October 25, 2006

[vt, ma, ct... nj!] In a 4-3 decision, New Jersey's State Supreme Court today gave state lawmakers 180 days to rewrite marriage laws to either include same-sex couples or create a new system of civil unions for them.

Yay! Another victory in the long and arduous journey to full equality in the United States for her GLBT citizens.

The 4-3 decision masks the fact that ALL 7 justices agreed that same-sex couples should be given the same rights as heterosexual couples. The disagreement was on whether that should come in the form of a legislative bill, or as a constitutional amendment. The 3 justices in the minority actually complained that the 4 justices in the majority didn't go far enough, and that same-sex couples should have the "fundamental right to participate in a state-sanctioned civil marriage." Chief Justice Deborah Poritz - in the minority - argued:

"Labels set people apart as surely as physical separation on a bus or in school facilities. Labels are used to perpetuate prejudice about differences that, in this case, are embedded in the law. Ultimately, the message is that what same-sex couples have is not as important or as significant as 'real' marriage."

You go gurl! And with that, you have a unanimous opinion on full equality for New Jersey residents. How awesome!

The ruling is simliar to the 1999 decision in Vermont. The door has been open for same-sex marriage in NJ, but lawmakers could end up legalizing same-sex unions instead, like they did in VT. NJ already has a domestic partnership law passed in 2004 which gives same-sex couples some benefits of marriage (but not all), such as the right to inheritance and healthcare coverage.

Massachusetts remains the only state in the Union that allows same-sex marriage (since 2004).

Public opinion in NJ seems to favor civil unions (65% vs 30% against), but same-sex marriage also garnered a majority (50% - 44%) in a June 2006 poll.

New Jersey is one of only five US states with statutory or constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. Regardless of what happens, in 180 days, NJ will join VT, MA and CT as the only 4 states to recognize either same-sex marriages or civil unions (CA, DC, HI and ME have domestic partnerships). And they all happen to be blue states and in the Northeast.

At this point, it doesn't really matter what it's called anymore. You just cannot deny equality. And the New Jersey Supreme Court got it right today by calling for full equality, regardless of what the name for that outcome will be. Whatever happens, call it whatever you want, come next year the residents of New Jersey will be treated equally by their state government.

Something that's sadly uncommon in this country. Especially the 20 states that have pre-empted pro-gay marriage rulings by explicitly banning same-sex marriages in their state constitutions. Seven more states are likely to join the list in 2 weeks' time.

The journey has only just begun. @ 18:09

October 24, 2006

[group pic] Too drunk...

The High Heel Drag Race brings all the (hot) boys to the yard...

More tomorrow... Zzzzz @ 23:57

[$100,000] Wow.

"For $100,000, you can buy a high-performance Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG coupe, a 74-day round-the-world cruise in a Royal Suite on the Queen Mary 2 — or one share of Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) stock."

1 share of Berkshire Hathaway buys you more than 200 shares of Google (which is about to hit $500 soon).

$1mn buys you 10 shares of Berkshire Hathaway. Isn't that kwazy?

The Dow hit another record close yesterday, soaring above 12,100 points for the first time ever.

Just when the housing market is tanking (and it is going south *really* quickly), the stockmarket picks up the equity-building slack.

Yay! @ 10:31

[hairless] I feel like a newborn. I have been shaved from head to toe. Literally.

The fairy outfit was off-shoulder, so I had to shave my armpits. And the leggings had holes in 'em so I had to shave my calves.

And lemme tell ya, this ingrown hair shit ITCHES!!!

If I didn't have a newfound respect for women before, I definitely do now.

I am *never* shaving again.

Thank God I didn't have anywhere else to shave... Like my chest (*gasp*)... Or my back!!!

*giggles* at Jason and Evan @ 10:17

[brettney love] Brettney Love on her glorious win at Ski's Halloween party on Saturday night dressed as her twin sister, Courtney Love (pics to follow):

"I basically came dressed in my hair, my dress, my shoes, my makeup, my cigarettes..."

"And I won! "In a gay costume contest!!"

"And I'm a straight woman!!!"

Kurt is rolling in his grave. In celebration! @ 10:12

[drank thru fall] OK gurls, I know this past weekend was one of those infamous drunk-a-thon weekends that starts on Friday night and doesn't end till Sunday night. But how did it go from sweater weather on Friday to undershirt/shirt/sweater/overcoat weather yesterday??

Did we drink through fall?

I about froze my tits off this morning walking to work; even with FOUR layers of clothing on. I'm getting nostalgic for Metro. Metro used to break up my "walking" commute with nice heated trains. Now? I have to walk EIGHT miserable blocks with no breaks in the arctic cold to get to work. Not fetch! My ears have only just begun to regain feeling, and Lord knows my toes are still numb from Saturday night.

"W"inter, yuck. "W" is for Wretched! @ 10:07

October 23, 2006

[bad drag] Women should rule the world. There, I said it.

Why? (Besides the obvious fact that they are far more compassionate and less driven by testosterone than the alpha-males in charge of our globe today)

Coz anyone who can walk around in heels all day can do anything.

And how on earth would I know that?

Well, I made the (mistaken) decision to wear pointed-toe, high heel boots (from Payless!) this past Saturday night for Ski's Annual Halloween Blowout.

:-o

I have *never* worn women's shoes before. And I won't ever again.

Good God, ppl. 48 hours later and my toes are still hurting! It's a good thing I have eleven toes coz I think one of them fell off from lack of blood circulation.

Or perhaps it was because I was wearing them on the wrong feet. Or not. Wha? Women's shoes are fucked up. I just couldn't figure it out. Each shoe was perfectly symmetrical (WTF?) except for the zipper on one side. All night, peeps were telling me the zipper should be on the outside, the inside, the outside, etc. I should've known better than to listen to a bunch of queens. I swapped it back and forth all night (I so needed to take it off every 30 minutes coz it was excruciatingly painful!). It was quite a scene.

But I am so never sneering at women who walk to work in sneakers again, no matter how hideous their shoes are.

So why was I wearing women's shoes?

Coz my co-worker talked me into wearing her "gothic fairy" outfit. I, never having done drag b4 (no, the geisha outfits didn't count), totally forgot about the need for a wig... fake boobs... makeup... nail polish... and women's shoes!

And after having gone through all that trouble, if I had looked remotely close to the picture above it would've been kinda sorta worth it. But instead, I looked like a hideous, cracked-out nympho with tattered wings, bad make-up and really, *really* painful toes.

Totally ridick. I'm never doing (bad) drag again, LOL. @ 22:04

[winter sucks] Yes, let the bitchin' begin. Maybe I had just forgotten that November is, oh, a week away. But this morning's walk to work was ridiculous. It was 50°!! And that was the high for the day! Plus the winds were whippin' and I was *so* not dressed for winter.

Grrr. So not fetch. I get really grumpy when it's cold outside and cold in the house.

