Wednesday, September 3

I’ve only been back for three days ah? I feel totally re-integrated already leh.

First thing I did on my first day back was to go temple to "bai bai" my grandma with pears, grapes, egg tarts and kopi-o. I don’t know what’s the significance of the food selection. Felt totally inept, as I had no idea that I have to light three joss sticks to the Sky God first, that only vegetarian food is allowed, and that you have to leave the food on the altar for a while so that it can be "eaten", before taking it home to be eaten for real. Got the usual nagging from my mother about the proper way these things are done. The tradition of ancestral worship is literally dying out with my generation.

Second most important thing was to get reconnected with a new phone number, which I still have problems remembering. SMS-ed my friends until my thumb went numb. And I think half my SMS quota and free airtime are gone, but I don’t care cos we’re in the same timezone and paying local call rates.

And I have delicious lunches and dinners and suppers lined up, so much so I don’t know what local delights I want to eat first. But I predict saturation point will be reached soon at the rate I’m going. Already had egg tarts, prawn noodles, otah otah, yong tau foo, Japanese food and all kinds of weird Chinese pastries that I don’t know how to spell in English. Trying not to overdo the bingeing, since every single person I've met has exclaimed [some rather tactlessly too] that I'm so fat.

Just weighed myself and I've put on 2 kg, apparently most of it on my face. In order to conceal my fat cheeks, I got a much-needed hair cut today. Hopefully, I can hide behind the curtain of hair and the layers will give the illusion of slimness. But the upside of being fat is that some of the excess baggage has deposited itself on my boobs, according to one of my lurves. For once, I have a hint of cleavage to show off.

Which I suspected was what the DOM [dirty old man] on the bus was staring at. Either that or the loud error BEEPBEEPBEEP my virginal EZ Link card made attracted unwanted attention. So paiseh.

I’ve taken my own sweet time to post an update cos I still am undecided about continuing this blog. On the one hand, I still have a tiny number of friends reading this overseas and I don’t even meet up with some of my Singaporean friends that often. So this is a good way to stay in touch without needing to bombard them with emails about my boring life. Plus, I won’t have to kick this blogging addiction.

But on the other hand [this is like some GP essay weighing the pros and cons!], I don’t think I’d have much time for such long-winded and detailed descriptions of my day once I get back to work as a journalist with no life. And I feel kinda weird writing about all these things which must seem so familiar to everyone in Singapore, which are actually familiar to me too, yet totally foreign at the same time.

I guess I’m going to just bumble along and write as and when the mood strikes. There’s nothing wrong with being wishy washy wat!?!

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