After treating a heat rash in the groin area for two weeks with only slow improvement, I decided to go to the doctor for something more serious. There's an excellent small clinic (one doctor) in the mall next door to where I work. I tell the female doctor my problem and she asks me to drop my drawers to look at the rash ("no worries," she says). Then she tells me: "It's too hot here for you. June and July are much hotter." She gives me a wash, a cream, and some pills. The dark purple wash (labeled only as "PP") needs to be diluted before use. When I ask how much to dilute it I'm told: "Until light purple."
I tell the doctor I want to get a booster tetanus shot, so she opens a cabinet, grabs a needle and sticks me. Very efficient! I went in without an appointment, she saw me within 10 minutes and I was out within 25 minutes.
Yesterday was Thanksgiving and I didn't even realize it until about 9:15 at night. Clearly, we didn't plan anything for it. In fact, we had a paltry dinner of leftover rice and peapods. Still, it was an enjoyable evening. We went for a swim and then met with Sean Connolly over at the Clarke Quay.
Just a few weeks back I was reading Sean's Internet accounts of his travels around the world. About the same time I was also reading Marc Brosius' travel journals. I sent some email to Marc, who I had communicated with years before when he was compiling his excellent "Round-the-World Travel FAQ," sending him some tips on scams I'd seen in China. I figured Marc would be in touch with many long distance travelers. I told him I was living over here in Singapore with a big apartment and two spare rooms, and would let people stay here in exchange for return accommodations when Sybil and I do our RTW traveling in two years.
The next day I got email from Sean, who was just arrived in S'pore! I hadn't realized that Marc and Sean knew each other. Actually, Sean is more interested in having a room here in April when he swings back through town. He broke up with his girl friend, decided to ramble about a bit, and will then look for a job overseas. We went out for a few beers and had a pleasant chat.
Of course we miss our family very much, especially during the holiday season.
One of the books we've finished is an account of "My Life in Japan and Singapore During the 1920's and 1930's". It's about a British woman who lived here and in Japan with her husband and children. She's not much of a writer, but her story is genuine and full of interesting glimpses into early ex-pat life. Sixty years from now someone may well make the same comment about my S'pore Journal.
Just when I thought I'd scoped out all the best lunch deals in the vicinity, up pops another. A few weeks back, a new hawker stand opened up in the food court above the P-Mart at the tail end of Orchard Road. I frequent this makaplace because one stall is a good place for Hong Kong noodles. But ever since "Mukara's Muslim Food" opened up next door, the lines have been very, very long. The locals are well known for their attraction to new places so I allowed some time for the novelty to wear off-but today the line was still long.
I hate lines. In fact, I had just passed up one of my favorite soup stalls at the Paradiz Mall because the line was too long. Still, I decided to wait even longer for Mukara's. It's a husband and wife operation-no signs, no prices, just point to what you want and they slop it over rice. So I can't tell you exactly what I got, but it was mostly very nice vegetables, large portions and only S$2.50.
By comparison, Sean and I each dropped about $S30 last night and only got about two beers (one was a sampler) each. If you know your way around you can eat amazing lunches here for a pittance. When I go out with Raju for Indian food, we spend between S$1.60 and S$5 for extremely tasty and very filling meals. You rarely have to pay more than S$5 for a great meal. Yet, there are places that charge S$25 and up for an entree, and beer is never cheap because of taxes. In fact, drinks in general are not cheap and it's not unusual for a small drink to cost as much as an inexpensive entree.
Before we came over here, I was debating between working in London and working in Singapore. I told my brother-in-law Steve that "it's either great beer or great food." How true those words turned out! Sybil and I have been immersed in a study of Asian cooking. Sybil is always pouring over a new cookbook or mixing up spices and I love to play with all the wonderful ingredients so readily available here. This is definitely one of the food capitols of the world, but if you want a beer-forget it or be prepared to pay. On my trips to London, I used to eat Indian food because it was best and cheapest meals I could find. Well, the Indian food is better and far cheaper in Singapore and you don't stop there for variety.
I still love London and would very much like to do an ex-pat stint there as well. However, I'm very happy to be here first, so I can learn how to cook SE Asian style and be prepared to survive in unpalatable England. Of course I'll no doubt be playing a different tune in my future "London Journal" when after popping into a fine English pub I note how superior it is to be there than Singapore.
