Ahh! Good ol' Manila!
Back in the land of smiles and the DVD mothership.
Decisions, decisions. Do I:
1. Spacehulk
2. Pool
3. Boots shopping
4. Meat-on-a-stick at Nanbantei
All the above for today!
And a quick glance at work prep for tomorrow.
Yay!
(@BlackBerry)
Looking at the safety video, refering to the safety card.
Airbus A320-200
Only 12 seats in business class, the rest of the tiny plane is separated by a filmsy curtain.
I'm being politely asked to turn off all electronic equipment.
Quick note: I like TV series "Leverage"!
See you in 6 hours!
(@BlackBerry)
Meanwhile I had a very good weekend so far:
Cranium + Poker
Cranium is fun, Trivial Pursuit and Win-Lose-Or-Draw rolled into one fantastic game.
My Top 7 boardgames so far: (as much as I can remember)(not including card games)
1. Cosmic Encounter (Online)
2. Spacehulk(Free DOS version)
3. Talisman (PC game)
4. Betrayal at house on the hill
5. Bloodbowl (Online)
6. Nuke
7. Dungeon Quest
42
Or, remove toxic people from your life.
How do you know who are these people?
The next time you meet or talk to anyone, try to remember what is the first thing they say to you.
Toxic people will usually start with a passive aggressive statement to make you feel bad about yourself. Beware, though. Learn how to recognise this, subtlety is their forte.
Now, I need to explain myself.
Toxic people are not stupid people. We need stupid people in our lives, if anything, for entertainment.
Toxic people say or do things just to make you feel bad.
Do you:
1. Have that sickly, sinking feeling in your stomach,
2. Feel like life is being drained out of you,
3. Want to roll your eyes, but is too polite to,
4. Want to lunge across the room/table to backhand that person?
If "yes" to any of the above, then ask yourself this: "Do I need this toxic person in my life?"
Now if you can answer this, you have the meaning of life.
A comment on Facebook, response to MJ’s memorial on TV last night.
(Someone)
I'm not so sure about that. Caught a little of it. Thought that it was too much fuss made of a life that doesn't seem to have been well spent from heaven's point of view. Jared, who had no clue who MJ was, asked if this guy was going to heaven...that is the crux of it, isn't it?
I immediately felt anger, and then sadness.
Sadness not for the woman who made the above comment, but sadness for her son. As a functioning adult in this world, do we not have the responsibility to ensure an environment free of fear for our children?
A child, beaten into submission by fear, not allowed to expand his mind, not given the chance to explore. Instead, he lives in constant reminder of heaven, and of course, hell.
Its a stretch, to assume all this from a Facebook comment.
I will end this rant with a quote.
Richard Dawkins
"With so many mindbytes to be downloaded, so many mental codons to be replicated, it is no wonder that child brains are gullible, open to almost any suggestion, vulnerable to subversion, easy prey to Moonies, Scientologists and nuns."
And this is why there is so much ugliness in the world.
No, I am not sick.
Just bloody allegic to dust mites.
He gave me a flu jab anyway.
I'm looking rather cool in this mask.
I think I'll keep it on for my drive back.
Hehe!
(@BlackBerry)
Sitting here with a mask on, with a room full of sick patients.
The damn mask is making me breathe deeply. I can imagine germs of all shapes and sizes invading my poor body.
Oh yucks, heavily coifed woman in plaid opposite me just picked her back teeth with her pinky.
Hey look, one of those old school eye charts.
5
94
260
3895
06248
630952
849r065
95046283
42883056
I think I might have the last line wrong.
Ugh! Woman in green scarf just sneezed three times in a row!
Stop breathing, stop breathing......
Gasp, gack! Stupidly took in a deep breath to compensate.
Bald guy at counter is trying to scam a larger bottle of cough syrup.
How mundane is this?
(@BlackBerry)
Waiting at Brisbane airport, my nose pressed against the cold glass window pane.
There sits my plane, waiting for us to eagerly board.
Ooh! Boarding announcement! Home! Home, I say, HOME!
I grab my bag and happily roll towards the smiling attendant.
Ahh, Singapore Girl, you're a great way to fly.
(@BlackBerry)
Duplicity
****
*** for Clive Owen
* for plot, though a tad predictable
CIA agent and M15 agent meet, they had fun, she betrayed him.
They meet again, many years later.
Now they are corporate spies, how exciting!
“Stocks are down, porn is up.”
