Posh Asian Nosh

That's "asian" as in "indian" food.

The lonely alcoholic:

Always the first to arrive at dinners, my mission is to try and get trashed before the others get there *grin* Unfortunately, milk and vodka don't mix very well and it took me awhile to down this lassi cocktail.

Benares food pr0n


Party mode on my camera. W00t w00t!

Wall of Fame

"I piddy da fool... that smells like Wazzz" *grin*

Thanks KC&B for everything :) I'm betting that wall is going to fill up pretty dang quickly!

29 years and 7 days

It's the point in my life when my body betrays me. It's _very_ obvious that I'm not 18 anymore. It's the point when, last night, I stood in a line for a club and I couldn't face it. 30mins later, I was in a cab home. Toooo cold. Shivering in my puffy jacket, the prospect of having to wait another 5 mins seemed like torture. Tonight, I was given a choice of going to a bar for cocktails, or chilling out at home. Option B please! As KC says, "Reenie's soft!" *lol*

To everyone who thought of me on my big day, thank you :) Thank you to Missy W, KC&B for the birthday lemon meringue and chicken wings *grin*

KC - What's with the clevage shot?!?

PIKACHU

...I CHOOSE YOOOU!

I could almost see the giant Pikachu breaking free from the ropes and rampaging through NYC. Stomping on those little screaming kids, "Mommy! It's Pika - *squish*" Pikachu's soo cute :)

Our yummy Butterball turkey (good job Becky!):

The story goes, Butterball turkeys are so-named because they've been injected with butter to make it tender and tasty. I just did some research on Google: "Butterball has become a Thanksgiving staple and is known for its tender and juicy turkeys. In fact, the Butterball name was chosen to characterize a new, special breed of broad-breasted white feather turkeys, not because the turkeys contain butter, as many mistakenly believe."

Hehehe... Next Turkey Day, I might actually try injecting a turkey with butter just for fun :)

Conflicted

In the land of consumerville, I'm torn between what to buy.
The girly girl in me goes, "Get yourself a nice clutch!"
The nerd in me goes, "*Gasp* 1TB hdd!"

Is there a compromise? Well, in 6 days, I've bought:

• A top from Armani Exchange
• A hoodie from Abercrombie & Fitch
• An iPhone
• A singlet top & jumper from Esprit
• 3 pairs of socks that I didn't really need (but were really cheap!)
• A haircut and an eyebrow wax
  
• A pair of Jessica Simpson heels (*shocking*, I know)
• Half a copy of Leopard (family version to be shared with KC)
• A 500GB external hdd!

Everything seems unbelievably cheap. I'm not sure if it actually is, or if I'm just buying for the sake of buying. I walk into Armani Exchange to be greeted by Felipe.
Felipe: "Hello, is anyone helping you?"
Me: "No, but that's ok, I can help myself."
Felipe: "Oh, let me take that for you. I'll start a room for you and when you're ready, you just let me know."

"Start a room" for me? Wow. Well, if it's really necessary, I guess I should make the most of it. I'm assuming he's on commission.
Me: "Felipe, I need a smaller size... Felipe, this one has hanger marks on the shoulders, can you get me another?... Felipe, they _all_ have hanger marks. Can you get me one that hasn't been hung up?"

Sometimes, I just like taking the piss *grin*

So, what was I doing in Armani Exchange to begin with? Well, I was on Fifth Avenue, and I was store hopping just for fun :) I didn't really think I'd be buying anything. Until I tried on a really nice red top from AE, "just for fun". And realised, "Hey, the exchange rate means divide the price by 2. HEY, it's only 30 squids for an Armani top!! I could never get an Armani top for 30 squids in Rondon!"

There begins my first taste of American consumerism.

The iPhone is a whole new ballgame. I should've done my research better. Don't really want to get into it here, but I'm really not cool enough to have one. I have too much fear of bricking a very expensive toy. However, with the help of BL and AdF, I've managed to get it to some sort of state. The rest remains to be seen. Thanks BL & AdF :)

What's with the 500GB external hdd? Well, to be realistic, I don't really need one TB. However, I do need to backup my sht before I do an upgrade to Leopard ;) So 500GB is my compromise. It also means no more deleting my fave movies from my laptop! :D

Unfortunately, it also means that until I do my expenses for the month of October, I shouldn't be making anymore extravagant purchases. The gorgeous red Gucci clutch will just have to stay at Saks *sigh*

How on earth am I going to lug home all my crap?

