addiction...

I have been told that I am an addict because I love the feeling of the following things:

Cough syrup from my family doctor
It is sweet and it makes me drowsy, leading to hours of uninterrupted deep sleep.

General anaesthetics
I may be under it for an hour or less but it was like I have sleeping for days!!! Been only through that twice in my lifetime, so far.

Is it wrong to like feeling drowsy and falling into deep sleep? It is a known fact that as you get older, you tend to sleep less. I can only put in 7 hours a night these days when before, I was able to sleep for 14 hours straight. What I wouldn’t do for a good 8 to 9 hours of good sleep these days…. But believe me, I am not addicted to these drugs. I just wait for the next time I get a serious cough to enjoy the sweet syrup – which will be a year from now because I only fall sick once a year! Also, believe me, the after effect of anaesthetics is not something that one enjoy. Being knocked out was good but after that, it is not something that you would look forward to.

But my caffeine addiction remains. Used to be 3 cups a day but now, a cup of coffee a day, keeps the doctor away. :-)

finding PJ....

In 1994, I met PJ, a guy who became my one of my good buddies, when he came to work with the multi-national corporation, where I worked for a few years. My first impression of him was not good. He appeared to be arrogant, going around speaking to everyone in American accent – he is an Asian American actually. I thought he was a local who picked up the accent while studying overseas for a few years. Despite the bad impression, I still could not help but talked to him a bit – I didn’t have much of choice considering he was working in the same department and our boss have asked me to give him a little bit of orientation.

Like I have mentioned, we became such good buddies. It all started when I told him one afternoon that it was a public holiday the following day and he didn’t have to come to work. I gave him my home number and told him to call me if he had any issues during the holiday - he has only been in town for a few days and I was being a nice Singaporean. That evening, another colleague and I invited him for dinner. PJ and I hit off very well and we have been hanging out quite often since. We would go out for the occasional dinner and movie during the week and on every other weekend, he would join my friends and I for football matches of the local league. That would be followed by dinner, drinks and partying. We always had a blast when we hung out together. He is a great company!!!

He moved back to the US sometime in1997 and settled in Seattle. I visited him in late 1998 and we relived those days while he was in Singapore. He was a great host and it was quite sad when it was time to say goodbye.

P.J has not been good at writing e-mails and we have had the occasional phone calls to catch up but one day, I found out that the provider where he subscribed his e-mail with had gone out of business. I didn’t have his work e-mail and then, he didn’t have a mobile phone. He didn’t write me with his contact details. That was in 2000. I have lost touch with him since.

Lately, I have been thinking about him and wondered what he has been up to. I was hoping I could find him in some companies website that he is working for but so far, no luck. The one sure way would be to use the paid people finder service on the web. It will cost me about USD20 – with a confirmation that he still lives at that address and phone number. I am still contemplating. Should I or should I not? If he had wanted to stay in touch, he would have written to me with his new contact details, right? However, what if he had lost my contact details? And I don’t know if he would be too happy that I have tracked him down, when out of the blue I call him at home. I am in dilemma now. What do you think? Should I go ahead and pay to get his contact details? Or let it be, never find out what ever happened to him and go on with my life wondering? Sigh…

the week of mister D....

Mister D has been the highlight of my week. Last night, we said goodbye to him and his parents after a short hello. They returned to Dubai after a 12-day visit to this side of the pond. Mister D has kept me entertained during his visit - he is so comical! It will be next year before we get the chance to see him again. I am going to miss him. I look forward to seeing his new 'tricks'. Also, Mister D is going to be a little big brother early next year. So, we may see even more comical actions from him and his little sibling in the future. Double trouble is coming our way. Watch this space!

happy hour..

It is amazing how children will find little silly actions from adults as humourous. It is quite easy to entertain them, innit? Examine the evidence

funky little dude...

Well, look who is back in town? Why, it is Mister D!!! And he's a funky little dude! I am so happy to see him again today when he came for a visit with his parents. He was a little shy for a while and it didn't take him long to warm up again. It was like he never left.

He has grown so much and has learnt some new tricks... (I am making it sound like he is a puppy). We tested to see if he still remembers me. His parents showed him a photo of me and my friend, Noridah and asked him, "Where is Aunty Ida?" He responded by pointing to me in the photo followed by pointing to me standing in front of him. My heart melted.

Mister D will be here for a week and I look forward to spending some time with him... and his parents off course. Welcome back Mister D & Family!!

written off..

It is amazing how the critics are writing off Manchester United as a non-Champion material given their less than stellar start to the season. We had a local newspaper column, who felt that Man U do not have the makings of a Premiership champions, let alone to be the European Champions. Well mister, obviously you were in Uranus last season when Liverpool won the Champions League but did not even finish the top 4 of the league.

Anyway, Man U fans have faith in them, based on the polls taken at soccernet.com. Those who are being disloyal and criticising the team may as well not call themselves a fan. You might as well be just a soccer fan because you are not worthy to be a fan of a club if you continue to critise. You should probably apply for Sir Alex's job, since you think you can do a better job and put your criticism into work at the club. See if that works out!

Yes, Chelsea may be the runaway leaders and according to their William Gallas, they want to seal up the Premiership by January so that they can focus on the Champions League (what arrogance!), but it ain't over till it's over! It ain't over till the fat lady sings! This early part of the season has been quite exciting with the unexpected clubs like Wigan and Manchester City being up there on top of the English Premiership. This season may be an exciting season yet.