Just ended a marathon 3 hours of coaching class today. My feet ache, my toes are bruised and my lungs are about to collapse. And still we haven't finished learning the syllabus.
I'd be surprised if I actually make it through the entire exam routine still standing.
I can't think about tomorrow's class. I'm so tired. I just wanna sleep. Now, if only a taxi would come take me home.... Like, NOW.
*flop*
New year, new beginnings, new challenges.
New job, new work, new experiences.
And now, one more thing I can't chicken out of - I've registered for the RAD ballet exams in March. Yikes.
So there goes 4.5 years of my life and this chapter is coming to a close. I'm halfway through my end of year break and counting down the last few days at my first job. Time flies and in a flurry of more work and more late nights, my 3-month notice period is almost over! I never imagined I would leave. After all, I was happy. But I have to try this out. I need to make this change, so I won't look back one day and wonder what if...
Yesterday, I went back to the office to pack. I'm amazed at how much I managed to collect and stow away within the confines of a 2m x 2m space. Box after box of documents, precedents, books, memories... Good thing I don't have to lug it all home since the husband will be inheriting most of the Singapore-law related stuff. But that leaves me with another .... five boxes to deal with. And I'm not done packing! Will just leave that to Friday...
Meanwhile, I've been tasked with prettify-ing the apartment so that it will finally (after more than a year of occupancy) be in a presentable enough shape for visitors at Christmas, and the tougher job of getting the little one reliably toilet trained, amidst the other housewifey things to do...
For a start, the last few pieces of our furniture finally arrived on Monday! But because we installed the TV before the console and shelves arrived, we now have to shift it, cos it is so totally not centered....
Mischka got her appetite back and was finally eating yesterday afternoon after picking at her last 2 meals. We thought she would be fine but her condition suddenly took a turn for the worse – her poo got bloody and she was too weak to sit up. I freaked out when I remembered what minneyme just told me a few hours earlier about Ashlee’s ordeal and was immediately reduced into a bawling heap, crouching next to Mischka’s pen. The sweet baby tried to sidle up next to me and I saw her tear too… *heartbroken*
Hubs was the calmer, saner one – called the vet and asked if he could meet us at the clinic (it was past 11pm) and we rushed out with Mischka cradled in a box. The taxi ride seemed all too long, and Mischka got more and more drowsy in my lap. Scary thoughts kept running through my head while I kept my hand on her warm, soft body the whole time, willing her to keep breathing… I needed to feel that her heart was still beating…
We finally reached the clinic. After some checks, Dr. B confirmed that it wasn’t parvovirus (thank God!), gave her a jab, a dose of dewormers and some antibiotics and tablets. We’ll have to watch her carefully the next 10 days.
The poor baby still isn’t eating her full meals and tires out quickly, but at least there’s no more blood… I hope she gets better soon… =S
After deliberating for several weeks, we finally took the plunge, and added this little baby to our family
So 2 weeks back, I called up this dance studio that I found after endless hours of surfing the net which DID let adults take exams and even go en pointe! I was keen on trying out the Level 1 classes, and who knows, get spotted or something. The website said to "Audition". Huh?...
Spoke to a very helpful lady who suggested I just try the Inter-Foundation class on Wednesdays. Woah... So I did say I had stopped at Grade 4 years back, and had restarted ballet a few months back. But to start me at Inter-F, a Majors grade??? Mad. Despite my protests about doing such an advanced level, she insisted anyway, and said it'd be ok, that they were only using RAD Inter-F syllabus but not taking exams. Eh?... *sceptical*
Decided to give it a shot at the trial class today. All jittery and a bundle of nerves on the way there - Mr. F was supposed to have a reputation of being difficult.... what if I look stupid or dumb or am plain klutz...
Walked into class and realised 5 minutes into class that it was really more like Adult Beginner "Intermediate Foundation"... i.e.... a lower level than the beginner foundation classes (level 0) that the studio conducted! Gee... what a clever/insiduous way of sneaking in an audition! Win.
Anyways, the exercises were easy, but the teacher was pretty strict and demanding. And I must say I've learnt quite a bit of technique in one session. Like, hey... i didn't know we were supposed to keep our heels as close to (yet lifted off) the ground as possible in grande plie... my tendons sure felt the stretch... *ow*... We also re-did exercises twice/thrice over to "get it right". All technical. Halfway through class it came to light that he's friends with my fierce-o ballet teacher from younger days. So that explains his.. erm... teaching technique... (he calls himself the dragon of the west and she, the east... go figure.. )
Sad to say, this really was a beginner-beginner class and there was no centre work. No pretty dancey adage/piroutte-y thingies. I was surprised and very disappointed when Mr. F said "Ok, see you all next week..." after releve echappes (albeit ad nauseum) at the barre!
Well, he did also tell me not to worry cos I still had it in me... "you are AA's student afterall!... just need some fine-tuning..."... and to join his Monday class instead. Level 2!!!! woo hoo!!! *deliriously happy* ;)
So hubs is off to India again on business... and since S was home alone as well tonight, and we were feeling kinda sick of the office, we decided, at 6.45pm today, that we would go off and shop/eat/watch movie, whatever... just get out. We even managed to bully H into chucking her work too.. haha... but being the super dilly-dallyers that we were, by the time we dissected Sections 29, 30(3) and 31(9) of the BTA, mulled over the last few documents, cleared our emails, and moseyed around, it was past 8pm. And we discovered that most restaurants are closed on Monday. Dang...
