I figure this has got to be the best place for me to voice my frustrations. Get it out of my system.

As a number of you know, Melvin resigned from his last job in August. And I encouraged his resignation. I did. He thoroughly hated working in that hellhole, there were no benefits whatsoever, the pay was bad, he had less than HALF the number of annual leave I was granted and he would often reach home much later than I did, despite only needing a 20minute travel time to/from work.

Why did he take up such a sucky job, then? I'm sure some of you must be wondering. Well, for someone who'd just graduated, this one-year contract looked prefect to gain some experience. The pay and leave may be low, but hey, it's just for a year.

It was only after a few months in the job that Melvin realised why the turnover rate was so high for his department (read:political old bitch). And he tried to stick it through the year. Until he got wind from HR that a certain political old bitch was trying to get him fired by complaining to HR about him. This political old bitch (POB) was from the same department, but was in charge of another team. Melvin doesn't even work with her =/ She apparently enjoys making life difficult for managers of other teams in the department, and HIS manager apparently made the POB look bad in front of the big boss. So he was, somehow or other, drawn into this unwillingly.

And so he left. Better to resign then to get fired, no?

and HERE'S MY MAIN RANT

Since then, Melvin Chong has done NOTHING. I repeat, NOTHING.
That bum hasn't even put in significant effort in looking for another job. He just rots away at home. God knows what he does.

I really don't see why I have to nag him night and day to do something so... essential. And most of the time, I wonder if that is the guy I'm going to marry? Then please. No thanks.
I'm not his mother. I refuse to keep telling him he has to do this and that, and fucking have to REMIND him the following day.

I have been understanding in his lack of success, telling him it can take a few months. I have been patient with him and thought perhaps, a month's break from work would be good for him. But to find out he has made NO EFFORT WHATSOEVER just PISSES ME OFF.

Shape up or ship out, Melvin. I have no tolerance for your fucking excuses.

Melvin and I decided to drop by his grandparents' place after we had lunch with Uncle Teng and Glenn at Furama Waterfront.

When we got there, his grandma was looking out the window, all dressed up and she even had makeup on. After we went into the house, she offered us drinks. The only odd bit was how we ended up sharing a can of coke.

Grandma: Would you like a drink? Get a coffee or tea?

Us: Oh no thanks. We just had one

Grandma: How about something to eat?

Us: Oh no thanks, we are quite full from lunch

Grandma: How about a drink? Coffee or tea?

Us: Umm, really, we're good..

After she asked for like the fourth time, we kinda went "Yes! Alright, we'll ask the maid to get us a coke.."

Then for some reason, she thought we were going to bring her out to dinner and proceeded to shower, change into something else and put on another layer of makeup. It was quite... disconcerting, to say the least.

Needless to say, both of us left the place feeling more than a lil guilty. I mean, she thought we were going out, yaknow? We could have if we had the car. Just drive her around and have a simple dinner. But we didn't have the car and we couldn't take the bus/train and all.. I mean.. she can walk! She's not wheelchair-bound or anything. Just.. not a good idea to bring old folks out using public transport (steps.. escalators.. etc)

Odder than Odd? She didn't even know we were coming.

The maid, Yati, told us she just gets dressed to go out. And she waits by the window until she decides to shower... then she gets dressed again (in another outfit), puts on her makeup, and waits once more.

It's quite heartbreaking.

It was cookie-baking-weekend again.

Genie had ran out of treats (AGAIN) so we spent the whole of Saturday afternoon baking 'peanut butter pillows'. We basically put peanut butter, wheat flour and non-lactose milk together, cut them up into 1cm x 1cm squares and baked them. And because peanut butter was naturally oily, the cookies came out poofy in the middle and kinda pastry-like. Hence the term 'Peanut butter pillows'

Mind you, I had to go to Carrefour just to get natural peanut butter. Like ground peanuts and nothing else. No salt, no extra oil.. nothing. Can't seem to find natural peanut butter anywhere else. I couldn't use the regular kind because of the high amount of salt/sugar/additional oil - not suited for dogs.

I think the experience has put me off peanut butter. I mean.. the natural one is already so oily. The type we normally consume has extra oil added.....

Ewww. Tubba-oil.

Anyhow, we had to put Genie in a playpen (read: cage with no cover) outside the kitchen while baking. She was fine with it until the smells from the oven reached her. Then she started whining and wanting to get out. We let her out in the end so she can sniff around in the kitchen.

When she started trying to jump on the kitchen counter to lick leftover dough, we locked her back up.

I prefer the old-school beef and carrot cookies which I gave away in July for Genie's birthday. It's less oily and definitely more nutritious. But the peanut butter pillows are easier to prepare (no need to cook minced beef.... grate carrots.... etc) but I don't think it'll be a recipe of 'choice'.

Does anyone want to test the peanut butter pillows? I'll be happy to pass a small batch to you for your furkid.

Dinner with Shimin, Jen and Jen's mom turned out to be better than expected. We headed to Deli-vege, some unknown vegetarian place along South Bridge Road. Well, unknown to me, at least. The foodie website www.hungrygowhere.com gave this place pretty good ratings. Service was kinda meh, but the food was good. We tried the much-raved-about DFC (their veg version of KFC) and man it was good. Tasted and looked like fried chicken but it didn't have that oily feel to it. Yumsy.

The Black Pepper 'stek' was a disappointed. Tough/dry and too salty. But it did taste like beef..

I guess they didn't want to confuse customers, so steak was spelt 'stek' and chicken was spelt 'chiken' and so on. That way no one will mistake it for real meat.

We also ordered a claypot rice and laksa - which were pretty good. But man, that DFC. I'd never forget.

After which we headed to Brewerks (yes, with Jen's Mom too!) for drinks and dessert. It was great catching up and bitching about work. Once again, Timothy Tan's name was brought up and we laughed at all the funny things he did/said many years ago in JC/Uni. I suspect we'll bring the same thing up every time we meet, but it's so amusing it never gets old.

The night was over too fast but we were all tired. I'm sure Jen and her mom were tired out from the flight to SG.. anyhow, we really need to arrange another dinner like this. I really enjoyed myself.

Saturday was quite disappointing though.

You may not know, but every alt Saturday, I head to Uncle Sam's place to play mahjong with my paternal Grandma (AKA Ama). We'd start at 3pm.. then at 5.30, we'll take a break. I'll head to the condo pool for a swim while Ama cooks dinner.. then we continue with Mahjong at 7.30 to whatever time.. normally about 10ish.

So I spent Saturday afternoon losing money to Ama.. got changed into my swimsuit... and just as I was about to leave the place.. it started to pour. Gaaaahhh. So it was back to the Mahjong table. I was so annoyed with weather, I refused to change out of my swimsuit and played mahjong in it. I continued to sulk until dinner was over and I went to change out of my dry swimsuit.

Then I continued to lose money to Ama until I had 30 cents left the drawer and we decided to call it a night. Considering we play small amounts (like 10cents, 20 cents), I still managed to lose 15bucks.

This is the reason why I hate playing with my maternal grandmother (AKA popo) - they like to play big and I ALWAYS lose more than 100 bucks.

Ama won 30 bucks on Saturday. Everyone else lost. If this game was with Popo, i think she'd have won a few hundred.

Between the two old ladies, I get very poor.

Another weekend gone by. And I haven't found time to make adjustments on the blog either. The background picture has... disappeared. I may be going for new design, but am really lazy, so in the meantime, please bear with the icky blog until I find the time and energy to make changes (i.e when I go on leave from work in late Nov)

Had dinner with Shimin on Friday (Melvin incl.). We went to Empire State, if I recall the name correctly, at Iluma. Food was good, as expected. I really enjoy eating there - feel like such a pig, shovelling food into my mouth.

Shimin had their squid ink pasta and she agreed it was great. Seems the black pasta is really popular. I saw quite a number of people eating it. Melvin almost burst trying to finish his hamburger steak and chocostrawberry milkshake. I had a Caeser's Salad and three pieces.. of... something. Bruschetta, I believe they're called. Very yummy. Each huge piece had different toppings. Mushroom/cheese... tomato/olive oil/herb...chicken.. very yummy.

Now don't you think I'm going on diet... the reason behind the 'light' dinner is because we planned for cake and tea at Teadot after dinner. haha!

The wildjackfruit cake was ohhh.. heavenly. Melvin and I made sure we bought a slice back for his mom. The strawberry tiramisu... well.. we couldn't taste the tiramisu in the cake. The tea we ordered... OMG like fantastic. I dont think Shimin really enjoyed her tea because she'd ordered a brewed earl grey.. without milk/sugar. I had this concoction of earl grey latte + caramel. It was smooth and creamy, though the aroma was a little diluted because of the milk. Min's brewed earl grey definitely had a stronger taste/scent. Melvin had Macha? Some green tea thingy that I thought was horrid, but he enjoyed it.

Food aside, company and conversation was great. We didn't do anything much except eat and gush over pretty musical boxes at one of the Iluma Shops, but it was fab that we managed to catch up with Shimin and chitchat over nothing at all.

Naturally, we talked about mutual friends and aquintances. No one was spared :P Then we got into the depressing topic of old folks dying. This was brought up because Melvin's maternal grandparents (yes, both of them) landed in hospital last week for different reasons. One had piles, was warded and somehow picked up a viral infection at the hospital, while the other had a stroke. Now the two are quite 'blur'. They don't seem to know what's going on around them sometimes. The family thinks dementia may be setting in. So Shimin shared her experience about her grandmother etc.

