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Posted on Thursday, September 29, 2016 at 09:05 PM in Podcasts and Videos | Permalink | Comments (3)
I started the day with a song from Faith. She "sang" the entire Yankee Doodle song (or Barney song, if you like) to us in the lift when we were on our way to her Special School.
She even vocalized the bridge of the song, laughing as if she was sharing a joke with us. What a cheerful teenager!
I told this to her Teacher when I handed Faith off to her care. Teacher laughed and said Faith has changed a lot this year. She has become more vocal and emo, Teacher said. More outgoing and wanting to communicate.
"You should buy her Mee Goreng. She loves eating spicy Mee Goreng," Teacher told me. "She would eat it, then make blowing sounds because it's hot, then use her iPad Proloquo2Go app to ask for Help."
"Help?" I asked.
"Ya! 'Help. Help. Help.' Faith would press. She wants water! Hahaha!" Teacher said. "Then she drinks the water, and has another go at the Mee Goreng again."
Then I met Faith's autistic classmate at the school hall and shook her hand. She too, had a huge delightful grin on her face. So cute, these special kids are.
Sure, I'm worried about the P5 and Sec 1 exams my two younger ones are going through soon.
And I'm also worried about Mom as she is due to be discharged from hospital this week (that's another long story).
But my singing, Mee-Goreng-eating Faith made me laugh this morning, and the many cares just melted away.
Posted on Wednesday, September 28, 2016 at 10:12 AM in Musings | Permalink | Comments (2)
Yes, I am in my old Anglo-Chinese Secondary School uniform. Yes, it is newly bought because I cannot fit in my Sec 4 one anymore. But it is for a good cause.
(I know, my shoes sure kena prefect catch one. And my hair is too long and wrong colour, so Mr Tjia or Mr Sachi, our discipline masters, sure come after me one.)
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#IncomeOrangeAid champions empowerment through education for youth in need.
We support the cause by standing together in our school uniforms.
Join us by posting an old school photo of yourself in uniform and tag 3 friends to do the same. For every photo post, Income will donate $1 to the cause. Find out more at http://www.income.com.sg/orangeaid
Post your photo with the above caption in full and remember to set your post to public!
Posted on Saturday, September 24, 2016 at 03:53 PM in Events, Gallery | Permalink | Comments (0)
Three days to reach Chicago with the California Zephyr and I was only 24 hours from New York. I arrived at Union Station in Chicago a little worn around the edges but still alive and not smelling badly.
I grabbed a Calzone for a late lunch at Chicago (it was already 4pm by then, why no Bak Chor Mee?), chilled at the Legacy Lounge until boarding time for the Lake Shore Limited to NYC at 8.30pm (Legacy Lounge users got priority boarding we got to board early). By 9pm, most of the passengers were already on board and we were off.
I chose the second window seat from the front, on the left side. Malcolm from Toronto whom I met on the previous train ride told me the left window provided a better view on this train.
This train journey was shorter than the SF to Chicago leg. People didn't talk or socialize as much, maybe because the ride was shorter. I never needed to share a table at the Dining Car. My wife said maybe East Coast folks were colder.
I was so tired I slept on the Lake Shore Limited train. Slept right through dinner. I woke up at 1am, I think, which meant the Dining Car and the Cafe Car were closed already. I wasn't very hungry anyway.
At the frontmost seat in the right row were two African American old ladies. One of them came in a wheelchair and had some difficulty boarding. They weren't very happy with the service provided by the junior train staff, a young black man, and kept complaining about him the entire trip to each other. "Did you see how he apologized to the other passengers for the delay? We needed help and they should have boarded us early, amirite? What was he thinking, boarding us so late? And he kept apologizing to the other passengers like it was our fault we took so long to board? Didn't he know I have a wheelchair?"
On and on, Wheelchair Old Auntie talked about this for the entire trip with her companion. The conductor, an older white gentleman, popped over to ask if they needed any food because it would be hard for her to make it to the Dining Car which was four cars away (we were the last car). He told his assistant, the young fellow that Wheelchair Old Auntie didn't like, to take their order and bring the food to her so she needed walk all that way.
I thought the fellow was trying his best to be patient. He stood there waiting for her to make her lunch order, even offering some suggestions. When he left to fill the order at the Dining Car, Wheelchair Old Auntie started complaining again. "The conductor is such a nice man! But that young man, I never saw him come over to check on us the whole time! And you remember how he apologized to the other passengers because we were slow in boarding…" and her song would start again.
