Cogito ergo scribo

It's a new week again. Gosh, what a weekend i had.

I could have summed up the past three days in just a few words -- being sick, walking, eating, still being sick, more walking, more eating, and seriously lacking of rest.

But then, this blog is for me to chronicle the happenings in my life, so i would do the long-winded version instead, as usual. Let's begin from where i left off then.

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Friday, a day that i realized mom does love me after all.

The fever didn't subside even though i had taken Panadol and turned in early on Thursday night. I didn't wanna use any more of my annual leave, so i still went into Singapore to see the company's appointed doctor. I was given some medication and a day of medical leave. Since i gotta wait for 贝 to get off work, i drove to my grandma's home at Woodlands to rest.

I called mom and inform her about it. Who knew that she then endured 2 hours of traffic jam at Causeway to drive into Singapore to pick me up. She didn't know that i drove to my grandma's and was thinking of driving her sick daughter home to have a good rest. I was so touched. I didn't wanna make her trip futile, so i asked her to follow my car to Jurong, and i parked my car at the HDB multi-storey parking lot for 贝 to pick it up after work, while i went home with mom first.

Not only that. Mom had actually taken a day off on Friday to prepare a sumptuous dinner for 贝's family. She prepared six delicious dishes, one of which was Korean ginseng chicken (with glutinous rice stuffed in the chicken stomach as shown in Dae Jang Geum) that i didn't get to eat because ginseng was too heaty to be consumed by a person with fever. 贝 and his sister said it was really yummy. Well, even though i didn't get to taste it, i could feel her love and effort in preparing all the food, which was something that would last longer in my heart than the ginseng taste on the taste bud.

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Saturday, a day with a surprise and the beginning of a tiring weekend.

The fever had subsided but i was having a terrible sore throat. Since 贝 and i were supposed to be the hosts for the weekend to bring his family around Singapore, i decided to go to bed early on Friday night so that i could be well for the following days.

However, i still didn't get enough sleep. I received a call from the US at 3am on Saturday when i was sound asleep. It was a call from a lady working for a solution center in California. She had seen my resume that i deposited on a recruitment website and thought that i was suited for a vacancy.

At first, i thought she didn't know that i couldn't work in the US without a valid employment permit, so i told her that i'm a Malaysian working in Singapore. She said she was aware of this, and her company was willing to apply the necessary permit for me if i were to accept their offer. She then asked me if i could start work within four weeks time, which was what i indicated on the website.

I was so shocked by this sudden offer that i told her it was a huge decision that i would need to consider seriously. She then mentioned that i had noted on the website that i was willing to be relocated so she thought there shouldn't be any problem for me to work in California. That kinda put me off guard and i didn't know what to say. Anyway, in the end she agreed to give me time to consider, and she would send me an email detailing more information on the job.

Well, i'm not sure if i should be happy to be woken up in the middle of the night and given such big surprise. The good thing was that it kinda gave me some renewed confidence in my job hunt, but the bad thing was that i was dead tired for the whole of Saturday due to interrupted sleep and a full busy day ahead.

We went into Singapore early in the morning and had a boat ride on the Singapore river, followed by a visit to the Merlion Park in a hot afternoon, looking at a sculpture of a strange creature with lion head and fish tail spitting into the river. After that, it was a hefty lunch at Lao Beijing Restaurant @ Novena Square. We had booked a set lunch for 6 persons even though there were only 5 of us, one of whom was sick and couldn't eat too much. So imagine how full everyone was.

After lunch, 贝 gotta go back to his office to do some work, so i brought his family to shop at Orchard Road with the cash 贝 had given them, except a wallet which i paid for his dad. After about 5 hours of shopping, 贝 then met us up at Takashimaya and we all went for a buffet dinner at Swissotel Merchant Court. We totally stuffed ourselves, as all the food there was simply irresistible. After dinner, we went for a stroll along Clark Quay. We reached home that night at around 10.30pm, and by the time i went to bed, it was almost 1am.

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Sunday, a day that didn't go as planned but turned out fine.

Because of the exhaustive day before, we didn't manage to leave home as early as we had planned. Everything went wrong in the morning. We had wanted to visit the Singapore Zoo and hence decided to commute by the Causeway instead of the 2nd-Link. After we drove all the way to JB town, we realized that there was a heavy traffic congestion at Jalan Station and it would take us 2 hours or more to clear the custom checkpoints. So we drove back to travel by the 2nd-Link, which means that we gotta scrap the plan of visiting the Zoo because it was near noon already.

Luckily we had a Singapore map in our car. We immediately made a decision to visit the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall at Toa Payoh instead. It turned out to be a right decision because 贝's dad likes history of China and it was something of his interest. The Memorial Hall (formally known as Wan Qing Yuan 晚晴园) was the real residence that Sun Yat Sen had stayed before and the headquarters of the Chinese Revolutionary Alliance in Southeast Asia. It was renovated into a national monument in the 90s and houses galleries of the revolution of Sun Yat Sen. It's a must-see for people who have great interest in the history of modern China.

After the visit of the Memorial Hall, we had lunch at Maxwell hawker center, and then it was more shopping at Bugis Junction and Suntec City. We had a heavy dinner again at Crystal Jade Restaurant in Suntec City and then called it a day.

We reached home at around 9.30pm. After bath, i replied the email from the lady who called me from the US the night before. I declined her offer because i wasn't too keen to get back to solution centers. Furthermore, they were looking for a developer who does more of programming kind of job, but i hope to get away from programming and move into a more senior role as analyst or in IT management.

After all, we are talking about working half-a-globe away from home, leaving 贝 and my family and friends. I wouldn't take up the offer unless it's something that i really wanna do and really attractive in terms of money and prospect. If i were 10 years younger, i would have taken up the offer immediately. Now, there are simply too many concerns and repercussions to consider.

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Today, a day back to work but i wish i'm resting at home now.

I'm still having slight sore throat and still taking the anti-biotics. And of course, needless to say, i'm totally bushed. The distance i had walked in the past two days was more than the total distance i would walk for a whole month. Uh huh, that explains why i wasn't able to shred the fat away from my tummy.

So i guess it's gonna be a long day for me. Sigh, i should really start working now.

Labels: family, life, trivia