Bed-less, Couch-Less, TV-less....

....and sleepless......

I gave most of the things that I am not bringing back to Singapore away on Sat. That includes my bed, tv, dvd player, dinning tables/chairs, futon, coffee table among others.


Joel was really helpful. Not only did he help me to move, he was the one who borrowed a truck for me. All I had to do was let him know what I didn't want and he got rid of them for me... by bringing them to his place. No, he wasn't keeping all the things for himself. Some of the studf he didn't really need them anyway. He just wanted to make sure I don't have to worry about throwing them away by myself. (unlike someone hor, CGG?!!).


Morg and Ray helped to move the things too. I only had to supervise to make sure they took everything. I didn't have to lift a finger. hehe... Actually I did do something. I made them a great lunch consisting of food from all around the world. We started with taboule salad, a Moroccan inspired French appetiser. For the mains, we had Singapore-style curry chicken with Indian pratas, French loaf and Thai jasmine rice. We rounded the meal off with some sinful desserts - brownies and mousse au chocolat made from American chocolate. Well, of course, I only made the curry, pan fried the prata and cooked the rice. I got the rest from my farewell party at my French colleague's home the day before. I will leave the details of the party for another blog entry.

Anyway, the purpose of this blog entry is to show some pics of my new sleeping arrangement. With my bed and couch gone, where do I sleep or sit?

Ta-dah! My new bed!

Bits and pieces from everywhere. I lay the yellow float from the cold spring in Austin on top of the blue mat from the camping trip in Grand Canyon before putting the comforter on top. The bedsheet was used as a blanket instead. I originally wanted to throw away the mat and float but realized that it would probably be a good idea to have an extra layer of cushion. It turned out to be a good move. The floor was really hard but the pockets of air in the float provided me with the cushion I needed to survive. So why was I still sleepless? Because the bedsheet didn't provide me with enough warmth. I kept waking in the middle of the night shivering but just too lazy to walk to heater to turn it on.

Super KA stuff

I used to dislike stuff with a lot of bling bling. I deemed them too KA. But now I seem to be into KA stuff after Tim started calling me XKA.

Here's a pair of Guess slippers I bought from the outlet mall.




Check out the diamantes on the straps. Oh and the lovely gold crown with the letter G dangling. Super KA aye!

p/s: The other day Tim asked me when we plan to have a baby.. I told him if we have one, I cannot be called XKA anymore. The baby will have to take over the nickname instead. Although it might not be more KA than me, it will definitely be more X. Then he replied we can call the baby XXKA!

p/s/s: I think it is really not hard to guess what XKA stands for now.

Shopping Spree!!

I went to the outlet mall today
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bought a pair of shoes
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from Coach
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in the hottest color ever
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Fuchsia!!

All things Houston

I had Goode Company BBQ for the first time on Wed. I drive past it everyday but never thought of stopping by to get some Texas BBQ.

I tried some of its famous spicy pork and beef brisket. They' were pretty good. Sitting under the wooden tent with country songs playing in the background and the mild spring wind blowing, it was as Texan as can be especially with the big trucks parked nearby.

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Today I went to Yao Restaurant for this first time. We used to live just 5-min walk from the restaurant but never thought of having a meal there. We didn't miss much, the food was only ok...

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I am going to the NASA - Houston Space Center tomorrow. We heard that there is nothing much there as it is more of an informative tour just like a science center. Since it is more of an educational trip for the school children, we thought that we will only go if our friends who come visiting in Houston wants to. As none of them were interested thus far, I've not been there at all in the three years I've been here in Houston. Tomorrow shall be my first and last time.

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It seems that I'm trying to make up for lost time....

Effects of the economic downturn III

There are several printers on each office floor.

There is one just outside my cubicle.

Today, an admin staff came to take it away.

While he was unplugging the cords, my colleague asked him why he was taking it away.

The admin staff replied, "There is a relocation of resources. We are taking it away to cut costs."

Times are really bad. Even the printer has to go.

Packing VI

I can't believe the amount of rubbish I have in the house. After throwing out several plastic bags full of trash everyday, I still have a lot left in the house.

We have a trash valet service that costs us $25 a month. It is a compulsory service that comes with the renting of the apartment. Every night after 8pm except Fridays and Saturdays, the waste management workers will come round the apartment complex to collect trash left in the bins outside the apartments.

When Tim was around, we didn't really make use full use of the service as we didn't have that much rubbish. In fact, we didn't even take out the trash every night cos we were simply too lazy. But now, I am trying to make full use of this service by filling the bin to the brim so that I don''t have to bring them to the rubbish compactor which is quite a distance away. Ok, it is only about the distance of my HDB block but it will take me forever just to throw away Tim's CPA books, training files, and whatever things he left behind. Oh yes, I havent got down to my things yet.

It's gonna take me a while....

Shares

I finally bought my first stock today.

No, I did not make a profit. Yet.

In fact, the moment I bought, the price just went sliding down.

Good foresight indeed.

Hives

Based on the pics on the web, I diagnosed that I am having hives.

True enough, the doctor says I could be suffering from hives when I consulted her today. I'm gonna see an immunologist tomorrow to do some skin tests to see what I am allergic to.