Bon Chon

I really look forward to dinners in NYC. Especially when there are locals to take me around :) Food here, it's on a whole different scale from Rondon. Something as simple as Bon Chon crispy chicken wings, can keep me happy for the entire night. Happy enough to even survive a night out at an RnB club! *lol*

I have decided. If I could create an animal, it'd have at least 10 wings. No drumsticks :P Yummmm...

How to eat chicken wings:

The "Pincer" technique
Use two fingers on each hand only. Less mess, however, more chances of wing flying out of your hands if munching too enthusiastically.

The "Praying Mantis" technique
Use your nifty forefingers to clamp and position the wing while feasting.

The "Oriental Hybrid" technique
When fingers aren't enough, bring on the chopsticks.

How NOT to eat chicken wings:
The "Serenade the Wing with a Boy Band Song First" technique.
+10 points for style, -50 points for effectiveness :)

Balthazar!

It's the place everyone keeps mentioning, and when we tried to get in on Saturday, it was packed. So Missy W and I decided to try our luck this morning. We got there just in time for...

... the change over. Meaning, at 11:45am, we were 15 mins too late for brekky, and 15mins too early for lunch! D'oh. Didn't stop us from splitting a croissant while waiting for the lunch menu to kick in though :)

Biggest bowl of mocha I've had in my life:

And it's not just the camera angle:

It was big enough to cover the menu!

Everything looks like Lego

This city will eat me alive. I got lost on my first day here, and I was only a block away from KC&B's place *lol* Serves me right for getting distracted by M&M World.

1.5 hours in a line, and 86 floors up the Empire State Building later, the view looks like this:

Can you spot the Statue of Liberty? :)
The New York skyline blows my mind.

Guggenheim

The trick is, start from the top and work your way to the bottom :) I walked up one level before I realised there was a lift :P

I love just looking at this museum. Clean lines and minimalistic.

Actually, it was a bit of a shock for me to see it in real life. I had only previously seen it in scenes from Matthew Barney's Cremaster 3. I don't think I realised it was the Guggenheim when I was watching the movie. So it felt eerily familiar to walk through the doors and see the spiralled levels. If I had to say what was worth it about the 8 hours of my life that I lost in watching Matthew Barney's Cremaster series, I'd say the scenes from the Guggenheim were amongst my favourite. They were visually spectacular. From my blurry memory anyway.

The rest of the 8 hours in Cremaster were pretty much rubbish. However, I did remember the Chrysler building scenes and made a special effort to visit that building too. Meh. Not very exciting, especially since visitors are only allowed to enter the lobby area :( But, I can at least tick it off my list.

Central Park

I never realised how huuuge this park is!

MoMA

I think it's hilarious when people stare at paintings like these up close.

Yes. It's red :)

The great thing about the Museum of Modern Art, is that you're allowed to take as many photos as you like of the artworks.

Guess the artists:

(Top: Seurat;
Bottom: Klimt & Van Gogh)



(Top: Warhol;
Bottom: Magritte - bet you thought it was Dali ;) )

This took me by surprise. Well, I wasn't actually suppose to photograph this one since it's part of an exhibition :P

This is a drawing by Seurat! The guy who paints with dots (pointilism). His drawings are pretty close to perfect. It's amazing.

Welcome to the Big Apple

Traffic here in NYC is horrendous. It took me TWO HOURS on the shuttle van to get from JFK to KC&B's place. I was traumatised. Lesson learnt: Always listen to the locals when they tell you to catch a cab ;)

Just quickly

So, what does a paranoid neurotic oriental carry in her handluggage? Anything precious:

• Passport + e-ticket
  
• 10 pairs of undies (Lost my luggage once, never want that experience again. My undies go where I go)
• Toiletries
  
• Nintendo DS - Zelda, yay! Thanks AdF!
  
• Camera
• Shuffle
• Multiple adapters/chargers
  
• USB cables
• Sunnies (fingers crossed there will be sun)
• Laptop
  

I can't remember the last time I went on holidays for this long... Daliborus, I took your parents card with me! Hopefully, will get around to writing it on the plane :)

Errrr

I think I'm a little unprepared for New York. I looked up Google Maps today to check out where I should be heading, and I was a little surprised by...

HOW HUUUGE this city is!

