Well-deserved Weekend

Finally. It's the weekend. This week was more exhausting than usual, even though it was a 4-day weekend. I was just incredibly busy, and running on fumes and caffeine.

Last night was a riot. Sis!S made an amazing chocolate cake for Cola's 4th birthday.

I'm not sure which part of the cake I liked best

Having the family over is always a good time. Unfortunately, I wasn't in a very sociable mood, and I mostly hung out in my room with Godson. I ended up falling asleep, of course!

Today was a pretty quiet day. Looked after BabyGirl mostly - the poor darling is under the weather, I'm afraid. Terrible runny nose all day. She's all tucked up in bed now; I do hope she sleeps well and wakes up feeling better tomorrow.

Other than that, I caught up on some Criminal Minds. It's odd now, that the main characters are changing. Thomas Gibson, aka Aaron Hotchner is no longer part of the cast, which is rather strange. He was there right from the start!
Hawaii Five-0 is even more annoying and racist than usual. Not sure I can keep watching this garbage...I can feel my brain cells dying off!

Need to start running again soon. Now that I've lost a fair bit of weight, my knee and my back rarely hurt the way they used to, and on the rare occasions that my back aches, it's not nearly as bad as it once was. Although I did do something weird to my right ankle; it's giving off these odd twinges now and again.

Ah, mysterious aches and pains. Symptom of aging, really.

Allrighty then. I'd best go upstairs and keep BabyGirl company.



Thanks to Sis!S, I now have an hankering for a Kit Kat...

Insert title here.

What, it’s only the 4^th and I’ve already run out of things to write about? Hmm. I think I can probably go on for a while if I just type stream of consciousness style and just ramble on and type whatever is in my head.

I’m still strangely sleepy today, even though I got about six hours of sleep last night. I suppose I’m still sleep deprived from earlier this week. And still no rest for the weary today… the family’s coming over for dinner tonight. The K-clan and the D-clan (minus Nix) are going to be over at the Madhouse about six, making it even more of a madhouse than usual. Although, to be fair to D-clan, the K-boys are the ones who add the most noise and mess to the house. I’m so exhausted; I’m not sure I can keep up with them tonight! …wait, what am I talking about; I can barely keep up with those boys on a good day!

I have the urge to bake bake bake, but what to bake? I don’t know! Thing is though, I quite like baking, but I’m also really lazy. Which means that I seek out really easy things to make, and if all else fails, I just fall back on my trademark brownies.

I really do have to figure out what to do about the wifi in my room. I can’t get wifi at all when I’m in there! The connection in Bro’s room though is pretty strong, and it’s really quick too. Possible solutions include, but are not limited to, swapping rooms with him or just breaking down the adjoining wall. Simple, no? I’m such a problem-solver, I am!

I mentioned the other day that I got my 2017 planner, and I’ve started to fill it in. And of course, now I’m just planning the long weekends, of which there are several! I get four days off for Chinese New Year. Unfortunately, the places to which I want to go might not be the best idea that weekend. Hong Kong and Taipei are definitely out; besides, Nekowife will be unable to travel then, seeing as how she has to partake in CNY activities.

…Wait. I just had a brainwave. I actually stopped typing for a while to look up flight times and what not…and I think it might just work! Yes, I have an idea of where I want to go; it’s been on my list for a while now, and this might be a good time to go! I think I’ll ask Bossman, aka Houdini about it when he’s less busy.

Yes. It’s decided. (Well, not decided decided. I’ll still have to do a bit more research first.)

I’ll probably go it alone, so would be good to get some tips and advice from someone who’s familiar with the area.

Ooh, I'm all excited now!

Morning Mirth

Bro and I almost always head to work together, and split up only when I'm switching trains.
Sis!S lives really near us, but we've never gone to work together.

Today, Bro and I headed out as usual, but were running late. As we were sitting at the bus stop, waiting for the bus that brings us to the train station, Bro goes "Hey, Sis!S."
Sure enough, Sis!S was walking up as well, and turns out she was running late.

First thing she says to us? By far, the best 'stupid question' I've heard in a while.


Sis!S: Hi! Where are you going?
Bro & Me: ...where are we going?
Bro: The market, gonna do a bit of shopping...
Me: then the zoo...


