Flashing Lights

Farewell Charvan

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:42:00 +0000

Well goodbye forever, we'll leave you with a song that Mr Nick Devaud wrote for Evan and Charlene.

re: Reid Facebook ad targeting

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 06:08:00 +0000

wa.... really?

Hot baby mess

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 01:14:00 +0000

It's my 2nd cousin and his daddy. I even fed the baby. I'm that important.

Whiskey in the jar

noreply@blogger.com (Char) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:13:00 +0000

So I kind of held off really really exploring Dub Dub and other parts of Ireland until Ryan arrived so it would be like totally new for both of us. And I decided the best way to see a lot in the short amount of time Ryan had here was to do a tour...on a green van with sheep and leprechauns painted on it!

It was a budget tour so accommodations included 2 nights in hostels--the first night spent in a Galway hostel, which had its share of shady characters and snorers (don't need to experience that again). Aside from the shady hostel the first night, I highly recommend Paddywagon Tours. I think we got lucky with one of the more experienced guides. His name was Charlie, a very Irish dude from Dingle, who seemed to know every traditional Irish song there is (to be played on repeat in touristy pubs and souvenir shops for days straight). And boy did he have a lot of stories to tell...I didn't realize how much the British screwed over the Irish. Very informative and enjoyable tour. For the most part, the weather was on our side. And the peeps on the tour were all cool--no whiners.

Pretty deprived of sleep, but a nice little break from work, indeed. I'll let the pics tell the rest of the story.

Vizag

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 06:51:00 +0000

I totally forgot about this from Vizag.

Digging through trash in Milan

noreply@blogger.com (Char) — Mon, 26 May 2008 22:16:00 +0000

Looking at some of my past blog posts, I realize I've been writing more than I would tolerate as a reader. And Mike is right: "Words are dumb." But I'll probably end up writing too much, anyway.

Highlight of Milan this past weekend? My flatmate getting pickpocketed on the underground. I suddenly had to learn how to navigate through the streets of Milan fast to get us to the police station. And I also had to flip to the section of my English-Italian book that says things like "lost wallet" and "no security at the station"--something I hope you never have to do. We ultimately ended up digging through the trash cans at the underground station and were not only able to find my flatmate's wallet, but also a local's, which we turned in back at the police station. All ID and credit cards untouched. Seems the pickpocketer was only interested in cash. Emanuele calls this type of pickpocketer a gentleman.

Sad to admit negative things like this are more interesting to read about than just a nice trip. For the nice trip pics, click here.

Bundoran

noreply@blogger.com (Char) — Mon, 19 May 2008 11:21:00 +0000

Location of this past weekend's getaway: Bundoran
Nationalities represented: American, Austrian, Brazilian, Dutch, Finnish, German, Italian, Slovakian, and Swedish

Everyone arrived in Bundoran late Friday night due to sorting out rental car annoyances, picking up peeps, Dublin traffic, and stopping to buy grub and beer. The trip took somewhere between 3-4 hours. Jos was kind enough to let me ride in his car with his girlfriend Veronika and Jan. Apparently, rental cars in Europe are manual, unlike in the States where they are usually automatic. That in addition to driving on the opposite side of the car AND road...I'm never renting a car here. Even though peeps were tired, everyone stayed up a bit the first night to chat and chill. Nothing like good times to bring new faces together...and alcohol (it helps).

How to say cheers in a few different languages (yes, I cheated and double-checked in Google):
Brazilian-Portuguese (may be vulgar if you speak Chinese--sorry) - Tim-tim
Finnish - Kippis
German - Prost
Swedish - Skal

Saturday I opted out of surfing in the cold, cold water with everyone else. Instead I explored the nearby grassy hills (saw so much green, started seeing red), and generally enjoyed dilly-dallying on the beach and snapping photos.

After a nice day at the beach, some of us napped in the afternoon to recharge, and then everyone enjoyed a predominantly meaty BBQ in the evening with more beer and wine.

Sunday I decided to throw caution to the wind and attempt bodyboarding/surfing in the cold, cold water with everyone else. I'm happy to report that I can report (i.e., I didn't die). I think I stood on my board for like one second (zero improvement from my attempt at surfing in San Diego a few years back). But now I can check off surfing in Ireland--even though it never really was on my list...it is now! The peeps I went with said the surf was better and the water was warmer on Saturday, but Sunday redeemed itself by at least living up to its name=).

If you'd like to see more, click here.