We finally ended up at the new Au Petit Salut at Dempsey and stuffed ourselves silly... S and I valiantly resisted the 4 course set menu at the outset, but changed our minds 5 minutes from having our orders taken. Lobster tails, foie gras, beef and souffle were just too tempting... ;) H on the contrary, was a good girl, and only had one entree, one main (melt-in-your-mouth kurobuta!) and one dessert.... We had a great time chatting and sharing the latest goss... All Monday nights should be like this! Sure helps to chase away the blues...
2 more days till hubs is home.
4 more days to the weekend!!
After a harrowing week and a half, and a mad scramble to get submissions in by Wednesday, I did get my long weekend afterall!
Thursday, 9 Aug: Happy 42nd Singapore!!
We had Char-emy, D, I & K over for National Day. We were wading around in the jacuzzi when we saw the Chinooks with the giant flag fly overhead, followed by the fighter jets. Cool! And we were just about finishing dinner when the fireworks starting blasting away. We tried pointing them out to K outside the window but she didn't seem too interested... heh... think she preferred to concentrate on the food... oh we also discovered that there's a delay of approximately 2 seconds between real-time and the tv telecast.
Friday: Gardening and Attempted Exercise
After a late breakfast, headed to Mum & Dad's to feed their thirsty plants. Gee... it's practically a mini forest there - and it took us a good hour to fill up all the pots with water, indoors and out. I even saved Mummy's herbs from a nasty looking caterpillar. Visited Granny for a bit and brought her Jln Tua Kong meepok (yumz!), before heading off to ECP.
Team Hungry had to eat again, of course, and we ordered McDees at the drive-thru, fully intending to work it all off with at least an hour of rollerblading. But alas, hub's wheels fell apart after the first 20 mins and we ended up on a bench facing the sea, chatting and watching the turquoise waters slowly turn green in the setting sun.
Saturday: Burn, Fats, Burn!!!
Tennis! Gym! and Ultimate Frisbee! All in one (blazing hot) day! Whee!!! We must be mad.
Sunday: too soon...
Ballet class this week was a little challenging. My thighs were burning from the exertions of the day before, and the longer-than-usual series of jumps left my heart racing and my head pounding. But I'm pretty pleased with how my pirouttes are getting more steady, ever so slowly, and I think I might just about be able to manage a double on the right real soon. :)
Hubs took me out to dinner, and we decided to try something new. Our choice of Coriander Leaf was closed so we decided to give Ivory (Indian cuisine) a shot, and were pleasantly surprised with how good it was, and how huge the portions were. We had the Malabar Trio for starters - prawn, chicken and lamb, followed by chicken in chettidad curry and a mutton pepper fry, served with chickpea-green onion pilaf. It could probably have fed another 2 persons. But of course, Team Hungry polished it all off. Heh...
What are the chances of us BOTH getting off work at 7pm on a Friday night? So we made it an impromptu date night Whee!!! Had a great dinner at Shunjuu – eating there always makes me happy, what with the smoky aroma and faintly charred bits on each skewer… yummelicious!! And the weather was just lovely, cool and breezy. We ate so much we could hardly stagger home with our very full tummies… ;p as if that wasn’t enough, we polished off the remaining Royce choccies in the fridge when we got back. Haha. *piggy*
Had to wake up (rather) early on Saturday cos the developers were coming in to inspect the defects that needed to be rectified before legal completion takes place end of the month. We’d spent a few hours frantically sticking fluorescent coloured post-its all over the walls of our apartment, and it now looks rather hilarious – check out our fuschia/cyan/magenta feature walls… [will upload a pic soon] So much for a home that exudes elegance and class. Hah. We’ll have to live with this until the developers send workers to come fix the flaws. Bleargh. Also called the F&P service people – the handle of our less-than-1-year-old refrigerator has gotten loose. I’m hoping they won’t be able to fix it or find replacement parts and will have to give us a new fridge. I’m lusting after the 519-litre bottom freezer one now… ;p [Editorial Note: Oh. I’ve since been informed by me mum that it’s wishful thinking on my part. They probably won’t even change the door. Dang.]
Afternoon was spent shopping for a birthday pressie for Char – didn’t know a diamond cross pendant was so difficult to find! We went to at least 3 different jewellers and what they had all looked kinda weird. The dimensions were somehow all wrong and the only decent looking one was way out of our budget despite the painfully teensy blingblings, cos it was fashioned totally out of ideal cut diamonds. In the end we got this luscious coin purse from her favourite label instead. Lurve the pearly iridescent finish! (hmmm, not so evident in this pic though…) Shopping, even if not for oneself, can be very fun. :)
2nd pigout session of the weekend was our early father’s day dinner with Mum and Dad at Iggy’s. It was an enjoyable evening, and I liked the cosy setting and the oil paintings on the wall. The food was good, although some of it was, I think, a little overrated. Daddy and I liked the char-grilled quail best – it was crisp on the outside, juicy on the inside and slightly gamey (to mum’s horror…), and served with XJ’s favourite white asparagus. Piccies will follow when I download them from the camera. We missed out pics of a couple of courses in our eagerness to tuck in though.
Now I’m looking forward to BBQ seafood and roast piglet(s) in Bali. Yummy yummy yummy….
I love u most when we share a place
Yay!
No more iMac sitting on its own box on the floor.
No more drafting documents crouched in front of the screen.
No more backaches! :)
But… do we really want to have to work from home?.... =S
Gabes first toast: "Let nobody go home hungry or sober!" and so it was, a 6 course lunch, copious amounts of wine and free flow champers left us decadently drunk by 4pm... and lunch wasn't even over till 5.30pm...
and in our inebriated state, hubs and i got these for me. *grin*
