Wednesday, June 26, 2013

From Changi to Texas, a journey to the west.

It was one hell of a week prior to departure, refer to previous post. On departure day itself I only started packing my bags 2hrs before I was to leave the house for the airport. Well, it was the most last minute packing that I've done for any trips. Oh well, always a first for anything. Arrived at the airport expecting the rigorous security check as usual but what greeted us was an empty check-in counter with staff awaiting the passengers' arrival. Was all done in less than 5min and we ended up with ample time to wait. Talking about rushing to wait, oh the irony.

 Red-eye flight.
 
 Despite the stereotypes, I know I'm in good hands when I see this. #SIAgirls
 
 Goodbye Changi

The flight took us to Moscow for a short transit, aka refueling I guessed. It was touch and go, all over in less than 2hrs.

 
 Cheap, and some China dude bought like 7 large ones at one go... 
Cheaper still. 
 
 Obligatory travel shot.
 It was hello and goodbye Mother Russia, I will be back again someday to shower you with more love and time.
 
 Obligatory travel shot, again.
 

Am so glad the flight wasn't full for both legs. Oh did I mention the Russia ladies were... Interesting, some of them la, not everyone. ;) Krisworld was surprisingly disappointing, movies wise.

Thanks for seeing me through. Luckily I had a contingency.

Was asked for age verification when I asked for my wines and gin onboard, like wtf?? Really.. And I'll never say no to airline food, unless they are like cai xin and 熟面. Those two are my achilles' heel 30000 feet in the air.
The menu for the day.




Oh man I felt so fat prior to the arrival to the heaviest nation in the world. 
Not to mention the wines, gin, whiskeys and cognac.. Haha.. 

The marvel about the different time zones meant that we arrived the same day we departed, and earlier than expected due to, quoting the captain, favourable winds and conditions. Told the sister unit that we left one hot for somewhere hotter but thankfully there were no haze nor hailstones.

This wasn't our plane but I kinda like it.
 
 The surprisingly lax immigration check, I had even removed my belt in advance on the plane in lieu for the rigorous check that never came. 
 Touristy shot. 
1st drink on American soil to combat the heat, and the flavour is different and a lot gassier 
 
It was 2hr drive to Austin from Houston with nothing but the searing sunlight and open ranches along the sides. And hailing from a land scarce city, secretly I was thinking about all the real estates potential HAHA..

Traffic congestion was the first thing we had to clear
 
 I always love the multi-tiered vehicle bridges linking the roads overseas.
 So Singaporean to think of real estate, but you can't blame me!
 First American meal at Rudy's, the ribs and brisket and sausages with a pretty nice sause.
 The sun in the sky at 1925h

And finally dusk at 2103h.
Found myself waking up at 0445h local time after going to bed at 2300h, which was an achievement in itself the latter.

Now, it is time for breakfast! 

Monday, June 24, 2013

Changes *edited with pix*

No pictures this week, not that I didn't take any but I'm using the iPad now. The house is in a mess with boxes all stacked up. The past few weeks had been crazy packing the house in lieu for renovation works.

 Came across the various prezzies I received from years ago.. 
Black and white. 
 
 

The haze was bad. Reaffirmed my ideal solution of building a dome over them just so they can smoke themselves to death while at the same time being entertained by the darnest things said by their minister. Slash and burn farming is nature, not man made, all hail the wise minister already. Ahhahahahaha.

 Felt like I was driving in the Twilight Zone most of the week.
 
 Came to this really old and*ahem* looking loo somewhere in the midwest.
 

But I managed to catch two movies, had supper and a steamboat dinner. Now you see me was pretty good while World War Z felt like a L4d ripoff, but the latter was decent too. 

 
Looking really healthy, not! Haha. 

This poster for an upcoming movie that shared the same name as the scary Ch 8 drama of the yesterday that scared the shit out of most children back then. 
 
 
Thrashed many things, mostly physical and some emotional. Baggages if I prefer to coin it that way. The speed of the entire packing process could have been faster had I not spent time reminiscing the past memories associated; or re-exorcising the ghosts of the past.

Was also reminded of how nasty and mean a person I was at times; am still perhaps? I hoped I've changed for the better, most of the time at least. Like that once when yh wondered how is it that I liked that one girl then, and I replied in a very matter-of-factly manner that because it was a decade ago before breaking out grinning. Haha. I probably didn't know what I wanted then; I changed.

In 24 hrs time I'll be jetting off to the US of A. 7 years from the last visit, but a good 19 years had past since I visited the Big Apple, Disney world, Kennedy Space, DC, Niagara Falls. Yeah I was blessed to have travelled there in 1994 when the twin WTC towers were still around. They were even the backdrop in one of my photo. Revisiting these places after almost two decades, mixed feelings since knowing how some of these places have changed since then, a trip of rediscovery I suppose.

*i was stuck for a good 15 min starring at the screen while random memories flashed across*

They are not meant for the public realm.

It is gonna be a busy day of moving boxes to the storage. I stopped counting at box no15, of which those boxes contain mostly of my books and other reading materials. It got pretty overwhelming because they were usually in a out of sight out of mind status quo. Haha so I gave up counting. All good. *grin*.

Disappearing for a while now.

Monday, June 17, 2013

In the middle of summer and dying from the humidity and heat, with an occasional dose of haze from our overly friendly neighbour who likes to share this gift.

Took him a SEAL career to finally find himself.

Somewhat comforting.


D.I.Y. candy packs.
The days whereby ppt was short and simple, nothing too flashy.
Weird craving; not constipating.

The nerd/geek.
The Straits Times 15th June 2013, but I vividly remember the month back in 2004.
Airborne! All the way! 177 BAC.
Summer in full swing.