Away from home

Moved back to Perth

2006-04-08T21:35:00.000-07:00

Blue Print to Shop

2006-02-12T17:35:00.000-08:00

My vintage shopping plan in Chicago.

GOOD GOOD FOOD

2006-02-07T18:23:00.000-08:00

Had lots of good food this weekend. Bongo Room serves the best brunch. Hands down! The deco is funky. The people who eat there are cool. And there are several op shops selling vintage clothes at affordable prices. (See my Restaurant Review entry.)
We went to BACK Room on Sat night for a bit of jazz. The music is great.
We were supposed to go to 80s prom party, but it was too cold to wear my 80s prom dress and R did not have an outfit either. We'll try going next wkend. ;)

First snow in 2006

2006-01-23T18:12:00.000-08:00

It finally snow! This is the 2nd proper snowfall we had all winter long. This time the northern suburb (where I stay) receive the heaviest snowfall. It was reported to be as high as 10.6 inches!

Snow at a park near my aparment

Me on the snow ... This was taken on the first snowfall this winter. I just got the photo from my friend.

Chicago HOT dog ... Woof Woof!

2006-01-23T17:55:00.000-08:00

Ok, I've been here for almost a year and I still had not tried Chicago hot dog and Chicago deep dish pizza. So, finally, I had my first Chicago hot dog at Wiener's Circle in Lincoln Park, Chicago. I did my research and it is supposed to be one of the best hot dog. You can order the hot dog with steamed or grilled sausage. The toppings includes: mustard, relish, onion, tomato, pickle (that's as far as I can remember). Next stop, Lou Matinna for the deep dish pizza ...

Where's George?

2006-01-20T15:22:00.000-08:00

i got a note that is being tracked on http://www.wheresgeorge.com
my gosh, the last time someone actually logged anything for this particular note, is 1 yr and 49 days ago in Seattle.

CABARET! CABARET!

2006-01-16T15:14:00.000-08:00

Went down to see the Baha'i temple for the third time. No, I have not converted to Baha'i. The last couple of time I was there, I either forgot my camera or forgot the SD card in my camera. Third time lucky, I got my camera (with battery & memory card) and the weather is perfect.

Baha'i Temple

Cabaret

At night, we went down to Chicago. I found this place called Cabaret. I was excited about it. I thought it is going to be a real cabaret, but it turned out to be a bar/club with scantily clad server cabaret-style. See the lingerie dressed waiter in the pix above.
We got there early and the club was not open yet. So we had to go somewhere to hang around. We found a gay bar and decided to go in. Well I ended up being the only girl sitting down in the bar. Ah, and guess what. Someone bought one of us a drink! The bartender told me that the guy across bought me a drink. Then I thought, hang on ... this is a gay bar! Must not be for me. We were in dilemma who should have the drink. In the end we shared it. It's so weird, the dude who bought us the drink walked 2 laps around the bar. However, he didn't stop to talk to either one of us. So at the end of the night, we still haven't figured who the drink is meant for.

I was 8 years too late

2006-01-06T19:52:00.000-08:00

Ha ha ha ... I think we were the most unenthusiastic tourist in Disney World. We visited Epcot and Magic Kingdom.

Epcot is boring and Magic Kingdom is crazy. Argh! There are so many prams & wheelchairs jamming up the road. We arrived at Magic Kingdom at 11am, quickly get a FastPass for Space Mountain and we got a return time at 6.30pm. There's long queue for everything. Queue to get onto the shuttle. Queue to get your bags inspected. Queue to buy food. Queue to go to washroom. Queue for rides (of course).

I am probably 8 years too late. I remembered already being unenthusiastic the last time I visited Gold Coast's Universal studio.

Madness at Magic Kingdom

I heart NY ... not

2006-01-06T19:19:00.000-08:00

NYC from 26th Dec till 4th Jan.

The Good: Watching 'The Producer' on Broadway. Times Square at night is just awesome.
The Bad: Couldn't get into Webster Hall on NYE.
The Ugly: We stayed in a hostel in Spanish Harlem for the first 3 days. Dodgy.

I found that most things in NYC are overrated. For example,
- Rockerfeller ice skating rink is small, there are just too many ppl!
- Restaurant with long wait does not necessarily mean gd food.
- NYE in Times Square. I wasn't there, but it does not look appealing enough for me to want to torture myself waiting in the cold for 6 hours with no food, water and access to toilet!

