May 27 : Can't live without...

Coffee. What else?

This is terrible, I tried quitting coffee over the Memorial Day weekend and failed miserably. Caffeine headaches are THE WORST!

A friend recommended Lavender tea, it apparently helps ease the headaches. I have yet to try. Does anyone have a tried and tested way to quit caffeine??

May 24 : Go!

The antithesis of Go!
I couldn't find anything else to interpret today's theme!

May is coming to an end, and this is good reminder picture for me to stop, catch my breath and take stock of May (where did it go???) before June arrives! Work has been crazy, and some days I want to hurl the phone across the room (when it's ringing off the hook).
But then after, I go to my yoga classes and come out recharged.

*deep breaths*

The face I miss...

This was taken on our trip to Cebu, Philippines a few years ago,
with a bottle of local rum in my hands. Oh yeah!

So this is Day 11.

J and I have been chatting on Skype almost everyday. Sometimes we miss each other on Skype because he is 12 hours ahead. So i'm in bed by the time he is online. But we manage to talk pretty frequently.

He is in Bohol, Philippines. Before he left, I tried to get him into my work to get some travel shots (at least just a tetanus shot!), or just some medication to take with him. Two hours before his appointment, he cancelled on me, and i was FUMING MAD. He just doesn't believe in vaccinations.

So with a heart heavy, I say a little prayer every day, hoping he'll be safe and sound until he returns.

But already, he has ...

1. eaten a local fare called balut (OH-EM-GEE!) do you dare eat this? according to him, it just tastes like egg.

2. rented a scooter and fell while riding it.

3. stepped on a sea urchin in the sea.


One day during our Skype conversation, I said "I TOLD YOU SO". But he had anticipated my response and had hit the 'Mute' button so he didn't have to hear me say it.

"Say what?"

Cheeky bugger.

I'm halfway through and hanging in there. Now he tells me he's going to take a short flight to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat. The nurses at work scare me with malaria stories. Thanks J! I just need one more thing to worry about.

Miss Independent : Mid-week blues on Day 1

No, wait. This is not a part of Jess' (from Avant-Garde Living) Miss Independent series. This is me, attempting to function on Day 1, after J left for the Philippines on his all-boys vacay.



This was taken at the airport just before he had to check in.




He will be gone 3 weeks.

And as you may know, he cooks all.my.meals.

When he told me about his decision to go on this trip, the first thought that popped into my head was "What about my meals?" A very pragmatic woman, i agree.

But I had to start planning my time better now that he's gone. Because there's a ton of things on my to do list, that used to be split between two people.

Such as

☹ Feed and play with the lizards.

☹ Water the garden.

☹ Weed the garden (on weekends only)

☹ Pick veggies from the garden before they rot and go to waste.

☹ Figure out a way to feed myself

☹ Motivate myself to keep up with evening runs without J

☹ Wash the car and change the oil.

Such and such and such. Bah.

Is it really just the first day?

Found: Bumps and babes

Source: google.com via MandiSue on Pinterest

Recently, many friends and family members have been popping little ones left and right. On Facebook the other day, one of my old school mates congratulated a new (mutual friend) mom with "Welcome to the club!"

I feel kinda left out. :p

Not that I'm planning to have one any time soon. Although working at the children's museum does seem to make the bio clock tick faster. My favorite section is the 'I Can Grow' area, for babies and toddlers under the age of 3. Seeing those chubby little cheeks, arms and legs makes me want to chomp on them. I love babies, but I don't know if i'm ready for one of my own.

I came home from a friend's farewell dinner. She is about 3 months' preggers and it was totally unplanned. She is engaged but not married. Her family is very traditional so she got it really bad when they found out. I am very excited for her but a little sad at her family's reaction. My mother-in-law would give anything to have grandbabies NOW, and yet another woman would suffer such grief over the beginnings of a new life. I tried to reassure her that when the baby is born, relationships will be mended. But for now, she is leaving her family and moving to Florida to be with her fiance.

