:)

I woke up today feeling happy and cheery..:)

I recall a conversation I had with Chloe last week perhaps...

Both of us were striving to sleep earlier and to get to work on time...haha...

Babe! Waking up feeling happy is achievable!! Jiayou!

what is. what isn't.

The mind works in such a strange way I think people have tried to fathom it over many centuries and have come to no avail still.

And the way the 5 senses interact with the mind is equally wondrous.

The sight of a particular something unleashes a memory in the mind.

A smell evokes another.

A sound is linked to a fond thought of something.

And taste brings forth yet other pictures in one’s mind.

===========
Little things still remind me of a lot. I hate it when I’m trying to let loose and suddenly bham, a memory hits me at the back of my head.

I acknowledge the thought. That it is only but a memory…and store it in a cupboard...
Dust myself off, adjust my clothes and carry on with whatever I am doing.

- buying blades
- eating at marina square’s yoshinoya
- karaoke
- trips overseas
- JJ Lin
- Jay Chou
- David Tao
- Great World City
- HTC phones
- Eunos MRT station
- Mazda 3
- lychee green tea
- ah mei kopitiam in raffles place
- OGS
- Night Safari
- the pub in Pasir Ris Park
- char siew bao
- Yan Ge Restaurant
- Katong
- Kallang
- Massimo Dutti

oh fuck.

The ubiquitous topic

The topic of how Singaporeans treat their domestic helpers has come into the spotlight again.

This is the umpteenth time over the last few years that an article has been published in the mass papers highlighting various atrocious acts committed on these ladies who have come from a foreign country in hope of a better pay and better future.

I was reading Melissa Heng’s article on My Paper this morning. She called for a government unit, possibly MCYS or MOM, to institutionalize a formal framework of procedures addressing the welfare and treatment of these domestic helpers.

She suggested for a 15-minute session to be held with each helper twice a year. This she said, could potentially make the employers think twice before putting a hand (or a cooking pot) on their helpers.

Plausible? Perhaps..This is also not the first time someone has called for a formal unit to be established to look into these matters. Nothing has been done, perhaps the people in the government are looking into these options right now….hmm.

I’ve seen the other extreme where helpers are treated very much like another rmember of the family. They eat together with family members, sleep and lay with their kids, go shopping with the family and even go on overseas trips with them.

But there will always be black sheep around. In whatever society or culture.

I’m just wondering why most of these black sheep highlighted in these domestic help abuse cases are educated professionals.

The more educated you are, the more warped your brain becomes??

It’s a strange world.
Really.

Mizuno!

Yes! I'll be getting my new pair of running shoes tomorrow...

The one I've been using is so not right for my bunions.
It's making my bunions even worse haha...

Am eagerly awaiting for my Mizuno Wave Rider...:)

======
Running Lab will be opening an outlet over at Tampines One soon...

I think their staff has extremely good service and are very knowledgeable about running issues, shoes, analysis of your feet and your running styles blah blah....

....

Too many buffets in too little days.

*Burp*

Cause for alarm

*Beep Beep*

off off off off off-site

The first quarter of 2009 is gonna be over in a few hours. So fast...

Went on a company offsite over yesterday and today.
It was a "working" first half of the morning yesterday cos I was part of the planning committee.
And I was the time-keeper. Lol..a role which I relished actually :)

Teabreaks, games, lunch, seminars, workplanning sessions...and finally dinner...

We were putting up at the Furama Riverfront Hotel in Havelock Road.
After dinner, a bunch of about 10 of us went to catch the movie "Departures".

Frankly, I've been very out of touch with what's showing in the cinemas...and I didn't even know such a show existed...
Yeah, am suaku I know haha.

But gosh...it was a superb show...Very emotional show.
I think I cried for the longest time...was puffy eyed by the end of the show..

Departures ties with IP Man in my list of good movies this year...:)

Saturday = Food Day??

Oh Saturday...was a day of eating...

What more can I say except food florious food!!!

Lunchtime - mum's fried bee hoon...had an early lunch at 1130...

Was complaining of hunger by the time it hit 3pm...Had to wait till 4pm for the usual breaktime during class...jioed Kyne & YC to the cafe to buy food...
Ended up sharing mushroom quiche and potato salad with Kyne...yumyum...

Popped by Taka after class to meet PQ & Klive. Gorged on 2 yakitori sticks while waiting for them...1 chicken ball and 1 pork with asparagus...YUM YUM!!!

Adjourned to Coffee Club with them..the two goons only had normal drinks...like apple mojito and kopi...
I was the only sucker who had hot chocolate with a bacon and spinach quiche..
Yeah, quiche again...I like quiches lah haha..bopian...
It was fantastic...melt in your mouth. With the right amount of saltiness and fragrance!!

The mesclun salad by the side was rather nice too!!

Supposed to head home after that...but the time we hit the road....
The other two got hungry instead...

And so voila, Summer Breeze over at Pasir Ris Park became the next destination haha...
Calamari, Fish fingers and Wedges...

I ate about the same amount as them...

Shucks...I've been eating lotsa stuff lately hahahhaha...
And not been exercising cos of the cough...hmm mm....;p

lol

I found it extremely hilarious when Yan Ling made a comment about wm on Friday night.

"那个混球啊??"

"PUI!!!!!"

Quickie Updates

The week has been a mixture of laziness, happiness, boredness and plainess.

Cough
I've been coughing for a week now. Hmm mm..Went to the doc on Tuesday evening and wranlged an MC out of the doc. Hehe, spent Wednesday at home. The cough's an irritating one.

It gets horrid during train rides where the airon is dry and the air is kinda dusty..irritates the throat quite abit and it's really embarrassing when I get into a coughing fit and can't stop coughing.

Told the doc Dhasedyl doesn't really work on me anymore and I was given a new type of medication. Something called Prospan. No alcohol and codeine in it, made with ivy plant extracts so it's quite natural..Textures like honey or maple syrup and sort of tastes like it too haha..

Am on a course of antibiotics...zzz...

Tuesday Night
Lovely lovely night with the duckies haha...As usual we had the round-table updates..
Pity Selin couldn't make it this time. Darn, it's so difficult to get all 7 of us in a single dinner outing!!

Our next gathering is a spa trip to Batam on 16 May. Hope it materialises...:)

Dinner was at Dome Cafe, the Marina Square branch. Their soups are great!!

Wednesday
Oh it's MC day. Spent the whole day at home. Concussed in the afternoon for about 2 hours and spent the rest of the time either working or MSN-ing. Spent some time looking at Chris Brown youtube videos as well lol...

Thursday Night
Had an impromptu dinner with PQ today. haha.
And yeah, we're boring old birds. Went back to Swensons again...:) Nah, make that two sick old birds..we were taking turns to cough through the night haha...

Girls talk. Now she's seen my crude and open side lol..

I love impromptu dates like these!! You start your day feeling bland but you end it with a bang!

Friday Night
Oh today! haha..Had a lovely time being a lamppost to 2 couples haha...
Daniel & YL and Wendy (Daniel's sister) & her bf..

We were at this well-known Jap restaurant at Mirarmar Hotel. It's called Ikoi..
Buffet at $33++ per adult. But the food's not bad!..Had lots and lots and lots of sashimi.. haha..:)
*beams*

Oh, and I've been naughty. Had ice-cream, fried foods, alcohol during the dinner...Hope my cough won't worsen..hmm mm..my voice has changed again...
Sounding a little like a tranny now...shucks...

