Greetings from Zurich!

Am in Zurich now.

will be leaving this evening for home.

so far this short visit has been rather fufilling. there's just something about Europe that brings you to another world altogether. Everyone is traking their time, no one rushing [just walking quickly to get out of the cold], and to add to that, shops close early; sat they closed at 6, and sunday is the rest day.

i went to central to get the Longchamp Le Pliage bag for my mum [and myself] after much deliberation, and it was CLOSED.....so sad! finally decided top buy then its not open....guess its fate lor...i really wanted to get the LM nylon bag for myself.....!

now i guess i won't be able to get it at all...unless i get another zurich soon...

anyway i haven't really decided on the colour for my mum...which one nicer? they have white and cream too.

this is the one i wanted to get for myself. very unique. blue or nude, you think?

and i think this is quite nice too...

anyway i probably have to wait for while before i can get any one of these... better to check price in Singapore first!

i shall go rest now. so tired...

Later!

slow

sorry for the lack of updates!

will update later with pictures and commentary!

in the meantime, here's what's going on:

• My eyes have healed
• I went to Abu Dhabi & went for the desert tour!
• I came back from Abu Dhabi
• I attended the Porsche World Road Show at Changi Exhibition Centre!
• Took lots of pictures!
• Went to Brisbane
• Back from Brisbane!

kinda short eh? hahah. will elaborate on most of the points soon!

later.

Just For Laughs

i love this comic.

Visit the site & have a laugh: Least I Could Do

Updates Daily.

Grounded

I have been grounded since tues cos of my eye.
stuck in office doing office work till monday.


strangely its really relaxing.
the routine and standard timing is a refreshing change from my otherwise fast-paced world.
the people are really nice.

no one cares if your lipstick matches your nail polish.



but i feel i've been around too long.


i can't wait to start flying again.

sick sick

i've been so sick since i came back from delhi.

let me give you the breakdown:

28th Jan: 2nd Day, CNY

woke up after dozing off despite all the rowdy noise from the family.

felt quesiness in stomach.

went to toilet and vomitted non-stop for almost two hours.

decided to see company doctor.

got a fucking painful jab that was supposed to work immediately but i woke up 4 times in the night to vomit.

29th Jan: 3rd Day, CNY

spent the whole day dragging myself to do the most simplest tasks

whole body very suan and no strength

kept sleeping.

very weak.

yenlin and soon tong still jio ktv....i 有心无力...

30th Jan: 4th Day, CNY

blood vessal in eyes burst after excessive vommitting.

went to take mc to be excused from flying.

medically fit for flying; but not aesthetically fit for flying.

not chio enough.

i scare myself when looking in the mirror lor..

went back to stc to show the company i not bluffing, and got MC til monday, 2nd Feb.

still feel weak.

*

now i have to see if the redness gets better or not, or else i have to do ground work till it gets better.

sucks.

Happy Chinese New Year

I'm back from Delhi and sitting alone in my room while the whole family is happily gathering at my house.

i'm tired and cranky.


no one cares that i'm not mingling.



i feel strangely detached.



and alone.






Happy Chinese New Year.

wah lau

i opened my eyes and heard my phone vibrate. Turning it over revealed the most dreaded number to receive on standby day...


got called up for Delhi lor....seems like i can never get away from that country.


reporting tonight at 0035hrs; back on 27th Jan 1545hrs. sucks man.

notice states that India will be celebrating their Republic Day or something. Might have terrorist attacks lor. so crew have to stay in the hotel and be vigilant about evacuation routes and such.




what a way to start the new year man.

bored

well, i'm sitting at home in front of the computer, as I have been ever since I woke up today, and suddenly i wonder: why am i home on a saturday night?

as i stare expectantly at my non-ringing iPhone, i sigh in acceptance that no one would call me out for drinks as I have rejected so many invitations recently. i realise it now, a bit too late.

