no fun anymore

into my 3rd week of work, and am given slightly more responsibilities than before. i found that i actually like getting work done and being organised.

the strange thing is, the more alcohol there is available, the less i feel like drinking. i drink very little at work, where alcohol is almost free flow. i always think...'what's the point really?'. get yourself so damn high and drunk and what do you stand to gain at the end of the day? getting taken advantage by others? acting like a clown for others' entertainment? others would argue that well well since you're out then you might as well let your hair down, drink and have fun. but must you drink damn a lot to have fun??

somehow there's a total switch of mentality when i club for work, and when i club with friends.

i only feel like drinking when there's someone attractive around, then at least there's a desire for inhibition.

i'm interacting more and more with the older crowd, very common in my line of work. i see those who are catching up on their age, but still energetic. on the contrary, i'm young but jaded.

i cant help but feel, i'm no fun anymore.

and also, i know this may sound ungrateful, but i've had so much good food over the past few days, that all i'm really craving for now is a bowl of laksa.

recharging

we were back from kl last evening. albeit the fatigue, i am glad to say we had loads of fun! i may not have done that much work when i was there, cos i'm still at the learning curve of my job, but somehow travelling, regardless of distance, always saps one's energy. i was positively drained yesterday, but i amazed myself with my stamina. was at pub, watching pool games, listening to others sing, and trying hard not to fall asleep.

started off this sunday morning by dragging myself out of bed once again to give tuition. reluctant i was, for it was raining cats and dogs this morning! sigh but for the sake of my dearest tutee, whose N levels is in 10 days' time, i pushed on. it's not abt the money anymore eh, it's abt genuine concern and responsibility. makes me feel a deep sense of pride when i know her prelim results improved. :) *proud*

mid autumn festival lights at clarke quay

i've forgotten when was the last time i held a lit lantern

the twin towers of KL through the car window

and just a random photo taken at the grand canyon. from my partner who is experiencing the same wave of loneliness as i do: watch that lonely back..

at the air port now to kl. damn flight is at the insane hours in the morning and hence i had to get up at 4am! wonder how i'm gonna survive the rest of the day. umm..back on sat afternoon.

lost weekend

was so so sick today that i had difficulty even trying to climb out of bed in the morning. what a horrible feeling that was! down with fever, sore throat and a spinning head, it felt like a very bad hangover, except it wasnt a hangover. i think my immune system is really getting weaker, plus with the lack of rest, i'm falling sick easily. heard my area, specificially bukit batok east ave 3, has one of the most no. of cases of dengue fever. sheesh, but no la i dont have dengue la haha. must be the bbq food from last night...

damn! i just wasted my sunday!

met up with my bestest rgs pals at dempsey on sat. this time besides zhaoqi and teresa, amanda and rach were present too. the only missing one was sarah tan! i'm always a happy person when i'm with my old friends..

the world is my school

i'm back from my first working trip and am feeling drained of every bit of energy in my body. just like what many of my working friends have told me before, travelling for work and travelling for leisure are two different worlds apart. bkk and hk are supposedly the few shopping paradises that singaporeans love, but believe it or not, i didnt have time to shop at all for this trip. alright there was an hour or so when i was at causeway bay and could probably shop but i was too tired to appreciate the crowds and boutiques. furthermore, hk is hot, hot, hot now! and very very hazy..the pollution is terrible. it's said to be caused by the pollution in southern china.

i've met an awfully lot of people.. i've learnt a lot too..thanks to my boss who taught me much. my real school, only begins now.

but sometimes i wish i dont know so much.. it seems that the more i know, the more cynical and skeptical i feel about this world, and the people in it. faced with the ugly truths of life, as much as i hate the cold hard reality of it, there's no other way out but to accept it. i hate that feeling of helplessness.

work leaves me with much lesser time for my social life than i would have liked. however the whole new subject which i have unwittingly ventured into remains fascinating to me.

and for now, i apologise to all i have neglected over the past few days.

my dearest colleagues: marie and michelle!

me and one of the thai boys we met at the club. cute eh!!

the view of hk

coming back on fri night instead, from hk..am at work now, and feeling really sleepy!

so many things i wish i could do, but there are so many things i dont know yet, and have yet to learn. i look forward to the day i look upon my work with greater understanding....

first day of work

tired tired tired!!

clubbing

clubbing at st james last night with zx, lawrence and jae was great! all of us were pretty high from all the booze at the end of the night. it was nothing like clubbing in vegas or new york, but it was still plenty of fun; as they all say, it's the company that matters!

and this is it to my last night of absolute freedom. gonna start my first real day of work tmr. sigh sigh!

Niagara falls

niagara falls/toronto was the last stop of my US trip, oh well excluding new york which i was stranded in for a day. yet another beautiful place to add on to my memories.

reaching niagara falls in the morning after a 6 hour ride from philly. whoa, though i wasnt the one driving, i was accompanying bernard for 2/3 of the journey. boy am i sick of road trips now!

beautiful...rainbows can be seen everyday (except at night la)! rainbows are freeeee!

double rainbows..where is the pot of gold?

there's soo much water you would think water is free........where did all these water come from??

that's the rainbow bridge..is it? that joins the american falls to the canadian falls

imagine falling over the edge..

taking the mist of the maid, a yacht that will bring us really close to the falls and underneath the mist. all of us had to wear ponchos so that our clothes wont get wet from the mist.

on the maid of the mist

the BIG BIG mist from the falls. it felt like standing underneath a heavy shower when we were in th mist.

me and jens in ponchos again, going for the cave of the winds, another tour which allows us to walk really really close to the falls and even touch the water. we were soaking wet when we came to the 'hurricane deck', which had us standing almost directly below the fall, with the water splashing down! quite a scary sight really..but the water was so strong that i couldnt open my eyes fully. was afraid my contact lenses would get washed away too.

