I woke up feeling great today after a good night's sleep. The flu's definitely in remission, though my constitution is not back to normal yet. At least I didn't have to pop a Panadol just so I wouldn't freeze while taking a shower. I still took today off though. :p I'm sure everyone at the office thinks I'm malingering but I do have an MC for Friday if questioned. Meh, what good is working at a family company if I can't take off days to recuperate.

With the exception of my flu, it has been a great past few weeks, with me working no more than three days a week, lol. And just four days this week! :p One full week next week and then it's a four-day week again over X'mas!

- - -

I've just been made an officer of the gay WoW guild I've been with on and off for almost four years. I'm quite happy about it though part of me wants to tell them "Well it's about time!"

As expected, there is a whole lot of drama that comes with running a guild, much less a ginormous gay one with hundreds of members. I'm slowly wading through all the officer threads in the forum on the guild website. Lotsa juicy reading. :-x

Lord, I've been abusing myself.

Lol. In retrospect - always retrospect - I never did get over my last bout of flu. I was just at the doctor and she enlightened me with the fact that we generally only feel our illnesses when they reach a critical point.

Boy do I feel stupid now. On MJ's wedding day, when I said I need a Panadol, that was probably because I was getting feverish from gymming the day before and not getting enough sleep after. And on Wed, when I felt overheated after gym, that was probably my fever resurfacing again. I conveniently didn't realize all the signs that my flu virus is still very much alive beneath the surface.

Well it kicked in hard again last night, with the body aches and chills. I still went into work this morning because I thought it would sound like I was malingering if I said my flu came back but I was just so out of sorts I left for the doc's soon after. At least the OL came in in time to see me there. Looks less like I've been faking. :-d

I'm not sure about work next week but I'm definitely gonna rest up this weekend. Doc also said I shouldn't be so quick to abuse myself at the gym once I feel better. Blargh. I'm gonna get fat again.

Google Street View was launched in Singapore on Tuesday. It's a little disturbing, how clearly I can see my house. At least it's not real time. From one spot I can see my mom's car but it's not there when I look from another. And when I look at my office, I see my car parked there but in a different spot from today.

- - -

I spent yesterday printing sticker labels for the OL's X'mas card list and today typing the names into the cards. I like typewriters - the noise they make is very satisfying, like I'm being productive. Chkchkchkchkchkchkchck. I think I'd make a good personal assistant but I doubt there are many such job openings for men in S'pore. We're still quite sexist in some regards.

It's a mailing list that cutedwogy would love to get his hands on - not quite the A-list of Singapore's political scene but close. An A-minus list, with some ministers and a whole lot of PBM, PPA, etc. Those are medals that award their recipients titles, e.g. Mr. Lawson Teo, PBM. Something like the UK's OBE and such I suppose. The OL has a couple of them, which goes to show that they aren't awarded for morality.

- - -

I'm hooked on this stuff: Nature's Own Brown Rice Instant Cereal with Spirulina. Not sure why. It tastes fine but I think I'm attracted to how healthy it seems to be (with the exception of the creamer). The absence of sugar and cholesterol is perfect for me.

Good lord, I had assumed that now that I'm handling the OL's properties I wouldn't have to do the company's two annual reports as well but I've just been told I'm s'posed to. Wow. I'm actually gonna be busy, like real job kind of busy. I hope I get a raise for this. :-x It's not so much that I eschew work, but it's definitely not very satisfying if doing work gets me nothing and nowhere.

Apart from the facts and figures, I'm not sure how to vary the copy for the annual reports from last year. It used to be that there were different design firms that handled writing the copy so the writing styles were different from year to year but since it's just me, I've to find a way to make this year's different somehow. Probably with a thesaurus. Or with plagiarism. Do people actually take notice of how the reports are written or do they just zoom into the facts and figures?

- - -

I forgot to put my spare office shoes back in the car after MJ's wedding so I'm wearing gym shoes at work, and on the same day I'm wearing my plain white short-sleeved shirt. I could pass for a JC kid if I didn't look so world-weary right now. I've a headache. Getting back into the gym groove is tough; I think I'm overheating with each session right now, like an old computer that's been overclocked. I've had to reduce my coffee intake to compensate for it. Sucks getting old.

- - -

I really feel like some music. I wonder if people will be unhappy if I start wearing headphones at my desk. Duh.

I'm still tired from the long day - MJ's wedding - yesterday. One more wedding to be a best man to and then I'm free!

