I finally bought a car today. Not the most exciting choice, but I'll survive.

No more bus! I dance in jubilation.

The purchase, in cash, does bring my financial resources down to pretty much negative. And I keenly felt the danger of driving on the wrong side of the road today.

Still, no more bus!

HTM

This is so weird.

I just woke up from a dream in which I was at Charlie Trotter's with my parents and brothers. Vivid enough that things were awkward as my parents realised how much the meal would cost, the tiny portions of each course, things like that. There was even a little argument over who would pay the bill. I was doing a comparison of the size of the bill and my salary, deciding that I could afford to pick up the cheque, but getting this idea swatted down by my dad, who wanted to retain his position as chief money dispenser. Now that I think about it, the entire dream was quite realistic, to the point where it mirrors what I would imagine an actual evening at Trotter's with my family would be like. It's fading now, but I could have given you a blow-by-blow account of each course and the conversations with the waiter over the three hour meal. I don't usually have such realistic dreams.

Well, ok, the last course was pizza from Milano's. That tipped me off that it was a dream. Although it's not inconceivable that one of the more avant-garde chefs might produce some interpretation of pizza as part of a hoity-toity meal. After all, Wolfgang Puck did make a career out of smoked salmon pizza. And yes, that was what was going through my mind in the dream.

I think the pizza was probably just a manifestation of too much pizza in real life, and a good dose of nostalgia. I recall Milano's as being among the first pizza delivery places in Singapore, which I rather liked. So I'm busy longing for the more relaxed days of college, and this reached back a bit too far and pulled a memory from an additional fifteen years back.

Which brings me to the topic of work. It bites. Have to wake up early every day, then actually work for 10, 12 hours. Not grunt work either. We get a lot done in those 10 hours. Tiring as hell. At least the company's making money. Should make for a decent bonus if I can stick it out long enough to warrant one. And if I don't lose ten million dollars and get fired.

Taking a walk

I just read an article about a couple walking through Provence over two weeks. I have to say that it sounds like a tremendously cool experience. Think about it. Walking through the countryside, stopping in the afternoon to lay out a picnic of local wines, bread and cheeses, then taking a little nap under the warm Provencal sky. In the evenings, find a village hotel to rest your aching, blistery feet, then head to a little restaurant to sample the local fare. In the morning, have a stroll through the market, talking to the farmers about their produce and buying armfuls of happy cheese.

What an intimate way of experienciing a country!

I realise that there will be issues with the endeavour. Walking ten kiles a day is tiring stuff. There will be times when you would prefer to simply give up and take a bus to the next town. But there's the great bit. You should feel free to do so. It's not one of those eco-hike things. It's just making your way through a country at a coompletely leisurely pace.

Heh, if farmers still had horse-drawn carts, you might attempt to hitch a ride. In this day and age, you would probably have to settle for a van or pick-up.

What a lovely thought. Now I shall return my mind to the issue of congestion in the power transmission grids of Pennysylvania.

I need a car

I can't believe it took 2 weeks to set up internet access. Ridiculous.

Also ridiculous that I have to learn a bunch of programming plus a bloody complicated market structure within the next week.

Even the rent I'm paying now is quite ridiculous. I'm in the suburbs. Why am I paying so much?

The quantity of fast food I'm consuming is pretty ridiculous too. Every lunch and dinner is bought from some fast food restaurant or other. I'm actually tempted to wake up earlier to make a packed lunch. At this rate, I'm going to die before my first paycheck is received.

Ok, that's it for life as a dependent. Also no more Singapore for some time.

If only this didn't entail a twenty hour flight.