I am so glad the weekend is finally here again. Surprisingly, this week has passed pretty quickly. Probably because Monday was a holiday. Weekends are so precious. I'm already planning what to do this weekend. I should probably hit the shops since the Great Singapore Sale has started. What am I talking about, I already started today! Hehe... that's right, I went shopping during lunch. And found some great buys too! Bought 2 tops from FCUK for $15 each (there were going at 70% discount)! Also bought a pair of running shorts from Adidas which were NOT on sale and cost more than my 2 tops combined. Sigh. My cell group was totally surprised when I walked in carrying an Adidas paper bag. Not the kind of stuff you would expect Mel to be in possession of.

Tomorrow, I shall be good and go for Pilates. My gym membership is expiring on the 9th of June and I have 4 sessions to go! Seeing as Pilates classes are only on Thursdays and Saturdays, I might not make it in time. Man, sticking to an exercise regime really takes a lot of determination. But I'm happy to report that I actually enjoy jogging now. It helps to de-stress and take my mind off things. Mostly because my mind is too busy asking the repeated question of why I choose to torture myself physically in this way.

Sleepy now. Time to go shower and zonk off. Till the next time then.

I'm feeling down at the moment. Somewhat like this:



I dreamt that I wasn't ever going to get married and I even had a certificate that branded me a spinster forever. I was very troubled by the dream. Very disturbed.

I don't know why but when I got ready for bed last night, I suddenly felt very lonely. This huge wave of loneliness just engulfed me. And as I lay my head on the pillow, the loneliness lay down with me. It seems to be haunting me these days. And so I decided I needed to talk to someone. Hence the late night call to DJ, the only person I could think of who'd still be awake at that hour. Thanks for the chat, mister. Although it sorta led to the awful dream I had, it was nice to be able to talk to someone when I needed to.

I'm still somewhat shaken by the dream. It was so heartbreaking. I hope it never comes to pass.

I DREAD going back to work tomorrow. I could get used to public holidays you know. Today was spent sleeping in (of course, what else do you do on a public holiday??) and playing the guitar, working on another wedding song (Pete said he wanted to get me the Wedding Singer vcd for Christmas.. haha...), meeting up with the couple to discuss some wedding stuff, going for a jog, having dinner and watching some tv. Was supposed to head down to Starbucks and snuggle in my usual seat for an afternoon of reading (I have to do a book review on "Jesus on Leadership" due Thursday) but that plan of action was thrown out when the wedding couple called for a meeting.

I enjoy having days off. It's different from having an evening off. There's just something totally relaxing about having a leisurely afternoon as opposed to a leisurely evening. I guess there's just more stuff you can do during the day. And I much prefer reading in the afternoons than in the evenings. Evenings are for winding down.

So I would say I had a pretty fruitful day off. Thank God for public holidays that fall on Sundays. Best thing that ever happened to corporate slaves. That and a good chocolate ice cream. Mmmm...

My face is swollen. I believe I am allergic to my antibiotics. I believe I am in a foul mood.

I believed right. With regards to my foul mood anyway.


Well, on to better news. My dear old friend Charis got married today. In a very Methodist ceremony, I might add :) Was pleasantly surprised to see Queenie as well. Turns out the bride was her ex-colleague. Lovely to see old JC friends as well. And yes, always nice to see ex-boyfriends too :) A little strange, but nice. Caught up with one of my pastors from my previous church. Conversation went something like this:

P: Hello you!
M: You remember me!
P: I remember the name, but not the face.
M: It's Melissa. How are you? I've left Faith (Methodist Church) you know?
P: Oh, where are you now?
M: Chapel of the Resurrection.
P: Ah, Anglican church. *both start laughing* But it's ok, as long as you're still in church.

I hate to say this cos it's totally baseless and I'm not hot about denominations, but somehow, deep down, I'll always be Methodist :)

I'm such a hypocrite right? Sigh... let's get my ass back to church first...

Ok, fingers crossed that the swelling subsides by the time I hit Shangri-La for the dinner tonight.

Ok, so I'm feeling better. A little bit. Although it kinda bugged me earlier that I couldn't have ice cream because I needed to take my antibiotics and you can't have calcium foods until 2 hours before or after taking the pill. Maybe I'll have ice cream later. Or not.

Because I went jogging today :) I don't know why I even do it. I mean, I HATE jogging. It is self-inflicted torture that the human race devised on a day they had nothing to do after eating all the bananas on the tree. Why run from point A to point B when you can DRIVE??? That said, I actually know why I jog. As I've said before, I'm a blatant vainpot who doesn't want to see herself with sagging body parts 10 years and 3 kids later. It's not a pretty sight.