what has become of me? i have friends, but none that would be here now when i want to go out and have a good time. A girl needs to have a chance to dress up and go out to have fun once in a while, but i don't do that anymore. and the worse thing is that i'm not even married yet! But yet, I have shifted into the monotonous lifestyle that many dread.

of cos, i could pick up the phone and call people out, maybe some of the new crew that I have met over these few months; but the thought of having to explain and justify my reasons for going out stops my fingers from pressing the dial.


i have become home-loving before my time; the worse thing is that i'm not really loving it that much. funny thing is that my face and character makes pple think that i'm a super chiongster; which unfortunately, i'm not. whatever am i going to do with me?

the blinding truth looms before my eyes, i have become boring.





i have no life.

Mykii - brasserie . cafe . desserts

Need a place to chill out with friends? To bring your current love interest? Hanging out with your mistress? Or simply to have good food and drinks in a cool atmosphere?

My friend's wife opened up a great place in Holland Village.

Great food, great ambiance, great place to unwind and just to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Its in Holland V, but not IN Holland V. That's the beauty of it.

with a comfy Mediterranean feel, the whites and blues of the cozy cafe invites intimate chats and comfortable gossip.



I went down to catch up with yang and chun kiat.
here's yang, trying to act cool.




TIP: If you need a refreshing drink, try the Iced Lemon Tea. I love it! not the sour plum nonsense you get nowadays; this is real tea. I had three glasses of that. mmmmm...

took a picture with two cuties that were there with their mum!


And it was time to start eating! We were starving! First stop: Ox-Tail Soup.



A tad too spicy for my tastes; but everyone knows that i dun even take pepper...it was so tasty i braved the spice and finished up the soup while gobbling down the generous serving of succulent beef chunks. My father would love it lor.



For the main, I had the Beef Bulgogi Panini.



Wah Lau i tell you hor, the beef just melts in your mouth lor!!!! with the crisp bread enveloping the delicious pan flashed, Korean-spiced beef strips, plus sesame seeds, roasted capsicum and onions, I couldn't get enough of it! Damn shiok! Very korean flavour, i like!


*salivating at the memory*


good food invokes the Singlish in me.



Anyway....
Here are some of the dishes offered in the menu!

Thai Fusion Tamarind Glazed Chicken with Glass Noodle

Seafood Linguine with Laksa Pesto

[Chun Kiat has it whenever his wife allows him to sneak food from the kitchen]



Pissaladiere - an open-faced provencale tart dressed with a roasted capsicums, anchovies, olives and onion jam; for the health junkies.


Mezze Platter - with three delicious dips; for sharing!


For dessert: Mango & Vanilla Custard Trifle - dessert layered with almond sponge, mango chunks spiked with lime zest and lemongrass. Damn nice lor!
You HAVE to check it out.


More information at http://www.mykii.com.sg/

oh and it's pronounced as "mee-kai";

although you can say "my-kee" to irritate chun kiat if you see him. Hahaha!

Opening Hours:

Sun - Thurs : 11.30am - 11pm

Fri - Sat : 11.30am - 1am

see ya there.

a thought...

is there anything in your life that you would give everything to defend?

Latest Toy

I have finally bought what I have been lusting after for a while!

I bought a Canon EOS 450D.

Canon EOS 450D - Features

• 12.2 Megapixel CMOS sensor

• Canon’s EOS Integrated Cleaning System

• 3.5 frames per second • 3.0” LCD with Live View shooting

• 9-point wide-area AF system with f/2.8 cross-type centre point

• Picture Style image processing parameters

• DIGIC III image processor

• Digital Photo Professional RAW processing software1

• Compact and Lightweight body

• Fully compatible with all Canon EF and EF-S lenses and EX-series Speedlites

so happy; though the heart still a bit pain.

no more blurred shots with funny coloring; no more pixelated nonsense; no more angry deletion of CMI pics.

excuse me while i make friends with my new toy.

tired..

i'm back from Beijing.

just woke up after a nap.
met jimmy in the airport for some breakfast; and guess what? we bumped into my batch boy kai & gf!

