Alright, probably a long overdue post. What's been happening so far hmm..
Meeting friends, eating, chilling out, bumming around, going on mad car rides. Oh and i'm still hanging on to something i have to pass to David. Argh. Can't find the time bro, sorry!
Good enough update? Lazy to go into details! But it's been fun. So far. Plus tonight promises more fun. Can't wait to meet up with the tennis dudes&dudettes! Think almost everyone should be there and that's great, but for some reason i really wished jason were here. Just a few individuals short of feeling like the best team all over again :)
1.5 weeks gone, 1.5 weeks to go.
"It's mindnumbing to think of yesterday, I'd run to you now if I could but things have changed." - Second Place Victory, This Day & Age
I'm going back tomorrow! Tomorrow's the dayyyy. I'm delirious (as someone would call me that)....
DEEEE-LEEEEEEEEEEEEE-RRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEE-USSSSSSS
Gotta wake up, get up, get psychology done and dusted, make my way to the airport, make my way to New York, make my way to Bangkok, make my way through Bangkok for 4 days and make my way back home!
A compelling or constraining influence, such as a moral force on the mind or world - pressure. To be undecided or skeptical, to tend to disbelieve and distrust, to regard as unlikely, that's doubt. The condition of being insufficient or falling short, decline in strength or effectiveness - failure.
The instinct to run, to back away, or give up, to need, want, reach, steal, the feeling to always want more, and to take more, the loss of breath at the sight of a car accident, to drive by, never being able to feel satisfied, and to reject anyone who tries,
Got done with math today, so that's one down! 4 more exams to go.
And that's one day down, 5 days til i meet up with the family in Bangkok. 9 days til i'm back in sunny Singapore.
I should really stop doing this counting down thing! Can get quite annoying huh?Anyways, i think this is what the exam period does to you - you check out weird youtubes.
Here's one;
YOU HAVE TO WATCH THE NEXT VIDEO. FREEKIN COOL STUFF!
Henry David Thoreau once wrote: 'Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit and resign yourself to the influences of each.'
-
No one likes exam periods! Maybe some do, but not the larger of the world's population! I'm pretty suree of that. For me, it's always the same recurring motions that i go through during exams. The same motion that alot of people probably go through as well.
The motion of knowing that the exams are around the corner, knowing that as every hour passes, it's another hour closer to the exams. But here comes the trouble - it's hard to get the ball rolling! Hard to sit down, study...and while you're at that, it's two times as hard to continue studying. But it's funny because no matter how much you don't like studying, once you get past the first hour and a half, you tend not to stop studying. Quite freaky!
But i guess that's how every season is. Whether it's tournament season, exam season, holiday season. You unconsciously resign to the influences of the season.
The good thing is - studying season is usually followed by holiday season.
postscript: c'mon niq! 5 days, 5 papers. One more exam day over and done with is one less day of exams. And i should probably try to start studying for today.
New friendships, new songs, new experiences, new scenery, sort of a new life, new weather. That's what happens when people move forward. Everything is new. Moving forward is something that happens whether we like it or not. But the thing that makes moving forward so unnerving, uncertain, unbearable..is probably this;
Every step forward you take, something is left behind. But sometimes the only way to move forward, you have to go back.
"Let it come down, everyone has gone, leave it behind."
Since we're nearing the end of the year, i'm gonna sum up my favourite tunes of the year. Even though i should essentially keep this until it's nearer to year end....but i think i'll forget by then. So here goes, my top 10 over the past year! All major earworms when i was still in Singapore by the way, not including songs that i've got more recently (which are really kick butt anyway).
Top10
Number 10: Jack's Mannequin - Dark Blue Number 9: Augustana - Boston Number 8: Turn - Close Your Eyes Number 7: Jack's Mannequin - Bruised Number 6: Jimmy Eat World - Kill Number 5: MXPX - Quit Your Life Number 4: Relient K - Which To Bury, Us Or The Hatchet Number 3: Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars Number 2: Jimmy Eat World - Polaris
and.......
Number 1: Paris Hilton - Stars Are Blind
HAHA JUST KIDDING!! Number 1 song of the year,
I felt for sure last night At once we said goodbye No one else will know these lonely dreams No one else will know that part of me I'm still driving away And Im sorry every day I wont always love these selfish things I wont always live... Stop it...
