The Pre-Christmas Turkey

Oye I forgot to blog about this! The pre-Christmas turkey that we so painstakingly prepared stuffing for 3 weeks ago? It's not meant to be. *sigh*

Postponed plans to cook the turkey because I decided to traipse off to Bangalore that weekend. And then we had to postpone the cooking of the turkey again because it was LGG's turn to hop off to Goa the following weekend.

And now that all of us are finally in town and ready to stuff some turkey, LGG finds out that Maria thought the stuff had been sitting in the freezer for too long (more than 2 weeks!) and threw it out. Lol!

So we figure, perhaps turkey should only be done during Christmas. No use meddling with tradition and trying to do things when they are not meant to be.

Alas, I'll have to wait a couple more months before I get a taste of Ching's oh-so-famous turkey, but I guess the wait will make it all the more delicious when we finally have it. Hehehe.

Insomnia (Not The Club)

It's 5am and I can't sleep. Dozed off briefly between 3ish and 4ish but it was a very restless sleep, my mind racing with a million thoughts a minute.

Hung out with my sister today. Went to a wedding fair to check out the hotel for a potential wedding venue. There was free food too! I think I've found a new hobby. Lol.

Spoke to one of the wedding planners there and got more information on their wedding packages. There were also a couple of wedding-related vendors and we saw some pretty jewellery as well. Check out www.lingjewellery.com

Headed down to Arab Street and had a late lunch / early dinner at DeliMorocco. Been there once before with cousin.SF and decided to have their chicken tagin with potatoes once again. Yum.

Washed it all down with an iced mint tea and then went to Sufi's to have more iced mint tea and some shisha (mint, of course. Lol.)

We were seated in a cosy corner and played with the friendliest little black cat. Sat back and just chatted all evening. 2 rounds of shisha and more than 3 hours later, we decided to go back home.

Was a very pleasant day. It's nice to hang out with my sis and just chat about stuff. It's been a while since we've both been busy with work and other commitments, and I'm glad we took the day to just spend time with each other.

Lol. It doesn't explain why I can't sleep though. Wonder if I should even bother anymore. Feel like taking a walk outside. Hmm maybe I should.

I Like This Quote

With passion pray.
With passion work.
With passion make love.
With passion eat and drink and dance and play.
Why look like a dead fish
in this ocean of God?

Rumi

Gotta Love My Ex-Boss

Ahh how sweet. Even though he is in New York now, my ex-boss is still looking out for me. Sort of. Here's an email exchange between my ex-boss and one of our agents in Jakarta.

..

Ex-Boss: eh S, Bona is one fun girl and she gg up with another chick called M. Take them out and have a good time ok? Like we always do ok!

Agent: hi hi.. no worries, man! We'll have fun in Jkt so Bona will come here more often =)

Me: Don't worry, S. I'm sure we'll have lots of fun! :) Ex-boss has been telling me lots about Jkt, am looking forward to it hehehe

Agent: Great! Looking forward to meet you =)

Ex-boss: just bring her to get drunk can already cos Bona is an alcoholic. The other girl M dun get to travel much cos she works for C and you know hoe C is so must make this trip worthwhile for her ok!

..

He knows me so well. Lol!

Working Late

Woah it's 9.15pm and I'm still in the office. I haven't done OT in months!

Well I'm sort of done, I'll leave whatever else is left for tomorrow. Now, just waiting for my sister to finish up and she'll pick me up and we'll go for dinner. Woot!

Deja Vu!

Was chatting with LGG on MSN this afternoon when I commented that I was feeling very scattered. Ack! She said the exact same thing one year ago. My life is mirroring hers, except I'm doing everything one year late. How freaky is that?

But one good thing is that at least I know that no matter how crazy the things I do seem, someone else has done it before. No matter how stupid the actions I make are, someone else was just as dumb. And at the end of it all, things will be alright.

Feeling Peckish And Absolutely Wide Awake

Subject header says it all. I had a very full breakfast this morning (4 slices of bread!) before going back to bed. Woke up at about 2ish and had lunch (pasta, and then rice with beed stew) and an early dinner (rice with omelette).

Been snacking since then, having chips and peanuts and a full glass of milk. And I'm still hungry!

Must be cos of all the food blogs I've been reading all day. From cupcake pages to Indian food, it certainly makes me crave for something to eat.

Now the question is, do I look for food or just ignore the rumbling in my tummy?

Bunny the Tourist

Had dinner with Raj, the guy I met on the plane, at Little India last night. I was telling him about my chaat-hunt and he kindly offered to bring me around Little India to satisfy my craving for Indian food.

