GIP XMAS - a night filled with fun fun and more fun!

a big thank you to all who turned up last night for the xmas dinner! i was really VERY happy to see all of you there...i'm sure the other organisers felt the same way too, plus all of you made the effort to dress accordingly..and even bothered to be part of the gift exchange..! plus, there were 5 bday presents to pay for and still, so many of you turned up...really appreciate it! =)
yay! xmas dinner was a success!! hope all the nov and dec babies enjoyed themselves too..and like the gifts we got for them. also, thanks to yiping, paul, tim, kelly and clarence for getting the presents..
it was a great red/ green night spent with 17 of you..!

the bday peeps..xx, bev, jl and raymond..the other 3 at the back are extras..hahahaeating and writing xmas cards..all of us at bakerzin..but raymond had to leave first to catch his coach to gentingthen hym(top row, 3rd from left) came to join us! a man of his word..=)oops, a candid shot of calvin and miaoxin who came later to join us for villa balilongest arm award contest..winner is clar! lolthe girls at villa bali-xx, bev, dawn, meall the effort and time put in was worth it! =)MERRY XMAS!

ps: for more pics, y'all can get from me, yiping, and my facebook..the link is http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=75182&l=67505&id=799885299

GIP XMAS

hey GIPeeps!
it's the end of the yr..which means xmas is approaching!! haha...time to gather and celebrate it together! =) the details are as shown above..

so far,
those going:
kelly
clarence
junliang
pern ren
tim
paul
calvin
yiping
fiona
guanda
liangyu
xiangxin
beverly
dawn
raymond
dylan

and MORE...

Anyway, abt the gift exchange, it doesn't have to look v fanciful..haha...if you want to wrap in newspapers, by all means...just keep it at around 10 bucks to be fair...but if you want to be generous, haha...it's up to you too...it's gg to be a random exchange so you won't know who's gg to get your gift.
now, for the dress code, erm..we've decided to go red or green...or red and green...it's christmas!! haha..we're trying to make it as christmassy as possible, so join in the fun k =)
hope to hear from the rest of you...(slight reminder: the nx day is public hol!! so spare us just one night)
if you're not sure abt anything, just contact one of us! =))

cy'all!

cheers,
kelly, clarence, fiona, yiping, guanda

another poem...

Yoz! Like every good movie, there is always room for a sequel. So here's my second offering to wrap up the GIP afterthoughts...

“All the world’s stage”,
Perhaps Mr. Shakespeare puts it best.
Through it all we have come of age.
We, the mere players had passed the test!

Sadly, we have come to the end of the show,
Although I still wished for an encore.
Even as the American credits roll,
It’s time to return and answer reality’s call.

What a chapter it has been,
Forays and thrills like no other.
One that we can all relate to our children.
Just like an enthralling bestseller!

While events can chronicle our time,
Life’s the hardest book to write certainly.
Its chapters may be distinct and defined,
Alas, the next line, that ending, remains a mystery.

Now immersed in a sea of familiar faces,
We inevitably part ways for greater plans,
Will our paths cross again in other places?
I can’t say for sure but it all lies in God’s hands…

Penned by Rayzor, 26-06-07

*Note*
The poem was NOT created by booze, drugs, hypnosis, baby/virgin sacrifices, pagan rituals.

blogging in the land of heat

hey gipeeeeeeeps!

we're back to blog! haha....we're all back in s'pore alr...(should we say finally??? cos here's kinda sian!) hahaha anyway, hope all of you are doing great back here and we're so glad that gatherings are still being organised! yay! as we've said....s'pore's so sian! no where to go....we were so bored last night that we went back to NTU! omgosh....how loserish right!! hahahaha...but oh well....we just took some mad pics as USUAL...don't you guys miss this canteen.....ahahahahahahaha....so nx time, don't rest your head on the table horr.....and if your food drops on the table don't bother eating it....it's 0 sec rule!hehe....cont to blog pple!!! and plan more dinners, outings...whatever meeting...before sch starts!

loads of love,

fiorence =)

Stuck in Atlanta day 2

Hmmm... seems like someone really wants me to stay longer in ATL...

Oh well... i'm stuck in ATL for yet another day, due to a pretty ludicrous reason. At least i've experience the "great american" flight delay.

Come to US must do what?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Have your flights delayed/cancelled of course!

-.-"

So here the story goes (again):

After the flight cancellation, my family and i arrived at Hartsfield the next day. We were in pretty cheerful and relaxed, after all we did manage to get an SQ flight.

We went to the delta international check-in counter to check in our 10 luggages (yes, 10 biggass luggages for the 5 of us). The queue kinda looked like what you would see if u played Snake on one of those nokia phones without dying....

Nairmind... we queue.

I and MS's flight was at 440pm, my family at 730pm and we would arrive in Rome and take the SQ flight back to singapore together. We thought everything would be fine, you know, the normal check in, bla bla bla no liquids/gels/aerosols, walk to gate then fly already... little did we know the stunt Northwest was gonna pull on us...

Flashback to the previous day. The Northwest lady who booked the tickets for me, called betty or something, was pretty bossy. She looked pretty much like that black woman that was serving us when we ate at Mary Macs, loud and erm... in charge.

I din really liked the way she treated customers and she was always impatient. When i asked her how are my parents going to make their connection if they were to reach Rome at 6pm and catch the SQ flight at 7pm. She was like "OH PLEASE HONEY International flights are never late!"

When asked her about the luggages, she was like "You know how it's like! Come on, you know how it's like!"