She was quite amusing to listen to. Harmless old lady but opinionated as heck.
I didn't see much of a view at the start because we departed Chicago at night. But I did manage to catch the station of Toledo, Ohio. I could not resist taking a photo of the station in the darkness, and posting it on Facebook with the caption "Holy Toledo!"
I've always wanted to say "Holy Toledo!" at the actual place. I know, I very boliao.
The friendly conductor made some announcements throughout the journey. AT 8am, he announced, "The Dining Car is open and requires some kind of footwear to be worn". I wonder why he had to say that. Seems like a common sense thing to do. Do people actually go to the Dining Car barefoot?
Another announcement he made was to the effect of "If you are watching any kind of video on your video-type devices, please ensure that they are of a family nature". I think he meant no porn or R-rated stuff, since there were kids on board too. I should know, I heard one kid all night. Poor thing, the parents, who had to deal with the crying 5-year-old
Because my body was already trying to adjust to the 15-hour time difference between Singapore and San Francisco, and because my cross-country train journey took me across four time zones in 4 days, my body clock was a mess. By Day 4 of my train journey, 5am at the East Coast was only 1am at San Francisco, PST vs EST.
I chose to watch videos that were of a "family nature" and watched Season 2 of Fresh Off the Boat. It was fun stuff. I kept laughing out loud on the train and had to close my mouth so I wouldn't disturb others sleeping.
Breakfast on the train was at 7.38am EST but it was 4.38am PST in my SF mind. But a man's gotta eat, even if the Continental Breakfast, with three miserable slices of bacon added as an extra, cost USD$17.50 with tip.
USD17.50 could buy me the top of the line Bento Box on a Shinkasen in Japan, man. I missed my bento box meals so much.
I slept a little on and off, after lunch (they ran out of pasta in the Dining Car so I had a salad with a slice of grilled chicken breast), and when I woke up we were approaching Penn Station already. There was a mad scramble to pack my stuff back into my bags, and I think I left a small adaptor plug behind. Ah well, got to buy a new one, I guess, making a mental note to visit B&H in New York City, the Funan/Sim Lim Square of NYC. Wait, Funan is gone already hor? *silent sobs*
I know, it's just an excuse to go tech window shopping.
Penn Station was a madhouse of people. Kind of like Shinjuku Station in Tokyo but not as clean.
I looked for the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) because I would be staying in Flushing, Queens, where the REAL Chinatown is. I got off my LIRR train toward Flushing Main Street, a station too early though. Aiyah. Touch down in NYC only make noob train mistake.
The view of the parked trains at the train depot at Mets-Willets Point station was quite nice though. Nearby, folks were going to Citi Field stadium from this station. The depot looked like a place where an action movie would be shot. Or maybe a clandestine deal made in the late night between parked trains.
In the words of Tay Tay, "Welcome to New York". It is the city that never sleeps. Jialat. I'm already having trouble sleeping.
Posted on Wednesday, September 14, 2016 at 01:32 AM in Musings, Photography, Travel | Permalink | Comments (4)
I didn't sleep well on Day 1. I was still recovering from jet lag from arriving in San Francisco a few days ago.
The train journey to Chicago was progressing into Day 2. We entered Nevada, Utah and Colorado, chugging along the ever-changing scenery of the countryside. A recap to those who didn't read Day 1 of mrbrown's Great US Train Adventure: on a whim, I am taking a four-day journey from San Francisco to New York City — three days to reach Chicago Union Station using the California Zephyr train, and then one more day from Chicago to New York City's Penn Station via the Lake Shore Limited train.
Some tips to make this trip easier for anyone contemplating this trip on Coach class (meaning not Sleeper or First Class):
1. Bring a pillow of some sort. It helps a lot. The seats are wide and recline quite far but a pillow will be more comfortable for sleeping.
2. A blanket is also useful but I got by with my Icebreaker merino wool cardigan. The air-conditioning on the train can be cold at night.
3. There are no shower facilities onboard except in the Sleeper cabins. So you need to clean up some other way. I used wet wipes a lot and that worked for me. If you like, you can take a leaf from your National Service days and take a talcum powder bath, but I don't recommend it. Because you'll leave a trail of white powder around.
