Europe, here I come!

Leaving on a jet plane tonight for Europe. First stop Venice, then Vienna, Paris and Amsterdam. Fellow bloggers Dim Sum Dolly and Olduvai will also be vacationing in Hong Kong this week. Have fun gals! Catch up when I'm back! And that's a looong time away - June 4!!!

Pray that me and mum get along. Haha. You know mums...

Out.

The witching hour

This morning, an owl flew into Leo's kitchen!!! I was coming out of the toilet (which is in the kitchen) when I heard a swoop and a whole lot of things falling off.

The huge greyish-white owl was probably perched somewhere near the ceiling when it saw me come out, was petrified and fought against the window - which was closed - to escape. Its height was about three-quarters the length of an average adult's arm and its wingspan was simply astounding. I don't remember how wide, but it was wide! I was so majorly freaked out and awed at the same time, I didn't dare take a second look. Ran straight into Leo's room to wake him.

"Bi! Wake up! I think there's an owl in the kitchen!"

Uhm, I've never seen him wake up so fast in my life, especially on a dreary work day. For a moment, he didn't know how to respond, but soon walked swiftly to the kitchen for a peek. And he could only say: "WAH."

At that time, I could still hear lots of flapping and things falling. The owl was desperate, resting occasionally on the kitchen sink, turning its head to stare at Leo. I made sure I stayed out of sight, tip-toe-ing near to take a look when my weak heart allowed me to. While I was amazed at the beauty of the magnificent bird of prey, I did not want to turn prey myself (I had visions of it clawing my eyes out)!

(Later on, while recounting the incident to cocoatina, she immediately said: HARRY POTTER! Oh yes, I thought! What a Harry Potter moment! My editor asked if it dropped the latest book in the kitchen...haha.)

Anyway, Leo looked around the living room and found that the bird had been flying about. It knocked down a clay vase that lay in shattered pieces in front of the TV. It pushed over two tiny pots of fake flowers that were standing on the edge of a picture frame. Uhm, it even left a splotch of poo on the marble floor.

And so it was frantically banging against the window to get out, cos it wasn't clever enough to find its way to the gap on its left - the gap that he flew through to get into the house, probably to take shelter from the downpour. Amazingly though, as Leo was opening the main door, and some windows in the living room, the bird disappeared. Noiselessly. Well, presumably it found its way to the gap.

I checked everywhere in the kitchen but didn't find it. So it must have flown off. What a strange thing to happen. And then of course, we had to suddenly realise we didn't take a picture of it. Imagine a creature of such beauty perched on a none-too-clean kitchen sink, in a five-room flat in Jurong West. What a juxtaposition.

(oh Leo just msned to say it might have been a masked or barn owl. I think it's a barn cos it looked somewhat like this.)

frenzied, frenetic, frazzled, fatigued...

ever travelled alone with your mum?
ever travelled to Europe for 16 days alone with your mum?
ever (everything above) and had to lead your mum on a free-and-easy itinerary, based on your own judgment/direction/knowledge/etc?
ever tried cramming your office work before leaving with your mum, doing everything above?

I'm doing it this Thursday!!! Stress............major stress.........

change

Change is such a scary thing, yet it can be as welcome as a breath of fresh air.

I get this email sent to everyone in my division probably once every week. It lists who has resigned and who has joined. Without fail, there are always people leaving and people coming on board.

While they are usually just names that mean nothing to me, I wonder about the decisions that these faceless - former and present - colleagues have to make during such transitions in their lives. It seems all to easy to appear as just a statistic that makes up the employee strength in the company.

Amazingly, judging by the afore-mentioned prompt emails I receive from my company, there are people making transitions constantly! And I always tend to think I'm the only one contemplating that decision that will make or break me. How like the frog in the well.

At the same time, I also feel awed by the fact there there are so many human beings around me, making such momentous decisions daily. Isn't it incredible?

It's like the scene I watched in the X-Men movie where the Professor wheels into this special enclosure, puts on some kind of head gear that tunes in with the world, and he hears and sees the billions of people going about their daily lives.

