Day 10

Today was mildly exciting

I left the house early by my lonesome because I really wanted to go visit the Cathedral of St. John the Devine
this cathedral has been building for like 100+ years... and it's *still* not finished yet!

so the day started off crappy
i got to the train station in Jersey
and reached for my ticket
to discover my bottle of cherry coke had leaked in my bag
so i used up a whole pack of tissues blotting... but the bag was still wet
baaaah

Anyhoo
so i took the train from Jersey to New York..
no problems there
then i'm standing at the 33rd street subway station waiting for my train
and this is like at 8am in the morning
and there weren't that many people there
then this hispanic dude was talking to me
and trying to pick me up
and i was getting slightly freaked out

luckily his train came and he left
so i'm standing there waiting
and waiting
and waiting
and like 45mins later
STILL NO TRAIN!!! (apparently this train isn't very frequent on sundays... *someone* could have told me...dar!)

so eventually i decided i had to take a different train that didn't stop at the stop i wanted
and then i had to walk 10+ streets down to get to my destination
bah!

So i get off at 125th street station
and i go out to the street
and i have to walk to 112th street mind u
then i realise
holy crap...
this station is in HARLEM
*whimper*

so i'm walking by myself at like 9 in the morning
through the almost deserted streets of harlem
and there are like random dottings of black people milling around *whimper*
i find some nice lady and ask her for directions
and she advises me to keep walking to 110th street instead of turning at 112th coz it's not safe coz i'll have to go through a park there
:S

So i go all the way to 110th street
then walk like 5 blocks to the right
and i *finally* reach the cathedral at.... 10
wtf?!
2 hours since i left the house?!
RAGE!!!!

the weather today was a forecast of rain
so we planned to spend the day in museums
and i was meant to meet the girls at 10 at the Met
so i tell them i'll meet them at 10.30
figuring i'm pretty close
i leave the cathedral at 10.20
and start walking
and walking
and walking
i have to walk the entire expanse of central park
PLUS like another 10 blocks to get to the subway station
*cries*

and like the last 5 blocks were through some slummy east side black neighborhood
DAR

i finally make it to the museum
*whew*
Thank God...
no harm came to me or my belongings (except that cherry coke incident)

The Met (Metropolitan museum of art) was fantabulous
we spent like an hour in the egypt exhibit
then zoomed around the rest of the museum

Next stop was Guggenheim
which Anna said was on Madison Ave
so we walked to Madison
and walked down Madison
and by now the rain is POURING

and we walk from 82nd street to 90th street
and we don't see it
and we're pretty sure it's 90th street
so we ask some lady
and she says it's on 97th and 5th ave
so we walk back to 5th ave...and walk down to 97th street
No Guggenheim
wtf

*finally* whip the map out to discover that it is on 89th and 5th
DAAAAAAR
walk all the way back
still pouring rain
get there
and the museum is undergoing restoration atm
so the famous building is just covered in scaffolding
totally not photo-takeable
rage!

Go in there...
and there's some new exhibit getting set up
so the top 2 floors are closed off
and it takes us all of 1 hour to go through the museum
stupid minimalistic museum
crap all to see
and the stuff there wasn't even good
the Met totally kicked it's ass

Noone go to Guggenheim!!!!

Here's a photo of what we did in the gift shop
i think it somes up our experience to a tee




Me at the Met's egypt display

Off to Niagra Falls and Washington for 3 days tomorrow...
so no blogging :D

Day 9

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!
To all you people in the southern hemisphere
To us it's only CNY eve...

Today was a jam-packed tourist day

Statue of liberty
Ellis Island
Staten Island Ferry and
Walking across the Brooklyn bridge

The statue of liberty was smaller than i anticipated
alas
but it was still pretty cool

We breezed through ellis island

Mel and I bought pretzels on the way to the staten island ferry
and i officially announce
i HATE pretzels...
*rage*
so dry and tasteless

how come the ones at the 'Auntie Annie's' store in Singapore are so tasty?!
bleah

Dinner was with Amy and friends in Little Japan at this taaaaasty sushi place
*drool*

Hmm..
now to put up photos


Us at Statue


Me at Brooklyn bridge

Ohoh!
Some stupid indian man ripped me off for taking a photo with him in state gear
dar
should have ran off
no wait
kicked him THEN run off
*shakes fist*

wait
i'll show u the pic



BAH!
and it was taken with MY OWN camera
*rage*

oh and to everyone leaving comments
THAAAANKS!!
alas we're sharing internet here
so i can't reply
:p

Day 8

Went to Empire state today
w00t!

Took 1 gig of photos!
Muahahahahahaha!!!