Was lovely to go to work together, the three of us. It's been ages since we've hung out like that. Even though it wasn't really 'hanging out', seeing as how we were squashed together in the sardine can that is the train at peak hour. Still, it was a good catch up.

Sis!S registered Neal for Primary 1. PRIMARY SCHOOL. Baby boy Neal is growing up oh so quickly!
And Sis!S was relating some of the antics that the boys have gotten up to lately, and my gosh, what silly rascals they are. They're coming over later today; they love coming over, and have a weekly date with my mum. Shame that I won't see them, as I'll be back late after class. And I won't be spending much time with them, as they'll be spending time with their grandparents, who are up here for about a month, before going back to Australia. Ah well.

Ugh, I'm so hungry. I'm also really broke, so I gotta take it easy on spending. More than two weeks to payday...looks like I'll be packing lunches for a while! Or resorting to Cup Noodles...which, really, I don't overly mind.

In the meantime, I has my coffee, I'm a happy camper.

Happy Easter!

What a lovely Easter Sunday. Spent with family, as it's meant to be. Went to Easter mass with the clan, and all of us came back to my place for lunch. And what a lunch it was! Ayam buah keluak, Babi buah keluak, salted egg crab, pineapple salt fish curry, roasted pumpkin...I'm so stuffed now!

Thanks to the Mother Goddess, who slaved for hours to prepare and cook everything. 

Worth abstaining 40 days for.

Lots of chaos with the kids, as always. They are such blessings, and fill our home with laughter and fun.

Happy and blessed Easter to one and all; may you be filled with joy and peace.

And lots and lots of cadbury creme eggs.

Methinks I'll have one more now.

Frequent Trips

I've been coughing a lot lately, since last week when I had the 'flu. Today, Mum prepared herbal soup for me, which she says it's good for my cough. I decided to drink it later, or have it tomorrow.

I'm sitting at my computer, being obsessed with my latest obsession, and I'm coughing a lot. One episode later, I look up to see Mum walking back from the kitchen slowly, alternating between carrying a mug and a bowl of fruit. Lift mug, walk a few steps, put it down. Pick up bowl, walk a few steps, put it down. LIft mug, walk a few steps, put it down. Pick up bowl, walk a few...you get the point. So she's obviously taking a while. When I see her, I get up to help her, when I notice that the mug she's bringing here is MY mug! The one that 1st-Sis gave me for Xmas last year.

So there I am, starting to give my mum a hard time for using my mug (even though I don't mind, but that's what I do, I just like ribbing mum sometimes), when she tells me that it's for me. It's soup. That she cooked. For me.

Oh, mother. How I love you.

And way to go with the sending me on a guilt trip!

I'm Going on a Bear Hunt

I've always loved the book  We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen, as well as the song. When I was teaching Speech & Drama, I used to do that song activity with my kids, and they all LOVED it. Always had such fun with it. Fun and educational. Gotta love it!

So when I discovered that it was one of the productions in Kidsfest 2012, I decided that I simply had to go! Decided to book tickets for the 11th, and contacted cousin!G to see if he could get me the staff discount. To my very pleasant surprise, he got me complimentary tickets!

I figured that at 4 and a half, Neal is at the perfect age to be introduced to the story, since he didn't know it. Plus, he loves drama and has S&D as one of his kindergarten classes.

He loved it.

It was a fun and interactive performance, and most of the kids (and big kids!) really got into it. Neal is a really interesting audience member. Unlike most of the kids, who were loudly participating in the interaction, Neal just sat there with a really serious expression on his face. I was concerned that he wasn't enjoying himself, but the few whispered conversations we had convinced me otherwise. He was just being enthralled! But after the performance, he could reenact scenes, sing the songs and explain the story, so he was clearly just absorbing everything. He'd also picked up on set details that I'd completely missed!

We treated ourselves to cupcakes afterwards, then enjoyed a walk along Clarke Quay, followed by a lovely train ride all the way to Punggol, where we met the rest of the clan. All twelve of us (the clan minus Bro) went for seafood at Punggol Marina. Well, eleven and a half. Godson didn't eat the seafood, seeing as how he's only one year old. I did give him a taste of prawn though, and boy, did he love it!

