It's always fun to have a four-day week, even if we're going to near kill ourselves trying to meet the deadline with one work day less and one man short. But I can think of worse things in the world to whinge about than this, so I shall not.

On a much, much cheerier note, the long awaited new season of Grey's Anatomy has begun. Plus, I've finally hopped onto the Gossip Girl bandwagon. It's not bad, though it amazes me how they've managed to literally cast an entire show with only stick-thin girls/women. Still, I'm on it, and guess who else is? Y!

I know he watches just about every TV serial ever made, but I never thought there'd come a morning where this would happen:

S: Get up!

Y: I'm soooo sleeeeeepy...

S: That's it, no more Gossip Girl!

Y: [jolts awake] Huh?

Well, I must say, some of the girls are real pretty.

I never thought I'd be able to walk some 7 to 10km, half of it in pouring rain, get back, clean up, put on four inch heels and really dress up for the evening (for me, that means two coats of mascara), then get up before 7 the next morning to climb 200 steps and do some more walking. It's practically a weight-loss expedition. But it was so totally worth it. Mulu is stunning.

The Mulu Canopy Skywalk is 480m long and the longest tree-based walkway in the world. It hangs 15m to 20m above ground and only two people are allowed to get on any one section (ie. between trees) at a time.

Some places get a bit wobbly, which only adds to the fun.

You can't really tell, but I'm dripping wet because it had been raining. It was the first of four sometimes-really-heavy showers that afternoon. The rainforest was living up to its name.

The procession making our way into Deer Cave. This is the world's largest natural rock chamber, said to be able to contain 40 Boeing 747s side by side. We're told that every day at 5pm, millions of bats fly out of the cave to look for food. Too bad we didn't get to witness that famous spectacle, because - you guessed it - it was absolutely pouring.

This is called the Abraham Lincoln. I have no pics of the interior of the cave because it was too dark and my point-and-shoot wasn't good enough.

Taking the longboat out. Definitely one of my favourite bits of the trip. I love water more than I do rocks and forests.

The view along Sungai Melinau. This is around 8.45am and you can still see the mist over the mountaintops.

Limestone cliffs. Plenty of these in Mulu.

Climbing all those stairs to see this was worth it. Clearwater Cave is really spectacular.

You're looking at part of Asia's longest cave system, measuring some 107km at last count.

The water here is so clear you can see right to the bottom. I wished I brought my swimmers.

Meet three very wet but happy campers. That's Doc, the boss, and his lovely wife, Nene. Check out the size of that tree.

And of course, the reason we were even in Mulu in the first place - His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco. All in all, His Highness was a pretty good sport, walking all that way in the rain (but with an umbrella) and even performing a cultural dance during dinner. I came away liking the guy, even though I didn't so much as shake his hand. Royal protocol and media don't exactly mix.

The rest of my Mulu pics are here and here. And here are some that Doc took. Thanks, Doc!

and therefore my very good intentions of blogging about my trip to Mulu are moot.

Unless it resumes normalcy very soon.

I think the new chat function is evil.

When I talk to him, he simply stares ahead at the TV or the laptop monitor. Anything and everything I say might as well be the sound of the fan whirring - is it even there? I could be telling him about my day, I could be talking to him about something important, I could be raving and ranting and sobbing, it doesn't matter. But oh boy, if any of his friends so much as coughs...

Is it just my man? Is there a cure? If all men are like that - and I suspect it only gets worse with age - I kinda would like some advance warning so I don't walk into the wall in despair.

I suppose it was only a matter of time, but knowing it's going to happen eventually doesn't make it any easier when it does happen. After three and a half blissful months, my home has finally been invaded by its first lizard.

I hate lizards, and this unwelcome houseguest not only appears to have taken up residence behind my shoe cupboard(!), it won't leave no matter what I do! Even when I leave the front door wide open some four inches away. It simply scurries back behind the cupboard till the next time it surprises me when I walk in the front door.

Then...

I found another one! This time in my kitchen. Two lizards in a week! It was almost too much to handle, and my only consolation was these two were some of the smaller specimens I've seen and therefore don't evoke quite the same level of terror in me. Still, small lizards grow up to become big lizards, and then I really will have a problem.

I know I'm living in Malaysia, and house lizards are as common as people who don't use indicators when they drive, and it's not like I've never seen lizards in any of the previous houses I've stayed in... but somehow, it seems a lot freakier when it's in a house only two people live in. Jeepers, now I sound like the freak.

It's been a week into my resolution to live in the moment, eat healthy and stand up straight, and the determination to do just that is still strong. Especially the eating healthy and drinking lots of water part (I'm also adding 'more exercise' to the agenda). Little did I know last Monday, it was only the beginning.

The rainy weather seems to have brought me renewed resolve to be a better person - not really, I just like using the weather as my all-encompassing scapegoat. Since last week, I've been inspired about/reminded to/thought of a bunch of different things I'd like to see me achieve or strive towards, most of which I've probably forgotten. Still, it's nice to sense and remember the desire if not the goal, which may be almost as important sometimes.

Then there's this guy - Randy Pausch. A ten-second intro: Randy is dying from pancreatic cancer, doctors predicted last year that he had less than six months to live and so he delivered his 'last lecture' at Carnegie Mellon University. The lecture became an Internet phenomenon and he got invited onto Oprah to deliver a snippet of it.

Now let's get this out in the open: I love Oprah. Even on days when I'm totally uninterested in what she's discussing, which isn't very often. Almost anyone who gets invited on Oprah instantly earns brownie points in my book, and if Oprah thinks we should hear this guy, we probably should hear this guy.

Randy had quite a few things to say about living life that struck me, but I'll just stick to these two, which struck a real guilty chord within, for now:

1. Tell the truth. I don't normally have a problem with this... until I know what I really think is going to upset the other person. Isn't that typical? What if I'm really annoyed at someone, but I pretend everything's ok? Is that not telling the truth? The more I think about it, the more I know this is only going to get more complicated.

2. Apologise (properly). Again, something we probably know off the top of our heads, but do we really apologise properly? I don't think I do. In fact, when unprepared, I really suck at it, especially according to Randy's criteria for apologising properly. He says there are three parts to a real apology: 'I'm sorry', 'It's my fault', 'What can I do?' I'm lucky to touch on the second, never mind the third, so I'm going to try and take this to heart, because this is something I'll probably be doing a lot of for the rest of my life. I also want to start by apologising to everyone I never apologised properly to:

I'm sorry. I mean it.

It's my fault. I hardly say this, and I really should say it more often.

What can I do? I almost never say this, although I usually follow up my 'I'm sorry' with an attempt to fix whatever I screwed up, if it's fixable. From now on, I should also ask.

(Note: This only applies to people I've actually apologised to, not every Tom, Dick and Sally who imagine I owe them an apology. Unfortunately for them, I'm also learning to stand up for what I believe in and hold my ground.)

Randy's 11 minutes on Oprah is here, or you can view the full lecture here. He's a great speaker - funny, captivating and so, so brave in the face of medically certain premature death. I first got wind of him from my in-laws, who, along with my mother, are the biggest senders of forwarded mail in my inbox. Interesting...

(Spot the odd one out.)

For April Fools' Day, we came to work in our pyjamas. Unfortunately, not all of us were around for the photo-taking and obviously not all of us followed instructions, but it's okay, we still love you, Christine.

I also just realised today that I am the only married woman in the office. One out of like, fifteen females or something. I know the revelation came a little late, but I feel like an endangered species.