Monday, June 16, 2008

Getting To Know Disneyland, Great Food, Kiasu-ism At Its Best

I had my first breakfast in Staybridge Suites, Anaheim on 18th May, which was part of the hotel package. I walked one round the buffet area, and started to miss Oklahoma all over again.
1) The breakfast spread in Oklahoma was bigger and better.
2) The eggs in Oklahoma were REAL scrambled eggs, not some pancake-looking pieces of eggs which tasted like flour.
3) There was only caffinated or decaf tea. In Oklahoma, we had green tea, chamomile, earl grey, etc., on top of the caffinated and decaf red ceylon tea.
4) One big bowl of plain yoghurt makes me wonder if they clear out the yoghurt or just keep topping it up. In Oklahoma, yoghurt was served as above and we had Yoplait.
5) In Oklahoma we have cheese sauce!!! Over here, we have shredded cheddar.
6) Maybe its because I had been eating this for 3 weeks already, I'm starting to get picky. Bo pian right? So have to make do with whatever I felt like eating lor.

The night before, we were discussing not to take the Anaheim Resort Transit (ART) to Disneyland Resort, but instead, walk and get to know the bearings of the place. So after breakfast, we walked to Disneyland Resort. It was not a long walk and we noted on the map eateries that we would want to go to fill our stomachs with. The entire area is called the Disneyland Resort. Once you pass the security check area, you enter the Main Entry Plaza where you will see the ticketing area next. As we had the entire package done for us by Disney, our tickets were already given to us in an envelope when we checked into the hotel the night before, so we did not have to queue to get tickets.The Downtown Disney District will then be in front of you. It is where the Disney Hotels are and the entire area there is almost like a small town, complete with eateries and shops. To the right is where Disneyland Park is, and to the left is where California Adventure Park is. We had the 5-day Park Hopper Tickets, meaning that we have access to both Parks, everyday for 5 days!As both Parks were huge and we did not know how or where to start, we decided to first get the maps, take a look and then start walking around. Within each Park, there were different sections of different themes/"worlds"/era, which made deciding even harder. We then noticed that Disneyland Park had a few modes of transportation within the park. So we decided to hop onto those, starting from Main Street, to get an overview of the park and let us have a better understanding of how to move around.At the stop in Tommorrowland, we dropped off.We then continued on the Railroad back to Main Street. Main Street is practically a street. Along this street, you can find a vistor center (City Hall), a musemum, shops and eateries. To get to to the other sections, where most of the action is, you would have to walk down this street, whether you like it or not, as they are situated on the other end. Although it only takes a short while to walk up and down Main Street, for the lazy ones (hehe), there are Main Street Vehicles that you can take from one end to the other end of Main Street.There is also a Horseless Carriage, but I didn't manage to get a picture of it. These Main Street Vehicles are only one-way and we only realised it when we were on the Omnibus, the only one we sat on. As we reached to the end where the attractions are, everyone got down, but we didn't bother. The driver then called out to us and told us that the bus only goes one-way and if we wanted to ride it back to Main Street, we would have to take the next one. As we got down, he asked where we were from. I had heard enough "horror" stories about how people thought where Singapore was, so I was kinda thinking, this guy better know his geography. My dad answered Singapore, and one way to tell that he at least knows Singapore is not in China and in Asia was when he said that it was a small country, his wife is from Thailand and although he was working for Korean Air, he did not get a chance to visit Singapore. I then asked if we could join the queue and take the same bus back to the other end of Main Street. He said that we are able to, just that because it is a one-way vehicle, technically, we would have to get down and join the queue.