I get even grumpier on Sunday when the clocks fall back and the sun starts setting at 5pm. I am somewhat excited that beginning next year, our clocks spring forward three weeks early and fall back a week late, thus giving us an extra month of Daylight Saving Time. I wish it was DST year-round so that I will never have to contend with pre-6pm sunsets again, but alas... (8:30am sunrises? Bring it on!)

Well, I shouldn't complain. I'll take one more month of DST over nothing.

I'm getting ready to leave work and it's 48° (or 42° when you factor in wind-chill).

Winter sucks. And it's not even winter yet!

Woe is me :-( @ 18:15

October 20, 2006

[it happened] To all those who thought that the United States will never, EVER sanction torture.

To all those who thought, "it could never happen here".

Well, it did. And it's now the law.

It's the story of a wretched and despicable President who uses America's name to torture, backed by a spineless Republican Congress who are blinded by loyalty to the President instead of the United States Constitution.

You don't think your vote counts? You don't think it matters?

Well... The only way to stop them is by voting.

Otherwise, it's not just shame on them, it's shame on you. For acquiescing to the Republicans' declaration of "war" against our Bill of Rights, our liberties, and our freedom. Their lust for "war" is destroying our standing as the shining light of freedom and democracy.

This is a "war" we can stop by voting. In 18 days, only you can stop them. @ 15:50

October 19, 2006

[12,000] It did it! After teasing around the 12,000 mark like a bunch of dancing bulls and bears, the Dow finally closed above 12,000 for the first time ever - closing at 12,011.73 - less than three weeks after it set its first record high in more than six years.

The economy is slowing, the housing market is crashing, interest rates are rising, oil prices are still pretty high, and then there's Iraq, North Korea, Iran, etc... the Dow's actually doing pretty well all things considered. @ 16:38

[never enough] I got back from Asia on Monday night and promptly crashed for 12 hours, waking up quite refreshed on Tuesday morning. I, again, had a power night's rest on Tuesday night (9 or 10 hours) and woke up Wednesday morning feeling great. I thought I had beaten back my chronic jet-lag which I suffer through every time I go and come back from Asia.

Well, last night/this morning, I slept FOUR hours. Ugh. I shall partially blame it on the fact that I had to work for two hours last night, keeping my mind churning well into the night. But that's just bollucks :-) Anyhoe, I had to take a quick 15-min post-lunch power nap at work today (shhh, don't say anything *giggle*) or I would not have been able to function. It didn't help that I ate my way through Bombay Palace like I had come from an Indian famine. I always overeat when I haven't had enough rest. Weird, huh?

So I'm somewhere between energized and comatose right now at work. Energized coz I've got an ass load of work to do. Comatose coz I'm neither awake nor asleep. Just kinda in a "stay awake, try not to fall asleep at work" zone.

And the weekend is already here. Parties galore. Will I ever get enough sleep? @ 16:14

October 18, 2006

[colossal failure] It was a busy week in Asia while I was gone. Ban Ki-Moon, the current South Korean Foreign Minister - became the UN Secretary-General-elect, and Japan's new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Chinese President Hu Jintao for the first Sino-Japan summit in five years. Mr Ban, 62, will be the UN's eighth Secretary-General and the first from Asia since U Thant of Myanmar (1961-1971). Mr Ban starts his five-year term in 2007.

But the biggie news was North Korea. Nine days ago at 0136 GMT, North Korea became the 9th declared nuclear power when it detonated a tiny nuclear device (about 500 metric tons of TNT). The other eight are the US (1945), Russia/Soviet Union (1949), UK (1952), France (1960), China (1964), India (1974), Pakistan (1998) and Israel (1979?).

WTF? I go to Asia for a little more than a week and shit hits the fan. I know I'm a little late to the party but Kim Jong-Il is KWAZY. Fittingly so, the Security Council unanimously and swiftly imposed sanctions on North Korea.

What on Earth is North Korea thinking?? From the Economist:

"With the possible exception of South Africa, no country that has tested an atomic bomb has given its nuclear weapons up. So no matter what the world now does to punish North Korea for its underground test on October 8th, Kim Jong Il's hermit kingdom is likely to hang on grimly on to its bomb. If you are the paranoid dictator of a friendless state that is still technically at war with both South Korea and the United States, a nuclear arsenal is your ultimate insurance policy."

"...America has few military options. Even without nuclear weapons, Mr Kim in effect holds the South Korean capital, Seoul, hostage: his conventional rockets and artillery could rapidly flatten much of the city, killing tens of thousands. And although the Americans could bomb the North's reactors, they do not seem to know where the regime hides its fissile materials and any bombs it has made from them."

Do we remember Bush's "Axis of Evil" speech referring to Iraq, Iran and North Korea?

"In 2002 Mr Bush lumped Iraq, North Korea and Iran together in an 'axis of evil' and said he would stop them acquiring nuclear weapons. He implied that regime change in Iraq might be followed by regime change in North Korea and Iran. Now one says it has the bomb and the other is ignoring Security Council orders to stop enriching uranium."

"The anti-proliferation policy Mr Bush put at the forefront of his foreign policy has been a colossal failure."

Guess who had or was gonna get some nuclear weapons? Iran and North Korea.

Guess who Mr Bush decided to invade instead? Iraq.

Like everything else this nauseating Bush Administration has done: COLOSSAL FAILURE.

Throw them out of Congress in three weeks! @ 14:19

October 17, 2006

[300,000,000] It's a big day for America. At 7:46am EDT today, the United States became only the third nation with 300 million people according to US Census Bureau estimates, joining China and India with 1.3bn and 1.1bn people respectively. One out of every five humans on this planet is Chinese and that doesn't even account for overseas Chinese (such as me!).

America's population trajectory:

1915 - 100 million
1967 - 200 million
2006 - 300 million
2043 - 400 million (est.)

From WaPo:

"When the U.S. population officially hit 200 million in 1967, President Johnson held a news conference at the Commerce Department to hail America's past and to talk about the challenges ahead. Life magazine dispatched a cadre of photographers to find a baby born at the exact moment, anointing a boy born in Atlanta as the 200 millionth American."

"This year, there's a good chance the 300 millionth American has already walked across the border from Mexico."

*giggle*

The US adds about 2.8mn ppl per year with immigration accounting for 40% of that total. America's population growth is unique among rich countries. As America expects to add 100mn people over the next four decades, Japan and the EU are expected to lose almost 15mn. The fertility rate in the US is an average of 2.1 children per woman which is the number needed to keep a population stable. The fertility rate in the EU is 1.47 - well below replacement. By 2010, deaths in the EU are expected to start outnumbering births. The fertility rate in Italy and Spain is 1.28 which, without immigration, would case the number of Spaniards and Italians to halve in 42 years.

Still, at 300mn, the US only has less than 1/20th of the world's population (6.55bn) but produces 1/5th of the world's GDP, consumes a quarter of the world's energy and is the single largest emitter of carbon dioxide in the world.

Malaysia has 26.9mn people. @ 14:09

October 16, 2006

[chasing cars] Most love songs have tacky lyrics. But check out "Chasing Cars" from Snow Patrol:

I don't quite know
How to say
How I feel

Those three words
Are said too much
But not enough

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me, and
Just forget the world?

