Life in Loopy Land

My Hari Raya:

Mandi at 7 am, got dressed, obligatory call to the outlaws, eldest sister & family arrived from Subang Jaya to complete the original family nucleus. So by 10 everything was in full swing; lots of photos, lots of food, lots of duit raya exchanged [pity bubba did not receive any in advance!]

It was a full house yesterday, with siblings + spouses + offsprings. Main activity: makan makan makan. I is fat-ter.

Admittedly it was kind of (chaotic) fun with everyone around, but after a few hours - backache, tiredness kicked in, sleep deprived nights took a toll on me.

Oh I forgot, blood test results which I took before I left London came back - I am anemic. Hence the incessant complaints I had of constantly feeling tired. Must get some iron tablets from Dr G.

Have to say though, last night was the longest (and best thusfar) sleep I had from half eleven till half five; no disruptions in between at all. Normally I would sleep at 11 ish, wake up at 2/3 for a pee and not sleep until 5/6, only to be up again by 7 ish.

My life in numbers:

~ 1 day until IK arrives; need some TLC pronto.
~ 37 weeks tomorrow; 3 weeks to go. Yay-bump too heavy. Yikes-impending labour.
~ 13 days until peace and quiet resumes.

I hope everyone had a great raya.

Friday Statistics

Today Dadster celebrates his 3,640 weeks of exisitence (40 in womb + 3,600 in the world) vs. Bubba who celebrates her 25th week in my womb.

She certainly has a long way to go.

Happy 70th Birthday Pa, wish we were home to celebrate your milestone with you. Hope it was a good one anyways with mumsy + kitties! Lots of love from the wharf.

***

Current bad habits:

• Kit Kat
• Aero Mint Bubbles
• Vanilla Ice Cream

Current must-have mid morning breakfast:

• Melons, grapes, pineapple cubes, oranges + greek yogurt + muesli + seeds from citicafe

Current complaints:

• Lower backache (due to bump)
• Upper backache (due to bad bad posture)
• Expanding derriere (think J Lo)

Current wish:

• Easy and quick labour

Current iTune on repeat:

• Most of All – Jody Watley

Currently looking forward to:

• Some sun-worshipping activity next week. Finally a proper sand-in-feet, blue skies, crytal clear sea, sun-drenched beach holiday. Yahoo.

Currently counting down to:

• The start of 12 months of maternity leave – 26 working days before I am completely and blissfully work-free. Yahoo. Yahoo. Yahoooooooo.

Stock Take

To commemorate its one year presence, I have been browsing through some older posts of ELBCW and stumbled upon my scanty New Year resos.

Did a stock take and was appalled to discover that out of the five, I have failed three already, and we are merely 1 month and 8 days into the new year. Let's review my development shall we.

1, To become active in RSC again

Contemplating terminating my membership as I have been traveling a lot, am a busy bee at work and have no motivation at all to sacrifice my precious weekends for it hence exorbitant fee of £91/mth has been an utter and complete waste.

2, To find a suitable photography class that does not do too much damage to the pocket

I did find one. However, the classes I wanted to enroll with changed their time from 7pm to 2pm or something unworkable like that. Shattered. Truly am.

3, To enjoy my role with JT

JT resigned two weeks ago howsabout that.

4, To be healthier, food wise – I need to up my intake on fruit and veg. I have stocked up on EPO and spirulina for a start

On track with Spirulina and EPO. Re fruits and veg, so far so good although admittedly I have gone through 1/2 days without any fruits but am more aware of my intake now than I ever was.

5, To be happy, thankful and optimistic with life at all times

Work in progress.

I did also mention how I wanted to see more musicals and I did that in NY - it was Grease, my first for 2008. So that's one positive outcome.

To redeem myself,

• I will work on finding another course for reso numero duo.
• I will also try enjoy role with JT’s replacement, whoever that may be.
  

Will update on progress in the next couple of months.

