Rant 1090 / Epoxy?

Tiring business, this Christmas Eve thing.

Nah, not really. I just made it tiring.

I had actually been searching for the address of my english teacher from my primary school but no one seemed to have it. The one who organized the last trip to her place only had a road name and her email.

After waiting for a month for a reply, I decided to find her place on my own.

It just so happened that a few days ago I suddenly had this idea of looking at my old photos (I used to take a hell lot of photos every time I go out with friends) to search for clues about her address.

Then I found one that showed us walking passed a house number 42. Searching for this house number with that road name on Google Maps gave me an address. Through the SingaporeMaps app, I found a way to reach it by bus.

Then I alighted one stop early. Then it rained in short bursts. I found the address between the bursts but it did not look right at all. The house looked completely different from the one in the photo. Moreover, even if the residents had done some renovation work, the fact remained that the house was at the very end of the road, ie we couldn't have walked passed it on our way to anywhere.

Yet I knew it was in that area because I recognized the bus stop and one of the roads there from my photos. Since I couldn't understand why that was not the right house, I just went for the one that had the same rock tiles and grills in the photo. Unfortunately it was really not the right place and the person living there did not recognize the name.

I walked around that area three times before giving up and went for the other method - brute force. I just combed the area systematically and soon found that there were at least two houses numbered 1 along the same road. Clearly, the numbers repeat.

However, when I looked at the photos more closely during one of the rain bursts while waiting under a public shelter, I saw that directly opposite of her gate was number 40. Walk past 42 and opposite 40, now these really narrowed down the list.

While searching, I was wondering how many number 40s and 42s I was going to have to try until I got the right one, but luckily it only took another one. I found the correct 40 and 42 after 15 minutes.

Even double checked by looking at the photo again just to confirm. Sure I have no qualms with asking strangers if there was a person with her name living there, but I know how it's like to have your afternoon nap interrupted, and it was around 3pm then. A rainy late afternoon is perfect for that.

Next thing was to find her doorbell and that was easy. And when she got out, it was clear she was indeed having an afternoon nap.

Oops.

I just pretended that I didn't notice and waited while she got dressed.

All the walking was tiring, but after the chat and stuff I still had to go to Giordano for more shirts, since it was having 40% off for all polo shirts in all outlets.

The plan was to go to a nearby mall for it and get some turtle food from a nearby well-known pet shop, since my terrapin loves the dried shrimps my bro got from them.

Then halfway through the journey I suddenly realized that mall was not under CapitaMall. That was important because CapitaStar members are currently getting double points. In that case, I might as well go back to the one I went to previously, the IMM outlet.

But since that was so far away, I decided to postpone it and just get some stuff from the Guardian pharmacy in the mall near my home instead. I had checked the Guardian website and saw that there were some promotional stuff that I could use. In addition, I wanted to make sure my supply of health supplements could last until June while the sales were still on.

All that walking and wandering were tiring, but then I got pulled into this Israeli shop that sold body wash and stuff. That made me stand even longer, but at least the salesman took the bags off my hands and put it somewhere else.

I like that gesture. In fact, I'll keep it in mind in the future when people visit my office. As for the products there, they're actually pretty good but the prices are way too high. Too luxurious for me. But I did buy a few anyway, just to see what that Dead Sea salt thing was about.

Also got a wooden floor varnish thing that is supposed to protect it. I remember my mother used to get it for the housekeeper for a while when we first changed to this floor, then she stopped for some reason.

Now that some of the boards are warping, I think it's time I start this habit again. Who knows how many years it's going to be before we finally get a new flat?







I think I'm getting the hang of this ache. I mean, I get it often now and it's always due to the sudden change in physical activity. My work is highly irregular compared to my school days, so I can go for weeks without doing much walking. My trips to and from work require minimal physical exertion because I take cab.

It's only when I go shopping or if I decide to do anything out of impulse like today that I have to walk much.

I got this ache too on every first day of my overseas trips, so it's getting really familiar.

The ache is mostly in the shin area, ie it's from my weight and the walking.