Chris Brown

I've all along been a half blood when it comes to music. My tastes are varied and as such, I don't really have an in-depth knowledge of each genre of music...not to mnention the various artistes and bands or groups in each genre...

I never knew Chris Brown existed till the Rihanna punching incident. When I told Sashi this last night, he gaped at me and said how could you no tknow who Chris Brown is???

Gosh, and Sashi is 50 years old. AHahaa...Decided to do a YouTube on Chris Brown and I stumbled across the video below. Cool cool moves..check out the little kids somewhere in the 1st one thrid of the video...

I Broke My Record

Ok, today's my first blading lesson after missing 3 weeks of it.

And my rustiness definitely showed haha....

I broke my record today.

I fell a grand total of 5-6 times within 2 hours!!....

Gosh. So embarrassing!!!

Argh! My goal for next week is...not to fall more than ...hmmmm.....ONCE!

hehe...wait for my update next Sunday..!

The Younger Uns

(1) My Fav Instructor
Uh-oh..I'm bio-ing younger guys haha...

My fav instructor during my blading lessons is this fella who's 10 years younger than me.
He's only in JC Year 2 lol..
Pity he doesn't take Sunday classes anymore. He's taking the Saturday classes instead..but I cannot make it on Saturdays!!!

He's just so cute haha...tanned, wears specs, lovely big smile, patient and endearing..,plus his braces are kinda cute haa..

Ally, guess who I'm referring to? Hehe...

(2) Our Fav Classmate
It is now official. This little boy with huge eyes, chubby rosy cheeks and a solemn face during class is our fav little boy!

Managed to get him to open up to us today...hiakzz.. And then we discovered to our horror that he's only 6 years old. Gosh...and he's doing spin stops and whatnot liao..Puts us all to shame haha.

Forgot his name though. Am gonna sak him next week again! Some Chinese name...Shi Yuan or something like that...He'll be a heart-breaker when he grows up!

P/s: His solemn face is only reserved for lessons. After the lesson, PQ, me and two other little girls went on our own exploration around the area...he followed us and showed his terror side..
Flashing his toothless grin at us all the time haha..

(3) My New Buddies
Little girls can be irritating. Little girls can also be endearing.

I'm learning blading with a whole bunch of kids. There's a few girls who are always in my class. I know some of them have taken notice of us (i.e. the clumsy adults) but seem quite shy to get to know us...

Today I got to know 3 of these little girls haha. A pair of sisters Sheryl (11 yrs old) and Sherie (9yrs old) and another little girl who seems to have attached herself to me. This other girl is by the name of Glenda (8 yrs old).
She came up to me just now during lesson and asked for my name and asked if she could stand next to me. Haha I think she likes me!

These 3 girls are kinda sweet. We were taken on a trip through the park by the instructors...being the clumsy adults, PQ and I were the slow ones at the back of the group...
These 3 girls stayed back with us...encouraging us and even offering helping hands at times.

Gosh, imagine an 8-year old asking you: "Do you need my hand?" Wah so sweeettt!!

And when I fell, they asked me "Are you ok? You need any help?? You want to hold my hand??" Wahhhh...really so sweet lor!!! haha...

Looking forward to next week's lessons...:)
I found new buddies...and they're still in primary school ahha...

If It Kills Me - Jason Mraz

Jagged Shards of Hurt

She stood in front of the mirror, staring.
Her hair. Her face. Her eyes. Her cheeks. Her mouth.
"If It Kills Me" played in the background, in repeat mode.

And then it finally hit her. The thing she was afraid of.
The thing she held her own against for weeks.
The thing she held her head high against in stubborn defiance for weeks.

Her hair. Her face. Her eyes glistening. Her cheeks. Her mouth trembling.
The first drops were warm against her cool skin.
But what of it, everything felt warm after awhile.

Drops to trickles to flows. She let herself go. She felt weak. She felt tired.
Weeks of carefully built up defenses crumbling. Like. Dominoes toppling.
Weeks of pent-up anguish gushing forth. Engulfing.

Her body. Suddenly thin, suddenly frail. Racked with sobs.
Never has so much hurt coursed through her before. Strength seeped from her.
Her mouth opened. No words came out. Her mouth closed again.

She stood there. Rooted. Her hands gripped the wooden chair in front of her.
She felt alive but in so much pain. Pain makes one feel alive?
Her knuckles were taut. Tense. Maps of veins covered her hands.

Soft cries of anguish. But no one heard her. She was alone.
She was still standing. For two-thirds of an hour.
She was still crying. She rocked back and forth slightly. On the balls of her feet.

She felt as if her head were going to burst. Held her head in her hands.
Years of memories ran through her mind. Churning.
So much pressure. So much hurt. So much. So much.

Words and scenarios played in her mind. Moments, events, dreams, promises, laughter.
All but memories now. Intangible fragments. Jagged shards of hurt.
She felt raw. She felt exposed. She felt bare.

The song still played.
The rivers still ran.
The jewels still adorned her cheeks.

Yay!!

The course has finally ended. What a relief!!

Had a 10-minute one-to-one coaching today. Everyone had a personal session with the trainer.
Am told I have gotten rid of some of my idiosyncracies like swinging my body and fiddling with my fingers..
Am told my voice projection has improved alot...
And that by today's presentation, I look much less nervous and am more calm even if I am spouting "smoke" to throw people off guard.. haha

She's good lah haha...a very good trainer.

I hope the takeaway from the couse will stay with me for a long time...

I'm a Virgin

Just though I'd share a single pic from my LA trip here first...

Don't have time to organise my photos as yet..BUSY!!!

birdie

I seem to be having an unconscious effort to go abroad every month.
Let me update the list. lol...

Feb - Manila
Mar - Mexico/LA
Apr - BKK
May - Bintan
June - Sydney (not confirmed)
July - France (not confirmed but seems like this is going out the window)
August - Beijing (not confirmed)
September - nothing yet
October - Seoul (not confirmed)
November - nothing yet
December - nothing yet

On Course - Mon to Wed

The Public Presentation Skills Course is a killer.

And a huge esteem-basher.

And a huge time-sucker.

Spent last night preparing slides.

Spent tonight preparing slides.

Will be bloody glad when the course ends on Wednesday.

Criticisms dished out to me today made me cringe real badly.

Am still suffering from repercussions.

Hope tomorrow and the day after would be better.

Hope I don't sink into my shell further...:(

what do you do

What do you do to heal an embattered fragile confidence?

One which has taken more beatings in the last 3 months

Than in the preceding 12 months before that.

What do you do to encourage a perennially weak confidence?

One which has taken more shit in the last 3 months

Than in the preceding 12 months before that.

What do you do to motivate a seemingly punctured confidence?
One which has taken more attacks in the last 3 months

Than in the preceding 12 months before that.

You'll Never Walk Alone

Lovely performance by the Reds last night against Man U. hahaa...Trashed them 4-1!!

It was absolutely entertaining to see Man U's keeper Van Der Sar stand rooted in between his goalposts for the last two goals which Pool rammed in...He looked absolutely bewildered and lost haha...

But a little article by ST's Sports Journalist Tay Yek Keak sealed the whole deal today for me. I thought his apt description of Sir Alex Ferguson was spot-on and agnonisingly hilarious!!! I was eating my fish porridge..couldn't take it, spluttered out my rice and laughed till I teared..!!