Sybil is concerned Sean may have malaria symptoms, so she insisted I do some research on the subject. It seems the disease is growing again and more drug resistant mosquitoes are around. The Thai government sends troops to malaria infested areas near their Burmese and Cambodian borders. They inject their soldiers with the latest anti-malaria drugs, but this only causes a vicious cycle, as the mosquitoes become increasingly more resistant. The Thai troops still get malaria and they create super-mosquitoes in the process. Need to repair that hole in the sleep netting!
Since episode one I've been promising more information about the malls here and the shopping culture. There are several reasons why it has taken me so long to deliver. First and foremost, there can be no more alien culture for me to come to grips with. People who know me realize I'm prone to taking voluntary simplicity too far. Basically, outside of traveling equipment and food, I don't buy things and have always avoided the cancerous (an adjective I've always somehow associated with them) shopping malls in the States.
However, if you're going to do the S'pore thing, you've got to hang out in the malls. It's an integral part of the culture (damn it!) so it's necessary for an understanding of the place.
At first glance, S'pore malls seem very similar to big (or BIG!) American malls, but there are many differences. First off, at least half the people in there have simply dropped in to get out of the heat. Air conditioning is another thing I've always hated but you need it here. Like the locals, I now cut through malls any chance I get-just to cool off a bit. So, despite the fact there are gigantic malls everywhere-far more monstrous shopping complexes than one could ever imagine, with far more things for sale than any amount of people could possibly buy-the malls are usually packed with people.
Events are another main difference between S'pore malls and State malls. Oh sure, they have events in malls in the States, but nothing (!) like what they have here. The malls are the place for local entertainment, and usually they do it up big. I've seen so many things going on in S'pore malls that even if I limit my descriptions to last weekend and only to things I noticed, I'll still run on too much-but here goes. Remember this is just a fairly ordinary weekend for events too, although all the malls are decked out for Christmas (and have been for at least two months).
At the Wisma, famous for its fabulous basement aquarium-filled with sharks and colorful fish in a circular tank wrapping around a glass elevator bank, we saw a full-scale fashion show, with professional models, dance routines, announcer, catwalk poses, the whole nine yards. Outside Ngee Ann City, the NFL (along with many other sponsors) put on a promotion for American football. This was an all day affair, with cheerleaders and demonstrations of the rules, all done atop a miniature football field in front of the plaza. They had contests (in kiasu S'pore contests are ubiquitous, but more on that later) and a touch football exhibition game. Sybil and I toss the pigskin around for fun.
Moving on to Border's (yes, the bookstore chain) there's a children's reading going on, accompanied by music blaring over the intercom, but it's so well attended we can't even see what it was about. We pass by Great World City, where the president's wife was guest of honor at its grand opening ceremony the night before, and which has many events today, including a magic performance, but we don't stop in. Out at older Tiong Barhu mall there's a mini-car race in progress. Adult men holding complex controls that look like fishing reels guide remote controlled cars, about two feet long, around a large circuitous track. A complicated series of races are staged to determine an eventual winner. An extremely noisy charity garage sale, thanks to a loquacious DJ with a predilection for 70's disco, blasts nearby. He could be heard for blocks but the "garage sale" consisted of about ten tables' worth of stuff. Also at Tiong Barhu was a children's karaoke contest, hosted by a comic. At the Cineplex mall a row of five TV's beamed the latest Counting Crows video (and others) at a young crowd seated in graduated rows. At Raffle's Place we saw a Warner Brother's performance, complete with costumed Bugs Bunny and other characters. At one point Sylvester does a little rap song number (rap is strangely popular). Sybil shakes his head quizzically and asks me why. "Because he's black," I reply.
The pick of the week was the laser show put on at Bugis Junction. This was done at night, outside in the courtyard by the fountain-a showy fountain being a sine qui non for a S'pore mall, and they do have the best modern fountains I've ever seen. A video screen display of a dancing X-Mas tree (looking like a cross between McDonald's Evil Grimace and an ameba) sang and laughed merrily ("I'm the happiest Christmas tree. Ha, ha, ha, he, he, he") to get the light show started and the laser lights bounced everywhere around the courtyard-through the spouting fountain, over the replica of the Bugis sailing vessel, and over the outlines of the surrounding buildings. Then the music got spacey and the video turned into a scaled down 2001 Space Odyssey acid trip light show and smoke machines belched smoke up into the air for the lasers to turn into ghostly forms. Sometimes the smoke machines would burp into the crowd too and at one point I lost Sybil for a few moments in the hazy laser lights. Remember this was done in the middle of a mall courtyard so people are constantly passing through the crowd watching the show. It was all confusingly fun.
