Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication

The days are passing so slowly these days. I am up to my neck with work. People are starting to send me reminders. “Miss Frou, have you had a chance to look at the contract yet?”. “Miss Frou, when can you get back to us?” “Miss Frou, expect a revert.” Some simply wrote one word, in capital letters and in red, “REMINDER”.

Sigh, yes please remind me again why are we still in January when it felt like I have been slogging for months this year.

To top things off, I have been awfully scattered brains of late. Not just trying to open office doors with car remote keys and forgetting things. Yesterday, I found myself sitting on top of my desk. I must have been talking on the phone and found it convenient to plop myself up there. Somehow, I ‘forgot’ to come down and I continued to stay on top of my desk doing work long after the phone conversation is over until someone ask me why I am ‘floating’ above everyone’s heads.

Then on another occasion, someone found me UNDER my table. Again, I was talking on the phone and somehow I ended up sitting down there after I tried to retrieve a dropped pen. And somehow I stayed down there for the rest of the conference call. A director came by to inform me that our company provide perfectly fine chairs for its staff and we should utilize this benefit to the best of our ability. (Ok, he is just trying to tell me it is very unglam to sit on the floor.)

That said, the work is actually fine. The fact that I am forgetting normal human decorum at work usually mean that I’m particularly challenged at work. I had to give a presentation at a finance meeting last week where I nearly fell asleep on myself because I was bored listening to myself talk (finance-related topics! Hello?) Then I have been asked to document some really funny deals at work from unethical misconduct to software security to modeling contracts. I have also been summoned to go to India next week to sort out a hiatus. Thereafter, I have to go to the States to report on the hiatus in India. Then my boss ask me whether I want to stay in India for a year at which point I started foaming in the mouth while pirouetting on the spot.

Apart from work, everything else is pretty much the same and thankfully, sane. My Wednesday climbing nights still consist of minimal climbing and a bottle of wine with The Toe. We climb diligently, with our mind set on the drinking afterwards. After each climb, we mouth to each other “Can we go now?”.

Thursday nights have, of late, became a stay home telly watching night for me. I call it the Hot Bod night because Channel 5 features back to back hot bods shows such as Polo Boys (now The Pupil), America Next Top Supermodel, Project Runway (now American Idol) and Simple Life. These are not very intelligent shows, but they are highly entertaining and perfect for my frazzled brains. Between advertisements, I will switch to Channel 8 to watch the alibaba Chinese drama series. The last few weeks has been the hit show, Together. The Toe and I will exchange furious sms-es throughout asking questions like “Why did she pour kerosene on herself? Did her syphilis get to her head?” or “Why is she still in a tumour scarf when she doesn’t have tumour anymore?” *Goodbye brain cells!*

I am also proud to announce that The Frou has been attempting to cook on weeknights. When I say ‘attempting’, I mean to say that my food is still very much sub-standard, not suitable for public consumption and (too) highly dependent on the quality of the processed sauce (those that comes in nice packaging) that I used. I picked up cooking not because I want to be a great chef, but I do it for the psychological benefits. Someone once said that there is nothing more satisfying than to create something out of nothing. For the inventor in me, and also it is a great stress buster. Nothing makes me feel better than throwing frozen chicken in hot pan and guffawing as I watch it sizzles and shrivel. Crushing garlic till they are one big lump of mush is also strangely gratifying. (Gosh, I am sick.)

And because you cannot cook for one, I have to bring surplus food to work as lunch. My boss caught me eating hand packed ‘Frou’s Fried Rice Paradise’ and pat me on the back for being so domestic. Little did she know, I had to go to the pantry earlier and beg the coffee auntie to lend me some tomato ketchup to douse my awful fried rice so that it has some taste. (Not so paradise, eh?)

The Man and I usually spend weekends watching DVDs. At first, we ‘chase’ Taiwanese drama series but it gets a bit draggy. Then we switch to Japanese dramas with less episodes but there’s not much kick either. Now, we are absolutely hooked on medical and law TV series such as House, Raising the Bar and Shark. The stories are all trumped up for drama’s sake in typical American fashion, but of course, but we love it. Unfortunately this body is not what it used to be and I don’t have the energy to go through more than 2 episodes in one sitting, and I usually end up snoring while he go on for another 2 episodes.

There are random occasions where I go out and meet friends and drink xiao xiao but those are far and few in between and my shenanigans are getting quite PG so not dramatic enough to talk about. Hmm. Is this the simple life? Well, if Paris and Nicole can live it down, so can I.

Till the next time! XOXO, Frou