Squat toilet

When was the last time you had to do the big job at a squat toilet?
I just had to.
Oh my God. That 'plop' when the poop dropped into the deep dark hole.... I was so embarrassed. 

Do not buy this phone

Not quite smart.

Need to make room for the new

I keep telling people I've not been buying bags for the longest time.
Truth is, I have bought a Longchamp backpack, one straw bag and one rattan bag in the last one year. Is that it? I think so. These bags don't count right?
Basically nothing too major. However these things DO take up space especially the straw and rattan bags.

As such, I'll be making a few painful decisions in deciding which bags have to go to new homes.
I did not want to have to sell my bags but I don't have a warehouse to store them (and most importantly...) neither do I have a warehouse full of money.

Ah so scary!

I was scrolling through Facebook and saw this. HOLY COW.

Can these 小妹妹 stop going for awful plastic jobs?!
I keep seeing them on my Facebook and UGH enough. They look like robots. Super scary ok? That's what our future bots will look like. You know, the ones that the Japanese are refining for receptionist positions.
I've seen some pretty scary work onboard too (amongst pax, that is). It is very hard to look them in the eye because they look so unnatural.

Ah, I'm really missing Japan now. I've a few things in my shopping list so I hope to get that sorted quickly. Thankfully I've a Tokyo trip coming up in less than 2 weeks! 

Second day

Second day cooped up at home (read: standby). In the past 40 hours I've only gone as far as the lift downstairs to see my mother-in-law get in a taxi.

I've been in and out of sleep mostly because I sleep terribly at night when I'm on standby. It's the nerves. Not only that the pillow is giving me a bad shoulder too and no matter how I tossed and turn I couldn't find a spot that didn't hurt my shoulder. People talk so much about buying the right bed - pillows are just as important!
It's so annoying because these past two days I really would have liked to go out to get a new pillow but I can't. Hmph.

So what have I been doing today? Well I woke up at 2 pm. Had my lunch and then listened to some music (right, music, blog post on this coming up!) and played with my hair.
I've a flat iron that's very under-used. Two years ago I bought it to curl my hair but who has the time when I sleep so much and don't wake up early enough to do my hair? Already there's so much to be done to the face...

6.5 more hours to go. I do intend to slip out if I don't get called by 7.30 pm.

Did you read about the kid who got a severe allergic reaction to peanuts that passengers around him were eating?
Should airlines really go as far as not serving peanuts onboard (oh, I know a certain group of people who will be devastated because they truly love to snack on peanuts) for fear of an allergic reaction? Apparently Qantas has not served peanuts for a long time.*
Or should passengers just carry their epipens and hope for the best? OR, have a nut-free flight only when there is a passenger with known severe allergic reaction to peanuts?

*Incidentally, many of the passengers I've seen with nut-free meals come from down under as well as  the USA. I have almost never seen an Asian request for a nut-free meal. 

Not feeling my best

Today is one of those days.
And one of those days is beginning to become quite common.

It's the day I miss being who I was. Carefree and strong. Willful if I want to be.
It's the kind of day I tell myself if I had a daughter, I will tell her not to marry.
If I had a son, I will have another load of advice to share with him.
To say I'm ungrateful having the life I'm having now is unfair because my life is how you see it yet not you living it.

This is just something that has happened in the last few weeks. I find myself sitting here in the kitchen or my hotel room being upset.


On a day like today, I just want to go to work and forget things. Work is something that has remain unchanged. And work is where I can forget how life is now for it has been the same as I've known it since the first day.

My ambition

Nothing big and fancy. Just want to be able to hire a helper to do my ironing.
Some people tell me they find ironing therapeutic. Therapeutic my ass!

And it doesn't help that I've to do it with a sore neck. Fuck all the flat pillows in the world. Fuck ironing. Fuck cotton. Double fuck linen!

Facebook adverts

UMMMM Facebook executives you need to know this:
Your ads are über annoying to the point that 98% of the time I don't continue watching a video that has been interrupted by an ad, even tho ad "ends in 10 seconds."

10 seconds is too long (yes, technology has made us an impatient lot)  and I don't like being interrupted.

Even though many times you've planned to place your ads at very strategic points of a video, I'd really rather not continue watching it.
I've missed many a Tastemade video endings this way. Well, whatever. I spend less time watching mindless videos on Facebook ever since ads started. I'll just scroll down and look for the next interesting vid... until an ad comes in again. 

Fancy a sobfest?

I've seen more than a couple of passengers who just silently stare at their screens with tears flowing or dabbing their tears eyes.
It is awkward when I've to talk to them, like asking if they'd like a drink or even some tissues.

Hence I think this is kinda cute:

It's featured on Virgin's inflight entertainment.

I'm now in the Maldives.
Arrived at the resort close to midnight.
Will explore this island when I wake up. Goodnight everyone. 

Mainstream pop goes downhill again

What's wrong with songs nowadays? Is Pop facing another dark age, like it was in the mid 00s...

Every song sounds the same. Yes David Guetta is great (I'm a fan) but there's no need to copy his style, everyone. Enough. It's either this electro-stuff or Pixie Lott/Sia-kinda vocals. Boring much.
If not that, it's this Puerto Rican-English song that is very overplayed.

Sorry, I had to get into a small rant after listening to a playlist that called itself Today's Hits.

Effects

The muscle ache in my arms is a reminder. 

The mind will not forget. 

PS: flipping your beds every once in a while is important if you want to maintain your bed in as good a condition as possible! 

PSS: where are all the PRCs? Didn't see them in Seoul. Don't see much of them in Paris either (SURPRISE!). They found somewhere new? 

Birthday

I turned 32.
It'll be a birthday I won't forget, just like when I turned 28.

Happy birthday to me and may I have more happy days to come! 

Jakarta nightstop

CGK nightstop is a flight that I do once every two years. Colleagues normally go for massage and hair spa (and blow their hair like the tai-tais but they've have to bun up again the next day *roll eyes*).

I went for a massage and bought several bottles of chili. Strange, you might think. My Indonesian colleagues have a habit of bringing their own chili overseas, even to restaurants when we dine out. They buy the ones that come in little sachets and it sure is HOT.

Anyway we moved hotel to one that's ultra convenient. A mall is linked to the hotel. I love hotels like that.
What I didn't like about the hotel were the art pieces. I'm sorry I've heard too much about haunted hotels, especially haunted Indonesian hotels.

This baby looks kinda creepy. There are 4 of these at the lobby. Not only that, there's also a hologram version, where the baby skips rope and laughs. Erm.

In my colleague's room, she has a big painting of a headless woman wtf.

We've only just moved here for a month. Only time will tell if this is a hotel that will be widely talked about.