Writing Schmriting

So much for writing something every day for Wrisomifu! If I can't even do Wriso...how on earth will I ever do Nano?

But on the plus side, the reason I haven't been writing isn't because of anything bad. I've just been so delightfully busy that I haven't had to time pen down my thoughts! Well, okay fine, I do admit to a lot of just pottering about, but in my defense, I have been doing loads! Stuff with the family, dinners and drinks with colleagues, hanging out with friends...my life has been filled with awesome.

As brilliant as my life is, I still think 2016 has been a crap year for everyone I know. Yes, there's been tons of good, but so much bad has happened this year, and it does seem like it's been one helluva tragedy-filled rollercoaster ride. I'm glad it's coming to a close!

That said, final week of 2016, and I'm feeling somewhat introspective. I shall have to do my annual round up here soon.

But I am le tired.

Tuesday also blah

I woke up feeling even worse today. Did NOT want to come in to work. Thing is, lots of work to be done today, so I dragged myself in.

Managed to get the important work out of the way, but I think I'll leave early and work from home the rest of the afternoon. I'm knackered!

Last night, I picked up my copy of Cursed Child again, but had to reread it from the start, as I'd lost track of what was going on. It's an easy enough read, but it's a bit odd reading a script; I'd much rather have watched it on stage. What threw me off as well was that there aren't classic stage directions in it; when I read a script, I expect stage directions! There was also a fair bit of interpretations of actions. I don't quite know how to explain it without actually quoting it (and therefore potentially spoilering. Then again, it's been three and a half months...I guess spoilering it is fine?), but it just felt like an amateurish script. It was very reminiscent of the works that my classmates and I did for our literature and drama projects back in school.

That said, I did love the story, and I really do have to watch it on stage some time! The London production's pretty much fully booked well into next year, so I'll just have to wait and see.

So yes, I kept up my end of the pact...Nekowife hasn't finished it yet - she's only got about 10 hours to go before the deadline is up!

~~~

I'm halfway through the second season of Gilmore Girls. I think I have 117 episodes to go. Each episode is approximately 40 minutes long. So that would be about 4680 minutes worth, which is 78 hours. Which is 3.25 days.

See kids? Maths is useful; stay in school.

Yeah, I'm not going to finish watching all of them before the revival episodes are released. But believe you me, I'm going to make a valiant effort! I'll keep you updated on my progress.

In the meantime, I might have to succumb to my humanness and actually get some sleep during the week.



~~

I just realised that I don't actually have a tag for Harry Potter. I shall rectify that immediately.

Monday blah

I woke up late this morning, feeling terrible. I mean, sure, partly it was the staying up late, but I really didn't stay up all that late! I went to bed about 1, which is pretty much par for the course for me.

I slept through like five alarms this morning.

When I woke up, I was still feeling really tired and achy though. Really hope it's just a cold and not the flu though! Finally managed to get myself out of bed and out of the house, and arrived at work late.

Ah well.

BabyGirl was funny this morning though. As I was getting dressed, she kept looking at me with this look of confusion and betrayal on her face. How dare I get ready to go out without her! But then I told her that it's Monday, and that I have to go to work...to which she kinda just smiled and then settled back into bed. She looked so snug and cosy that I was sorely tempted to go right back to bed and curl up too!

Pretty quiet day in the office today. Management is out for the week, and a couple others are on leave, so there are only 6 of us in the office today. And it's the 6 who don't generally make too much noise in the office.

I would've been more productive today if I hadn't been so tired all day. Also, it's been raining since morning, so all the more I just want to be in bed. Also, Monday.

Didn't help that I didn't drink coffee til the afternoon. My first drink was a Lemsip. Just disgusting, but I think it did help a bit. Then I had a milo, because I was feeling incredibly cold. Brought my cardigan home a couple weeks ago to wash; kept forgetting to bring it or another one into the office. So today, I'm ill, plus it's raining, which means I'm just feeling colder than usual!

I'd say something about having an early night tonight, but we all know how well that plan always works out for me...

Perhaps tomorrow will be a better day.

Oh, and also. Nekowife reminded me earlier that tomorrow is our deadline for finishing Cursed Child. I guess I'll just have to read it tonight! Which means...less TV watching tonight, which means I might not make that 25th of November deadline....ugh, so many fun things to do, so little time!

