The Bliss Of Sleeping In

I hadn't realised that today was a public holiday till Monday, so was very pleased to get a much needed mid-week break.

C mentioned that I neither look nor behave like a 30 year old, but I certainly do feel like it occasionally, especially when it comes to bedtime. Gone are the days of late nights and sleeping for only 3 hours before having to get up for work the next morning. These days, a "late night" is if I sleep at midnight. Oh, the shame!

Anyways, I indulged in a little mid-day nap today and how glorious it was! The clouds had started rolling in, the temperature was dropping with the gusts of wind that blew in through the window. Snugly wrapped in the warmth of my blanket, I drifted off to dreams of pies and lego men.

An hour and a half later, I'm on my way to get my muscles kneaded and my back pounded. Might head to Bishan Park after and enjoy a rainy day with a book and a cup of hot chocolate. Bliss.

Catching Up

Had a lovely time catching up with C tonight, the last time I saw the boy was probably 7-8 years ago! Dinner was at Sushi Tei at East Coast, and one of the advantages of driving (him, not me) is being able to go to out of the way places for food.

Not that Sushi Tei can't be found in town. Lol. (But East Coast is so nice now! I really need to go there more often.)

We had more than 10 years of conversation to catch up on, and updated each other on various aspects of our lives. Our families, marriages, kids, careers, and random childhood memories.

And it was very nice being able
to talk to someone who knows how it was like growing up where I did, and we had a right laugh when we remembered the poppy incident. *grin* Happy times.

Mid Month Updates

Ah, I've finally had time to take a breather after a hectic past couple of weeks. I'm finally done with the bulk of my work trips, one more at the end of the month and then it's HOLIDAYS!!!

Had an awesome birthday party, and much love to LGG and Metamorphoenix for organising everything. We had a tonne of food, even more booze, and the wonderful company of a bunch of friends who made me feel very, very blessed. And a party is not really a party if you don't end up singing Queen songs, which we did aplenty. I don't even remember how we got started, but suddenly everyone was belting out the lyrics to Bohemian Rhapsody and Killer Queen. Lol.

Managed to squeeze in a side trip to Borobudur during my last work trip as well, which was great cos now I can strike it off my list. It was quite an adventure too, with us waking up at 2am to take a car there, only to find that the driver thought he was supposed to come in the afternoon, and then finding a cab who was willing to drive for two and a half hours and back.

Borobudur at sunrise is beautiful, and I can understand why the photography teacher keeps emphasising on the right timing to take beautiful pictures. The lighting at such hours is just amazing, and with fewer tourists around, the pictures are also "cleaner" with no random people in the shots.

Had a lovely dinner with my sister at Lawry's and I can't stop gushing about how delicious their steaks are. Om nom nom nom. She also bought me the Baker's Edge brownie pan from when she was back in the States (I've been eyeing it for YEARS) so maybe I'll bake something for Matt's bbq later this evening. Heehee. Other birthday loot included a tonne of booze from the party (everyone came bearing gifts of vodka and wine), a lovely rose solid perfume (brilliant stuff!), a brand new army bag, and a camera bag to house my new baby. Oh! And the free birthday meals. *burp*

Anyway, there's no significant change in turning 30. Life goes on as usual- I'm not suddenly wiser (actually on the contrary, I think I've gotten a little dumber haha) and there are no life changing epiphanies. But what I do know is that life in the 30s will only get better, so I'm definitely looking forward to that.

Almost There

I'm so glad I'm on the last leg of this trip and going back home tomorrow. I realised the other night that I've been working every single day since 19 September, Saturdays and Sundays included. How depressing. No wonder I'm exhausted!

Semarang is uninspiring, food-wise. We made our way to Kampong Laut last night for seafood, and it wasn't very impressive. Decided to have cake at the hotel lobby since we were so unsatisfied, and it was just as bad. Sigh.

Anyway. One more work trip at the end of the month and I'm done. Yay! Then 2 holidays (wheee!) in November and December, and then it'll be 2012. Wow. Time really passes by so fast.

Alright. Time to finish up breakfast and head on out for my appointments.

长大了

Somehow one usually equates turning older with getting wiser, but that's not necessarily true. Judging by how I managed to leave the house today with dripping wet hair, I'd say my IQ might have dropped a couple of points. (Yes, dripping. The back of my shirt is actually soaked now. Not damp. Soaked.)

Anyways. I'm finally in the same age band as LGG, and cannot officially use youth and it's accompanying stupidity as an excuse to, well, do anything stupid. I could, but then everyone would just roll their eyes. So I have no excuse for the wet hair, really.

Ideally I'd take the day off, but I have to be in the office as my event is tomorrow. Bummer. But that doesn't mean no celebrations tonight.

The girls have planned a party for me. My first! I usually just have dinner at home with family and meet friends for dinner and/or drinks. But I 长大了, and according to them, deserve to have a party to welcome me to the ranks.

A party! With food and booze and more food and even more booze (Apparently there will be 8 bottles of bubbly, red wine and white wine- each. 2 bottles of vodka. And a giant 1.8l bottle of sake. I'm scared). And all my friends. I feel so loved. *grin*

Of course, one of the advantages of hanging out with older friends is that I can never complain that I'm old (cos they are older hur hur) and I have seen how wonderful life can be. Not that I had any doubt, but it's exciting nonetheless.

So bring it on! I'm ready.

Random Toilet Observations

I just realised that I don't think I've ever seen a clean public toilet in India ever. Hmmm maybe at their airport.

Off To Not Mt Bromo

I'm still feeling kinda bummed that I don't have enough time or energy to go to Mt Bromo during this leg of the trip. According to everyone who has been there, it's spectacularly beautiful and is a must-see if you're in Surabaya.

Unfortunately, it requires an overnight stay- so that you can wake up at 4am (or whatever ungodly hour) to see a stunning sunrise. I'd have tried to squeeze a trip in by flying in a day earlier, but the back-to-back trips and the many concurrent events have left me with no choice but to leave a visit to the volcano on my to do list.

One more work trip, then back on 4th in time for my birthday (heh at least I will be in Singapore this year), my event on the 8th, then one more trip 9th. *gulp*

Ah well. Time to check in.

Huat Ah!

This is a bo liao post cos I'm in the office waiting for my temps to finish up and I've got nothing to do. (Or do I hmm..)

Anyway, was browsing around on FB and a friend posts a print-screen of an SMS he gets, saying that he won $2,000,000.00 USD in the lotto. And naturally, being the cock person that I am, I post a congratulatory message saying how lucky he is. A couple more people post similar comments, telling him that he needs to buy us dinner and basically celebrate.

Somehow in situations like this, there is always that one person that just Does. Not. Get. The. Joke. So this person basically tells us off and warns us that it's a spam message. And our "reaction"? One of fake shock and horror. And he still Does. Not. Get. It. and basically replies to say that we have to be careful in the future.

Lol.

Well, I'm sure it's all good intentions. But give us some credit la.

My New Baby

Whee! LGG and I bought our cameras today! We decided on getting a Nikon D3100, and a Tamrom 17-50mm f2.8 lens.

Happiness!

So the three grandmasters are heading to the zoo tomorrow and we're going to test out our new babies. I'm so excited!