krisalis

Image307.jpg Originally uploaded by krisalis.

Brunch at Coffee Bean on Orchard Road.

Food eaten so far:

• pohpiah
• laksa
• chili sting ray
• otah
• green apple juice
• soursop, jack fruit and longan
• nasi biriyani from Komala Vilas
• sweet lassi

Miles run: 3

Conclusion: weight gain expected

My luggage, however, did not.

My compensation?

A measly S$77. Yes. Seventy-seven Singapore dollars.

Luggage is not expected to arrive til tomorrow. I have meetings which start at 9am. Which means I need work-suitable clothes, pronto.

PAH.

The airline will be getting a copy of all my receipts along with an angry/polite-yet-firm letter requesting full compensation. My layover was 4 1/2 hours for goodness sakes. RIDICULOUS.

I’m all of 6 hours in to the seemingly never ending epic journey to Singapore, and so far I have consumed:

-People – legitimately purchased in Austin airport - Sport Illustrated – borrowed from a guy on the plane who’d finished looking at the pictures reading it - American Way – the free magazine in my seatback - OK! – swiped from the seatback of the lady diagonally behind me on the plane. Don’t worry, I didn’t mug her or anything. I waited for her to leave it before I took it. - Life and Style – woman in the seat in front of me gave me this after seeing me gleefully sweep the OK! The only things better than trashy magazines on a long journey are free trashy magazines. And chocolate.

What I’ve learned so far – I’m summarizing this for you, so you don’t need to put yourself through the vigorous learning process I’ve been subjected to. Yeah, I knew you’d be thankful, but hey, what are friends for? - Britney and Kevin had a baby, and now Britney is less chubby, but Kevin is spending all her money and has stupid braids in his hair. - Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey are breaking up, or getting back together, or are still madly in love or are putting on a good front for the media or perhaps might be robots from the planet I DON’T FREAKIN’ CARE. - Nicole Richie needs to eat something. Really soon. - Paris and Paris broke up, but Paris likes them Greeks and is going back for more hunky shipping rich Greek goodness. - Brangelina like babies - Jennifer Aniston snogged Vince Vaughn. Ooooooooooooooo! - Lots of people may or may not be pregnant including Kate Hudson, Carmen Electra, Jennifer Lopez, Jennifer Garner and Katie Holmes. Except we all know Jennifer Garner and Katie Holmes are preggers, ’cause their bellies are EVERYWHERE. - Those women from Desperate Housewives are everywhere. Usually wearing jeans and heels and lots of makeup, just like regular desperate housewives the world over – not.

Still remaining: - Jane – found abandoned in airport - Business Week – last weeks edition, taken from Mark. I’m saving this magazine for last, in the hope that it may teach me something useful and may perhaps act as some sort of antidote to all the poisionous crap I’ve been mindlessley devouring.

Update: - Time – in the magazine rack on the airplane - GQ – also in the magazine rack. I was hoping that switching to a men’s trashy mag might mix things up a little. But no – it also discusses the Paris & Paris fiasco, the whole who’s pregnant thing and blah blah blah, just intermixed with adverts for men’s clothing instead of women’s stuff. - US Weekly – borrowed.

I also watched ‘Bewitched’, which was pants, and read ‘Blink’ by Malcolm Gladwell, which was pretty good. Shed loads better than the magazines, that’s for sure.

• stayed home and did nothing much on Friday night. Actually, I had a nap and did some work. Not exciting.
• ran 7.5 miles on Satuday morning
• had poached eggs and toast for post-run second breakfast
• went to the mall to get some new trousers. Ended up with 2 pairs of trousers and some foxy silvery wedge heel shoes.
• had lunch at Thundercloud subs
• packed for my next business trip. I leave for a week in Singapore tomorrow.
• sifted through a bunch of paperwork with Mark, signing and faxing and sorting and filing. Boring, but necessary.
• napped
• met Kem for dinner at Salt Lick 360. Mmm.
• helped out at chuch on Welcome Team
• napped
• walked the dogs
• went to CostCo to get a few things and ended up with a bunch of other stuff as well, including 3 books and an inordinate amount of loo roll.
• visited Kem’s new house, which is very, very nice – all hardwood floors and lots of natural light.
• had dinner at Salt Lick 360. Again. This time with the family. Just as well I like the food there!
• puttered on the ‘puter and watched some tv
• implemented several of 10 Things You Should Do To Every Windows PC advocated here.