Has It Been One Year Already? *Gasp*

ELBCW celebrates its one year presence, no doubt negligible, in the blog-sphere.

*claps cheers whistles*

I am amazed at how long I have persisted and am also glad I did not just let this blog collect dust along the way, go unnoticed and subsequently die a slow and inconspicuous death.

Well done TW *pats back*.

I hope I can keep this going on for at least another year.

Hope to see you on the 6th February 2009.

Happy 1st ELBCW.

Bring On 2008

Goodbye 2007.

As 2007 makes an exit, I too will be making mine; from home that is. I am deeply sad about bidding farewell to great food, to my kitties, to my family, to warm weather, to all things nice, to home *sobs* O how I will miss everyone and everything here.

But this is also the time to usher in the New Year. A toast to new beginnings. A clean slate.

Hello 2008.

Sadness notwithstanding, I am looking forward to starting a-new. Got myself a new diary to keep me organised. A new notebook to jot down notes, thoughts, expenses, to-do lists, other whathaveyous. 2008 looks promising.

Having said that, I am not very good at making New Year resos. Neither am I good at keeping them, so for what it’s worth here is mine, in no particular order:

1, To become active in RSC again

2, To find a suitable photography class that does not do too much damage to the pocket

3, To enjoy my role with JT

4, To be healthier, food wise – I need to up my intake on fruit and veg. I have stocked up on EPO and spirulina for a start

5, To be happy, thankful and optimistic with life at all times

I have made five very simple resos (you can tell I’m not very ambitious huh). Let’s see how this goes.

Finally, as my last post for 2007, I wish everyone all the very best for 2008, may you have a great year ahead, see you over in Blighty soon.

2007: The Year That Was

I think this is a timely post to reflect on the past 12 months.

This year has been (not unlike previous year), yet again, a year of sorts; lots of celebratory and happy happy joy joy moments laced with some minor (nothing life-threatening but sorrowful nonetheless) tribulations which I am guessing happens to help plant my feet firmly to the ground.

Let’s see, I achieved quite a bit of travelling, played host to visitors from far and near, managed to persevere in my job despite the ‘challenges’ and polished on my new found interest – photography.

I have been truly blessed – got to go home twice this year and if all go as planned, I will be going home again for 10 days end of this week yahoo. *fingers crossed* Winnie, Cleo, satay, sri ayutthaya, vanilla teh tarik, here I come!

Managed to catch a few fab musicals – Avenue Q, Mamma Mia, Lion King and the Sound of Music. I heart musicals. Hopefully Grease, Mary Poppins, Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera for 2008?

This is also the year I got addicted to mukabuku. To be fair, I did get reunited with friends from school I have not seen/spoken to since 1991 thanks to FB. Met so many displaced buddies who I’d never imagine I could get in touch again especially since (almost) everyone is either in Hong Kong or Australia I’ve discovered. And some great ex colleagues too.

I started this unknown journey of being a ‘blogger’ (still not full fledged yet ) which has been a good cure for lonely cold nights and along the way I was fortunate to have made some lovely virtual friends which has been tres fun. So far so good.

I even managed to organise and host an ‘open house’ albeit very small in scale. Mumsy would be proud.

Very briefly, the downside has been mostly work-related; the work pressure and surviving the two restructuring exercises. To-date it has been a roller coaster ride. There were times when it got too much but this has been manageable thanks to IK’s enduring support. But on rare magical moments like today, when he said OK and threw in a surprise ‘cherry-on-cake’ element, has made me think that all the commitment has thankfully been recognised/rewarded (but was the angst/stress thrown my way really necessary?).

Another downside - problem that was diagnosed by the dermy but sadly a cure has not been found for it since. I have made a conscious decision to allow my body let it take its course along the road to recovery at its own pace and will not interfere anymore. OK so maybe I have given up a little bit.

Neck/shoulder/back injuries in April and again recently but they have been sorted by physio sessions. Must must must improve posture.

