Things done/survived over the past few days:-
1) Dealing with idiots ala online transaction cock up;
2) Steering a recreation plane in the air and living to tell the tale;
3) Large social engagement where I knew no one but my family;
4) Bridezilla marathon on TV;
5) Looked at creepy ugly house in the woods.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
My foccacia bread was really oily
The past few days here have been rather interesting. Thursday I went to Columbia with my cousin and two of her friends. We took the Subway from Penn Station (during which I was terrified we took the wrong subway and would end up in Harlem by accident) and got to Columbia in one piece. After walking about a while (and damn that is a nice campus) I ended up spending 30 minutes in the campus book store finding/buying the things that Nick asked me to to buy by consulting the shop assistants. They were very friendly and helpful.
After that we walked out along the streets, intending to head to Central Park, but saw a small farmers market lined up against the pavement. We ended up buying some foccacia bread from this damn dodgy looking guy (small denim cut off shorts, tight wife beater top, made me think of tobias funke actually) and some apple cider (which was wonderful). We then headed to Central Park and had lunch in the middle of a field, sitting on some rocks. This location was amusing because we seemed to have found a spot in the middle of a Summer Camp's meeting spot, so after a while we were surrounded by navy blue shirted kids and felt really odd.
Then after eating lunch we ended up walking the length of Central Park (argh!) from West 108th to uh, I have no idea, 7th Avenue? It was quite fun though, and my shoes didn't hurt this time round. They went around looking for Gossip Girl/Enchanted shooting locations while in the park. Finally around 3pm-ish we finished and went to the Time Warner Building. After we exited the building (shooting location for Enchanted) it started to drizzle. We took the subway to Penn Station but when we got out it was raining slightly more heavier. Urgh.
Along the pavements as people rushed about trying to get out of the rain, all the umbrella salesmen came out to make a quick buck ("Youse too beautiful to get wet!" was what one guy said in my direction, I laughed and he protested). Further away from the station were the guys selling the same umbrellas $1 cheaper. But we made a run for Macy's anyway, sans umbrella.
So here we were again, 2nd day in a row riding up the slow wooden escalators of Macys (I wish I knew how old they really were) and running into a Starbucks in every corner on every floor. We were on a quest to find shoes that didn't make Pratt's feet hurt, since the rest of us were fine. In the end we walked away with nothing, and made a mad dash back to the Subway and somehow arrived just in time for boarding for the express train to Trenton.
And then we went home and watched Enchanted, because Pratt and I never saw it before.
After that we walked out along the streets, intending to head to Central Park, but saw a small farmers market lined up against the pavement. We ended up buying some foccacia bread from this damn dodgy looking guy (small denim cut off shorts, tight wife beater top, made me think of tobias funke actually) and some apple cider (which was wonderful). We then headed to Central Park and had lunch in the middle of a field, sitting on some rocks. This location was amusing because we seemed to have found a spot in the middle of a Summer Camp's meeting spot, so after a while we were surrounded by navy blue shirted kids and felt really odd.
Then after eating lunch we ended up walking the length of Central Park (argh!) from West 108th to uh, I have no idea, 7th Avenue? It was quite fun though, and my shoes didn't hurt this time round. They went around looking for Gossip Girl/Enchanted shooting locations while in the park. Finally around 3pm-ish we finished and went to the Time Warner Building. After we exited the building (shooting location for Enchanted) it started to drizzle. We took the subway to Penn Station but when we got out it was raining slightly more heavier. Urgh.
Along the pavements as people rushed about trying to get out of the rain, all the umbrella salesmen came out to make a quick buck ("Youse too beautiful to get wet!" was what one guy said in my direction, I laughed and he protested). Further away from the station were the guys selling the same umbrellas $1 cheaper. But we made a run for Macy's anyway, sans umbrella.
So here we were again, 2nd day in a row riding up the slow wooden escalators of Macys (I wish I knew how old they really were) and running into a Starbucks in every corner on every floor. We were on a quest to find shoes that didn't make Pratt's feet hurt, since the rest of us were fine. In the end we walked away with nothing, and made a mad dash back to the Subway and somehow arrived just in time for boarding for the express train to Trenton.
