Don't you just love the warm salty smell of the rain in the wee morning hours? It's even better waking up to the sounds of the rain splattering hard against your windows and seeing that the early morning sunlight has turned misty gray, giving that excellent reason to think that its still 7am in the morning which warrants an extra couple hours of sleep.

I bought a whole todge of "new" books from the various second hand book shops in the Bras Basah area. Honestly, I'm buying books there from now on. Or at least, I'll buy them if they're in good condition. Matilda and The Complete Adventures of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are i slightly questionable condition, but they were cheap and so I didn't really mind. And I caved in to my impulses and bought 3 copies of Mary Kate & Ashley's Sweet Sixteen book. I was a huge fan of them when I was a young girl and would beg the mother to give me some money so I could go to SAN Bookshop and rent their books (after all, I would be returning her the money right). Plus, the books were $1 each! How could I not have bought them? It'll be going against the law of physics! Like a duck mating with a squirrel. The thing is, I'm not supposed to be spending money buying books. The mother says that when I "move out" for school, I won't even read them. Which makes sense, but then I decided last night while lying in bed and pondering how to conceal a huge new stack of books that magically appeared in my bookshelf, would be that I would opt to get a new bookshelf in where I would stay! Genius right? I mean I can't possibly read psychology textbooks while having dinner, or read scientific journals for relaxation. Its just not human!

Spent close to 6 hours in the shops, crouching with my back bent from having to turn sideways to look at the large number titles, standing on tip toes and using my poor finger to try and dislodge a certain book from the very highest shelf (hoping at the same time that a cute guy would rush to my aid and easily retrieve the book for me), letting my finger trail the many spines of the many books on the shelves. I was seriously contemplating replacing my very well-worn copy of The Order of the Phoenix and the Half Blood Prince, the former of which has lost the entire front and back cover and the entire last chapter, and the latter with a badly cracked spine that threatens to dislodge any day now.

All I need now is some plastic book wrap.

Went down to the Esplanade after book hunting to have a look at some International Gourmet Food Fair. It was a mild disappointment. There weren't many cuisines, with the ones I saw being Spanish, Indian, Mexican, German and Phillipine. And some wine and tea stands, yogurt and brownie stalls and some kitsch craft stores. I had expected one long list of cuisines from at least 20 or so countries, and they get the local people from the respective countries to come down and tell us about the food and give us free samples and all. But Singapore is too small for such significance.

I wasted $10 on some drink that's popular in India. I can't remember what the name is, but there were two drinks that were available. A sweet and a spicy one. I didn't want the sweet one, so I opted for a non-alcoholic spicy one, which jacked the price up by $2 which is a tad insane. If I'm not having alcohol in it, surely it'd be cheaper because I would be saving them the alcohol right? Sod them.

So the Indian man handed me my drink, and it was green and slushy (due to the ice) and topped with some green pepper. Or a carrot maybe. And I sipped some of it and the taste was explosive. But not in an excellent way. It tastes sour and spicy at the same time, and the aftertaste is all funny and dodgy. So that's $10 wasted on some soddy drink. Oh well, that's what I get for wanting to be festive and adventurous.

I scooted over to the Mexican stand and got a free taste of a chip and real salsa made in Mexico. And was introduced to the various foods there by the very jolly man behind the counter on the traditional Mexican foods that were presented. The Spanish stand didn't offer much, apart from Paella, which I always assumed to be ham, but turned out to be a concoction of rice, ham and various condiments. No samples so I walked away. I headed to the British stand that sold only Shepard pies. Again, no samples but I figured it'd be nice to have real English meat pies. So I bought a Cheese and Beef, and Steak and Mushroom to take home. I had some of the former for breakfast this morning and nearly swooned. It makes me salivate just thinking about it. The Steak and Mushroom was all right, but I prefered Cheese better.

The two beer and wine stands were littered with Caucasians, some who looked to puce in the face from the excessive amounts they drank. The only drunk Caucasian person I encountered was in Bali 6 years ago when I was in vacation. He gave some sort of a weird shriek, then overturned a chair and clambered his way up and standing wiggling his hips to the music that was blaring over the radios. He could not have looked more like a duck on two feet.

I did get free chocolate mint gelato from SY and SD, but apart from that, that was all the fair had to offer. Honestly Singapore does an incredibly soddy job of bringing awareness of international cultures here. Just like at the International Costume Festival I went to last year. All they had to offer were just a few rows of mannequins donning the different national costumes. Where are the native people, may I ask? They should have been there to talk about their costumes and sell some little trinkets from their country and let us wear the costumes and all. But NO. It's more important to read about Joanne Peh and her nasty experiences in some restaurant, or whether a netizen has posted photos on Stomp! that shows an inconsiderate commuter refusing to give his seat up for the elderly.

Insufferable twees.

And so only a keychain and a pair of earrings were the only birthday gifts that marked the end of my miserable 20th birthday. But no worries. I'm used to lonely birthdays. It just goes to show what little friends I have. I always got jealous when I hear of friends who are magnificently surprised with presents and cakes by a throng of people when I was younger. Now its just "oh okay". My life is a misery.

Or maybe it goes to make salint the true friends that I have from the friends who are just "come-and-go" people. Maybe I should emmigrate. To Middle Earth and change my name to Rowena.