"Would you lie with me and just forget the world?"

Love it. @ 19:36 Tokyo or 06:36 DC

[noodle bar] OMB, the ANA Lounge in Terminal 1 near the United gates has a noodle bar! I totally came in my pants when I found out I could get hot, made-to-order soba and udon together with sake. Beats the pants out of the United RCC which has no food whatsoever.

The ANA Lounge is also very sleek and contemporary. So was the Plaza Premium Lounge in Singapore, but whereas the Singapore lounge was filled with IKEA furniture, the ANA lounge looked like it was furnished by Pottery Barn/Crate and Barrel. Loved it.

We are currently riding the very powerful jet stream, 33,000ft over the Pacific Ocean en route to Chicago. 1300mi down, 5000 more to go. The flight time is a super-quick 10h 38m, powered by tail winds in excess of 140mph. A little over eight more hours before we land. Which means we are about two hours into UA882 from Tokyo to Chicago. We are comfortably seated in our favorite seats on the upper deck of this 747-400 - 17A&B. The flight attendants on this flight are competent but a far cry from the gracious service offered by the Singapore-based flight crew on our earlier flight.

We just had our Obento dinner, complete with sushi, cold soba, japanese rice, flounder, green tea, sake, etc. Almost everyone around us ordered the Obento dinner but as far as I can tell, only the two of us got it. Everyone else seemed to have settled for their second choices. I love being 1K!

Noodles, noodles, and more noodles. Yum. What? I'm definitely an Asian boy when it comes to food :-p and maybe even at heart even though most of my friends would disagree on the latter. And guess what? I'll get to have even more noodles when I come back next month. Oh, you haven't heard? *giggle* My third trip to Asia in three consecutive months starts in exactly one month from today.

Hmm, I don't feel like sleeping on this rather short trans-Pacific flight today. I slept a full 8-hours last night. I was in bed - amazingly - by 9pm and woke up at 5am. I also napped some out of Singapore. I'm well-rested, feeling very fat, very full, and a little tipsy from all that sake.

Ideal conditions to pass out. Lord knows I need the sleep considering I slept a grand total of 9 hours on Friday and Saturday nights, oy! @ 19:32 Tokyo or 06:32 DC

[switzerland of asia] Singapore's Changi Airport is startlingly efficient and I am constantly surprised by it. Coming from horrendously inefficient and rundown airports in the States, Asian airports are a breath of very fresh air - even though the haze came back over the weekend and shrouded both KL and Singapore with thick, acrid smoke from the forest fires in Sumatra. I got used to it though, so I didn't feel very asthmatic over the weekend. This morning, it was so hazey we could barely see the terminal from the runway! I think both Malaysia and Singapore should sue Indonesia.

Last night, we arrived in Singapore for our overnight layover. We walked out of the plane and into the terminal at 6:16pm, and was out of baggage claim in the taxi line at 6:21pm. I am really not shitting you. It helped that our bags were also the first ones out (yes, they actually honor priority tags in Asian airports). Five minutes later (there was quite a line for taxis as it was rush hour), we were en route to our hotel and were in our room before 7pm. Amazing.

We had dinner at the world famous Taiwanese dumpling/noodle house called Din Tai Fung at Paragon on Orchard Road. We had never dined there before so our first experience was quite fun. DTF serves amazing xiao loong bao ("little dragon dumplings" i.e. dumplings filled with pork and soup that are a specialty from Shanghai) so much so that the crowds are insane during peak hours. That is mostly due to the fact that the dumplings and noodles (dough and all) are made from scratch.

In order for them to manage the crowds, you are assigned a number and they have an electronic signboard above the hostess stand that displays the number they are seating at that moment. Kinda like at the DMV, only a little more refined and a lot less English (everything in this restaurant was in Mandarin - Taiwan's official language). They also gave you a pen and a piece of paper with numbers on them corresponding to a large menu displayed outside the restaurant with pictures of food items served inside. You were basically supposed to write down your order beforehand to speed up the whole dining process. How efficient!

When our number was called, we sat down, the piece of paper with our order on it was taken from us and replaced by a bill totalling all that we had ordered. Moments later, those amazing little dumplings were piping hot in a bamboo basket on our table. We ate like we had not seen noodles or dumplings before. When we were done stuffing ourselves, we simply walked up to the cash register with our bill, paid, and was out of there from sit-down to bill-paying in 20 minutes.

Did I mention that the meal was absolutely delicious with piping hot and freshly-prepared dumplings/noodles/vegetables?

After dinner, we couldn't find a cab on Orchard Road so we hoofed it to the MRT (subway) station and hopped on a train back to our hotel (one stop away). Singapore's MRT is the first in the world to have glass walls protecting the platforms from the tracks. To answer your question, the train doors always line up with the platform doors, and open simultaneously with Swiss/Japanese efficiency. The official story is that the glass walls are there to keep the air-conditioning in the platforms and in the stations from going into the tunnels where they will be wasted. The most probably story - befitting Singapore's image as a nanny state - is that the glass walls protect the citizens from falling and/or jumping onto the platforms. Since, you know, that too would be illegal in Singapore as with everything else ;-)

Best yet, the MRT does not issue paper fare cards (for environmental reasons). All fare cards purchased from the ticketing machine (or the ticket counter) are plastic, store-valued, and cost S$1 each. What if you only need a single journey ticket like we did? Well, simply return those plastic cards to a ticketing machine at the destination and the machine spits out a S$1 coin. How fun.

Everything works and works so efficiently in Singapore. It really is the Switzerland of Asia. At a fraction of the cost of living, of course.

OK, we're landing soon. Powering down. @ 14:16 Tokyo or 01:16 DC

[UA838 SIN-NRT] 6h 19m to Tokyo. We are on our way back to DC. The United flights from South-East Asia (SIN or BKK) back to the States are quite annoying actually. All of them leave before 7:30am. Ugh. Luckily, the cab ride to Changi Airport takes less than 15 minutes from the Central Business District (CBD) so we could actually wake up at 5am and be at the airport before 6am.

This flight has been pretty pleasant so far, and the service has been well above average for a United flight - as it always is on flights departing Singapore. I have never been greeted by the purser and chief purser on a flight before but they did, thanking us for being 1K members and for flying with them today. My ass feels sufficiently kissed, to the point of moistness *giggle*.

Right now, we're about 37,000ft above the Pacific Ocean just off the east coast of Japan with a little over an hour to go before landing at Narita. We got pork noodles (yum) for breakfast this morning and a turkey pasta salad thingie for lunch just now (2 meals on a 6+ hour flight, go figure). I also got two croissants for breakfast, yum. Yes, I am fat, bloated and look like a beached whale and I'm gonna blame Su Ann for most of it! :-) She piled so much food into us - from the rehearsal dinner to the "pork, pork, pork" dinner to the two thai lunches to the wedding banquet - that it would be a miracle if I didn't gain weight. More about the wedding later.