I sat there thinking if it comes to point where I'm bedridden and have to be fed by a tube, please kill me. Don't let me linger for 5 or 6 years.. in fact, don't let me linger at all. I mean, what's the point in living if i'm stuck on a bed, can't enjoy food, can't do anything.. There is no dignity in a life like that. Hell, I can't even scold the nurses if they something wrong, ya'know?

Anyhow. Depressing topic aside...

Big Congrats to Hui Jing! She's in her 2nd trimester so here's wishing for her to have a healthy, happy pregnancy + baby.

500 days of Summer is a must watch.

It's not a love story per se. Rather, it's about .. relationships. Or at least, one specific relationship from a guy's point of view. It's difficult to tell you what it's about in detail without spoiling the show for you.

Just catch it - you won't regret this one.

We headed to Urbanpooch over the weekend and it was disappointing, to say the least. Dark, dank, a lil filthy and extremely overpriced. I paid almost 60 dollars for 3 people to dine there and it isn't even air conditioned! The food was mediocre at best and the room to house the dogs while you 'enjoy your meal' was... well, lets just say I decided *not* to put Genie in there after one look.

k9 Kafe gives a much more enjoyable experience at a fraction of the price. I paid 60 dollars for 5 or 6 people to dine at k9 kafe. and the food at k9 is much more edible.

Alright now, I better get back to work. Need to come up with an article before 5 today.

There are certain times when I wish I'd kept my big mouth shut and this is one of those.

I received an email early this morning (copied to me) from another department thanking a particular somebody for the organisation of an event held in march this year. Now, I was the person who did all the work. But the 'particular somebody' being thanked wasn't me.

So I replied to some in my department about how sometimes I felt quite unappreciated. It was a one sentence email directed at no one in particular.
One of those recipients, which happens to be my RO, replied that she appreciates all the work I've done even though others may not acknowledge it. The email came with an advice that she's been giving everyday since she came in - I need to 'trumpet' my achievements. BUT for some unexplicable reason, she chose to cc my director in that reply.

Then HE replied to her reply saying it's not enough that she appreciates me and that we need to get to the root of the problem and asked her to talk to me and submit a detailed report on why I was feeling this way and how we should tackle it.

So NOW I'm due for a meeting with her AND the director... in... 45minutes.

It doesn't help that when I sent Yoko that email to ask for advice, she burst out laughing so loud that the entire department went 'what's so funny?'.. she walked over to my desk and gave me a hug and a 'goodluck'. Even when she was walking back to her desk, I heard peals of laughter.

I should have kept my big mouth shut.

It was a very eventful weekend.

Lexin, her boyfriend (Ben), Melvin and I went to Bark Cafe near the Changi Chapel and Museum with the dogs (Fatfat, their toy poodle, and of course, Genie the naughty rascal). We learnt on Friday night that even though it was called Bark Cafe, they didn't allow pets. Naturally, we only found out *after* we got there and saw the big 'NO PETS' sign.

Lexin waggled her finger at Ben because he was the one who suggested the place in the first place. But it's all good because they let us in anyway and we had a nice little corner to ourshelves. Then again, it's alfresco dining, yah? Our corner was right next to a patch of grass, which Genie promptly pee-ed on after we sat down.

The food was good. Lexin and I ordered the same thing - Fish & Chips and Plum Soda. Ben had some burger while Melvin ordered their cod fish steak and gleefully announced he was having a beer because Ben's the designated driver. You can tell it's been awhile. Melvin's normally the designated driver. We also ordered their signature Chicken Wings. Alot of hype going on about their chicken wings.

I didn't take any pictures, as usual. I normally dig in.. and midway through the meal realise "OMG I should take pictures and post it!" so yeah. No pictures.

The Fish & Chips were pretty good. Not as good as some I've tasted in Sydney, but good enough. And I love the salad that came with it. Fresh salad beats coleslaw anytime. And it was a decent serving of greens. Not the 1 or 2 pieces of green some cafes put there 'for decoration'.

The cod.. meh. tasteless. Not enough sauce. Fish & chips were definitely better.

I didn't get to try the burger (I mean, hello, was meeting Ben for the first time), but he said it was Fab. The chicken wings were.. nice. Nice as in.. regular? Nothing to rave about. I prefer Melvin's Mom's version of BBQ-ed chicken wings. Now THOSE are to die for.

The Sour Plum Soda was Deeeelicious. It was sour (duh) and sweet and cold and very very yummy. Guys who don't like sour stuff should not attempt this drink. Melvin's face scrunched up and did a lil chair jiggy when he took a sip. It was quite funny.

Fatfat and Genie seemed to get along OK - a few growls here and there but mostly just sniffed at each other. Fatfat is so dainty! She has such a small mouth and when Melvin gave her a treat, she slowly, and gently took it from him. Genie just chomped.

Oh the difference between those two.

During Dinner, Fatfat would sit on the bench and when the food came, she sniffed at it but didn't attempt to eat or lick the food. We tried placing Genie on the bench too but she attempted to climb on the table =.= so she spent the evening on the floor instead.

Such an embarassment, that dog of mine.

Saturday was spent playing Mahjong with Ama after a very satisfying buffet lunch at Orchard Hotel. I love abalone so I was extremely excited to see alaskan abalone as part of the buffet. I think I've fulfilled my abalone quota for the year.

Sunday wooshed past so fast I didn't even know it was over until dinnertime.

Why can't weekends be three days long? :(

My last post was supposed to be about the Genting Trip but I managed to lose it..

It was quite meh, actually. I lost 100 ringgit in what, half an hour?

We spent the first evening there walking around the shops, doing a lil exploring. Next day, we headed to KL for some shopping and spent one whole day in Sungei Wang Plaza. Then 3rd day... we got ready to go home.

Did too little things in a very miserably short holiday.

Plus, it must have been public holidays there or something because everywhere we went, there were little kids running around. I'd almost tripped over the smaller ones that didn't quite reach my knees.

So instead of a PEACEFUL, relaxing vacation, I had one crowded with families and lil kids. Ever been on vacation where you're annoyed the second you hit the hotel lobby? Ya I had one of those.

The only upside was that we managed to try a fish spa. It was going for only 18 ringgit, so what the hell, we gave it a shot.

I stuck my feet in it, screamed and removed them from the water. Melvin did pretty much the same. Mostly cos we weren't expecting the very enthusiastic nibbling from the fishes to be SO TICKLISH. So while some guy was giving me a head/shoulder massage, I was giggling away at the nibbling of my feet, making it very difficult for the masseuse to do his job.

I did say the fishes were enthusiastic, right? It's like the entire tank of fish was gathered around our feet. Not a single one of them thought "eww stinky feet" and stayed away. It was like 'OMG FOOD! *nibble nibble*' and ALL the fishes came. We couldnt even SEE our feet. Just alot of fishes gathering around the area where our legs stuck out of the water.

The worst was those that tried to squirm in between my toes.... I'd play cheat and wriggle my toes once in awhile when things got too ticklish and they'd all zoom away.... towards Melvin's feet. Muahaha.

Did I mention we were making so much noise giggling and going 'omgomg' that we were attracting quite a crowd? This little girl even walked up to melvin and asked "does it hurt?"

So if you haven't given the fish spa a go, you simply must try. It's kinda fun.

GAAAAAAHHHHH

I LOST MY Pooooosssttttttt

will re-post another day

I really need to update my links.
If you'd like me to link you from my blog, please let me have your URLs.. via email or tagboard, whichever.

Between work and gym yesterday, I simply couldn't find time to pen my thoughts down.

*creak*

Yes. I said the word gym.

I have been going for the past... two months or so. No significant weight loss but I feel a lil healthier and I'm a lil more toned. Less jiggly bits.
Then again, I'm not like a gym freak. I go once.. twice a week. Each time, I do 3.6km on the treadmill then some light weights. Then when I'm done with the weights, I'll make it a point to laugh at Melvin while he struggles with those big weight training machines..

Seriously, that boy has made quite alot of progress. He used to weigh what.. 53kg? With alot of protein shakes and weight lifting, he's now a proud 57kg. Another 5 more to go before he stops looking so skinny.

I hope he doesn't get fat though. I like him skinny. Easier to bully.

Anyhow. I'm really looking forward to Genting. It's been awhile since I went on holiday. Pity it's only 3D2N.... It's all we can afford.

Melvin - you need to work harder so I can enjoy a comfy life. Kthxbye.

It's her death anniversary today.

Difficult to imagine 2 years have gone by without her.

I dont know if Glenn and his dad will go visit her at the crematorium.. I know I won't go even if they asked. I've never gone there. Not once after her death. Just like... how I've stopped visiting Grandpa's ashes.

It's not that I don't love her. or that I don't think of her. I just.. don't see the need to go there, see her photo... think to myself 'that's not Aunt Helen, doesn't look like her in the picture. That's not how I remember her'.

I don't want to go and just feel so guilty about not noticing how her health was declining. How I started limiting contact with her because she got all religious on me. How angry I was at her funeral that the stubborn lady didn't tell us about her condition. How annoyed I was with her for fucking PRAYING to get well instead of going to the hospital in time.

No.

I want to remember how much she loved me. I want to remember the advice she's given me over the years. I want to remember how she appreciated the cake Glenn and I baked for her Birthday (didn't turn out very good but she loved it anyway). I want to remember her rubbing my hands whenever I complained I was cold. I want to remember the times I told her (while growing up) that I wished she was my mother, instead of the unreasonable bitch that gave birth to me. I want to remember my favourite aunt the way she was before she got sick.

And all that, I remember and keep in my heart. Even the things I don't want to.

I have no need to go look at an urn of her remains.