Sunday - the day of rest

Started out with not much rest - Helper is off today, so I took care of BabyGirl in the morning, and got her ready for church. The parents left about 11am, which meant I had the rest of the day to myself!

So of course, as any self-respecting adult would do when left to their own devices on a Sunday, I:

- ordered a pizza
- ate aforementioned pizza
- made popcorn
- ate aforementioned popcorn
- binged on Netflix
- stayed in my PJs pretty much all day

I'm well into season 2 of Gilmore Girls now. I'm not sure I can hit my target of finishing it all by the 25th though!

But I did manage to watch more than I'd thought I would - the family stayed out a lot longer than I'd expected. How lovely to have the place to myself, what a rare occurence!

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm feeling all bloated and tired. Whose bright idea was it to have all that pizza and popcorn anyway?!

Saturday - the day of Pre-Rest

What a slooow day today. Lazy weekends are the best.

Spent pretty much the whole day just vegging out and watching Gilmore Girls. I've just finished Season 1, and I gotta say, it's really interesting watching this from an adult perspective.

I never quite got into this show, not like Misstsy did - she absolutely loves it - but it's nice to revisit it anyway. Like I said though, it's interesting!

Also, baby!Jared Padalecki is adorable.

Did I mention this earlier? I think I did. I'm trying to finish watching all of it before the revival on the 25th. That leaves me...ack, only two weeks to go! What makes it tricky is that I can't get Netflix in my room, so I have to hang out in the living room, which means that I'm also at the disposal of the family, which means lots of interruptions.

I'm also coming down with something - I might just have caught a cold from BabyGirl and Ma. Hopefully I can kick it soon!

Nothing much else to say, I gotta get back to tv-binging now anyway.

Something Strange

Oh, what a lovely evening it was!

It started off really hectic - Ma needed to go to the dentist, so I brought her and BabyGirl across to the dental clinic about half past ten in the morning. However, they said they were fully booked, and walk-ins would have to wait for a few hours at least. Went to a different dental clinic, where they were also pretty busy, but they could free up a 3pm slot. I took that slot, but we went to a different dental clinic, just to check. Turns out that door number 3 was also busy, and it looked kinda dodgy as well, so we ended up just having breakfast, and going home to rest.

Oh, and the rain was super heavy today! Bro came home so he could bring Mum for the afternoon appointment - I had an appointment of my own to keep.

Yesterday was Kay's birthday (omg, she's 16. She's so old. I cannot), and we'd made movie plans for today. She'd already seen Doctor Strange, but she did say she'd like to see it again. So off we went to watch it.

It was amazing! Benadryl Cumbersome really blew me away with his acting and the visuals were just incredible. I generally can't watch 3D movies because of 1) glasses, and 2) migraines, and boy oh boy, there is NO way I could have gotten through this one in 3D. This one would definitely have induced both nausea and migraine. I'm feeling somewhat nauseated just thinking about it!

It is SO much fun hanging out with Kay. I enjoy our conversations and banter so much, and there's nothing like watching a geek movie with a fellow geek.

After the movie, we both grabbed Starbucks (yay, Sbux Xmas drinks!) and meandered about while talking about Supernatural. I'm so thrilled to finally have a RL friend who's into the same shows I am! We were just geeking out for a while, and talking about the show and the characters.

Before we grabbed coffees though, Kay had asked if there was a stationery store anywhere around, and there was. So after we finished our coffees, we took a break from geek talk for a while to...uhm...nerd out a bit more. About pens and notebooks.

Ended up buying a couple pens and a small sketchbook for her, and four pens for myself.

Mmm, new stationery makes me happy.

Which reminds me, I mentioned that I got my 2017 planner - the 2016 yearly planner is the first one that I've had, that I've actually used to the end of the year! - but I'd gotten too distracted with the Harry Potter pretty to post a picture of my new planner.

yes, I've already started writing in it

So anyway. Back to Kay and nerding out.

As we made our way to an easier Uber pick-up point, we started talking about Supernatural again. We were talking about the character Lucifer, and which Lucifer was our favourite.

