krisalis

Arg. Being off sick just means there’s loads more work to catch up on.

Anyway, here’s a selection of recent search silliness:

• national snogging day Now here’s a movement I could support. Woo!

• picture of dog with painted toenails Actually, Billie used to paint our dog’s toenails blue. Bonnie seemed to like it. It went well with her shiny black fur coat. Billie just had to make sure she didn’t lick her paws until after the polish was dry.

• pictures of monkeys with purple bellies I get quite a few purple bellied monkey related searches. Is there such an animal in real life? I’m thinking no…

• definition of dentist in singapore The same as the definition of a dentist anywhere else in the world. Y’know, they peer at your teeth, scold you for not flossing, and ask you questions mid-cleaning when you can only make garbled grunting answers.

• getting paid for seaching the web Ahh, the ultimate ‘job’.

• seattle, boat slut A boat that seeks shelter in many ports, perhaps?

‘Six Feet Under‘ will begin broadcasting for the first time in Singapore on October 12.

On HBO.

We already have cable. HBO would cost an additional S$12 per month.

Is it worth it?

Well, we made it through the Sheares Bridge Run.

To be honest, it was a lot easier than last week’s effort for the Terry Fox run. Even though today’s course was 5km, which is 1km more than last week, the course was flatter and the sun was hidden behind the clouds (read: haze), so it was cooler.

There were so many more people than last week! Hundreds upon hundreds of young NS men with their platoons (is that the proper name?), some with shaven heads (the new recruits), many with tattoos (a lot of them gang-related, according to Andrea) and most of them lazy arses who did not want to run at all. So, they didn’t. Which made things rather difficult for those of us who did want to run, because we were stuck behind a meandering crowd strolling along as if they were window shopping on Orchard Road.

Eventually, a group of guys came charging through the crowd, elbowing people aside, shouting and clapping to get the wandering slow pokes out of the way. We tucked ourselves in behind this breakaway group, using them as a human shield. It worked. We battled our way forward into free(er) space. Finally, after fifteen minutes or more of frustrated stop’n'start trotting, we could stretch our legs and, um, jog. (I hesistate to call what I do “running”).

We made it to the end, downed a couple of cups of Gatorade and discussed the possibility of entering the Singapore Marathon in December. I swear, endorphins do crazy things to a person. There we were, huffing and puffing on the finish line after a 5k, discussing whether we should enter a Marathon. Mad.

Now the endorphins have settled down and I’ve regained a more realistic of my athletic abilities, I know that there’s no way I could run the whole Marathon by December, but I’d consider running the Quarter Marathon (10.55km – and that would take some training!) or participating in a Marathon Relay Team. We’ll see. There’s the Second Link Bridge Run in October too.

We wandered back to Raffles City from the National Stadium, and into Starbucks for refreshments and a dose of air conditioning. Then Mark and I dropped Andrea off, and did the grocery shopping. Came home, showered, put on a load of laundry and had lunch.

I can hardly believe it is possible to accomplish this much before 1pm on a Sunday. And on that note, I shall retreat to the sofa for a nap.

Don’t want to over do it, after all.

Best. Animated. GIF. Ever.

[gleefully swiped from sixdifferentways]

The Friday Five.

1. What are your favourite ways to relax and unwind? Brainless tv watching will do the trick almost every time. At the weekends I like to go for a walk with Mark in one of the Nature Reserves, then sit with a cup of hot coffee and read the papers. AHHH Oh my goodness. I’m turning into my parents.

2. What do you do the moment you get home from work/school/errands? Kick off my shoes and socks, and dump my keys and handbag on the kitchen table.

3. What are your favourite aromatherapeutic smells? I have a yukky head cold at the moment, and I’m loving the smell of eucalyptus oil – a couple of drops into a bowl of steamy hot water – inhale deeply – ahh, relief. Andrea gave me a little bottle of mulled wine scented aromatherapy oil for my birthday. It smells like cold weather and Christmas, it’s very comforting.

4. Do you feel more relaxed with a group of friends or hanging out by yourself? I think relaxation is more of a solitary activity. Company can be good, but it needs to be the ‘comfortable silence’ sort of company.

