I feel like crap.
Today started when I woke up with this darn pain in my throat. Couldn't swallow anything. Not even water.
Wasted $30 to get some antibiotics from a nearby GP, which is something I don't usually do for such a trivial thing as sore throat. Last time I took any antibiotics was at least almost 2 years ago I believe. But this one was a killer.

Anyway, it's just that I have tons of things to do. I need to clean up my room as this place is gonna be the HQ for the next few days. We're gonna be packed like sardines for at least a week. I need to be the driver for the next few days, picking up people from Harbourfront. Grandpa's b'day dinner is scheduled to be this saturday. And I have that thing going on on Sunday (Keeping my fingers crossed).

With those kids running around, I definitely don't want my virus to be spreading around.

Gosh, I hope this thing goes away soon, before they get here.

U-turns

Over after-lunch coffee today, a friend told me that it's okay to make U-turns along the way.
An interesting point....

I feel so bad for complaining about being bored to everyone.... including to a friend who has to deal with a member of his family's health condition. I really didn't know the situation when I chatted with him and I still know very little now.

I really should start shutting up one of these days.

one lazy sunday

Today was definitely a family day for me. The morning was spent at home with my relatives, with a treat of my aunt's homemade mee-siam. Afterwards, it was shopping time with my granma and my aunt, followed by a movie with my little cousins. I decided to give them a treat to the movies on their last sunday before the school starts tomorrow.
Not sure if the choice of the Omen was a good move, but heck... the youngest one in the group was the only one who did not respond (at all) to the typical sudden attacks of (slightly) creepy images in the movie.
It was actually a tad disturbing to see how he wasn't disturbed at all by the movie.

I had a snack at Pepper Lunch (or at least I think that's the name of the place) before the movie, and I loved their Shake! Shake! Salad, or whatever it is they call it, which is basically just a small serving of salad in a clear plastic cup with a lid. All three types have a bit of udon at the bottom.
I tried the seaweed salad, and it's really quite nice. At the very least, it's definitely a good change from the other salads I've found here with the typical creamy dressing.
Looking forward to try the other two.

Hm.... I wonder if I stand a better chance keeping track of my salad hunt than my weird cabby rides, which have been seriously depleting in frequency since I'm not back in school yet and thus can still "steal" my aunt's car from her when she's not going to her classes.

One of my best friends asked about my plan and whether or not I have considered going back to US.

Gosh.... I think I can come up with at least a 5000-word paper as the answer.
On second thought, maybe two words will do:
Dream on...

Happiness is a matter of choice. Either you choose to be happy or you don't.

Great! It's just bloody great then!
As if the whole idea of the month of the hungry ghost is not enough to make me nervous.... this year we have a double shot of it:
Two servings of the seventh month according to the Chinese lunar calendar.

Great!
I can just picture sequels of the horror movies from previous years are gonna be popping up all over the island, with titles like the Maid Returns, the Eye (again). Wonder if they'll follow the path of King Kong vs. Godzilla and probably come up with What to Wear: the Red Shoes vs. the Ring.

Maybe I should go to the temple one of these days....and ask for one of those protective charms.

In the mean time, I'm just gonna train myself not to turn around when I hear someone calling from behind. Hope it works.

Singapore City tour

I spent today with my sis-in law who was in town for 20 hrs.
She only had less than 5 hrs of sleep last night. With her need for adequate beauty sleep, I bet today must have been hell for her.

I think today was one of my record-breaking driving day. I woke up at 6.30. Drove to Queenstown to pick up my sis-in law and her dad. After a quick breakfast at Redhill. Had those nice chwee-kuays with stinkifully yummy chai-poh with sesame seed. Afterwards, it's off to Toa Payoh Central. Half an hour there, and we moved on to Chinatown. Dropped my sis-in-law's dad off there and later dropped her off at Orchard before I flew back to Teban Gardens to get the wallet I had left behind. Hit the road right away after I grabbed what I needed, and drove back to Orchard to meet her. We spent 2.5 hrs there -- the usual Ngee Ann-Wisma-Isetan round - and then rushed back to Queenstown. There was some final packing and then it's off to Changi. Rushed check-in as they changed to an earlier flight and then it was me, myself and I all the way back West.

I'm exhausted just thinking about it, but I had more fun today than the past 3 weeks I've been here.
I've been bored stiff.
At least today was quite productive in my opinion.
At least I was getting things done.

Anyway, I found a relatively nearby community centre offering a number of classes that I'm really interested in. Pilates! YOGA! Tons of yoga classes! They have a couple of them instead of just a single class as in the one centre closest to this place. And guess what? They also have French! Oui! Oui!
And jewelery making too!