Yesterday night, the hives spreaded to my feet. This morning most of the redness had subsided. Then in the afternoon, my soles became itchy. There seems to be a trend and symmetry to how the hives spread.

First it was the neck, inner thighs and arms, and back. Then it was the outer thighs and arms followed by hands, palms, feet and soles. So I began to wonder, "Will it spread to my face?"

Now my lips are swollen!

Itchy, scratchy

Week of Feb 9 (Singapore): Due to the sudden change in weather from cold to hot, I developed heat rash when I was in Singapore.

Week of Feb 16 (Singapore): The heat rash became more like insect bites. I tot there were mosquito bites. Then I realized those were bed bug bites. Weird thing was Tim did not get it.

Week of Feb 23 (Houston): Relief! No bites or itch.

Week of March 2: All was good. Tim was really happy that I am going back soon. "Now I am not looking forward to sleeping on that bed bug-infested bed, if there are indeed any, or worse I may get heat rash again as I am not suitable for the Singapore weather anymore", I said half in jest.

That was on Saturday.

Then on Sunday at 11pm, my neck started to itch. I could feel my left eye lid swollen. I went to bathe noticing red patches around my thighs as well. I didn't think much of it. In the middle of the night, I woke up with the worse itch ever! My body and limbs were covered with red lumps. I couldn't sleep. The patches looked very ugly, I called the clinic in the middle of the night to make an appointment for the next day. True enough, I couldn't get any. I was told to try again in the morning.

I woke up at 8am this morning feeling really tired due to a lack of sleep. Some of the lumps and redness had subsided. So I thought I will go to the doc tomorrow instead since I had made an appt for a checkup anyway some time back. Now, at 11pm, the itch and redness are coming back. Worse, even my palm is itching. ARGH!

Packing up V

I found more money left behind by Tim!

2 x NT$ 1,000 and some coins.

Equivalent to almost S$100! They are mine NOW! Woohoo!

Cajun Jambalaya

With the move back to Singapore coming up, I thought I should have more of the local cuisines for the last few times.

Randalls (supermarket) used to sell Cajun Jambalaya on Mondays. I was really disappointed when I found out a few Mondays ago that it is now offering the Louisiana soup with rice on Saturdays instead.

So today (Sat), I was determined to have it for dinner again. Alas, even though it was indicated that the French/Spanish influenced dish was on the menu, the pots were filled with Tuscan tomatoes soup instead. Boy, I was so looking forward to having it for dinner. In the end, I had to settle for some pre-made chilled jambalaya. It certainly did not taste as good.

To make up for the lack of a good hot bowl of soup, I bought Ben & Jerry's cheescake brownie ice cream for dessert. I usually will not buy any ice cream. This is something Tim would do. Then since this is gonna be one of the last few chances I am going to be having cheap ice cream with exotic flavors, I bought a pint. At only US$3.50, it is so much cheaper than in Singapore!

McNuggets "Emergency"

A lady called 911 after she couldn't get a refund when McDonald's ran out of McNuggets.

Here's the story:

"Angered that her local McDonald's was out of Chicken McNuggets, a Florida woman called 911 three times to report the fast food "emergency." Latreasa Goodman, 27, last Saturday called police to complain that a cashier--citing a McDonald's all sales are final policy--would not give her a refund. [To listen to Goodman's 911 calls, click here, here, and here.] When cops responded to the restaurant, Goodman told them, "This is an emergency. If I would have known they didn't have McNuggets, I wouldn't have given my money, and now she wants to give me a McDouble, but I don't want one." Goodman noted, "I called 911 because I couldn't get a refund, and I wanted my McNuggets," according to the below Fort Pierce Police Department report. That logic, however, did not keep cops from citing Goodman for misusing the 911 system. Even after being issued a misdemeanor citation, Goodman contended, "this is an emergency, my McNuggets are an emergency."

She probably shouldn't have called 911 but I don't understand why McDonald's could not just give her a refund.

Cities, States, Countries, Continents

Pol excitedly told us that she has been to 15 out of the 50 US states.

Raphael then decided to start listing down the states he has been to. After 10 mins, he came up with 17.

Joel decided to join in the fun by checking his FB application "Cities I've visited". He had 18. Then I checked mine, I've been to 20 so far! And I have been in the US for the shortest time!


Raphael then suggested for us to compare the number of countries we've visited. He won hands down with 21 countries. I only had 16 and then I realized I visited 7 of those countries in last year alone! Isn't that amazing! Belize, Mexico, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, England, France, and Spain!

Effects of the economic downturn II

I just heard that a soon-to-be Singapore colleague who was supposed to go to Chicago for a global exchange program (GEP) in March is not going there after all. The company has just cancelled all global exchanges as such exchanges are now considered a luxury given that many of the employees in the host cities are losing their jobs. It does not make sense to continue having international employees coming into the US if those cities are in the midst of retrenching some really good people.

Now I am worried about my job in Singapore. Even though I am going to be a permanent hire and have already signed the employment contract, I can't help but worry that they might take back the offer any time just like what they did to the GEP employeees. Even my partner here in the US has advised me to go back asap as nothing is for certain nowadays.