It was really (really) nice to finally get Pee-Ay-Eye-Dee.

I have really lousy wireless from my room. It’s actually fine from downstairs but I was just too darn lazy to be anywhere but my room then. But after restlessly walking around in circles, twiddling my thumbs and wearing down the parquet, I figured it was God’s way of telling me to stop hanging around the house and GET OUT THERE. So I spent the entire afternoon sampling large globs of ice cream at B and J’s where Terry is working. I’m sure that’s what He meant.

Anyway, I quit my job. Every morning for the past two weeks, I would whine and sob into my cereal, and give dirty looks to my poor sister. “Kids these days,” I would mutter. Bluuugh I hated my work. Not that kids aren’t fun to hang around with because under normal circumstances, they are simply awesome. But having a group of fifteen excited and distracted kids together is exhausting. And I’m sorry for being greedy, because I know I can be, but the pay didn’t provide much encouragement to carry on either. It is one week on now, and I miss the kids (just a little). Even Riana. Who cried for three hours, which inevitably made the other kids cry too. Good times. Hello, I got off track. As I was saying, the kids were fantastic. Especially this kid named Jeanine who could COLOUR BETWEEN THE LINES. Honestly, that alone almost made me want to sob with hysterical joy. It was fun, but I’m secretly glad it’s over (shhh).

I have also been baking a lot lately (quick, somebody stop me!) And gosh this is such a cute story. My aunt asked me to bake something for church, so I decided to bake some banana and chocolate muffins (I know, how original of me). I baked about 50, and my mom cheerfully carried them off to church. Next thing I know, before the main congregation got a chance to try the muffins, they were all eaten. Yea, the 10 ushers who were in charge of the snacks had eaten over 40 muffins. Those pigs. They were really sorry afterward and my mom was a little miffed, but it was still pretty funny to me.

Meanwhile, I met up with my PL friends, my SA friends, and made some new ones, from my new hall in Aussie. My burgeoning belief in my social ineptitude aside, it has been an awesome period. I doubt this idyllic lifestyle will last for long, so I’m taking this chance to hang out with my friends and family, probably till they are so sick of me they will just bubble-wrap me and ship me off to Canberra. Also, I have been hanging out with Zy almost everyday, and she deserves special mention for putting up with my brattiness. She’s an incredibly busy person, and the fact she is willing to spend her precious free time with my obnoxious complaints about unfair bosses, hot weather and bad music just shows what a nice person she is. That and how annoying I am.

Sigh.

Getting my sister suited up and marinated in sugar just in time for preschool.

To herald the death of the old year and the arrival of the new, I’ve put some serious thought into creating a list of new year’s resolutions (for real, this time). But before that, let me say how into Bruce Springsteen I am right now. I don’t know why MTV or the damn radio isn’t playing his music. It’s like they are the king in “Braveheart” playing that RnB rubbish and trying to convince us that prima nocta is cool. Which incidentally, leads me to my first resolution.
1. Be less judgemental when it comes to people’s music choices. In fact, I may just take a line or two from zealous ex-girlfriends and persuade people to listen to better music by crying and threatening to kill myself. No doubt RnB lovers would point to this blog as the reason why the world is better off without Led Zeppelin, just like how the Al Qaeda shows “E!” to recruit people to bomb the Western world.

In other news, my baking is out of control. Yesterday alone I made two loaves of white bread and a giant almond crumb cookie. Also, when people ask me what I put in the cookies, I say I use a random premix from NTUC, ha ha ha! I’m kidding, of course - I only use the premix joke to trick people into thinking my cookies are safe. After which I shout “Sucka!” at them and tell them I actually baked it from scratch and incidently have they renewed their insurance signed the indemnity form on the way in? What I was trying to say is, I aim to

2. Bake less. Baking can get really pricey when you’re really into it. But baking stuff for people is like what Africa is to Bono. (Sure, I understand that Bono is a better musician than I am a baker, but the trade-off is I don’t fritter my conversations with sanctimonious speeches. I mean, I may even have to think twice about sitting next to him at a dinner party because I’ll probably be like Heaven Forfend!, here comes a dissertation on the UN. What does The Edge do anyway?)
3. Read more. This does not include Rolling Stone, Q, the comic section of Life!, and hell if I read Persuasion another time. The new year indicates a fresh start for changing the humiliatingly small number of books I have read this year to just embarrassingly small.

Also, here is a picture of my sister, on her first day of school. Ah, they grow up so fast.
4. I heretofore resolve to be more patient with her. But just for kicks, let me tell you how much of a challenge taking her photo is. “Okay. I need you to put the food down below your face. Okay. Now. Look at me and smile. Grace! Smile! Baby? Look at me! Okay. Smile. Can you look at me and smile? Okay. That's it. Good. Look at me! Okay…”
5. And lastly, I’m going to learn Spanish and the guitar by any means necessary. Even if it means leaving no time to shower and comb my hair. YES, this time it’s SERIOUS.

And there you have it. The year has been started with a bang, a whimper and a poorly-aimmed whiz.