My trip..

I was still thinking if i should blog about my macau trip afterall..since it's not exactly a terribly exciting place and most people would have been 'bored' by my macau trip(s)..

But of cos, my good ole buddy wei sent me a 'gentle reminder' on my promised entry..so here goes..


I started planning for this trip, like really early..i started hunting for air tics back in Nov..tat's a good 3 months before intended travel date..to me, tat's almost like half a lifetime..but then again, maybe that's a good thing, because i read this article somewhere that says the 'anticipation high' of a holiday in fact, outweighs the actual 'holiday high'..(this is in line with pooh's theory - see blog header). So this effectively means i got to enjoy the 'anticipation high' for close to 3 months..good deal right?


Even before i flew off, i had my adrenalin flowing quite a bit liao..no thanks to pandan cake..yes, that green fluffy cake that we hardly pay any attention to it..my hosts had requested for some food from Sg and pandan cake tops that list(yes, it's really a very-much-requested-for food among foreigners)


When i reached the airport, i went to look for my 'all-in-one' Bengawan Solo..alas, the outlet in T1 is undergoing reno! my pandan cake? my kueh lapis?


Stay calm..i told myself..check the directory..heaved a sigh of relief when i realised there's another BS at T3..without tat, i cheonged off to T3..but alas, i had neglected one detail..i was flying off on the 3rd day of CNY(which was still a PH)..imagine my horror when the sales asst told me, there's no pandan cake available cos the bakers were still on holiday..?!! How how? Boh bian..i decided to buy every other item that has the slightest hint of 'pandan' flavour..ondeh ondeh, some green kueh, more green kueh...hoping to make up for this 'loss'..


I was flying budget and had intended to grab some food before boarding..but this hunt for pandan cake left me with little precious time for a meal(okok, i reached the ariport a bit later than expected but i had travelled half the island before coming k)..and i only managed to gobble down half a bowl of mee rebus before dashing off to my gate, leaving a no-doubt-by-now-very-amused someone behind to enjoy her mee siam and teh peng..on her own..


3.5 hours later, i arrived..stepped out of the airport and immediately regretted not bringing my power jacket..it was a lowly 10 degrees..and i was still in my 'Sg clothes'..(damn the stupid weather forecast at changi..17 - 19 degrees?!)


Mobile rang..'oi, we're going to pick up dinner before coming to fetch u, u wait a bit ok?'..this was my welcome to macau *.*

Me & Macau

Of cos, half the world would have known by now that i'd just came back from macau..i realise there're some misconceptions about me going to macau, so let me set the record straight..

I do not ALWAYS go to macau. And i certainly do not go every year. In fact when i checked my passport, the last time i went was in 2005. That's a good 5 years ago..i know of many frens who make trips to Thailand, Hong Kong, US, etc on a much more regular basis..

I do NOT travel to hong kong and make day trips to macau. I do the reverse; i go to macau and then, make day trips to hong kong, and only occasionally too. Effectively, i spend much much more time in macau than hong kong(a fact that baffles some people)

I do NOT go to the casinos in macau..ok, this is no longer true..since i made an 'exception' this year and stepped into a casino in macau for the first time..though this is somewhat a 'push' rather than a 'pull' factor. Afterall, Singapore has its own casino now..and i grew curious about how does a casino actually look like..BUT with a casino in which i will most likely lose $$(with the $100 entrance levy)..so no thank you, i had my fill of casinos this time round..spending one whole day hopping between some 10 casinos(oh, and i WON $$ too..haha)

I do NOT have a fantastic grasp of Cantonese. Yes, of cos i speak enough Cantonese to get by..but mostly i have 'translators' with me or i will simply speak english. It can be rather amusing to see how we communicate - i speak english, she speaks cantonese(another fact that baffles people)..we communicate on 'parallel and yet, identical' planes. We went for a documentary film at the macau science centre and at the end of the 45mins, all i knew was that the Russians and the Americans were the first 2 countries that sent space missions to the moon..all other technical details were simply 'lost in translation' . Conversational cantonese ok lah, proper technical cantonese..you might as well be speaking russian to me..

