That Friday Feeling

I don't know why, but I can't get motivated today. I feel like staying at home, in my most tatty, faded yet comfortable jim jams and veg out. Just writing this simple blog is taking every single bit of energy I can muster - and I'm even sitting down! It might be the weather, or it may be the fact that I have been going out after work practically every night this week. Not a good idea when you're getting on a bit like me.


I have quickly realised that I'm no longer in my 20's where partying 7 nights a week was normal. It seems that all those years of partying has taken its toll now that I am in my 30's. I can just about keep awake for last orders in my local pub. Gone are the days when I start the night out by having a few drinks in the pub/bar, then go off dancing the night away in a really cool club. The only club I go to now is my local bingo club - and even then I am pushed to stay past 9pm!


Oh the joys of life. When we're young, we struggle so hard to be grown up. Now that I'm heading towards 'the middle ages', I remember fondly the careless adventures of my youth. That's human nature, I suppose. Always looking for something you don't have.

The Curse of Battlestar Galactica

It’s another Tuesday night and once again, I have been relegated to the bedroom, while my other half sits in the living room, surround sound on full force, watching what I consider to be his mistress - Battlestar Galactica. For one hour, I am not allowed to wander down the stairs or say a word lest his majesty be terribly irate. And so I sit up here, surfing the net, listening to cheesy songs as I wait for those 60 long minutes to lapse til I can move freely around my own home.

Perverse it may seem, but I believe that it’s healthy for married couples to have time alone - so if that means I am banished to the top of the tower, as it were, I guess that’s a small price to pay for years of married bliss.

I think I've been Englified

Today, I experienced the weirdest thing - I didn't feel like eating rice.

For a Filipino, this is almost an impossibility. Case in point: I have a Filipino friend who has been living in the UK for almost 7 years and she still eats rice everyday. She's never had a Sunday Roast (which is a shame, really - something I intend to rectify sharphish!) and pretty much eats Pinoy food everyday.

I, on the other hand, have the best of both worlds. I enjoy a regular helping of Filipino cuisine, but at the same time, I also eat Mexican, Italian, Swedish, Spanish and of course, British food on a regular basis. My husband and I love good food and eating out is one of our passions.

But no matter what exotic cuisine I may pop into my big gob, I still manage to squeeze freshly boiled rice (the white one - you know, the one that's bad for you!) into my regular diet.

However, in recent days, my desire to eat rice has been laclustre at best. I've started craving for potatoes. In all shapes and kinds. Chips, crisps, boiled, fried, oven baked, roasted, mashed...Even the other half is starting to wonder, when one evening, he suggested we have Kare Kare. And for the first time in my 30+ years on God's good earth, I didn't feel like Filipino food, or any food that you ate rice with for that matter.

I told him I wanted a chip butty. He almost fainted. Is there something wrong with me?

The Magic Number

The number 8 is significant in particular cultures because it symbolises luck and prosperity. Although I don't ascribe to such baseless superstitions nowadays, I did when I was younger. Silly old me actually believed that if I had the number 8 in my chat handle, car registration or username, that good luck will follow me wherever I went. How naive I was then! Now I know that there's no such thing as luck - if you want prosperity and success, you'll have to work for it. And no amount of number 8s will change that reality.

I'm focussing on the number 8 because today, my husband and I celebrate 8 years of married bliss. Well, the fact that we haven't strangled each other all this time is a major achievement! Kidding aside, however, I know that I am very fortunate to have found someone who has willingly shared his life with me - and quite frankly, actually doesn't mind sharing my life with him at all!

In a world where marriages come and go, where divorce seems to be the norm (government and think-tank statistics tell us this) and infidelity seems somehow acceptable, I'm grateful for the partnership I have with my other half. It's not a walk in the park, mind you. As a matter of fact, marriage is the biggest commitment I have ever made in my life. It's the reason I left the comforts and familiarity of my homeland and everything that comes with it. But what dividends I gained in return! I can't imagine a life different from what I have now - well, maybe with the exception of adding more to my designer handbag collection, but apart from that, I'm sorted, thank you very much.

Here's looking forward to 8 more years and 8 more after that and 8 more...

January Blues

All the turkey's been eaten and presents have been opened. Credit cards are charged to the max and everyone's back in work.

January sucks, doesn't it? Instead of an introduction, it's more of an anti-climax. January reminds me of that awful film 'Mission to Mars'. The first hour and a half was exciting, much like the buzz we all get when Christmas is coming up. Then, Gary Sinise ruins it all by deciding he wanted to be with the aliens and live happily ever after. That's what January's like - the month that ruins Christmas.

Everyone's skint, the weather is atrocious (as I look out the window writing this, the wind is howling and it's pouring down in flood-like proportions), and everyone's poorly. My office building is filled with people sniffling, coughing, heaving. Workstations look like mini chemists, filled with an assortment of over the counter medication.

I wish it was February.