I keep protesting about how it's not fair that I've to endure the trials and tribulations of being best man to all four of my close straight friends but they get off scot-free when it comes to me. Even if I do have a wedding someday... Okay, I shall be positive and state that as a fact. When I have my wedding someday, it's hardly likely that it'll be as big a production, and there won't be the whole culture and tradition shebang - no being at the groom's place at 6am, no being tortured by bridesmaids, no driving to and fro various homes bearing roast pigs, et al.

"One table," I kept telling Roland, "well maybe two." I definitely wouldn't be inviting my whole extended family to dinner (that would be at least 10 tables in itself), and my close friends and immediate family would fit in one [big] table. I'm quite thankful that I wouldn't be blowing tens of thousands of dollars for a traditional wedding and can instead put the money to good use towards a gorgeous apartment or a nicer honeymoon or a ring with a diamond big and heavy enough to make his ring finger droop. Actually, it would be quite odd, to be wearing a wedding band suddenly and have my relatives asking me why I'm wearing one. Maybe we'll exchange cock rings instead or something.

But enough with the knocking of the traditional wedding. At times I did feel a bit sad that I wouldn't go through the whole process, the whole pomp of it all. And even though my mom irritates me to heck, it would've felt great to see her happily greet my relatives at the dinner reception and receive their congratulations. I'm glad that at least I'm not the only child and she'll still have those opportunities, albeit much later. Please remember to congratulate her at my cozy little wedding dinner, even if - especially if - she looks uncomfortable to be there, lol.

I was also kinda depressed that I'm the last single person. At my table were attached couple + married couple + married couple and child. Cue emo song: 李蕙敏- 囍宴. I've been given a deadline; I have a little less than a year to find at least a steady date to bring to the last wedding. I guess I had better seriously start manhunting.

It's been so quiet at home with my mom and sister away. It's lovely! Dreading their return in a week.

Had to buy groceries for the maid to cook. First time ever I've bought fresh vegetables. Gosh I had no idea how cheap they were - a buck or two a bag and ten bucks total for 3 veges, a bunch of onions, a loaf of bread and a carton of eggs. I really have to learn to cook when I get my own place.

Brilliant. I crawl into work and the Internet is down. Can't do shit. Am typing this out on my dinky phone keyboard is how bored I am.

I'm still not over my flu but unk is at Disneyland in HK and there's no one to chauffeur gramps, god forbid he should take a cab.

The pills keep the fever at bay but I'm aching like I've been gangbanged everywhere, orifice or no orifice.
Worse are the nights, during which I'd shiver until I get up to pop a paracetamol, and after which I'd sweat enough to soak the sheets. Hasn't made for the best sleep.

Lord I hate this keyboard. They should come out with a portable keyboard attachment.

Definitely coming down with something. I'm feverish and achy and my skin's so tender it feels like I've been horse-whipped. But as illnesses go, it's not so bad, not at this stage anyway. With ibuprofen, my thoughts are clear and even if my body's weak, I'm still able to focus enough to watch movies in bed. timing as usual though. Just when I'm getting back into the gym swing, and of all days, on a Saturday so I can't take today or tomorrow off work. Hopefully I'm still ill by Monday. :-x

I love being ill as long as it doesn't involve a) horrible headaches or b) not being able to eat. Always a good time to guiltlessly laze in bed and catch up with movie-watching.

I was remembered yesterday of one evening when I was in the Castro, outside the train station waiting for my dinner date, when this cute Asian guy came up to me and said, "Hi, are you waiting for me?"

What a setup. I'm still kicking myself for not being fast enough to say anything else besides "No." How often does one get a setup like that? (In that it was at the Castro so he was definitely gay, and he was adorable.) It could've been the story to tell our grandkids, if I had said "I have been, all my life" and he had fallen for me then and there.

This is why I hate social events. I'm not fast enough to think of good replies in conversations with strangers, and I wind up blurting whatever's at the top of my head and regretting it late.

- - -

I went to the barber yesterday and though I didn't do anything drastic, I like how it turned out. All I really needed was some thinning up top and a shortening of about 2cm at the side and back 'coz it was going over my ear. I didn't want to trim the front at all though, but despite the final disparity in length, it somehow all worked out and it looks fine. And I still have my tail, albeit a shorter one (i.e. what you see in my user pic).

The thing about my barber is that he's skilled but he doesn't suggest anything - it's up to me to decide what might work. But I only pay $9 so I can't complaint.

- - -

I found out that one of gramps' tenants is a hot 25yo French guy (I have a copy of his passport pic). Pity he's in KL. :( 'Coz he's moving out soon and if he will here I could just drop by to offer my help with any of his "needs."