And then we went home and watched Enchanted, because Pratt and I never saw it before.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
I think I'm allergic to the cat
Today I visited NYC for the first time since more than 10 years ago when I last came to USA (actually not true, I came to the USA again when I was 12 but we were way up North-West in Seattle). My cousin, Katie, the girl staying with us, and I took the train from Princeton up to Penn Station. Overall it was a pretty enjoyable experience and I thought "I wouldn't mind studying here" to myself a few times. Post-grad maybe.
The entire atmosphere of the place reminded me of Osaka, but less crowded and probably 10x more dodgy even with all the maid cafes and hentai stores added in. I liked it. What I didn't like however was that I noticed there were lots of stores, stores in every block in fact, but they were all the same F21s, H&Ms, Zaras, etc. So yeah, there are a lot of shops in NYC but THEY'RE ALL THE SAME. How absurd is that? Lots of Starbucks too.
Anyway we also went to catch the matinee slot of 9 to 5, based on the movie. It was quite amusing and I laughed a lot. The ending bit where the characters narrated what happened to them was quite wtf too, with the unpopular boss who got banished to Bolivia being "captured alive by natives and never seen again". There was also a really cute actor (oho!) called Andy Karl playing the role as Joe, the accountant. I also thought one of the ensemble actors named Paul Castree looked cute in his photo in the Playbill.
On another note, I thinking being around Mong and his movie directing is adversely affecting my ability to be immersed in movies. Nowadays when I see movies (and this happeend during the Musical today too) I kept thinking about filming angles, cut scenes, blue screens and so on so forth. Except today it was more geared towards prop movements and what not. (On yet another note, I was impressed by how the ladies could dance so well today in their high heels and not slip).
Tomorrow it's back to NYC again for a visit to Columbia. It'll be another long day, but hopefully an equally enjoyable one.
The entire atmosphere of the place reminded me of Osaka, but less crowded and probably 10x more dodgy even with all the maid cafes and hentai stores added in. I liked it. What I didn't like however was that I noticed there were lots of stores, stores in every block in fact, but they were all the same F21s, H&Ms, Zaras, etc. So yeah, there are a lot of shops in NYC but THEY'RE ALL THE SAME. How absurd is that? Lots of Starbucks too.
Anyway we also went to catch the matinee slot of 9 to 5, based on the movie. It was quite amusing and I laughed a lot. The ending bit where the characters narrated what happened to them was quite wtf too, with the unpopular boss who got banished to Bolivia being "captured alive by natives and never seen again". There was also a really cute actor (oho!) called Andy Karl playing the role as Joe, the accountant. I also thought one of the ensemble actors named Paul Castree looked cute in his photo in the Playbill.
On another note, I thinking being around Mong and his movie directing is adversely affecting my ability to be immersed in movies. Nowadays when I see movies (and this happeend during the Musical today too) I kept thinking about filming angles, cut scenes, blue screens and so on so forth. Except today it was more geared towards prop movements and what not. (On yet another note, I was impressed by how the ladies could dance so well today in their high heels and not slip).
Tomorrow it's back to NYC again for a visit to Columbia. It'll be another long day, but hopefully an equally enjoyable one.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
I'm sick of F21
I never really understood the principle of mass consumption when I was living in Singapore. However having visited numerous USA malls over the past week and being forced into buying shit I didn't really want (no, not salespeople), I am finally starting to understand why the people of the stars and stripes are such massive consumers with the largest carbon footprint in the world.
1) Farm Produce Subsidies
If I'm not wrong the USA heavily subsidies their farm producers. After all, how can Smith in Iowa compete with Salvadore in Chile? This leads to cheaper produce (naturally), and also leads to the mindset of "oh it's so cheap! It's okay if its wasted." If things cost more, then maybe some people would treasure them more. Though honestly by Singapore standards the fresh produce here is really expensive.
2) Distance of Amenities
A drive to do something such as picking up milk can take up to 15 minutes without red traffic lights. This is in contrast to walking 5 minutes downstairs to buy milk if you stay in a HDB. Cramped housing means amenities tend to be nearer. Suburb living here means if you don't own a car, prepare to get cabin fever. Hence, fuel consumption is very high.
3) Location of Amenities
In order to combat the long distances people have to travel, retailers here have come up with the grand idea of building more stores so that they are nearer to people. This means more stores within X sq miles (since we're going with the American system here). However this makes the consumer market rather small since its still the same number of people as before, but divided. Perhaps maybe about a 1000+ people actually are close enough to use that certain mall, but all 1000 people are not going to be there at the same time. Result? Large air conditioned malls (think Vivocity size too) with enough clothes for 500,000 people (stores need to be stocked right) empty on weekdays serving maybe 50 people. What a massive waste of electricity and cloth for clothes.