I do wonder from time to time if my turn would ever come. But as I sat in meditation the other day, I had a sudden revelation. A thought popped into my head that said that I would be contented and happy even if i didn't have any children in this life. My yoga class that day had been about finding out who we are. And as I focused on that thought, this was what came about. I had no clue why of all things would I think that, but it is what it is. I think i feel a little more at ease with this knowledge. It takes away all the panic at the back of my mind, about family planning, about where to raise my children, about familial pressures. I don't think this means I've ruled out having children, just that at this present moment, motherhood is the furthest thing on my mind.

I didn't think one little image on Pinterest would spark off the ensuing post, but there it is. On another note, if you have a Pinterest account, add me too!

Back to life, back to reality...

Source: chroniclebooks.com via chuiying on Pinterest

Ahh world,

I'm back!


I survived ONE WEEK of virtual silence. No computers, no internet connection, no blogging, no PHONE!

Do you find it really hard to get back into the rhythm of things after a nice relaxing holiday? I had been lazing around the whole day today trying to get things done, but not succeeding one bit!


I did some laundry, and ruined the J-man's new linen pants -- they shrunk and now they look like highwaters on him. I ruined his new polo shirt -- he got some soy sauce stains, and then i mistook the bleach for simple green (don't ask how). Long story short, i owed him two new pieces of clothing that i went out to get, but spent most of the day kefuffling around the mall...


When i spend a day so unproductively, i get really mad at myself.


Monday will be better. But for tomorrow, it's back to work. That'll help me settle in. Meanwhile, I hope I find that "feels good to get some stuff done" feeling soon!

I will post about Mexico in a bit. Let me just procrastinate the last of my vacation away...

erm... - giveaway here -

*flops back to bed*

On road rage

So this is the quote the J-man quietly showed me the other day.

"Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?"

George Carlin

I have serious road rage ever since I got my driver's license a few months ago.
It irks me when people...

1. do not use their blinkers when changing lanes
2. cruise at a leisurely pace in the passing lane
3. ride up my ar** attempting to speed me up even though there are ten cars ahead of me

dude? are you rushing to meet your maker?!


And then this makes me think of my dear friend R. She went ballistic on a man who drove recklessly next to her in an attempt to take over. They both stopped at a light, she wound her window down, and in her best psychotic impression, said in full Singlish glory,

"Wah! You very good! You number ONE! You WIN!"

Tight-lipped, the man stared straight ahead, and his wife who was in the passenger seat, looked very worried.

And then the daily morning dose of caffeine gives me an adrenaline rush. I just noticed I drive with my teeth clenched. So i gave up coffee as of today (not counting the 26 other previous attempts).



My friend A who drives in Shanghai, sent me this picture he took of his GPS the other day. The arrow with the circle around is his car's position. I DO NOT ever want to drive in China. Especially where people use their horns indiscriminately. I scared!!

By the way, have you heard George Carlin? He's a pretty dang good comedian!!

News from the garden: Attack of the Tomato Killers!

So the garden has been very giving.


Crooked neck squash

But Mother Nature hasn't been very forgiving. It's been raining hard and raining tons. After a few nights' worth of heavy showers, we would walk apprehensively into the garden in the mornings. Sure enough, there would always be a bean plant here, a bell pepper there, knocked over, dashed to the ground. Soiled and muddy. Demolished and destroyed.

The J-man patiently re-erects them, staking the plants, straightening them out. He would water and I weed. Together, we try to keep this fragile garden going, growing.

But just as we thought we'd managed pull one over Mother Nature, disaster strikes again! Our tomato plants are infected. The leaves have spots on them and are yellowing. And they start at the bottom of the plant. The tomatoes are thankfully unharmed as far as we can tell. We've been trying to identify the possible viruses but it's really daunting and frustrating trying to sort through a million different contradicting pictures on gardening websites! We don't know if it's septoria, blight or goodness knows what else!

Here is a photo and if anyone knows what it is, or if you know of any good gardening sites, please help!

Linguistically speaking...

Ever since I found out the title of the Jay Chou song that I liked, I made a very Jay Chou playlist for when I drive. Like all men, whether they understand the language or not, the J-man protested vehemently initially. Then i argued that it makes me drive better, and because I was tired out from work, I need to relax by listening to my songs. He is very eager to make me happy after a tiring day at work for fear of treading on my toes. Haha!