Phil from the future

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 19 May 2008 09:07:00 +0000

Obviously no one will care about this, but I was wikipedia surfing from Aly & AJ, to Phil of the Future, to Ricky Ullman (yes fine I thought he was cute. At least he's of age). But WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM??:

Disney:

Uh-oh
WHAT?????

DeVotchKa

noreply@blogger.com (Char) — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:48:00 +0000

It all began this past weekend when I heard Mariya's flatmate playing some cool music on his iTunes library. He said the name of the band was DeVotchKa. And then a few days later, Julie mentioned she interviewed them when they were in Dublin not too long ago. Later that evening, I noticed Rachel's IM chat status said, "devotchka!" It was meant to be. I finally seeqpod'd them and haven't stopped listening to them for two days straight now. I'm usually behind on cool music by like two or three years, so I realize I might be a little late with this discovery, but they are awesome! They are an American band I've discovered while here in Dublin. Same thing happened with Pearl Jam when I was in the Philippines many years ago. Funny how that works. Anyway, this is my new favorite lullaby...

Flying to Delhi

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 12 May 2008 04:37:00 +0000

This is completely out of order. May 9th, 2008.

Dear Chubby-kid-next-to-me-on-Jet-Lite,

You have a fascination with checking the time. I know we've been waiting to land for about 20 minutes (why would they torture us so? I agree with you chubby kid). But checking your watch so impatiently every 30 seconds is not going to make the plane go any faster. You've done it so often that I was able to catch you in a photo doing that very annoying task.

Okay yes, we landed and it took almost another 30 minutes to finally get us out. 30 minutes = 60 wrist checks? Come on now.

Mariya, Tom, and Pedro's Wrong Housewarming Party

noreply@blogger.com (Char) — Sat, 10 May 2008 09:19:00 +0000

Last night Mariya and her lovely penthousemates (that's right, I said penthouse) threw a fabulous housewarming party. The theme was simply "wrong". Hard to say how many attendees actually adhered to the theme, but Uli and I thought it would be clever to bring Band-Aids as a wrong housewarming gift...funny, no? I guess no one else thought so either. Oh well.

Anyway, back to the penthouse. The frickin' elevator brings them directly into their frickin' penthouse! I don't know if it gets more pimp than that.

The turnout was quite good, and there was no shortage of mojitos, sangria, snacky poofs, and pleasant company. Tjhien shared his favorite parts of a fish head to eat: the cheeks, neck, and back of the neck. He said the cheek is the best because it is the most tender muscle. Mmm...

And to top it all off, they surprised me with cake and sang "Happy Birthday" to me! What's funny is I was having a nice chat with Francesco on the balcony when I heard them start singing inside. I thought maybe it was for someone else, but they just didn't realize I was outside! =) And they also gave me a card, which was signed in many languages I don't know. I was very touched.

The cake was right down my alley--more like a cheesecake. Apparently, Julie ordered it, who unfortunately wasn't able to attend=(. We ran out of forks, but Tilek was resourceful and used a cracker to eat his cake. A few others followed his lead, including me. (Yes, there were probably spoons in the kitchen, but too far.)

Anyway, a very enjoyable night indeed--the kind where you stumble home happy=). And here is one of my favorite pics of the night. Adel's expression is priceless.

Vizag

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:25:00 +0000

Alright, this is also really late. This was my trip from from hell two weeks ago. Going into details will be too hard, so I'll do another photo entry (Apr 26, 2008).

I leave 9pm Friday by 14 hour bus to get there. Immediately a bug bites my foot where it rubs my flip flops. The bus honks at everything (normal) and stops randomly for people to use the bathroom (there is no bathroom on the bus). When it stops, everyone slides off their seats because it is angled at about 40 degrees.

I arrived at Vizag around 11am and have absolutely no idea where to go. I also did not book my hotel :x, but I did sorta check with one beach resort if they have space for me. Anyway, after running around I ended up at Rishikonda beach where the resort was at.

In the trees to the left should be where my resort is.

This is my non-ac hut. Yes, a hut. There were holes in the wall and when I walked in a lizard went through it. I told the guy that there needs to be a mosquito net, but instead he just bundles up some newspaper from the cabinet (they line all cabinets with newspapers), bunch it, and shove it in the hole.

Horse walk on the beach.

"speed boats" on the beach.

A view from some park.