Ruh Roh. At least everything's in a grid. You know what's worse? I tried looking up a subway map...

What the hell?!?

Here in Rondon, the tube looks like this:

Nice straight lines, and I barely leave Zone 2 :P

You know what?

Snazzy interface or not, facebook is too fcking messy and I can't figure out how to do anything!!! It's one of those applications which requires friends to show you how to do something before you can do it. Personally, I'd like to know how PdF mentioned my attendance at Bacon University with him.

Wtf.

I can't be arsed. Thank gawd nobody's introduced my Mother to facebook.

Faux pas

A team calendar has been setup. So I decided to organise a team drinks event.

Note to IT guys:
"Hey, where's a nice bar for team drinks? Promise to invite you ;)"
Reply to me:
"Majingos"

I do some research, Majingos looks alright.

Note to everyone:
"I need something to look forward to at the end of the month, let's go out on 30 NOV"
Reply to me:
"Sounds good, where shall we go?"
Note to everyone:
"Majingos. Apparently it's where all the cool kids hang out."
Reply to me:
"That's a STRIP CLUB!"

I look up from my screen and stare at my colleague, "NO WAY".

Who exactly is included in "Note to everyone"? My boss. Global Head of Learning & Development.

The IT guys hear about it and call me up: "Did you seriously send that out? Why did you listen to me?"
Me: "I didn't know that's what a Dancing Club is!"

Dang nerds.

Grease me up, lassie!

Didn't believe me when I said I worked hard before go-live? WELL, I worked so hard, work gave me a voucher to spend at Mayfair Spa :) So 4:55pm today, I was packed up and out the security door! I thought I chose an aromatherapy salt glow therapy wrap, but I kept on getting asked what sort of detox wrap I wanted *Shrug* A wrap is a wrap, and I've never had a wrap before so it didn't really matter that much.

I tried out the sauna, and for the first time in over a month, I felt warm. A little too warm. My nose hairs were burning everytime I breathed in so I had to leave :P

The therapist hands me a pair of disposable undies.
Me: "Errr, this is going to sound really stupid, but, which side goes infront?"
Therapist: "I believe the big side goes infront."
(Which when you think about it, doesn't make sense. Look at your own undies, the big side is for your big backside!)

Getting wrapped itself was interesting. A body scrub/massage is always good. Except... suddenly, a woman is sensually rubbing her hands all over my chest! It's not much of a chest, but it's still mine! I try hard not to smirk or giggle as I imagine what I can tell my guy friends about this experience *lol* OMG! Awkward? A little, yes. Especially when it's chilly in the room and I was cutting some serious glass :P

'Nuff said.

Facebook

It's hard being anti-facebook. It's almost like friends pressuring you to take that first cigarette. I stood my ground, I really didn't want to join it. Now that I have, I'm kinda not impressed with myself :P The usual conversations around the table use to be:
"Facebook is great. You should join it! You'll love it!"

But why?

"Because everyone's on it. I've caught up with so many people since I've joined."

But I'm already in touch with those I want to be in touch with.

"People from primary/high school are getting in touch with me."

Primary school was a blur. I hated high school. With the exception of a few close friends I still keep in touch with, it really doesn't bother me to be contacted by randoms.

AdF was always right in describing me as a hater :) And I wish I knew earlier that I wasn't the only one standing against facebook. It would've been easier to deal with. It's funny, you'd think I had social leprosy for refusing to join facebook for so long. Even funnier, the ones that gave me the hardest time about joining, are still the ones that give me the hardest time now that I _have_ joined. The ones that never tried to coax me are the happiest to see me there. Actually, when I think about my past a little bit more, I shouldn't be surprised.

There's another part of facebook I don't like. It's too open. Everyone sees. Everyone can put things up about you. Now I'm worried friends are going to see the worst pictures of me, or read the worst things about me. Now I'm worried about my employers finding me on facebook. Do I have things to hide? Do you want _your_ employer to know what you get up to after work hours?

So why did I join? Two reasons: pictures of my niece are posted up on facebook, and LT told me to. For some reason I always end up following LT's advice. Ukrainians always give good advice, right? :)

I was also drunk from a night out with a Pole :P

If you really want to know why I think facebook is cool, it's because of the technology behind it. It gets about 100,000 new users per day. The interface is admittedly pretty snazzy. The main killer is that it's meant to be really easy to build and share facebook applications between users. Facebook has potential for viral marketing your product. But of course, nobody tells you these things when you ask them "Why join?"