I was a little bit disappointed. Perhaps I anticipated so much more ... perhaps it wasn't the best time to go to NYC around new year.
We bought tix for a NYE event at a club, as we do not want to spend it at Times Square. Unfortunately, when we got there at around 10.30pm, the is a LONG line outside the club. The line wrapped around 3 sides of the building, and this is not a small building, as the club shares its place with a cinema. We did not bother to line up as the bouncer said that we might not get into the club by midnight. @#$%*&^%

I personally felt that the architecture in Chicago is better than NYC. Buildings in Manhattan are packed close to each other, that you can't really see them.

Well, after visiting NY, I can't say that I heart NY.

Oh I almost forget to mention the hostel we stayed in ...
Because we are going during the peak season, hotel was expensive and most popular hostels are sold out. We ended up staying in Virginia Guest House in Spanish Harlem. I did not do my research and was not aware of the area we are staying in. Let's just say that it is not the gd choice for 2 girls to stay in. The hostel is located near the train stop. Convinient, but because the train runs 24 hours, we could hear the sound of the train through out the night. I was so relieved when we moved to a hotel in Central Park West on the 4th day.

Remember the Seinfeld episode about the Soup Nazi ... Well this is the soup place that inspired it!

I left my heart in San Francisco ... Lalala

2005-10-15T17:56:00.000-07:00

Came back from SF abt 2 wks ago. Here's what I remembered abt SF,
- full of weirdos
- lots of gay ppl
- very very hilly road
- lots of asians
- trolley, cable car

I booked us to stay at a budget hotel. It is 2 blocks away from Union Square, so the location is pretty gd. I pointed out to my sis that there is a porn show next door. She freaked out and made us move to Crowne Plaza (which cost 2.5 times more).

So as I was saying, SF is full of weirdos! I was there for 4 days and I met so many!
Encounter 1, told taxi driver to go to Bush St. Taxi almost bump into another car. I went shit. A min later, taxi driver later ask, what did u say just now? I went, Huh? Taxi driver goes, bull shit?

Encounter 2, was on the bus. An asian lady was drinking a bottle of coke. A caucasian guy sitting across asks, what are you drinking? vodka?

Ecounter 3, was on a shady part of town. A hobo approaches us for a quarter. We all kept quiet. She went, what? Not even a quarter? Unbelievable! Unbelievable!

Encounter 4, boarded a quiet bus (i.e. only abt 4 passenger). A lady sat right infront and started talking to the driver. Started complaining for the next 5 min about how people are so lazy and they should be walking instead of taking the bus.

The road is very hilly. You definitely have to be q. fit to travel around SF. Hong made us walk uphill to see Lombard St.,The world's crookedest road. That road is pretty awesome!

We, of cos, visited the Golden Gate Bridge. Another structure which I really like is the Palace of Fine Art. Real beautiful, isn't it?

Boston

2005-09-07T19:37:00.000-07:00

Quincy Market, my fave place in Boston
Street performer at Quincy Market
Church of Science

Sorry no time to write my travel experience ... will update soon.

What I bought ...

2005-08-22T17:19:00.000-07:00

Got these on Sun 21/08/05. The verdict is that Singapore is still the best place to shop. I couldn't really find what I had on my shopping list. I got the skirts from Urban Outfitters, can't remember where I got the slippers from.

Funny things

2005-08-22T17:06:00.000-07:00

Funny Thing #1

I saw a Chinese guy working out at the office gym. He was in his office attire. Polo shirt, trousers and belt.

Funny Thing #2

We got some visitors from the west coast. Funny how you imagine how a person look like from their voice and it is usually very inaccurate. One of them who has the nicest voice turned out look like a gypsy biker and twice as old than what I thought.

