We decided to run our new computer using a solid state drive, which is like having a giant USB disk as a hard drive. This makes the computer faster and quieter, as it doesn’t need a fan to keep it cool.

We got this sticker with the computer parts that we bought.

SSD sticker

‘Hey Joan, let’s go to into YD,’ my brother said. ‘They usually have good casual shirts.’

Jason and I browsed a while and found a purple shirt and a blue-green shirt that I liked.

At the sales counter, the lady packaged Jason’s new shirts and took his card.

One of the other store assistants was hanging around. ‘So the XS was the right size?’ he said.

‘Yeah, the XXS is too small. I knew that XS would be right,’ Jason said.

‘Well, those shirts are great colours.’ He switched tack. ‘Hey, I like your jeans. What brand are they?’

‘They’re Nobody jeans,’ Jason replied. ‘Kind of hard to get in the store.’

‘Yeah, they look good,’ the store assistant said. ‘I have to wear YD jeans and sometimes I get sick of it… Although they’re really good!’ he added quickly.

Deliberately, I brought the yoghurt foil lid came closer to my face. Then I licked it and a highway of silver appeared through the creamy yellowness.

I giggled then glanced around to see if any of my colleagues had heard. I was filled with a familiar giddiness. When was the last time I had licked a yoghurt lid? I felt like a kid again.

We had some golden sunshine this weekend. Damjan and I spent much of it indoors. Damjan is close to finishing his master work. I was preparing for a big presentation for a competition.

In the late afternoon, we rewarded ourselves with break, walking through the lushly green University Parks. We had just finished lunch and were now headed to a particular corner of the park. A few weeks earlier, we had staked out a mulberry tree. We saw the whitish-red fruit on it and that, give a few weeks, the fruit would ripen and darken.

Today, some of the fruit were ready. We were competing with wasps. Any berry with a wasp on it, we conceded. That left about twenty dark ripe berries for us.

By the time we were finished, the tree had served us satisfying sweet dessert. Our hands were covered in mulberry blood, bright and sticky. We didn’t mind, and squished the berry juice between our hands as we walked back to work.

Brain… slow.

Have I typed anything in the last ten minutes?

Sugar! I need sugar!

Nothing in my drawer. Supplies are out.

Mariane, do you have anything?

I’ll try the kitchen.

(wake up, wake up)

THERE! Grapes, melon, orange, apple.

Mrmph, mmmrm, rmph. Left-overs from meetings, mmmrm…

Saved.

I was away from work today. Looking at my work email from the internet, I have 31 new emails! I must be popular.

I’m pretty good at spelling. But I tried to spell that word that means really big, starts ‘c’ and rhymes with ‘fossil’. I tried to do it three times: callosal, collosal, collosol. I don’t think I’ve ever used it before! I was completely baffled.

Turns out it is spelled ‘colossal’.

Abstaining from chocolate makes me think fondly of the last block of chocolate I owned. It was a massive block from Peru, a gift from Damjan’s parents. How big was it? It was around 25 cm long, 10 cm wide and 2 cm deep. Divided into around 12 squares, each square of chocolate was five or six times bigger than an average chocolate square.

In fact, someone else had the exact same chocolate and was also struck by the size of the squares. Here is a photo from thinkaholic.

I would break off one square and nibble until I was satiated. By then, I would be halfway through the square. If I was sensible, I would stop and save the rest for later. But, no, I always kept going.

Never has a single square of chocolate yielded so much chocolate yumminess! And the best thing was I wouldn’t feel bad because I had eaten only one square!

I am going through a difficult time now. I have given up chocolate. This is the third day of no chocolate and I am wanting chocolate. I heard from someone/somewhere that after a while of not eating chocolate, the need for chocolate goes away. I want chocolate. I have procrastinated all day about doing this bit of work, and I think chocolate could let me do it. I have drunk three cups of orange tea and eaten two oranges. Orange is no substitute for chocolate.

‘Do you want anything from the store?’ Richard asked. He was preparing for an evening raid on the supermarket. I was about to start cooking dinner and had just been contemplating the unsatisfactory prospect of a meal without any vegetables.

‘Yes!’ I said. I thought for a moment. ‘A cucumber, please.’

‘A cucumber?’ Richard repeated. He looked sceptical.

‘I like cucumbers,’ I confirmed. ‘I usually have one in the fridge… Wait a second, maybe I do have one…’

I went over to the fridge, opened the door, pulled out the vegetable compartment and saw it — a vacuum-sealed medium-sized English cucumber.

‘Yes, there it is!’ I was delighted. I don’t often forget what food I have in the house. This discovery was like finding out that a wiser Joan from the past had put something away for a rainy day.

‘So, no cucumber then?’ said Richard.

‘No. Thanks, though.’