The Houstonian in Me.

Today, in the midst of the biggest day of my life (aside from my wedding of course Sharon...), I found out how much of an effect living in Houston for 3 years has had on me.



After lugging around my backpack and making it to Manchester and subsequently, the Youth Hostel (without a map, mind you), it was time for me to finally check in so that I can drop my stuff before scurrying off to Old Trafford. At the counter where I was doing so, I heard a very distinct accent from the person next to me, who was also checking in, and immediately I went, "Are you Singaporean?".




Looking stunned, he said yes, and I told him I was too. His name is Kah Meng and we hit it off immediately, talking for a good 5 minutes about how we ended up there, much to the annoyance of the guy at the counter who was waiting for me to pay during this time. Of course, he said he was here for the game and so I gave him my number told him we will meet up in about 15 minutes so that we can head to Old Trafford together early and make our way to the Bishop Blaize, which I have always heard has a great pre-match atmosphere..



Feeling happy about making a new friend, I finally paid up and made my way to my room. First thing I saw when I opened was a half asleep (and half naked) dude who looked at me weird. I said hi to him as well and again we hit it off immediately (his name is Mike), with me finding out that he's Danish and was here with his brother (John, who was in the restroom at that moment) for their first ever United game. We talked a bit more and I invited them to join me and my new Singaporean friend to go to Old Trafford early and true enough, they did!

We had an absolute blast that entire evening since we were all Old Trafford virgins and I even stayed for a beer after the game (something those of you who know me know I wouldn't normally do) with the Danes before making our way back to the hostel together.

Now, looking back on the day's activities, I realized that 3 years ago, pre-Houston Tim would probably have got on with his own fun and did everything alone without bothering about anyone around him, being your stereotypical unfriendly Singaporean. For post-Houston Tim though, it seems like talking to people and getting to know new friends has become so commonplace that it's almost second-nature to me wherever I go. Of course, meeting people with the same passion helps alot, but I still feel that this is one of the best things I will be taking back from Houston.

A willingness to make new friends, whoever they are and wherever they come from.

For the first time....

I'm not excited about going home after an out-of-town training. I am sure it is not because I am in Orlando.

Fun

I had fun today.

Tim had fun today.

Tim watched his favorite football team "live" at Old Trafford. He screamed until he was hoarse.

I danced the night away at my "New Manager/Assistant Director" training night activity in Orlando.

We both had fun today.

Except we are not having fun together.

Little joy

It's now almost two am. Just as I was about to shut down my lappie, Tim replied to my msn. He is supposed to be asleep but woke up due to jet lag.So happy to see him online. We talked on the phone a little. Now I can have some sweet dreams.

So different.

I took Lufthansa Airlines for the flight from Houston to Frankfurt, and then from Frankfurt to London.

During both flights, there was no one seating next to me, but even with the space, I didn't feel good, because there was no one who would take naps on my shoulder.

During both flights, there was amazing scenery, with nice fall colours in Germany and the sight of Wembley Stadium in England in the midst of all the Townhomes and yet, it didn't feel good because there was no one to discuss it with.

There was a huge tunnel network with shops at Frankfurt International and at my friends' place (Canary Wharf) in London, with modern architecture and lots of people just walking by having a great day and yet, I was struggling to have one as well, as there was no one to share it with.

I am missing you so much already Sharon...

The Pilgrimage.

29 Oct Barclays Premier League West Ham H 20:00

01 Nov Barclays Premier League Hull City H 15:00

05 Nov UEFA Champions League Celtic A 19:45

08 Nov Barclays Premier League Arsenal A 12:45


The biggest 4 fixtures in the history of mankind.

Saying Goodbye is so very hard...

... which only means, I LOVE YOU with all my heart;

My heart aches now, coz I'm missing you,
which goes to show, I LOVE YOU too!


*Hugs and kisses from your CGG*

Home

A house is a place that provides shelter against the elements.

A home is where there is warmth, love, happiness, and laughter.

I left home today for Orlando but when I go back on Thurs, I'll be returning to a house void of feelings, with only sweet memories.

Yes, I'll miss you. The going will get tough. But a decision has been made.For better or worse, we'll have to stick with it.

That's how I got paid to buy VS...

I received the following from VS reward/offer over the past month:

2 X VS reward card worth $10 each = $20

$10 off any bra purchase = Price of Bra - $10

1 Free Panty = Free $8.50 panty

So I went to VS today and got myself a bra ($45) and a panty ($$8.50).

How much should I pay?

(to make things simple, I have excluded the sales tax from the following calculation)

At the cashier, I did a mental calculation. Amount I should pay: $15 [$45 - $10 x 2 (reward card) - $10 ($10 off any bra) + $8.50 - $8.50 (FREE)].


How much was I charged?

$25!

So I asked the sales assistant how did she arrive at $25 when it should only be $15.

After some very confusing explanation from her, I realized that she did not take into account the $10 off any bra purchase as she claimed it couldn't be used with any other promotions.

I remembered reading the fine prints that even though it cannot be combined with any other promotion, the VS reward is not considered a promotion (it's a reward for having spent a certain amount on the VS credit card) and so it can be used together with that offer. Yes, I am that kiasu or should I say an eye for detail.

She insisted the two couldn't be used together.

I insisted I was right.

Without saying anything else to me, she talked to her colleague on the phone asking if the offer can be combined with the reward cards.

And without letting me know if I was right or wrong, she asked me to pass her back my purchase and then started punching furiously at the cash register.

I knew then I was right.

She didn't speak to me for two minutes and never even made any eye contact.

She then demanded I signed on a receipt that indicated a refund of $28.50.