There were different shows, character meets and bands playing throughout the day and nightly parades in both Parks. There are also some shows which take place along the open areas that only happen on weekends. A lesson I learnt is to really take a look at the show schedules and different opening hours of the Park to help plan your way through the Parks. Since its a Sunday, and the fireworks only happen on weekends and we were hungry, we decided to have lunch, move to California Adventure Park for the rest of the day and then come back later for the fireworks.Luckily we only order 2 mains, don't see picture small small, the servings were huge lor. The fish was fresh and the sauce was yummy. The ribs were soft and chicken, was just normal grilled chicken. The salad, was just salad. But overall, the food was really quite nice. But the pancakes, ohhhh, the pancakes, killer sia! I'ver NEVER EVER eaten such FLUFFY and SOFT pancakes ever before in my entire life!!! I want IHop in Singapore!!! And so, after the damn filling lunch, we proceeded on with the itinerary for the day.We had missed the showtimes there for the day and so we went straight for the rides and attractions, coming back another day just for the shows.Every inch of the Parks has a damn good set design which relates to the theme/"world"/era of the sections and even right down to the different attractions and the area surrounding it, such as the queue area. Take the Monsters Inc ride for example, it was done up to look like transport terminal with posters around it.It was a playground of sorts for little children with an area where they can play with water and splash around (think Bugis Juction fountain and Vivo City), and lots of teeny weeny sized rides. Already damn impressed with the set design earlier on, I really felt like a character insect in A Bug's Life when I saw this.We then walked over to the Golden State section, set up with a western/ cowboy/ historical feel, which covered almost half the Park. It was subdivided into several different areas. We walked around Pacific Wharf and learnt how tortillas and sourdough bread were made. We caught a film by Whoopi Goldberg called Golden Dreams about the history of California at The Bay Area. As we had to rush back to "chope" a good place for the fireworks happening at the other Park, we did not manage to cover the whole of Golden State. We quickly took some picture of Paradise Pier (another "world" in California Adventure Park) and went back to the Disneyland Park. But the best thing is, we don't know where to stand! As we have heard that the fireworks will appear in the sky above the castle of Fantasyland, we decided to stand sit on Main Street. But which exact spot? Since Main Street is a street, a straight road, and if you stand on the entrance gate end of Main Street and look straight ahead, Fantasyland is directly in front of you, we decided that was the best spot. We were right when we spotted Disney's cameramen behind us and there was this uncle who had set up his videocam and tripod. And we waited for about 40 minutes, with more people joining us at our good spot 25 minutes later. The entire display was 15 minutes long, so I can't possibly load it here, so, here is a snippet of the display.