can you see those little dots of yellow? that's us!

me with my hair wet after the cave of the winds.

the 5 of us, terence the photographer

going to the winery...

this place supposedly makes the best ice wine in the world!

standing amidst rows and rows of ice wine grapes..

wine tasting

the niagara falls at the canadian side looked a little like universal studios cum vegas combined. it was bright lights and all.

it was a sunday, very crowded..

me and jens

the falls at night, all lit up in multiple colours, unforunately it was almost impossible to get a good shot because of the strong mist. the lens got all wet and everything.

we also managed to catch the fireworks over the niagara falls. this was the 3rd fireworks display i've watched in US and 5th one i've seen this year. haha..still nice i guess..

a clean start

i'm finally back home. touched down this morning. was so jet lagged after that that i slept the entire day away and woke up only at 9pm haha. wonder how i'm going to sleep later. home still looks like home. i was quite surprised with myself when i realised i actually missed my family, even if it was just a teeny weeny bit.

piles of junk everywhere, there's barely enough space to make way for the new bags and heels and lotions and clothes that i've bought. again, i wished a room with more storage space.

was showing my parents the photos i've taken on my trip just now and as expected, mum was exclaiming, "wa zhen de heng mei hor!". and again again, it suddenly struck me i've actually seen quite a bit during this one month. i've seen many breathtaking sights that would stay with me all my life...

there're no photos more beautiful than those snapped in my mind!

i've thought about my life through and through during this trip. work is starting next week and i'm seeking a clean start, a new beginning....

missed flight

surprise surprise!

i'm supposed to be on the plane back to sg right now, so what am i still doing here?

i couldnt make it in time for my flight, hence i changed it to tmr. therefore i'll be arriving in sg on thurs morning instead on wed morning.

sigh!

no one's fault really. it is the labour day weekend over here in america. i have no idea why they had to choose a public holiday to carry out road work on the highways. it just doesnt make sense does it?? to choose the time where traffic was supposed to be the heaviest?? we met with an absurd number of jams on the way from niagara falls to jfk new york. there was no way i was going to make it in time for my flight...

so right now i'm camping in kenneth's place again. one more night in the states, in new york.

to terence, my dearest partner who had to put up with me over the past month. there're so many things which i would and should thank you for..... for being such an attentive host, all the efforts put into the planning, visiting all the places a second time for me, and being soo generous all the timeee...what would i do without you?? haha..please be happy!

to bernard who tried chionging to jfk so that i could catch my flight...

to jens, nora and cheryl who endured that torturous 9 hours journey to send me to new york..

thannkss for making my stay sooo memorable! see ya guys in dec (next july for jens haha)!

leaving for niagara falls in an hour's time. probably wont have the opportunity to update until i return to singapore, which would be next wed. thus i've uploaded tonnes of pictures onto my blog today! enjoy! this is still only a teeny weeny percentage of all the photos i've taken so far though..haha..

see you all back home! looking forward to my laksa and prata and hokkien mee. yum yum.

DisneyWorld

disneyworld in orlando has 4 theme parks. only managed to go to 3 of them because it's impossible to cover all in one day. thanks to ernie who was on work and travel program there, we managed to get free access to all the theme parks! freee and we went in queue-less!

the first theme park we went to, mgm studios. mostly musicals and short dances and music of disney stories, like beauty and the beast, high school musical blah blah.

the streets of disney. it's like stepping into a fariy tale story book. everything was picture perfect and everyone was happy! it's a place of all smiles and happiness.

the palm trees are reminiscent of those in california that lined the roads everywhere.

watching the show under the hot, scorching sun. it was FRAKING hot that day.

jasmine and the genie

what the hell was i doing?? haha i was getting ready for a proper photo after getting a big bear hug from pluto!

this snow white looked weirrrd..

on the carousel, ernie and i reliving our childhood.

the street of the magic kingodom

the BEAUTIFUL and magnificent Cinderella's castle. my fav of the day!

watching it changed from colour to colour as the night progressed while we were waiting for the night parade

the night parade that you definitely shouldnt miss if you ever come here. it makes chingay looks boring!

and finally fireworks...unfortunately my camera had to run out of batt at this time, so this is the only decent pic i managed to take before it died on me.

i love disneyworld....

magic kingdom.. ..where dreams come true!

new york city

some pictures long overdue from my new york trip:

the first pic after touching down. still looking fine eh!~ me and my dearest partner!

caught the musical phantom of the opera 3 hours after i touched down. BAd bad idea. i was so terribly jet lagged that i drifted off to sleep a number of times. i did remember it was a good show though haha. the set was amazing!

manhattan, from the ferry to statue of liberty

looks small here eh..but it really is quite big.

at the statue of liberty with terence and the noc junior batch students.

at the bottom of it

the interior of the statue
at the foot of the statue, literally.

ground zero, the entire area was fenced up, nothing there to see.

times square of nyc. all bright lights at night. one of the reasons why i love new york so much..

another pic of the broadway area where most of the theatres are.

the victoria's secret store, it's the first and biggest one i've seen so far in all the cities i've been to. it's..alright la..haha..

the famous bull at wall street. what's the big deal about it?? dun understand..



from the top of rockefellar's buidling. it's lower and cheaper than the empire state building, but we could see the empire state building from here!

uptown manhattan..i think..can see central park from here.

terence and i

clubbing at this penthouse with the other noc people like vincent, bernard, nora and ernie who was there to visit

the famous starry night painting at MoMA.

the famous washington square and arc at NYU

kenneth and i, my dearest host at nyc for 4 days

the famous giant apple shop smacked in the middle of fifth ave

enjoying the evening on the steps outside the metropolitan museum