Category: From the Attic

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Diary From the Attic

I Will Survive

Totally ridicules!  If not for Francis’s phone call and the room service phone call, I would have slept until God knows when.  Finally I woke up at seven pm.  Had a long hot shower and rushed off to my favourite Japanese restaurant.  One thing good about going to the same restaurant all the time is that they treat you really good.  Extra sushi and free cup of tea.

And the next thing was rush to watch a movie.  Wanted to watch the “5th Element” by Bruce Willis but it was full. So I watched “Shine”.  Very touching movie.  With the ticket voucher given (lent) by Aurore, I’ve got a really cheap bargain.

Annie’s email is always so practical and always reminds me of the cruel reality.  She even suggested that I shall stay in YMCA instead.  Alright, this is when the reality bites.  I shall survive.  I will survive.

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Diary From the Attic

Home Sweet Home (at a Hotel in Paris)

First day of work after a long holiday.  I was in general a very jolly mood although the weather was very bad.  Not much heavy work and in the name of “knowledge transfer”, I am not suppose to work on any SIRs.  Great, isn’t it?

Confirm that JP didn’t send me letter, nor did she send me an email and there is no Octel message from her.  Hence confirm that she has gone from my life.

Grace called and told me that there will be something exciting happening tonight.  First four of the BNP team members (plus one client) arrived at the Irish Pub (and Restaurant) twenty-five minutes late.  Of course, I waited for a while and started siting down and order my food.

Grace they all arrived well past nine and we all had a great time.

The hotel management has moved all my stuffs back into my old room and spent a while unpacking most of my stuffs.  Home sweet home.

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Diary From the Attic

Flying Back from American to Paris

With the time difference (9 hr), it is kind of hard to say what is yesterday.  But technically, it was last morning when we have to get up early and drove to the airport.  Colin has been quiet since – May 4 – and he didn’t try to make any conversation at all.  It is very strange to me and I kept on thinking that maybe it’s me who has done something wrong.  On the other hand, maybe it is his personal reason.  Just that what a pity that the holiday ended that way.

Quite a long and adventurous travel for me as I have to fly from LA to Chicago and from Chicago to Paris.  Really surprised that my luggage can be automatically transferred through as the first trip was American Airline and the second one is Air France.  (Although at the end, the Air France part got confused and my luggage was the last one to come out.)  Watched Pulp Fiction a few times on board.  And the air hostess was drop dead sweet with a very nice smile.

Got back to my beloved hotel and my old room will not be ready until tomorrow.  Went for a haircut and my favourite barber was not around and I ended up with the one who can’t speak English at all.  Lucky Eric came out at last and it wasn’t too late.

Called up Sophie and she even wanted me to come to work in the late afternoon.  Crazy.

Called up Mohamed and we had an Indian food.

Tomorrow – back to work!!

Before I stop, I do receive 74 new mails today.  Wow!

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Coincidence From the Attic Reflection

Last Stop – Beverly Hills (Again)

Really don’t quite understand why Colin is so in love with Beverly Hills.  To be honest, today was the second time we visited Beverly Hills.  What’s in BH?  Well, a lot of expensive shops and a lot of beautifully dressed people. T his time, we wore a bit smarter than last time and we did feel a bit more comfortable.

How about the “Walk of Frame”?  I was kind of disappointed as the street looked really dirty and the stars on the floor just don’t look pleasant at all.  We had burgers at BH and I am certain Colin hated it.  What to do?  We are in America.

Throughout the whole day, Colin was very quiet.  Can’t really guess what’s go wrong.  Maybe my driving or maybe something else.  Actually, we had quite a lot of dangerous situation when we were driving.  Don’t think I am a good driver after all.

Spent quite some time to locate the Hard Rock Café and finally, we found it at the Beverly Centre.  Indeed, it is quite a big shopping centre.  Correction – it looks big but half of the building is car park.

Bought another deck of books and decided to watch the movie at the centre itself.  The movie is called “Volcano”.  What so special about this movie is that it was filmed in Los Angeles.  That is why we are.  And guess what, the eruption actually took place at the Beverly Hills.  Even more unbelievable, the ending of the film was filmed (well…) right in front of the Beverly Centre.  Isn’t that a very nice coincident?

