Peace Is Overrated

I was in JB / Singapore last week. Flew in to JB on a Tuesday, drove in to Singapore on Wednesday morning and flew back to KL the same night via JB. Anyway, I am not gonna write about what I did in Singapore (pretty boring stuff.. Communic Asia, met a few people, sakit kaki trying to visit all 9 halls etc etc etc).

The trip was eye opening for me, in the sense that I went on this business trip on my own. I usually try to bring my kids along whenever I am on assignment outside KL. This time, because it involved a trip to Singapore (hence need for passport - which btw is so darn expensive to make!), I decided to go at it all by myself.

I was actually kind of looking forward to the trip. After almost 13 months of not enough sleep, I was looking forward to an uninterrupted 8 hours of long peaceful sleep, without having to worry about coughs and colds, without having to wake up to make that bottle. I was looking forward to having the big bed all to myself without being kicked in the face by tiny feet every few minutes. I was looking forward to spending some quiet quality time all by myself in the hotel room. I actually bought two books for myself, thinking and drooling about those long hours that I would have aaaaallllllll to myself.

Guess what? I lasted all of 5 minutes. Right after checking in to my hotel room, I flicked on the TV, and jumped into the bed with my book. 5 minutes later, all the quiet and peace got to me. I caved, and called hubby to check on the kids. I was jittery, like a crack craving junkie. I had about 4 hours to kill that evening before I had to meet up with the rest of my party for dinner. I could curl up in bed with that book like I planned. I could watch mindless TV endlessly.. I could I could I could. But I didnt.

I ended up taking a cab to a nearby shopping complex. I thought, that's still not so bad. I can enjoy the window shopping peacefully without straining my arms carrying a wriggling baby with two other kids hanging on to my dress and whining all the way. I could find a quiet cafe and sit down with my book. Did I do that? Noooooo... I was in and out of that complex in 20 minutes flat. Grabbed another cab and went to another shopping centre, this time a little further away from the hotel. Time taken to tour the complex before I got bored? 15 minutes. So I went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. I still had 45 minutes to spare.

After dinner, was looking forward to staying up to read my book, with a bar of chocolate all to myself. No pudgy hands trying to steal my chocolates and messing my book. No whines for "just 5 more minutes". No bed time stories. No rocking and swaying to pujuk a baby to sleep, a baby who btw enjoys infuriating the mother by insisting on playing when its time for bed.

I was out by 10.30.

I was looking forward to the 8 hours of uninterrupted peaceful slumber.

I was up at 4 a.m., and I couldnt go back to sleep.

Turns out all this peace and quiet is not for me.. Sigh..

Now I am back to my 2 x 4 hours of sleep, wolfing down food while at the same time trying to keep the baby from falling off the baby chair and making sure that the other two kids are eating more than just rice and kicap. Total number of pages read? 10.

And I have never been happier.