dEeP iNsiDe Mel-DoReMi’s miNd

Please view my new blog over here: http://meldoremi.blogspot.com/

So I didn’t escape the most unwanted outcome. I’m leaving. In fact, I felt that I have left already. I didn’t go to Singapore with the team over the weekend and since then I haven’t been really involved with the work, especially after more drama has unfolded later that week. I love my team actually and I feel bad not helping out, but then again they were working crazy hours. 6AM on Sunday night/ Monday morning? These are moments when I thought leaving isn’t that bad after all.

One of my co-workers was tested positive for H1N1 and the few of us who sat with him at dinner on Saturday have to be home quarantined for a week. One week?!?! I’m going to China this Friday!! Fortunately the officers aren’t so strict. (This is when I love Malaysia. :P) After hearing that I have planned my China trip since more than 2 months ago, he said I can leave if I feel ok by Thursday. I thought I had a mild fever but my checkup at the hospital yesterday showed that my body temperature is perfectly normal. Phew, looks like I’ll make it to Inner Mongolia after all. Drama!!

Have to start from square one all over again. 3 times in 2 years. Honestly I’m so sick of this. I want something cool and with civilized hours. Moving, settling in, making new friends, getting to know them better, and then have to say goodbye rather abruptly and start all over again. I’ve gone through this cycle so many times since 2002. Really, really sick of it.

I need to pack for China. Haven’t even gotten started yet. My motivation level is so low nowadays. Will I ever get it back? I can only hope for an Indian summer.

4 days and I’m dying already. I really can’t do less than 7 hours of sleep for more than 3 days in a row. Drives me completely nuts. Honestly I don’t know how these other people do it. They’re robots. Sleeping 5 hours or less every day, eat lunch at their desk (if at all), and dinner after 9pm.

I don’t have the intellectual curiosity that is required. Actually I do, but not at 11pm when I’ve been sleep-deprived for the whole week. Frankly speaking, I’d much rather talk about more fun stuffs such as fashion, food, people, daily life, gossip, etc. Yes I’m shallow, but who cares? As long as I’m happy.

People say when you’re at the point of losing yourself in a relationship, it’s time to seriously consider quiting. I am so losing myself now, finding myself becoming pushy, cold, not saying what I’m really feeling and pretending to be cheerful. My conscience is telling me not to become one of those souless slaves. A couple more months, hang in there. I’ll get out of here.

Finally got around to writing an update before I’m drowned in the tsunami in the next 3.5 weeks. Looks like it was indeed a false alarm. Great. Just a couple more months to go. 2nd half of the year should be easier to get by due to the abundance of holidays. First of all, I’m taking 1.5 weeks off to China in July. And then there’s Merdeka in late August, Raya in September, birthday in October, Awal Muharram in December, and then it’ll be Xmas and New Year! Not to mention that I still have at least a week’s worth of vacation days to take. As long as I keep my head down and put my mind to it, I should be able to pull through the next couple of months.

After a week on the beach, I have been staffed on a DD today. Arrgghh… Wondering how hellish it will be. The consolation is I’m on vacation starting July 10, so the longest this will last is 3 weeks and 3 days. On the bright side, the case will probably be over by the time I start getting sick of the content. This is how this job is like - free and bored to death during beach days, and busy like hell when on a project. Too extreme.  

I really enjoyed my beach time. That’s the life I want: Steady, simple, blissful. Hang in there. I’ll get there soon.

Practising living in the Now is difficult. I managed to do it for a couple of days and then completely failed. And then I tried again. I guess it really takes effort, but it’s good for me. So I’ll keep trying. 

I’ve renamed statue ALACF. Doing it the Lorraine way: If you can’t win, scramble the pieces and find a new game which I can win. Hahahaha. My bibles really give me a lot of strength to cut all the crap. Wish I discovered them earlier!

I know I’m speaking rather cryptically. What to do? Once bitten, twice shy. The corporate world taught me to be careful with what I say in case some unintended audience come across it. One can’t be too careful.

 Just a couple of months and I hope I can stop wearing masks. Meanwhile, I’m learning to live in the now and appreciate life’s simple pleasures.

After half a year, I have the sudden urge to blog again. Actually I haven’t blogged for about a year. The last post was more like a propoganda so it doesn’t count.

A lot has happened in the past one year, mostly unhappy memories which I don’t even want to recount. I have been switching from one drug to another, some metaphorical some real ones. And the recent one isn’t working anymore, probably have to look for a new one. Super unhealthy I know. Speaking of health, I’ve been trying to go to the gym more this year. I have to admit that the gym in my condo is awesome, and I should go more. At least I’ve been taking hip hop for the past 5 months and it’s going well. I love love love the class! Recently we’ve been dancing to Gwen Stefani, PCD and Britney. Pretty cool.

Finally uploaded some recent pics to Facebook. Somehow I don’t look that great in pics as I did when I was in the States. I guess that’s what happens when one is unhappy!

Might be moving again. I hope it doesn’t happen so soon - details in the next post as I find out more. Since 2002 I’ve been moving at least once a year, if not more. Even if I didn’t move city (e.g. the 4 years at Penn), it was still a pain to have to move in and out of different dorms/ apartments/ condos. I’m so sick of moving. All the packing and unpacking, the pain of having to give or throw things away, looking for a new apartment/ condo, buying new furniture and accessories, rebuilding my wardrobe, my social circle… It’s so exhausting.

I’ve finished watching all 6 series of Sex and the City. While it gives me a lot of confidence, it also reminds me of New York a whole lot. And then there’s this whole cycle of reminiscing, comparing and depression… again and again. It doesn’t help that my best friend is psycho like me.