Those were some trials but I don’t think it is justifiable to dwell on them too much as I have been blessed with endless opportunities/murah rezeki and they really are too negligible to mention when you think about the less fortunate. My so called problems seems so insignificant compared to what some have to go through. Big picture I remind myself.

Alas, I turn 34 next year. OMG OMG OMG. For once in my life I am emotionally affected by my age. I truly feel like a dinosaur. Turning 30, 31, 32 and 33 had never bothered me then, but turning 34 just seem so so so old. So aged. So elderly. So ancient.

Age notwithstanding (depending on my mood, I still have a good 8 - 9 months to be in denial or start to learn to accept reality), I look forward to what 2008 will bring.

Happy 2008 everyone!

Declared War On France

I did it.

I pulled the plug so to speak.

I completely stood my ground.

I have nothing to lose. But they do and yet they forget.

I am immensely relieved but at the same time emotionally exhausted. Been wondering how I would cope with the week ahead?

It will not be easy this much I know.

Stress No More

I am overjoyed.

Today marks the end of my month long misery. No more rcsa to think about for the next three months.

It's all been done done done. I can breathe a big fat sigh of relief. Huzzah.

Now, on to other items/tasks on to-do list.

***

I had a physio sesh on Tuesday and the follow up will be on Friday.

Look forward to that as I'm sure after a few more sesh, I will not experience anymore discomfort whilst sleeping. Further more, according to the therapist, stress may have aggravated the matter. Now with rcsa gone, I can hope for a speedy recovery on my current condition.

For now, must remember neck exercises and good posture at work.

Rough Week

We have both had a rough week at the wharf. IK was on study leave last week and had been revising laboriously for his 6 hour exams. I bade him good luck this morning and he is still in the exam hall as we speak.

I, on the other hand, have had so many things on my plate at work that I have been losing precious sleep at night feeling overwhelmed thinking about the pile of paper work I had to face each morning. Work has been hell. Demanding. Stressful.

Stressful really is an understatement.

It does not help that I have an appalling team to work with. One does not even bother to do any work and hence the other will off-load everything on to me.

Thursday was the most distressing day at work for me. My manager sent me to two meetings for Thursday morning citing ‘I am taking my wife to the hospital’ to the chairperson of the meetings while to his own manager, ‘I am sorting out my nanny’s visa’. Both times I was copied in the emails. WTF. What was he playing at? Two different stories to two different senior management and carbon copied me in as well. He must think I’m so dim to not be able to put two and two together. I suspect he forgot what he sent out earlier and all he wanted was probably a lie-in because he couldn’t be bothered to get in for the 8.30 am meeting. And why did he have to send me in as his representative? Why? As it is I had a million other things to do, top priority being rcsa.

To add salt to injury, he came in at 1 pm, interrupted my lunch, this was me ‘stabbing’ my pasta at my desk, to ask for some assistance in drawing excel charts for, get this, his *schoolwork* (he is undergoing a part time Masters course), not even proper office work. Can you even begin to comprehend all this? He interrupts my lunch for his own personal work. How unbelievably outrageous is that?

I was fuming and I’m sure smoke was billowing out of my ears by then. In between gritted teeth I *did* all that shit and still continued managing the tasks assigned to me.

That's just not it ok. Sorry but there is more gripe to 'share'.

There has been three resignations thus far in my team and due to the freeze we are not hiring new staff. As a result I have had to take on more responsibilities covering for the three jokers who left. I mean it is not like I don't have enough on my plate. They unload it on to me simply because I never utter a single word of complain. One day I will break down I'm sure but I think my limit is incredibly high. I somehow can withstand so much crap thanks to my first intense and highly stressful job in AA. My ex managers would be proud of what I've become; a true product of AA.

Sometimes I get so angry for not standing up for myself. I don’t know how to handle these situations, and as a result I get bullied not only by my own team, but even people from other business areas as well.

