Wow, it's been three weeks since I last wrote. I mean, I knew it'd been a while, but I didn't realize it had been that long of a while. You probably thought I was either busy or had completely forgotten about this journal.

Well, I have a new keyboard now, so I've really no excuse not to write. The previous keyboard hasn't died --- just that the 'a', 'q', 'z' and '1' keys decided to stop working after I spilled my Pepsi and lime juice mix over it. I really liked that keyboard too --- it's more than ten years old, doesn't have that Windows taskbar key that's now a standard feature between 'Ctrl' and 'Alt' on the bottom left of the keyboard, and it clacked very loudly, intimidating Terz. Instead, I have a very calm Logitech which is no match for the martial soundtrack of Mech Warrior 4 that Terz is presently installing on his computer. (I bought a keyboard and Palm screen covers; he got a Sidewinder and Mech Warrior 4. It's all too plain how differently we treat our computers.)

Pepsi and lime juice, by the way, is the only decent way to drink Pepsi. If you know me well, you'll know I can't abide by Pepsi. If an establishment only serves Pepsi and not Coke, I'd rather drink 7-Up or an iced lemon tea or something. But we'd been inadvertently building up a store of Pepsi in our kitchen because every time we order pizza or KFC, it comes with Pepsi (unless we order Canadian Pizza, which comes with Coke). Then T realizes one day that we have lime juice in the fridge and mixes a beverage roughly one part lime juice, three parts Pepsi. Voila: the awful sweetness of Pepsi is suitably tempered, and we have fizzy, tolerably sweet drinks to keep us going when we run out of Coke in the house.

I know that previous paragraph probably grossed out some of you who loathe KFC, Pepsi, sweet drinks or fast food in general. We have few vices, but the few that we have are quite inimical to our health, we know.

Work's been tolerable this past week. I'm getting used to the cycle of busyness-lull-busyness-lull --- kinda like teaching, except without school holidays when you don't have to be in the office at all. My old friend Ha has come to work with us after all. She started April 1 (insert gratuitous April Fools' joke here). Meanwhile, another old friend, code-named Miffy, who was supposed to start a new position on April 1 found herself stranded in Kuala Lumpur instead. She'd planned to fly standby on SIA back to Singapore (the cheapest tickets there are), but it being Good Friday/Easter weekend, there were tons of Singaporeans at KLIA with the same plan as she, and she wound up coming back a day later. Fortunately, she's the kind of person who can get away with such stunts without her boss berating her or imposing other unpleasant punishments upon her professional well-being.

Oh, and I had my birthday on March 28. I got birthday money, and two birthday dinners (one with my parents and one with T), and with my birthday money, yesterday I got myself a new suit (insert gratuitous 'birthday suit' joke here) that I will wear on Thursday when we have this big fancy lunch with political types at work. I'm now 28, which is an age that I always imagined I'd be someday, but now I'm finally here and it's a little scary.

Meanwhile, I'm wasting away the year mostly watching TV it seems. I now officially watch too much TV, as I used to as a teenager. Every week, I watch:
- Survivor
- The Amazing Race
- Buffy
- CSI (the second season just began on Wednesday!)
- 24 (also just started this week)
- ER
- Combat Missions (because T watches it, not because I care about the show)

As of next week, I'll be adding The X-Files and Gilmore Girls to that list, though Buffy will have (mercifully) ended by then. And then who knows when The West Wing will finally start its third season here? Plus I'll have to make sure T faithfully tapes all of the above when I'm away for two weeks in May. Oh, the stress of it all...

I think that's suitably caught everyone up on the past few weeks' milestones, crumbly as they have been, and I'm going to go shower now.