Another case in point: i had gone and made a pair of glasses over there and when i tried on my new glasses, i felt a bit giddy(this happens when the power/degree is not quite right)..fish's conclusion: i must have given the wrong answers when the optician went through the standard questions with me..hmm..which is highly likely since i answered 'ok' to most of his questions, whether or not i understood what he's asking..and even if i did, i was too lazy to formulate my replies in cantonese..@_@

There are many things i can blog about my trip..but i think i shall save it for the next entry..it's been a really good trip..with lotsa discoveries..well..i won't be saying 'i can't wait to go back again' ..afterall, good things come to those who can wait..

@o@

This is what happens when you take an afternoon nap from 3 - 6pm..despite waking up only at 1pm..you feel really alert..at 1150pm..

Oh well..maybe i should take this time to tidy up my blog notes..got a handful of 'virtual scribbles' accumulated over the past 2 weeks..when i was rather busy..Remember i get the urge to blog whenever i have 2000 other items to do? Yep, it's been proven to be the case again.

So when i was surviving on 6 hours' sleep everyday for the past 2 weeks(this might be quite a lot to the average working adult..but i must emphasize, i'm not the 'average working adult', so there), i couldn't help but to log in and just type something on my blog. Of cos, now i look at them, some are really petty issues - things which felt really important at tat moment, are no longer as important, and some when i look at them now - maybe it's not such a good idea to publish to the world afterall..

Let me go through it..and let's see what will eventually survive my editing..

v_v

Bad..this is bad..i did bad for my written assignment..

And it pulled down my overall grades..

The older u get..

..the more competitive u are..so says someone..


This comment came after i told her that i dropped from 2nd to 3rd position is my latest exam results..she said it was the same case for her when she did her post-grad in recent years..


This was further confirmed by twinky(who dropped by on a random visit and ended up having to break into my room for me - using a paperclip & credit card) But of cos, the common consensus was that we're studying something we're much more interested in (since we took them up out of our own accord)..which explains why our grades matter much more now..though they probably have much less 'impact' on our lives..who cares if i scored 90% in my psychology test right? But it was a really big deal if i'd scored A1 in my GP back then..


The irony of it all..

random..or not?

i was just scanning thru my entries..& then it struck me..

As random as i thought my activities were..i realised there're some common factors..i mentioned in my previous entry that i went for a bbq on nye right..in fact, i went for a bbq last last year's nye too..

Okok..i know that's nothing 'wah' in that..but i went home from the same place..it's not a place where one usually find themselves on nye..i went home from my (ex)office..though last year's & last last year's reasons are totally different..

AND..i took the same route home..again, nothing surprising about taking the same route home right..i mean we take the same route home all the time..but it was EXACTLY the same, but different route...confused?

From my (ex)office, i always take the CTE home..but for 2 nyes, i took another route home..through the city..cos i thought i'd be kaypoh and check out wat's the party scene like..

It's a case of same same but different..u know wat i'm talking about?!

2010

New year, new decade, new post! Sounds quite lame actually..

Some 'exciting' stuff has happened in 2010 so far..by exciting i mean, it triggers the 'maybe i should blog about it' button in me..and they're stuff which would happen anyway..whether 2010 or not..yes, the point is..i'm not going to make a big deal out of the new year..or have i already?!

Thing is..i have quite a number of half-written blogs stashed in the drafts section..should i work on them first before moving on to new posts..or leave them in 2009 as..well..half-written blogs?

There was this day when i was just chatting with MOM and she commented i'm 'anti-social' & 'selective'..of cos i refuted them..i replied i was just being 'random'..

Indeed, i looked back at some of the things i've done over the past month or so(one can only be truly random when one is free..right?)..some of them are really quite random..including:

• Going for a 3 hour dim sum brunch(with a char siew bao tat tasted like dou sa bao), followed by a 30mins bike ride and followed by a HUGE plate of rojak with only yau char kway..
• Eating curry fishhead for lunch on Xmas eve with 4 other people, whose only common link is through me(more or less)
• Counting down to Xmas at the KTV with 2 other people who also like to thrust the mic to others(& i thot i was the only one)
• A random list of Xmas presents given - this is one of the years where i bought some of the random-est stuff(which includes a box of the famous everton park ang ku kueh - at least it's practical k) to some of the random-est people (though this is partly due to a somewhat random are-we-are-we-not-going-trip)
• A last min, even more random BBQ on new year's eve where i hardly knew the people..

The strange thing is..i like this kind of random-ness..though i know some people don't really like it..and are, in fact, put off by it..

Oh well..i guess ZXL is ZXL and ZXL is as random as it gets..