Acid test

If you ask me, one of the hardest things in a relationship is introducing your partner to your mates. They're the ones who wouldn't think twice about being brutally honest when you ask, "So what do you think?". My parents would never say anything to upset me. I always get the usual, "Whatever makes you happy dear," line from my Mum. (Well actually, these days it's more, "You're getting closer to 30 dear," line from my Mum ;) ) Mates on the other hand, are the harshest critics.

I will admit, when I heard my mate had jumped on a plane to be with a girl half a world away, I was worried. Who was this girl? Who would jump on a plane for someone they hardly knew? Was this just a ridiculously romantic gesture to impress a hot chick? So I jumped on a plane last weekend too :P And met up with the new couple in Cologne.

I was... pleasantly surprised :) They get along so well together, you'd be forgiven for thinking they've been friends for years. She's lovely and not at all psychotic (my #1 concern). I know some of the girls my mate has fancied in the past, and none of them seemed quite right as a match. This one's different. This girl, is someone my mate can respect as an equal. Never saw that before in any of the other girls my mate's liked in the past.

I think back to the conversation I had with my mate in our D&M moment.
Me: "Make sure you're not doing this just for a girl."
Mate: "She's not just _a_ girl. I think maybe she's THE girl."

I think back to what Wicky said at his wedding speech, "You have to strike while the iron's hot, or you'll never know and you'll regret it".

I think back to all the times I questioned those people who told me, "When it's right, you just know".

I think my mate did the right thing by jumping on that plane :)

Blabbering

It was an honour that I personally got a chance to speak to George A Romero. If only I hadn't downed 4 beers beforehand *lol* I _actually_ missed Romero's screening of Diary of the Dead!

So there I was waiting in the foyer for the movie to finish, when Mr Romero comes out for the Q&A session! I stalk him into the theater and shuffle to stand next to him.

Mr Romero's back:

Me: "Mr Romero? Can I just say, I love your work. Thank you so much... Dawn of the Dead... (I lose my train of thought)... Oh! (I actually placed a dramatic hand over my heart. *That's* how drunk I was)"
GAR: "Thank you."

I shuffle away with a silly grin on my face. Alcohol. It's an incredible confidence booster :P Later on, I snag me some zombies. These guys spent an hour getting made up, turned up late and missed the movie too!

Faith in Mankind

... Restored!

8:05am. These days, the mornings are a little colder, I'm a little lazier, I'm up a little later. It also means I have to walk to Baker Street to beat the peak hour crush at Marylebone. Sennies plugged in tight, Tiesto's Clublife (JT: "She's got me lovestoned...") blaring in my own personal headspace, double espresso in hand, I head off. Running down the escalators, hopping onto the tube that's awaiting...

SLAM! Doors shut behind me. My music's so loud, I don't hear the warning beeps and I narrowly made it into the carriage.

Hang on...

"SH*T!"

I'm stuck. My massive white handbag trapped between the jaws of the tube door. In embarrassment, I start tugging hard, trying not to spill my espresso and trying hard not to look like an idiot. Fellow commuters take pity on me, two of them start yanking on my handbag with me. A third commuter on the outside starts prying the doors open. Eventually my handbag slides through the gap. I land on my knees, a drop of espresso falls on my camel jacket. All good! :)

"THANKS!" *big grin* (I still have my earphones plugged in)

Help from strangers on the tube. That's something new to me :)

Beeniksterwaztri thanks you...

...for helping us to finish the household booze :)

Only one person threw up in my bathroom *grin* I had to do a costume change mid-party cause errr, "someone bumped me" and my drink spilt all over my clothes :P However, I did manage to stay up past 9pm this time round (4am!), and I was even capable of ordering cabs home for our guests *grin*

Chivalry

Poor MT. He bore the brunt of my diatribe on Saturday *grin* I couldn't help it. When MT fretted and requested one of us GIRLS to call for the bill, I let loose.
Me: "You know, if you want the bill, why don't YOU call for it? You're a guy! Take some action. I took care of getting the tea. Getting the soya sauce. Getting the chilli sauce. Clearing the empty plates. Why can't YOU get the bill?"
MT: "I'm facing the wrong way. You can see the waiters."