I was bewildered. I only paid $25 for the purchase earlier, why was there a refund for $28.50 - $3.50 more than my purchase!

So I asked if she was going to issue another receipt for the right amount. She replied rudely, "No, that's it. I returned your original purchase and keyed in the new sales in the same receipt"

I was thinking to myself since she was rude and even refused to knowledge I was right earlier, I signed the receipt and left, knowing very well that obviously she must have made another mistake.

I checked the new receipt as soon as I got out.

Apparently, instead of showing that I returned $25 worth of products, she indicated I returned $53.50 (bra + panty). Then she charged me $35 for the bra ($45 less $10 off) and then gave a further $10 reward to that.

So that's how I ended up being paid $3.50 to buy a bra and panty from VS.

Best deal ever!

Silly Car

Damn.

Just when I thought I got rid of a money guzzling beetle, I got myself a silly car that is going to cost $2k to change the bottom frame.

Damn.

Gone baby, gone!

She is gone, forever. I will never get to see her again. She was gone just like that in a flash. I never even had a chance to say goodbye. I am sure I am going to miss her. Goodbye my lady, goodbye...

Darn, I never even took a photo with her. But at least I sold it for a pretty decent price.

p/s: My state inspection was supposed to be done in August. As I had been lazy busy, I never got down to doing it. So two Sats ago, Tim helped me brought it to the mechanic. Instead of spending just $40 on the inspection, he "helped" me spent an additional $100 on changing the wiper, servicing the aircon, oil change, etc.

I couldn't believe it when I saw the bill! Why the heck would he wanna do that when he knew that I was selling my car soon? He said that precisely since we were selling, we should keep it in pristine condition. Faintz. I was pretty sure then that the buyer wouldn't care less about such stuff as long as the engine is working fine.

Blackberry

I'm typing this on my new blackberry curve even though I've my laptop besides me.

Paranoia

Tim refuses to pack his Man U jerseys into his luggage now. He wanna put them in his handcarry instead as he is afraid they might be stolen. *faint*

GKN @ Work Again

The Reliant Park is an area that has many facilities including a Stadium where the Rodeos and NFL games are held, a Center that holds exhibits, Astrodome where the Hurricane Katrina victims were housed three years ago, and lastly the Arena which can hold general sessions or concerts.

It costs $10 to park in the Reliant Park. So we decided to park at Fiesta (Mexican supermarket) - a good 15 mins walk to the Stadium We had done this before with YR and Zing when we were there for the Rodeo cook off.

At the junction of the stadium, we realized we weren't sure where exactly was the venue for "So you think you can dance". We knew it was at the Arena, but how far is the Arena from the Stadium? Other than a few policemen on the street, there was no one else around. Just as we were about to pass the men in blue, we saw two ladies approached the police for directions. We thought to ourselves that these two Ang Mo must be GKN like us. They then got on a buggy.

Upon seeing that, I immediately asked if we could hop on. Something that is really out of character for me. BUt that was the best question I've ever asked! The Arena was so damn far away from the Stadium lor. It would probably take us forever to get there. I heard myself telling Tim, we've been working for so many years and we couldn't even afford $10? We were lucky we managed to hitch a ride if not, he is so gonna get it from me.

Hmm...Sedap!

Tim, being a Catholic, does not take meat (excluding seafood) on Fridays which limits the choices of restaurants we can go to. When we still had all our kakis around, we could at least share a family style meal at some Chinese restaurants. Jap restaurants were our favorite too.

Today, being the first Friday without our favorite neighbors, we couldn't think of where to go. Jap was out since we had too much bento and sushi in the past week. Since I had to buy some stuff from the Chinese supermarket, we thought we probably should head to Chinatown first and then decide later.

Best decision ever! We chanced upon a new Malaysian Cuisine restaurant - Banana Leaf (what a typical name!). Finally we had a taste of home after so long. It's been a while since we had some Malaysian/Singaporean food - not counting the Prima Taste Chicken rice which YR made just before our power was cut.

Tim had a plate of char kway teow and I had a plate of wah dan hor fun. We even ordered a side dish of Ipoh bean sprout. Simply sedap!

p/s: I just searched the web. Seems that the restaurant has already been opened for two months and is usually pretty packed. How could we not have caught this on our food radar?

p/s/s: I then continued to google more info on Banana Leaf and found TWO SINGAPOREAN restaurants. Yes, Singaporean not Malaysian! One is called Cafe Singapore (slightly after Chinatown) and the other, Hongkong Dim Sum (We passed by this restaurant almost every time we are in Chinatown but had absolutely no idea that it is anyway related to Singapore. The name definitely doesn't sound Singaporean at all if u asked me. Apparently, it is opened by a Singaporean owner/chef. Cool!).

请问你会讲华语吗？

The office phone rang at about 6pm. When I picked up, the person on the line asked me in Mandarin if I know how to speak Mandarin. Since I am in an Ang Mo country and nobody ever calls me on my work number and speaks to me in Mandarin (other than the ex-Houstonians), my first instinct was that the caller must be someone I know who was trying to play a prank on me.

So I responded, "不能" and then laughed, happily thinking it must be CQ also known as Xiao Hei or Blackie on the line.

Alas, the person then told me in a heavily accented English that he is a recruiter with so and so firm. That's when I realized I made a mistake. Good thing I was able to turn it around by telling him, "我能讲华语但是讲得不流利."

But who can blame me for thinking it was Blackie trying to pull a fast one especially since he kept imitating the way Allan Wu talked in 双添至尊 III during our Canada trip last year. Trust me, the Chinese guy on the phone had the exact same accent as Blackie.

I bet all the "Canadian" will still remember how Blackie will "bo dai bo ji" suddenly say "他出老千!"