American Gods and what I thought of it.

I just finished American Gods by Neil Gaiman on Labour Day and I shall paste my Goodreads review in here, because I don’t have time to type a separate entry and also, not everyone I know is on Goodreads.

I gave the book 3 stars out of 5. The reason may be partly because I expected a lot more from it.

On top of that, there are a few other reasons. To begin with, it’s a long book. I’ve given up on it once before when I was barely 20% through, but I decided to stick with the story till the end this time around. Secondly, the story moves a LOT, but doesn’t actually go anywhere for a long time. There’s so much happening, but the connection between all of it comes far too late in the book and sometimes as a reader, your patience won’t hold out so long. Thirdly, there’re a lot of side stories, most of which have no connection to the primary plot. This can work, and it does sometimes, but there are several times I felt like it destroyed the momentum of the main plot. 

That being said, it’s not a bad book, and the main plot is very good. The character development is great and the characters are easy to love. When the climax of the book finally arrives, it is a good one and the loose ends get tied up nicely. Overall, it’s definitely worth a read, but you’ll need to have some patience with this one.

So that’s my first full-length Gaiman novel, and I’m not sure I would pick up another one. Maybe after reading the way Ashok Banker writes about gods and mythical legends, I was expecting this to be of that proportion and it wasn’t. That’s not the book’s fault, really. I guess I just prefer the style and the context of Banker’s writings. 

EXHAUSTED. 

I went back to work for a week after India, when I was asked to go for HASE Induction on short notice, so for the last 1.5 weeks, I’ve been driving to and fro OLD CHOA CHU KANG ROAD which is ulu-town and takes me about an hour by car. 

It’s supremely exhausting, even to drive, because it’s long and traffic is shit and there are a million people who drive like they want to die during peak hours. But at least I’ve had good company and great colleagues back at work who’ve been covering superbly for me. And I’m learning something new (albeit only in the second week), and that’s always cool. 

Went back to work for a short while today after our Induction visit to SPS and it was joyous reunions all round! :) Kinda made me realise how much I’ve missed work, and a lot of that is because I’ve missed my colleagues and friends. But as someone told me, missing work & colleagues is almost always a good sign. :P I guess it’s true!

India Trip in a Nutshell.

This should have been a photo post by right, but I clearly have more than 10 photos and too much to type. The trip was utter madness. This is how the schedule looked:

Day 1, 26/03/13: Visited the family jewellers in the morning to get some jewellery and give some others for making/ adjustments. Got to dance prac at noon and danced until 5pm. Ate lunch at 5pm, continued dance prac at night. Dinner, chit chatting and then sleep.

Day 2, 27/03/13: Henna ceremony from 10am-8pm. Rushed out at 8pm to get my clothes for the engagement. Home at 9.30pm, dinner, and helped to remove my cousin’s extensive henna till midnight when friends came over to surprise my aunt for her birthday. Chit chatted till 1.30am and slept.

Day 3, 28/03/23: Spent the day preparing for my aunt’s tuition centre’s graduating batch farewell function at night. Started getting ready at 4pm, then had the farewell function. Performed 2 songs there, then danced on the dance floor for 1.5 hours till I couldn’t feel my feet. Ate dinner at 11pm. Came home, continued chit chatting and planning for the next day. Slept at almost 2am.

Day 4, 29/03/13: Spent the day preparing for the engagement. Started dressing up at about 3pm. Went for the engagement function, performed 6 songs there. Took many photos with the couple, gave moral support to my cousin and met a million people I had not seen in ages. Ate dinner at 10.30pm when most of the guests had left and the function hall management were trying to chase us out. Got home at 11.45pm. Chit chatted till 2am and slept.

Day 5, 30/03/13: Visited relatives for lunch and continued visiting all afternoon. Managed to squeeze in some minimal shopping in between. Rushed home at 5.30pm, packed, gobbled dinner (YUMMY DOMINO’S PIZZA) and left for the airport at 8pm. Flew back home. 

I’m still tired. Here are some photos!

The bride’s henna! :)

My aunt’s birthday celebrations! Cool firecracker candle :D

My brother and I at my aunt’s group tuitions’ farewell party.

Post-dance-floor exhausted face. We danced for 1.5 hours almost non-stop.

Friends, cousin and niece :)

All dressed up to set off for my cousin’s engagement.

Bro and I being bored while listening to my parents rehearse their emcee script in the dressing room of the engagement function hall.

Cousin and brother-in-law to-be getting their photoshoot done. So sweet! :D

Family eating dinner at 10.45pm, after most of the guests at the engagement had left.

My cousin in all her glamour!

Favourite <3 <3

Mummy <3

My cousin with her mum and two good family friends.

My dance partner and I!

My new sapphire ring that I got made in India :) Got a matching pair of earrings made too, but too lazy to take pics of them.

Ok that about sums up my last week. The trip was ridiculously busy, with minimal sleep, but it was way too much fun. And I made a whole bunch of new friends, in 4 days. I kinda miss that sort of people culture. 

Back to my routine then.

Done my de-hairing, got my mani pedi, charged all my devices.

All set to travel to India for my cousin’s engagement :) Flying out tomorrow, just gotta conquer another morning of work. 

I know I haven’t been posting at all, because work is busy and life is busy and I’ve been trying to spend time with the people around me rather than on the computer. There is much going on in my life, good and bad, and it’s been keeping me very occupied. 

But on the bright side, I am slowly learning to manage my emotions better… I think. I have been less snappy and more bubbly. Maybe I can slowly go back to being who I was before I started working, slowly return to a calmer state, rather than constantly being on the verge of a snap. Slowly but surely.