I went shopping today and i got myself a new toy!

 

Now my whole bedroom is super electronically charged.

 

I was thinking  about it and funnily enough, back home in Singapore, I only have one single power socket in my bedroom which is used for a radio and sometimes a hairdryer.

But you can't imagine how many multiple power adapters and extensions I have in my bedroom now. I have a laptop, an air purifier, a cordless phone, a wireless internet modem, a bedside lamp, a talking alarm clock, a radio and now an Ipod dock. And occassionally, I'll have to unplug one of my electronics to charge my mobile, camera and use my vacuum cleaner.

Switching off one of my power sockets is clearly switching off my life!

 

Is this bad for health?

The unfortunate thing about this world is that good habits are so much easier to give up than bad ones.  ~Somerset Maugham
 

I got to thinking about our habits today.

Are they sometimes just a bad habit, or are they really an addiction?

What actually constitutes a bad habit?

As kids, our parents used to chide us for spending too much time in front of the telly citing that watching TV is a bad habit. Why? I like watching TV. In fact, I love watching TV so much, I think I'm a TV addict. Once there's Discovery Channel, Nat Geo or the BBC Food Channel, there's no peeling the remote control out of my hands.

So if habits turn into addicions, can we really give them up? For good?

 

I used to admire quitters. Not quitters of life of course, but people who actually gave up their addictions.

But somehow I noticed that most of us, never really gave up.

Occassionally, the once-upon-a-time nicotine addicts will reach for that illusive packet of Marlboroughs.

Take me for example. I used to drink coffee every morning. Not that I needed a caffeine kick. In fact, the caffeine in coffee does nothing for me. But still, I had coffee every morning out of habit. It was my morning ritual everyday and I didn't see the need to get out of it.

And then I abandoned having routine days and a morning ritual. So I stopped drinking coffee altogether, except for the occassional Starbucks. And it felt good. It felt like I gave up something bad for my health and it was a worthy cause for celebration. These days, I started reaching for coffee every morning again, or at least whenever I do wake up before noon, I'll make myself a cup of Nescafe Blend 43. No less.

For people who have flushed their Marlboroughs/ Davidoff Lights/ Mild Sevens down the loo and never looked back, wow. Gum, patch, whatever, they never work. Perhaps only sheer determination or hypnotism will do the trick.

And then there are the not-so-life-threatening bad habits such as nail biting, foot tapping, or even simply needing to rely and depend on other people all the time. The little things that we are so used to doing in our lives which are basically... erm... bad. Somestimes I feel that our individual bad habits don't bother us at all, but they frustrate the people around us more.

 

So seriously, if it's not too bad a habit, should we waste time and effort trying to quit?

You may be the next cancer victim or age much faster from all the caffeine. But hey, it's your life and you made the choice right? So too bad.

 

Oh my goodness.... how did I get such negative thoughts into my head. It's as if I'm encouraging people to do bad things here. No no no.... I think I should be saying, GIVE IT UP NOW. DROP IT. NOW. Bad habits are easier to abandon today than tomorrow.

And if you fail, keep trying.

At least if you failed, you know that you've tried.

But try harder next time!

 

Cause you had a bad day
You're taking one down
You sing a sad song just to turn it around
You say you don't know
You tell me don't lie
You work at a smile and you go for a ride
You had a bad day
The camera don't lie
You're coming back down and you really don't mind
You had a bad day
You had a bad day

Oh wow... so many things have happened in the last week, I don't even know what to say.

Of course I can tell you about my everyday mundane life like... yesterday, I hoovered my bedroom and found enough hair stuck on the carpet to make a whole head of extension. Or... I guess I'll need to iron my laundry today,  otherwise I'll run outta clothes to wear soon enough. Oh, and couple of days ago, I had dinner at this Spanish restaurant- Sevilles and the food definitely cannot be compared to the fare I had in Spain.

But who cares about my everyday life?

Seriously.

 

I have much bigger things to think about.  Trouble spells in the family and all I can say at this point of time is that I'm glad I'm not home to take care of it or be involved. Some people just don't learn from mistakes. Well, that's fine with me, just know that a lesson will keep repeating itself, in different ways or forms until the lesson is learnt. And until the lesson is learnt, your life will just be moving round in circles, like a merry-go-round, albeit not so merry.

I know what's bugging you.

But it's been 10 long years.

We never forget, but we move on.

Life's like that.

 

I spent half of my waking moment on the phone yesterday. My ears have grown to twice the size today but most imporatntly I would like to say that like most normal people, I sleep at normal hours of the night, so phone calls at 1am and 3.30am are most uninvited. And yes, long-distance phone calls are expensive.

I gotta stop arguing.

It's funny actually because I hardly ever argue with anyone, get upset or even angry with anyone these days, but everytime I talk to my sister, we always end up at each other's throats.

 

What can I say.

I had a bad day.

There's only one thing that I hoped for this month.

I hoped and prayed and hoped and prayed.

And I missed it last week and I thought that my chance is over.

But surprisingly I got it now.

And I realised that I got it wrong.

