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

So I’ve managed to keep myself entertained thus far:

• met up with some friends to deliver their loot
• got some random shopping done
• got my eyes checked out

Some highlights include:

• Sleeping so much on the plane I was so wide awake when I got to SG at midnight
• My dad thinking I was on some Japan Airlines flight and was still at home when I called to check if he was on the way to pick me from the airport
• Not being able to get on his wireless network when I got home
• Waking up at 6.30am after tossing about in bed for a couple of hours, and deciding to call KF to have him troubleshoot my wireless problems
• Getting onto the wireless network
• Checking out my brother’s new place
• Getting really sleepy at 5p
• Sleeping finally at 12.30am
• Receiving a wake up call at 12.20pm the next day from the lunch appointment
• Having lunch and two spots of tea right after – three groups met! And an incidental other
• Lunching with old JC buddy and getting my eyes checked
• Getting bitten by mosquitoes!

What’s left on my to-do list:

• Sim Lim stock check
• Funan stock check
• Visit the dentist
• Asian DVD shopping

Sounds like a plan!

20 hours, 2 flights, 3 pieces of luggage and many a Chinaman later, I’m back.

Got back to my parents’ at about 1am, had a shower, something to eat, and then proceeded to futz around trying to add my computer to his network. Didn’t work. Didn’t even come close.

3 hours later, I take a nap. Only to wake up 2 hours later hungry and bored. So I call KF, and with some tech-savvy via proxy, I manage to get myself onto my dad’s wireless network.

Now it’s hardly 8am, I’m up and I’m still hungry! Time for some pineapple tarts, I guess.

The inspectors visited, and seemed duly impressed (I think – but I won’t be sure until I hear the aftermath of the report they file with Zee Mom and Dad).

I tried to bribe them with a home cooked dinner, but it was a total bad-idea-v-w moment. HAHAHA. You know dinner is not going down well when they’re eating still crunchy broccoli with marinara sauce and wasabi mayonaise!

We drove them to the airport this morning so they can catch their connecting flight to Denver, CO. That went well, and they’re expected to return on Friday afternoon. So I’ve a few days to clean up, I suppose.

My uncle and aunt are arriving at SFO in 3 hours. I thought they were staying at a hotel tonight but when I called home last night (mistake!!) I was asked to host them if possible.

Crud.

Fervent, frantic cleaning and clearing up to follow, along with questions about my life (or lack of gainful employment). Bracing myself.

We were just kicking back after a light lunch, watching TV, when I saw a familiar sight.

Images of the Singapore skyline and the Raffles Hotel (along with the super well-known jagar there).

It was the most surprising thing, since it was a European news segment on KQED (a public educational channel). It seems that Germany is passing legislation to limit the amount of non-European holdings on German companies if those companies are deemed to have influence on national security.

They cited recent buys by sovereign wealth funds picking up large stakes in European banks, and utilities services.

And on that list, apparently Singapore’s GIC has picked up something like a 6.3 billion Euro stake in UBS, and something similar in Kelda Group, a company that provides water in Yorkshire, UK.

Go GIC!

Happy National Day, my comrades at home. You have a lot to be proud of (somewhere on the top of that list would include an absence of loogie on the streets).

I feel sorry for the NDP Committee, having to deal with our teeny little parade after the spectacle that was the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony.

It is a tough job, but I’m sure it’ll be totally breathtaking anyway.

Happy Singing!

It was my cousin’s birthday a few days back. The smartass I am, I emailed him and said – So old already, take it easy. Have a good one.

The old fart writes back a day later, and replies – It’s when I think of how old my younger cousin is – that makes me feel old.

Ah. You know you’re home when the familiar twang of sacarsm hits you in the face like a warm embrace.

I made a really good pot of Bak Kut Teh yesterday. Thanks to the spice packs from Lilmurmurs’s. To that I added some garlic, pepper and dried mushroom. Very tasty, if I do say so myself. Only missing some cilantro. That would’ve made it perfect.

So here I am, fifty thousand miles away from home sniffing at little whiffs of home. Pathetic and true. Just hope I don’t dream I’m back only to wake up and realise I’m not – that makes me depressed all day.

I’ve been itching to learn to knit since I was 12. When I was 18, I went to Spotlight down over at (then) Paragon to try to get started with some yarn and maybe a book or something. Turns out I picked out a nifty crochet book and went down that path instead. A large tote bag and many years later, I can’t remember how to crochet, and I still can’t knit.

This weekend while Sharks was over she taught me how to knit and I have to say I think it’s more fun than crocheting. Crocheting is rather time consuming and slow, and it doesn’t allow for multi-tasking, so all you have is a monologue in your head which is kind of boring. Knitting is sort of like driving. You can sing to it.

So when Sharks went yarn shopping all over town this weekend, I went along and bought myself some stuff to start with. I have to admit I did go a little nutty over the yarn as I do beginning with projects (remember the whole bead jewellery phase?) but I think I’m stopping while I’m ahead – with the shopping – and am now researching patterns to work on.

At one of the stores we went to, they gave a free (small) fuzzball of yarn with every purchase and Sharks picked me out a really cute, totally me, blue-grey-magenta-brown one. Very understated chic. Like a good camper, I went ahead and knitted that up with every intention of turning it into a small pouch but ran out of yarn halfway through. It’s now a coaster for my little nookside magazine table. I went back to try and get more of the same colour, but they don’t have the same thing anymore. I couldn’t even find anything vaguely like it that I liked, so no matching coasters for the dining room. I did however, buy a lot more stuff, and took a pink fuzzball this time. It’s part wool part silk, so it’s very soft and a tad shiny. Maybe I’ll leave that for a crochet project.

Am very pleased with my loot, and between the knitting, crocheting and gardening, I think I’ll be plenty tied up till the next corporate adventure.

My maternal side of the family is incredibly large. Their contribution to the the family name is so large, it’s one of the most common surnames in the world.

Ok. I exaggerate.

But anyway. I met Cousin K when he flew into town last weekend. I told him about Cousin S. Who’s having a baby. Cousin K went back and told his dad, who met my Cousin S over this weekend, and asked her about it. Meanwhile, I’m talking to Cousin M, hehe, who’s getting filled in on both cousins. So Cousin S is now on IM asking me if I met Cousin K, and when, and how. And Cousin M is finding out snippets of information that will probably get traced back to me because he’s going to yap when he goes back to SG later in May. Information is my weapon, and I wield it flippantly.

This is the bit that’s funny, I guess. The family is so large, and we hardly talk. But when I left the island, I started to get back in touch with my cousins. On IM. On Facebook. On VoIP. It’s strange and surreal.

And it feels all so familial.

Lessons in life: word gets around, and super quickly, where family is concerned.