Anyway, as I was walking back (I jog 2.4 then walk back 2.4. I can't handle jogging 4.8 yet. And I'm not vain/mad enough to try...), there were these 2 Malay girls who must have been at most 5 years old. They were wearing those shoes with wheels at the back of the heel. One of them was egging the other on, going, "come on baby, rock on!" and then she started shimmying. And shaking her bon bon. It was totally hilarious. A while later, I met them again. This time, they were stretching (or at least pretending to) their calves, with their legs lifted on a ledge. I thought, gosh, is it really that strenuous rolling around on wheely shoes? I may not blade but I do think the wheely shoes run on a different concept. It's really irritating when kids roll around in supermarkets or shopping malls on those shoes. Irritates the jibbers out of me. Ugh.

So I kept walking, the girls were still in front of me and then this little Chinese boy rides by on a tricycle and as he passes the girls, his head turns and follows them for a second or two. Must have been checking out their bon bons. There was this great feeling of assurance within me that boys still like girls and vice versa. There is hope yet for the next generation.

Star Wars fans, I shall give it rest this post :) Tune in for more updates soon.

Ooooh, I couldn't resist sneaking in one more post for the evening. Now that wedding season is here (I'm about to attend my 3rd wedding of the year... and it isn't even June yet!), this is EXACTLY what I needed. Read it and tell me you couldn't agree more.

So I waited almost an hour before I got to see the revered dermatologist. Finally, my turn came. I sat before her meekly, praying that she would have the answer to my derma woes. She could not diagnose it. BUT she could treat it. It will hence be either a 3 week process or a 3 month ordeal, depending on which of her 2 guesses is right:

1. It's a normal flare-up. Straightforward oral and topical medication will solve the problem.
2. It's a hormonal change that affects some women in their mid-20s (no prizes for guessing if I fall into that category). They call it "female adult acne". This is slightly more drawn-out and will take 3 months to control, monitor and hopefully cure.

Come to think of it, I never had acne problems as a teen. So I'm thinking puberty missed me along the way? And if it IS puberty, I shall be looking forward to bigger boobs :)

Alright, enough about me for the day. I shall spew my daily irrelevant mumbo jumbo about Star Wars. This evening (closer to night, actually) on my way home, I noticed a tall, bald ang moh guy standing at a traffic light that was red. It was really dark (I told you it was almost night) and the red light cast a shadow on his face (along with shadows of tree branches). For a second there, I thought he looked a helluva lot like Darth Maul. Freaked me out hey.

Right, back to me now. Once I complete my course of antibiotics for the fever that I am recovering from, I will have to begin another course for my acne. I've got so much medication in my body now it's not funny. Earlier while watching Smallville, they showed a penitentiary sign. It took me 3 whole seconds to register what a penitentiary was. It's not that I don't know, it's just that it took so long to register. I kept thinking it meant cemetary. Don't ask me why.

Ok, that's it for tonight. Look out for tomorrow's instalment of Star Wars as told by moi.

So tomorrow I will go to the skin doctor. And beg her to save my face. I will grovel. I will plead. I will be her slave. Just make my face well again, O Good Doctor. I will do anything. I will even stop watching the re-re-runs of Friends every weekday. I will be nice to my mother. I will stay away from chocolate for a week. Ok, for a day.

Alright, that's enough about my face. So now everyone is going ga-ga over the latest Star Wars movie soon-to-be-released-in-theatres-here. Just a random thought - do you think Episode III was actually supposed to be "Revenge of the Cyst" but the guy who was in charge of naming it (Georgie, perhaps) had a lisp and it became "Revenge of the Sith" instead? Yeah ok, probably not, since a SITH is a character in the film while, I am afraid, CYSTS are not really featured all that much in the Star Wars movies. I bet I just ruffled some feathers of major Star Wars fans here. Do forgive my blatant ignorance and stupidity. It comes with having major ZITS on my face. Ah, not all that different from cysts, are they?

Hokay, the bimbo rattles on. It is time to go. The forth be with you, O Lispy One.

I spent the day at home today. And will do so tomorrow as well. Then it's off to the dermatologist on Friday. Sometimes your body just bails on you for no apparent reason. Apart from feeling ill, I'm enduring a major, major breakout on my face. Which is so scary I don't even want to look at myself in the mirror. Seriously.

I'm so bummed out.

: (

Ladies and gentlemen, the diet has officially lasted 2 days. The same number as the kilos I've put on. And just as I don't intend to put on anymore kilos, I also don't intend to diet for one more day. It's just too hard. Hello food :)

So I was on the MRT today, going back to the office from Dhoby Ghaut, when people starting smiling and taking pictures of something behind me. I didn't think it was me they were taking pictures of, so I turned to look and lo and behold, I stared right at Princess Leia and a weird-looking Storm Trooper. Or at least he looked like a Storm Trooper. Princess Leia looked like a teenage boy with 2 buns on the sides of his head but when I looked at "his" chest, there was a semblance of a bra. With a slight curvature. Ah, char bo. Either that or he's got to stop taking those hormone pills.

