Philadelphia

Yup, I'm in Philadelphia now. This morning we took the Greyhound from Atlantic City to Philly. Atlantic City was nice, I like the idea of walking by the beach on the wooden walkway, along the broadwalk with seagulls flying around you. It was really relaxing, the pace was also much slower than in New York. The casino was pretty disappointing though, we went over to Trump's Taj Mahal. Majority of the casino were slot machines, they didn't have the big and small games that I like. So I had to settle with playing a little jackpot. Wasn't really that exciting, in the end it was no win no lose. It was one cents a line, so after an hour of jackpot I lost 20 cents. When I went to cash out the money, the lady gave me back the 20 cents, so there wasn't any loss, hahaha.

Philly was alright, not much to do here. When we reached, I took the parents to check in at the hotel while my bro went over to get the tickets to the congress hall. After we checked in, we went to meet my bro at the hall, but we were a little late, so I had to get another 5 tickets for us, haha. So we decided to go see the Liberty Bell first before going over to the hall (they were just next to each other). After all that we went over to grab the famous Philly Cheezesticks, but the queue there was really long, so we changed our minds and settled for cheezesticks at another joint instead (I believe they all taste about the same). Then we headed over to Chinatown and to the reading market before going back to rest at the hotel. The hotel here is really good, very comfortable, but the beds are a little small though. Then I had to do a little planning for the next half of our trip. Considering the weather, I will probably have to make a slight detour in our route and delay the Niagara Falls by a day. Well now I'm still thinking about where we should stop so as to make the whole trip more enjoyable for everyone. It is the first time I'm making so many planning decisions for so many people, so this trip is really quite a learning process for me. I've learnt so much about accommodation and making adjustments to everyones' needs. Generally its all about give and take and putting everyone's limitations into consideration. I just hope that everyone will enjoy this trip.

Although we didn't do too much in Philly but I think this rest will do everyone good. Its really nice to see everyone more relaxed and energized. Now I'm actually on the look out for a walking stick for my dad. I think that will help him in our travel and walk. I'm not saying that he'll need it for the rest of his life, but I just feel that it will help him because we are walking quite a bit now. What I don't want is for him to become over dependent on it. So if I do find one, I will try to make sure that he only uses it during this trip, after the trip I will keep it aside until our next outing. Well now I can only hope for the best for the rest of the trip. Good luck to us!!!

Day 3 NYC

Today is museum day... We went over to the Museum of National History. It was used to film this Ben Stellar film - A night in the museum. Yup, the museum was great. It was super big, and it had almost everything inside. Everything was catergorised clearly, ranging from dinosaurs to artifacts to religon to native american history. It was quite an eye opener. We took almost half a day there, we had initially underestimated the time required. We had planned to go to another art museum and the UN headquaters, but didn't have time for that. Anyway, at the museum, we went for this space show (paid another 12 bucks for it). The show was pretty good, something like a Omimax show, about stars and creation of the moon and galaxy. The 1/2 hour show was pretty spectacular.

After the museum thingy, dad went back to rest at the hotel while we went to Time square for another round of shopping... Wahahaha. Of course we went back to Planet Hollywood to use up the $40 that we had. And also went to M&M world to grab some choc. I bought a packet of coloured M&Ms and 3 boxes of M&M for Alvin n Dennis. Then, we head over to Macy's for more shopping. We split up so that we could explore the mall. Went to checkout the wallets and bags with mum while Da gu went to checkout the coach stuff. While mum was looking through some bags, I saw this coin wallet form Fossil that was really quite nice....I so wanted to buy it, it was only $14 and I have another 11% discount. But of course I had to remind myself that I have too many wallets back home and that I should not buy it... But I really like it, at least I have not seen Fossil wallets in SG. Da gu had a great time at Coach. She picked up a bag for Er Gu, and then her weakness for wallets overcame her again.... hahaha, she got another 4 more wallets and small bags for herself. Spending a cool $300. Hahaha. But as always, I would say if you are buying things that you like, its worth it. As long as it makes you happy.

Then back at the hotel, it was check results time... quite worried about it. But I got through... wahahaha. Got 2 Cs for fluids and nano. An A for E&S, and Bs for the rest. its not a fabulous result but I would probably consider it reasonable, at least I got through. Really happy now... So its more shopping and more playing and more fun...... hahahaha. More to come!