North Halsted Market Daze

2005-08-09T19:49:00.000-07:00

Hey y'all faithful reader(s) :)
Sorry, I've been CrrRrRaAzy busy at work last couple of weeks. Totally drained me out. Quick update I've been up to. (beside working)
Well, I went to a park nearby to blade ... fell on my bum again.
Found an awesome Japanese supermarket. I mean SUPER market. It has a Japanese food court as well. Yeay!!!!
Went to a Karaoke bar cum Bowling alley cum restaurant last Fri. I bowled and I karaoke-ied!!! HAha. I think I was one of those ppl who sang and made ppl go "Gosh doesn't any of her friend told her that she's bad?" I chose Jewel Foolish Game. To my own defense, the song is difficult, the music is way too loud and the music wasn't adjusted to the correct pitch. Anyway, I had fun. I will practice and come back with a vengance!
Next day (Sat), we went to North Halsted Market Daze. N Halsted is known to be Chicago's gay area or my friend called it as "Boys Town". We paid $6 to get into the market. It was worth it! Very interesting. We paid to people watch rather than really go to any stalls. Some pix from that day below. I was actually busy finding food to eat, so I didn't take that many pix. There's heaps of naked men. Naked hot bods! You know how gay men generally takes better care of themselves :P

My 1st Ravinia Festival

2005-07-24T15:35:00.000-07:00

Check out the massive crowd at the Ravinia Festival!

Ravinial Festival happens during summer in Chicago. Since summer is short over here, people maximise it as much as they could. The Ravinia Fest is sooooo packed that there's no grass patch for your ass to sit!
That night was ABBA night. Hmmm not really something I would want to go for, but I was dragged along anyway. It was good. There's 2 more performance that I have bought the tickets for. Tony Bennett and Hootie and the Blowfish. I had to educate myself with Tony Benett's song. I only know 1. I borrowed a couple of his CDs from the library (which is awesome by the way).

Lion King

2005-07-21T15:05:00.000-07:00

YEEEEEAY i'll be watching the Lion King tonight. Gonna drop everything & go by 5.30pm. See ya sucker!
heheh ... Been a long week @ work ...
Review of Lion King coming soon ;)

Missing

2005-07-16T11:15:00.000-07:00

After being away for almost 4 months, I reallllly miss the following things:
1. My sandwich press / meat grill
2. My espresso machine
3. Good authentic Japanese cuisine
4. Shoes! Pretty shoes ...
5. FitnessFirst gym ... esp. Pump class
6. My shopping, gossiping girlfriend ;)

Washington DC

2005-07-04T11:20:00.000-07:00

I spent the 4th of July long wkend at Washington DC. How much more American can you get?!
The trip was pretty good. I was glad that I went to Washington (surprisigly). However, I think once is enough. There's nothing but historical / government buildings.

This is the closest that I got to the White House

A bar at Adams Morgan (the nightlife strip in Washington DC). It's called Left Bank. The music was awesome. Pretty good crowd too.

The US Capitol. There was a free concert to celebrate the 4th of July. Performer includes the Beach Boys, Gloria Estefan and .... can't remember his/her name ... anyway, YAWN.

Union Station: A Metro station. Very nice. Would love to see how busy it is on normal working days.

Chicago Pix

2005-06-28T18:09:00.000-07:00

Some photos that I took last couple of wkends. I thought I'll share it with u ;)
I took the two photos of the street performers on two seperate wkend, at different venue. The Red Lady was taken at Magnificent Mile. The Green Girl was taken just outside of "Taste of Chicago".

Took this late at night on the way back from dinner. They are just putting up the letters.

Above is Crown Fountain. I really like this structure/wall.

I finally stopped (well sort of ...)

2005-06-26T17:55:00.000-07:00

Went to Oak St. beach to learn how to stop. I mean in term of inline skating. I learnt how to skate/blade more than 6 years ago, but I never know how to stop. I had fun. The ppl who are there to coach (for free) are really nice. Finally, now I know how to stop (most of the time). H convinced me to blade from the car to the beach. I fell on my bum twice and now my right side is so sore!

Baby Magnet

2005-06-18T17:57:00.000-07:00

Ok. I spent 3 nights 4 days in Ft Lauderdale, Florida last wkend.
The trip to & fro is a pretty bad experience. I went to the airport straight from work. Thinking that my flight will depart at 7pm. However, it got delayed by 1hr 40min ... then another additional 20 min, then another 15 ... in the end it departs at 9 freaking 30 pm. On the plane, there was a crying baby a couple of rows behind me. On the other side of the row, is some drunkard talking loudly. To top these off, the baby POOP! I got to Ft Lauderdale at 2.40am ... Damn ...
On the way back, I thought that my luck has turned around until they announced 1.5hr delay exactly at boarding time. What the?! Worse thing they cannot make up their mind when the plane is going to depart. 15 min after the announcement, they said it might depart earlier afterall ... then no news until 45 min later. Urgh! I think you must be bored reading my delay-and-departure story already ... so let me move on to my experience IN Ft Lauderdale/Miami.

