It hurts.

lonely planet?

I notice there are more and more "travel & living" genre of show on tv recently. What is actually the purpose of these documentaries? To cater to an increasing number of travellers as flying become cheaper and more accessible? Or conversely, for the potato couch who never actually leave the comfort of their home and venture into the unknown.

Ah, maybe its just light entertainment for insomniacs like me.

lonely planet?

Insomnic serial loving cynic

I have been trouble sleeping the last few weeks. Naps don't work anymore... sigh... I wonder if it had something to do with the late nights I spent watching Cantonese serials. I am so hooked. Not only to one... but I seem to be on the quest for another one and another one and another one after the previous one ends.... I overheard some aunties in the saloon today and discovered that I have covered all the serials that they were watching. Have I just fast forward my life by 10 years? What do I finally do when I hit 40? Walk my cat?

As for the cynic part, I was chided by Anthony twice today for passing out sarcastic negative discouraging and judgemental remarks in a nasty tone every time he tried to tell me his self-inducing problem. It was hard for me to be empathetic recently as I have been hearing his excuses for commiting the same mistake for the last six month. I am never a patient girl to start with.

CL2

We finally have a decent Chinese linguistic school here. I have attended my trial lesson last Tues and am looking forward to my next lesson. Mother in law is teasing me on how long I will persevere as the timing is hunger inducing - 6.30-8.30pm.

I wouldn't have believe it if anyone ever told me 16 years ago that I will go to a Chinese lesson willingly after I hit 30. I wouldn't even do it for free for my favourite Wu Lao Shi then, when she gave us remedials...

tick tock tick tock

I am still waiting for the Samsung mechanic that was supposed to be here at 11am this morning.

This is something that me & J can never get used to, and it never fails to boil our blood after this happen 100 times. These people never keep their appointments and never have the courtesy to give us a call if they 1) will be late, 2) will not be turning up.

This one had the audacity to tell J that his supervisor disallowed him to come?!?!?! what the %#$&^%@!!! When we asked to speak to his supervisor, he said the latter is in a meeting. Finally someone called, remade an appointment and tick tock tick tock, he is already 10 mins late.

I HATE THE TV REPAIRMEN, THE CABLE GUY, THE CURTAIN GUY, THE CAR SALES GIRL, THE CONTRACTOR, THE DESIGNER!!!!

Sense

I love the smell of clean laundry!

Cloudy

J has been in a foul mood since Monday. I think he is overhyped about everything in the shop. Running it, fixing the leak, firing a mechanic, blah blah blah.. but that's work isn't it. At times, I think he sweat the small stuffs unneccesarily. Dilated pupils, heighten toned voice, faster vowels, deep breathing... I told him he is too much of a whiner sometimes.

Maybe everyone is made of different ingredients. He always put his 100% into everything he does (neat, clean, well planned) and burns out quicker than I do. Yeah, yeah, I admit it. I just like to get things done and think while I talk, and do while I think and do while I talk. Ok, ok, I needed more turns to get some things right but I don't freak out that easily.

Look, I had to deal with checking payments, month end closing, saloon, niece & nephews birthday gifts and running to two banks today too. Without these, what do we do with all that time on our hands?!

Day Dreamer

I wanna I wanna

eat vietnamses egg noodles in San Francisco!

walk along the streets of Las Vegas at night!

eat Pho in San Jose!

Bai Kut Fan in L.A.

Catch a movie in Universal Studio in L.A.

shop in Macy's along Union Sq.

Walk along Ocean Beach

For the last 203 days,

It has been so long that it took me 6 tries and 20 mins to get in here.

Actually, it took a broken tv to get me here.

Our one year old tv suddenly contracted cancer and there is a permanent black strip on the LCD screen now. tsk tsk tsk. J was stressed out cause he use it to wind down after a hard day's work and today, he really needed it. Well, well, it was a blessing in disguise as we talked and looked at each other more than usual tonight. And we drove out to get a chocolate sundae to kill some time. He actually asked me out for a drink tonight (ah... thoes good ole days) but we got lazy after dinner and my recent dandraff problem made me err... you know... hee hee hee..

Accomplishments over the last several months? Media successes include:
- Ugly Betty
- 24 (season 1 to 4)
- Queen of Hearts (Korean series)
- Tang Xin Feng Bao / Heart of Greed
- Shanghai Tan (Newest Chinese version)

What else what else....
- Highlight of the year would be J's and M's wedding in April. We attended their Australian reception later that same month. It was held at an old mansion. Beautiful and intimate... surrounded by close friends and immediate family members. A total of 60 guests I think. J brought me to see the Seven Apostles. Several was lost or destroyed by time and nature. There was this one where the "bridge" broke and stranded a couple who was having an affair at other edge. Their pictures were taken with their hands over their faces...

what else what else....
- A trip with niang jia to Jiu Zhai Gou was unforgetable too. It was hard to get mum out on a sightseeing trip. We finally got her to go after Dad promised her the last stop would be Hong Kong. hahahhahah... 2nd bro and wife were left out this time as they had to take care of the kids and house.

what else what else...
- Jacky Cheung concert was great too. The whole family went to watch it and we even brought one of our cousin along. This was the first time all of us went for a holiday together. Hee hee... Squeezy squeezy... but worth it. Actually, mum enjoyed it so much this time that she is still in Singapore this very moment! It was a pitty J can't join us this time and I had to leave after 2 days there. The worst thing was I didn't get to meet Kathy as promised. My long lost first best friend from primary school. Yeap.. I didn't even have time to call her for a chat. The next trip to Singapore wouldn't be much different. 3 days with J and it would be more to accompany him as it has been a while since he took a hoilday.

