The final year of my twenties!

Holy shit! It's nearing end of July. As a result of not blogging regularly, be warned I'm probably going to burst in this blog.

I rushed home to get all of it out as much as possible, so I can make some extra space in my head to maintain a hypothetical vacuum.

10 years ago on July 19th, I landed in Singapore for the first time. What a saga it's been! So what's different between Shu now and the Shu who landed here 10 years ago? Summing up in a few words, I'd say the now-Shu is richer, more confident, wiser, more positive, more comfortable in her skin, happier and more out-spoken than that shy, timid 19-year girl who left home alone for the first time. It hasn't been a journey without adversity, but I've surfaced and I am doing alright. *Pats self on the back*

For all I know, the Shu of 10 years from now may find now-Shu to be highly conceited.

Sir Little John is away on vacation for 3 weeks! I was given a long list of to-dos in his absence but to be honest, without his actual presence, I drift to day dream mode too much. Actually, it's terrible. Left to myself, my hyperactive brain drives me crazy with mind chatter. I foresee more blog posts in the next few weeks.

We are bombarded these days with disturbing news of the second Malaysian passenger plane MH17 that met with an unfortunate disaster resulting in the loss of 298 precious lives. Not only that, there's more unrest and violence going around all over the world. I wish people would just stop trying to hurt and kill each other. In other curious news, the local library board has come under fire for planning to destroy three children's titles after it received e-mail complaints that the books are not "pro-family". Following public criticism, two of the remaining books have been moved to the adults section, where parents can opt to let their children read it under supervision.

And Tango Makes Three (based on a real zoo story) features two male penguins who behave as though they are a couple and raise a chick.

Shu thought to herself "Let's eat some non-Asian-ish dinner tonight - you know, food that hasn't been boiled beyond recognition or bathed in a sea of spices". So a cup of home made (and home grown) avocado milkshake, with raw tomatoes and a fat mushroom bun it was.

I went to a spa today. Who knew a simple bookworm can get rewarded with a complimentary spa on their birthday month for being loyal member of a particular book store chain! I double checked with trusted friend/ bookworm Katy Kat to make sure it wasn't some prank because it sounded too good to be true. I went anyway. And it was a good call. I explored a new area of Singapore and just like they promised, I relaxed my tensed muscles, reduced water retention and enhanced my blood circulation. Look at me blogging away!

After the "aromatherapy wellness treatment" and as I expected, I was enticed to sign up for an attractive 10-session package deal at $680 ("Interest free installments for credit card payment!! Get 2 additional sessions for free!! Get 12 body scrub sessions also for free if you sign up today!! Let me talk to my manager to get you a special 7-session package at a students' rate!!" Why, I'm not even a student). 

I guess I've become better at politely declining persuasive sales people. When faced with such situations, I now picture myself to be a brick wall and watch them attempt to walk past it after I've nicely said "No, Thank you." *evil grin* 

It took many years to develop this skill. I remember an occasion when as a student, I responded to quiz on TV and was notified I was the winner of a free facial and skin consultation session with a leading skin care company. I was a beggarly student back then and willing to pounce on any free lunches that came my way (Really Shu?? Didn't you go claim a free spa session just today??). So I went feeling like a real winner and after a pampering facial session, two aggressive saleswomen cornered me in a room and coerced me to sign up for a package deal. I desperately refused many times saying I only had a couple of hundreds left in my account to live through an entire vacation month and spending $180 was not an option, but they didn't let it go. In the end (very nearly in tears), I signed up just to get away from there, wasted a precious $180 and never even went to claim those paid facial treatments. I ended up borrowing cash from a friend to live through that semester break.

Another one of my housemates is leaving the country next month and we're down to two in a big house. Very unwillingly and with the intention of retaining our comfortable apartment, we advertised our master room to potential tenants. Day before yesterday, our new flatmates moved in. To protect their anonymity, I shall call them Brother Bear and Goldilocks. Sharing a living space with other humans is not always fun (they could be serial killers, for example) so I drafted a lengthy list of terms of conditions in case we end up with a bad experience. Also if problems escalate, a nitpicky and passive aggressive Shu is not pleasant to deal with.

Dear Brother Bear and Goldilocks,

We are happy to welcome you both as our flatmates! [Well, sort of.] 

Here's a re-cap of what we agreed on before you moved in and a few other things (that we may have failed to mention that day) which is better agreed upon as early as possible. If you have any concerns on any of the items below or want to add in any other conditions, we can discuss further.

1. The Contract
Your agreement with us is for the use of the master room from 19 July 2014 to 31 December 2014.
The monthly rent for the master room should be paid no later than the 28th of every month.
You will have to pay a little excess for the utilities in case you have family members visiting and the monthly bills go above average.
You will receive 1 copy of the keys for the master room, front door, gate and mailbox.

2. Utilities Usage
Your rental amount includes water, electricity and Internet (wi-fi).
Air conditioning is not included in your rental amount, but if you need it, we can arrange it at an additional charge since our monthly utility costs will then increase and there will be regular AC unit servicing charges.
You are free to use the Cable TV service while it is available and this will be considered as "complimentary".
We also hope that you will exercise good judgement in conserving water and electricity.

3. Use of common areas, appliances and other items
All common areas in the house can be used freely without restrictions.
Common appliances such as the washing machine, kettle, toaster, rice cooker, microwave, oven, TV and iron are for everyone's use with no restrictions.
Common expenses like the gas cylinder for cooking, toilet paper, kitchen towels, dishwashing liquid, cleaning fluids, small repairs not covered by the landlord, etc will be charged to the common house account to be shared by all of us.
Normally anyone can buy common items required, retain the receipt and claim it later.
Please buy your own laundry detergent.

[We missed to mention not to leave the toilet seat up. Grrr.]

4. Food
We have no restrictions on your cooking schedules.
You can use any of the utensils (saucepans, cups, dishware, etc) available in the kitchen.
For convenience, let's manage our accounts separately for food items such as vegetables, rice, bread, tea, milk powder, sugar, other groceries, etc.

5. Visitors
As a gesture of courtesy, please inform us in advance if you are expecting any visitors.
For the comfort of everyone, we try to entertain our visitors with minimal disturbances to the main tenants.

6. Keeping our living space clean
As agreed, we will take turns to clean the common areas in the house (hall, toilet upstairs, kitchen + toilet downstairs + laundry area) within the agreed dates.
Cleaning will be done at least once a month or more if required .
General cleanliness of common areas and courtesy is expected for the comfort of all tenants e.g. not leaving dirty dishes in the sink for too long, emptying dustbins regularly to keep away cockroaches, keeping the fridge clean and free of old food, cleaning any spills, removing laundry from the clothsline when dry, etc.

7. Renewal of contract
Subject to agreement from you and us, we can consider renewing the contract for another term of 6-months or 1-year. This can be finalised around Oct-Nov 2014. Note that the final approval lies with the landlord and the Housing Development Board.

8. Termination of the contract
As this is a 6-month contract and our ability to keep the house depends on us having enough people to share the total rent, we hope you will understand that and not terminate the contract early so we won't have to go through the trouble of looking for new tenants once again or end up paying more individually till our contract ends.

9. Conflicts of interest
Let's agree to communicate openly and directly on any concerns so we can resolve them early and avoid any unpleasant situations. 

Please review all of the above and let us know if you have any concerns. Otherwise, drop us a reply to confirm your acceptance of our conditions. [WE HAVEN'T SEEN AN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT YET.]

Thanks and we hope you will have a comfortable stay in your new home in Singapore.


It's late, and I should probably blog about my holiday in Sri Lanka another time. 

PS: I turned 29 this month!