Read 2.5 chapters of The Power of NOW yesterday. I must say it is an amazing book. It’s so true that all my life so far I’ve almost never lived in the present: During and before college I’ve always looked forward to the future, and since I left New York I have been living in the past (and looking forward to the future again). The only exception was perhaps the days when I was in New York. Come to think about it, that was probably why I was so happy then! I’m trying to live in the NOW, not even the present, not even today, it’s this minute, this second, right at this moment. It’s hard though when the NOW is far from my ideal. Gotta put a stop to the comparing. Gotta at least try.

I have to say I’m doing very very well in the past one week given what I’m going through at the moment. Clarity should come next week, and I’m hoping for the best, although Lorraine has been telling me “don’t hope, don’t even think”. Been trying to numb myself mainly with DVDs, and it kinda works so far. Keep going. Que sera sera, I’ll cross the bridge when I get to it.

Geez, I’ve abandoned my blog for soooooooooo long. It has been more than half a year since I left New York. That feels like decades ago, whereas Penn seems like last life. I miss the States. :(

Anyway, I’m taking part in this random competition called the Shine Project It Starts In Me. (And yeah, somehow made it to the Top 10.) I need votes from all of you!! First of all you’ll need to buy the product, Dutch Lady Shine Yogurt or yogurt drinks. Make sure there’s an unopened sticker on top of the product. Go to the following website to vote:

http://www.itstartsinme.com/index.php

Click on green dot first. When you get to next page, click on Vote & Win, then 10 Finalist Videos. I’m the first one on top left.

Voting ends Dec 28. Please also help me spread the words around! Thanks!!

Let me know if you have difficulty accessing the website / finding the video!!

I’m back with Part 2 after approx. 1.5 months.

More beach time
Nov 5 - 9: Still on the beach and I skipped at least another day. Only
went in for a couple of hours for meetings and also administrative
stuffs. Planning the Children’s Holiday Party and also did some work
for a non-profit. Signed up for a 2-week trial yoga classes. Checked
out 2 different styles but found them boring.
Tuesday (Nov 6): Did a little bit of window shopping at NoLiTa,
then met a Penn friend for dinner at Cafe Gitane, a French Moroccan
place in NoLiTa. Food was pretty good and decently priced. Then went
grocery shopping in Chinatown.

Weekend (Nov 9-11)
Friday night: Rainy day but already made plans with some Penn
friends to have dinner at Dos Caminos, an upscale Mexican restaurant on
Park Ave. Their specialty, guacamole that is freshly made in front of us, was pretty
good. However, the meal is over-priced in general. I’m not planning to
pay so much for Mexican food in a while.
Saturday: Decided to start dress-shopping for the office holiday
party. Did some research online over the week and decided to start with
Macy’s, which proved to be a wise choice. Checked out their regular
dress section first, but spent most of the my time in the junior
section. Not only do the junior dresses fit me better, the prices are
also a lot more affordable. I spent more than half an hour in the
fitting room, tried on 6 dresses altogether. I’m in love with Jessica
McClintock and ended up buying 3 of her dresses, knowing that I’ll
return 1-2 of them. They’re all pretty much the same simple cut - strapless, princess A-line that goes right above the knees. Satisfied with my purchase, I headed over the Fatty
Crab once again for dinner. We waited for almost an hour before we were
seated. The food was very unique (Malaysian-American fusion) but the
server wasn’t that friendly, and it’s also overpriced for Malaysian
food. I’m glad that we tried it, but I’m not going back. Ended up at
the same cafe (it’s called La Bella Ferrara) in Little Italy for
dessert. I only stayed for a while before  leaving for a house party hosted
by one of my co-workers. Stayed for about an hour before calling it a
night.
Sunday: Can’t remember exactly what I did in the day time, but
most probably slept in, talked to mum and chilled at home. Headed over
to Max’s for dinner, some Wii and poker.

Still beaching

Nov 12 - 16: Still unallocated but spent quite a significant amount of
time working on the non-profit case. Stayed at home for 2 of those
days. Went to 2 more yoga classes and decided that it’s not for me.
It’s tooooooooooo boring!!
Thursday: Tania called for cheapo dinner. So Crispin, Wy-Men,
Tania and I hanged out in Sanur (Indonesian-Malaysian restaurant) for
almost 3 hours. Food was authentic and good, and service was good too.
They even have nyonya kuih!

Weekend (Nov 16 - 18)

Friday afternoon/evening: Went to Macy’s to get a goodbye/good
luck gift for a friend who is leaving for Japan. Saw that they had a
sale and the dresses I bought last week were all half-off now!
Fortunately I’m still within the window for price-adjustment - decided
to go back with my receipt the next day. I’m really glad that I was getting the
farewell gift for my friend, because instead of spending money, I saved
more money (on the dresses)!! ^^Then impromptu dinner with the Malaysians at XO, a
Chinese/Cantonese restaurant in Chinatown famous for its congee
(porridge). Dessert at Max Brenner near Astor Place. Had to wait more than half an hour before we were seated. I ordered the
Suckao, which basically is make-your-own hot chocolate from a small jug of
milk, chocolates (in small chunks), and a cool mini mug with candle
underneath for heating the milk and chocolate. Pretty cool.

Saturday: Jen Rha, a Penn friend is in town from Philly, so we
met up for dim sum @ Jin Fung together with Clare and Mel before we
headed off to Macy’s. I got my price adjustment done and am happy that
my dresses are such a steal! Jen wanted to meet another friend at Lord
& Taylor’s. I followed but only hanged out for a short while before going
home. I think I took a nap before getting ready for the farewell party.
It was one of the coolest house party I’ve ever been - the number of
people was perfect, the music level was just right, and he has the most
diverse and friendliest friends ever! Saw a couple of people I knew as
well as made some new friends.

