End of the Road

Just finished housekeeping and left with a heavy heart.

It feels just like a home and never for once, did i dread waking up for work as a data entry clerk/nerd/boy. Besides, the people were just incredible, especially madam faridah.

Incredible woman.


Heavy heart it seems. sigh.

Take Flight.

Gonna fly over to toronto with dad & mom on the 8th next month for a week.

Thank goodness front office ( next department next month ) granted me the opportunity to leave them with an unforgettably negative impression. Great.

Seriously, how often does your sister graduate anyways?

Many thanks to daddy dearest's generosity * chit ching * to bring us all together, a whole family once again.

YIPEE.

p.s i love my family.

WTF.

I'm cooped up in the bloody housekeeping office and have no chance to watch f1.

oh my god.

what life is this!?

Life After Bar

Blogging seems pretty mundane now.

Like a never-ending obligation because, to me.. it's gotta be written so i could remember events from a-z during this 1-year attachment.

Not easy finding things to say for my 15000 word essay at the end of the journey, but still. Here we go.

One word. Refreshing. That's what summarizes my 1-month in Clemenceau Bar and i really liked it there, with the new things & people you get to learn about. I miss the countless ' hi can you gimme some nuts ' requests from guests, females & males alike. Cracks me up every time when i think about it.

Just finished 2-weeks of housekeeping labour - toilet scrubbing, bed making, condom hunting, dirt swiping etc. Of all departments in the hotel, i pretty much looked forward to this one before i got in cos' you don't get as much action as housekeeping, seriously. Like getting my hands soiled with seminal fluids. This is as action as action truly can be. Starting as a clerk tomorrow afternoon and really thank god for the chance for me to finally take an mrt to work. Not easy to get up at 6 in da morning, takes me 3 alarm clocks and even that fails, sometimes.

Well whaddya know? Time truly flies doesn't it?

Sir. Would You Mind..?

Working as usual in the banquet department and come every weekend, wedding dinners are perpetually always on-going. But this time round it's a tad different. Different in an unusually bad way i would say. It all began with tell-tale signs which was the smell of smoke which I originally thought came from the staff toilet, which happens every now and then but this time round it just smelled heavier.

Never did I know it actually came from within the ballroom and inhaling 2nd hand smoke via air-conditioned ventilated working environment is the last thing ever imagined. Even better, towards the end of a Chinese wedding dinner last night, a few table of drunkards started puffing off their cigarettes.


I got to witness first hand the destruction of human nature in a ballroom of 300-odd people.

The weapon of choice? Alcohol. Add a few complimentary bottles of cordon bleu, cheap wines and free-flow of tiger beer to a bunch of ill-educated people and you'll get an equation of inevitable mayhem. Worse still, if they smoke, and they did.

Not even my managers were able to persuade drunkards into sanity, what more could captains like myself and part-time staff conjure? So there we were, happily sucking in tainted air.

' The first thing in the human personality that dissolves in alcohol is dignity '

I love banquet.

Life... Up Till Now.

' pa, working in the hotel and making money is not easy man '

' now then you know that making money is not easy '

' yeah man, i dun think i'm ready for the adult working life yet leh '

' then go and get a rich father lor! '

That pretty much summarizes my life in Holiday Inn at the moment, through a phone call with dad.

Words like going home late, overtime, time constraints, shortage of staff are often associated to the life of banquet operations. Initially i didn't understand why people, so many of them, are so enthused with this physically-stressing department. But after 2-weeks of labouring, the sense of accomplishment when setting up a totally empty ball-room into something to be of a spectacle, it gives one the feeling as if you're on top of the world. Well that is if you're the one giving orders and stuff but nevertheless, it's a great feeling.

There are still, positives to derive from banquet actually. The ability to move around as if the hotel is like your 2nd house gives you a sense of command that no other departments are able to give you. Truth be told, the license to roam never felt so good.