(spoiler alert for those who haven't actually seen it - but if you haven't seen it by now, you prolly never will - Lucifer was played by three different actors who are all part of the main cast)

So there we were, walking across the road, and I was talking about Lucifer in my normal speaking voice (read: loud). Kay shushes me because...look, we were talking about the devil in public - Supernatural fans probably get really weird looks from people when they talk about the show.

Me being me, of course, I just started going on and on about how much I love Lucifer, I can't decide which Lucifer is the best, how good-looking Lucifer is, yadda yadda. Kay tried speeding up slightly and was all "I don't know you!" to which I just slung an arm around her shoulders and continued talking until we both just cracked up.

And here's an awww moment - Kay then admitted that she'd missed me.

Altogether now: Awwwww!!!!!

And I'd really missed her too. Is it weird that I enjoy hanging out with someone half my age so much? Then again, some of the people I enjoy hanging out with are more than twice my age, so I guess age really is just a number.

I'll prolly drop by some time next week to pass her my Harry Potter books. She wants to read them! Oh, this makes my geeky little heart so very happy.

I don't know if I should envy her or pity her, for not having to suffer through the years of waiting for the next book to come out. I mean, she won't have to suffer the agony...but I made such good friends and read such good fic in the interim!

Hmm, I should start pulling up the fandom classics for her to read too.



...wow, I'm a nerd.

Old friends really are the best

Met up with Sof today for dinner. Wasn't sure our plans were still on...that woman is worse than me when it comes to replying to texts!

For some odd reason, Sof suggested meeting at ION. So we did.
Then she admitted that she wasn't quite sure why she suggested that place - it was far too crowded for either of our tastes!

Ended up going to Wheelock Place. And as is the case with Sof and I, we ended up at a standard place for both of us - Cedele. Hey, keeping it simple. It was either that, or sushi.

I figured I'd peruse the menu only to end up ordering the same thing I always get - to my surprised, I actually tried something new!

Always brilliant catching up with Sof. And we even made tentative plans to meet up in a couple weeks, before she goes off on her end-of-year hols. It's a long-running joke between us that our annual quota for meeting up is once a year, and this year, we've far surpassed it! I think this was the third, maybe fourth time we've met up this year. How shocking

Ah, 'tis brilliant to have such wonderful friends.

Also, I'm really, really full now.

WTF USA

Watched the US Election results today while I was at work.

I felt sick to my stomach watching it.

I had to take a painkiller because I felt the onset of a migraine.
(ETA: I later found out that Shoes got a headache too).

What an absolute shitshow of an election.

To make matters worse, I've discovered people around me who...well, who would've voted for the Donald if they could vote. Being anti-HC is one thing...but they were actually supporting some of the ideologies of the Donald. Which makes me sick.

The only thing that manage to make the day a little better was that Doof is in town, and we met up for drinks.

I'm not sure what exactly made it better: Doof, or the G&Ts.

i think it was more the G&Ts. Mmmm.

Went to the Esplanade after, where we said hi to Bella, had another drink and three different desserts, all while enjoying the spectacular view.




It helped to momentarily forget the absolute shitshow that was this year's election. But I have the privilege of being able to forget about it, no matter how temporarily. My heart goes out to those who don't quite have that luxury.


We really are living in interesting times.

Cursed Pact

Unbelievably, I've had my copy of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child for ages now. I'd actually started reading it, but for some reason, I just could not get into it. Perhaps if I saw it on stage?

The stage performance in London is fully booked well into next year, in case anyone's wondering.

Anyway. Nekowife hasn't finished reading it either, so we pretty much made a pact that we'd both finish reading it by the middle of the month.

Which leaves me a week to finish it. It really shouldn't be a problem. I enjoy reading, and I'm a quick reader.

Thing is, I've just been so not into reading lately. I'm in the middle of several books, and I have tons just lying around waiting to be read.

The only downside to not having a commute any more is that I don't have my commute-read now. It really was the best time to catch up on my reading.

I guess this means that I just have to go on a beach holiday soon - the last beach weekend I went on, I pretty much read a novel a day.

