Dust and bones

I took my off in lieu on Friday. I had a few options as to what to do with myself with the free half day. In the end I went for teh halia and some food with Hasli and Sim at Prata Point. Was kinda cool to do that.I love doing things impromptu and just hanging out with my pals.And in this case I got to do both. Sim is kinda cool in that he has a mind of his own and is honest in what he does which is refreshing compared to the crap I sometimes have to face in the office. And he sincerely wants to help and my work sphere is a better place for it. Hasli despite all his shortcomings is still someone I consider one of my better friends. But I could not help feeling that we have become what we detest mosts. The topic centered around Mrs Pay. And by actually talking about it in a coffee shop no less does that not make us a little better than her. I hope this 'gossipy/discussion' thing does not become commonplace. As much as I agree with what was said over the last couple of days I think one should never stoop to the level of ones adversary's. But I am a good one to talk based on some of the last few blog entries.

After the tea session (sounds like 3 tai tai's) I sent them back to the office. After that I took a drive to the Zoo! My spiritual home! It was a low-key visit as I did not tell anyone I was going and I went alone. My main purpose was to take photographs to add to my burgeoning picture collection. And being that it has been too long since I last went down to the zoo it was long overdue. The main attraction for me was the new Elephants of Asia exhibit which I have yet to visit since it opened up. It was nice in the sense that it reminds me of those elephant parks in Thailand which I think was the intention.

The downside to the whole day was how Joyce had been giving me the cold shoulder today,presumably for the events of last Sunday. She did not even reply my calls and SMSes. The cheek of the girl! If there is something she is upset about she should at least tell me and not handle things in this manner. It is very juvenile.

Prawn paste chicken wings and other such things

Thursday

I had made an agreement to sign up with Neeven to go for this Speed dating thing that they had been hyping on the radio. Neeven is this lady I gotta know quite recently. She is a single mum with an adorable son named Dillon. Anyway, it turned out that neither one of us was selected (though it may had a little to do with my not actually signing up in the first place) for the speed dating thing. But in it's place she had a free dinner. Not just any free dinner, but a free dinner with her ex-colleagues at a well-known restaurant in walking distance to my home.

She had gotten there early and all her friends would not be coming for at least an hour later. Being that there were was no mall or shops in the area Neeven just walked around aimlessly for a while and finally sat, alone, at one of the tables they had reserved at the restaurants. Being that I was so close by I decided to drop in to keep the lovely lady company till her party arrived.

We ordered barley's each (mine hot, hers cold) and talked about our respective churches ,I recommended some dishes she should try at the restaurant and work in general. I just love these impromtu meetings with people. They always turn out good. Neeven has such a lovely smile. Lovely...even more so when I am the reason for that smile. :)

When all her colleagues had arrived I took my leave and walked home with more than a little skip in my step .

Fish and Co.

Wednesday's Thing

Met Jackie for dinner.

I do not want to talk about it

:P

Meet the Parents

Monday

Today is the day I go to meet Carolyn and her family. Initially I was feeling kinda pressured to meet them as I had no clue what Carolyn has told them about me and it also seemed somewhat early days yet to be meeting her parents. It is not like we had been dating for a while. I always had the concept that we only met the others parents only when a relationship was carved in stone or something to that effect.

Well...most of my fears were unfounded. It seemed that everyone just treated me like one of the family almost immediately. It was so cool! I guess coming from similar cultures and backgrounds and the small matter of attending the same church gave me fodder to talk about. We talked about church,religion, school and everything a typical Eurasian conversation would have.

I spent most of my time there chatting with Carolyn's dad than with anyone else. He struck me as not unlike my own dad. He has this same penchant for sharing antidotes and hard headedness that my dad is reknown for. He shared with me about how he came to know Christ and all the trials he and his family went through to get to this point in their lives. He just so happens to work very near to where I live and so happens to work in a related field to what I do so we share lots in common to talk about. At times it was like having 2 old buddies meeting up for a beer. We bored Carolyn's ears out with all our reminisces of the old days in the Sembawang area. She had virtually no idea what we old foggies were chatting about half the time.

I guess the only person I did not really have a chance to get to know was Carolyn's mum. She came across as reticient and somewhat introspective. Well....there is always next time. I would assume she is the one I have to win over if I am really serious about Carolyn....

Carolyn even gave me a tour of the house.The house is a real bargain. Goes to show how God's favour works in the lives of those that only believe. Carolyn even gave me a personalised tour of her bedroom. I can now safely say that it is as comfortable as it looks...

After dinner and the opening credits of Lord of the Rings- The Fellowship of the Rings on HBO I took my leave of the place not because it was late or that I was bored but rather because I knew I did not leave then I would probably be staying the night.

Carolyn walked me down to the car park and we said (or rather did) our usual goodbyes.

