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Diary From the Attic

I Hate Parting

They are going to organize a farewell party for me.  How nice!  On Monday, Michel, Noubi and Laurent will leave for Cairo and will not be seeing them in the near future.  From time to time, I do feel quite emotional towards it.

I hate parting.

And towards the end of the night, Michel has invited me to dine with him and his wife in the same Chinese restaurant again.  As I have nothing planned, it was really very nice of them.  We played “Black Maria “ till 2 am.  I lost the first game.  And made three continuous mistake in the second game, hence lost.  But it was really funny.  Something like this. Merela first wanted to “take all” but I stopped her with a big sacrifice.  Subsequently, she wanted to “take all” again and I managed to stop her.  But the sad thing was I took the spade of queen by mistake.  In the third try, I did not stop her but I could have done so.

But as for the last game, I won by mile!  And Michel lost.

Really sad that I have to part with Merela and God knows when I will be seeing her again.  Really sad.

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Diary From the Attic

Am I Getting Fed Up Living in Paris?

Can’t believe that I have watched “The Fifth Element” again.  This time was with Aurore.  We went for diner (hippo) and throughout the night, I have thoroughly enjoyed it.  She is a good company and has a lot of interesting stories regarding on all her missions.

Edwin really liked my message “One Simple Day” just like my last McDonald’s story long time ago.  Great guy, he is.

Claude is going off tomorrow morning at 11 and most likely, will not be seeing him in the near future.

Just eight more man-days and one more weekend in Paris.  When people asked me whether I got fed up with Paris or will I miss Paris and so on, I really don’t know.  I have nothing to look forward to but on the other hand, I welcome some varieties in life.  Therefore, I remain as neutral.  As I have said before, each time I come to Paris, I carry back some different memories.  This time will not be exceptional.

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Diary From the Attic

A Good Time at Sans Sanz

Seeing the BNP becomes a pain, don’t really know why but I found myself so difficult to fix it.  Everybody is so engrossed with their work and there was hardly any conversation.  For me, it is so hard to keep myself quite.  When I returned to SocGen, I felt like I returned to the paradise.

Michel will not be going to Cairo because he is a political refugee.  Aurore and Claude joked that I will have to go instead and I joked that I shall be having a holiday there instead.

At nine, I met up with Claude, Joe, Lionel, his girlfriend Mary and of course Claude’s sister who is from the south of France and currently having a holiday in Paris.  We went to a restaurant pub (called Sans Sanz).  Very trendy place and very cheap beer as well.  Our waitress is so cool.  I just love that type, slim and cool.

And Lionel’s girlfriend is so pretty, dressing in a Chinese costume. Slim and French.  They have met each other in SocGen and love at first sight in one of the training.  And they are even going to get married.  So nice of them.

And the dinner was very good. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  I shall always remember the good time I have (reward).

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Diary From the Attic

Classical Concert in a Church at Paris

In order to adjust back to Paris time, I woke up at nine in the morning.  Kind of the first time in Paris do I wake up so early.  I even had my breakfast.

Called up a few friends in Paris but they were either not in or fast asleep.  I was fed up and went out alone.  As always, Virgin Megastore . Never know that they only open at twelve on Sundays.  Nothing really exciting (except one record Savage Garden) therefore I proceed to WH Smiths.  And they only open at one-thirty.

Didn’t buy another album, nor any book.

Returned to the hotel finding that Grace has left two messages for me.  An invitation to a classical music in one of the churches in Paris.

The music was good.  Have my favourite – “The Four Seasons”.  Not to forget that I have watched “Romeo and Juliet” again.

We all had French dinner together.

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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.

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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.

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From the Attic Travel Blog

More Factory Outlets and Gambling

Second day of my holiday.  Planned to visit the Grand Canyon today but Colin changed the plan.  It is true that there isn’t any point of going there if we do not set off early in the morning.  So we had a very basic breakfast at the inn and set off to one of the factory outlet.  (Again?)

Driving in the middle of the desert was fun.  I mean I always see it in the movie and today, I was actually doing it.  Straight road (have to watch out for traffic lights) with valleys of sand all round me.  Rocky hills from a distance, bright sunlight. Just me and my car and my radio on.  It was just like a dream.

Bought a few T-shirts and really wanted to buy a pair of trousers.  Sadly, I am not fat enough to fit into any of the US size.  Swear I have to get fatter.  As for Colin, he has got some clothing as well.  Basically, we both like to shop.

Returned to MGM Grand (Casino) for buffer lunch.  The food was good.  Really good.  One of the best I have for my whole US trip so far.  I virtually clean the plate up.

After lunch, we went for another factory outlet (that’s right, again).  Spent a great deal of time there and visited the biggest shopping mall in Nevada.  Pity that we have arrived too late and we ended up in yet another book store.  Very depressed that I couldn’t get any book at all.  I think I needed more time.