It's such a shame too. I love this universe, and I've missed it so very much. I think it's just getting used to the post-HP series? After all, I was one of the subscribers to EWE aka "Epilogue? What Epilogue?" Now give me a Marauders-era story any day. Pre-series stories are my weakness.

Which reminds me. Fantastic Beasts opens next week! I wonder who I should go with...hell, I'll just go alone. Judging from the trailer, Eddie Redmayne looks like he makes a good Newt Scamander.
I'm looking forward to that!


But first...I really gotta get round to reading that cursed screenplay.

Bow Down to the Master

Wait a minute. I can't believe I haven't posted about this before now!

I previously mentioned, way back in 2011, that I'd decided to pursue a Master's Degree. I also mentioned that if all went well, I would have been done in two years or so. Yeaaah, best laid plans and all that. Life happened, in a big way. I've been so busy with family and work and other challenges, that I had to defer and delay a few modules along the way.

I've complained about how very knackered I was, especially during Red Bull Week.

I lamented that I was soclose to giving up on my thesis. Yes, I honestly very nearly did throw in the towel. It didn't help that I was suffering through a little fight with my black dog for a while.

But I screwed my courage to the sticking place, and I did not fail.

I started researching and writing my dissertation in September 2015.
I submitted it in January 2016.

Clearly, I am the Queen of Siberia.

Or perhaps not. For instead of six months, I did it in four. Go me!

On my birthday, I went home after a brilliant night out, to find that a simply marvellous birthday present had arrived in the mail.

Censored for obvious reasons

Thass right. I now has a piece of paper that tells me that I be smart.

Or at least that I know how to read and write.

One would think that being able to churn out 50k words would mean that I could possibly churn out the same number of words for a fiction novel.

It's now November. Clearly, I'm still not doing Nanowrimo. But hey, so far so good with Wriso.
Perhaps next year, I shall do Nano. (Which is what I've been saying every year for the past decade, at least. Procrastinators of the world unite...tomorrow!)

But yeah. Rambling aside, I did it. I wrote a dissertation. I passed said dissertation. I have a really expensive piece of paper to show for it.

Yeah, seems about right

Ok, as dismissive and self-deprecating as I seem, I'm actually really proud of myself. Faced with several challenges and constraints, I stuck to it, and I did it.

Wasn't Friday just five minutes ago?!

Wow, I must've blinked. Where did the weekend go?

...oh yeah, family and tv binging. With a couple naps thrown in for good measure.

I'm all caught up on Criminal Minds now. Thing about not watching it for so long, with a memory like mine, it takes ages to recall what the callbacks refer to.
As I mentioned earlier, not having Hotch around is going to take some getting used to. He seemed to be such a staple of the series from the get go. Such a shame, really. But perhaps not all is lost? After all, both Paget Brewster and AJ Cook are back...so I'm going to wait and see what happens with Thomas Gibson.

It's horrible and brilliant how Criminal Minds really messes with the mind and preys on phobias.
Child abduction, being burnt to death, drowning..in concrete, which is pretty much being buried alive...ugh. Terrifying.

It's so weird watching something as gritty as Criminal Minds, and then following that up with something as annoying ridiculous as Hawaii Five-0. I mean, seriously. Why even do I still watch that crap? It's so annoying how McGarrett is the superhero stuntman who saves the day every day...and that Danno is just the buttmonkey who does nothing but nag and be unreasonable. It's getting more unbearable, as Danno isn't showing up as much.

The second episode of this season (7, in case anyone's interested...) really irked me. As if this show isn't racist enough, they have to play the whole "bomber = Muslim" card. Ugh.
I endured the next couple eps, and it was somewhat redeemed in the fifth episode. Interesting that in a show about cops and guns and improbably shootouts, they brought up the hot topic of gun control. And interestingly enough, it sounded almost as though the writers were actually for tighter restrictions. That one was followed by the Halloween episode, which...was actually not too bad! I was getting irritated at the start, thinking that they might actually pull in the whole supernatural element, but thankfully, they did have a proper scientific (well, as scientific as this show can possibly get) explanation for it all.

Why do I still watch this show even though every single episode irritates me? I have no earthly clue.