The thing is, I absolutely hate confrontations and will try my best to avoid it. Then there's the other concern that there's a big possibility of me breaking down and start tearing if I do decide to speak up and be heard about my dissatisfaction of the treatment I am getting from these slave drivers. As you can imagine I would not want my manager to see this, would I? Hell NO.

You see, I have problems controlling my emotions. I admit I am a weakling. Not the best of characters really. I get upset so easily and cry even more effortlessly. Sigh. All these undesirable characteristics bestowed upon me. I should have gone for more team building activities when I was a child huh.

Further more, I am a very idealistic person, as IK tells me, ‘They are not like you, you cannot expect them to behave the way you want them to’ in response to my ‘Why can’t they realise that it is not right and unacceptable, I would never do that to other people’ uproar.

I seriously believe in the idiom ‘do unto others as you would others do unto you’ and even more strongly on ‘what goes around comes around’. Sadly, just believing firmly in that does not get me very far. At the end of the day, I am the one who gets upset, stressed and exhausted. Not them, just me. Silly old stupid idealistic karma-believing me.

It is a sad reality but I think everyone at work bullies me and takes me for a fool who will do everything they tell me to. I don’t know why this happens to me. I try to be nice to everyone, always remember not to step on anyone's toes, mind my own business and expect the same from them but instead I get trampled on mercilessly. Big fat sigh.

This is how I keep my sanity and I reassure myself constantly with these in mind:

• that God will not test you if he does not think you can handle it.


• that you cannot have a perfect life (not that mine is), something has to go wrong somewhere in order to keep you challenged, keep your feet firmly on the ground and be more appreciative of other aspects in life.

I seriously need to learn to be more firm and stand my ground, to speak up if I am overwhelmed and to learn to set my boundaries and limits. Until then I think I will always face this problem, no matter where I work. And poor IK , bless his cotton socks, he is the one who has to bear with my endless bitching about the grief I get from work.

OK enough whining, the work will not clear itself or dissappear. I am off to the office now. Have a great weekend peeps.

I Am

stroppy. whiny. sad. depressed. pissy. gloomy. miserable. dismal. melancholy. glum.

* I absolutely detest evenings leading to Monday mornings *

I Hereby Solemnly Declare...

I have been neglecting Eat Live and Breathe Canary Wharf. I don’t know why but the drive to blog has waned. Maybe it’s sheer laziness. Maybe the novelty has faded away. Maybe the weather has been miserable. Maybe work has been horrendous. Maybe Facebook is to be blamed. Too many possibilities; maybe this or maybe that or maybe a bit of everything really. I cannot say.

When I first started blogging I was missing home badly. I was unhappy with the grief I got from work. I was depressed as I had no close friends to chat and gossip with. I certainly had too much free time on my hands. Whilst browsing other blogs, I had read many claims that blogging is therapeutic, it helped calmed nerves, it was a place to rant and rave about anything and everything. That was when I seriously considered starting my own blog. I had hoped it would keep the solitude at bay and occupy my quiet lonely nights. Although a cat (or two) would have been a great remedy but we could not have any as the landlord would not allow such.

And that’s exactly what it did. Blogging kept the loneliness away. I was happy with the way it was progressing; my little jottings of the on-goings in my life, published anonymously in a nice template which I could customise to make it reflect the person that I am – colours, fonts, photos, links etc. Oftimes I’d write about cats, sometimes I’d write about my travels, other times about life at the wharf, most times about my horrible colleagues, at times it was about how manic-depressive I was and others about how everything was going great for me.

But I have come to a realisation that maintaining a blog has been and will continue to be, no doubt, very helpful for someone like me. Reason being is I am a total scatterbrain and I forget things almost too easily. My memory has been deteriorating and I cannot even blame pregnancy for this. I find it very difficult to retain information in this thick head of mine and upkeeping this blog is indeed very handy for someone like me.

