New Toy

Yeah, baby!

much better

Made it through Friday without feeling like I was going to fall face first dead asleep. Yesterday I learned that if I'm going to lay my head on my arm to take a nap at my desk, I should push up the sleeve of my cardigan, unless of course I want stripes across my forehead. It's hard to conceal the nap if you have bloody stripes across your forehead, now isn't it?

I was thinking about the time that Lor and me and baby L were trying to find a parking space in the URA carpark next to Wheelock. It's hard to find a park there, but Lor has the magic touch. We were looking to park because Baby L was performing in the Narnia play at Orchard. We drove in and sure enough we saw a space.

I said "Lor, there's a space! quick! no need to reverse*, just go straight in".

"oh no, darling, I can reverse, no worries." Lor said.

"why, darling, must you reverse?", I said. Do you know what she said to me? She said....



"Beecause, eeet's bettah!"



ta-dah! I told you! It's not just some crazy expat Singaporean talking here, people actually say it!


* in the past 3 years, Singaporeans have become obsessed with back-in parking. It's a national obsession. Nobody can tell me the reason why. Why, people, why? Why can't we just park nose in, just once in a while?

sleepy, very sleepy

Yawn...I'm daydreaming of my cozy bed right now. How wonderful it would be just to crawl into bed and close my eyes for just 5 minutes. Just lay down, stretch out and curl up for just 5 minutes. hmmmm, dontcha think that'd be nice? hmmmm.

Yay for home!

Back in Houston! Yay! Had a glorious sleep in my own bed last night. It was glorious and lasted 15 hours. Bliss. :D
Picked up the kittykat yesterday and she was thrilled to be home and let us know in her kittykat way, lots of purring and headbutts. She slept with us for 15 hours too and has been my shadow all day.
Back to work tomorrow.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all.

:)

Sad day

Aaaaaaaah!!! I broke my camera! So devastating and so bladdy stupid. Accidentally spilled water on it. Damnit. Went to Canon Singapore repair place at Harbour Front. And the guy had the tech look at it and he was v. nice to do so as once I told him I spilled water on it, he was like, um, oh dear. I was not to optimistic of the poor camera's chances, but it wasn't like it fell in a bucket of water. Half a cup of water fell on it and I snatched it up immediately. So mad at myself. The tech guy came out and said the usual about electronics contacting water. I asked him if it was a gone case and he said yes. aaaaaaaaaaahhhhh! boo hoo hoo! The camera still comes on and take pictures but shuts off on it's own. I haven't turned it on since yesterday morning at Canon. I'm so sad. No more camera for me.

:(

Yay!

DH is here and I'm sooo happy. We've been having a blast. Tuesday was a hectic day and Wednesday was spent being social. It's his 2nd time here, so he's knows what to expect, but he's still having a hard time with the time difference. It's definitely hard. We're having too much fun.

akan datang

DH arrives tomorrow! Countdown begins! :)

Orchard

Went downtown for the first time yesterday. It was absolutely crazy crowded. Not surprising considering the Christmas rush. It's so dense here, always a crush of people. And I'm becoming reacquainted with the famous Singapore Rudeness. You've heard of road rage, I'm sure, well I dare say there's about to be pedestrian rage over here pretty soon if people don't start acting right. Everybody has their own agenda and god forbid you are walking too slow, chatting with your girlfriend, they will bulldoze right past you. Unfortunately this mentality doesn't carry on to the drivers on the CTE where everyone is driving bloody 60 km/h in a freaking 90 km/h zone. Why people? Why? I don't even get out of 4th gear. So sad. Have to keep reminding myself to put on a happy face. It's so easy to get sucked into the dourness of the city. Just another reminder of why I don't live here any more.

amazing tree

amazing tree

Went for a drive today to one of my favourite places here, Sembawang Park. So much has changed, I always get a little disoriented trying to get there. The roads have changed and some of the landmarks have gone. I really enjoy the beauty of the place. The sounds of the birds and insects in the trees and the smell of the ocean. These are the parts of Singapore that I miss when I'm away. I saw some feral cats for the first time since I've been back. They were trotting around, looking uneasy, poor things. I know cats have had a difficult time here recently.