With the end of the fireworks, the day ends and we made our way back to the hotel via the ART.

Day 2 of Disneyland coming right up!

Friday, June 13, 2008

Getting To The Starting Of Touring With A Lost Taxi Driver

Upon reaching back to Los Angeles, I hung around the departure area of Tom Bradley International Terminal (upper level of the terminal), where there is a foodcourt on the 2nd level to fulfil my hungry stomach, while waiting for my parents' and sister's flight to arrive. Having been to the same foodcourt when we arrived from Singapore via Hong Kong to kill time to wait for our domestic flight to Oklahoma 3 weeks earlier, the foodcourt looked totally different now. The first time I saw the foodcourt, probably it was way past midnight already, only McDonalds was open out of like 10 eateries there. When I got there this time around, the eateries were all open and there were lots of people there. I had Celest and her family for company too. Coincidentally, her boyfriend, brother and brother's girlfriend were on the same flight as my family.

I managed to get my sister's SMS telling me that the plane has touched down already. As it would take some time to pass through the customs due to the long queues. I waited for a while before trying to call them. They were also trying to call me. Somehow, the handphone connections went kukoo for a while before we could finally get each other.
Celest's family kindly helped me jagah-ed my luggages while I went to meet my family downstairs. They were feeling a little hungry and so we went upstairs to the foodcourt. At the foodcourt, my dad say we should get an airport shuttle instead of a cab, go back hotel, cook instant noodles and share. And so we bade Celest and her family goodbye and we back downstairs to the arrival level to try to get a shuttle. It was late already, I'm kinda tired also and I was damn lazy to figure out how to get a shuttle to take us to Anaheim. After trying to figure out the not-so-automated booth for transport, accomodations, city guide, etc, I gave up and told my dad not to waste time and let's get a cab instead.
At the taxi stand, we saw Celest and her family as they were also leaving for their hotel. Finally, we got on a cab and were on our way to Anaheim. The cab driver wasn't that all familiar with the area and so were we. What was supposed to be a USD90 cab fare (stated on a few websites) from LA airport to our hotel turned out to be USD105 as we went up and down West Katella Ave and Manchester Ave looking for our hotel.
At the junction where he was supposed to go straight towards the freeway, but not enter the freeway and instead keep right on Manchester Ave to our hotel, he made a right turn twice. Maybe he was afraid of going back into the freeway and losing his way more. But no pain, no try, no gain right? When we ended up on the juction again, I specifically gave him instructions. He was unsure, so was I, who was already tired, cranky and ready to take the wheel even though I had no license. I guided him away from the freeway entrance by pointing out to him the big signage that said "Manchester Ave" and said let's try. And tada, me is genius and we found the hotel.
As a helpful cab driver with excellence customer service skills, he helped us in unloading the luggages out from the cab. When I handed him USD120, he asked me how much change should he give me back. For those who are not familiar with the tipping culture in the US, please do not scold the cab driver and question his math skills. The main reason is because he needs to know how much you are willing to give him as tip if you are. And so I told him to keep the change, secretly hoping that USD15 will be enough for his gas back to downtown LA.

And so we finally checked into the hotel at 1am in the morning. Thank God the genius me booked the entire package at Anaheim with Disneyland Resort, so we don't have to queue for tickets the next day nor buy tickets for Knotts Berry a few days later. Actually, there are a whole of of advantages in booking with Disney, which will be revealed bit by bit throughout the next few entries.

Disney magic coming right up!

Act Cute, Silly-ish, Sexy-ish Photo, Cam-Whoring And Departure

Before I move into the studio cam-whoring part as promised in the previous post, please let me rant about my missing soap dish and reveal the background of an act cute, silly-ish, sexy-ish photo before revealing the photo.
When I went back to the hotel after class on Thursday, my white soap dish bought at Muji was discovered missing. I would usually place it on a piece of face towel provided by the hotel and then place them on my toiletries bag. Since both were white, I suppose when the chambermaid took the towel to clear, the soap dish went along with it accidently. The hotel staff checked and double checked, but did not recover it.
About this particular photo, it was taken by a friend of mine in a room where we were supposed to robe ourselves before the graduation ceremony the previous Saturday, and which I only managed to sneak it off her facebook just moments ago...
Being noobs to wearing a graduation gown, we have simply no idea where or how certain parts of the robe should fall into place, especially this one small little white piece of cloth of weird shape. So I was trying to be a heroine and figuring it out where it should be placed to be part of our gown and it was no point asking the guys because only the girls had it. I was placing the white cloth all over my gown, as though it was a piece of jig saw puzzle, seeing if the ends and corners fitted into any part of the entire jig saw. I then decided to goof around and then shouted out to my friends, "Don't tell me like that hor!" They laughed and said I looked some milkmaid, Dutch Lady, farm girl, etc and I added that the windmills are the only things lacking. If you do not know which Dutch Lady, open your eyes next time you go to a supermarket and look out for the condensed/sweetened milk brand, Dutch Lady.
I was trying to be funny and acting cute lah. But after I saw the photo, I found it silly-ish as well. Seeing myself "role playing" (machiam Jap AV) makes me feel a bit sexy-ish, and here I am, playing 2 roles! One of a student in a graduation gown (I have not officially graduated yet) and one of a Dutch Lady! LOL! But I swear it was damn accidental, the AV thought of it came only I saw the photo!

Ok, back to what I had promised, studio cam-whoring. We were allowed to take pictures of the studio on Friday only after recording all 4 segments of our 30-minute show, but I had taken a few sneak shots here and there durind the week during lunch and other free time... Hehe...