Sunday: Another I-don’t-remember-what-I-did day. I shall assume that I was just chilling at home. Probably cooked and ironed my clothes.

Crazy week with lotsa unexpected events; Thanksgiving weekend
Nov 19: A usual day on the beach - worked a bit on the non-profit, continued Children’s Holiday Party planning and slacking.

Nov 20: Was running a bunch of errands at/near home when I received a
"bomb", i.e. an email from one of the managers in the NY office
regarding a potential allocation which was scheduled to start the
Monday after Thanksgiving. After attending the New Office Committee meeting, I
spoke with the manager and I’m suddenly staffed.
They won’t leave me in peace for Thanksgiving, would they? Well, this is the nature of my job and I shouldn’t complain, especially after having been on the beach for so long. But still, the freaking timing… %$#Q!^@#$ Anyway Grace arrived in the evening and we had dinner at ‘inoteca, an Italian
restaurant downtown (I believe it’s Lower East Side). Food was good but
the check came out to be quite scary.

Nov 21: Did some background reading for the new case at home in the
morning. Then headed out to Bar 89, which is located in SoHo and is famous
for its Brazilian burger and fancy bathroom (lol). Serving of food was
big and we’re glad we heeded my apartment agent’s advice and ordered
only 1 burger. The bathroom was really fancy. Shopped a bit in SoHo
before going to Greenwich Village (bordering West Village I guess. I’m
still confused about downtown Manhattan). Found a library to
check my email and found out that I was assigned some "homework" for the long
weekend. Oh well… At least my manager didn’t want anything for the
day. Phew… We (window-)shopped along 8th St before having dinner at
Go, a Japanese restaurant in Astor Place. Food was delectable and price
was awesome. Highly recommended and I would even go back again
myself! Went home and rested for a bit before heading out to Uptown
Lounge for their Martini Special.

Nov 22: Thanksgiving Day! We wanted to catch the Macy’s Parade but
didn’t know that we should have gone further south. By the time we arrived at
Central Park West at 11am, the parade was already over (at least at that
area). What a bummer. >_< Fortunately the weather was
exceptionally warm and sunny, and we had a great time walking around
Central Park. Took some awesome pics which made up for missing the parade! Went to check
out Serendipity but unfortunately they were still closed. After going
home to freshen up, we went to Union Square, shopped a little bit
before heading over to Max and Crispin’s for the Thanksgiving
dinner/party. There was a larger-than-expected crowd. I was feeling
anti-social at first but later warmed up and had quite an enjoyable
night.

Nov 23: Grace woke me up at 6.15am for Black Friday shopping. I was quite a zombie. We first went to Midtown East, i.e. near my office. I spent a long time in H&M before we moved on to Macy’s. The crowd there was insane - we left after a while. Grabbed a sandwich from one of the Midtown Middle Eastern vendors for lunch. Napped for a while before prepping for the big night out. We went ice-skating in Central Park (a la Serendipity!), had dinner at Momofuku, then pre-gamed at a friend’s place. Bacardi Apple actually tasted good… Then the rest of the night was pretty much debauchery. Let me just say that it was quite a blur, but all in all fun and funny. (The last part was what my conscious/half-conscious friends said…)

Nov 24: Slept in, freshened up, then went for lunch in Chinatown. Wanted to have dim sum but the place we wanted to go was closed, so ended up in Nyonya. After sending Grace off, I went home to recuperate. What a weekend!

Nov 25: Very mellow as compared to the last few days. Worked a couple of hours on my "homework" then did some household chores and errands.

Hell weeks at work
Nov 26 - 30: If this is typical and continuous for more than 2 weeks, I’d seriously consider quitting after getting my first bonus. I was working about 12 hours, and we’re talking about high intensity and stress level. My routine every day is pretty much wake up, go to work, come back, go to bed, wake up the next morning and repeat the same process. I had NO LIFE. I don’t know how people can do this. I guess I would complain less if the tasks that I was told to perform was a little more exciting and stimulating. Who wants to do Google searches every single day? The only good thing that came out of this is I get to charge dinner and take a cab home at night. Also, since I was so busy I didn’t have time to shop. Well, these are only what I told myself to make myself feel better…

Weekend, a short respite (Nov 30 - Dec 1)
Friday night: Thank goodness got out early (i.e. 6ish). Got some homework for the weekend but decided not to think about them until Sunday. Was more than glad to have dinner with the Malaysians at Sanur and get a break from a stressful work week.

Saturday: Thought a lot about what I want out of my life, and did some research on UK visa, scholarships/fellowships for further study etc. Ultimately, I decided that I just want to be happy, and I want to have a life. Such a seemingly simple wish is actually a lot harder than one would expect. Went for dinner at Setagaya with Max and Crispin. For those looking for good Japanese noodles, this is the place to be. Then saw "Letters From Iwojima" at their apartment. Their HK housemate had a very interesting debate with us regarding right and wrong, morality, etc., all stemmed from the movie and Japanese acts of terrorism during  WWII. Very interesting debate, and funny that all 3 of us held the same opinion.

Sunday: Stayed in to do some work but wasn’t being too productive. I’ve never really liked reading anyway. I’d much rather deal with numbers on Excel, so perhaps I should have gone into banking/finance. However, on the other hand, I don’t want to limit myself to finance. Arrggh, complicated and confused.

Dec 3 - 7: Monday I went in with the expectation that I was not gonna get out of the office till at least 9.30pm. Also, I guess I got better at managing my stress level and pacing myself, so I don’t feel that depressed even though I actually worked longer hours than any other days in the past week. Wednesday was the craziest - I was working frantically and continuously from 9.30am till like 10.30pm. My brain was dying… Fortunately Thursday was a relatively light day - I got out at 8pm w/o homework and I was so happy about it! (Come to think about it, that’s quite sad isn’t it??!) Decided to get a pedicure in preparation for the holiday party the next day. Friday was even lighter, partly due to the holiday party - my manager left at 2ish and I left at 4.