And that is probably just the tip of the Iceberg.
In the meantime, while on a weekend trip to Washington D.C. to do the touristy thing, I went to the Smithsonian :D They had a small forensic antropology exhibit with Jamestown artifects and my uncle, aunt and I messed around with real human bones (I felt a bit strange after touching them) trying to solve this CSI case in a workshop. That was really fun. Then the next day we went to the Crime and Punishment museum in Chinatown and I got a huge kick from reading all the exhibits. I even drove a police car into a pole in this computer simulation because I was trying to chase down a suspect -_-
It made me think again about how I love Criminology. But there are post grad degrees for that, thankfully.
1) Farm Produce Subsidies
If I'm not wrong the USA heavily subsidies their farm producers. After all, how can Smith in Iowa compete with Salvadore in Chile? This leads to cheaper produce (naturally), and also leads to the mindset of "oh it's so cheap! It's okay if its wasted." If things cost more, then maybe some people would treasure them more. Though honestly by Singapore standards the fresh produce here is really expensive.
2) Distance of Amenities
A drive to do something such as picking up milk can take up to 15 minutes without red traffic lights. This is in contrast to walking 5 minutes downstairs to buy milk if you stay in a HDB. Cramped housing means amenities tend to be nearer. Suburb living here means if you don't own a car, prepare to get cabin fever. Hence, fuel consumption is very high.
3) Location of Amenities
In order to combat the long distances people have to travel, retailers here have come up with the grand idea of building more stores so that they are nearer to people. This means more stores within X sq miles (since we're going with the American system here). However this makes the consumer market rather small since its still the same number of people as before, but divided. Perhaps maybe about a 1000+ people actually are close enough to use that certain mall, but all 1000 people are not going to be there at the same time. Result? Large air conditioned malls (think Vivocity size too) with enough clothes for 500,000 people (stores need to be stocked right) empty on weekdays serving maybe 50 people. What a massive waste of electricity and cloth for clothes.
And that is probably just the tip of the Iceberg.
In the meantime, while on a weekend trip to Washington D.C. to do the touristy thing, I went to the Smithsonian :D They had a small forensic antropology exhibit with Jamestown artifects and my uncle, aunt and I messed around with real human bones (I felt a bit strange after touching them) trying to solve this CSI case in a workshop. That was really fun. Then the next day we went to the Crime and Punishment museum in Chinatown and I got a huge kick from reading all the exhibits. I even drove a police car into a pole in this computer simulation because I was trying to chase down a suspect -_-
It made me think again about how I love Criminology. But there are post grad degrees for that, thankfully.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Air here is dry too and I have ezcema
Hello all,
I've arrived safely in NJ after more than 24 hours of straight traveling starting on 14th July 2009 at 6:40am on United Airlines. Let's just say I'm far from keen to repeat the experience, I've never been so tired from traveling in my life. The friendliness of strangers was a great comfort to me while flying, that and old Arrested Development episodes which cheered me up a great deal.
Last night I saw Harry Potter with my cousin and her friends. I didn't really like the way they changed the angle of the movie from the novel and messed about with the plot, cutting out large chunks of Tom Riddle's childhood. Booooo ):
In other news, I hope my sanity holds out for the length of this trip, for it appears any intellectual stimulation will come from either the internet or my books. This place is as intellectually stimulating as a frat boy party. Oh dear. Pray I don't implode pls. The ignorance of Americans is truly astounding.
I've arrived safely in NJ after more than 24 hours of straight traveling starting on 14th July 2009 at 6:40am on United Airlines. Let's just say I'm far from keen to repeat the experience, I've never been so tired from traveling in my life. The friendliness of strangers was a great comfort to me while flying, that and old Arrested Development episodes which cheered me up a great deal.
Last night I saw Harry Potter with my cousin and her friends. I didn't really like the way they changed the angle of the movie from the novel and messed about with the plot, cutting out large chunks of Tom Riddle's childhood. Booooo ):
In other news, I hope my sanity holds out for the length of this trip, for it appears any intellectual stimulation will come from either the internet or my books. This place is as intellectually stimulating as a frat boy party. Oh dear. Pray I don't implode pls. The ignorance of Americans is truly astounding.
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