whatever: August 2005

i love fridays!

try to ignore my blocked out face. i must remain somewhat anonymous mah. what with all my bitching of some evil manager and my whining.. and my weird culinary experiments.

the photo took damn long to upload lah! bloody dialup! but it's still worth it!! would love to upload the autograph too. but then, think i need to get ready to go coney island.

coney island! they filmed an episode of csi:ny there too!!!!!!!! that's why i wanna go. plus i wanna eat nathan's hot dogs.. drool.. hmmm.. hot dogs..

ok. it's a pretty long story - which i will tell in greater details, have no fear. w? is a bloody lor soh person. to cut a long story short, due to twist and turns of fate, i turned up at the 5th ave entrance of the new york public library to see stella (can't rem her real name. she has a bloody long last name) and i realised they're filming csi ny!!!!!!

being a big csi fan, and a tv junkie, and a kiasu singaporean, of course i whipped out my camera. and then i wandered nearer the actual filming coz i'm kay poh.

and who should i see but eddie cahill! aka tag from friends (very old season) aka can'tremhisnamebutheisthepoliceinspector from csi ny!!!!

and no one seemed to recognise him coz he was just sitting on a kerb and talking to someone - totally unharassed. after some deliberation, i approached him for an autograph afterall, no matter how 丢脸 i am i'll never see him again mah.

and seriously i was quite 丢脸 coz i barely knew what i was saying. he must have thought i'm some swooning little twit. but i managed to get an autograph. will post the photo of it up soon. i'm in kinda a rush today. and the someone he was talking to took a photo of us!!!!!!!!!!

i could still feel the warmth of his arm around me. coz it was so unexpected mah! why am i swooning?? coz he's the most famous person i've ever spoken to in my life! and i actually caught them filming csi:ny! it's a bloody dream come true! and to actually speak to one of the cast! get his autograph! and have our photo taken! i don't mind walking into beams if this is how fate decides to repay me!

i'm still delirious..

nabeh. blogged damn hard yesterday/last night, and by a slip of me finger, i lost quite a bit of it. i'll rewriteandpost yesterday's long grandmother's tale another day.

today, i got whacked in the face by a beam. coz i wasn't looking at where i'm walking to. damn. it's damn painful. it's been almost eight hours and my nose still hurts. and thus today's post will be about nothing cept the bloody whackintheface.

the beam whacked me between my eyes and on me cheekbone. never thought i had any (chinese seldom have defined facial bones). i always thought i don't really have much of a nose - genetics. sigh. think i'd just flattened my nose further today.

my nose actually feels numb. usually my face has a life of its own and just contorts as it wills - making faces without my realisation of it. but now, i can actually feel it when my face tries to move.

think it has affected my sense of judgement quite a bit. i actually bought the wrong mug for JQ. damnit. it's like USD10+ lah. and i bought the wrong mug??? #%@$! think an hour after the whack, the back of my head felt a little stoned/numb.

the whack was actually forceful enough to transfer paint from the beam to the lens of my specs. biang. think my poor little brain must have gotten quite a jolt too.

as such, i allowed myself to succumb to victoria's secret's toiletries. all because i whacked my face with a bloody beam. i have no sense of self-control. sigh.

random thoughts in nj/ny

just finished cutting my nails.

feels oddly surreal. one of the first things i did when i arrived at X's in boston, was to cut my nails too. come to think of it, it's been pretty long since i last cut my nails. hmmm..

it feels surreal coz i'm on vacation (i think). exploring a foreign city/country, experiencing a lot of different things, and still i'm bounded by mundane activities like nails.

i've been to times square - it's full of lights and life. i must visit the toys r us again! there's actually a ferris wheel i n the toys r us at times square. when new yorkers go OTT, they really go all the way.

i've eaten a new york street hawker's hot dog. his name was khalid (the vendor). the hot dog was way yummier than the one i had from central park. conclusion: don't buy hot dogs from central park vendors! yeech. it was absolutely tasteless.

khalid was pretty amused by me coz i didn't know what the toppings were. one of it was onions. kinda sourish. tangy might be a better way to describe it.