Speaking of food, I checked myself into the Plaza Premium Lounge at Changi this morning and totally pigged out on my final meal in South-East Asia. I had nasi lemak, mutton curry with rice, hainanese chicken rice AND fish congee. All for breakfast!

*Oink* :o)

I miss Asia already. As is always the case, I don't want to leave but I can't stay.

18 more hours before we land in DCA. I'm already thinking about my next trip back. Sigh. @ 13:49 Tokyo or 00:49 DC

October 13, 2006

[random pix] In between tea ceremonies now (groom's and bride's). No time to write.

[L to R] Danielle, Ann, me, Allan and Nigel @ Attic in Bangsar on Wed night

The (chinkily-attired) bride and groom at the groom's house

Serving tea to the groom's parents

Getting served tea by the groom's younger relatives

Su Ann and me!

Su Ann and me!

Bloated and relaxing after-lunch

OK, off to the bride's house! @ 15:40

October 11, 2006

[rest day] Ugh, this haze thingie is very, very annoying. The pollution in KL is bad enough as it is (making me yearn for Singapore), but with the haze I feel like I'm asthmatic - sneezy, eyes burning - everytime I leave the house. Not fetch at all.

Anyhoe, today is a rest day for us. We went to yummy BKT with my parents this morning, and then checked out a model home for a monster 6,000+ sq ft, 8-bedroom, triple-storey, semi-detached house about 3 miles (roughly 5 minutes via the expressways) or so from my parents' place. Yup, you read that right... SIX thousand square feet of living space. And all that for $500k. Amazing.

My elder brother has this grand idea of splitting one of those houses three-ways between himself, me and my parents. Um, why would I pay $170k for a place that I would only get to enjoy a week or two out of the year? That's some seriously expensive time-share!

And then, there's this weird concept in KL called "leasehold" whereby you no longer own the house or the land after 99 years. Yes, it's a "lease". And these monster houses sit on land that's leasehold. What rubbish.

But still, it was E-NOR-MOUS and beautiful. And cheap!

No, we're not buying it.

Last night, we had a family dinner at Jogoya in Starhill Gallery. BTW, Starhill Gallery is like this super high-end shopping mall (think Gucci, Versace, LV, Dior, DKNY, Kenzo, Ferragamo, Fendi, Ligne Roset, etc.) with floors that are not numbered, but named - Muse, Relish, Pamper, Explore, Adorn, Indulge, Feast. Quite funky and cool.

Anyhoe, Jogoya... Though the name sounds Japanese, it was an international buffet place. Kinda pricey for KL standards ($27.50/pp) but dirt cheap for us.

The verdict? Definitely not worth it. I guess I had lofty expectations.

I did not expect waitresses that did not understand basic english (me: "where are the drinks?", dumb waitress: "huh?"), or the fact that I had to go fetch my own drinks (WTF??), or the trashiness of the people there (I guess the price wasn't high enough to deter the heathens). And what's the point of a gorgeous restaurant when the food is mediocre? I do have to say that the cook-to-order stuff was really quite good, and definitely a very neat and avant-garde idea for a buffet restaurant. But the pre-prepared stuff was just not that great. The quality was high, but not high enough. I've had much better buffets anywhere else in Asia.

I think I'm just being too picky. And bitchy. What's new? ;-) 15:07 KL

October 10, 2006

[spa-tacular] Pics from our "little" 4-hour long spa session just now:

The bride-to-be and me @ Andana Spa

(L to R) Su Lin, Su Ann, me and Sham

Su Lin taking the "striking a pose" thing a lil' too far, LOL

As it turned out, the 7 of us (Yu Fen and Elaine were not in the pics) had a great spa session today. It was not only cheap but it was a raucously good time.

When I first heard it was gonna be in the suburbs, I was like "why??". And then we were told that unlimited food and drinks were included. That's code for "we give you food coz our therapists suck."

Everyone had fabulous treatments. Tony and I did a 40-min massage followed by a 30-min body scrub and a 30-min foot reflexology session. I chose the Shiatsu coz I had never had it before and, OMB, my massage therapist literally walked all up and down my back! How fascinating. Never had that before. She held on to handrails mounted on the ceiling and basically "massaged" me with her bodyweight, feet and toes. She did me so hard, I even bruised! Love it. It felt really, really good surprisingly.

The body scrub was even more bizarre. The "scrubber" disrobed as well and wore nothing but a skimpy lil' towel around his crotch area. I was like, WTF?? I don't want a happy ending body scrub! But he was really good at scrubbing, and I had no idea there was so much dirt all over my body. It was gross seeing the mound of dirt, but cleansing all at once.

The foot reflexology was a group session thingie where the 7 of us had our own little private lounge area. Totally fetch. We chatted and drank and ate lunch while a bunch of guys massaged our feet. It was sublime. One of the foot guys said to me (after I told him I was Malaysian), "Are you sure? You are so handsome, I didn't think you were a local."

ROTFL. Whatever.

Oh I forgot to mention the cavernous and nicely done locker rooms with hydrotherapy pools, a sauna and a steam room. Very cool.

All that, plus unlimited food (we had tons of fruits, salads, soups, appetizers, nasi lemaks, etc.) and drinks (I, alone, drank 6 glasses of watermelon juice), and it only added up to $65 for both me and Tony. What a crazy deal, right?

As Tony would say (in his poor attempt at Manglish), "Asia so cheap."

Unfortunately, I'm the exception :-D @ 17:40 KL

[der] The care for food in a tropical country that has totally slipped my mind after not having lived here for 11 years now:

1. I brought a box of (ridiculously expensive) Sprungli chocolates from Zurich back for my family and left it on the kitchen table. Well, guess what? Room temperature here is not quite enough to sustain the chocolate in its solid form. The heat and humidity totally ruined the chocolate and the truffles melted into the box (yes, it's that hot). In hindsight? The fridge was the only way to go, even though the chocolates would taste yucky after.

2. Ann gave me a box of yummylicious home-made chocolate cupcakes last night and I, again, left it on the kitchen table in a box. This time, it wasn't the heat that did 'em in. It was lizards. Yup, my mom found the box this morning with a lizard enjoying MY cupcakes in the box. How revolting. My mom shot me a look of, "why didn't you put a food cover over it?". Um, coz there are NO lizards in the US!!!

And then there's the haze situation in KL (and most of Malaysia, really). The Air Pollutant Index (API) was over 150 for most of yesterday. OMB. My eyes are burning, my lungs are burning, the air is filled with nothing but smoke from forest fires in eff-ing Indonesia. I shouldn't have to put up with this shit!!!

Grrr.

Good news is I slept through the night last night! 7+ hours' worth. Not bad for only my 4th night in Asia.

Today is spa day. Wheeeee! @ 09:32 KL

[mc bimbos] With my buddies in KL...

Me! with Ann & Danielle (or as Su Ann affectionately calls them, my "MC Bimbos", LOL!) @ La Bodega in BSC

(MC = Methodist College = My High School)

Is it bad luck to make fun of the bride 5 days before her wedding? *giggle*

Anyhoe, I wasn't lying when I said that all my girlfriends have huge tits (see above). What? I'm fascinated by them, and it's also a criteria for joining my fetch harem :-D

Busy, busy day today. And it's now *way* past my bedtime, so I'll have to tell y'all about it some other time.

