Archive for February, 2006
Sneaky Reptiles Part II and One Sneaky Bat
Posted on February 7, 2006, by soph, under Creatures.
So it’s back to my fear of lizards.
I might have been born detesting lizards, I don’t remember actually, but I know I began to be really scared of them after this one particular incident…
I think I was in primary school at the time, probably somewhere between 7-9 years old. In our bathroom, we had this really big tub where we stored water - my dad was positively anal about keeping it full so we’d have water in in the event of water rationing or some pipe bursting somewhere - and we had a small handled bucket to scoop water with. I was about to take a shower when I heard something splash into the tub. I didn’t know it was, but lizards most certainly did not cross my mind because I didn’t know lizards could swim at the time.
So I walked slowly towards the tub to peer into it and - largely due to my already-present trepidation I suspect - got a shock when I saw a lizard with its beady eyes staring up at me from inside the bucket. For some reason it freaked me out so much I screamed and turned to run out of the bathroom, except because I was so scared I slipped on the wet tile floor and landed flat on my stomach. In less than a second I was up again whereby I proceeded to flee the bathroom and that dratted lizard. And it became a habit that has stuck to me to this very day.
Yea, laugh. My sisters thought it was hilarious. Jessie even tried to scare me with a dead-and-dried-up lizard once and I ran for my life. But speaking of sneaky creatures…
I was in the office till about 7.45pm today with a female colleague. After everyone had left, about maybe 7 or thereabouts, this black thing suddenly appears out of a corner and starts flying around the room. My first thought was it was a bird - which would have been fine. Then I realized it wasn’t. My colleague thought it might be a butterfly - which would also have been swell. Then she realized it wasn’t. It dawned on her soon enough. “It’s a bat!” she shrieked and we both ducked our heads in unison, like it was going to help us if the bat decided to swoop and land in either one of our hairdos. Thankfully, it flew into the printer room instead, where it settled on the floor among piles of paper and magazines.
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s just shut the door and leave it there till tomorrow morning when the men come in.” (As you can tell, I have absolutely no inclination towards feminism whatsoever.)
“No,” my colleague said. “It’ll get stuck in the printer and die.”
“Pardon?” It was definitely too big to get into the printer, and I didn’t think it was going to die, I mean, the room had plenty of air.
But she was adamant. So I gave her my full support - without going near the room or the bat. “You are a very brave woman,” I shouted in encouragement, while she went into the printer room with a plastic bag, determined to catch the little critter.
She emerged a minute later with the bat in the plastic bag, flapping and struggling in her hands. I opened the door and she released it outside on a grassy patch. Boy was I glad she hadn’t left the office. And I clearly, totally, need men in my life.
Sigh… my hero.
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Sneaky Reptiles Part I
Posted on February 7, 2006, by soph, under Creatures.
It’s true what they say: absence does make the heart grow fonder. What they don’t say is: it usually only applies to your parents, or individuals of the like. Suddenly, you’re missing people you never missed, and misgivings are quickly forgiven and forgotten because they are just too insignificant to bother with when you’re on the other side of a very vast ocean. To everyone else you care about being absent from though, it pretty much just makes you miss them a lot. And there is a very big difference between a fonder heart and a yearning one.
***
A colleague came in to work this morning, and suddenly announced in restrained disgust that there was a severed lizard’s tail on his mouse pad. He had touched it, and was wondering what it was before the hair-raising truth dawned on him. It was only by some miracle that I remained calm in my seat. If he had, even for second, considered coming near me with the tail, I would have either shrieked or freaked out or - more likely - both. I hate lizards. I know they’re more afraid of me than I am, and that they’re really quite useful creatures because they eat bugs or some such, but I hate them all the same.
In recent months, I have been much pleased to discover that I am not alone. Now I shall be more careful about looking before I put my hand down anywhere in the office, and keeping just that little bit more alert lest another sneaky reptilian appendage finds its way onto one of our desks. Just the thought of is ewww.
I used to wonder why I was so afraid of them - you would think I could have picked a far less common animal to be downright petrified of, like, a panda or a whale for instance - and after some thought in the name of self-awareness (which I find myself doing a fair bit), I think I’ve finally understood the source of my fear. Just because I’ve understood the beginnings of it however, does not mean I am in any way cured of it. And I would share my little self-discovery with you, but I’m getting sleepy so it’ll have to wait. I’ll remember, promise.
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B.A.C.K.
Posted on February 5, 2006, by soph, under Hanging Out, Travels.
Laughing until our stomachs ached. Kicking Greg out of his own bed, and then fighting to all four of us sleep on it at the same time. Screaming-in-tune all the way down to Singapore, the immigration officer was most amused. Staying up until 4 in the morning even though we were dead tired. Playing blackjack and poker and gaping in disbelieve at Jon’s good luck. Spending precious (and way too little) time with Di, Da and Kaye - thanks for planning the girl’s-day-out-that-never-happened and for a thousand other things that I cannot explain because I have no words.
Despite a certain someone snoring in the night (I won’t say who), too little sleep, my inherrent inability to play poker with A.N.Y. success whatsoever, and getting stuck in a massive Singaporean human traffic jam that traumatised Winnie so much she didn’t say a word until we were safely back in Johor again, it has been T.H.E. B.E.S.T couple-of-days ever. And by the way, can someone please tell me what is Chingay because there’s this massive parade for it in Singapore and no one seems to know what it’s all about.
It’s great having a husband who repeatedly covers your losses for you when you’re in the process of discovering how much you S.U.C.K. at poker. But if it’s blackjack you’re playing, count me in. And I know I should totally have pictures to go with my posts. But none of us save Winnie remembered our cameras so… She even has this really great clip of our best Joey McIntyre rendition which I’ll consider navigating the perils of technology to put up if I get it.
It’s February. And it’s back to work for me.
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We’re off to see the wizard
Posted on February 2, 2006, by soph, under Uncategorized.
Life has been… interesting. I feel like I am in two worlds - the one where I exist in a Hong Kong drama serial full of wicked people you think only exist in Cantonese drama serials (but they don’t, let me tell you), and the one where I exist in this world. Unfortunately, the two worlds merge into one. And so I flitter between one to the other, and I am thankful for the little moments that are indeed good for the soul.
I would stop talking in riddles, but I shall not fill you in on the details just yet. Instead, I shall keep it all in my head, and maybe one day, I will write a book about everything. I even know what my first sentence will be already. It will go like this, “The most evil people I ever met, were elders in a little Presybyterian church”. Ha! That got your interest piqued, didn’t it? But no, I shall say no more. And please do not use this as a feeble excuse to rave and rant against either the church or the denomination; the emphasis is on the people, and to divert the attention from those very individuals to launch an attack on the general masses would do them an enormous injustice.
Moving on…
We really are going down south! In less than 12 hours, we hope to be on our way to familiar and missed-faces, to times-that-are-never-enough, to good food and lots of laughs. It’s going to be a roadie! I cannot believe I am going back to work after this week.