There was SO MUCH FOOD. But oh so delicious. And all the food was so amazingly fresh! The only things I didn't eat were the crab (because I didn't feel like dealing with the mess) and the fish (because fish).

Hung out at Sis-V's place after that, and enjoyed cake and wine. And fun with the kiddies. Neal and Godson are sooo adorable together. When  Neal started throwing a cranky fit, he was crying for Godson, who then toddled over to him and cuddled him. Cuteness overload!

What a great day! Note to self: get book and CD out of bookshelf and let Neal read/listen to them.

We're going on a bear hunt; we're going to catch a big one!

Giving Credit Where It's Due

I'm lying on the couch, fiddling with my phone. Mum's watching telly.
She'd just changed the channel to one of the movie channels, and credits are rolling. I'm in a bit of a silly mood and decide to ask Mum, "Are you waiting for a movie, or are you just enjoying the credits?"
To which Mum replies oh-so-seriously, without missing a beat, "I'm practising my reading."

Deadpan one-liners. I loves them.

Food & Sleep. Too Much of Both.

I'm glad this past weekend was a long one. Well, technically, I didn't get a long weekend, seeing as how I was in the office all day Saturday. Still, I had Monday off, which worked out really well.

On Sunday, we went to see a play by We Colour People, which is a non-profit theatre society. They've staged an annual production since 2008, and I started attending them in 2009. I adored the past two productions, and was looking forward to this year's. It was called SABOsTAGE, an improv comedy which was pretty much Whose Line, only with a local flavour. Although I do feel that improv has a long way to go in Singapore, on the parts of both actors and audience, I quite enjoyed this production.

After that, we adjourned to Newton Circus for Singaporeans' favourite hobby (well, after shopping and complaining, of course). Foodage! And oh my gosh, there was so much foodage. As is the case whenever BIL!S is around! His motto: "Don't think; just eat". And eat we did.

Barbecued chicken wings, oyster omelette aka or luak, barbecued stingray with lots of sambal, fried squid, mantou, which were lovely when dipped in the lala (clam) gravy, all washed down with sugarcane juice. Oh, and I think there were vegetables too, of which I didn't touch.

We were all stuffed! And we couldn't even think of dessert. Until the table was cleared. My family, being the OCD sufferers that we are, had to get the table cleared before we could relax. After that, all of a sudden, all of us had room for dessert! BIL!Mike and I shared a bottle of really, really cold beer, and there were bowls of ice kachang all round.

Good food, great conversation, excellent company. What a perfect way to spend a Sunday!

Finally got home about 1, where I vegged out on the couch while putering. Staggered upstairs to bed about half 3 in the am. Thank goodness Babygirl let me sleep in yesterday!

Wouldn't have made much of a different if I hadn't slept in.... instead of going to IKEA as previously planned, I ended up napping all afternoon, catching up on some much needed Zs.

Not sure how I managed to get to sleep last night, after having slept so much in the day, but I did sleep well. And woke up bright and early this morning for work. Got to the office at 7!

Of course...now I'm started to get tired again...

View From The Top

After being so determined that I'll never go on the Singapore Flyer...I went on the Singapore Flyer on Sunday. Only reason was that it was with the family! And BIL!Mike had a pass for 5 people, and Sis!S had cheap tickets for the rest of us. All 13 of us went, excluding my niece Nix, as she had a class to attend.

So there we were, making our way to, in the words of nephew Neal, the Giant Ferris Wheel. How would I describe my first (and mostly likely only) flyer experience?

In a word: Boring.

I mean, seriously, we're all stuck in a capsule, right? And it's going round ever so slowly, and we can't do anything while we're up there, and it's BORING. It was only enjoyable because of the family.

I think the ones who had the most fun were my two older nephews. When they weren't fascinated by the view, they were busy monkeying around.

Neal & Shay

After we were finally back on terra firma, we did what any self-respecting Singaporean would have done. We went fooding at the Food Trail, of course! It really did bring back so many memories, more so for my parents and grandmum, of course. The food was a little pricier than it would have been elsewhere, but oh so nommy!

There was so much food on our table! My favourite dishes were the rojak, or luak, and ice ball, washed down with a refreshing bird's nest drink. Oh, and the ting ting candy too!

Hmm, now I'm having a candy craving.