So how do all these malls stay in business if the locals are just hanging around watching the events? Surely the tourists, despite their large numbers, can't be the only one's shopping? It took me a long time to figure this one out. I've learned that while the locals are rarely actively shopping for things, they are in effect, in constant passive shopping mode. They may just wander into a mall, but these malls are deviously designed to suck you in and keep you there. Many escalators will lead you into the depths of a store, but only a few bring you back out. The floorplans are well-constructed mazes of color and eye catching displays. Friendly salespeople are always giving you samples or demonstrating things. Sales are everywhere! Great deals are passing you by!
The kicker is that they always have food and very good food too. Sybil and I had top notch Steamboat-the southern version of Mongolian Hot Pot-at Bugis Junction last Saturday. After dipping our delicious seafood and vegetables into spicy Thom Hoc soup, and then drinking down the splendid resulting broth we were very "heaty" indeed. We left with happy tummies but dying of thirst as they only served tiny cups of juice at high prices. It got worse after we added some free samples of Japanese cheesecake (lighter and dryer than American versions) to our thirsty palates. We were headed for the Cold Storage to get a cheap drink, but we passed by a fancy tea store and thought we'd taste some of their wares . . ..
We were looking for what we call a "yogi opportunity" but we got sucked in. The two salesgirls were so very, very nice, brewing up batch after batch of tea for us to try. No pressure at all to buy. They helped us translate Chinese characters. They pulled out their tea books to try to help us find the tea we had with Terry. We can't find it, but after tasting so many of their teas and learning more about them, I'm convinced the "Three Golden Leaves" we had with Terry was not a green tea, as he told us, but an oolong, which is partially fermented. They give us a taste of another Taiwanese oolong that, while different from the "Three Golden Leaves," is also delicious. It's also just as expensive, but somehow we wind up shelling out S$40 for only 100g of tea.
That's the way it goes. You may only want to pass through a mall or just get something to eat, but you invariably pick up a few things here and there. It had been our intention to get some green tea down in Chinatown sometime-after scoping out the best prices. Instead, we wound up buying some in the Japanese Takashimaya (because who can resist Japanese packaging!) and again at the expensive Bugis teashop. And if Sybil and I, two of the most disinterested shoppers on the planet, find ourselves picking up unintended items in the malls, you can bet that everyone else does it-enough to keep the malls profitable despite their oceans of air con and endless spectacular events.
Sunday was the night of our parent company's (Dairy Farm) annual bash. I've justly criticized Cold Storage Singapore for being cheap and having some bad managers, but the home base definitely knows how to throw a party! It was basically a dinner show at the ritzy Westin Plaza, with entertainment provided by a mix of professional and employee talent-the latter being surprisingly good. They had some great humor too, such as the CEO (a Hong Kong Brit) entering the room amid smoke machines and "spy" music. He was surrounded by Chinese hoodlums, smoking cigarettes and carrying toy machine guns, and accompanied with a bevy of wives (men dressed in drag as Nonyas) and retainers. Earlier in the show, the senior managers did a nightclub type dance number.
There were plenty of contests, games and lucky draws. One contest was a wild affair where they would play a few bars of music and then the first person (out of a crowd of about 2,000!) to run up on stage, sit in a chair and name the tune, got a prize. Sybil and I, because of our good seating in the front, our superior abilities at musical trivia, and because we're just plain unabashed about running up on stage, each won prizes at this. I had to quickly beat someone to the chair but there were some closer near collisions and at one point a manager dove onto the stage to beat someone running around to the stairs in order to get to the chair first.
Sybil gets on stage at another point and the hostess, a professional singer, asks her to sing a few bars of a song. Sybil doesn't know all the words, so she starts "meowing" along to the tune. This is something she often does at home as a joke (I call it her "Chinese Cat" routine) but the hostess and the crowd are a bit perplexed at first until the hostess explains hesitatingly "she prefers to meow it."
A flamboyant Dutch MC keeps the games and contests moving along and an American mime/magician/comic provides great entertainment. Exploding fireworks and other pyrotechnics are dangerously shot through the room. The meal is an eight-course event with several superior Chinese delicacies. We don't win the lucky draw but have a great time and don't get out until nearly 1am (with work the next day).