Day 2 in NYC

We went to visit Liberty and Ellis island today. It was great! Finally saw the main representation of US, the pride of the whole nation. But it was a little chilly though. We were like super excited and awed by the statue, but was also struggling with the cold. Took a lot of photos, can't wait to upload them here. Ellis island was interesting, it was the immigration checkpoint of the past. Can you imagine that at one time there was more than 3000 people on the island, waiting to see if they could enter the states. Those that do not pass would be sent back to their country. Its pretty sad because some of them came with their family only to be separated at the island. But the funny part was a little girl, who was watching the video, fall alseep. And she was snoring away, very loudly, haha. And the parents don't seem to feel anything about it. Everyone was watching her, and the parents just let her be.

Anyway after that we went to Walls street to touch the bull and see the World Trade Center site. Mum and Dad bought shoes at Century 21. The place was pretty good, branded shoes were going at discounted prices. Well the main reason for the buy was of course their feet hurt, and so needed better shoes.

After that we headed down to Chinatown and Little Italy. Had dinner at Chinatown, which was super nice (actually it was just okie, but its been some time since we had some real food, other than bread, so we thought it was great). And after dinner we went to walk around the area. Then my aunt suggested that she bring my parents back to the hotel to rest, and I can shop around on my own. I was alright with the idea (although I would really like to have them shopping with me), because I know that they are tired from the 2 days of walking, and they really need to recharge to last the next 10 days. So I decided that for the next few days, there will be less walking, and more rest. I really want everyone to enjoy themselves and not to tire themselves out from this holiday, I want them to relax too. So we will take things slowly from now and just see whatever we can with our time. Even if we miss a few stuff, its ok.

So back to the shopping. Man, I love New York, the shopping was terrific. I went into Banana Republic and there was like discounts everywhere. I fell in love with this red cardigan, but its too expensive, even with discount it cost like USD$140. So I settled for a maroon shirt that cost me $40. Love that shirt. Then I went into Levis, of course thinking that I won't get anything there, but there was sale..... 50% off. Hahaha. So I grabbed a jeans for only USD$20. It is super cheap. I so wanted to get a jeans jacket, but had to control myself, keep reminding myself that I won;t have a chance to wear it back home. Then I wanted to get another jeans because it was so cheap, but of course I kept controlling myself because I know that I have a lot of jeans at home. Then I walked over to Times Square (a very long walk, its like 40 streets away, and the best part is it was raining), I wanted to go to Planet Hollywood to use that $40 voucher that come with the NY pass. So I brave the rain and walked to 44th Street and got a Tee at PH, a key chain and 2 golfballs (I needed to get at least 4 items to use the full $40). So I needed to topup another $4 for the purchase, but I thought it was worth it. Then I went to M&M world to check it out, didn't buy anything there, but it was super nice. It was like M&M everywhere, I wanted to get something there, but didn't know who for, so I thought that if I wanted I'll comeback again later. And after that I went over to Hershey's World, there I bought some chocs for my guys back home. There was an offer of 4 pac of choc for $12, so I took 4 pac, it is quite a lot of choc but I thought I can share them with my mum (she'll need some for her colleagues as well).

After my shopping spree, I went to take the subway back to the hotel. The 1st line I went to was close, and I was thinking oh shit, what am I gonna do. So I continued walking down the street and lucky me, there was another entrance to the subway. Went to the counter to ask the lady if the subway goes in the direction of my hotel but her instruction were so unclear, I tried to clarify but my coins fell on the floor, and she rolled her eyes and gave me that look on her face, what a bitch. So I just bought the tickets and took the subway. On the train I was feeling a little scared, probably because of all the stuff that my uncle told me. So half way through the journey someone like shouted to everyone on the train that he is poor and all that, and I was a little worried already, luckily nothing happened. Still managed to get back to the hotel safely, was a little late though, hopefully I didn't get my parents too worried about me.

Okie that all for today. More interesting stories to come, stay tuned!

New York, New York

Finally after a grueling 22 hours of flights, half way around the globe, we are finally at New York.... whaahaha. The journey was tough, but now that we're here... the flight was all history, we'll just look forward to the next 2 weeks.

Well just now we almost got conned by some scam cab driver, he wanted like USD $97 excluding the toll for the ride from JFK to our hotel. But luckily we did our homework to know that the journey should only cost us USD$45. So we went back to the Airport and got help from the information counter. This nice lady directed us to the front to take the cab for USD$45 excluding the $4 toll charge.