Deep impact

Normally I spend my Sundays at church with Joyce with the occasional dinner or whatever activity we can do together for that particular day. But Joyce was helping out at the childrens church this past Sunday would not be able to attend any of the services...or so I thought. I resigned myself to attending church alone.

Round about 12 Maybel messaged me to 'chope' a seat for her at church since she was gonna be late. Initially Maybel was gonna attend the 11.15 service but because of her sister being late she could not attend. Since I had yet to leave my house and Maybel lived a mere 5 minutes drive from me I suggested I pick her up from her home and we go together instead.She was more than happy to accept..:p

As I was driving to Suntec, Joyce called me on my handphone to let me know that she was gonna attend the 2 pm service after all. Joyce had already found a seat for 2 in the overflow room. I let Joyce know that 'my friend' was with me and if she could get us another seat. Joyce told me she could not and that I should be with my friend instead of here in that case.

Maybel and I managed to find a seat in the overflow room but I could not see Joyce because there were too many people in the room. After the service had ended I waited outside in the lobby for Maybel and instead Joyce appeared, to be followed closely behind by Maybel. Although Maybel and Joyce have met once before, Joyce had no recollection of Maybel at all. After the usual (re)introductions we three walked down to the mall area. Maybel and I had already made plans for lunch and we asked Joyce to join us. Maybel was so nice to Joyce which under normal circumstances would have put Joyce at ease. But Joyce was visibly upset. She probably assumed me and Maybel were on a date of some sort. Joyce declined our invitation to lunch and opted to go to the gym for a workout. We 3 walked to Millenia Walk where I had parked to get some cd-roms that I had burnt for Joyce.

I guess Joyce still has feelings for me and finds it hard to accept that my world does not revolve around her now. Joyce has not come to terms with that I am going out with other people and actually having a good time (most of the time anyway). I really do not know what to say. I still love Joyce dearly but I think it is time we both moved on or reconciled. I hate being in this situation where I feel like I am being used. It seems to me whenever she needs a favour or some company she looks me up, yet keeps putting me down and makng me feel inadequate as a boyfriend. It is not fair! I just pray that she finds someone who can live up to her lofty expectations...

Anyway...Maybel and I went for a simple dinner at the Millenia food court due to ...errmm...financial restraints (hers...not mine). Thereafter we went to Marina to book tickets for a movie. We wanted to watch 'Starsky and Hutch'. While I was getting the tickets, Maybel chatted with her 'buddy' who works at a bar at the area. After that we both walked around Marina (what was left of it, after the closure of several tenants due to the upcoming renovation/revamp thingy).

The movie was fun to me but Maybel was not particularly impressed. I guess she had higher expectations of it due to all the rave reviews it was getting.

Deep forests

I was actually planning to meet Rachelle on Saturday but apparently the little lady got drunk on Friday and spent the entire of Saturday recovering from the hangover! Hahaaaa....at least the neck ache is gone...:)

Around noon Jackie messaged me to ask if I wanted to go out. Then she wanted to come over to my house! I was not too keen for obvious reasons. She then drove to Lower Pierce Reservoir by herself...(which 'co-incidentally' is very, very close by my home).

Since she was nearby I thought ,"what the heck, go and at least see the poor girl who came all the way". Well....she was so glad to see me. I guess it made her day. We took a walk in the woods along the boardwalks that led to Old Upper Thomson Road. When we got to the end we had a drink at Shibley's before going back to our cars via the other boardwalk route.

There...Jackie thought that the fun should not end here. She then wondered where WE would be going next. Since I had nothing else to do and against my better judgement I agreed. We proceeded to Upper Seletar where we scaled the Rocket tower and just sat there to chat for a while before driving to West Coast park. We were expecting to see a nice sunset there but the development in the Jurong and bay area kinda blocked off the view.We decided against staying and went to Labrador Park instead. The potential here to see a good sunset were better except for one minor detail. The weather conspired against us and the clouds obscured the sun for the most part leaving Jackie disappointed...again.

Calling it almost a day, we went to Beach Road Food Centre for dinner before going home.

Deep S**t

On Friday I attended Khims fathers wake with some of my colleagues. The thing was that before we left the office,I noticed that Poh was acting rather cold towards me. He did not reply nor even acknowledge my presence when i talked to him. I knew something was up. I sort of knew what it was about. It may have had more than a little to do with Lyn and I going to lunch earlier that day.
Later during dinner he was the same sulking self as before. He seemed to be in a world of his own.
There are so many negative things I could say about the c**** but I know that the p**** is not worth the effort. He is an a****** for thinking that I am intimidated by him. In my view the b***** d*** h*** does not deserve Lyn. Lyn told me that it is not worth fighting over her like this and that she hopes that the two of us would reconcile someday. I hope so too. Till then ...s*** on these nuts!