Why why why

Whyyyyy does my third-year project supervisor keep asking if I want to publish my work?
It was such a small project that I did, and a thesis which I can't even claim full credit for (because I did it super last minute and he had to help me tidy up the whole crap), and after SO MANY YEARS, he pops up to ask if I want to try to publish it?

I did it for fun, it was no big deal. God i can't even remember the name of the drug that I used now....O.. ....Oll... Oc...Op... I really can't remember...

This is the second time in the last half a year that my ex-supervisor has asked me about it. He needs me to condense it to about 4-5 pages.
I've moved on. It's so far behind now. If he wants me to go back to the lab to work on it so that it can be published, I'll kick his butt.


If everything happens for a reason, is this a sign for me to use him as a referee for my resume? Hehehehe.


Update: He sent me a copy of my thesis. OLMESARTAN ohgawd, I couldn't even remember it. Luteinizing hormone, angiotensin system, juxtaglomerular cells, etc. WTF SIMIK LAI EH?!?!?!! WHAT IS THISS???!!! How could I have written all that?? what are all these terms! SHIT I have to read up my Physiology textbook again!

So blessed

I feel so so so so blessed for so many things that happen to me.
I don't think I count my blessings enough. To think of it now, I know that I have so much to be thankful for.

Just to look back at the last few days, I can already be thankful for:
- friends who make me laugh for being so dramatic on Facebook
- Alpha who's been taking great care of Anlynn (Alpha you're spoiling her!)
- my sister who's helping me bring stuff back to BP just so I can match my shoes with my clothes and look *cough* pretty...
- a friend who's still giving me hope that I shouldn't have (I know he's just being nice and supportive!)
- a passenger with a pretty high status who gave me a mock interview onboard when I told him I might want to try working 'out there'. I think I embarrassed myself in the interview but he was so kind to give me guidance, giving me plenty to think about before I really start job-hunting
- fabulous crew who made my wish come true this Japan trip
- fabulous crew, again, for making the flight so much fun
- a better than expected check report
- a friend who's still such a good friend after so many years. From a friendship that started from Friendster, I'd never have thought we'd still be this close after so many years
- great cousins
- a mom who would call me right after I touch-down
- people who offer to take me out in their home cities should I visit one day
- that my luggage strap still smells like new leather after one year (pretty amazing)
- being able to afford a little indulgence, here and there
- my grandmothers' health, at 90...
- a friend who understands when I cannot make it to her birthday celebration because of work
- readers here
- super duper sweet strawberries from Japan
- doing just one more flight tomorrow before I wrap things up for the year of the Tiger (so looking forward to celebrating CNY with the family!!!)
- I was not at Domodedovo, Moscow yesterday

Honestly, these were all at my fingertips. Didn't have to think too much to list these out.

Actually, this reminds me - I have yet to memorize my Chinese New Year song hmm.

Oh hai! yo!

Ohaiyo gozaimasu!
I did an overnight flight, but somehow just can't sleep now. And I also feel compelled to blog about my hotel so here I am at the Business Centre, paying 100 yen for 15 minutes internet use.

My room is amazing! It's so pretty, it even has a chandelier in the middle of the room!! And it's huge by Japanese standards. Since this is in Tokyo, I believe The Company is paying crazy money to put us up here.

And tell me how not to spend because right outside the hotel are three malls, side-by-side.

I've also never seen as many amenities in an amenity basket in the bathroom!
There's even a pack that says "Skincare". I haven't opened it up yet but I can see through the packaging enough to know there's a day cream and night cream. And it's by Kanebo!

Shopping list for this trip:
Shiseido face blotter, Shiseido powder puff, FANCL collagen drink, FANCL fiber drink, hairspray, face masks and erm, a soft toy from the Disney store.

Step one

I said to myself (and to you all) that this July I will hang up the uniform.

