Trip To The Big Apple (Part 1)

So that's it for Chinese New Year this year. A bit strange cause I hardly noticed any difference before and after. Except the two rounds of card playing (what my friends call AGM - try figure out what that means) in between, I guess it's just like any other day. Yes, including the work and all.

Anyway, that's probably just me (second time I've used that this week). I do wish that my friends have had a great celebration, or at least had a very good break from the daily routine to spend time with family and friends :)

I did say in my last post that I was going to blog more about the trip after I sorted out the pictures. I think I'll do the trip in bits so as not to bore you too much with my long-winded writing. As for the pictures, they are uploaded to my Facebook photo album and there will some I'm uploading with this post.

The trip itself felt as if it happened a year ago - although it was only 2 weeks ago that I arrived back in Penang. Despite the very long travel time involved, it was certainly worth the effort, and money to check out The Big Apple - had to pay extra RM1K to get out of New York after our flight got canceled.

If anyone is traveling to NYC any time soon and would like to stay in Manhattan - you can check out Hotel 31 - Thank you Irene for helping me with searching for the flights and accomodation! :) It's clean and cost wise, it's reasonable. And I do recommend that you stay in Manhattan if you are planning to stay only a few days and want to do those usual touristy stuff - it's just more convenient to get around. You can either walk to most places or take the subway, which cost around USD2.50 for a one way trip (goes pretty far I believe, so long as you stay on the same subway line).

The first night CS and I got there, the first thing we did of course was to drop our bags and just went wandering around, snapping pictures and I guess getting used to the cold - it was between -5°C and 0°C, and at that time we just came from Florida which was more like 8°C - 10°C.

New York Public Library at night

Fountain at Bryant Park

The next day we started with checking out Madison Square Garden, then routed back to Fifth Avenue and just made it towards Central Park. Along the way Fifth Avenue, one can visit places like the New York Public Library (which we skipped on the first day cause there was some filming going at the entrance and they didn't allow visitors to enter), the Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Trump Tower and the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA).

Madison Square Garden,
where famous matches were played/
fought. And like one friend commented
on FB, reminds him of MTV

Outside Rockefeller Center
One should go up the tower and
take in the view of Manhattan from
the top - it's really something!

Central Park was a pleasant surprised - although I have seen it covered in snow in movies like Home Alone 2 and Batman 2, it's quite an experience viewing it in person. Makes me wonder what it would be like in the autumn. The feel would be so different. Golden, brown leaves would cover most of the park instead and I'm thinking that scene would be very beautiful during sunset.

Central Park - All in white :)

Central Park - By the pond

And as the day got darker, we managed to get ourselves to the American Museum of Natural History - remember the movie, A Night at the Museum? Anyway, now that I look at the map again, it had been a long walk from where we started the day from - 31st (hotel) to 79th Street (museum), not to mention the many places we stopped by in between. I guess it made sense that after the museum visit we decided to take the subway back down to mid town  - conveniently there was a subway station on the 79th Street. We were tired and wanted to check out Times Square during the night still. Talk about maximizing time huh? ;)

Inside The American Museum of
Natural History

James A. Farley Post Office - huge!

Anyway, that's a stop for this round - not quite finished Day 1 yet, but this post is getting a bit too long. Will blog more the next time.

Have a great weekend!

48 Hours and Counting

After hours on the plane, with multiple transits, I'm have now arrived back in Hong Kong. That's 48 hours traveling straight from New York. With the final leg back to Penang in another few hours or so. Tiring.

After a night of snow pelt

It all started with the weather getting very bad (snow storms and all) in the US, particularly in the North East. And then our flight out of New York got canceled. I guess it was fortunate that we found out early enough (about the cancellation) that we were still able to get tickets out of New York - else we will probably get stuck there for another few days. The unfortunate part was that we had to pay a bomb for the tickets - last minute and all and had to rush to the airport to buy them.

So in 48 hours, we made it from New York to Atlanta (Georgia), and then to Plantation (Florida), and then to Dallas (Texas), and then to Los Angeles (California), and then finally making the long flight to Hong Kong. By the way, Texas was also hit by the snowstorm a couple of days before and the temperature was still around -8°C when we arrived at the airport - fortunately the planes were not grounded.

It was certainly an experience - though you would probably have guessed that it is not one I would want to repeat anytime soon if I can help it ;)
Particularly when during the journey, I developed a sore throat and have a nose bleed. The throat seems to be fine now after some hours of rest along the way, but it seems that the nose has became a bit worst - hoping it's just being "heaty".

Will be blogging about the trip as soon as I get around sorting the pictures out. Here is one I took in Schaumburg, Illinois. Apparently it's about 20 inches of snow there after the last round of snowing - glad I'm not around to weather it out :)



To friends who are celebrating, here's to wishing you a Happy New Year! May the year of the Rabbit brings you lots of joyous and happy moments!

