Spent a pleasant evening catching up with 3A2 and Cara. Thanks for the pizza and chicken, and your company! 

Mimi and Q-tip enter a 'Best Dressed Dog' contest.


Surprise results! Q-tip emerges 4th, and Mimi 'Gangster' Wong is the Champion!

Anthony's stag event begins with a round of paintball!


Slim as she is, Cheryl just can't find a way to slip through the grille.


Invincible Vince, victor of the last-man-standing challenge.

Early morning paintball began in dreary weather. A light rain kept things cool for us as we got to grips with a game requiring some of "us" to shoot at and kill some of "them" Some adapted faster than others, though our initial game was still a tentative affair. Objective: pop the opponents' balloon while guarding ours at the same time. Lesson 1: camping is no fun. Anthony made a very daring run and came very close to popping my team's balloon but he had no support and he was driven off in the nick of time. My team learned and through an overlapping maneuvre won the game.

A speeding Edward won the second game for Anthony's team. We had barely begun the game -- I was still fiddling with my safety switch -- when it was all over. Lesson 2: speed has the advantage over inaccurate firepower.

We also played a couple of other variations including one where it was Anthony vs the rest of the world, in honour that it was his special day.

Biggest lesson: we wouldn't have lasted 10 minutes in a real war. It took a lot out of us just trying to move and keep low at the same time. Very quickly our legs cramped up and our knees protested. So much for visualizing leaping over crates, rolling in a tuck somersault and catching the enemy off-guard and in shock. Visualize all you want, our bodies just wouldn't respond to such ludicrous commands. After an hour, though our hearts were still in the game, our bodies finally quit. Time to hit the beach.

Paintball practically drained our energy for pretty much the rest of the day. We settled at Club Bora Bora on Sentosa and sat around for a while staring blankly into space. Then we remembered we were here to play so we had something of a chuck-the-frisbee-around session. It was here that I was running after a bad throw and I tripped on a granite rock that someone had thoughtlessly left lying around on the beach. The skin on my big toe opened up in 2 places and started bleeding quite impressively. The lifeguard on duty did a good job of mummyfing my toe so I could go back to playing with the guys. Anthony got dunked into the lagoon chasing another bad throw then realized that his new mobile phone was still in his pocket. It got wet, it refused to function, so that was the end of our frisbee toss.

We had a pool (billiards, not swimming) challenge and insisted that Anthony had to win 3 games in a row because "it was his special day." He won 4 games in a row, and I don't think anyone made it easy for him either. Me, I discovered I could probably play a decent round of pool, though I could use a lot more practice.

We went to dinner at Hooters where the service staff are supposed to be the main attraction. Indeed, they were friendly and attentive and, I guess, cute too -- though I didn't notice any that were of knockout calibre, like those whose photos adorn the "wall of honour" in the toilet. I appreciate the service and the food was pretty good too. American-sized portions, tasty and very satisfying.

While the rest of the party was busy playing "The 12 Tasks of Anthony" involving him answering a series of questions of a personal nature, and also requiring him to make impertinent requests of strangers, June and I decided that our geriatric bodies needed rest. So we left the party while Anthony was still pondering how he could get a female stranger to reveal to him what kind of underwear she was wearing.

Booked tix on First Coach from SIN to KL for us and Vince and Amy. June and me return, Vince and Amy 1-way. Not that they've decided to defect to Malaysia but because Vince needs to be back early Sunday morning and Amy is too polite to share our room for 1 more night. She says sharing a room with us is like sharing a room with mommy and daddy. Youngsters. Huh.

Have to sleep early tonight. Early morning activities scheduled for tomorrow. It's Anthony's stag party and Weng is trying to arrange a memorable one for him. Should be fun!

As the June break winds down, people are finding excuses to return to campus and continue working. Consultations for individual and small groups of students are in full swing, and I wonder if they had ever come to a halt at all? Everyone's anxious, particularly as the first day of the new term -- no, wait, make that this Friday (no kidding!) -- commences the mid-year exam period for the whole college.