Hot chick @ Crobar

I spent almost the whole of Sat helping El & Cla move house. I cannot believe that we managed to move all the big piece of furniture just by using this really small cart! It was only until late afternooon that they brought me downtown and to Las Olas. Las Olas is a stretch of road with lots of cafes, restaurants and a few boutiques. I had one of the yummiest ice-cream there. Can't remember the name :(
Went down to SoBe after a very very late dinner (We started at 9.30am). Met up with work friend at CroBar. We only managed to reach the bar at around 1.30am. Felt bad making 'em wait. The club is pretty cool, except the song is not very nice.
On Sunday, went to check out flea market and Ventura Mall. Had a tiramisu birthday cake. I rented a car and drove down to Miami. It's pretty easy to get around southern part of Florida. I checked out Art Deco. HUGE disappointment. The area is not arty ... it's q. gross. Drove to plantation to have lunch with work friend. Am so proud that I managed to drive to Miamia, Plantation and airport without getting lost!

Ventura Mall

Can't say it's my best holiday trip, I guess it was just bad timing to go to Florida.

Restaurant Review

2005-06-14T09:55:00.000-07:00

This post will be updated as I try more restaurant ...

Restaurant	Comments	Comeback?
Menagerie	Food was pretty good. The restaurant does not look anything like the pix online!	no...
Le Titi De Paris	Great service. Very good food. We got a complementary starter and some chocolate/cookies.	Yes
The Bongo Room	The dark chocolate tower (french toast) is DIVINE! Mmmmm. Make me drool thinking abt it. The muffin + egg + duck tastes good. I am giving a BIG thumbs up for this one.	You bet~
Soup Man, NYC	Remember the Seinfeld episode of a soup natzi. Well this is the soup shop the episode is based on. Of course, the soup man is not there to serve us. It is only a take away shop, no seats. The crab soup I had is yummy, but I think $9 is too much for a small cup of take-away soup.	No
Serendipity 3, NYC	Had their famous frozen hot chocolate, which is nothing more than a chocolate ice blended. American desert is generally too sweet for my liking.	No.
Pastis, NYC	BADDDD, overpriced food ... BAAAAAD overall experience. This restaurant is totally overrated.	NO!!
Nobu, NYC	I had very gd softshell crab sushi. The warm chocolate cake and green tea ice cream desert is delicious. However, I don't think the food is so spectacular that I would book 1 month in advance to dine there.	Sure
Barton G, Miami	I absolutely love this restaurant. Service is excellent. Food is delicious and very well presented.	Definitely.
Dick's Last Resort	pretty crazy place. definitely go once for the experience. my chicken is burnt, but my friend's pork rib taste gd!	yes, only to bring friend
Grand Lux Cafe	It's da bomb! Didn't get to try dessert, but looked very yummy.	yes!
Cafe Babareeba	Vereee good! Absolutely love the tapas. Unique dishes. Yum yum.	yes!
India House	Cheap Indian buffet ~ USD11. Packed with Motorolans. Yeah. They are everywhere. Oh. U get a discount being one :)	Just 1 more time
Mirai Sushi	The place is chic, but food is not up to standard. Soft-shell crab is soggy and q. fishy.	No
Wildberry Pancakes and Cafe	Nice place, good and relatively cheap breakfast. Quick service even when they are busy. Best of all, it's 10 min drive from where I stay.	Yes. Only becoz it's close.
The Cheesecake Factory	Not bad. Huge American serving. I ordered a Mexican Chicken salad. Probably only ate 1/3.	No
Mickey Finn	A pub near work. Q. famous. I'm not a pub person, but I think it's alright. Not skanky. American sized food served here.	No
Dover ... (can't remember the 2nd word)	A seafood restaurant on IL-45. Near Crowne Plz. Food is way too salty. Patrons are very old. Feel like I'm in Ft Lauderdale	sorry,no
Grill 21	A grill and bar place. Look really nice from outside and inside. The food however is pretty ordinary. Gd service.	Maybe. only because it's cheap :P
Firkin's	yummy quiche. a better option compared to Finn's	well i had gone back.
Cubanitas, WI	This is at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Very cool deco. Serve interesting Cuban food.	The restaurant => Yes. But I don't think I'll be going back to Milwaukee.
FireFly, DC	Great food! Reminds me a lot of Cream in East Perth. The deco, the menu (which change seasonally) and it is below a hotel/apt. This restaurant is located in Dupont Circle, Washington DC. They put the bill in a jar.	Don't think I'll be going back to Washington DC.
Uncle Julio's Hacienda	Not bad. Tasty food. Gd service. Cute server ;)	Maybe.
Barton G, MIA	Had my Xmas dinner. It was an awesome experience. Food and service are great. 10 for taste and 10 for presentation.	YES!

