Today I thought I would try my old Swedish non-habit of running/jogging/reallyjustwalkingfastandoccasionallygettingtoaslowjog. Without telling John anything about it, since I thought that if I did not do it I would not feel ashamed if he asked, I dressed as soon as he was out the door and took the elevator downstairs.
Started with a quick walk and tried to find the designated jogging-track. There are marks in the ground - arrows pointing in two different directions and on some locations just one. When I found four arrows I started jogging.
Soon I found stairs which I would not challenge and so I walked up, two steps at a time. So much exercise. Walked around one of the pools. With the sun in my face I jogged straight forward through the whole condominium until I were back where I started. Thought I would take another run; I had walked most part of the first round since I needed to check where the arrows were.
Another go. Still I walked up the stairs. Started to feel warm. I had my phone inside my shorts but as I got hotter and my hip sweatier the phone started to glide down. When I came to the straight way through the area I took the phone in my hand and with the sun in my face I jogged through it all.
At the end of that road I felt like I was going to be sick. It was apparently thirty degrees and I am used to running in around fifteen or even less in Sweden. So I had to sit down and calm my stomach. Nothing happened, just overestimated myself. I walked back home.
In the mirror I discovered my red face. Hello, I said. Is this because I just ran in the heat or did I seriously burn my face?
I wanted to give you an update on what is happening here in Singapore.
John is working, like he always does. We made a schedule for me to help me write as much as possible. I have been trying to stay to the hours on the paper, but I find it very difficult. I have a problem with routines and tend to break them subconsciously. The plan is for me to work (writing, drawing, editing - somehow work on my book/world) between ten and one, then have lunch and continue to work between two and five.
All I can see is hours. Hours that wants to control me. Hours that tells me to do one thing. My brain goes against it. It will not do it. Instead it takes me to the computer; gaming or watching something unnecessary. Instead it sits me in front of the TV; gaming or watching something unnecessary.
Even though I know I want to write. I know I want to draw animals from my world. This is my life-goal, I want to be a published author and to finish my book-series. Without the schedule I will not have a steady flow, the book will be forgotten for weeks at some points. With the schedule my mind will try to fight it.
How do I stay put in my chair with only the documents up?
You can now also find my Goodreads-reviews in the sidebar to the right just under my Twitter.
It started like any other Sunday should. Slow morning, brunch at the food court (which is really a hawker center) and some vacuum cleaning after that. In the afternoon, out of nowhere, the fire alarm started blaring outside the door. Well, fire alarms usually start out of nowhere, but it felt like we missed the information about a fire drill. John went out to the corridor and checked what the neighbours were doing - which turned out to be the same as him, walking around looking confused and trying to figure out if we should go outside.
Today we took a trip to Orchard Road. Once again we had to travel on three different lines to get there, with two stations being the longest time travelled on one line. Once we came out of the MRT we knew exactly where to go to find the way out from the last time we were running around in that crazy well-planned-for-not-getting-out mall.
The mission on Orchard was to go to Games @ PI and buy board games for tomorrow. It was a pleasantly warm day and the first thing we noticed was a really load drumming sound from across the street. The sound lured us to its location. A crowd had formed and sparked our interest. We climbed up on a fountain where other people where standing and saw a group of young adults play drums, flutes and other interesting Japanese instruments. I recorded one song and you will find it at the end of this post. They were so skilled and so happy, all of the drummers had impressive muscles and stamina. I danced a little and could not help myself from smiling because they were having such a blast performing.
When they allowed people from the audience to try out the instruments we decided it was time to go. Found an underpass and came up on the right side of the street and headed towards the board game store. I remembered the swim-trunks that I found with Annika a long time ago and wanted to show them to John. I could easily find my way back and, as a side adventure, showed John a carpet that is as soft as an fluffy pet or something like it. I could adopt that carpet! It was not that expensive but John did not want to buy it because he thought I would just lay on it during the days. I failed to see the negative aspect of this.
Then we went to the store and he really liked the shorts. I knew it! So I told him to try them and gave him XL in size. No, he said, that is too big, he said, and brought M to the changing room. I waited outside. Soon he peeked out and asked me to fetch L. I came back and waited. Again he peeked out, asked me to go get the XL. I smiled. gave him a look and went to fetch the size I had recommended from the beginning. They fitted and we bought them.
After being very comfortable in the air conditioned mall we exited into the heat and continued down the road. After a few minutes we found Games @ PI and asked the guy behind the counter about board games he recommended. He had some interesting stories to tell about him and his friends playing the games he held up. Some of the stories were very detailed about the army and the setting and the punishments and the thoughts he had about them. I swear he told us his life story. After a long tale about one game we told him that it was not for us and he picked up another one to tell us about it and of course the time he and his friends and played it.
We spent one hour and ten minutes in there. He talked more than John, which was kind of nice for a change and very interesting after spending so much time with John who really can talk, but this guy was almost worse. Not in a bad way. I did not get to say much, hard to get something in the air during these long rants. We ended up buying Ticket To Ride and The Resistance with two expansions. Hopefully this will be a new friend who will invite us to hang out at the store where tables where full and people where playing Magic The Gathering and Dead of Winter.