And I also saw this on the notice board.
With this, it marks the end of 3-week long on-campus residency. Then it is back to hotel to pack up as we are all leaving the next day. Some of us are going back straight to Singapore while some of us will be touring around before returning.
Since it is a domestic flight and check-in baggage charges have started, to avoid paying a single cent, we have to have only one baggage which weighs below 50 pounds. The 2nd piece of check-in luggage bears a USD25 charge while any overweight baggage within 20 pounds bear a USD50 charge. Any luggage over 70 pounds would be rejected. Tell me how is it possible to have only one luggage when we have 2 thick textbooks (one was hard cover) and a huge load of shopping...
So I managed to pack, with the help of the weighing scale in the gym, till one luggage is extremely close to 50 pounds. The other was half filled, but exceeded 50 pounds already. Luckily it was still below 70 pounds. So, I was prepared to bear a USD75 charge.
The bus came to fetch us to the airport because we were the biggest group to leave at a certain timing and it would be cheaper and more convenient to get at least 6 cabs (or maybe more as there were 13 people and 26 huge check-in luggages). On the bus to the airport, I was missing Oklahoma already. The people were damn friendly and the hotel staff really made sure we felt at home. Shopping malls were less than USD20 away by cab and the variety of food was great. And comparing to the other hotels I stayed during my entire stay in the US, the Marriott Residence Inn at Bricktown Oklahoma City was the best!
At the airport, the system did not prompt the guy at the check-in counter to collect the baggage charges and I guess he forgot, so a majority of us managed to check in 2 luggages without paying a single cent while a few of us at another check-in counter had to pay for the 2nd check-in baggage. Heng ah... Hehe!

Touring details coming right up!

Thursday, June 12, 2008

More Field Trips And Treats!

On Tuesday morning, we went to a publishing house and TV news station as part of our TV Studio Production module that we were taking for the final week of the on-campus residency. We were not allowed to take our cameras into the publishing house and thus we only took a few shots of the exterior of the building. But at the TV station, it was cam-whoring all over and over...

We then went back to school for classes in the afternoon and in the evening, we went to our lecturer's place for dinner. I was concentrating watching American Idol and I did not manage to take much pics. Hehe...

SOME photo and studio cam-whoring coming right up!

Happy Belated Birthday!

Erm, it was way overdue, but at least we got it done! On the first night of week 3, the MDIS Student Council (or rather the majority of the SC members who were in Oklahoma) celebrates the birthday of one of its lovely Exco Member, Anais! When we reached back to the hotel after class, we worked hard to make dinner possible and in time to fulfil hungry stomachs.
And of course, one for the album! There were a few cams on auto placed together, so some of us may not be really looking into the cam that was taking this picture...
More of Week 3 coming right up!

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

This Post Is Dedicated To Molly

Let's all take a moment of respect and silence for yet another brave woman who did not give up her fight against cancer. She is Molly, founder of WeAreWonderWomen.com, the very lady who took the initiative to rally all women cancer survivors together. The lady who dished out advice on her blog to cancer survivors, patients and their care-takers.

I was blog-hopping and got to knew of her passing just moments ago. I'm almost 2 weeks late to knowing to news. But I know her fighting spirit is with all of us and that she is in good hands. Papa in Heaven, take care of Aunt Mona, Jo and Molly k?

Graduation, Walkaround and Guns!

Sorry for the long break in updating posts. Back in Singapore already, but was touring and due to the tight schedule and long days, it is acutally kinda hard to update... You guys will know what I did soon! Ok, back to where I stop updating after talking about my induction into Phi Kappa Phi.

On Saturday of Week 2, it was Graduation Day! Well, considering that I have 3 more modules to be graded on, it was not really a graduation per se. It was more of a formality ceremony kinda thing plus the fact that we are here for the on-campus residency.


After the ceremony, we went back to the hotel for our afternoon off. A few of us decided to tour the Oklahoma Bombing Memorial at night as Dr Winn had told us earlier that the lights were beautiful there at night.

