Let's Try Again Tomorrow

Today is Brian's birthday so we started celebrating over the weekend. Friday night we met our friends Karen and Jason near Orchard Road to check out a "Texas Bar" that Brian had caught a glimpse of during an earlier visit to the neighborhood. Located near an Irish Pub and Australian bar is a small (and I mean SMALL) bar called the "Longhorn Saloon." What an experience we had at the saloon. When the 4 of us arrived, we doubled the crowd at the place. Aside from a few patrons, the owner of the bar (shown with his women) had female associates dressed in hats and boots who may get paid for other kinds of night business. The colorful characters provided plenty of entertainment for us and it was a great time. I would describe the outing as one of those "you just had to be there" times.

Saturday we ventured down to Vivo City mall with the family to look for shoes for Megan and stroll around. We enjoyed taking the subway as the trains and stations are immaculate. I would take the trains more often but the low taxi fares combined with having our own car usually makes the subway the least desirable transportation mode. But occasionally it proves to be a good way to get to our destination and the girls enjoy it. While we didn't have any luck with shoe shopping, the girls all found something at the Toys R Us store!

Saturday evening Brian and I went out for birthday dinner. Since he was in the mood for sushi, we checked out a new place called Sun that is located in the Chijmes complex. Chijmes is a former monastery that now houses numerous restaurants and bars. It's fairly close to downtown and has a cool atmosphere. After a tasty dinner, we walked along the river to the Fullerton Hotel where we enjoyed drinks and dessert. The hotel was beautiful and I would like to return sometime for afternoon tea.

Megan and I attended a birthday party for one of her classmates Sunday afternoon and I should have known from the beginning of the trip that things would not go smoothly. Just as we hopped in a taxi from our condo, the downpour began and by the time we got close to the party location, the streets were flooding. It didn't seem to faze the driver though, who continued along at normal speed, despite not being able to see the road in front of him. At one point, Megan said casually, "I'm feeling a little scared for some reason. I don't know why but I'm just feeling scared." I could certainly relate to that sentiment!


The party was at a "mall" called Turf City and when we arrived, I could have sworn that we had gone too far and ended up in Malaysia. I couldn't begin to figure out where the indoor play area was at this shopping place and to call it a "mall" is way too generous. We walked in the first floor and it was one narrow hall with small shops on either side. No sign of how to go up to the fourth floor. After asking 2 different people for assistance, we ended up cutting through the grocery store that must have been experiencing problems from the heavy rain because the entire produce section was flooded. We eventually found one set of stairs on the other side of the building and they magically deposited us at the right place. Can you say, "frustration?!"

Megan had fun at the party though and I saw some of the moms I met at the coffee last month so that was the bright spot in the logistical nightmare. Leaving the "mall" proved to be equally difficult. We struggled to find a taxi stand and once we were there, I failed to negotiate a ride back to Orchard with the first cab that arrived. It aggravates me when I ask a simple question like, "Can you take us to CentrePoint Mall?" and the response is 15 seconds long in a language I don't speak. "Yes or no - can you take us there?" and again, another 10 second response in a foreign tongue. "Get lost, please. You're wasting my time." After waiting around for a few more minutes with 3 drunk Aussies, I finally got smart and called the taxi company to book a cab. It was well worth the extra couple dollars to have a normal cab arrive and get us out of that bizarre scene. I think I'll let Brian escort Megan to the next party at that location to get his take of the surroundings.

This feeling of frustration stayed with me today as I set out to run my errands this morning in order to be home by mid-morning to make a call back home. Karen, Rachel and I went to the wet market, only to discover that the market is closed on Mondays. So, that was a quick trip! Karen and I then traveled to the grocery store (mostly to buy things we couldn't get at the closed market) and I bought a black forest cake for Brian's birthday.

I got home later than planned and on top of that, I forgot enough items at the store that Delia and I each had to walk to the nearby store at some point in the afternoon just to manage to make German chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese filling. Yes, they're delicious but I didn't intend to put quite so much effort into them! The entire reason I chose to bake today is that I needed to be in the house this afternoon.

I had to stay glued to the lift phone at home because I was expecting the packages that contained Brian's birthday gift and Easter goodies from his parents. The postman attempted to deliver them Friday but I was gone so I requested redelivery today, from 2-6pm. Our lift phone is a separate phone attached to the wall near our front door. Visitors call us from the lobby and we press a button on the phone to grant access to our floor. Unfortunately, it only rings once or twice, so it's easy to miss a call. Considering the less than efficient day I was having, I was concerned I was going to somehow mess up delivery of Brian's birthday box as well!

Brian arrived home from work around 2pm which was a great surprise until I realized that it was because he was ill. He has a fever and flu-like symptoms so he spent all afternoon in bed. Poor guy -- that's not how you're supposed to spend your birthday! I postponed the birthday dinner I planned to cook until tomorrow night and took the girls out to eat instead. After 3 trips to the grocery store, I had no other options for dinner (except for cupcakes). Delia was in charge of manning the phone for the postal delivery and after waiting all afternoon, of course, the guy showed up at 6pm. At least we got the boxes and everyone was happy with the contents!

This is just one of the those days when I am tired of traveling to 6 different places when I could get the job done at 2 stores at home. I actually feel shopped out. Most days I relish how different my daily activities are here but every now and then, I miss being able to head out the door without a carefully scripted plan just to buy a few days' worth of food.

So, this evening I'm enjoying old episodes of 30 Rock that are new to me, eating a few of those cupcakes and looking forward to Pilates class in the morning to work out some of the tension.