Weight.Lifted

The word epiphany came to mind - but I don't think I will be shouting Eureka any time soon. Reading this, you will probably be wondering what in the world I'm talking about. You can choose to ignore me now.

You know how certain things happen so fast that the significance only dawns on you after your brain gives it a few days' worth of churning? Well, I kind of had that moment this afternoon. And when that certain realization hit me, I felt as if a great weight has been lifted.

But that is all I'm able to put into words right now. Merely jotting this down as a record.

Switching topics, I was looking out the balcony just now and I just realized how brightly lit the pool area is. Maybe it looks nicer cause I'm in a good mood? Anyway, I thought I snap a picture and share it. Call it a "mou liu" moment :P

P/S: To my "team mates" who might be reading this, catch you guys at lunch tomorrow :D

Of Beer and Witches

So how was the first week of the new year for everyone?
For me, it's been pretty productive, work wise - although it's probably due to the need to meet deadlines more than any sudden burst of energy.

Friday's dinner with the gang was a good one. We tried out Weissbräu (click the link for a review by Gourmet Garden), the newly open German Bistro and Bar at Straits Quay. I had the Hungarian Beef Goulash, though I ordered it mainly because they didn't have the Braised Pork Shank that night. The food was OK, but I would say I enjoyed the Erdinger Dunkel better ;)
We had some good laughs that night and it was certainly a good way to end the week with.

By the way, unless you are a  a movie titled Season of the Witch. Unless you are a Nicholas Cage fan, you can probably skip this. Let's just say that the show doesn't have much to do with witches. And there was just no plot to the story.

OK...maybe now that I have lowered your expectations, you might actually enjoy it a little if you are to go watch it. Let me know if it worked :P

I'm glad that tomorrow is still Sunday and I can have another day to rest at home, probably trying to finish that book I started three weeks back - was juggling a couple of things lately, but no excuse I guess. All I want to do now is to get back into a comfortable routine and make sure that I get the "work life balance" thingy correct (clichéd terms, yes I know). And apparently my astrology forecast tells me that I should focus on career this year (got this link from Ling) - maybe I should take the advice. But then again, I thought that's what I've been doing for the past two years...more of the same then?

To LFC fans, tomorrow is going to be a big day. With Woy leaving the club, I'm hoping King Kenny can work some miracles (keeping my fingers crossed), although it's going to be a bit tough. But...You'll Never Walk Alone, right? ;)
As for Woy, sorry mate, your poor tactis and face rubbing antics kind of consigned your fate to walk out from Anfield alone.

Till the next posting, adios!

And Now It's Twenty Eleven

Yeah, so I'm reviving this blog of mine. I apologize to friends and readers for going on a super pro-longed hiatus without leaving a note - and didn't reply your comments either. Terribly bad of me.

Anyway, we are beginning the year 2011 and I guess it's a good time as any to start blogging again :) Was still having second thoughts about it last month and it's all thanks to Jacylenne for giving me that final push to start writing on this blog again.

2010 has been one eventful year for me - there were good ones and as usual with life, came with the bad ones as well.

On the working front, although there are risks involved, I decided a few months back to take up a new and different role - plenty to learn about and in a way need to start over in certain areas. But I believe I made the right choice - just need to make it work.

On the other hand, I made some decisions in life that I hope will not come back to haunt me. But life will and has to go on. "After a hurricane comes a rainbow" so say a song I heard on the radio recently.

2010 marks the big upgrade to version 3.x. Makes me think back to 10 years ago, when the bunch of us were happily partying away (ahem...I mean studying) at university, without much worry over...well, almost everything else.

Looking back to what I have achieved today, I guess I could have done better. But we can't have everything, can we? ;) I got the promotion that I wanted, moved into a new apartment, made some really good friends over the years (and managed to keep in touch with them regularly), and had lots and lots of cherished "moments". Not much to complain about I guess.

I learnt that the pain of losing someone you love cannot be explained nor understood. And with reaching the 3.x mark and looking back at 2010, there were so many moments that I would have loved to have shared with you, mum. Makes me miss you all the more.

2011 started as well as I could have hoped for. I'm back in hometown and typing this while watching my nephew and niece play with their toys...has a relaxing and nice feeling to it.

Met up with an old friend yesterday and was told that I'm the first on his list of friends to catch up with in 2011. Or could it be that I'm the last on his list from 2010 that got spilled over to 2011? ;)
(If you are reading this, you should have guessed that I was going to bring this up right? haha...)

Also, I was at a wedding dinner of another old friend from university and had loads of fun, particularly during the after party, which lasted till 2am! Gave me a massive hang-over this morning though haha...

I'm certainly looking forward to 2011 and what it has to offer. I'll certainly be writing again, hopefully in a more consistent manner. First thing would probably be to do some "face-lifting" to this blog. I'm still thinking about what the theme should be for the header and the background. Hopefully a thoughtful blogger and friend can give me some inspirations? ;)

Here's to wishing everyone a wonderful New Year and a fantastic 2011!