Outlet Shopping

I'm excited. I'm going San Marcos this weekend!

Probably the last time I'm gonna be there.

Gonna buy the whole place home.

新年快乐

祝大家牛年行大运

事事顺利

万事如意

24 Season 7

The 5th episode was shown in the US this week. It is getting really exciting. I think I will be back in Singapore for good just right at the end of the season.

While on his way home to Chai Chee from AMK, Tim commented, "24 is really good!"

XKA: You watched episode 3 already?!!

Tim: I'm talking about Bus 24 lar!

See how much 24 has become part of my life. I am so looking forward to Mondays.

CNY

UPDATED

Holy Cow! I just realized CNY is less than 10 days away and next Sunday is CNY eve already! It doesn't even feel like CNY is coming until I went to Chinatown today and see all the goodies and decorations on display.

If I remembered correctly, the first year we celebrated CNY with the whole group of Sporeans or was it just the six of us? hmm....my memory is failing me already. The second year, the six of us probably celebrated among ourselves. Last year, I cooked reunion dinner for the four of us but Zing couldn't make it and so only the three of us ate the food.

This year, there is just me, myself and I. Even my hubby has forsaken me. boo....

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't possibly be having a reunion by myself, right? It is not called a reunion dinner for nothing. right?

So I suggested for the few Singaporeans (four + Morgan's ang mo gf) whom I got to know here to get together for a reunion dinner among ourselves next Sat. And then somehow, we also managed to get Morgan to open up his house to hold the gathering. Or rather, we left him with no choice since he is the only one with a house while the rest of us live in rented apt. ha.

Now, I am excited. It's is not going to be a lonely reunion dinner afterall.

And we are gonna have steamboat. Minimum preparation, maximum participation.

That reminds me...Tim and I had great fun having steamboat and playing cranium with GYC, Xtine, Chor Yang, Magdelene, Billy and Ben on Xmas Day. Yes, that's how we spent our Xmas in freezing cold, transportless London.

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UPDATE

Two more Singaporeans joining us. This couple came to Houston from Melbourne just after Xmas. The lady is YR's ex-colleague in DT Spore.

Morgan also invited his Canadian Indian friend whom I met when Morgan sent the both of us to the airport in Dec (he was going to Toronto or somewhere and did not even bother to buy the return tix. He then ended up in Miami for the New Year before coming back to Houston).

CGG + XKA = TF

Who says you need a man in the house? I just carried 12 litres of water from my car to the apt all by myself. Gosh! I almost died!

This makes me think of the good old times when my CGG would carry all these heavy stuff when he was here.

You know how some people will call their other half "dearie" (Yes, I'm talking about u two!), "darling" (heard someone will call his spouse that when they are crossed with each other), or "dear dear" (the Gainsborough couple I stayed with recently), etc. Ever since we started dating, I never really called Tim by any endearing term. In fact, I dont even call him "Tim". l'd call him by his full name i.e. Timothy. This changed after we got married. Somehow, I created several nicknames for him. He is now officially called "CC" or "CGG".

And guess what? He also came up with a new nick for me. Nowadays, he likes to call me XKA! Care to hazard a guess what it stands for? ha.

Europe Getaway

Since I usually do not recall the names of the places I visited after a few months, here’s a list to help me remember:

Places visited

London
Tower Bridge
London Eye
Big Ben
Buckingham Palace
Trafalgar Square
Hyde Park
Canary Wharf
Sloane Street
Harrods and Selfridges
Leicester Square (Chinatown)
Windsor Castle
Stonehenge
Georgian Bath
Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton Airports

Favorite: Tower Bridge – My first jigsaw puzzle was a picture of the Tower Bridge taken at night. I was 16 years old. Ever since then, I’ve always wanted to visit the Tower Bridge. My wish finally came true 13 years later.

The jigsaw puzzle still hangs proudly in my living room.

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Manchester
Manchester Chinatown
Old Trafford
Manchester shopping district

Favorite: Chinatown. Oops, I mean Old Trafford, of course! I caught the 1-0 win against Middlesborough.The atmosphere in the stadium was awesome with everyone singing and chanting in unison. I even learned a few songs myself.

"City's going down with a billion in the bank, a billion in the bank, a billion in the bank."

"Viva John Terry, viva John Terry....Could've won the cup, but he f**ked it up. Viva John Terry!"

The following day, I went on the Old Trafford stadium tour (Tim's second tour). I was amazed by the number of people that went for the tour. There are at least 35 people on each tour and the tour starts every ten mins. Imagine the amount of money that the club earns from these tours! This is not even taking into account the revenues generated by the mega store. Everyone that goes into the store after the tour (the tour's last stop. Smart move!) bought something. Even I couldn't resist and bought a Man U tshirt. Great marketing and branding by the club.



Interesting tidbit: We stayed on the second floor of a gay and lesbian motel which has a pub on the ground level that played loud pop music throughout the night. Kylie Minogue was definitely their hot favorite. Why? No prize for making the right guess.

I didn’t know it was a G&L motel when I first got in. No wonder the receptionist looked at me weirdly. Really! Tim can attest to that.


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Paris
Sacred Coeur
Champs-Élysées
Arc de Triomphe
Grand & Petit Palais
Eiffel Tower
Musée d'Orsay
Notre Dame de Paris
The Latin Quarter
Pont Alexandre III
The Louvre
Les Invalides

Favorite: Eiffel Tower – It was the first of all the attractions we visited in Paris. I always thought that the Eiffel Tower is just a puny man-made structure that was never meant to be on display for long. But when I first saw the huge tower standing tall in front of me, I was awestruck by how magnificent it is. Maybe it was because I wasn’t prepared to see the tower immediately after I got out of the Trocadero Metro Station which made the first impression even more impressive and long lasting.

I simply love the symmetry of the tower!


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Barcelona
La Sagrada Familia
Park Guell
Casa Battlo
Las Ramblas
Gothic Quarters
Picasso Museum Gift Shop
Montserrat
Camp Nou
Magic Fountain of Montjuic

Favorite: Gothic Quarters – A district in the heart of Barcelona with medieval gothic buildings. There are many quaint little shops and cafes which radiate a very European feel. I expected to see the same in Paris but was disappointed.

Of all the cities I visited during this trip, I love Barcelona the most. It is an affordable city with so much liveliness!

Life is short

I didn’t want to start the first entry of the year on a sad note but I cant help feeling a little overwhelmed by the news I heard this morning.

Today is my first day back in the office after being away for two weeks. While clearing my voicemails, one of them caught my attention.

My secretary had forwarded a voicemail from a Senior 1 in the group. We don’t usually receive any mass voicemail from anybody that is below the partner level. So of course, I took a particular interest in the voicemail.

What I heard gave me a shock of my life!

“Hi everyone, I guessed all of you should know by now that I have been diagnosed with cancer…….”

I couldn’t believe what I heard! My colleague is only 27 years old.

He started with the company slightly more than a year ago and I have been very close to him ever since, working on several big projects together. He has since become more of a friend rather than just a colleague.

Through his voicemail, I could sense that he had difficulty breathing but at the same time was trying to stay as positive as possible. At this time, he is not sure what type of lymphoma he has and at which stage. The doctors are doing more tests to find out more.

Just last month we were still discussing about the bad economy and the possibility of being layoff. Now, these are the least of his worries.

I can’t imagine how his family is taking it especially his wife who is all alone here in the US. He got married a few months after he joined the company and was even planning to have babies this year.

How things changed in just a few days!

I certainly hope that whatever tumor he has in his stomach is benign and that he will pull through this difficult stage of his life.