Weekend (Dec 7 - 9)
Friday night: I found a make-up artist on Craig’s List who is willing to do make up for free because she just started. She hoped that I’ll spread the words around if I like what she did for me. She came by to do my make up for the holiday party. It was ok but I wasn’t entirely happy about it, even though some of my co-workers really liked it. I gave her a big tip anyway because she took a cab to my place and I felt bad about it. The party was quite fun - a lot of dancing until my feet was sore. I wasn’t buzzed enough to have as much fun as I did 2 weeks ago, but I fear throwing up again. Better err on the safe side for an office event. People decided to go after-partying and I was talked into going along. We were at the W Union Square Under Bar for about 30 mins before we decided it was too crowded, and left for a dance club downtown. One of our co-workers has friends who work there so we got in for free. Hanged out and danced for a bit before the 3 of us decided to leave. The 2 other girls were a little drunk so we ended up chatting on the street corner in the cold for a good 20-30 mins. For heaven’s sake, I didn’t know how I managed with my open-toed sandals!! It was fun though - for the first time I felt somewhat connected to my co-workers.

Saturday: Went to Macy’s in the late afternoon to return 2 of the dresses I didn’t wear and was reluctantly dragged to open a Macy’s account. Surprisingly, I got approved! I saw some cute dresses (ala Audrey Hepburn) on sale but ran out of time to try them, thanks to the sales associate who dragged me to open the account. =/ Met up with Max and Cris at 6 to head over to Les Halles, a French Brasserie in Murray Hill/Kips Bay area. I ordered the mussels and fries, which reminds me of that lovely summer day in Brussels. Service at the restaurant was exceptional - they changed my plates (for the shells) twice!! Also, the coffee was really good (neither too strong nor too flat) - and this is from me, who is generally very picky about my coffee. Wanted to watch Atonement but it wasn’t shown at the cinema we went, so ended up watching The Golden Compass. It was ok, but not really my type of movie.

Sunday: Another chill-at-home day. Had dinner with Wy-Men at Matsu, a Japanese restaurant 2 blocks away from my apartment.

Vacation unofficially started
Dec 10: Went into the office as usual only to find out an hour later that I was rolled off the case for Phase 2! I was quite relieved actually, not because I’m lazy, but more like I’m glad to not have to do any more Google searches. However, I’ve scheduled a meeting for 4pm so decided to hang out in/around the office for the rest of the time. Spoke with my super-nice PD advisor on the phone, and felt a bit better about things in general.

Dec 11-14: Started my beach days again. This time round I got more comfortable at not going into the office. Only went in on Thursday to do reimbursement, and attend the jewelry making session. Made some crepes for a house party hosted by one of my co-workers on Thursday. The Children’s Holiday Party on Friday was a blast!! The kids weren’t too annoying in general, and we got real raving reviews from the parents!

Weekend (Dec 14 - 16)
Friday night: Usual Malaysian dinner gathering in Chinatown, this time at a different duck restaurant (New Big Wong) picked by Tania. OK food but horrible service. Won’t come back. Went to Egg Tart King for desserts. Their Horlicks is very flat, so are the desserts. Probably won’t be back also. Somehow these few weeks the turnout to our weekend gathering isn’t very good. I guess people get busy as the holiday approaches. Must get more people together soon to go karaoke…

Saturday: Lunch @ Sanur with Tania (super cheap!), then shopped for ginseng on behalf of Max. Delivered the ginseng to Max before heading over to Times Square for movie and dinner with Ina. Saw Atonement and ate at a Thai place called Pongsri.

Sunday: Brunch @ Banc cafe with a Penn friend whom I haven’t seen since May 2006. She had very interesting life stories! (Switched job within first few months, got engaged earlier this year and getting married next November.) Congrats!! Weather was bad so I returned home right away afterwards.

Wow, this is soooooooooooooooooooooooooo long!! I’m running out of battery haha… To be continued after I recuperate…

It suddenly appeared to me that it’ll be awesome to keep track of what I have been doing on a weekly basis in the Big Apple. Since I’m gonna be here for only half a year, I’m treating my stay here as an "extended vacation". I’m trying to see and do as much as I can within these 6 months. Hopefully by the end of my stay I’d have explored most of the things and places that I’d like to check out in New York. (So as to have no regrets and can coolly say goodbye!)

The first 1.5 weeks: Settling in
Sept 10: Arrived in New York from Malaysia. The airport shuttle took me on a "round-the-island (Manhattan) tour" because the driver decided to drop me last. Usually I’ll be super impatient and probably pissed off but I didn’t mind it this time round. We went past stores, restaurants, clubs, townhouses, condos, office buildings, park, people… Just like what we’ve seen in movies! Welcome to New York, I said to myself.

Sept 11- 13: Trying to set up my new apartment, unpack (unsuccessfully :P), checking out my neighborhood and several other neighborhoods in the city, jet-lagging, feeling rather homesick.

Sept 14- 16: Made a trip back to Philly/Penn to take care of some unfinished business there and see friends before work starts. Had a real good time and realized how much I miss Penn.

Sept 17 - 21: Tried to unpack and finished about 70%. Met up with some friends and did some shopping for the apartment.

The next one week: Boston & Orientation
Sept 21 - 23: Arrived in Boston on Friday evening. Did most of the touristy stuffs in Boston, incl. JFK Museum, Freedom Trail, cruise, etc. Still in love with Harvard Square despite the fact that this was my 2nd time there. Dessert at Finale was fantastic. Still haven’t visited MIT.