I'm also almost all caught up with Suits. Only two episodes to go. I'm not sure I like where it's going, and I wonder if it's going to get renewed. Would be interesting to see how they write it from this point forward, seeing as how the original premise is pretty much dead.

I'm going to have to catch up with Supernatural too. Kay's coming over in a few weeks for a Supernatural Season 5 rewatch marathon, and if I'm to fangirl and fan-argue with her, I'm going to need to be all up to date.

I'm also trying to binge rewatch all of Gilmore Girls before the revival, which leaves me 19 days. According to Binge Clock, Gilmore Girls will take up a total of 6 days and 9 hours. But since I'm Netflixing it, therefore skipping all the commercials, it will only take 4 days, 16 hours and 12 minutes. No problem, right? Unfortunately, that 19 days also includes boring things like sleeping and working and family stuff... But hey. Challenge accepted!

Too much TV to watch...too little time to do it in...

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!

Oops I did it again!

I napped yesterday evening for about 3 hours...and then didn't sleep all night again. Today was an extremely long day! But at least it was a pretty busy day.

And omg! The World Series! (which only has one participating country, hmm...)
I was listening to the game live, and following along on twitter. What a game! History really was made today. What an amazing, exciting, heartstopping game! I'm not a Cubs fan at all... I root for their rivals! But I'm pretty happy for the Cubbies; it really was a great season for them.
And my ex-colleague (who I blognamed PoptartBoss) is a huge Cubs fan, he's 71, and had given up hope of seeing the Cubs clinch the title. I'm so glad for him!

I also shared the classic Abbott & Costello routine Who's On First with my colleague, Miss Trench. For some reason, I'd mentioned it to her yesterday, and since I was listening to the game, I thought of this routine again, so emailed her the link.
It's hilarious, and I laugh every single time I hear it.

Third base!

I went to Ikea today after work. Meant to get one thing for me, and one thing for Mum. Wandered around Ikea hell for a couple hours...walked out with loads of things. But that one thing I wanted to get for myself? I forgot. Yes, I'm quite the genius, obviously!

Speaking of genius, I think the smart thing to do would be to get some sleep tonight. But as I mentioned to Doof earlier, I am like a camel, only with sleep. I get lots of sleep on the weekend, and barely any during the week.

I'm pretty exhausted now, so I'm going to chill out, watch a couple episodes of...hmm. Supernatural? Suits? Hawaii Five-0? Criminal Minds? I think I'll go with H50 - that's the most mindless and ridiculous of the lot!

I'm finally all caught up on Brooklyn Nine-Nine and The Big Bang Theory. I'll eventually catch up on the rest of my tv addictions. And seeing as how I have a few Fridays off this year, i.e. I have a few long weekends coming up... I might just be able to do the Harry Potter marathon I've been wanting to do for ages! Plus, with Fantastic Beasts coming out, I find myself craving more HP goodness.

But yeah, as exhausted as I am, I can't turn in until I've gotten BabyGirl settled for the night. So in the meantime, I'm going to just veg out for a bit.

Worms are gross...and so are mornings

After enjoying a 4-day weekend, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to wake up on time for work on Tuesday morning, especially since I went to bed after midnight. Turns out that fear was unfounded... I was up before 5am, and got to the office at the crack of dawn.

Of course, everyone feigned shocked to see me in so early.

I did it again today. Only worse, because I haven't slept a wink! Decided that I'd passed the point of no return once it hit 3.30, started getting ready at 4, took my time, even had time to go to the shops to pick up some stuff for the office. Arrived at 5.40, when the yard was still pitch black. First in the office today!

The great thing about coming in so early is that I get loads done. Yesterday was especially busy; Mondays and Tuesdays are my busiest day, and the last/first days of the month are too. I had Friday off, and Monday was a holiday, so I had to cram 3 days of work into one, including the busy end-month + weekly reporting. I was awfully productive though!

The horrid thing about coming in so early is that the day just goes on foreeever. It's only 9 now, and I've already been here for more than 3 hours. I think I'll skip out sharp at 4pm today.

3 hours to go before it's 4 hours to go.

I can do this.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzz

but the early worm gets eaten...