We were very tired after that and also very hungry since we had only been eating breakfast. At six we found our way to Food Junction, a food court, and bought dinner. I had rice and half-cooked salmon in teriyaki sauce with miso-soup whilst John ate spicy Thai chicken and rice. I missed our little kitten and so after we were done we hurried home. Three subway-lines later we came home with sore feet (both of us had been wearing flip-flops, which apparently are not good for walking a lot).
Have a nice evening to you and thanks for reading.
I took sleeping pills last night since I have had little sleep for three nights in a row, so when John woke up and got ready for work I was still under the influence of these pills and had a hard time waking up. I thought I would get another hour when he left but shortly after the door closed behind him there was a knock.
Today was not the day I wanted several men in my apartment.
So ten minutes to nine this morning we had an Chinese man here. John had not left for work yet so he could talk to him and I could nod while not understanding their poor English. The man unscrewed every cupboard door and then screwed them back on. Then he tightened the cabinet in the bathroom. While doing this work another man came in, I wonder if he were here to help or just to stare. The second man, Indian, mostly went in and out of the door and talked in short terms with the working man.
Another man came in, this one with purple hair. He had been here before and told us that the coldest water we could get was the coldest we could get (John had the impression that water could get colder. I agree, but I guess that in Asia the water can not be as cold as it is in northern Europe). This time the purple man stood by and watched as the Chinese man worked. After a few long minutes another Indian man came in through the door, not the previous Indian. The purple man goes:
"I messaged you fifteen minutes ago! Did you come all the way from India? Huh?"
So, yeah. The not-enough-offended-guy "hung" from some device stuck to the mirror in the bathroom to probably check how well it was secured. After that he stood on an upside down bucket to reach all the way around the mirror with glue. The Chinese man continued the work on the cupboards. The Indian glued the mirror. The second Indian man peeked inside but left quickly. The purple haired man asked about Ymir and I did not want to have them there at all.
Eventually they left. Yippie! It was close to eleven and I could finally get some peace and quiet for my need to write. It went slowly. I tried to get up to speed, reading a few pages and thinking what I wanted more to happen in this chapter. Just as I was getting into it the intercom rung. I answered, asked who it was but got no reply, so I chose not to open the door downstairs.
Yet I suspected someone might knock on the door either way so I scouted through the peek-hole and waited. Soon I saw a maintenance man coming around the corner. After he used the not-functioning doorbell I opened the door like it had actually worked. His English was worse than the others. Said something about balcony and oil. Very sceptical I let him in; he did not appear to want to leave without doing what he came to do.
Out on the balcony he saw the wire mesh we had put up the day before. Said he needed to remove one piece so that he could reach whatever he was supposed to reach. I really did not understand much. Quite annoyed I let him clip away the wire mesh. He said he would put it back when he was done. I sat in the sofa to observe what the hell was going on but whatever he did did not make sense to me. First he hammered, then use a machine to perhaps file, then took a photo of it and a cardboard with our apartment number on it, used another machine to do something else and then finally used the oil he told me he would use.
Ymir the cat was very brave. He got scared of the machines but was mostly curious about the men. I locked him inside the bedroom while they were running around but took him out for short minutes just to let him see what was going on.
After almost an hour the guy was done, packed his things and left. I did notice that he did not put up the wire mesh. Even if he would I would have stopped him and said we would do it. I did not trust this guy.
Finally alone. Perhaps I can write a few pages now?
Yesterday around noon a couple came over to our apartment. They brought a cat with them and after opening their cage the little kitten slowly emerged into his new home.
Welcome Ymir.
Ymir is a Maine Coon and three months old, cream coloured with amber eyes. After he sniffed around the furnitures and made sense of the fresh surroundings he started playing with some toys we had bought the day before. No fear, no hiding. He came to us and sniffed our toes, fingers and legs. After the couple left he ran around for a while checking every room except for the bedroom. He hid under the sofa but not as if he was afraid, he was hiding for the toys and then spurted out towards them. When he found the door to the bedroom he looked as if he had completely missed that there was a room there. Slowly he investigated it and decided that, yep, this is another room.
We spent the day inside to be with him - except for when we went out to try and find something interesting at the food court for lunch but only ended up with lime juice. During the afternoon it started to rain and the little boy was a bit afraid, but not as much as we had expected. He did not hide. His game with the jingling stuffed fish continued but froze for a second when lightning struck close by. We ordered McDonalds for a late lunch and had it delivered. It is nice (and possibly dangerous) to have it delivered for such a good price plus the extra burger you sometimes get.
Ymir did not seem to miss his mother or the humans he used to live with. He was very friendly from the start; jumped up in the sofa to cuddle, ran after us wherever we went. We discovered quickly that he thought glasses should not be on humans; he likes to put his nose under your eye and push the glasses of. He also likes feet; especially biting the toes. And apparently John's nipple which he also fancied.
When we went to bed and closed the door behind us the brave little soldier meowed for a short period of time and then stopped. He did not disturb us in the middle of the night so I believe he slept or enjoyed himself.
He is perfect for us. We love him so much. Feels like he has been in our lives longer than almost two full days.