Even I've found myself back on campus making preparations for the GP mid-year paper. And to pass Amy the fairy wings she's borrowing from June. Yup, she's been invited to the wedding as well. Right now we're making our travel arrangements and hopefully we'll get them settled soon. We're thinking of taking a coach up to KL rather than drive. Amy and Vince aren't confident that their cars can make the long drive and I'm not confident enough of my driving skills to brave Malaysian highway traffic.

Late afternoon I found myself alone again so I put in more time bowling at SAFRA. In a 6-game marathon I bowled my first 4-bagger and also managed to bowl my first clean game for a score of 186. Not bad. Average after 6 games: 158. Must continue to keep my focus and concentration for the competition. Grrr... *knits eyebrows, bares teeth.

Yay! Time to go shopping. For clothes this time, not what you think. Anthony's wedding dinner is a theme party. Weng's arranging for it to be 'Neverland,' which means anything related to the Peter Pan mythos. Just off the top of my head, the possibilities are: fairies, pirates, Red Indians, mermaids, Lost Boys, kids in pyjamas, assorted woodland animals and shrubbery, a crocodile and formally dressed parents. Did I miss anything out?

Looking at this list, I think the easiest and most economical option would be the pyjamas. But that's not quite my style so I chose the next best thing -- a pirate. Not the Captain, mind you, just a swab. Seems easy enough. I went to Bugis Village for a pair of drawstring pants (free size), and got a blue striped rugby jersey from Bossini. I was hoping for something slightly oversize, so I went for XL, but XL fitted me exactly. Sigh. Actually, I saw another jersey that I thought would have been ideal because of the lace-up front; unfortunately, it belonged to the ladies' section and I had no hope of being able to fit into it. Double sigh.

The army surplus stores on Beach Road provided the eye patch and my blue bandana should complete the ensemble. A baby blue pirate, howzat? Still having trouble considering footwear, though. Pirates usually go barefoot, though I guess my leather sandals should be quite acceptable.

Cost: for everything I bought today, $32.50. I'm also still looking for a respectable sword and maybe a large hoop earring. Too bad toy stores these days tend to sell stupid-looking Power Rangers inspired "hi-tech" flashing light swords. Rubbish. Oh well, if I really can't find a sword, I'll settle for a wood-handled mop for swabbing the deck with.

June wants to go formal, so it'll be pirate and captive lady. Now, where did I put my handcuffs? Kinky.

Batman Begins. Love the cool toys, the exploding/collapsing public infrastructure (probably all paid for by Wayne money anyway), the intro of Scarecrow -- an often underrated Batman villain, the emotiveness of the characters, and the attempt to make the Batman a swift, near-invisible predator who makes criminals quake in their boots. This Batman is a trained, disciplined, self- directed weapon against crime after overcoming his trauma and psychosis rather than just another nutjob in a costume. Under another title, he would have made a scary Sith lord, given the tutelage of a dark Qui-Gon Jinn.

Couple of things bothered me, cool as this Dark Knight tale has been. Fight sequences move too quickly, too close-up. If there was any fight choreography at all, it was lost in a blur of action quite wasting the effort. Also, the Batman mask -- way pointy ears and long pointy nose, not so much scary as it is comedic in a face-to-face encounter. Otherwise, it was a fun ride.

Got more bowling practice in the evening. I only had 1 game at the CSC because of some tournament being held there, so we adjourned to dinner then decided to go back to Plaza Bowl on Beach Road because it was convenient for Wendy to collect Anthony after our game. Amy joined us having returned from her Swiss holiday over the weekend.

It was quite a surprise to see that the old Plaza Bowl has undergone refurbishing and is now Star Bowl, a completely new bowling alley. Bright lighting, smooth polished boards and pins that go skidding around creating spectacular strikes with a well-thrown ball. Amy bowled her best game here so far: 128 I think it was. Anthony's elbow seems to be recovering, his scores climbing back to his regular game again.

Oh, and every Monday and Wednesday night is red-pin night. Occasionally, 1 red pin is placed in a random location amongst the other 9. If that red pin is the only pin standing after your first throw, you get a prize. I discovered this 'bonus' when I did inadvertently accomplish this task and the guy in the next lane informed me to approach the counter and show the counter guy what I'd done. I came back with a face cloth emblazoned with the "Star Bowl" logo. Just what I need to clean my ball with.