Nerdery is expensive

Misstsy FB-posted a link to the Harry Potter Moleskine® collection (meant for P, but I was tagged in the post). I saw it, and I wanted it. P said that she'd seen it at the NBC store over at Bugis, and offered to pick one up for me, with a 10% discount. I decided to go to the store at Jem, as I wanted to see the physical thing first, to see if it really was as pretty as it looked in the picture.

It wasn't.

It was better.

I picked up my 2017 planner from Muji, then went to NBC. No copies there, so I meandered over to Kinokuniya. Went straight over to the Moleskines, saw the one I liked, and stood in front of it, dithering for ages. I mean, HP journal! Expecto Patronum! But but....$41 for a notebook!!!

I finally decided to get it. Picked one up, turned around, and....

Oh. Oh my.

MUCH HARRY POTTER. SO GEEK.

Pure magic.

Cue even more dithering. And then of course, I allowed myself to get tempted by useless little keyrings.

cute, but nah

Of course, I started texting Nekowife and P for help. Partly help in deciding which notebook to get, but mostly it was a cry for help to stop spending monies!

P told me not to waste money. But, as I told her (and later, Nekowife), I'd also planned to get my nails done today. But purdy HP notebooks > purdy nails, and they'll last longer too.

Ended up getting these two beauties.

'Course though, they're going to sit there for absolute ages before I even get around to opening them, let alone writing in them!

And then, of course...as though I hadn't already spent enough on notebooks... I picked up a new MacBook Pro. On which I am now typing.

Harry Potter notebooks? $75.

MacBook Pro? $2000.

Nerd satisfaction? Priceless.

Of course, seeing as how this week, Starbucks is doing a BOGO on their Xmas drinks... I went along to pick up my second toffee nut latte of the year, and got a peppermint mocha frappe for BabyGirl.

I'm broke, but I'm happy. :)

Also, wife wife look! I wrotes something! I have some other stuff that I wanted to blog about, but hey. Might as well keep something for tomorrow, eh?

November Shadows

I started the month of Wriso with a bunch of links. And what better way to end the month of November than to share interesting reads?

I'm going to get the sickening and nasty news out of the way first.

Last week, a domestic helper was charged with the murder of a 12-year-old disabled girl. Regardless of whether she's innocent or guilty, the fact remains that a defenseless child is gone. It simply sickens and saddens me to think of a pure life so cruelly ended.

Speaking of pure lives being cruelly ended, hearing about, and worse, actually seeing the video of "crush fetishists" in China torturing and killing bunnies both sickened and infuriated me.

It's reading such news that makes me despair of humanity. But the world is a huge and amazing place, and people like Josiah Viera restores my faith in humanity. He's six years old and "has a rare genetic disorder, but lived his dream of playing baseball". His story both breaks and warms my heart.

It was sad to read about a teacher being punished for making a stand against homophobia, but how it does give me hope for the future when a youth, his student, can speak up in his defense. A 14-year-old boy, being calm, logical, eloquent and inspiring, which is more than I can say about several politicians.

After the joy and relief of the rescue of the miners in the Copiapó mine collapse earlier this year, it was sad and shocking to hear of another mine accident, this time closer to home, and with no survivors.

Also in New Zealand, a spot of good news when three teenagers are found alive after being missing in the Pacific for 50 days.

Alright. That's enough serious stuff for now. Especially since I don't do serious.

But there really is something important you should know.

That's right. Know The Difference. Thank goodness for this nifty little booklet that came in the mail. Now I know how to tell whether I need to rush to the A&E, or if I should just visit my GP. And if I'm still not sure, I can just check the handy dandy pictures!

Well, thank goodness. Now I know. Also, I've learnt how not to fake a seizure in the ER.

It was neither Accident nor Emergency though, when this bloke decided to dive into the Darwin Awards. Hello, natural selection.

For something completely different...how about ... two hundred and seventy-one new Picassos? I'm no art aficionado, but that truly boggles the mind. Was it a gift, or was it theft?

From art to architecture. Nikolai Sutyagin's wooden house is pretty darn impressive, and he designed and built it all by himself!

I didn't quite find that as awesome as these untranslatable words from around the world. I already knew several of these words, and my inner geek rejoiced when I stumbled across this.

