little miss may

I did it! I did it!

Finally plucked up some courage and went to see the dentist today. Aren’t you proud of me? I certainly am, ha-ha! That’s one to-do off my procrastinated list. One more down, about 4 more to go.

I had to make the trip to the dentist because I’d been feeling a tinge of pain at two of my left molars on and off. Since I didn’t want my teeth to rot too much before it’s too late, I kicked myself in the butt and hopped over to the dental clinic this morning.

Anyway, I told the dentist about my little “problem”, and was prepared to hear the high-pitched drilling in the next few minutes. However, after poking around a bit, he announced that I didn’t have any cavities. Yippee!! No drilling!!

He said that the pain was most probably caused by a slight gum infection, with all that tartar build-up around the teeth. Just needed to clean up, floss regularly and the pain should go away in about a week.

Uh… “clean up”.

Oh no.

I’m sure that meant scaling, which was — to me, anyway — worse that drilling and patching up a cavity. I really dislike the feeling of that sharp whatchamacallit tool (like a high-powered “toothpick”) poking in between the gaps and scraping off the tartar. I dislike even more the feeling of the sore gums after that. You know, the feeling of rawness, tenderness and sensitive sensation after scaling. When it gets just a tad too uncomfortably cold when you suck air in between your teeth… *grimace*

“Okay, be a brave girl now, just get it over and done with,” I told myself.

After a few minutes of the “toothpick” going wheeeeeeeee and my reaction in my mind going ow ow oww ewwwwww oooh owwww all the way through, I came out with cleaner, tartar-free teeth, and raw gums. I still feel the slight soreness at the gums especially on the inner side of the bottom row. I can’t help but run my tongue over it once in awhile to ease the discomfort. The teeth feel a little rough too, and I guess it’ll stay this way for a few days more.

Well, I’m glad that’s over and done with. No more visits to the dentist for the next 6 months or so. Or, looking at my track record, make that another 6 years…

I got hijacked by Hijack Queen (and subsequently Just Me) for this tag! The first for the new year, and I have a feeling that it won’t be the last. Despite it being just 5 things, I’m wrecking my brain pretty hard on this, since I’ve done similar memes prior. Sei lor, what else could I tell you that you don’t already know? Hmmm… how about a few things about my past:

*strolls down memory lane once more*

Five Things You Didn’t Know About Me

When I was 8 years old, I was picked to represent school for an art contest, but never made it ‘cos I fell ill. Overly excited, maybe.

As a kid, I used to write notes to my Mom to ask for things if I was too afraid to ask her directly. I’d scribble something like, “Can I have a Strawberry Shortcake doll?” on a scrap of paper, give it to her, wait for her to write her reply, then take the note back to my room to read the answer (usually it’s a “No” for those sort of questions).

I had my ears pierced when I was 11 as reward for doing well in my exams. My second piercing was done on April Fool’s Day, 1992 even though Mom forbade me to do it. My hair did a good job of hiding it for a couple of days, but she found out eventually. I got an “earful” after that.

For years, I’ve always wanted a tattoo but didn’t know what kind of motif to have permanently etched on my skin. When I finally settled for my name in Chinese character, 美, I couldn’t decide where to put the tattoo, so it’s still wishful thinking. Besides, I’m too chicken shit to really get it done.

Lil’ Miss May was a nickname given to me by an old friend of mine, many years ago when we were in college. We go back as far as Primary School, since Standard 2. He’d say it with a pretty convincing Southern drawl; he’s always had talent with accents. He hardly ever calls me that now. At least I have him to thank for giving me this nickname which became my online identity.

Just when I thought I’d have some time left to pack, sort out, arrange, “get things done”, my time here has been cut short. Quite short. Too short! Eek! Time waits for no (wo)man, indeed. When opportunity knocks, you don’t just let it wait at the door while you crawl slowly out of bed. Gotta get up and get going! No excuses. Not even for Chinese New Year.

A little more than a month to…

• Visit the dentist (another one off the procrastinatus maximus list)
• Cancel gym membership
• Get a haircut
• Sort out dreaded taxes
• Scan those photos and return scanner
• Pack stuff into boxes
• Dump that rubbish
• Arrange for air-shipping… maybe
• Arrange for human mules to bring stuff over… definitely
• Set aside a sum for bill payments
• See you people
• Do last-minute essential shopping (maybe that iPhone!)
• Have a quickie of a holiday
• Go on another business trip
• Buy a one-way ticket
• Throw things into luggage
• Get on that plane!

Hmmm… am I forgetting anything?
I guess when the time comes, I’ll know!

Ain’t nothin’ gonna break my stride
Nobody’s gonna slow me down, oh no
I got to keep on movin’
Ain’t nothin’ gonna break my stride
I’m runnin’ and I won’t touch ground, oh no
I got to keep on movin’

What goes into a blog’s main banner? The “one eye see all” picture / graphic at the top which should say a lot about the blogger?

I wanted something that was me. After I took down my Autumn themed banner to make way for the Christmas ones, I went on a photo hunt of sorts from my thousand-and-one collection of pictures I had taken to see what would fit in nicely.

First, a little history of banners on Little Miss May©.

It started with a thick, orange banner from the original template…

Which, with L B’s help, became a thinner, sleeker banner…

But no, it didn’t quite suit my style. What does it “say”? What does it mean? Doesn’t look all that great either, a few light spotches here and there.

I experimented a bit (with MS Paint; no Photoshop© in those earlier days, ye gads!) and selected one of my favourite Autumn photos I took in Kew Gardens, London which well-suited the site’s colours and tone of content. Till this day, it still remains as one of the best banners I’ve ever had…

Christmas came, and I had my share of themed banners with reds, silvers and whites everywhere…

Post-Christmas came the flurry of experiments, from putting up photos of my Mac and a cool Starbucks mug for almost a couple of weeks — almost me, and yet not quite — to the blues, more reds, cliche scenes of greenery with flowers, and one totally unrelated Pangkor beach scene with silhouettes.

I kept selecting and reselecting. The nicer photos didn’t quite make the narrow cut of the limited height, the boring ones were too boring. Yawn! The interesting ones were too “busy” till my tag line at the bottom right corner just disappeared into the background.

After much fretting and rejection of my thousand and one photo collection, and very inspired by Apple’s iChat Icons, I had this Brilliant Idea™ to put up little images which were bits of me here and there. Cropped mostly from my photos (those wasted shots weren’t so wasted after all), I came up with…

White background for a fresh new start…
An iPod nano RED™ for my love for music…
A cookie for my sporadic passion for baking…
Some pretty flowers to remind me of my blessings…
A mug of coffee to perk me up and give me comfort…
My Pooch beanie dedicated to the loyal friends I have…
…And a nice checkered heart, because I love you.

Like it?

It’s ok if you don’t, really.

Suits my blog well for now. And that’s good enough for me. *grin*

I’ll find a way
to see you again…

I took down my Christmas tree today.

I know it’s so silly, but such overwhelming waves of nostalgia and melancholy swept over me when I started taking down the ornaments and putting them away, I had tears in my eyes. I had to pause, run upstairs and catch my breath before anyone saw me in that sorry state.

If just packing up the tree made me feel this way, I dread the time when I’ll have to pack my personal belongings.

I know this isn’t the last I’ll have the tree up.
I know there will be a next time.
I know there’ll be more great days ahead.

But oh…

What a sobering start to the year.