Who needs love?

The answer here

*Just sent this to a friend and decided to post the link here to share. Everyone knows that ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE! Heh. Must be because I watched Love, Actually on Christmas eve. :D

Hmmm....really?

I suppose there's a grain of truth in that. Like what I told Mrs B just yesterday, I probably need to bump off some people if I ever enter the big bad world of politics.



But then again, I'm not as good as the results say I am lah. This is the kind of maneating I'm doing nowsadays.


Via LMD

Another one bites the dust

To round off the Year of Broken Relationships, (I'm counting at least seven off the top of my head), the last one happened a few days before Christmas. What's wrong with the world? Can't we all just...get along?

"And its been a long december and there's reason to believe
Maybe this year will be better than the last..."

A Long December ~ Counting Crows

Can't sleep. Panicking.

I CANNOT GET SCOOPED. ITS TOO LATE IN THE GAME TO BE.

Something to look forward to in January

First single from The Shins's next album - Phantom Limb

The first week, R and I were in a jet-lagged stupor. Passing out at 9pm everyday, right after dinner.

The first few days, the thought "What the f%*^ am I doing here?!?" must have crossed our minds a million times. We know, because sometimes one of us would wonder out loud, and the other will turn and look knowingly, "You too huh. I was just thinking about it".

We soon settled to a routine, and got out of that phase as work caught up.

We didn't have a TV so entertainment came in the form of old Seinfeld episodes stored on R's computer harddisk. We'd come back, prepare dinner and settle in front of the screen, going through 3 episodes each sitting. After a few days we even thought in 'Seinfeld'. That was how in want of 'entertainment' we were in. Actually it all started with a text message that I received, that ended with a '...hehe'. What grew out of that was a complete hour of musings, which we envisaged could pass for the script between Elaine and Jerry.

Yes. We are sad people. Better to be sad in Paris than sad in Singapore!

Kinda miss Paris now. People and places.

Bits and bobs from Paris

I don't have time to blog all about the trip, but the best bits all happened the days that I didn't have a camera with me.

Like how R and I were walking to Notre Dame and the Shakespear and Co bookshop and we took the small cobblestone side streets and saw lots of charming little shops and an animal protection agency.

We also saw, high above the wall of one building, the sign "I love Paris" except that the Love but is in fact a symbol (in red) of a space alien from the early Atari game.

There was a book reading when we arrived, and it was raining too. Not the kind of pissing down that I'm getting here in Singapore, but really fine rain, coupled with the cold. We hung around and looked at the old books, deciding to buy some and L came to join us. There was no sign of the reading ending soon, we were cold and hungry. So we shoved our books back onto the shelf and went off in search of something to eat. Its one big touristy joint, and we chose a little bistro off the side street. Still touristy, but the boys just wanted to eat. I wanted to have a big plate of pasta, but we couldn't find any. As we walked down, people called to us, inviting us to come in for dinner. It was all a little Boat Quayish.

After dinner which the boys talked about yes - football *yawn*, we went back to the bookstore and found that the crowd had dispersed. So it was an hour of nosing and browsing through the books that are laid out haphazardly all around the bookshop. The second floor contains quite a few beds for passing travellors and none of the books there are on sale. Just browsing, very old and some quite rare too. I wonder if anyone makes off with any since security is non existent. Maybe they work on the honour system.

I like this photo. Even if it was taken with my dinky cam phone. I love bookshops. :D

To be continued...

Why does it always happen to me?

Update 2: My bag will arrive tonight. Or something. I don't care. As long as it comes back to me and I'm getting XXX dollars for every 8 hours of delay. Hurrah for travel insurance!

Update 1: Kanina. The luggage people rang. They have got R's stuff, but not mine! How can it be. We checked in together. I am pissed off.

Phew.

What a harrowing trip back. We were supposed to leave at 9pm on Friday night in in Paris and arrive in Singapore just slightly past midnight on sunday morning. Well.. that was the plan anyway. Halfway flying over the Middle East with 3 hours of flight time left, a lady sitting a few rows in front of me developed a 'severe and critical' medical condition. A doctor on board was called over to take a look and he recommended that the pilot make an emergency stop somewhere instead of pushing on to Dubai. So the plane had to do a u turn and we made an emergency landing in Amman, Jordan. That leg was 4o mins I think. The plane landed, ambulance came hurtling down the runway and we had to wait some more for refueling - and get this - retrieving woman's check in luggage. I mean - if I were in dire medical condition, my check in luggage will be the last thing I'm thinking about. Plus she wanted her laptop to be taken with her, and the flight attendents spent a good part of 10 minutes rummaging through the cabin looking for it. As the clock ticked on, it became clear to everyone else on the plane. We will surely miss our next flight.

We did. Everyone spilled out of the plane and hurried over to the transfer desk as soon as the doors opened. But there were too many of us. Tempers were frayed and fuses were short as everyone tried to get a flight as soon as posssible. We were in the queue for an hour, maybe more and got a flight out to Singapore leaving at 2am on Sunday morning (!!!). It was bad, but good in a way as that meant that R and I got a chance to check out Dubai for a day. That was pretty cool. We were initially deposited in a city mall but didn't last ten minutes in it. It was horrid. Like KLCC and Takashimaya on a Sunday afternoon, filled with luxury labels for the well oiled sheikhs, maybe. It was a huge disappointment. It wasn't what I came to see. I was not going to spend 6 hours in Dubai wandering around generic shopping malls and touching clothes I cannot afford to buy! I sent a text message to Charlotte, who was a tai tai in Dubai sometime ago, asking her for street markets to check out and R asked the same to a Philipino dude working for the Big Bus company. Their answers were concordant. Deira near Al Ras is where the action is, and we hightailed there without much deliberation

We had a great time, checking out the gold and spice souks. There're loads of traders from all over the Arab world. We walked into spice shops, taking in the air rich with the fragrance of cardammon, fennel, cinnamon and sandalwood and bought nuts, raisins, saffron. We spoke with the traders, asking them about business, how many years they have been living in UAE (most of them are Indian, some Iranian). Wanderrd down small streets and alleyways, taking in the sights and sounds. As evening approached, we took a small boat (only 50 fils ~ 20cents? slightly less) across the creek and walked some more. After all that walking, a chai stop complete with an assortment of fried Indian snacks, sitting in the bustling shop, the background call of muezzins, standing high atop the many minarets of mosques dotting the city. We felt really good. It was a refreshing change from Paris, where there are people everywhere, but most look lost in their private little worlds. Maybe it was the comfort of familiarity, but I sure was as happy as a clam at high tide!

It was time to go home.

Oh yes. I hate to end this post on a not too great note, but our luggage didn't make it through with us. Boo. I'm going to have to send a customer feedback form to Emirates about this as we checked with every counter staff in Dubai the status of our bags and were repeatedly assured that 'Yes, yes. Your 3 bags are on the same plane'. Ppfffftt. Same plane my ass!

The moral of the story now - buy travel insurance, especially when travelling with me.

Getting into the mood of the city

So Paris is supposed to be 'the city of lovers'. I see lovey dovey smooching couples every where.

Decided to find myself a hand to hold as well.

For euro 1.30, my very own doughnut boy! Can eat when I get sick of him too. Which I did. :P

Great. I spend 5 days in the lab and it doesn not rain. The sun was even shining on Wednesday!

Now that weekend is here and I am ready to see Paris, the forecast in rain and dropping temperatures.

*face palm*