Transformers, Rise of the Fallen
*
** for Arcee
Minus * for the lousy script
At one point, I actually turned to my friend and asked, “are all scriptwriters dead?”
I cringed, I pouted, I whined, I imagined my own death.
The rape of Indiana Jones.
The mindless destruction of Star Wars.
The death of Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Transformers IN ONE DAY.
How will I get over this?
The Assassination of Jessie James by the coward Robert Ford
*****
*** for Brat Pitt
** for the snivelly Casey Affleck
Unfortunately for Transformers, I just watched this gem just a couple of days before.
The International
****
*** for Clive Owen
* for the fantastic shoot-out at the Guggenheim.
So they managed to KILL my second bag.
KILL.
It came out on the belt, barely hanging on to its last breath, handle swung over the side pathetically.
*sob*
(@BlackBerry)
Almost half an hour to patch WAR.
(@BlackBerry)
5am. Wake up.
6am. Leave hotel for airport. Taxi cost F$30.
645am. Taxi arrives at Suva airport. Argue with driver about a receipt.
700am. Finally got driver to issue a receipt.
710am. Got my boarding pass for flight to Nadi, but airline refuse to transfer my luggage all the way to Singapore. Ugh!
730am. Plane (ATR42-500) noisily starts its propellars and we are OUTTA here!
800am. Land at Nadi. Claim my baggage. Lug it to counter and stupidly forget to ask for an aisle seat. Grr! 4 hour flight! Double check to see if luggage will NOW go straight to Singapore. Yes!
9am. Flight leaves. I base the last two copies of Times. Encounter the new Kindle. I want one.
11.45am. Plane lands in Sydney at last. Still contemplating the Kindle.
1200pm. Wandered a bit, trying to remember where the damn lounge is. All airports (almost) look the same. Ah hah! I need to take a shuttle to the other wing!
1215pm. On shuttle. The guards seem more excited about the A380 than me. They insist the shuttle driver point it out to me on the way. Other passengers are giggling way too loudly.
1235pm. In lounge at last. Got my last boarding pass issued. Asked for an aisle seat, got mocked. Its an A380, dahling. They are ALL aisle seats. Duh. I have 3 hours to kill before the next 7 hour flight. Soon, very sooooooon.
(@BlackBerry)
I have no bag.
No training materials.
No clothes.
No toothbrush.
Nothing.
I should be panicking.
The airline people doesn't seem to be panicking.
(@BlackBerry)
Says here on my ticket that I must be at their booth 90 min before boarding at 745am.
I've been standing in front of an EMPTY counter since 645am!
745am - still no one at the counter.
755am - finally got my boarding pass. But they can't issue my pass for the next transfer (Nadi > Suva).
I will need to collect my checked-in luggage, lug it through customs and then check in again to get it on the same flight as me.
Damn you! Damn it! Damn all!
Will be writing angry email to my travel agent for booking me on this flight. Grrr!
805am - flight has been delayed! Will I make it to Nadi in time for my transfer?
(@BlackBerry)
Its 5am, but its 7am here in Sydney.
I feel as if its 7pm now, and soon I'll be sleepy.
Groan.
Waiting to board my next flight.
Sydney > Nadi
Fun, fun.
(@BlackBerry)
Changi > Sydney > Nadi > Suva
Total travel time (including transit) is almost 24 hours.
Joy oh joy.
Airport money changers do not stock up on Fijian dollars.
How could I have forgotten, considering last year's snafu?
I really should blog more.
(@BlackBerry)
Its been a while since I blogged about my travelling details, so here it is.
Maybe it'll help me fall asleep, I know it'll sure put you to sleep.
March (Tokyo, Grand Prince Akasaka), April (hong kong, excelsior)(Perth, Brisbane, stamfor hotel), May (Jakarta, grand hyatt), June (washington, paloma).
There. I was reminded how important the above information was when I needed to know where I would staying in Fiji!
All I did was search my blog for 'fiji' and I got it!
Thank you, blog!
Next few months:
June (fiji), July (manila, HCMC), August (sydney, melbourne, hong kong), September (tokyo, bangkok), October (wellington), november (dhaka, hanoi), december (brisbane, manila)
That reminds me.
I HAVE to pack. Leaving in a few hour's time.
(@BlackBerry)
Still in Washington.
Day 1 of conference.
I'm done with my surprise presentation.