That's not really what I want.

 

I tried to make fate happen but fate doesn't beckon. Somethings are better left in the hands on fate.

Life plays little tricks on you. Like this.

Thing is, can you keep believing?

 

On a lighter note, I have something to keep my mind busy now. And that is being a bride's maid next March.

 I just got a call today telling me that my camera warranty does not cover damage from water and sand.

Therefore, the cost of repairs is 588dhs.

That's MADNESS!

That's like practially buying a brand new camera.

 

Am so sad.

 What happens when you push your body into overdrive?

 

Hmmm.... I often wonder. I know it's bad but sometimes it's circumstantial.

 

I went to bed last night at 10.30pm and had my alarm clock set at 5.10am this morning. I somehow awoke naturally thinking that it must be nearly 5am already. I took a peek at the time and it was only freaking 2.45am!! I couldn't go back to sleep thereafter. I tossed from one end of my queen sized bed to the other end, but sleep evaded me. I finally got out of bed when my alarm went off at 5.10am and got ready for work.

 

Work was a long, tiring day.

 

I only got home at 6.30pm in the evening, leaving me enough time to retrieve my voice mail, check my email, have a quick shower before heading out for dinner at Long's Bar.

 

By this time, I should be needing a siesta. However, I decided to push myself further and go to Zinc at 1am.

Good thing Felicia called at midnight to cancel. I am now ready to collapse in bed into a long deep sleep.

Bad thing is that now I have to wait one month for Ramadan to be over to party again.

 

Sometimes, it's just nice to chill out and do simple, silly things like eat ice cream.

And actually really enjoy it. 

I miss those days... I really do.

I was on standby yesterday from 7pm to 7am this morning.

I confidently convinced myself (and others) that it was gonna be another work-less day. I even had plans for brunch and movie today. For some strange reason, I decided to go to sleep at 9.30pm last night. I was rudely awakened at 11.30pm by my phone ringing...

 

 

And the day after... I have been rostered a double sector Doha!

Dubai-Doha-Dubai-Doha-Dubai.

Oh this is so not funny.

 

Why can't they give me a flight to somewhere like... Singapore instead? Or maybe Athens? Or perhaps Nice? Or even Venice?

This world is so big yet I'm stuck doing turnaround flights.

 

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

 

Seeking solace in slumber.

 

I'm not being a slacker here but it's official- I haven't worked for nearly 3 weeks and counting.

I don't mind actually because I've been out of sorts and having this bacteria infection in my stomach causing me to have a headache everynite plus the runs!

 

On a much lighter note, my patience with freaking Etisalat has finally paid off and I managed to upload my 400 sumthing fotos onto Kodak Gallery. Now all I need to do is to add some titles and rearrange them to perfection.

And... I still need to steal photos from Felicia because she's got heaps of photos that I don't have. Well, it's all because my camera batteries died one evening, I didn't bring my camera along to Pacha and of course, my camera died in the Atlantic. Mind you, it's the ATLANTIC ocean and not the MEDITERRANEAN sea. Not that it would have survived a plunge in the latter. It's so hard to be perfect sometimes.

 

Meanwhile, while that's getting done, here's reason number 728 why I should apply for an alcoholic licence.

 

And reason number 984 why I should really start investing in sunscreen.

Hawaiian Tropic maybe. Or perhaps Coppertone or Banana Boat.

 

Being a sucker for ALL things Phillipe Starck and Alessi, I had to get this toilet bowl freshner from Carrefour in Malaga the minute I saw it!

 

Alessi is a genius!

 

I bought the Kayak one but there's also the Surfer one. 

 

 

Now the question is- am I ready to stick in my toilet for proper use?

 

Feeling very lost today. Slept the whole of yesterday and a lot of today. Only woke up at 1.30pm today because my phone was ringing.

 

I actually didn't care that I was being marked absent yesterday because I didn't show up for my airport standby at 6am. What to do, with subload tickets, getting on a flight is a freaking big risk. I'm just glad I didn't have to end up spending a night in Munich and getting drunk on beer and perhaps sprawled on the streets in the city somewhere. In fact, my trip was such a memorable one, I really don't effing care about my absent. But of course, I told my manager the total opposite in my email and hopefully she doesn't "invite" me for coffee and biscuits in her office! *crossing my fingers*

 

Speaking of getting drunk on beer, I realised that throughout my 10 days in Spain... we were just alcoholics and drank anything and everything everyday.

 

Note to self: must detox.

 

Unfortuantely, if you haven't heard about misadventure of my (NEW) camera and how it drowned itself in the Atlantic Ocean, I'm sorry but it's too depressing to mention again. Well, the good thing is that my photos are retrievable, but the bad thing is that my camera is now being sent for repair, and due to the inefficiency of the people who work here, I may be camera-less for up to a month!

 

My Spain trip photos are still in the process of uploading (because there are like 400 over photos!) and I still need to steal more photos from Felicia before my collection is complete. Be patient.

 

Anyway, I'll leave you with a very dodgy video you wouldn't want your mother to see!