My POOR eyebrows

This is a continuation of the last posting.

My mom is one person that is quite difficult to get a laugh out of her. So, nothing prepared me (it wasn't that shocking anyway) for her response to my eyebrows.

The day came. I went with support from my buddy to the D counter for eyebrow trimming. She was to be my pillar of support & to stop the sales pitch.

I thought that the girl was joking when she told me that the session would last for about 30 minutes, cos of the "thickness" of my brows. Oh my goodness, she was right!!

Even more interesting, was that D's senior stylist, a MAN, did my eyebrows!! I am not being a sexist but a guy doing my brows? I have not felt so embaressed for a long time. HA HA!!

Now, down to the logistics:

• it cost S$15 per session; if u book FIVE, u get ONE FREE & each of the sessions will cost u S$12
• must pre-book
• each session last for about 20-30 min

I sure made the guy work for the $15. Every time my brows got plucked, it felt like someone was pinching me & I felt like whacking the fella on the head. It only lasted 30minutes but to me, it felt like an eternity! I had to sit there on the chair demurely.

At the end of it all, there was no sales pitch surprisingly. I got up, thanked the fella & scooted off with my friend.

Out safely, SHE laughed & so did I. Then, more laughter. Then, mumblings.

As I went home by MRT, i SMS her. "now the rating has gown down to 5 out of 10 ..." To which she replied, "at the rate u r mumbling, it will go to -5 in no time!!"

At HOME, my mother took one look at me & burst into laughter. What was the laughter all about?

SIMPLE: the guy did away with HALF of my eyebrow on either side!! For the next few weeks till it grew back, I had to apply eyebrow pencil ... Fortunately, I had Lancome to thank, since I do have their pencil.

Still, I wasn't happy. Looking at the pictures of all those female stars with lovely eyebrows, I wondered to myself "why can't I have those lovely brows, too??" Perhaps that is why they are STARS & I am merely, a plain jane.

My EYEBROWS

There is this world renowned cosmetics company that has a counter in Takashimaya, which I shall call it D (and NO, it ain't DIOR).

My fellow female friends have long nagged at me to go get my eyebrows trimmed/ plucked. To make it nice, to be a little like the movie stars, or so they say.

Get this, when I mentioned this in the office, one of my colleagues more senior in rank to me, offered to accompany me there, since I did mention that I was afraid that the D people might try their sales pitch on me. I happily accepted, knowing that she is a lady with a good sense of fashion.

What a let down at Taka (i love shortcuts!) ... an anti-climax!! When the 2 of us ladies arrive at the D counter (no, it is NOT Dior), female staff informed me that I have to book in advance!!

HELLO ... mumble ... is it so hard to do ... mumble ... NO, i will just go for ONE session, cos i just got fed-up by ur sales pitch & i dun care if 6 sessions will be cheaper ... mumble grumble!!

Then, I parted from my colleague, who had other appointments. Me? I think I went shopping to soothe my heart.

Get To GO

I am using MSN Messenger a lot nowsaday, though it used to be ICQ.

In my previous posting, I mentioned that I was going to Penang, Malaysia for a friend's wedding. Well, more on that now.

The FIRST problem I had was asking around our common pool of friends who were going. My friend MSN me, "u dun worry, u just book ur air tix & come!"

PROBLEM No.2: my accomodation. Same friend above," u dun worry, just come. we can fix u up to share room with another gal whom u also know".

PROBLEM No.3: airport transfer. Same friend with "u dun worry, just come. we can fix ...."

He really did. As he was also going along with some others to the wedding, he sort of became the de facto leader of our group, planning which hotel to stay & transport. My role basically boiled down to "u dun worry, u just come!"

I am truly blessed to have such good friends. People like him, don't always happen to one in one's life.

Get Going

Another wedding to go to. This time, in wonderful Penang, Malaysia!! WOO HOO!! I've not been to Penang for over 10 years, man.

I am so eagerly awaiting to go there!! I remember that about SIX months before her wedding, my friend called me long distance all the way from Penang. Blah blah ... she asked how I am & invited me to Penang in OCTOBER 2006. At that time, I didn't know that she meant to invite me to her wedding. Thought it was merely asking me to come visit Malaysia, which I will do. It is always a nice place to go holiday.

Then, it hit me. What could be more exclusive than a personal invite from the bride herself? =)

After that, I giggled & replied, "Of course, I will attend your wedding!! Me go book air tix now" ... which was like 5 months down the road, I did that.