Paragraph extracted from his article reproduced here. (Source: ST Sunday Times Page 36.)

Anyone for Chewing Gum?
Saw the face of Sir Alex Ferguson? For most of the match, he was chewing gum as though he was in a Wrigley's advertisement. Then his face grew redder as it got blacker. By the time the match finished, he was gnashing his teeth.

The phrase in blue was classic man!!

omg

It's mid March already.

About 25% of the whole year has passed by already.

ACK.

So fast!

What have I done??

What have I achieved???

My Saturday

Ah..today isn't like any other mundane Saturday...which made it very enjoyable...though tiring.

Granny
Woke early in the morning. Adrian came to fetch me and off we went to Granny's. Picked her up from the Home and then whisked her off to Holy Family Church in Katong.
Spent some time praying and then brought her to lunch haha. Ordered some side dishes plus Katong laksa..*yummy*

Sent her back to the Home after that...she was feeling a little tired and breathless by the time we brought her back 2 hours later. Sigh...

Red Biscuit
Adrian dropped me off at Khatib MRT since he was gonna visit his mother-in-law there. Anyway, it was near my school too...Was about to head to the MRT when it suddenly occurred to me that Khatib was HB's hometown.
Gave him a buzz and voila, he was at home...Dragged him out and we had a catch-up of sorts...:)

School
Damn it. I'm totally CMI this semester. We have a new teacher taking us. A Chinese lady who speaks 98% in French. We can't understand her fully.

I can't understand her 99% of the time. I'm dead meat. We're all dead meat.

She enjoys giving dictations and had us do one today. Byt the time she finished correcting the passage with us...my paper was red and crossed in an amazing number of places....

*argh*

Pre-Dinner
Was early by more than an hour so spent some time loitering in Plaza Sing with YC, one of my French classmates.

The goondu had an appointment at 10pm and had 4 hours to kill hahaha...We ended up sampling wines at the Wine Fair in front of Carrefour..;p
The goondu was talking so much rot and he made me laugh till my ribs ached...It was a short but fun time with him!!

Dinner
Met up with Kym & XL for dinner at Pondok Indonesian Restaurant at The Atrium@Orchard.
Afterwhich we adjourned to TCC for drinks...

It's been awhile since we met, close to 3 months I think...seldom do we go so long without seeing each other hahaa....There was a time when I was seeing them every Friday for dinner and boozing! Good to have met up with them...updates and mindless chatter...
But I guess, we've all been busy...

C'est un bonne journee! :)

Home
Reached home at 1015pm and managed to catch the last 30minutes of THE MATCH with Dad.

Liverpool Vs Man U.

WOOHOO! Haha Pool trashed Man U at their home ground.
4-1 to Pool.

They're on a roll baby!! Trashing Real Madrid and now Man U...
Hope they can keep up the adrenalin and trashing streaks!!!!

It's 130am now. Tired & concussed...
Shall head to bed now...Blading tmr...I hope I can remember...Been 2 weeks since I last bladed haha...

En Meilleuire Sante

I had a health screening done on Feb 18...before all the trips.
Received the health report a few days ago..:)

I think it reads very good! haa..

My cholesterol level is very marginally borderline high...But if you break it down, my bad cholesterol is still within the normal range...and my good cholesterol is at least 20-25% higher than the norm hahha...which makes it overall good...:)

Woot Woot.

Liver, Kidney, Blood & Blood Pressure are all doing okay.

Woot Woot.

The only thing is err...I'm underweight. And I'm told my ideal weight is 3 kg more than what I am now. Oh well...haha, it's not as if I am dieting or what...I do eat!!

Anyway..yay!!
Am in fine health! hahaa...

Wow Wow Thursday

I was with Daniel at the IT show on Thursday evening. Or rather, we just passed by the IT show en route to the rooms which were hosting the Burberry's sale.

Suddenly, this girl grabbed my arm and stopped me with a "Do you remember me??"

OMG. It was Yurui.

The last time I saw her was when at least 6months to a year before I left Ducktours oh so many years ago. Which makes it sometime in mid 2003 perhaps. Which means I've not seen her for close 6 years.

I used to call her Xiaomei. She was our intern. A smart little girl who spoke with confidence and clarity. Now she's all grown up. And getting married in June.

Oh how time flies...

Ee Hong, do you remember this xiaomei?

==============
Had dinner with Dan at the Suntec branch of TCC...
Food was not bad...but portions were a little small though. :(
Or has my appetite grown bigger after the trips? Hahaa.....

It's always nice to catch up and update each other...:)

Was god-damn stoned by the time I reached home at 11pm.

9 March 2009 - Last Minutes Sights and Home Sweet Home

Last day in LA.
Made cup noodles for breakfast and then met up with HC for some last minute sightseeing.

Olvera Street
We spent some time walking around Olvera Street.One of the recommended places to walk through. It turned out to be a little bland. Cos Olvera Street turned out to be a mini Mexico, a place where I just came from! Haa…Trinkets sold there were almost like what I saw in Mexico, except triple the price.

Chinatown, Little Tokyo
Then we took a quick drive through the few streets of what they call Chinatown. Oh well, the usual stuff, clothes stores selling cheongsams, lots of restaurants, some medicinal shops, some massage parlours, some temples and worship places, etc.

The only difference about this Chinatown was that it was not only Chinese shops which were there. It had a whole host of Vietnamese, Thai and Cambodian restaurants/shops as well.

Soon, it was time to bid farewell to the streets of LA and to head to the airport for our flight home…

Los Angeles Airport
The drive from downtown LA to the airport took roughly 30 minutes. I thought it was relatively fast…J Returned the rental car at the Hertz return car centre and then caught a shuttle bus to our international flights terminal.

Was in the midst of checking-in our luggage when OMG it was discovered that HC’s luggage was too heavy. It was 32kg, 7 kg more than the maximum allowed. My luggage was light. The officer asked us to rearrange our luggage I.E. transfer some of HC’s stuff to my bags…

So embarrassing. We were squatting at a conspicuous corner with our luggages thrown wide open. HC was frantically doing repacking of his luggage. My task was just to throw whatever he passed to me into my luggage. After more than 15mins, we finally went through the baggage check-in…

Moral of the story?? Don’t buy tons of toiletries when you’re touring another country…zzzz….I think HC is more than a shopper than I am lor….zzz.. haha..He bought at least 6 500ml bottles of body lotions and shower gels for his wife…

The flight home took about 17-plus hours, including an hour-long stopover at Tokyo Narita Airport.. haha. And this time round, I watched the following shows:

- Australia (Finished the second half of the show)
- Scandal Makers (Korean show…damn funny)
- The Butterfly Lovers (Chinese show..teenybopper idols acting in a period drama…very strange)
- The Women (a Meg Ryan girl power show on the bonds between 4 women but seriously lacking the sassiness and fashion sense of Sex & The City)
- The first 30 minutes of Happy Feet

Hmm, which makes it a total of at least 10 full shows on both to & fro journeys. Haa…

Home Sweet Home
Touched down in SG on 130am on 11 March (Wednesday)…Home sweet home.
Spent some time talking to the parents and unpacking. Did not sleep till 5am...after which I woke at 9am.

