it was a really, reeeeally long flight back to singapore. after a month of trying to get a seat onboard any flight heading back home, getting a direct flight proved to be fruitless and i had to settle for a seat on a NYC>FRANKFURT>SIN plane.
it was such a drama. first of all, my dad decided to order himself some stuuuuupidly huge industrial-sized waffle-making machine, and of course, i had to cart it back for him!!! when the box first arrived, i was so mad because it was ginormous. i called home screaming, "are you opening some cafe!!"
fast forward to december 21st. school was finally over and i had been stressed out; my skin was in trouble and i had broken out in serious zits. i went out with some friends and spent the entire evening and the rest of the night sleeping. on the 22nd, i went around doing last minute shopping and not much else. then on the morning of my flight, on the 23rd, i started packing my suitcases. first thing i did was to take that waffle machine out of its box and try to see if it could fit into either of my two suitcases.
no such luck. it was too long for my smaller suitcase, and too wide for my regular one. i was so mad that it wouldn't go in, i tried squishing it in though i knew it wouldn't work!! it was also quite badly packaged, so i had to go out to buy some tape and tape the whole thing, to make sure it didn't jiggle about and break. then i taped up the whole box and bought some string to tie up the box as well. when i finally finished packing both the box and my clothes in my suitcases, i was exhausted.
it had also started to rain really heavily, and there i was with a huge suitcase, another huge and difficult to carry box, and an equally heavy bag over my shoulder containing my 14x17 inch croquis book and my macbook. i thought my shoulder would break. i was quite drenched by the time i managed to get a taxi, and spent the half-hour in the cab praying i wouldn't be too late to get an aisle seat in the plane. (i hadn't been able to get it online)
when i reached the airport, the rain had ceased to a drizzle, but the winds were still howling. i got out of the back seat and reached back into the cab to pull out my bag and the waffle machine. and just as i straightened my back, the winds blew the door shut and the first thing the door hit, was my left eye, just at my eyebrow where the bone is.
OUCH.
but! no time to think about it. i tried to hurry in to check-in, only to discover that i had in fact, been too late, and of all the worse seats to have, i got myself a middle seat on an overbooked flight, which was nothing to look forward to.
by the time i boarded the flight, my eye had swollen up pretty bad and i had a throbbing headache. i thought i'd get some ice from the stewardess once the flight took off, but i was out of luck. they turned off all the lights and had all of us strapped to our seats, then announced that there were 50 planes ahead of us and we had to wait for our turn on the tarmac.
it was two hours before we finally took off, and two hours for my bump to grow even bigger.
by then, i was also famished as i hadn't had anything to eat all day and it was already 11pm. "serve me food! serve me food!" i thought, as the stewardesses came around first with some drinks, the moment the seatbelt signs came off.
as i sipped on some orange juice, the plane started jolting and the seatbelt signs came on again. "ladies and gentlemen, due to the weather, we will be experiencing rather rough turbulence and will thus be suspending cabin services."
the plane rocked pretty hard and i held my juice in my hands as it shook involuntarily, and tried to gulp down every last drop before it spilled all over me. i somehow managed to drink it all up but also had some traces all over my mouth!
22 hours of flight time, and 26 hours after i left my apartment in new york, i was finally in singapore and it was hot hot hot on the morning of christmas. after some local grub for breakfast and a very i-feel-good kind of shower, i climbed into bed and refused to wake up till it was 5pm and time to get ready for dinner. we all went to my aunt's house, and had a very non-traditional dinner. my aunt had prepared popiah, a very singaporean dish, kinda like a wrap. it was a very diy kind of thing so we all hung around the table, dumping whatever we wanted inside our own popiahs onto a thin skin, drizzled some sauces then wrapped it up. i hadn't had the chance to eat it in years so although it wasn't very christmassy at all, it didn't matter and i had 3 whole rolls.
my sis, cousin, and a friend, alex, and his girlfriend, all went for drinks after that. a japanese friend of mine who lives in new york was also in town for some business, so we decided to meet up. i'd never seen a quieter singapore. there was like, absolutely nobody in sight, and the streets were so quiet we could have walked on the roads. the bars and clubs started closing at 1, and we decided to go to wine bar at zouk, thinking it's one of the nicer places that open till late. we were wrong!! it was closed!! it was kinda embarrassing with a foreign guest in town. plus, he had been to singapore many times for short business trips, but was used to only having drinks at his hotel or somewhere near his office. so when we decided we could only go to the balcony at heeren, the only place my sister knew was open 24 hours, i thought i might die of embarrassment. i'd never been there myself, and it was filled with kids and we aren't that young.
my friend insisted it was his treat, and proceeded to point out his order of champagne to the waiter. when i flipped to the page on the menu that he was pointing at, my eyes popped a little. he had ordered dom perignon. at $380, it wasn't that expensive since it was a cheap place, but still, it's not something i would have ordered for myself.
two bottles later, my friend was pretty drunk and was doing a drunk dance. it was kinda funny since he couldn't keep still and was spinning all over the place. another two shots of tequila later, i was pretty high myself. when we got the bill, my friend had to sign 4 times before his signature was even legible.
we sent him back to his hotel, thinking he was completely drunk. but it was hilarious because even though his head was like rocking to-and-fro, and his eyes were closed and he definitely could not walk nor sit up straight, he could still tell us his room number, and could navigate through the passageways towards his room.
he's what i like to call, an intelligent drunk. not the drunk and irritating type. pffft!!!
so although i had a really unconventional christmas, i had a superb time. there was good food, great alcohol, and i spent it laughing with friends and family. who could ask for more?