Had dinner at Monte Carlo.  We paid the tips up front (paid before eating) and indeed, we were treated differently.  And the cashier actually underline the tip on the ticket.  The food was not that fantastic.  Maybe I was still too full with the heavy lunch.  One thing good about Las Vegas is that the food is very cheap. I mean for ten bucks I can have a good buffer here.  We both agree that it would have been a good place for honeymoon.

Colin spent quite a lot in gambling.  In the end, he has donated eighty bucks to the society of Las Vegas.  As for me, it is always interesting to watch the players and the play.

The whole day, I have been thinking about Uncle Pang.  Not sure if he has been to Las Vegas or not, but it will be a paradise for him.  So, I am going to send him a postcard and advise him to come over one day.  And inevitably, I have been thinking about JP.  What to do?

And right now, Colin is enjoying one of the … ahem … movie. As for me, I have seen it all.

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From the Attic Travel Blog

Goodbye Autumn, Las Vegas Here I Come!

Hey, finally today was the beginning of my holiday.  Right now, I am in Las Vegas, the city of desert full of casinos and very gorgeous women.  Okay, let’s rewind a bit and talk about what happened yesterday.

In fact, I have to go back to two nights ago.  Thursday night that is.  Well, Colin slept early but I thought of going to the Social Centre for no one would be around the subsequent night.

Went down there at eleven and met Kevin, Ciaran and their mates.  Decided to go downtown with them, we set off at eleven thirty.  There were altogether six of us.  James (American), Ciaran, Kevin, two Austrians and myself.  It was, later on, quite obvious that the two Austrians felt in love with each other.  The gorgeous little one is called Racheal and the guy is called Mack (?).  Anyway, we went to the pub called Scotland Yard and just in time for the last call (good timing, huh?).  We ordered one round of shots and each ordered their “main course”.  I ordered one beer.  In the end, we ended up having one more shot and I was basically pissed.

As it was kind of early, we decided to go the Cadelae Ranch (?).  The one I went for during my last trip (by the way, exactly one year minus two weeks ago).  We had some fun but the atmosphere was different. Last time we had (or more correctly I knew of) more nice babes. S tayed there till three thirty and had to get up at half six.

Okay, back to yesterday.  Obviously I was very tired the next day.  We finished the coding and busy doing documentation.  In the end, I think the presentation was pretty good with me doing the “keyboard man” and Ciaran be the Mr. Charm.  Autumn stopped me and examined my tie and she seemed to like my “tie of the day” as well.

Lunch time came and I felt very void.  Really missing those great guys I have meet.  I always have that kind of feeling.  One week is really too short to get to know anybody in depth.  It is just like another phase of life and one has to just move on.

Started packing up for a while and had to meet up with CH at two.  Three of us (Colin, CH and me) went to Charles Town Mall and “wasted” three and a half hours there.  If only we held the car key (which we didn’t).  CH wanted to buy toys for his kids.  What to do?

Headed off the Chicago at half five, caught in a traffic jam and for me, I just slept in the back seat of the car all the way.  Colin and I wanted Pizza but CH was the fussy one.  In the end, we ended up in the Hard Rock Café where the food was not really that fantastic.  Returned to the Centre at half past twelve, packed up my stuffs, sent a fax to Jennifer as I haven’t filled in my time report (and I can’t because the floppy drive of this notebook doesn’t work).

Hence (wrapped the long story), slept at two o’clock and have to wake up at half past five this morning.  Not enough!

The flight was at nine in the morning and arrived at Las Vegas sometime in the late afternoon (another 2 hours different).  At a first glaze, the place really looks like a desert to me (yet to find some cactuses).  But seriously, really amazed in how wonderful this place is.  Took a lot of photographs and hope they all turn out fine.

Sorting out the accommodation and the rental of the car was really a headache; but in the end, we have got it all sorted out.  The motel (called “Comfort Inn”) really looks like the one in Pulp Fiction but it is not as bad I hope.

Went out and had a very nice (and inexpensive) dinner.  We had the main course – Steak and Lobster – for just seven bucks each.  Colin gambled a few times.  The first time, he put in twenty bucks and got back the original amount (he could have more if he pulled out earlier).  The second time he walked in, he lost thirty bucks.  His favourite is the Roulette and as for me, I just don’t want to get into gambling.

Called up my Dad this afternoon and it is always a pleasure talking to my old folks.  The whole street (called the ‘Strip’) was full of neon light attraction and of course, with a lot of people.  The way that the casinos spend building those wonders is just unbelievable.  My favourite one is the Treasure Island.  At around ten, we saw a large group of people gathering outside the Treasure Island.  First I must (try to) describe this hotel.  On the right hand side of the Hotel, there was a large ship (later on found out that it is a fleet from the British Navy).  On the left hand side, there was yet another smaller one (the pirate ship).  These two ships are separated by a bridge and the ‘sea’.

