An Episode of Verbal Diarrhoea

I thought about the words when I drove around town. I thought about them during morning ablutions, at the gym, in the loo, when I cycled through quaint villages. I thought about them a lot, as you might have guessed by now; but I didn’t get to write any of it down because…well, because writing takes time, and effort, and if I’m not going to do a half-assed job with it (which I generally try not to), then I’m just going to have to wait until I make time for it.

Backing up about three weeks from today, my good buddy Wen came over from Singapore for a week of R & R. Wen and I go way back to university days in Oz. She and I don’t see each other as much as we’d like to, but when we do, we pick up like we’ve never been separated by the South China Sea. Cool lady, my friend Wen. Diver, adventurer, traveller and when she’s not doing all that, banker. We went to Sematan Palm Beach Resort, about 85 cliks from town. I have Wen to thank for shoving a much-needed R & R week on me. Before that, I was starting to feel the slog of work, possibly building up to a slow burnout. It’s just one of those things. No matter how much I like what I do, frustrations, vexations and eventual burnouts will happen. Plus, add in a pinch of the-grass-is-greener syndrome, you were looking at what ailed me.

So, there we were, Sematan Palm Beach Resort, a pretty cool place run by two other people I know, Nick and Tania. Both of them happened to be there when we arrived. That was cool. I had not seen them in a while. Sematan is where the magic beaches of my childhood are. My entire family, uncles, grandma and all, used to go there for extended family getaways. It was a mystical place for me, because all I remember was endless hours on a bumpy road, and there the golden sands lay. That was 30 years ago (gosh, did I say 30? Zowee). Now, beach resorts line the coastline.

Wen and I rented bikes and cycled around the area. There were quaint villages and paddy fields framed by mountains in the background and the sea in front. The rickety wooden bridges were fun to cycle through, though I was in constant danger of cyclin goff them because of vertigo. Wen was forever running after the chickens to take pictures of them. I’d be cycling in front and turn back to find my old friend gone. Then she’d emerge from the bushes with a silly grin on her face. We found other interesting items to snap – a gas tank hanging from a tree branch. God knows what that story is.

We were going to cycle to a waterfall but half way through we decided we weren’t geared for it. I’d love to splash through 12 inches of mud for half and hour and jump into a crystal clear pool beside roaring waters, but we didn’t bring towels and extra clothing, and we were sort of in the middle of nowhere. So we cycled all the way back to Sematan and had a beer instead. The fun bit was racing away from the storm clouds after that.

We didn’t win, but thoroughly enjoyed the drenching.

The sea was so rough, it was surfable. That abetted my paranoia of crocodiles and sharks (yes, they do go out to sea, especially when there’s a mangrove swamp nearby). No croc or shark in its right mind would swim out in that swell. So the humans went out like mad hatters instead and went after the waves.

During Wen’s visit, I went for a second session of laser tattoo removal. Dr W reckons it should be done after another one or two sessions. He upped the power from 6.2, and also decided to try something new in one part, to see if it faded faster. I was all for that until he went, “Nurse, get me the peroxide”, that my eyebrows involuntarily raised six inches. I do like Dr W, bless his cotton socks. I’m into Week 3 now, and it’s fading pretty well. Interestingly enough, the second session hurt much less than the first. That's the arm before the session. It's even more faded now.

And then there was the wedding of the year. Another old and good buddy finally tied the knot. Over 1,000 people were invited, and she insisted on me bing the EmCee. *Gulp* I think I had my fair share of pre-wedding nerves for this one. And oh, the agony of choosing an outfit. I went with simple in the end. Not my ideal choice of simple, but there it was. My cousin from Oz came back just for this, and successfully surprised the bride to tears. Score! Cuz and I went and dolled ourselves up for the night. Let it be said that this is the first time ever that I sat down in front of a make-up artist and had my face painted to the nines. I almost fell asleep at the chair, it was that soothing and I was that zonked out.

So, for the next week or so after that, it was shopping and eating with my cuz and friends, pretty much. Then it was Christmas eve. And I had a small party at my house. There was turkey, lamb, Christmas ham, all kinds of salad, wine, prune cake…zowee. My favourites were the gingerbreak cookies, shaped like Gingy himself, amongst other things. I had to have a second dinner do after Christmas Eve just to finish off the leftovers.

Oh, and did I mention the engagement dinner on Christmas day itself? Someone got engaged and I ended up at this place called Li Garden, having a really really nice Chinese dinner. One of the best I’ve had in a long time. Very original dishes. But all the eating was starting to get to me because I hadn’t been to gym on a regular basis, and gym withdrawal was starting to loom. Actually, it is still looming. I should get in a really good X-circuit workout this evening. Woo hoo!
And then it’s more holidays and eating tomorrow and the day after (boo hoo). Gosh, is it 2009 already?

I have not been to the office for well over two weeks now. What a wonderful break. I didn’t think much of the work interruptions on Christmas eve and Christmas itself, but they were not big interruptions. Such is my work.

Meanwhile, I think I need to cleanse my system. Plenty of apple and lime juice for me. I really might be 90% vegetarian by the end of next year. It’ll be good for me. And just because.