In the works

a vacation. i plan to go and visit marlon for his birthday (march 23), which happens to conveniently fall smack dab in the middle of holy week. i have been working like a dog for the past few weeks (three! has it just been three weeks since christmas break?!?!?!) and if i don't get this leave i am going to start doing violent things. scary no? gulnar better not be reading this.

i am so, so excited. reason number one: we're going to give in to our tacky tourist urge and actually visit sentosa. as a rabid fan of the color pink, my excuse is that i want to see the pink dolphins. i don't know what my boyfriend's excuse is. that men in general do tacky things?

reason number two: marlon, the uber-nerd (as triumph the insult dog says: "made of the parts of lesser nerds") won two work-related awards recently. and they come with... 160-DOLLAR SHOPPING VOUCHERS AT ROBINSON'S AND MARKS & SPENCER! and 80-DOLLAR SHOPPING VOUCHERS AT TAKASHIMAYA! and he also got 30-DOLLAR SHOPPING VOUCHERS AT BORDERS!

sorry to shout, i am just drooling with anticipation. i, a self-confessed nerd, am in absolute heaven in huge bookstores like borders. i found robinson's a bit stuffy when i checked it out last year, but with SGD 160 at my disposal, i'm sure i can find something. and takashimaya is just plain good all-around shopping.

that's why the next thing in the works is...

a thinner me. i know, i know, isn't it always in the works? but! it will be sooooo much fun to go shopping weighing ten to fifteen pounds less. when i went to singapore last may, i ended up lugging home a sh*tload of shoes and bags. unlike clothes, they are so easy to buy when you're fat as they have absolutely no fitting issues. the day i see unsightly bulges while trying on a pair of shoes will be the seventh sign of fatima, or whatever.

speaking of shoes, another me is also in the works...

a little imelda. imelda marcos or imelda paul (my mother). doesn't matter. i am turning into a fledgling shoe freak. i bought three pairs of shoes in the last two weeks. well, four if you count the pair that i bought for cathy's wedding and returned the day after. YES, I AM A DASTARDLY CONSUMER. i bought a strappy silver pair with rather large bows and quickly realized that they would probably never see the light of day again. so i returned them the very next day and got something more functional: i.e. hot pink flip-flops that i now use when walking to the office in the morning.

i only realized that my shoe habit was becoming unhealthy when i had this conversation with my sister. she was showing me some clothes she had gotten on sale at mango.

ate: did you get anything at mango?
me: no, but i bought a pair of shoes--
ate: (cuts me off, shocked) WHAT??? ARE YOU SOME KIND OF A SHOE FREAK???

you must understand. we are a family of women who have at least a hundred shoes between them. and so for a member of my family to call me a shoe freak, i felt, was a big thing. now when my mom calls me a shoe freak i, i will seek professional help straightaway.

blog facelift. i have been feeling rather dull lately. dull as in not creative, bobo, boring. my posts could be more intelligent, my blog could visually show a little more of myself, and i could devote more time to creative pursuits that i used to have so much time for. luckily, i bumped into web guru/all around nice guy angelo jacinto aka guido at two weddings (one weekend after the other!), and he agreed to help walk me through the project.

at the rate i'm going though, it's more an crawl-through or ooze-through than a walk-through. i am currently sifting through ideas for the look and layout that i want, and checking out other blogs to get ideas. tips, suggestions and offers of help from the web-savvy of this world will be much appreciated.

a new citizenship. for only $275, i can be more indian than i currently am! i can travel to and from india without a visa (although the airfare alone is a major hurdle--it's almost as expensive as a US trip), i can own property, i can get whatever education benefits are extended to non-indian residents, blah blah blah! yes, i too can be an overseas indian citizen!

gulnar asked me a couple of weeks ago if i had a dual citizenship, and if i didn't, why didn't i?. that made me stop and think. oo nga no. why not? i poked around and found out that i can download the necessary forms online! india pa, i'm not surprised. so my sister and i are going to check it out. and who knows? this year could be the year when i acquire a new citizenship! then again, maybe not--it largely depends on whether i can spare that $275 at some point later in the year.

something. uuuy, something daw o. what it is, i cannot yet reveal to the world at large, although several friends already know. it's something i have done for most of my life and may pick up again. scary and exciting at the same time.

post about dada's baby and cathy's wedding. with milestones like these, i just can't ignore that i am getting older. haaay.