My colleagues and I were chatting about our newest buys/spoils from our recent trips and one of them shared about this couple in her tour group who spent approximately $88,000 on luxury items. Eighty-eight thousand. Now, I don’t know if that’s in Euros or SGD, but HOLY SMOKES. We’re talking Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada and goodness knows what else. And y’know what? They just have an average salary like you and I. They’re not high-fliers or big investment bankers. Just two normal people.

Perhaps they’ve got an inheritance, or perhaps they’re excellent savers. No matter, I think spending that kind of money on a whole bunch of luxury bags is pretty darn insane. Besides, unless you’re constantly being photographed, don’t you just need ONE good bag? I mean, I know I’d want to carry mine around all the time.

Out of curiosity, I started wondering how much I would actually spend if I could buy all the luxury items that I want (as of right now, anyway). Here’s the breakdown:

Hermès Dogon Wallet: £1,000
Ferragamo Varina Ballet Shoe: £259
Mulberry Oversized Alexa: £795
Burberry Prorsum Knotted Suede Trench Coat: £2,145
GRAND TOTAL: £4,799

Huh. That’s not too bad, isn’t it? I didn’t even hit 5 figures.

Don’t you hurry to get me these beauties now.

So my visit to Brissie wasn’t as long as I would’ve liked (mostly because I have this little commitment called “work”) still, it was a good trip. After all, the main purpose of this trip was to catch up with everyone and hang out with my girls. And even though I treasured every single moment with them, it’s also made me realise that they’ve all grown older without me.

Don’t get me wrong, we’ve not grown apart. I’m just no longer a big part of this life that they are now forging. And y’know what? It hurts. It hurts that I can’t be there to offer help during times of crisis, or share in their joy when they (finally) announce that they’re expecting or even something simple like offering my opinion when they’re choosing a piece of furniture. I just really want to be there for them. But I can’t.

I’m still grappling with the fact that they’re so far away now and we can only meet up as often as we’re able to travel to each other’s cities. And y’know, just as I hate not being there for their big moments, I also hate that they can’t be here to share mine. (Dia & Nessa, you girls had better stay local!)

The new semester begins tomorrow. It’s back to the routine of waking up before 6am & spending about 10 hours at work each day. Explain to me again why I’m not feeling excited?

It’s good to be back in Brisbane. The exhilaration of coming back to my adopted city was too much for me to contain; I actually found myself smiling as the plane took flight. And then, of course I squealed & jumped around like a 13-year-old when I finally met my girls, after they got home from work. It was a moment of jubilance, finally being in the same country with both of them. All 3 of us together, AT THE SAME TIME.

We spent my first night here watching State of Origin, a simple pleasure I’ve missed so greatly ever since I went back to Singy. It’s always more fun watching sports with friends & unfortunately, I’ve never managed to find anyone else in Singy who shared a passion/interest in Rugby League. Over the last few years, as I cheered for Queensland by my lonesome self at home, I’ve longed umpteen times to be transported to Brissie so I can watch it with my dear friends. Even if it was just for that one evening. So finally being able to watch the game live, with all these folks, was a moment I couldn’t help but relish.

The next day, it was just a whole day of shopping & getting myself reacquainted with the city, in particular Queen Street Mall. It was SO comforting to see everything right where I remembered them to be (except a few new shops here and there). Walking down the street, I kept wondering why I’m not living in Brissie already. Then I realised that while I could go on and gush about how much I love the lifestyle & culture, I was also unwilling to let go of everyone back in Singy. It was a wretched feeling.

This evening, we had a good steak at Breakfast Creek Hotel, which incidentally is not a hotel by the way. Apparently, many pubs/restaurants here called Something Something Hotel are not actual hotels, while the real ones (e.g. Hilton, Sheraton) all don’t have “hotel” in their names. Go figure. Anyway, tomorrow, we’re heading out for lunch at West End. I’m sorta feeling rather touristy at the moment as I’ve never been there & the girls are specially arranging a trip there for me. Heh. :p

I can’t believe I’ve only got about 4 more days here. Yes, one week is too short, but I’m glad I’m able to spend whatever time I have with my girls. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.