Also visited Barney's and Saks on 5th Ave

Dinner was at an Italian restaurant at Times Square
and servings were HUGE

like they make the Sofia's servings look like tiny entrees
bleah

Must sleep now
waking up in 6 hours to go to statue of liberty

Photos later
laaaater

Day 7

Holy crap it's 3am
so short post

Spent today in lower manhattan, wall street and southstreet seaport

Bought standby tickets to The Producers show on broadway

Dinner at Times square

The show was ABSOLUTELY FANTABULOUS
not sure if the movie can live up to it :p

better go to bed now

Empire state tomorrow
need rest

photos to come

Day 6

Today was absolutely FREEZING!!!
felt like negatives
wind was really bad
but still...no snow

initially planned to do lower manhattan, financial district and southstreet seaport
but was so damn cold
that we managed to do the WTC site (which is one of the saddest things... just standing there makes u want to cry....damn you all stupid terrorists..*shakes fist*) and World financial centre
then gave up walking down the street
and went shopping at century 21 instead
muhahaha

I bought 2 jackets
*blush*

Then we headed over to 34th street and did some shopping around there
and went to giant Macy's again
where i bought a pair of boots

dude
today i spent heaps :(
but now if someone asks 'hey what shoes are you going to wear to *insert event here*'
i can go "oh i'll wear my boots from New York"
hahahaha

didn't get much done

got shuffled around in the subway system again
the trains here are crazy
sometimes they're an express
but they don't tell u that they're an express
and then ur like 'aye! where's my station'
rage

speaking of rage
i forgot to mention i dropped my camera yesterday
*cries*
now there's horrid scratch marks on precious camera
*screams*

we went grocery shopping tonight at the apparently sketchy area...
so walking back against the crazy wind while shooting paranoid glances around was fun
that.... and carrying like a 3L bottle of cherry coke while doing it (or the equivalent of)
hahaha

Mmmm
for the boh liao simpson's fans out there
i forgot to say
yes....the water runs down the drain anti-clockwise here :p

We're braving the weather tomorrow (which is apparently going to be colder than today) to accomplish what we wanted to do today

I shall leave y'all with a picture of my purchases :p

Day 5

Oooo
'exciting' day today
near attempted mugging

We spent most of the day in Central park
and the weather was really good
squirrals were running rampant

and all was well with the world (though we were suspicious of people working at hot dog stands when they volunteered to take our photos)
speaking of hot dog stands
we finally got a hot dog from said stands for lunch
and they're spicy.... *worrie*

but i digress
back to the 'near attempted mugging'
so we were near the end of our time at central park
and we were walking near the ice skating rink
and these two black teenagers
(girls mind you)
came up to me and mel (or should i say...mel and i)
and one of them pushes between us and says 'get out of my way!'
and then apparently the other one (i didn't actually see or hear this)
went to mel "wat did u do...something something..." (the word bitch was there
somewhere)
and proceeded to hit mel
*gasp*
then there was some talk about us getting f*cked up...

WTF?!

we survive crazy dimly lit rat infested subways that are almost deserted at night
and then we almost get mugged by TEENAGERS!!!???
(alrite they may not have tried to mug us... but that chick that came right up to us and pushed between us...i fully thought she was gonna pull a knife or switchblade on us :( )
where oh where are the boys to protect us?!

wish i had frank's extendable baton
then again
they might have stolen it and used it to beat us
*screams*

anyhoo
after running away from central park
we went to...
wait for it
*drumroll

SERENDIPITY 3!!!
just like the place in the movie serendipity
they have MASSIVE desserts
i got their famous frozen hot chocolate
which was really just a ice blended chocolate
but damn it was good

Anna ordered this craaaaazy huge sundae
and she endeavored to finish it
but for health reasons
gave up
haha

then we went to the famous Dylan's candy bar
opened by daughter of Ralph Lauren herself
*drool*

Then we roamed around and eventually found ourselves in the Waldorf Astoria
OOoooooo

Dinner was attempted to be in little Japan
but ended up in a diner
>_<

anyhoo
sleep now
here's photos of crazy desserts



and one of us at John Lennon's memorial site in central park



oh oh!
and the closest we've gotten to snow
a probable pile of ice...