- - -

Blah, this will be 3/4 of my close [straight] friends' weddings that I am attending without a date. I resolve to have one by the time drakekoh gets married! I s'pose it's a more realistic resolution that to try and get married before him. :-x

I did attend Fiona's wedding with a date at least, though on that night itself, after we went back to my place, we had a big fight and broke it off, lol.

I almost had a dream about dad last night but I think my alarm went off before his appearance. Someone asked what the dreams were about... I can't really remember much and my dreams are never ever coherent to begin with. I don't know how some people have coherent dreams that make sense. Lessee...

The first night I dreamt that my family were in M'sia somewhere and about to have a meal, and the women - my mom and sisters - were eating at this place, and my dad and brother had gone to another place to eat. I wanted to join my dad but I had no idea where they had gone and I think I was a bit upset about it.

I remember less of the second night's dream. We were at our old home and my dad was in a good mood, and I gave him a big hug as though I hadn't seen him in a long time. There were some strangers in there, I'm not sure how or why.

I can't recall last night's dream at all, probably because I didn't get to the point where I would wake up in tears about it.

- - -

Deepdiscount.com is having a faux megasale of 30-40% discount off everything. In reality, I think it's at most 10% off. I don't know who they're trying to cheat, since most people who know the site should have enough common sense to compare prices with other sites - notably Amazon - before buying. It's still worth a browse if you have a shopping list though.

- - -

It's almost Oscar season. I've been pretty bad with watching the critically acclaimed movies this year so hopefully I'll still be able to catch them all somehow before the awards show.

The Golden Globe nominations will be out first, on Dec 15.

Martin Scorsese is being awarded the honorary megalomaniac award... well, the Cecil B. DeMille Award.

Lauren Bacall, as well as Roger Corman and Gordon Willis, received honorary Oscars in a new seperate ceremony that has already taken place. I don't know if I like this new process; I like watching the tributes to the legends who receive an honorary Oscar. Not sure if there'll still be the segment on the awards show next year.

I'm glad Lauren Bacall got an Oscar finally. She's one of the two people I've been wanting the Academy to honor (because they're ancient and probably won't be around much longer) - the other's Angela Lansbury.

- - -

High cholesterol issues run on both sides of my family so it's no surprise I would have that problem too. I hadn't realized though - till Nam suggested it - that a lot of my cholesterol intake comes from my protein powder, which has a whopping 30mg (about 25% daily recommended intake I think) per scoop, and I typically have between 1.5 to 2.5 scoops each day. It's the most of any brand of protein powder but I have to stick with it since it's the only one that has lactase in it. I'd have to pop a lactase pill with the other brands and that's mad impractical. Anyone know a good way of lowering cholesterol (without drugs)?

- - -

A cousin whom I thought was gay is getting married. He was single and a PE teacher for the longest time. Where are all my queer relatives? It seems I must have gotten two very recessive genes if I'm the only queer bird in the extended family.

- - -

I want to do something different with my hair that doesn't involve shortening it [too much]. I had an idea but decidedly it's not gonna work. Wonder if I should go to a proper hairdresser for suggestions. I haven't been to one for years; I've always gone to my barber but I think his creativity is limited. Anyone have a beloved hairdresser with whom I can trust my hair to?

Forgot to pack a belt into my gym bag this morn and now my pants keeps sliding down my ass. Most annoying. I think I need to finally update my office wardrobe and get smaller shirts and pants.

- - -

For the past two days I've had dreams of dad and woken up crying. Not sure if they mean anything. Told him at his altar this morning that if he's trying to tell me something, he'd better make it more obvious. They haven't been nightmares but I guess what upset me is that even in my dream state, I knew they were just dreams.

- - -

Work is going well. Being productive is a surprisingly nice feeling. But the best part is that there's just enough work to look busy even though I usually still have half the day to surf and blog and what not. Now I'm not sure if I should still look for another job elsewhere. I probably should, since what I'm learning is not too applicable elsewhere. It's mostly been paperwork and liaising with real estate agents, though I'm learning the legalese and the procedures for tenancies.

- - -

Get paid $190 for taking flu meds. :-d The meds might or might not give you the flu too, I don't know.

The rest are in my Facebook. :-d

( Pix )

Dear diary, I saw a cute boy at the gym today. He smiled at me and my heart skipped a beat.

............

It's nice to know that I can still feel like a teenager sometimes.

