oblivious
12th post since landing in the usa..
i dont really have anything to do right now so i figured i would blog a little.. I am leaving Colorado Springs next thurs for San Francisco and then leaving SF on the monday after. I am really looking forward to it and nothing really can describe the incredible desire and passion that i have to want to come home. Its not really the people that I miss so much, its not so much the activities that I've missed out on, hell its not even the food. Its just that home is where i know i belong.. my heart and soul belongs in Singapore. no matter how i grow attached to Colorado, Singapore is where i know i can keep my roots dug in deep.
For so long now before i even came here, i wanted to get out of Singapore. Just to be away from it all you know.. away from the hustle and bustle, away from the cliches, away from the things that really make you get caught up. But the experiences of me being here away for coming to 13 weeks now is something i will take with me to my grave. Learning how to appreciate the convinience of everything is one of the many things that i have learnt.. Not taking for granted the people in my life is another. Coming here most importantly reminds me of the fact that my destiny is in Singapore where i can proudly call home and not some place in China as ang mohs so naively refer to .
Being here has left me with the knowledge that not everything is perfect. Just look at katrina and rita.. I thank God for the protection on my life, being away from all that keeps me in check. We all know of the inefficiency of the Bush administration, it leads me to thank God for PAP. haha. even though the gahmen is always making us pay and pay, it beats being left to die in the streets of New Orleans.
I can't say i enjoyed myself thoroughly being here but i sure as hell cannot say i suffered. Free stuff makes joshua tick.. i got to go to seattle which was pretty darn awesome. i got to see mountains and the like. i got to see so many pretty girls. I got to work with some of the brightest people in the world with respect to networking. All in all, mixed feelings are the contents of the inner recesses of my heart. One thing i know for sure is that i was pretty darn blessed.
Well.. i very much look forward to coming back and seeing the reactions of people who didnt even know that i was gone. I am going to guitar center again this weekend to get jason and darryl the cymbals that they wanted cos the guy gave me a discount the other time, so i figured he might give me another one if i go and buy more cymbals from him. And its going to be packing up and cleaning up the apartment and just preparing to leave Colorado.
I am probably not going to blog until i get back to singapore. so long my avid readers.. i will enjoy my remaining days in USA as much as i can. and please pray for journey mercy. its a pretty long flight back to singapore..
Remember home is home..
11th post since landing in the usa..
damn bored loh. got no new tasks for me to do. they want me to go take this exam which 125 usd, not sure if they will pay for me or not. wah biang that is damn ex can. top up another 30 dollars can go buy an A custom fast crash. speaking of which, i will be going to Guitar Center to get the crash and a splash, 16 inch and 8 inch respectively. wahaha. finally i will own cymbals. All the other drummers have cymbals, and then i have to resort to the ZXT crash which is cannot make it one.
not sure if i want to go shopping after buying the cymbals cos i dont want to be seen lugging a cymbal bag around. like damn poser-ish man. left 2 weeks and 6 days in colorado. my tolerance level has reached the peak already. I have enough of the transport problem, the food problem, the loneliness factor and the boredom. I will never have this problems back in Singapore. none!!!
watched yesterday's news.. George Bush is coming to Colorado Springs. Dont wanna waste time to go see him. Youth service better, got so many pretty girls. wahahaha. wah kao.. one thing i will miss are the babes, have i said that before??? anyway, i have planned out what i am going to do over the next 2 weeks and 6 days. obviously this weekend consists of me going to get the cymbals. then sunday church. Next saturday will be me taking a cab to another town to shop at the factory outlets. cheap stuff. then maybe the last weekend before i leave, Jerry will finally get me up to Denver. the John Mayer Trio was playing in Denver last weekend loh. but expensive sia the tickets. 70 usd. cannot see anything one lah so that's why i didnt go.
My credit card havent come yet loh.. means need to buy things with cash already. that sucks.. need to go withdraw from the ATM man. so troublesome. if the card dont come before i leave, i going to bark at the bank already. inefficient pple in UOB.