This morning, noticing that I had started slacking big time on my posts, I told myself that I have to pull my socks up. I need to diligently jot down my thoughts and happenings in my life; be it bad or good, happy or sad, in order to have something to look back and go, ‘Oh yeah, I did do that then’ or ‘Yes, he was rather nasty’ or ‘Wow, that was so much fun, wasn’t it’. Hopefully then the details in the posts will help jog whatever’s left of my memory and remind me of the little uneventful but perhaps meaningful (to me at least) things that went on in my life five, ten, twenty years ago.

I am determined to be good and promise to conscientiously blog from this day forth, as this will only benefit me, and no other person, in the future.

Swoosh

Where did 2007 go?

I cannot believe it is already November and that in less than two months, we will be entering a spanking, brand new year. This year has whizzed past ever so fleetingly; it has been a busy-buzzing year with visitors, family and friends, with some positive changes, as well as interesting travels for me thusfar. A lot of happenings on the work front too.

This was how the past 10+ months have looked like very briefly:

January
Egypt holiday.
Restructuring and change in role.

February
Started blogging. Woohoo.

March
Played host to buddy from Malaysia who came a-visiting.
Began self-development course in basic SAS skills.

April
Mumsy spent 2.5 weeks with us.
We holidayed in Venice.
Additional responsibilities for new portfolio as colleague left for greener pastures.

May-June
The in-laws were here for 3 weeks.

June
Home bound for two long lovely jovely weeks.

July
Being catsitters for 3 weeks.

August
Home bound again, but only for a week.

October
Dadster’s visit.
Weekend get-away in land of chocklit and Belgian waffles.
Another one bites the dust and handing over of tasks is on-going.

November
Next week, brother in law will be around for four days.
Restructuring and change in role yet again.

Twice in a year, is that even possible? Apparently so in Shittybank. When oh when will senior management know what they really want and decide once and for all the right direction to head and save us all the grief?

I foresee November to be a very busy and *challenging* month for me in terms of work so time will fly too. Before I know it, I’ll be spending all my hard-earned money, first on the pre Christmas sale and the Boxing Day sale thereafter, much to IK's dismay (!). Then I slog away again until the next holiday, or the next restructure perhaps?

Ah, the vicious cycle of (my) life.

Hospy Tales

Apart from entertaining Dadster, the dermatologist appointments have occupied most of my time.

I’ve had three consultations thus far and will have a final one this Friday. I had patches put on my back on Monday for an allergy test and boy were they irritating and itchy. Had to keep my back dry for the past three days and only got the patches removed this morning but my joy was short-lived as I was told to keep the back dry until F R I D A Y. That’s like two days away and I’m sure it will be the longest two days of my life.

I don’t know what is going on but the reaction I got after he removed the patches and shined the UV light on my back this morning has certainly triggered major itch-attacks every so often that I can be seen scratching my back not unlike a monkey at my desk. Try as I might to be discreet but to no avail. My colleagues must think I’ve got ticks or somefink. I hope I won't get these attacks tomorrow morning during the OpCo meeting. Not a pretty sight I tell ya.

Can’t wait to have a proper rub a dub scrub on Friday after the dermy appointment.

The Diaries of The Wharfer

Crumbling Crowning Glory

I am appalled at the alarming amount of hair I loose every time I have a wash. It does not help that I do it on a cycle of two days either. I don't know if this is normal amount of hair loss but I just don't remember experiencing anything like this before.

I fear I may soon become bald, as that seems to be the natural progression for the male members of my team. Mind you one is only 32 and the other is about 38, both 90% hair-less. I have no interest in being part of the statistics.

Eid

We are now in the midst of preparing for Eid. Everyone is saying that it will fall on Saturday, which suits me fine because I would not want to be celebrating it by replying to e-mails, drawing charts, attending meetings, boggling on issues/problems etc.

