It's amazing how we can understand each other so well. You can try guessing what kinda convos we're having; All I can tell you is that it's NOT clean - super super not clean. :D whaha.
p/s: Best song I've heard in a million years. Lyrics from here. I'm lazy to separate Hanyu Pinyin from the corresponding Chinese characters. Test on Monday is more important for now.
It's been more than a month since I've come back from the US of A, but I must admit the feeling of staying on foreign grounds, working my ass off together with locals and internationals and travelling in some of the world's greatest cities still linger in my mind till now. I guess it has gotta be one of the best trips I've ever had, but what's more certain is that it's definitely the one trip which I grew most from. I've learnt a lot about myself, my friends and the US way of life.
Setbacks, there were many many. Friendship lost, money issues arose, work problems faced and resolved, inadequate housing facilities and provisions suffered, and never forgetting the exhaustion experienced after every single day of work. (Climb that hill Khas, climb it!) It may seem like it's a trip gone wrong, but there is always sunshine after the rain, does it not?
Sunshine came in the form of NYC, Niagara Falls, white-water rafting at Black & Hudson river, a lot more friendships gained (and still going strong!), earning USD$400 a week, shopping trips to nearby factory outlets & more, Singaporean BBQ Night, awesome colleagues and supervisors, Dr. Phil on TV weeknights (all the 'ooos' and the 'ahhs' and the 'eeewss') and home-cooked rice meals by Taiwanese girls. What's there not to love?
The most amazing thing about USA is not its great cities, the death-defying rides in the themepark, or even the sizzling hot, horny and very liberal American babes, but its spectacular American night sky.
Japan 'night sky' in Hana Kimi.
The real American night sky is tons better than this, I can see Big Dipper, Small Dipper, heck Medium Dipper also can! On certain nights, I can see a large part of the Milky Way. Almost every other night, I see Gemini and many other less important constellations (such as Cancer), the Northern star, Sirius, the brightest star on Earth's sky and even Jupiter, which shines very brightly in orange amidst the night sky! I know all this not because I am an Astro Nerd, but because I have the company of the President of AJC Astronomy Club. The best view is of course on top of the hill, away from the cities, away from lighted areas, and that just fitted the description of the cabins we were staying in!
Other than that, I really miss the camaraderie amongst all the Singaporeans in Gr8 Escape.
Team Singapore BBQ: The thorn among the roses!
Damn, now with the other two thorns.
The theme for Team Singapore BBQ is Red & White, ie colours of the Singapore flag!
SJ's farewell at Johnny Rockets with nearly the whole Taiwan crew.
I still remember this night very vividly, we bought drinks from the bar and played Uno and Heart Attack until 1 AM even though there was work the following day. You could say we brought the whole house down with our Asian noise levels.
Team Singapore: Ian's Bday Celebration & Murni/Faith's farewell party at Red Lobster.
Here you can see Faith's ultra chio hairstyle!
Team Singapore Slumber Party: Betty's room!
I have three girls on top of me, you tell me shiok or not!!! Well that explains the red face.
The Slumber Party is also farewell party for the four SkyCoaster girls and Jean and Fiona.
Team SG + 1 Taiwanese.
By the time it reaches our farewell, all the other Singaporeans have already left to travel! So we celebrated it with our Taiwanese Friends!
With Raphy, Jasmine, Maggie & Dora at UNO opposite Walmart.
Zoe looks so pretty at the back. :D
White-water rafting was one of the best experiences I had in USA. You can never get that volume of fast flowing water in Singapore or even Malaysia, you have to experience it there yourself. The guide told us it was rare that the water level reached that high during this Summer, if I remember correctly the increase in water level was 5 foot in height, so you can bloody imagine how fast the river was bringing our boat! Quote unquote the guide, "THE WATER'S PHENOMENAL!"
Do these pictures look like 4bia's third story? :D
I have a story to tell. At one point during the rafting when the river was calmer, our guide said we could jump into the water if we wanted to. He also advised us to jump on the left cos it was more rocky on the right. So what I did was jump into the river with Ian and we happily swam around and slowly drifted away until we realised the boat was not moving forward to rescue us!
In fact, the guide was busy rescuing some girls who jumped on the right and didn't notice we were already drifting far away from him. 100 metres later, Ian managed to grab the rocky riverbank and stayed there while I drifted further... and further... and further...
I think I was more than 1 km away from my boat when I was sorta rescued by the boat in front of us. Thankfully for that boat, else this entry would have been written from the graveyard.
Oh yah, the photographer managed to capture my face in really weird expressions. My horrified moments, ahem ahem. Before this, the high waves collided with our boat and I plunged into the dark waters of Black River. That was the scariest moment of my life for I thought I was going to die!
I was lucky I was the front paddler because I got to see everything! The high waves, the plunging rapids, the twirling of riverwater atop potholes... in short I got the best view! But the drawback of being in the front line position was that you'd be the hardest hit by the impact of waves, rapids etc, and the probability of falling into the water was high - like say 1 in 3 under turbulent conditions. It's full impact and great view, who's not game for that man? I was, even though I had to paddle twice as hard as everyone else behind me.