So the dengue thing is quite serious eh? wah lau more than 10 k of pple kena already. that's is jia lat jia lat man. need to bathe in insect repellant before i come back and dress like an Afghan woman already. wah biang. somemore the hotspots are so near where i live and hang out at lah. need to start fogging my room when i get home.
Lastly, i am sick and tired of doing networking. i am an engineering student loh. put an engineering student to do networking is like scoring an own goal man. its like putting Michael Owen to be a goalie. confirm concede one what. i also dunno how they do the allocating of positions loh. my friend, Dennis, a networking student he is doing marketing. what is this nonsense? The other 2 girls, infocomn students doing programming. wah lau eh.. all luan qi ba zao. rojak. go back surely kena k by the lecturers already.
arghhh.. my loneliness is killing me.
10th post since landing in the usa
ok ok long time didnt blog.. no mood.. nothing to say
haiyah.. went to the mountains during one of the mondays. labour day monday.. scenery is power.
i dreamt that i came back to singapore over the weekend and had a really kick butt weekend and had to come back to colorado on monday.. when i woke up, i was like man i am in america.
4 more weeks to my return. 3 weeks and 3 more days till i leave colorado. cannot wait.. i have enough already. gao gao already. i need singapore and singapore needs me. wahaha
in a perfect world, i would really want to be a bad ass electric guitar player. but i know this world is not perfect so i will stick with acoustic guitar playing. wahaha. i am planning to go to Guitar Center this weekend to get my A custom cymbals. cheaper than in singapore so whack lah.. but my credit card is making its way here to colorado.. dunno how long it will take. but that's not going to deter me from using cash to pay for it.
I ordered pizza yesterday. wahaha. first time.. want to try the pizza ordering thing lah. come all the way here dont try. as if singapore cannot order pizza like that. 3 weeks and 3 more days. la la la. i cannot wait already.. i seriously have enough of this place. DON"T EVEN HAVE FOOTBALL ON TV LAH!!!! and i dont mean american football. duh..
but can someone tell me why all these ang moh girls are so pretty???? got braces also pretty lah. wah biang. in singapore, please flea from me i dont want to get cut. but ang moh girls are so pretty lah. ta boleh tahan. that one i will admit. tsk tsk tsk. hai
4 more weeks sia till i leave america.. cannot wait to get outta here. eat my prata cut my hair. i cannot believe that i have been here for 10 weeks now. this is so cliche but TIME FLIES! and i cant even wait for 4 more weeks. the limit of my patience escapes me..
cannot wait to eat prata.. cannot wait to play drums.. cannot wait to get my Martin.. cannot wait to get my hair cut.. cannot wait to eat fish porridge at ritz carlton.. cannot wait cannot wait cannot wait. I REALLY CANNOT WAIT~!~!~!~!~
hai.. that night in december. ok out of point
ninth post since landing in the usa.. 2nd one in a day.. yeah its amazing
i am hooked on to CNN right now.. New Orleans is such a mess. 87% of the place is flooded, and because the place is below sea level and the levees which keeps New Orleans from being flooded. and the levees broke so.. everywhere is just flooded. people are looting, shooting at each other and its just a total chaos.
just seeing all the things unfolding is just sad.. i always sat down in front of my tv back in singapore and watching crap like this unfold and never felt the impact.. but i realise how tragic is that for the governor of Louisiana to issue a mandatory exit from New Orleans.. its just sad.. i never felt so emotional over something like this before.
is this really the end? its just so tragic, the scenes from around the gulf.. i am really really bummed out right now. i really thank God for the protection on my life and on Singapore. come on people.. take me seriously man. people are dying.. people are in survival mode, not caring about other people.. its just lunacy.