4. I know, it sounds a little hard to live for 3+1 days on the train without a shower but it's not a big deal, really. You don't sweat much while taking the train so you never get very grubby. Unless you spill coffee on yourself, then yes, that may be a problem. And besides, you are kind of saving two nights in a hotel with the price of your ticket.
5. Pack some food and drink for the journey and you don't have to be at the mercy of the Dining Car prices.
I had breakfast with Rudy, Betty and Ethel, three lovely elderly African-Americans from Denver. They were coming back from Reno and Las Vegas. They experienced a four-hour delay on the way from Denver to Reno but this happens a lot because Amtrak doesn't own their own track in many places and often has to give way to freight trains belonging to the freight companies who own that stretch of track.
Rudy, Betty and Ethel were fun to talk to. Rudy highly recommended visiting Denver, where they come from. "Take your family too," he said.
The Scrambled Eggs dish I had wasn't very good value. Scrambled eggs with grits, and a side of pork sausage patties for US$15. Ouch.
But — pro tip —the Continental Breakfast with fruit, cereal, Greek yoghurt and a croissant is much better value. I added two pork patties for an additional US$4.25. What can I say, I like living the high life.
Some folks didn't want to pay the higher Dining Car prices and either brought their own food (see tip number 5 above) or they bought food from a supermarket to feed themselves for the journey.
Having an ever-changing roster of mealtime companions helped make my journey less lonely. And also having fun buddies in the same car as you, going on the same long journey to Chicago, helped too.
You can either get out of your comfort zone and make conversation with new friends in the carriage or dining car, or you can keep to yourself for three days. I opted for the former.
Every time we were near a station, our patient conductor, Jimmy, would make his announcements to remind folks who were going to get off the train at the next station to get their stuff together, and get ready to disembark.
Occasionally we would get announcements by the Dining Car crew that Breakfast was being served "on a first come first served basis" or that "We are operating at full capacity now so please leave your name on the waiting list" or "Party Number 5, your table is now ready".
You can tell I have memorized the train announcements quite well. They are like markers of your hours and days, helping you keep sane on the train.
Some of the station stops were longer and passengers could step out to have a smoke or stretch our legs or even buy something if the station had a store. I only encountered one store in the entire route to Chicago was at Grand Junction, Colorado. There was a tiny store at the station and we had about 25 minutes for a break.
I grabbed two muffins for US$1.50 each, and a peach that cost a US$1. I needed some backup food for the night. That peach was sweet and nice but such a pain to eat, dripping everywhere. One must be careful on a 3-day train ride without shower facilities.
One time, we got this announcement: "Please be reminded that this is a no-smoking train. This extends beyond tobacco products. If you smoke weed on this train, you will be asked to leave the train and you may be subject to criminal persecution. So please be considerate to our other passengers and we can all get to where we're going. We have detected some weed onboard and we are now looking for it. Please do not smoke weed."
Apparently, even though it is legal to smoke marijuana in the state of Colorado, it was illegal to smoke it on the train. I explained to my train buddies that pot was a Class A drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act in Singapore and the possession or consumption of weed can result in up to 10 years of imprisonment or S$20,000 fine or both, and trafficking in more than 500 grams can lead to the death penalty.
That's a stronger penalty than being kicked off the train, I reckon.
Some stretches of the train ride are such empty stretches of land that you have no cell phone signal or if you do, there are no Pokestops or Pokemon to catch. I know this because I opened my Pokemon GO app to try.
The viewing car is also a place for minglin' and socializin'. I went there a few times just to take a photo or two, and to listen to the volunteer guides tell you stories about Dead Man's Curve as seen in the Steven Seagal movie Under Siege 2, or the history of the Rockies.
I miss the old Steven Seagal. When he had less chins and really looked like he could kick ass.
I slept a little better on the second night. But I was still waking up a few times. "Go to sleep, buddy," Malik would say to me, at 3am, when he saw me on Facebook, my face lit up by the light from my iPhone.
I did catch up on my sleep eventually, during the day. But I really snored when I knocked out in the late afternoon. And my train buddies made a video of my less-than-glamorous sleeping position and sounds. I hope they don't release that video when I become famous one day. It would destroy my fledging movie career.
I called the Wife and kids when we were in Grand Junction, CO. Our FaceTime video call was a little laggy because my internet connection was probably spotty. But at least it worked.