No la, but he is also very sweet because he knows how tired I am, and so he gives in to all my whining, Jay Chou included. I also bargained that he gets to keep in touch with the Chinese language that way, even though gawd knows we can hardly hear what the man is singing.

I wonder what is making me go through this sudden phase. I had never been a serious groupie Jay Chou fan (Elisa and Daphne comes to mind), and I stopped listening to him by his 3rd album... Could it be a craving and need for my mother tongue and that I have no one except my mom to turn to? I even emailed a few of my Chinese ex-colleagues (in CHINESE!!) to keep in touch. I don't wish for my Chinese to deteriorate, and if i ever have kids, by golly I want them to be strongly bilingual, even if they can't be multi-dialect-lingual (if there is such a thing).

I just got an email from my good friend Jiani (another J!), and i miss the hilarious times we spent, trying to speak Hokkien, Cantonese, Malay, English and Chinese, failing miserably, but can still pass (if you know what i mean), depending on the people around us, and depending on who we want to leave out of our conversations. Aiyoh, so naughty. Yes, I miss that so much.

Here, I'm working hard to sound like one of them, speech accommodation they say, so it must certainly be contributing to my gradual loss of identity. At the cash registers I say "Hi, how y'all doin' today?" and say things like "ta-meh-tas" instead of "toe-mat-to". I cannot say "shiok" or "alamak" except in front of the J-man, because there simply isn't any point.

I didn't intend for the post to pan out into one linguistic rant, and I was even gonna post a few photos. But it was sitting at the top of my mind, and i had to get it out.

Four years ago, I started feeling homesick after about a couple of months in Shanghai. This, is probably around the same time for me to feel homesick again.

I survived Black Friday...

We spent Thanksgiving at Gramps up in the mountains, where the lack of phone signals and internet connection gave way to many hours of reading, games of cards and dice and catchphrase, and made everyone spend 110% of the time together as a family. The women got down to cooking ( read: me washing up) and the men tried to fix Uncle Lance's truck which broke down halfway up the mountains.

For the Thanksgiving feast, we had 2 deep fried turkeys!, ham, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, apple pie, deviled eggs, pickle wraps, cranberry salad (that looked like ice cream), veggies with mom's spinach dip and J's blue cheese dip, J's roasted peppers with capers and anchovies (*yummeh*), crackers and more cheese, chicken-lip-dip (or however you spell it) and chocolate fudge cake. At least that's all I ate, I don't know if there were other dishes I missed because I was so stuffed by the first hour...


I had to go in to work 3rd shift on Thanksgiving, so after the feast, i tried my darnest to go to sleep, even though I wanted to stay up to watch football. I might as well have, because of tossing and turning for about 2 and a half hours in bed, I stopped trying to fall asleep and got up to watch the Saints play the Cowboys.

Got into work at 1030pm, and got myself mentally prepared for Black Friday sales... The first hour went by reeealllly slow, but as we approached midnight, more and more people streamed into Walmart, the noise level went up 5 notches, and the store went abuzz with crazy activity as the clock struck twelve. In past years, as I'd learnt, Black Friday sales only started at 5am. This year, however, the management decided to do the sales in two parts, so as to better handle the crowds. The first sale started at 12midnight for smaller items like bedding and DVDs and Wii games etc. The electronics went up for sale at 5am. As a result, I didn't think it was all that crazy! I had actually imagined it to be worse. Everybody asked me afterwards how working on Black Friday was, and were very surprised I answered, "Pretty manageable!"

My shift ended at 830am in the morning, and I was ready to go home and plonk right into bed. I slept in till late afternoon and awoke pretty fresh and cheery. And because I had gotten my first paycheck (*yay!*) the day before, I took the family out for some Japanese!

It had been a wonderful first Thanksgiving, and I hope you all had a great one too!

Now, I'm waiting for Christmas holidays to come around!

First Frantic Week at Work!