Longest drive in my whole entire life

2005-05-31T19:47:00.000-07:00

I really enjoyed my short trip to Toronto. The city reminds me a little of Australia. Once we crossed the border to Canada, there's q. a difference. The road is so much better. The lines and road signs are clear. The road has no potholes. There are so much more greeneries. There's funky shops along Queen West St, in downtown Toronto. We drove around on Saturday night. I think there's more nightlife in Toronto than Chicago. Pretty awesome. I found that people are more stylish too. (Very surprised)

Niagara Falls is amazing. The view is just breath taking. It's a pity that it was raining on and off on the weekend. We didn't get to watch the firework and see Niagara Falls at night. I'm sure the falls looks different at night.

Had dinner at Serra on Bloor St. An italian restaurant which does not accept reservation. You have to wait to get a table. No leaving of name. It was worth the wait. The food was YUM-meee.

Had drink at an English pub on Younge St. I found out that in America, pubs are called bars. To me, bars are lounge. That reminds me ... I also found out that to American 'biscuit' means some sort of sandwich! I offered P. some 'biscuit', but he was surprised when I pulled out a packet of crackers!

Anyway, I think Toronto would be a nice place to live. Clean city, very multicultural and has all the Asian fruits (e.g. longan, rambutan, mangosteen)

Check out my Toronto photos.

Summary of trip
---------------
Fri: Left Chicago@7pm CST ... Arrived at Ann Arbor@2.30am EST
Sat: Left Ann Arbor@9.30am EST ... Arrived at Toronto@4.30pm EST
Sun: Spent the day(till 5pm) @Niagara ... Spent night@Toronto
Mon: Left Toront@9am EST ... Arrived at Chicago@6.30pm CST

Controversy

2005-05-21T09:40:00.000-07:00

There's a lot of controversy at work since last week. I won't say more. Just a reminder for myself when this assignment is over.

PT Cruiser

2005-05-16T13:14:00.000-07:00

I just swap the Chevrolet Malibu for a Chrysler PT Cruiser. It's so cool! Smell the leather interior ... Photo coming soon

SELF Workout at Lincoln Park

2005-05-14T21:30:00.000-07:00

Went for 4 hours workout at Lincoln Park. It's sOoOoO good. I had fun. There were a lot of class running. I went for the dancing ones. I loved choreographed and belly dancing! And there was strip tease as well. Surprisingly it was pretty boring. We picked up lotsa freebies as well! I got 2 exercise DVDs, 2 exercise resistance band, a couple of Sports water, energy bar, shampoo, etc.
Can't wait for the next event in fall.
Photos on Yahoo! album

Houston we've got problem

2005-05-12T14:19:00.000-07:00

Was supposed to go to Austin & Houston. Wong said she has to go home. :(
Oh well ...
Zi asked me to go to Vegas. I hesitated. Vegas ... gambling? Just not me.
If I go to California, it'll be LA or SF. Anyway, finally got approval to take annual leave. When I went online to book my ticket, I found it has gone up by US$100 over night. Oh well ...
Since I had asked for leave, might as well go somewhere. Found cheap ticket to go to Florida. Miami here I come!!!