So now that we got to the hotel safely, lets see whats next =)

Its time to party

Hey Bloggie, one last blog before I leave. Yup, I'll be flying off in just a few hours time, the time now is 4.22 am and my flight is at 10.00am. Will have to be at the airport at around 8.00am which also means that I won't have time to sleep already, hahaha. I just came back from all the well wishings gathering with cy, shy, beng and his gf. Basically we went to Pool junction 1st, then to Mustafa Shopping Centre. After that we decided to just chill out at Yong He Beancurd. But what should have been a 5 min drive to Yong He, turn out to be an hour, yes I waited at Yong He an hour for them to arrive, all because cy went the wrong way. But it was still nice of them to 'see me off'.

Anyway, it has been a hectic week. So much to do, and so much happened. Of course the top being that I'm going to the US, hahaha. Then there was the meet up with our year one class after cy came back from Japan. And that was the bomb. Cy sort of hinted that I used to like someone, then the whole gathering became a guess who I like session, damn it.

Another very touching thing happened today. When we went to our Christmas gathering, it was all super fun, we even had our own Santa. Yup, no prizes for guessing who's Santa (yess its Xiao Gu). Had lots of food, and even performances by John, Joceline and Nicholas. They did their violin thingy which was great. Then there was Xiao Yi and her 2 darlings singing Christmas songs for us. All in all it was a great party. And the thing is Aunt Susan, knowing that we're leaving for US, asked me to the room because she wanted to pass me some money for the trip (without my mum's knowledge). And to my surprise, she passed to me USD$1000. I was like momentarily dumbfounded. Because I never like others to give me money for a holiday, even more when its such a big amount. Of course I really appreciate the gesture, but it just seem to right. She wanted me to bring my mum to eat good food and have fun, without thinking that money was an issue. I was very touched then, it really occured to me that the people around me really cares for my family. But I still fell this is not right, so I will remember this forever, and will try to repay them even more when I have the means. Thank you everyone.

Okie I guess I shouldn't be blogging for too long, cause I still have some stuff to pack. Will update when I get to US (I'll be bringing my lappie with me, so I'm still connnected, hahaha). And lastly good luck to everyone (esp myself) for the exams, results coming out soon, cross my fingers and hope that I'll clear this sem as well..... Bon Voyage!

1 week Countdown

Just one more week to Christmas, and its also one more week before I fly to New York, Hurray!!!! Been looking forward to this trip ever since I decided to go there. But planning for the trip is really draining, I have been searching online and looking through travel books everyday for the past 2 weeks. It like studying for exams all over again. Hopefully everything will go as according to my plans. But there's a major problem now. It seems that there's a winter storm around the great lakes area, and it goes all the way up to New England. And thats exactly where I'm planning on going.... The Niagara Falls and to Boston... So now I'm worrying that the weather will disrupt my travel plans (eg planes not being able to land, delays or even worse canceled)... that would be like the worst nightmare. After flying half way around the globe, I'm not able to travel around the area....

Well after we sort of announced that we're going to the US, all our aunts have flocked over to lend us their winter wear... we now like have too many winter wears that we have to choose which ones to bring with us. First my mum's boss took her winter clothes to lend my mum, that was like 2 bags full of clothes, then there is Aunt Gina, who also came along with her 2-3 bags of winter clothes plus snow shoes. And of course not forgetting Aunt Susan, who lend us her luggage and some warm winter wear and thermal underware... Yup so we're sort of quite prepared for the cold now... hahaha. Not that I mind getting their winter clothes, it does save us a lot of $$. Because sometimes its really not too worth it to buy the clothes when my family do not travel to such cold places often. So its a really big thank you to all my dearest aunts and uncles and friends for their support and help.

Well the entire travel plan is more or less out. Some minor changes are still required though. Now I'm trying to work out the cost and trying to get the hotels settled, to ensure that we have a place to stay and that everything is still within budget. Will still be reading the travel books, just to make sure that we have time to see majority of the stuff at each location. This is really my first time being like a travel agent, the experience is really fulfilling but tiring but I think its really going to be worth it.

Now step aside sun, sand and sea... make way for snow, winter storms and extreme coldness, wahahaha. Don't worry I will keep you guys updated!

Up, Up and Away

Hello Blog...

