k0k bL0k: October 2012

"And I'm gonna ride this feeling as far as it goes

I'm gonna ride this feeling

I don't know, I don't know

Whether I'm flying or falling

But I'm gonna ride this feeling"

Ride This Feeling (2012) by Kate Miller-Heidke

I can't sleep, so here I am.

Yesterday was a few hours ago and she is currently sleeping soundly under a very substantial amount of fabric, just several feet away from where I sit. We were at a vegetarian restaurant earlier where we had a large salad of a delicious fern the locals call "midin" and batter-fried butter mushrooms. Then, we paid a visit to my go-to booze guy and got ourselves a Chardonnay and a Riesling. We plan to keep the Chardonnay for the 5th of November but we opened the Riesling as soon as we had it chilled. It was very quaffable and we had it over the second half of Sideways (she fell asleep halfway through it the night before) and for all of Jiro Dreams of Sushi - all while cuddling on our extra-wide new slipper chair which we bought for movie nights. For weeks, we were out hunting for a nice small-sized settee but when we saw this slipper chair at Courts - and having test-driven it - we fell in love with it and gave it a home.

The Loveseat™.

Last week, Cheryl moved her whole life and her two cats from Singapore to come live with me in Kuching. She left her job and said goodbye to all her friends, and it felt simultaneously gratifying and terrifying that I am worth that much to her. In just the last few days, she managed to transform our glorified bachelor pad into a home (it has a shoe-rack and everything now), making me realise just how empty and frigid the house really was.

Sophie (right) is a red classic tabby Maine Coon. Mikey (left) is half Ragdoll, half rug.

Her cats, Mikey and Sophie, faced a month-long sentence at the state quarantine centre for the crime of being flown in from Singapore but I somehow managed to arrange for home quarantine for them after a few calls to the vice director of the veterinary department - I am always surprised with what you can get if you take the time to talk to the right people. They are gorgeous, her kitties, and she loves them like a mother.

I have always talked about getting a cat. Now, I have two. It's like all my dreams are coming true.

Taken on the evening of her bachelorette party. Hence the fluffy tiara.

Am I happy? Yes. Yes yes yes. I have never felt more loved than right now, and I wish I can make her feel just as adored, wanted and needed. In a few minutes, I am going to crawl under the covers and hold my fiancée close to me, a rehearsal for all the nights to come for the rest of our lives. I just picked up my new identity card from the office of the National Registration Department and it has three notable changes from the old card. One, it has a more recent picture of me. Two, instead of Buddhism in the religion field, I am now officially an atheist. Three, it sports my new address in Kuching. Cheryl's new identity card carries the same address, and with them, we can now be married in this city.

That will happen in less than two weeks. Remember, remember, the 5th of November and all that. There was a time when I cannot imagine myself marrying anyone. Tonight, I cannot imagine not marrying Cheryl.