Here are some fun trash cans they have there:

Sunset

Some more beach time. Then I woke up at 5am to take a train at 7am (this part is awful, with a wooden bench for 5 hours straight) through the Eastern Ghats to get to Aroko valley and some caves. Where I was ATTACKED by a monkey that stole my naan.

This monkey attacked me, AND stole my naan. I hate monkeys.

Borro Caves, something like 300 meters deep of natural cave? My tour guide stopped and said "I need to pee" and pees in the cave on a rock. That is about equivalent of me peeing in my own cubicle.

Anyway, my train back to town was late and I almost miss my 12 hour bus back to Hyderabad (this is all a dramatic process, trust me). But luckily there was this family who said "oh hey I know the owner of the bus company, and I'll call for you." I arrive at the train station at 9pm, exactly when my bus was leaving Vizag, AND I needed to get to the bus station. What to do? Well I was dropped off by the family on some freeway and they managed to get the bus to do a pick up in the middle of nowhere.

Arrive in Hyd at 9am Monday, go back, shower, get to work at 10am. Deattttthhh.

(I apologize for the lack of flow in this post, it just takes way to long to document this. Please ask me in person to tell you the story when I'm around. It's very entertaining.)

Char's quest for fish and chips

noreply@blogger.com (Char) — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:19:00 +0000

Christine recommended Leo Burdock's for fish and chips. I decided to try it out after work today--good excuse to finally venture into Dublin proper. Christine also said streets can be very confusing. Zomg, she was fo rizzle! And me without my glasses. Aye. I managed to make a wrong turn at almost every street, but I did by happy coincidence find Oscar Wilde.

And somehow I was still able to reach my destination, buy the goods, and make it home before dark (13983 steps...yesss!). I stopped on the way home to take a picture of my hard-earned prize. This picture does not do it justice. Pretty good. And colossal. A good portion is sitting in my fridge.

Anyway, a few tips to share if you're walking/getting lost in a city you don't know.

1) Transform your lost look into purpose. Walk like you know where you're going. You'll be amazed by the results. Someone actually stopped me on the street to ask where they could find a particular street. The fact that they thought I was a local--and I don't think I look like a typical Dubliner--was something else. My point is it makes you look less like a target, a tourist waiting to be fooled.

2) Sometimes you have to look like a tourist waiting to be fooled. Open that damn map and figure out where you are, somewhere out of the way of passing pedestrians and lurking hooligans. Dublin has some crazy winding streets that turn into other streets, and street signs are on corners of buildings--not traffic lights or street corners--so harder to see.

3) Ask a local. Preferably someone not drunk.

4) Dublin drivers go fast. Look both ways before crossing the street and then look again. Follow the locals' lead when they cross/run.

5) Remember large landmarks or buildings. They will be like your gigantic bread crumbs when you try to retrace your steps.

6) If you start to panic, calm down by trying to listen to the people talking/walking nearby, who likely have charming Irish accents. It helps me, anyway. And that's another point: Walk where there are lots of people or along main streets (just make sure you know where your wallet is). No dark alleys. Take Murray's advice like these guys and you're in trouble.

Alfonso's farewell

noreply@blogger.com (Char) — Thu, 08 May 2008 21:21:00 +0000

Last night some of us went out for a pint to bid our co-worker Alfonso farewell. Of course, I forgot my camera, but luckily Cecile did not=). It took me three hours to finish one pint of Guinness (my first!...I think). Claudia said it is like a meal. I would have to agree, and that made me feel better. A few things I learned as I digested my pint:

1) Julie pointed out there are far more dudes than girls on the Dublin team.

2) Emanuele said in Lourdes, France, it is someone's job to periodically say "shhhhhh" into a microphone for all the town to hear.

3) Every first Monday of the month, the Burger Friends get together and--you guessed it--eat burgers and drink beer. Florian says I am officially in (yesss!). Too bad I will only be able to attend the one in June.

4) Daniela loves Japan. And ok in Japanese is "daijoubu".

5) Alfonso is awesome...well, I guess I already knew that, but I thought it would be a good point to end on being his farewell and all.

Dublin has arrived

noreply@blogger.com (Char) — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:29:00 +0000

My non-stop flight to Dublin (just under 10 hours) was relatively painless minus not sleeping much--but in my case, that is somewhat normal, anyway. And hooray for my awesome noise-cancelling headphones! Definitely cut down on plane/people sounds.

Going through Dublin immigration was less than fun. The border officer put me in "the system". Nothing like getting questioned and having your picture taken after a long, mostly sleepless flight. Felt more like a mugshot. But oh well. System can't keep me down!