The memorial was bound by 2 gates with a pool in the middle, with "9:01" and "9:03" on them, representing the time frame of the bombing. I did not manage to get good pictures of the gates, which is quite a pity. I heard the security guard telling to another group of vistors that there were 2 or 3 pairs of siblings who died in the bombing.
I got to know of the bombing while taking the PEAF (American politics and history) class. It was related to another event, the Waco Seige (linked, but Wiki if you want to). In short, these domestic terrorists decided to retaliate against the government in regards to the Waco event. Stepping onto the ground where a truck filled with fertilizer bombs was parked and the bombs were ignited in a building where there were government offices, there was a feeling of loss and emptiness. Especially to know the fact that many children were killed as there was a childcare center in the building.
We then went back to freshen up to go join our other classmates at Citywalk, a local club. Yes, people got drunk, but not me, I didn't even drank a drop of alcohol.


On Sunday, I woke up a bit earlier, and saw Man U won and lifted the Premier League title.
It was then lunch at IHop for a few of us. During lunch, Fin told us what he saw during the night before at the Memorial. He saw a little girl, half burnt, squatting behind a dustbin. Dan also said he felt chills. But I didn't feel nor saw anything. I was kinda thinking, if I'm the one who saw the little girl, I really don't know how to react. Would I stand there crying? Would I try to comfort the little girl? Or would I just scream the daylights out of me? Fin did later revealed that his sightings did not stop after that night and that there were others in the studio during our class the following week.
After lunch, we then walked around the Bricktown area. We first went to Bass Pro, which was beside our hotel. The entire shop was done up as though it was a theme park and there were "photo spots" around the shop! It also goes to prove how readily firearms are availiable and why America is sometimes "violent"...



We then walked out towards the Botanical Gardens.

More pictures of the Bricktown area...


To me, it was an eventful and eye-opening weekend; and it started on Friday with the induction into Phi Kappa Phi...

Week 3 coming right up!

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Revealing That EXCLUSIVE Letter

Not anyone can have the privilege to receive such a letter. Only a selected few out of an entire intake of students will get it. The letter contains an EXCLUSIVE invitation to a society whose members includes US President Jummy Carter and author John Grisham. (Psst, enough clues already?)
Well, a clue is found in this picture...

Can't get it still? An even more obvious clue...


I think most of you would have gotten it by now. Even if not, I'm gonna reveal the answer now!
Woots! I'm offically a member of Phi Kappa Phi! Only the top 10% of the cohort will receive the invitation to be inducted into the society, which recognises those who have received academic excellence. I'm kinda surprised and honoured. I don't know if I really deserved this but I kinda felt that working so hard for this degree really paid off.
During my Poly days, I could hardly get good grades as our grades were kinda dependent if the lecturers like our work or not, which is totally subjective and objective. During Poly, no matter how hard I tried, I never got the grades I hoped for. Since I have the chance to prove myself wrong, I tried hard and worked hard and I'm glad that I got rewarded. But receiving this letter also adds on unexpected pressure to perform even better and at least to maintain the current performance. This means that I feel even more pressured to perform for the last 3 modules that I am doing here.

During the wellness classes, I tried so damn hard to claim whatever bonus and extra credit points as possible that I felt that I was desperate. To me, it seems that every single point mattered as it would divide a A from a A-. During the Environmental Science classes last week I was also trying to do my best for the worksheets and try to score as much "in-class" points as possible. Usually back in Singapore, I would also try my best, but this time round, I felt that there is an added pressure to perform since I was a member of Phi Kappa Phi, one of the top students in class. I felt that I became more competitive. Sigh, dunno if this is a good thing or not...

Weekend adventures coming right up!
20:09 OK time

Thursday, May 15, 2008

I Treat You, You Treat Me...

I can't help feeling that all our lecturers here are darlings, especially the older ones who want to make us feel at home and treat us as though as we are their own children. Last Sunday, Dr Winn hosted us at his place. And on Wednesday week 2, Dr Olsen, our Behavioral Science lecturer treated us to Strawberry Shortcakes during our lunch break!

And thus, we decided to host Dr Winn at the guys' room and cooked up a meal for him on Thursday.



Revealing of the EXCLUSIVE letter coming right up!
07:50 OK time...