A Winter in the West Coast
Here’s a summary, and then I’m just gonna link you to the album. ;)
We went to Los Angeles, then San Diego before heading east to Las Vegas and then flew out San Francisco before getting a bus back to Los Angeles.
In Los Angeles, we went to Universal Studios and both Disneyland Parks, thanks to our Citypass. Spent two days in Disneyland, which was rather inadequate, but then again, Disneyland would be for kids. Disneyland California Adventure Park was better, thanks to the awesome rides we took. :) I still prefer Universal Studios though.
We were in San Diego for only three days though. Went to Seaworld and the San Diego Zoo, both of which were more interesting than I thought they’d be. 
I loved Seaworld for the shows – those are definite must-watch, definitely.
We spent five days in Vegas, which was a bit much, I think. We toured the whole strip in two nights/days. Went to Grand Canyon, took lots of pictures. My only regret — not enough $ to take that helicopter ride. 
But anyway, tip: DO NOT TAKE THE GREYHOUND FROM SAN DIEGO TO LAS VEGAS. One word: horrible. My best experience in Vegas — meeting a street actor dressed up as Jack Sparrow. He was charming, very charming indeed. ;)
San Francisco captured my heart. Oh, most definitely. I love everything about it – the sights, people, the food. :D I planned this leg of the trip, so we finished all the must-sees in three days. Went to Ocean Beach to see the Sutro Bath Ruins, the Golden Gate Bridge, Palace of Fine Arts, Alamo Square, Fisherman’s Wharf, Pier 39, Embarcadero, Chinatown, Lombard Street and Union Square. We stayed in North Beach. Took cable car rides. :D Worth it!
When we got back to Los Angeles again, we met up with Lynn and made new friends – Dave & Heather :D Heather’s so cool – she loves Harry Potter and she’s going backpacking with her boyfriend in March to South East Asia. :DDDDDDDDD So lucky! Dave’s awesome too, heh. Lynn practically bullied him, so we did too. It’s a given. Anyway, it was good to see them. :D And then… oh, we met up with Jason Yip. :) And had awesome dinner at the Boiling Crab. Ooh. Love that place. We went to Hollywood, took a tour of the star’s homes and got a free admission into Madame Tussaud’s. Worth it. $44 only. :) We also took pics of the stars on the Walk of Fame and some pics of the handprints outside Graumann’s Chinese Theatre. :) So far so good.
Things I learned during this trip?
Plenty! Learned to budget, most significantly. And learned to plan my time when on vacation to make the most out of it. =) Other than that, everything’s good.
Album: A Winter in the West Coast
Day trip to Washington DC
It was splendid! I went with Yanty & Grace. :) It was a four-hour journey, and we left about 7.30 in the morning.
We parked at the East Potomac Park, since it was free. First stop was the Jefferson Memorial, and we spent some time there before heading to the Lincoln Memorial. The Reflecting Pool was still under construction, unfortunately, but it was still a sight to behold! I loved it. We then head on to the Washington Monument, but didn’t go up since they ran out of tickets and we were pressed for time. After that, we took a break by having some chilli dogs and ice cream. Brilliant lunch, I say. After resting our poor feet, we walked on to the Freer Gallery of Art, one of the Smithsonian’s museums, and then went to the National Air and Space museum. :) After wandering about, we took the Metro to the White House, and came up from the back. So we got to see the backyard. XD It was interesting to see how the people are just so … welcomed to photograph the White House so easily, and no one stops you from taking the tourist shots. Oh, we also went to the State Capitol, and took a picture from the distance. We were so tired that we just didn’t wanna walk anymore. We met up with Yanty’s friend in Maryland for dinner, at a Thai restaurant. Ooh, the Salmon Fillet was delicious. So was Yanty’s duck. Absolutely delectable! <3
The journey back was splendid, and Grace passed out so I had to stay up and keep Yanty awake. We had to drive in the rain, which made things worse, but we managed anyway. By the time we got home, it was 1am. Fwah. I passed out, and woke up at 1pm the next day. XD 12 hours. awesome sleep man.