I expect some serious jetlagging for the next few days..

Mum & Dad were there to fetch me…:)

8 March 2009 - Of Glitz and Glamour

Hollywood
Today was allocated for sight-seeing in where else but the glitzy Hollywood!!
But well oh well, it didn’t turn out to be as glitzy as I thought it would be. Haha..the main stretch of Holly wood is this road called Hollywood Boulevard.

It’s just like any other big street in a shopping district, malls on both sides, some theatres, some other souvenir stalls, restaurants yada yada.
Then main difference is that on both sides of the road, on the sidewalks, you have loads of stars inscribed in the ground..each holding a special name from a forgotten era, from an era just past or from a current era…

That’s right, the Walk of Fame! Haha…I betcha didn’t know that Godzill has star to his name as well….as does Bugs Bunny haha..I saw stars for Michael Jackson, Alfred Hitchcock, Bette Davis, Woody Allen, Robin Williams etc etc etc..

I saw street performers from Zorro to Captain Jack Sparrow, from Catwoman to Charlie Chaplin and even Tigger and Winnie the Pooh. Hahaa..

Went past Ridley’s Believe It or Not Museum as well, but din not step in. HC said he’d get nightmares if we saw too many grotesque stuff haha.
Visited the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and had lunch at a Disney Café..loved the printed napkins which came with Mickey and Minnie Mouse emblazoned on it.

Shopped a little there and then my eye caught sight of a shop which made my jaw drop.
I saw a Giordano there. Kaozz.
Haha…but it was super upmarket there. Nothing like the Giordano you see back home. Different styles, and expensive pants.

We saw the famous Hollywood sign on top of the hill…but was too far away to take any nice pics of it. Wasted.
Didn’t get to see any celebrities too. Wasted!! Haa..

Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive, Sunset Boulevard
We explored Beverly Hills as well. Oh well, drove past rather..haha.
Went into some of the little streets to see the big big houses there. I was told Britney Spears lived somewhere there and had hordes of paparazzi camping outside her gates. But I didn’t get to see any of such stuff. ;p

Same thing with Sunset Boulevard. We drove past the stretch. It was in the afternoon and nothing was really happening there. I guess it was really more of a pubs/restaurants/cafes kinda place which would be more lively at night…

We took a walk down Rodeo Drive as well. One of the famous roads in West Hollywood. For the uninitiated…Rodeo Drive was the place where Julia Roberts went shopping in the movie “Pretty Woman” lol. All the big brands were there again. Bebe, Coach, Giorgio Armani, Thierry Mugler, Miu Miu, etc etc etc.

Farmer’s Market and The Grove
And finally we ended the day at Farmer’s Market and The Grove, one of the attractions in downtown LA. I loved the place!!

It was more like a mini town on its own. A very mini town filled with one or two storey buildings. Each was a store or a restaurant. Some brightly lit, others dimly lit. But all exuding the same charm over people who walked by. There were push-carts as well selling little trinkets and knick-knacks.

There were even little streets within this mini town…a large fountain area with some small bridges over it. The street lamps resembled those from the 1950s. Tall and black, looped over at the top with a hanging lamp from it

There were speakers all over, blaring jazz music. Felt like as if I was ensconced within a huge surround sound system. The weather was cold. I was huddled in my jacket, had gloves on and was strolling through the mini streets whilst the jazz music permeated through me…It was a lovely lovely feeling.

Dinner was at the Farmer’s Market section..BBQ chicken for me and some shish kebab thingy for HC..each of us has a hot drink…J

Ahhh…If only life could be like this everyday..Cool, relaxed, musical, lovely, without a care in the world…

7 March 2009 - It's Time for the Big S. Shopping of course.

Woke in the morning stoned like a drunkard. Washed up, threw some clothes on, threw my trusty jacket on and then headed to the car. It was Factory Outlet day!! Haha…we’d already done our research previously…luckily I met an LA native during the conference in Mexico and he gave me some tips on which outlets to visit.. haha..

We were to go to the Desert Hills Premium Factory Outlet, located in Cabazon, at the east-end of LA. It was about an hour’s drive away…
HC was feeling quite comfy by now to be driving on US roads…He was speeding and overtaking some other cars on the highway…to my horror of course….I reminder him that we didn’t opt for insurance on our rental car…and he drove less fast after that ahhaha….;p

Reached the place at 10-plus am and headed to Mac for breakfast…After which, we hit the stores…

Wah lau. Was my first reaction when I saw the stores. I didn’t know where to start…130-over stores…lots of branded stuff.

Liz Clairborne, Hugo Boss, Armani, Samsonite, Nike, Nine West, Gap, Polo Ralph, Calvin Klein, Levis, Coach, Gucci, Banana Republic, Timberland, Sunglass Hut, BCBG Max Azria, Bebe, Max Mara, OshGosh, Anne Klein, True Religion, Miss Sixty, Jockey, DKNY, Ermenegildo Zegna, Callaway, Billabong, Tag Heuer, etc, etc, etc…

We walked and walked…separately though and combed through the entire 130-somdething shops..bags and bags of shopping…gosh. We didn’t really stop for dinner…Just a quick bite of hotdogs and a cup of hot tea,(coffee for him)…and then we were off again! Kaozzz, I didn’t know guys can shop more than women..HC bought more stuff than I did…..*faint*

The weather in LA was much colder than in Mexico…Plus LA had more winds blowing…my ears and fingers were freezing…Heng I brought gloves there just in case haha…

I spent close to USD$600 today alone I think.

6 March 2009 - Adios Amigo, Hola America

Woke this morning thinking damn, time flies…I’m heading to LA today already…the whole conference has concluded…and I’ll be back in SG in no time again!!

Didn’t really buy much stuff in Mexico...just some small souvenirs here and there. Did a small calculation. Think I’ll be close to $2.5K poorer after all these. And the company will officially owe me more than $3K by the end of the whole trip.

Mexico Airport 200pm (SG 6am)
Am waiting in the MEX airport now. Bought some cookies and some small magnets at one of the souvenir shops earlier on…Darn expensive. Had a BK burger for a quick lunch, the burger was huge haha…


=====
zzz…OMG. There’s a delay for the flight to LA. Very inefficient system. They called us up to board the plane. Everyone was queue-ing for at least 40 minutes. And then they suddenly had an announcement that the flight would be delayed due to a technical fault..

(1) Wah lau, you could have made the announcement earlier right??? Damn inefficient.
(2) Wah lau, technical fault??? *freaking out*

After a bout of snoozing on the airport seats (I call it a power nap of about 40 minutes)...they finally called us for boarding again. By the time the plane left Mexico, it was about 2 hours delayed.

Los Angeles 1000pm (SG 4pm 7 March)
Reached LA at 10pm at night…The queues were quite long for the immigration but when it was finally my turn, I was glad my clearance was quite smooth & fast. J Maybe cos it was a Chinese guy who was doing my clearance.

Collected our luggages at our terminal, the Tom Bradley Terminal and then hopped on a shuttle bus to head to Terminal 1 to collect our rental car. Wah, after all the hassle, we managed to get a grey Mazda 6, equipped with a GPS hahah…HC was quite power to be driving quite smoothly despite it being the first time he was driving on the opposite side of the road…

Reached the hotel in about 40mins and voila…the hotel was grand. Absolutely grand! I think that was where the very first Oscars was held back in the 1930s.. haha..of course there were some refurbishments here and there…but the general feel of opulence is there.