Last day of the holiday already and the conclusion is that I have been very much enjoying myself.  And it is a very nice break for me.  I think I do learn a few lessons in terms of relating to other people.  Perhaps I am very spoilt and for that, I need to improve myself.  I do think it is kind of difficult to tolerate such a person like me.

Second thing is that I have been thinking of JP from time to time.  Thought I can forget about the whole thing during the trip but life doesn’t always turn out to be so predictable.  Guess Annie is right.  Forget about the fake Juliet and keep looking for the real one.

Oh, I just found about something quite interesting about the famous Route 66.  It started from Chicago and goes all the way across America and reaches Los Angeles on the other end.  Isn’t that amazing?  If you want to travel from the East Coast to the West Coast, all you need to do is follow the Route 66.  The whole road covers three time zones and eight states.  Which eight of them?  Well, that is IMKOTNAC.  That is how I remember.  To spell them out, we have Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.

Another interesting thing that I have discovered is that none of the American actually knows where exactly, i.e. in which beach, Bay Watch is being filmed.  Maybe as one said, they film it all over the places.

Okay, back to work.

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Diary From the Attic

Sea World at Saint Diego – So So Experience

The Sea World in Saint Diego isn’t that fantastic.  Dauphins and Killer Whales (Orca), Sea Seal and Sea Lion.  I have seen all back in Ocean Park, Hong Kong.  Anyway, it is again, an experience.

Colin just couldn’t resist of going to Barstow again (for the factory outlet).  His wife wanted something from Esprit and well, that is truly understandable.  When I was having a girlfriend, and I know how it feels.  The outlet closed at eight and he didn’t have time to shop in Tommy Hilfiger . Actually, we just missed it and he was pissed off with the shop assistance.  That guy should have let us in.

Tomorrow is the last day of holiday and for Colin, he will go back to Singapore, back to Gateway and most happily, go back to his wife.  Good for him.  For me, I will go back to Paris and face all the SIRs again.  Not a very pretty scene but then again, it is not quite the reality.  Think about all the good life I will have (for another three weeks).

The real reality comes when I return to Singapore.  I have this feeling that I am giving all the world can offer and suddenly, I am stripped down to nothing.  Where will I go after this SocGen project?  I have no idea.  Shall I stay in Singapore for a while and do a local project or shall I opt myself going for an overseas project?  Or will I ever have a chance to get back with JP again?  Or it is really not a good idea?

I don’t know.  How I wish I have more control on my future.  Maybe it is time for me to start thinking about my future.  My future?  Can’t believe I don’t even have one, holding the degree I have.

I see lovers all around me.  And I miss the great time I had with JP whenever we were having a holiday.  So magical.  Sad to say, our relationship went downhill.  Even if she gets back to me, it will not be the same anymore.  Not anymore. So why should I think about her from time to time?

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From the Attic Travel Blog

Universal Studio Hollywood Is Awesome!

The Universal Studio Hollywood is definitely a lot more worthy than the Disneyland.  The special effects are a lot better.

The first one we went for was the Jurassic Park Ride.  It was awesome.  The big boat can accommodate forty people and it does look real.  Quite a few dinosaurs here and there and the final drop was awesome.  Everybody got really wet in the end.  My whole head was totally wet.  My T-shirt was partially soaked.  But it was fun.

The next ride was the E.T. Ride.  We managed to get the front seat.  Even before getting into the ride, the decoration (dark, a lot of tall trees) is great.  We were virtually “hovering” in the air.  Cars crashing in from our sides.  Police cars below us.

And then we moved onto Cinemagic.  Actually, there were three sections.  The first session talked about the show “Back to Future”.  Talk about how they filmed the scene inside the car (well, not exactly a car but only a “partial” car), how they simulated the “flying scene” with a small expensive computer operated car.  The second section talked about how they made a horror movie and the last one was about the sound effect.  All of them are truly entertaining.

Next, that was the Backdraft.  It wasn’t a ride at all.  We all stood in front of a studio and they exploded everything in front of us!  The heat was strong and it was just like a real life movie.

And the Waterworld show.  Just awesome.  They put a play with all the original settings.  Towards the last part, a plane came crushing down just in front of the audience.  Not to forget to mention about the Back to Future Ride.  It is the best simulation so far.