However a few things have been bugging me.
1) No more flying, then what next?
2) I have not yet saved enough money… and one can actually save a lot as a flight crew (if she doesn't spend on handbags and shoes ever so often)
3) Will I miss certain places, like San Francisco (ok, that's for sure) and London (hmmmm…)?
4) Will I miss the entire experience of being part of the famous _______ (insert nickname of our crew) and get away with most things (unless I am dealing with Singaporeans who have no sense of empathy and forgiveness)?
5) I will not be in Europe to see the coming Autumn. I've only come to realize last Autumn just how beautiful Autumn is.
6) I can't pack up and leave behind unhappiness anymore. Which means, I can't be unhappy and not deal with it anymore. Shit.
7) Have to start eating hawker food in Singapore's kopitiam*. Eugh, really?
8) Only 2 years to a lump sum payout! I should stay for that right?!?!?!?!?!?!


DANG!

*Singapore hawker food is awful. Since I'm not often in Singapore, whenever I meet friends/housemates for a meal, we tend to dine at nicer places. I don't mind splurging on food once in a while. But when grounded I cannot be eating at restaurants every day. Oh the thought of having to eat Singapore's nasi lemak (bluergh) or yew char kway (you must try it to believe it, it is SO bad)… :(


Anyway, the point of this post is to say that my resume has been tidied up, finally.
Some time soon, I'll have to start scouring for jobs.
GOD, please give me a dream job!!!!

Tricky situations

For people who think this job is simple as "Coffee, tea, or me?", think again.
Not only do we have to be well-versed with safety and security procedures, we have to be familiar with first-aid and taking care of children and infants. On top of that, we have to learn how to restraint violent passengers. The list goes on.

But nothing compares to the challenges of being in a tricky situation involving the passengers.

One of the problems that I encounter the most (and one that I personally hate the most!!!) is when the flight's not full and another passenger's inflight entertainment system is not working. The only thing we can do is to move this passenger to another empty seat. But more often than not, I'll be faced with a passenger who refuses to give up the empty seat next to him/her because he/she wants that seat to rest.
I feel like telling this passenger in his/her face that he/she didn't pay for two freaking seats! He/she honestly has no right not to give up the empty seat next to him/her because it's not a paid seat. I so hate to deal with this because as much as I want to say that, I can't.
So how doyou think you can tell this passenger as nicely as possible that he/she needs to give up that damn seat, pronto (because the other pax is fuming that he's missing his movie)?

Another situation... What if a very important passenger comes to you on a full flight and tells you the guy next to him has a strong B.O.?

Or that the middle seat passenger is complaining of the glare but when you tell the window seat passenger to put down the window shade, he tells you that he requested for the window seat because he wants to enjoy the view?


WTF RIGHT?

There are all kinds of people in this world. The scenarios we face onboard are endless.
Now the challenge is on you to solve this and see how well you deal with people.
(Pointer: you have to remember which airline this is when you deal with the passengers. This is not an American airline that allows you to scold you passengers or get away with being rude.)

Fingers are crossed

Ok, my standby has started (at 0000 hours).
I'm on a day's standby but I don't expect to be called up (because I have a non-disruptable flight tomorrow, the 23rd).

Should I be free today, my to-do list looks something like:

1) Coordinate shoes and accessories for my trip home so I can decide and narrow down the number of shoes I have to bring back. I was thinking 5 pairs, but now there's a possibility of a 6th pair. Not good. Anshii will collect them from me on the day I come back from the next flight so if I don't do it today, I'll have no other chance.

2) Study. Will be tested like mad for my flight on the 23rd.

3) Sync my iPods with my iTunes. It's been a long time since I last did that.

4) PACK!!! for home. My clothes, mum's clothes, Lynn's clothes. Foodstuff. Chocolates. Makeup.

5) Do my laundry or there'll be no more good time to do them until after Chinese New Year.

6) Clean my bags and wallets. Don't want to see mould growing and damaging the leather in this humid weather.

7) Should I put my curtains to wash?


Shat. That's too much to do in a day.

Stickies

"Nothing you write on a sticky is that important, so why pretend?"
LOL. That was printed behind the "Useless Info" post-it.

And I like how at the bottom corner of the Nag Note and Or Else pads, there's a box to check if you want to thank the receipient.
Ah I wish I could buy up all the other stickies that were there.

Orchard Road is bad for me

I went down to Orchard to get something for my mum from Tang's.
While I was there, I decided to see if they have my diary refill at Takashimaya.
They did, but it costs three times more than a brand new diary. It doesn't make any sense!
If it weren't for the uglier colours for 2011, I would have bought a new one instead. I still like mine in white.
Went to Kikki.K and still the refills weren't any much cheaper so I will do a bit of mix and match. Got the dated ones from Kikki.K (still cheaper than Takashimaya) and will get the simple lined pages from Popular when I go back to BP.