Sleep! Zzz... @ 01:20 KL

October 9, 2006

[food, food and more food] The first stop immediately upon landing at KL today was to get food! *giggle* Bags in tow, I made my dad take us to the neighborhood restaurant where we had yummy, delicious curry laksa, wonton noodles, char kway teow, etc. I ate like I had just escaped from fat camp where there's no rice or noodles. That was lunch.

We rendezvous-ed with Danielle at Little Penang Cafe (@ The Curve) just now for dinner and ate up a storm. Well, it started out with just Danielle, and then she told Ann/Stoney so they came and joined us. Su Ann called and brought ES along. I texted Wei and he joined too. What was initially an intimate dinner turned out to be a group party. It's great to be back in KL :-)

If only I wasn't feeling so bloated right now. All these food-laden vacations are killing my girlish figure, LOL. @ 00:09 KL

October 8, 2006

[party capital] We almost missed our flight to KL this morning *giggle*. Well, we partied a little too hard last night and didn't wake up this morning till 2 hours before our flight departure time! But we made it. And here I am, back in KL at my parents'.

The dim sum buffet lunch yesterday at Jiang Nan Chun at the Four Seasons Singapore was de-lish. S$38/pp ($24) all-you-can-eat dim sum AND all sorts of other Chinese dishes. We over-ordered, naturally, and ended up with like 15 dishes or some shit like that. I ate like I had just been let out of jail.

After lunch, we switched hotels and checked in to the Scarlet in Chinatown. It's a boutique hotel with 84 rooms and suites occupying a row of converted shop houses built in 1868 (Singapore was founded in 1819). It's quite a naughty, sexy, boudoir-ish kinda hotel, with themed suites called Splendor, Passion, Opulent, Lavish and Swank. The gym has the cutest name of all - Flaunt. The restaurant is called Desire, the rooftop bar is called Breeze, and the jacuzzi is called Soda. Very, very cute.

It's a great little hotel in the best of locations (esp. if you want to be in the gay area), but the service was not really up to par. But the bar is set very high when it comes to Singapore so perhaps I'm being a little harsh (nooo, me?? say it ain't so!).

Anywho, we went shopping after that at Takashimaya (of course) and finally found a slim fit white tuxedo shirt for the wedding (yup, can you believe I didn't own a white tuxedo shirt?). Hugo Boss of all places. I could've bought it at Tysons II! Anyhoe, we pranced around Orchard Road (the street of malls) for a little bit before dinnertime.

We met Mike/Ben - who had just flown in from Bangkok - at the Oriental Hotel and went to dinner at No Signboard Seafood Restaurant (the owners were too lazy to give the place a name) at the Esplanade. Dinner was outrageously good. We had chilli crab, ginger/scallion crab, hokkien-style steam "soon hok" (fish), lobster with vermicelli, belacan kangkong (some vegetable thingie) and 4 *huge* tiger prawns. We ate like we had never seen food before. We had crab and lobster all over our face and clothes, it was hillarious. The fish was A-MA-ZING.

After dinner, we checked out Tantric which is this cute little gay bar in Chinatown with a great little patio. Mike/Ben left early coz they had an 8am flight the next day, so we crossed the street to check out Taboo, one of two gay clubs in the area. Taboo was insane, but with great A/C (very important in hot and humid Singapore!). The cover was $10. Drinks were hideously expensive ($8 vodka-crans). The music was hit or miss. Case in point - they played Get Together which got me confessing to the heaving and sweaty dancefloor, but the majority of the night was tribal music (yuck). Think repetitive beats. Mmm-hmm. Anyhoe, it was ridiculously crowded with trendy (though some were trashy) and sophisiticated chinese boys who basically all looked like, well, me (yes, Tony was in heaven, lol).

We left at 2am when the club was still packing 'em in. In Bangkok, that would've been closing time. But this is Singapore and there is no curfew. Since when did Singapore become the party capital of South-East Asia??

We stopped at the Maxwell Food Centre on the way back to the hotel (on foot) and had dim sum at 2am. Fetch!

Shops that don't close till 10pm, bars/clubs that stay open till 4am, and 24-hour food centres. I love Asia! @ 23:30 KL

October 7, 2006

[singapore] Changi airport never fails to impress me. Our aircraft parked at the gate and we disembarked at 11:35pm last night. By 11:46pm, we had cleared immigration (zero lines), collected our baggage (which had all come out by the time we got there), cleared customs, and were in a taxi en route to Orchard Road. We were checked-in to the hotel by slightly after midnight.

Can't beat that!

The one thing Singapore can't control, though, is the haze situation. It was particularly bad last night when we landed. There was smoke everywhere, and even in the motorway tunnels. Yuck. If you're not familiar, every year around this time, forest fires in Sumatra (Indonesia) blow north-eastwards towards Malaysia and Singapore blanketing both countries with a thick layer of choking smog aka haze.

The Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) this morning here is at 119, which is in the unhealthy zone. If you haven't experienced this shit, trust me when I say you don't want to. The air is acrid and your eyes and lungs get this burning sensation. And there's no escape. It seeps into every corner of every room you're in (unless you're in a mall or an office building). KL is also blanketed with unhealthy levels of haze today.

The only way out is to wait for the inter-monsoon rains to douse the fires in Sumatra, and that won't happen for a week or more.

Grrrrreat. I don't want to go outside.

I did sleep about 7 hours overnight which, hopefully, means I can party and hangout with Ben/Mike for dinner, drinks and maybe even clubbing tonight. We'll see. We have lunch at the Four Seasons at 11:30. I think it's a dim sum buffet. I'm drooling in anticipation!

Such a tragic life I lead :-) @ 11:53 Singapore

October 6, 2006

[back in asia] 26 hours after we left DC (20 of them in the air), we are finally arriving in Singapore where we will be spending two nights before heading up to KL on Sunday to spend the week with my parents. Quite a journey huh?

Not feeling very sleepy now, though that's not surprising since my body's telling me it's 11am. Not to mention I had that 8-hour "nap" on the way to HK. It will be past midnight by the time we get to our hotel in Singapore. I'm gonna have to "force" myself to sleep at that point, even though it's Friday night and I haven't gone to bed this early on a weekend night since... oh, I dunno, 2004?

This was a pretty short flight indeed - slightly more than 3 hours. It's perfect coz the meal took about 2 hours and the rest was the ascent and, now, the descend. The security in HK was Kr-ray-zee. They cordoned off an entire section of the airport for US-bound flights and US carriers, and they searched ALL hand luggage; no exceptions. I thought it was a little draconian but whatever. And then, they searched bags again on the jetway! WTF? The Hong Kees are crazy.

They didn't confiscate anything though, which was fine. They did take a bottle of water from us. I was like, "where did you think I got the water from??" (from the Thai Airways lounge), and Tony even took a swig from the water bottle right in front of them. Silly, silly security people.