The Batchelorette Party People
Originally uploaded by krisalis.

I finally flickred the photos from last weekend and a few more I took this week in Colorado, Dallas and Austin. You can see them all over here.

Since I went to the batchelorette party, I suppose we should make plans to go to the actual wedding…

Primary Objective Get from Austin, TX to Princeton, NJ to attend wedding.

Secondary Objective(s) - Have a touristy nosey about in NYC for a day before the wedding - See friends - Not spend more money than necessary to accomplish said objectives

Current travel options being evaluated:

Fly JetBlue to JFK. For: can watch tv on airplane, cost is $553.80 for 2 tickets. Against: recent well publisized near accibump, in which passengers got to watch their plane go in for a firey landing on faulty equipment. Service has not actually started flying out of Austin yet – scheduled for later this year. Sceptical about buying tickets for a route that does not yet exist.

Fly Delta to JFK. For: Direct flight. Cost $563.80 for 2 tickets. Against: It’s Delta – no useful airmiles.

Fly AA to Philly For: Direct flight. Earn AA miles. Against: It goes to Philly, which just doesn’t seem as exciting as flying to NY. Cost $579.60 for 2 tickets.

Fly United to Newark via either Washington or Chicago For: $20 and 50k airmiles for 2 tickets. Goes to Newark, which I’ve been told is easier when going to or from Princeton than JFK. Against: Got to go via Washington or Chicago, which makes the journey loooooooonger, and more likely to introduce additional travel stresses such as delayed or missed connections

What to do, leh?

• Went to Seattle to go to Sarah A’s batchelorette party
• Hung out at the hotel room with all the girls on Friday night. We had intended to go out, but a steady supply of food and drink made us all a little lazy, particularly when faced with a full Saturday of activities.
• Got up and met Tricia and Jeff on Saturday morning, who for the record are lovely non-axe wielding non-scary people. They took me and Maia running. Although I don’t really know if our pace counted as ‘running’…more like ‘plodding’, but hey…we covered about 5 miles of scenic Seattle, and talked the whole way round. The weather was great – partially cloudy but clear and (relatively) warm. We jogged along the waterfront and through Pike Place and Bellstown. It was fun.
• Showered, changed and promptly went to breakfast at Five Spot with Tricia and Jeff. I had poached eggs and buttermilk pancakes, rounded out with several cups of coffee, and much talking. Five Spot was cool and the food was yuuuuuuuummy.
• Rejoined the Batchelorette group in time to head out to a spa, where I lounged in the hot tubs and turkish bath and indulged in a body scrub, followed by a massage. Then I read trashy magazines whilst sitting in a heated therapy room, and gobbled down some delicious Korean dumplings at the spa canteen, all whilst wearing little more than a cotton bath robe and rather odd cotton shower cap thingy.
• Underwent showering, more changing, more talking, more laughing.
• Drank red wine and put on a little make up, before heading out for dinner.
• Ate at a Moroccan restaurant and then went out for drinks at a nearby bar.
• Went back to the hotel and talked a while longer, and then finally collapsed gratefully into my fold-out sofa bed
• Packed up my bags and said good bye to my fellow batchelorette celebrators
• Bundled up against the drizzling rain and walked to Pike Place, where I got a piping hot americano from the original Starbucks and a warm rhubarb pastry from a Russian (?) bakery
• Wandered all over Pike Place, looking at all the goodies for sale and taking a few photos
• Got very cold and had to seek refuge in the shops to warm up
• Hung out with Sarah and Maia at their friend’s house
• Went to the airport and flew to Denver
• Checked into my hotel and slept like a log

There are a lot more things I could say about this weekend, but I lack the energy and wit, so this synopsis will have to do.

I’m back in Texas now. Thank goodness for my own bed and access to clean clothes. And it’s good to see husband-man and the Roseapose too.

It’s a lovely day today. Far too lovely to be stuck inside.

Sigh

Very cool preview.