The Lazy-ish Weekend

It's been a pretty busy couple of weeks, mostly because of work... finally it seems, we are taking the deadline seriously, and it had to happen at a time where I have no other resources booked on the job. Anyways, it was compounded by my manager telling me that she has been told to take a step back so that I would have a chance to prove myself capable of "client management", as well as taking on a managerial capacity, i.e. reviewing of other's work. Well, looking at it positively, it is about time that I started earning my pay. After all, it has always been on the back of my mind that I've not having the same kind of exposure as the rest of my peers... so now, it's time to prove myself? And, knowing me, I perform better under stress anyway.

All that aside, I was in need of a good break this weekend... and I think I got it... Met PR for dinner at Oosters on Friday night... and due to something that I was frantically rushing for, I made her wait for half an hour! *sorry gal*... but it was fun as usual, catching up on gossip and all... who says you cannot make friends once you start work?

Sat... I was just so damn tired that I slept, slept and slept... I think I momentarily worried Jules, who is just more used to the him sleeping, me bustling around routine... Well, due to a shoulder ache that I had, he decided that I needed to get a shoulder massage... so we went down to Kenko at the fringe of Chinatown. Now my shoulders feel all bruised, but it is tons better than the throbbing pain.

By a stroke of luck, methinks yesterday was also the first night of the Chinese New Year night market. With nothing very much to do, we decided to jostle with the crowd. Hmmm... I think I just really like walking about at pasar malams... I really enjoyed looking at all the goodies. The big thing this year is a "new" product: 八宝花生, or so I think... essentially it is just nuts in a very healthy looking packaging. Also, the Taiwanse 果冻, as well as Japanese mochi in like 40 flavours, including, honeydew, durian, soursop, etc. I bought the mochi... yummy. It's been like 8 years since my last visit to Chinatown during CNY.

The moment the real crowd starting coming in, we left for home, just in time to catch the last 15 minutes of the Singapore - Malaysia extra time, as well as the penalty shoot out. Here, I learnt something new about Jules... he actually is a Lions fan at heart. I love watching penalty shoot outs, coz it is where all the "nail biting" action is, and last night proofed to be equally "dramatic", as the only goal which was saved was the last goal. Well, am glad the Lions won, was very rare to see the entire stadium filled with Lion supporters, and yes, to hear the Kallang Roar once again

Book Sale

Wondering around aimlessly at Suntec… I just happened onto a books clearance going on at Carrefour. I’ll admit that I’ve not gone to many book fairs in my adult life… I do remember going as a kid, but these days it is way harder to drag my little pert butt to some far out part of Singapore.

It was really quite exciting, for lack of a better word, to see a bunch of books going for as little as $3 a book… that’s like tons cheaper than my rental costs at second hand book shops! Well, needless to say, I spent the remainder of my lunch ploughing through the stacks of books… okay, maybe not stacks, but a small messy mountain. It’s amazing how time passes every time I’m browsing through books, or when I’m sleeping for that matter, but lunch just disappeared. And I emerged with books ranging from authors / books that I’ve long wanted to try out (Richard North Patterson, Arthur & George, The Game), etc to existing favourites (Kathy Reichs). But with all the steals there was also the slight pang I felt when I came across copies of books like “The Orientalist” or Umberto Eco’s books… stuff that I paid at least $17 for but are now going for $3… *sighs* you win some, and you lose some. True, not all the books are in tip top condition, but they are definitely comparable to the well thumbed and weather ridden copy of Freakonomics that is currently residing in my bag. The poor book has endured being rained on, dripped on, dropped… Needless to say, it’s in a sorry state.

But I digress… my biggest consideration as I was browsing through the books was STORAGE. My shelves at home are packed to the brim, and I have since discovered that paper has a very ungainly habit of turning yellow, musty and sticky when left alone for too long. No matter how many times I have vowed to sandpaper my books… it has yet to materialize. Thus rental book stores… where I do not need to keep the books, and I have seemingly endless choice. Which reminds me, Jules has a colleague who just splurged $2,000 in books… I need to bug Jules to bring me over to visit just so that I can “wow” at the books… and no, it is most definitely not Mr. “J”, whom, I will concede, has an excellent taste in books.