My Dublin co-worker Julie was kind enough to meet me at the airport. At 8:30 on her Sunday morning. If I turn out to be a higher power, she will receive many gifts in the afterlife. She also showed me around work and helped me find my apartment--er, flat as they call it here=).

I've yet to meet my flatmate. I was informed I may be in a "mixed gender" situation, but it's hard to say based on what is currently in the fridge. I did see pennies on the coffee table and Girl Scout cookies in the kitchen, so I at least know my mystery flatmate is American.

I met my neighbor as I was walking back to my place today. He immediately identified me as Filipino like him and proceeded to speak in Tagalog, to which I had to apologize because I didn't understand (so sad). He has been living in Dublin for five years working as a nurse. He finds working and living here boring, but hey, it pays the bills. Pretty sure he's gay (an unnecessary observation but mostly for Ryan's benefit=). Now that I think about it, I don't even remember his name--man, I suck=/. But I'm sure we will run into each other again being neighbors and all. And then we can have that awkward exchange ("Heeey...youuu!"). He seems like an interesting story.

This Monday was a bank holiday. I came in to work anyway, thinking I could take it off another time--but alas, no, for technical reasons. Stayed late for a VC and missed an opportunity to enjoy the sunshine with Dublin peeps by Trinity College. I did at least get to soak up some sun at lunch with a few peeps on the roof terrace of Uli's pimp apartment complex nearby. Perhaps another sunny day to hang out will present itself--well, maybe not another sunny day, but to hang out, yes.

Sunny days sound incredibly rare here, as that was probably the hottest topic today in the office. People joked that I brought it with me. Maybe I am a higher power. Or maybe it's global warming. The forecast says it will be like this all week. Hard to believe for seasoned Dubliners.

Yes, a good number of people actually showed up today at work despite the holiday, so I was able to meet many of them. I like hearing all the different languages spoken, as well as the varied intonations of English. I remember my first day (seems sooo long ago) I had coffee with Julie, who is French, and Mariya, who is Bulgarian. I loved listening to them talk, even though I was sort of fading in and out of the conversation in my increasingly jetlagged state.

So to sum up, so far so good my first two days. Let's hope the good weather lasts a little longer. Oh, and in answer to Evan's American-flavored potato chips (not as interesting but tasty to me=)...

Evan vs Singapore Airlines

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 05 May 2008 04:19:00 +0000

So remember that airline attendant who was rude about handing me another drink?

Dear Mr Tang

Warm greetings, we trust this email finds you well. We are writing with
reference to your feedback on our crew onboard flight SQ001 on 15 April 08.

We are sorry to learn of your disappointment with our cabin crew staff
onboard
this flight and would like to offer our sincere apologies upfront for it.
Our
cabin crew are expected to provide polite and tactful service but this was
clearly not the case with your experience. Please be assured that we have
informed the Cabin Crew Manager to speak to her and remind her on the
importance of being more customer-oriented.

Mr Tang, we are grateful that you have brought this matter to our
attention.
Your feedback has enabled us to take remedial action and to continue in the

excellent service that Singapore Airlines is known for. We look forward to
having the privilege of welcoming you onboard our flights soon.

Yours sincerely

Cricket Fortune

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:24:00 +0000

I'm missing quite a few posts here. I'll start with last Tuesday's cricket match. It started with a 2 hour journey in traffic to a stadium that is only probably 30 miles away at most.

Problem #1:
Ben and I unfortunately drank too much water (well I also had a beer to get myself going for the match), thinking that it'll be a safe trip, but around an hour into it I was dieing to pee. Another half hour later, still dieing. Ben and I decided to jump out during stand still traffic and pee on the dirt (everyone does it, trust me). Ben gets a bush, and I ended up with a fence that had a direct view into either a) a government building or b) someone's huge mansion. Daring not to risk being caught peeing on their property I decided to run down the street in search of finding a real restroom.

1st restaurant: 100 meters away. Empty and awkward. I did not want to ask to use the bathroom without buying something. But its a restaurant, so it would take too long. I thought "Hey, if I buy a beer it would be fast, and I can enjoy the cricket game." No beer.

2nd restaurant: Another 100 meters. Same.

3rd restaurant: Probably 1 or 2 blocks away. Open seating, really ghetto, really busy: perfect for running in and out. It was the most disgusting squatter I've ever seen with about 5 flies flying around while I was trying to do my business. Ben calls. Crap, I'm still emptying out death, okay okay, faster. Whew, wash hands, run outside.

