Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Classified and Birthday!

I'm sure you are all just sitting on the edge of your seat just dying to know what the big excitement is. Well, it's a good thing and I don't want to say anything about it yet until it's done, which once it is, will result in the transformation of my status. Sounds like I'm having a sex reassignment, isn't it? But no! But my status will change, doors will open and my wings will sprout (trying to be poetic here, and failing miserably). I'm sure people in the same boat will know immediately what I'm referring to, like these guys. Thanks for all the good wishes.

More importantly, today is my husband's birthday! Happy Birthday husband!!! I'm glad you liked all your gifts from me and the cat! We love you.

Here's a tease for my next topic: more drama about the car accident I had in Oct. This time from the body shop...very shady. Still deciding whether I can write about it or not, um, for legal reasons. I told you it was drama!

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Singaporegrrl goes to Singapore!!!

Yes!!!! OMG jumping for joy over here. Yesterday I got notification of something that I've been waiting for for a long, long time - like 3 years. So now I get to go back and close the book on it, actually going next week! I've been waiting so long for this, I'm just giddy with excitement.

Monday, November 28, 2005

Finished 2nd birthday book

Just finished reading Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. The book provides a very interesting insight to how a lot of the food, mainly beef, gets to the hands of the fast food restaurant consumer. The book was first published in 2000 and it took me this long to get to it, because, mainly I was afraid that once having read it, I would never eat again! tee hee hee. :) Most of the information in the book was unknown to me and only one part will remain a mystery: I had to skip over the pages where the author described the actually killing of the cows, my heart just couldn't bear it. I don't think it's a political book or controversial book, though I can see how it could be construed as such.

I remember many hours of my youth at McDonald's in Far East Plaza (which I don't think is even still there having been usurped by the evil Starbucks) hanging out, eating, drinking cokes, and participating other assorted teenage activities with my friends. Although the food in S'pr is varied and outstanding, Mc's was always a perennial favourite. Nowadays, I can't even tell you the last time I had anything fast food. No more fast food, no more cokes, no more meat, but life is good. I might have had a big mac once, possibly in 1999, when I was visiting MN in Melbourne, just for old time's sake! I had a girlfriend in French class in secondary school who was a vegetarian and she had never had a burger in her life. That was beyond comprehension to me at that time.

I remember when Mc's first came to S'pr and mom took my sister and I. We liked it, but my mom didn't, saying it didn't taste like real food. Interesting. I remember that I recently, like within the last 5 years, came to the realisation that the meat in the burgers is not from the same cow and that freaked me out. I don't know why I had never thought of it before. Needless to say, I don't eat meat. Not for any political reason, though I know more about that aspect now and can sprout off this statistic and that, but simply because I don't like the way meat tastes, even when I was a child, I remember this. Though, it becomes extremely difficult to maintain my veggieness when I go back to S'pr and have access to all the glorious food. How? No chicken rice? No satay? Cannot tahan (stand). Just thinking about it now is making me hungry. Eat what you like, enjoy life. Be happy.

Friday, November 25, 2005

Friday Cat Blogging


Behold! Princess Mia Bella demonstrates the fine art of napping on somebody else's bed. I wish you all the luxury of being able to nap like a cat.

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Car accident quota for the year filled.

Yes! It's true! I started off with a class 2B (motorcycle, yes at SSDC) in 1992, didn't get class 3 (motor car, in Austin, TX) until 1994, never had an accident in either type of vehicle in any country, ever, until 2005. One of the best compliments I ever recieved was from my late cousin, Adam, who said that he felt so comfortable being my passenger because I was such a good driver, as it is hard for him to relax when other people drive him because he is a professional driver! But now, ta-dah, 2 "accidents" in 2 months. grumble, grumble, mutter, mutter. Actually I didn't have another accident, I was backed into as I was backing out of a parking space at Walgreen's. Hurumph.
So v. irritating. There was no damage to either vehicle, so I couldn't care less. The noise it made when we bumped was so loud, it made me jump. Just v. irritated for not preventing this easily preventable collision. Sometimes I park facing in, sometimes I park facing out. I used to park far away from other vehicles, to avoid the door dings and such, maybe I should started doing that again. Carparks are a lot more spacious here than in S'pr, but I still kena (literally: got it).