Very often on the train ride, I would experience No Service on my cell signal. Kind of like flying economy on an American airline. After the initial withdrawal symptoms, I learned to cope with the stretches of zero Internet access. I used some of that time to read, or stare out the window, or think of what I was going to eat at the next meal time.
I decided to give lunch and dinner in the Dining Car a miss on Day 2. I just had a muffin for lunch and an Angus burger from the cafe car for dinner. The sad little microwaved burger was a little cheaper than a $22 dinner entree but I think they should spell it without the letter "g".
On Day 3, I had a Continental breakfast and shared a table with Malcolm from Toronto. He was on a vacation by himself and went to California to visit family and Nevada for some festival. He also took the same journey as me, from San Francisco to Chicago, where he would stay a night and then fly back to Toronto. He told me I had picked one of the nicer train routes to travel on. He has taken quite a number of Amtrak long distance routes like the Coast Starlight (from Seattle to Los Angeles), and the Empire Builder (from Chicago to Portland) and he thinks the California Zephyr is one of the best for scenery.
After three days of living out of seat 37, I finally arrived at grand old Chicago Union Station, the same station where that scene from The Untouchables was shot, you know, the one with the pram rolling down the stairs in slow motion, and Kevin Costner trying to save the baby while shooting the bad guys.
In three days, I had crossed two time zones and seven states: California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois. I've seen parts of America I've never seen before. Miles of desert, miles of cornfields, and the fabulous Rockies.
Sure, the Amtrak trains are not as nice or as punctual or as fast as the Japanese Shinkansen, but the views are pretty and the company I had was diverse and chatty. On Japanese trains, I never had anyone to talk to (probably the language problem and the fact that Japanese passengers tended to keep to themselves). Not so on American trains.
I have five-hour layover till my Lake Shore Limited train to New York City so I'm chilling at the Legacy Lounge (US$20 for a day entry) because they have a Happy Hour and a roomy toilet that isn't the size of a cheap IKEA wardrobe.
As I queued at the Amtrak counter to ask about the next part of my journey, I met my lunch companion from Day 1, Levi, a young man who took the train from the West Coast like me, who spoke with a strong Southern accent. He showed me his bag with US$10,000 of pro fishing equipment that he was going to use at the bass fishing tournaments in Michigan.
"Ah have never fished in the Great Lakes before in mah life, so Ah came down here to give it a trah. I can catch anything with mah rods, just gimme an hour in them waters."
Some of these tournaments have prize money up to US$100,000, and a new car, he told me. But you have to work your way up the tournaments system which can cost princely US$250 each tournament.
"This is mah cheapest rod, but I have mah more expensive gear comin' in the mail," Levi said.
I tell you, the people you meet on a long train ride in America is as diverse as the scenery across the continent. I also learned about the challenges of driving and delivering RVs (recreational vehicles) and trucking from my other friends.
That is an experience I won't exchange for the luxury of a shower or a bed in a three-day American train journey.
Posted on Sunday, September 11, 2016 at 12:37 PM in Musings, Photography, Travel | Permalink | Comments (3)
It has been almost 24 hours since I made the fateful decision to jump on an Amtrak train that will take me from San Francisco (Emeryville, to be exact) to New York City.
I made that decision at 5am on a Thursday morning in my hotel room, booked the train tickets on my phone, and quickly packed to get to Emeryville Station in Oakland for the 9.10am departure.
The journey will take me three days to reach Chicago Union Station, then another one day from Chicago to New York City.
I have only my Aeronaut 30 carry-on bag for my clothes, and my Synapse 19 backpack carrying my camera, lenses and tech, so hopping unto a super-long train journey like this wasn't going to pose an issue. No luggage to check in or drag around.
So far, the view from the train has been awesome. Except at night, of course, when you see nothing but the darkness outside and within you.
I make many new friends, some because they will share my carriage for the entire journey, and some because we meet new people at the dining car at every meal.
Big shoutouts to Ali and Brian who were off to Reno to see the hot air balloons, and Sandy, the backpacking grandma from New Zealand, and Jackie, mother of twins from Munich on her yearly solo trip, and Malik, my trucker friend and fellow Apple fan, and Arlene, RV driver and writer of books, and Melissa from San Francisco who has a super-talented daughter doing a Masters in music, and Louie on a two-week trip through Seattle and Colorado.