Chicago <3 me
Here I am, snuggling all by my lonesome on my cousins’ couch in Chicago. Have had an awesome time here since I came!
When they came to fetch me, they took me to Penang, a Malaysian restaurant in Algonquin. Oooh, the bliss of indulging in authentic roti canai and bak kut teh just makes me float to heaven. After lunch we went to Mitsuwa, a Japanese store. It had this awesome bookstore inside, so I was in second heaven. See? This is why I said Chicago loves me. XD anyway, bought a few book. Unfortunately they don’t give discounts even to students. The prices are as good as Kinokuniya‘s. Sigh. I guess the only way I can get cheap Japanese craft books is through Chinese translated books. Sigh. We had leftovers for dinner.
The next day we went to church! We had brunch at Zoba’s, a noodle bar. That was awesome, and I had chow mien. :) after that, we hung out at Barnes and Noble, where I bought a few books. We came back, rested, and Monday arrived!
I originally wanted to spend my Monday out in the zoo nearby, but I was so tired, funnily enough, and so I woke up a little after noon and went strolling down Damen St. for a quick familiarizing. =) Recon. XD anyway, on Tuesday, I woke up a little earlier, before noon, and went to the zoo! It was so cold! About -2 degrees. Insane. I got back at about 4.30pm, and got ready for the musical we were gonna watch that night. LION KING THE MUSICAL! yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *hops* wee! It was superb, amazing, one-of-a-kind performance! So grand! The actors had wonderful voices, and all of them sang, including the kids! The costumes were ingenious! I loved Timon and Pumbaa though, they were hilarious. Zazu was ever so delightful. Sigh. I shall download the movie again. =) heee.
Today’s Wednesday! and I took the liberty of waking up so laaaaate. I woke up around 3pm, and lazily made lunch for myself, and watched a bit of TV, and now I’m once again connected to the internet! I’m doing some research on Texan places of attraction though, so that we can check it out a little bit. =) And later I’ll do some research on Black Friday Shopping =)
the aftermath of a hectic week.
this is a review of my week, and things that i’ve found out about US. XD
i’ve just come back from a meeting – Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. it’s not so far from my place, so i’m just gonna give it a shot. i planned to adjourn to Campuse Crusade’s meeting at Eisland Hall, downtown, but it’s just way too far and way too dark for me to want to go down there tonight. and i’m freaking tired. exhausted, like seriously.
anyway, i kinda like my life here. i’m settling down so slowly, that my facebook account is facing a stunted life. lol. yeah, those were the days when you just remembered the new kid’s name and add him on facebook after meeting him. but hey, now i’m the new kid here. and i gotta work my way in. O.o but God has been gracious. =)
anyway, it kinda sucks being new. really. 
but i like it so far. history class just got more interesting, and i found myself liking machiavelli’s the prince. anyway, i can now conclude that i’m getting more and more comfortable with the subjects i’m taking, despite the fact that they’re all heavy, and i have a heavy workload this semester. i’m fine with that. =)
anyway, there’s this history major who sat next to me in class. =) he’s kinda nice, and really chatty. but rather good too. =) nice guy. think he’s 18. XD hahahah. added him on facebook. ooh, and i started my day off with a fresh lemonade at the campus crusade stand. which was kinda cool! they seemed nice, but yeah, most people here are nice. i think i’m just gonna stick to intervarsity cf, since it seems small, and it’ll be easier to meet more people that way.
erm. well, i thought i was going to be really swamped here, but looks like i’m handling things very well, if i may say so myself. mwahaha. i’ve discovered a better way to get to class early and not miss the quizzes – pray really hard your professor lets you off earlier. which they did. today! i had back to back classes at different buildings, and well, let’s just say it was hard work getting to those buildings. but i prayed really hard, and it didn’t help that i had to skip my lunch and breakfast, but ahhh, was it worth it? definitely. came back, ate some noodles, had nesvita and took a power nap. =) awesome life.
