It’s been a slow couple of days at work.

The upside to it is: I have had plenty of free time to surf sites, read up on the Oscars and plot the unveiling of my new blog.

The downside to it is: trying to look busy and productive is becoming increasingly tricky.

On a completely unrelated note, I took the Hedgehog to the unruly greenery that was eating into my front door last weekend and while I can now see my entire front door once more (just as it should be), my left arm has never felt more toned (read: it freaking hurts!).

sometimes, in some places, in some situations, with some people

i am an emotional blubbering wreck.

sometimes, in some places, in some situations, with some people

it’s okay.

sometimes, in some places, in some situations, with some people

i bloody hate it.

The sis has arrived. No, not that one, the other one. And while I cannot say I agree with her express desire to hang bells in her bedroom doorway so they jingle oh-so-annoyingly, her ‘toilet’ sign is rather cute and we now have two swords in the house - saber (sabre?) fencing swords.

It is the beginning of a whole new adventure and I can’t help but be rather excited for her. Even though I know my stress levels will increase significantly.

It has been five days and I already have a zit on my left cheek. I do not usually get zits so this is not a good sign. I just can’t decide if it’s sis, mum, the temporarily crippled hubby, or all three in the same house at the same time.

Whichever it is, it’s definitely not chocolate.

I did not go to the Chinese New Year merriments in Chinatown and Southbank, but mum did bring a small yee sang set. We only gave out three ang pows this year. I miss (just a teeny bit) knowing there are (illegal) fireworks somewhere out there even though I do not usually get to participate in any popping action, but I do not miss crappy free-to-air television with stage (read: ear-to-ear) grins and cringe-worthy singing.

Blackjack is the same - here, there and everywhere.

My boss wants to know if the year of the pig is good for prosperity. I say I have absolutely no idea. He says I am supposed to know these things because I am Chinese.

So much for 12 years of Chinese school education.

Gong Xi Fa Cai y’all.

I must admit, as much as I would have liked to be a grouch about being dragged off my comfy sofa so abruptly, it was kind of hard not to be thrilled about the prospect of interviewing Evanescence. I was out of the house in under five minutes, where I had to do something I’ve never done before - wake up the neighbour to get a ride.

For someone who feels bad about showing up at people’s houses without calling them beforehand, knocking on the Chan residence door without prior warning and (even worse!) waking Chris up was a major, major step for me. But he wasn’t answering his phone and it was an emergency of gothic-rock proportions. Plus he was already going to give me a lift, only one and a half hours later. Oops.

Not that there was time to be too embarrassed. I had to make myself presentable, go through my notes, locate a dictaphone or equivalent and get to Melbourne Park. And I was freaking nervous! I wouldn’t recognise the band if they were shopping right next to me in a supermaket aisle, how was I going to match their unfamiliar names to completely unknown faces?

I soon found out three things: one, my interview would only be with the lead singer, Amy (whew!); two, I would not only make it on time but be early; three, I would be left waiting for over half an hour while the other hastily-called journo tried his darndest best to show up from afar with just 45 minutes notice.

In the meantime, I met the tour manager, watched the management team scurry about their business, eavesdropped (just a little) on a security team meeting on how to handle fans who try to smuggle cameras into the concert, and sent inanely long text messages.

At some point, the guitarist lumbered through the room for a smoke but as I had no idea who he was (I told you!), realisation did not strike until three hours later during the concert when I recognised him on stage. Okay so the guitar he had around him was kind of a big clue, but you can’t assume every guy with a guitar is the guitarist of a rock band, right? I’m glad we didn’t make eye contact - it would have been too obvious I hadn’t a clue.

I finally got round to my interview at about 6.15pm. It was short (15 minutes) and she was very sweet (yes, I swear she was).

This lucky and no-longer-grumpy camper also got an additional free ticket to the concert so she had company along for the ride. We were 15 minutes or so late because in this instance at least, dinner was more important than the show. We never got round to using our VIP stickers but hey, the band sounded better than we expected. Way better.

I went to bed feeling like I’d run a marathon. Not that I knew what that felt like, but at the rate I’m reading Kristin Armstrong’s blog, she just might get me moving one day. I even almost contemplated a 15km run just last month. Ha ha.