So many new friends, and it's only Day 1.
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After 13 hours of riding the California Zephyr train, in the middle of my first night, we crossed from Nevada into Utah. And my Apple Watch adjusted the time zone automatically while I tried to sleep.
But I'm restless. Yet excited. And thinking of about a million things.
Where am I going to stay in the East Coast where hotels cost a bomb?
Should I fly back to SFO or take the train back?
How do 小妹妹 bloggers take selfies of themselves asleep while aiming the camera of their phones?
What shall I have for breakfast later in the Dining Car and who will I sit with next?
Why can't Amtrak trains go as fast as Japanese trains?
Did I turn off the gas at home?
Does it matter since the rest of the family is there?
Have the children done their homework before the school holidays end?
What is my wife wearing to work today in Singapore?
How will the recommendations of the Constitutional Commission to raise the criteria for candidates who wish to run for President impact the candidates who qualified the last time?
Should our leaders stop pretending they want an elected president when the ruling party can change the goal posts until they get the candidate they favour, and just go back to the Selected Presidency?
Should we rename the amendments to the elected presidency to the Tan Cheng Block Act?
Should I pee before I go back to sleep?
Where can I find a shower at Chicago's Union Station where I have a 6-hour layover before my next leg to NYC?
Then I told myself not to think too much. But just go with the flow. Just in case, I booked my NYC air ticket on my iPhone first. American domestic airlines have a nasty habit of raising prices aggressively if you don't book early.
I also paid my bills using my AXS app and watched my bank account shrink with one tap. I was almost scared to "Slide and Peek" at account balance in my POSB app.
And most important of all, I took this selfie of myself sleeping but looking like someone else took it.
Posted on Friday, September 09, 2016 at 07:23 PM in Musings, Photography, Travel | Permalink | Comments (9)
My first look at the Apple AirPods and Apple Watch Series 2
YouTube link: https://youtu.be/RVToUCWCwe0
Posted on Friday, September 09, 2016 at 01:14 PM in Tech | Permalink | Comments (3)
Hot off the Apple Event in San Francisco, my first look at the Apple iPhone 7 Plus.
YouTube link: https://youtu.be/eB2brGdZtyw
Posted on Friday, September 09, 2016 at 12:52 PM in Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)
This is a photo set of my Konbini (convenience stores) haul over the last two weeks, and the stories behind them.
Hakodate: Breakfast I bought for the train ride from Hakodate to Sapporo. Little did I know this was the beginning of the Great Hokkaido Canceled Trains Adventure. Typhoons can really disrupt transport infrastructure.
Kushiro: It was for supper AND breakfast the next day. Don't judge me.
That pancake thing was great but I did find it a tad sweet.
Kitami: Onigiri, the food you buy when you are on a six-and-a-half-hour bus ride from Kushiro to Asahikawa because your trains have been canceled for two days in a row and you really need to leave the Eastern side of Hokkaido or you'll be stuck in the port town of Kushiro.
This was my lunch when the coach made a 30-minute toilet break stop at Kitami. My bus ride cost me ¥5,450. The ride was long but the views were great. It was not how I planned to travel (I was going to take the train everywhere) but I got to see more of Eastern Hokkaido via a very comfortable coach.
Asahikawa: Heavenly Oden at Lawson's. This is the food of the gods. I actually wanted to have a coffee only.
Higashikawa: Hokkaido fresh milk. Technically this was bought at the Higashikawa Tourism office store and not a Konbini. But that sandwiches and milk were so good, I wanted to share a photo of it. They also sell fresh produce at the tourism office.
Tokyo: Gotta have Calpis. This is my last night here. It has been a long day.
I departed Asahikawa by train at 10am and was supposed to take the Limited Express to Sapporo, then Sapporo to Hakodate, then Shinkansen from Shin-Hakodate to Tokyo. But when I reached Sapporo, the 12pm train from Sapporo to Hakodate was canceled and only the 4pm train to Hakodate was running.
Not wanting to chance it, this being my fourth or fifth train cancellation on this trip so far, because of the recent damage from Typhoon No. 9 and No. 10, I bought an air ticket from Chitose to Narita (Vanilla Air, really cramped seats) on my iPhone, and jumped on a Rapid train to CTS airport from Sapporo station.
Posted on Saturday, September 03, 2016 at 07:48 PM in Travel | Permalink | Comments (0)
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