Friday, December 29, 2006

I've turned nocturnal

I drank a mug of cuppuccino with hazelnut ice cream and toffee nut sauce at approximately 5pm today, or rather, yesterday. Not sure if it's a good thing but it has definitely kept me awake to finish up the last bits of my overdue article and of course, I'm here, typing this overdue entry as well.

The hours may be wee but the ranting shall continue. The night is quiet and cool. Perfect for pondering about life, if only I had a nicer window view from my bedroom. If I were a guy, I'd grab my keys and head downstairs for a nice, slow walk. I do hope I'm not talking rubbish. I've hardly been awake at such ungodly hours for a long time. Oh wait, I was up the whole night four days ago. Well, I guess that's different.

Anyway, in a (coco)nut-shell, here are the significant events of my first four days of Christmas thus far...

On the first day of Christmas, I saw me sleeping half the daylight away. Before that, I was with MPM at Addi's place. It was a nice evening spent feasting, giving presents and singing carols. Half the time, I was thinking of whether my next Christmas will still be spent with them. It's gonna be hard, especially since the group is so dear to me. Anyway, after I had woken up on Christmas afternoon, I started reading my cards and unwrapping the presents. Sometimes, it's difficult to not judge a present by its cover. Unlike books, opinions about presents can be formed at a glance. This time round, there are some presents which I really appreciate, largely because I could literally feel the love exuding from it. So before I say anything...Thank you (all those stated below), for remembering me and loving me.

The one-is-not-enough gift from Hil
Hmmm, let's see...A phone, a pendant and some Isetan vouchers. Hil never fails to amaze me with his gift-giving abilities that always sweeps me off my feet. He isn't a rich guy but whenever he can, he splurges some on me (despite my repeated refusal of course). Me is the luckiest woman on planet earth.

The more-than-I-asked-for gift from Gab
A couple of weeks back, Gab asked me what I want for Christmas, so being the bay-yao-bye me, I told him to get me the cranberry lotion from Body Shop. And Gab being Gab, had to tell me that he bought me Lux soap instead because my request was too expensive, which was totally cool with me (except that I don't use bar soaps). Anyway, imagine my shock & delight when I opened the gift to find, not just the cranberry lotion, but a full set of assorted cranberry products inclusive of a lip gloss, shimmering lotion, body butter and erhm, a bar of cranberry soap. It's like asking Santa for your two front teeth and he gives you a full set of dentures instead.

The you-may-not-know-me-well-yet-but-the-gift-is-lovely gift from Mel
I so love the earrings and cross pendant from my soon-to-be GD (go figure). The fact that it's different from the rest and nicely packaged shows the amount of effort gone into it and for that, I'm thankful.

The I-really-didn't-expect-a gift-from-you gift from Bartholomew
The back massager really comes in handy after days of endless shopping and lugging around heavy paperbag-loads of presents. I really didn't expect a gift from Bart but it was a nice gesture and I'm glad that he has grown so much in his journey in MPM.

The card-that-pops from Lyn
I still can't figure out how she managed to make a personalised pop-up Christmas card. To me, it's like high difficulty level task and Ms Lynette pulls it off with such grace. Respect man. And btw, Lyn, the question you asked in the card, I shall answer it soon enough. =)

On the second day of Christmas, I went back to IMH...not to see a doc or refill my medication, but to see my ex-colleagues. Walking along the pathway into the hospital was so nostalgic. While others may dread that very same pathway, I adore it with pride and appreciation. It was tiring to walk around the sprawling plot of land, repeating the same conversation in every department I visited, but it was really nice that people still remember me. Being back in my old office was such a bitter-sweet moment. Things have definitely changed but I was delighted to find bits of my existence still lingering around, like my keychain attached to the cupboard key, the fire escape route with my name tasked to switching off the electrical supplies, and the mirror which I strategically placed at my desk to spy on kaypoh colleagues behind me who were trying to kaypoh at my work.

In the evening, I watched Charlotte's Web with Hil & Aloy. Despite having seen the show when I was a lot younger, my only memories of it was a spider called Charlotte. Pathetic. Anyhow, it was a heartwarming tale of friendship. Sigh...Even animals can keep promises, why can't humans?

On the third day of Christmas, I went for confession. For some reason, I didn't manage to go for it before Christmas and I did make a promise to go this week since I figured that although Christmas has passed, I am still a sinner after all. It was a serene experience, being at novena church by myself, reconciling with God and attending mass there. Jesus rocks!

I met Mel for lunch at Thai Express. Apart from the super sour mango salad, it was a nice meal. I'm glad to have this opportunity to know her better and to journey with her in her faith. Trying my best to remember all her sisters' name and other stuff. Signs of getting old. She was also telling me about her grandpa who plays Santa Claus and distribute money to them via a lucky draw. Among the prizes were $100, $50, $20 and $10 notes and I thought it was quite amusing that she was so 'sway' to end up getting the $10. But still, better than nothing.

At night, I went over to Godpa's place for dinner with Vin, Jon & co. Dinner was better than expected. He prepared a mini Korean BBQ-styled sukiyaki thingy where everybody got their individual frying wok for duh, frying their own food. It was a refreshing change from the usual deep fried chicken nuggets and bee hoon he used to cook. (Ha...Ssshh...Don't tell him that.)

And my little God-bro Jerome is such a darling to be around. He's at that age where he's able to mouth some words, one of which happens to be 'zer-zer' (sis in teochew). It seems I'm turning out to be his favourite God-sister because I spent most of my time pushing him around in his toy motorbike, taking pictures with him in my new phone camera and actually being interested in the silly song & dance High 5 show. The most heartwarming thing happened when I was leaving the house. I asked for a hug, not knowing if he even knows what a hug is, and he immediately stretched out his arms towards me. Awwww...

On the fourth day of Christmas, I met Hil for lunch at his workplace. On the 1-hr journey from my place to that part of ulu kingdom, I was reading my book - Little Earthquakes. My plan was to finish reading it by the end of the year and guess what, it's done. Yipee...Got 3 other books to start on. Gosh, I feel like a nerd.

Then, Hil passed me his Isetan card because there was a private sale going on there. Although the place was super crowded, I managed to grab 3 shirts for him, a pair of Levi's and a blouse for myself. I felt like a tai-tai as I struggled in the crowds, going from floor to floor. Now, I'm suffering from a neckache. Gosh, I really am growing old.

Met Maria for coffee after my shopping spree. Didn't realise how much I missed her not being around during Christmas. Anyway, she told me all these stories about her Thailand mission trip and that inspired me somehow to wanna be a more giving person. She's such a dear friend and I'm love the fact that she's so free-spirited...always travelling and doing what she wants to do. At the end of the day, after her escapades around the world, we can still find time to have a cuppa. That's nice.

Ok, the coffee's wearing out and I'm officially sleepy. Will be back to talk about the remaining days of Christmas. I love being on leave. =)

Posted by Jo at 3:51 AM