What does it look like?!?

Mum was watching X Factor, and she'd walked away and missed part of it. She came back to hear Simon talking, and she asked what had happened. Thing is, I'd missed it, because I'd had my earphones in.

Mum: What happened?
Me: I dunno, I missed it.
Mum: Never mind, I'll watch it again later tonight.
Me: *starts tapping on keyboard*
Mum: Don't Google it!
Me: How'd you know I was Googling it?!
Mum: You had your Google Face on!

Death by Cake

Went over to the Ks place for dinner yesterday. SisS's in-laws were in town, and they're flying off tonight, so they wanted to celebrate BIL-S's birthday. BIL-S turned 30 just two days before me, so they wanted to celebrate that. Also, Neal turns 4 next Saturday, and SisS's in-laws wanted to have a little celebration since they'll miss his birthday.

Dinner was...amazing.

Well, there were the "appetisers". They were actually meant for teatime, but we only got there past 7pm. Blueberry muffins, and chocolate cupcakes with Thomas the Tank characters on them. Of course, Neal can name all the characters!

Then...dinner. Wow.

From Mum's kitchen, we had Chicken Curry (with chillies from Mum's garden!), and Tongue Smore (how Eurasian!), and Aunty R cooked up Birthday Noodles (for longevity!), Pineapple Pickle (mmm, spicy!), and of course, which Eurasian get-together would be complete without Shepherd's Pie?

Om nom nommity nom! Of course, I had a bit of everything, and boy was I stuffed after that!

Of course...not too stuffed for cake. And it's a good thing I saved room for cake...there were, not one, not two, but THREE cakes! Yessirree, they got me a cake too!

Mine, BIL's, Neal's

Birthday present from the Ks is a classic. I burst out laughing the second I saw it.

How well they know me!

Why yes, yes I do think I can spell. Yes, I'm incurably competitive and overly confident. But no, not even I can spell all the words in this book! It's brilliant, and I have so much geek love for my sis and BIL!

Then going home, BIL-S gave me a giant bar of Toblerone. At least, he said it's for me. Turns out he told Mum, Babygirl and Bro the same thing. So 4 of us had to share. Which is just as well, really. I still have LOADS of chocolates from London!

Sunday is rest day. Gotta recover from all the food and alcohol I've consumed over the past couple days!

Down Memory Lane

You know... It wasn’t all just food food food on Tuesday. There were other activities involved, believe it or not! 

After lunch, we walked down to the National Museum. Well, most of it was a stroll, but there were a couple of quick sprints when Shay and I competed in footraces. I won both times! It would have been quite embarrassing indeed to lose to a 9-year-old. I did, however, slow down slightly towards the end, so it looked like a tie. It would probably have been just as embarrassing for Shay to lose to a girl! I have to admit though, he is pretty fast. I’m giving him a year, tops, before he outruns me. As it is, my niece provides fierce competition at arm wrestling!

The museum was lovely as always. It’s funny. No matter how many times I go, there’s always something that holds my attention. Seeing as how it was a weekday, it was lovely and empty! Except that there was some sort of private function in the evening, which meant that we couldn’t go under the swinging chandeliers. For some reason, I’m fascinated with them!

There was a section where they had newspapers from the 1930s. Vee and I sat down to read them for a bit. The articles were interesting, the advertisements were brilliant, but what amused me tremendously was the “Women’s Corner” in the paper. I wish I’d taken pictures! They had all sorts of useful information for women, such as… the type of women that men will want to marry, how to keep your husband happy…it was like reading Cosmo! They captured Vee's attention for longer though. ADD-girl got tired of squinting at the fine print in the dim light!

Seriously, I do so love museums. Even though I did get somewhat bored after a while, and just started wandering aimlessly, there’s something about the quiet and the calm, and the sheer history of it all that gets to me. It’s just awe-inspiring, really.

What was also pretty damn awe-inspiring was seeing Mum walk a tremendous distance yesterday, and negotiate pedestrian crossings so steadily. I'm so unspeakably proud of her.

Had such a wonderful day out with the family. Isn't life just grand?