Damn.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

untitled

I read with excitement today that Mrs. brown had the baby! Congratulation Mr. & Mrs brown. I have been reading mrbrown.com since 1997 - so long ago! I don't even remember how I came across it. I kept coming back to read the Singapore National Educational writings, they were so funny. I read when Faith was born, so exciting, kept checking back for sporadic postings and SNEs. And then Isaac was born, also v. exciting. Then the new site and format changes. And now, ta-dah! Joy is born. tee hee. I'm so excited like I actually know these people. Kind of, but not really. Quite strange but maybe not. I've followed their lives, albeit, the side that they allow the public to see, and I feel compassion for them, even though I have never met nor spoken or even seen one single brown in my life!

On the flip side, one of my boss's father passed away today. Being such a small company, he would come in to the office every now and again, have lunch with us. He was a joker and always had fascinating stories to tell. He had been sick for the past few weeks, so I suppose this wasn't out of the blue. But even if you can see it coming, it doesn't make it easier to deal with when it arrives, I think.

I think life is amazing and fantastic and I try not to take it for granted. I choose to cherish the people that I care about in my life. I can only hope that they know this. Life is too short not to be happy.

Monday, November 21, 2005

Still haven't won

Still have not won Lenny Kravitz tickets, but not for lack of trying, I have gotten through to every call in that I have attempted on every single station, 93.7, 94.5, 96.5, 104.1, and 103.7 but have never been the right caller number that they are looking for. Can you imagine? But it is not for naught as DH, which by the way stands for Dear Husband, not his initials, went out, actually didn't go out, went to the computer on bought the damn tickets when they had a presale last week. He so took pity on me and my tales of almost winning. Yippee! That's Christmas pressies for each other taken care of!

I was looking online today at possible vegetarian thanksgiving dishes to prepare, but OMG, the amount of effort that it takes, especially for someone who loves to eat, but hates to cook is enormous. I will check out WFM (I have to abbreviate becase they are very touchy sensitive about what their name is associated with, and I don't know how objectionable my blog is perceived to be) later to see if they have any quick and easy solutions for the lazy cooking-impaired vegetarian in the house.

Friday, November 18, 2005

Quiet Friday

Quiet day today, with a coupla things going on. Found out earlier this week that JAM is leaving for Iraq tomorrow. :( V. scary prospect for me, but not for her or else she wouldn't be going. I miss her already. She's been "away" for 2 weeks already for "processing". I hope that we will be able to keep in touch when she is there.

The other thing floating around my head is my sis cutting herself off from the family. The details of which are too personal for me to post, suffice it to say that we all want her to be happy but none of us can make her happy. I'm just stunned that someone would cut off their family like this. At the end of the day, who else will you have? It's very upsetting for my parents of course. I have extended the olive branch, but have had no response. I guess that means I'm cut off too. Wait and see, I suppose.

Friday Cat Blogging

IMG_1506Behold! Princess Mia Bella. Waiting for her nemesis, The Mousie, to reappear.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Crazy luck

Oh man! I've been trying to win concert tickets on the radio. The first concert ticket I tried to win was a couple of weeks ago for U2. I don't remember which station was giving them away. I already had the number stored in my phone. They did the announcement and I was speed dialing like a fool. 2 handed, I had to pull over in a parking lot. Press Talk, engaged tone, End, Talk, engaged tone, End, Talk, engaged tone, End, Talk, engaged tone, End, Talk, engaged tone, End, Talk, engaged tone, End, Talk, engaged tone, End, Talk, engaged tone, End, Talk, engaged tone, End, Talk, engaged tone, End, maddening isn't it? Talk, engaged tone, End, Talk, engaged tone, End, Talk, engaged tone, End, Talk, ringing, about to press End, no it's RINGING. So heart starts racing cos I got through, ring ring ring and then they answer tell me I'm caller 6 and they want caller 9! Aw man! So close!

