Things to Gripe About (since the last post)

1. Receiving at least one SMS every day for the whole of last week about a meeting I’m to attend tomorrow. From the same person. About the same thing: where and when to meet.

Excuse me, but I’m the one on flexi-time. Give me a time. Tell me the place. End of discussion. I didn’t think there was a need to be confirming every other little decision about a meeting that will probably last less than one hour (I should be so lucky). Or telling me why the previous time and meeting place ‘simply would not do’. I think it was this need to explain everything that made meetings in my old school last longer than they ought.

Sorry, not interested. Where and when?

That's all I need.

2. Receiving a phone call from one of the parental units about a birthday dinner I’m apparently paying for next weekend, as well as forking over some spending money for the brother who’s leaving for wintry Australia in two weeks for university. I’m irritated because this is money that hasn’t come in and that people are already spending on my behalf. Must be what being a parent is like.

3. A missus who thinks it’s really, really nice of her to give me lots of choices. Or none at all. Or lots of choices again. For my view on such matters, see point number 1.

4. Receiving my VISA bill today and discovering that the last trip wasn’t as ‘budget’ as I’d expected. After already paying for the airfare, travel insurance and currency exchange, I’m suddenly faced with a four-figure VISA bill that brings my expenditure on the trip not just $700 over the original budget as the missus had calculated, but something in the region of $2000 over. So either something’s wrong with her calculations, or I’d been royally gypped somewhere.

5. Still not being able to put down on paper the thoughts from the same trip. They’re still running amuck in my braincase and rounding them up, thus far, has been a monumental task better performed without the temptation of two seasons of The West Wing on DVD.

All I can say, for now, is: Nice photos. Great memories. But waaay too expensive (yeah, still harping on that – the shock’s settling in, but it’ll be a while before I quit it).

6. Being in cabs all of the last week, in which not a single driver not fail to irritate the hell out of me either in the way they drove or their attitudes. Fortunately I could still rely in my teacher tone to belittle them. Assuming, of course, they realise what I was doing.

7. Watching Spiderman 2 in which Singaporeans demonstrated their inability to deal with disturbing issues/ images or strong emotions. How? They laugh. We laugh. The weak, mocking, inappropriate-at-that-moment laughter of the ignorant and out-of-touch.

“Heh, heh, heh. I don’t know why there’s a tightness in my chest. Or what’s going on in my head. But, heh, heh, heh, I need to emit some noise.”

I’m not even going to start with the idiots who leave their phones on during a movie, especially those whose phones can light up the whole goddamned auditorium with strobes and flashing lights.

8. When I’m finally ready to move on to the two expansions of Neverwinter Nights, I find out that the first expansion pack, Shadows of Undrentide is now marketed together with the original game in a rip-off called Neverwinter Gold. So now, I have to buy the expansion pack along with a game I already own. What a bloody waste of money.

O, for a more litigious bone in my body.


And there’s still the little problem of coming up with a project for next year’s exhibition. I still don’t have a travelling companion for Oregon – assuming I’m still doing the whole shooting the coast thing. And Cuba’s beginning to look prohibitively expensive, especially with that VISA bill still haunting me.

I need another holiday. A CHEAPER one.