Sigh, this is daylight robbery man.

Also, while at Takashimaya, I saw several post-it pads that were so cute I had to get them. Each had only about 50 sheets? And cost $5.
I got three of those. Will post them up soon.

I caved in and bought yet another Envirosax bag. I think I'm missing the whole point about being green and reducing carbon footprint. After all, how many Envirosax bags does one need... Will I ever have 60 kgs worth of grocery to carry?
But I really couldn't resist this design that I've been eyeing online for a while.

(I've yet to get my hands on the Sesame Street exclusives. They are so hard to find.)
I hate inflation too. Last year, one Envirosax bag cost $12.90. Today's it's $14.50. It seems like so much money to pay for a shopping bag. I think Woolworths sells one for 2 bucks?

Gay gangster ROTFL!!

Chinese Tiger Mom

Interesting articles:

Here, here, here, here and here.

This man's everywhere

David Guetta. He's producing everything that's playing on radio now... and I can't stop listening to him. Genius!

Look at this super cute USB port extender that my aunt got from her colleague.
Super duper cute loh!!
The main USB port extends from it's head and the additional 4 ports make up the limbs.
.... ingenious!

Whoopeedoo!

✔ Trench coat
✔ Wallet

As my cousin and I were on our way to Regent Street, she suggested that we go to this Japanese store near her place that stocks the brand I was looking for. She gets 10% off items in the store. It was a pity they didn't carry the wallets I shortlisted, but they had the trench coat so that was good enough for me.
In the end I received 10% discount (on an item that never goes on sale) and about 13% VAT return (if I get to claim it)! SO HAPPY I WAITED :D
I saved quite a bit to be honest from that extra 10% and the VAT refund.

And I got my wallet too, at Old Bond Street. So strange I finally settled for something I was least expecting to get.

Next up: to settle the bill when I get home. *groan*
:(

There will never be peace on Earth

It was such a short flight.
And yet I've never seen anything like what happened on flight today.
One passenger almost punched (well I could tell he was that angry) my colleague.
Over what?
A bag that my colleague refused to stow.

My colleague was not wrong to refuse, but he probaby came across as rude hence the trouble.

Look, your hand luggage is only supposed to be 7 kgs. If you want to carry 17 kilos and the ground staff turn a blind eye to it, do you really expect the cabin crew to put your stone-laden luggage in the overhead bin for you?
I will carry your bag for you if it's 7 kilos, but if it exceeds that, I have every right to offload your bag.

My flight steward has got a bad back (as do many of my other colleagues, all because we slave for passengers with their overweight bags). When this big man told my colleague to stow his bag up for him, my colleague refused and basically told him that he was not obliged to do so. The man got angry and the rest is history.
He even uttered the names of people in my management and asked, "Do you know who I am?!"
*ROLLS EYES*
Seriously, we don't care.
Because when we injure our backs, it's for life. And company doesn't look after us after that - they always say, "we never told you to stow passengers' bags."
You see? When we help and then we get into medical trouble, we have no one else to blame and turn to.
So why should we help?

Many times I've tried helping my passengers only if they are frail. Any able bodied young to middle aged man, forget about it. They are stronger than I am any day. Quite often, I have ladies who tell me to help them with their bag. When I see them turning away (wtf, I'm not your MAID), I'll tell them very loudly that they have to help me. If it's heavy, I'll even say it loud enough for everyone else to hear that her bag is overweight and she should not carry so much weight onboard.
Again, I stress, if I am mean enough - say if she's rude to me - I could just say I'm sorry I can't carry that up as it is over 7 kilos and it MUST be offloaded.

The rule of thumb is if you can't lift your bag with one hand, it's more than 7 kilos.

Anyway, what happened today was really ridiculous. Such a big man, couldn't he have stowed the bag himself? And why did he have to come to my galley and shout, "Do you know who I am?!" That was utterly childish and disgraceful. It doesn't matter who you are if you are already going to make a complain anyways, right??? I absolutely understood where my colleague was coming from and I sympathise with him. Back problems don't come until many years later and it will just leave one rolling on the floor and reeling in pain. Therapy will take several months and during that time, is this man going to pay for the crew while he/she stays at home?