The Honeymoon's over

2005-05-12T14:17:00.000-07:00

The Honeymoon's over ... I'm working like a mad dog ...
Lalalal ...
Not a song lyric. That's me. Been q. slack for the past weeks.
Finally a pile of work hit me.
I worked from 7.30 till 9.30 on Tues
7.30 to 10.30 on Wed (Went home for dinner and an hour of reality TV)

something wonderful

2005-05-06T08:18:00.000-07:00

rindless brie exists ... yumm
bought a bottle of frangelico for US$18.90 woo hoo!!!

My take on US

2005-05-04T17:11:00.000-07:00

Food
Everything here is so sweet. Bread, cereal and soy milk are so sweet. Farm reared salmon are fed with pink pigment. You have to get 'wild' salmon, which cost even more. So far all the salmon I saw in supermarket have pigment. Food is cheap and come in huge serving.

Driving
Unless indicated, you can turn right even when stop light is red. Everyone speeds like crazy. Road here are in poor condition. Lots of potholes and the white lines are so faint. You can barely see it during the day. Parking in downtown Chicago is a daylight robbery. First 30 min cost ~$10-$12, but cap at ~$24-$30.

Tip#1
Bring adaptor. It's difficult to get an adaptor which converts OZ->US plug. I had to order mine online.

Tip#2
Beware the hidden charges! I bought a US$77 ticket online to watch Lion King. After "Convenience Charge", "Access Charge" and tax, each ticket ended up costing US$92. Some company do not accept international credit card. Because I still don't have local cc, I had to pay another US$2.50 ... ARRRRGH. What a rip off.

Tip#3
Outside of Chinatown, Chinese grocery store is rare. So bring your oyster sauce, chili sauce, fish sauce, etc.

Tip#4
Amazon is amazing. Buy your travel book or road guide here. Much2 cheaper & delivery is free with US$25 purchase.

Tip#5
Tax is different in different state. Illinois have higher tax than Wisconsin. Within Illinois, tax is different for different county. Cook county, which Chicago is in, has the highes tax.

US vs.	OZ
You’re welcome	Cheers, TA, No worries
Mickey D	Maccers / Maccas
Faucet	Tap
Stop light	Traffic light
Biscuit	Biscuit
Bar	Pub

Chocolate, Dim Sum and Depression

2005-05-01T16:34:00.000-07:00

This is what we did over the wkend. Went to Long Grove Chocolate Festival. It was alright. I only ate a chocolate frozen custard. There's many stalls selling other food, but they all just look way too fatty for me. Urgh.

The tulip are out. Very pretty. Long Grove is a little cottage with small shop houses that sells homemade/handmade produce (e.g. pasta sauce). And I found a bead store. Yes! bead culture exists in USA :)

Had dim sum on Sunday. Went to Woodfield Mall to swap Anthropology skirt. I'm still figuring out what size I am. I always thought that US size = 1 size bigger in AUST. Well I was wrong. I bought a skirt that is 2 size bigger!

Anyway. I'm missing friends company back home a lot. It's tougher than I thought, not having friends outside work.
Staying in Libertyville makes it harder to socialise I think. It's very KAMPONG! Anything exciting/interesting is at least 30 min drive away from Libertyville. SHITZ

Happy Bday H.

2005-04-28T16:30:00.000-07:00

Celebrated H's birthday at some Chinese restaurant in Schaumburg. V said it's really good. Hmmm ... Sorry, but I think it's just average. Gosh, it's difficult to find decent Chinese food around here.
Bought an awesome-looking, cookies-and-cream birthday cake which cost $12. :P

Jazz and Jelly

2005-04-25T14:07:00.000-07:00

Fri night, we went to the Jazz/Blues club. It wasn't quite what I expected it to be. The place is small, packed with different sort of people. There's some young Asians, old-but-dress-funky women, a hippy long haired guy in a baseball shirt, a cute arty-farty looking guy with black rim glasses, etc. Music was actually pretty good. I don't think I will be going back anytime soon though. There's too many people smoking in that little space. I can't take it.

On Sat, a bunch of us went up to Wisconsin to do a lil' bit of shopping at the Prime Outlet. Before that, we had brunch and visited the Jelly Belly Factory. It's not a real factory. I would call it a warehouse. The tour was a bit disappointing, but interesting still.