It was my turn to decide I knew this was our time No one else will have me like you do No one else will have me, only you
Youll sit alone forever If you wait for the right time What are you hoping for? Im here and now Im ready Holding on tight Dont give away the end The one thing that stays mine
Amazing still it seems Ill be 23 I wont always love what Ill never have I wont always live in my regrets
Youll sit alone forever If you wait for the right time What are you hoping for? Im here and now Im ready Holding on tight Dont give away the end The one thing that stays mine
Youll sit alone forever If you wait for the right time What are you hoping for? Im here and now Im ready Holding on tight Dont give away the end The one thing that stays mine...
Totally kick butt song with alot of meaning. I like! Though the undertones the song may be kinda sad and depressing...what to do la hor? What do i think this song means? Well, my take on it is.....prrfttt i'm not telling. You wanna know? Ask me :) Oh and the song is on the playlist of the music player on my blog by the way.
postscipt: I got an A for X106!! My business presentations class by the way. Like, clear cut A! So, i'm a happy camper tonight.
Everybody knows you don't get what you planned. Everybody runs away from what they don't understand. Everybody hides away the guilt of their youth. Everybody wonders why nobody tells the truth. The real truth, not some sugar coated thing that passes off as truth. Everybody knows that everybody wants.
And when everybody adds it up, they've lost more than they've won.
Sometimes it's best to tell everyone what they want. The truth. The real truth (not sugarcoated while you're at it.)
The real, the truth, is unchanging.
There you go! Is that reason enough for you to tell me the truth? :) you know who you are!!! hahahahahahhahaa.
"Regret comes in all shapes and sizes. Some are small like when we do a bad thing for a good reason. Some are bigger like when you let down a friend.
Some of us escape the pain of regret by making the right choice. Some of us have little time for regret because we're looking forward to the future. Sometimes we have to fight to come to terms with the past, and sometimes we bury our regret by promising to change your own ways.
But, our biggest regrets are not for the things we did, or said -- but, for the things we didn't do, or say."
--
I'm not the best person when it comes to dishing out words in real life (though i don't have any problems letting people know how i feel when i'm online - dishing out the crap, yannoe what i'm saying? heh). Maybe i say too much, maybe i say too little. But that's just me. Guess the ones who i keep close know me and look past that flaw, if you can call it a flaw. Because, sometimes, saying too much (or thinking too much and thus saying too much) can get you into the same neck-deep crap that saying-too-little brings about.
Thinkin 'bout it, though you can say alot of things, it doesn't mean you should.
postscript: Got my presentation outta the way, think i did well. Counting down the papers til i leave :) Manchester United are through to the next phase.
Thanks for the ride to the airport, My head got stuck out of the window. And it felt so good cos i've never had that kind of luck on my way home.
When i got out, you were there knocking on my front door. The cold gets in the things you wear, it's so good, it's that time again.
Thanks for stopping by the river so i could run to take it. Of all these days we make, here is one to remember: The first day of October.
It doesn't mean much. We never had a chance. We're out of touch, The space between us spells it out.
-
Killer lyrics from Limbeck - The Sun Woke The Whole State! That's a sunset in Bloomington by the way. Forgive the shakiness!
Finals are in a week! Oh wait, it's already here for some people. Oh well! I've got my final presentation for Business Presentations class tomorrow (phew!! it's gonna be over soon for ONE exam). Then i've got another week to worry and fuss about and i'm home free! Just gotta get through a math exam, telecomm and soci exams on the same day (my 2 worst subjects), an accounting exam and a psychology exam on the lastttt day of school. From there on out, i'll have to deal with 18 hours of air time, 14 hours of waiting time....and i'm not gonna count the time i have in Singapore & Thailand, it's gonna be a hell lot more worth it than a putting a certain number on my stay.
Someone (you know who you are) from back home said to me that i'll be done with my exams soon and then i can have my holiday;
And i said, "No, it's not my holiday. I'm going back home."
"There is no despair so absolute as that which comes with the first moments of our first great sorrow, when we have not yet known what it is to have suffered and healed, to have despaired and have recovered hope.'"
How about the despair of not knowing if you have, or ever will, recover from our first great sorrow?