I love my Aunt Helen and I'm glad she didn't have to suffer. If there is a heaven, then for sure she's there looking out for the entire family.

Drats. I told myself to try and post an update every Monday.. looks like I failed again. It's not like all of you are absolutely dying to find out what's going on in my boring life, but since this is the only way I keep in touch with all you people who just refuse to stay in sunny (and humid, and crowded, and scorching hot) Singapore, I must put in some effort, ya?

I still refuse to get Facebook. Friends who want to find me, will find me here. Else.. umm.. you'd just be someone-i-know-from-someplace-and-I-don't-talk-to-you-anyway-so-why-bother?

So all my friends read this blog. That includes you. Sadly, I can count all of you with... one hand. But hey, it's the quality, not the quantity.

I had a very *interesting* conversation with Yoko and Vanessa over lunch. We were talking about the process of giving birth.. and... breastfeeding. All gory details like blood and stitching included.

You know, I always thought that a good sneeze will push the baby out during birth. Then the doctor will just need to catch the baby flying out/sliding across the table. Got very weird looks for that thought.

So we discussed about water births... and whether it helps if the woman is standing upright.

Yoko said that a new mom is like a walking cow. Especially for the first month. You need to feed the baby every 1.5 to 2 hours... and each feeding takes roughly 45mins. So you have 45 mins to an hour in between feeds to

1) Take a nap
2) Go pee
3) Shower
4) Grab a bite

Vanessa and I just listened in horror, pretty much. I mean, Yoko's the only one with experience... she has 2 kids and she gave birth to both WITHOUT epidural (her boy, Brandon, weighed 3.6kg upon birth). I have no idea how she managed it. I mean. I scraped my knee once and I was already bawling my eyes out.

So yes, alot of new information for me to process today.. and we came to the conclusion that yes, if you ever want kids, pop them all out before 30.

I quote Vanessa "so just nice, you get married at 28, then quickly do it so you can give birth by 29.. then wheel the newborn into the other room and ask melvin to get it on so you can have a second one before 30"

Almost fell off the chair laughing...

You know.. I have absolutely nothing to post about. (Then I'm going to ramble on and make this a long post anyway *maybe*)

We've finally booked a 3D2N stay at Genting. It's no Vegas, but at least it gets me outta the country, and I get to head to KL to shop and gamble away my hard earned money at the casino.

Genting obviously wasn't my first choice for a holiday destination but the price of $69 per person for room AND coach was just too good a deal to miss.

So that's coming up later on in Sept...

I went to a complimentary makeover session at themakeover inc. and the pictures are back. I had to pay $50 per picture if I want it photoshopped. Make my eyes bigger and all that jazz. Not interested in spending that kinda money sides, the picture has gotta be ME, right? and not some post op version. What's the point of photoshopping my pictures until I look good in that ONE picture only? I'd rather spend that $50 per photo money on good skincare.

I'm not going to post everything here - just a few

Let me know what you think

My fears have been confirmed.

My first credit card bill arrived over the weekend. When did I get those cards again? Just before National Day?

Anyhow - between that and 15 Aug, I managed to charge 300 bucks to it. Considering that I managed to charge $300 to my cards in less than 2 weeks, I can imagine what a full month's bill will look like.

I mean, just last Friday itself, I charged at least $150 to those cards (Dinner.. Movie.. Stuff from Watsons.. drinks...)

What are YOUR credit card bills like?

Work has been hectic hectic and hectic. Have I mentioned hectic? The latest happenings in the office has caused me to be doubtful of my capabilities. Maybe I'm not as good as I think I am.

I have toyed with the idea of taking a year off from work. or Half a year. I need a break from real life, if that's possible, and just... go. Disappear. Travel to places I've never been before. Do charity work in Cambodia. Refresh my view of Life. Find myself - I seem to have lost my character somewhere. Rethink what's important to me. Plan what I want to do.

A pity my bank account won't be able to support all that. All I can do is sit in the little cubicle known as my work space, and dream.

I wish I knew what to do, what to say

If only you weren't so far away

I wish I understood what you're going through

But I have to admit I have very little clue

Perhaps that makes me a bad friend

But I'll leave that decision to you

Just know that though I may not understand

I'll be here for you

I was on leave pretty much the whole of last week but came back to work today tired and dissatisfied. It shouldn't be this way. I was close to tears on the way to work, thinking "I wanna go home"

Melvin and I managed to watch UP (in 3D). The 3D bit was a lil disappointing as there were several scenes that didn't call for 3D at all. And the 3D visual wasn't all that fantastic. If you have not caught it, don't bother with the 3D version. It isn't worth the money.

There were a number of disappointments last week. Mostly with our local cinemas.

First, my new DBS card came with this voucher that allowed me to purchase 5 movie vouchers + a movie pass for $40. I went down to Cathay and was told that they didn't have the vouchers with them. The girl at the counter said she'll give me a call when the vouchers came in. It's been more than 6 days and still no word.

Then I went to GV at Marina on Thursday afternoon to get my 1-for-1 birthday offer. It's apparently an offer for all GV members. When I got there, wanting to watch 'Orphan', I was informed that I can't use the offer voucher for new movies. Fine - then I asked the counter girl what movie CAN i use the damn voucher for, since it's Thursday afternoon and the cinema isn't full anyways. Her answer? "Umm everything we're screening is new"

"So you're telling me, I have a voucher for my birthday which cannot be used for new movies, and everything you're screening is new. So in other words, the voucher is absolutely useless"

No doubt, GV and Cathay will be hearing from me very soon on their policy making.

I had an appointment on Thursday morning for a facial. The word is had. On wednesday afternoon, the damn company called to say "Sorry, we scheduled you wrongly. We have an overseas training arranged for all staff tomorrow and are unable to do ur facial" I said fine. If they didn't want my business, I'll take it somewhere else.

Is there any wonder why I'm grouchy even after a week's leave?

I caved.

For those who know my spending habits, you know I have a reason for avoiding credit cards.

And you'll be appalled to find out that not one, but THREE cards arrived today.

All from DBS.

The salesguy had a point. They are free (for a number of years anyway), and instead of paying by debit, I may as well pay by credit, earn points and get rebates/vouchers.

Sides, I may need one when travelling overseas. Emergencies do occur.

He had a point....

Now I'm looking at my three new shiny cards in both horror and glee. Glee cos along with the cards, came ALOT of vouchers. YAY! Free spa even!

Horror because Melvin just said "so when we go out... guess who pays because there are rebates?"

*cry*

When I was told the company wants to groom me, my first instinct was to try and find somewhere and hide and fade away.

I'm not adversed to bring groomed, it's just.. the thought of doing things like 'Strategic Planning'.
What? Catch no ball, dunno how to do, I just want to go home.

Bah.

I'm just lazy.

**Rant**

What on earth is it with MEN sitting with their legs splayed wide open? Is their package so impressive that they cannot sit with their legs CLOSED?

On the way home yesterday, a lump of an uncle sat next to me and took up alot of space. Fine - he's big sized. So I shifted nearer to the window to give him more space. After awhile, his leg started pressing up against mine. Fine, so I crossed my legs. Then he opened his legs even wider, and so I shifted abit more. It got to the point where I was pressed up against the window, sitting crossed legged and STILL his gross leg was pressed up against mine.

What the fuck is up with him? He was already taking up 1/2 of MY side of the seat.

It was then that I decided to give him a painful jab in the side with my elbow ("oops, sorry" I said).
Granted the uncle was sleeping, but still.

And why do I always end up sitting next to
1) Sweaty students with BO
2) Fat people taking up more space than they should
3) People who fall asleep on MY SHOULDER
4) Someone talking loudly on the mobile phone

WHY?!

It happened this morning as well. Some dude sitting with his legs SO WIDE open that I only had half of MY side of the seat.

For fuck's sake. Men - SIT WITH YOUR KNEES TOGETHER.

**/rant**

Well, Genie had her big spay op yesterday.

We dropped her off at the clinic at 9am and went about like busy people entertaining both sides of my family before going back to the clinic at 7pm to pick her up.

She must have known in the morning that something was up because she started whining on the way to the vet. Something she's never done before.

She was fine when we picked her up. There was a small incision (3cm - 4cm long) on her tummy. I carried her all the way to the car as it was a long walk and she whined a little on the way home.

The trouble started after we got home.

The minute I put her down, she emitted this high pitched scream and just stood there. I'm sure I didn't jar her one bit because I was extra gentle. Melvin and I then went about settling various things in the house - keeping her medication, filling her waterbowl and so on. When we were done 5 or 10 minutes later, she was still standing at the same spot with a 'I don't want to move!
look. After awhile, she decided to waddle about, whining all the way. She was obviously in pain but we couldn't do anything about it.

Then she tried to sit down. Obviously more pain because she screamed again. She couldnt even get onto her bed without complaining. Melvin made the mistake of trying to lift her paw to coax her into bed - big mistake. Screams and Whines. I didn't think it was possible for her to make such sounds.

She also couldn't make it to the pee tray and pee-ed exactly where she happened to be standing at that point in time.

Of course by this time I was dialing the vet to ask if this was normal. The vet said it's likely that the painkillers have worn off and asked if we wanted to head back to the clinic to pick somemore up. Melvin gave me a 'she's fine and i'm not driving all the way to Jalan Kayu' speech.

Honestly? Genie was in pain - but the minute we held a treat in front of her, she ignored it and could do anything. Get into bed, sit, down, you name it. He figured if that's the case it shouldn't be THAT bad, ya?

We have one greedy dog.

I didn't get any sleep most of the night and was kept up by her whining as she paced the room. She couldn't lie down comfortably because the incision was on her tummy, so she paced. and whined as she paced.