Food for Thought

I had the afternoon off yesterday, and I went for lunch with Mum & Baby Girl, Sister Vee and her clan, and Nan. We went to this delightful little place on Queen Street called Mary's Kafe. Bad spelling aside, it's brilliant! It's cosy, everyone's warm and friendly, and the food? The food is Eurasian cuisine. It's good Eurasian cuisine.

The babi pongteh was brilliant, as was the curry and the meatballs. Mary's fruit cake is to die for, and her carrot cake is fantastic. Her sugee cake isn't quite as lovely though. If I may say so myself though, my sugee cake is a lot nicer.

But the best thing of all? The bun susi. Baby Girl loved it SO much, as did the rest of us. I have now been inspired! I have decided to make bun susi for Godson(to-be)'s baptism. That leaves me just under two weeks to experiment, to make it perfect!

For dinner, we went to Popeyes® at Cathay. I hadn't eaten there in so long! Great chicken, fantastic mashed potatoes, brilliant fries....but the one thing that cannot be missed: the biscuits. When they're fresh and hot, they're just heavenly. I was so engrossed in conversation with Nix and Shay that I totally forgot to grab a half dozen to bring home. I only realised it when they closed! But no matter. I'll grab some for Baby Girl next time I'm in town. Or...better yet, I'll just bake some! Fresh out of the oven, with butter and jam... or fresh out of the oven with homemade gravy... Oh wow, inspiration's hit me yet again.

Went to Marché® for Sunday lunch after mass with Mum, Dad, Baby Girl, Sister S and her clan, and Nan. We managed to get a table for all nine of us (yes, Baby Godson counts as a full person; he was given a Marché® card too) right in a cosy little corner which was just perfect for us. The food, as always, was lovely - savoury crepes, rösti with cervelat, fried calamari, pork knuckles, all washed down with ginger beer. And then...dessert. Oh. My. God. Dessert. The bread and butter pudding (with vanilla cream) is a family favourite, so that went down well, of course. But the trump card had to be (drum roll please)...

The apple pie. What's that? The simple and humble apple pie was my favourite dish of the day? Oh, my dear readers, there was nothing simple nor humble about this apple pie. It was almost 4" high. The crust was tasty, yet not overpowering. The apples...oh wow. The pie was just chockful of perfectly sliced apples, cooked to just the right degree, with a lovely amount of cinnamon, and a generous dollop of cream on the top.

Once again, I've been inspired. The simple, yet satisfying apple pie. Comfort food at its best.

So, as ever, my to-bake list has grown yet again. :)

What a Wonderful Monday!

Monday started off rather drearily, as always. Did NOT want to get out of bed! Finally dragged myself to the office, and it was all uphill from there! Just had a general good day at work, and then went to tutor Kay and LG after that. Had such fun with the kids as always, all four of them! And then went out for a couple beers after with Shoes. Well, I say 'couple'. It was only a pint and a half of the black stuff. Would have had more if it hadn't already gone midnight! Isn't it great to be mates with your students' mum? Better yet, drinking kaki!

Got home about...12ish? Chatted with Mum for ages. I always love our late night chats, where we talk about serious stuff, and throw in completely inane things as well. Back in the day, when a teacher in school (I can't remember which one, but I remember what was said!) told us that our parents are our best friends, I didn't believe her. But my Mum is by far one of the best friends a girl can have.

Anyway, it's 2.30 in the a.m. now, it's just started pouring; thunder, lightning, the whole shebang. Perfect sleeping weather! So off to sleep I go, with just under four hours before the alarm goes off.

And tomorrow! Afternoon will be spent with Mum, Sister V, Mike D, their kids and Baby Girl. (I get to work in the morning first, though!)

What a fantastic start to a week that is just filling up with loveliness! Thank you, Universe. I am so very blessed. ♥



PS: Doof, know how I said I'll email ya? Well...not going to, now that I've blogged. :p

Sunrise, Sunset

My brother booked out today, since tomorrow's a public holiday, and he's booking in tomorrow evening.
He just got home, and he's wearing his army uniform.
At the risk of sounding vaguely incestuous, he looks so gorgeous in his uniform! And then he took off his uniform top, and he was wearing his tank top, and he's all phoar! His girlfriend better be careful, my bro's grown up to be quite the hottie!

