For Christmas last year, I got a Borders gift card, worth S$100, from my parents. It was fantastic! :D Probably the best present ever, being the nerd that I am. :3 Seriously, if you can’t think of anything to get me, a Borders (or any book store, really) gift card always works wonders. Or as long as it’s books (it has to be a good read, obviously), CDs/DVDs or even notebooks! Yeah, I collect notebooks, much to the annoyance of mother dearest. :p I can’t help it!

The point of this post was to marvel at how much I can spend on books, CDs and DVDs on a single trip to a book store. ._. Occasionally, I even splurge on stationery. This is dangerous! Someone keep me away from these places! Dx

I met up with Lorraine, a dear friend I hung out with back in college, two Friday nights ago. I dragged her (not quite literally) to Borders, without the intention of getting anything, seeing as just the previous week, I got two design books (this and this) which were on 50% off.

However… *danger music* I decided I wanted to get Mitch Albom’s Have a Little Faith, it was on offer and was only $24.99. :p As we browsed through the store, I spotted some design books on a row of shelves with other random books, so I flipped through the design ones. Then I looked up… to a sign that said something along the lines of “spend at least $30 and get any of these books for $10!” BREAKING POINT! I had to have those design books.

I mean, if you’re a design student, you know how much design books cost, and how crazy it would be to get a few of them just for referencing. Part of the reason why we’re always broke, lol. I grabbed the two design books (this and this) and went in search of other things to up my purchases to $30. Lorraine also grabbed a book she liked to put on my tab, since it was only going to be $10 anyway. xD

I looked around the DVD section since I had CD & DVD coupons from the Borders newsletter, and ended up getting Up and Night at the Museum. As I was about to go pay, we passed by a wagon with DVDs below $15, so I got Final Destination. xD

So… there you have it. This is how I can go into a bookstore without planning to get anything, to coming out with way too many things. :| Emptied my gift card and paid for the rest myself. Scary, huh? Haha.

Have you had this experience before? Or are you really disciplined with your money? :p