Sept 24 - 27: North America Regional Orientation. Very intense and it finally hit me that I’m starting a new phase in my life. A few random things worth mentioning:
1. My officemate came up to me to say hi and I’m thrilled to realize that he speaks with a British accent. *grin*
2. Each of us is given an IBM T61 which comes with a finger-printing security system (in place of having to type in the passwords). Very cool. Also, gotta love the privacy filter.

Sept 28: New York office orientation. Wine Club event to follow. The amount of alcohol I’ve consumed in the past one week was probably more than what I’ve had in a regular semester combined.

My first weekend in New York
Sept 29: Had dinner in a Jap restaurant in East Village then watched Ang Lee’s "Lust, caution" at Columbus Circle.
Sept 30: Invited to lunch at Crispin and Max’s. Yummy chili crab and wonderful Riesling. Thanks guys! Did some clothes shopping afterwards (Union Square, Midtown).

Official work week begins
Oct 1 - 5: Despite having officially started work, I had nothing to do other than taking care of all the admin and IT stuffs. My average office hours were 10am to 3pm. I spent the rest of the time either reading in Borders or shopping. Life was good. (That’s why I love my company. :P)

Oct 6 - 8: A 3-day weekend thanks to Columbus Day, which by the way falls on my birthday itself.
Saturday: Had dinner at a Swiss-Austrian fondue place in Midtown West, then went karaoke, both as part of my (early) birthday celebration. Had lotsa fun.
Sunday: Went shopping. 
Monday: Roamed the town. Caught part of the Columbus Day parade on 5th Ave as I was window-shopping at some of the designer clothing stores. Literally roamed the town - I was everywhere from Macy’s, Astor Place, Century 21 to Midtown.

"Real" work week begins
Oct 9 - 10: Still nothing to do, enjoying the good life. (We call it "on the beach" in consulting lingo.) As icing on the cake, I received my first paycheck on the 10th despite not having done any work yet. How much better can that be?

Oct 11 - 12: Received an email from allocation early Thursday morning regarding a short-term project in media strategy. As much as I enjoyed being on the beach, it’s good to finally learn something at work and make myself useful.

Oct 13: Dinner and movie with the Malaysians (somewhere between SoHo, Little Italy and East Village)

Oct 14: Had to finish up some PowerPoint slides in the morning, but wasn’t too bad. Went shopping/roaming the town again.

Oct 15 - 19: "Hell week" at work. Worked till midnight on Tuesday and 1am on Thursday. (Left office on 8pm and 10pm respectively but continued working from home.) Ordered dinner in and took cab home for the first time. Good thing is no more "homework" (i.e. slides!) for the weekend.

Homecoming @ Penn
Oct 19 - 21: My 2nd visit to Penn since I came back.
Friday night: Went to Mad 4 Mex with 2 of my best friends and had a great time. Almost threw up after finishing half of the Big-Azz margarita though. (To be fair it wasn’t just the margarita alone; it was a combination of a stressful work week, screwed up eating schedule, continuous sleep deprivation and a bumpy bus ride.) Horrible feeling. I swear I won’t do it again.
Saturday: I wish I had gone to the football game but couldn’t find anyone to go with me. Had brunch with Rena then went shopping downtown. At Banana Republic I found the trench coat which I have been eyeing (but was completely out of my size in New York). It was expensive but I decided to snatch it up regardless. Chilled out and people-watch on Locust Walk with Grace. Went to the Celebration on the Green campaign launch with Jen. Then dinner with the Malaysians at Penn. The freshmen made us alumni feel old… Watched K-drama with Lorraine for a bit before hanging out at Mad Mex (yes, again!).
Sunday: Lunch/brunch with Grace, hanged out with some other friend(s) for a bit then left Penn for New York. Bus ride took forever. Had dinner in a Malaysian restaurant called Bagus in NY Chinatown. Ran into a Malaysian Penn senior on our way to the subway. Sooooooooo random…

Relaxed work week then back on the beach
Oct 22 - 26: Did some "post-mortem" and follow-up work for the case, but was very relaxing. Case officially rolled off on Friday, i.e. back on the beach.

Weekend (Oct 26 - 28)
Friday night: Wet and cold night but went out nonetheless. Dinner with some Penn friends at Lombardi’s, a rather popular pizza place in Nolita. (Gotta be popular since we had to wait for 20 mins or so before getting a table.) Went to a Belgian bar afterwards.
Saturday: Slept in and stayed in for most part of the day, worked out my expenses for the month and tidied up the apartment. Dinner with a bunch of Malaysians at a Venezuelan restaurant called El Cocotero in Chelsea. Then hanged out in a Starbucks in Union Square till late.
Sunday: Roamed around Union Square and 5th Avenue downtown.

Oct 29 - Nov 2: Back on the beach. Only went into office for some meetings. Skipped at least one day since there wasn’t much to do.
Halloween (Oct 31): Dressed up as a retro girl, another last-minute costume based on what I already had. Went to the office Halloween event (afternoon) as well as the Village Halloween Parade on 6th Ave in the evening. Was only supposed to be watching the parade but ended up walking in part of it, lol. (People pushed the barricade and walked onto the street, so we followed. After a while police came by and told us we can’t stay there but had to walk.)

Nov 2 night: Got off work early and went (window-)shopping in SoHo. Dinner with Tania and Wy-men in Chinatown (we were craving duck and the restaurant we randomly picked had pretty good dishes for a very decent price). Then chilled out in a dessert/coffee shop in Little Italy. Yummy chocolate moose cheese cake! We’ll be back.

