Bienvenue en France!

Oui Madame, Monsieur. Once again I’m here in France. Give me two more trips and I can start my Green Card application and change my name to Pierre.Yes, thanks to my day job I have to attend another meeting here and this time dead smack in the middle of winter. Of course I’m not complaining as I really do love winter. It’s much preferred than the constant heat and humidity back home. At least I can do more walking here. If only I had the time to do it.

Arrived in Amsterdam on Sunday and it was completely covered in snow. I was pretty sure that we were going to be delayed flying out of there today to get to Toulouse. But surprisingly the airline pulled through. And for the first time ever, my flight had to undergo de-icing!

For those of you who think de-icing involves a cake, or if you think that the aircraft in this picture is on fire, you might be interested to know that it’s not. It’s basically a bathing session for aircraft during winter months to melt the ice away from surfaces. So it was exciting as it’s my first de-icing (sounds wrong) and it was kinda scary because being the paranoid that I am, I started wondering what would happen if they were to miss a spot…

Anyway, I brought my camera this time so managed to get a few nice shots off of the Toulouse skyline, albeit it was constantly raining, freezing rain.

So yeah, some of the photos were damaged by the raindrops. It was too cold for me to take of my gloves and actually work on the F and SS. Ape ape lah. As long as I got some shots of Toulouse in case I won’t be able to come here again.

I can’t really pinpoint what it is, but something about the natural light effect on European brickwork creates brilliant scenery. But I don’t seem to have found effects like these in Asian cities. Is it the light? Is it the building material? Is it the temperature? That would be an interesting study methinks…

Anyways, there’s really no specific point to this entry, except for enlightening everyone on where I am. It’s probably a form of alleviation of my homesickness, and the amount of stuff I’m missing this time. Still can’t believe I’m gonna miss Love Classifieds again! I’ve always wanted to go to Damai Laut to check the place out. And I just haaaad to go away when LC goes there! Some other time I guess.

Y’all have fun now… and stay safe!

It's all about the moooooooo-lah!

I received this email in my mailbox today:

From: Kaila Rhona

Subject: Letter woman off you dream

I am girl. I have a black hair with pale shimmering. My eyes is purple. I am not high. I have beautiful neck. My hair is short wavy. I live in a metropolis. I work in tourism. I like to watch adventure films. Representations in the circus. I like music . I like mountains. If you talk about me I am naive panther. Most of all in men I value openness. When I noticed you in subway. I lightning realized : should. Because I can be for you a good friend if you want. I'm write me on my e-mail.

So this is pretty much a normal spam email that most of us received at least once in our mailbox, right? It's probably some non-English speaking dude jumping on the spam bandwagon which God-knows-how they would still make money nowadays. So, anyway, what's the big deal?

Well, nothing really. It's just that firstly, it’s funny. I mean reading it actually made me laugh. The English is fantastic! LOL

Secondly, it fits as a good introduction to topic that's been heavy on mind lately. MONEY. Making money, saving money, spending money, losing money lack of money..you know the drill.

So, okay, that email was probably written by some guy out to make a quick buck on innocent and naive (and possibly dumb?) netizens. But for the sake of the topic, let's, for a moment, consider that this email was actually sent by a non-English speaking woman who's desperately looking for a rich old fart, who's naive enough to think it was for real (and yes, people that naive still do exist!). A bit of a long shot right?

But the chance, that slight glimmer of hope, that some old fart might start replying and eventually gets trapped in this stupid con, is good enough for the lady to send it out anyway. The slimmest possibility of making money is good enough for the woman to send out something as stupid as this!!

Things we do for money can range from something respectable to the dumbest and most humiliating actions human can possibly fathom. I'm not gonna go into detail of what those actions are, but bear in mind that the scenario can get quite frightening.

Money, the absolute necessity and essence of life in this day and age, will drive us to do anything, because of the simple fact that today, money is everything. People who think otherwise, in my personal opinion, are either living in denial, or are actually rich enough to say so.

I've always believed this fact, and sometimes I even preach it. And believe you me, it's gotten me some nasty comments about how shallow and materialistic the principle is. But I'm still a believer. Because at the end of the day, at the end of every week, month or year.. we all sit down, and analyze how much heavier (or lighter) our wallets are compared to before.

Unfortunately, after all that's I have said, I myself am currently not of sound financial status. I mean, in the financial aspect, I'm nowhere close to where I want to be. And I only have myself to blame for that. But, I've done lots of things, gone to lots of places and seen lots of places that I wouldn't have been able to do, go or see if I was a... hmm.. what's a good word for this... spendthrift? Yeah, that's close enough. No regrets, of course.

But now, being at this age, it's time to start fresh and change things up a little bit. I plan to clear any debt I have and significantly increase my net worth by the end of this year. Spend less (and more importantly, less impulsively - long story), earn more and hopefully own a property by the end of this year. That means, no more parties (unless of course it’s a very special occasion), no more impulsive vacations (okay this is an iffy), and no more gadgets (for now). I don't believe in New Year’s resolutions, but this is gonna be my mission for 2010. Believe dat! (Pronounced ebonically)

Oklah so this is basically a big move for me and I don't know if it's gonna work.. but with the seriousness of it in place, I hope it will pull me through and get me to where I wanna be. (Insert: encouraging background music here)

Err wait, maybe that email was from some really hot non-english speaking chick named Kaila?

Ok. The return... For real this time

Hellloooo!!!!!

Yes, I am back. This Blog has been like DEAD for the past year or so... lots have changed and its time for me to start blogging again.

What changes you ask?.. Well I think you'll be finding out throughout my future entries. :)

For those of you who are visiting this place for the first time, please bear in mind that some of the older entries here are quite dark. That was from a certain part of my life which is hopefully closed now.... I was thinking of deleting them and starting fresh... but on my second thought I'd rather keep it because it identifies me, and shows you a part of the journey that I have taken to reach where I am today...

OK.... enough for now. American Idol time. :)

-H