It hit -11 deg when i went out for my 8am class, though weather.com said it's supposed to feel like -15deg. Really cold stuff NO JOKE. But i whipped out my winter jacket and walked around like a miniature michelin man. But the cold still managed to creep inside the jacket, so i felt a weee bit cold. But not as cold as some other people! Especially guys who think they're cool and just walk out in their hoodies but ooohhhboy you can tell they're suffering. Stiff arms, frowns, quick steps, rosy cheeks and all that good stuff.
But my face did get numb. Could have insulted any girl on the road for the fun of it, get slapped, and not feel a thing! But nah, didn't do that.
us at the peak of our cuteness -.-
Seems like my punk ass roommate tries too hard to be funny. Both of us joke around with each other kinda well. Yannoe? The insulting banter, the racial jibes, the groundless taunts. We can take each other's crap kinda well (at least so far that is....), even though i threaten once in awhile to staple his balls to his nose one of these days. But sometimes he just annoys the crap outta other people in the dorm (especially the dude opposite our room) and he thinks he's somehow 'higher' up than the other guy. Prrft. Fulla crap. Quoting one of the guys in the dorm, VJ said to Pawel (the roommate): "I seriously hope someone beats the crap outta you one day, Pawel". hahahahha, judging from the people he's ticking off, i think i'd have the room to myself soon!
Everyone thinks they're doing fine with their lives. There are people who will tell you there is always something better. But if you don't know or care you'll be alright - because it's modern to be stupid.
Everywhere we go, whatever we do, whenever we do it, we face pressure. We probably face pressure every waking moment of a day. When you wake up each morning, you face pressure. Each morning brings pressure, to choose to wake up or simply give up and succumb to the ease of mind sleep brings. Sleep brings dreams (nice dreams while i'm at that), but when you wake up from those dreams and realize they were but a dream, you'll still face the pressures of life as well as the mistakes and/or blessings of the decisions you make when you meet those pressures.
Today, i woke up and moved on - started my day off with a battle i won.
"Everyone hears what you say. Friends listen to what you say. Best friends listen to what you don't say."
Sometimes it feels really good to have someone understand you and sense things about you that you never let on in the first place. I guess everyone's found that 'best friend', and if you haven't - better late than never!!
Made another good investment today. Bought matt pond PA's album today. Good chill music which surprisingly, isn't one bit mopey. Ahhhhh! But apart from going through the album right now, i'm pretty much bored to bits. Supposed to get some studying done today but who on earth in the right frame of mind would wanna study on a nice chill lazy saturday like this? Prrftt. Here's matt pond PA.
Oh right, and i came across this on the web today. Someone please tell me what this means? Wild guesses would do fine too..
I saw a close friend of mine the other day. He said "How come you haven't called me?" I said, "I can't call everyone I want. My new phone has no 5 on it." He said, "How long have you had it?" I said, "I don't know. My calendar has no 7s." -- Steven Wright
Proof that Tom Cruise is on the dark side of the force
Earwormmmm alert........ MXPX - Grey Skies Turn Blue
Got to watch another United game! The 3rd United game i've watched in row and it feels gooooooooooooood to get the chance to scream/yell/holler/shout at the top of your lungs once in awhile. Twice today actually, plus many other semi-hollers whenever United had a chance to score. Soo let's just hope Newcastle lives up to their quality (considering the players they have in their squad) and stick a few on Chelsea! Preferrably Rossi coming on to get a winner against Chelsea. If he does that, he'd be a cult hero around Old Trafford without a doubtt!!
Good weather today! Went out and just walked around with some of the dorm guys. Nice quiet day on campus, guess everyone's sleeping in today. Majority should be recuperating from various degrees of hangovers considering last night was Friday night and probably the last chance people get to party before the finals kick into full gear. Not windy today! Think yesterday's weather was pretty much a freak thing. Was watching the news over dinner and found out that a winter storm hit the midwest (where i am). Chicago's pretty badly hit...30cm of snow. St Louis got hit pretty bad too. Weird thing is that Indiana is right smack between those 2 cities and i don't think any real bad snow hit us. Owell, not complaning!!! Hmm, rumour has it that Singapore is snowing too...according to winnie (hey winn!!! oh yeah winn, i found thinning scissors here but darn expensive.)
Mom just offered to knit me a scarf today. Heh, it better be nice! Don't wanna be caught wearing something like this around...