if you ask me why the Gulf always get these.. i will say its because its a clear out. God is clearing out the Gulf because of the activities there. New Orleans is famous for Mardi Gras.. Burbon Street is such a scandalous place. There are casinos everywheres along the beaches of Mobile, Alabama. i just thought its no wonder this happened. u think of the lawlessness happening there, and why this happened. u put 2 and 2 together and u get your answer. but its sad..
haiyah.. dunno what to say
eighth post since landing in the usa..
after the last post, i was working with one of the prodcuts that is gonna be released in September and i found 2 bugs. so proud of myself!~!~! haha.. one of the colleagues said he is now motivated to work. ahahaha
this weekend is going to be a long weekend.. and Jerry might bring me up to Denver where he lives. Not sure how its gonna work out though, but i hope i get to go cos i need to see some city areas. In Colorado Springs, the downtown is probably like hougang.. so its pretty boring. well, my weekends are usually very boring. always the same old thing.. wake up late, go buy lunch. play game, wash clothes, iron clothes, play game, watch tv. you know.. then sunday is go to church then come back.. damn boring one.. wat to do.. i dont like to go out by myself. i very much prefer to go out with someone than to go by myself.. i would rather just stay home.
I look forward to coming to work cos i get to be around people and get to do work... so i always wish for my weekends to pass by faster which would mean i come back to Singapore faster.
i've decided to come back on the 17th of Oct.. still got some time to go, hopefully it passes by faster.
and hurricane katrina looks pretty bad on tv.. thank God for his protection that i am not affected at all by the hurricane cos its quite a distance away. 2000 km away on the other side of the coast.. New Orleans didnt get hit as bad as Alabama and Mississipi. but because these places are so far below sea level, whole neighbourhoods get flooded. even the superdome, in New Orleans which is supposed to be the strongest steel building in the world without beams, the roof got torn open and leaked. goodness...
hai.. what to do.. makes me wake up. seriously.. you dont realised the severity of things until you are close to it.
life is too short.. dont hem and haw anymore.
seventh post since landing in the usa..
my other intern friend, dennis, is heading to china from everett this saturday for a week.. i am so jealous. He will get to eat proper chinese food while i am stuck with the same old mexican restaurant at the office and microwavable food. man.. i wish i could go along.. stupid me to say my chinese not good during the interview. stupid.. or else i would be in washington drinking clam chowder everyday. oh well, colorado is great too. lots of free stuff..
free stuff = save on moolah = spend less moolah = have more moolah = rich joshua = ability to buy the stuff joshua never had the moolah for = A Martin and cymbals = HAPPY joshua!!!!
ok that was lame.. its that time of the day when i am feeling very sleepy after lunch. but i will tahan.. i am just biding my time reading a lot of networking material.
just heard from Jerry (the same engineer that went to washington with me) that he will be down in Singapore the week after i come back for an asia tour for one of the products. That's great.. me and the other singapore fluke networks people together with Dennis can go hang out together.
which reminds me.. i have 7 weeks left till the end of my attachment.. and after that another couple of days in San Francisco before i come back.
The countdown to prata begins.. i memorised what i want to order already
"one cheese, one egg, one plain and one kambing soup. thank you ah bang"
sixth post since landing in the usa..
can't really say i had a boring week.. just that i am too lazy to move my butt and i am not really sure how to do the cable tests for one of the products that is going to be released in September. There are so many different types of cables and so many pins that i must connect to simulate the different test scenarios. But i am going to start once i am done with this post..
I haven't been up to anything interesting but i will say i am playing a lot of guitar now.. i mean a lot. I am trying to learn as many John Mayer songs as possible, the one i am attempting now is "Daughters". I figured the strumming for most of the song.. havent really gotten to the part of the bridge cos i spent a lot of time practising the percussive strumming of the 2nd verse. wah difficult lah.. but i like!!!! a challenge is always good. i bet when i get back to singapore, my strumming will have improved considerably. hahaha..
i really wanna go to Berklee College of Music to study.. hai.. no money. if i am rich and i dont have to bother about stuff.. i will buy me an expensive Martin guitar and then move to Boston.