One Australian lady passenger seated across the aisle gave my colleague her namecard as she disembarked. She said the company can call her any time if we need a witness as to how rude that male passenger was.

In this small scenario, we saw the U.S. of A. (big bully), Malaysia (always want to 'save face', refuse to bow down), and U.N.

One month flu

This is not funny. I've been sick for a month. If one is really not suppose to fly when down with flu then for a month already I shouldn't be flying. Today my nose was really congested and I was perpetually breathing through one nostril the entire day.

Felt very weak also when I woke up in the morning (but that's definitely because I didn't get my 14 hours of sleep). Decided to see a doctor this afternoon after a pathetic lunch at IKEA. Pttth.


To end this post, I would like to share these pictures with you from Boston.com.
45 powerful pictures. Picture 31 had the same effect on me as it did many others (look at the comments below the photos). Picture 7 is the perfect poster for inspiration.

Pictures do paint a thousand words. The spirit of humanity is indeed amazing, if you also think about how the people at Queensland are still going strong and helping each other and especially to those in need. Australians are anyways a different breed. They are always so willing to give and ready to help. They are laid-back but when in crisis, you know they are the ones who will face it with unbroken spirit with a beer in one hand. "No worries, Mate" is probably what they'll tell God at church this Sunday.


The Drift, one of Australia's finest restaurants, falling victim to the flood. This was taken on the 12th. It has since completely submerged. That part that broke away (with chairs and tables) eventually hit a bridge and shattered.


Anyhooz...The doctor* gave me a tablet that will knock me out tonight.... so goodnight all!

*The doctor asked if I wanted an MC and I said NO! I should be Employee of The Year. Already two years without MC and now presented with an opportunity to stay at home for tomorrow's rushed flight (Jakarta), I rejected his offer. *beams with pride*

Before I lapse into a coma...

Been up for.... more than 24 hours.
Very tired. But I still went down to town to collect my uniform (already due for collection for more than a month) and to check out more wallets at Orchard Road.
Had two WTF moments.

There's a nice wallet at Tod's and a nice one at YSL too. I went to Prada to see what's new - wth right when I already said I despise the quality of their leather. I showed the sales assistant the state of my current wallet and he told me I should stop using continental wallets and that I should use the zippy. The zippy will have less of the problems that I'm facing now, and he goes on to show how. Sounds convincing and he showed me one wallet which might suit me... and you know what? I really like it!!!

As for the YSL and Tod's wallets, both are continental flap wallets. THIS SUCKS. They're both gorgeous but I don't want to encounter the same problems again. Especially with the Tod's one, which comes in really smooth soft calf leather...

When I was in Ferragamo, I encountered my first WTF moment of the day. Already very frustrated and at the same time tired and moody and pressed for time I had to encounter this stupid sales assistant. What's with the sales assistant that these brands hire nowadays?!
I went to the boutique at ION Orchard to see if they have anything that I didn't see at Marina Bay Sands. They did and the wallet was actually really pretty. Anyway before I get to this pretty wallet...
I saw a blue colour short wallet and asked this SA if he has it in the longer size. Next to it was a clutch that looked very similar - yet very different. Different hardware colour, different leather (the clutch is patent leather, the wallet was embossed calf). It's SO obvious it is different, and yet he took the clutch away to the storeroom to check if there's one in Blue (which I already know there isn't). Already slightly pissed, I told myself forget about it. So I requested to have a look at that pretty wallet. He took it out. The leather was luxurious! Soft and buttery. I asked him if it is lamb skin. His face went all confused and he touched the wallet slightly, and not looking into my eye, replied very slowly: "Lamb skin?.... Uh.... This is leather. All our wallets are leather... "
KANASAI. That was it. I walked out of the boutique.
Reminds me of the Chanel experience all over again!
The supervisor was just standing behind me talking to someone else on the display of the new bags. I could have just gone to her and made a complain, but then I'm Malaysian OKAYYYYY, not Singaporean.