What's with the scarf?!?! Think the person's trying to create some kinda sprinkle effect. Like this..
And my brothers are gonna go for the Muse concert come January time in Singapore. Hope they have fun! Vern's gonna be some groupieee.....hurhur. Vern ah, groupies are NOT cool!!
A groupie.
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I got a first class ticket to a night all alone and a front row seat up right by the phone. Cos you're always on my mind, but i hope i'm not running outta time.
I knew today would be cold. I knew last week that today would be cold. I knew today would be the coldest day of the week, seeing that the other days before today had temperature hovering between 15-20 deg.
But i had NO clue, NO warning, NO experience dealing with the wind that came with the cold today. Let's just put it this way - yesterday i said the wind was gale force, today..i put the wind in the category of Hurricane Big Momma. The wind was crazy strong! Had my bagpack on, walking back to my dorm, head hung low so the wind wouldn't get into my eyes, hands in my jacket pockets. And outta nowhere, Hurricane Big Momma hits me from behind and i could feel the wind pushing me along, could hear it whistle past me. FOOOO! Yesterday it was my umbrella, today it was my bag. You see, i only had a notebook, pencil case, wallet and some pieces of paper in my bag. So the wind decided to try and steal my bag. Had to hold on tight to my bag or it would have grown wings and took flight. I had 3 layers of clothes on - a t-shirt, sweater and a fleece jacket...but the wind swoooshed through all of them! That was how strong it was. Aiyah, you would have to be here to understand.
Plus there was light snow. But even though light, it was good enough to numb my face down. Yannoe how when it's cold, your nose starts to get runny? I could feel some mucus leaking so i attempt to wipe it off and i thought my nose dropped off along the way while i was walking or somethin. It got so numb that i couldn't feel it! Cool stuff in a sense. When i get out of my dorm in the morning for class, walked for bout 5 min, looked down on my brown jacket and saw alot of specks of white. Thought it was dandruff for a moment before i realized that the white specks were floating around the air. So yep..snow.
So...the gang back home in Singapore hung out tonight. Sounds like they had fun! But truth be told, i felt quite annoyed that they had fun. Not that i'm being totally selfish or anything, it's just that i use to be caught up in the fun as well and it'd be nice if i was in the mix. Not necessarily last night, but on any given night or day right now. But i'm still glad they had fun! Because i know some of them really need some letting loose right now. Heh. Ahhh but my friends, don't fret, i'll be back to spoil your fun in no time! So if you guys thought you were gonna have more fun without me...sorry i had to burst your bubble.
Ahhh i do not look forward to getting out of my dorm and jumping from the frying pan (because it's nice and warm in here) into the err...ice. But what's the worst thing? I don't even know the half of it....
Rumour has it that this isn't remotely close to how cold it gets in Bloomington. Uh oh!!!!!!
Today's probably the coldest i've been since i got here though the temperature itself isn't by any means as cold as it has been before. Why was today cold? 3 words and a symbol - cold rain & wind.
To deal with the rain and cold, i'll still live. But when you add gale force wind into the mix (ahh maybe not that strong wind, but you get my drift), you start losing sensation in your fingers and ears! I came close to losing every shard of self dignity today while walking around campus to get to my classes. Was practically letting my umbrella guide my way instead of it being the other way round. And when i thought i had control of the darn thing, the wind gets a second wind (doesn't sound that right...) and threatens to flip my umbrella inside out!!! Think that happened at least 5 times. Without a doubt, i must have looked like a complete bufooon trying to control the umbrella...COMPLETE BUFOOOOONN!
Wouldn't be complaning right now if i just made trips out of my dorm just to get to my 2 classes today. But noooooo...genius me had to pick today, of all days, to cram 2 experiments at different time slots. And the psychology building (where the experiments were held) is definitely not near my dorm. Because of that, had to make more trips out of my dorm than i would have liked. Experiments went fine by the way.
Other than the above, my day was pretty mundane. Felt lethargic/drowsy/lazy the entire day. Maybe because i woke up early yesterday (7am), slept late (2?), woke up early today (850...okay maybe it isn't that early) and i'm still awake...so it's cumulative!!
I need of someone to sing me to sleep and fly through my dreams!!!
Nice videos from Yellowcard. Totally diggin' their acoustic one.