when i woke up this morning and looked into the mirror, my eye was still a little swollen with a bump, but the bruise was starting to show. "oh no!!! i look like permanent purple eyeshadow!!!"
my brother, who heard me screaming from my room, decided it was quite funny and started laughing. i, however, was not impressed. i've got a small spot right under my eyebrow from where the impact was, and my entire eye area is a light green with a purple shade at the outer corners. when my eye is opened, it looks like i have a... black tear.
stila's eye concealer has been a godsend. perhaps tomorrow i'll try going out with green eyeshadow and a very smudged, black-kohl-panda-effect-kind-of.... errr..... maybe not.
psst: i wonder if there is an eyeshadow or liner out there called "bruised", that is actually of a great purplish-black color. it sounds pretty cool... but i guess looking bruised isn't a great idea!! hee hee~!
it had also started to rain really heavily, and there i was with a huge suitcase, another huge and difficult to carry box, and an equally heavy bag over my shoulder containing my 14x17 inch croquis book and my macbook. i thought my shoulder would break. i was quite drenched by the time i managed to get a taxi, and spent the half-hour in the cab praying i wouldn't be too late to get an aisle seat in the plane. (i hadn't been able to get it online)
when i reached the airport, the rain had ceased to a drizzle, but the winds were still howling. i got out of the back seat and reached back into the cab to pull out my bag and the waffle machine. and just as i straightened my back, the winds blew the door shut and the first thing the door hit, was my left eye, just at my eyebrow where the bone is.
OUCH.
but! no time to think about it. i tried to hurry in to check-in, only to discover that i had in fact, been too late, and of all the worse seats to have, i got myself a middle seat on an overbooked flight, which was nothing to look forward to.
by the time i boarded the flight, my eye had swollen up pretty bad and i had a throbbing headache. i thought i'd get some ice from the stewardess once the flight took off, but i was out of luck. they turned off all the lights and had all of us strapped to our seats, then announced that there were 50 planes ahead of us and we had to wait for our turn on the tarmac.
it was two hours before we finally took off, and two hours for my bump to grow even bigger.
by then, i was also famished as i hadn't had anything to eat all day and it was already 11pm. "serve me food! serve me food!" i thought, as the stewardesses came around first with some drinks, the moment the seatbelt signs came off.
as i sipped on some orange juice, the plane started jolting and the seatbelt signs came on again. "ladies and gentlemen, due to the weather, we will be experiencing rather rough turbulence and will thus be suspending cabin services."
the plane rocked pretty hard and i held my juice in my hands as it shook involuntarily, and tried to gulp down every last drop before it spilled all over me. i somehow managed to drink it all up but also had some traces all over my mouth!
22 hours of flight time, and 26 hours after i left my apartment in new york, i was finally in singapore and it was hot hot hot on the morning of christmas. after some local grub for breakfast and a very i-feel-good kind of shower, i climbed into bed and refused to wake up till it was 5pm and time to get ready for dinner. we all went to my aunt's house, and had a very non-traditional dinner. my aunt had prepared popiah, a very singaporean dish, kinda like a wrap. it was a very diy kind of thing so we all hung around the table, dumping whatever we wanted inside our own popiahs onto a thin skin, drizzled some sauces then wrapped it up. i hadn't had the chance to eat it in years so although it wasn't very christmassy at all, it didn't matter and i had 3 whole rolls.
yum. haha!
my sis, cousin, and a friend, alex, and his girlfriend, all went for drinks after that. a japanese friend of mine who lives in new york was also in town for some business, so we decided to meet up. i'd never seen a quieter singapore. there was like, absolutely nobody in sight, and the streets were so quiet we could have walked on the roads. the bars and clubs started closing at 1, and we decided to go to wine bar at zouk, thinking it's one of the nicer places that open till late. we were wrong!! it was closed!! it was kinda embarrassing with a foreign guest in town. plus, he had been to singapore many times for short business trips, but was used to only having drinks at his hotel or somewhere near his office. so when we decided we could only go to the balcony at heeren, the only place my sister knew was open 24 hours, i thought i might die of embarrassment. i'd never been there myself, and it was filled with kids and we aren't that young.
my friend insisted it was his treat, and proceeded to point out his order of champagne to the waiter. when i flipped to the page on the menu that he was pointing at, my eyes popped a little. he had ordered dom perignon. at $380, it wasn't that expensive since it was a cheap place, but still, it's not something i would have ordered for myself.
two bottles later, my friend was pretty drunk and was doing a drunk dance. it was kinda funny since he couldn't keep still and was spinning all over the place. another two shots of tequila later, i was pretty high myself. when we got the bill, my friend had to sign 4 times before his signature was even legible.
we sent him back to his hotel, thinking he was completely drunk. but it was hilarious because even though his head was like rocking to-and-fro, and his eyes were closed and he definitely could not walk nor sit up straight, he could still tell us his room number, and could navigate through the passageways towards his room.
he's what i like to call, an intelligent drunk. not the drunk and irritating type. pffft!!!
so although i had a really unconventional christmas, i had a superb time. there was good food, great alcohol, and i spent it laughing with friends and family. who could ask for more?
when i woke up this morning and looked into the mirror, my eye was still a little swollen with a bump, but the bruise was starting to show. "oh no!!! i look like permanent purple eyeshadow!!!"
stila's eye concealer has been a godsend. perhaps tomorrow i'll try going out with green eyeshadow and a very smudged, black-kohl-panda-effect-kind-of.... errr..... maybe not.
the saga continues.....
psst: i wonder if there is an eyeshadow or liner out there called "bruised", that is actually of a great purplish-black color. it sounds pretty cool... but i guess looking bruised isn't a great idea!! hee hee~!
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