Home Alone
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Home Alone
Staying at home alone, what do you know? My father is probably somewhere in Taiwan right now, driving around in his posh new Volkswagen and making business deals all across the island. My mother just landed in Taiwan two hours ago, and she was probably halfway through her dinner when she called me just now, and my sister is seven hours behind us in time, wandering the streets of London and sucking up the air before the end comes. Yes, I am indeed home alone for the next week or so, bracing myself against more than just the cruel December winds as well as the threat of starvation. To tell you the truth, as much as I am looking forward to the absolute liberty, the loud music as well as the friends that are coming over to hang out, I am still a little taken aback because of the food issue. The door to the kitchen should be taped, simply because of my horrendous cooking abilities. I am a great helper at cutting tofu, vegetables and whatnot. But when it comes to putting a recipe together, I am probably better off at rocket science. Cooking has never been my thing, and never will be - save for the uncanny ability to boil water.
Staying at home alone, what do you know? My father is probably somewhere in Taiwan right now, driving around in his posh new Volkswagen and making business deals all across the island. My mother just landed in Taiwan two hours ago, and she was probably halfway through her dinner when she called me just now, and my sister is seven hours behind us in time, wandering the streets of London and sucking up the air before the end comes. Yes, I am indeed home alone for the next week or so, bracing myself against more than just the cruel December winds as well as the threat of starvation. To tell you the truth, as much as I am looking forward to the absolute liberty, the loud music as well as the friends that are coming over to hang out, I am still a little taken aback because of the food issue. The door to the kitchen should be taped, simply because of my horrendous cooking abilities. I am a great helper at cutting tofu, vegetables and whatnot. But when it comes to putting a recipe together, I am probably better off at rocket science. Cooking has never been my thing, and never will be - save for the uncanny ability to boil water.
The last time I stayed in Singapore alone for an extended period of time, I had my sister yelling into my ears about dinner, but at least she was there to scream into my ears and break my sanity. I have no plans for the next couple of days, no idea what to eat or how to obtain certain those food. Those days when food used to be served three times a day are over, replacing those are empty stares at the stove as well as a fridge filled with untouched food. This is not good, but I guess I can survive this ordeal without shedding a single kilogram off the charts, which may threaten my physical existence on this planet almost literally. I have drawn up a few contingency plans in order to curb my starving problem everyday, though it certainly does not involve myself turning into a Muslim for a full week. Somebody like Naz wouldn't even have too much of a problem in a time like that, since 'starve' is probably his middle name. Besides, he has a car to bring him anywhere on the island for decent food. I can drive, but my skills are as good as I make a nine course dinner. You wouldn't want to find that out.
I intend to attack this period of time like those dreadful days when I was trapped in camp right before my ORD date exactly a year from today, locked up and without anything to do whatsoever. Food wasn't too much a problem back then, but I had a greater issue at hand back then. I had boredom complications, a disease that you contract when you are desperately out of things to do in a limited space and an extended period of time. Nothing interested me back then, which was ironic because throwing me outfield to do something made me even more depressed and upset. It was a dilemma faced by myself, as well as a hundred other personnel in camp back in those days, and we devised various ways to tackle our boredom complications. Of course, when it comes to such delicate operations, one has to be prepared to break certain rules in camp.
It was a baking hot afternoon last year when my OC, or our boss, came up with the idea of digging a damn pond in the middle of the company line. If you can find a man-made pond in any military camp around Singapore other than the one I was at, do let me know. As far as I am concerned, my company line is probably the only company line in the whole of Singapore conducive enough for freshwater fishes, because we are the bunch of dumb people who dug a hole out of boredom. We started digging that damn hole in the company line, and started filling it out with cement and eventually pouring in water from the fire hose. We even had a fountain to boot, built out of old bricks and broken tiles. It was a grotesque thing, but at least it killed a lot of boredom for us back then. We had our revenge on the OC right before he left anyway - we threw him into the pond he ordered us to make. How poetic. Maybe I should begin some sort of construction at home. It's radical, but it is an idea.
While waiting for those DVDs to arrive at my doorstep, I plan to download a whole bunch of movies for my viewing pleasure. Laying on my bed while watching a movie on my iMac is really quite an experience as it was proven last night, and it also gives me a reason to skip a meal every once in a while. Between those movies, I intend to occupy myself with quality time online while turning the music on to full blast, then catching up on that book reading habit of mine which has been left aside for way too long. Which means that it'd also be possible to spot me on random cafes in town, just reading alone and shopping for even more books. No rules for me these days, and I intend to exploit that to the best I can. Kania asked what I would do if the plot of Home Alone does happen to me in real life. In that case, I'd treat the trilogy as a documentary of sorts, then. Got to stock up on those Christmas decorations to act as my defense system.
Monday, which is tomorrow, has yet to be fully planned. But we do intend to catch the Kumar show at Hard Rock Cafe later at night, and that is certainly something to look forward to. Tuesday is going to be Shen's housewarming party, and whatever party that is happening ten minutes away from my house should expect my presence without a doubt. Not to mention the shopping trip with Jonno before that to pick up the external DVD player for the new iMac, as well as Corinna's visit on Wednesday to make me her trademark mushroom soup for dinner. Those are as far as plans go for me these days, and everything else up until my departure for Taiwan has yet to be marked, so do feel free and date me dear friends, especially the ladies. During this lonely month of December, I am completely single and fully available.
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on Sunday, December 09, 2007 at 6:51 PM.
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