John's Martin costs US$ 4499.. sian. but i am gonna buy Jason's Martin so i shouldnt complain. heh. If i had just one wish it would be to study there. nothing else. it would be so fun to study music and to just do what i love for 24 hours a day compared to 1.5 hours to 2.5 hours a day which i can hardly put aside.
I must learn how to press more crazy chords.. all the heavenly chords, so can be more accustomed to playing differently.
The weekend is here once again.. and the countdown to my return shortens
fifth post in the usa
i spent this last week in everett and mukilteo.. they are both in the state of washington. so i was there for the week for some training. technical and sales. the sales part of the training was so boring. i just switched off and surfed the net.
but the one cool thing one was that the company was just located next to the Boeing plant in everett. so i drove past the boeing plant everyday, i mean i saw it all the time on the discover channel. but its when you actually see it for yoursel, then will you realise the sheer size of the place. the whole facility is just one huge park.. there's a really nice lake at the back of the building. will post pictures.. i should get a webshots or imagestation type thing going on. will think about it
so the week basically went past really fast.. i arrived in seattle on sunday and then met up with the other engineer and we drove to mukilteo to set up some stuff in the auditiorium for the sessions. and then we went to this really upper class japanese teppanyaki place for dinner. its like a welcome dinner for those who came across the entire world to attend the training. the food is really good. so the whole table of us got the seafood option. but these two japanese guys were the experts. they got the seafood with lobster option. my goodness.. have i mentioned how GREAT the seafood there is. because the state of washington is located on the west coast, and the town is so stinking close to the ocean, they get a real good supply of seafood from the ocean. i miss the prawns!
and there's this fastfood outlet called jack in the box. its called carl's jr in singapore. they just opened at that shopping centre opp suntec. cannot remember the name. haha. really good burgers, but not sure about the standard over there in singapore.
the hours throughout the week were very long.. but i am not complaining that much cos i LOVE washington. everyday started at 7 in the morning and ended at 830 in the evening. but there's free food and soda all the time. but sometimes it runs out cos they throw it away when there are leftovers from lunch or something.
went to seattle during one of the nights that we knocked off early.. if it wasnt for the punks that roam the streets of downtown seattle. it would probably be heaven on earth. heh. i mean seriously. so much ambience in the area. makes me think. the park overlooking the harbour is just fantastic. i think there was a scene from there in sleepless in seattle. really nice place. the scenery is power lah. the weather is so cooling. and the food is great. i cant say it all in a blog post. wait till i come back dionne... wahahaha
i didnt get a chance to hang out with kerah.. cos she lives so far away. 4 hours drive. so we decided not to hang out. and she puts long hours at work so its just doesnt make sense to drive all the way and hang out for lunch. duh.. but she might make to colorado in september.. she has relatives in a town not far away before she starts school... talked to her for a bit but its so hard to get her on the phone because she is so busy with work.
so the last night of my stay in everett, the company brought us to a winery. wah kao. everyone is drinking beer and wine and i am drinking water. wah kao. but the food is really stinking good. they let us bring a bottle back. i brought one back for the other engineer. he has 3 bottles now. my goodness.
i am really tired now.. just landed not long ago. going to sleep soon.. all in all i really enjoyed myself in washington. not sure if they will send me there again before my time here is up, but i sure as well hope so. i really wouldnt mind moving there. post me here as an engineer also shiok, bring my family here also shiok. wahaha.. everyday drink clam chowder and eat prawns. wah kao. fat only.
but home is home and i cant wait to get back to singapore and eat PRATA. wah kao.. me and my other intern friend over in everett talk about singapore food and remembering the food we used to eat. i met a lot of great pple.. established lots of contacts. from singapore and other places. enjoyed the times i spent with fellow asians!!! ahaha.. long time din speak chinese and singlish.. feels great actually. 9 more weeks pple. 9 more weeks. i might cut short my holiday in san francisco so that i can come back to singapore sooner rather than later.
i am tired.. good night