So hard to say goodbye...

Another two more days and I will be flying back home. How time flies... It felt almost like Dec 13, 2003 again when I bid farewell to all my friends in California, Santa Barbara. And then two years went by in a flash and I am now bidding farewell to yet another group of friends in Philadelphia.

It is so hard to say goodbye... I guess this one year in Philly has been truckloads of fun.. so much so that I almost forget that it was work. I will miss waking up to the chirping of the blue birds and warmth of the morning sun. I will miss hanging out with all my batchmates (catching movies at Bridge, watching South Park, having potlucks at Park Towne, travelling, camping, taking pics, organizing SPIN events, gossiping, celebrating one another's birthdays...). I will miss eating at the Korean store below the suburban station. I will miss walking along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. I will miss Panorama Toastmasters and all the great people in it. I will miss the breathtaking sunset by the Schuylkill River. I will miss Philly Cheese Steaks. I will miss wearing my snowman jacket in winter. I will miss my roommate... and above it all, I will miss the freedom of expression I had in Philadelphia.

As I write this, something warms my heart. As I closed the door in Philadelphia, I know that another set of doors have opened up for me back home in Singapore. There is more to come... like I said before, life is simply too exciting to be bored! *grins*

Some pics from our Poconos weekend getaway as promised!



Wide Water Rafting with the whole gin gang. We have Alicia, Phebe, Ram, Kaian, Julia and me!


That was taken during a lunch at the Water Theme Park. I LURVE Cotton Candy hehe. And here's Julia. :)


This time round, we have Neeraj in the pic (my fave roomie!) - he is the indian guy btw haha.


How can a trip go without good food!!!??? Steak with Baked Potato and Crab Cake. Mouth watering gooooood!!!


Our final meal with the entire Batch 6 @ Banana Leaf (sells all kind of Penang food). But who needs Banana Leaf when I am flying home to Singapore, the food paradise!!! Slurrrrrrrrrpppppppp.

Calling Mr Jones

Aloha! Can you believe it? My one year stint in Philadelphia is going to come to an end really soon. Whether you like it or not, I will be coming home soon hehe. Though I will miss the exhilarating journey and wonderful buddies I made m looking forward to more exciting stuff that is brewing in S'pore. As the old saying goes - life is simply too exciting to be bored!

Just got home from a chilling session with my SPIN Exco. We had a sumptous dinner at Jones (down 7th and Chestnut), recommended by Julia. And she sure know where the good food is. Check out the yummy food we had.

I will be away for one week camping in Yellowstone National Park. Boy am I excited!!! As some of you may know, Yellowstone is the second must-visit place in US, next to Niagara Falls. Both places were inspired by the documentaries that I watched at the Omnimax Theatre when I was in P6. Will upload some pics when I get back.

Frankly, there is so much to say and so much to write about my one year immersion in Philly. Let me summarize in one word - PHENOMENAL!


6th SPIN EXCO: (Left) Eric, Phebe, Melvyn, Julia (Right) Kelly, Gean. (Missing) Miah, Lionel and Iris


I had the chef's recommendation - Baked Salmon with sun-dried tomatoes and spicy ocra (we call them ladyfingers)


Phebe had Tilapia with special sauce - heavenly!

But you know what, no what how good the food is, it is incomparable with Mum's cooking!!! See ya guys in a week's time!

Meanwhile, do visit my public speaking blog for regular tips on improving your speaking skills: Public Speaking for All

NCBV Batch 6 Graduation Video: The Sixth Story

Enjoy our 15 mins long graduation video put together by Mr Pacey! It is titled The Sixth Story

A Moment of Truth

Phew... been quite a week. Thought I should write a bit before I get on the phone with my gf. (grins) Life just threw me a curved ball. In fact just a couple of minutes ago. May sound really trivial to most of you but it means something to me. A month ago, I signed a writer's authorization letter with Toastmasters International to publish an article which they liked a lot: Treading on the Fine Line of Humor. It was scheduled to be published to over 211,000 readers globally this July and I was planning to leverage on the publicity to drive traffic to my public speaking blog. It was suppose to be part of my bigger plan. However, I received an email a while ago with some bad news.

"Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. We are not running your article on "The Fine Line of Humor" in the July issue. On closer reading, I thought it wasn't balanced, and the political comments about President Bush could be construed as endorsed by TI."

Anyway... it just dawned upon me that the curved balls that life throws at you are necessary. It makes life much less predictable, yet much more exciting. Imagine if everything works out as planned, it would be soooo boring. But I have to admit that I am not too used to having curved balls thrown my way. Gotta learn to get used to the fact that things don't always worked out as planned. On a brighter note, this will make me treasure what I have, especially the things that I fought to own.

Strangely this mini manifesto ties in very well with what CH, my mentor in StarCite, has reminded me today.

GIVE YOURSELF PERMISSION TO FALL COZ YOU LEARN THE MOST WHEN YOU FAIL.

Definitely an advice I need to heed. It is in my nature (or perhaps my nurturing) to make safe choices. I would do everything I can to make sure I succeed. It is not a bad thing but sometimes it prevents me from taking the necessary risks and denies me from learning critical lessons. As a result, I would mull over small things like my article not being selected instead of investing time in bigger things.

Perhaps it is time to remove my knee guards, take some risks and see what life has to teach.

Panorama Toastmasters, the place I call home!

Last night was my last meeting with Panorama Toastmasters Club, a place where I found great company and friends! Gosh, I am gonna miss all of them...

666

Has anything weird happen to you today? The reason why I asked is because today is 6/6/6 (June 6, 2006). Not exactly a very lucky day. Let me share with you some of the weird things that happened...

1. Some guy came up to me over lunch and told me that I should focus on God and not Satan... (coz I was ranting about the whole 666 to my friends...) And even weirder, I rebutted... hardly the usual me...

2. The security guard at the counter actually complimented me. And yes, that is extremely weeeeiiiiirrrrrdddddd! She is usually stern and super unfriendly. Ask Wayne.

3. I am hit with the laziness bug and I seriously don't feel like doing any work today... (and I did)

4. I ordered onion rings for lunch even though I HATE ONIONS...

5. Neeraj became superman... can you believe it???!!!

And the weirdest...

6. I send a friend home last night at about 1 am. And as I walked back, the public phone rang all of a sudden. For a second, I thought it could be a re-enactment of Phone Booth. In the end, my curiosity got the better of me and I picked up the phone. "Hello..." It was a guy on the other line. And he sounded really spooky. His voice was almost a whisper and he was breathing really hard. And before I could hang up, he got me jumping with his sudden "Wat's up?" There goes my adventure. He turned out to be just a normal guy (not some alien or dead man).. and the best part, we actually chatted for around 10 mins. And I still have no idea who he is...

Has anything weird happen to you?

Perspectives

Ok... I know. Putting a pic doesn't really count as a post. Promise to upload some nice pics this weekend ok. Meanwhile, a lesson for all of you, courtesy from my boss CH.