If all goes as planned, I will be having a little do at home on Saturday. Very very little since I have never cooked for more than er, five, maybe six, people in my entire life. *Hangs head in shame*. I do like dinner-parties, I just don't know how to organise them. This raya, at the ripe old age of *ahem* thirty-three, I am challenging myself, moving out of my comfort zone, living on the edge, taking the plunge, other whathaveyous and will possibly be cooking for 8-10 people. *Wipe beads of sweat off forehead*. I hope I can pull it off.

Forewarn: If you don't read about it in this blog, it simply means it was a disaster, so it's best not to ask.

Chicken Gunk

Question(s): Why is there so much slime, fat and veins involved in cleaning de-skinned chicken and why do we still eat chicken despite all that?

I have just finished going through four chickens and I am seriously wondering why I am not a vegetarian. The amount of goo I went through was enough to make me barf my guts out. Euuwww. Every time I go through this cleaning process, I contemplate on becoming a vegetarian. After all, eating lots of veggies is not a bad thing is it? I would also spare thousands of cute chickens from being slaughtered. Save the animals I say.

But as soon as I take a bite of the cooked chicken, all is forgotten - save the chickens, healthy vegetable intake - all down the drain. I am hopeless.

My Mother's Husband

Dadster is coming!

I will be getting some kuih raya from home. Yay. It will not be in time for first day of Eid but it will do.

Dadster arrives next Wednesday. He is very much looking forward to his annual pilgrimage; he claims he feels very at home in London as he and she go as far back as the 1960s.

We have two weekends with him. I have organised a few things:
· Manchester trip over one weekend - to reminisce time he spent in the 80s, plus IK gets to revisit his alumni.
· Brussels over another weekend.
· Sound of Music musical. HIP HIP HOOOOYAY.
· Day trips to Portsmouth/Windsor Castle.

Other days when I am at work, he will be able to visit Lincoln's Inn, his old haunts [he is quite a sentimental old man], the museums and there's always Canary Wharf if he gets bored. To be honest Dadster is easy. He does not demand/ask for much, he just enjoys being in London, wandering about on his own and absorbing the sights and sounds.

So there you have it, the life and times of a no longer spring chicken [of the non-slimy kind] aspiring to become a vegetarian while attempting to host a dinner party and planning happy travels.

Who Got Me The Anti Aging Kit Then?

I won't be bashful about this.
I'm never one to pretend and hope that everyone remembers it.
In fact, I shamelessly remind everybody about it!

I am one year older today.

A year on, I only have more wrinkles to show for
and I am still none the wiser.

Here's to my 33 years of existence in this world.

* chink *

MY WISHLIST

Blues skies throughout summer

Mild winter in December

Love and food in abundance for stray cats and dogs
the world over

Plenty of relaxing beach retreats in Berjaya Redang
when I am home

To walk a labrador at the park every Sunday morning

To visit New York, Portugal and a Greek island

Pancakes and maple syrup for breakfast everyday

Ability to write sas codes with great ease

60 days of annual leave in a year

Vanilla teh tarik tap in my kitchen

To fly Winnie in minus the ridiculous
6 months quarantine period

Have effortlessly gorgeous hair

A pot of trifle with heaps of custard

Be part of a samba troupe for a carnival

Convert to a vegetarian

A self-cleaning home

***

Happy Birthday Wharfer,

May all that you've wished for come true.

To Live A Cat's Life

How I yearn to be a pet-cat.

To wake up (late) to tummy rubs, cuddles and kisses
from doting owner who thinks the world of me.

The curtains are drawn to let the sunshine in
where you will find me sunning myself by the window-sill.

If it gets too hot I can curl up on the
soft velvety sofa amidst the fresh cushions for my daily kips.

Laze about the house and chew on owner's
favourite shoes, plants and cables and get away with it!

Go around looking adorable with my pink wet nose,
fluffy fur and cute paws.

Basically,
I eat, catnap, play, snooze, look cute with big round eyes,
nap some more, poopoo, snack, have a slumber siesta,
peepee, kip again and eat,
all day long.

More importantly, I won't have to go to work. Huzzah.