Met up at Mustafa. He was a tad late as he went to some temple to pray first, so I roamed the aisles at Mustafa and was so tempted to buy Cussons Imperial Leather soap when I saw it. I still remember the ad where they carved little people out of the bars of soap, and the Cussons soap people always lasted longer under the shower. Lol.

Didn't get it because the queue at the cashier was too long so I just walked around until he finally arrived.

Went to one of the restaurants across the road and got a pani poori and bhel chaat. Meh, I wasn't impressed. The chaat I had in India was definitely waay better. We then went to this south Indian restaurant after and shared a mutton soup, briyani, fish tikka and Kingfisher
beer. This meal was yum. Heehee.

Was walking around and just chatting when suddenly he says I look like a smoker. Do I? Hmm. So I told him the first time I inhaled *any* form of smoke was at this shisha joint in Calcutta. And the next thing I knew, we were hopping into a cab on our way to Arab Street.

Found a place that had shisha and we ordered one, as well as a coke each. Spent the rest of the evening chatting about work, living in Singapore, how (un)friendly people are here, relationships and lots of other random stuff.

Headed back at about midnight.

Was supposed to go for the tree top walk at MacRitchie today but plans got cancelled so I'm still in bed. It rained last night and it was so wonderful to just snuggle up in bed under the sheets. Reminds me of the weather in Bangalore. Lol.

--
Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com

Chaat-Hunt

I really think I have an affinity to Indian people. Somehow I make friends with them rather easily, the last time I went to Bangalore, I managed to meet so many new people. I'm even still in touch with the guy who helped me out at the airport!

On my second trip, I met someone on the flight who was going back to see his wife. Had a nice chat with him and ran into him again at the airport on my way back to Singapore. Needed to get some help to top up my phone line and if he wasn't there, I'm not sure how I would have gotten that settled.

Anyway, we exchanged numbers and now we're meeting for dinner tonight. I told him about how I've been craving chaat and that I have never seen it before in Singapore. Woohoo! So we're heading to Little India on a chaat-hunt. Yay!

My Itch Has Been Scratched.. For Now

Was feeling rather restless yesterday, and was trying to confirm details on an upcoming trip. However, my partner-in-crime wasn't able to commit to any travel dates till the end of the month, so I was stuck looking at airline websites but unable to do a thing.

Got to work this morning, logged on, and got a message from Carol. "$8 tickets to Phuket!" She had me at hello. Lol. We decided on the spot and made the booking. Woot!

I'm in SUCH a good mood now, it's ridiculous. Here are my tentative travel plans for the next 12 months:

Jakarta - Sept 2009 (work trip)
Medan - Sept 2009 (work trip - maybe)
Cebu - Oct 2009 (WIP - read above)
Ho Chi Minh City - Nov 2009 (work trip - maybe)
Chiangmai - Dec 2009 (charity walk)
Goa - Dec 2009 (maybe)
Phuket - Jan 2010 (YEAH!!!)
Bali - Mar 2010 (YEAH!!!)
Xi'an and Tibet - June 2010 (WIP)
New York - Sept 2010 (maybe)

*dance*

The Week That Passed

Been rather lazy to update much these couple of days. So to summarise:

- Was still in Bangalore on Monday. Didn't do much, we just stayed in, chilled and hung out. Made our way to the airport in the evening and I got back to Singapore at about 6am on Tuesday. Had some breakfast and then went to the office to shower and change. Thankfully I managed to get an entire row to myself, so I could lie down and sleep during the flight.

- Finally got to see baby Nadia on Tuesday evening! I was on my way to meet Ching and 222 and ran into Eunice and Faisal on the train station. Eunice's dad was waiting for them with baby Nadia in tow, and I have to say she's such a darling! Made my biological clock tick a little faster as I played with her. Lol.

- Had dinner with Ching and 222 at Buangkok and had salted egg crabs. Yum. Also had tom yum soup and vegetables. Had a nice catch up and we have decided that the holiday after next June's Tibetan jaunt will be in Jordan! Haha. Got to get out of the Himalayan region lah.

- Went to see Sanjay to get a prescription and left his clinic with what I needed, plus a vaccination against cervical cancer and a blood test to see whether I'll need further vaccinations again Hepatitis. Lol. Had lunch after and chatted about the different patients that he
gets, which was quite amusing.

- Attended a talk on personality and weight management with Angel yesterday during lunch. Apparently I'm a direct-emotional person, and some of the characteristics include being spontaneous and motivated by fun. Direct-emotional (influencing) people hate routine. How true!

- Met my sister for dinner and went to Holiday Inn Park View to check out the place. Didn't manage to see much as there were major renovations going on, but the service from all the staff was fabulous. Ended up eating at one of the restaurants there, and enjoyed a
one-for-one buffet! Woot!

..

Has it only been 2 full days since I got back? Lol. I feel like going somewhere, anywhere, again.