haven't seen him for such long time! and that no heart bastard never even try to meet up with us lor..


now getting ready to go out.


later!

freezing in beijing

it's 4.52am in beijing now.

just reached here at 12plus am and its fucking cold here!
last clocked temperature is -8 degrees.

i'm using the free internet in the room.
the only downside is that its accessible only through the keyboard provided, with the TV as the monitor. the keyboard mouse is a pain to use.

anyway, the hotel is really beautiful; the big spacious bathroom, with a king sized bed, an office area, and a lounging sofa, makes it one of the best hotels i've stayed in so far! check it out, the Grand Millenium Beijing. damn chio lor.

i just came back an hour ago from a gathering in the crew room with five others.
we had fun just hanging out and drinking a few beers. it was a bit boring, to admit; but seldom you see crew so on nowadays...we actually wanted to go to the hotel bar but it was closed already; and it is too cold to venture out to any pub. so sad.

well....alex went to choing lor...didn't find out till i called like a zillion times before he picked up....i was so angry lor. still dun trust him on his own leh...maybe cos i'm so far away he can do anything and i probably wun know about it. i dun have his kind of contacts.

do you know his "friend" actually saw me out with another guy? i was out with a girl lor...i can't believe he would still get regular reports as to where i've been spotted. and the bulk of his news isn't even true. so free all these people...

well....i'm waiting for my room service to come...so hungry now.y plan is to sleep late and wake late tml so i will have enough energy for the overnight flight back tomorrow.


actually its really tiring to keep the hours i have to keep nowadays...you have to plan your every move so that it can match with the time that you have to start getting ready for the flight back...i'm really tired, and i get quite lonely and bored sometimes. not surprising i'd rather stay home whenever i'm back..


at least there's something to look forward to when i get back. my batch boy, jimmy, is landing at almost the same time as me on friday! so we have planned to meet inside the terminal to have breakfast! i'm aiming for the thai food, have a craving for pineapple rice.


okay, after writing so much crap, my food isn't here yet.

shall go watch tv till it comes.




later.

Back from Paris

I'm home.

Paris was awfully cold and i couldn't feel my ears after the wind came.
I experienced my first snowfall though; a light one.

not as I expected, cos it was wet and slushy and it made the roads muddy and slippery.
it wasn't very white after that.

i wanted to do the touristy thing and visit the Eiffel tower but no one brought me there...=(


we ended up doing the touristy thing and went to visit Louis Vuitton.



did i enjoy it? too short and too cold for a verdict.
expensive place though.

Cheers to a better year for all

The Year 2008 was a long and tedious year for me.

In 2008, I experienced so much more than combined from the previous years of my life.I can feel myself age and mature, as I fall hard and pull myself out of the dirt.

In 2008, I got my degree, and made my parents proud.

In 2008, I joined HOTstuff magazine, and it changed my life. The HOTstuff family gave me much laughter and friendship, I don't know what I would do without anyone of them.

In 2008, I made many acquaintances, that each brought a bit of their own character into my life.

In 2008, I mixed fun into my work, and with the help of friends, work was more enjoyable, no matter how bad the conditions were.

In 2008, I fufilled one of my childhood dreams, and worked hard for it.

In 2008, I experienced many new things, and went to places that not many could say that they have been.

In 2008, I loved and lost, and suffered many disappointments.

In 2008, I made a big move and started living my life.

In 2008, I met a lot of people that flited through, leaving joy in their wake.

In 2008, I made new best friends, as well as rejoiced with the old.

In 2008, I found more of myself.

It wasn't a breeze, but since I got through this year, I will make it for the next.

Happy New Year.

.....here i go again.

i got called up for beijing tomorrow morning; reporting at 6.45am.


Pick up is at 6am.





at least it disrupted my Columbo turn.



back on 31st night.