Sigh, do these weird things happen to me only?

Today was an emotional day for me. I made my way down to the Istana during lunch to pay my last respects to Dr. Wee Kim Wee. Earlier in the morning, I was tearing uncontrollably as I read the papers and thought about him. For some unexplainable reason, I feel this connection with him. I think that's the feeling he gave a lot of Singaporeans through his fatherly ways. He was the first President that I ever knew and no one has been able to fill his shoes since. I still remember thinking not too long ago, that he was still alive and how happy I was that he was still going strong.

I stood in the queue for one and a half hours, under the sweltering heat, in my black blouse and black jacket. But neither the heat nor discomfort could have dragged me away from seeing my President for the last time. It was just such a pity that the first time I set foot into the Istana had to be under such circumstances. And the first time I saw my favourite President in person, he couldn't even see me.

I never took the opportunity to tell him how much he had touched me, how his gentle ways won me over, little as I was. How I always loved to see him smile and wave at the National Day Parade. I never had the privilege of shaking his hand, as many ordinary citizens have. Even my mother has done that. There's a picture of her and Dr. Wee on stage as he presented her with a long service award.

My heart sank the day I heard the news that Dr. Wee had passed on. It hasn't quite recovered yet. The Dr. Wee I saw in the coffin looked nothing like the one on TV and in the newspapers. The Dr. Wee I saw looked frail and worn. His eyes, though closed, were sunken in. My heart broke when I saw him. But I will always remember him. Always always.

To the Wee family, thank you for sharing your husband and father with us. He was an exceptional man. I will miss him.

Goodbye, Mr President.

I was all psyched up to make apple crumble tonight. I had all the items prepared, right down to the most trivial - lemons. So there I was, happy with my lemons, ground cinnamon and raisins, when I realised that I was lacking one major ingredient - apples. Great. How does a girl make apple crumble without apples? Even Jamie Oliver couldn't do that. Ah well, I tried.

Anyway, it's a good thing I couldn't go ahead with the crumble. I stepped on the weighing scale tonight and was absolutely horrified to see that I put on 2kg!!! Well, needless to say, I am now officially on a diet. And a strict exercise regime. Darn. And I thought I was invincible. Lil, I'm afraid that's the end of our ice cream dates :(

Today was a busy day at work. I like busy days. Leaves me little time for my brain to overwork itself on other issues which I shouldn't be thinking about. Like my inability to stay in a relationship for more than 6 months. Or how I perpetually meet Mr. Wrong. Or how I whine all the time.

I like busy days. I like staying late in the office. I actually do. And that freaks me out. It freaks me out because I have no life. Actually I do but that's not the kind of life I really want. Or is it? My hair smells more of cigarette smoke these days than it does of peaches and peonies. I'm positive the alcohol in my system is causing my dramatic breakout (which everyone in the office seems to have noticed) and my eyelids feel heavier than my heart does.

So yeah, I'm having the time of my life. Bleah.

I am back from my spa retreat in Batam. It was lovely, to say the least. Singaporeans could learn a lot from our neighbours' hospitality and service. So imagine large open spaces, villas, Balinese architecture (even though we're in Batam) and gentle, smiley therapists ushering you in singsong voices to your private open-air villa beyond the stone gates and canopied jacuzzi. And you will begin to have a picture of the award-winning Tea Tree Spa at the Holiday Inn, Batam. Totally not sleazy, completely serene, absolutely fabulous.

The coffee scrub that I picked was delectably aromatic. I imagine it must be every coffee lover's dream to have heavenly coffee grinds (Balinese, no less) rubbed all over their weary bodies. I'm no coffee-aficionado myself but the soothing strokes and fragrance of the coffee was enough to carry me off in pure bliss.

Ginger tea is a must-have for me after any spa therapy. It completes the whole ritual. Psychologically. I'm sure it has health benefits as well but for me, it's completely psychological. Indonesian ginger tea is way different from the ones we have in Singapore. That I've tried anyway. Apart from being full of residue (wasn't ecstatic about that), they are thicker, darker and richer. There was also this brilliant ginger candy which was utterly refreshing, chewy and oh-so-divine. I can't describe it well but the texture is akin to dessicated coconut. The best ginger munchable I've had. Ever.

At the end of it, I luxuriated in 3 different spa treatments at 2 separate spas, bought a bikini for an insanely low S$28.50 (!!) and indulged in steak and seafood (not very spa cuisine, I agree, but we were ravenous). I just have one last thing to add:

I am not a tai-tai.