At ten, music began to play.  Two pirates in a small boat rowed towards the pirate ship and the play started.  True as I predicted, the one on the right moved towards the centre of the ‘sea’ and a quarrel started.

They fired at each other and got to say that the effort was very realistic.  Water shooting off from the ‘sea’ (as cannon missed the target), building on fire (again, missed) and ship on fire.  The effort was just great and really can’t find any other words to describe it.  Anyway, in the end, the British ship sank (partially) into the sea.  Really worth the fifteen minutes wait. Mirage Hotel is great as well.  A lot of decent waterfalls and they simulated a volcano eruption.  Using a lot of fire and lighting effect.  I just love the place.

What will we do tomorrow?  You will see.

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Diary From the Attic

Life Not Complete Without Love?

First day of IBSS (Implementing Business Solution School), very disappointed with the course.  Basically, 2 days on test condition (which is very dry) and another 2 days on Visual Basic.  Just 4 ½ days, not enough to get to know anybody in depth.  But that is the way things go, not like Accent on C/S.

In US, they really discriminate against the smokers.  Heard from one guy that US government may ban cigarette in 5 to 10 years’ time.  Possibly Singapore will do it before US.  Maybe it is a good idea, why not?

Left at five thirty, had a quick and crap dinner.  Headed for Walmart at half six.  Bought 4 CDs (and Colin bought only one) and walked into a book store.  Not really time to do any decent shopping.  Colin discovered some study notes for literature.  Hence I bought one for “Romeo and Juliet” and one for “Emma”.  Hope I will understand the literature better that way.

The last bus was full, so one of the guy called for a taxi.  Had one pizza and 2 bottles of beer at the Social Centre.  Really felt very tired and tonight we planned to sleep early.

Got to say one lady from IBSS is quite pretty.  Slim and attractive.  Hmm.

Talked about JP with Colin and before he dozed off, he suggested that we (me and JP) should sit down and talk things over.  But what is it to talk because she is very likely with another guy knowing that she can’t live without love.

And Mohamed was wrong, there is a step up transformer (the one which convert 110V to 220V) but it is too expensive and just not worth it.

Actually it is pretty sad to remain single.  Those lies about being free and single and is able to do whatever one wants.  Easy said than done.  Don’t think I will ever have the courage to come up to a girl and you know … All in all, it is just loneliness.  One’s life will not be completed without someone one loves.  The world is so big, full of emptiness and void.  Then again, it’s life and it may as well turn good later one.  Who knows?

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Diary From the Attic

Whirlwind Tour at Chicago

One of our Strategic Manger (let’s call him CH) has rented a car for the whole week (USD 160.00).  So you can guess what we do for the whole day.

Woke up by myself at six thirty mainly because the curtain was not popularly closed.  Shortly after I woke up, in the mist of trying to get back to sleep again, Colin called me up and told me that he has been awaken since four thirty.  So we went for an early breakfast.

(Met up two guys from Shanghai AC during breakfast)

Oh, not to forget to mention that before we went for breakfast, I approached the reception area and asked if it was possible to move into Colin’s room.  I first asked for the supervisor.  And the girl (pretty – Italian?) actually fixed our ‘problem’ for us.  We had some nice chats and I learnt that she just came back from Italy.

The big shopping area (or ‘outlet’) will not be opened until eleven.  Therefore we took a drive to a park (Fox Lake) and had a nice walk there.  Kind of very scenic but it was a bit too brown.  Think it will look a lot better during the summer.  Met a man who was fishing which his son and his step son (from Philippine).  Talk about hookers in LA.  Kind of nice to talk to.

And had a good lunch at T.G.I. Friday’s.

The big shopping area is called Gurnee Mills.  Bought one Zippo XIII lighter with a pretty Petty Girl picture in front.  It is really pretty and come with a trading card.  The next one I bought was a dog statue for Annie.  Hope she likes it as it is pretty big.  Finally, the book – Romeo and Juliet.  With that, I hope to understand the literature better.

Wanted to go to the theme park called Six Flags but it was booked for private party.  At first felt very disappointed but we soon another place of interest.

That is another factory outlet.  Bought three ties and one pair of Timberland shoe.  It was kind of a rush as we walked into the shop ten minutes before closing.  But we got what we wanted.

Next, we head for Chicago for a pizza.  CH was tired in the middle of the drive and I had to take over (as Colin needs to direct us).  The pizza was not that good but at least we have been to Chicago.

Well, what was I thinking of for the whole day?  I kept think that my life will not be completed without a lover (and obviously you know whom I refer to).  I can try to be happy spending all the money and time doing what I like but I have no one to share the happiness with.

And I have already set my target for the coming year 1998. That is:

  • Get promoted to consultant
  • Get my Singapore Citizenship
  • Get a girlfriend