Melvin however, slept like someone dosed him with chlorofoam. He was totally gone. Pig.

I gave up at 3am and coaxed her into the kitchen, closed the door on her and went to bed. Heartless, I know. But I was so tired! And we couldn't do anything about her whining. If you ask me if Melvin wasn't that lazy in heading to the vet to get those painkillers, last night would have been alot more peaceful.

She's alot better this morning though. Still whining occasionally and cannot lie flat in her favourite 'superman' position but she's walking around with her tail in the air. Much better than last night's droopy tail.

I may take half a day off on monday afternoon to come back and take care of her, depending on how she is today.

Beyond that, I'm all tired because I didn't get to sleep last night. Genie may be in pain but she's getting alot of 'sympathy' treats so I think that makes up for it a little.

Where are MY sympathy treats?

There have been some issues with friends lately that really ought to be sorted out.
It's mostly a miscomm. - difficult to express via email. Plus sometimes, I just don't understand.

That aside, I'm due to meet up with Karen and Lexin from my secondary school class this week. I hope it doesn't turn out too awkward... I'm not exactly fantastic at social events.

Which comes to the point. what on earth happened to me? Even back in Uni, I was reasonably sociable. I could make small talk, I enjoyed the company of others. Now it's like, I *still* need the company because I hate being alone, but I don't like social gatherings.

Oh.my.god.

I'm turning into my mom.

Heyhey! The new bed finally arrived on Saturday! And so far, Genie has not chewed on the PVC/leather divan (likely PVC) and she hasn't pee-ed on the new bed. She didn't bark at the new bed either - and she likes to bark at every new/unusual thing she sees in the house. You should have seen her go bonkers at the sight of a large container of paint =.= So all is good. Plus the bedroom looks alot better after we rearranged the furniture in there.

We also baked alot of beef-and-carrot cookies on Sat night. I packed them into small bags for friends/colleagues with dogs. Quite unfortunately, I forgot to bring them with me to work today :( But if taste tests at Genie's birthday party is any indication, then 3 out of 4 dogs will like those cookies.

Here are some pictures I took at her party, attended by Shimin and Jeff (with Tracie), Glenn and Uncle Teng (with Lana and Roxy) and of course, Melvin, myself and the birthday dog, Genie.

Genie's Birthday Cake. I had to order 3 of these for the 4 dogs.

Genie posing with her cake. She was quite disappointed when we didn't let her have the cake after the picture taking.


A very shy Tracie hiding under the table

And finally, Genie gets to have her cake.

By the time I snapped my camera, Roxy had finished her cake. I think she took 2 chomps and it was gone.

What? Is that all the cake you have? A very dirty, carob cream stained Genie - see the difference between this and her first picture with the cake?

Don't ask. I don't know what's going here too.

Roxy and Lana were hynoptised by Glenn's burger ( behind the camera)

Melvin was holding a plate of food and prancing around behind me in order to get this shot of Genie, Tracie and Roxy. haha.

I spent much of the day doing research on dog parties.

See, Genie's Bdae is next week and I figured that perhaps, just perhaps, I can do up a small birthday party for her.

After reading up on ideas for parties and calling a few places, I realised it was simply too expensive :(

For one, a party pack for 6 dogs, including the doggie cake at U.S. Dog Bakery costs $65. And I can't possible let the humans starve, right? Minimum cost for catering the fingerfood is $200.

I'm not spending $300 on a dog party. Hell, I don't spend that much on MY own birthdays.

*big sigh* Maybe I'll just order a small cake for 5 bucks, or hey, bake my own and have a small celebration in the house with the family. It's a miracle she's lived to a year old considering all the rubbish she's swallowed. But it's not fun if she can't run around with other dogs, right?

I figured perhaps this weekend's Westie Club outing will make up as party, sorta. The westie owners from the forum are meeting at Tanjong Beach tomorrow morning. I thought it'd be great fun. I managed to convince Melvin to go (He wasn't very keen cos it's so far). But it all kinda went Kaplut! when his dad said he needed the car. *sadpanda*

*sigh*

And work has just been.. how do I describe it? AAAARRRGGHHHHH.

Right. That about sums it up.

There's been a small outbreak of H1N1 confirmed infections in my school. I'm not going to type the name out here because I *know* they use Google Analytics to track what's been said about the school. I *know* because I get the report regularly on the issues highlighted by our students on their blogs. If anyone from work is reading this, get off my blog, please. This doesn't concern you.

Anyhow. In the past few days, we have had upset parents, students, concerned whoeverdamnelse, calling/emailing the school. Demanding that we stop all classes.
"How can you be so irresponsible?" asked a parent. "My child's life is precious!" And there I was thinking "and sure, only your child's life is precious. The rest of us working staff are chopped liver"

I mean, for fuck's sake, look at the facts. We have over 10,000 students. and to date, less than 20 cases. Count that in percentage and tell me if it's significant. We've already sent all the year 1s home. And yes, the cases are from year 1s only so far.

The bloody virus isn't airborne, you uneducated dickheads, you can't get the virus in your system by breathing in air from the same aircon system. If someone in the next block gets it, you're not going to get it unless he sneezes in your damn face!

Geez.

All this bloody panic for a damn flu. It's JUST A FLU. Get over it people. It's not SARS. It's just about as fatal as the common flu and you don't see people panicking over a common flu now do you?

Fucking annoyed.

What a busy weekend!

Saturday was spent at K9 Campus with Glenn, Uncle Teng and 2 dogs, Lana and Roxy. Glenn's taking care of Roxy while her owner's place is undergoing renovations.

Glenn had alot of trouble keeping the dogs in line. Looked as though Lana and Roxy (a Lab) were walking Glenn instead of the other way round. They dragged him here and there.. and when they decided to go in different directions, it's like 'Oof!'
I already have problems with Genie, can't imagine being dragged along by 2 big dogs

You should have seen the three dogs (including Genie) romp around that place. I swear Genie doesn't know her size =.= The minute those three were unleashed, they ran off in different directions so fast that Glenn and I were like "umm. Ok. I'll go follow Genie.. umm. where's Roxy? Omg"

Soon after, though, they started running around together so it was much easier to keep an eye on them. I'm surprised Genie didn't try to follow some other stranger. She'd run off to play, but she kept coming back to ensure I was where she last left me.

The characters of those 3 dogs are sooo different!

The minute I held a treat in my hand, I had Genie and Roxy's attention. But Lana was pretty much NOT interested. Roxy would lie down flat and look at me very hopefully while Genie would jump up and down until I told her to sit.

Then those 2 would stare at me and use their Jedi Skills to convey the message "Feed me!"

I guess I must have given Roxy too much food/attention because at some point, I wanted to give Genie a piece of dog muffin and Roxy poked her nose at my hand.. Genie let out this very loud/sharp/angry bark at Roxy. It was quite funny. The bark quite obviously meant "Oi! That's MINE! Get Lost!" Roxy backed off after that.

Funny.

Then Sunday was pretty much spent with Melvin's side of the family (at his Uncle Robert/Aunt Lucy's place). As usual, I felt quite awkward for awhile. I can never find things to talk to them about, you know? Before we even arrived I told Melvin never to stray more than one arm's length away from me in case I need rescuing.

It turned out pretty alright in awhile. His aunts came and talk to me. and I was pretty entertained throughout instead of feeling like an outsider..

Aunt Nancy asked me if I liked the pink dress they picked out together with Melvin's Mom for me. Aunt Lucy looked at my mahjong tiles (yes, there was some mahjong going on) and said "Noo! How can you put the tiles this way" and proceeded to rearrange them for me. Aunt Mary spoke to me about several things, mostly about how she's been too lazy to cook.. and Aunt Blossom talked to me about how she loved Lucille Ball. I second that!

Come to this of it, Aunt Agnes wasn't around. Maybe on a flight.

His uncles were also quite amusing. His Uncle Mun/Uncle Philip/Uncle Robert were challenging Lanny and Leroy to half an hour of cardio. Lanny/Leroy didn't seem to think their uncles were fit. But it turned out they were regular gym goers. And when one of those uncles lifted a shirt sleeve.. umm ya. Muscles. on a 50 year old. Quite Impressive.

They wisely decided not to take the challenge up :P

The food was fantastic. His aunts each contributed at least one dish to the table. And they are ALL fantastic cooks.

The wine was fantastic. I had abit too much. Again.

The Mahjong was fun. We didn't play with money because it was supposed to be 'for people who don't really know how to play' (I quote Aunt Blossom). Sides, Luis, who is 13 this year I think, was playing as well. His parents (Aunt Mary/Uncle Jo) have been teaching him.

The rest of Melvin's cousins were playing poker at the other table. I didn't understand what was going on over there - but I can tell they were having fun because of the shouting/laughing.

See. I told you it was a busy weekend. Fun though. Haven't had so much fun packed in 2 days for a long time now.

Man. Beds are sure expensive :(

Melvin and I have spent a few weekends shopping for beds without much success. I mean - $1000 for a mattress and $1000 for the bedstand? That kinda adds up to 2k and I'm not spending 2k on a bed.

Well, there *are* cheaper mattresses. Those go for what, $300? But Ewww, It's normally too hard and I don't enjoy feeling the springs of the mattress when I lie down. It's either that or the foam mattress. Not exactly what I want either.

