I will be the pattern of all patience; I will say nothing.

The Cure
So I think I’ve found the cure for a bad day at work. 80s music! There’s nothing like Walking on Sunshine!

I know I grew up hearing all these songs, but couldn’t really appreciate it growing up. Eyes Without a Face? What? When Doves Cry? Rapture? Here Comes the Rain Again? It’s different now. Do you know you’ve grown into the next demographic box when you start to appreciate the Bee Gees, Blondie and Billy Idol?

Leslie Kwok
Came in fourth in the SEA Games 50m freestyle. Poor thing.

Mandarin, Ginger and Green Tea
I can’t believe they found what green tea smells like, but the sweetened, chemically manufactured mass market scent that passes off as it is quite pleasant. L’occtaine has a good version of it. And now I’ve found a much cheaper alternative! Good old trusty PalmOlive! I doubt there is any real essential oil content in their Aromatherapy Body Wash, but I like the cheerful Mandarin, Ginger and Green tea one. (It’s the green one)

Plant Day #1
Didn’t go as planned. I forgot to bring it into the office. And I don’t think I’ll bring it in tomorrow, since I’ll be off Thu/Fri – the poor thing will just wither and die over the long dry weekend. This does not bode well.

I’m starving!
Which reminds me last night we had dinner at My Mother’s Kitchen at the Paragon. I am not fond of the food, it’s basically like tze-char at Crystal Jade prices. I feel I’m better off eating at Crystal Jade. They do have a nice variety of Peranakan food (Buah Keluak, Meatball Soup and Ngor Hiang) but I didn’t try it.

The clincher came when we saw how they prepared Roti Prata (costs between $6.50 – $7.50 i think). First – they take the frozen dough that comes in a packet that you can pick up at Cold Storage… ugh.

I ate there years ago, and I liked it. I had some stir fried beef with celery, some soup and rice I think, but sorry, it’s not on my favourites list anymore.

Good Morning Vietnam!
Been reading about Vietnamese History, it’s quite interesting. It looks like the Vietnamese people always had to fend off one invader after another. the Chinese, neighbouring countries Cambodia and Champa, the Mongols, the French. Tough lot they are. The Chinese held on the longest, and had a heavy influence on administration, education, and stuff, and here’s the bit that’s cool – they tried to turn Vietnam into a patriarchal Confusian society and the people balked at it. Two sisters headed a revolt, but the Chinese squashed it. The sisters drowned themselves to evade capture in the end, but they’re still regarded as heroines today. They aren’t the only ones. The women play a large part in Vietnamese history, and it seems they didn’t just sit around and take any crap. S-p-u-n-k-y.

The Library of Congress is a great source of historical information. Its interface is somewhat prehistoric though, by web standards.

Monday
The name of my Mom’s cat. We lost Tuesday. Mom’s still sad about it.

It didn’t really feel like a Monday at work today. Probably because I’m going to be off again on Thursday and Friday.

My Plant Adventure Day 1
I bought an indoor plant from Ikea the other day. My dad insists that this one is truly and indoor plant, even though it didn’t have the label other indoor lants had. He claims, that the ones labelled as Indoor Plants were just tolerant of low light conditions, and the one he insisted I get would thrive under low light conditions. We’ll see. I’ll try not to kill it.

I’m bringing it into the office tomorrow to improve my general office well-being. So I’ll put Plant Day 1 as 11 Dec 03.

It is, incidentally, Sue Lin’s birthday today.