New York trip

Purpose of trip: renew my passport and also you know what :P

Date: 8/21 - 8/24

Since 8/21 was a Thursday, I took my first personal day for this trip. A friend fetch me to the Indianapolis airport after work, and basically the check in was my most pleasant one ever. There was virtually no line throughout, I guess due to the fact that it was a Thursday and Indianapolis was not a popular airport. In a mere two hours I was already in the Big Apple (factually incorrect since my destination airport was Newark International).

When the moment I had been waiting for ages come, there was no explosive/emotional reunion, because somebody was very shy :P. Luckily the shyness and hint of foreignness didn't stay long; soon enough my PY was back to her cute self. Hugggss (finally).

During my stay in New York, I managed to get my passport renew in one day (for once let's cheer for the efficiency of Msian officers). Other than that, basically we spent most of our time walking around in the city, with me savoring every moment of it.

Unique way to park your car

Rockefeller center

ToysR'Us in Times square

Times Square

New York Public Library (didn't get the chance to go in during my freshmen year)

We tried to visit the St Paul Cathedral too, but we ended up in another St Paul near the Columbus circle. Guess we shall visit it some other time.

On Friday night, we watched Phantom of the Opera (again....my 3rd time!!). To obtain the tickets, we lined up for a good one hour + to get the tkts discounted tickets! The tickets were really cheap though, only 51 USD per person, which was about the same as what I got 4 years ago. I recalled how awe-struck I was when I first watched this broadway show, and how I secretly vowed to bring my love one to watch this show again. There I was in the Majestic Theatre, finally fulfilling my wish. PY said it was rather boring in some parts though :S, but I'm glad that she loved the 2nd act.

 

Look at the size of crowd the show still gets after years of running..

Of course, I also managed to meet up a bunch of friends (mostly Michigan folks). We chatted for a while, and it was great to meet May Ying again after so long...

In Melissa's apartment (888 8th Avenue!!!)

What's a trip to New York without excursions to Malaysian restaurants? We went to Nyonya and New Malaysia, and I finally got my cravings satisfied.

Char Kuey Teow in Nyonya, absolutely delectable!

The Wan Ton Mee was actually bad...not recommended (Nyonya)

 

The dish that I had been thinking day and night....kai si hor fun!!! (New Malaysia)

Laksa. Good recommendation by Eric (New Malaysia)

Last but not least, I should thank Kai Li, Guang Hui, Kai Yuan and Jian for their hospitality and company. In a nutshell, it has been a great weekend!!

Random

When I first entered my apartment building, I realized something was wrong. It didn't take me long to find out that the lights in the hallway were not turned on. Upon entering my apartment, a quick investigation confirmed my fear: there was a power outage.

Straightaway I called the office to ask what's going on. Apparently the whole neighborhood was facing the same problem, and I was promised that the power would be back on around 6pm. Thinking that it wasn't a big deal since the day was still bright, I tried to cook, but to my dismay discovered that the stove won't work without electricity. Hence I did some marinating and decided that I could use my laptop powered by battery to do some surfing online. Maybe not. Modem needs electricity no?

Wanting to kill some time, I did some exercise and finally dragged myself out to Monon Trail to jog after much debate. Still no electricity when I came back. Starting to get frustrated, I rested for a while before taking an early shower. Same thing after shower; no electricity. It was then I started to get worried. If that persisted I would need to dine out and go to bed straight after dinner unless I manage to find a hangout place.

I started calling my friends in my neighborhood and asked if they still have the same problem. One friend said he got power a few minutes ago, and right after I hanged up the lights finally went on.

My purpose of delineating such a mundane occurrence was to express my realization of how we have to lose something to realize its real meaning to us. Things as simple as electricity can truly make a difference in our lives, yet when it is available in abundance we fail to see its value. I guess this incident serves as a reminder that I should not take things for granted and start being grateful for everything I have.

Finally...

This got to be the longest wait ever...and now the end is near. Can't wait can't wait!!! :):)

An Olympic of World Records and Historic moments

Just witnessed Phelps securing his place as the most successful Olympian in the history of modern Olympics. 8 for 8!!

But I have to say the most memorable moment of today (US time) was the 100m men's finals on track. I missed seeing it live this morning (I thought it would be broadcast at night time), but managed to catch it on NBC later. Usian Bolt, the Jamaican who won the event, broke the world record in the most relaxing manner ever. And it was almost hilarious the way he looked right and looked left while running, and was already celebrating when he had not even finished the race!!

Bear in mind we are not talking about marathon, in which you have plenty of time to do all sorts of celebration you want if you have a clear advantage; it's 100m race which normally finishes in 10 seconds!!! And there he was, palms up, slapping his chest before even completing his race. And still managed to smash his old world record...

Oh, did I mention that he ran with his shoe lace not properly tied?

Unbelievable!!!!

Just saw how Michael Phelps got his 7th gold...one word: UNBELIEVABLE!!!