Yesterday, we finally saw something we loved and can afford. And surprisingly enough, it was at Courts. I thought I'd never buy furniture from that overpriced/overhyped place.
It was a 2 day sale over the weekend, and among all that, was a Queen Maxcoil mattress going for $439. It's a pocketed spring mattress with a layer for soft foam-like thing (Memory Foam, maybe?) on top. So it had support and it was soft and comfy.
Together with the black PVC bedstand that cost $609, I think we got a very good deal! Especially when they gave an additional $120 discount for buying a mattress + Bedstand set.

All in all, we paid less than $1000 for a good mattress and bedstand.

I'm so excited! Can't wait for it to be delivered in early July.

Oh yes - I'm feeling poor again.

Well, we were supposed to head to K9 campus with Genie to meet up with Glenn and Lana. Quite unfortunately, Genie fell sick last night. I think it's the flu, if the yellow snot shooting out of her nose with every sneeze is any indication.

All in all, it's quite disgusting.

Dogs, obviously, dont know how to cover their nose when they sneeze. Melvin and I have wiped the floor several times now. It's like *sneeze* "OMG it's ALL OVER THE FLOOR".

A sick Genie is messy enough. Now can you imagine a sick Lana. A sick 25kg Golden Retriever. Sneezing stuff on the floor.

Lol. Glenn would kill me.

It may very well be contagious so I called Glenn up to cancel *sad* Besides, I don't think letting Genie run around with other dogs is a good idea. She doesn't really feel like running around with her nose full of snot anyway.

In fact she's quite grumpy today, barking at everything that makes a sound. I accidently dropped something on the floor, and even THAT triggered a frenzy of barks before she went 'Hmph' and settled down in a dark/cool corner.

I wonder which one of her doggie friends passed the flu to her =/

I swear on Mon/Tue I managed to think of stuff to blog about. But now that it's wednesday >< I've forgotten what it was I wanted to blog about.

Spent the entire weekend watching 'I Love Lucy' - Season 1. I have what, 7 more seasons to go? It's one of the more entertaining TV series I watched as a child. And I'm quite surprised that even today, I find myself enjoying the series just the same.

And it looks like I'm not the only one who loves "I Love Lucy" - my colleagues are asking me to burn copies for them ^^

*yawn*
Terribly sleepy. Time to head back to work.

I realise it's time for my weekly post, but I simply don't have anything to post about. The entire weekend was spent playing Sims 2 at home.

You know, a couple of months back, I was really looking forward to Sims 3 (TS3). I even wrote it down on my calendar and all.

Needless to say, I've changed my mind since then.

And thanks to Lianne's email a few days back, I now am mighty sure I won't be getting TS3..
I've had this nagging question on 'if you play this guy and the whole neighbourhood ages, doesn't that mean you are forced to play legacy style?'

Currently, the characters age by 'house' or 'plot'. If you play one family, another family in another plot of land/house stays the same age.. means I can play one family, get them to have 3 kids, let the kids grow into teenagers, then move on to the next family, repeat. then all the children get to head to uni together and all.

But TS3 removes those barriers..

And I hate not being able to control my sims ALL THE TIME.
It's about losing abit of control - and.. nah. not for me.

I mean, what if some sims character dies while I'm playing another family? This will not do.

@Lianne - One of my sims got a 'cheat death' wish from the magic lamp. Does this mean she'll NEVER die? Cos it's been 2 generations now and it's getting pretty freaky. The old lady just refuses to die. On the other hand, I've been trying to get her to be a witch so I guess it kinda works out - now if only those damn witches will spawn on the community lots.

Vanessa's wedding last Sat was fantastic! Quite unfortunately, I don't have pictures of the bride because Ben hasn't sent me the pictures he took just yet.

What I *do* have are pictures taken by Eu Meng (my dept's director) at our table

Here goes

Ben and I kept each other entertained during the dinner

Ben, Eu Meng, Renee (in white), myself and Lay Pheng (Asst Director, Black Dress)

Now with Mr Ang (Senior Director of Student Affairs)

It's been a mango-y Mothers' Day weekend.

Melvin and I bought Mango cake for his mom. And grandparents. And naturally we had a share of the yummy cake

And I had mango ice cream.

And of course, Mangos.

And on last Friday before the Mango madness started, I had mango bubble tea.

My weekend would have been complete if I had done some shopping at Mango ^^

A pity I didn't :(

What I DID do, was spend $200 on 5 pairs of shoes and 2 tops from various small shops in Bedok and Bugis.

Needless to say, I'm feeling poor once again. Thank god pay day is in 4 days.

On another more serious note - I've been trying to get Jen to come online and talk to me. She's being very stubborn about the "MSN is a waste of resource" thing. So everyone pop over to her blog and tell her to 'GET ON MSN' please.
Thanks ^^

We've been trying to teach Genie the difference between 'mummy' and 'daddy'.

It could be working.

Or it could have been just a huge coincidence, because after I let her out to do her 'morning business', I told her "Genie, go to Daddy" and she ran into the room, jumped on my bed, crossed over to Mel's bed and gave Melvin a licky morning wake up call.

I swear she's the most effective alarm system. You can't beat having a 5 or 6kg thing trample across your sleeping form to get to your face for a good lick.

Anyhow. We'll continue trying to teach her who is 'mummy' and who is 'daddy'. After that we'll work on 'mama' and 'yeye' (for mel's parents)

Before you know it, she'll know who each relative is >.>

Just kidding. We're not that nuts.

Or are we? (LOL. Sorry, just couldn't resist adding that line)

Work's been a real drag lately. It's been harder and harder to get myself out of bed to head to work. Perhaps it's about time to take a week off. But with Melvin's classes at the ACCA, and my unwillingness to leave Genie at home, it's not going to be peachy planning for a holiday. Plus Mel's exams are in a month, so he's started mugging and all that. And no, I'm not willing to stay at home the entire week either.

A weekend getaway will be a real treat. But that'll have to wait until after his exams in the early part of June.

There was another victim of deadly violence in the house early this morning.

Yet another lizard died in the hands - or paws, rather - of Genie the Lizard Killer. The person who discovered this hideous crime was none other than myself, with Mel's mother as a witness.

Here's a brief report on what happened:

We'd called out for Genie to come to the kitchen a few times but had no response from her. So I went in search for her. She wasn't in the dining area, nor was she in the master bedroom. When I spotted her in the living room, I distinctively saw her pick something up with her mouth. She then sat there and gave me her best "Who, Me?" look.

I had to pry her mouth open, only to have her latest victim drop onto the floor. Horrified, I quickly picked her up and carried her to the kitchen.

Obviously unwilling to give up her prey, she scooted off the minute I put her on the floor to pounce on the poor lizard again.

There was alot of screaming, but I eventually managed to calm her down. Melvin's mother. Not the dog.

Genie was chastised, but the lizard was already dead.

It was an unfortunate incident and I hope the said victim of violence will rest in peace.

Poor Poor Poor.

It's amazing how one can feel completely broke within 5 days of payday. I think it has to do with the fact that in a span of a week, three birthdays were celebrated - Uncle Wee, Mel's Dad and Gran. So that's 2 Braun Buffel Wallets and a big Ang Pow. Granted the presents are shared, but that doesn't stop me from feeling poor.

Melvin and I are currently hooked on Runes of Magic (another MMO) and we've been spending a lil too much time on it. I think we'll get sick of it within a few months though. We tend to get bored after we've hit max level, have a few alts, get all the different areas explored..
Unless there's an expansion of course, then maybe we'll play for awhile longer.

Weekends are now also spent watching 'Bones', 'Supernatural' and 'House' while our chars craft items ingame.

Oh Yes, Cotton On Body is having a sale! I managed to grab cute looking undies at $5 each ^^

Ok. This post is totally fragment/random but I can't be bothered to edit it. I have such a boring life - even an underwear sale is 'highlight of the week'.

Well, I finally bought it. An item that costs more than what I spend on 2 - 3 tops, for Genie to pee on.

On the bright side, she's using it just fine. Meaning to say, she pee-ed in it this morning without creating a mess.

Some friends and acquintances I spoke to were quite appalled at the cost of 'a tray' (Yes, you too, Li :P)But hey, between having to clean the kitchen floor twice a day and spending an extorbitant amount of money on a piece of plastic so you wouldn't need to do it again... which would you choose?

The problem with our old setup: It's a SERVING tray with newspapers on it. When she pees, she puts her front paws on it, her hind legs are sticking out and she pees on the floor anyway. Then the pee flows in between the tiles and whoever discovers it gets the jolly task of cleaning half the kitchen. Considering she pees 2 - 3 times a day, the extra work is really getting to me.

And when she DOESN'T miss the thing, the pee puddles below her and and flows to her hind legs. then we need to wash her legs.

The new pee tray is an actual pee tray for doggies. It's 3cm high so she'll actually have to 'hop on' the thing, so to speak. So she can actually tell if she's on or off the tray. The old setup is flat. She looks in front of her and thinks "oh i'm on the tray", then turns around and go "oops" then she hides under a chair cos she knows we're going to scold her.

There's a grill-type thing on top of the new one - so when she pees, it goes thru the grill, onto the papers/pee pad below. No mess, no dirty paws..

The price of the Big Yogi Pee Tray at Pet Lovers' Centre was 95bucks (?) approximately. I got it from an online shop for $75.

So it's definitely worth it.



It just occured to me that I spent an entire post talking about a dog pee tray and justifying why I spent so much on it. Next thing you know, I'd be talking about diapers.
God.

I hate growing old.

And so


Finally got to meet up with Lianne, who apparently got weird looks when she told her mom she was going out with "Cat and her dog".

It was pouring when Melvin and I (Yes, and Genie too. Hence "the dog") left the house and visibility on the roads was so bad we could only see the car in front of us. The skies were miraculously clear when we exited from PIE though. It was quite weird, the sudden transition from "omg I can't see the road" to "Eh? Look, the road's dry here", as if someone finally decided to turn the shower off.

