My Lean Mean Machine
So here it is - in its full glory.
I know it's not a great pic - there can definitely be a better one. But this is the first shot I took of my new baby in our dimly lit carpark. There will be more photoshoots and glamour shots to come...
And I'm the proud owner of my very own car!!! I know I shouldn't keep going on about it, because I feel guilty whenever I think about the money I'm paying for this luxury but I had a moment in my car today when Chumbawamba's I Get Knocked Down started playing on the radio and (cheap thrill I know) I got so exhilarated speeding along on the highway in my new motor and belting "I get knocked down, but Igetup again, you're never gonna keep me DOWN" - I felt like Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire when he's speeding down the highway halfway through the film.
After sufficiently embarrassing myself in front of myself, the gravitas of having my own car finally hit me. Yes, I won't have to face peak-hour stress in the taxi, or encounter the typically-rude Sg commuters - but from now on, I'm gonna have to foot the ERP bill, tax, loans and the curse of parking tickets.
It's all my own doing, yes I know.
Work has been going along fine, with some ups and downs. Krabi feels so far away now and I still fondly recall riding at the back of the moped J and I rented to cruise through the little dusty lanes on the island, holding to him tightly while my hair whizzed in the wind and we gaped at the view of the open shore and horizon gleaming before us.
They say a picture paints a thousand words. This just about summed up what I felt...
J and I sometimes wonder what we're in this rat race for - being yuppies in the cities earning the salary, buying the cars, flitting from bar to bar like right socialites, listening to our mates compare salaries, houses, cars....
wouldn't it be more meaningful to throw in the towel and live on a beach somewhere, open a bar and drink with strangers from all around the world, make music on the beach and love in the night?
Sadly, I know myself well. If this was done too early, I'd be bored. It's like a rite of passage I have to force myself through. But hey - the world is our oyster, aint it?
Or - like tash and I used to say, the world is like an orange - that we grip with the brute force of our might. [you had to be there]
In the last few weeks, I had a couple more section pg 1s and my first proper pg 1! It was so satisfying seeing my byline on the front pg - I swear there will be more to come.
I got another byline semi-stolen from me but that's a long story I don't want to go into... besides that, I'm just trying to finish some package skedded for post-Christmas pub [when suddenly news goes dead] and this follow-up story I've been dragging my heels about...
I have lots of catching up with friends to do... apologies if my Christmas cards/greetings doesn't reach you in time [or at all]. Here's wishing all of you a warm, meaningful, blessed Christmas... and a hopeful New Year!
Love you guys!
