Well, as much as I wished it to, the week went by quickly. Tonight, Vivien and Jian will be back, together with her parents, from Malaysia and husband Lau will also be flying in from Shanghai.

Just 3 more days... on Tuesday, Papa will be back from Japan.

My week of being a hermit is through. Gosh, I must really love my own company to be holed in here for 5 days... totally not going out or anything. I could have, of course. Antonia invited me for lunch and/or the coffee shop last Wednesday as it was a holiday but I took a rain check. Or I could have gone to Whitesands and maybe shopped a bit. Or I could have gone to the community center and checked out their classes in Mandarin. But I had things to do.

The thing is, I wasn't really bored. If anything, my days were so full the hours seemed to zoom by. Well, like they say, it's all a matter of attitude. I could choose to become a miserable wretch, sitting stock-still as I count the days until somebody re-discovered me. Or, I could turn it into a productive period... wearing myself out from sun up to sun down, consequently thanking the solitude... and have something nice to show for it in the end.

Well, I'd still be alone, but not lonely... except for the nights... or forget the nights. For me, the loneliest time of day is late afternoon... at sunset. I don't know why. If there was such a thing as a 'low point in the day, for me it would be at sunset. I do love the sunset... I think they're really pretty, but they make me lonely too. And you know what tops that? Sunset on a Sunday evening... oh boy... I think that's my really, really low point. I think it springs from my school days... when all the week-end gig would be over and you need to be studying again and you can't watch TV and you can't stay up late cause it's a school day tomorrow... tee hee. I can still remember my mom bugging us to prepare everything we needed for the following day the night before so we won't take so much time preparing to go to school and getting in late just the same. Or maybe getting in on time but forgetting half our books.

Anyway... right now I'm just waiting for them to come. It'll be a full house again. Maybe after a while I will miss the solitude. But right now, I'm hot to be a social animal once again.