Anyway, we were forced to travel at 50km/h on the highway - which resulted in us being dreadfully late in picking Lianne up (my apologies!).

It was drizzling when we finally made our way to K9 Campus. Not the best weather, but manageable.

Li and I brought Genie to the nearby dog bakery while waiting for our food to arrive. And while Li and I were distracted by something else, Genie poo-ed right in the middle of the bakery. What an embarrassment! After that, I figured I'd better buy something from them...

There was this really adorable shih tzu at the table next to ours. It was very tired, I think, for its head was on the table most of the time. Sometimes I wish I had such a calm dog? Something that'll sit on my lap, put it's head on the coffee table and fall asleep. But Noooo. Genie was quite excited - tugging her leash here and there.. jumping up and down... sniffing other dogs...

She was exhausted by the time we got home though, which was great cos she just plonked herself down somewhere comfy and didn't want to move for the rest of the night *laugh*

Maybe if you head over to Li's blog, you'd see some pictures. Not sure if she'll put them up though.

It's another one of those "I have a pile of work but I can't be arsed" days.

Melvin and I brought Genie to the groomers on Sunday. Her back is now shaved and she looks a lil naked. I'll post pictures sometime the coming weekend, if I find time to do so. I think the sudden lack of fur isn't very pleasant for her.. the poor girl was curled up and shivering when we turned the aircon on last night.

I had a pretty busy weekend, between the dog, my relatives and Melvin's relatives. It was like CNY all over again

This was my schedule on Sunday

11am - drop Genie off at Groomers
12pm - Meet Glenn and my uncles for lunch at Hog's Breath Cafe, Vivocity
3pm - Pick Genie up and visit Mel's Grandparents
4pm - Head over to my uncle's to deliver bagels as well as let them play with the dog
5.30pm - back to Mel's grandparents' place for dinner
8pm - Get Home and collapse in bed, beg for help for someone to feed the dog
10pm - Realise I've forgotten about the dog while my body recuperates in bed
10.30pm - Convince myself to leave the comfort of my bed and bring the dog back into the bedroom
10.35pm - Swear I won't leave the bed for the rest of the night unless the house is on fire


Before I save this post here, I'd just like to tell everyone 'DO NOT GO TO HOG's BREATH CAFE AT VIVOCITY'

1. The service was meh. The waiter looked most reluctant to serve despite the restaurant having only 3 tables occupied - including ours
2. They don't serve water. I guess water is a precious resource and they expect us to drink from the nearby toilet
3. The salad they served looked 3 days old. The leaves were dry and soggy/mashy/wrinkly - so was everything else on the avocado salad.
4. They didn't have ribs, nor salmon and the coffee machine was down on a Sunday Afternoon
5. The self declared aussie-themed steakhouse doesn't serve Australian Beer
5. It so isn't worth 40 bucks per person.
6. You're better off at Outback Steakhouse at Millenia Walk.

It's been so busy in the office that I hardly have time to chat on MSN even. Shimin can attest to that. Everytime she msges me, I'll go "rushing something! ttyl!"

Poor poor Melvin went to A&E today because of breathing problems and he's currently stuck in the critical care ward with an oxygen tube stuffed up his nose. I told my boss, and she waved at me and told me to go visit him and commented that I'm free to go because the office won't collapse without me. I don't know if I should be insulted ><

Oh drats. which reminds me - I left my cheque in his bag. That cheque was meant to be a donation to ASD (http://www.asdsingapore.com). I prefer ASD to SPCA because ASD has a no-kill policy...
I was telling Glenn that everytime I go to that webpage, I'm tempted to either sponsor a dog, or adopt one. The poor things!

It's weird though. I'd rather donate to a society for stray/abandoned dogs, than to like.. comm chest for poor folks. Dogs > Humans? I don't know...
But you have to admit. Dogs are cuter than humans. and dogs are more loyal than humans. Most dogs, anyway.. with the exception of Genie who is loyal only to food.

Anywaaaayy. This is going to be a short one because.. I need to get back to work. Benjamin (my colleague who deals with media relations) isn't around and I need to settle some stuff for him. I mean, Ben has the potential to be one of the sweetest guys ever, but he is VERY lousy at leaving instructions. I still have no idea what it is I need to help him with exactly and the bloody thing is due next week.

Ciao

I don't have anything much to post about, really. It's been quite an expensive weekend. We went to Sim lim on Sunday and bought

1. Dawn of War II
2. New mousepad
3. Razor Mouse for me
4. All in One Printer
5. Keyboard (mine was all sticky due to spillage)

I'd wanted to get Apartment Life but "that store in Sim Lim" was out of stock. And because Melvin's dad came to pick us up, I didn't have time to shop for speakers.

Between Melvin and I, we spent.. $300? $400? at Sim Lim in 2 hours.

And my girl's all grown up. She's having her first period! One gross fact though - His mom says it's started either yesterday or today, but we didn't see any blood on the floor because my chor lor dog licked everything up from her.. down there.
I'm mighty sure it started yesterday because Genie left a patch on my nightdress when I put her on my lap last night =.=

It's been really annoying/exasperating the past few days.

Work's been absolutely crazy with so many new projects and with them, come scary deadlines.

Things ain't so hot at home either.

I came home today, really tired. And opened the bathroom door to let Genie roam the house. Then I came and sat at the computer to reply some work email. After about 20 minutes, I went to check on Genie and much to my horror, that girl was chewing/swallowing bits on broken glass on the floor.

Now I know SHE didn't break anything because I didn't hear anything break. And after closer inspection, the glass bits were everywhere. The kitchen, the dining... while I was walking around, I promptly stepped on one that nicked my toe. God knows HOW many pieces of glass my babygirl has swallowed. If she dies of internal bleeding or something, there will be hell to pay. I have a feeling I know WHO is responsible. There is only ONE such inconsiderate MAN in the house and it's not Melvin.

You take note Melvin. If anything happens to my dog, I won't give face.

Oh hey. >< Long overdue post here. Sorry!

Vday was..

I don't know.

It wasn't a disappointment per se, considering it's our first Vday together after what, 4 years?

But we could have done better.

I was planning for a DIY Facial Massage/Spa thing and even went to source out the recipes suitable for Melvin's skin and all.
One thing tripped me up - the need for castor oil. And it's the one ingredient in the facial massage oil that cannot be swapped. No, not the castor oil as in car lubricant. The cold pressed kind that you can apply/consume. It's apparently fantastic for cleaning out your pores (oil dissolves oil and all) and the oilier your skin, the more castor oil you should use.
i.e for normal skin, you use a 20% castor oil, 80% extra virgin olive oil. And for oily skin, you use a 30% castor oil and 70% extra virgin olive oil blend.

For the life of me, I could not find castor oil! I tried GNC, Nature's Farmway, all the supermarts, pharmacies...
NONE to be found!

I gave up after searching for one entire week.

So we settled for a dinner/movie thingame. I made sure I booked the tickets beforehand so we didn't need to deal with the queues. So that was alright.
Dinner was.. OK I suppose. It's just dinner. Order, eat and pay.

Romance between us is dead I tell you. Dead and quickly decomposing.
But before Melvin gives me the 'what about All the other stuff I do for you?' lecture - YES, he still does sweet little things for me.
But still. The romance is kinda..dead.

so that was that.

We went for 2nd dinner the next day at Ajisen. And I LOVE Ajisen *gush* We then made a pact to try every single Ajisen ramen flavour there is in 2009. This is solely to prevent myself from ordering the Volcano Ramen every damn time we go there.

Everytime we stay out late for dinner, or simply to walk around, Melvin gives the "our poor dog is home alone..." speech so our nights out are always cut short to go home, play with the dog for 15mins, then we plonk ourselves in front of the comp.
Thank you, Melvin, for the mood dampener. It's like I can't even go out and enjoy myself anymore without a guilt trip.

Wah. So many votes for Option 1 :)

The cheapo self in me still can't bear to spend $360 on a getaway weekend so I'm devising a combi of Option 1 and 3. >< Will let you all know how it works out after this weekend ya?

In the meantime, it's Day 12 of the Flu. I keep blowing my nose, then passing the used tissue to Melvin so he can throw it away for me. It's a sign of true love I tell you :P when a guy doesn't mind holding on to icky tissues while you blow your nose, and promptly come cuddle while you whine/wheeze/sniff/cough/complain/throw tantrums the night away.

I probably should be working on the proposal for a bi-annual marketing publication, but I just can't seem to get started on it. The damn files have been opened since morning and I'm doing everything BUT the proposal.

Valentine's Day is just round the corner and while I agree it's a highly commercialised, overhyped 'holiday', I can't help but take the opportunity to do something special. It's an excuse to head out, splurge and have fun.

I have 3 options, currently. Depending on my mood and how poor I feel next week, I may actually get something done on Vday. As usual, I'm the one planning. Other people have guys planning romantic dinners, presents, flowers and all, I get Melvin giving me a "Happy Vday, dear". Morning breath included.

To be fair to Melvin, I told him not to plan anything this year to save me the torture of nagging him to get something done.

In other words

I have given up.


Option 1: Overnight Spa Weekend Getaway at Batam. Includes candlelight dinner and bottle of wine. the 3 hour spa looks good (cost: $360 for 2)

Pros > Just the 2 of us away for the weekend
Cons > Budget! Budget!

Option 2: Dinner at Absolute Haven + whatever else. Maybe a movie. (cost: $150 for 2)

Pros > Night out. We can actually pretend we're on a date.
Cons > Join the Vday crowd :( and we hate crowds.

