I seriously think that I'm like quietly and invisibly temperamental and 'turbulent' :P Not temperamental in the easily irritable sort of way, but more in a potentially change mood v quickly type of way. Was reflecting on state of blue-ness yesterday and wondering why there was a need to be so blue... So today despite having to work most of day tried to keep spirits high by just focusing on doing site duty well... and somehow day went by pretty quickly and peacefully. Hope tmr will be just like that and then I only need to clear the Mon/Tues hurdles. Somehow occasionally watching Olympic athletes fighting it out on TV also reminds me of own weak-willedness... Need to be stronger and not so easily set back by little obstacles. And in boss's terminology, only by not taking 'path of least resistance' and roughing it out thru hard times would I become more "polished", just like how a 'diamond' is formed.... Bit cheesy but it does get the point across lah. :P

Though the day started off pretty well with the few of us in office previewing exhibition launch pics of my shuai4 Adviser, it ended terribly. But on hindsight, also dunno why I got so stressed when I received the 5.40pm or so IMMEDIATE email. Ended up burning another night unproductively in office. Weekend sucks cos it will be work work and work. Mon will be eeky too. Tues will prob be spent clearing stuff before i can finally get to go on leave. Hope I have enough 'steam' to last till Wed.... :(

Am relieved half of crazy week is over... It's super not fun to be notified the very same morning to join "support delegation" for Adviser's house visit after work!! I guess it was a mini eye-opener though... only that my 30-something Adviser had loads of energy, walked the whole block and practically visited every household that was at home... So by the time we reached the 2nd (last) floor at 9.45pm, the woke-up-at-6.30am-on-tues-morning me was already finding it difficult to keep eyes open, lest help to answer SERS questions. Good thing had very able colleague around who diligently answered questions for a very passive and super tired me :P I also got my answer to a seemingly baffling phenomenon of super-long queues at Meet-the-People sessions. Cos I witnessed Adviser telling every household to go look for him if they had problems (and am presuming it's typically the case for most MPs)... Political vote-gathering aside, personally feel like it's rather warped, 'cos providing such assurance to residents implicitly encourages over-reliance on external parties for personal problems? And knowing that you can easily complain and ask MP for help, not much incentive nor motivation to take responsibility to solve own problems...? AND this is probably why HDB staff suffer and get flooded with tonnes of appeal letters.

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I find it very amusing how guys frequently try to hide their 'softer side'... perhaps it's just not very manly (esp to fellow guys) to appear too emotional/ to have soft spot for certain things? But it's perfectly human and alright to have weak spot for things/animals/people what, why must intentionally try not to show. Then upset/sad also have to try very hard not to cry.... like so difficult life like that.

Thanks to J, I have one Ponyo hanky and one hedgehog towel, all the way from Japan! And a cute, in-fashion flowery chiffon dress (which erm, I have to figure out how to carry off nicely ha) Apparently Ponyo on the Cliff is already showing there, together with movie-related merchandise.... When would it start showing here...? Though by virtue of being in ERU I am destined to be a tree in my next life (insider joke), perhaps it's time I started playing a greater part in saving trees by using hankies more often... It would be a great idea if I weren't such an absent-minded person who has tendency to leave behind personal belongings everywhere... :(

Aside from stuffing ourselves full with (yummy) desserts twice in one afternoon, we also caught a very entertaining local documentary -- Mad about English, basically about the English-learning 'craze' in China, focusing on Beijing residents picking up/brushing up their English for the Olympic Games... Not to be mean to the many earnest English learners featured, but the movie was really quite hilarious. My favorite character was 74-yr-old Jason, 'cos of his dedication to mastering the language despite his age... Chinese physician Mary comes in close second, just cos her way of pronunciation really tickles me :P Here's the trailer:

The 1000th entry

According to Blogger's records, I've written 999 entries since I started this blog in 2003... which makes this my 1000th post. Seems like I've really written an awful lot the past 5 years; and I feel like I ought express some form of thank-you to those who have been reading this little whimsical blog of mine all this while :)

So to my handful of imaginary assumed audience + i-know-who-you-are audience out there, thanks for keeping tabs on my life; for making the frequently keep-everything-to-herself Shi Min feel like even if there's no one/ nowhere I can really vent my daily frustrations/ share my random musings with, I have the comforts of telling it to the bunch of friends who from time-to-time don't mind snippets from my unhappening life :P