Thanks-For-Giving

It was a short week. Yeah~! Thanks to → Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a traditional North American holiday to give thanks for the things that one has at the conclusion of the harvest season. Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and on the second Monday of October in Canada. Only 3 days of work and I am off to Las Vegas, Nevada. Jeffrey, KKK, TCH, Fabian, Lili, Jena & me set off on early Thursday morning. It's about 290 miles of driving from our place. "Short drive" for me actually, but the duration of the journey will be dependent on who is the driver... I wasn't driving, I was only giving directions and sleeping throughout. I forgotten how many times I had been up to Las Vegas. Whenever there is a long weekend, some of us singles will drive up there to dine & party. "Short drive" anyway. We stopped over at International House Of Pancakes [IHOP] for breakfast. Most of us were cold & hungry... Moved on from there to reach Hoover Dam for some photo shots. (To those that had watched Transformers the movie, this is where Megatron was kept frozen.) Moved off from there to Las Vegas for lunch. From there after, its time to hit The Strip! (Don't get the idea of taking off clothes or something like that. The Strip is a street, where many of the largest hotel, casino and resort properties in the world are located on.)

It's Jena's 21st Birthday~! Happy Birthday! You are an adult now. Live free, play hard. Surprisingly no celebrations went on. No parties, no nothing... I bought her a little present from COACH. Hope she likes it...

We covered ½ of The Strip on the first day. Totally burnt out after much walking and showing all the guys around places of interests... It's Black Friday. Can't sleep. Shopping outlets open at midnight. Great sales are all over. This is the only time of the year where you can see how 'kiasu' Americans are. There were queues everywhere waiting for the stores to open in the freezing winter night... I went to the COACH outlet, surprisingly I managed to get in as the first few of the queue. Got myself and friends who passed me their shopping list quite alot of good deals. Swiped USD$1000+ from my card in COACH. Went through Polo Ralph Lauren, Kenneth Cole, Oakley, Calvin Klein, GUESS and etc. Nothing much from them anyway... It was 5am when we decided to head back for rest...

all gone, just like that... 5:08 PM

Memory Lapse

About weeks since my last post... Nothing much anyway. Daily routine just goes on and on...

Let me just take down these few lucky moments of my life...

On the 17th, last Saturday I was invited by one of my colleagues, TKP, to his daughter's 2 years old birthday party. I had forgotten what's her name, sorry. And I don't want to mention any names wrongly in this case. (I will edit this when I get my facts right.) She is a real sweetie. I like children alot. They are naive & pure. Looking at their smiles and hearing their laughter brings my mind away from all the stress that I am having. They represent life.

Alot of guys over here will host parties or BBQ sessions once in awhile just for the gathering of friends, other than just getting to meet up only in the work place. Most couples choose to reside in houses because of the spacious environment they need to setup a family. Whereas just a private apartment is ample for single people like me.

Anyway, many were present at the party. Me and LHB were early so we assisted in the setup of the bouncing air castle on the backyard of the house for the children to play. A few of us decided to have a few games of Texas Hold'em while hanging around when the cake-cutting was over. I won USD$110 from it. Not bad. Finally, after so much losses. It was still early when the whole party was over so YSK invited me over his house for Mahjong. I am his usual Mahjong player. I love the game alot. So many combinations you can make out of 14 tiles to win. I like to involve in games that requires much thinking. It enhances my reflexes on my brain. Most of my hands were awesome. It's the first time in my life that I win so much from a Mahjong game. USD$740. Sole winner out of the players. One of the guy's chips was almost empty at the end of the game.

What a day for me. Muahahahaha.....

all gone, just like that... 4:39 AM

Flashback No. 1

Here are my movements around Japan and just an itinerary guide for those who wish to visit Tokyo. It's quite a challenge to move around using Tokyo's subway & railway system. You will understand why when you see the map.

Friday, August 31, 2007
Narita Airport
Airport Limousine → Taxi
Princess Garden Meguro Hotel Tokyo [ホテルプリンセスガーデン]
Tokyo Metro Subway & Railway
Meguro → Azabu-jūban → Roppongi [目黒 → 麻布十番 → 六本木]
Dinner - Tenkaippin [天下一品]
Visited Hard Rock Cafe, Tokyo and chill out at IBEX
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Meguro → Tameike-Sannō → Tokyo [目黒 → 溜池山王 → 東京]
10 mins walk to Kōkyo [皇居] - Residence of Japan's Imperial Family - Meganebashi Bridge (Eyeless Bridge) - Tokugawa Shogun (1603 - 1867)
Tokyo → Ōtemachi → Onarimon [東京 → 大手町 → 御成門]
10 mins walk to Tokyo Tower [東京タワー] & along the way will passby Zōjō-ji [三縁山増上寺]

all gone, just like that... 9:19 PM

Twilight Zone

Came back home from OCY's place after a poker game with the usual group of guys, at around 3.30am. Lost $110. I had forgotten when was my last win. Shut myself down around 5.37am. I need to rest before the sunrise, I can't stand the sight of it... Zzz...

