Build me castles, in the air...

Getting disappointed with my work and myself. I don't understand why a batch of my rats are performing worse everyday. Tried running through reasons in my head; they're getting bored with the training (but they're getting food through it!!), they are simply too old to pay attention, I'm not doing things right? (But I'm doing the same thing as before and they used to do so well!) Sigh.

It's not been an easy week. Still feeling slightly odd (can't put my finger on it).

Last weekend was pretty much a stay-home one. The later part of Sunday was quite interesting when I met up with Christian and his friend, Aidan. Christian and I were tour guides of the day.

First stop, Arab street. After having a look around the area, we picked a cafe and sat down to nice, cool (the day was incredibly hot! I was sweating bucketloads!) drinks and sweet, sweet Arabic desserts! :D Dates, honey, raisins and nuts. So yummilicious!

2nd stop, Little India. We walked along the busy teeming streets, not talking to each other very much, merely trying to take in all the sights, left to our own thoughts. The vegetable markets, cheap clothing stores, jewellery shops... I've never walked around Little India on a Sunday, and I feel as much of an outsider as Aidan. Being there made me feel like I'm actually in India! And Aidan later voiced that same sentiment. As we passed a beautiful mosque along the way, he commented it's amazing a mosque could be in Little India when elsewhere in the world, Hindus and Muslims usually don't get along. And that's one of the things I'd always love about Singapore. An environment where different races and religions could co-exist rather peacefully. (Though I won't go so far as to say its people are not racists, when obviously we have some. *contempt*)

After we went back to Christian's to rest for a bit before we head out to Geyland for some dinner. I miss the food in Geylang!!! We had beef hor fun and broccoli to start. Then we crossed the street for some dim sum, crossed back again for some soy bean milk and you tiao. (We needed to get Aidan to try as much as he can, i.e squeeze food into him, cos' we wouldn't have another time to bring him here.) For dessert he definitely had to have durians. :D Hee. He said they smell like onions and he hates onions. But bravo to him for actually trying it! :) Not many foreigners can get past the smell to put it in their mouths. He liked the Queen of fruits, mangosteens, though. Those were nice, fleshy ones. We were so stuffed at the end of the night! Suffice to say the next thing we wanted to do was sleep. Haha. So we said our good nights and went home.

Am glad it's the weekend again. Though I don't have anything interesting lined up but I suppose I could either relax at home with a book or find myself something to do.

Went to visit my grandfather after work on Wed. He looked really tired. :( I felt useless and helpless in the face of his pain. The only thing I can do is to keep praying and going to see him.

Pulled myself to the gym yesterday and it was a good thing I did. After surviving 30-min on the cross-trainer, (it was one of my worst! I used to be able to last longer and on a higher resistance, yesterday though, I could hardly finish it... Sigh.) I decided to be courageous and go for a bodypump class, alone. It was rather embarrassing, me not knowing that I needed to set up my own equipment and no clue how to go about it. Besides there was not much space left when I got there 5 min before the class. I went up to ask the instructress and she helped me. I wanted to be in the back of the class where I wouldn't be conspicuous when I made mistakes but she said it's better for me to be in front where I can see her, so she pointed out a spot. But there was this very selfish lady in front of that said spot who refused to give me some room behind her (even though there was space in front of her), saying, in her irritating I-am-the-princess-around-here voice, 'It's too narrow here'. So I shuffled away, not knowing where else to go, very tempted to put down the things and leave the class. The instructress went to ask the woman to move a little so she had no choice but to accomodate. She did make sure she glared at me after inching her fat arse forward. Biatch!

The workout was good though. My arms and legs now ache wonderfully! (I'm not weird just because I enjoy the feel of sore muscles now am I? :p)

The MRT journey from work to the gym is still a fairly raw, morose affair. Brings back memories of chats, laughter and fun which I'd much rather not be reminded of now. I'm certain with time I'd be able to look back at it with relish. Not just yet. Until then, it'll easier to try vanquish those thoughts to some far corner of the mind.

And keep my eyes fixed on upcoming vacations! Ho Hum!
Speaking of vacations, with my encouragement, my sister has applied for SEP (student exchange program) and I really hope she gets it. It'll be a great learning experience for her and I'll have an excuse to go to Europe next year (must visit my dear 'lil sis mah)! :D Have start saving up. It's gonna burn my pockets bad! Cos' being the sweet, loving, elder sis, I'm financing her. (Though technically, it's a loan. She's paying me back when she starts work. For now, she's calling me her trust fund. haha.) I really wanted to go for SEP back when I was in NUS but couldn't afford it. I'm happy I can help her with hers now.

Back to work stuff. I've come up with a plan to help my rats get back on track. Crossing my fingers for next week to see if it'll have any effect on them.

Received a reply from Alliance Francaise yesterday. (I sent in my Intermediate tests last week. Questions were well tough!) They recommended for me to start in Intermediate I. But after looking at the dates of the classes, it appears that I won't be able to start a class till next year cos' I'm away the whole month of Oct. Sigh. I was looking forward to it. So now I'm gonna hafta discipline myself to self-study before my limited French flees my mind.

Hmm... These days I either don't have time or feel like writing during the week but on Friday I always manage to come up with a chattering (like an idiot), totally random and trivial post. O_o I blame it on the sense of relief I feel at the end of a work week. Picture the sudden release of a valve on a pressure cooker and everything spewing out.