Decided to take it easy on Sunday. Just went to gym, then went to BORDERS to browse through some book that I was eyeing on Amazon.com :P
H cooked Hainanese Chicken Rice for 6 of us for lunch. It was delicious!
I begin to like staying in Chicago. There is so much to do! I have a bunch of things that I want to do:

Chicago Art 2005
Visit more cool bars/clubs
Antique Market
Visit Springfield - Stay w. the Amish
Lincoln Park Zoo
Chocolate Factory Tour
Watch Lion King
...

When I go back to Perth, I think I won't get used to the shopping hours and small city. If I have my friends over here, I might consider working here longer!

Caz Go To White Castle

2005-04-21T17:49:00.000-07:00

Ever since watching Harold & Kumar, I have been craving White Castle.

The ups & downs

2005-04-17T22:16:00.000-07:00

This weekend is definitely the "up" so far this month. I had so much fun with E & C. Come to think of it, it's kind of ironic. I remembered cancelling my holiday because I accepted a job offer. Now, I'm here spending time with the girls because I am posted by the company for an assignment.

Bistro Zinc: Had crepes for brunch

Anthropology: Shabby chic & boho style clothings

Anyway, I am so glad that I get to hang out with the girls over the weekend. I went to Lincoln Park to have brunch & shopping. I love that area. It's my kind of place. There's heaps of cafes and boutiques. Clothes there are funky and individual.

Mini Dessert ...

Had tappas for dinner at Cafe Baba Riba on the 2nd night. Absolutely loved it. Very interesting dishes. Very delicious and it's not expensive at all!

La Passage: Yuppy Hangout

This is the first time that I experienced the nightlife in Chicago. It's pretty good. The bar/club that we went to is nice. Pretty gd looking crowd too :P
Many guys are in their suits on a Sat night. Definitely a yuppy hangout.

E's boss treat us to brunch. He drove a cool vintage car. It practically made every head turn. A gd car to pick up guys! It's such an experience :)

To my Yahoo! album ... Gimme your Yahoo! username for access.

Tourist-sy Stuff

2005-04-09T06:30:00.000-07:00

How time flies. This is my 3rd wkend in Chicago. I decided to avoid going to Maginificent Mile and do some tourist stuff instead. We bought a CityPass.
We get to go to Shedd Aquarium, Field Museum, John Hancock Tower (which I love), Tech & Industry Museum and Adler Planetarium. I was q. disinterested in the Aquarium. Those of you ,who know me well enough, should know how much I like animal ...

Check out my Yahoo! album for the photos ;)
(Email me your Yahoo! username if you want access)

Take a peek into my apartment

2005-04-08T06:14:00.000-07:00

Master Bedroom's Bathroom

See more photos in my Yahoo! album

Gay Sunday

2005-04-03T14:37:00.000-07:00

Went to watch a musical with Zi. It's called "Like I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change" Very small scale production, but the actors were brilliant. I enjoyed it v. much. Driving around Chicago actually is not difficult. The signs are not that obscure either. I think we got lost because we're busy chatting away and not pay attention to signs. :P
So why the title "Gay Day" for this entry? Zi & I think we got picked up by a pair of lesbian girls in the theatre! Ha2. The Northern parth of downtown Chicago must be some kind of gay area, because I did a bit of shopping after the musical and bumped into a lesbian couple (who I initially thought are the same couple in the theatre).

How many engineers does it take to pump gas?

2005-03-31T14:10:00.000-08:00

Just came back from P.O. I cannot believe I have to drive so far away to get to the nearest P.O.Saw Mobil on the way. Thought I should pump gas (USA use "gas", not "petrol"). So I parked. Woops! wrong side ... So I reparked. Hmmm ... How do I open the petrol tank? Looked around. Can't find the button. Argh. Drove out of the gas station. Have to consult my colleague.

i want my stuff

2005-03-31T11:14:00.000-08:00

my shipment is arriving next tues. that's damnbloody long. urgh~ i have to wear the same old leather jacket EVERYDAY.

went to co.'s gym on Tues. it's so cool to have a gym in the office building. waaaah. went for pump, which is verrrrry different from what i usually do in australia. here, we use elastic bands for resistance, instead of weights. it sucks. next class after pump is salsa. thank god i didn't enroll. the ppl who salsa are late 30s or 40s.

feeling hungry now. 45 min to noon ... feel like spending money at the cafeteria even though i brought lunch. old habit.