Yesterday, they started announcing the Lenny Kravitz concert on KRBE. They were looking for caller number 104, so I started calling like a maniac. Call, engaged tone, call again. 10000 times. And then it's starts ringing. AGAIN. And then they answer and tell me I'm caller number 51! Man! I'm listening to 94.5 the buzz right now, waiting for them to make the announcement to call in to win tickets. I have the number stored in my phone, ready to go. I'm gonna win those tickets, baby!

::Update::
Haven't won yet! But I'm gonna!

Monday, November 14, 2005

Faith

Looking forward the DH's birthday and MIL's birthday which will be at the end of November. Oops, and Thanksgiving next week. I think I'm beginning to enjoy Thanksgiving now that I've been here in the States for 11 years. I appreciate how family oriented it is and I enjoy that aspect of it. I'm not in it for the turkey or whatever else food, cos I'm a ::gasp:: vegetarian. One year, H2O and I decided to cook and got ourselves a tofurkey. I've had some great fake meats, but sorry to the folks at tofurkey, but it was awful. I think that was, maybe, the Tofurkey Debacle of 2000! I used to go to H2O's family's house every year after I moved to Houston and I really feel the love from her whole family. Ever since I started seeing DH, we would go to his mom's then his grandparents and also H2O's. Thanksgiving day would always be a big eating fest. I love the deserts because I am, after all, a Libra. I used to go shopping the day after Thanksgiving when I first came to the States, 'cos that's what everyone said you're supposed to do. I don't do that anymore, the crowds are insane, and I never did inherit the shopping gene.

I'm looking forward to the break next week and getting excited about birthdays and Christmas after that. I'm working on my gift list and I think there's going to be lots of happy people on my list! It's hard being away from home during the holidays, but I'm excited this year because I have a new family and this will be my first Christmas as a Mrs. I love all my family unconditionally and we've had a hard week dealing with my sister who appears to be estranging herself from the rest of us. I'm not sure what to do about it. I just don't think that anything I could say or do will change the way she feels. I don't really care how it affects me, but I hate to see how it hurts my parents. I have to rely on my faith on this one. I woke up this morning and told myself that I choose to be happy today. I'm focused on the positive right now because I don't allow anything to dictate how I feel except me. Ultimately I really believe that the choices one makes are exactly that, choices. So my choice is to look forward to spending time with my new family in the U.S. and continuing to look after my family in S'pr and praying for my sister to find her happiness.

Friday, November 11, 2005

Wanted!


Almost out of Time Out! How now? My sis brought boat loads when she came for the wedding and now I've almost eaten it all. Damn. It's my favourite choc and I have never seen it in the whole entire state of Texas. If you see this chocolate, please let me know.

Friday Cat Blogging


Behold! Princess Mia Bella indulging in some tunajuice. It's the cat's meow! ::ducks from objects thrown::

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

F.O.N. in November

Election day was yesterday and here in Texas, everybody was in a frenzy about 1 particular propostion, Prop. 2, which would change the Texas Constitution to make marriage between partners of the same sex illegal. Now, marriage between two people of the same sex is already illegal in Texas. But making this change to the Texas constitution makes it more illegal and harder to undo because it would be written into the state constitution. I'm not sure why this Proposition was on the ballot. I don't get to vote yet, but I'm working on it, but in the meantime I'm at the mercy of the people who do get the vote. I believe this Proposition to be legislated discrimination against other human beings, just like, not so long ago, marriage between people of different races was illegal in the U.S. This being the case, I, myself would not even have been able to marry this past October, nor my own parents, had they been American and lived in the U.S at the time they were married. Very scary thought! Perhaps it's my own naïveté about the issue or lack of understanding of the political process, but I just don't feel it's fair. There are more important issues affecting the US other than the gay marriage debate.

Monday, November 07, 2005

Last word on the insurance co.