and, i wanna talk about my roommate. i like her. =) she’s nice, and she’s really helpful. plus, we have a few common interests, and she was once a forensics major. before she switched to criminology. which i think is still cool. =D and she would be taking some dance classes sometime this semester, which i hope she remembers to update me about cause i’d like to take them too. anyway, she’s just nice. =) and without any of those melodramatic tendencies. i think she’s got a reasonable and cool head for things. =) mwahahahahaha. thanks, God. =) oh, and she’s from OHIO. =)
alrighty… that’s my post so far. and i shall be away this weekend to chicago. there’s an upcoming baltimore trip that i wanna discuss with my parents. i’m hoping my roomie can go too. XD oh, and i’m planning a thanksgiving trip to chicago for the black friday sales. weeee. lynnie planning to come with me as well! nice la. and ebay rocks. hahah. and my textbooks arrived. yay! so happy! mwahaha. alrighty. i wanna get back to psych. =)
The American Accent & Slang.
Oh boy. You don’t know nothing til you experience it for yourself. O.o I really thought I got it down to the twang after watching those movies, and yeah, some have been really accurate, but man, like I said, you gotta really experience it for yourself.
#1: Ranch
It’s a dressing used on almost all the food here. Something like mayonnaise with garlic in it. It’s my favorite dressing, and oh, it is delicious! It makes my chicken yummy! Lol. Okay, I had a real big problem pronouncing this, since it requires a nasal pronunciation. Here, added a link where you can find the pronunciation. It’s not exactly difficult when you hear it, but man, they ‘a’ sound goes more nasal than they let on to be.
#2: Mountain
Well, the university’s mascot is a Mountaineer. So, you’ll see that almost everywhere there’s the word ‘Mountain’. (We have Mountain Dew here too. :D) Anyway, it’s not actually pronounced as Mount-ain. It’s more like “mount’n”. XD I had a fun time playing with that word.
#3: Like
I get the impression that they’re not exactly focused, and somehow usually easily distracted when you ask them something. They are compulsive users of the word, “like”. It annoys me when the lecturer uses it one too many times. Come on man, I expect you to have your thoughts organized, at the very least! Sheesh. I tried telling myself that this isn’t true, and I did a little experiment. About 9/10 of those I walk past while they were having conversations with other people used the word “like” at least twice within a short 2-second pass. Like, seriously?? XD
#4: Um.
Robin from How I Met Your Mother isn’t the only one with the compulsion to say “um.” Really. A lot of people here just say it, a lot! 
I don’t really mind students saying it a lot, since well, they’re students, they can afford to be distracted like, 60% of the time. Lecturers and official staff members are not excused. Ugh. I don’t like it.
#5: Innereeesting.
You know how we normally say “interesting”? It’s short, and all the “e” sounds like “er”. Here, it’s sometimes a slang to go, “inner-resting”. By “resting” I mean the usual way we say “rest”. Yeah, they can’t really say the “t”.
Well, so far, these are all that I remember. But overall, I kinda like this sort of relaxed language rules. Kinda. I’m not saying I support the excessive “like” and “um”. But I’m find with it, at least they’re friendly and helpful around here. =)
I’ll add more to this someday. Hopefully.
Liverpool & London
A long overdue post.
Liverpool was great. Aside from unsavory incidents and such, we had a good time there. I can’t really remember the things we did there, but we did a lot of walking. We visited my dad’s old house while he was in Liverpool in ’88, or so. No. 14, Wellington Road. Still the old green house. From what my mom told us.
We also made a quick trip to Lime Street, where we shopped, and also visited the museum there. The Liverpool museum. We didn’t expect much, seeing as it rather small compared to British Museum in London, but we found that it had a rather vast collection of Ancient Egyptian artifacts, which my brother and I devoured greedily. We saw the Shabtis, and a few mummies, and sarcophagus, and a few more things. It was interesting. We also made a quick round around the Ancient Greek exhibition, which only showcased the weapons and the statues of the gods.