- - -

I used to think that muscle memory only applied to people who lose a limb. It's the feeling they get that their limb is still there even though it's not.

But when I try a weight that I could lift a month ago and can't now, with the first rep my muscles tell me "Feh, you can pump this easy," right before they quit on me a couple of reps later. I wonder if it's the same concept.

- - -

Are people aware of their overpowering body odor? A woman got on the elliptical next to mine and her musk smelled like raw onions. I tried to hold out but after a minute I had to move to another machine. I don't know if her friends never told her her scent makes them tear up or if she's just not considerate enough to use deodorant.

- - -

Anyone remember the show Misfits of Science? I noticed a new show called Misfits and it reminded me of MoS, which I quite liked as a kid, along with Manimal, Knight Rider... what other sci-fi shows were there...

- - -

These Marcona almonds ($12 from Costco) I'm snacking on are amazingly tasty. I'm glad my mom antagonized me in the car after picking me from the airport and spurred me to not give these to her.

I've never thought about ordering nuts online but if I'm to ever get more of these - I've certainly never seen them here - I guess I've to start looking into it.

- - -

I nearly made a mess of things at work by sending some official documents as well as a (nicely-worded) demand for overdue rent to the wrong person. Good thing the receptionist managed to intercept our messenger in time. Gosh, a week in and I'm almost getting in trouble already.

- - -

My date on Wed was a bust. I had gone out with the guy a coupla times before I left for the US and he seemed romantically inclined but while I was gone, I guess he changed his mind and now just wants to be friends. Bleah. I don't really want to be friends with someone I'd rather date.
- - -

A certain LJ user told me over MSN yesterday that he liked my last two locked posts, lol. Good to know. Since no one ever leaves a comment, I was wondering if I was oversharing or if no one cared. He wants me to write more about ze saucy stuff but I said that nothing blogworthy ever happens to me in S'pore, which is kinda true.

aethador and rokiseph - two of my nearest and dearest straight friends - want access to my locked posts but it would feel kinda weird for me to share all that with then when we've known one other for 19 years but have never gone into much detail about our respective sex lives. Are you guys really sure? You won't look at me funny afterwards? :P

&*$@*& phone. I woke up an hour late for gym this morn because the alarm didn't go off. Because I have to manually shut down apps to free up memory and save power, I got into the habit of closing everything and last night, before bed, I shut down 'Clock' without much thought. Well that apparently means shutting off the alarm as well. Woke up, yelled "NO!" and was out the dor in 10 minutes. Fortunately it's school hols and the roads weren't clogged with sleepy parents so I actually got to the gym only 20 minutes later than usual.

The "NO!" was actually because I really wanted to get to the gym today, both because I wanted to look good for a date tonight and because, consequently, I won't be able to get to the gym tomorrow morn. It's kinda funny - in retrospect - how I just yelled it out immediately right after looking at the time. No internal debate as to whether or not to go, just yell and fly out of bed. Good thing I had packed everything last night.

The annoying thing is for a while before I woke, I was having unpleasant dreams, which I realized, but I still persisted in sleeping because I was coherent enough to to be determined to get sufficient sleep.

- - -

There's more work than I realized but still not enough for the HoA to keep staring at me whenever she walks past. I honestly believe she has good intentions in wanting me to be useful but she's becoming a big pain in the ass. The paperwork stuff I actually like doing - I think I cut out to be a secretary - but I don't like calling up the agents because, well, I don't like talking to people. But I found that I'm better about making the calls when I do it in the conference room with the door closed. Somehow I just don't like to be overheard, even though it's official business.

- - -

My vacation did wonders for my ego. Maybe it was because I was fresh meat but it was quite a boost to getting all the mails I was getting, not to mention what I typed in the locked post. Back here though, it feels like the spotlight's moved away and I'm one of the rabble again. No one cares that I love classic movies, though at least I do get some complimentary mails about my unconventional hairstyle.

But at least now I know it's not me, it's just where I am. :P

- - -

Speaking of my hairstyle, I think I'll change it up a bit upon my next trip to the barber. Nothing too radical but noticeably different, hopefully for the better. :-d

- - -

While driving my mom and her bf to the airport the other day, we got to talking about percolators, and he now also wants a time-able combination grind-and-brew machine, the kind I've been looking for ever since I came back from the US and yet have never found here (well okay, I haven't been looking very hard). I've been browsing online for a good one to recommend to him (because I think he might get us one for X'mas too) but so far I haven't found one as good as the one Cliff had, five years ago. I've just sent him an offline message asking him what brand it was. Other brands just don't seem to have the right combination of attributes:

A storage tank for beans
Time-able so that you can wake up to the smell of fresh coffee
A heating plate to keep the coffee pot warm
And minimal parts to clean. With Cliff's we only had to rinse out the permanent filter and wash the coffee pot.