So I started daydreaming… if I were to have a month off now… and nothing much to do but read, which would be the books on my shelf that I’ll cuddle up with in bed (especially in this rain). In no order or priority, I suppose it will be:

• The Wheel of Time – I need to read all the books again in order to even have an inkling of what has happened in preparation for Book Twelve (?)
• Agatha Christie – especially the books featuring Hercule Poirot. It’s been my long standing wish (ever since age 13?) to own every single book written by her… which I will contrive to achieve when I finally have my own house and plenty of bookshelf space. (Jules, you have been warned, although you will most probably never read this)
• Dante and Milton – I have tried reading this about a trillion times since “B” bought it for me four / five? years ago, but have since concluded that it’s impossible to read unless you have a whole day free.
• War and Peace – it’s an incredibly thick copy rendering it impossible to lug around. I once saw a very pretty set at Borders (they split it into 7 different books) and I was so tempted to purchase it… but it was priced at about $70
• Either the Arab / Israel stuff that I have or the British History stuff – these are books that I’ve picked up and hoarded over the years… all “projects” which I began, but never could complete… yup… discipline issue again. I am just so fickle when it comes to books.

For now, gotta tackle yet another ungamely and cumbersome template… and maybe, just maybe, I’ll pop over to Carrefour again for lunch tomorrow.

Listening to Sad Songs

Do you ever listen to music as you are working? I guess I picked up this pseudo bad habit during my school days… whenever I was as at my desk doing my homework, my radio would be situated by my side. As a result, I think I paid more attention to whichever DJ was on “Say it with Music” or the YES 93.3 equivalent, then I did to my ‘A’ Maths, ‘C’ Maths, Stats…

Somewhere down the road, I learnt how to treat music as a background noise, something which I needed to have on, but which I learnt to not place my full attention on. I soon found that I could actually work better with rather than without the music on. In a way, it actually helped me to let my thoughts “flow”. Having my own cubicle / room in the past couple of jobs meant that I was allowed to continue listening to music whilst I worked… Imagine my chagrin as well as discomfort when I realized that my current job did not afford me the same liberty. There was definitely some big adjustment required.

It’s January, and being the audit peak, there’s been a slight strain on our staff resources. As such, I find myself working on my own right now, at the client’s meeting room. This solitude has had it’s advantages, (a) I find myself actually being more productive as there aren’t the little distractions that colleagues pose, and, (b) I get to “blast” music once again…

So there I was typing away, figuring out how to complete the cumbersome “Risk Control Matrix” template, when a certain song started playing. Anyone who has taken a look at my CD collection at home, or the myriad of songs in my lapppie would realize that I have a penchant for (a) Chinese Songs, (b) Oldies and (c) sad songs. I just randomly shuffle the songs and most of the time I don’t even realize what I’m listening to anymore. So, I was kinda taken aback when I had that oh so familiar tugging of the heartstrings / heart wrenching feeling… that kind of, “oh wow, this makes me just feel like crying” kind of feeling. And I guess it brought back with it a rush of emotions. I think that the power of songs is that they combine stirring melodies with lyrics that a listener can totally relate to… that’s why so many people go for a big roaring sing-a-long session at the karaokae during a break up, and also, during a celebration.

Anyways, sitting in the room, listening to the song, working… well well… it was a little like déjà vu. And it did make me miss some of my ex collegues whom I consider friends… guess we’ve drifted apart with time, as everyone has left and are pursuing their own separate careers. We hardly ever meet up anymore, and even when we do… there really isn’t much opportunity to play catch up. When I look back and I realize how much of myself I used to show to them, I guess I cannot help but feel kind of sad that we’ve lost that feeling of familiarity. I guess this is part and parcel of life, and people just move on unless effort is made. Oh well… it’s the song… it’s making me weepy.