• Colleague just said I was getting hyper again. NO, I’M NOT! LALALALALA… I’m not. >_> #
• Can’t wait to leave the office, but there’s still much left to be done. Dx #
• Haha, this is so odd. Right at this point of time, I’m suddenly feeling really happy about my life. I love it. :D <3 #
• One Golf Sale page down. Two more to go… Oh, wow. It’s 12am. Guess it’s time to leave the office. Zzz… #
• Freak, headache is back and I’m nauseous. I’ll blame the bumpy cab. Dx #
• Help Haiti, Drop the Debt: http://bit.ly/8g1LGS #
• Check this out from Music For Relief – http://t.opsp.in/DMmB #musicforrelief #
• Just donated US$10 (almost S$15) to #musicforrelief’s Download to Donate for Haiti. <3 #
• Excited for dinner with my Squishies at 313′s Marché tonight! Never had Marché before. :p #
• Had @Swensens for lunch with the colleagues! I’m about to explode! D: #
• Falling asleep at my desk… gah! /slaps self to stay awake #
• Had a good time with the #SquishyClub. :) #
• I love that @tomhanks signs off as Hanx. :3 Haha. #
• Lmao, Boss just said “Newness is always something different.” I wasn’t aware it could be anything else. xD #
• WHOA, @Swensens again for lunch. With the department this time around. Too much! /explodes #
• Meeting Lolo tonight! :D Gonna go chillax somewhere since we’re both full from lunch, lol. #
• -_- D&D theme this year is Retro. /everybody groans in unison What should we wear? Hmm… #
• Had a great time catching up with @orrac1e! :D Spent WAY too much at @Borders again too. :x Least I had my gift card from parents! #
• Ended up giving extra @Borders coupons I printed to ppl down the queue. xD Had no use for them anymore anyway. I love doing random things! #
• Wahahaha, I made @orrac1e’s account. :D #
• #votedannymcfly @Dannymcfly #
• Wow… Haven’t had this much of sleep in the entire week. :) G’morning, world! #
• GAH, how did I not know about @BoysLikeGirls coming to Singapore till @orrac1e told me last night?! NEED TICKETS. #
• I want these two so bad: http://bit.ly/7dQ14C Pity they don’t do international shipping. :( #
• Sally’s Spa is WAY too addictive. xD #
• …whoa, that was my 8k tweet. o_o;; #
• :x Lost track of time. /rushes to get ready for church #
• Bah, bus is going to take forever and a day to get here. Parentals waiting for me to get home so we can din together. :3 On nom nom. #
• Lmao, nice green sports car drove by and stopped opposite. The owner’s dressing however… :| #
• Hahaha, I found my house with ease on Google Earth. xD …don’t ask. #
• :/ I don’t understand this pain on my thumb. It’s been hurting for a week. Doesn’t feel broken. o_O;; #
• Had a good dinner with parentals. <3 Trying to spend more time with them this year has been working out so far. :) Pray it stays this way! #
• Shu: “YOU WANT TO FLYING LEAP TACKLE MEEEEEE?????” Me: “YESSS. :DDD” Ahahaha, I freaking love church people. <3 Thanks, @blackjackcajun! xD #
• Oh! Lunch smells fantastic! :) #
• !!! My new neighbours have such a pretty cat!! Now to bribe them so I can play with it… /schemes #
• /happily shows design books bought from @Borders “Aren’t they nice?!” Parents: “We don’t have design xi bao, can’t appreciate.” LOL! <3 #fb #
• Watching my Up DVD with the family. :3 Me and Sis have already watched it though. xD #
• -_- What is with guys and hogging the remote, seriously. #
• I could possibly watch Up a gazillion times and still love it. :) Kid in me #makesmehappy. #
• -_- Twitter needs to stop timing me out. #
• Ooh, The Lost Room is pretty interesting! #
• First time I’m taking Pop Art PhotoBooth pictures since I got my MBP mid last year. Look, barely any… http://dailybooth.com/u/1mvwn #
• :/ It’s almost 2am, and I want pizza. Haha. #
• Lovely Bones was nice. :) #
• Sigh, here’s me wishing I always have 3-day weekends. G’night, lovelies! :) #
• /groan I’m up… and have quite the potential to be reeeally grumpy for the entire day. :| This job needs to suck it soon. :x #
• Praise Him under open skies, everything breathing praising God. In the company, of all who love the King, I will dance, I will sing. :) #fb #
• That RT below, is why I don’t let people sing Happy Birthday to me. It’s awkward. I’d rather just get straight to cutting the cake. #
• Wow, Dakota Fanning. Such a pretty lady now. :) #
• Hahaha, I’m ace at Sally’s Spa! Scary. xD #
• Gosh, it’s so odd to see my icon all bright and colourful. xD #
• T_T So much for going home early… FML. #
• …it is also very weird to see four of my face in my icon, lol. @rizzle_d #
• Taking the bus at hours like these is always annoying because of the low frequency of buses. -_- #
• Someone is cutting their nails on the bus. Disgusting, much? #
• I’m really excited for the weekend. :) #
• :| So much for trying hard to save, lmao. I bought @BoysLikeGirls tickets!!! :whee: I will save after this, @rizzle_d. xD LONDON, WOO! #
• Shh, I have free time now, and I’m continuing my calendar design. January’s almost gone already. -_-;; #
• YAY, PAY SLIP IS HERE! :D! $_$ #
• Darn! I forgot to bring home my Japanese gelato ice cream. :( #
• Something’s seriously wrong with my thumb?! It doesn’t feel broken though. :/ Probably a sprain? IDK, but it hurts. T_T #
• Anyone else as excited as me over http://www.rwsentosa.com/ besides @liesltan? Hahaha. #
• Had a better sleep last night. :3 I ran for the bus! And made it! Hahaha. Also brought some cookies Mum made for colleagues to sample. :) #
• She needs to stop whacking me for no reason! And it’s so not necessary to keep hitting me (or anyone) repeatedly when she’s talking. T_T #
• …oh dear. More friends on Twitter means more MarshTweets. x_x Sorry for spamming, dear followers. #
• Gonna be trimming my hair tonight! CNY’s almost here, haha. Am definitely not cutting it. o_o #
• Yay! Got orders from my colleagues for Mum’s cookies. :3 Now to do up a nice order form, haha. #
• I kinda want dark purple hair. xD …doubt I’d ever do it though. #
• At McCafé with colleagues and Boss. He bought Japanese ice cream and sorbets for us! xD Sooo fuuullll. Explosionz! #
• http://bit.ly/kthbL :| I don’t understand the things they’re saying, but WTH! >< #fb #
• EEE, EXCITING. @BoysLikeGirls tomorrow!!! :whee: Mum needs to hurry transfer my money over from the other bank account. I’m going broke! #
• …and I’ve never been broke before. Seriously. xD #
• I wonder if I can fool the hairdresser into thinking I’m a tertiary student. xD #
• -_- I fail so bad. On the bus & just remembered my Jap ice cream is still in the fridge. When will I ever remember to BRING IT HOME?! Argh. #
• Woo! Just got my hair trimmed! Looks a lot neater now. :3 She also asked if I was a student, haha. Ofc I said yes. :x $8 hair cut FTW! #
• Darn. I missed all three buses that I could take, in the span of the minute I was walking to the bus stop. -_- #
• People need to learn some public manners and not push past me on the bus when we’re getting on. #
• Hahahaha, my head feels light again! :x #

Four days ago, I received a text from a colleague that a fellow colleague’s dad had just passed away. Three days ago, I attended the funeral. I learnt that he had been diagnosed with cancer two years ago, and had actually been cleared of it when complications started arising recently. I started fretting over it.

October 2008, my mother was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. Everything happened so fast after that. She underwent surgery in November and started chemo early 2009. It was a tough period for the family, especially my dad. He lost a lot of weight. I was praying so hard throughout the entire time, and right now, mum’s doing fine. She’s still going back to the hospital every now and then to have injections for her immune system, but she’s gone back to her normal lifestyle and I cannot be more thankful.

We were in and out of the hospital a lot, because just before all this happened, my grandmother had a bad fall, and dislocated her hip. She underwent a successful surgery. Mum then had her surgery while gran was recuperating. I’ve never been happier to stop having visits to the hospital.

While this recent situation has daunted me, I can only continue praying for her wellbeing and trust that God will keep her healthy. It has also made me realise how thankful I actually am for the parentals. I haven’t actually been a model daughter, so this year, I’m going to try and change that. Family is something that can’t be replaced, so please don’t take yours for granted. :)