Now, it's no secret that I'm on a diet. I love that the pounds are dropping and the inches are just melting off. I'm not exercising though, at least not anything strenuous. I'm just doing things like push-ups and easy jogs and brisk walks to burn off restless energy. It did make me feel a touch guilty, until I read this really interesting article about the relationship between exercise and losing weight.

After reading that long but enlightening article, I started enjoying my food quite a bit more. Speaking of which, I cracked up when I saw this macro about fewd. I was totally straightfaced until a certain point, when I started losing it.

And I totally, completely, utterly and truly lost it when I discovered how to make Google beatbox. Keep scrolling down, and following the links in the comments. I was laughing and my sides were aching for a good while.

As November (and Wrisomifu) comes to a close, I leave you with November Blue by the Avett Brothers.



My heart is dancin', to a November tune
And I hope that you hear it, singing songs about you
And I sing songs of sorrow, because you're not around




And so it ends.

Tightening my Belt

No, I'm not on a quest to scrimp and save. Even though I am saving up for a trip to London next year. I mean... I'm literally tightening my belt. The inches are melting away almost before my very eyes. Over the past few days, I've gone from being able to lounge about in my jeans without having to undo the button, to having to wear a belt, to having to tighten it up a notch.

And today? I realised something. There is loads of space in my jeans now. It's gone from so tight that I can barely walk, to so loose that I absolutely have to wear a belt. I'm like one of those 'after' photos of people, where they're pulling out their waistband to show how many inches they've lost. In fact... my jeans are now so loose, that I don't even have to unbutton them to take them off. That's right, tug hard enough, my jeans just slide right off.

No, that wasn't an invitation. Not really.

I'm only two weeks into this diet, and I'm well chuffed with the results so far. The only downers are moments like watching my family scoff down birthday cake (chocolate cake!), or walking past a bakery to inhale the wonderful aroma of freshly baked bread.

I miss my carbs! I want my chocolate cake and doughnuts and pizza and quarter pounders and milkshakes and nutella and omg bananas! And roti prata and youtiao and and....alright, I'll stop before I put on weight just thinking about it.

Also, QA guy today passes me some loot that his wife hauled back from the UK. Just for me.

A 3-pack of Jaffa Cakes. The proper nommy McVitie's ones. And a Terry's Chocolate Orange as well.

Now that's what I call a test of willpower.

As I was telling Shoes today, this diet has really made me realise just how much I unthinkingly eat. I pop sweets into my mouth, I grab an ice cream out of the freezer, I munch on biscuits when I'm bored, I have a doughnut whenever I feel like it... My sis commented that it's a really disciplined diet, and I suppose it is. What with weighing everything out, thinking about what I'm eating, not snacking throughout the day, and planning my meals in advance. But the great thing is...I'm not hungry. Even though I've started eating slightly less than my daily allowance. A couple people have expressed surprise at how small the portions seem to be. The thing is...it's not that my meals are small, it's that theirs are huge! Well, I'm getting hungry NOW, because it's past my dinner time.

I actually have a dress that I was planning to wear for Christmas; I just needed the shoes to go with it. But now... I might have to rethink that. I'm going to wait out another couple weeks, then I'll try on my skinny jeans. The ones that I haven't been able to fit into for two years. Definitely looking forward to it.

And once all this is over...

Well, a double quarter pounder all to myself? Challenge accepted! But before that....

Jaffa cakes, here I come!

OM NOM NOM

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?

Friday Fun

I did my hair not too long ago, but I went back yesterday to get it coloured. I knew I needed a bit of a trim, and Bianca suggested cutting it a bit shorter than usual.

I LOVE the colour! A slightly different shade to what I did the last time, and I love it. Also, I sometimes have a sideswept or parted fringe, but more often than not, it's all just pushed up and clipped back. This time, I asked her to to blow-dry my fringe straight, just to see what it looks and feels like. It looked fantastic when I walked out....but after a while, I kinda just pushed it out of the way. It's confirmed - I don't like my hair falling into my eyes. I can't do a short fringe though, because it curls, and then looks awful. As it is, my fringe now is really curled up, especially since I didn't have time to do anything with it this morning.

I'm going back in a couple of weeks to get it done for Christmas.