All in all, I've never liked banquet, not even now cos' i still know it's a shit department to work in because getting too physical, like standing up for a shit load of time and serving guests with trays and heavy-ass plates has never been my thing. I know it'll all change once i hit management level but i know i'll never be in this department.

2-weeks more till being posted to Clemenceau Bar where practically all the hot chicks will be all at. Sometimes you just wish time could fly past faster.

SIGH. Hot chicks...

Uno dos tres cuatro ' stinko stinko ' seís

An uncle sat next to me this morning on the train.

Unfortunately. He brought with him a trail of destruction.

A pathological, biological damage only the most dangerous mothafuc*a could ever concoct.

Target: Balding man in his mid 40s clad in his oh-so-smelly white sleeveless shirt.

I have no idea why he was so stinko but one thing's for sure is he's a fishmonger or something.

And he sat next to me.

Yay.

Up, Up, Up We Go.

Played the reverse bungeeee at 1 am last night/this morning at clarke quay with birthday girl & vietnamese girl.

Guess what?

My super big p.i.m.p le burst opened with full force by itself, at the climax of the ride and left a gooey streak of red on my right cheek.

Fu*king hell.

Oh yeah the bungee is bloody fun. Pun seriously intended.

PIMP-ED OUT.

I've never had such bad skin breakouts in my life up till now.

What a frickin' bad timing for nuts sake. Seriously.

Look what's installed for me...

• Hotel Interviews **
  
• Verbal thrashings from male classmates, especially the jealous ones envying my 'usedtobe' handsomeness
  
• Major verbal assault by the teachers in the staff-room
  

FCUK.

Last friday on our hotel career-fair, i went through a 3 person casual interview and i felt that it was, quite a breeze actually. Not till the 3rd person... no..i meant a demoness. A demoness whose cruel intention is to get the better of me. i met.. Miss ***** from *** ******** hotel.

" So daniel, would you like to tell me more about yourself? " " I am............................... "

" ok thats interesting. What's more interesting to me is that, it says on your application form that your eldest sis is a toxicologist, why don't you ask her about the toxins on your face? "

DOUBLE FCUK.

I got up, looked into the verbal monster's sarcastic looking eyes and replied

' good one bitch, you caught me off guard ' and i bitch slapped that verbal junk and there came a comeback line from hell.


' its interesting what a bitch-head you turn out to be, how bout i go ask my sis about the toxins inside of you? '

No of course i didn't do that.

Not with such a great measure of a gentleman Pa & Ma instilled me with.

But in my wildest of fantasies, this seems to be topping the list.

Anyways, i'm really shit-scared to bump into ms.greatsmiles nowadays. Be it along the corridors, or to-and-fro the kopitiam-school, around the lockers, anywhere. Didn't quite get the megawatt smile i usually get when i see her today on the way to the kopitiam and it pretty much derailed me till the pits of shit town.

BUT. When school ended, she gave me the prettiest, biggest, brightest, nicest smile a girl can ever possess, and like always, it warms even the coolest parts of me.

Our paths crossed at the traffic light junction..

Thank you, that's all i ask for.

I know I'm a chicken-shit but i really would love to know you better.

Life at the Expo

Nothing quite refreshes & recharges you 9 in da' morning other than a whiff of high quality coffee beans, prepared by quite simply, the best baristas in the world.

A group of us volunteered & helped with the gargantuan FHA ( food hotel asia ) event held at the Singapore Expo. And boy... were we in for a treat of our life-time.

The Asian Baristas Championship event, spanning 4 cruelly long days, allowed us to explore the undiscovered realms of coffee-making at its very best.

I've always thought that coffee making refers to just.. ----> boiling your water at 100 degree celsius & mixing it with the coffee powder and seriously.. it's a shitload more than that. It's about controlling your temperature of the milk ( 4-6 d.c ), grinding out the coffee beans leftover by the previous contestant, blending a supremely right balance of flavours incorporating ginger, orange juice, caramelised sugar, rose syrup ( in this case it's Scottie's, the runner-up australian's signature beverage ) he was the one who taught the bunch of wide-eyed audience that brewing of coffee should never be done with boiling water or it will " burn " the beans & this results in a " chao tah " bitter aftertaste whenever you drink coffee.