Phelps was like one body length behind the leader during the 50m turn (it's 100m butterfly race btw)...but he never gave up and kept giving his best!! Towards the very end the guy next to him (earlier leader who still led) was already stretching his hands for the wall, and although Phelps himself was also close enough to reach for the wall, he did an additional butterfly stroke....and VOILA!! Phelps did it and won the race by a MERE 0.01 SECOND!!!!

Gosh...what a great race....although it's not a world record, it's an Olympic record still. And great great moment in the history of swimming!!

(and really, every one should see how Phelps mother reacted...she was stunned for a few good seconds, then collapsed with relieve..)

Morse Park Bbq

My weekends were usually uneventful, as I'm gradually becoming more and more like a 宅男 (guy who stays in home all the time) as Jill noted. Well, other than the fact that doing nothing at home is the most economical way of spending the weekend, I do really enjoy being with myself and just take things easy over the weekend.

I don't really fit in the mold of 宅男either though, as I don't really eat instant noodles while staying up late watching anime (that's my idea of the term). My typical weekend boils down to surfing the Internet, doing groceries, doing laundries, jogging on Monon trail, exercising with Wii (:P) and nowadays studying. Some Sundays I did go out for bowling (now I have my own pair of bowling shoes), and catch movies in cinema, but pretty much that's it.

Last weekend however Ken organized a bbq in Morse park, and finally I ended my streak of not venturing out from my home for more than 10 miles since July 4th. The location was ok, and the food was good. The only downside of the bbq was that no one brought anything other than food; no football, no frisbee, no cards. Hence all we did was just eating and chatting...I'd prefer if I could sweat a bit...

Lake by the park

Fishing for food?

A portable grill that we bought (not the rusty one, the one obstructed by guy in green)

 

And guess what I did after stuffing my stomach with food? I went back, rested for a while, and went to office at night to do some studying and finish off some work...great way to spend a Saturday night huh?

(Time to watch Phelps chasing his 6th gold)

Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics

 

                    

Just watched the opening ceremony on NBC last night. Didn't like how they cut into commercials even when the show and fireworks were taking place. I liked all the performances very much, especially the part where they put up a show using moving printing blocks. I was watching in disbelief when it was revealed that the blocks were actually manipulated manually by humans, because I just concluded earlier that there was no way that such precision and coordination could be done without exact execution from computers. Truly awe-inspiring indeed what teamwork can achieve..

Now that I've seen this, I am hoping that I will be able to attend the London 2012 one...

July 4th

The past independence day was my first holiday since I started working. Naturally, I was anticipating the coming of that day. The fact that it fell on a Friday meant that I would have a long weekend, hence I decided to go back to Ann Arbor and have some good time there.

When I was driving into Ann Arbor, I was suddenly reminded of how I felt when I went back home for the first time after studying for a while in UiTM Shah Alam. It felt great....to be home, and Ann Arbor is like my home in the States. And boy I realized how much I missed my college town...

My time in Ann Arbor was basically a relaxing and enjoyable one. On Friday (July 4th), Siew Gee, Wei Chieh and I went to Novi just to find out that Ajishin, a Japanese restaurant that we planned to go was close on that day. We went for dimsum in Great Lakes instead, and caught 2 movies (Wanted and Hancock) after lunch. I thought Wanted would be a great movie, but other than the amazing visual effects and action scenes that got old after a while, the plot was absurd and laughable. Well I guess it's hard to find a movie that can surpassed "the Matrix" in novelty, excitement, and depth.

Wei Chieh and I played some tennis in the evening. It was my first time playing tennis, and thanks to our assumption that the tennis court would be well lit at night, we went there at 9 something only to find out that it was in fact not lit at all. We played still, and honestly it was not quite fun chasing balls in dark...

The next morning, we went to Novi again, this time having our desires fulfilled. The food in Ajishin was unquestionably good...I don't know how authentic it was, but it certainly was delicious. It reminded me of the taste of hawkers style food in Malaysia...

 

Sushi master in Ajishin...actually two of his assistants were Hispanic...that I'm pretty sure.

That triangular delight was real good!

Sheer ambrosia...

Wei Chieh holding back tears of regret because he ordered the cold noodles...

Siew Gee's noodle actually tasted like "loh mee" in northern Malaysia.

For the afternoon, we went to Gallup Park to do some kayaking. Wei Chieh and I shared a kayak, and for us the main agenda of the day was to run into Siew Gee's kayak. It might have sounded easy since we were two against one, but in truth we had to summon every ounce of our energy and brainpower (lol) before we could actually do that.

Colorful kayaks

Excellent day for kayaking...

Trying her best to keep up with our insane speed (haha in reality that's so not true...)

Wei Chieh and I was ready to go back for a good dinner, only to be shocked by an unforeseen occurrence (we should have known better). In the end we dined in Asian Legend, which was not bad actually.

So that was my only visit to Ann Arbor up till now. I'm guessing I'll be back in this lovely town during Labor Day...till then so long AA!