That was really the wrong thing to say to me. It's something that someone use to say to me _all_ the time and it's bothered me for the past four-five years.
Me: "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOUR NECK? CAN'T YOU TURN IT? YOU'RE A GUY, TAKE CHARGE."
MT: "You can't have it all. You wanted a metrosexual guy. A guy who's in touch with his feminine side."
Me: "I NEVER asked for a metrosexual! What the hell? I don't care if a guy moisturises!"

Is it really too much to ask? :P I don't care if I'm facing the room. It just exasperates me that I'm the one that always has to flag down the waiter for something at a meal. Guys, stop being so dang lazy. It would be nice, for a change, if I went out for dinner with a guy, and he:
1. Took care of ordering pre-dinner drinks.
2. Asked me what I wanted so he could order it.
3. Flagged the waiter for anything we needed.
4. CALLED FOR THE BILL at the end of the night.

There's only ever been two men I've known who do that. My Dad - and one Mr MacGregor. Lucky you, Mrs MacGregor! Good luck Babsy ;)

Make it so!

It was soo warm and cosy inside the theatre... I couldn't understand most of what was being said... This was my view for most of the play...

(someone with a Dragon Ball Z haircut)

...So I nodded off :P Jean Luc Picard or no, Macbeth wasn't doing anything for me. I liked the idea of a contemporary Macbeth, and I liked the way it was played out on stage. Other than that, wouldn't have a clue what was going on. My Shakespeare is a little rusty :P

After the play, Patrick Stewart was collecting money out the front for charity. It has to be a little odd to be such a celeb. I saw one well past middle-age woman reach over to try and plant a sucker on him :) Patrick Stewart was cordial enough, but you can see that it annoyed him to have his picture taken. I took it anyway :P Then scurried away. Nobody wants to get on Captain Picard's wrong side!

Me: "I gave to the witch, can I have a photo taken with you please?"
PS: "It's going to cost you £100."
Me: "But I'm Australian! That's $200!"

I almost forgot

It's 10pm, I've had a couple of pints with Trini, I'm ready to sleep it off. Then I remember, I have a ticket for EXTE at 11:30pm! Soon, I'm out of my pajamas and back into street clothes.

The premise is a little silly, hair extensions gone wild. Trust me though, this movie, creeped the hell out of me! I hid behind my hands for most of it. and couldn't help shrieking "ZOMG!" The villain is comedic, but just exudes CREEPINESS all the time!

I was planning to get a haircut appointment this weekend. I'm going to give it a miss. Gawd. I'll never get hair extensions in this lifetime.

HR vs IT

This week, I'm trying to take back my social life. I'm trying to start by socialising with work people after work hours. Wednesday night, I'm out with the HR team. It. Is. Different.

I've never felt like an underachiever before *grin* A lot of things come into play. A couple of them are a bit younger than me, and have multiple degrees. One is studying for her doctorate. There are a few extremely strong personalities, and there are definitely a few who take things way too seriously. It's hard to have light hearted bantering going on when people don't get the joke. Questions asked to me that night:
"What is your five year plan?" (it's almost a running joke with me and the HR team)
"What are you looking for in a guy?"
"If you don't have a five year plan, do you have a five point plan?"
"What about an 18 month plan?"

It's a little harder for me. These people know what they want and where they want to be. They're in HR! It's their job to organise other people's careers, so they should be good at organising their own.

How do you explain to those people that you like the freedom not to decide?

Project Manager to me: "Lightweight Liew, when are you going to face reality and make some decisions?"

Thursday night, I'm out with the boys from the IT team. This was when I truly felt ok to just... Be. Fck talking about life plans. Let's talk about girls in short skirts. Let's bond over burgers and beer and shots. Let's bitch about office politics. Let's talk about what gigs are on this weekend. Let's just scull beer. Yup. I sculled my Negro Modelo. I even earnt some admiring glances from the table nearby. Mate, I'm Aussie, mate! By the end of the night, I couldn't stand straight. I was hanging on to the bag strap of a developer for dear life. But you know, that's what I call a decent night out without a care in the world.

