Chicago Day 1 (26th Nov 09)

Our bus to Chicago leaves Ann Arbor @ 9am on Thanksgiving.

Side track abit, Thanksgiving Day is a harvest festival celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Traditionally, it is a time to give thanks to God for the harvest and express gratitude to others for our many blessings. While historically religious in origin, Thanksgiving is now primarily identified as a secular holiday. 

Hence, everyone is at home with their loved ones, shops are closed, and public transport like bus are not operating. and cab ride is damn expensive. Lucky for us, our fren drove us to the bus station...

So we begin our 7 hr bus ride...

We reach Chicago @ abt 2pm. Our hotel is abt 30 mins walk away. But we decided to take the subway instead.

As it was Thanksgiving alot of shops are closed. We walk alot of places and all the restaurants are closed. So we got no choice but to settle our Thanksgiving dinner at our hotel's cafe... Mr Ong had the Thanksgiving Dinner set and i had thin crust BBQ chicken pizza...

Then we spend the rest of the night watching tv and resting so that we have energy to walk and shop on the 2nd day... hehehhee 

Counting down to road trips!!!

Final 4 days count down to our Thanksgiving Trip to Chicago!!!
yeapi!!! weather fore casted  that there will be snow!! will be damn cold lar.. but it will be damn fun as well!!! still doing last min adjustments to the itinerary.


Also counting down to the Orlando trip.. spending the last few days of 2009 in Disneyland + Universal Studios and Welcoming 2010 in magical style... escapade to the magical lands and sunny beaches!!!!

Cant wait!!!!!

A leopard cannot change its spots

A leopard cannot change its spots...

you can't expect it to somehow miraculously shed its spots, loose its killer instincts and become a giant gentle cat, purring every time u pet it.....

But given enough nurture, love, assurance, u could tame it.. u could train it.. but its still a leopard, chances are that it will come bk and bite u in the ass in the most unexpected way....

Because its an animal...its in them, in their blood, its mother nature... 

SATC & Triple Chocolate Ice-Cream

Well well well...

when the weather is cold, 

when the sun hides behind the clouds, 

when the wind is too windy to go out...

and what u have is:

plenty of time...

a delicious tub of triple chocolate ice-cream (1/2 the fat kind),

online connection,

and all the seasons of Sex & the City (SATC),

one cant help to spend the entire day watching the episodes...

My fav character has always been Charlotte York. She is always optimistic, the one who places the most emphasis on emotional love as opposed to lust and is a true romantic, always searching for her knight in shining armor. And of cuz, everyone know that she eventually found hers and she have a perfect family.

Most interesting character in the show wld be Samantha Jones. The oldest and most sexually confident of the foursone. An independent businesswoman who is also confident, strong and outspoken and has a motto of "try anything once". Although she is wild, her best quality wld be loyalty to her frenz. Commitment in a stable relationship is just not something for her. Love her character especially kudos to her for staying committed on a younger hotter love for 5 long yrs... she eventually broke up with him in the last movie. Do hope that get back together in the SATC 2 movie...

Miranda Hobbes, a typical career-minded lawyer with extremely cynical views on relationship and men. She portrays a masculine and borderline misandric, but this image soften over the years which in turn make her more likable, personally.

The main lead actress of the show, Carrie Bradshaw. The woman that loves shoes and fashion and men, is ur typical kind of the girl. She writes a weekly column base on train of thoughts around, men, love, romance etc... My least fav character most of all... hahaha

Shouldn't the new age perfect woman be made up of:

the Optimistic and Romantic as Charlotte,

the Sexually confident, independent & loyal as Samantha,

the Career-minded yet can be soft when necessary as Miranda,

the Smart, funny, writes well and a fashionista as Carrie??

well well well, if it really is, she is damn powerful....

Starting to watch all over fr season 1 is fun. Every season talks about real life issues that had been ard since the 90s. LOVE, FRIENDSHIP, SEX, DRAMA, MEN, FASHION & LIFE.

Sometimes we just need all these to remind us of who we are, what we have and who we have and to be content and grateful. What's past is past, enjoy the present and work for the future... 

