After 4 years and counting I’ve decided it’s time to move on from my job. Having mixed feelings at the moment. Despite the constant madness I’ve grown to love my job and what I do, and the family I work with everyday who have made the past 4 years so amazing and given me many reasons to be sad to leave. Urk, why am I sentimental like that.

But moving on, in more ways than one, I cannot wait to turn the page. Question marks are always what you make of it.

Me and PD don’t get along very well. The last time I was there for a shoot I suffered a massive sandfly attack. Yesterday’s yummy seafood dinner had me waking up to food poisoning, and I spent most of today throwing up and running to the bathroom. Argh. Damn prawns.. :/

Great getaway though, even if it was a little bit short, it was nice to just be somewhere else. As always the weekend feels like a passing breeze. Refreshing.. but only for a while. Am massively exhausted.

Insomnia, like a long forgotten debt collector, has resurfaced just when it is least wanted; then again who ever wants it around? Haven’t been regularly posting due to a couple of distractions, mostly good, thus not much to bitch and whine about lately.

Had great fun at the Parkson Pavillion launch last night. Guests were let loose amongst Bettina Liano and Sass and Bides (yes someone’s finally brought them here and they are retailing at RM690) with glasses of Bollinger and plenty of goodies. Drinking and shopping? Unfortunately even though I had the intention of buying something, having a glass of alcohol in your hand proved to be a serious diversion. Maybe that’s the secret cure to shopaholicitis: alcohol. If that is true it might be cheaper to shop. What a limbo. Juicy Couture is setting up shop, as well as Marc by Marc Jacobs and a host of other first-time brands but no H&M to be seen. Aww.

Hungover as a result. Vaguely remember singing on the top of my lungs in the carpark the night before. Monroe’s version of Happy Birthday to Nik. Had a 10am meeting to battle, followed by a frantic call from mom who was trying to figure out how to view a folder of pictures on my beloved Mac that amazingly took more than 10 minutes to explain because she just wasn’t listening to me in her panicked state. Was ready to pull hair out, cept I have much less hair now, before realising I left my mobile at home. But then received email from my agents bearing good news so it has been a terribly up and down day today and now I can’t bloody sleep. I keep telling myself if I lay in bed in the dark long enough I will fall asleep but things never happen the way you want it to when you’re desperately seeking an outcome. Downloaded Scrabble onto phone so perhaps I might be able to scramble letters to sleep after this sentence.

While in Melbourne, Tony cooked up an amazing steak with seaweed butter. However like a true chef one does not reveal secrets of the trade. After much, much pestering he gave in however.. family secret will stay secret I promise! So after receiving that email I went in search of ingredients. Luckily it wasn’t overly exotic, Jusco stocks specialty Japanese groceries, and I found myself rushing home from work to whip up some of my own. There really is nothing like getting busy in the kitchen to get over a bad day at work. Damn butter tastes too good.

Coincidentally I bought a whole eye fillet back from Melbourne that’s been sitting in 2″ cuts in the freezer - so am now looking forward to cooking steak on Thursday to kick off the long weekend. Need to buy some potatoes, pumpkin, chives and roquette tomorrow! And plan dessert.

Mom is officially retired. On Saturday night we had a dinner with all her colleagues at Sudu in Hilton Sentral. I must say the starter/appetiser/dessert buffet is worth going for. Particularly enjoyed making my own salad - ceasar, the works with anchovies and a dash of mango oil topped off with thick Spanish sweet vinegar. Disappointed there was no blue cheese at the cheese selection but was decent enough, liked the Camembert and Brie and there was a decent sashimi/sushi bar. Also fresh seafood, crabs and the like, oysters with a self-concocted vinaigrette (oils, vinegar and mustard stolen from salad bar.. plenty to choose from) and anchoviar. Dessert section boasts Mövenpick ice cream, fresh fruit, a ton of pastries and lollies for kids. Vanilla ice cream with fresh strawberries, almonds (stolen from cheese section), raspberry coulis was excellent. In fact I had so much fun putting stuff together (and eventually eating) that I had no room for my main of beef rendang and rice with mango chutney when it arrived. Anyway, my mom, I think she’s a tad relieved not to be working anymore after being in the same place for 36 years. Talk about loyal. Am excited now that she has plenty of time we’ll be able to spend more time together.

In the meantime going to dig into my Les Halles cookbook to see what I can do for Friday’s dinner.

I like putting my iTunes at home on random while I blog. With 3739 tracks you never get the same song twice.

I had hair cut last Saturday after about two years. Now I have a fringe because my stylist says that I’ve got a high forehead. I got highlights too, for $350 you think they’d me a bit more obvious than subtle copper red hints. Cannot decide if I like them or if I should storm back in demanding flame-red hair. Please don’t point out my rogue has red hair. I know this. I think I subconsciously like red.

I’ve been driving Steve nuts, I think. Told him yesterday not to send flowers to my office which was exactly what I knew he was planning to do to surprise me. Then he said he’s not going to put his name on the card and it will say ’secret admirer’ instead. I told him I won’t know it’s from him. I’m so mean. It’s really sweet okay, but the thought is enough. I hate surprises. I never know how to react! And then people get upset with me. Ask the girls, who surprised me last year at dinner, I think LL was a little bit mad at me that day for not being surprised.. so sorry!

Anyway I wanted to blog about this site I came across. Well, actually Li Mei pointed me and Su Ann to it after we both discovered we share the same star sign. And being typically Aquarian and completely immersed in ourselves we read it together in great detail. It’s very lengthy. I love the almost fairytale quality in the narration - it’s a little bit fantasy, a little bit describing someone familiar but not quite. Also quite long-winded.

To try to pin down the Aquarian is to try to stabilize the butterfly, to stuff a spring breeze into a closet or confine a winter gale in a bottle. It can’t be done, and besides, who in the world would want to try?

Of course some things are hit and miss; having 2% of the population with a set of completely identical traits would be all too freaky. But the randomness, detachment and a bunch of other traits I’ve been championing are all there. Now I can blame it on the elements.