Thick carpets, huge chandeliers, things in gold and ornaments in porcelain...haha…can’t say the same for the rooms though.
Even the light switches were super retro…much like those in the 1950s and 1960s…

Dumped our bags and went outside searching for food and 7-11. Food came by in the form of Domino’s Pizza aha…that was the only thing we could find within walking distance…We ordered a Beef/Bacon/Cheese small pizza, carted it back to the hotel and bunked in my room to have a late dinner..

Wow, it was the best pizza I’d ever ever ever tasted!! Rich, generous with toppings, warm and lovely to the palate! It cost about $12 and I thought it was very very worth the money spent hahah…

HC went back to his room after that…I showered, unpacked a little…and then slept like a pig that night…

5 March 2009 - I'm Getting Fatter

Managed to clear some work during the morning conference. It was a public forum for any stakeholder of the international domain name community to air their grouses…And grouses there are…one after another..
I guess where there are criticisms, there will be improvement. Some of the comments though, sound more like hapless complaints. Hmm mmm…

Lunch
Went for lunch at a large Mexican restaurant…It was quite alright, I ordered a Fillete Mignon. It’s a slice of beef with accompanying mashed potato and some kind of strange looking vege…

As usual, bread and plain nachos were available for us to munch on whilst waiting for food to arrive. I tried the tortilla soup, nice! Filled with cheese and bell peppers and avocado…with crispy tortilla thrown inside and some dried chilli (or at least I think it was dried chilli haha…)

p/s: They love using cheese and bell peppers and avocado in almost everything!

Tried some of the tacos and enchiladas which the rest ordered…not bad not bad…

Language
The vast majority of people do not know English. Only staff at the hospitality front desks and some of the big swanky restaurants know how to converse in English.

Even service staff at shopping centres could’t handle us. Ask them questions and they reply in rapid fire Spanish. Ask them if they can speak English and they’ll just stare at you blankly. Not good not good at all…

Even the street hawkers in Bangkok can speak English!!! Even if it’s only a smatter of it…even the aunties in BKK can handle tourists!

Dinner
Dinner was hosted by the Chinese folks today. An all Asian thingy with the Chinese, Singaporeans, Taiwanese, HongKongers, Japanese and Korean…

Food was at a traditional Mexican restaurant with live bands singing again to entertain and “serenade” us. The food was good enough…but I loved the free flow of red wine…Cabernet Merlot 2007, from Argentina. Lovely lovely wine…!

HAha piangzz…out of 5 nights, 4 nights were sponsored dinners…with at least 3 of the nights having free flow alcohol…The westerners are really drinkers…


Self
Skin has been stretched taut but the dryness. Face is still peeling but the skin around the lips is better after a bout of intense water-drinking last night.

But the internal of the nose is bleeding slightly…too dry & maybe also dusty I think…L

I think I need to psycho the parents to get a larger suitcase. Mine’s only good for 6 days. Max. Zzz. I might need to activate the use of my extra foldable bag if I get things in LA.

It’s 4am now. Spent the last 3 hours planning LA stuff with HC. Whilst MSN-ing and replying some work/personal emails. I should head to bed soon…else sure concuss…

4 March 2009 - Of Merrymaking

After Dinner Activities
Ah..today is a very fun day…I mean at least, the “after meeting” activities were absolutely fun.. haha…

There was a gala dinner which a few hundred people attended. Free flow of booze as usual…with buffet food…Food was mostly snacks like kebabs, sandwiches, sushi, tacos, some traditional Mexican stuff like bean dips and salads, etc. It was nice catching up & drinking with some people I know…

And then voila, a Mexican I know jio-ed us to go with them to a traditional Mexican pub. Us being myself & HC , 2 Malaysians, 1 HongKonger and 1 Taiwanese. So off we went…20 of us all packed into a van and went off to the pub which about 7 minutes away from the gala dinner venue.

Live bands around…3 bands at a few tables playing. People dancing…drinking. Before I knew it, I was one of those dancing as well… haha…not bad leh, I can dance!! Albeit a little stiff hahaa….the Latinos can really groove… haha…A Mexican and an American were trying to guide me haha…

There was one thing unique. A game which they play. Apparently there’ll be this guy who walks around the pub with an device. This device has two insulated wires running from it, at the the end of the wires, there’ll be two metal sticks.

A group of people holds each others hands in a circle…One person will hold one metal stick, the next person will hold the other metal stick. And then the staff will turn on the device which shoots off electric currents…Everyone is holding hands and linked in the circle…so what happens is the current will run through everyone!
It starts off as a little tingling feeling which gets stronger and stronger as the staff ups the current running from the device. Whoever who can’t tahan the current and lets go (i.e breaks the circle) will buy that round of drinks hahaha…

Let’s just say it was interesting to see such a “game”…but I didn’t particularly enjoy it hahha…..

Ouch
TMD, fell down today whilst walking back to the hotel…zzz…
Either I was walking too fast in my heels, or I wasn’t paying attention…slipped on the pavement at a portion where there was a small downward slope.

Ended up kneeling on the pavement…There was this Mexican big burly uncle who came to my rescue… haha…helped me up…Think I gave HC a shock, one moment I was talking to him then the next second I was on the ground…

I now have one big bruise on my right knee…one big “orh cheh”, slightly swollen zzz…

Self
Ok, so apart from that dumb bruise..I think I'm a little worse for wear than back home in SG. Slight rash going on..I think it's the dry weather plus the constant temperature changes...HC said it's a cold rash...my legs are itchy...:(

I have small cuts on my left hand caused by my nametag and paper cuts. They don't seem to be healing well.

My face is peeling. Forehead, nose, cheeks...skin has split from my fingernails on three of my finger on my right hand...but darn moisturiser doesn't seem to be working very well...I am starting to have scaly front calves now...hmmm.,...

Oh yah, too much calories... haha..tsk tsk...

Graciousness
This is one thing I wish Singaporeans and Asians in general could have. A Latino held the lift for me for a very long time even thought I was like more than 10 metres away….

Guy caucasians would let me pass through the door first…the Mexican drivers of our hotel shuttle bus would call me “Seniorita” and help me down the bus when I’m getting down.

Till Here
Not enough sleep…zzz.. haha…gonna dry my hair liaozzz then iron a top for tomorrow and then head to bed…It’s 245am Mex time (5 March) and 445pm in SG time (5 March)…

3 March - Of Aching Thighs and Cobbled Streets

Today’s meetings are really boring. Absolutely boring. HC actually nodded off…so unglam haha….

Went back to the hotel around 5-plus in the afternoon. Took a quick 30-minute nap and then headed out with some other folks from Taiwan, Malaysia and China…The Asians tend to hang out together…as do the Caucasians with their own…and as do the Africans and the Nordic folks….:)

Hung around for awhile…walked the streets…shopped abit. Bought a top from Zara and another of their local shops…

Dinner was interesting. I had zi char. Hahaha…A lady from China was so sick of Mexican food that she wanted to eat Chinese food…found a little small Chinese restaurant….ordered diced chicken, sotong fried with bell peppers and another plate of fried broccoli and cauliflowers…Portions were huge. The 4 of us couldn’t finish the food. It was relatively cheap...210 mexican pesos for 4 pax i.e. about $21 or $22 sing dollars.