.....any more coincidences?

yesterday i was doing boarding [called up for Jakarta] and as I was helping a female passenger put her cabin bag up, her luggage tag dropped and dangled it front of my face, with big black letters:

"IVANA LIM"

i wonder where I heard that one before.

thanks ah, chun kiat.

Amsterdam!

For the benefit of those who claim they do not go through Facebook pictures, here are my shots in Amsterdam. =)

canals after canals..

I wanted to iceskate but no kaki...=(

visited the wooden clog factory and windmills!

dun buy anything from there.....bluff my money only!

well, i really loved it, the sights, the view, the feel of old european culture.

highly recommended.

Merry Christmas!

packing my bags

Taipei temperature forecast for next three days:

Tue 18°C - 17°C
Wed 20°C - 17°C
Thu 19°C - 17°C

will be rainy, and is the beginning of winter.

should i bring a thicker jacket? cos i'm so afraid of the cold.
or should i bring long sleeves and a jacket; but i dun own a mid-range jacket.
should i bring my new yellow mango cotton trench? but i scared i look too dressed-up, cos have to match with boots.

it's very question-mark weather.


i have no idea what to pack.
and i don't have much time left to decide.



maybe i should just bring a bit of each.

It's starting to feel a bit like Christmas..

Just back from a Denpasar turn...and its off to Taipei tomorrow night!
will be spending Christmas eve there, and flying back on Christmas Day.

I don't know about you, but I haven't been feeling the Christmas spirit for a while now.
But am still a bit excited about counting down in Taipei, even though i can't spend it with my loved ones. Will be flying there with some of the crew that did the turn today! it was a great flight, and we all worked well together! we clicked and had fun. too bad can't go with the same crew tomorrow...~ but some were quite enthu; said that we should sleep the whole day, and go for the countdown and celebrate til call time. Siao.

i can't wait to go shopping!

Back again.

I keep "I'm going here" and "i'm back".

tiring.

well, back from Fukuoka. Short trip, but managed to do some Christmas shopping.


got some stuff from agnès b for pressies. so cheap there!

*pic from another blog. will post pics of mine when i get it done.

got this bag charm with turquiose crystals! three of them for me, charmaine and yenlin.

its so gorgeous! and i got a keychain for alex too!

update when i have the strength.


It was a bad flight back. stupid chief.

So Upset....

I was praying so hard I would get a turn for my standby.....so that I could be there on that day for him...


but this morning, that fateful call made me so upset....

i got called up for Fukoka, and will be back only on that day itself; meaning i will miss the eve and most of the day...


and i had so much planned.



i hate disappointments. =(

I'm back from Male, Maldives.


you know what?

i forgot my passport and had to go all the way home to get it.

It's My Day

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Thanks for all the well wishes and birthday greetings!

oh, and they are right when they say alcohol is a depressant.

Greetings from Brisbane

it's 12.42am in Brisbane now.

and i'm blogging cos I managed to get possession of the computer in the crew room.


i'm tired and had four Heinekens, so am a bit slow on the keyboard now.
its saturday and i'm stuck in brisbane with nothing to do but grab free internet access.


the crew is so boring....all they want to do is sleep!

i went out to buy food and i saw this cool looking club with awesome dance music blasting out of the doors. but i had to kuai-ly follow the rest and went back to the room to nurse my beers while watching The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, which is quite a cool show btw.


am a bit intoxicatedly high together with a fucked up keyboard so typing very slow now.



i probably would go out to have a walk in a while to soak up brisbane since i am apparantly friendless cos no ones's msging me on msn.


such a waste to spend saturday night cooped up in a room, isn't it?



God, i feel so alone.

Bimbo Alert

oh no oh no oh no oh no.....


i was sitting in my dad's stream last night, ready to drive off, turned the ignition, sat and enjoyed the blast of aircon, put it to "drive", released the footbrake and stepped on the accelerator...


....with no response.



after much meddling, I was just about to give up when......






i realised I hadn't started the car.



THIS IS OFFICIALLY THE MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT OF MY SHORT LIFE.




i need to get my brains moving. STAT.