Now we have a new place to practice when the CSC lanes are closed for 2 weeks in July for its own servicing and maintenance.

And Q-tip gets an airing at Upper Peirce Reservoir 

The Pitstop, Car Park B, Upper Seletar Reservoir

This is the refreshment kiosk I referred to in my previous entry. It turned out to be an excellent spot to take Dad out to for his Father's Day lunch. Firstly, it was nostalgic for him to revisit an old landmark (the reservoir, not the car park) that we always drove past whenever he took me back to my army camp during my NSF days. He's not been back this way for nearly 20 years already.

Second, the food is really good. It's home cooked from scratch by the proprietor (Mike) and his wife (Angela). They have a nasi bryani set served with a tandoori chicken leg that unlike the dry, stringy texture you'd expect of a tandoori, it's moist and juicy under the firery red exterior. And they add a special pepper sauce that goes so well with the fragrant yellow rice. We ordered 2 sets to share amongst 4 of us.

We also ordered a chicken curry with french loaf. Nice to see a chicken curry in which the meat hasn't disintegrated into the curry but is still tender, yet integral unto itself. We had the nasi lemak as well which was more lemak than the overrated Chong Pang variety that Channel U has apparently endorsed. And the mee siam was from a recipe that I thought had gone extinct, that I knew mee siam to be, yet I could never recapture in present-day Singapore. It was a mee siam that brought me back to the old Indian man whose stall in my old school canteen still holds fond memories for me. The gravy is pinkish, a little thicker than the soupy stuff we get nowadays, more sweet than sour, and just a little bit lemak as well.

Mike explained that this was the original recipe that the Indian stevedores concocted when they wanted bee hoon but couldn't stomach the blandness of Chinese bee hoon soup. The recipe died out when they got themselves repatriated to India or heaven. The recipe was then revived by the nonyas, who reengineered it to their taste for hot and sour and today it's this version that lives on. Another interesting piece of info: mee siam is endemic to Singapore. No one else eats mee siam (historically speaking) in the region, so where the "siam" part of the name came from is a bit of a mystery.

We polished off 6 cans of Minute Maid lemonade and felt a bit bad when Mike was trying to promote this new label to his other customers and realized there was only 1 measly can left in his drinks fridge. A possible new addiction to substitute for Coke, my regular poison. Hope it catches on.

Unfortunately we were too full to end with dessert. June and I know they have a delicious, unusually light and fluffy chocolate brownie ala mode 'cos we actually recc'ed the place yesterday lunchtime after Belle's checkup with Dr Casey. Belle's still trying to regain the use of her right foot, BTW. But she's also adapting herself to move around on 3 legs in the meantime.

Third, Mike and Angela are not so much "service-oriented" as they are genuinely personable and friendly. They have stories to tell about their customers, their pets and their customers' pets as well. This is one place where the proprietors introduce their customers to each other because they know their regulars firsthand.

Fourth, economy. For everything that we ordered and stuffed ourselves with, total bill: $31.70. Not bad for a meal for 4.

An excellent date place, especially in the late afternoon, early evening. It's quiet, natural and romantic, especially when it gets a bit darker and you climb the lookout tower or just sit on the breakwater watching the sunset together with your date. Good place to think and write too, if my previous suggestion is too mushy for you.

This place is open from 1130 to 1900 every day except Thursdays and the 1st Saturday of every month. It's best to drive here as it's a bit out of the way, though there is a bus stop on Mandai Road from which you can walk in. Just head for the rocket and you're there.

Oh, Mike hinted that some big real estate players may be muscling their way in to take over the golf course under whose auspices his establishment operates under. That could cast a shadow over the long-term viability of the Pitstop as it is run today. Until then, it'll be let's take it easy and live one day at a time. Good philosophy.

It's getting quite challenging to please all the women in my household. Today, Q-tip is a very happy girl. But June would probably want to kill me 'cos while she was out at work, I took Q-tip on a road-trip and visited some spots that were quite breathtakingly different from the usual built-up places in Singapore.