So I started my work at Walmart last Tuesday for a full day orientation from 12 - 9pm. And then they scheduled me for a 2 day training on the computer (they call it the CBLs computer-based learning) where I was to familiarize myself with the policies, health and safety regulations, cashier transactions and duties and so on. A total of 30 modules to be completed over two 8-hour days. 

I was, as what my mother would say, quite geh-kiang, which means I tried to be too smart, thereby completing my training in 1 and a half days. So by Thursday afternoon, I was out there at the cash registers. Now, when I studied the ways to ring up different transactions (cash, debit, credit, shopping card etc) the computer modules taught cashiers using the OLD cash registers. These old registers only had buttons and the yellowed screen that shows you your total. Unfortunately, when I got out there on Thursday, they sent me to the new system of cash registers - the swanky new computerized system, complete with touch screen computers.

Needless to say, I was stumped. 

Luckily, they put me on training with a more experienced cashier, Charlotte, a nice little old lady. She stood by me for the first hour, teaching me how to use the new system. However, at certain busy times, she would have to open up the next counter, just to keep the lines moving (yes, i was THAT slow). So at times, I was left to cope by myself. And in times of trouble, I would look over helplessly in her direction and she had to come running over to rescue me.  To make things worse, my counter was also the cigarettes and tobacco counter. Now, I thought I had seen it all, but the varieties stocked on the shelves behind me confounded me. The Marlboros don't just come in Reds, Menthols, Menthol Lights, Lights. They also come in 72s, 100s, ultra etc etc. Every time a customer comes up to buy some ciggies, I was like "Whaaaat?" And there's also tobacco in a tin, in a roll... The only fun bit about selling cigarettes is that I get to CARD customers. And because I am hopeless at guesstimating their ages, I card just about anyone who is not white on their heads. As a result, I get very pleased and amused customers. 

By the end of Thursday, I had gotten the hang of the new system and was actually looking forward to working the next day. It had been a steep learning curve, but interacting with so many people and punching out numbers with a flourish is quite fun!

Then on Friday, I went back to work with Charlotte at the cigarettes counter. The first half of the day went by without too much of a hitch, but after lunch, guess what? They put me at the old cash registers!!! AND I COMPLETELY FORGOT WHAT I HAD LEARNT!!! So for the rest of the day, I was really glad to get customers who use cash or debit cards (because those two were the EASIEST transactions to complete). There are some special transactions that completely bowls me over. The food stamps for example. There are so many steps to completing a food stamp, WIC, CVB transaction I almost cried whenever a customer placed them in my hands. And then there are coupons and vouchers to check, the produce SKU #s to key in and weigh, and a million plastic bags to pack. I beam the widest at customers who use their own recyclable grocery bags. 

So Friday was a disaster too.

On Saturday morning, I decided to take the initiative to take the first hour to go back on the computers and copy out the steps for the different transactions on the old system. I am now quite familiar with the new computer system (also because they're quite idiot proof to use) so all i needed to do was to get used to the old ones. By the end of Sunday, I had emerged more confident and doubly nice to my customers. Oh and in my last hour on Sunday, the supervisor pulled me out to help out at the apparel section, stocking the shelves and rearranging old stock. That was extremely therapeutic, standing there, folding clothes, neatening up topples, arranging clothes according to colours and size. I work best when I get to do things alone and at my own pace. And organizing and rearranging! The perfect job for someone as anal as I am.

So my work week came to a close on a high note. But I was completely wiped out. I had worked 6 days in a row, 9 hours everyday. I thought I was supposed to be a PART TIMER!!

And tomorrow I'm gonna meet the mom who wants me to babysit. I've already met her once and the family seems to like me very much, so tomorrow I'm going to get to know the little girl better and to discuss further details. That is a story for another time. Right now, it's time to relax and enjoy my weekly dose of Monday Night Football!! Wheeeeee!

Halloween Week Nightmare

Last week, things started to look up a little when I received a call from a temp job agency AND a photo studio with interviews. The temp job agency, Adecco, had a real last minute 3 day data entry job which pays $12 an hour. I was super excited but had to convince the J-man to drive me down to Charlotte to meet the hirers and do a drug test screening, typing competency tests and so on. All i had to do then, was to wait for the test results to come in, and for them to contact my references.