Amsterdam Rocks!

I Love Amsterdam!!!!

details and pictures to follow soon! promise!

Back from The Cold Country

I'm back from Auckland.

I wanted to go out and drown my sorrows in a blissful afternoon of mindless money spending but i got too lazy to do it, like i have been recently.

after starting flying, all i want to do when i'm home is to drink endless mugs of sweet tea, play games and basically do nothing. even thinking about dressing up, putting on makeup to go out, makes me feel so tired! i mean, i miss hanging out with my friends, i miss responding to last minute calls for a night's out, i miss feeling gorgeous and feeling good about myself. I wonder if i will get that feeling again.

I have been making a detour down the well-trodden path of long ago. i'm sure yet still not sure; scared to fall again. scared to stop and look back and wonder again. i don't know if i want to do this or not.


i wish everything was clearer.

I want to buy a camera! Semi-SLR maybe? something not too big but takes good shots.


i want to take arty-farty pictures!!


I want to take pictures of lonely benches around the world!


any recommendations for a not too ex, not bad SLR-ry camera that i can buy?

是不是这样的夜晚你才会这样的想起我。。。

all served out

sorry for the lack of updates..

i've been so tired recently, that all my free time is dedicated to sleep, reading and playing games.
plus i have no idea where i put my card reader, so i can't upload any pictures lor.

am resting after a BKK turn yesterday, and will be going to Auckland tomorrow evening and back on sunday.

My roster for next month is not too bad, except that i have four turns and four full day standbys. So tiring! i got called up for a Columbo turn on my last standby and it was damn tiring loR!! the call lights went on like christmas lights and i didn't get any chance to rest for the whole trip! i just hope i dun get called up during Auckland cos I am on standby there too..

well, shall update soon ya?

sad day

my friend commited suicide by jumping from the seventh storey of a multi storey carpark.



she struggled and passed away from multiple internal injuries; plus she hit her head and her brain was clogged with blood....her brain died an hour after the shock. her kidneys ruptured, and her bones were shattered.

she just turned 21.



i wish i knew her better.




we still dunno why she did what she did....
but it doesn't seem that she did what she did.


its weird.

Rest In Peace, Regine.

Shopping

I have the sudden urge to go to Bangkok on a shopping spree.

The beginning of a new journey

I'm back!

Osaka and Perth was great!
I met some really nice people and made many new friends.
wonder if we'll keep in contact or ever see each other again...

didn't buy much things, due to the short time there and also cos i didn't know where to go..
but i bought mostly food stuffs!

tidbits and crackers and chips and all haha!

will upload pics and give details soon!!

Busy Busy

The past few weeks have been a blur....yet it seems like so much time has passed.

I just completed my SEP training, with ongoing exams today and tomorrow.
It was only 6 days.

yet it seemed like 6 weeks.
i wonder why time seems to be moving so fast yet so slowly.


**


sometimes i wish that i was still with HOTstuff, enjoying the bustle, stressing out over stressful things, deadlines and photoshoots.

sometimes i think back and i wished i did things in other ways, rather than how i reacted.

i suddenly don't feel like flying anymore.

but i miss my batch mates when they are not around.
i always feel so happy to see them, and i even wake in the weekend, missing classes.

crazy.


**


apart from exams, we have to prepare a performance for our graduation.
which is a waste of ime, if you ask me.

with all the training and exams going on, who has time to plan and organise so many things!

and it doesn't help that the foreign crew are not very responsive, and expect the graduation to just form itself. I became chairman without my knowledge. and i tell you, it's a pain when you are facing this shit when you already have so much on your mind!

no thanks to kai and christine to keep pushing me to have some action.


**


i think there might be something wrong with me.
i hate having my heart broken...it doesn't seem to heal properly.
maybe i'm just a horrible person that no one cares about.

i feel ugly.


**


i think i need plastic surgery.


**


my thoughts are so random hor.

i need more intellectual stimulation.