It all began last week when I foolishly accepted an invitation by the Library Board to let the Drama Club do another public reading. This time, we drew the 'Tangerine' assignment and this book by local author, C Cheong, is a difficult one to dramatize. The problem is, most of the drama in the book happens in the narrator's head while his interactions with people are quite prosaic and mundane. If there's going to be any dramatization, it's going to be quite abstract, and the kids again won't have much time to rehearse as the show date is quite close to the end of their mid-year exam which they should be studying for right now -- June hols notwithstanding. I needed some inspiration and Q-tip needed an outing so off we went.

Our first stop: Upper Peirce Reservoir. Unfortunately, just as we arrived the heavens opened up and poured buckets on our heads. Or would have if we arrived 5 minutes earlier and had got out of the car. Trapped inside M2, we waited a bit for the rain to abate, but that prospect grew less and less likely with thunder rolling in.

Plan B then. Taking the chance that bad weather would confine itself to the north, we drove south to the Botanic Gardens. The main attraction was Cafe les Amis, a dog-friendly establishment where, I remember reading recently, we could get some outstanding burgers.

Squeezing our way through a bunch of MGS girls on CIP entertaining some old folks, we managed to find an empty table for ourselves. One of the staff obligingly looked after Q-tip while I placed my order at the counter. I settled for a Mushroom 'n Swiss ($12) and wasn't disappointed. Forget the 'shrooms and cheese, the burger patty didn't need the embellishment. It tasted meaty, full of beefy goodness (and none of that fast-food nonsense -- ground up cows' ears and noses filled out with flour). It was juicy too, every bite dripping over my fingers into the plate below. Guys, if you're ever on a date here, only order the burger if your sweetheart is already used to Your Sloppyness. A most inelegant, though gastronomically rewarding dish to order. Oh, and it comes with a side of crispy golden french fries and a green salad so fresh it looks like it had just been picked from the gardens there and then.

A brief stroll around the central pond to work off the calories then we were off again. I still hadn't done any reading of 'Tangerine' so I still needed to find somewhere quiet and not crowded with people. Heading home, I remembered that I haven't been to Upper Seletar Reservoir in decades so I made a small detour and parked in the most picturesque, quiet spot on the island. No one around apart from a few dudes trying their luck at fishing, or enjoying a quiet read or polishing off a box lunch. I settled on a bench facing the water's edge and absorbed myself in a contemporary travelogue of Vietnam, my little dog patiently keeping me company.

After a chapter, wanderlust overtook me. I dumped the book in M2 then took a walk with Q-tip towards the rocket-shaped lookout tower overlooking the reservoir. Nearby, I discovered a little refreshment kiosk where I purchased an ice-cream. The elderly couple who ran the kiosk turned out to be very dog-friendly. The man offered Q-tip a bowl of water, though she was too shy to take more than a tiny lick from it. The lady was a little disappointed that I had lunch already. The kiosk seems to have a nice selection from both western and local dishes. It's good to keep this place in mind as there aren't many eating places that would welcome Q-tip like this. And it's great to walk around the grounds too. Nothing but the green of forest and cultivated gardens, the tranquil of a large expanse of water (relatively speaking, of course), and blue sky. Lovely, if you like quiet places just to get away from it all.

A brilliant afternoon. Should'a brought my cam though. *kicks self.

Yesterday's events were hardly worth recording. A wasted trip back to college getting absolutely nothing accomplished, and I would have been better off spending my time elsewhere. Anywhere. Oh, and a seperate note to myself: Avoid driving onto campus until term starts again, or at least until they do up the road properly or risk damaging M2's transmission, road wheels, undercarriage, etc.

Needed a change of scenery. Needed to go far, far away and soak up some kind of different atmosphere. Furthest place I could think of was ECP, but it rained quite terribly in the morning -- not particularly conducive for a beach outing.

Fortunately, by noon the weather looked like it was clearing up a bit, so I took the chance and drove east. Dropped in for a quick bite at McD's while waiting for the weather to improve, and it did indeed. It was still cloudy, but sunshine came out in spots; good enough for me.