That restaurant was a good 30 minutes walk away from my hotel…I’ve been eating a lot here…but I think the cold weather makes me burn more I hope? And all the walking should be burning off the calories lah hor? Haha…

The walk back was nice..There were people milling about…but not the crowds of the evening…just a few here and there…Cool, and quiet…Spanish architecture, churches around, cobbled streets…black traditional streetlamps…Oh it felt nice…I was humming Wang Lee Hom’s “Kiss Goodbye” to myself…Lovely atmosphere…

There’s a gala dinner tomorrow night. Promised one of my vendors that I’ll have 3 glasses with him haha…He has been drinking alcohol everyday whilst here. I suspect he’s a closet alcoholic. Hmm mm..;p

The weather is very drying…It’s cold but the sun shines strongly sometimes, especially in the afternoon. The body gets confused and doesn’t know whether to feel hot or cold…;p The air is dry…the skin has split from the fingernails on two of my fingers…nose and forehead is peeling…and the skin around the lips is very very tight….moisturiser is my best friend now!!

Heading to clear some mails now before I hit the sack…1130pm in Mex (3 March), 130pm in SG (4 March)

2 March - Freeze and Booze Day

Today was a long long day haha…

Same thing in the morning. Woke, washed up, had breakfast and waited for HC to come to the breakfast place. Hurried to the meeting hotel and had meetings from 9am right through till 1245pm.

Half Day Tour
Had a buffet lunch till 145pm. Then rushed for a half day tour with HC & the boss…Visited a souvenir craft shop and then the Pyramids of Teotihuacan…The pyramids had relatively plain stones…no carvings nothing. But it was still a nice visit…climbed lots of stairs. Took some pictures and basically freaked out when we had to descend again…

Each step was slightly less than a foot’s width i.e. you had to descend with feet slanted at a 45degree angle on the steps…

It’s interesting…got to know people from New York, Libya, Rwanda, New Zealand, Australian…etc…Plus there was this cute guy named Agustin from Argentina who had gorgeous eyes…When I say Argentina, it doesn’t mean he has dark hair..on the contrary, pale-skinned with dark blonde curly hair…a little on the bah-bah side though.. hhaa…

He’s a lawyer specializing in Intellectual Property…I like!!! Got brains haa…He’s into football and plays the centre forward position. He’s never been to SG before but I’ve invited him over if he has the time & effort..woot woot!! Haha…


Dinner
One of the international organizations hosted a dinner tonight for its members. We’re a part of the organization and had the tickets to attend too. It was an interesting cosy affair on the rooftop of a new swanky boutique hotel…The only thing was, darn it, since everything was alfresco, it was darn cold too!…I think it hit 5-6 degrees last night…plus, there was a wind blowing.

Free flow of booze…margaritas, red wine, Corona beer, Victoria beer, tequila shots, whisky and loads of other cocktails…you name it…*hic* The food was interesting..though I have to say I skipped some side dishes cos I simply didn’t know what the hell were in them haha…

Sat next to a very cute mexican guy…:) His name is Francisco Arias.


p/s: I don’t like Mexican food…my 3rd day here and I’m buying chips and biscuits to fill up in the night hahaa….


It’s 2am here in Mex, 3pm in SG.
Nites nites…

We are all birdies!!!

We seem to be a jet-setting family haha...

Father Bird
Genting 19-23 April
Hokkaido 3 - 9 June

Mother Bird
Macau 12-15 March
Genting 19-23 April
Hokkaido 3 - 9 June

Son Bird
Japan 18 - 22 March
Germany 23 - 28 March
USA - pending in April

Daughter Bird
Philipines 22-25 February
Mexico 28 Feb - 6 March
Los Angeles 6 - 9 March
Bangkok 24-26 April
France - pending in July

Security in Mexico

You don't get to see so many policemen on the streets back in SG.

Policemen are everywhere here. And they move about in the truckloads or van-loads. Each vehicle caries about 10-12 officers I think...It is not uncommon to see 2 or 3 such vehicles parked by the side of the road..

The officers are all in dark blue, some of them seem to have bullet proof vests beneath their uniforms...All carry batons & guns...both men & women...
And once the vehicles are parked, the officers will disembark and roam the streets in pairs...

Sometimes you can see them moving about in groups of 5-6 pax.

At night, you can see patrol cars cruising the streets with their flashing blue & red lights...every 5-10 minutes you can see one pass by somewhere in the distance or somewhere near you...

It's no wonder why even the hotel staff mentioned that if you're alone or in twos, it's best not to walk about at night....scary!

1 March - It's Cold

Woke this morning refreshed. Headed for breakfast and waited for HC to arrive at the cafe...Fruit mixture was good…omelette was good…that’s about it. Haha…They had something similar to rosti…and other stuff which I didn’t take. No guts to try.

HC the goondu was late as usual…came by like 30mins after we were supposed to meet….Said he felt nauseous and cold and tired...
Signs of jetlagging perhaps...I dunno…

Anyway, walked over to the event hotel after breakfast…took us more than 10 minutes…the place was further than expected haha…Not much meetings which were necessary for me to attend. Weather was cold…And oh yeah, sucky to have a conference start on a Sunday haha.

Came back to the hotel around 4pm to catch a much needed nap. HC & I were concussing already haha…tired eyes and groggy minds.
Slept a shiok 1.5hrs power nap and then met up with about 4 others from HK & Malaysia….Took a long walk and found a Mexican restaurant with a live band…popped right in.

Stopped by a small bar on the way back to the hotel…6 of us, sharing a big jug of beer…Dirt cheap. 1 big jug = 6 mugs = 90 mexican pesos. Which would have made it about SGD$11…haha…

The walk back to the hotel was darn cold. A strong wind was blowing..fingers, face & ears were freezing…haha…

It’s 145pm in SG now the 2nd of March. And it’s 1145pm now in Mex on 1st March.
Gonna do some work before I head to bed. Gotta wake early for conference tomorrow again. CSI is playing on my TV…hehe…Aircon's off..it's cold!!

28 February - I'm a Bird

Changi Airport 950am SQ 0012
Okie dokie…Start of the long possibly arduous journey! Hope I can tahan hahaa…
Mum & Dad dropped me off at the airport Terminal 3 earlier on. Am seated now and waiting for the plane to taxi into position on the runway…It’s a 6-hour flight to Tokyo Narita…am scribbling on a plain piece of paper since I can’t turn on my laptop…

Tokyo Narita Airport Japan 530pm (SG 430pm)
Just arrived at Narita Airport for a one hour stopover before the next leg of the hourney…(which happens to be a 10 hours flight to Los Angeles)....But we still need to get out of the plane to do immigration clearance…

I need a plastic bag now. My saliva is drippingGosh, jap guys are just so delectable…all so well-groomed, fashionable and delicious haha…

So far so good and I’ve watched the following movies over the 6 hours:
- Slumdog Millionaire (Interesting..some parts were kinda sad..)
- My Tutor Friend (Korean comedy/drama…Kwon Sang Woo is darn cute…great bod too!)
- Twilight (Interesting love story hmm mm…Robert Pattinson’s eyes are nice enough but errr…too pale for my liking… ahha…)