Push by Sapphire

Another book review... only diff is that i did not buy it.. instead i spend abt 4 hours (2 separate days) at Borders reading the 200-odd page book...


The story has been recently made into a movie. The movie title is Precious...shld be showing already...


Set in Harlem in 1987, it is the story if Claireece "Precious" Jones, a sixteen yr old African-American, giving birth to her 2nd kid. Both times knocked up buy her father at home. Her so call father have raped her since she was 12. A very badly broken family, even her mom abused her sexually. Her first kid was at the tender age of 12. She did not have a chance to have a normal education like other kids due to her teenage pregnancies..


A story about coming out from the darkness, pain and powerlessness to light, love and self-determination.


Definitely a good read...

Children

Congrats once again to my senior, Aron on his new born son Ethan and mommy Amanda is recovering well.

With the advancement of FB and mobile updates, i was able to find out the latest updates of my frens almost real time...

He updated on fb that he have submitted all possible govt baby bonus and is waiting to register his son for kindergarten... I was pretty shocked, taking into a/c that Ethan is only max 1 week old??

Replies flooded to his update, some say he's too kaisu, too singaporean, and i was too quick to judge too, commenting that he so kan chiong to put his child to 'branded sch' and giving pressure to the kid...

He then replied to all the comments. He is planning for his kids, not pressurizing him. In fact, it is a 2yr waiting list to get into the kindergarten, and a 6 yrs waiting list for pri sch enrollment prep plus parent voluntary works of 2 yrs.. and worse of all, its just a sch within 1km of where they staying...

Some more not taking into consideration for all the extra enrichment programs to enroll the kids in?? and also not to mention if the kid is born in the yr of tiger or dragon, competition is even higher... haiz...

Damn, when have SG become lidat??  Been parents now are so different now...

So much pressure on the children and parents... just to let the kid have a decent education... making me thinking again whether its fair to bring a child to the world to go thru all the pressure...

On the other hand, having a kid is a natural part of human race and very rewarding to the soul.... Looking it in a positive way, we can take things as it comes, don't be pressure to do what other parents might be pressure to do due to the circumstances and things will eventually turn out well.... easier said then done, but it always works out.... =)

Review Checkup

went for the review checkup for my blood pressure and it was great!!!

everything is under control... the blood test came bk super, nothing wrong with my heart, lungs, kidney, liver, cholesterol level, potassium level etc...

So the doc say just need to cont monitor my blood pressure and take the pills.

She drew another 2 tubes of blood for further testing and also to test if i need to take Vitamin D pills. Due to the fact that the weather here is mostly cold and cloudy and gloomy, ppl here dun really get alot of Sun which is = Vitamin D.

Unlike in SG, where sun is everywhere, Vitamin D pills will not be necessary.

Other then that.. i'm going to live.. muahahahahaa

Michael Tollivers Lives by Armistead Maupin

Just finished another great book by a great author: Armistead Maupin.

He's an outstanding gay writer, currently living in San Fransisco with his hubby, Christopher turner.

A brilliant writer with words that is humorous and close to heart.

He is author of 9 novels, including a 6-part Tales of the City series.

I started reading the above last book of the 6-part series and it is very entertaining and heart warming. Its about life, friendship, kinship, and love, written in the perspective of being gay. The last book of the series is written when Michael Tollivers is in his 50s and how he met his young husband of 33, Ben. 


This series has been ard since 1978... an excellent read!!!!

Looks like ill be brining lots of books bk ...hahahaaha

In a perfect world by Laura Kasischke

This novel that i finished is written by Laura Kasischke, who teaches in the University of Michigan MFA program and the Residential College. She have written several poetry books as well as other novels.

The novel, In a Perfect World is about marriage, motherhood, and the choices we make when we have no choices left. The author tells the story of Jiselle, a young flight attendant who's just settled into a fairy tale life with her new husband and stepchildren. But as a mysterious new illness spreads rapidly throughout the country, she begins to realize that her marriage, her stepchildren, and their perfect world are all in terrible danger....

Honestly, i didnt like the book. Perhaps something i cannot see myself relating to. No suspense in the book enough to keep glued to the book. But still a good read, just that i will not be re-reading it again soon anytime...