Only the creme de la creme from korea, philippines, india, taiwan, china, new zealand, australia, last but not least Singapore, got together & showed us the unrevealed side of professional coffee making & it's cool as hell!
I myself don't drink coffee, & infact, dislike it due to the lingering aftertaste that all-times, pisses the living crap outta me. Not this time, definitely.

Carl Sara of New-Zealand clinched the ultimate prize right under the nose of Scottie the Aussie with Jiawei the beast from Taiwan, making up 3rd spot.

By the way, the emcee for the event is hot.

Seduction is her game. Bubble butt is her name.


( carl the champion & i, of all places, outside the washroom )



( keith, the 'tuxedo man', drinking beer from his 2nd runner up pitcher in the national division )

( capitalising on rarely-given free time )

( scouring for free food in one of the 7 halls after ABC )


( part 2 of piggy-ing out )


( angled view of the stage, after the event )

Life's Little Lessons.

Well here it goes. Just that this time round, it's no longer the usual nonsensical shit i've always preferred to type.

I noticed how fake of a person i truly am.

I realised that when you need help from someone especially who is just a hi-bye, not-so-close-friend, you tend to reveal a disgusting fake-ness of yourself. Well in this case, its me.

And just put it this way, that particular casual friend, who is a classmate of mine, kindly offered me help.

It seems that in the process of ' over-offering ', i must've irritated my benefactor. Yes indeed he was of immense help to me but he was offended. I promised to get him breakfast, send him a lift down to the nearest MRT station yadayada... you get the picture.

But all in all, its only when he turned down my offer then i finally realised that all things tangible is never the main reason as to why we turn to offer our help to someone, be it a friend or stranger.

He only wanted a sense of appreciation for that tremendously little thing he'd done for me & i didn't realise it and in return, revealed the ugly-fake side of dan the man.

Humans are somewhat complex ass creatures but 1 simple thing that all of us do need in our quest for survival..

to feel important & appreciated. point taken !

Where Are You...?

God.. if you can hear me....

and if you're there..

Bless me with an 8 pack..

That's all i ask from you..

Amen.

Buddha speaking, who's on the line?

oh.. wrong number.

you are ... what?

It puzzles me with this odd thought out of the blues.

I've always ( most people too ) been responding in a particular way to others who have been kind enough to conjure a thank you for any particular matter.

And strangely, i find saying : you're welcome, a really odd line to reply with.

Unfortunately, i do not see any connection between a heartfelt thank you & an overcliched response like ' you're welcome ' no matter how many times i re-run it in that thick numb skull of mine.

We dig deep within ourselves for a kind reply & tho' it's a really silly return of words, i'm pretty damn sure not many out there actually do know you're welcome 's true standing as a line of words & many people well.. say it just for the goodness sake of it.

What made me think of this insanely random thought ? I think it's because the way we humans, instinctively blurt out this magical line, without much afterthought on how it suits the numerous thank you occasions & it simply loses it's magical charm & true meaning, that i have also instinctively decided to dissect this mystery open.

I question myself.. I am silly or am i silly ?

Sleepless in Owen Road..

Too much wild thoughts going astray in my head forcing me off the bed to clear it out at 2:30 a.m

& i thought to myself.. ' its been a pretty damn while since i last blogged '

Well any hows, I'm here voicing my well kept thoughts so.. coolios :D

Had a get together dinner last week on the 26th at home with daryl & adam and as usual, home-cooked food was the theme of the night & boy it sure was dirty old fun in the kitchen. Although it was meant to be an all-friends affair that night, Dad also turned up for dinner which made the whole episode even more enjoyable, i mean.. what beats having your good ol' dad trying out the dishes that we meticulously prepared in the most hygienic way possible ( not exactly tho' ) & later giving back negative feedbacks about it? It was delicious/restaurant standard so no complaints this time round.

so here's the low down of what the skinny chef has in stores..