I'm gonna sign up a.s.a.p....

Anyway, looking forward to July 2nd.
Hopeful. Excited. Anxious. Nervous. Scared.

I got the letter today.
How do you keep your cool, when something that you've been wishing for is laid out in front of you?

The problem is...there are tons of others in the same spot as you.
I don't wanna keep my hopes up but I think a little bit of confidence would be good. I don't wanna go to a battle thinking I'm gonna lose.

Gosh, I really want this so much. It'll be a huge help for me...

A quick recap

I've finally gotten around to clear up some of the pics from my cell phone.
A quick recap :












2 hours of my dad's driving to Bandung last month. I found out later that my poor cousin sitting at the back seat was car-sick the whole way. She did her best to sleep it away.
The white cloud-like thingy actually covered the top of a mountain in the area. Don't ask me what the name is.... I think I surrendered all my local geography knowledge the day I finished primary schoool.













After the 2 hr drive and being stuck in a traffic jam at the Pasteur tollway exit, was treated to this view from our rooms at the hotel.
I LURRRVED IT!!!!












Enjoying the warm fire and the soothing live light jazz music performance.












But three days and two nights afterwards, was sent back to this type of traffic back in Jakarta.


Irrelevant to the trip, I wonder when I'll see this youngest cry baby in the family again..... She's gonna be another American woman by the time I see her.












Aurelle the cry baby...
Pity I didn't get to spend a lot of time with her....

I'm so fed up right now. Just freaking FED EX-tremely up.
Fed up with people treating me as if I have some kind of infectious disease.
Is being single and not dating really such a bad thing?
Why do people pick on singles just because they are?

I guess I'm just more offended that I thought I was... well, more than I would normally expect as I usually take this kind of crap with a stride.

I guess what's bugging me is not really the pressure I get for being single.
It's the attitude I've been getting for not dating.... People treating me as if I'm some mutant -- not in the cool Xmen way, but more in the deformed human with 8 heads, 40 fingers and 3 tails way.

People seem to be so engrossed in trying to identify what is wrong with me.
Why don't you just go and find the cure for AIDS? You should really spend your time on more useful things.

But nothing beats today.

And what the heck did she mean by : "Oh no... you're wrong. My case is not even remotely as bad as hers (i.e. Mine in this case). I'm in a much better position than her."
WTF?
Go to hell... , Miss Big-Hotshot-Oh-I'm-so-cool-and-smart-and-cute...
F off. You're not all that , ok?
I wish I could say that straight to her face.
The only problem is even if she were here, I'm not really allowed to say that to her for multiple reasons. Mostly not involving her though.

OK... I know I'm gonna regret it if I post this grumpy note. I'm almost regretting it right now.
But I couldn't care less at this moment.... I'm so fed up right now I would've screamed like nuts if only my gramps were not sleeping soundly in the next room.

I mean, it's already annoying that my parents criticize the way I talk, the way I walk, the way I drive, the way I go out on late saturday night "outings" with the few friends that I have, the way I look....

Can't tell my parents to buzz off though. They freakin' brought me to this world!!!

And I know they love me. They're just worried. They were raised to have a fixed picture of how life for their big little girl should be and it's not turning out the way it should be.

But what's the deal with this one biatch?

Seriously, I hate assholes who put people down just to make themselves feel better. GO TO HELL.

Good news: The professor who offered me a job got his grant proposal approved.
Bad news: Must really catch up on the statistic skills.
Good news: I have a whole month to do that since nothing will start until at least early July.
Bad news: I don't have anything else to do for a whole month!!!!
More bad news: This usually translate into MORE FAT!!!

I'm dead meat.

What to do... what to do??
Ladeedee.. Ladeeda..
Dumdeedeedeedeedum... deedeedum...deedeedeedeedum....

Anyway, the 2-day shopping excursion is killing my feet today.
I'm so tempted to throw away my new wooden clog with rubber soles... ( I know... they sound silly, but they seriously looked so good in the store).

So my plan to take a picture at 6.06 am or pm on 06/06/06 blew up.
I was fast asleep in the morning, too exhausted to get up early after spending the whole day shopping with my mom and aunt on Monday. In the afternoon, I was driving them around on their second round of shopping spree. ...

It's OK though.... I'm looking forward to 8 am of 08/08/08 now.... think it'll be a better number for me. My plan is basically still the same though.. Gonna try to find apt # 8-08 of block 8 or 88 in the city.
Boy would my dad love that....

Anyway, can't write too much this time. It's 11.30 and I need to get up at 4 am, to get ready and drive my parents to the airport.
Hope I don't doze off on the way back.