I was tempted to rent a bike or a pair of 'blades but the sky being temperamental as it was I didn't want to get tied down to a contract for an hour or two. BTW, the bike rental shops now have a rent 1 hour, get 1 additional hour free, but only on weekdays.

Forgoing rented wheels, I just strolled the footpaths taking in the breeze and looking out into the sea. People were camping out at the BBQ pits and having fun in the water. Me, I had the company of my i-Pod mini as I sought out the sun.

If the weather was better, I might have brought Q-tip. She would have enjoyed the airing.

The invalid, comfortably convalescing. 

Picked up a copy of the new Battlestar Galactica mini-series on DVD. The series is premiering on Cinemax later this month and I was seriously considering adding this channel to my cable subscription just so I could relive my childhood Galactica-mania. Now I don't have to.

The series opens with humanity's total and complete defeat in a war we never had even a fighting chance in. The objective for the survivors is not to win this war, but how they, who are left with basically nothing but a small fleet of civilian ships, dwindling supplies, outdated ordnance and just a glimmer of hope, can avoid extinction at the hands of an enemy which wants nothing less.

The new Galactica upset a number of purist fans when it came out in the states last year. One of the most controversial decisions was to change the gender of fan favourite, Starbuck -- the dashing hero who attracts women everywhere he goes -- to that of a woman. So while she is still an ace pilot and total kick-ass fighter, her actions are less altruistic than the Starbuck of old. They are more like an outlet for her pent up frustrations and possibly a desire for vengeance.

Each character now has a solid backstory explaining their angst and their motivations for the choices they make. For example, the warm father-son relationship between Cmdr Adama and Apollo in the 1978 series gives way to that of a guilt-ridden father whose son bitterly blames for the death of his younger brother. The new Adama is more soldier than father, a military tactician rather than the shepherd of his flock. That task falls to a new mother-figure, that of President Roslin, who assumes political leadership being the highest-ranking civil servant amongst the 50+ thousand survivors of the Cylon genocide. She is the equivalent of our perm. sec. of Education becoming PM because the entire cabinet, MPs, and other senior civil servants have been wiped out. Moreover, she's dealing with her own case of terminal cancer on top of seeing to the welfare of what's left of the human species as far as she knows.

The women in this series are strong, decisive, independent and are very good at what they do, whether in leadership, combat/tactical skills, and they also figure very prominently in the enemy's camp as well. If not for the women, their rationality, compassion and survival instinct, humanity would have been extinct within the first few waves of the Cylon attack.

What works for this series is that decisions made by the characters come with consequences. People die, their bodies are collected and lie row upon row in a makeshift morgue. They don't get vaporized into space-dust where out of sight equals out of mind. Tough choices for the greater good mean that lives have to be lost, even those of innocents, and these sacrifices weigh heavily on the conscience of the decision-maker. How they respond to these consequences make them grow either stronger or weaker, so characters develop as the series progresses.

There are also some NE ideas that the series reinforces. Just because there has been 49 years of peace doesn't mean the enemy isn't planning something nasty to happen in the 50th year. After "home" has been destroyed, what does it take to make a new home elsewhere? What exactly constitutes "home," anyway? And, of course, the same concern regardless of where in the world we come from: if we want to survive as a species, we gotta have more babies. As it turns out, the very first victim of the Cylon attack on the colonies is a baby in its stroller in a cynical, non-military strike. It was infanticide, pure and simple though the perpetrator, a Cylon infiltrator, may have seen it as a mercy-killing.

What I have is a DVD of the pilot 3 episodes. 3 hours long, a bit slow-moving with lots of focus on character interactions and developing relationships and not a lot of fighting. The human fleet doesn't put up much of a fight, anyway. In fact, it's not so much defeated as it is humiliated by it's inability to respond to the threat. What's left is wit, desperation and the will to survive that makes the last remnants of humankind so interesting to watch.

Oh, if I could only boot up the "Wing Commander" series again. It's the closest thing to experiencing a fighter-pilot's life on the Galactica, much of my youth being misspent on this one fantasy.