Option 3: Buy frozen Ikea Meatballs. Cook at home and do a DIY candlelight dinner. Rent a DVD to watch (cost: $50 for 2)

Pros > omg like cheap?
Cons > His parents in the house. Not Vday anymore, really. Romance! Where's the romance if you're eating with the parentals? And are there charges for calling the firetruck should I burn the kitchen down?

*sigh*

How?

I finally had a good break yesterday.

Jeremy, Melvin and I went to Parklane for a few solid hours of Left4Dead. It's not a bad game, though it got repetitive after the 4th map.
I normally don't like zombie-ish games, but L4D was actually kinda fun. And it was just as well that the 4th player is an NPC. The NPC saved our asses more than we saved each other..

There are 4 scary things in L4D.

The Witch - this frail little woman that sits on the floor. Once you 'disturb' her, she charges at you and according to Melvin 'slaps you around a few times and you die'. (Unfortunately, Melvin being the chiongster, is the one who disturbs the witch the most)

The Tank - it's... well, a tank. A huge thing that runs and slams you around and takes many bullets to kill

The Hunter - I hate this one. It pounces and starts stabbing it's victim. If you're the victim, you won't be able to do anything to fend yourself. The only way to save yourself is to yell for help and get your teammates to shoot the thing to death.

The Smoker(?) - Has a long tongue and grabs you with it to pull you towards it before it mauls you to death. Another thing it does is let you dangle and you strangle to death. Once again, you need your teammates to save you from this one

There was once I was sniping from the 2nd floor of a barn while the rest were on ground floor.. when the smoker grabbed me from behind. No one was around to see.. so I did what I had to do

"Dear!! *whack whack* save me! *whack whack and points to screen* save meeeee *whacks somemore*"

And even though Melvin isn't exactly an undead zombie, he got his fair share of bruises during the course of the game.

All in all, it was good fun.

Happy CNY All.

I'm finally home after a whole day at Grandma's. Boy am I tired.. my feet ache and my toes are individually taped with plaster. I don't understand how I can get blisters just by walking a few blocks (MRT Station to Gran's House = 2 bus stops! or 3) Damned new shoes on CNY.

The morning started out pretty alright at Grandma's. My uncles, aunts were there.. and so were my cousins. I still feel a lil stunned everytime I look at my cousins. Even the 12 year olds are taller than I am. And I don't mean 'a tad taller' or 'a few centimetres taller'. I mean by one whole head - on average. What have my relatives been feeding those buggers?

And it's really pathetic - I'm the eldest, but undeniably, and very obviously, the shortest. The eldest uncle (on the maternal side) said it's cos I have my mom's build. She's always been the smallest in the family. Petite. Supposedly. I beg to differ - I have her frame, but I sure am more meaty than her. My mom's frame + my aunts' weight. Great. All my aunts are.. taller. and.. rounder. and post birth, they ballooned like no one's business. My mom wasn't like that. Her waist was still a 27inch after giving birth to my brother and I. According to her, she had a nice 24 inch waist before she got pregnant. Hell I beat her 27inches even though I haven't got any kids >.>

Anyhow, I have my mom's base figure. Sure. I have her height, and her general shape. But I sure have my aunts'/grandma's weight issue. For example, one of my aunts weighed 50ish kg BC (Before children), she is now a hella 75kg.

=.= at this point, Genie puts two front paws on my chair and is enjoying herself licking my thigh. I think she is up to something - everytime I look at her, she blinks and gives me the innocent look. Like 'Who, me? I didn't do anything.. oh that chewed up sock on the floor? Umm It dangling off the bed and I thought it was for me!"

I brought Genie with me to last night's reunion dinner. The kids didnt play with her much. Surprisingly, it was my uncles >.> like little boys, those.. uncles.
And my grandma kept feeding Genie pieces of apples. I shouldn't have said "Oh Genie loves bananas, watermelon, apples and the like".

It was like the light lit up in the attic and my grandma kept feeding Genie piece after piece with joyful glee. So much so that when it was time to go, Genie was still sitting at grandma's feet.

"Genie! Lets go! Come!"

*ignores. continue staring at Grandma hopefully*

"GENIE! The door's open.. come come.."

*looks at me and yawns. Lean on Grandma*

I had to go carry her out the door >.> No dignity nor loyalty at all, that bitch.

my..god..

where did my weekend go?

Sat was work..

I spent sunday baking blueberry/macademia cookies..

and poof..

it's monday

It's been a busybusy weekend!

Lunch with Irene, Jen and our SOs was highly enjoyable. Catching up was lovely and I was sad to see 3 hour lunch end! I had planned to include more details on the lunch itself, but.. I'm blogging at work and currently, all I have in my head is 'werk werk werk' and 'dedlines'. It's nice to see my friends so.. happy with life *beams* We've all grown up somehow but I daresay - at least 50% of our habits remained the same.

All in all - we need to meet up more often, please. I have not had such a good time for ages. Take also into consideration that I don't have THAT many friends to start with.

After lunch/dessert, Melvin and I went to walk around abit. We explored the esplanade. I say 'explored' because Melvin has not had the opportunity to walk inside after all this time. Granted he came back to SG only 6 months ago.. but still.

I bought very expensive/overpriced cookies at the Cookie Museum. $35 for a fracking tin.

We then had hot chocolate at Max Brennar (Branner?). It was excruciatingly sweet and I will never order one mug of hot choco to myself ever again. Left half a mug there and I don't want to see chocolate for the next few months.

Conclusion: Chocolate is meant to be taken in small doses. Large doses will cause nausea, bloatedness and likely, diabetes.

Melvin and I then went to Outback Steakhouse for our 7th Anniversary and stuffed ourshelves silly. I think we ordered enough food for three or four. It was a good meal all in all, despite the inexperienced waiter in charge of our table.

We wanted to catch a movie after lunch but had to rush back to bring Genie to class :(
Genie gave me a heartattack when she broke free midway during class. It was open ground, I told her to stay and walked a few metres away from her - then she ran. Melvin managed to step on her leash, but her collar snapped..

so there she was running with no leash/collar, creating havoc in class. The other owners tried to catch her but honestly, you can't outrun a dog like Genie >.> Plus after that.. all the dogs tried to chase her around..

In the end I squatted down, waved a bag of treats and called her name "Genieeeeeee" - then she ran right into my arms.

All good - no one lost their dogs.

But hell. I was so damn embarassed that her breaking free COULD have caused the other dogs to run.. if someone else lost their dog because of that, I swear I'd rather die on the spot.

It looks like I'm not the only person lamenting about old friends growing apart. I've been talking to a few people (+ reading a few blogs) and it seems that the festive season blues (yes.. sounds odd I know) has hit some people I know.

It starts with the "where are my old friends? I had a very good friend back in xx year.. we did this this and that.. where is that person now?" and it rolls from there..

I won't comment on this because.. well.. all I haveto say is

"you're not the only one feeling this way"

*sigh*

Monday Blues

It was a good weekend, all in all. We had fun with Genie, as usual. And I got to complete a number of games.

I also, for the first time, bought and sold stuff on eBay. I never really did pay much attention to eBay.. until I had to help Melvin's mom sell a recontract phone. So... since i was SELLING anyway.... may as well buy some stuff too, ya?

Anyhow, the phone was sold without TOO much hassle. Some guy bid and won, decided he didn't want it after all.. so I had to put it up for bid AGAIN.. that sorta thing. Buying is easier than selling :P

EBay is a dangerous place *nod*

I received happy news from Irene last night! But for some reason, my SMS to her couldn't go through - I may need to check with M1 on global SMS. It's not the first time my messages to overseas failed me. I won't say it here because I'm not in the position to announce her happy news - if you want to know, ask her yourself :) I'm sure she'll be happy to share!

And grats to Melvin for his first full time paycheck (well, grats in advance, anyway)

*happy*

Genie finally knows how to give her paw for a 'pawshake', after 3 days of training.

The first two nights, whenever we say the words "Genie, Paw!" to her, she'll tilt her head and give us the 'what is this mad person going on about? Ohhh I want that treat! Hmm. I'll try to lie down on the floor - they give me treats for that" Then she's lie flat on the floor.

We'll say 'Noooo..' then repeat the word 'Paw'. After which she'll cycle through everything she knows (her standard 'repertoire', so to speak) to test which is the correct one..

And FINALLY on Christmas morning, she figured it out.

"give paw = treat".

Now, she automatically sticks her paw out when we put our hand near her. Rather like "Ohh it's time to press the food lever and get treats" sorta motion.

Adorable.

I just wish she wasn't so greedy =.=

Next up, roll over!

It's been really busy at work, with a major event coming up and all.

I've finally gotten round to rebonding my hair so it's all nice and neat now. Shiny, even. The hairdresser tried to convince me to curl my hair instead.. but meh, too lazy to spend an extra 15minutes twirling my hair and putting product in it every morning. I'd rather spend that extra 15mins sleeping.

I also spent $100 on shampoo/conditioner. Don't ask.

I'm so tired.

The weekend disappeared on me! 2 Xmas parties on Saturday + Xmas gift shopping on Sunday has left me (and my wallet) drained.