I can just go on forever but I am just too drunk with the Long Island Ice Tea.  Ah, we did have a BBQ dinner tonight.

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Diary From the Attic Travel Blog

Los Angeles Disneyland … Disneyland Paris Is Better, No?

Amazing that I have been writing diary for four months.  I shall keep it up.

Disneyland at Los Angeles. I was hoping that it will be better than the one in Paris but both me and Colin agrees that the former Eurodisney (now called Disneyland Paris) is far better.  The Sleeping Beauty Castle is so much smaller; even the trees seem to be bigger.  Anyway, this is the original Disneyland.  The biggest one is in Florida.

Okay, we started off in Adventureland.  The Jungle Cruise was just a laugh.  Everything (elephants and crocodiles and hippos) are so fake.  According to the guide, it was built somewhat forty odd years ago.  The next one was pretty good.  It was the Indiana Jones Adventure.  The ride was quite exciting.  I loved the last part where a giant ball was rolling towards us and we suddenly dropped.  By the way, we were riding in a jeep.

Splash Mountain was very much like the one in any theme park.  Riding on the water in a log.  The final drop and … splash … everyone got wet.

The Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is definitely not as good as the one in Disneyland Paris.  The one in Paris, we have two trains going head-on-head with each other.  This one is quite primitive.

As for the Matterhorn Bobsleds in Fantasyland, it is pretty good.  A lot of spinning.  Don’t remember riding it in Paris.

The next one worth mentioning is the Space Mountain.  Very fast speed roller coaster.  But Colin told me that the one in Paris is far better.  Well …

All in all, we were kind of disappointed but it is an experience.  We didn’t take a lot of photos (indeed less than 5) and we left around three.

I just couldn’t help but thinking about JP from time to time.  The time we had when we were in Eurodisney.  I told Colin that I was hoping to forget about her in this US trip but he admitted that it is kind of hard for I will keep thinking back about the good time we had.  True enough.  True enough.

We got out of Disneyland and headed off to Beverly Hills.  Quit a long ride and we stopped by a tiny Chinese Restaurant and had a meal (at 5!).  The American Born Chinese (ABC) look so different.  Heavy makeup, dyed blond hair and perfect American English.  We parked somewhere in the middle of the Beverly Hills and all the shops are so high class.  Even the women on the street, they all look so gorgeous.  Must be a lot of plastic surgery.

Really tempted to buy the single “You were meant for me” by Jewel and send it to JP.  But as Francis said before, for every action, there must be a purpose.  If I don’t intend to get back to her again, what is the purpose of sending her the single?  The original reason of doing so is to let her know why I feel right now, but on the other hands, what do I get out from this?  Does she really care at all?  Wanted to ask Annie (when I return to Paris) if JP has already got herself a new boyfriend but then again, what’s the use of knowing or not knowing this piece of information?

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Diary From the Attic

Destination Los Angeles

Today we needed to hit Los Angeles therefore we both woke up pretty early.  I set the alarm clock at 6:45 am and I woke up naturally.  More correctly, I woke up by a nightmare.  In my dream, I was in bed with JP. And before we got into real business, she admitted that she had slept with more than a hundred guys while I was away.  I was furious and shouting up to the sky (something like the show ‘Romeo and Juliet’) and I could feel my whole body felt with rage.  And I woke up with cold swears falling from my forehead.

Must be the songs from ‘Jewel’.

Guess what. I woke up at 7:20 am instead.  Feeling very tired and we stepped out of the room at around eight.  Had a simple breakfast and hit the road.  I felt a lot better today and Colin and I got along well just like Day One.  Kind of strange that my mood changes so suddenly.

At first Colin decided that he would drive all the way to Barstow and I would take the cue and finished off the trip.  In the end, he got tired after one hour of driving on a very straight road and I took over.  We swapped from time to time and it was fun.

The factory outlet in Barstow was huge.  We both spent a lot of money there.  In the end, we were frightened and tried not to step into any shop.

The inn was very decent indeed and we relaxed quite a fair bit.  Colin was into … erm … movies while I just took a nap.  He was craving for Chinese food so we have decided to go for Chinese.  It took us a long time to get there and the food was no good.  But he still thinks that it is better than cheese and bread (Western food).