Day 4

Today's weather was CRAP!!!
rainy and reeeeally cold
so we decided to spend most of the day in a museum

Took the subway to 59th-Columbus Circle
and walked up Central Park west
On the way we saw the century apartments, Hotel and Cafe des artistes and Dakota apartments

Then off to spend the rest of the day in the Museum of Natural History
Suggested admission price was $14
or actually... i think it was $10.50 for students
but us being asians...
we paid them our very own amount
muhahahaha

Took lots and lots and looooots of photos
and now i'm left sitting here going 'why do i need these many photos of bones for?!'
doesn't matter
after awhile...normal photos with bones were getting monotonous
so we started disrespecting the exhibits
here are some photographic examples..sorrie still can't figure out how to rotate on blogspot... bah... turn ur own head :p


Easter Island man


Yeeea...


Muhahaha
there were these scales that told u wat u would weigh if u were on the moon
and anna and i were like 16 pounds
and Mel was 20 pounds
too funnie
and she 'didn't manage' to get a photo of that
haha
suuuuure

Museums here are soooo crazily overheated... i'm surprised people don't just keel over and pass out from heat exhaustion

Anyhoo
after that we took the subway back to 33rd street
and went to the giant Macy's
now this claims to be the largest department store IN THE WORLD
it fully kicks Myer's ass
it's got AT LEAST 10 levels!!!
10!!!
and none of that 'go to the next building' crap
all in one building
fantabulous!

Dinner was with Amy and Khoen in Chinatown at a Malaysian food place
which was all fun and games
till we arrived home
and i had a MASSIVE allergic reaction
if y'all remember i had one of those and posted about how crazy it was and how it uber freaked me out
well this time it was even worse
lucky i was armed with maximal doses of anti-histamines
dar

Hopefully weather is better tomorrow
then we can do central park
and perhaps 5th ave shopping
w00t!

Oh! oh!
Best convo of the day
Me: It's like southern cross station
Mel: Which station is that again?
Me: Spencer st
Mel: Southern cross? That's a stupid name... to me it will always be SPENSTER

*ROFL*
tooooo funnie
mel's a dumbass
*runs away laughing*

Day 3

Another day of shopping :)

Started off at Century 21
which is like this discount designer place
bought a bag and some sunnies

We actually spent like 2 hours there!!!
and we only covered like half of it at most
must return :p

Off to Chinatown for lunch... Shanghainese food...
Roamed around Soho for a bit
then headed to West Village
but ended up just lounging around Greenwich village in a really dark cafe
by dark i mean the lighting
it was barely lit in there...
and the menu had tiiiiiny writing
craziness

Went by NYU and Washington Square
then headed home

It was considerably colder today than the rest of the days we've been here
i think it was between 0 and -2 degrees celcius
and tomorrow's forecast says "100% chance of rain"
waaat
not even like 99%... which gives u a 1% hope of no rain
the website screams 100%
dar!!

Plans to buy tickets for statue of liberty tomorrow
and check out tours to niagra falls
hope it all works out...

Day 2

Finally....we make it into New York city
Took the train from New Jersey...
and it was so surreal because the station we got off at was the World Trade Center station
and to get there...the train goes right across the World Trade Centre sites where the buildings used to stand

It's so sad
seeing the huuuuuuuuuge space with the remnants of foundations still around
*sigh*

then there was the church across the station, we were told that's where people stuck up missing posters during Sept 11 :(

We moved onto Chinatown for Yum Cha lunch
then spent most of our time shopping in Soho and Tribeca
lots of cute little boutiques as well as reeeeally pricey shops
we also found the famous Dean and Deluca

There are an unbelieveable amount of dogs in New York...and the owners bring them everywhere... and shop keepers let them bring them into their shops
we were in Barnes and Noble looking at books...when suddenly... there's a dog waiting patiently for its owner to make her selection :S

Anna and I split off from Mel and her cousin coz we didn't feel like shopping anymore
and we were craaaaazy
we WALKED from Canal st to 34th st...
which is like.... almost 1/4 the length of Manhattan
muahahahahah

On the way we found a Gray's Papaya
which was on Seinfeld...for having fantabulous hot dogs...we shall return to try their food

We were soooo happy when we reach 34th street
then we went to have a look at the Empire state building's lobby
we couldn't go up yet coz Mel wasn't with us

Sethos u were right...
One of the guards at Empire state tried to pick me up
it was so funny
i was trying to politely reject him
and Anna's standing behind me visibly poking me with her brochures
dar!