My second WTF moment came when I went to collect my uniform.
My tops were all too tight. It'll be good if it was tight at the bust but no.... it was tight at the waist. In fact, it was very tight. To make matters worse, the bust was loose T___T
I had my measurements taken only 3 months ago, and I've put on so much weight that my 4 sets of new uniform have to be altered :( At the waist (to increase) and the bust (to decrease).
I think I can go into depression right about now.

6 degrees of separation... from Batu Pahat

I was on my way to the crew bunk when I came across this elderly passenger standing at the door area. He was exceptionally polite for being there. He went something like, "I do apologize sincerely for being here. I hope I'm not in your way but I have got to stand up and walk around."

Of course I told him he's more than welcome to stand around to stretch. We encourage that. Then he explained to me - and still being extremely polite AND BRITISH - that he was involved in a bad crash that hurt his back so he can't sit for long.

I had two options at that time:
1) "I'm so sorry to hear about that! But don't worry you can stand around here as long as the seatbelt sign is not on.", and then excuse myself and get meself some rest.
2) Stay on to chat.

I chose to chat for a while.

And as always..... the things I find out surprise me. And somehow, very often now, things link back to my hometown.
♥

This man asked where I was from and I said Malaysia. His eyes brightened, and asked which part.
I said I'm from Johor and my passenger exclaimed, "AIYOhhhhhhhhhh...."
SO LOUD (all other passengers were asleep already) that my leading stewardess had to pop her head out of the galley to signal me to soften him down.

This old man knows Johor so well from living in JB and Yong Peng for many years. Well I know Yong Peng is not BP but it's close enough to be BP (hence the entry title). When asked what he was doing in Yong Peng, he said he worked for a rubber plantation.
He said that was when he was involved in the accident. "It was during the Konfrontasi..."

SERIOUSLY.
This old man brought up a part of Malaysian history that I have no recollection of. Sure, the word is familiar, but I have no idea what it is about. My guess would be it's something between Malaysia and Indonesia. That's about it - I didn't dare to talk too much about the Konfrontasi.
That was my cue to exit the conversation. Ah! if I had gone on I probably would have found out that he's got a daughter or something from an adventurous night to Little Paris.

In need of a new purse

My purse is in a bad shape. I have another (smaller) one, which still smells awesome ;), but I won't use it because it's a purse that I use when I need to use small handbags. I generally prefer continental wallets.

I do not want another Prada. The quality of the leather is absurd for the money you pay.
With my dear friend Kenneth, we went to several boutiques the other day but nothing's caught my fancy. I did like two Ferragamo ones but the clasps are so stiff... I mean, they spent so much time crafting the wallet, why can't they spend a bit more effort making a better clasp?! *shakes head*
Miu Miu's leather might also not take the rough usage. I do not wish to change my wallets so often thank you very much.

Bottega Veneta gets dirty too easily. Chanel's out of budget. Nothing interesting at Fendi. None at Bvlgari either.

I might go down to town later to take a look at YSL, Loewe, Mulberry, Celine (and also to take a closer look at the Luggage Tote ♥), and Tod's. I have very high expectations for both YSL and Tod's. Already disappointed with Ferragamo so I hope one of these will go through.
I think there's a sale at Tod's................

Poppy Garden

I'm having a serious earworm problem. I first heard Pitbull's Hey Baby (Drop It To The Floor) in a club in Hong Kong.
Then I heard it the morning I was preparing for my flight 3 days ago and it's been playing in my head every waking hour since!

I'd go into the galley, prepare a drink for passenger and be singing to myself, "Ooh baby baby la la la la la la la..."

It's so bad I think I need to dance it off. I actually want to party in KL (Poppy Garden?) with my cousins but I think they are not staying back after the wedding. :(
We'll rock something up I'm sure.

Noooooooooo!!!

Just came back from breakfast at the hotel restaurant.
I went down alone because I couldn't wait for my colleagues anymore - was already dying of hunger.

I sat at the long couch, beside an elderly British couple.
When the lady's husband went to get his food, she turned to ask me if I'm from the airline.

................

In my head I was shouting "Nooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!"
Because that means that now I really look like one of 'em!
I've always told people I know I'm very unlike the typical crew, whom you can spot from just her back walking along Orchard Road. And now one lady read me just like that.

I promise to learn a Chinese New Year song

YAHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

I IS SPENDING CHINESE NEW YEAR AT HOME, FOR LONG LONG TIME.

