The final countdown
Okay, first up, many apologies for the long silence on the blog - am sure it's annoying to check this page and there are still no updates.
To make up for it, this will be a looooong and extremely mundane post full of uber bimbotic declarations.
Alright: first lemme come up with a list of excuses why I haven't been blogging: With my departure date just days away... *wooohooo* I have been up to my ears in stuff.
It's amazing what you realise you want/have to do when you have little time left.
The biggest thing was of course, the shipping, of the boxes-ful of stuff that we (okay okay, mostly I) managed to accumulate. Eg winter coats, snowboard pants, towels, bed linen - don't laugh, bedding here is ridiculously better and cheaper here, like 350 to 400 threadcount sheets for between 20 to 50 bucks. Like... whaa?
Then, there were the snowboards, and the snowboarding boots, and the winter boots... AND my 15 pairs of shoes (don't mock my weakness lah), and many many many clothes.
Found a shipper and so far its been not bad - althhoooouuughh had several apoplectic moments with the documentation, esp when Eugene decide that it would be a good idea to get wakeboards here too at the very last minute, despite me suggesting that weeks before), and I had a couple more of those moments of sheer white fury when the shippers made me wait hours and hours and hours for the pick up. Then, a couple more when I found what the Singapore port charges, then what it would take for them to deliver to my doorstep. SIGH.
So the days were filled up with documentation, packing (oh gawwwwd, packing... grimace! Packing eight boxes, sounds easy? NOT; when everything is ultra bulky and there were last minute things to add...arrgghhh - mentally scarred) So, that is excuse number 1.
Excuse no 2: Am getting fat so was hitting the gym like every day. So... hehe, yah, anyway, can that be excuse number 2 for not blogging, pretty please?
Then, there's the awesome amount of shopping that I have done over the last four weeks - most notably at Coach because my aunts wanted bags. I spent so much that I got a hand-written thank you card from the salespeople at the shop. Yes, that much.
Plus, of course, I had to get my final visit to the outlet shops in... which meant spending yet more money on Polo Ralph Lauren, Kenneth Cole etc etc and I found Endless.com - which is a brilliant shoe shopping site. Check out this brand "naughty monkey" which I have completely fallen in love with.
And yes, I did stop over at Mall of America for Coach, H&M, Sephora, Nordstrom's, Aldos, Charlotte Russe etc etc etc
Not to mention the fact that I have been stocking up on books from Amazon etc etc
In other words, my bank account is suffering badly and my bags are packed to groaning-type full. I still say that shopping here is cheaper and better quality than back in Sg, but of course, I say that also because Minnesota does not have a sales tax on apparel. So what you see on the price tag is what you pay. Which, I realise, does make a big difference.
I have also gotten my hair cut here - realise that it's still cheaper than back in Sg - and I have finally found a decent hairstylist here in Rochester. Would you believe that I have refused to step into a salon here at all before last month? Stems from the first week, when we walked past this supposedly top salon here and smelt burning hair, then I went there for a wax and it was baaad.
(I arrive Thursday morning in Sg, and Fri Morning, I have an appointment at Strip. Desperate huh? Monday, I go to my facial appointment. Again, haven't done that in about 10 months or so. Too much information? Thought so!)
The water here is unfortunately a bit hard (minerally) so, I have had a problem with breakouts the whooole damned year. Hopefully, it will get better when I go home.
And of course, we had to stay over in the cities once before I left - found this great place called The Grand Hotel and it was really nice. It was just a bit sad because the city and streets were deserted and all the shops were shut because it was Easter Sunday.
But taking advantge of the quiet, we wandered around St Paul a bit and found (yes, true to form) a nice bar to chill out at. Trust Gnat to revert to barfly mode at a drop of a hat.
Of course, had to visit the very picturesque Lanesboro one last time, (we actually went for an hour long walk! along the Root River Trail) and of course, there were the last peeks into Walmart and Target to make sure that I wasn't missing anything in the suburban America shopping experience.
