IT'S scary when a 24-year-old woman fears the weekend. When she would rather be at work than go out or meet people.

I found myself in this position on Sunday morning. I had hosted an event on Saturday night until almost midnight and rose on Sunday at 9am wondering what on earth I would do that day.

I had errands to run and a date that evening (who ended up cancelling on me due to a 'supposed' case of food poisoning) but besides that, I found myself with free time.

I hadn't had much 'free time' in the last six months and it was crazy, even to myself, how scared I was of my own company in the absence of work.

Are we so busy being multi-taskers that we are unbearably at odds with being alone? Even in buses, we find comfort in bad re-runs on TVMobile - at least with the dialogue, we need not feel alone.

I like to see myself recently as somewhat of an 'island'. You know, like Hugh Grant in the movie About A Boy.

Someone with a routine of self-maintenance and lots of work and just one day a week where I may need the company of another (usually my family on a Sunday).

It seems being desperate and dateless (I'm not afraid to say it) after so many years in Singapore has evolved into a natural state of my being.

I opt for being alone over bad dates - hope the column doesn't suffer too much as a result.

A FRIEND IN NEED

As I sat on my bed on Sunday, I ran through on my hands all my friends in Singapore.

Real friends. Not just party people or recent acquaintances, but people who have seen me evolve from a broke, insecure and lost child to, hopefully, a woman who commands a little bit of respect.

These friends were almost entirely male (probably because I have quite a strong personality and a lot of women I meet find me a bit much!) and somehow, I had managed not to see most of them over the half a year I have been working on radio.

I called one friend whom I missed dearly. His phone was answered by a woman - his new girlfriend.

My 44-year-old mentor on singledom had finally settled down, but I never expected that he would let his partner answer his personal handphone.

We ended up meeting that night. He is one of the only people who can continuously make me laugh and forget all my angst. There we sat at dinner while his new woman stroked his arm protectively. I had lost him.

Another great actor friend has also hooked up with a lovely girl and is super busy hosting primetime TV shows and I haven't seen him since a drama we did together in January.

It seems female friends aren't the only ones dropping their girlfriends for their new loves. My heart longed for my older brothers and their hilarity.

Be careful what you wish for, they say. I finally got mine; I have become an 'island'. Except my island is more like Batam than Ibiza. Anyone keen on a stay?