Seriously though. Perhaps I'm just biased, but I think my brother is gorgeous (well, of course I do. We share the same genes, and I'm gorgeous too. Just not in an army uniform.) However, I just never quite got why girls go gaga over men in uniform. Looking at my bro today, I think I finally kinda get it. It's almost as if overnight, my baby brother became a man.

All his bodybuilding and weightlifting didn't quite give him that look, but today...it finally hit me.

My baby brother is all grown up. That little boy who wanted his big sister to cuddle him to sleep. That adorable kid who would lie down on my lap when we watched telly.
My gorgeous, adorable baby brother has grown up.

And I will confess to having had to blink back a few tears.

Kismet, I tell ya.

Went out today after work, to meet up with a bloke I recently got to know. Met up with him for coffee, which is really just leaving an escape route, no? If we don't like each other's company, hey, it was just for coffee, and we can cut and run. If we enjoy each other's company, we can extend the evening.

Which is what we did. Ended up going over to his place, where he cooked dinner and we just hung out for hours. Had such a lovely evening, really!

Left his place about half eleven, even though I was really tempted to stay a bit longer (and I knew I was welcome to!), and was thinking that I'd just had two wonderful evenings in a row. I was going to grab a cab from where I was, but I decided to swing by 7-11 first. So I walked the other way towards 7-11, and I actually walked the longer way by mistake. Clearly, the mistake was meant to be made, for that's when I ran into none other than my favourite older male first cousin. (The fact that he's my only older male first cousin is completely irrelevant, of course.) I didn't literally run into him, but I would have, had I not looked up from my phone!

It was a total "coincidence" that we saw each other; he had picked that exact moment to walk out of the building, and I was walking past at the very same time! I don't believe in coincidences though...the Universe totally wanted me to meet him! I hadn't seen him since Christmas, and we haven't had a proper conversation in bloody years! So we decided to hang out for a bit, and we spent a lovely couple hours catching up and just having a laugh.

And I had not one, but two pints of Guinness. Doof had better be proud of me for that one.
I'm so very glad we got the chance to sit down, just the two of us. I hadn't realised how much I'd missed him until today. We used to be really close, and in fact, he was at one time my best friend, the big brother I never had, until life got in the way and pulled us apart. I'm hoping...nay, I'm planning to keep in touch with him more often. I'd really, really missed him!

Oh, what a wonderful weekend I'm having. And it's not even over!
In the past two days, I've met someone new, and reconnected with two old and so very dear friends. Tomorrow, I meet up with another old friend and her friends, therefore more new connections for me to make! We're going to Fort Canning Park to see my favourite Shakespeare play of all time! Yep, that Scottish one, whose name we will not mention, for it's bad luck to utter its name.

My life is filled with blessings, and it just keeps getting better.

I am so happy right now, I can't stop smiling!

But I'm also really knackered, and if I'm to wake up early enough to bake brownies for picnic, I'd better get to sleep right now.

Thank you, Universe. I'm having such a beautiful time!

The Cruellest Month

So begins the second quarter of the year. I didn't play any April Fools' pranks on anyone, nor did I have any played on me. And if any pranks had been played, I haven't figured it out yet.

The past three months have been...interesting, to say the least. I've reconnected with a couple of old friends, which is always great. Things have been happening in the lives of my friends, which have caused ripples in mine.


The good news first:
One of my girls gave birth to a wee lil' fella on the first of March. Another Rabbit boy in my life! He's simply gorgeous, I'm so happy for my girl, and I'm so looking forward to seeing the lil' fella grow up.

My sister's best friend gave birth at the beginning of the week, to a yet another gorgeous Rabbit boy! Entering the world at 3.925kg (that's 8.65 pounds, y'all!), he's a right whopper! What makes that amazing is that mother is TINY.

Plans for summer holiday are underway, and that's another thing that I'm really looking forward to. I can't wait to embrace my inner geek with the geeky side of touristing. I don't want to talk too much about it, because I'm afraid of jinxing it, but I'm really REALLY looking forward to the summer!

Alright, on to the bad.
One of my close friends was recently in a relationship wreck, and is now clawing her way out of the rubble. Knowing what's happened has made me so very angry and indignant; frankly I'm also quite disgusted. The strongest emotion though, is just of sorrow. I doubt she'll read this anytime soon, but when and if you do sweeties, you know I'll help in whatever way I can and know how to.

