Happy Birthday to me!

Last year, on this exact day, I threw myself a party and cooked for 20 odd people and while I had loads of fun, I was also very stressed and exhausted.

I mean, instead of hanging out with friends and chilling, I was running to the kitchen constantly and checking that the food didn't over/undercook.

This year, I decided to just celebrate quietly and gently with several different, smaller groups instead which worked out much better.

Sickness and health

This was going to be a post about designer bags and how we all seem to crave them.

But before it can become a post about designer bags, it is first going to be a post about my being sick in bed today with a cold and sore throat.

Being sick is sorta fun when I'm at home in Singapore. I get to stay in bed and re read all my favourite books and sleep whenever I want which is my idea of a perfect world. And whenever I feel like a meal, my mum gets me one and when I need medication, my mum doles it out.

But sick in bed in Melbourne is a different creature altogether. I have far fewer books here, no mum to send me to the doctor and provide me with delicious healing soups that have chicken and ginger in them. So in Melbourne, one of my goals is not to get sick and when I have even the slightest suspicion that my body is about to fall prey to a virus, I take medication like it's some magic pill from the fantasy books that will zing all the virus and sick from my body.

But in spite of my best laid plans, those damned effective flu viruses waited for a week when I lacked sleep and was stressed and then pounced.

I'm 25, but I really really want my mummy right now.

I'll talk about designer bags tomorrow.

Smells and Scents

When I first met the Boy, I was so attracted by the way he smelt. He had this great perfume/cologne on that I just loved the smell of.

Fast forward a few months and I discovered that it was the masculine version of my favourite perfume, Tommy Girl.

Funny how our noses always turn out to be right.

The incredible brokeness of being

Mainly, I just need to whine about how broke I am.

See, my parents generally give me plenty of money and I am incapable of sticking to the damn budget they set me even though I know it's a perfectly reasonable one.

I sit down and do my accounts every so often and I've just discovered that I've overspent by about a week's pocket money. *Big sigh*

Which means I am going to have to be very very careful for the next month. Thank God I actually make myself sit down and do my accounts though, if I didn't I'd overspend even more. At least, this way, I know where I am.

Mea culpa,I guess. I've just been a tad reckless for awhile. Plus I think I get carried away shopping when I'm in the mood. I so need to stop shopping.

I just read the last sentence I typed and started laughing to myself. Me? Stop shopping?? *wild laughter* AS IF THAT WOULD EVER HAPPEN.

Never mind, I think I shall just try to be careful and also maybe get a job.

Rooted

Last year I received a visit from an old friend who came to Melbourne for a holiday. I realised after a few days that she,like so many other Singaporeans, are pretty much stuck.

I see that even in people who study here or have been living here for a few years. Everything in Singapore is "better", ie. the people are nicer , the food is cheaper/better/tastier, the weather is nice and warm as opposed to freezing in winter and hot in summer and the ang mohs here are racist, the people at home are not racist (!!!). (Ironic, because the term "ang moh" which they bandy about freely, is in essence a racist slur. ) They are confused even by Chinatown, because the dialect of choice here, as in so many other Chinatowns, is Cantonese and not Hokkien. They realise that their accent, so accepted in Singapore, sounds harsh and out of place here.

Basically, they cannot and will not adapt to life overseas. They must have things they way they were used to at home. And at the end of the day, I am sad for them. It is not that life is better here or worse in Singapore. Mostly, it's about the ability to embrace new things, to adapt to new living environs, cultures and mindsets and this seems severely lacking in quite a few Singaporeans I've met.

It's a worrying trend, because unless they are very sharp and very able, staying in Singapore generally means one is pretty reliant on the government. They, like so many Singaporeans I know, have an almost child like faith in the "gahmen", and this worries me because I have absolutely no reason at all to trust the Singaporean governmentl. Just read this, this, this or this.

Be globalized, friends. If one ship sinks, you must have the ability to clamber aboard another and survive. Life is a rat race and we like rats, must know when to leave a sinking ship.

Quote

" I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."

Frank Herbert, Dune

Test Pic

FINALLY. I finally figured out how to resize photos so that blogger doesn't take a millenia to upload photos.

Yes I am THAT bad with computers.

Anyway, here's the photo from the Belgian Beer Garden that I meant to put up ages ago but was thwarted by blogger.