And of course, this is in no way minor, but thought I'd leave it further down to spare all our car nut friends reading this a little bit of pain. Gene sold the Porsche on Monday. Yup, the red baby is gone.
The good news is that although he was a bit sad at first, he was eventually more relieved than anything else after he saw the bill for repairs the car would have needed. Seriously, it's like pouring water into a leaky bucket. It still runs good but gosh, master cylinder something or other leak, plus this and that... gak.
The other good bit is that it is going to a man who really wanted that model of Porsche and knows his stuff - so the baby is in good hands, and I think he will restore it to greater glories - so the Porsche is in good hands. Some consolation at least.
The bad bit is that Gene is bitten bad by the sportscar bug. Now, he REALLY wants either the Lotus Elise or another Porsche - probably the Boxster. But economics seem to favour the Elise at the moment... road tax will not be as bad... it's a 1.8 L vs the 3 something L, plus servicing at Porsche is like pulling out an eyetooth each time...
What do you think dear readers? Do leave us a comment and tell us what Gene should get when we get home!
PS: He misses buying watches too.
PPS It DID snow. In april. NBCB. After a spell of 20 plus degrees, it dropped down to -3 deg C and SNOWED. What can you say, except, boy is weather variable here or WHAT.
Oh, my article about learning to golf appeared in the health supplement of The Straits Times - and good grief - no less than eight people wrote to ask how they could get lessons from the chap who gave me lessons. Like... didn't the picture where I was in full winter gear hint that, maybe, just maybe, it wasn't in Singapore? Well, can't blame 'em I suppose... so I had to very nicely write to each one to say sorry ah, neither me nor Mr Pohler are actually in Singapore... but I think one of them got a bit annoyed. AWwwwwwwww. heh.
Of course, the last two weekends have been a litany of meet ups and goodbyes to everyone. It's been good, weird, but good.
Ah well.
Till Singapore.
Nat
(PS: Eugene is quite serious about trawling the aisles of the grocery mart here for all the instant food known to man)
Sigh.
To make up for it, this will be a looooong and extremely mundane post full of uber bimbotic declarations.
Alright: first lemme come up with a list of excuses why I haven't been blogging: With my departure date just days away... *wooohooo* I have been up to my ears in stuff.
It's amazing what you realise you want/have to do when you have little time left.
The biggest thing was of course, the shipping, of the boxes-ful of stuff that we (okay okay, mostly I) managed to accumulate. Eg winter coats, snowboard pants, towels, bed linen - don't laugh, bedding here is ridiculously better and cheaper here, like 350 to 400 threadcount sheets for between 20 to 50 bucks. Like... whaa?
Then, there were the snowboards, and the snowboarding boots, and the winter boots... AND my 15 pairs of shoes (don't mock my weakness lah), and many many many clothes.
Found a shipper and so far its been not bad - althhoooouuughh had several apoplectic moments with the documentation, esp when Eugene decide that it would be a good idea to get wakeboards here too at the very last minute, despite me suggesting that weeks before), and I had a couple more of those moments of sheer white fury when the shippers made me wait hours and hours and hours for the pick up. Then, a couple more when I found what the Singapore port charges, then what it would take for them to deliver to my doorstep. SIGH.
So the days were filled up with documentation, packing (oh gawwwwd, packing... grimace! Packing eight boxes, sounds easy? NOT; when everything is ultra bulky and there were last minute things to add...arrgghhh - mentally scarred) So, that is excuse number 1.
Excuse no 2: Am getting fat so was hitting the gym like every day. So... hehe, yah, anyway, can that be excuse number 2 for not blogging, pretty please?
Then, there's the awesome amount of shopping that I have done over the last four weeks - most notably at Coach because my aunts wanted bags. I spent so much that I got a hand-written thank you card from the salespeople at the shop. Yes, that much.
Plus, of course, I had to get my final visit to the outlet shops in... which meant spending yet more money on Polo Ralph Lauren, Kenneth Cole etc etc and I found Endless.com - which is a brilliant shoe shopping site. Check out this brand "naughty monkey" which I have completely fallen in love with.