Laziest Sunday

2005-03-27T12:01:00.000-08:00

Watched heaps of TV today. I think I watched about 5 or 6 episodes of the Ashlee Simpson shown on MTV and other random shows (can't remember) I also started reading Middlesex by Jeffrey E., which I bought from Borders yesterday. Novels here are cheap. It cost $15 pre-tax. I also bought Prozac Nation ($14). Think I will read more books here than I have in Perth for the last 5 years. Went grocery shopping with the other 3 girls. I bought Krispy Kreme. Been dying to try. It's ok. Very sweet and fatty. I halved it with H. Not sure if she ate it in the end. I dozed off for an hour in the afternoon. Woke up and cook myself healthy dinner, then back to my TV and book.

Downtown Chicago ... smelly train

2005-03-26T23:00:00.000-08:00

Drove down to Chicago today with H. It was my turn to drive. Driving in US it's not too scary, but I have to say that American drivers are v. impatient and speed like crazy. I was well over the speed limit on the expressway (abt 10-15 mph above), yet all the cars zoomed pass me. And they like to honk at you.

I haven't been in such a big city before in my life. It is pretty amazing. Many huge, tall buildings. The city is full of tourists. We got lost and started asking people. 3 out of 5 have no clue because it's their first time there as well. I saw many people pulling out maps as well.
We took the train to Chinatown. Have to say the train (station) is pretty dodgy. The entrance to the staircase is small, dark & dingy. The staircase in the train station (chinatown) smell of piss.
Guess what. We got lost again on the way back. Ha ha. At least we made an improvement. We took about 30 min to figure out how to get back.

Lost on Good Friday

2005-03-25T10:00:00.000-08:00

We left work on Fri 20 min early. Being a Gd Fri, most ppl in the main building have left by then. We went to Woodfield shopping mall @ Schaumburg. It's about 30 min drive. H. wanted to see an old friend. I tagged along, wanting to shop and not wanting to stay at home on Fri night. Anyway, we managed to get there with no problem. Woodfield is huge. (just like everything else here) There's GAP, Bath & BodyWorks, Abercrombie, etc. Didn't shop much as I would've. Just didn't go with the right people. H & S were waiting outside, while I'm browsing around in the shop. Felt like shopping with boys! Felt bad too, so we just had dinner and left. It was almost 9pm by the time we finish dinner. We didn't catch up with the old friend in the end. We ate healthy food for dinner. Ordered grilled chicken and salad bar. I've been eating lots of Lean Cuisine and sandwiches ever since I got here. I miss eating veggies so much.
Got lost on the way back. We weren't well prepared. The map I bought wasn't detail enough. We ended up driving to East and West Chicago, made 3 petrol station stop to ask for direction, before finding our way to North of Chicago. Road signs here are bad. They are small and placed a few metres away from the junction, so we often miss a turn. We got home in 2 hours, meaning we got lost for 1.5 hours.

Changi -> Narita -> O'Hare

2005-03-20T13:00:00.000-08:00

After dozens of phone calls and a ton of paper work, I am finally on my way to Chicago. Woke up early, took a shower ... Z called, she said she "cannot make it", so I took cab to airport.
Queued up in JAL Executive line. Feel slightly important. Got a pass to sit in the Sakura VIP lounge while waiting. I ate some sandwich and got out of the lounge. I had to have some Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf ice blended before boarding the plane.
Arrived at Narita airport about 6 hours later. I was surprised at how disorganised the Japanese airport is. We had to queue up about 30 min to get ticket to get onto a shuttle bus, which brings us to the other terminal. And queue up again to check in.
There's waiting lounge for AA. As expected, the lounge is full of Americans. Feels weird hearing people around me with American accent. I had some Nabisco biscuit, Oreos and my 3rd cup of coffee. Feeling rather edgy already.
Oh, I got upgraded to First Class for my flight to Chicago by the way. It's pretty awesome. The seat swivels 90 degrees and you are served four course meal. (I thought I was going to get fat even before reaching USA). I also felt a bit out of place. The people in First Class either have grey hair or no hair. They are probably in their 40s.
I got a few hours of sleep on the plane. I got picked up by a "limo" at the airport. Z was right. It's not an actual limo, coz by our definition, limo is long. Anyway, I'm not complaining. Got to the Savannah Ridge apartment. I got the 2 bedroom apartment without asking for one. How lucky!