Anyhoe, in the lead up to this trip, my co-workers and I went to Kopitiam, Cafe Asia and Nooshi for lunches where, at all three, I ordered curry laksa. Yum. We're not there yet but I can already smell the curry laksa. This time, it'll be the real thing! I can also smell the Bah Kut Teh (don't ask). And the Hainanese Chicken Rice. And the curries. And the noodles... noodles... noodles... and MORE noodles!

15 minutes till landing. Back in Asia. Yay!

OK, powering down. @ 23:11 Singapore

[chinky heaven] Here we are, in fabulous Chek Lap Kok Int'l Airport in Hong Kong. Our approach into town took us north of Kowloon which, on a clear day, would've afforded us jaw-dropping views of the Hong Kong skyline if you sat on the left side of the plane. Fortunately for us, that's where we were. Unfortunately for us, it was rainy and cloudy today. Boo.

We are beautifully sequestered in the spacious, spartan yet comfortable Thai Airways' Royal Orchid Lounge above Gate 40, awaiting our onward flight to Singapore which departs from Gate 46. This airport is so beautiful, and the shopping is crazy good. Alas, no time for shopping today as our transit has been cut down to less than an hour because of the 2+ hour delay out of Chicago. In fact, we're supposed to be boarding now!

But whatever. They have dim sum in this lounge (at 7pm!). Plus, they're piping in orchestral music from The Last Emperor.

I'm in chinky heaven! ;-) 19:13 HK

[sos texts] Been so busy at work, I had not had time to write about this past weekend. Then again, I haven't done a posting about a weekend in quite awhile. It was a nice weekend in town, though I was beyond tired after having gone out every single night since the week before (11 nights in a row!). Kwazy.

Friday:: It all started at 3pm on Friday (I know, it gets earlier and earlier each time) over text-messaging, of course. Rick fired the first salvo with an SOS text to me and Jason:

Rick:: [to me and Jason] "Guess where Brett and I are right now?? Free vodka cran to the first one of you that guesses correctly and get here fastest!
Kiat:: [to Rick] "Jr's!"
Rick:: [to me] "You guessed correctly...now you have to be the first to get here!"
Kiat:: [to Rick] "Lol. This game is mutually beneficial."
Rick:: [to Jason] "Kiat beat you to it"
Jason:: [to Rick] "Der. She has small asian sweat shop fingers, you cum guzzling dirt bag"

So at 6pm, I beat Jason there and - hold on to your skirts ladies - got a free drink from Brett!!! *faints* *giggles*. We're always joking about how if Brett was on welfare, she'd use food stamps for cigarettes and JR's! Gmo and her bitches show up, and it's officially a happy hour party. So this is how Friday Happy Hour at JR's works: You buy a drink for full price and get a card to redeem the next drink for free, aka 2-for-1. So what's up with the cards?? Well, the incentive is on the card: hot naked boy pics *blush*.

So, Brett goes and gets a drink from the Lesbian bartender. And Lezzie gives Brett a card with a naked woman on it, ROTFL!!! Brett was like, "I got a lesbian card!". We were like, "Der, you carry a bag with a rainbow strap for God's sake". She's too funny. Of course Brett couldn't protest cause the bartender could kick her ass ;-)

I had to leave those bitches at the bar and go to dinner with Brad/David, Roger/David at Urbana, which is the new Italo-Mediterranean restaurant below the new Hotel Palomar. I know it just opened a few weeks ago, but the food was absolutely tragic (ranging from tasteless to bland to bizarre). Service was also hot-or-miss. And for the prices they were charging, I was not impressed at all.

After dinner, I went back to JR's to meet the bitches there - Brett, Adam, Patrick, Michelle+1, and their friends (incl. some dude from AZ). It was riotous. Then, Jason showed up with his passed-out drunk neighbors (although Jason was surprisingly sober himself), one of whom was so drunk she kept yelling, no... shrieking, at everybody. Hillarious. The other one was also drunk and he gave a can of soup to bartender Matt! I know, WTF right?

It was too cold that night and I only had a baby-T on, so I went to Annie's with Adam/Patrick and their entourage. I didn't really want to eat, so I had a cosmo which did me in. They took me home, yay! I'm such a mess :-)

Saturday:: I finally went to yoga for the first time in, oh I dunno, FIVE weeks? It wasn't too difficult, but I could definitely feel the tension in my muscles after that long hiatus. Rick again sent out an SOS text, and we all (us + Rick, Jason, Brett, Peter and Gmo) gathered at Gordon Biersch for some Happy Hour food and libatious fun. Jose was working and Rick was fast friends with the bar manager (aka the bar manager was a gay Latino, so Rick was in heaven), and the drinks just kept flowing endlessly.

Unusually for me, I had THREE huge mugs of beer (which I didn't finish, thank God!). I felt super-bloated after all that. Rick and Jason must've had 20 cocktails amongst them, God help 'em. Gmo also had three huge mugs of beer and he went to the restroom like 14 times in 2 hours, each time going for lenghty periods of time (perhaps because he has to roll back a lot of skin before he starts peeing... hah! who am I to talk).

So now we're drunk and we're trying to decide where to go or what to do next. Rick pipes up and mentions something about going to watch a movie. Brett exclaims: "Why go to the movies when they have popcorn at JR's for free?"

ROTFL!!! I'm telling you, she is a gay man trapped in a big-tittied woman's body.

Speaking of Brett, did you know that she doesn't eat eggs?? I know, who-TF doesn't like eggs? Apparently she doesn't like 'em coz of the smell. Rick rolled his eyes at that comment, at which point Jason looks at Rick and dead-pans: "We've smelt you and we still eat sushi!"

Suhhh-nap!

I'm telling you, my friends are all evil. And it takes one to know one ;-)

The conversation veered from camel toes to penis size to pez dispensers to kickstand dildos (and something about Citibank commercials) to penis flytraps (aka Jason's ass). Like only a bunch of gay boys can. Hot.

Eventually, we met two southern white trashy chicks sitting next to us at GB. They were a riot. At one point, they both went to the restroom and told us to watch their drinks. We told them that we might slip a roofie in their drinks, to which one of them responded: "You better, coz I'll love it!". Hah. We love party girls! (and I have a T-shirt that proclaims that)

We ended up dragging them to JR's with us. Brett (aka "I hate dumb straight girls") was NOT happy, LOL! She and staright girls is like me with other gaysians. We get to JR's only to find out one (Girl A) was underage and couldn't hold her liquor. So Girl A quickly ran to the bathroom with Girl B in tow, who was such a good friend coz not only did Girl B hold Girl A's hair while Girl A was throwing up, Girl B let Girl A throw up all over Girl B's shirt! We love messy southern bitches!

And you know what they say about beer before liquor never sicker? Well, vodka-crans at JR's after beers at GB was not a good combo. I got really drunk really early and was home by 1:30. I know, on a Saturday night! So unbecoming of me...

But the climax of the night (which also effectively ended it) had to be when Gmo got thrown out of JR's (sans bag!) because she was sooooo drunk. Matt literally grabbed the back collar of his T-shirt and hauled his brown trash ass out onto the street. It was FA-BU-LOUS!

