This year, because of something so mundane I've forgotten how it even begun, my mom and grandma have been in a longstanding feud with each other, which is why I have had to split my holidays between the two of them somewhat unevenly - unevenly because my grandma entices me with food and good company, whereas my mom doesn't.

I guess it's for this reason that christmas didn't feel like christmas at all this year. Even though my family never has technically 'celebrated' christmas, I've always woken up with the same kind of tingly feeling on christmas as I do on my birthdays - that tingly feeling that this day is special and magical, that day in the year where you're not allowed to worry about anything at all. Deep down, I also hoped that this mundane feud between my grandma and mom would be, through the magic of christmas, resolved (as it always does in those cheesy christmas movies).

Alas, I'm old now so that christmas 'tingly' feeling I use to have as a kid is gone now.

Speaking of kids, I've also had to work in a couple of mornings this week, and I noticed something strange. I was marking today and got into a casual conversation with one of the girls - when suddenly, halfway through the conversation, I realized she was talking to me about her personal life. It kind of made me miss being a teenage girl and with teenage girl drama, but also, I was very - no wait, extremely - happy she was telling me about her life since that meant she's comfortable with me.

It's cute. The other week another kid asked for my contact information so he could ask me for help with his homework during the week (since I only see them once a week) and I was completely flattered. They also call me by my name more, rather than just addressing me with the anonymous 'miss'. I told them to address me by my first name, since Miss Ann sounds weird, and even weirder, Miss Ong (shudder). Plain Ann is best, it suits me more, unlike Owen who insist they call him Mr. Ju (ha, Owen is hilarious).

Ok, so ending this post by telling you guys how freaked out I was after watching The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. What freaked me out was how gory and graphic the movie was, even though I knew what was going to happen since I read the book beforehand. After the movie, I was highly suspicious of everyone around me, especially on the TTC. The last thing I'm going to be is mutilated into a million pieces and stuffed in a garbage bag, with the only clue to my murder being an ambiguous verse reference to Leviticus about sweet aroma.

But to be fair, I get freaked out easily.