Even though it will just be a short trip to a close destination, I have already jotted down places to go and food to eat. I know we seldom keep to our plans but just writting and planning them made going double the fun!

yeay!

Insufficient town.

1. Collect repaired bag for mil
2. Buy milk powder for Shir's baby
3. Buy coffee for Shir
4. Buy medication for Uncle Lai
5. Repair watch
6. Bring Cand's camera for repair
7. Collect spareparts for Dad
8. Pay insurance for Ant

As the days go by, as we keep delaying our trip to Singapore, my to-do list keeps getting longer... and only one is my own.

I need to start charging people for this.

Health Check 1-2-3

Dry lips

Dry cough

Thick yellow flem

Blocked nose

Headaches

Pain between the eyes

Diarrhea

Sorethroat

-Feels quite sick-

What do you do?

God must have granted what I asked for in a semi-permanent way.

I remember wishing I wouldn't have to go to work during one of my difficult times in Singapore and now I got it. In fact, I have not been working that much for two years now. I must have sounded really desperate then.

What's this?! I go to the office, surf the net a little, wait for lunch time then home.

I looked over the accounts, made some adjustments here and there and corrected some reporting errors. But that took only one week.

This company truly is for self motivating individuals only.

My boss/ father asked me to look for my own work and responsibilities.

ADAM lied?!

They reported the number of injured and deaths, lying about finding the wreckage.

Geez.

Movies Mania

I don't know if we are a little behind but here's the list of movies we just caught

1. ERAGON (WHEEEEeee)
2. Curse of the Golden Flowers (see what unresolved tension & differences between a couple can do)
3. Thank You For Smoking (hee hee)

4. Night at the Museum (Jumanji II)

My favourite is Eragon. I lay awake in bed that night wishing for a pet dragon and magic powers too.

Such an angry little person

Why is it that when my dad or when my bro talk, all the staffs whimpered and scurried to their attention.

But when I talk, they try to ignore... I have to raise my voice in a harsh tone before they stand up straight.

I think it has something to do with me being built this way - 1.65m, skinny, without a penis.

It takes a man to make things move in this country. Don't be fooled by the previous woman president we had. She didn't last long did she?

Back in the neighbourhood.

I am overwhelmed with joy. After being away for so long, it feels so so wonderful to read about an engagement, motherhood and the new experiences everyone is going through. My heart is singing with joyous Christmas carols! (yes yes, theoretically the carols were overdue). And I had great fun attempting Andrea's "Who owns the fish?" puzzle. I had so much fun that I printed out two extra copies and passed them to my brother and cousin to work on. The Brother is still spinning his pencil and pulling his hair beside me. hahahhahah

JUMPING TO the hot topic of the week ... ...
OLD & NEW...

The year 2006. Most my friends had an eventful year with new homes, new babies, new marriages, new jobs, new countries, a new tummy (it was tucked)... I think the babies topped my list. That's quite logical given I am supposedly at the (Indonesia's) national average child bearing age and most of my friends are too.

I would say mine is no different. Went through the wedding, got a new address, got a driver's license, moved to a new job that was as boring as the previous one. Like the year before the last, I have consistently managed to achieve nothing much. I supposed we will always have the following year to look forward to. If I sounded somewhat negative, blame it on my flu or the medication I am taking.

Whatever it is, I hope the new year will only get better. Cause I need more hope and faith to be happy living here.

Blessings counted?
1. I found my best friend from Primary school after 15 years and will be meeting her in 10 days
2. I started work on my future's baby's room (not planning on a kid until Y2008)
3. Long lost friend from No.1 above got me my A Maths text book to sharpen my brains (once again)
4. More quality family time
5. I am still buddies with my two best pals here
6. I read more books as per my last year's resolution

There. I feel much better now.

Leap

Every time my brains go through a leap backwards I have to go through a depressing stage. Have you seen the size of them. Its the size of a pea.

I lashed it out on dozens of pineapple tarts, hours of sitcoms and bouts of arguments.

I don't feel better.

Why is it just months after the wedding, I am beginning to have doubts? Is it the stage where all wives and husbands go through at intervals of their marraige. We are not fighting about anything at the moment. So this discontentment just stem out of nothing.

It's the bottled rage inside me. From the driver who hit my cousin with his car then with his fist without a word after cutting into our parking space. I get flashbacks of the incident once in a while, many times changing the scene to what I could have done to help. I was not the principal in the incident but it traumatized me in its own way. I feel violated. And I don't want to bring up my kids in such a society. The security guards let the hitter go scoot free lying to us that they will get him at the exit. Bastards.