Getting back to the competitive spirit thread. Last weekend we went to the Tiong Bahru area because we'd read in an old guidebook that men would gather there and hang their birdcages up and listen to their pet birds sing. Instead, we found a full-blown "bird singing" competition in progress. The contest included two species, each with about 150 contestants. Judges would crouch under cages, intently listening to the quality of a particular bird's song and busily jot down some notes about each one. Prizes and trophies went to the winners and of course they held the ubiquitous lucky draw.
The buzzword around Singapore for the last several years is kiasu. It literally means afraid of losing or fear of falling behind, but the word is used to describe typically Singaporean behavior of selfishly grabbing what you can get-taking all you can rather than all you need. In HEN terminology this would be like always taking a yogi in and never giving a yogi out. There's also a fiercely competitive side to the kiasu complex, but it's a compensation out of fear.
It's analogous to the rushing Type-A personality. The term kiasu is also understood in Malaysia. One Malay newspaper article quoted a Road Safety Chairman warning against holiday drivers acting kiasu: "Motorists must not harbour (sic) the kiasu attitude but must exercise restraint and patience."
Here's a cute ditty I grabbed off the Internet to describe the ABC's of kiasu:
A - Always must win
B - Borrow but never return
C - Cheap is good
D - Don't trust anyone
E - Everything also must grab!
F - Free! Free! Free!
G - Grab first talk later
H - Help yourself to everything
I - I first, I want, I everything
J - Jump queue
K - Keep coming back for more
L - Look for discount
M - Must not lose face
N - Never mind what they think
O - Outdo everyone you know
P - Pay only when necessary
Q - Quit while you are ahead
R - Rushing and pushing wins the race
S - Sample are always welcome
T - Take but don't give
U - Unless it's free forget it
V - Vow to be number one
W - Winner takes it All! All! All!
X - X'tra = More
Y - Yell if necessary to get what you want
Z - Zebras are kiasu because they want to be black and
white at the same time.
Pretty funny. I think it's a good sign that Singaporeans are sensitive about kiasu. There's definitely a backlash against this kind of attitude. For example, I think some people at the Dairy Farm party may have been reluctant to run up on stage for contests because they were afraid of appearing kiasu. In reality, most Singaporeans are really very kind people and only a small percentage is hardcore kiasu. There's probably at least as high a percentage of kiasu Americans. However, S'poreans just can't seem to stop having contests for everything (rush, compete) and events like the lucky draws (win, take).
So, in the anti-kiasu spirit, I yogied out a room and a shower to Sean last night before his trip up to Thailand. Showing kindness to fellow travelers can only bring me luck on my own travels. I also did a tarot card reading for him, as he needed some indications about the nature of his relationship with his last girlfriend. Sometimes I need to work myself up to do a tarot reading. I've found that I need to get into a bit of an excited state in order to get better insight.
At the Tiong Bahru bird-singing contest I chatted for a bit with an unusual old man who was the first local we've met who wanted to talk politics! He was critical of his government for being too strict, but he though America was far too lenient. He thought the ideal government would be somewhere in between the two. He seemed concerned when I told him I was from Chicago because he had the impression it was a dangerous place. As we parted his friend said to him: "All you do is talk, talk, talk."
Just read in the paper today that this year was the hottest ever in Singapore. As if it isn't normally hot enough . . ..
Last month the CS Payroll Department made a mistake and included my housing allowance with my pay, when it is paid directly to the landlord. So, they had to come to me and ask for the money back-which I gave them. Well, this month they blundered again and again they came to me for the money. However, they have long owed me money for moving expenses, so despite their worried suggestions to the contrary, I told them I wanted to get them "both straightened out together." In other words, I'm not returning the money until they pay what they owe me. They are quite perplexed about what to do, but I bet I get my moving expenses faster. {I called this one! I got my travel money today.}
Had an interesting talk with Kevin (assistant sysadmin) and Raju (DBA) about Chinese and Indian languages. There are many communication difficulties to working in a truly multi-cultural environment, but it does keep things interesting. Kevin had the mistaken impression that Tamil was the main language of India! Since most of the Indians here are from the south and speak Tamil, it's not too surprising. One would expect the Chinese here don't know more about the Indians when they make up 8-9% of the population, but from my experiences with Chinese (warning-generalization approaching) I've noted that they rarely take a strong interest in cultures outside of their own.
