Loopie - Joop

Trying to plan a party is not easy. Number one problem - no venue! Although our 3-room bedok flat isn't the most spacious of all options, it was cosy and we could definitely fit in at least 4-6 guests comfortably for dinner. In our current hole in the wall apartment, we are hard-pressed for space if we invite more than 2 guests. we don't have a proper dining table, just a high bar-top like counter and 4 bar chairs that are kindly "flaky". We had moved out the extra 2-seater sofa, when we realised we were rapidly outgrowing the apartment last summer. so now all we have is a three-seater couch and pretty much nothing else in the living room. there just isn't enough space lor. so we've established that our little apartment isn't quite suitable to host house parties, but we have the longest weekend ever to get through for this year's Christmas, how now? i guess we have to invite 2 guests for each meal. haha. what a party.

Downing my second cup of coffee at 11am in the morning. This is the second day in a row when i've needed a second boost of energy near mid-day. Tired, drained... after pulling 4 consecutive 11 hour work days i have to admit i need a break. i need the weekend to recuperate. i need to rest my eyes too. argh.

Christmas in 32 days! New Year's in 39 days! Singapore in 54 days!

I had typed an ultra long post about the ultra long and difficult phone conversation with my ultra difficult mother over the weekend, but i've decided not to air our dirty laundry on the web, so that post stays in the drafts and will not be published. i've been tremendously busy these days at work, to the point that my right index finger feels sore from all that clicking of the darn mouse. perhaps i should concentrate on keyboard shortcuts from now to minimise the strain on the all important index finger. i've also a sore right thumb from using the hair straightener. my right hand is almost useless without these 2!

I decided i had to vent, hence this post. remember i told you about the cold war and the long post about my mother? this is it. ____________________________ I had a long and tedious phone conversation with my dearest mother last weekend. it hasn't been easy nor comfortable talking on the phone recently with her. and it almost always leaves me drained for the day. if emotional terrorism were a crime, she would be tried without trial and sent to the electric chair. she has the ballistics to bombard you any which way possible with the best guilt missiles and nuclear criticisms. she was the one who taught to me sarcasm. she's also the one to implant the "all-men-are-bad" mentality in my head for the better part of my 28 years. as you all know, i've been living apart from her for a while now. i first escaped to london for 3 years, then california, and after less than 3 years in singapore, we left for bermuda. whilst living apart from her, i realised that she's not

I had an ultra expensive haircut on Saturday afternoon. It cost me USD90 for a simple wash, cut and blow-dry. it would have been half the price in Singapore. Even after 2 and a half years, i'm still having difficulty coming to terms with a USD90 haircut. I would have been treated like a queen in Singapore with that money. I could have had a full body spa treatment with that cash. It is for that reason that I have black (and boring) hair, most of the time i'm battling dry ends as a result of infrequent visits (i can only justify visits every 3 months) to the salon, and this is in spite of the home-based hair masks and treatments i use diligently. i dislike having boring black hair that is always in pony tails. sigh. Did i forget to mention that I spent USD135 on a facial treatment last month? Yep, auntie at people's park with tofu mixture would have charged me SGD30. bleah.

i don't know why the login link on blogger is in traditional chinese characters. must be the language settings i was fiddling with the other day. i'm not a techie. why am i living in this age where it's supposed to be second nature to be able to type, to know all the keyboard short-cut keys, to be able to run programs etc? why must i be forced to learn a bizarre programming language to handle exceptionally large amounts of data? today is one of those days where i wish i wasn't in this job.

Tomorrow's a public holiday - a nice break in the middle of a busy busy week. Felt practically useless today at the team meeting. mainly because i'm not in-charge of anything. i'm just the person that runs 2 models. sucky feeling. absolutely sucky.

Mood is grey - not black, not happy but grey. i don't feel the happiness after an exam. just blah. might need a bout of retail therapy. or maybe i should just go cut my hair. sigh.

Dear Urchin, As promised, these are a few of my newfound properties. The first is this mismatched pair of camper twins, fraternal as you can tell, perfect for the strolls to and from car park and office. this is my second pair of camper "twns" (that's what's sewn inside my shoes, some PR/marketing firm must have earned millions from this utterly brilliant idea of removing the "i" from "twins".... =P) and 3rd pair of camper shoes. absolutely dig the simple designs, and the soft soft soft leather and they just last and last. my pair of red "mcdonald" rain shoes and black "edward scissorhands" have been with me since 2002?! other than the soles wearing out from the amount of walking i've done for the last 7 years, the shoes are practically intact. I've decided to christen this 3rd pair my "rubber band" shoes . There's no point controlling yourself at Gilroy . That said, i really did go a little crazy a

Fresh seafood in a tomato-based soup! I would go to the ends of the earth just to taste this again. Seafood lovers would understand my obsession with the succulent meat cocooned in that cold hard shell.... You'll find this in sunny Miami, Florida, which is "more or less" like a hop and skip away from Bermuda... (the power of positive thinking, really...) i'm dreaming again, aren't i?? Anyway, let the countdowns begin! (yes, plural!) Christmas in 54 days ! we just turned back the clocks last night for daylight saving. officially 12 hours behind singapore and hong kong now. halloween has just past (we gave out pringles to the kids) and christmas is almost here! must start to plan the parties pretty soon! New Year is in 60 days! omg, where has this year gone?? i should probably look through my resolutions for 2009, but i have a huge hunch i could probably use the same list for 2010! nothing done so far... Heading home in 75 days (30 days in November, 31 day