When I think about you, i never thought that you could break me apart. I keep a sinister smile in a hole in my heart. If you want to get inside now, then you need to get in line.
So due to unprecedented protests and outcry after i posted hot/cute pics of Hilarie Burton and an ugly/butt ugly shot of Chad Michael Murray, i'll do myself a favour and balance the scales of unglamness & attractiveness
Waiting for the United match to air. One of the guys in the dorm gave me a link to a site where i can watch live premier league games. SCHHHWEEETTT! Now, that's 30 more minutes to finding out whether this thing really does work or not.
Anyways, since i'm living off happy/upbeat music...this is one of the bands i'm listening to. Kinda punk-ish but not punk-til-ear-bleed kinda thing. Boys Like Girls. Good band name i must say. Boys dooo like girls, no?
It's funny how my mood's been better the last few days. Think it's got quite some bit to do with the music hammered into my head. Plus, i can really hammer them into my head since the roommate's computer is down and there's no reason for me not to crank my sound up. Livin' the life! All i need now is my books and my music.
Yannoe what's the thing that annoys me the most these days? The Norton Anti Virus Internet Security thing that pops up a red window asking you to renew the subscription.
!#$%$#^*&! HOW ANNOYING IS THAT!!! AND IT WON'T STOP TIL I RENEW IT!!!
I would be more than happy to renew the dang thing but when i click on it, it goes ahead and lays it on me that i'll have to pay 50 bucks to get the thing renewed. Prrft, though i think i can get it at a student price...i'll have to check up on that.
So this site that my little brother, VERN (he requested that his name be mentioned, in caps and if possible, animated flash-style) gave me some good laughs! Doshur
I guess that doesn't only happen to The Niq huh? Oh wait there's more....
The things people do with cameras nowadays. There's more from where that came from! And who have we got to thank for that? Vern.....
Here for some audio/video relief, posted some music video of Boys Like Girls. Nth fancy but aiyah, just like the sound. The one after that is kinda fancy. That's Youth Group! Always remembered for their track at the end of one of The OC episodes.
Okayyyyy moment of truth, the player that's supposed to show the live match is buffering....Issit gonna work?!?!?!?!?! YES IT IS!!! :) time to watch...bye!
Jack's Mannequin has skyrocketed itself back to the top of my playlist after a pretty long hiatus partly because it was knocked off the pedestal by all the sad/emo/mopey songs that flooded my iTunes. So..now i'm reverting to the happy, upbeat songs that i've come to know and lovee. Aww?
But vern ah...i still need some convincing if you wanna get Muse up on my playlist leh. Maybe one or 2 songs so far la..but dunno whether i can handle 9 gigs worth of Muse songs like you can. So...i was going through some random thinking processes to get my brain jumpstarted so i could do math and i thought of some pretty retarded stuff. I realized that i've never seen any bloodshed on StarWars. Then again, i guess that's because everything laser...light saber, laser pistols, laser cannons. So the wound gets fused the moment the laser cuts through or something. And was thinking bout the things i miss back home and for some reason, first thing i thought about was my dog! DROOPY!! I think he's getting older by the looks of it. But i bet he's still the spunky dog when he sees people. He can sleep the day away, but the moment he sees anyone, he'll get so excited and all that he'll start leaking piss. Tsktsktsk. But yeah, one of the things i'm looking forward to do when i get home is to wrestle with the dog! Once he's showered and clean. My mom was telling me that Droopy went up to my room one morning and just started howling. Freaky huh?
That's droopy...as you can see, he's missing a nose.
One of things i really wanna do while i'm in the states is to get to watch a live concert. Not talking those huge huge ones which fill up a stadium...i'm talking small gigs with bands that i listen to. Like say, Jack's Mannequin, Jimmy Eat World or +44. Something that really gets the crowd going la! And i just found out yesterday that +44 performed in Chicago the day before we arrived ($%^&#!~*). Wasted opportunity. So yeah...that's something i'd like to do. But too bad, haven't found another person here that could go for the gigs with me, someone who listens to the same music. Though i know who does back home.
Was checkin out the Jack's Mannequin website and they've got a winter tour, that'd be around February. Plus they'll be in Chicago mid-Feb. So that's an option!