And I didn't throw up *beam*

Shooting the breeze with Iz

I love talking to Iz. She'll fill my head with ideas on how men should treat women. Iz is a woman who has to create phantom boyfriends to keep the boys she doesn't want away. Iz's thinking is that a man should always be "hot for the girl". The guy should always call the girl. If the guy doesn't call within 48 hours, then he's playing games, and who's got time for that sht these days? If the guy wants to be with a girl, he'll make it happen. Straight from the start, the guy has to treat the girl like a queen. Suits me :)

Then again, Iz has the attitude and the looks for it, I... don't *grin* It's funny, Iz talks about how a man should always see a girl safely home. Even if he had to take the bus for 2 hours in the wrong direction. No offense to my ex, but he never once bothered to meet me at the train station to walk me through the dodgy park to his place. Or I was always the one spending money on cab fares to his place. Iz would've set fire to my ex :P

I'd kinda like to think that it's possible to meet a guy who'd go out of his way to do things right by me... But these days, it's hard enough to meet a guy who can do something as simple as show up on time :P

Movie time!

About a year ago, I watched City of God. It still remains one of my all time must-watch movies. This movie made me squirm. The thing that got to me was the imagery of kids with guns. Tonight, I had the chance to watch the sequel, City of Men, as part of the BFI London Film Fest! The director Paolo Morelli stuck around to answer questions after the film. However, I left when the presenter started asking questions like, "Tell us about the themes of friendship in your movies". Wtf. What is this, highschool? That's like pointing at a painting and saying, "Tell us about the use of red here". I'm more a "What inspired you to make this movie? Who are these people that have this story to tell?" type of person. So, I didn't stay around for the Q&A.

Next on my list is Exte! Unfortunately, I managed to quadruple book my upcoming weekend :( I have tickets to see Kubrick's Clockwork Orange, Rodriguez's Planet Terror, Patrick Stewart in Macbeth (*squeal*! Captain Picard!), and I forgot our house is having a party >_< Therefore, if anyone wants tickets to Clockwork Orange (I'm gutted :( ) or Planet Terror in Rondon for this Saturday, let me know :P

Also on my list is FrightFest! I can't wait! George A Romero, the Father of Zombie movies, will be making an apperance :D I'll have a chance to watch at least 3 of the movies scheduled before making my way to the airport for a weekend in Cologne *grin* AAAH... Can't wait!

Land of the Giants

On my trip home from Amsterdam, I was contemplating a theory. I wonder if there's a correlation between megalomania and height. Because, I can seriously understand why there would be a lot of shtty short people who would want to conquer the world just to get their own way. Me being one of them of course :P I'd make all the tall people stand at the back :P

The theory was blown when I came home and did a Google search for Chairman Mao's height. He was 1.83m.

It's really difficult for me to go clubbing these days. I value personal space so very much. A Paul van Dyk gig is the last place on earth with personal space. Not only that, this time I was picked on by tall Dutch people before I even got into the club! I fell for the old "tap on the shoulder and pretend it wasn't me" trick... Ah well.

The other thing I hate in universal club culture, are the girls who are obnoxiously obnoxious about their prettiness. The ones that stomp on you with their heels, and flick their disgustingly germy long hair in your face. Those ones. The nasty part of me just wants to grab a handful of hair and rip it out.

The nice part of me just grumbles and puts up with it to prevent deportation charges. U&W, you need to teach me some Dutch swear words! "Bitterballen" just isn't going to cut it.

Anyway, 11:30pm, post Groove Armada, it was time to head off to see PvD at Powerzone. This has to be the nicest pic I've ever taken of PvD :)

There's also one more thing I'd like to mention about Dutch clubbing. What the hell is with the token system these days? Everywhere you go, it's exchange money for tokens to buy drinks. There's always a massive line to buy tokens. There's also that nasty thing they do where they give you the bottle without a cap, forcing you to buy a new bottle everytime you want a drink. Gawd, it's illegal not to give water for free in Australia.

Unfortunately, I was too tired to wake up at 1am to see PvD play at KoKo in Rondon the next night :(

I see you Baby

SHAKIN THAT ASS!

To be honest, I had no idea what Groove Armada were like. I didn't even know any of their songs. I was just going along for fun. What, you mean you don't take a day off to fly to Amsterdam to listen to random DJs for fun? ;) To be honest, I initially thought the support act were Groove Armada, and was disappointed that they sucked so badly *lol* I was falling asleep! It wasn't until Groove Armada got on and sang the words, "Whenever I'm down, I call on you my friend," that I realised, "OH! Groove Armada sang _that_ song!" And of course, there's also the infamous "I See You Baby" song :)

By accident, I took this really cool photo:

Ok, so it's not that cool, but I was never able to take photos like this with my old skool Canon :) There's something called "Intelligent ISO" mode on my new camera. One day, I'll RTFM.