AA: Yup, we have our "meetings" at Gordon Biersch :-D
Drink up, bitch!: OK, you gotta admit that THAT is a HUGE ass beer mug.
Don't throw up, bitch!: I literally had to hold it in. Not pretty.
Uggghhh: Here I am, on the verge of expelling the beer... either through farting, or throwing up!
The Drunk Bunch: Me, Rick, Gmo, Jason and Brett - The Drunk Bunch!
Georgia Skanks: Jason: "So why are you girls up here for?", Girls: "We're here to ride horses", Jason: "Me too, sweetie".
Boobylicious: Hot Brett with her hot boobs being fondled by... Tony! *gasp*
Pingo: I have no other what this ad (in the Metro) is all about but there was an Asian in it and my bitches made me put my face up on it.
Hot Chicks: Same southern white trash ho's who've never seen a subway b4, lol!
Coming soon to a Metro train near you...: Well, now that Wet is closed...
Plastered: The one on the left? Yup, can't handle her liquor.
Messy Bitches: Brett, Peter (on his last few outings before spending 40 days in Maine for Campaign 2006), and Jason
Fetch Trinity: And finally, a fetch trinity picture to crown a fetch trinity weekend!

For some reason, I only have pictures from Saturday. Hmm...

Sunday:: Yet another SOS text from Rick dragged the convertible out from under the porch (it hasn't been used in months... hmm, why do I even have a car anymore?) and I found myself driving to Staples to pick up Rick and Brett's sorry asses coz they couldn't carry three reams of paper back to Rick's. I know, Brett in broad daylight and not at JR's, can you believe that? She probably couldn't find her way home in the daytime if she tried. From there we drove to Pentagon in search of a book for a friend of mine in KL, and from there we drove to Jason's place. Drinks ensued, of course.

By 6pm, we're at church to get some holy water (aka JR's for vodka-crans). I still had my car and that was gonna be a problem coz I don't drink and drive. So I texted Tony and made him come get the car, LOL! Shockingly Brett protested about getting a drink (I know, there's a first for everything) coz apparently she's getting cramps from forty days of drinking. She was like the Vodka Ark.

I was home in time for Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters.

I won't have another weekend fun with my Trinity bitches for another two weeks. One would say I have better plans: Ben's birthday weekend in Singapore (that officially starts when we arrive in Singapore in about 7 hours) and next weekend is Su Ann's wedding in KL!

The fun never stops. @ 06:09 DC or 18:09 HK

[work woes] I have had a pretty awful work week. I know, bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch. Like Rick said to me, "You not complaining is like the Earth not spinning". But thank God I only had to work three days this week, or I would've strangled someone by now.

No, no one yelled at me (which was the reason why I started looking for a new job previously). But I did get some verbal abuse and instead of letting it slide, I kinda took it personally. Which is stupid of me. Coz it's just work and these people don't matter. Well, some of them anyway... everyone else is super nice, and I mean *super* nice. Including my boss, who is totally heaven-sent. I love working for women :-)

Anyhoe, I really don't get it. Why do some people go out of their way to create a hostile work environment, especially when we're all in the same team? Don't get it at all, and don't really know how shouting or insulting or snarky (unfunny) comments contribute to the quality of work. Perhaps I'm just being over-sensitive. Oh well, it wouldn't be the first time! *giggle* Wha? I can be a little girl sometimes :-p

And I really shouldn't take it personally because I've gotten lots of kudos since I started at this new position 3 months ago, though it's felt like only 2 months coz we had a whole month "off" whereby we just sat around and did nothing due to the "no configuration change" policy (and half our team was in Singapore).

Well, they're back. And so's the drama.

I won't go into details. Perhaps we have just been in a too-relaxed mode for too long. But it's safe to say that it hasn't been pleasant. Most of it is my fault. Careless, sloppy, over-eager. I'm usually not the first two *grin*. But I am definitely over-eager. I do want to get things done. And I try very hard at work. I really don't like disappointing. And I hate putting other people in the position of standing up for me. They wouldn't have to if I didn't screw up to begin with.

So yea, I feel like crap (well, about work anyway) coz I screwed up a few times this past week. Yes, *SO* glad I was leaving on vacation (to clear my mind, no less). It's like, I already feel like shit and I will take some heat for my mistakes, but really, you don't have to pile on the misery with your abuse. I don't need that. Of course I'll try my best not to do so again, but a lot of what I do - especially being thrusted into an unfamiliar and complex environment - impacts a lot of people and there's no 100% guarantee that I won't make a mistake again, no matter how thorough I am. Getting other people to understand that is challenging to say the least.

But I have developed some friendships and a whole bunch of close working relationships with the peeps at work. Most of them can relate, most of them sympathize and most of them work with me positively to accomplish our tasks and goals.

But as with all workplaces, there are those who have unreasonable expectations. The ones who will make their expectations known through verbal abuse, even after I've shown remorse (and I did, even though it's just work). You think I like screwing up? Trust me when I say it affects me more than it affects you.

Well, I ain't gonna back down. Yes, it's just work, but at the end of the day, you just gotta give it your best, hope for the best, but expect the worst. Coz there will be people out there who will make it hell for you.

Workplace shenanigans - FUN! I'll be back in two weeks, refreshed! (I hope)

P/S: My former boss called, LOL! Watch out, bitches ;-) @ 04:01 DC or 16:01 HK

[38000ft] From UA895, 17 A/B. 11-1/2 hours into our flight and we're hovering a little more than a mile over Mongolia, making our way to Hong Kong. It'll be 3-1/2 more hours, cutting across the entire length of China, before we land in Hong Kong.

We did leave about 2-1/4 hours late out of Chicago due to some fuel issues. Apparently our flight is extra-long today (15h 10m), and they had to put 2,000 more pounds of fuel into the wings. Issues cropped up, yadda, yadda, yadda. It was quite a big delay, but no matter. In Business Class, when they make you wait, they serve you alcohol, water, juice and warm nuts :-)

Anyhoe, we flew straight up from Chicago, over Canada, the North Pole, Siberia, Mongolia, and now we're over China just to the west of Beijing heading towards HKG; pretty much a straight line over the North Pole from ORD to HKG. The "polar route", they call it. It's quite cool.

It's been a great flight so far. The first three hours was lunch (yummy Mahi-Mahi with fried rice) and I watched "The Devil Wears Prada" which was excellent. "That's all", LOL. How can you not love a movie when the soundtrack includes Jump, Vogue and Crazy. Loved it!

The upper deck is great. It's super quiet. The service is attentive. The cabin is pitch black, which is perfect for sleeping. AND I get to prop my feet up on the side storage lockers which pretty much gives me a horizontal sleeping position. Slept like a baby - EIGHT hours, wow. And there's *still* three more hours to go. Groan. I just had my noodle fix so I'm good for the next 90 minutes before we get another meal service.

Even with the delay, we'll still make our continuing flight to Singapore. It's actually the same flight number so most people on this flight are on the next flight anyway, which means they'll hold it for us.

