A month or so later
18/06/2008
Things are moving along nicely.
We’re settling in quite nicely, and time is now spent three ways:
i) Buying stuff for home improvement
ii) Improving the home
iii) Enjoying the home
I cooked more in the last two weeks than I’ve cooked in my life. Not that it’s good or gourmet or anything, but it sure beats having to FIND food.
The neighbourhood is a little, um, more cosmopolitan than I’m used to. Sunny, multi-racial Singapore aside, my previous neighbours were usually sparsely seen and rarely heard. But for the annoying smoker one who left smoke trails at the lift lobby at the apartment, the neighbours generally kept to themselves and it suited me fine.
Our current neighbours are very warm and chatty, which for me, takes a little getting used to. Even an innocuous “welcome to the neighbourhood!” feels like a thinly veiled attempt at deeper contact. Ewww, contact. What is up with all these extroverts?
Today we went to get some lawn management tools. Our front lawn is getting unruly, and there is now a shared responsibility to keep up the appearance of the street. At least I think so.
While KF went about snip-snip-snipping the grass up front, I went to the back to hack-hack-hack up the overgrown Ivy that has been creeping over from Snoop’s (the neighbour one door up who’s named for his curiosity).
It was banal, repetitive and a little tiring, but also strangely therapeutic and liberating, much akin to clearing my workspace. In this case, I felt liberated from Snoop’s creeping influence. With each snip, I imagined myself cutting off his inquisitive little tendrils, which motivated me even more. Besides the ivy, there were also a bunch of really thorny creepers and some flowering viney things that look like cucumber or okra. Those had to go too, but I was pretty psyched to be clearing it. I was so enthusiastic I even found the time and energy to snip them all up into 3 inch portions so they’d fill my paper bag nicely. Forty-five minutes and a bag of soon-to-be compost later, the stairs to our deck is now free and clear of Snoop’s influence.
It was also amusing, as I tried to imagine what my dad would have to say at our gardening attempt. Twenty years ago my dad tried to get me involved in the gardening, but all I got to do was hold the bags, follow him around and get bitten by mosquitoes. I remember whining and dragging my feet all around the garden with him. But those skills have finally kicked in – the gardening ones, not the whining and feet-dragging – and I guess I owe my dad a call to thank him, and the ensuing ragging I’m going to get from him.
Ok. Gotta run. Making a quick trip to the supermarket to stock up on supplies. Making meatball pasta tonight.