The next day, however, the tests results still hadn't come in. It was company policy that I had to pass all tests and screenings before I got hired. So without that, I couldn't go to work that day. On top of that, the references I gave were not good enough, they needed references of people they could call, i.e. people who are in the US. So after a few hours of scrambling around looking for the contacts of some parents I knew who are currently in the country, I finally managed to scrape up 2 moms and a grandma who (bless their hearts) gave glowing testimonials about me. To cut a long story short, I was short of one background check so I wasn't able to land the temp job. On the bright side, I hope all the results came in after, because then I can give them a call on Monday in hopes of getting other temp jobs.

The other interview I had was with this photography studio called Olan Mills. The marketing manager K, called me one evening to arrange for an interview on Wednesday. It was for a sales promoter position and although I wasn't that interested, I was glad to finally get a call. Wednesday came, I arrived fifteen minutes before the scheduled time. The interviewer L wasn't there, so I waited. But when the scheduled time came and went, I still didn't hear from her. So the photographer D at the studio offered to contact her. While he was on his cell, L called the studio and apologized. Something cropped up at the last minute and she wasn't able to make the interview that day. I was a little bummed but hey, I understand sometimes things do crop up at the last minute, so I rescheduled with K for an interview the very next day with her.

I arrived early for my interview the next day, and again, K wasn't at the studio. Instead, D came out to meet me saying that K had tried to contact me earlier but couldn't reach me. She wanted to cancel the interview again because she couldn't make it. I checked my cellphone, no missed calls. Maybe she tried calling me at home. I thanked D and drove home. I checked my missed calls to find out that K had called me FIVE minutes before my scheduled interview. Like hello? Of course I wouldn't be home already, and why hadn't she called me on my cell?

Quietly seething, I called K to re-schedule for the the 3rd time and the next interview was set to be on Saturday noon. Before leaving for that interview, I debated on calling K just to check to see if she was there at the studio. I decided against it, because it might look like I didn't trust them. Well I didn't, but they didn't need to know that. I should have, because my gut told me I was going to be stood up yet again. I arrived at 11:45am to find the studio really busy. D couldn't talk to me because he was busy with customers, but he gave me a knowing shake of his head to indicate that she wasn't here and didn't call. I stood in a corner and decided to wait. At the same time I decided to call K every 10minutes, after she didn't pick up my first call. I waited till 12:30pm and was about to leave when D got done with his customers. He took me aside and apologized when I told him there was no news of K. He then offered to set up a working interview with a senior sales lady the next day, with a promise that if I did well on the job, she will provide a positive evaluation, possibly landing me the job. I declined, on the account that the management staff had showed such an extent of un-professionalism. As much as I needed a job, I do not deserve to be treated so shabbily. There is a bottom line.

So my uneventful week went by, and I am still without a job. I guess that job wasn't meant for me and something better will come along...

Huzzah!

The boys have upped and left for Marion this weekend for an all-boys-only camping trip, which in my opinion is not fair. Why only boys? I want to go camping too. But no, this camp is only for fathers and their sons to have a male bonding session i guess. There are about 4 sets of father and sons going on this trip of campfire, fishing and sleeping in tents. Well, i guess while they freeze their butts off in the low 50s temperature, i will be all snuggled up under my covers on a king sized bed. Hmph.

So Mom has planned for a girls' night out to the movies while the boys are gone. We are going to watch a chick flick which otherwise would not have materialized if the boys were around. Tonight the girls will be going to the Marquee to watch the Betty White show You Again. I hope it's good. It looks fun but i will be missing my boy. :( Not to mention, I won't be able to take the car out this weekend, because I can't drive unless he is in the car next to me. Bleagh. Maybe I should just practise my three-point turns in the driveway.

And there is the grand opening of Mint Museum this weekend in Charlotte that i so wanted to go to. Guess I'll have to pass on that. But check this out, I want to go to the Renaissance Festival coming up next weekend. It's a medieval themed amusement park complete with a village, marketplace and an arts and crafts fair! Everybody there will be dressed up 16th century style and speaking old English! Whoo!




Via Carolina Renaissance Festival