Bella was right; I really do need to watch the 'rockumentary' It "focuses on African American women's hair, including the styling industry surrounding it, the acceptable look of African American women's hair in society, and the effects of both upon African American culture" (from the Wiki page), but she said there's a lot in it I'd agree with. For one thing...spending LOADS of money on hair. I complain about being broke all the time, but I spend about a thousand bucks a year on my hair. It's paying off though; my hair is looking a lot better, it's healthier, and most importantly, I like it.

Alright then, enough blather about my hair.

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Met up with Bella after that, and as always, it's lovely to hang out with her. It's funny how we became friends; I'm convinced that if she hadn't been living just down the street from me back in secondary school, such that her place became my second home, we wouldn't have become so close. Superficially, we have nothing in common; our tastes in music and literature differ greatly. She works in the arts industry; I work in administration. She's a great people person; I generally avoid hanging out in groups. And the list goes on.

But go a little deeper...and well, we've been through so much together. She's been there through each and every time I got my heart broken; she knows of most of my embarrassing secrets. We've seen each other through our awkward teenage years, and we're stumbling through adulthood together. We have inside jokes that we still find hilarious. We can go ages without any contact, but when we meet again, it's like no time at all has passed. We don't see each other very often, but if either of us really need someone, it only takes a text.

In short, she's my 3a.m. friend. More importantly, she's my sister of the heart. And one can never have too many sisters.


Gosh, I'm rather mushy today. That's probably because I didn't get much sleep. Plus, I'm procrastinating at work. But enough of that. Time to get down to work again. On a flipping Saturday. Groan groan.

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But hey, I have a birthday party to go to today! One of my second cousins is celebrating her 8th (and I feel awful; I can't remember when her birthday actually is!), and she's having a fairy-themed party. Looks like I gotta get out my wand and wings! Oh, and I have to figure out the password too. Kids these days, making it so difficult to get to the cake!

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Not that I'm going to be having any cake...I'd be disappointed about it, if not for the fact that I'm now visibly slimmer than I was a couple weeks ago.

How much slimmer? Well, I haven't measured yet, but now I slip into my jeans easily. I can slouch about at home in my jeans, without having to unbutton them any more. Yes, yes, it was highly difficult and uncomfortable to slouch over in my jeans. But now! Now they feel fine. In fact, they're a little loose! I have to wear a belt for the first time in months! I took my belt off its hook yesterday, and dusted it off. Literally dusted it off.

I don't have my huge tummy bump any more. In other words, I no longer look like I'm preggers! Well, damn. There goes people giving up their seats on the train for me.

I screwed up a bit yesterday - I forgot to bring my dinner to work, so went from work to hair to Bella, and didn't get home til 2am. So yeah. Skipped dinner. NOT GOOD.

But I've learnt my lesson; won't let it happen again. I can't wait to fit into my skinny jeans again!

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Speaking of jeans, I was well amused last night to discover that Bella had no idea you're supposed to turn jeans inside out with you wash them. For those of you who also didn't know that, well...turning jeans inside out when you wash them helps to maintain the colour and shape. Ok? Ok.
Also, you don't have to wash your jeans every single week. Unlike my dear OCD-inflicted friend, who seems to think that jeans get manky after only a week. Every single week. I'm still shaking my head.

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Another bimbo moment from Bella that I simply have to mention. We were talking about weird things we've eaten (or will never eat), which stemmed from me mentioned that I didn't like stinky tofu. We all agreed that we'll never eat balut, although we have a sneaking suspicion that it's probably really good. And a great source of protein. Besides, we eat eggs. We eat chicken. Why not the in-between? But...no. Just no.

Bella asked her friend, who's travelled a fair bit, about what's the weirdest thing he's ever eaten. He said that it was 'whale semen'. To which Bella responded "How do you..I dunno...harvest? How do you get whale semen?" We all just stared at her for a moment, before she realised that the whale is killed first. Yes, she did for a few seconds think that whale semen is "harvested" by some form of jacking it off. Lots of hilarity ensued, of course, complete with arm movements. Watch out for the next dance craze: The Whale-Wank.

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Note: I do have my thoughts and opinions on whaling, but there's a time and place for discussing them. Last night wasn't the time, this blog isn't the place. :)