Nov 3: Met up with another group of Penn friends. Visited the Met then had dinner at Japas 27, a Japanese restaurant (on 3rd Ave btw 26th and 27th St) which is very reasonably priced and has a great menu. Highly recommended.

Nov 4: Lunch with Malaysians in Meatpacking District. Supposed to go to Fatty Crab but they were not opened due to renovation. Ended up eating in a Chinese restaurant nearby. We stumbled upon Magnolia Bakery which has a line formed outside and decided to join the crowd to purchase some cupcakes (which are delicious, but are perhaps still a little overrated and over-priced). Checked out (aka lepak) Greenwich Village and NYU area for the rest of the afternoon.

June 7, Thu: Copenhagen

Erin left for LA early in the morning. I took a late morning flight from the Amsterdam Schipol Airport to Copenhagen. At Schipol, I was asked where my Danish visa was both at the check-in as well as boarding counters. They didn’t quite believe me when I told them I don’t need a visitor visa into Denmark, probably because they didn’t have any idea about Malaysia.

As I alighted the bus at the stop near the hostel, I initiated a conversation with 2 Dutch girls who were on the same bus as me from the airport and seemed to be heading towards the same hostel. As I’ve guessed, we were on the same flight as well. I checked in, used the free internet available in the lobby area, familiarize myself with the city map and did some research on where to visit. Met an Asian Australian girl whose parents were Malaysians and her gang (including an American) who were studying abroad in France.

Took a bus downtown to tourist info centre. Wanted to catch the Mermaid Tour but was too late. Wandered around the city square, randomly walked into Royal Copenhagen (porcelain store) and hanged out with an Australian doctor for a while. Ate a ridiculously expensive meal at Burger King (~US$10 equivalent).

I walked back to the hostel. Spoke with Yuri and Joe. Decided to sight-see with Yuri the next day.

June 8, Fri: Copenhagen

Took open top bus tour with Yuri. Stopped at the Little Mermaid statue, Amalienborg (Palace @ Home of The Danish Royal Family) and Nyhavn (New Harbour). At Amalienborg, we saw changing of the guard, which is a lot smaller in scale than the one at Buckingham, but we’ve definitely gotten better view. Had marinated herring (a Danish specialty; sour) at a cute restaurant near the palace. Can’t believe that they charged us so much for tap water (like US$1 equivalent per glass).

After the tour we visited the City Hall as well as the National Museum. Bought souvenir (for me, it’s always postcards and a shot glass for my collection) and ate at an outdoor cafe. The open-faced sandwich wasn’t particularly tasty, although I love the idea of eating outdoor on a table which has red-white checkered table cloth.

I’d have walked some more if I could, but both Yuri and I were tired and most places are closed anyway. We walked home around 7.30pm.

June 9, Sat: Copenhagen; Stockholm

Had to check out of the hostel by 10am but my train is not until 12.31pm. Hanged around for a bit before taking the bus to the train station. Had a light lunch at McD and bought a chocolate bar at a convenient store (the latter to exhaust all the Danish currency I have). Eventually I was left with like 0.50DKK (equivalent to US$0.10). Brilliant yan min, hahaha.

The train stopped a lot and I had a seat which is facing the opposite direction from the direction which the train is moving. Wasn’t the most comfy ride but there were quite a few eye candies in the train.

I was supposed to receive an sms from Shan which contains her friend’s sms (she’s in a marathon and has to send a friend to pick me up), but there was no signal for most part of the train ride and I guess the sms was "lost in transit" when I’m somewhere between Copenhagen and Stockholm. Anyway, I went to McD (yeah, again) for dinner before figuring out my way to her apartment, all by myself. I did it! Yay, so proud of myself. Stayed in for the night.

June 10, Sun: Stockholm

Went to a small island called Gamla Stan (Old Town) with Shan. Took a couple of pics here and there with the narrowest alley in Stockholm, the little iron boy, St. Nicholas Church, Stortorget (The Big Square), etc. We were fortunate enough to see the Swedish royal family in person as it was Princess Madeleine’s birthday! I also ate the Swedish special Princess cake to commemorate this royal encounter. (Keke…)

Shan left after seeing the royal family and I watched the changing of guards (3rd time in this trip, I’m so sick of it now). I visited the Nobel Museum in the afternoon and actually spotted some familiar names. One of them was an Egyptian chemist whose pic was in the Nobel Hall of Fame in the Chemistry pit at Penn; others were mostly scientists whose theories we’ve studied in class, including Pauling, Watson & Crick, Shrodinger, etc.

Then I left Gamla Stan for the "mainland". My attempt to take a pic of the Konserthuset (Concert Hall), where the Nobel prize ceremony is held every year, wasn’t quite successful as there was a flea market at the square outside the concert hall blocking my view of the building. My final stop was the King’s Garden. I wanted to visit the City Hall as well but gave up mid-way as I decided that it is too far a walk.

June 11, Mon: Stockholm

Last day of the Euro trip. I went to another island (forgot the name) and visited Skansen Open Air Museum as well as Vasa Museum. Shan couldn’t come along as she has to work, and I was bored out of my mind. I realized that I really can’t travel on my own. Not having anyone to talk to is way too boring. Besides, I need someone to take pics for me. I don’t believe in taking pics of landmarks or scenery without me inside because professional photographers probably do that 100x better than I do, so what’ the point?!?!

Met Shan for dinner. I had plank beef with lotsa fancy-looking mashed potatoes. Finally, we went up to Skinnarviksparken to get a gorgeous city view of Stockholm.

June 12, Tue: Stockholm

After 3.5 weeks of wandering about, I was ready to go home. The flight was delayed for about 2 hours from Newark, but I managed to catch the connecting flight to Penang on the 13th. Home, I arrived.

