Hmm ... Dopey, thanks for the comment, it's nice to hear that I did something good for someone! And I'm not feeling nearly as depressed now. Still feeling totally messed-up, but I guess it's starting to clear up. I actually even went window-shopping at IMM today and ended up buying a lovely wooden box from Daiso, that $2 place. Also gave my mind a lift by browsing around, getting some ideas, and trying to piece them together. It'll be a project for me to do in the Dec holidays! Stay tuned... Hint: keywords are wood, stationery and nails.

Today was one of those typical depressed-state days, when you have no recollection of what actually happened. Can't remember what I did in the morning, can't remember the afternoon except the IMM trip, can't remember anything since dinner till now. Wait - I didn't even have dinner. Total LOA. Surviving on a glass of blanc I found in the depths of the fridge, and judging from its mellow and subtle tastes, it's a bottle I shouldn't have opened without asking my dad first. Oh, whatever. Beats glugging Bailey's, Johnny Walker and Amarula anyway.

I suddenly recall something. I scarified my Drosophyllum lusitanicum seeds (it's from a Spanish locality - Mr. Ye, remember I asked you to look out for this CP on one of your field trips? Finally got hold of some seeds, but they are a pain to germinate.) Drosophyllum are one of the most technically-difficult CPs to grow anywhere in the world. Their seeds need to be scarified, I did it using sandpaper. And, for luck and as an extra precaution, gave it a 24-hour soak in 10% giberellic acid.

Getting them to germinate is one thing - keeping them alive is another. They typically grow in a mediterranean climate with scarce rainfall, and so it's a pain to keep the seedlings alive as well. Have to be planted in a double-pot method. Unlike veggies and cutesie flowers, once sown, Drosophyllum seedlings cannot be moved at all costs. Disturb the roots, and it dies. So I'll have to sow them 3 seeds to a pot, in a clay pot. Yes, it must be clay for the double-pot method to work. The bottom and sides of the clay pot will be lined with dried sphagnum moss (live moss in my case, I ran out of dried) and filled with 50-50 peat and sand mix. Then put into a larger pot, this time it can be plastic, which is filled with 90-10 peat and sand or simply 100% sphagnum moss. So, watering is done to the larger pot and the smaller clay pot soaks up a little moisture to feed the roots.

Now this sucks for our climate. I grow my plants outdoors so they'll be getting plenty of rain. Worth a try though!

Also sowed plenty of other seeds yesterday, mostly sundews. Drosera paradoxa, D. montana, D.villosa, D.intermedia var. roraime, D.oblanceolata .. also Nepenthes bicalcarata (6 month old seeds, I'm guessing less than 5% germination rate, if any at all) and Genlisea filifolia. Genlisea is one of those CPs related to Utricularia and Polypompholyx (remember this one, Mr. Ye? Yes, I'm still calling it Polypompholyx, although it's been regrouped into Utricularia years ago).

Been a very plant-ish weekend. And took a 1-hour-long bath today. Tried the spiritual-ish method - 2 tealight candles, some incense I bought off Barang-Barang, cup of sea salt (just for the heck of it) and essential oils of clove and orange. Ended up being rather good, except that I choked once on the smog. Tried switching off the toilet lights, but it got so damn creepy I didn't do it in the end.

Dammit. Self-indulgence. One of those things that don't really get much work done. Work?!??? ARGH. URGH.