Well its more or less confirmed... I'll be going to the US, but not alone. I'll be going there together with my Mum, Dad and Da Gu. wahahahaha. Yup, we're now on the waiting list to be on the plane, according to the agent, there's a 50-50 chance that we can make it. Just arranging this is stressful, it kind of a different stress than the exams but still the effects can be felt very evidently. Well I managed to find this great deal for the air tickets with China Eastern Airline that will take us there for only $1100 (including tax!). Will be transiting in Shanghai. So now, I'm liasing with my bro on his schedule and to book our hotels. Well for this trip, I'll be spending quite a bit, of course the 1st big spending will be on the tickets, but the catch is I'm not only paying for myself, but also for my dad. Last minute he say he can't go because he got not enough money. And this really pisses me off. Because to me, if the family wants to go on a holiday, I would not expect money to be a big issue. If it is such an issue, it should have been raised up before we decide that we want to go there. I would not want my family to go to the US and have fun, with my dad still in Singapore, that wouldn't be called a family right. And that pisses me off and it just spoils my mood for the holiday. And because travelling is now a big part of my life, anything that pisses my mood might just turn ugly (I know myself so well). So I went ahead and booked tickets for 4 people and I messaged my dad to tell him that I'll pay for his tickets there, well he didn't reply after that and so I'll just take it that he has accepted it (well he hasn't got a 2nd option). So now we are going to the US for a holiday, and to see my brother as well. wahahahahahaha. But there are so many things to do now, got to book the hotels, make sure we have place to stay. Got to make sure our schedule and my brother's schedule matches. Got to decide if we want to take a tour plan, but the plan must fit our schedules. Arghhhhh. Well I'm sure we can resolve this soon. That is as soon as I can finish my report.

Yess, you've heard it. I got a report to submit by the end of the week, and I have to started writing a single word. Think I'm quite doomed. Really have to start with something, or I won't be able to finish writing it in time. This final year project is really make or break, I know how much it means to me, but I can't put my heart and soul into it. Sometimes this just saddens me. Sl, I just beg you to get your act together, you have already trashed our year 4 papers, please do not trash this project as well.

Okie I'll be back for more updates. Cya, tata!!!!

Its all over...

Hello Blog, its been a while since I last blogged... yup, it was the exams. Of my 24 years of life, this semester has got be be one of the most tiring and suay exams I've ever taken. Things just didn't go as well as they should. Basically, anything that could have gone wrong, went wrong.

1. Study super hard for a paper that only constitutes only 40% of the whole grade
2. Study super hard for a paper that was set so hard that a lot of people could not do
3. Study super hard for a paper only to forget everything in the exam hall
4. Car broke down while on the way to the exam. Late for 1/2 hr, could not finish the paper

Well now that its over, I just hope that everything will be alright from now on. And all the best to me and my friends. Lets hope we'll all make it through this semester.

Now its onto the next task, my FYP. Yup, have been neglecting it for a while, will have to write my report this week (yes, right after my exams). Will have to submit my report by the end of the week. But seriously, I don't have much idea what I want to do for this report. My knowledge for the whole project is really limited to the basics of everything. As much as I hate to admit, but I can't help but agree with my prof that I'm still stuck at this initial phase, and I'm not progressing fast and innovative enough. Hmmmmm, what should I do? Got this 2 days to ponder over this, will have to start writing else I might be able to hand in my report.

As usual right after our exams, we went drinking at our 'favorite' place again. Got quite tipsy, ya rite, I was pretty drunk le. Drank quite a bit. That stupid cy always make use of me to drink with Beng. So of course in the end I drank like much more that him. Well it should be a while before we go for this kind of drinking session again (at least for my case I want to try to keep a bit more sober for my drinking sessions).

Okie, now for another big news. I'm planning a trip to see my good old bro in the US. Wahahaha! Yup, he had told me that he bought a Wii for me to play and that he'll ask his gf to bring it home, but in the end she could not bring it back because her luggage is too heavy le. So now I got nothing on during this holidays, and thats why I'm thinking if I should just go over. Of course its not just about going to get the Wii back (I'm not that rich to fly there just for a Wii), but I can go travel there for a while and at the same time help him bring some of his stuff back home (heard that he's got quite a lot of stuff there ie confirm over weight) .Well now I'm looking for tickets, currently I found an airline that quote me $1100 (inclusive of taxes) to JFK. Think its quite a steal already. So lets see how it goes, and whether I can make it to the US this December.

Oki, thats all for today. I want to go watch Kang Xi Lai Le, hahahaha. Blog next time. Byez!