Category: My Good Life

Categories
Diary From the Attic

Cinquième Element

Last night was bad, I slept at six in the morning.  Force myself to get up at midday but I failed (once again).  Lucky the room service called at three and I managed to get out the room at four.  Did some shopping and headed off to Paris centre immediately.

Knowing that the show “Cinquième Element” or in English, “Fifth Element”, is so popular, I bought the ticket in advance.  Once again, thanks to Aurore’s Card, I bought the ticket in special rate.

Just before I left the room, I have noticed a magazine at my study room.  It tells me all the good restaurants around Paris.  I took a look and selected some of them near Chatelet.  It was an Italian restaurant and the food was fine.

That show “Cinquième Element” was really good.  Especially, I love the part about the fifth element, which was a heroine.  I just love heroine.  A lot of special effects with great sound quality.  What more do I want?  I still contemplating whether to watch “Romeo and Juliet” again or this one as I still have one credit left.

Categories
Diary From the Attic

Good Time Bad Time

Ridicules as it seems, I called up JP at three last night.  She sound very cheerful and oh, how much I miss her sweet voice.  Been talking about work here and there and her ex-ex, J, called just before we broke up and returned all her photo albums to her.  Also, she got herself a mobile phone.  So, life seems to work out really good for her.  As for mine, it is just a mess.  God, how can I ever get out of this?

I ended up not being able to sleep for the whole night and went to sleep at 7 am.  Obviously, I couldn’t get up.  Eventually, I walked into the office at 10:30 am.  Sophie was “concerned” and I quickly went up and apologised.

The office was very empty today.  Guess a lot of them took Friday off and have 4 consecutive days of holiday.  Other than Aurore and Claude, all of us were in the office.

At five, everybody started to leave and I left at 5:30 pm.  Usually early.

Laurent has invited me for a party tonight and therefore, he picked me up from my hotel.  More and more people joined in and in the end, I have lost count of the total number of people.  I guess that was around fifteen.

We went to this Chinese restaurant with Karaoke.  Started from 7:30 pm and we all stayed up to 2 am.  Kind of crazy but I was having a great time.  Laurent’s girlfriend is a Vietnamese and is actually very pretty.  The songs varied from Cantonese to Mandarin to English to French to even Vietnamese.

It was a great party and when Laurant drove me back to the hotel, we shared a lot of our personal life.  He is a great guy.

Categories
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.

Categories
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.

Categories
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!

Categories
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?

Categories
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.

Categories
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?

Categories
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.

Categories
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.