It was westie outing on Saturday afternoon. I think there were 13 westies who turned up in that small cafe (so it's 13 westies and 26 humans).. *Edit - dog names are in italic*

What can I say? Fun, Fun and Fun. Kumo left an everlasting impression on the shop owners by peeing first thing in the cafe. and it wasn't just a 'pee'. It was like.. I don't know.. a 'Peeeeeeeee'. I think some of us were counting "one-a-thousand, two-a-thousand, three-a-thousand, four-a-thousand.. still peeing?! Five-a-thousand... LOL omg stop already! Six-a-thousand.." Alvin, Kumo's owner and our designated cameraman, was like "OMG it's a reservoir!" Truely, it was as if Kumo stored one whole day of pee (or more) for that moment.

That kinda set the tone for the rest of the party. They chased each other all over, played, growled, fought even..
Until someone (i forgot his name) took out a small container of dog cookies. He took ONE cookie out of the container and immediately had the attention of just about all the westies. One man vs 10 over westies. *laugh* The dogs were either seated and looking up hopefully, or jumping up and down. I think Kumo was 'begging' with his front paws. Damn funny.

Then a Caucasian lady walked past the cafe with her 2 HUGE dogs. Boxers, I think. You should have seen the commotion. Thank goodness it was an enclosed cafe.. the westies ran to the glass door, and barked/growled like mad at the 2 boxers. We had to hold the glass doors too, in case the combined weight of the dogs push the doors open.

Beemer and Genie kept fighting, for some reason. Not sure what's up with those 2. Mini is like.. so adorable. She was wearing a Tshirt that said "Need a lot of Hugs". Cooper was dressed in a tux (he won a prize for being best dressed!). Duncan wore a Hawaiian shirt (very beng haha!).
I love Spooky though. Vey well trained. Not sure how Karen managed to keep Spooky in line.

After all that fun, Melvin, Genie and I headed to East Coast for a BBQ with my colleagues. Genie fell asleep in the car on the way there. She was awake when we hit East Coast, but was noticeably more subdued.. which is a good thing because I didn't want her behaving like an energizer bunny at the BBQ pit.

We stayed awhile.. Genie got quite abit of attention. She also attempted to lick a few faces.
She conked out on the way back. Melvin and I collapsed when we got home as well..

Renee told me at the BBQ that the pay is in.. so HAHA went shopping on Sunday. Birthday pressie for Glenn, Osim products for the relatives... more doggie stuff for Genie.. That's a couple of hundred bucks gone

I hear my wallet pleading for mercy

I feel poor. (Yes! Again.)

It appears that while Xmas comes for us humans once every year, Genie celebrates 'Xmas' every other weekend.

That's because her toys get destroyed every other weekend.

She still had like 5 toys 2 weeks ago. I double checked that last Friday - she had 2 left. Red squishy sound making toy was thrown away because it cut her gum. Pink Bone chew Toy was missing for a week. And we threw away her favourite key ring chew toy - it was worn down to the point whereby we can hardly recognise it as a plastic ring of plastic keys.

Which left her with a ratty (and smelly) rope thing, and an orange treat dispenser toy.

So Melvin and I dropped by this petshop near our place to get her a simple toy to tide her over a few days before we REALLY go toy shopping after the 15th (Pay Day)

I ended up buying her a dress, doggie pants, and a cheap $2 bouncy ball.

The bouncy ball was chewed through in 5 minutes. We were throwing it around to play catch with her, and stopped to walk to the fridge to get a drink. When we came back, the ball wasn't even ROUND anymore. It was flaking off, and there was this hole... which she managed to chew through.. and parts of the mangled ball was strewn around the living room.

It died a violent death.

Dress and doggie pants - save for CNY *beams*

ANYHOW - that meant another trip to ANOTHER petshop (PLC in Bugis) and a good $50 more on 2 new toys, treats, and dentalbones.

At this point, I'd like to highlight that

1) Her toys cost $10-$20 each
2) Her clothes cost $25-$40 on average -which is hell more than what I spend on MY clothes.
3) I wanted a dog, not a cash guzzler

*sadness*

I should try and cut down on buying things for Genie.. but when she looks at me, tilts her head and give me that 'look' - I start wanting to buy things for her.

Oooo I see doggie Cheongsum online. And Oooo OMG doggie wedding dresses too!
Hm - I think my wallet just went into seizure.

I'm not sure if you noticed, but things on my wishlist are finally starting to get done/fulfilled!

I bought shares for the first time! Aaaannddd - it doesn't look too good :( cos umm, in a span of 2 days, I've already lost $300.

Don't ask. I wasn't expecting it to go down so much again.

It'll go up sooner or later *hopeful* and I'll make money. Hence I added an additional item to my wish list - make money from shares. *bounce*

Melvin's parents are out of town until.. next week so we're left to fend for ourshelves. We're both down with the flu too. I've been flu-ey for a week, while Melvin's been having fever for 3 days already. Despite being sick and miserable, we're enjoying the privacy and relieved at having a few days of escape from his parents' nagging.

Poor Genie has to be locked in the bathroom while we're at work, though. We try to make it up to her by giving her extra walkie time..
Have I mentioned Genie's improving alot?
She used to do things like struggle when we try to brush her fur and clean her teeth. And she would ruuuunnn around the bathroom looking for an escape route when we bath her. She would also lose control of her bladder whenever she gets excited (like when she sees us home from work..)

Now, she doesn't struggle so much when we brush her fur. She gets restless after a few minutes and rolls around, but she doesn't try to bite the brush during the brushing anymore. Not much, anyway.

The teeth cleaning still needs to be worked on - but she's teething, so it's understandable.

She would stand still during bath time mostly - until we wash her face and water gets into her nose. That's when she starts wanting to get away. And yay - she doesn't piddle so much around the house anymore.

Genie was playing with one of her squeak toys a few days back when.. she started bleeding from her mouth. Melvin was so freaked out, he started running around like a headless chicken going "omg blood! Omg heartpain - is she alright? so much blood!" (the entire toy was covered with blood.. there was some on her paws.. side of her face..)

Meanwhile I grabbed her to examine her mouth, thinking to myself "we need to call a cab - get her to the Animal Hospital. What's the number of the hospital? And ffs - will melvin go check the number and call the hospital instead of standing there panicking?"

I managed to check her mouth and turned out there was a gash on her gum. (Note: Melvin was still running around like a headless chicken at that point). The toy was thrown away and we babied her for the night.

We noticed, last night, that the back of her tongue was discolored - looks bruised. I'm not sure if it was due to the same toy, but if it's still bruised after this weekend, we'll bring her to the vet.

I've been teasing Melvin ever since that night. If we ever have real kids, and there was a minor accident involving pain/blood - he'll be the first to faint.

I've also noticed that Genie is.. extremely.. intelligent. She somehow managed to figured out how to open the kitchen's sliding door >.> We'll normally close her in the kitchen when we want her to have more space to walk around, or when it's time for her to poo/pee. Her pee tray is near the rubbish chute in the kitchen for our convenience.

Last night we closed her in the kitchen when we went downstairs to get a quick dinner - when we came back, she greeted us at the front door. =.= I had initially thought Melvin didn't close the sliding door properly and left a gap for her to squeeze out.

Then early this morning (5am), she was scratching at the door of her lil crib to be let out. She normally needs to pee/poo first thing in the morning, so I carried her to the kitchen and closed the sliding door, reminding myself to close the door properly.

At sometime around 6am, the jingle of her bell woke me up. I thought to myself "Eh.. why is the bell so loud.. sounds so near.. but can't be.. she's in the kitchen.." I sat up after a few seconds of denial, and there she was - front paws on my bed, peeking at me.

Went to check the sliding door - true enough, she somehow managed to get the door opened just enough for her to squeeze out.

Fantastic. Maybe we should have named her Houdini instead.

Woohoo

I got myself a new phone - the Samsung F480

First Item on my wishlist fulfilled *happy*
Cost me a whooping $300 though - and I will be surviving on bread + plain water until my next pay day.

Melvin's thinking of getting the Samsung Pixon in Feb 09, when his contract with M1 expires. He's really tempted to get it now, but his mom convinced him that a two month wait = $100 voucher from M1.

So yes, he's waiting.

Due to my change in handphone number (leave a msg on my tag if I forgot to tell you my new number - i'll sms you immediately), one of my ex boyfriends decided it was time to play catch up. I'm IMing him at the moment, and it's struck me that he's such a negative person. When he asked what phone model I got, he said "oh but samsung sucks!" though he was unable to tell me why he thought it sucked. Then he asked how long I've been with Melvin. I said it's almost 7 years now. And he was like "Ah! Watch for the 7 year itch man"

So far, he hasn't said a single positive statement. And just about everything he has said irks me. It's like he's cursing me or something.

I mean - makes me glad Melvin isn't such a negative person.

Things are finally looking up

Congratulations, Melvin! For finally landing a perm job :) It's been a gruelling 6 month search.

I'm so happy that he's managed to land a job despite the bad financial times. Naturally, the starting pay is not ideal - but it's better than nothing, considering all the retrenchment that's going on.

So Congratulations dearest!

And Happy 27th Birthday in advance too. You're getting old >.>

Melvin and I have started playing Fallout3 recently. The game gives me motion sickness =.= and it's a nice game, but I hate it. I don't dare explore new places because things are always shooting at my char. And I died 4 times yesterday in a span of 45 minutes. Once to a mercenary, once to a fire ant (Big ass fire breathing ants), once to a raider, and once to a blowfly (don't ask - i didn't notice it was shooting globs at me, alright?)

The only bit of the game I enjoyed is the portion BEFORE all hell broke loose and my Char had to ecape from the vault. i.e nothing to kill, and nothing scary coming after me.

As a result, I spent most of the time watching Melvin play, with the occasional scream of "Eeekk! Dear, behind you!" or "omg what's THAT". He swears I shorten his lifespan each time I grab his shirt and scream like that.