A Hardly Weighty Entry

My now-retired former boss dropped by for a visit Yesterday. I didn’t notice her at first until she called out to me. And the first thing she said was, ‘Look at this girl. You seem to have lost weight!’

Errr, thanks. I notice that too.

Then later, we had a high-tea gathering with our new colleagues. My colleague and I sat together with two guys from the other Department [well, we gotta know them sooner or later anyway]. We stuck to the safe topics for conversation and then we started talking about each other’s ‘known skills’. Somehow, I have this reputation as a Scrabble Queen [I’m Sure it won’t be long before they call me the Shopping Queen]. Then we talked about golf – my new BigBoss had joined us when I returned to the table from yet another trip to the buffet table – and this is not a familiar topic to me. They were explaining the costs associated with playing golf, from membership at clubs to paying for the ball etc, etc. I thought of all the Isetan catalogues I’ve received and said, ‘Yeah, and you need to invest in the clothes too,’ images of golf T-shirts, golf shoes, gloves, in short, golf attire floating in my mind.

They turned and looked at me.

Guy 1: Clothes? You need to buy the clubs and that cost a lot.

Guy 2: Yeah. A club can cost up to thousands.

Me: [Oh s***. Golf clubs. Now why didn't I think of that? But surely, you still need to invest in golf apparel!!! OK, trust a shopaholic to think in those terms.] OK, I think I’ll just stick to Scrabble!

Colleague: Yeah, and that only costs what, a Scrabble set and dictionary, right?

Phew!

Me: [Must change the topic! Turned to BigBoss] Are you done eating?

BigBoss: Yes. I need to watch what I eat. But you must eat more.

Me: [Darn, are we going to talk about me now?] Don’t worry, I’m on my weight regain programme!

Guy 1: I’ve seen you for a while, and every time I see you, you’re still this size.

Me: [Oh cheers, mate. Wait, you noticed? OK, this doesn't sound right somehow]

Guy 2 and BigBoss: It must be the metabolism.

Me: Yes, it’s my metabolism. [Can we talk about something else now, please?!]

I wonder now how people who don’t know me seem to notice my physique [it sounds a bit disturbing!]. I can understand if my former boss commented on my weight but that’s ‘cause she’s known me since I first started work, and now that she sees me only once in a blue moon, she may notice that I’ve not managed to gain. But I don’t notice these things about my friends, whether they have gained or lost. To me, my friends are my friends and I don’t befriend them because of their sizes or height.

And I don’t worry about my weight, as long as I am healthy. Be rest assured that I don’t starve myself and that this shopaholic is not an anorexic.

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Hurrah! Today is the last day of November and that means the end of my self-enforced no-shopping month. I’m quite proud of myself, I’ve managed to control my spending – that means I can be disciplined! OK, OK, I did buy some books earlier this week but hey, that surely was an investment in knowledge. And besides, I can set that expenditure off my taxable income for this fiscal year. See, I’m not some dumb shopaholic; I do my own tax assessment and Sometimes also give advice to my friends. For free.

YES! I deserve a reward myself. How timely as Y.E.S. commences tomorrow!

Oh but in the meantime, I have to pack for my move to my new Department... dang!