"Mr & Mrs Smith" begins with a couple seeking marriage counseling. Things between the couple are stale, boring, none of the romance and mystique that they experienced in the first few years of their co-existence in a common household.

Are the Smiths professional assassins in their "real" lives? Or does it really matter? Every married couple will eventually start questioning their marriage after a time. Their story is a metaphor for what happens in a marriage relationship after the fireworks have died down and routine eventually sets in.

The movie follows a pattern of behaviour that generally begins 5 or 6 years after the honeymoon. Whether it's career or hobbies or personal interest, 2 people though pledged to each other can drift apart. After 5 or 6 years of talking to each other, can there be anything left to talk about? As communication breaks down, suspicion creeps into the picture. Suspicion causes a search for "evidence" of wrongdoing, though sometimes the search isn't an active one but rather a putting together of 1 + 1 = 3. Interpreting "evidence" leads to the conclusion of betrayal and here's where the bullets start flying hard and fast. Bullets not necessarily composed of lead and powered by gunpowder, but spiteful words powered by anger which are designed specifically to hurt as much as buckshot. And hurt they do.

The marriage is in a major crisis at this stage. Whether the 2 survive as a couple depends on how fast they recognize that the enemy isn't each other, it's the situation around them. It's essential that they identify what is tearing them apart and they agree to work together to deal with it. Remember that in this movie, the survival of either husband or wife is not in question; rather, we worry about whether the marriage remains intact regardless of the eventual fate of either party.

The climactic battle is purely a dance, set to the staccato rhythms of gunfire. The way the Smiths coordinate with each other, anticipating each other's moves and always, always, watching each other's backs shows a couple that has gone past the vagaries of the communication-interpretation stage (the messy part of a relationship) to the understanding-without-words stage where thought and knowledge are instantaneously shared between the two. That is truly transcendent.

Interestingly enough, like the Smiths, June and I have already been married for 5 or 6 years. Wonder what she's hiding in the oven, I mean besides the Thirsty Hippo?

Belle's condition seems to have stabilized. Most of the time she's just lying down in one position or another, then she'll get bored and go find some other place to lie down in. So more or less she's back to normal. Except that her hind right foot she's still dragging; and the fact that she's not eating like she used to any more. A few nibbles of her meal seems enough for her, though she's started to like drinking milk in the morning. It's almost like she knows Dr Casey will put her on a weight-loss programme as soon as she's walking properly and she's pre-empting the process. Smart girl. Meantime, her treatment still goes on: a syringe dose of meds followed by frequent leg massages throughout the day in the hope that she'll start feeling that right foot of hers again.

Other than that, there are still a few kinks to work out with FM broadcasting my i-Pod mini to the M2's radio. I need to find an FM band that's completely free of any traffic whatsoever. This is turning out to be harder than I expected. It's easy to avoid known local radio channels, but it still depends on which part of the island you travel to. A band that's clear in the north may pick up a broadcaster, say in Indonesia, when you travel east or south. North, you pick up transmissions from Malaysia. All this interference causes so much distortion that the music from the i-Pod becomes unlistenable. I'm sure there must be a frequency I can claim for myself somewhere out there; I just have to take time to find it. I wonder what frequency Amy's is tuned to?

And Anthony's invited us to his wedding in July. The venue is in KL, so he's promised to put us up for a night at the Ritz Carlton. That's something to look forward to! More on this thread as we get closer to his big day!

It's quite dangerous to leave the house with the intention to spend money. I got the urge to splurge and went to a once-favourite hangout where much of my disposable income in the past disappeared into -- Funan Centre.

After much internal debate and dramatic hand-wringing (no, not to June, but to myself) I succumbed to temptation and picked up a beautiful metallic blue 4GB i-Pod mini! This, despite my crusade against greedy record companies who won't compete against file-sharing technology. Guess they won after all.

What do I want an i-Pod for? Inspired by Amy who has a similar set-up, I intend to connect it to an i-Trip accessory and play my own song selections on the M2's stereo. After all, I was getting bored with the limitations of the CD player. You hear the same songs over and over again and it's kinda' troublesome to keep changing CDs all the time just to stay fresh.