The chattering is simultaneous, incessant and simply alive. It's amazing how God created us to be.

boys and riddles

On Sunday, at a dinner with Leo's extended family, sort of to celebrate mum's day, I met his cute boy cousins Malcolm (pr sch), Manfred (pr sch), McDale (3) and Magkias (baby). Uhm...the parents wanted all the boys' names to start with M and be made up of only seven letters, so that explains the not-so-ordinary names of the younger kids. Anyways, Malcolm and Manfred couldn't stop repeating riddles. Here're some of them:

1) What ball is black and white?
Ans: eyeball (so duh!)

2) There are 16 men on a ship. If one person jumps off, how many men are left?
Ans: Five THIN men (wah lau....)

Leo's ans: Still 16, cos the person who jumped off is a girl...

3) Which mouse has two legs?
I say: Mickey Mouse (I'm right.)

Which mouse has no legs?
I say: computer mouse (I'm right.)

Which duck has two legs?
I say: Donald Duck

The boys say: NO, all ducks have two legs! Hahahahaha
I say:.........

uhm...there are more riddles, but I can't remember :)

Spongebob and name sticker - all courtesy of Teo. Fun time at Brewerkz tonight with the CS Alumni, free drinks, free food (yes paid by our dean! whoopee!). From stealing drinks to suggesting ideas about another Bintan trip to talking about work and complaining about the all-too-salty chicken wings, it was really nice catching up with my former uni classmates. Hope to have more such gatherings organised by the school in future. To CS!!!

Death and reunion

It has been a pretty bizarre night. I queued tirelessly to enter the Istana to pay my last respects to Mr Wee Kim Wee - a gesture I would only call sombre - but ended up meeting a friend I hadn't seen in seven years and having to endure the blabbering of a woman who got over-excited from seeing PM Lee Hsien Loong.

First, I have to point out that Singaporeans really do love our ex-president. From the time I started queueing till the time I left the Istana grounds, one-and-a-half hours had passed. Saw some colleagues covering the wake and was I glad I never have to chase such stories again.

ANYWAY. After I finally alighted from the mini-van that ferried us along a path in the Istana to the house where the body lay, I had to queue to go into the house. And this very auntie-woman behind me got super excited about the motorcade that was passing us by.

She nudged me, continuously, mind you, and whispered (well it was a very audible whisper): "Quick! Quick! Take out your camera! There there there!! See or not!! The prime minister is in the car. Quick! Just take lah, no one will see one. Faster!"

I replied, calmly: "I don't want to take him."

She, still nudging me, said: "QUICK!!! Quick take!!! Eh, that one that one, that one is the Indonesian ambassador. Indonesian ambassador you know. That one that one!! Zainal Abidin..."

I roll my eyes to the sky and ignore her.

Then, in the house, as the ushers in military uniforms signalled us to wait as the visitors stepped up to the coffin in neat rows, I heard someone say: "Dawn, this way please."

Like what??? I turned and almost screamed in shock. Yes, almost, just two metres away from where the casket lay. Totally disrespectful. I covered my mouth and realised that it was the captain of my sailing team from JC!!! OMG!!! I haven't seen him since J2!!! He has been usher for the public at the Istana since Mr Wee passed on.

We exchanged numbers very quickly. And so, the connection that was broken was made again. Under very bizarre circumstances.

Anyways, back to the ex-president. Despite all the unexpected occurrences of the night, I am glad I got to pay my last respects to a man I truly believe was the People's President.

For some time, I've been thinking about predictability - my predictability. The last time I broke out of my all-too-familiar cocoon of doing the same things over and over again was probably three years ago. I wrote my first songs and recorded them using Cakewalk. I played the guitar, did the harmonies and mixed them all together. Such distant memories. I've stopped composing. Recently, I've begun to throw in spurts of spontaneity because of this overwhelming fear of having to live a routine and forgettable existence. My big hoop earrings are an effort to introduce something bolder into my being, me the conservative dresser. My choosing to taste a different bowl of gelare selections each time I step into a familiar Italian bistro. My sudden decision to spend a night singing and jiving to the music at Bar None with Leo (after a swim with SL at TP pool). My befriending strangers. My baring a bit of my soul on a cyberspace open to all. My applying to study a course totally different from what I've always done as an occupation (I've been accepted!). And, my starting of what will be a starkly different phase of my life after 26 years...Can't wait...