1. White clams cooked in beer, cilantros,shallots,garlic & bacon
2. Garlic bread to soak up the delicious clam sauce
   
3. mashed potatoes accompanied by crispy bacon bits & sauerkraut ( cabbage fermented in wine)
4. Linguine with wild tiger prawns ( Adam's last minute creation )
   
5. Nicely diced tomatoes in olive oil with basil & parsley herbs
   
6. Dan the man's signature creation : yogurt chicken thigh wrapped in glass cabbage & covered with generous strips of pan-seared bacon ( actually it's supposed to come out only when Yann arrive which she didn't due to project work, like f**k ? )
   
7. grapefruit vodka to wash it all down
   

Beautiful night.


Got birthday cake smashed straight on my radiant face on the 28th & it sure wasn't pretty.

Just packed for tomorrow's stayover in school with the other ambassadors' & surprisingly i am one too considering how screwed up of a student i am. I sure do hope it'll be fun or damn i'll get pissed off! :DD

In Retrospect..

Sometimes i just stop & wonder..

It's incredible how much I've seen the world up till now as an 18 yr old as compared to many other under-privileged kids. From witnessing the icy wonders of niagra falls in Canada to the great walls in China & from gleeing at the massive golden gate bridge in Sanfrancisco to chilling out on the calm sandy beaches in Bali & not forgetting eating roasted peanuts in busy streets of Manhattan to bargaining & road side eating in Bangkok. I am very lucky to be born into a family where everyone takes care of this friggin' adolescent teen in , granting so much opportunities and allowing me to see that there is so much to life.

From being ever-so-wide-eyed to shaping myself into a more street smart chinese boy with the help from the countless people who rub off their know-how onto me, allowing for a clearer 180 degree view of how things can be done in our everyday life. There are too many of you out there i am so damn grateful to for letting me learn be it through the soft loving or the spitonmyface hard way.. Thank you.

' The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page ' and I've got a shit load more to read, care to join me?

Cos I'm Leaving On a Jet Plane..

Well if you consider Tiger Airways a Jetplane then boy, be very disappointed. Using a 'tiger balm' tiger icon to represent Tiger Airways just seem plain retarded.

Come on seriously, where're all those cool creatures like the fireballspittingdragons or bambooflesheatingpandas? Oh wait a minute, they're all taken already that's why! we're too slow to grab it and we've to settle for a stupidretardedasslooking tiger f**k!

Well actually i'm just merely kicking up a unnecessary fuss for fun i don't know whats my dysfunction. Okay leaving for bangkok at 6pm later with the guys so hope we all don't get into anything major or serious.

~ciao

Wise Decision.

We were shopping in Vancouver in this really huge ass ' carrefour+expo ' lookalike hybrid & there i was moving around like a typical suaku ass suffering from deer in the headlights syndrome shocked at the sheer size of this mammmmoth establishment.

Anywhos, after constant careful maneuvering around people on boxing day in this mall, those set of beautiful eyes dad & mom gave me were fixated upon a 3rd generation ipod nano & fixated upon it sure was!

Dad passed me a hundred dollars to blow on this cool device, with the remaining i myself fork out & it sure was damn tempting i'm telling you.

But after much thought were injected into this detailed decision if it was a ' want ' more rather than a ' need ' i was appalled & shocked at what a spoilt brat i turned out to be initially thinking of actually grabbing it but no..

Money Management, as it seems is the key word for humans like us growing up in this frivolous moneyspending society where fat wallets do the talking, instead we ought to be using it to liaise with our brains for careful financial thinking.

" no " to the attention grabbing ipod i said. Returned dad the 100 bucks & told him it wasn't wise to spend his hard earned cash on such needless commodity & he sure was proud knowing his son has turned out to be fine young man who embraces the many priceless values in life.

That's why i took it back to use it to buy it here instead, well it's cheaper.

Ha!