…until I was woken up at 3am by a text message telling me I had a ticket to the Evanescence concert that I was to pick up from the venue box office.

I’m not a big fan to be honest. I barely know the band. Okay fine, I don’t know anything about the band at all. Except for that one song they keep playing on the radio here (I’m told it’s called ‘Call Me When You’re Sober’).

Even in my half-asleep state, the first thought that came to my mind was: oh no, now I won’t get to hide at home all day and watch West Wing. I’d been feeling rather antisocial the night before - I think I’d inadvertently used up all my sociability points at Bek’s birthday party earlier - and all I wanted was to hibernate till such time I had to leave the house which was Monday because work simply does not wait for hibernation to end. I’d even contemplated vege-ing out all day Sunday, except I had an errand to run in the city which meant I would have to get out for church in the morning.

Well, now I had two errands to run. Six hours later I got up and got ready and got online to check box office opening hours. While I was at it, I thought I’d check my email as well. There was an email from my industry contact in KL about the Evanescence concert, which at this point reminds me I should probably explain the odd text - after all, it’s not everyday a girl gets woken up in the wee hours to be told she’s got a free concert ticket. My magazine in KL for which I still work on a contract/freelance basis was offered a possible interview with Evanescence while the band was in Melbourne if they had someone they could send from Australia. They did - yours truly.

I was sent one email about the possible happening three weeks ago but as the concert drew near and I didn’t hear another cyberpeep and to be honest I forgot all about it, the text had come as a rather rude surprise. I know I must be the grumpiest recipient of a free concert ticket on the face of the planet but I was feeling really antisocial, okay? Plus, it was 3am. And I wasn’t even a fan!

Anyway, I check the email even though it looked like it was similar to the text message and it took me all of two seconds to realise the text had left out one very important line - ‘No news yet on the interview but will keep you posted. Can you please be on standby?’ Or something to that effect. Well, in times like these, what was an unprepared girl to do but to turn to Wikipedia and Google news. Oh and I had to find some kind of recording device so I won’t have to scribble like an idiot or try to commit every last word to memory or make up quotes when I had to produce the text. All this of course not even knowing if there would be an interview, which given that it was either today or no day, chances are it wasn’t going to happen.

So I scribble down facts and pop notebook and pen into my handbag - there will be plenty of time for thinking up questions in the course of the… sermon. And because it was written on some godforsaken nook of a website that the box office opens from 9am-5pm, I headed down to Melbourne Park before lunch to pick up my ticket so - to be honest - I wouldn’t have to come back to the city for the concert later on, especially if I only had one ticket. Either I was really stupid from grumpiness or the website which I can’t even recall now is wrong with a capital W. I had meself a brisk 20 minute walk in the sun and I couldn’t find a single thing open. There weren’t even people queueing up for the concert yet - which reminded me I should really stop comparing everything to U2.

So I went home.

At five o’clock, while I was napping on my sofa, having fallen asleep in front of the telly with Tommy, my mobile rang. It was the tour manager of Evanescence. Gawd. They have an interview slot for me, he tells me, can I make 5.45pm?

- to be continued.

For two hours this morning, I thought I would get to leave work by lunch, citing ‘not feeling well’ as a reason.

Then my right eye stopped throbbing/twitching/tearing.

Oh well, I probably couldn’t have watched Desperate Housewives with one eye all scrunched up anyway.

i discovered the wonders of Skype!

i didn’t even know my ancient laptop has a built-in microphone. maybe the little bugger ain’t so far-behind after all…

Upset.Grumpy.Hungry.

Then add ‘very’ in front of each one.

Ugh.

become attached to a cat.

Though he really is a very cute kitten.

The appeal of cats lies in the fact that they need very little attention and practically arrive toilet-trained. While Tommy was toilet-trained right from the start (except maybe that one time he almost had a little accident because he couldn’t find his way to the litter box), I have to confess I feel guilty when I leave him home alone for too long.

He follows me around like a dog and cries outside my bedroom door to be let in (he is not allowed on the bed under any circumstances). How cute.