Los Angeles Airport LA 1130am (SG 330am)
Arrived at LA…Am surprisingly awake even though I only slept intermittently for a max of maybe 2 hours? Couldn’t really get to sleep, don’t know why….Watched the following movies…haha…
- Changeling (Fantastic show, Angelina Jolie was great in this show!!)
- Crush & Blush (Korean show…absolute waste of time…)
- An episode of Project Runway
- An episode of Hell’s Kitchen
- The first hour of Australia (Lovely landscapes and Nicole Kidman was quite hilarious in her Brit pompousness…hope to finish the show on the return leg home)

So far so good. I’m fed really well by SQ…keep eating carbo stuff…bound to put on some weight after this whole trip…All in all from lunch to dinner to breakfast, I had prawn wasabi potato salad, soba, some other cold noodles, beef curry rice, chicken yakitori rice, omelettes, sausages, grilled tomatoes,

Had 7 hours to kill, so took a cab with HC & Nor to a nearby mall called Howard Hughes Promenade…err…nothing much…zzz…Took their public bus back to the airport for our connecting flight to Mexico…

Realised that the LA airport had many Latinos, Asians and African Americans working the frontline and operational duties…hmm mm…

Kind suay. Soles of both my shoes gave way. Had to rip off the rubber soles and just walk around with the body of my shoe…Bopian, vain lor, this is the result of buying pretty but cheap and poorly constructed shoes haha…
And then I lost my pair of earrings when I was clearing immigration…TMD, had to take off all metal stuff on me…and somewhere somehow my earrings got lost…argh. Heng it’s just a $15 pair from Perlini’s and not some diamond stones or what hhaa…

Am waiting for the flight to Mexico now. Getting very tired suddenly. It’s been 22 hours since I last left SG.

Mexico International Airport 28 February MEX 1130pm (SG 1st March 130pm)
Gosh..Finally reached Mexico. After 28 hours on planes and waiting out transits…
Was feeling darn concussed…slept quite a lot on the 3 hours journey from LA to Mexico…Weather’s cold here at night, around 8-10 degrees…

There has been quite a number of helpful people around in both the LAX & MEX airports…giving us directions when they see that we’re a little lost…J

Abit suay again. HC & Nor cleared immigration smoothly. I was called into a small room.
There were 3 other Latino guys in the room and a white guy. It was kinda scary considering the officer actually took all my passports and immigration forms with her. Heng there was another white lady in the room…Was called out again after a few minutes and they cleared me…hmm, I look like criminal meh??


Embassy Suites Hotel 28 Feb MEX 1230am (SG 230pm)
It’s been a long, tiring but in a way “fun” journey so far…

Reached the hotel and
It’s 2am here now early Sunday morning. 4pm late SG afternoon….I just bathed, hair’s wet…gotta dry it before I head to bed…Gotta wake up early tomorrow morning for the 1st day of the conference. Kinda dumb to have a conference starting on a Sunday…zzz….

Oh, there’s porn showing on Channel 19 of their network haha…But MTV is playing on my TV now in case you’re wondering…Red Hot Chilli Peppers singing their classic single “Give It Away”….Saw abit of Southpark in Spanich just now too…hilarious..the language is spoken so fast it’s just a blur of noise to the ears hahha…

Till here…nitez…zzzzz….
(hope I can sleep cos the body’s still on SG time…hope I won’t be too jet-lagged tomorrow)

Interesting Quote - Guys should read this

Whatever you give a woman, she will make it greater.

Give her your sperm and she'll give you a baby.

Give her a house and she'll give you a home.

Give her groceris and she will give you a meal.

Give her a smile and she will give you her heart.

Because she multiplies and enlarges whatever you give her.

So give her crap and you will receive TONS of it.

Hmm mm....:)

There is a difference between...

Being truly concerned.

and...

Being nosey.

I've had my fair share of both of these groups of people in recent weeks.
Some are genuinely concerned..Some don't know how to react around me when the topic is almost broached..Some are downright nosey and ask loads of things. And some others choose not to say anything at all.

It's interesting to see how people whom you have not spoken to in the past one year suddenly appears in your life and asks you "how's things?"
It's interesting also to see how just a handful of key pillars really makes a difference in your life's architectural support.

To those who were there for me and are still there...my utmost gratefulness, appreciation and respect..
To those who were there just to satisfy their own curiosities...thanks for your brief concerns....I'll survive...

irritated

Seriously, don't shoot your mouth off without running it through your brain.

Sometimes what you say can hurt a person's feelings.

Whether or not this person is a close friend or not, I hope you will consider holding back abit when one of those scathing remarks slides to the tip of your tongue.

You might mean it as a joke.

Sometimes, it's not seen as the case by the other party.

And when it's only in written words. It's worse cos things usually get misconstrued.

So well. Think before you say or write anything.

Sheesh.

*rolls eyes*

jiayou

Dun dwell anymore

Keep your head high

Trudge on

Les Exercices

Went to practice blading just now..

Yay, I can do a straight toe-roll now...Managed to do a shaky T-brake...but I think it's good enough for now..Considering it's only been 5 lessons so far..I think I'm doing alright.. haha..

Hope to be able to learn the spin stop...And then I'll stop there perhaps...
See how it goes...

Am gonna miss the next 2 weeks of lessons....:(
Won't be able to go for my running too....hmm mm...:(

Of courage

The lady who had an affair with a 15yr-old boy was sentenced to 10 months in jail...

I feel for her somehow...
Imagine the emotional duress she's going through right now...Imagine the countless hours she would be spending in her cell at night...
Thinking through everything she'd done, thinking through everything that had transpired....
All the whys, hows, whens, whos, what happened-s....

She made a slip-up in life. A major slip-up.
But she was brave enough to confess her mistake.

It was reported that her hubby has forgiven her, as do her parents-in-law...
If this were true...then my heart goes out to her hubby as well...

It's definitely not easy forgiving someone who has broken your trust.
What more in such a manner. What more when vows have been made between them two.

Am pretty sure he's feeling downright shitty.
Am pretty sure he's feeling downright confused and indignant and hurt and disappointed and sore and sad and pissed and....you get the drift.

So for him to have forgiven her, it takes alot of courage. I applaud him and am proud of him for wanting to try to make things work. At least he has the guts to do so.

She had the guts to admit.
He had the guts to forgive and accept that a mistake was done.

Let's hope things will work out for them....

Move on. Plod on. Trudge on.

hmm

Lack of communication

Procrastination

Assumptions

Escapism

Lack of initiative

Randomness

I think it's kinda sad...Eelyn Kok has been cast in only a single type of role in the past few drama serials she's been in...

She's always the girl who seems good on the surface but harbours an evil heart...
or she's downright evil from the start..
or she's being rejected by guys who do not really like her anymore...
or she's a baddie who schemes and manipulates to get what she wants...
or she's a mistress of someone...
or she's so screwed up she starts going a little cranky and deranged in her maniacal outbursts...
or all of the above rolled into one big bitchy mad baddie...

Gosh...I quite like her actually....I think she does the above roles with finesse...

But I really hope Mediacorp gives her fresher roles to play in the future...
It'll do her good to get exposed to other character types...

=========
En route to being a PA..
I think I can start considering that as my possible career option.
Doing things for boss. Helping friends with stuff. Coordinating everyday lunches.

Sometimes I wonder to myself, why can't some people take the initiative to organise gatherings?
Come on, you're part of the group. It might be difficult to coordinate things sometimes...but give and take, it can't always be the same few people doing it right?