Jun 2, Sat: Brussels

Went to Gare du Nord in the morning to catch the TGV to Brussels. We realized that the Belgians are a lot friendlier than the French the moment we stepped into the station. When we arrived at Madou, which is the metro station nearest to our hotel, we were even more surprised by their friendliness. Initially Erin and I walked to the wrong direction; we eventually stopped by a big map by the road, trying to figure out our whereabout. A man who happened to pass by with his daughter saw us, and came up to us and asked if we needed help with directions. Wow! We’ll never find this happening in Paris! With a French-English mix, he told us to walk the other direction until we cross this big boulevard/highway (which is right by the metro station), and then take the 2nd street on our right. We dragged our heavy luggages uphill and downhill until we reached the highway, where we met friendly stranger #2, who also helped us without us asking. This old lady who speaks very little English figured out we were tourists from our luggages, and she was smart enough to have guessed that we were heading to the hotels. She told us that she was going the same direction and wanted us to follow her. Therefore, with the help of those 2 friendly strangers, we found our hotel. The neighborhood is much nicer (cleaner and also looks safer) than the Paris hotel was in.

The weather was gorgeous. I have already started to like Brussels, especially after having experienced their hospitality. We decided to visit the Atomium first, which is located at the edge of the city. (Or is that considered outside the city already? Not sure.) I find visiting the Atomium funny because it seems like Brussels has nothing else to offer except for this weird scientific structure. lol. Anyway, since I am a chemist I guess it made sense to visit an atomic structure. I saw a lot of football (soccer) fans of the Portugal team. I wondered what was going on so at one opportunity I struck up a conversation with a group of fans who happened to be standing behind me in a queue/line. Apparently a qualifying match for Euro 2008 between Belgium and Portugal would be held that evening in the Brussels stadium, which is near the Atomium. The funniest thing is, this group of Portugal fans are from Luxembourg, and it’s not like they are Portuguese descendents or anything. Haha. They don’t speak much English but we managed to converse using French. I guess we each understand like 30% of each other’s conversation. I’m glad I know Cristiano Ronaldo. lol.

After that we went into Mini Europe, which is right by the Atomium. Mini Europe has the miniature model of important landmarks in most European cities/countries. Took lotsa pics. LOVE the weather. Still saw a lot of fans clad in the Portugal team’s shirt or even the flag.

We returned to the city center in the evening. Saw the Bourse, and stood in awe when we finally arrived at the Grand Place (the largest and most popular public square in Brussels). The evening sun gave the buildings a golden touch, making them look oh so majestic. Everyone was out to enjoy the beautiful late spring evening. The crowd, golden glitters (from the sun!), colorful parasols and the music from accordion players filled me with joy, and the festive atmosphere almost reminded me of Eastern Europe. OMG, I’m loving Brussels! If you have been following my blog (or you can now check a few entries earlier), you’d realize that Brussels and Amsterdam are last-minute additions to replace Austria and Germany, because I thought the latter are kinda out of the way. I was pouting so much when I painfully decided that Austria would have to wait till the next trip, and I pouted more every single time Erin and I talked about Brussels. In other words, I don’t have much expectation about Brussels before I set foot here. I’ve always thought that London and Paris would be vying to be my favorite European city in this trip, but now it seemed that it’s gonna be between London and Brussels!

We walked down the small alleys surrounding the Grand Place, checking out the many chocolate shops and restaurants. I know I’ve mentioned this 300 times, but the fact that the weather is nice and the beautiful colors make me really really happy. Even at this moment, more than a month after the visit, I can still relive the joy that was almost overflowing in me. Competitions between restaurant was fierce, as we can see many servers/restaurant owners standing outside their restaurants promoting their restaurants and trying to get customers in. Erin and I were planning to eat mussels and fries, a Belgian specialty. When we walked past this restaurant, the server dragged us aside and gave us a deal: If we would become their first customers of the evening, they’d give us a 3-course meal for 12 Euros each, with champagne on the house. Erin asked if they have mussels and fries, and they said yes. Hmm, good deal. So we went in. I had buttered shrimp for appetizer while Erin chose the escargots (haha, again). They were yummy. So was the main course. (We both had the mussels et frites.) The desserts were ordinary but we won’t complain because 12 Euros for all these is a real bargain.

I was planning to go to a sports bar to watch the football game, as well as try some Belgian fruity beer, but by the time we finished dinner it was well past 9.30pm. I had to forgo the idea of watching the game so we walked around instead. We found Manneken Pis, the famous peeing boy, who was TINY. Also bought some souvenirs before we headed back to the hotel. At the metro station, we yet again experienced the hopsitality of the Belgians: There were 3 seats in a row and one guy was sitting in the middle, i.e. _ X _ (_ = empty seat, X = the guy). I sat down on one side and as Erin was about to sit on the other, the guy automatically moved to the other side such that Erin got to sit with me (now: _ _ X). We didn’t even have to ask! OMG!! 

As we came out of Madou metro station again we saw a lot of cars of the Portugal fans, honking. I knew they’ve won the game. I mischievously waved at one of them and they started honking more, and another car from the other direction returned the honk. OMG I love football and I love Europe!

Jun 3, Sun: Brussels; Bruges

Had free breakfast at the hotel. Tried to look for an ATM which will let me withdraw money using my American ATM card. Finally realized that Visa and PLUS is the same thing. Ahh, should have told me earlier. That would have saved me a lot of trouble.