I went rafting another time, this time at Hudson River, but our Miss Maggie P deleted all the photographs we took so I have no evidence of rafting on that river. But the water was phenomenal too, and adding on to the fun factor was the onslaught of rain. It was pouring non-stop and the river was as choppy as can be. Shiok!
And then there was SkyCoaster.
This is ze SkyCoaster.
A close up.
See that little man near the top of the pole on the right? Cables are connected from pole to pole to lift people up to the highest point and then once the controller gives the cue to fly, the cord is released and they fly. Yes, free-fall flight. A few metres above the ground, they are grabbed by the harness around their bodies and then they swing like a pendulum until they come to a stop. Rawh, fun!
And then we jump!
Warning: Tilt your head/monitor to watch. I have not received the better quality vid from Betty. So let's make do with this. Yes I am the one jumping - I'm on the left. Not to be confused with Ian on the right, who bent his legs when he's not supposed to.
I took it twice, consecutively. Once was with the two guys and then with two girls, Huong and Inaaaa.
I still remember very, very vividly how my virgin flight occurred. Rene, being the tallest among us three was in the middle and Ian was supposed to pull the cord. As we were being lifted up by the cables, all of us could hear a 'ching' sound as if the hooks were about to give way and then...
Ian: Eh, did you guys hear that? *silence from the two of us*
A few seconds later,
Rene: Wah, very high. Ian: OMG, OMG, omg very high. *silence from me throughout the lift*
At the top...
The fence is made in the shape of a coffin. Sadist bastards!!!
Betty: Flyers, are you ready? 3,2,1 FLY!!!!!!
Ian: Hey guys I pull ah... *silence from the two of us* Ian: Ehh, guys, I pull ah. *again, silence from us*
A second later, I felt the cord being released from our harness and at that instant, I felt everything around us stopped. The three of us were just up in the air 175 feet from the ground, not moving, no cables whatsoever, just hanging by NOTHING, and the very next moment, our bodies just accelerated towards rockbottom by the action of gravity. Shiok dao!
In the second flight, I was in the middle because I was taller than the two girls. Ina was supposed to pull the cord. During the lift, the girls screamed so loud into my ears and made me semi-deaf I tell you.
Ina: Fang wo xia lai, wo hen pa!!!! FANG WO XIA LAI AHHHHHHH! (Bring me down, I'm very scared!) Huong: Khas, I very scared arh, bring me down... I don't want to ride this arh. HELP!!!
Repeat that at least 20 times. I can still remember Betty's evil no-no smile as the girls begged to be lowered back to the ground as the cable was being pulled upwards to the peak point.
At the top, the two girls were going to sob anytime, or were already weeping??? I dunno. Truth was I was enjoying the moment watching them so freaked out!
Betty: Flyers, are you ready? 3,2,1 FLY!!! Ina: Huh? How to pull? Khas, you pull for me? Me: HUHH? I got no hand to pull for you leh! (Both of my arms were entangled in theirs)
She pulled the cord, but not to the point of releasing it fully so we were still stuck there after a few seconds later.
Betty: Inaaa, da li yi dian! (Pull harder!)
Now the second flight was a tad different from the first. Unlike Ian, who told us two times that he was going to pull the cord, Ina in her horrified state of mind didn't give us any form of signal that she was going to pull it. So the second drop was rather abrupt but still fun and enjoyable nonetheless.
The ill-preparedness made it even more thrilling!
And then there was Sky Diving.
Which I backed out at the very last minute. Due to lack of insufficient funds. I got balls okay, but if I had gone for it, I wouldn't have money for travelling. That was what I thought - but eventually, I ended up bringing quite a bit of money back to Singapore. I should have gone Sky Diving!!!
It would be so complete, with me doing all the things I'd never dreamt of doing in this lifetime, ie freefalling from 175 feet and river rafting in the chaotic rivers of the Adirondacks, New York. If anyone's game for Sky Diving, please do not forget to count me in!
I think after taking the SkyCoaster, my fear of heights has sorta faded away. I feel nothing is impossible now. I committed suicide from the 16th Storey once, and survived. What else is there for me to be afraid of?
Will be back with tons of pictures from travelling to 4 big cities in USA.
My employment in Work And Travel required me to report to this stinkin' place every friggin' morning to clock in and get my time slip. It's the place I hated to be at the most. There were some buggers inside this office who'd scrutinize you from head to toe and make sure your appearances were presentable. What can possibly be worst than bright green uniforms??? I bet everyone wouldn't want to take a second look at us if they could help it.
Anyway, the bane of my reporting every morning was how anal they were in the colour of the teeshirt inside the uniform. Yes, apart from the green uniforms, we had to don a PLAIN WHITE TEE SHIRT in it so that our "beautiful bodies wouldn't be seen" - quote unquote Kayla HR. If you don't want to see my sexy body, then why make the material so translucent? The price to pay for having to wear two layers is the sweltering summer heat. Summer heat + No ventilation in kitchen + Heat from grill, fryer, oven = WOOHOO GOOD GAME!