During the whole day, I was thinking about JP again.  Thinking about the possibility that we will get back together.  But will I ever even be able to bear the shadow of not being able to know what she has been doing behind me?  After all, we have officially broken up.  And do I really care if she is really flirting and sleeping around?  Guess I shouldn’t.  Thought that the purpose of such a trip is to forget about the past but the past is just too difficult to be forgiven.

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Diary From the Attic

Some Traveling Partners Are Not Meant to Be

Last night, we slept very late and hence, today we woke up very late too.  Got up just before midday and decided to tour around Las Vegas.  Throughout the whole day, there has been some kind of fiction between Colin and me.  Right in the morning, I have decided to go the Wal*Mart and get some water.  I do need to drink some decent water.  I think Colin doesn’t really need to drink any water at all.  And I wanted to drive this morning but he refused.  Hence I was very quiet throughout the whole day.  Towards the end of day, I had a headache.  Not a nice day for me.

Went to Luxor (which I wanted so much to go all the while but Colin just …) and it was just as great as it was on TV (Jay Leno Tonight Show).  The Caesar is great too and there is a very nicely decorated indoor high class shopping area and I bought a pair of jeans in Guess.

I don’t think Colin really listens to what I say.  And he always disagrees with me.  That make me think that being agreeable is very important.  And I didn’t have my decent seven hours of sleep and didn’t feel very good at all.  Being understanding is very important as well.  Not surprisingly, I have been thinking about JP the whole day.  I even took her photo out of my wallet and starred at it.  Now, I can truly (close to) feel how she felt and I welcome that.  I hope I shall keep this in mind and shall not step into the same recurrent mistake once again.  And when I am moody (not enough sleep), I just want to be left alone.  That was exactly how JP treated me but obviously didn’t understand and always blamed her for making the day so bad.  Sometimes, little requests may seems not important but it is very important to the one who raises them.

And one thing that really annoys me is that to Colin, the next day begins exactly after midnight.  Tonight, we were talking about what we had last night and after some deep confusion, he told me that we didn’t eat dinner last night.  It was this morning.  To me, the day ends when I go to sleep.

So much differences. Doubt if we’ll ever get along.

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From the Attic Reflection Travel Blog

Of Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam

Grand Canyon.  That was today’s plan. Well, I woke up half an hour later and Colin was very impatient.  Seriously, I need at least seven hours’ of sleep in order to be able to drive such a long distance.  And last night, we slept late.  As I have said before, if I have to get up early the next day, we better sleep early the night before.  Also, I do need to wash my hair and so on in the morning and as for him, just wash up, dress up and go.

That goes back to the first agreement that we have – a relaxing holiday.  I think, in the end, our definition of relax is different.  For him, it is less of travel and for me, it is more of sleep.

That also make me realised that the way I treated JP was not quite right.  Last time, I always didn’t understand why she needs to sleep for ten hours and I always waited at the door impatiently for her.  That is good that I feel that way now.  At least I can truly put myself into her shoes.  After all, people are different from each other and there is no way to change.  But to understand and accommodate.  Am I right?  Pity that it is a bit too late to realise this.

Therefore, I don’t blame Colin for feeling that way.  In fact, he was quiet the whole morning.

OK.  Back to the trip.  Took an hour drive to reach the Hoover Dam which is in Arizona.  The reason of building such a dam is because of the flooding of the Colorado River.  It is the largest dam in America and it is quite spectacular.  And after visiting the dam, we rush off to Grand Canyon which took us another four hours to reach.  As pressurised by Colin, I was driving at 90 mph.  Kind of quite exciting.

Basically, the national park has a few views for us to stop.  It is the most breathtaking scene I have ever seen.  It is somewhat like a very long stretch of “cliffs” and the formation of such a wonder is still a mystery to me.  Whether it is worth of driving ten hours today is still in doubt.

The West Rim can only reach by the shuttle bus.  And we managed to catch the last bus and managed to see the sunset.  While we were in the bus, waiting to return to the part centre, there was one very old couple and one young couple.  As the conversation exchanged, we learnt that the old man has been through the World War II while the younger one has been through the Golf War.  We joked that Colin should tell them that he is from the Singapore Army and get ready to start the World War III.