What satisfies you?

No, I'm not asking an intimate question here, so don't get too excited over this post :) Actually, it's a very boring post ahead.

It's been a long day. In fact, it's been a very long weekend for me. Hubby is overseas on work and this is the first time I'm left with baby alone. Over the weekdays, it wasn't too bad because I only had to manage him when I got home from work and in the nights when he woke up for feeds.

Then came the weekend...we normally go out and baby is quite a breeze to handle when we're out. Well, almost all the time except when he gets sleepy and goes crancky on us. But since I'm alone, I didn't want to go out despite mom being there to help me out if I really wanted to go out.

Since baby can't differentiate between a workday and a weekend, he doesn't give me the time to sleep in on weekends. I still gotta get up when he does, which can be anytime from six to eight. Anyway, I've been up early and I quickly get through the morning doing laundry with mom's help to look in on him.

Then the day gets by quite busily for me, from feeding to washing to playing and carrying, trying to make him go to sleep, watching over him as he tries to crawl but falls. I don't get to stop to relax even as he takes a nap because that's the time I get to finish up whatever else I need to do. It also doesn't help that he doesn't nap long.

Now after 2 straight days of mothering and all the related work that comes with it, I finally settle down on a Sunday night after baby has gone to bed. It's CSI night and I sit down in front of the TV to begin the CSI marathon. But wait, I suddenly remembered I had earlier spotted two pots that badly needed scrubbing. I look at the clock and decided to miss one episode of CSI. So I went to scrub and scrub and scrub. It feels really good to see the pot sparkling clean! The one hour of CSI that I gave up was well worth it!

Now I sit in front of the TV again and catch the second CSI for the night, with a cup of steaming hot green tea. I feel so satisfied thinking of the sparkling pots. Then suddenly, it hit me. Have I caught on the Monica Disease (as in the sitcom Friends)? I'm not usually obssessed with cleaning, just the usual mood to spring clean every now and then. But with that dire need to scrub those pots tonight, it really felt like a Monica moment.

But since I had so much pleasure in doing so, I guess I won't mind even if it's a disease that hits me every now and again. At the end of the day, it's all about doing something in your life that makes you satisfied and happy. It can be the most mundane and useless task or thing to the rest of the world but if it makes you happy, why not?

I'll go to bed tonight knowing that I've had a full weekend. Though it was a lot of work and quite tiring, I had a lot of fun with baby...and scrubbing! :)

Life is very unpredictable

There were many times in my life when I was unhappy with my job and wanted to get out to find something else. Sometimes I was so desperate that anything that came along would suit me just fine. But jobs were hard to come by and I never really got the "break" I wanted so badly.

But over time, with lots of job applications and some interviews later, I managed to get myself out of a job that I couldn't stand any longer. However, at each of those jobs, they never made me feel settled. After a while, I wanted out again and my hunting would start all over again.

When I got my current job a year and a half ago, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Many people said it's not the best company to join because the company apparently works you like a dog. I joined anyway and I'm glad to have found what everyone said to be untrue. Well, not for my division and bosses anyway.

This is the first time in my work life that I feel settled, happy and convinced that I could retire with the company. Of course no one would know how the future will pan out, but at least I have found a place where I am happy to stay with for a long time.

After I joined the company, I got married and had a baby. Now life seems good with a stable job and we're just starting out with a family. The ambitious part of me has long subsided and I am just happy where I am, not really all charged up anymore to climb the corporate ladder the way I once was.

But just when you're complacent and not looking nor expecting opportunities, they come to you automatically. Isn't that ironic? Why is it that you get nothing when you're desperate for something, but it comes knocking on your door when you aren't looking? I've had two great opportunities offered to me in the last one month. One of them is a temporary overseas posting to gain exposure. Now that I'm so attached to baby, I could never accept such work postings. So I said no and that's that.

Then came another opportunity to take over my boss' position. This one is hard to say no to. It's not easy saying yes either, because I now have to consider the time and more committment involved in shouldering a lot more responsibilities. Yet my boss and even her boss are urging me to take this up as it will be better prospects for me. Given the ambitious me in the past, I would've jumped at it and without the need to think through, I would've said yes. But now, I feel the difference in me, I need to think about it, sleep on it and decide.

Life is really like a box of chocolate, isn't it? You will never know what you're gonna get...will my next piece of chocolate be a sweet pretty thing, or will it be one of those dark bitter chocolates? Life is unpredictable and there are risks everywhere. I'm a risk averse person, so I only take calculated risks. I hope I'm making the right decision. Wish me luck.

Is it an April Fool's joke or is it really my birthday?

When I stepped into the office this morning, my colleagues wished me happy birthday. Some of them asked "Is it really your birthday?", to which I answered "No, it's a prank I play on everyone every year! You won't really know for sure if it really is my birthday, will you?"

My nice colleagues planned a surprise birthday lunch for me, but really, I wasn't that surprised because we tend to organise birthday surprises all the time! Hehe. I asked some of them "You guys are up to something for lunch right?" and they said "No" with a straight face but the no was a very unconvincing no. You see, weeks earlier, one of them had already asked me to save the day for lunch with him. That is the normal "modus operandi" to block the birthday girl or boy's time, and I have been one who played that role for some of the other's birthdays too. I gotta say it gets incredibly hard to organise a surprise nowadays! Nevertheless, I truly appreciate them taking me out for lunch.

We went to a cosy little place called Palate Palatte in the heart of town. The ambience was rather cute, the food was good, but most importantly the company and conversations made the lunch a great one. The day being April Fool's Day, we played quite a mean joke on my boss (told ya we are quite the Queen B). He didn't suspect it was a joke at all, so we succeeded in having our good share of fun at his expense! :D

They bought me a deliciously rich durian cheesecake from Fat Boy Bakes which was so satisfying as a dessert to our meal. It's so good that I don't mind eating it again anytime soon. In fact, I will be placing an order for this cake tomorrow!

When the day ended at work, it was time to have an intimate family dinner. At dinner, baby was the center of our attraction. Actually, he's our attraction all the time! :)

When we were done with dinner, the waiters at the restaurant brought out a birthday cake and lit the candles. Baby was so excited and he was smiling so widely at the sight of the brightly lit cake. Then the waiters heartily belted out the birthday song and the poor baby got scared and burst into tears! It was really funny but I felt so sorry for my little boy. After pacifying him, I pinched a very tiny piece of the sponge cake and let him chew on it. He lit up and loved it! He's quite an eater, this little one.

I've enjoyed the day very much. Every SMS and call that I received from friends and family from near and far warms my heart. It's been a great birthday. I can't ask for anything more.