the other topping was reddish. think there was onions. i picked this topping despite not knowing what it was. still have no idea what it is still coz khalid had a really really strong accent. and i'm semi deaf.

i've been the magnolia bakery. not that i watch SATC. it's kinda hard to get my hands on it. but, when i caught an episode here, the feeling of knowing where the heck carrie's referring to is just so.. cool? neat?

it's like i know what she means when she refers to the village. i know bleecker street.

aiyah. there's more thoughts but i really ought to be packing for my weekend trip to dc. die. tomorrow must wake up at 4am somemore. hoping to catch a live performance by buble.. hee.. buble leh!! he's got a nice voice..

3rd day in nyc

today's my third day in nyc. despite what the guidebook i'd brought along said, i think i'll basically be covering only manhattan. might be popping to coney island - coz of the book the five people you meet in heaven and coz of this episode of csi:ny but other than that, don't really think i'll visit the outer burroughs. quite sad lah. but there's so much to cover in manhattan!

went into the city early today (reached at approx 0950). queued up for the student rush tickets for producers. managed to get them. will talk about that later.

walked around after getting my tickets in the attempt to find the times square visitor centre. found it and grabbed some brochures, after which, i walked to moma.

"discovered" it's closed on tuesday when i reached there. actually i knew beforehand but coz i was kinda sleepy, i forgot. damnit. so what shall i do? consulted one of my numerous maps and decided to head for the american museum of natural history instead.

decided to purchase a citypass. yup. decided to do the touristy stuff. anyway i want to cover the moma, guggenheim; and going on the circle line might give me a good shot at the statue of liberty, and the empire state building should give me a pretty good view of the city to take some snaps of too. so i guess it made sense to get the citypass.

and since the amnh is one of the attractions offered in the citypass, to the amnh i went.

i decided to walk to the amnh coz it looked walkable on the map. but in reality, it's quite freaking far lah! that's like 30+ streets. or as a new yorker might say, it's 30 plus blocks away. damnit.

i decided to walk through central park and it was really quite nice. but coz it was getting late (i'd only reached the museum at.. 1230 i think) i didn't really stop at the park to take any photos. that's a lie. i did take some. no photos of strawberry fields though

the amnh was not bad. damn huge. think one can probably stay there for a week. the stuff they displayed was pretty interesting, but i had to pick some to visit coz it's just too damn big.

i would recommend the free guided tour since that kinda gives one a nice overview of what the museum offers. after my tour, i decided to focus on the dinosaur exhibit (which i had wanted to miss before i went for the tour coz i'm not really a big fan of dinosaurs), the biodiversity exhibit and the marine life exhibit.

the latter two exhibits were mainly dioramas or castings of animals. actually the dinosaur stuff in amnh is really the star attraction of the museum. i'm pretty glad i decided to see it. but throughout my stay on the dinosaur floor - yes, they dedicated one entire floor to dinosaurs - i just kept expecting to see ross. laugh. i'm such a bloody tv addict.

then i had to walk back another 30+ blocks to get to the producers coz i couldn't buy a single trip subway ticket??

damn bizarre. i'd bought a round trip bus ticket earlier this morning which i was going to waste coz i could be hitching a ride from my cousin's colleague back to nj. so the thought of wasting another round trip ticket is not very inviting since i bought quite a bit of food today too --

donut (so-so only. the guy didn't have glazed one so i had to suffice with a sugared one. but still i felt guilty abt it)
coffee (felt damn sleepy the entire day. i even fell asleep for my entire bus ride from nj to ny)
hot dog (don't buy from central park hawkers. i think their hot dogs are t a s t e l e s s. will review others soon)
corn muffin (which i didn't eat. shall eat it tomorrow..)

and i brought food out too! some seriously hard twists of bread and some ham, tomatoes and baby carrots.

and i just ate a lot as i was blogging and transferring photos. i've taken 400+ photos in the last 16 days? not bad huh.

the producers were ok. my seat had restricted view at some parts of the musical coz i was sitting in the second row from the stage, third seat from the side. but this gave me a really good view of the performers' facial expressions. though at parts i couldn't see what the audience was laughing about.