Now's the time when i start to miss the people back home, because departure date is nearing..and everyone back home are either done with exams/finishing their exams! While i've got 3 weeks of school to go. Good thing is, my exams are spread out over a 3 week period! Papers as early as next week, as late as December 15. That leaves some breathing room unlike NUS, exams everyday for a week. PRRRRFFFT!!
Oh for those who watch One Tree Hill...who can give a good reason as to why Peyton Sawyer (Hilarie Burton) isn't hot/cute??!!??!
She's probably the best thing to grace One Tree Hill, though some may argue that Lucas' (Chad Michael Murray) the best thing. Big fat PRRRFFFTTT to that.. (if you didn't notice, i tried looking for the ugliest picture of him to post..but okay la, he looks kinda good anyways). Looks like OTH is kinda good, cos someone else in the dorm saw me and my roommate watching it, joined in..and got hooked. So much so that he got me to put all 3 seasons into my external harddisk so he could download them onto his computer. Prrffttt. Trashy it may be...but it's good to watch!
Argh just found out yesterday that i have a psych test tomorrow, so i'm off to start studying for it now. Trying not to do this, but i'm already counting the days til i get back!
18
I'm coming home from my hardest time, i'm making plans not to make plans while I'm here. And this life has not really been a holiday, a complicated situation. I'm fine with all my memories. Still, I could use vacation.
This song's been on my iTunes for the longgest time! Since back in j1 if i'm not wrong. Can't remember how i got it in the first place, but yeah, it's back on my playlist again! Can't remember if it ever hit the Singapore airwaves...hmm...
nice shot of some random buildings with good light
this blob of a statue in the middle of nowhere that looked like crushed paper written on with a marker
is that a skyscraper or what?!?
that's the iceskating rink from 'The Lakehouse', outside that fancy restaurant in the movie
the chicago bean..or somethin like that. cute stuff. more of the bean.....
me, the rink and the jacket that would make gay men go nuts -.-
do not ask me what we were doing. randomness.
that's the view from 94 storeys up. kinda hard to take a clear picture at night for some reason. nice lights huh?
So that was kinda it for Chicago actually. Then that night we drove down to Aurora Malls to do some shopping and found out that singaporeans aren't the only ones who go nuts when there's a sale. DIfference between the americans and singaporeans? Americans just grab whatever they can during sales, no matter what the price.
American Mentality = it's on sale, so whatever it is, it's still cheaper than it was. Singaporean Mentality = it's on sale, if i buy this, i will only save 5 dollars. With that 5 dollars, i cannot buy another one of the same item leh. Aiya, not buy one get one free. Not worth it. Lemme go look at the other shops wor.
With mentality like that, it's no surprise why the Great Singapore Sale has alot of people, and the whole event is a long drawn out thing..and people come out of it with probably a bag full of clothes if everything goes well. In America, they come out of the sale with enough apparel to fill up a pick-up truck.
The drive back was kinda uneventful. Except for that blip when we were bout 5 miles from Bloomington. And that's gonna remain our little secret. Nobody needs to know hor shuzhen? And pam? Lallalaa.
OH yes and i managed to drive around Bloomington on Saturday because the car was parked at David's place..and i was the housekeeper for his place over the weekend. Haven't driven in a long time, so that was kinda fun.
So school's started and i got back to my usual routine...oversleeping and missing my first class. It's not that i wanna skip, i wake at 7, but close my eyes and the next thing i know, its 830! But i don't miss all my class la, so..don't worry!!
So that's it for my Chicago trip, got alot of pictures but i can't possibly put all of them up! Because if i do, i'll probably get real mad and smash my computer. But i don't wanna break it! Unlike my poor, pathetic roommate. His computer's broke. Awww? So now he's just sittin his butt on his head, reading notes.
Life without the computer+internet...can't imagine that.
Check out this advert..the Sharapova one. Boyyyy is she hott...kinda.
Alright now i'm all rested and ready to work my fingers and post some pictures! Definitely not all, because that'll take me a long time and for those who know me...i'm not the most patient person around.
Day1
Left Bloomington at around 10 in the morning, collected our rented car and Shuzhen started her epic 5 hour drive to Chicago with Pamela and me as her passengers (Pam got lucky and sat at the back so she had the chance to sleep while i sat up front...and had the honour of navigating). Everything went kinda smooth til we reached Chicago itself. That's when we hit the wrong exit and couldn't find our way to our hotel. And guess where we ended up?