A Delayed Reaction

Had a sort of meltdown last night. Was in the car with Arjun driving to dinner and chatting about relationships and why people cheat, when suddenly I was hit by such a strong wave of emotion. I don't know how to describe it, but I just remembered everything that happened between the Ex and myself, and I was suddenly so angry, so hurt, so upset and I just had to lash out.

Poor bloke had to bear the brunt of my outburst, and had to endure the silent treatment I was unfairly giving him after. Wasn't angry at him, or at anything he said, but didn't have anyone else to take it out on. *sigh* And I don't even know what exactly I was mad about specifically.

Spoke to LGG and Yummy about it and apparently what I'm experiencing is a delayed reaction to the whole situation. They say it's normal to be angry and that these things take time to heal, even though on the surface everything may look all fine and dandy. I don't know. I haven't really thought about the Ex much, except when it was our non-anniversary and I never expected to have such a reaction. Oh well.

I'm fine now, just a little shaken that I seem to be still affected by this whole thing. But I know, it'll all get better.

Lazy Days Are The Best

I'm in Bangalore now. Decided on a whim to check out ticket prices and they were going for cheap, so I decided to contact my friends here to announce my plans to go over for the weekend and took off the next day.

Got drunk on Friday night, spent the whole of Saturday trying to recover from a massive hangover. Bought some books at Crossword (woot!), lazed at the apartment, watched movies (Hangover, and Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay). Finished reading The Kite Runner.

Getting ready to head out for brunch soon. Need to take a shower and then we'll be off. These are the best type of holidays, I reckon.

What Worm?

It's 5am. Was woken up this morning to the sounds of my mother
pottering about the house. Plus, I think my body just woke up
automatically, since my brain probably figured I'd need some time to
pack my stuff this morning.

*grin*

I love budget airlines and how they've managed to change how people
travel. Air ticket prices can sometimes be so ridiculously low, it's
hard to resist. (How does one say no to SGD110 tickets to Bali?)

Was chatting with LGG about this and we realised our generation of
Planet Zorkians were really badly bitten by the travel bug.

It wasn't unusual for people to declare impromptu holidays, and
everyone just had this yearning to get out and see the world. We'd
come back and share our stories, which only served to momentarily
scratch the itch before wanderlust struck and we had to plan our next
trip.

To most of us, working was just a means to pay the bills and life is
just one long holiday.

Anyway, one more day before the weekend! :)

--
Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com

Bitten By The Travel Bug

I'm so tempted to book a ticket out for the end of the month. *contemplates*

Hello, Bali!

Woot! Airasia is having promotions for air tickets so LGG, Carol and I decided to book tickets to Bali in March 2010. Nevermind that I'm still not sure when my flagship event is going to be, nevermind that I don't know if my leave application will be approved or not (well, it better be!).

Fantastic. I love going for holidays! :D

It's A New Day

Amazing. We're already almost halfway through August! I say this almost every month, but how fast time flies.

It's been an awesome year, I must say. Started in a new job that I like, got to know some wonderful colleagues, had a fantastic boss (who is now in NY but YAY! free accommodation when I go there!), traveled quite a bit, and more traveling on the cards. Sweet.

And the most important bit? Getting my freedom back. Woot!

Anyway, I'm happy. Started out the year with a prediction that things will be good, and guess what? I was right. *grin*

Because We Do Not Have To Go To Work

I love long weekends. The plan for today is to head to LGG's pad and 1. prepare the stuffing for our pre-Christmas turkey dinner 2. have an instant Indian meal (prata plaster + dahl = slurp) 3. go for a nadi leaf reading (Ching, not me) 4. watch DVDs and chill.

Sweet.

I'm in a good mood! Booyah!

Saturday

Watched GI Joe with Alfred on Saturday at Suntec City. Am amazed he still hangs out with me after Wednesday's violent night out. Hahahaha. We were 10 minutes late but the show had already started, whatever happened to the ads that they always run?

The movie was entertaining, I liked it and of course having Channing Tatum as one of the main characters made the show all that enjoyable. *grin*

Met up with LGG after the movie at No5 for 5pm beers and wings and chatted a bit with Steve, and left when Ching arrived. Decided to go for the ice cream buffet at the Swenson's at Ion Orchard. Slurp. There was a 1-for-1 promotion so how could be resist?

Had 8 scoops of ice cream in all, and was freezing by the time I left. But it was good. Ice cream buffets = love.

Wanted to catch another movie after but it was too late, so we just walked around a bit and then headed home. Wonderful Saturday. :D

And For The Record

And I am also immensely grateful that I'm no longer married to that retard. Don't know what I saw in him, my official story is that I was black magicked into it. Lol.

Happy Non-Anniversary To Me!!!