5. What is something that you feel is relaxing but most people don’t? I think both cooking and exercising (especially jogging) can be very relaxing, because they help my brain to tune out at the end of a long day.

I went to work today. Bad decision.

By 10am I was feeling pretty bad. By lunchtime I wanted to go home, but I had meetings at 2pm and 3pm, so resolved to stick it out. It was not pleasant. I don’t know why I tried to stay. I ended up bailing around 4.30pm, came home and collapsed into the sofa for a nap. I feel lousy.

I’m sure being ill used to be a lot more fun than this.

When I was little, being ill meant staying home from school. It meant napping on the sofa and watching cartoons. It meant hot water bottles and tea with lemon and honey. It meant lucozade and story books. Mum would take my temperature and deliver medicine a couple of times a day. I’d drift in and out of sleep, headachey and feverish, snuggled under the duvet.

If I have to be ill, then I want the kiddie treatment. Cartoons and picture books. Porridge with golden syrup. Cold flannels and warm cup-a-soups. I want my Mum to bring me spoonfuls of syrupy cough mixture (grape flavoured!) and little pink chewable tablets of baby aspirin.

Sometimes being a grown-up sucks.

I’m home sick today.

I feel icky and yukky and blah.

Back to the sofa for more tv and cold apple juice.

Wedding planning is moving forward.

At the moment, we’re looking at possible bands for the reception, and also starting to look for invites. We’re signed up for pre-marriage counselling classes through a local church. We’ve already chosen a cake and the dinner menu, and my parents have put down a deposit on the dress. We’ve spoken to a florist about bouquets and corsages, a photographer about pictures, and a Car company about, um, cars for the wedding party to and from the church. There are still things that need to be finalised, but we have an idea of what we’d like and what is available, which is a good start.

We’re starting to look into possible honeymoon destinations. We’re thinking of something beachy and relaxed, with the possibility of doing some leisurely sightseeing. Our options are pretty open at the moment, restricted by how much we want to spend. I think our next stop will be a travel agent to see whether we can arrange some sort of round-trip ticket that will take us from Singapore to the UK then on to the honeymoon and finally back to Singapore.

Of course there are a whole bunch of other things that we need to sort out…bridesmaids dresses, wedding rings, gift registry, church service – readings, hymns…I’m sure there’s loads more.

I’m hoping that by starting early, we will be able to keep the planning stuff fun, not stressful.

• We went to see The Bourne Identity over the weekend. Gah. Another potentially interesting movie ruined by huge holes in the plot. Mark has read the book, and for what it’s worth, he says the movie is only very loosely based on the original storyline. I enjoyed the car chase, and Matt Damon is easy on the eye, but c’mon, this film had the potential to be so much more. Disappointed.

• There is a picture of me and some friends in the latest edition of BC Magazine. It was taken a couple of weeks ago at Fez Bar. Oh the fame! Now where’s the fortune?

• Interesting article on explodingdog in the Sydney Morning Herald. I think it’s funny when sites I’ve known about, visited and participated in for ages (eg, Exploding Dog, the Mirror Project, In Passing) hit the big time and start appearing in national newspaper articles.

• Got a question? Ask Google. For a small fee, they’ll find the answer for you. Laziness hits a new high?

A few people from work went to a local children’s home on Friday evening to participate in the Mid-Autumn Festitivies – namely lighting paper lanterns and eating mooncakes.

We also played some games, had a little treasure hunt, and sang songs in English and Chinese.

The kids were funny. They were also very noisy, very excitable and completely exhausting!

The kids were very interested in my digital camera, which was a great ice-breaker.

The kids were also fascinated by my height.

I’m 5’10″, which is quite tall, even by US/European standards. One of the kids took the picture below. You can see that I’m a lot taller than my colleagues.

“Auntie, you’re very tall”, said one of the boys, staring up at me.

“Yes, I suppose I am.”

“How did you get so tall?” asked his friend.

“I ate my vegetables”, I replied, smiling.

Both boys were silent for a moment, as they considered my answer. They continued staring up at me with wide eyes.

Finally the second boy spoke, his voice hushed to a conspiratory whisper.

“Which vegetables?”