All the stress, anguish, agony. It was like running a race in the Olympics, I'm serious.

This was my original roster:

27th Jan: FLIGHT
28th-01 Feb: Annual Leave (for cousin's wedding)
02 Feb: Standby, kanasai.
04-06 Feb: FLIGHT
08 Feb: FLIGHT
10-16 Feb: FLIGHT

Super pissed off that with that kind of roster because I can't go home for even one time before CNY officially ends (the 15th day).

Then, by miracle, one girl approached me for my 4th Feb flight (why would anybody want to go to Adelaide?!) for 3 off days straight. Sweet.
Then it came down to dealing with my biggest problem. The standby.
All the offdays will mean nothing if my standby was there. They can call me up for an 8-day flight and take away all my offdays, or they can even call me for a 2 day-flight and my offdays will still be converted to standby after that. BLAH.

So I spent 2 nights with minimal sleep scouring for people who would give me an offday. I offered them a lot of money but nobody would take it. You think about it - which Chinese girl would want a standby on CNYE?
To resolve this, I had to offer even MORE money!

Long story short, the standby has finally been taken away and it's now an OFFDAY!
And better still, my 27th Jan flight is also an offday now!!
I swapped my 26th offday to do a tough flight and gave away an easy-peasy flight on the 27th, just so I can go back to BP with a cousin who arrives from the US on 27th morning.

My roster now looks like this:
26th Jan: Work
27th - 6th Feb: Annual Leave & OFF!

To show my gratitude, I will learn a Chinese New Year song. After 25 years, I think it's about time anyways. :P

Being home this CNY means so much to me because so many people are back for it this year.
Though there are a few common ones who will be missed: Ben Jinn, Shermayne, Uncle Hock, Auntie Lin and Alinta!!

I'll update you on all the fun, here. ;)

Posers alert

Between the headquarters of UBS and Credit Suisse in Zurich is an art piece which I believe drew inspiration from the Stonehenge.


Right in the middle of the place that makes the world go round (if, indeed, money makes the world go round) my colleagues and I decided to pose for many many photos as passers-by stared/smiled/laughed at us, and possibly the President of UBS was looking out of his office window and wondering, "What the hell..."

The bird learns to fly

Another divorcee with two kids.
Great, this is just great... Is the world littered with divorcees with two kids?

On another note, are you ready to feel old?

My little sister leaves home today for studies. The fuss around it has been amusing. Even my second aunt has been a little strange about it.
Needless to say, BP is experiencing a little bit of flooding. Ah, some people, you'd expect them to learn how to deal with it after so many times!!!

I know she'll be able to look after herself well. This little sister of mine has always been more mature than she looks and weighs situations and makes decisions like a true Libran. Besides that, I think she already has Alpha's number on her speed dial so in case of emergencies (*cough* like scalding the hand when cooking Maggi Mee), she should be fine too.

I can't remember what it was like when I packed up my stuff for college eight years ago. It was that long ago even my memory fails me.

This weekend, I'm gonna relaxxxxxxxx in Singapore. It's been a while since I stayed back in Singapore after a long flight. This week's decision not to go home after flight is obvious - I can't deal with all the emo-ness at home.

DEUTSCH!!!

So happy!

I was at the tram stop this afternoon in town, waiting for my tram to come back to the hotel.
I saw an elderly lady with a shopping bag walking towards my seat so I stood up to give my seat to her. She quickly stopped me and in her Swiss German, told me she didn't want to sit (I think that's what she said!).

I went back to sit and then she walked towards me and said something to me and so I told her, "Nichts Deutsch." She replied that she can't speak English.
MAN...

I guess she thinks I'm from China so she went on to tell something about her Söhnne (sons) in Shanghai. Then she mentioned something about her son in Singapore and I stopped her to say I am from Singapore. It was SHIT BROKEN. I just couldn't pull out the right words from my head to form a simple sentence like 'Ich aus Singapore!'. Epic fail. In fact, I couldn't even pull out the word 'ich', which is probably the only German word my sister knows.
All I did was point stupidly at myself and nodding furiously and saying "Singapore! I'm from Singapore!"
Obviously she understood and then she said a lot of other things to me (e.g. "Singapore! Class!" hahahaha she said that, not me). I know she was asking me the purpose of my visit because I heard the word "urlaub" (holiday) and so I told her, "Nein, arbeiten. (No, work)."
She went blablablablablabablablabla so I told her I'm a "flugbegleiterin" (stewardess). She was like "gut! gut!", and just then my tram came.
So I bade her "Auf wiedersehen!" and left.
Seriously, I don't know why she bothered saying so much to me - she already knows my German CMI.