Next stop: Hong Kong! @ 03:34 DC or 15:34 HK

October 5, 2006

[the d-list redux] Tyler, Jason and I stormed Kathy Griffin's show at the Kennedy Center last night. This is her second trip to DC for the same tour. She seems to love DC for some reason. Thankfully - and we knew this before we went - the material was somewhat different from the last time we saw her in Baltimore, though not substantially so. I would say half and half.

The night was uproarious, though you could kinda tell that Kathy was rapid-firing through her material - perhaps fatigue from being on extensive tour. Then again, she did have a LOT of material to cover and she went on and on and on for two hours! Quite impressive.

She, of course, started the night off with topic numero uno du jour which brought the house down: Mark Foley aka "I couldn't wait for that Queen to go down!". LOL! All her fav star-fucking topics were there: Oprah, Gayken ("He's so gay when he passes by all you hear is snapping"), the newly liberated Lance Bass ("Even Liza knew he was gay and she's always the last one to find out!"), Rush and the entire exceedingly stupid right-wing Republicans, Lindsay/Paris/Nicole/Jessica/Mary-Kate/Ashley (why bother separating all the teen-nymphos?), Seacrest, Paula Abdul ("Her foundation is all Oxycontin, you know it!"), American Idol, Larry King, Liz Taylor, Scientology (OMB, this segment was hil-effing-larious!), going to Iraq, etc.

She shockingly referred to Catholics as kid-fuckers (hahaha), and said this about her Catholicism (or lack thereof):

"I'm like a fallen Catholic. I fell so far I woke up in Beijing."

*giggle*

And finally, she talked about how researchers have discovered that hotel bedspreads are not only dirty, they may contain disgusting fluids like semen, menstrual blood, and feces :-o

To which she says:

"WTF? Do these ppl walk into a hotel room, jump on the bedspread and go 'Fuck me! Fuck me! I'm having my period, and I need to pooh!'"

ROTFLMAO. I turned blue and peed a little laughing so hard.

OK, you just had to be there.

We love Kathy! @ 11:36 Chicago

[sleepy and hungry] I didn't plan very well. I ended up waking up at 7am to pack for a 12-day Asian vacation, and our flight to ORD was scheduled to leave at 9:40am! I know, kwazy.

I am sleepy - which is a good thing coz I can crash after eating the airplane meal and watching a movie.

I am also starving. Bring on the airplane food! @ 11:16 Chicago

[ORD-HKG] Our flight from National to O'Hare this morning was uneventful; a quick 1h 41m flight.

The next one is a whopper. In one-hop, we are going to go from Chicago to Hong Kong. Non-stop. At a scheduled time of 15-1/2 hours or 7,787 miles, this flight is the longest in United's network. After EWR-SIN's 18 hour hop, this one's gonna be a piece of cake *giggle*.

I very rarely fly this route - I think I've only taken it once or twice before - even though it's the one I prefer. I prefer it coz it's "only" 3-1/2 hours to Singapore from HKG, whereas transitting in Tokyo means a 7 hour onward flight to Singapore which is not exactly something to look forward to after a 14-hour flight to get to Tokyo. I rarely fly this route coz it's almost impossible to upgrade. But here we are, Business Class in the upper cabin of a 747-400. Fetch.

It also used to be that my GSM phone would work in HKG but not NRT, hence my preference, but that's no longer true. 3G rocks!

Airy, ultra-modern, and shopping/food-heaven Hong Kong is definitely a far more pleasant airport to transit through, as opposed to the yucky but ultra-efficient Narita. And the Red Carpet Club in HKG is less crowded (Narita's RCC is a zoo!), though I think we're gonna try and sneak into the Thai Airways' Royal Orchid Lounge in HKG this time around.

Thirty minutes before boarding. I think I saw The Devil Wears Prada as part of the entertainment on our next flight.

Yay!!! I can't wait. @ 11:10 Chicago

[another month...] ...another trip.

Sitting comfortably in the Red Carpet Club in Chicago's O'Hare in my turtle-neck zip-up (it is a little chilly here though), en route to Singapore where it's gonna be hotter than balls:

I know, travelling again.

And back to Asia... again. It's only been a month since I was last there.

At this point, I should just live on a plane. @ 11:03 Chicago

October 3, 2006

[2,455] It took the Dow 2,455 days, but today - finally - the Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 blue-chip companies closed at a record high for the first time since the peak of the dot-bomb 6-1/2 years ago.

The Dow closed at 11,723.74 today taking out the record close of 11,722.98 hit on January 14th, 2000.

From CNN, "The road to the record":

"The Dow hit its previous all-time high in January 2000 near the end of the late 1990's Internet boom. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 peaked around two months later."

"But the stock market began slipping soon after, and within two months, the Dow had given back 8 percent. The major gauges recovered most of the losses that April, slipped back and then tried again to recover in August, before giving up altogether and heading lower."

"The bursting of the Internet bubble, the recession that ended in 2001 and the events of 9/11 all played a role in a bear market that stretched for 3 years. Stocks bottomed out in October 2002, and have slowly recovered since then, although the Nasdaq remains more than 50 percent below its all-time high."

"Last May, the S&P 500 hit a 5-1/2 year high and the Dow closed at its highest point since the 2000 record. But the blue-chip averages were unable to take out the records and stocks slid through the summer. Record high oil prices and worries about another recession paced the selloff."

"But stocks turned it around again in August and September of this year thanks to a few key events: oil prices tumbled, the Federal Reserve paused its more than two-year old interest-rate hiking campaign, and investors saw signs that the economy is slowing, but not heading for a recession."

"Last week, the major gauges finished out the best third quarter since 1997. The S&P 500 rose just short of 5 percent in the third quarter, while the Dow gained 4.5 percent. The Nasdaq gained 3.8 percent."

I can still remember the euphoria of end-1999 and early-2000.

Today marks a milestone: Wall Street's long, but full recovery.

And yet, the S&P 500 (closed today at 1334.12) is still well under its March 2000 record of 1527.46. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (closed today at 2243.65) is less than half of its 2000 peak of 5048.62.

Long way to go. @ 17:09

More >>

25 :: vt, ma, ct... nj!
24 :: group pic
24 :: $100,000
24 :: hairless
24 :: brettney love
24 :: drank thru fall
23 :: bad drag
23 :: winter sucks
20 :: it happened
19 :: 12,000
19 :: never enough
18 :: colossal failure
17 :: 300,000,000
16 :: chasing cars
16 :: noodle bar
16 :: switzerland of asia
16 :: UA838 SIN-NRT
13 :: random pix
11 :: rest day
10 :: spa-tacular
10 :: der
10 :: mc bimbos
09 :: food, food and more food
08 :: party capital
07 :: singapore
06 :: back in asia
06 :: chinky heaven
06 :: sos texts
06 :: work woes
06 :: 38000ft
05 :: the d-list redux
05 :: sleepy and hungry
05 :: ORD-HKG
05 :: another month...
03 :: 2,455