Just wanted to say...

This blog is more or less dead. =P Taken to writing notes on FB instead. heh.

First driving adventure in Abu Dhabi!

Well... also my first drive since I got my licence in Jan 09.

After months of procrastinating, I finally got my local driving licence in Nov 09. It was a simple process of giving the hubby my ID and Sgp licence, show up at the local vehicle and licencing dept, and get my photo taken. Licence gets issued instantaneously. The hubby had been nagging at me to get it done for some time (so I can drive him to work), but I managed to hold it off longer than I expected. =P

We were going to the driving range so I can have my first swing of the clubs that E gave me. I was supposed to drive, but the hubby forgot and only remembered when we were halfway there. hehe...

Anyway, the driving range was closed. so we decided to go bowling instead. So I got to drive from the driving range to the bowling centre. About 5 min after driving, I was supposed to make a U-turn. The roads here can be quite complicated, so when the hubby told me to "make a U-turn up ahead", I turned into the "first left" - i.e. I turned into the opposite lane. The lane I was supposed to go into was the "second left". I quickly drove off. Think people on the opposite lane were staring at me. Lucky only my lane had the green light. haha...

Afterwhich, traffic was ok and got to the bowling centre fairly safely. Think I need more practice before I can drive alone. =P

Happy New Year...

Been a long time since my last post. I guess cos it's so easy to just post one-liners in FB that I hardly blog these days. Wonder how many people actually come by to check if there are any updates. =P

It's that time of the year again. Spinky's annual NYE sleepover. First time I'm missing it. First time I'm spending NYE with the Hubby since we started dating.

I always look forward to our gatherings at Spinky's, especially the NYE ones - we talk about nonsense, play silly games, watch tv and sometimes have a marathon drama serial session, eat a lot, doze off on her couches... Or pack ourselves in her bedroom and talk about personal stuff till the last person dozes off. Really appreciate her parents for hosting us time and again.

Was that how the sleepover started? Because we just wanted to hang out with each other all night long? Don't remember exactly when it started but probably around 2002/2003...

I do remember that I started the scavenger hunt in the NYE of 2004. I gave everyone an EZ link card to commemorate 10 years of friendship among the DHS members of our group and friendship in general. I called Spinky's mum to arrange to go to their place a few days before NYE to hide the cards and place the clues. I remember Spinky came home from dance class before I was done, so I hung around and greeted her when she got home. Think that was 9+ pm. I even joined them for dinner. I think we had pork ribs with lotus root soup. MMMMM... soup. Anyway, after the hunt, Spinky that she had stumbled on one of the clues after I hid them.

Over the years, we hung around at Spinky's longer and longer - we used to go home after brunch, but these days we go home after dinner on NYD. Two years ago, when Spinky moved house, we moved with her. But the sleepovers continued. Some of us might not make it there before 12 midnight, but we make it a point to go over to her place at some point in the night or the next day.

Next year marks 10 years since we met each other in VJC. Since we graduated, many things have changed. Some of us have changed jobs a couple of times, some have gotten married (well, one i.e. me) or are planning their weddings...

Despite what we've been through in our own lives over the last 10 years, we're still pretty much the same people we were 10 years ago when we get together. There are subtle changes, e.g. more serious issues have creeped into our NYD pre-brunch discussion topics, but it feels like we've never grown up... and I think that's why I always look forward to the sleepovers.

As much as I hope that the NYE sleepovers will go on year after year, reality will eventually catch up - would it still be possible to have the same kind of sleepovers now that we're married, or when we have our own kids?

All good things must come to an end. Just not right now, I hope.

Updates on Miumew

Miumew is now 3x the size she was when she first came. You can feel the pressure of her weight when she walks across your rib cage. My arm became numb after she slept on it. This didn't use to happen.

Her coat is more grey now - her undercoat used to be white but it's taken on a light grey tint. Her eyes are also showing a very light blue tint.

The hubby hasn't been able to trim her claws because she's always so excited to see him home at the end of the work day. I think she's squirreled the claw clipper away too. Hopefully we can find it soon. She sank a claw in my foot yesterday, and scratched my lower eyelid in bed this morning.

She still likes to bite and scratch - anywhere except the scratching post. She left a scratch mark on my right forearm this morning, parallel to the one she left on the same arm 3+ weeks ago.

She hasn't quite taken to her new toy though. It's a cat massage centre. Got something for her to bite to stimulate her gums, and textured surfaces to massage her when she rubs her body against them. Too bad she doesn't know that. =P

SKII Facial

My sister sent me a link to a promotion for $50 off an SKII facial so I went yesterday.

