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09/11/2007: ""
Wow. Had an amazingly tiring day today. My mom took the day off since she had scheduled both of us for a dental appointmet which started early in the morning at 9.30am (though as with most dentists it ended up being way later since we were kept waiting), and then we spent the rest of the day running errands. So the entire list of stuff done today, plus my usual long-winded recounting:
1) Dental appointments - My mom had a little chat with the dentist and we found out he studied in Northern Ireland during his University years although he'd been in the UK since he was 12. Quite amazing to find out he's one of the few Singaporeans who actually come back after spending so many years abroad. Speaking of which, when he asked me what I was studying and I told him, he immediately turned to my mom and asked if there were any lawyers in the family. After my mom's affirmative answer, she thought that he must probably have been thinking in his head that he had better be careful with us patients or else he might find himself getting his butt sued off. XD Also, I think the dentist must have been horrified at the amount of plaque I had (though he didn't show it) since he kept telling me I had to remember to floss. :p I know I was quite shocked when he used those plaque picker thingys and started scraping off the plaque since there seemed to be so much. Apparently I'm not a very good brusher since I can't get at the plaque that builds up at my gums. (I have somewhat receded gums so plaque builds up there VERY easily and I suppose my bristles don't brush hard enough since I'm afraid of making my gums bleed). In any case, my mom and I agreed that our teeth feel so CLEAN now.
2) Though not on the agenda, I ended up buying a pretty bronze pair of covered toe shoes since I need more shoes and they were only $30, but after wearing them for a while I realised that they really PINCH my very wide feet. ARGH. I think I'll only be able to wear them for short periods from now on - no shopping can be done in them. Which sucks since that's pretty much what I wanted them for. *sigh*
3) Helped sis post parcels to her friends in the US and New Zealand. Lesson learnt: When my mom sends parcels off, she tapes them up VERY securely.
4) Lunched with Aunty Wendy, which was fun as usual since she's, despite her age, a real hip and happening lady, and really friendly and fun to talk to. But this time it was even more amusing since my mom had this $50 voucher to be redeemed at the place we were lunching at, but failed to read the small print at the back of the voucher which told us that we had to pay a minimum of $100 to be able to use the voucher. We ended up spending only $90, so thanks to a very honest waiter who refused to just let us order two drinks and charge them at a cost of $10, we ended up having to order an extra three more juices and a hot chocolate. Boy were we full once lunch was over! Though the juices were great - you could tell they were really fresh and made from real fruit and not some lousy concentrate. Though my mom thanked her stars that she was on leave and could take her time finishing the drinks or else she would have been so stressed trying to spend that extra $10 and get back to office in time. :p
5) Went to NUS to pick up my repaired computer - they replaced my fan! (It was making really horrible noises before - I remember waking up once and thinking the construction workers next door were doing their job. 0_o) So glad that SY reminded me that our laptops were still under warranty since I ended up not having to pay anything. Oddly enough, whilst the guy who was in charge of my computer was really bochup and sort of unfriendly when I handed over my computer to him yesterday (when SY and I placed our laptops on the counter, he said, "Don't you want to boot up your computers?" in this exasperated oh-you-morons-don't-you-know-what-you-need-to-do tone), he was rather nice when I went to get it back today. Maybe he had a bad day yesterday. *laughs*
6) Went to the framer's to get a painting my dad got for free which he gave to me framed. (Did that sentence make sense? :p) It's of a really cute cat, so I was really pleased when he said I could have it since I've recently realised that my room's actually pretty bare. Though I'm not actually sure if the framing will be done in time for me to see it put up on my wall since I'm leaving this Saturday.
7) A trip to Ikea to see if I could get a frame from a watercolour I got from Spain and for my sister's poster. No go since they were all either too small or too large - think I may just bluetac the watercolour to my wall as is, which was my initial intention anyway though my mom suggested getting the frame. Ironically we ended up buying something totally different from what we intended to go there for - a tupperware box for Saily to use to store leftover food in. :p
8) A subsequent trip to Queenstown to get a pair of badminton shoes since I think the reason why I sprained my ankle the past two times was because I was wearing running shoes instead of proper badminton ones. Also bought a bunch of socks since I wear them almost all the time back in Nottingham. Interestingly enough, though my mom and I checked out a bunch of shops, we realised that we should have followed our gut instincts and just gotten our stuff ("our" since she bought some socks herself too) at the first two shops we stumbled upon and not wasted our time looking at the other shops since they didn't have anything close to what we were eyeing in said first two shops. I was actually quite surprised how few shops had badminton shoes for sale, let alone good ones - a lot of them were rather plain or old looking. You would think that with badminton being such a big sport in Singapore that they'll be more prevalent. (My mom mused that maybe the lack of availability was due to lots of other people in Singapore wearing the wrong shoes when playing badminton. :p) Anyway, I'm ultra pleased with my buy - good-looking and super comfortable badminto shoes for the amazing price of $58! And did I ever mention how I love my mom for being such an awesome bargainer? XD
9) Finally, a quick trip to buy some baos for my grandad before paying him a visit. Talking with my grandad can be a pretty tiring experience since I have to constantly shout at him to be heard since his hearing is rather bad. And I have a feeling he often doesn't actually hear what I shout anyway. :p It reminds me of the very first visit to him I made this summer hols (as in, the first visit OF the summer holidays, not the first visit ever), where I spent the entire visit talking to him only for him to later realise and tell me that he thought I was my sister the entire time we were talking since he didn't know I had come back already. ^_^;; Also a random semi-off tangent point - was looking at some old photos which were placed on grandad's wall, and I'm reminded of just how GOOD-LOOKING he was when he was younger. XD I really should go dig out old family photos - it's fun to see your mom and aunts/uncles/cousins etc. in their gangly limbed awkward teenager years. :p
So yes, a VERY tiring day indeed. I think this takes the record for most number of errands run in a single day. *phew*