So how's this for logic. After the unfortunate car accident, we took the eclipse to the bodyshop at Gillman Southwest. The independent appraiser came and estimated damages at $2350.93 (don't forget those 93 cents!) and sent the paperwork off to my insurance company. They sent me a cheque for the amount less my deductible ($500). 2 days after getting the cheque, Rocky at Gillman Collision Center calls to say that the final cost of the repair will be less because they ended up not having to replace the window as the glass was not damaged. I'm glad they don't have to replace the window, but now I'm concerned because the cheque amount is now wrong. He tells me not to worry about it. I'm like, are you serious?, I'm supposed to pay my deductible of $500, this has got to be illegal. He doesn't say that it is, but he doesn't say that it isn't. Very dodgy. When I pick up the car, I give them the cheque from the insurance co. and pay them the difference which ends up being $291.25. So for the next few days, I'm wracked with guilt about the difference. After receving the unfavourable conclusion to the claim I feel a little less guilty about it, but today I decide to call them and tell them look, I owe you money, where do I send it? To which they reply that I don't have to do anything, and I don't have to make up the difference, thank you for calling and letting us know, but we really have no way of chasing you on this.

What?

OK. er, thanks.

Friday, November 04, 2005

Friday Cat Blogging

Behold! Princess Mia Bella. Climbing over the handbag mountain. I know a lot of bloggers have sleepycat pictures for Friday Cat Blogging, I tried to get an "action shot". It's difficult to get an action shot of Ms. Mia, she can be quite the speedycat.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

F. O. N.

So the auto insurance lady calls me this morning to inform me that they have received the police report of the accident that I was involved in on 10/13/05. She said that because I was trying to avoid getting struck by a truck like this and in the process hit a rental minivan, despite the fact that Mr. Mitsu Fuso truck driver made a statement to the police stating that he cut into my lane which caused me to hit the rental minivan and despite the fact that the lovely police officer, Mr. J.S. Siewert badge number 5074, said that he could not, in good conscience, issue me a ticket as I was trying to avoid an accident, I am still being held responsible and will be suitably punished by an increase in my premium rate when my policy comes up for renewal in March. Because of my defensive driving measures, I was not actually struck by Mr. Mitsu Fuso Truck driver and therefore it's all heresay as to whether or not he was a factor, despite his statement to the police. Bastards.

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Good One

Saw this on Kiwifruit's blog. Had to share. It's funny. Click to see World Famous New Zealand Vodka maker 42Below's hilarious piss-take of an advert, as made in "Sydney, New Zealand".

Good Read

I just finished reading Three Junes by Julia Glass. It's been a v. long time since I've had a chance to read, just read. I used to read all the time, now it seems like reading takes planning and scheduling and seems like it shouldn't be so complicated. But like everything else, I need to make an appointment to read. Three Junes was a thoroughly enjoyable book. I didn't want to stop reading it, which made it easy to read. I would daydream about how I could read it while I was driving, though I never actually implemented any reading-while-driving schemes. Slightly dangerous, I would think, though I could write a book about what I've seen people doing while driving. I myself, refuse to and have never put on makeup or eaten while driving, though I am guilty of changing the radio station or changing CDs. Three Junes tells the story of the McLeod family in 3 parts through 3 different characters during 3 different Junes in various locations. I'm a useless reviewer so you should google it, if you're interested. One of the reviews that they printed in the book said the only regret of Three Junes is there is not a fourth. I agree.

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Happy Left Foot

Finally got the car back yesterday, in the torrential rain, of course. I'm very glad to have the eclipse back. It's such a pleasure to drive, compared to the rubbishrentalcar, although I was grateful to have, really brought me no joy to drive. I've always enjoyed driving and I would really like to go on one of those race car driving school things that you can do. The closest track is the Texas Motor Speedway which they built when I was living in Denton, oh so close by!, but I don't know if they do that there. I think it would be fun. And I probably better do it quick before I get too old and chicken.

We went go-kart, excuse me, Super Kart racing on Sunday. It was only the second time I had ever done that, the first round I was seriously driving like a grannie, but I got the hang of it the second lap and then by the 3rd, we had to stop. It made my head hurt though, I think because of the recent auto accident, but we went 4 times. Then it started to drizzle and the track became incredibly slick. JAM spun out and I had to stop and did a little spin. There was no pile up cos it was just the 2 of us in the Super Karts. It was funny though. I realised when I was driving the Kart, before the rain, that I was sticking close to the inside line/crash bar. I was experimenting with different gas/brake combinations around the corners. Yes, yes all very riveting reading, I know, I'm such a bore. Too bad I didn't get to continue my research.