Her sorrows have dredged up a few memories about someone in my past; something similar happened to me, and I'm drawing on my own experiences to try to understand at least a fraction of what she's going through.

Two things I've realised as a result - one, that I'm no longer angry with TW. Somehow, when I wasn't looking, I just let go. I don't miss him any more, and now I'm genuinely happy for him and his current partner, and I truly want him to be happy. And two, that despite all the heartbreaks I see around me, I still have faith. I still believe in relationships, in the institution of marriage; I believe in love, that it conquers all.

I believe that everything will work out, and that one day, she too will have come out of her experiences scarred, but stronger and happier.

Enough with the angst! Let's move on to...the neutral news.
Nan's moved in with us for a while. That will take some getting used to, for all of us. I am, however, feeling the frustrations of the lack of space, and am seriously considering moving to my best mate's parents' flat, which is just down the road from mine. After all, best mate has moved out, and her old room is sitting empty! I've spoken to best mate, and she's cool with that. All I gotta do is ask her mother. I'm hoping she'll say yes.

It's not so much the personal space that I'm concerned about; I've learnt to sequester myself in the corners of my house, and surround myself with a bubble of peace (i.e. my earphones block out the family noise). It's mostly because I'll need a place to study and do my assignments, and right now, the Madhouse is just too mad for me to get any proper work done.

Which brings me to the next thing on my agenda: My baby bro's been enlisted for his National Service! He enters the army first week of May. It seems really weird to think of my baby bro (fine, he might be 21 - 22 in September - but he'll always be my baby bro, ok?!) in the army. So once he's gone, I'm going to commandeer his room, which has a great study area. He's a sweetheart though; he saw me doing my work in the family room, and he knows it's tough to study in the Madhouse, so he told me to use his desk any time I need to.

Studying/doing assignments is tough when you're working full-time though. Plus, I still work on Saturdays. The good thing is that my colleague and I worked out a deal, where instead of both of us coming in every Saturday for four hours, we'll come in on alternate Saturdays for eight. It's a drag, working a full day on Saturday, but it works out better for both of us. It saves on transport, plus we at least get an full weekend every fortnight. It also means that I'll actually be able to go out late on (alternate) Fridays! I might just start hitting the clubs again!

...

Wow, that was a long ramble from me! I think I'm just not fully awake yet, hence the rambling. Which reminds me...I still haven't had my coffee!

I'm going to rectify that now.

So Much Has Happened!!!

I know,  I know, it's been AAAGES since I last properly updated. I've just been really busy! And lazy! And...it's been a while since I've been in the mood anyway.

My faithful readers have giving me subtle hints about how I should post. Of course, Shoes and Neko are about as subtle as freight trains, so I decided that it's about time I posted.

We welcomed a new addition to our family! My sister delivered a healthy baby boy in the beginning of the month. Just sliding into the Rabbit year, little NJ is the spitting image of his big bro Niel.

Sadly, we also bid farewell to a family member last month. My uncle (who was also my godfather) passed away a few years ago. Last month, his wife joined him. Brian and Ivy, now reunited, may you rest in peace.

I embarked on a new adventure in January; I'm pursuing a Masters Degree, and I'm terrified and excited all at once. If all goes to plan, I'll be done in two years, afterwhich even more adventures will be open to me.

Red has died, and even though I tried reviving her, she just keeps flatlining. I'll get a professional to perform an autopsy. I'll most likely get her internal organs removed; I'll keep the organs and get rid of the rest.

Uhm, you DO know that Red's my laptop, right? Well...was. She's dead now. She is an ex-laptop. She has ceased to be. Shoes said it's because I haven't blogged in so long that I angered the geek gods. Or...something.

BUT. I have a replacement. I've finally crossed over and caved, and am now welcoming my new MacBook Pro into my gadget family. I haven't christened her yet; MBP is still nameless. Decided not to bother with the new release though; it doesn't do anything for me. Besides, the minute I saw that the new MacBook Pro had been released, I knew there'd be some great deals at the store, and so I went there with my bro to have a look and there WERE indeed some great deals! I got my MBP for a pretty sweet price, so I'm quite happy with that.

