It's the school holidays now and very soon, I will be off work officially. It has been a very hectic year. Somehow, this hasn't been a very good year for me especially when I have been plagued by poor health in the second half of the year. Much as I'm looking forward to the new roles and challenges ahead in 2009, I can't be more relieved now that the school term is coming to a close and I can finally have the peace of mind to rest and get down to doing some things for myself.

Despite the fact that the next few days of solitude has provoked feelings of profound dread as my husband is away in Cambodia, I've the luxury of succumbing myself to all my little indulgences. I can stay up as late as I want to, sleep in till noon, be a couch-potato in front of the TV the whole day or simply plonk myself down on the sofa and devour a story book, taking only occasional bio-breaks and meal-breaks. All of which my husband will never approve of if he's around. To him, all that are ridiculously unhealthy.

One of the things which I enjoy thoroughly during the school holidays is immersing myself in the boundless world of stories, where my imagination can be set wild. Yesterday, I finished one which I would categorically place under the "Trashy but entertaining" section. Well, at least the suspense kept me hopelessly hooked till the end.

Right now, I'm into my second book, Madwoman on the Bridge by Su Tong. It's a story set during the fall-out of the Cultural Revolution about a madwoman and her cheongsam which she will not take off, and a young doctor who covets her cheongsam and will stop at nothing to get her hands on the historical gown. It's quite interesting to see how the story unfolds.