Been eating Malay food lately. One of the guys in the office, Mazhar, is a Moslem from India and we go out for lunch sometimes. He's extremely funny and has told me some great stories about living in Pakistan-full of assassins and kidnappings. Sounds like a fun place. A crazy guy stabbed Sean when he was in western Pakistan. Every place has its quirks.
Tomorrow is my birthday, so John, my boss's boss, asked me into his office to give me a small gift voucher. While chatting with him I took the opportunity to let him know that my boss is not always tactful in dealing with my fellow employees. It wasn't a surprise to John, but I don't think he realizes how many people are considering leaving here because the way my boss treats them. I was very mild with my comments and refrained from criticism. I have no interest in instigating sweeping reform around the office. I basically just want to make the atmosphere a bit calmer so we can work together easier.
Sybil and I have each made a batch of yogurt with good results. First, we heated a liter of milk. Sybil brought hers to a frothy bubble, while I stopped heating a bit before this. Sybil cooled her heated milk gradually by pouring it back and forth into another container and letting it sit. I cooled mine drastically by dropping the pot into an ice bath. Then we added the yogurt culture: Sybil used some purchased in India town and I just used a bit of what was left from Sybil's batch. Then we just let it sit out-Sybil's batch for about 4 hours and mine for 5 ½. My batch turned out more sour (which I prefer) and perhaps a bit firmer (which doesn't matter to me). Both were tasty. {I've made some more batches and still thumbs up.}
On a random walk around the neighborhood this weekend, we came across an actual Singapore slum. We discovered a block of ruined old buildings where squatters have taken up residence. At one time these were grand Peranakan-style shops, but now they are crumbling and will soon see a wrecking ball. Until then, they are home to minority workers (probably in construction) and with the scores of low-income people hanging out amid the trash and beer bottles, have a decidedly seedy air to them. S'pore is not completely sanitized.
I've been crushed at work lately. I worked this weekend finishing up an upgrade and we had disk problems on another system. Many other projects are going on as well. I'm constantly occupied and my assistant system administrator works terribly long hours.
Our two database administrators both resigned because they don't like my boss. Morale in the department is low so my boss's boss called a meeting today. He went on about our objectives for next year, slide after slide, blah, blah. At the end of the slides he listed goals for personnel and the final one is to "have fun" at our jobs.
Then he picks out my manager and "half-jokingly" tells him that if he loses any "good" personnel he will take it out of his bonus. He doesn't say anything about the DBAs but I know he doesn't consider them as "good" personnel. Next, he picks out the new networking guy and tells him he and my manager have been pleased with his work and that he considered him a "good" employee.
You have to be able to read between the lines when you have inscrutable Asian bosses. The reason he did this is because he considered the guy this networking guy replaced as a "good" employee and the former networking guy resigned because of conflicts with my boss. Earlier in the meeting he also addressed questions to me and to the senior networking guy, probably to also flag us as "good" employees. So, he was sending a message to my boss that he didn't want him to lose anymore "good" or key employees.
I didn't even pick up on this until after the meeting. Plus I have a problem keeping my mouth shut because after he had the exchange with the new networking guy I turned to him and said "And you'd better have fun," in reference to the last slide. This made everyone in the room laugh and may have spoiled the point my boss's boss was underlining to my boss. I just can't keep things as serious as they do though.
OK, might as well get the tech talk over with. After this upgrade I was amazed to find my production system has 36G of space just for the operating system and log files. It's mirrored, but even so this seems huge to me when I can remember the first system I did sysadmin work on-a Prime for the US Geological Survey, fit the entire operating system on an 80M disk the size of a washing machine. The database space for the production machine occupies 540G and will soon double, which also seems vast.
Sybil met up with an interesting older woman, Themara, who is near the end of a long-distance journey. She went through Africa, the Seychelles (she says thumbs down), Singapore, and will finish up in Bali before returning home to Washington State. She has a real affinity for animals and is involved in several animal rights organizations (a bit like my friend Steve B). She left her husband at home and is traveling with a male companion. They are not perfectly matched traveling partners though, so she winds up doing many things on her own. We all went out to dinner and had fun talking.