(@BlackBerry)
This should cut down some spammy Facebook status changes.
People need not know every single tweet or blog entry.
(@BlackBerry)
Using #fb at the end of my tweet will update Facebook.
Since I am also using twitterfeed to link my blog, this post is to check if it will work with everything else.
Joy.
If my last few months' tweets, FB status and blog entries have been spammy, its because I have been trying to link them all with one posting.
Its been 4 months since I integrated all three, things are looking good!
(@BlackBerry)
Am I ready to be a trainer for the new millenium?
Is my organisation ready to accept new training methods?
The last two days have left me feeling 2 things:
1. I am truely sucky as a trainer. Using dated and boring methods, how have I been keeping my learners engaged and interested THESE FEW YEARS!??
2. I have a long war in front of me. Battles will include learning new skills: software and methods! Getting more resources (and toys) will be another battle. Getting leaders to accept these new methods is going to be a huge battle. One more battle would be, where will I find time to do all these?
(@BlackBerry)
Overheard at a workshop.
What's with this obsession with Second Life in this conference?
As usual, the corporate world is a little late with applications.
And ohmigod, the word "Twitter" is bringing tears to participants' eyes.
Groan.
(@BlackBerry)
"We believe in the principle of non-repetitive redundant measures."
Huh?
Its 5pm, my brain is oozing.
Can someone please explain this to me?
(@BlackBerry)
Listening to John Townsend now.
Wow, I never thought I would get to meet him.
Very inspired by the workshops I attended these two days; my to-do list is getting very long.
Collected a lot of junk going from booth to booth in the exhibition hall, guess what my friends will be getting when I get home?
My goodie bag is bulging with plush carrots (motivation booth), plush cellphones (telephone skills training booth), rubik's cube, pens, fridge magnets, candy and t-shirts.
Ok, workshop starting! Ttyl!
(@BlackBerry)
As in,
"Thank you, ya."
"Looks like her, ya."
"See you later, ya."
"Take care, ya."
"I'll bring the cake, ya."
Not to be confused with "Hi ya" or "how ya doin'". Ya in this case is acceptable.
Ya?!
It's not endearing like "Eh" or hip like "K". "Ya" just makes you sound stupid. Not silly; silly is fun and cute, just plain stupid.
Unless you are from Brittany and speak Breton, you have no business saying "ya".
And the thing is, a lot of my colleagues and fringe friends say it a lot. Especially to impress.
/mock
Ya?!
Don't roll your eyes. Read your last sent email or SMS, see if you used "ya".
If yes, slap yourself with a trout.
Thank you.
(@BlackBerry)
24 hours of flying, then a couple of days of work. A whole weekend free but alone. Then a few more days of work. And 24 hours of flying.
Without internet.
Not too sure about the blackberry, too.
Food is not great, beach (at least in Suva) is not great.
A whole weekend without WAAGH!
Do I? Do I?
decisions, decisions....
(@BlackBerry)
Trying to ignore the man scratching at the car window, trying to interest me in a badly battered, origins unknown bottle of "mineral water."
I am already on the way home, I should give him all the change I have in my pocket.
I gingerly reach for the car window's button with my right hand as and with my left, tried to empty my pocket of change.
Almost immediately, I hear a click of car windows being locked. I looked at my driver, he was shaking his head "NO"!
The man outside is still scratching pathetically at my window. My driver is looking at me through his rear view mirror with Clint Eastwood eyes, daring me to open the window.
I struggle with my conscience; my safety or someone else's survival for the day?
Oh, joy! Traffic clears, and the car speeds off, leaving the man to scratch at another car's window.
I crank up the AC, snuggle into the comfortable seat and smugly congratulat myself for thinking charitable thoughts.
The path to the airport is paved with good intentions.
(@BlackBerry)
Visas chasing me down dark alleys!
Visas wielding chainsaws and smashing through car windows!
Visas bloodied and carnivorous, gnawing at dead babies!
Lists! I need lists!
(In MBTI terms, my inferior function is rearing its ugly head.)
Lists! I need lists!
Give me lists!!!!!
(@BlackBerry)
Just found out I need a VISA to get to washington.
And my travel agent did not tell me!
I leave next thursday, and right now I am on the way to jakarta.
I am sooo farked.
Plan:
Sunday (today) arrive jakarta. bite nails to the quick.
Monday - ask colleague to arrange for VISA interview appointment on Friday. Bite nails.
