Masterpiece of sarcasm

From The Straits Times: Get China girl instead (ST Life, 14 June)

Miss Shenise Wong’s dress is bad enough but her hairdo is even worse.

Although she is 26, she looks old for her age. She stands no chance against the other younger contestants.

I would suggest that, next time, the organizer should get a young, pretty girl from China, give her Singapore citizenship and let her represent the Republic.

After all, getting help from “foreign talent” is part of Singapore’s culture.

Masterpiece of understatement

From Wikipedia: British Airways Flight 9

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress.

Until recently I’d been deceiving myself for years, believing that since I succeeded in doing business before I can repeat my success again. Unfortunately, it took me this many years to realize that I am just a blank sheet of paper now.

I came to a realization that the skills I relied on to succeed in the past are now nothing compared to what many others are doing now. Perhaps at the time when I started my previous business we were considered one of the pioneers and early entrants into online retail in Singapore, but now the entry barrier has been raised - customers are more demanding, and there is much, much more competition in every market and product.

It’s just like falling down, breaking a leg and then realizing that you have to learn how to walk all over again. A very humbling experience. I don’t think I should wallow in self-pity anymore about what happened in the past, then try to console myself by saying things like “if I could do it last time, I can do it again”. It’s just not going to happen. While I was down and out, the earth was still spinning, people were progressing and now I have to admit that I’m probably no better than any other recent graduate - the only difference is that I have a longer resume, but all the conquests were of years ago.

So many regrets - if only I picked myself up much earlier… but that’s irrelevant now. I ain’t going to look back now. It’s time to move forward and eat humble pie, get the ego out of the way and start by learning how to walk again.

My fight from New York to Las Vegas was really comfortable… I had more space than business class passengers as the seats for flight crew were in front of me and not occupied! It was my first Delta flight (hopefully more to come in future), as well as my first on a Boeing 757! It was a rather new aircraft – still smelling of fresh interiors and looking bright and clean… unlike the WestJet flight I had on a stinky, old 737.

It was evening by the time my ~ 5 hours flight arrived in Las Vegas. The view from the plane as we were flying into LV was spectacular - lots and lots of specks of lights! The Las Vegas airport was really interesting, as it had rows and rows of slot machines where gambling addicts can play while waiting for their flight departures!

Las Vegas hotels are really affordable. I booked a room at the Excalibur Hotel as it was even cheaper than staying in a hostel! The room was not very nice, but nevertheless it was still a nice change from the hostel beds without any privacy.

By the end of my first night in Las Vegas I gambled away $75 and downed about half a dozen $1 Corona beers. Drinks are free in casinos (even cocktails!) but one is expected to tip the server about a dollar each time.

Not wanting to gamble away my remaining trip expenses, I reluctantly pulled myself away from the craps table.

Las Vegas is very different from other places, not only for its casinos but also for as one of the few places in the States where there are things like legal prostitution (there are people handing out flyers everywhere - well, the brothels are operating outside of Las Vegas itself… but the flyers advertise ‘escort services’… ), and legal consumption of alcoholic beverages on the street.

My second day in Las Vegas was spent walking down the Strip… the weather there was hot and dry, it would have been easier to take the bus down but I wanted to pop into all the Strip hotels and casinos to look around so I went on foot. Vegas is full of imitation architecture - there is New York New York, where the hotel is made up of several imitations of iconic NYC buildings (i.e. the Empire State Building) and Paris (that had a fake the Eiffel Tower). The most amazing attraction in my opinion is the lion enclosure at the MGM Grand. Apparently the hotel owns a pack of lions in a ranch somewhere outside of Las Vegas, and someone would groom a few of them each morning and they would be transported to the hotel’s enclosure which comes complete with a man-made waterfall and pond, if I remember correctly. The interesting thing is that their lions are all pretty active, unlike those at the Singapore  Zoo that are always sleeping.

I spent the later half of the day at the Las Vegas Premium Outlet where I bought another handbag for the SO.

I had most of my meals at the Excalibur hotel’s buffet restaurant as I had plenty of dining credits that came with my hotel room… the food there sucked big time though. I would have paid the $20+ to try one of those legendary buffets in Vegas (I heard a lot about those huge Alaskan crab legs!) if not for those credits I had to finish… well, maybe next time.

And the third day I went on a day tour to the Grand Canyon… the view was amazing, but unfortunately being on a day tour meant I had just about 3 hours at the South Rim itself. It would have been more enjoyable to stay over for a full day at the Rim, but there were no viable/affordable transportation options.

After several weeks of procrastination, I’m continuing with my trip report… I stopped blogging at NYC, and so the report continues from there…

Not that I’ve got many readers eager to know about my unexciting life, but this also serves as a record of the thoughts and experiences I’ve had on my trip. I’ve got an awful memory and this will be nice to read years from now when I’m reminiscing about my journey in N. America.

NYC - Las Vegas

I’m writing this in the food court at JFK Terminal 3, where there is no free WiFi access. I got moved from my original seat at the back of the plane to near the front, at the emergency exit row – yay! More leg space for my 5 hours flight to the Sin City.

Delta planes at JFK

Excess legroom in front of seat A1 on a relatively new Boeing jet

I’m missing Vancouver already, with its pleasant weather, fresh air, friendly people and relaxing pace of life. And of course my roommates who are really awesome and easy to get along with.

And oh, I got my grades yesterday – I got 3 A- and an A. Oh my, guess what… the A was not for any of the courses in my major, but for Wine Science! All my homework and revision (drinking wine!) have paid off! Wine is a pretty fun and interesting subject… I am actually contemplating to look for a part time job at a wine bar or shop when I get back to Singapore, just because I like the subject … not because I like working part time (I don’t like to work for others, and I certainly don’t like to face snobby customers). Maybe I can gain some experience along the way and can learn how to start my own wine distribution business or wine bar!