So much more has been happening, but I'm really too tired to go into everything. Plus, I can't be arsed. Also, I'm quite knackered now. This has been a tiring week!

Just know that I'm having a blast, and THINGS are HAPPENING and new opportunities are EVERYWHERE and I'm loving my life! And now, I'm off to live my life.

Ki, out!

The Reason for the Season

What exactly is Christmas?

It's the celebration of the birth of Christ...but really, it's a pagan festival. Pretty much all the symbols that we associate with Christmas have pagan origins.

The Christmas tree:
Live evergreen trees represent fertility, and the Druids viewed the tree as a religious symbol.
And putting presents around the telly just doesn't seem so festive.

Mistletoe:
Other than being a great way to get snogged at the office Christmas party, Druids believe that mistletoe has special healing powers, for everything, including female infertility. It was considered a sacred plant, and the custom of kissing underneath it was actually a fertility ritual. So remember your birth control, and enjoy the eggnog.

Eggnog:
Eggs are a symbol of fertility, and eggnog was just a medicinal....oh fine, I'm making this one up. But it's true about something else found on the Christmas buffet table...

Yule logs:
They're not just delicious, chocolatey logs of delicious chocolate. The word Yule means “wheel"; the wheel being a pagan symbol for the sun. Huge Yule logs were burned in honor of the sun.

Candles:
were lit to encourage the Sun God to reappear the following year.

The colours red and green:
The traditional Christmas colours of red and green represent the fertility of the male and incubation by the female.

The date itself!
Everyone knows this one. Winter Solstice, Saturnalia, all that jazz.


But all that aside...

What exactly is Christmas to me?

To quote Abed from Community, "The meaning of Christmas is the idea that Christmas has meaning. And it can mean whatever we want."

Christmas is about family. It's about bonding with Mum over tart-making and cake-baking. It's about squabbling with Bro about putting up the lights. It's about hiding in my room to wrap presents.

Christmas is the stress of getting the decorations up, the goodies baked, the presents bought and wrapped, the getting dressed and ready for mass, the loud arguments that take place because of the differing ways of dealing with the rush.

It's about looking at tree decorations from two decades ago, remembering our wonderful childhood. It's about laughter and joy and hope for future Christmasses together.

About torn wrapping paper everywhere and children's laughter ringing. And noisy and messy toys that grandparents and childless aunts love, and make parents plot revenge.

Christmas is watching my sister's face light up when she receives lovely presents. About the kids getting all excited. About choosing presents that I hope the recipients like.

Christmas is about family.

And I can't wait to spend time with mine.

Family Fun

Yesterday was Cousin's 8th birthday. She's just a lovely, gorgeous, funny and precocious child. It was fun to watch the kiddies playing, even though their running about makes me quite tired. How do their parents do it?

The kids' favourite part of the evening might well have been the piñata. No surprises there, I'd join in if it wouldn't be so frowned upon. Loved catching up with the family, but bigger get-togethers does mean less individual interaction, I think.

Aunt D. cooked up a storm; there was stew and curry and chicken nuggets and chips. Plus there were bowls of nachos and salsa, plates of marshmallows, glasses of pastilles and jelly beans....and I couldn't partake in any of it! Not even the birthday cake! But it wasn't as difficult as I'd thought it would be, though. Helped that it was an informal thing, rather than a sit-down dinner. But ohhhh....the thought of that delectable chocolate cake....Kudos to Bro-in-Law 1 for graciously eating my piece on my behalf. And bless him, he tried to...well, sugarcoat it, by telling me that it wasn't very good anyway. Which was clearly a lie, so we had a laugh about that.

The definitely lowlight of the evening was listening to my sisters discuss childbirth. Nothing about bonding with their child, not a word on the beautiful miracle that is bringing forth a life....nope, none of that. It was all the about the messy bits. The messy, graphic, painful bits. The parts that had me wincing and crossing my legs. The things that I shall not mention here, for the sake of my readers. Even though one of them is a mother of four, and could have joined in that discussion with much gusto.

After all that, it'll be a bloody miracle if I decide to go through childbirth.

Got home pretty late, so slept in today....and now I'm considering the possibility of a nap. I should probably shower at some point today too. Still sitting around in my t-shirt and sleep shorts. But what's the point of a lazy Sunday if you don't laze properly, eh?