THE HOOD! Yeah man, the hood. As Pam would put it "Wah damn scary to wake up and see the car surrounded by blacks man". Yup, we ended up in the Harlem of Chicago, the south side. Pam didn't know we took a wrong exit so when she woke up and saw the amount of blacks, she got kinda freaked - and with good reason!! The place was filled with african americans. Didn't wanna take any pictures of them in case they got offended and carjack us. Another memorable quote from Shuzhen - "Lucky i didn't hit any of them down". That was said because they were crossing the road like they owned it (even though no one would probably challenge the fact that they owned it...)
We needed to get out of the place PRONTO and so we stopped over at some kinda depot and i asked a taxi driver (yupp..african american) for directions. Nice old guy.So we got the directions we sorely needed, buckled up and get our behinds out of that place!
Reached the hotel in no time and while the girls checked in, i lingered around the lobby and tried to hide my face from the center desk (that's cos they booked the room for 2...not for 3...I was freeloading! Kinda...but i still had to pay my part for the room). Rested up in the room, let Shuzhen rest her butt after all that drivingg. Toooo bad for her, we didn't rest for long...because we had to head up to Gurnee Mall before dark. Since it's winter, the sun sets at around 6. Decided to head up to Gurnee Mall because rumour has it that there's an Abercrombie & Fitch outlet up there. For those who don't know, outlet shops sell stuff cheaper..bout 20-30% cheaper? So we had it in our heads that the trip up would be worth the drive! Hmmm...... Oh and here are some pics of the view from our room.
So here began our trip up to Gurnee Mall. Traffic was NUTS! Bumper to bumper for at least an hour, even though the estimated time to reach the darn mall was put at 55minutes. So traffic put us quite abit behind schedule. Didn't take much pictures the first day because time was mostly spent driving and shopping. But shopping the first day was kinda tame for a few reasons. First, tired. Second, lousy things on sale. Third, lousy things on sale. Fourth, stuff at A&F sucked so baddd. Didn't wanna get any of the products even though it was on the cheap. Prrfft. Basically, the only thing that justified our trip up to Gurnee was Banana Republic. Soo...had dinner and scooted off for the hotel to get some sleep and prepare for a longgg day ahead. You'll see why.....
So that's it for Day 1!
Day 2...oh wait..before Day 2...here's our room.
That's Pams bed on the far side, Shuzhen's bed on the near side...and that's my bed, the right picture. Yup, right smack in the middle on the floor. Some way to treat The Niq huh?
Day2
Woke up at 11 plus. Kinda late...but with good reason! We weren't planning to sleep that night because there was a sale at one of the outlet malls on the other side of town. It's called Midnight Madness, where everything goes on a further discount at 12midnight. So that was gonna be the main attraction for the day!
Today, we decided to take a walk around downtown Chicago. Take in the sights, the sounds...and whatever else la. But since it was Thanksgiving Day, most of the buildings were closed. Though we didn't plan to do any shopping downtown, that didn't matter to us. What mattered to us was the fact that we couldn't find a single bathroom! ONE BIG CITY, NO BATHROOM!!!!! More on that later..
Sooo...our journey around Chicago..i'm just gonna let the pictures do the talking la. Kinda lazy. I was more or less photographer of the day, so i'm not gonna be in most of the pics :) besides, had a bad hair day...you'll see why.
That's Virgin Records, where i bought +44's album. Good band by the way
There's a sweeeet car parked along the side of the road right there!!
See what i mean by bad hair day? Owell, nevermind i still look kinda sharp with the sweet jacket.
Now that's what i call a gi-normous christmas tree. HUGE.
Anyhow, sorry folks, blogger's being a pain in my butt and the upload rate is slowing down. So i'll take a rain check on blogging bout Day 2. Trust me, you'll wanna see the pics from Day 2. AWESOME!
But amidst all the fun, i still wished to be in another part of the world. You'd never guess where that would be...
K advertising time....go get +44's album! Got my money's worth. They're more highly rated songs are the loud ones la, which i don't really like...but are decent. But their other tracks are smashing. They're essentially Blink182 minus the previous leadsinger. Which is a good thing, because i couldn't stand the previous guy's vocals.