After the museum, we went shopping at St. John’s. It was a mall, and rather small one at that. Not quite what I’m used to, but it was still a shopping area. Ferguson and I shared in buying an XBox, while mom enjoyed herself at the pound shop. We walked around after that, and I bought a few more things, such as two Liverpool scarves for my friends. We went back after getting bored with all the walking. We did see a few interesting people there. I saw a street preacher, a bunch of guys wearing horsebutts and cowboy hats, a streaker carrying a blow-up doll, and a man wearing a pink satin dress. It wasn’t really culture shock, but it was more like I didn’t expect the UK would have such things, since the people seem so uptight. Haha. I quite like it though, those people who lost their bets. Football madness, I take it.
We also went to the Mamma Mia musical. It was great. They could all sing. And the audience were a good sport in giving them a standing ovation and such. Some even dressed up as though they were in the ’60s. That was interesting to watch. I wasn’t too pleased with someone clapping my head during the finale though. I was so tired, and having that being done to you was annoying. Turns out that my bro and mom got the same thing. Hah.
Anyway, Birkenhead didn’t really hold much interest for me, since it was more of a sleepy town. But it was ok la.
We went to London on Sunday. It was great! We went to the British Museum, Madame Tussaud’s, Sherlock Holmes’ Museum and Camden Town. Camden Town was an accident, a byproduct of us waiting for our train back to Liverpool. Hahah. We were shocked when we got there. It was, i think, the punk capital of London. The shops were cool, I’d give you that. There were leather shops, tattoo parlors, and piercing parlors. Whoa. Totally shell-shocked when we got there. Might need some getting used to. We were a little scared, honestly, but I think it wasn’t so bad after all.
British Museum was a blast! I had a great time photographing all the artifacts, especially the Ancient Egyptian documents – Book of the Dead, and the Rosetta Stone. That was fascinating. There were also mummified crocodiles, baboons, cats, and falcons. The Shabtis were also interesting. My mum was more attracted by the Ancient Greek exhibition. They showcased the items found in the Halicarnassus Mousoleum, which had pendants of precious stones with pictures of people inside them. Interesting. We went to the Life & Death gallery, whatever it was called. They also had this pill exhibit, where pills were woven in a long stretch of cloth, depicting the entire life of a man and woman, who took pills and medicine since young. It was interesting to see, and I felt great for not being someone who likes taking her meds. Haha. I’ve never finished my antibiotics, but I also hardly get prescribed antibiotics. Which sounds like a good deal to me. Coz if I do get new viruses, at least weaker antibiotics can still help me. =]
Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum was okay-okay la. I noticed a reduction in the wax population. And mostly boring wax. Really. My highlight was the Robert Downey Jr. wax statue, coz he was dressed up in Sherlock Holmes’ gear. So, I guess that was really what I liked. For the wax part la. Then the Dungeon of Horrors was another thing altogether. Live action now. I nearly cried. 
so scary. Huhu. Then we headed to a Marvel cinema, where we experienced a short 4D movie. The seats in front sprayed us with water, and our seats would give us a small punch whenever the movie needed it. It was fun! And that was it. Boring.
Sherlock Holmes’ Museum was great. I loved it. They preserved his old quarters in 221B, Baker Street. We saw statues of famous characters from his adventures, and we saw his old room, the tea room, and such. It was a very quaint old place, rather cramped, but it had the Holmesian feeling to it, so I can’t complain. I loved that place. Wee! I bought souvenirs there – a book, a small pipe keychain, and a keychain with his name card on it. Lovely. Ooh, I also bought a deerstalker cap for 10pounds. Nice. =]
The weather … ugh. When there’s wind, it feels like winter. 
made us wish we were in Dubai again. hahah. That’s it.