New camera

To be honest, I don't know how to use it :/

I initially bought it for my aunt. But... She left for her holiday and I didn't have time to give it to her beforehand. So it sat in my room. Staring at me. I thought I'd be nice and charge the battery for her. But the nice packaging got ruined. You know how those sticker seals get. So I might as well keep it for myself :P

Don't worry, I bought my aunt a replacement :) I'm not that mean.

Lager Lager Lager Lager!

On a school night :) It's been such a looong time since I've been to a gig. SW4 was way back in August. So it felt good to be out again :) Who cares that it's a school night when it's UNDERWORLD! It's funny, they're one group I never thought I'd see live. The singer's nuts! On my best-live-gigs list, I'd rank them #4. B, this one's for you :)

Drive boy dog boy
Dirty numb angel boy
In the doorway boy
She was a lipstick boy
She was a beautiful boy
And tears boy
And all in your innerspace boy
You had
hands girl boy
and steel boy
You had chemicals boy
I've grown so close to you
Boy and you just groan boy
She said comeover comeover
She smiled at you boy

Let your feelings slip boy
But never your mask boy
Random blonde bio high density rhythm
Blonde boy blonde country blonde high density
You are my drug boy
You're real boy
Speak to me and boy dog
Dirty numb cracking boy
You get wet boy
Big big time boy
Acid bear boy
Babes and babes and babes and babes and babes
And remembering nothing boy
You like my tin horn boy and get
Wet like an angel
Derail

You got a velvet mouth
You're so succulent and beautiful
Shimmering and dirty
Wonderful and hot times
On your telephone line
And god and everything
On your telephone
And in walk an angel

And look at me your mom
Squatting pissed in a tube-
hole at Tottenham Court Road
I just come out of the ship
Talking to the most
Blonde I ever met
Shouting
Lager lager lager lager
Shouting
Lager lager lager lager
Shouting...
Lager lager lager
Shouting
Mega mega white thing
Mega mega white thing
Mega mega white thing
Mega mega
Shouting lager lager lager lager
Mega mega white thing
Mega mega white thing
So many things to see and do
In the tube hole true
Blonde going back to Romford
Mega mega mega going back to Romford
Hi mom are you having fun
And now are you on your way
To a new tension
headache

My lucky day

There I was, sitting in a chair similar to one you'd find at a dentist, getting my eyebrows waxed by Nina in Selfridges. Suddenly, an announcement:
"Attention customers, please join Michel Roux Junior at the Cookshop for a cooking demonstration."

EH? WOT WOT? MICHEL ROUX JUNIOR? But my eyebrows are only half done! Impatiently I wait for Nina - "Done! Take a look". I do a cursory glance into the mirror, give some smiling nods at Nina and push off the dental chair. With flaming eyelids fresh from waxing, I rushed 3 floors down, and claimed front row at Michel's cooking demo. Not that hard, since not many people were there at the time :P I can't help but grunt humorously when I hear an elderly oriental couple next to me exclaim, "Oh, look at that wok! Looks really good, is that what he's selling?"

My parents would've said the same thing *grin*

Who is he? He's Alain Roux's cousin :) That's Alain from Waterside Inn. Their family history goes a long way back. Michel Roux Jr's restaurant is called Le Gavroche. Very highly rated by Zagat. Number 28 on this list. It's one of the places I've been thinking about eating at for awhile. Thinking only, because I don't actually have anyone to go there with to eat :P According to their website, it was the first restaurant in the UK to earn first 1, then 2 and finally 3 Michelin stars. At the end of the cooking demo, I smile at Michel and walk over:
Me: "Do you mind doing me a favour? Can you sign my cup for me?"
Michel: "Sure! I've never been asked to sign a cup before!"
Me: "Normally I'd ask you to sign a menu. I have Alain's signature too." (Nothing like a bit of name dropping)
Michel: "Ooh, so you've been to Waterside Inn."
Me: "Yes. Isn't it your restaurant's 40th anniversary this year?"
Michel: "Yes, it is."
Me: "Did you do anything special?"
Michel: "We had plenty of parties!"
Me: "How come I wasn't invited?" *grin*

Michel laughs and winks and hands over an autographed fork (the cup didn't work cause it was waxed). Yup. I'm officially a celebrity chef groupie.

