanfei Fashion is freedom as some one once said. I guess it's great how people are constantly using fashion to make a statement . This is a great way to recycle , it ought to look great and it will definitely help spread some really important messages across!

crazymadzy Yeah! I have a lot of used green packets in my drawer! I'll pass it to my parents! And yes, i do agree that there are tons of ways to go green during Hari Raya! We can reuse a lot of things! From the fake flowers to the decorations! All we need is to wash them! Hope you guys won't spend too much on new things!

mohammadsyafiq What a great post! Yes, we should do them. Many shoppers from the Muslim community don't know the benefits of going Green yet! :) Hope this would be tackled soon! Have a great fasting month ahead, and spend lesser! :P

dorkyain So true! i always have so many green packets that i don't know what to use it for. It's either i give them to my parents or just throw it away. I think that its good that the older you get the lesser you get so the lesser you can pollute. I can never fit my old shoes so i end up giving them to my younger cousins which they put to good use i hope. oh and you can also reuse those baju kurungs that you cant fit anymore to make your pillow cases or even pencil cases.

alrickoh03 great suggestion. However, i think that it should not just be for Hari Raya. It should be spread across to all sorts of people in Singapore. Such practices could be used and should be encouraged in other yearly events such as Chinese New Year and Deepavali.

codenamebutter That's absolutely true. Especially when there's a lot of things, for every season, that we can absolutely re-use or recycle. For the month of Hari Raya, there's always green(or red if it's CNY) packets that can be re-use. Old baju kurungs can always be re-use by younger siblings or cousins while spring cleaning gives us a lot of opportunities to recycle or give away things we already don't need. For Christmas, one should always sort out the wrapping paper and recycle them, instead of just bagging them together with the trash. So always remember to keep to the 3R's :)

therealjosiah I know right! I collect my old red packets too and give them to my mom, who uses them again next year. Though I must say, she gets some funny looks from relatives every now and then.