Yeeesshhhh. Everytime the head of accounts passes my desk she looks at me as though I'm supposed to hard at work. Even if I did already know how to do everything, there isn't enough to do for me to be doing stuff all the time. I don't know why she's so gungho about it. I hesistate to call her names because prior to all this, she's been quite nice to me. But soon enough, I imagine.

- - -

Wow, I haven't been this achy for quite awhile now. I went to the gym yesterday after a month off. It was good to find out that my cardio endurance is still there - I guess all the walking around I did helped maintain it - but I've definitely lost a lot of strength. Even dropping a coupla weight notches my muscles still went soggy quickly. I still have a good foundation to work with though, so I think if I start gymming regularly again, I'll get back into shape fairly quickly. I only gained a 1/2 kg from my vacation but that's quite deceptive since the lost muscles and gained fats probably balanced off. More important is that at least my waist hasn't expanded.

A front counter staff and a towel attendant complimented me on my cool hair. :-x I don't know if Cali had instituted a new customer relations policy in my absence but I was still quite happily flattered about it. Mmm, I only had one random stranger compliment my hair during my whole vacation. One of the waitresses at an SF dimsum place - a middle-aged Chinese woman - told me it looked soft and luxurious. Yea, it really is all that. :-P

I recall berkimp mentioned that I look just like my pics. I think he said it matter-of-factly but I liked it because I like my pics (since I only put up the good ones). :-P

- - -

I'm getting more used to my phone now. There are a bazillion apps to try so I can keep myself quite entertained with it. Right now my favorite is World Tour, which was recommended by Nam. Every half hour it replaces my phone's wallpaper with a screen shot from a random cam around the world. There've been quite a few gorgeous pictures!

The Meebo app is also useful since it logs into MSN, AIM, and Facebook chat all in one program. If my message on any of them says "hero!", it means I'm on Meebo!

And there's a Twitter app and a LJ app. The former has a widget so it's much cooler but I'm still not the habit of twittering every darn thing that pops into my head. The LJ app is barebones but at least it works, as proven by my last entry.

But...

It's kinda silly that although my phone uses a [Google] Android OS, there's no Gmail widget. I'm a little hardpressed to fill up all 7 homepages with widgets and shortcuts. I don't have to but it just looks better if I do.

And it sucks that the alarm only has ringtones and I can't use songs. Maybe there's an app for it. It's kinda annoying that sometimes you've to search for apps for basic stuff. Like I've an app to stop the phone's screensaver from kicking in just by pressing the app shortcut on the screen, as opposed to having to wander into the phone settings to do it.

Well the first LJ app I tested was fail. Let's see if this one works.

I'm still undecided about whether I like my phone, though since I'm stuck with it for two years, I had better learn to love it.

It seems I need to download apps for everything. At least most of them seem to be free. The annoying thing is having to download them for basic tasks, like needing an app to make sure background programs are closed, 'coz they don't close and just sit there sucking up memory and battery. And apparently I need an app to uninstall downloaded apps.

Only halfway through the 200+ page manual so far and Nam hasn't been online to help me with anything. His dates with the new guy must be going well. :-x

What I do like about the phone so far is being able to set up my 7 pages of uh... home page screen (?) myself - I finally learned how to manipulate and remove widgets. It's also cool that I can link Facebook profiles to my phone contacts so that their pictures and updates appear.

My Starhub connection seems perpetually bad so I don't know if my phone's a bit slow or if it's the connection. And when the connection vanishes for whatever reason, I have to reboot the phone to get it going again.

- - -

On the subject of Starhub, the 100 mbps modem they gave me to go with my new broadband speed doesn't work. It starts up but never seems to get an Internet connection. I don't know if it's because the new speed hasn't kicked in yet... which is another thing - it should've kicked in by now. Stupid Starhub.

- - -

The head of accounts keeps pushing me to do stuff. It's not a lot of work but somehow she expects me to jump right in and know how to do everything. Now she wants me to call up a new M'sian tenant to harass them into moving into the apartment sooner. I wonder if swearing or threatening bodily harm would work better. It would've helped if they had let the women in charge of all this teach me everything before a certain someone exiled her.