no blogging, just chilling

Oh my goodness. I'm just sooo relak, all the grrls are back in town and hanging with them. And of course just eating and eating and eating. The food. ::sigh:: We all know Singaporeans love to eat, ya? Today I had the most amazing vegetarian lunch at some crazy food stall called Eight Immortals or something at the bladdy foodcourt at Causeway Point! I know! So v. random. I had some fake chicken which was just insanely good. It looked like sweet and sour, but instead had a smoky flavour to it with a hint of sesame. It was very good. I would have taken a picture, but the food court said No Cameras, for whatever reason.

Still waiting for DH to get here. I miss him! He's coming next week. Next week can't get here soon enough.

good times

So cool to just relax and do nothing. Had a relaxing day which is just what I needed to get acclimated to the time change (14 hours time difference from Houston). Been talking to DH on the phone everyday. Poor guy is going nuts over there. I miss him too! And the cat is acting super needy. Poor baby! I can't wait for DH to get here, it's gonna be so cool. But for now, more relaxing!

I'm here

Finally here. The flight from Houston to Tokyo wasn’t too bad as far as my anxiety goes. (yes, suddenly developed a phobia of flying, actually it's a phobia of turbulence. I'm a wimp) I had a coupla dicey moments but I was able to talk my self back from the ledge, so to speak. I need to write a letter to Continental Airlines…

Dear Continental Airlines,

Please be advised that on flights that exceed 10 hours, it might be wise to feed customers at mealtimes, as you say you promise to do in your pre-flight video. For clarification, 4:30 PM CST and 11 PM CST are not generally known to be mealtimes. Please identify what meal-skipping-time warp the airline travels in.

Also might lave a note to Japan Air Lines…

Dear Japan Air Lines,

I appreciate the concern you have for your passengers, but alerting them to the fact that weather conditions indicate that there will be turbulence during the flight and then leaving the seat belt sign unlit once airborne throughout the whole flight with minimal turbulence is not appreciated. Thank you.

Landed safely without incident. Baggage was not lost. All is good.

Friday was a busy day, doing all the running around official business things that I am here to do. Had fantastic dinner with L & L. I love you guys! Yum Yum. Begun, the eating frenzy has.

Accessing the internet has been dicey, but I'll try to keep posting.

Lawyered up

That's right, you read it.

In other news, I'm getting ready to leave tomorrow! Busy, busy. Too bad I won't be here when the fireworks go off.

ladida

Busy, busy with preparing for the trip and all. The drama with the car continues. Such a long drama, I can't even be bothered to write. Read here for the background. Here's the summary. The reason why Gillman said I didn't have to pay my full deductible when I picked up my car is because they were going to (and did) bill my insurance company for parts that were never used in the repair of my vehicle. When I alerted my insurance company to this, they stopped payment on the check they sent to the Gillman bodyshop. The estimator that I was working with at Gillman started pressing me for the outstanding balance, saying that we had a "misunderstanding". If, by "misunderstanding" you mean, "I'm going to commit insurance fraud so you won't have to pay $200", then Mr. D'Aryani, you are correct. But I'm still not paying you the money. I paid the bill that Gillman invoiced me, in full, and was ready to pay the full deductible but they told me I didn't need to because certain parts did not need to be replaced and were not replaced. So I paid my deductible, less those parts that were not replaced, as was stated on my invoice. What in this transaction, gave you the impression that I consented to Gillman invoicing my insurance company for these parts? So sorry that you have to pay the difference now, but I'm not the one cheating the insurance company or misleading the customer. And no, you may not repossess my car.

Friday Cat Blogging

Behold! Princess Mia Bella receives her Thanksgiving Turkey. Immediately after this photograph was taken, Ms. Mia gave the turkey a cursory sniff and decided it was worth eating.

Eight more sleeps

Eight more sleeps, eight more sleeps, eight more sleeps! till Singapore!