"Hey Ben, whats up?"
"Where are you?"
"At a restaurant, probably half a kilometer away"
"Do you s-e a bu- s---p"
"Huh? what? I can't hear you, theres too much honking" (this happens all the time)
"Bus stop"
"Oh yeah, I think I'm at the bus stop" (bullshitting)
"I see you!"

Miracle #1: Ben thought "Evan couldn't have ran this far, lets stop on the side to find him." And the were exactly across the street from me!

Problem #2: Crossing a street that isn't stand still traffic.

Crossing the non-cricket-going side was easy. Fast cars, but few in between. I got to the island, and tried to cross the insane cricket goer traffic and was basically stuck in the game of Frogger at level 99999999999: impossible. I get honked at about 3 times every time I make an attempt, 1 life left. Out of nowhere a red car (I think it was) started honking at me exasperatedly and rolled down their window.

Miracle #2: Ravi was driving to the match with Dan and Josh in his car. They were very confused why I was on a road island in the middle of nowhere, so they had me jump into their car.

I was pondering jumping out of the other side of the car to get to mine, but the other traffickers would not have it.

"Hey Ben, I think I'm going to go with them to the cricket match, I'll meet you guys there."

-----

blahblahblah, some complications, I end up safely back in our expat car with Ben and Evelyne. Take another 45 minutes to get to our gate and missed the first third of our cricket match. Deccan Chargers (Hyderabad's team) lost sorely. It was sad.

-----

Note on photos: the fog is actually pollution. I believe we were sitting ducks at a stadium full of car toxins.

American Flavored Potato Chips

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 03:21:00 +0000

I am unsure who the guy is, but I was sold on trying these. I made sure to point out the "American flavored Sour Cream & Onion." Also appropriately, they placed me in the "Asian" decoration section of their cubes. They have themed the place after international countries and I lucked out with the China cube (Hari and Nash are also here).

edit: Pallavi just told me that its just some random guy. Boo.

I look like Chloe

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 03:43:00 +0000

Deepti just told me that I reminded her of Chloe. And that we looked similar.

A legend flatmate: Ben

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 15:14:00 +0000

("a legend" is Irish slang for "super awesome" or in my mind "diva") One of my flat mates is an Irish dude named Ben. He taught me that doing the punch that Margaret Cho does when she is explaining "Fisting class" is perfectly acceptable as a dance (http://www.samgoody.com/Notorious-C-H-O--Front-Page_stcVVproductId1874263VVcatId463278VVviewprod.htm)

Airporting Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 04:19:00 +0000

Someone taking a nap

Me pretending to be dead from the 20+ hours of flying. This is the emptiness of the Singapore airport at some weird time in the morning.

The highlight of my Singapore tour with a snake.

He insisted that I wore that hat.

Woah! Charlene came to Singapore too.

How to pronounce Charvan

noreply@blogger.com (Char) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 04:26:00 +0000

So still not in Dublin.

There seems to be some confusion about how to pronounce Charvan. At Reid's request, I shall clarify on behalf of Evan and myself (Evan, please feel free to correct me if I am wrong). Spelled phonetically, it would be shar-VAHN (with French umph). To further clarify like a good online dictionary, click on the play button below to hear it spoken properly.

Need to brush up on your French accent? Check out this fabulous and fun tutorial video.

Airconditioning and Bathrooms

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 04:03:00 +0000

Why is the bathroom not airconditioned? WHY? :(

Airporting

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:04:00 +0000

4/14 11:35pm SFO time

I've begun my trip to Hyderabad on a good foot. I've made it to the airport on time with minimal casualties (my brother had to drive my car back whilst sick, so I suppose that is the casualty. But hey, this trip is about me, not him. Meeeee.). Once arrived, the Singapore Airlines check-in lady was very helpful and booked me the exit row that I asked for. Of course I over-enthusiastically volunteered to help out other passengers, but lord knows if the plane crashes I'd probably encounter grotesque monsters shoving "OUT OF MY WAY BIATCHES!!!" (assuming that I do not become one of those monsters as well. Okay I am a monster). Anyway, she graciously hinted that I should fill out a Customer Service feedback form for the great service to me (aka possible liability for other passengers) of which I smiled and filled out an optimistic superficial perf for my dear Vandana (I keep wanting to say Verdana. She should be a font.).