It started with a skin analysis - you know, one of those machines that magnify your skin wherever the scope rolls over. The therapist showed me what good skin and bad skin looked like. First time I did such a thing. Was mildly grossed out.

As my skin was rather "dull", the therapist recommended that I take the illuminating radiance (or something like that) facial, which was the third least expensive (normal price $160). Since I haven't been for a facial in a long time and I had been running around Little India and Chinatown the past two days while recovering from a flu, I decided to pamper myself and go with it.

(On a side note, I also pampered myself with a good lunch at The Handburger. Food tastes good, but I wouldn't recommend you order the onion rings and I guess similarly, the calamari. It tasted good - onion rings were sweet, batter was crispy, but it was WAY too oily.)

The facial itself was supposed to be an hour. I think it took 1h 15 min in all. It was pretty good. My face still feels "firmer" than usual (although it could be a psychological effect having spent so much on a facial). Would have been nice to take a longer nap though. =P

The staff weren't too pushy with the products and packages at the end of the facial. Could be because I told them that I'm not based in Singapore.

A good experience overall.

Weird dream

Was very tired this morning so I went back to sleep after DD got up to go to work, which resulted in the following dream...

I dreamt tt DD and I were back in SGP and that we were going to spend the National Day weekend in Phuket with Princess Di and her bf. I think it might have been Wednesday or Thursday; we packed and went to work the next day.

We couldn't remember whether we were supposed to leave for Phuket that day, or the day after. Then Princess said she was going to have lunch with her bf before they boarded the boat (it suddenly became a trip to Tioman), but DD and I were still in the office working and we didn't have our bags with us.

So I went ahead to the jetty to meet Princess and her bf, while DD was still at the office finishing up some work. We went to report to the tour agent and bumped into a colleague SH and his gf, who for some reason was called Eunice in the dream.

The tour agent said we were just waiting for two more people i.e. DD and one other, so we waited around a bit. Then he decided to give out the room keys first, but somehow my name wasn't called. I asked what happened and was told that the hotel had screwed up our reservation so DD and I would need to try to get a room on the spot when we arrived.

People then started boarding the boat (which resembled one of those tugboats on the Singapore River). I sat down first, and Princess + bf sat behind me. Then some caucasian suddenly sat next to me. So I moved to the back of the boat to find a seat for both DD and myself, and ended up sitting near SH + gf.

Then I decided to get off the boat and walk around to look out for DD. That's when I bumped into my Filipino friends. I later got an SMS from him saying that my sister said that this year's NDP would have sakuras.

I decided to board the boat again but it wasn't there anymore. Another boat that looked like the boat that I had boarded earlier came to the jetty. I thought I saw Princess Di on it and I got onto it. Then I realised that it wasn't Princess and it wasn't the same boat.

*DUM DUM DUM*

I think that gave me a scare so I woke up.

Inspiration from reality

1. Why National Day weekend - because it is this weekend.
   
2. Why a holiday - DD and I were planning to go Dubai for a short holiday next weekend.
3. Why Phuket - I had went to Phuket last month.
4. Why Tioman - I think it might have actually supposed to be Batam or Bintan (where my Choir friends had been planning to go and would explain why we were taking a boat ride) but not sure exactly why it's Tioman. Maybe subconsciously I want to go Tioman again. Could be because DD and I recently recalled when we went Tioman.
   
5. Why Princess + bf - I had chatted with Princess recently.
6. Why SH + gf - DD and I had been looking at photos of SH and his gf on FB the evening before
7. Why an SMS about what my sister said about NDP - My sister just went to watch the NDP preview + she likes to go see NDP fireworks.
   
8. Why sakuras - When we realised yesterday that the Dubai hotel offer was no longer available, and a colleague in Tokyo replied to one of DD's random email, the thought came across my mind to go Japan for a holiday instead when we return to Singapore in Nov.
   
9. Why my Filipino friends were there - The next work meeting was supposed to be in Manila.

So the only inexplicable part is why SH's gf is called Eunice.

Weird dream, wasn't it?

How she's grown...

When I got back to AD, I found that Miumew's double the size of what she was when we first got her. She's a lot stronger now, able to leap from the bed to an armchair almost a metre away, and her teeth and nails are a lot sharper too. We've taken to spraying "anti-cat" spray on our arms so that she won't bite us while we sleep.

She still sleeps with us by the way, rests her head against my arm or her body against my tummy. Unfortunately, she's learned to slip under the blanket i.e. she can bite/scratch our legs if she wanted to.

Hope she'll eventually grow out of all this biting...