when will they ever learn

the day didn’t start out very well, with the boss’ text at 6.40 am saying he couldn’t join her for the early meeting.

'crucified' is probably too strong a word, but the meeting definitely could have gone better.

in need of a good cheering up, she prays he will be around after two days of complete absence, please please please …

and sees his car in the basement, and gives silent thanks to the powers that be.

as she heads for the lift she notices that familiar head (in need of another clean shave), at the ground floor restaurant, alone, facing the other way.

halfway to the lift, she stops and turns back.

what the hell.

and walks past him to the sundry shop next door to get the chocolate milk she didn’t need, checked her hair in the shop mirror, takes a deep breath, and walks back past him.

looks up to see him looking at her, and smiles (des - the “hi” unfortunately got stuck in her throat).

and he smiles back.

___________________

hang on, i had three weeks to do what exactly?

he ain't heavy ...

... he's my nephew.

well ok, he is quite heavy.

heheh.

mencuri khayalan denganmu

i now know his full name.

it's ironic that i (already) had part of it in one of my earlier posts.

and what a strangely fitting name it is, under the circumstances.

fazu tried to demystify the whole thing yesterday (thanks luv).

and miss j will am sure try to sort me out over cakes this afternoon.

let's hope the combined effort (plus some of mine) will wean me off this unhealthy obsession once and for all (admitting it is a first step, no?), by, say, my birthday.

which means i have less than 3 weeks.

arrk.

for tonight at last ..

the last time i tried to foist u2 on anyone was 18 years ago.

considering that it was in a dorm of 18 girls of extremely varied backgrounds (not to mention states - and dialects - from all over the country), the fact that it failed spectacularly wasn’t what was surprising; what was astonishing was the fact that i even tried.

it wasn’t an easy album to introduce to people when you are that age, when other people were listening to bubble gum pop music.

but then i digress.

a more appropriate song here would probably be sudirman’s balik kampong, for sure.

if only for the malay language and sheer cheesiness of it all.

but ‘balik kampong’ to me means going to my parents’ hometown, a visit which happens maybe 4- 5 times a year.

and as enjoyable as it can be, it doesn’t (for me) capture what i’m trying to say.

for me, even for something as simple as driving back home on friday or other nights at the end of a long week/day, this is the only song i sing (if only at times for the last two lines..):

mr, ms and baby j, have a safe trip, and babe, welcome home.

__________

postscript:

met up with papabear mamabear and babybear (who was asleep but woke up for a few seconds to smile oh so very sweetly at everyone and immediately went back to sleep) this evening, but not before meeting up with fazubear for lunch.

big big hugs to and from two dearest people i haven't seen for almost a year.

and since i am quoting u2 songs this week ~ it's a beautiful day : )

_____

post postscript:

hardly surprising then that at this time on this day in 1993 i was at wembley stadium at - but of course - a u2 concert.

back to reality

did i have a good holiday?

i can’t really say. i didn’t even take that many pictures.

my body is tired and my neck aches like crazy.

and i didn’t really enjoy my dives; one: because visibility was crap, and two: after not being in the sea for 4 months my buoyancy was also crap, and i ascended uncontrollably when we were in the shallows in dives #2 and #3 and couldn’t for the life of me go back down.

sigh.

salang is a party beach and quite frankly it’s not for me (nor, am beginning to think, is tioman).

but it was good to be away from the office regardless, and bond a bit with the rest outside of it.

the best laugh i had the entire trip was courtesy of my colleague, who, upon seeing our bus driver on the ride back immediately asked of me, did you specifically order him??

the driver looked like a personal bodyguard and more importantly - had a beautifully shaven head.

and my seat was in the front row.

yum.

______________

i was going to take a picture of the setting sun in between the palm trees but these two (the dive master's nieces) had other ideas:

take me to the beach

off to tioman tomorrow night for a mini company get-away.

it’s been a shitty few weeks and am glad to be able to get away (though the work frenzy leading up to being away from office one extra day is taking its toll).

haven’t been on treadmill in ages, or able to run at the park due to rain and yoga is off the whole week coz instructor had an appendectomy.

so it will be an extra extra blobby me at the beach.

it’s a losing battle.

time to stock up on them m&m’s (thank god bulan puasa is coming soon!).

i do hope i still remember how to dive.

my virgin wetsuit wants to go for a swim.

: )

the sheep sheep song

it’s all related.
am reading haruki murakami’s a wild sheep chase (less than quarter of an inch left), and just started terry pratchett’s the wee free men (so far so good!) which has little blue men stealing sheep; cleaned up my room last sunday (only got as far as my bookcase) and the only thing i could not fit back in after rearrangements was a galvanised metal bucket with two sheep fridge magnets on it (made from real sheep wool) that i got at st kilda market in melbourne, and the present room&board furniture am lusting after is the chelsea sectional which has angora in it.

baaaaaaaaaaaaa!

(well ok angora wool is from rabbit but angora hair is also from the angora goat which is kinda the same. errr, almost)

improvements

before i could write the stern email to dwell, my july/august magazine arrived yesterday, choc full of goodies. am gobbling on july/august and september in one go and feel totally greedy.

also yesterday, boss mentioned in an email the “P” word, to be discussed soon.

and when i told him later i am not moving down, he laughed and said, why, because of anything in the opposite block?

ackk (yes boss vaguely knows of existence of mrsexy).

_____________

went home early yesterday, for fear of an eye infection, but needn’t have worried.

the doctor said it’s not an infection, but more likely stress and work related.

he told me to “take it slow”.

during the entire time he was telling me this he had his own eyes closed (??).

and so i got home in time for dinner with my parents, and was in bed by 11 (“resting” my eyes on my book, uninterrupted for almost an hour).

lovely.