The Berry Group

We hadn't seen each other in months, but when we met it was instantaneous laughter and lots of non-stop chit-chatting.

First off, three of us were all wearing black and carrying canvas tote bags, so there was that. Secondly, we were all famished! Food makes everyone united, honestly. I could never be great friends with a person who didn't like to eat.

Went to Thomson Road's The Prata House and Salted Caramel. The prata was okay, and when were ordering drinks, I order teh bing and Joyce ordered "iced tea tarik". To which the guy replied, "So...two teh bing?"

Originally I'd thought all of them would be talking about K-pop and I'd be mostly quiet, but I realized, this is me: I'm never quiet. Plus, they actually had a lot of other things to talk about, like school, work, family, and of course we reminisced about primary school days a lot.

The four of us - Joyce, Shuyi, Ruby, and I - gave ourselves code names back then. It was kinda stupid, but I'm pretty sure most everyone was stupid in primary school. We were the berry group: Strawberry, Blueberry, Raspberry, and Cherry.

My stomach is grumbling as I type. Clearly two pratas, a third of mee hoon goreng and ice cream weren't enough to last me till after suppertime. It is officially Monday right now, and I am hungry. Not a good start. I'm sure the Monday blues will manifest soon.

We took a long time to take four Polaroid shots, and an even longer time to decide who's getting which, thanks to my indecision. I'd post a picture of all four shots here, but laziness prevails. Maybe tomorrow.

Pics tomorrow? More like next year!

Who am I kidding? No one's reading this shit.

My new keyboard

Unless you have a PMS-y keyboard like mine, you won't understand how good it feels to finally be able to type the letters 'e', 'd', and the number '3'. Apparently I use a lot of e's and d's; I'm never taking them for granted again.

This reminds me of the feeling I had when we installed a new water heater a few years ago. We'd been taking cold showers (involuntarily and unnecessarily) for a few months and that had made me dread showers.

Which is something you should never have to dread because you actually have the privilege of it, unlike people who have no homes, shelter, water, etc.

"Hi, Cheryl. Look how shiny I am."

Anyway, when we finally got that water heater, the first hot shower I took almost made me cry. And now, as I type words with tons of e's and d's, my elation is palpable in the air. Delighted, ecstatic, effervescent - bring 'em on!

Sick and sick again

I don't know if it's the weather or my period or my immune system or all of it combined, but lately my body's being such a temperamental female dog. First I got gastric pains, which was the second time I've experienced it in my life.

When asked why, the doctor told me it could be a variety of reasons - which we'll never know for sure - skipping meals, stress, weather, basically anything. I believe stress was the cause. You see, the first time I had gastric pains was around 2 years ago, when I first started my job at Gramophone Capitol, the multimedia store. After a month at the job, I had gastric pains and a fever that rendered me stupider than usual. (And that's saying something.)

So it's been exactly a month after I began my new job as a clerk/stock-taker/whatever-you-want-to-call-me at my uncle's auto parts shop, and BAM! Gastric pains. How convenient.

Right after I took meds for the pain, my period arrived. So now I had the delightful confusion of whether it was my tummy going nuts or my cramps acting up. [Sorry if any squeamish guys are reading this. It's not my fault you're so delicate.]

Then, as my period is coming to an end and the gastric pains have long since subsided, a flu developed and my throat started getting real dry. Will life not give me a break?

Sure, if you think about sick orphans and dying soldiers, my predicament seems pretty cushy. I have doctors, modern Western medicine (or Chinese herbs if I want any), fans (the ones that have rapidly-turning blades to produce wind, not screaming Justin Bieber types), a mom to nag at me, a job that allows me to not work when I have exams, a relatively conservative amount of money, clean water...you get the gist. But...

Okay I forgot my point. Apparently I have just talked myself out of my whining funk. Life's pretty good. Have a great week!

Never thought I'd be...

...so into surprises, but I have discovered that I totally am. Three magnanimous minions actually went to my school and ambushed me on the shuttle bus. Such awesome friends I have!!

One of the best birthdays I've had, this was. (I don't know why I'm writing like that. Maybe it's all the sugar.) Class was fun - free KFC was involved. Then came free cupcakes from my minions, and 2 more cupcakes from the same store, from two other minions! Congregatin' in Potong Pasir: my late-night birthday party!

Afterwards, I came home to more cake. 1 coffee (slice), 1 chocolate (slice). Blew out the single candle, and let my parents eat my cakes. TOO MUCH CAKE! *Gasp*

Sincerest thanks to all the people that wished me happy birthday; it truly was one. [Insert cute smiley here.]

People are so sweet.

I've had 2 friends call, received several messages and also a voice recording of Happy Birthday, and it's barely an hour into my birthday! I feel happy. The little girl in me is currently frolicking in a dewy meadow with pop punk music playing in the background.

Did I say 'girl'? I meant adolescent male.

Today was almost ruined (yesterday? I'm talking about Thursday.) when I took the right bus going in the wrong direction. Before that, I couldn't find the bus stop. Before that, I had a mundane day of typing numbers and letters into an Excel spreadsheet, although it wasn't too bad since there was a downpour and the natural air felt like air-conditioning. (Thank you, Mother Nature.)

I managed to meet up with my groupmates at the Cathay for our discussion on our upcoming presentation, and seeing them cheered me up. Finally, social interaction! Not that the people at my workplace are robots or anything; it's just that we are generations apart, so it's harder to communicate along the same wavelength.

Anyway, I could have reached the Cathay by 7:15pm - only 15 minutes late! Thanks to my failure to utilize my sense of direction, I arrived at approximately 8.10pm. Yay me. Meanwhile, my groupmates were taking advantage of my absence and using it as an excuse to delay starting the discussion.

Yup, they all basically looked like this, without the textbooks.

Fortunately, my birthday was imminent, so things were bound to look up. So we finished the discussion and got Gongcha! Then at midnight, I got the aforementioned phone calls and messages, and now I'm high on friendship.

If my friends are reading this: thanks, I love you.

Don't be mad at me 'cause I'm mad at myself

Sigh, I am such a big douchebag when it comes to making plans with friends. I swear my mind likes to separate all the information, take it on holiday, then come back when it's too late.

If you're reading this, Phia, I'm sorry!

Relient K, anyone?

I honestly don't know why I haven't met more Relient K fans. Their lyrics are so full of meaning and Matt Thiessen, the lead singer, has a voice that just emotes. When he sings that he's dying, I wholly believe it. I'll even listen to this song on repeat if I were in the mood for Relient K and that's only song I have from them.

Have a look at these lyrics:
No two people could have been more alone than us
The years would go by and she'd love someone else
And I realized I hadn't been loved yet myself

Don't you just feel like giving him some love?

Or:
Yeah if life was a highway
I was drunk at the wheel

That just makes me smile. It's sad, but it's such a good metaphor.

Or:
An injury I'll cause with my fist
It seems to be slightly masochistic
But there'll be no story without all this dissension
So I inflict the conflict
With the utmost of intention

Anyway, I'm supposed to be entering numbers and whatnot into the computer now, but this fully-functional keyboard just tempted me so much! I can type so much so fast on this...

Aaaand now the Cheryl who can't stop talking about mundane things like broken keyboards and left-behind chargers has taken over.

Oh, I didn't mention I left my charger at work and had to do without my phone from 7pm yesterday till 9am this morning?

I just did. It's still mundane.

Have a good 'un, mates!