Yeesh, the head of accounts is bugging me to get that vacant unit filled somehow. Anyone want to rent an apartment in KL? : P 

My mom gave me a ten minute respite in the car before starting in on me about blah blah blah vacation gives wrong impression that we're rich blah blah blah she's broke blah blah blah.

I need another vacation. -_-

I'm at Narita and the wireless Internet access costs $6/day. Not a bad deal but I'm boarding in less than a half hour so it's certainly not worth it.

I remember now that transiting at Narita isn't as fun as it used to be. The United Airlines terminal has changed since I used to travel to and fro Boston and now there are less shops here and the two shops that have Jappy gizmos don't have much selection and both have the same stuff. I hadn't bought a gift for my brother yet but the only thing I could get him that befits his age is an electric shaver. It's not a bad gift, actually. I remember that I was around his age when my dad gave me one, and so it's quite appropriate that I should give him one now.

I like buying gifts for my siblings when I travel, as opposed to feeling obligated to buy gifts for whomever else because I have the "privilege" of travelling when they don't. When I was young, my dad travelled a fair bit and I would always look forward to his getting home because it meant gifts for me, lol. Sometimes it was clothes, which I hated, so I never buy those for my sibs. Instead I go for fun and/or practical, but always stuff that can't be gotten in S'pore. My second sister is lucky because her birthday is the same day as mine, and that means that since I'm travelling during then, I bring her a more expensive gift that doubles as a birthday present. This time I got her a charm bracelet from a store in that little German-esque village in Michigan.

- - -

Narita has smoking rooms! Finally, a civilized airport again. :-P It also has a lot of hot US army men on transit. Yum.

- - -

Dave recommended that I try to readjust my internal clock once I boarded my [first] flight so I popped some pills and tried to sleep soon after leaving SF, since my flight was 3am Singapore time. I did manage intermittent sleep and the 11-hour flight passed quickly so hopefully I won't be too jetlagged when I get home. I get in just past midnight on Tuesday and though the leave I took technically doesn't cover Tuesday, I had told my colleague before I left that I would only be back in on Wednesday. Hopefully they won't notice the discrepancy (or won't care). :-x

I'm itching to hit the gym again so I don't lose all of the work I put in before my vacation but my cold hasn't passed and I expect to have screwed-up sleep for at least a coupla days. Hopefully by the weekend.

I don't know why I selected this flight home to S'pore. Maybe it was the only one available today, I can't quite remember now. It's pretty messed up. I left SF late morning and got into Tokyo late afternoon, which meant the whole time the plane was flying in daylight, which made it interminably warm most of the time and quite hard to sleep. And I get back into S'pore late at night, which means I am supposed to try to sleep soon after so as to readjust my body clock, as opposed to unpacking and surfing and chilling, all of which I will end up doing anyway and I'll wind up sleeping rather late. Meh.

- - -

Okay, one last smoke before boarding.

- - -

I'm now aboard the flight home. Normally I wouldn't whip out my laptop while in cattle class since there simply isn't enough room but the guy beside me got bumped up to Economy Plus because his reading light wasn't working and suddenly I've got the two side seats to myself. There are individual video screens for every seat but the selection of movies for this flight sucks. I'm increasinly of the belief that life is too short to watch movies I don't care to watch. At least they have good music - I'm listening to a soul station with classic Motown and Stax et al. Ike and Tina's Proud Mary just came on. Wish I could sing along.

I packed two books in my hand-carry but I finished the first within two hours of boarding the SF flight. Good thing the other - Charlotte Chandler's biography of Groucho Marx - is heavier and slower reading than the Forgotten Realms fluff that was the first. Gosh, I think I bought over 20 books this trip. A good bunch of them are FR and Dragonlance fluff since they're cheaper there but I also bought off Amazon Marketplace and a coupla secondhand bookstores quite a few movie-related non-fics like the Marx bio. For the first time, I bought more books than DVDs. I wonder if it's a sign of changing times.

I've just noticed in the lav's mirror that I've quite a few more white hairs on my head than I thought. They're quite striking against my lovely raven locks but I've rarely paid attention to them because they've always been few enough to actually provide the benefit of making my hair look shinier since they're well-spaced between the black and reflect light. But there's definitely a lot more than the three from when I last counted a long time ago. I wonder if it's coming from natural aging or stress. Now that I think about it, my dad did use to get his hair dyed black when I was a kid so I guess it's genetic. If that's the case, at least I shouldn't expect to lose my hair - even my grandfather has a good amount of hair for someone his age. The white hairs don't bother me - at least for now - since they work with my hairdo.