Met up with Mel, her cousin and some friends for dinner in little Korea

Now for sleep
weather hasn't been too crazy
probably about 10 degrees celcius today
but i think tomorrow will be colder :(

Here's a pic of Me and Anna at Empire state
before guards tried to make their moves
lol



dar
dunno how to rotate it... stupid blogspot
turn ur head to see

*edit*
wah lau... i actually forgot to blog about day 1
day 1 was actually wasted
we slept till 3pm here
then ventured to the local mall
Amy took us out to Hoboken later in the night
and we went to Johnny Rockets
the all-american diner
and i had the all-american meal of apple pie and a milkshake
haha

Day 0

Today doesn't count
in fact
i think i spent 2 days sitting on a plane just to GET here
hehe

here being New Jersey...where we'll be residing for our duration of our stay :)

Plane trips were loooooong
LAX has crap-all to do
and we couldn't wait to get on our plane
but noooo
plane was delayed
*shakes fist*

American Airlines planes are crappy..
but stoooopid Qantas...
They RAN OUT of hot breakfasts for us!
and stuck us with crappy cereal
wtf?!

dodgy

nehoo
miss y'all lots

must sleep
no want jet lag... haha


heres a pic of us when we landed in NJ :)

*screams in utter excitement*

OMG!!!!!
Flying to New York tomorrow

Words canNOT describe my excitement!!!!

i'm about 90% packed...
so i'll wrap that up tonite

*squeals*
New York!!!

Blog may not be updated for awhile
but u can count on millions of photos when i return

Miss u all
Love u all

here's a pic of the kick-ass ear muffs chao got me
think of this when u think of me in New York :p



Check it out....they're HEARTS!!!
thaaaaaanks Chao



Off i go to finish packing

NEW YORK NEW YOOOOOOOORK *excited shuffle and dance*

Where has the time gone?

I was dropping a friend home tonight
and was in the vicinity of an old friend's house
and therefore i decided to drive past for old time's sake

She no longer lives there
but i just wanted to look around at where i'd once spent so much time
as i entered her court
it dawned on me
that was all 10 years ago
10 years!!!

When did i get old enough to say things like that?
That 10 years ago i used to come here

Thinking back to those days......
it seems impossible to imagine that 10 years down the road
I'd be sitting here...
staring at the same house
husks of memories floating through my mind

and it makes me wonder
where will I be 10 years from now?

Girls' Nite

Twas another girls' nite last nite
Dinner at the new restaurant in glenny

service there is absolutely horrid
wretched minimum wage waiters standing there and telling us they need the table.. and therefore we have to pay the bill NOW
*disgruntled mumble*

Cbf blogging properly
here's some pics
It seems like most people had a good time...... or did they...

They can only hurt you because you let them

So here's to not letting them hurt me anymore

Super...wat?

Today is Friday the 13th
*cue twilight zone music*

I'm a debateably superstitious person
but i can't decide what my views are on this whole Friday-the-13th thing is
it's not like i left the house this morning darting my eyes around to avoid black cats
(actually....my neighborhood's cat population comprises mainly of white cats... haha)
and didn't keep a special look out for ladders to avoid walking under
i did however...keep a look out for cars while crossing the streets
but i do that everyday
haha

actually if i think about it
i don't really have any strong feelings about this day/date
on the otherhand
if given the choice
i wouldn't be doing things like flying overseas on Friday the 13th
it doesn't make much sense i suppose
but it may just give me a narky nagging feeling all through the flight
then if something *touch wood* does happen...then i'd be like "whhhhhhy did i fly on friday the 13th?!?!?!"
haha

hmm... dar...now i'm thinking of the cats on my street
i'm not a cat person
but the cats in my estate are extraordinarily pretty
even *i* like them
dar
now i want to hug something furry
darling dog isn't here
raaaaage

Ooo! But excited is me
only 6 days!!!!!
planning last nite was good
set out a vague itinerary
we thought we had lots of time
but when we put it all down on paper
it wasn't that much at all
O_o
now i wish we'd gone for a month
*wails*
haha

No it's not!

Complacency pisses me off

I abhor the stupid australian attitude of
"She'll be right"
especially at work


WTF is 'she?!'
and NO.... IT will not be right
things are right because someone put in the effort to MAKE things right
things don't just magically fall into place

the lazy-ass attitude that 'everything will be alright'
just means that you secretly hope someone will get things all done and organised for you
so by the time you start to 'work'
everything is done

Continually saying 'oh just leave it for later' is STUPID
STUPID STUPID STUPID

F'UH!!!
get off your lazy ass and start pulling your weight!

these people piss me off so much
everyone has 24 hours in their day
why is it that because they're lazy and good-for-nothing
MY 24 hours are loaded up with more work
which THEY then reap the benefit of?!

RAAAAAAAAAGE!!!

Noooooo!

