My MAAD 11.11.11 Post-Mortem

Hello everyone,

How did your 11.11.11 go? Did you do anything special or just let it go by like any other day? Here's how my day went....Be prepared. It's very detailed and long. Do you have a glass of wine or vodka or whatever you need to get thru' my long post?

11.11.11
6:00am    woke up (very reluctantly)
6:30am    checked gmail for notification of Etsy sale - no sale
6:45am    walked girl to train station. debated whether to go jogging - laziness won
7:00am    breakfast of honey pancakes (it was a little burnt)
7:25am    checked hair in mirror - decided against washing
7:30am    watched Project Accessories

Have you guys watched this show? It looked like a very low-budget version of Project Runway. And why do most of the contestants look like serial killers? The female Tim Gunn looks like a madam at a russian brothel. The Heidi-wanna-be looks like a human form of Iman (previous host of Project Runway Canada)

You know what I think after watching Project Accessories? I need to learn how to make a necklace, a ring, a bracelet, an arm cuff, a head band, a belt and shoes! Because these contestants - they know how to make everything.

8:00am    arrival of garbage disposal truck triggered sneezing fits
8:25am    did some laundry. might have said some f-words
8:30am    updated facebook
8:45am    googled for cure for urticaria - none found
9:00am    finished up some hand sewing
9:30am    checked out pathetic stock
10:00am   made sign for $11 zip pouches
10:10am   checked out a winged skeleton pendant/necklace on Etsy.
10:12am   checked out a dragonfly/mermaid brooch on eBay - would have preferred it as a pendant
10:58am   received SOS to wake mandy up.
11:11am   started packing (11:11am feels same as 11:10am)
11:15am   woke son

12:00pm   had leftovers for lunch
12:45pm   finished up packing
1:00pm     called Mandy to wake her up for maad
1:15pm     watched Big Bang Theory
2:00pm     left with son and luggage to get taxi - we got lucky but the bastard went the long way!
2:40pm     reached red dot museum - ran into Shannon (red dot mamasan), she helped me with the  luggage for a few metres before giving up.

2:45pm     queued up to enter museum

 3:25pm     met chewy from elephantislove! believe it or not, i had "met" her thru my blog. i don't remember how it started but suddenly i was reading her blog. Maybe it has something to do with her being from Singapore! i suggested she sells at maad on her visit back and here she is.

3:35pm     collected my table which is a suitcase, my charged lamp and a clothes rack. searched for son as I had misplaced him.

3:40pm    selected my spot which is my usual spot and it's right next to chewy! check out my new ikea lamp

3:41pm    Chewy's table

4.26pm    My first sale! Mandy snagged TWO 11.11.11 zip pouches

5:20pm    Photo taking session with Chewy. My head is 3 times hers! This, I'm blaming on my ancestors.

5:27pm    My 3rd 11.11.11 zip pouch went to Janet. Love her outfit!

5:47pm    My 4th 11.11.11 zip pouch went to Fiona. See how she's wearing my iPhone zip pouch round her neck? She has also bought my sexy zippy wristlet ePattern and I'm waiting to see her finished product.

7:10pm    Spotted my sis, Elaine. My son sold her the MoMo Odyssey zip pouch.

I had really wanted to take the opportunity to give my son the chance to man my table without any help from me. It could mean fewer sales for me but I was willing to trade that for a learning experience. It took a bit of prodding from me and a lot of time, he was so engrossed in his games, he totally neglected the customers. But in the end, he made a total of 8 sales! Very impressive.

9:36pm    Wendy came and snagged the nautical red/white crescent bag. The linen bag she's carrying? That's my bag too! I love to see my customers carrying my bag. It's so awesome.

10:24pm    sold my 5th 11.11.11 zip pouch to this lady - i forgot to ask for her name. she's a repeat customer so i better remember her. she snagged 3 items this round. love her already.

my total sales? it was pretty good - not fantastic but i'm very happy with it.

12:00am    goodbye maad. hello home. so i thought.

12.11.11

12midnight to 1am

Me and son lugged our luggage and hunted for a taxi. At first, there weren't any taxis with the Green Light on. We walked further away from red dot museum. Was it a mistake? Lots of people were walking with us. At some point, I decided it would be silly to keep walking and hoping.

Then we came to a road where there were lots of taxis with Green Light on. We were so happy and so were the groups of people with us. And the stupidest thing happened. NONE of the freaking taxis would stop. They just zoomed past us and after a while, I realised that the taxis were just going round and round, not picking up passengers. I could recognise some of the taxis. Yes, WTF! I asked a woman next to me and she was just as puzzled. Later, a Caucasian walked past me and he said the taxis weren't going to stop at all. It dawned on me the taxis were waiting to be booked. Apparently, the 50% midnight surcharge wasn't enough for the buggers. There ought to be a law against taxis not picking up passengers, Mr Transport Minister! Like caning or something.

My strategy then was to get to somewhere I could identify so I could hopefully get a booking for a taxi. So we walked once more. The streets were really deserted save for us, the walkers. It was like a scene from Walking Dead and the taxis were the humans running away from us.

Me and son broke away from the group. I saw from a distance a structure that looked like a taxi stand. I felt I would have better luck there. At the taxi stand there was a location code so I called for a taxi but of course everyone else was trying to call for a taxi as well. After a long wait, I managed to get to a human who transferred me to a machine which said my booking was being processed and to HANG UP. Wow. So we waited. Everyone else at the taxi stand seem to be doing the same thing as me.

Suddenly out of the blue, a taxi pulled in and the driver poked his head out and asked if anyone was going to the west as he was ending his shift. I couldn't believe it when no one else was going west. Although I was at the back of the queue, I doved forward (I felt like I FLEW forward) and told the driver where I lived. He said YES even though I lived in the North-west.

The first question he asked me: How long have you waited?
One freaking hour.

Then he said that with barely any traffic, he could have me home in 20 minutes. Mr Lim, you're a superman. We were home in 18 minutes. On the way home, I called to cancel my taxi booking but the operator insisted there was no need to cancel as I hadn't even got a taxi yet!

Good nite people.