And yes, I did stop over at Mall of America for Coach, H&M, Sephora, Nordstrom's, Aldos, Charlotte Russe etc etc etc
Not to mention the fact that I have been stocking up on books from Amazon etc etc
In other words, my bank account is suffering badly and my bags are packed to groaning-type full. I still say that shopping here is cheaper and better quality than back in Sg, but of course, I say that also because Minnesota does not have a sales tax on apparel. So what you see on the price tag is what you pay. Which, I realise, does make a big difference.
I have also gotten my hair cut here - realise that it's still cheaper than back in Sg - and I have finally found a decent hairstylist here in Rochester. Would you believe that I have refused to step into a salon here at all before last month? Stems from the first week, when we walked past this supposedly top salon here and smelt burning hair, then I went there for a wax and it was baaad.
(I arrive Thursday morning in Sg, and Fri Morning, I have an appointment at Strip. Desperate huh? Monday, I go to my facial appointment. Again, haven't done that in about 10 months or so. Too much information? Thought so!)
The water here is unfortunately a bit hard (minerally) so, I have had a problem with breakouts the whooole damned year. Hopefully, it will get better when I go home.
And of course, we had to stay over in the cities once before I left - found this great place called The Grand Hotel and it was really nice. It was just a bit sad because the city and streets were deserted and all the shops were shut because it was Easter Sunday.
But taking advantge of the quiet, we wandered around St Paul a bit and found (yes, true to form) a nice bar to chill out at. Trust Gnat to revert to barfly mode at a drop of a hat.
Of course, had to visit the very picturesque Lanesboro one last time, (we actually went for an hour long walk! along the Root River Trail) and of course, there were the last peeks into Walmart and Target to make sure that I wasn't missing anything in the suburban America shopping experience.
And of course, this is in no way minor, but thought I'd leave it further down to spare all our car nut friends reading this a little bit of pain. Gene sold the Porsche on Monday. Yup, the red baby is gone.
The good news is that although he was a bit sad at first, he was eventually more relieved than anything else after he saw the bill for repairs the car would have needed. Seriously, it's like pouring water into a leaky bucket. It still runs good but gosh, master cylinder something or other leak, plus this and that... gak.
The other good bit is that it is going to a man who really wanted that model of Porsche and knows his stuff - so the baby is in good hands, and I think he will restore it to greater glories - so the Porsche is in good hands. Some consolation at least.
The bad bit is that Gene is bitten bad by the sportscar bug. Now, he REALLY wants either the Lotus Elise or another Porsche - probably the Boxster. But economics seem to favour the Elise at the moment... road tax will not be as bad... it's a 1.8 L vs the 3 something L, plus servicing at Porsche is like pulling out an eyetooth each time...
What do you think dear readers? Do leave us a comment and tell us what Gene should get when we get home!
PS: He misses buying watches too.
PPS It DID snow. In april. NBCB. After a spell of 20 plus degrees, it dropped down to -3 deg C and SNOWED. What can you say, except, boy is weather variable here or WHAT.
Oh, my article about learning to golf appeared in the health supplement of The Straits Times - and good grief - no less than eight people wrote to ask how they could get lessons from the chap who gave me lessons. Like... didn't the picture where I was in full winter gear hint that, maybe, just maybe, it wasn't in Singapore? Well, can't blame 'em I suppose... so I had to very nicely write to each one to say sorry ah, neither me nor Mr Pohler are actually in Singapore... but I think one of them got a bit annoyed. AWwwwwwwww. heh.
Of course, the last two weekends have been a litany of meet ups and goodbyes to everyone. It's been good, weird, but good.
Ah well.
Till Singapore.
Nat
(PS: Eugene is quite serious about trawling the aisles of the grocery mart here for all the instant food known to man)
Sigh.
where's your online report? wanna read it.
ps we gotta meet for din-din Monday nite before you leave, for a teary farewell (till we see you again in 2 weeks, heh heh.
Posted by
vagus |
21:37