Saturday, I'm across the border in JB when a strange little Moslem man, wearing Hajj hat (indicating he has supposedly undertaken the pilgrimage to Makka) asks me where I'm from. "Madagascar," I say, because I've been rereading my China novel notes and this is something I used to say to people when I got tired of answering this question. It never fails to confuse people and this is no exception. "It's a little country, right?" "Right, do you know it?" No, he doesn't know it, but he rants on about how the Germany is the best country, with the best people. "I saw it with my own eyes," he says, pulling down one eyelid to show me his entire eyeball. "During the war," he adds. As we walk away he says, "heil Hitler!" A crazy little guy sitting in the middle of a bazaar next to a long-distance bus terminal.
Saturday night we hang out in JB at a fabulous night market outside the Indian temple. Lots of great food-even cheaper than Singapore. The best part is just hanging out with the locals in the busily chaotic makaplace. We try some nice rice glutton chunks with sauce (chee cheong fan). Moving on, we watch a pair of cats fight for territory near a tasty BBQ fish stall. A worker picks up the victor by the scruff of the neck and gives her some fish. We split a Guinness import extra stout-Bulldog label, sweeter than regular Guinness-as we watch a full moon eerily peek out from behind the clouds. Cooking smells mixed with smoke drift past as we people watch at the crowded, confused tables-unlike the States it's common to share seating. We finish up with a few chicken satays. There's a problem with the buses so we have to walk over the causeway and all the way to an MRT stop, but it's a beautiful night and we don't mind.
Sunday, Sybil enters me in a jump rope contest. This is the last day for the first round of a national contest. We wind up leaving our place at 15:00 when the event is already starting. However, we somehow get there just in time for me to sign up at the last minute. We can do this because Sybil is able to be "30 minutes late and still be on time." I was able to qualify for the next round despite not being in very good shape. So this week we get to go to the World Trade Center and meet with the guy who holds the world record for jumping rope (36 hours straight!) and try to qualify for the finals.
I know it seems I've beaten the food subject to death but in fact I haven't even scratched the surface. This place is food paradise-especially for stall food. I was recently talking with a Hong Kong (which used to be my ideal for street food) ex-pat and he told me that good as Hong Kong is-Singapore is better and has greater variety. I now agree.
Today, for a quick lunch, I had carrot cake and a curry puff. These may not be familiar and their names are a bit misleading. For one thing the carrot cake (chai tow kueh) contains no carrot. Don't hold that against this fabulous dish though! It's basically fried turnip with rice flour and wheat starch. My favorite booth makes a "black" version with dark soy and lots of garlic. I'd try to cook it myself but since a delicious plateful of the stuff costs less than $1 there's little incentive. Curry puffs are ubiquitous here but the good ones have chicken, potato and egg in a nice curry paste, wrapped in a crispy shell-great stuff and only about 50 cents. I don't know why these things haven't taken over the world.
OK, maybe I'll try to cook the carrot cake, in case I ever move. Here's a recipe from Singapore Airlines (yes, they serve it during flights):
CARROT CAKE
250gm rice flour
1.25litre water
50gm special wheat starch (Tung Men Fun)
1/2 tbsp salt
pinch seasoning powder
200gm peeled white turnip
75ml salad oil
Grate white turnip finely into a large mixing bowl. Add rest of ingredients and stir well. Transfer to saucepan and cook over moderate heat. Stir constantly to prevent the batter from burning. Remove mixture from heat when slightly thickened. Grease baking tin and pour in mixture. Steam for 1 and 1/2 hours (90 minutes) and cool completely before further use.
FRIED CARROT CAKE
2tbsp cooking oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped {you'll need a lot more than this! -mpd}
1 egg (lightly beaten)
200gm carrot cake, cubed
pinch dried turnip (Chai Por)
light soya sauce to taste
shallot, chopped
3 prawns, medium size, peeled
Saute garlic with cooking oil until fragrant. Add cubed carrot cake and toss until lightly crisp. Add scrambled egg, dried turnip and light soya sauce. Garnish with shallot and prawns. Serve with chilli sauce and sweet soya sauce separately
Yum-one of the secretaries at work just gave me a Mandarin orange for dessert. Oh, and I finally yogied out some food at work by bringing in some nice homemade (I won't tell you how Sybil nuked the first batch into a mini-Chernobyl) chocolate bar thingies.
Very merry Christmas to everyone and Happy New Year 1998!
Home Page