Wow, it's so hard to imagine that if I stayed married, I'd be celebrating my 2nd wedding anniversary. Has it been 11 months since I moved out of the house and has it already been 4 months since the divorce was finalised? Time really flies.

I don't know what I thought I'd feel, but I'm just glad I am where I am today. I am grateful for:

- My family and friends. I've said this many times before, but the people around me really have been awesome. Supportive, loving, caring, kind.

- Meeting new people. I've met so many new people this year, it's been amazing. And I have a feeling that some of these new people are friendships that will stay for a long time. I've also renewed some old friendships from the past.

- My job. I'm enjoying myself so far and while there have been some changes in the manpower structure in the office, I've been able to get along with most (if not all) of my colleagues.

- Music. Haven't done this in a while, but spent the whole evening just listening to tunes. Chill.

- Wanderlust. So many places to see! Glad that I have a couple of trips in the pipeline. Woohoo!

- A strong spirit. I'm glad I know that I can move on, that I can stand on my own two feet, that I don't need to rely on anyone to take care of me.

:D

The Night I Punched My Oldest Friend In The Face

Oh hang on, Alfred isn't the oldest friend I have. That's probably Ki. But nevermind. Oldest MALE friend (cos you know, why would I want to punch Ki?).

Met up with Alfred after work for dinner. I forced him to celebrate getting a new job and chunky pay increase (free dinner!) so we went to that Japanese cafe place at Bugis and had something to eat. Had a nice chat and catch up- the evening was starting out well and fine.

Was not sure where to go after, so he asked me if I've ever been to this place called Howl at the Moon. Actually I'm not sure if he was suggesting we go there, or if he was just making conversation, but somehow or another I told him that we should just go there.

Had a couple of drinks (ok more than a couple, maybe 5?) and the night started innocently enough. The music was good, and I was enjoying myself. I'd attempt to describe how the place is like, but am feeling lazy (plus I'm late for work, again) so go do a search for it. Anyway at one point they ask for someone to go up on stage and Alfred points to me, saying that it's my first time and I get hauled up.

I spin some Wheel of Mayhem or dunnowatsitcalled and eventually I have to drink a shot. The audience is asked what they want to put inside and soon shouts of Jager! Vodka! Tobasco Sauce! Baileys! Whiskey! were being heard. Instead of a shot glass, the guy comes back with a FULL glass of what looked and smelled like vomit and then after singing a little ditty I was made to down the whole thing.

Woah, potent stuff. I walked back to my table and somehow thought that punching Alfred was a good idea. I was aiming for his chest, but alchohol and hand-eye-coordination don't quite go hand in hand. Lol. Missed and punched his face.

SORRY ALFRED.

Anyway, had some water, finished up my drinks and then he sent me back. I was sloshed. I don't know what the heck was inside that thing, but all the drunken SMS-es that I found in my phone were all full of typo errors. (My drunken SMSes are usually spelled properly, they just don't make any sense. Or are declarations of love and eternal friendship.)

Well, that's the night I punched my oldest friend in the face. 14 years of friendship and he gets a knuckle sandwich from me. Lol.

New Discovery: The Green Room

Just spent a wonderful evening with LGG and Carol at this place called the Green Room. It's located at Bishan Park, somewhere near the Aramsa Spa. Fantastic place. It serves organic vegetarian food, but the food was quite tasty, although it takes quite a bit of getting used to the soy flavour in some of the foods that they had.

Good company, great conversation, lovely ambience. The entire evening felt really zen and chill and time just flew by so quickly when we were there.

..

I've been thinking about how lucky I am to have the people that I have in my life. Everyone around me just makes my life so much more interesting and colourful. I'd say more but I'm quite tired, lol.

What A Way To Start The Week

My office laptop died while I was in India. Turns out, the hard disc is shot and now I've lost all my files. Sigh.

 

Anyway, meeting LGG so all's good. Time to leave the office. Taa!

Home Sweet Home

Ah it feels good to be back. I've said this many times before, but India was a real hoot. It was such a crazy fun experience and I really enjoyed myself- probably a lot more than expected. But still, nothing beats coming home.

The last couple of days in India went by so fast. My colleague, Jady, joined in me in Delhi. We completed the presentations in all the schools and then took a day trip out to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort. Go see pictures on Facebook. :D

Napped for a bit when I got home yesterday and then went out with my sister to watch the latest Harry Potter movie. Had fish soup for dinner (soup! slurp) and gotb some popcorn for the show. Wasn't too impressed by the movie, should have watched Ice Age 3 or something else instead. Ah well.

I have to be in the office in 15 minutes but I'm still in bed, and in my PJs. Feeling really lazy. Lol. But I'll have to go soon. Yawn.