The ONE FOOD that I would like to try in Penang, Malaysia is the "Penang Laksa", which I hear is quite different from our laksa, no coconut milk additives whatsoever. More on the sour side? I don't know, as nowsaday, I hardly take laksa.

the M sojourn, part 3?

Immediately upon catching my breath, I opened my luggage to give JR his presents, for I had arrived on the date of his birthday. As he loves music & had plans to visit me in my home country, I gave him stuff that were tasteful. He thanked me for the gifts.

I was like the little girl with big gold fish eyes. They were big 'cos the eyes were taking in the sights & sounds of Melbourne, Australia. Don't hammer me but "i forgot to take midnight pictures".

Finally, JR parked his car along the kerbside. We went to an Asian restaurant chain next to that Greek 24-hr place, for a late supper. Had dim sum (siew mai), soya bean drink & spicy Indonesian nasi goreng. Of course, the 2 of us shared all that. As to why I need to munch again, remember the "popsicle-ME"? hehee ...

I remarked wryly that prices don't seem to have changed much since the LAST TIME I was in Australia. In my time, AUD$1 = S$0.90 ...

Continuing my sojourn in Melbourne

well, i know tat this is kinda late but as the saying goes "BETTER LATE THAN NEVER!"

My dear friend, JR, was ever so sweet when fetching me from the airport to my hotel accomodation.

I was standing out alone in the freezing cold, outside the Melbourne International Airport thinking about life there. I saw the airport staff all queuing up patiently with no queue-jumping, into their pick-up-after-our-night-shift-bus. Then, I saw the Hilton airport hotel sign. H for High-Class. Brrrrr, as I said in one of my earlier post, that I just might have to book in there, in Hilton.

The thing that warmed my heart was this quaint-looking structure (?) mid-way to the Hilton.

When JR came round in his wee car (as he called it), he nearly got a popsicle-frozen ME. naaaahh, just joking.

Mind you, it was THREE YEARS since we last saw each other and I nearly broke down when I saw him. I managed to muster up enough energy not to cry. Instead, we gave each other bear hugs.

I don't know why I kept delaying seeing this buddy of mine. Fear of the unkown only creates more fear.

He was very nice. JR said," I'm going to give you a little night tour of Melbourne". I protested that "... but but ... you gotta work ..." He overruled me on that, as I knew that later on in the morning, he still had to get up for work.

JR carried my luggage (ONE PIECE ONLY) into his car and off we went. I do seriously think that these kind of informal tours are much better than the commercial tours.

Our first stop, my accomodation. Here, "shock No.1": the hotel receipt is a print out.

Then, we got to my room. When my parents saw it later, they commented that it seemed a tad small but I absolutely love it. Besides, I was going to be out most of the time, why would I care about the size of the room.

You are going to get bored with the monotonous description of my hotel room.

My room, is like any other hotel room. I got a one bed (i think it was a double bed or queen-size?), 1 side table, wardrobe against 1 side of the wall, 1 table, 1 chair, ..... u get the drift; ONE of everything.

Hey, I even got a pack of complimentary cookies.

Arrival in Melbourne

They said something like "Ladies & Gentlemen, we have just landed in Melbourne International Airport ...." This was on 12 May 2006, 12.30am-ish.

The pent-up excitement was slowly unwinding itself & there was a flow of relaxation in me. A little upward surge in my mouth soon turned into a huge grin & smile.

I collected my backpack, which is always next to me & waited. FINALLY, after what seemed like enternity but in reality, just a mere few minutes, we were let out of the plane & into the actual terminal building itself.

1st stop
duty-free - but not for me, since I had done my shopping in Changi Terminal

2nd stop
passport check - the guy was asking me a couple of questions like "where r u from?", "what will you be doing in Melbourne?", "any goods to declare?" ...

3rd stop
collect luggage - i still chuckled at the thought that the concern that the nice lady at the Changi Airport check-in counter asked about my "9-kilo" luggage. It definitely seemed light but to me, nah!!

luggage collection wait - I thought bags could not go any bigger than those I encountered at the luggage belt.

4th stop
green channel - if you have nothing to declare. I would discourage those who have things to declare but decide to try their luck. Please, don't!!

red channel - if you have stuff like I do (gourmet egg jam- kaya in attractive packaging)

5th stop
wait for friend to fetch me from airport

There are 2 terminals at Melbourne Airport, the International & the Domestic. One need not guess where I was.

Whilst waiting for my friend, I fended off taxi drivers who came up to me one after another "Miss, you need a taxi?" with "No, thank you".

There is no need to be rude, ladies & gentlemen. Just decline politely. The taxi drivers know. You counter 5 words with just 3 words.

There was the toilet but I dared not go, since I had luggage to take care of. Safety first, my dear.