I jumped out from my bed when I saw the clock beside my bed displaying 11.08am. I am late for work. Immediately I look for my cellphone to see if there are any missed calls. None? Then I came to my senses that it's a Saturday. Down my head goes into the pillow again... Zzz...

Finally dragged myself out of the bed at 5.12pm. *yawnz* Still feels like sleeping but I can't be sleeping the whole day, I need something to eat. Washed up myself and stirred up something simple in the kitchen for consumption. Nothing coming from my cellphone, nothing from the MSN messenger... What a boring Saturday... I forgotten how did I ended up in the bed again at around 11.00pm. Zzz...

Sunday. Opened my eyes to see the time is 5.50am. Hungry. Got up for breakfast at home. While waiting for some applications to run on my laptop, I knocked out again... 11.15am is the time that I stayed awake until now...

I feel that I am dying soon. I sleep way too much on the weekends. Maybe it is just to compensate the boost of energy that I have on the weekdays during work. I don't have regular meals and all of them are unhealthy. I am tired... Really tired...

all gone, just like that... 10:23 AM

Lady Luck

Finally tomorrow is Friday. It is a tiring week of work. TYH is on leave and I am being appointed to take up the role of him as assistant W5 as AC is still running the shift.

I realised that when you are in a different level, you will look at things differently. It is so easy to be just a worker because you just do what your supervisor tells you to do. Whereas, the supervisor needs to do planning and coordination on top of what that are needed to be done as a worker because of the limited manpower we have. As you are given certain appointment, you are given responsibility as well. "With great powers, comes great responsibilities." That is so true. And I find that in order to get a group of people running in good shape, we either have a good supervisor or we have good workers, of course it's best if we can have them both. Good supervisor ensures that job are well delegated and produces what the management wants timely and accurately. If you have a few good workers, they will do some of the minor plannings for you, help you forecast a day ahead and get things done automatically, thus giving you a great help. If all your workers are f***ed then you will have to come down to micro-managing. It's a waste of time...

During my inspection today, I found something amiss on the aircraft. Fated. Much praises were given by the management for my vigilance but those praises were given at the expenses of others. I felt bad. I am also being put up for some awards by the management. As I mentioned before, you gain some, you will lose some... I know what I have lost, but it's OK because it doesn't make any difference to the circle of friends that I have now. It's a complicated environment.

I heard from Sandra that she had won something BIG in a contest. Didn't think that she will go for that contest. Haha. Anyway, congratulations! I will be back on your big day to see you drive your new Subaru. Did you prepare an invitation card for me?

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/309975/1/.html

all gone, just like that... 12:40 PM

Chance & Choice

If I have a chance...

If I have a choice...

God is somehow fair in the creation of humans. No one is perfect. Everybody have their own flaws. Either you have physical flaws, character flaws or that your life is bad... I believed that the moment you are born into this world, your whole life is already path-ed. What is going to happen, unavoidable situations, how much wealth & happiness, disasters or illness bestow upon you and until the day you end your life are all designated... Of course some of these destination can somehow changes with the good or bad karma you contributes throughout your lifespan.

I will rather have physical flaws because with the current technology, all physical attributes can be altered accordingly... So don't bother envy those that may look perfect. They will still have their ugly side of their life... Take a look on the bright side for those that thinks their life sucks. It's a balance.

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When we meet the right person to love when we're at the right place. At the right time, that's chance.

When you meet someone you're attracted to, that's not a choice. That's chance.

Being caught up in a moment is not a choice. That's also a chance.

The difference is what happens afterwards….When will you take that infatuation, that crush, that mind-blowing attraction to the next level? That's when all sanity goes back, you sit down and contemplate whether you want to make this into a concrete relationship or just a fling. If you decide to love a person, even with his/her faults, that's not a chance. That's choice.

When you choose to be with a person, no matter what, that's choice. Even if you know there are many people out there who are more attractive, smarter, and richer than your mate, and yet, you decide to love your mate just the same, that's choice.

Infatuation, crushes, attraction comes to us by chance. But true love that lasts is truly a choice…… A choice that we make.

Regarding soul mates, there's a beautiful movie quote that I believe is so true about this:
"Fate brings you together, but it's still up to you to make it happen." I do believe that soul mates do exist. That there is truly someone made for you. But it's still up to you to make the choice. We may meet our soul mates by chance, but loving and staying with our soul mate is still a choice we have to make. We came to the world not by finding someone perfect to love... but to learn how to love an imperfect person perfectly...

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Well, I have not had any chance of coming across any person for me to make that choice yet... It's only just a drop of my thoughts...

all gone, just like that... 2:21 PM