the leads were pretty good, but the rest of the cast were so-so. not all of them looked like they were really in to the entire thing. can't really tell if the stage design's good coz my view of it was really quite skewed.

but on the whole i enjoyed it. it was light-hearted and amusing. but the seats are really really cramped!! considering how generous the americans are with bus seats.. toilet stalls.. i'm amazed they're fine with the seats at st. james. the entire row had to stand up for me to get to my seat. i am fat but not that fat. but this was really the first time i felt that the furnishings were not designed with the mentality we-have-so-much-land-we-can-make-everything-as-big-as-we-damn-please.

then popped into the toys r us at times square. can't believe my cousin didn't tell me about it! it's a great place to take photos! plus they have huge lego models of stuff like statue of liberty.. empire state building with king kong! and teenage mutant ninja turtle! (yes. turtle. not turtleS. i only saw one turtle mah)

must go back to take photos! and there was a ferris wheel in the store!!

walked about times square to take photos and later was at hoboken and another part of nj taking more photos of the new york skyline.

and now i am pretty damn tired. damn. and i want to wake up at eight tomorrow. later. whatever. f-

101st post

ooh la la.. hee. haven't used that phrase for quite a while. it's my 101st post! well, technically it's probably my 90 something post since there are posts from my previous blogs, but what the heck.

today's kinda my 3rd official day in jersey. visited new york today. (will post about my boston leg later on. shall just try to keep up with the present)

went to the east village today and finally visited the alphabets store. i thought their website is really cool. in fact, i think the website's cooler than the actual store i went to.

the actual store itself reminded me of mu_ee in terms of the products they carry. somehow, the web version seems more hip than the actual. but i like the store still. was rather disappointed that they ran out of the travel charm bracelet that i've been eyeing for a while. but then again, i seriously wonder if i'll ever wear something so chunky.

basically spent the day wandering about the alphabet city. it's a pretty residential area. think maybe coz it's a monday, so quite a number of shops were closed. there were interesting shops selling funky retro, vintage stuff. but they were generally unaffordable for lil o' me.

but i found this really sweet garden. it's a community garden at 6th St & Ave B. it's a thriving garden with lotsa plants and living mosquitoes. i managed to kill one. mwaharhar~ well, it was sucking my blood what. maybe i'll post some photos up.. much much later on.

but this was really one of the high points of today.

the tompkins square park was nice too. i think i just like parks. wonder if i'll go absolutely bonkers at central park.

and yes, i did managed to shop despite all the high-end stores i find myself gravitating into. i got a really sweet and somewhat retro-y looking polo tee from a thrift shop. and a couple of used books from a used book store (duh). and all for just 10USD. i am so good.

and i tried a mister softee ice-cream! i heard the ice-cream truck song and followed it like a rat following pied piper. man, X really turned me into a pig.

it was one of the creamiest? ice-cream i've ever had. damn sinful lah.

saw this nice little cafe too. but i was kinda full so i didn't really stop to grab a bite or a drink. would love to go back for a coffee and just read a book.

actually it's a nicer place to sit and blog. but i didn't borrow a wireless access card for the laptop. anyway, this laptop is rather heavy to bring out. yah lah, prob will go read there if i've the chance to.

okie. should go to bed, need to attempt to wake up damn early tomorrow so i can try to get student tickets for the producers. keep your fingers crossed!

didn't have the time to visit the strand. next time. mwaharhar.. shall go recky at the website before i attempt to plunge in the store.

spending my days in jersey

gosh. i really haven't had much time to blog. nor the time to keep up with my travel journal.

i'm keeping an old-fashioned pen-and-paper journal during my month-long stay in the states. coz i figured i probably won't have much time to blog about my (mis)adventures. it would be more convenient for me to bring along my notebook and jot down thoughts along my way.

should be figuring out an itinerary for tomorr.. eh later. but what the heck.

for some bizarre reasons, i can't see my own blog on the browsers on this laptop that i'm using. wtf. argh. whatever lah.

here's a summary of my trip so far.