I felt so happy after that because that was my first ever German conversation, if you can call it one. It's so sad that I couldn't remember most of what I learned, and definitely couldn't recall them as fast as I'd like during the conversation.
More to come, bitte!

Sleepless in Zurich

Couldn't sleep last night. I blame the cheap vodka.

I hardly drink but in the last fortnight (because I was in HK and it was the festive season...) and because this is Zurich where crew really have NOTHING else to do, we drank. Though this is suppose to be a drinking station, I have been to Zurich no less than 6 times and this is the first time I joined the crew for a drink. Nowadays drinking games have gone high-tech too - there are apps for iPhone for drinking games! Amazing...

Now I feel really sleepy but I feel compelled to go down to town just to see what I can get from H&M's sales. It should be further markdown now, but I think there's still a lot of alcohol in me and I can't really focus.
From experience, it's not good to shop when I'm tired and groggy. It leads to a lot of bad judgement.

.......

I think I will still go. Anlynn, Imma shop for your college wardrobe!

2011 thus far

2011 hasn't started off quite well, I'd say.

On the 1st morning - very early morning - I received a very sad piece of news that another childhood friend's parent passed away. That's 2 in 3 days, and 3 in the last few months.
On the 1st evening and 2nd morning, my friends and I attended the wakes of our friends' parents.
:((
It hurt to see my friends mourning their parents. None of us will ever understand what they are going through unless we've been through it ourselves.

On the 2nd morning too, I was involved in a car accident. Though minor and no one was injured, it still wasn't such a great way to start the new year.

On the 3rd, I went all the way down to town to change money (because I was planning to change a lot of pounds and the rates at Suntec are very good) only to find out - at the money changer's doorstep - that I had forgotten to bring my ATM card. Without my ATM card, I had no money to change and thus had to head back all the way to the East side.

Also on the 3rd, my roster for February came out. I wasn't expecting to be home for CNYE or the first two days even but I had hoped to at least go back before the 15th of the lunar month. No such luck, unfortunately. I have all the lousy short flights and turnarounds and by the time I finally come back from a long flight, CNY's over already.

And then on the 4th, as I tried to change away my flights (with everyone giving me a flat NO THANKS because of a standby on NYE), I realized that I'll be in Dubai and Cairo on Valentine's weekend/day.
I swear it's coincidence!!! but not everyone will think the same. Should I quietly go in and out of Cairo this time?

BUT

The silver lining to it all....

I saw my friend Ruth for the first time in 4 years? 5 years?
And it got us back in touch - just hoping to see her in Singapore soon :)
My friends' parents are also free of all mortal suffering. They were in too much pain, and now they have gone to a splendid place called Heaven.

The car will finally be sent to the workshop for a much needed paintjob.

I didn't get my foreign currency, but I collected my handbag. Chanel Singapore managed to source the same bag from another country in the region (what happened to my last bag is a long story. It was like patchwork and I didn't want it back even after it was repaired) and I had the choice of keeping a store credit note or take this replacement. I went with the latter. It's ironic isn't it? I made a bet with my sisters about not buying another bag until 2011. I lost the bet and yet the bag was never really mine until now, 2011.

I'm going to Cairo again. Errr, that's good, isn't it?
:-\

Bluergh

My new roster makes me cry.
The only consolation? I have another Cairo flight, but it's only a one-day stay so my roster still sucks.

I'll be alone on CNY :'( Wo bu yaoooo....

I'd really rather deal with all the "When are you bringing home a boyfriend?" bullshit than to be on standby and doing all the 2-3 day flights (with only one off day, hence stuck in Singapore) right until my Cairo flight. By the time I go home from my Cairo flight, Chinese New Year would have officially been over.


I will NOT let this happen again next year!
*fingers crossed*

Don't trust Bing yet

Bing's biased!

And the calendar says...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


2010's been good. Let's make 2011 even better!!