When I got home and looked in the mirror, I belatedly realise that Nina had done something weird to my left eyebrow :P

7am

What's the worse thing you could do to someone after a 20+ hour flight?

Take a picture of them and blog about it *grin* Hey, I woke up at 5am to be at Heathrow, surely that's justification enough! *grin* Welcome to Rondon Missy W :)

Taking a compliment

The angry man walks over to me and sits down. I tense up. My fingers literally cramp over my keyboard and stop tapping. I almost wince because I think he's about to yell at me about something. It can't be good. He's never sat in on any of my meetings except when it's critical. He's even gotten up and left halfway through a critical meeting. I can't help but glare at him whenever we pass each other in the corridor. So most of the time, I pretend to be pre-occupied and look down when I walk past him.

Ok. So I'm not very subtle :P

Angry Man: "I just read your email about go-live, and I wanted to tell you that I think you did a great job. You did really well, and I've told *insert Boss' name here* the same thing."
Me: "..."

I can't help but think, "You ass".

For the past 3 months, I've had no support from him at all. It was obvious he didn't give a fck about my work. Even worse, in his position, he should've taken a more active interest. The only time he spoke to me, was to yell at me for making a couple of minor mistakes. It was more a misunderstanding than a mistake. It was soon cleared up with other colleagues. No harm done, everyone else seemed content. I had sincerely apologised to him and more importantly, people who were actually involved, what else did I have to do?

It's been bothering me for awhile. It's been a long time since I had been yelled at and made to feel imbecelic. When I talk to people at work, I don't yell at them and make them feel like the world's going to end. I don't belittle them. I don't make people feel shit about making mistakes. You hope that after talking them through it, they'd learn from it and improve. Or at least, that's how I've always treated people I've worked with. I didn't scream like a lunatic at the developers when they left with me a server error at login after a 7pm code release. If I was younger in my career, I would have been crushed and probably would have grovelled for the angry man's forgiveness.

You know what, fck that. I was doing my job and trying to deliver.

Me: "Thank you. But, I'd just like to say, you made my life difficult. You're not very good at communicating. And it wasn't easy for me to deal with how you spoke to me."
Angry Man: "I'm sorry to hear that. I wish someone had told me."

I'm pretty sure someone did.

The world moves on, but at least I said my piece.

Going LIVE

I had no idea what "global" meant until I started working on this project. Tomorrow, it's go-live. Here's what the month of September was like for me:

Anywhere you see "UAT Group", that's at least an hour of me briefing groups of people somewhere around the world via WebEx and conference call. Dubai, New York, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Greece, India, Taiwan, Bermuda, Bangladesh. For participants in Rondon, I had to do face-to-face sessions. That's close to 130 people I spoke to in the space of 2 weeks.

Anywhere you see "GSC Con Call", that's where I had to do an hour long debrief with the Support Team in Bangalore. Although they were great fun to talk to, they were exhausting with their endless list of questions. I can now greet you in Hindi - Namaste!

Every Monday was the Steering Committee meeting at lunchtime, where I had to answer to my workstream sponsors.

Anywhere you see "DEV KETCHUP", is when I had to go through defects, fixes, retest results, change requests and any issues with the Development Team. Who sat on the opposite side of the floor to me. My excuse for wearing trainers to work, "Because I keep having to run to talk to them, and I can't run in heels" :P

Smattered in between all those are meetings with the third-party trainers, more demos to new managers, conference calls to Philipines on developing Macromedia flash demos, and lots of time spent sorting through defect reports. Teaching non-technical business users how to test, is not easy.

Total number of defects raised for UAT: 98.
Go-live delayed by: 1 week (mainly because Dev were late in delivering to me :P)
Number of times yelled at by angry fat man: 3
Time off to spend with my parents: 3 days and I was still working :(

It's been such a solid hardcore month of work. I'm exhausted. But I'm proud :) We're going LIVE! :D (Me to my boss: "We have to go live on Monday, I'm losing weight!")

Special thanks to Trini for being my escape buddy *besos*
Special thanks to Shuai for defect management advice *grin* No Jira (haha, if only SF knew), no Test Director, just good old Excel done in a very efficient way.
Special thanks to KC for comforting me at dinner :)