0608 - caught romeo & juliet in the park with X. and i discovered shakespeare is really much more accessible when performed. kinda enjoyed the play coz it was somewhat unconventional. the play was rehearsed in two weeks before it was performed in public. and i thought it was a pretty good effort. but then again, i hardly watch plays. much less shakespeare. so what do i know.

X introduced me to one of her fav haunts in boston -- garment district. it's a 2nd hand/used/vintage clothes store. GD is made up of two storeys. on the first storey there's this floor covered with used clothes which they sell by pounds. 1 pound for 1USD. if you love to dig about, this is the store for you. provided you don't mind used clothes or if you like funky retro stuff.

afterwhich X brought me to urban outfitters. myalterego mentioned this to me, but the website doesn't really do justice to the store. the store is way way nicer! i love urban outfitters! X & i were swooning over all the cool funky stuff in the store. i believe this was the day i bought my belt (very useful when the two pairs of jeans and one pair of pants you bring to your trip are somewhat loose and forever getting stepped on) and a cheap discounted funky tee-shirt! mwaharhar~ love it when i get a good deal.

kinda wandered around harvard yard and harvard square. had dinner at the often mentioned affordable vietnamese restaurant Pho Pasteur? and we ended the night by popping to the supermarket.

i love supermarkets. and supermarkets in the states are so amazing. the sizes of the stuff. i've never seen such humongous sized bags of chips. and the sheer variety of anything. i can probably spend half a day in the supermarket. or even the pharmacy. which sells, supermarket stuff besides medication.

ok. think i should call it a night for blogging at least. should really decide what i should do in nyc tomorrow and catch some sleep. will blog again soon.

fifth? sixth? day in boston

arrived in boston on friday night. and it's currently wednesday. so you do the maths.

i've done quite a bit i think. and as a result, i'm really tired. my eyes are just half open. but i haven't blogged for damn long. and i think i ought to at least try to document some of my activities.

arrived in new jersey on thursday night (US time. not SG time). the flight was ok. super long lah. watched three movies and several episodes of various sit-coms. coz i managed to stay awake throughout the entire 18 hours, i concussed with absolute ease after i landed in newark.

oh. did i mention that mark richmond was sitting across the aisle, one seat in front of me? har~ close encounter with a celebrity. well. i guess he kinda counts as one.

on friday, took a bus by myself to new york and found my way to the metro by myself. this is an achievement coz there was no signs from where i got off the bus telling me where the subway was. luckily for me, my instincts are pretty ok. i just followed the people and walked.

found the fung wah bus station (well, they did provide pretty decent directions on their website and my cousin did help me with the map reading the night before) and made it to boston all on my own.

so why the constant emphasis on accomplishing the above a l l b y m y s e l f ? that's coz w? is a directionless thing. so the fact that i made it says that i'm not that hopeless afterall! even though i need half a minute to reemerge from most shopping malls' toilets.

oops. gotta run. till next time.

sq rocks!

was getting kinda stressed coz there's quite a lot to be done which i haven't done. for my impending trip. just typing line is able to send my stomach into hyperdrive. been eating quite a lot coz i can feel my stomach churning away from the stress. this is b a d. must go jogging. damnit.

anyway, was checking out a couple of things while i should be working "PP one of which was to attempt to call the travel agency or the airline directly to get them to change my meal for my flight.

apparently the sq customer service line is notorious for testing patience, according to my cousin. and since i couldn't get through yesterday, i thought i'll make the travel agent try instead.

but no matter what extension/number i pressed, the travel agency just said "good-bye". like. huh??

after three tries, i decided to try the sq customer service line instead. and i managed to get through to a human being! on the first try! and i managed to request for a special meal!
hee.. now i get to try what a high fibre meal is like.. hee..

whatever

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previous

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pro / group blogs

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useful things

Saturday, August 27, 2005

i love fridays!

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Thursday, August 18, 2005

random thoughts in nj/ny

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

3rd day in nyc

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

101st post

Monday, August 15, 2005

spending my days in jersey

Thursday, August 11, 2005

fifth? sixth? day in boston

Monday, August 01, 2005

sq rocks!