We have booked a half-day trip to Bruges, a fairytale-like medieval town about 1.5 hours from Brussels. We had an amazing guide who speaks 4 languages (English, French, Dutch and Spanish). I think he knows German too even though he didn’t speak it in the tour because there wasn’t any German in our group. I asked him about their language education in Belgium and was told that they learn French and Dutch in primary/elementary school (most people speak either French or Dutch as their native language, so technically most people just have to pick up the other language when they start schooling), English is taught the first year of high school and finally German the last year of high school. Jesus Christ, I think I should send my kids to school in Belgium. Hmm…

Bruges was pretty though its history is a little sad. During medieval time, Bruges is as large as London and Paris; unfortunately, due to its rapid downfall a few hundred years ago, it remained the little town that it was, and the town didn’t even have any money to tear down the old buildings (hence they look so fairytale-like). It is a charming little town, I have to admit, and the people seem happy here despite their provincial life. As long as they are happy, right?

We took the optional boat tour before we left Bruges. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to buy any chocolate or take more photos. This is the one reason I hate being on a tour. I’ve gotten so used to taking my own sweet time to do whatever I feel like doing that a tour just doesn’t seem appealing to me anymore.

We got off the bus near the European Union (EU) Headquarter. It was a gigantic, modern building with lotsa glass (my favorite) but it was almost dead on a Sunday evening. After a few photos we decided to leave the deserted part of the town for te Grand Place again. Can’t get enough of it! The Grand Place is a lot quieter on Sunday evening. We bought chocolates before the choc shops closed. Then we were scouting for a place to have dinner and finally got lured into a new Moroccan restaurant. The champagne was good, but the service sucks. First, they messed up our orders: Erin was supposed to have the lamb with couscous while I ordered chicken in this weird looking pot, but they gave Erin the chicken with couscous and me the lamb in the pot. When we told them that they made a mistake, instead of making whole new plates for both of us, they simply swapped the lamb and chicken. Hence I can still taste lamb in my gravy. Yucks. Stupid ppl. Moral of the story? Don’t eat ethnic food in Belgium.

Finally we went around looking for flavored beer, but most restaurants and pubs/bars only have very limited selections. We finally bought a bottle from a liquor store right before it was closed, and got the guy working there to open it for us. He must have thought that we were idiots because we (Erin especially) asked a lot of questions. Anyway, we sat on the sidewalk of Grand Place, enjoying the beer (which tastes pretty good for a beer. Too bad it isn’t cold), the warm weather and the atmosphere at this mesmerizing square one last time. I know I’ll come back some time.

Jun 4, Mon: Amsterdam

We had a open train ticket which means we can depart from Brussels to Amsterdam anytime of the day. Awesome. Boarded the train at 11ish which has a super cute conductor. Somewhere in the journey the train got delayed for 20 mins or so and I felt hungry.

The Amsterdam train station was under renovation when we were there. Otherwise it could have been a real good picture spot. Boo. Our hostel wasn’t too hard to find. It looks cool from the outside, and the bar is very new too. However, the dorm which is on the ground floor/sub-basement is kinda stuffy. The shower curtain is too short that water splashed to the sink area when we shower, and made the room disgusting when we stepped out of the bathroom in our wet slippers into the room. Besides, it’s right by the Red Light District, which made us feel uneasy.

Chinatown/Asian town is near our hostel. After walking around for a bit, we had late lunch (or lunner? haha) in a Chinese restaurant. When we’re done eating and paid for the meal, I sat around waiting for Erin who had gone to the toilet. A caucasian couple came in and asked me if they could sit at this table near the door. They must have thought that I was the server or owner of the restaurant! Hahaha… Almost got run over by this rude biker. In Amsterdam, the ranking of vehicles goes like this: bike>>>pedestrian>car. So freaking annoying because I won’t be walking on the street if they didn’t park their bikes on the sidewalk in the first place.

We took the Red Light District tour with a funny guide from Canada, who has piercing all over his body and carries a speaker around in his backpack. After the tour we had fries with mayonnaise and curry (apparently fries with weird sauces is a Dutch specialty), chilled out at the mushroom park (where we spotted a cute police), and went to the Red Light District again after dark. We even got to say hello to a prostitute in a house. The Red Light District felt like a human zoo, with girls in skimpy outfits standing in those glass "boxes" or showroom.

Since marijuana @ cannibis is legal here, we can smell the stink everywhere on the streets (imagine cigarette smell but 100x worse). Cannibis is sold in Coffeeshop, while magic mushrooms are sold in Smartshop. How misleading are these shop names!

Jun 5, Tue: Amsterdam

The breakfast at this hostel is the best so far in this trip: They have cereal, milk, juices, bread, cheese, ham, bacon, a wide variety of jam etc. Then we went on a walking tour around the city with a guide who graduated from Penn in 2004. What chance! Met 2 real funny shorties from the States, as well as a Sydney boy from NSW whom Erin and I nicknamed Agent 7 for some obvious reason.

We visited the Anne Frank House and walked a bit around the Jordaan area before I had satay (called sate there) for dinner. We bumped into the shorties from the walking tour on our way home. At night, we visited the Sex Museum near our hostel with one of our hostel roommates, Faith, who has the coolest occupations. (She’s on the EMT and is a part-time firefighter!) The Sex Museum can be summed up as follow: 100 years of porn history. lol.

Jun 6, Wed: Amsterdam

We bumped into the shorties again in a souvenir shop. Should have taken a pic with them. They’re really funny. Took the tram to Van Gogh Museum (it’s actually pronounced like Van Hogh). Had a waffle for lunch and took pic at the I Amsterdam landmark.

After visiting the Flower Market and took pics of some humorous items sold there (like i-poT and the different degrees of drunkedness), we jumped on a cruise. We had dinner at a bar/restaurant (tried fries with peanut butter and got laughed at by the waitress, cuz it’s supposed to be peanut sauce aka satay sauce rather than peanut butter!) and later chilled at the bar in our hostel while watching a football game (England vs. Estonia??). We retired pretty early for the night since Erin had to leave for the airport early the next morning.