==========
I hope the weather holds later in the afternoon.
I wanna go for a quick blade session before the trip. So that I won't lose touch when I come back haha...

==========
Packing.
Packing.
Packing.

It'll be exciting meeting new people again.
The good thing is that HC will be there this time. At least I won't feel so lonely and out of place...

Oppressiveness

Light makes darkness
creates shadows
reveals hollows

Darkness makes light
creates the silence
reveals the loneliness

Am back! For 2 days...

Touched down at 545pm just now...
Ended up buying a Wynham Estate 2002 Cabernet Merlot and a Davidoff Coolwater for Ladies from the DFS store...:)

Hahaa..I think recent unhappy events have unleashed a bug in me...
A spending bug..how ah? Hmm mm...;p

I didn't spend enough time in Manila to really get to see & feel the city...It's bustling and somewhat busy...but on first impression, more could be done for th

In general
Manila was much like Thailand or at least it reminded me of Thailand alot.
I don't know why, maybe it was the jeepneys whizzing about the streets, much like Thailand's tuk-tuks, except larger. The jeepneys can carry about 10 people perhaps?

The pinoys in general aren't exactly very friendly people...Only those in frontline jobs are friendly enough...And the ladies seem to like to stand very close to you whilst in queues. Experiened that in both shopping centre cashier queues, taxi queues and even at the immigration counter at the airport. Strange....

The hotel
I stayed in Sofitel Phillipines Plaza Hotel. LOVELY LOVELY LOVELY!
Room was huge consdering it was only me staying in it haha...
Lovely beds...flat screen 30-something-inch Sony Bravia (I think it might have been a 40-inch hmmmm)...my balcony was partially facing the sea...
The toilet was wonderful...I like such toilets, clean, spotless and cosy haha.

The breakfast buffet brought me to heaven every morning..haha..
Japanese, Filipino, Chinese, Western, Indian...they had all these cuisine and more..!
Smoked salmon, pizzas, smoked tuna, a nice little salad bar, dim sum, loads of pastries and breads...Wah lau...was really spoilt for choice... haha.

Decor and presentations were done tastefully throughout the hotel as well...:)
And the whole place was huge. Sofitel wasn't very tall. It was only 11 storeys high...but the grounds were sprawling...and the swimming pool was very nice...surrounded by coconut trees..
Sunset threw a orangey glow over everything and surprisingly, it was quite picturesque haha.

The meeting
The meeting went well...Got to know some foreign counterparts better, got to know others as well. Collected more namecards again but I think I could have done better in networking..
Hmm...bopian I guess, am shy in nature hhaa. Wanted to know some others but didn't have the chance to.

2 full days stuck in that meeting room. Some portions were definitely useful and informative. But alot were technical and I have to admit, I thought it was a waste of time for me to be there..hmm mm...was spending time clearing office emails instead and doing my own work haha.

I suddenly have this feeling..that I might kena arrowed to do a presentation for the upcoming meeting...Not a good thing..
I think I'll faint up there in front of all the industry experts, some of whom were there right from the start when the Internet started...and some others who were the ones who created the commercial Internet in the early 1990s...
Hmm mm...the next meeting might be in Taiwan or Beijing...see how it goes...

The shopping
I only managed to do proper shopping on the first day I arrived. Went to the Mall of Asia, 10 minutes by cab from my hotel. It's the 3rd largest mall in the world and literally hosts a few hundred shops on its premises...

But, certain sections made me feel like I was in SG...gosh. The first shop I saw was actually Yoshinoya restaurant haha...There was Delifrance, Macdonald's, Sakae Sushi, Ajisen and even OLD CHANG KEE!!!! piangzz..even Quickly was doing good there even though they went bust in SG back in 2004 perhap?

Upmarket shops like Topshop, MNG, Braun Buffel, MEXX, Nine West...were more or less priced like in SG...Nike was up to 10%-15% cheaper...CDs are cheap! $15-$18..those on promo can be even priced at $3 a piece.

Conclusion? Didn't buy much. Only about 4-5 casual tops from a factory outlet store ahah...About $5-$6 per piece.

Security
It's strange..haha. Every single entrance into a shopping centre or hotel or business building has a "security post". A table would be set up with a sign that says "With bag" and "No bag"...
People will just filter through accordingly. And there would be one lady and one guy dressed in security uniforms who would conduct "checks" on each individual going into the building. Bags had to be opened and cursory looks would be thrown by the officers...

Sofitel hotel even had a dog to sniff bags & luggages...each time I went out and came back to the hotel, I had to be sniffed by the dog and a lady would check my bag...zzz...

Weather
Hmm. 3 words. SAME AS SINGAPORE.

Spa
Went for a spa session with HC & Geraldine on the first night. It was quite an experience. The massage wasn't fantastic but it was defitnely a memorable and interesting experience hahhaa...

IT's not your usual spa concept in SG. Apparently, the price you pay at this particular spa includes a buffet meal as well...you can choose to makan either before or after your massage..It's entirely up to you..own time own target...There's a jacuzzi & sauna & steambath you can use...separate for ladies & gents...

Gera & I did a foot massage each...Each foot massage chair had a flat screen next to it showing cable TV...you can watch & get massaged at the same time...
One word. COOL! I was watching a little of Liverpool's match against Manchester City haha...

The scary thing was that the masseurs were all dressed in uniforms very very very closely resembling hospital garbs. imagine those greenish uniforms, shirt top and drawstring pants...complete with a little cap. It looked like as if there were lots of surgeons or hospital staff walking around.....the only missing on them is maybe those white nose/mouth masks...

Beer
There were some others from IDA who were there for the other meetings held in conjunction with this whole event...On my last night there..i.e. on Tuesday night, me, HC, Gera & a guy named Eugene had a mini chill-out at the poolside...we were also facing the sea so it was quite nice...slight breeze now and then...

Gera didn't drink...We ordered a bucket with 6 cans of San Miguel Light. Turned out Eugene has slightly sensitive skin and can't drink much....I think HC's drinking skills has not been good all the while? HC kept refilling my mug...tmd, I think I had half the bucket of beer...

Went back the room, managed to bathe and fell asleep on the bed with the TV on. The TV was supposed to keep me awake so I could blowdry my hair... haha totally concussed for 30 minutes before I woke up again to dry my hair...

Self & Thoughts
There were times when I felt shy & reserved & inadequate. I seriously need to shake this thing off. Else how to get to know more industry folks? Hmm mm...
Packed my hours with things to do, even mundane things like watching TV..to stave the mind off things..Suddenly, my parents are the only ones whom I SMS to say "I have reached safely".

zzz

I'd best head to bed.

Morning flight tomorrow.

Will see if I can post some pics...

Slight headache..:(

Faire Mal

Se cacher
To hide oneself

Echapper
To escape

Partir
To leave

Dormir
To sleep

Vivre
To live

Esperer
To hope

Desirer
To desire (for)

======
Est-ce que je tu manques?
Au moins un petit peu?
Est-ce que je viens à ton esprit?
Au moins quelquefois?

Il avait été une dureé courte seulement...
Mais, il semble que nous nous sommes déjà trés loin.

Je suis en colore avec toi. Est je suis rester un peu triste et déçu avec tout le situation.

Mais les choses seront mieux jour par jour...
Il pareit que le temp guérirs tout.