No Rest for the Wicked. Or the Weary.

I know, this posting thing, I'm rubbish. I was reminded of this fact by my close friend this evening. A friend who lives here in Macau and I see... NOT OFTEN ENOUGH. So here's a post for her. AND. For Melissa Miller. Whom I love and adore and speak to NOT OFTEN ENOUGH. Sense a theme here? ... Awkward silence...

Anywho.

Clara Camille is shedding. Rarely have I been prouder. Sean mentioned today that she was bigger and I hadn't really noticed (I mean, I look at her every day...) but turns out she's shedding all over. My little girl is growing up... Isno, on the other hand, is just Isno. Chewing the bars of her cage at night, so she has been banished to the kitchen. I think she likes it there, though...

This weekend brought us Macomians a day at the pool (it was SO QUIET), our first T3 typhoon of the season, a delicious dinner, lots of rain and wind, and for a few of us adventurers, a day in Three Lamps where we stocked up on plants and flowers, among other things. I now have a peace lily, a bamboo, an african violet, an aloe plant, a cactus, a basil plant, a rosemary, and an oregano, along with three other plants in Clara Camille's cage and an unnameable plant. I am quite domesticated, you see.

On the bright side, the typhoon this weekend showed me that not only does one of our living room windows' sealing leak, so does the wall in my bedroom. In two places. I have two wet patches around my window bay and it is clearly coming from the wall, not the window. That won't be a quick fix. And the one in the living room managed to leak probably a liter of water onto the window bench overnight, soaking the power strip for Clara Camille's cage. Ah, Chinese construction.

So Mom and Brother came to visit. It was so nice to have them here. SO. Nice. They met my pets, we did a whirlwind tour of China, including Xi'an to see the Terracotta Army, and Beijing where we saw the Forbidden City, Tiennamen Square, and a silk factory. We also spent two days in Hong Kong. Turns out, the smog in Macoma is bearable considering the abominable pollution elsewhere in the Chinese continent. They said they liked the show and on the last day the fam was here, they got the grand tour of not only the backstage area, BUT ALSO the Chinese Movie Awards. Big stuff here people, Veeeeeeeeeeeeeeery important. Not quite the Oscars, not as entertaining as the Tony's. But more tacky and definitely more difficult to understand.

So after the CMA's (not to be confused with the Country Music Awards, which my friend and your's Courtney Cole attended this year looking VERY glamorous), we had a week of dark which means there were no shows and we drained the pool for maintenance. I like the darks, I spent a week in the bottom of the pool working on the lift LEDs, and there was no one around. We get so much done and we're on a somewhat normal schedule. It's quiet and we get evenings off - BONUS.

But all good things must come to an end and now the artists are back looking very tan and god-like after their vacations, the pool is filled again, and Franco's back in a couple of days looking to recreate the show. No rest for the wicked. Or the weary. And we in Macoma are both, these days.

Sick. Again.

For a girl who never got sick at home, I sure do seem to spend a lot of my time here at the doctor's clinic. There is a wicked cold/virus/flu thing going around work right now and it seems to have caught up with me. I feel wretched. I thought it was just the fact that I've started sleeping with the aircon on, but waking up at 6am sneezing and dripping with snot just seems to indicate something else entirely, does it not? A quick visit to the clinic down the block and I now have four meds to take and a day off work to spend catching up on Law and Order SVU, even though I seem to have seen every episode I attempt to watch.

Moving on.

This weekend was lovely. The girls and I ventured to Hong Kong after a super late night and spent much money, had a delightful luncheon of Greek food (which is the one thing you cannot find in Macau), and made our way back to Macau after some much needed retail therapy and laughter. Then yesterday we made our way to the pool and spent our afternoon in the company of sunshine and water. It was delightful. Once we stopped being silly and sweating our tails off in the sun and got in the water, I needed nothing else. There really are some quite delightful people in Macau. Mexican for dinner and we trundled off to dreamland...

Only to be woken at 6am sneezing. Charming, you might imagine.

Next weekend, Mother and Brother come to Macau to experience the culture shock. We'll venture to Hong Kong for a couple days and then move onward to tour China and see the touristy sights like the Forbidden City and the Terracotta Army, etc. I must admit that while I am not so much looking forward to China, it will be nice to see some sights and get that out of the way so that I can focus on taking other exotic vacations.

I decided on a name for my chameleon: Clara Camille. Classically old school. I wanted to name her Audrey Grace, but it seems so...human. So Clara Camille it is. I also just inherited a hamster who goes by Isno from some friends who had to leave quite suddenly and needed a home for it. I guess with my plants and my new pets you might say I am becoming rather domesticated here in the Macoma. How long will it last? Only time will tell.

Must focus on the television now...