But wait.

I foresee one problem.

I really wouldn't want to have to lick my own bottom.

Yikes.

***

It has been a terrible Tuesday for me.

I am tired of going to work.

Despite the unappealing 'self-cleaning' involved,

I still think I want to be a kitty-kat.

Ruled by Routine

Thank god we're already halfway through the week.

Tomorrow is Thursday and Thursday's always good, knowing that when I wake up the next day, it'll be Friday. I'm always ecstatic on Fridays, who isn’t?

Below is an insight to my typical week:

Look forward to fantastic-Fridays.

Super-Saturdays and splendid-Sundays go swooshing by.

Splendid-Sundays become sad-Sundays by noon-ish. This is because it’s depressing that the wonderful-weekend will end in a couple of hours. Sunday evenings are mostly very emotional for me, the *ahem* drama queen.

Miserable-Monday mornings. Whine. Moan. Complain. Hate the world.

Depending on how Monday went, Tuesdays can either be terrible or terrific.

I’m always relieved when wonderful-Wednesdays arrive, it’s midway, you can’t go wrong there. Plus, I have my super fun salsa classes on Wednesdays.

Terrific-Thursdays are mostly happy days simply because fantastic-Friday is around the corner.

Finally, fun-Fridays arrive. Claps. Cheers. Whistles. Cartwheels.

There you go; I perform like clockwork really. Monday blues, Tuesdays – mediocre, Wednesdays – tolerable, Thursdays – almost there, Fridays – exceptionally merry, and finally, enthuse for the weekend. Repeat.

Rah rah rah for routine.

Eureka Moment

I have gone through 32 years of my existence believing my name to be meaningless. So when everyone proudly explained the meaning of their names - paradise, the fair one, wise, this that and the other, I had nothing zero nadda zilch to share.

Lo and behold, thanks to this website that shall not be named, I have discovered that my name actually has, not one, but two meanings!

Woohoo.

The Arabic meaning is "noble" while in Irish it means "lovely" (albeit slightly different in the way it's spelt). Not only does my name have meaning(s), they are beautiful meaning(s) too. How wonderful is that.

This made my day. I must now live up to my name(s); not that I ever had any problems being lovely and noble. Heh.

Blondie

This is me having a blonde moment – where is this elusive summer? It is mid July, almost August even and yet no sign of the sparkling sun.

The reason for this eagerness (and some what impatience) is mainly due to clothes. Yes, the outfits I wear.

Being in UK has made me realised that getting dressed every morning is a lengthy and tiring process. First I need to check the weather forecast for the day, then decide on skirts/trousers depending on temperature, to wear an extra layer of cardi or not, the right jacket depending on wind, so there's thick, medium or light to choose from and finally the shoes - stockings with heels, no stockings, flatties if alot of walking involved, comfy sneakers for longer outings (therefore no skirts as these don't go with each other), etc etc etc. All the while ensuring the colours are well coordinated. Don't even let me get started on the timing of the outing, it can sometimes have all four seasons in a day - what an amazing country eh. The synchronization of my daily attire is such a chore and very time-consuming, even I get exasperated sometimes.

Anyways back to my whining on the current weather situation. I have all these light colourful happy clothes collecting dust in the wardrobe, waiting patiently to be paraded in. Yet sadly, everyday, I end up with my drabby set of proper office attire. It is becoming all too dreary, I need some colour!

IK finds all this incomprehensible and chides me when I moan about not having anything nice to wear. He says I need not be inspired to go to work by always wearing the ‘perfect’ outfit. Bah. What do men know? As it is I have to drag myself to work each day. Having pretty skirts help ease the grief I feel every morning despite what IK believes.

Here’s praying for long lunches in the park, floral summery dresses, strappy sandals and cool pineapple-lemonades!

I'm Depressed

Miss home terribly. I especially miss the therapeutic company of these two furry-funsters.



Don't know when I'll see them next. Boohoohoo.