An email I wrote to an old friend today

I've always operated under the theory that a blog is partly so you can write once about all the stuff that you'd want to tell all your friends about in email anyway, so I present to you today's blog entry, courtesy of the email I just sent to an old friend and former college roommate (edited for confidentiality, of course):

" ... T just agreed to go on a NCC trip to India ... and he'll be gone for 10-14 days, depending on when they can get a flight back. It's a very last-minute thing because the guy ... only asked T two days ago! T is keen to go, of course, and I don't mind, but I'm feeling slightly blue at being home alone for about two weeks.

...

It's Deepavali today, so we are enjoying an extra day of stoning. We just got back from staying one night at the Copthorne Orchid, formerly known as the Novotel Orchid, where you had your wedding dinner. The place is still the same: a little rundown, quite three-star, worth it on a discount but certainly not full price. It felt like we were staying in a hotel in KL.

Tomorrow, we're going to buy sports shoes and then take a trip up to Sungei Buloh (near Kranji) to do some walking and amateur birdwatching (i.e. just looking at anything birdlike that pops up) and bonding with friends. I hope the weather's not too hot and the mosquitoes aren't too hungry.

Then, at night, we're going to this Thai-Indonesian place called Bumbu near Arab Street for a belated dinner celebration of my mom's birthday. It's a great restaurant, kinda homey and small, with lovely food that an Orchard Road restaurant would charge you through your nose for. We'll go there the next time you're in town. ... "

Alas, my friend is in town only slightly more frequently than the PAP calls for general elections, so I'm hoping Bumbu will still be in business and serving great food by that time.

The bit I failed to mention was why the dinner celebration is belated. See, my mom's birthday was the same week as the cousin's wedding, so she thought rather than having multiple family dinners in the same week, why not spread it out and also let us working children (who had significant though not absolutely essential roles in the wedding party) have a bit of a break. My mom is always thinking that we working children need a break.

We ate so much at the steamboat buffet last night and at brunch this morning that we're skipping dinner. I think I need to go buy some fruit, though. We only have two apples in the fridge. Plus T is itching to use the computer. Tah!