The i-Trip attaches to the headphone jack and broadcasts the music files via FM band for the car radio to pick up and play. I just have to set one of my radio channels to FM87.9 and it's all my own music, baby! Now to let it charge overnight, then put it to the test tomorrow!

Belle continues to convalesce. Her right leg is still a major problem, but emotionally and psychologically she seems much happier. We don't need to confine her to quarters anymore, and she comes and goes as she pleases, with frequent rest stops in between. One new behaviour that she's developed is that she now likes to sit with us on the living room carpet while we watch TV, at least in the early evening. She usually kept her distance before, so all the pampering we've been indulging her with may have made her a bit more manja with us.

Meantime, we've been trying to live our lives as per normal. I went back on campus today to sort out the last few details of our Drama Night accounts, and I'm really glad I didn't pursue my 'opportunity' to study accounting when I was younger. Making every dollar and cent count is such a painful, tedious process, especially when doing it with someone who is professionally trained in accountancy. Doing it once in a while is frustrating enough; imagine building your whole life around this mind-numbing task.

There's still some outstanding matters in terms of payments yet to be made, awaiting receipt of official invoice from vendor; so I called him to mail us (fax invoices are not acceptable for payment). And so pending this important postal delivery, there wasn't much left for me to do today so I went out to lunch.

I have a car. I am mobile. I can go anywhere I want. The only limitations are within my imagination. So I went to Northpoint -- a short 10-minute bus ride from home. Doh, what's wrong with me? Had fish 'n' chips at the newly renovated food court. Fish was breaded, not battered; not bad, though neither was it outstanding. Chips could have been more generous in terms of size and quantity. Stay away from the coleslaw unless you like it sour.

Got the M2 a long overdue wash and wax at the Wash 'n' Run, so that was my justification for coming home early today.

More good news. Belle is improving in stages. She finally got fed up with her confinement in the guest room and actually walked -- limped, rather -- into the living room to rest on the carpet. That was the furthest she had walked since Saturday. She even had the motivation to put her forepaws on my stomach, the way she does when she is asking for a snack. I picked out a couple of snack sticks and she ate them. The bowl in her room was also empty, so I suspect she had also eaten her breakfast kibble this morning, though I didn't actually see her do it. There was also poop near her sand-box. I guess she couldn't make it in time, but in this case, seeing poop is a good sign. I did see her grooming herself again, which shows her morale is starting to come up. She purrs again when I stroke her, and Dr Casey was happy to hear this report from us when we went to see him this evening.

When we came home, Belle refused to go back to her guest room, but instead returned to her routine of sleeping in her basket under our bed. She's been there ever since.

Dr Casey is helping us restore mobility to her draggy leg. He reminded us to continue the massage and physiotherapy for her and suggested that we try alternating hot and cold compresses on her weak leg to improve circulation. Apparently, the blood vessels expand and contract according to temperature (we learned about this in Sec School physics) and this movement encourages blood to flow. If the heart isn't pumping hard enough, another kind of pump will have to do.

Belle still has a lot of recovering to do, but today's progress has really been amazing. Good girl! Keep it up!

Belle's 3-legged walk is a little stronger today. She can now lift her body completely off the ground and move short distances, and her tail is getting twitchier, though she gets tired very easily. We're still syringing water into her mouth 'cos she still refuses to eat. We're trying her out with milk as a food substitute, also having to deliver it through the syringe. That should give her at least some nourishment and keep her hydrated at the same time. Let's see what happens tomorrow.

Meantime, I caught "Episode III" for the second time. We went to Great World City just to remind ourselves that we were on vacation, so why the heck were we still meeting on campus working? Guess "vacation" is just a technical term. It means "working without having to follow a fixed schedule." I can live with that.

What new insight did I gain from a 2nd viewing? Well, if Anakin Skywalker became a Dark Lord of a fried food franchise, he could serve chicken in 3 different styles: mild 'n' tender; hot 'n' spicy; and extra crispy. Haha.