March sucks big time!

I really am beginning to hate March... It's the worse month so far, everything bad is happening.

With the horrifying earthquake and triggered tsunamis, threat of nuclear meltdown and danger of radiation in Japan, and now everywhere else are beginning to get earthquakes too, e.g. Taiwan and Manila. Then my boss got ill and travel plans cancelled. And now, even the cute polar bear has to die!??

My sister shared this link on my wall and this morning when I read it, my heart ached. Knut, my favourite polar bear has collapsed and died! How could it be?!! He's only so young! It was devastating when his keeper, Thomas died... and now suddenly Knut's gone forever too.  

Dear Knut, I hope you've found peace and a happier place to be in. You'll always be in my thoughts. Auf Wiedersehen!

It is sick

Past midnight...

I am writing this after watching the news on the tsunami hitting the Japan's coast and it's heartbreaking to see them. Japan had a 8.9-magnitude earthquake on Friday, just as I was emailing with the Japan office over a minor issue they had been fussing over the whole morning. The office was evacuated shortly after the quake, I was relieved that they won't be bugging me anymore, but at the same time, I knew it must be quite serious as they had been evacuated. Nobody anticipated the aftermath to be so serious, with the death toll and unaccounted for rising rapidly over the past 24 hours. Like many, we always thought Japan is very well prepared (as they are leading and so advanced in many things)... and besides, earthquakes are known to be common for the area. But this time, it is really bad! Let's all hope that things are falling back into places and no more tremors and tsunami triggered.

There's a rumour about this date 21 December 2012 being the day a big disaster will befall... if you're curious, you can also try searching for the video on youtube.

Sick planes

Qantas' A380s seem to be sick. Here's the 2nd incident that the plane had to return to Singapore just after takeoff. Lcukily there was no casualities for both incidents.

3 years ago, I met a friend whom was sent here to check on Rolls-Royce engines, it was the time when A380s were newly introduced and the first fleet of A380s were for Singapore Airlines. Now I hear that they need to investigate this issue on Qantas A380s and it might take a year. Who knows, maybe my friend will be back to work on it? Or maybe not. Just a random thought!

Indulging

A picture sure says a thousand words... so let it speak to you ;)

It was a friend's birthday, and so we decided to celebrate by having a feast. We booked this about 2 months ago, yes the wait is this long. It was a 1 for 1 promotion at S$58++ per pax. I haven't eaten so much for a long time, and I swear I was that full that I couldn't sleep till 3am and having to run the toilet a few times! Not stomach upset, just needed to give them back to nature :( Looking at the picture, I only took a bit of each for all the main courses, it wasn't a lot, was it? But it slowly accumulated over the 3 hours and it probably was quite a fair bit I had.

As it was during the Youth Olympics games period, and Ritz Carlton was probably one of the hotels with VIPs, the security was tight. We had to be scanned before entering. Greenhouse is just at the corner from the lobby. My favourites of the night got to be pretzel (as good as the ones I really really really miss!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry Ritz, I just had to take a second one ;)), the fresh salmon sashimi and the oysters (which I really really wanna try!!!!!! My first time, and I had 5 of them!). The rest of the food were good too, but those I listed were exceptional, because they're my favourite food. There was abundant to choose from, and I just could not stop even though my stomach was getting filled up pretty fast. Their service was pretty attentive too, our plates were constantly being cleared, we were asked if we enjoyed the food.

They sat us at a really nice cosy corner. Nearby there was a 2-seaters table, and it was weird they always placed a solo male customer there. The first guy who sat there was this super friendly old man, he was smiling and playing with a toddler sitting at the opposite table. He often looked our way, so we exchanged smiles and made small talk. He's Canadian, here to watch the Olympics. Did he say he's a sailor!? He also gave us 2 badges which is related to some American games to be held in Toronto in 2015. Thanks!

Then the next guy who sat down was real annoying. He was constantly perving at women, and deliberately did it as he slowly made his way between the tables to get the food. He even wanted to leave without paying... brrrr. Gross!

I really like this place, the ambience and the variety of food! I will certainly be back, hopefully they have the same promotion again! :)

Differences

I used to think language isn't a barrier, that's a very naive thought. Coming back to that, body language can't replace real communication all the time. And till it was thoroughly tested on the last relationship I had, yes I admit language is a barrier.

You know what?

Even English language can have their own problems, the other time me and a kiwi ex-colleague were discussing how "thong" is used in some countries while others used "sandals" or "flip flop" or "slippers". While I was chatting to some Canadians recently, it made my blood boiled! Just because the way we use more British/American English here, there are some phrases totally left out of their Canadian English. Like knocking off, we mean we're done with work. They do not understand it at all! I hate explaining simple things, I guess I'm just not patient (I can't be a teacher!!).

Oh well, so people, watch out. Even though English is an international language, it has well diversified into their different cultures/localities.

World's 'wurst' lovers?

Oliver shared this with me, I just find it hilarious though I decline to comment whether I agree with it or not. *mouth zipped*

Read about "World's worst lover".

Fly big baby~

The world's first baby has taken its first step... A380 virgin flight to Sydney has taken off this morning at 815am (I heard from the morning news). 15mins later than schedule, but hey, it's the first in Asia, in this world, on this Earth. That's so cool. We are proud of Singapore Airlines and I'm sure they are now choking with overwhelming sense of achievement for making that happened.

Will I have a chance to fly A380?? I hope so and I must make that happen, the Economy ticket isn't that much more expensive, but greedy me is hoping to try something more, like Business Class! Let's wait till my luck gets better and I've enough money to try it out that is! (TOTO 3millions tonight *prays* *chants*)

And, you know what? Friday is in some hours!! Work is held off at many points and didn't get to my side at the rate I am able to handle... so so so... I need something more challenging, not 8/5 (implies the same as 24/7 -- hours/days) desk-bound. I think I said this before.