Them E.S.O peeps would scrutinize the colour of the tee shirt inside. Oh they would check for patterns and designs on it too. Got design, got pattern, NOT ALLOWED! Go back home change! Or buy their ridiculously priced PLAIN WHITE TEE for freaking USD$4.
A friend of mine was stopped for wearing a spag top instead of a tee shirt. She was also rudely told: "Which part of a plain white sleeved tee shirt do you not understand?" How uber humiliating.
1) The alternative to covering your sexy body in that translucent uniform without overheating yourself is to wear something light inside ie singlet for guys, spag top for girls. BUT NO, TEE SHIRT IS THE WAY TO GO! No wait, make that PLAIN WHITE TEE SHIRT. This I emphasize again: PLAIN WHITE TEE SHIRT.
2)Do the Internationals look like they have a lot of PLAIN WHITE TEES to spare? We came with the knowledge that uniforms would be provided, where in the freaking hell would we think about bringing extra plain white tees? And for the record, the two washing machines were shared amongst all the guys (prolly around 20++ of us) and each round of washing cost USD1.50, two rounds (whites and colors)=3 bucks. You still need to dry them, no? Another dollar and a half. It's hard to be accomodating to them if they are so hard to please!
Did I mention about their ridiculously priced plain white tees at four bucks? I am SO flustered about this because I was bloody forced to purchase that darn piece of WHITE CLOTH just because I did not wear white inside! Thinking about it just makes my blood boil.
You see, I have this grey FOX top with a bit of white around the neck area. When I wore my uniform on the outside, it looked like I was wearing a white tee inside cos only the white parts could be seen. That day was really a bad day for me, for I was stopped at this horrible place because I "wasn't wearing a plain white tee inside". If a person who wears white tee inside stands beside me, I doubt people can actually tell if my shirt is grey or not - I hid it very, very well. BUT NOOOO, they made a big hoohaa out of it, and didn't let me clock in.
At that point of time, I was already half-hearted to go back home and not return until the next day. After weighing the pros and cons of going home (aka no income), I decided to purchase the ridiculously priced PLAIN WHITE TEE for USD$4. Heart pain. Really heart pain.
In another incident, I was caught with red highlights on my hair! My goodness, all my life I've never highlighted my hair red. I submitted my slip at the end of the day and this gay bastard (the whole park knew he was) asked me to tilt my head. Not knowing what was going on, I readily followed. The very next day, I was forced to go to HR to "get my hair inspected". Consequently, I got into a mini quarrel with the fat bitch.
I garnered support from my supervisor and manager who both agreed my hair was naturally coloured. The truth was, I dyed it 2 months ago from then (and it wasn't red!!!) and before this incident, I chopped off my long hair and whatever was left was the black roots. Not my fault if my natural hair color is reddish black under the sun what! Eventually, the people at HR also agreed that my hair wasn't dyed.
I was not so agitated with the inspection, I was more pissed that there are people with more distinctively coloured hair (my manager said she saw someone with purple highlights working there) and all of them weren't caught and I was. WTF?
I called her on the phone and SHE TOUCHED HERSELF.
If I die and go to hell real soon, it will appear to me as this room. And for eternity I lay in bed in my boxers, half stoned, with the pillow under my head.
I'd be chatting on the interweb; maggots pray upon the living dead. I had no interest in the things she said. On the phone every day, I'll permanently hit the hay.
I called her on the phone and she touched herself. She touched herself. She touched herself. I called her on the phone and she touched herself. I laughed myself to sleep.
At this rate, I'll be heading for electric chairs. I'm only human with my cross to bear. When she described her underwear I forgot all the rules my rabbi taught me in the old schul. [ Find more Lyrics at www.mp3lyrics.org/IOI5 ]
You're too young to be this empty girl I'll prepare you for a sick dark world Know that you'll be my downfall. But I call and I call and I call.
I called her on the phone and she touched herself. She touched herself. She touched herself. I called her on the phone and she touched herself. I laughed myself to sleep.
I don't know what I want. I don't know what I want. I don't know what I want. I don't know what I want. I don't know what I want. (Met you on the internet) I don't know what I want. (Met you on the internet) I don't know what I want. (Met you on the internet) I don't know what I want. (Met you on the internet)
I called her on the phone and she touched herself. She touched herself. She touched herself. I called her on the phone and she touched herself. I laughed myself to sleep.
(Woah!)
I called her on the phone and she touched herself. She touched herself. She touched herself. I called her on the phone and she touched herself. I laughed myself to sleep.
Mr. Toh made me and another friend watch this Thai movie. Now this movie is not the ordinary Thai horror flick which gets pple off their seats. It's a show about two young boys... in love!
No disgusting sex scenes, no worries about that. Minus some actions, I think the movie's pretty good. Fresh from the horror label Thai movies in general always almost never fail to show. Plus the OST is nice.
I am going to sing the OST in Kbox!
For more information, visit wikipedia and search.
P/S: My next entry on WAT will be out pretty soon!