*cries*
RCH internet people have banned the imagestation website from being accessed!
NOOOOOOO!!!

i can no longer abuse the crazy-fast uploading speed in the office
*wails*

bah

*Sigh*
life is continually getting more and more complicated

as we've always been told
there *are* 2 sides to every story
and therefore sometimes when only one side is heard the consequent opinion is understandably skewed towards a certain direction

alas...
it appears though...
that in the interest of sanity
sometimes hearing one side may be better than hearing two
haha

i just mean... it's easier to not have to understand multi-faceted views of the situation, thus placing oneself into a conundrum as to where one's opinion shall lie

it is of course
infinitely more difficult if both parties involved are friends
where shall one's "loyalties" lie?
does forming an opinion result in the automatic assumption of betrayal from the party that has failed to succeed in winning the opinion poll?

i suppose the easiest (more like...easier said than done)
would be to step back and let either side deal with it themselves

i have but one appeal
that both sides endeavor to empathise with the other
putting urself in the shoes of the other party will allow u to understand their course of action thus far
and will help determine your future course of action

love y'all

Woohoo!

After a seemingly innocent shopping trip to Chadstone with mum on saturday
we emerged burdened with these


The cushions were to bribe us to buy the stuff....

and now here's our new get-up


you can see my giant moo cow lurking in the background
haha

and now to ease away my stresses...
bah
even these magical contraptions will do nothing to ease the stresses in my life atm
rage

oh wellz
think positive thoughts
focus on happy things like the new fandangled toys
as opposed to a variety of other things.... not the least of which is the fact lazy people are starting to get on my nerves
urp
back to thinking about new toys
*wills happiness*
bah
too much effort
i sleep now

tomorrow i'm meant to get my first pre-admin visit done
w00t
hopefully they turn up
and hopefully i dun screw up
once that's done...
i'm gonna roll up my sleeves and get into ass-kicking mode
yee haa!

Something funny i remembered...

For some reason Chi, Mel and I were discussing the frequency of hair-washing
and chi and i said we only washed our hair every 2nd day
which...is a mind-blowing revelation to mel
haha

after a few minutes of silence
she leans closer and asks
"but you still shower everyday rite?"

*ROFL*

Lemmings....

Here's a rant...
avert your precious eyes if u wish

So are we all mindless sheep?
Lemmings???

You know that saying
i can't remember it exactly
but the gist of it is
Bad things happen when good people stand by and do nothing
the famous and rather extreme example is of course the Holocaust
but let's not touch that can of worms

But yes...
Say... for example
Let's pick a 'hypothetical' situation
Say there was a series of outings happening...
and one of your friends made it clear that when you don't ask them... they feel sad, they feel hurt etc
And you acknowledge this
you know this

But yet it continues
and when asked why...
you use the excuse of 'oh i didn't organise it... so and so did'
but the problem lies in the fact that you stood by and did nothing
and you try to shrug off the blame by saying someone else was organising

Why not imagine if the situation was reversed?
that *you* were the one actively or passively (does it make a difference after the 15 millionth time?) excluded from events by your friends
and after you tell them that it hurts when they do that
and they *know* that you get sad when you do that (sometimes evident by attempts to conceal said events)
they continue to do it
and make like all is well

Would you be sad?
Would you be hurt?!

Sure i'm not saying that people *can't* go out by themselves in smaller groups
but surely a small effort to be humane to a friend once in awhile??

Think hard
Try be empathetic
Try be a friend

(and for all you busybodies.... this is a generalised rant that may not necessarily apply to me alone)

I'm loving....

My new M-one-11 'jeans' (hmmmm...are cords still considered jeans?)

If not...then why does this say...

Denim....

I'm also loving...


Not the little dog...well yes... i *do* love her..
but i'm loving that my first independent ebay purchase came through alright
yay!
(in case u were wondering....it's spare batteries for beloved camera)

I'm also pre-emptively loving...

15 days buddy!!
w00t!!

*dar! i just realised i uploaded all the pics in medium size....raaaaage*

Pov pov pov

Went shopping at DFO with Mel and Chi today for my last day of holidays
*cries*

I would say it was a successful trip
if it weren't for the fact that would remind me how much stuff i bought
and therefore...equate to how much mulah i spent
*screams*

To my credit
i saved a fair bit...
and i bought stuff for new york (dar! this trip is adding up..and i haven't even left the country yet!) which of course...can roll over to be used in winter :D

Dinner at springvale at the apparently quasi-famous Hop Ky
i should stop taking sauce tips from sodium lovers

*Sigh*
and so the new work year begins
back to the hum drum of RCH tomorrow
all alone in the office
hope i get some work done
haha

enjoy ur hols everyone else! (haha...not u irene...so hardworking!)

2006!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

Tis 2006!
Welcoming the new year with questionably legal fireworks... w00t!
i'm so crazy tired
*strains eyes*

Hope everyone had a safe and happy new year!