There was also an information counter. I named it the "free brochures for you all to take" counter. I loaded up on whatever I could, in English of course.

Tried calling JR but either my mobile went on strike or I didn't request "auto-roaming" from my service provider, 'cos I could only SMS saying I had arrived & cleared customs.

JR replied back, that he was on his way & I could start making my way out of the terminal to the waiting area. Which I did.

Outside the International terminal, there was the Hilton Hotel. I was like thinking, "Man, they sure know how to locate hotels!!"

Places like the Melbourne Airport Hilton are quite good for people who do need their 40 winks & will pay for that.

If my friend was unable to fetch me & I didn't dare to take a taxi (mind you, a SINGLE LADY taking taxi at 1am in a foreign city??? u gotta be nuts!!), I would take up 1nite's stay in the Hilton, till daylight broke, when I would dare to take the airport shuttle bus.

OUTSIDE the terminal, it was blowing cold. So, I put on my jacket & waited in the blistering cold night on the seat provided. It was a "silent night", with no vehicles except for a bus ferrying the airport staff home ... and a few taxis here & there.

My flight into Melbourne

In the last remaining minutes prior to boarding the Emirates plane, my tummy was "full of butterflies". If you were me, reading my mind, you would understand.

In a sign of independence, one is responsible for oneself. No more further evidence than that of carrying your own luggage. I watched silently & thinking to myself, "IT IS FINALLY HERE!!" ... as my hand luggage & backpack were loaded onto the scanning machines for one last security check. A wry grin came from me.

Then, into "no man's land", the little area whereby they make all passengers (inclusive of first-class) assemble. I had one thought: what IF & that was a very big IF, someone needed to answer Mother Nature's call?

I am always thinking a lot, the good stuff & the bad ones.

THEN, we were allowed onto the plane & our pre-assigned seats. There was someone on my seat. He got up, apologised & went to the one behind my seat, which I presumed to be his actual seat.

It was not a full flight. Depend on how you look at it, one could also say that the flight was half-empty. The one good point of this was that I get the entire row to myself. I forgot was it the centre row or either of the wing seats that I got.

Despite having flown before, I still thought of every flight as my first. I was full of excitement. I have not seen my friend in Melbourne for nearly 3 years & here I was, just 8 hours away from seeing him.

There were the usual suspects in the seat pocket: 1 vormit bag, the safety booklet, inflight magazine ... and my favourite, the menu.

Here is what Emirates offered on my flight:

Bar Service (selection lifted off Emirates menu)

• Aperitifs & Cocktails - dry martini (wat about the wet one? hehee!!), campari, whisky, brandy, gin ...
  
• Wines - both Reds & Whites
  
• Champagne - this one must pay $$$ to drink (30 Dhs, not sure what currency that is)
  
• Spirits - whisky (Scotch, Jack Daniels ...) & Bacardi Rum
  
• Liquers - Baileys, Tia Maria
  
• Beers - they didn't say but since it is a flight from Singapore, may I dare presume that Tiger is on the menu?
  
• Soft drinks - fruit juices, spring water ...

The "actual food", I am not sure since I don't remember much. Airline food is definitely never on the same class as restaurant food but I quite enjoy it.

The best thing one can bring when eating is this saying: Hunger is the best appetite.

The actual dinner (my pick):

1. appetizers (i forgot wat it was)
2. seasonal salad (i ate it all, left out the cherry)
3. main course: salmon the size of my palm (chef's recommendation, so I picked that)
4. dessert: strawberry shortcake (i ate that all)
5. bread & butter: i discarded the bread
6. cheese & biscuits: they gave cheddar, which I ate, whilst keeping the biscuits
7. beverages & chocolates: i chose OJ & every passenger got 1 piece of chocolate, the size of a SG 50 cents coin

They sure don't lose out to Singapore Airlines. Also, the portions ain't tiny either.

Later, they served us food again. Mebbie about 1 hour prior to touch down. It was known as the "savoury snack".

Savoury Snack (my pick):

• Beef Pastrami - 1 open-faced sandwich with peppered beef slices (known as pastrami) & oh, how I HATE this veggie: aubergine/eggplant!!@!!!
• OJ

To while away the EIGHT HOURS of flight:

• I walked up & down the aisles every 1 hour
• drank at least 1 teeny-weeny paper cup of drinking water
• watched movies (as they were not the ones I liked, I do not remember it)
• be an online gamer (Othello was my choice of game)
• think/analyse the flight - like how I felt, my fellow passengers, the service
• go toilet to freshen up & apply moisturizer

More later in next post.