Tuesday - confirm interview and hope it takes less than 3 days to process. Bite nails.
Wednesday - confirm that it will take less than 3 days to process after interview. bite nails.
Thursday - bite nails.
Friday - arrive singapore. Get to the visa interview. Bite nails. Saturday - bite nails.
Sunday - bite nails.
Monday - call embassy to confirm that visa will be ready by wednesday. Bite nails.
Tuesday - call embassy again to confirm that visa will be ready by next day. Bite nails.
Wednesday - collect visa. Marvel at how short my nails are by now.
Thursday - leave for washington.
(@BlackBerry)
Sitting here next to the DJ booth, watching people bob their heads to the music.
Colourful sofas line the sides of the room, walls are bare.
Beautiful people pose with their drinks, but all I'm interested in is the one metre sausage I just ordered.
One metre sausage!
More head bobbing, I peer towards the back, is my sausage coming?!
Finally IT is here, served on a long metal trough. Head-bobbing posers look on with envy.
Unfortunately, under the harsh glare of a cell-phone, the sausage is scrawny and shrivelled. Supposedly served on a bed of rocket, I count approximately 10 sprigs. For a metre! That's one sprig per 10 cm! ($25)
The truffle fries were not much better. The serving about the size of a large fries from McDonalds, the fries were cold, oily and thin-cut. No hint of truffles anywhere, oil or not. ($16)
Alright, enough whining about the food, back to head-bobbing posing with my vodka cranberry. ($10)
At least I didn't pay for the food. I would really be angry then.
(@BlackBerry)
Can you guess what the following words are?
Hippiness / Geist / Sheaves / Hoital / Riflict
Spictacoilour / Breef / Vigitibil / Succisfil
Intiristing / Iffict / Cannict / Cannicter
Haire / Nitwerk / Sid / Lift
Proispirity / Loon / Liddar / Sittler
Tist / Ovitin / Iral / Hid / Sits / Ginders
Answers below:
Hippiness is Happiness / Geist is Guest
Sheaves is Chefs / Hoital is Hotel
Riflict is Reflect / Spictacoilour is Spectacular
Breef is Breathe / Vigitibil is Vegetable
Succisfil is Successful / Intiristing is Interesting
Iffict is Effect / Cannict is Connect
Cannicter is Connector / Haire is Here
Nitwerk is Network / Sid is Said
Lift is Left / Proispirity is Prosperity
Loon is Learn / Liddar is Leader
Sittler is Settler / Tist is Test
Ovitin is Overturn / Iral is Arial
Hid is Head / Sits Sets
Ginders Genders
Catchphrases for today:
We must embrace the vision for the future.
When we get it together, together.
The fish rots from the head.
Shoot me now.
(@BlackBerry)
Haha!
When are they going to realise most people don't respond follows with auto-follow?
Or is there another sinister reason for this random following?
Gee....
(@BlackBerry)
Four Fifty for a small bowl of oily, salty and watery laksa.
2 tiny shrimps, half a boiled egg and 3 pcs of toufu.
Why did I even think I would not be disappointed?
Laksa fail!
(@BlackBerry)
A weekend of beer, poker and Waaaaagh.
What more can a girl ask for?
(@BlackBerry)
"We can squirt it out, and you can pore over it."
There's only so much I can do to stop bursting out in snorting giggles.
(@BlackBerry)
Hmm, sirocco somehow reminds me of a Spinal Tap song.
Ugh! Which one?
(@BlackBerry)
No, not on the way back.
On the second leg of my trip.
Perth » Brisbane
*groan*
(@BlackBerry)
Even Grethen Mol can't save this.
So promising, so so good.
Almost as good as the BBC precursor, and in some scenes, dare I say, even better.
BUT THE ENDING!
Ugh.
Gawdamneet.
This nearly made me choke ginger ale through my nose.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jBWIxrGEfzcF1ZlgsSBOieiSP1qQ
Vietnam wants to ban dancing!
WTH!
(@BlackBerry)
Ouch, I'm so sleepy.
Singapore » Perth » Brisbane » Singapore
Back before the end of the month!
(@BlackBerry)
What did we talk about after a watermelon martini, followed by a lychee martini?
Lord of the Rings, of course.
And warm fuzzy feelings invoked by The Very Secret Diaries. http://www.ealasaid.com/misc/vsd/
Never fails to entertain and make us collapse into girly guffaws.
(@BlackBerry)
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