4/14 11:50pm SFO time

Due to my glee from having a great seat I am letting everyone cut in front of me. Wait thats a lie, actually some airport people are pushing wheelchair people past me because I am waiting behind someone taking their sweet time taking off their shoes and belt as if he was racing Canada in a nuclear arms race. Aren't wheelchair folk suppose to have their own super-lane?

Not today. I can only assume wheelchair assistants of airports are only allowed to be really mean trannies to everyone otherwise they could lose their jobs. To be clear I was feeling pretty generous and really want them to go ahead of me (yes, I'm not always a monster), but I wanted their luggage stuff to go with them because I am super anxiously uncomfortable when my wallet, phone, and work computer are in a tray separated from me for longer than 10 seconds. And where I am not allowed to get to them until I can pass a midget person checking for guns, needles, and water (ridic).

The wheel chair attendants literally dump the elderlies in front of the metal detector to fend for themselves, leaving them very confused and very SLOW (worse than the Canada racer dude). At this point it was already having a panic attack about my belongings, "What? Why? OMG MY WALLETZ. COMEONNNNN *Glare at wheelchairpushingtrannies walking away. Not to disappoint, no one informed the elderly that they can not have metal on them. This old man pulled out a watch, some coins, paper clips, and some other metals that I could only describe to be washers. I think he was going build a robot in SFO to replace the midget. He stood there very puzzled cause he had no idea the security was saying in english "Move to the left sir." Of which the old man looked at the pointing and mumbled through dentures "yeah, you go there. I stand here. huh? space there, you."

Eventually I made it through. Thank god the elderlies did not steal my stuff (you never know with them, go read Colbert's book about elderly folk). I am sure SFO is a hot mess because they are at a security level orange, but I really doubt people over 90 would try to be terrorists (they're busy enough with Hometown Buffet).

Note: People generally look really bad wearing orange if they aren't very tan or of dark pigmented skin. I'd advice other Asian people to avoid it, or at least layer it with other colors (see Santosh on his preppy double polo shirt day, dubbed as "Miami Vice day" from anonymous).

4/15 12:05am SFO time

Whew, about 1.5 hours to kill. I stop by a magazine rack and my first immediate worry was "Uh oh, I don't think they have US Weekly in Hyderabad."

4/15 5:00am SFO time

The flight attendant tells me "You must slow down on drinking." as she brings me my 3rd drink after dinner. I was pretty shocked, especially since all I was doing was watching Sweeny Todd quietly and immediately responded "No, I am fine." Which did not satisfy her as she hurried away, "You must slow down!"

Dear Mary (names not protected),

You failed to meet any expectations of a proper Singapore Flight Attendant. Apparently there are fan clubs for these Singapore Girls, but I am pretty sure you are not invited. You clearly do not know my alcohol tolerance, nor how to properly address the situation. If you were truly concerned you should have mentioned said "Sir, due to the difference in pressure from flying, alcohol tolerance is lowered. Please be careful with your consumption." Please take your faux smile behind a phone line and bring me my drinks.

Evan

4/16 6:00am HK time

We arrive in Hong Kong and I encounter my first awkward cultural conversation.

Flight Attendant: Oh I used to be an IT consultant for _____, a subsidiary of Accenture.
Evan: That must have been really exhausting. All my consultant friends are always overworked.
Indian man: Really? Why are you working for Singapore Airlines then?
Flight Attendant: IT consulting just wasn't for me.
Indian man: What? Were you laid off? Were you fired?
Flight Attendant: ... I quit because I wanted to...

Awkwardz.

4/16 11am Singapore time

Arrived in Singapore. It smells like fish. I took the opportunity to take some ridiculous photos.

3pm
Went on the tour. Basically learned that all of Singapore is built on 're-taken land.' Ooo but I did take a photo with a snake.

5pm
They do have Us Weekly here... it is $8 dollars.

7pm
This is the most awful layover ever. Granted that the airport is nice, there are three terminals each of which spam about 203948203948 miles long. I finished some work emails, and now will treat myself to food and plane. Another post when I'm actually taking photos in Hyderabad.

Still not in Dublin

noreply@blogger.com (Char) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 05:45:00 +0000

If Char was a lemur...

Oh...hello, handsome.
Oh ho ho!
No need to come any closer!
I can see you just fine!

Thank you to abcode for letting me use this neat lemur picture=).

Also, I found directions to embed the nifty Flash MP3 Player here.