In my mind, i was like "no, i don't know how it's like..." but i decided to continue cause i got quite a long line of people behind me and most of their problems can be settled quite easily and i think some people are already cursing at their suay luck they chose the wrong line to join. So i quickly settled the matter in hurry. Getting the tickets were what mattered.

Back to the next day, yeah so we waited like 80 minutes at the delta line. It's kinda akin to the wait we had at splash mountain, only that i and MS din play that "diu diu diu" game. (haha sounds vulgar) I kinda figured it would be cool to have one of those "The wait would be approximately 80 mins from this point" or one of those fastpass kinda things, at least u can go shopping or eating then comeback and skip the damn queue!

Finally, we managed to get a Delta representative. She checked in my parents, no problem. Then checks in me and MS: WHAM, MS's flight wasn't booked.

I was like: "what the hell u mean it's booked but not reserved?" After like 40mins of standing there, the lady was doing a lot of calling here and there and talk here talk there and then asked me to go over the weighing machine behind her to look at her console, she drops the big big bomb.

MS cannot go on the delta flight, must go talk to nwa to sort it out cause apparently it is they screwed up. I was like WTF? only left 1 hour to the flight then ask me do this monkey shit. We reached the airport at 1 for a 440pm flight, then the whole thing unfolded at 330pm. I was like.... siao liao... this time sure stuck in atl for another night.


So i took back 4 luggages, asked my family to go back first, then went to settle with nwa.

At nwa, i found the girl that was working with betty the previous day, and asked her to help. She's not so pro as betty in finding all the flights, i think she's kinda new or something. I kinda regretted talking to her cause she took quite a while to find anything. Then she gives me a new routine, taking all nwa flights back to singapore (sianness).

I've been settling things with americans the polite way, talking things out, taking the things they say at face value cause i think getting angry will never make things easier.

My father kinda intercepted halfway as i was gonna get my tickets, he flew into a rage and said that this arrangement was not acceptable, and that he din care what they did as long as they got me on my way back to singapore that day.

That kinda got 3 more people working on my problem, they roped in the manager at the last minute too. But the problem remains- all flights are really really booked. they just weren't powerful enough to magically create 2 more seats in the plane.

At this pt i and ms were making stupid jokes about putting ourselves in a box labelled fragile and seat in the cargo haul instead. MS started folding all the luggage tags that could be found at the front desk in half. We were that bored, but hey, it's been 5 hours and my legs felt like they were gonna break anytime soon. I ate my lunch at both delta and nwa's front desks, dun even have time to go choose what i want to eat.

Ah but i digress, in the end... doing things the singaporean way in american........................


did not work.


What it did get me was a night's stay for 2 in a snazzy sheraton gateway hotel, and a 40 dollar meal voucher for the 2 of us. According to the price list in the sheraton room, a night's stay for 2 costs 499.... quite bullshit cause the marriott at niagara was much nicer and it costs 200 nia...

but oh well... end of day 2.... my parents have flown off at 730pm and i and ms are still in atl... i think i blogged too much for the day, my fingers are cramping up. Will tell you guys more about day 3 the next time!

Stuck in Atlanta

Hello gipeeps!!!!!

i'm stuck in atlanta for 1 more day. Northwest airlines called it an "act of god", i call it "god want me to stay in ATL for 1 more day" (Hohohoho)

Anyways, it makes for an interesting story, so i might as well share it here.

Our trip back to Singapore was full of obstacles:

1) Our flight was delayed from 1205 to 1330

2) Upon boarding the flight, they requested that 9 people volunteer to get off the plane because the plane was "too heavy". In return, these 9 lucky people got a $300 round trip voucher from NWA and they will take the 1630 flight on delta airlines.

3) Once that was out of the way, we had a 15 minute wait for the fuel calculations and weight calculations to be approved and sent to the pilot before the plane can be pushed out of the gate.

4) Finally, the plane left the gate and the crew was preparing for takeoff check. Just as the plane was HALFWAY to the takeoff strip. It stops dead and the captain announces that all westbound flights are put on hold as there are thunderstorms in the region.

The captain proposed that we wait in the plane for 45 mins because we have already left the gate and if the plane was to return to the gate there would be a long line . So we
just sat on the taxiway for 45 mins, the air circulation was pretty bad and there were times when there was no aircon cause the plane was running on it's auxiliary engine to save fuel. I was feeling all light-headed and giddy from the lack of fresh air when the captain decided to return to the gate. (Hooray!)

5) Returning to the gate, NWA announced that all flights westbound are cancelled (like WTF?~!?~) No compensation (ie hotels, flights) will be given as it's considered an "act of god" so what they could do for us is to rearrange the flights again.

6) Went to rearrange my flights, here's what i got:

Non-stop flight to ROME on delta airlines! Hohohohohoho ROME ROME ROME ROME ROME!

and now for the winner:

Non-stop flight from ROME to Singapore on Singapore Airlines!!!!! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I think i can hear u gasp in front of your computers!

Hohoho! SQ girls here i come!!!

Now i'm sitting comfortably in a Ramada Inn room, chilling out till my flight at 1600 tomorrow. Hopefully nothing else pops up tomorrow or else i'm really gonna get pissed.... I'm starting to miss home already!

Oh yeah, while i'm on the topic of nice flight upgrades... did i mention that i had a free upgrade to business class on my way from ATL to Orlando? heehehehehee......

Till then, Seeeya guys and take care!!!

greetings!

How's it going?

Wow! If I ain't blog any longer, this gatech blog will soon become clarna's blog!
(Or has it already become theirs...???)

Sweet. So how's everybody? My gf and I just caught the movie "Ocean's Thirteen" and throughout the movie, we were more excited about seeing familiar places and structures in the movie, than the movie itself. Movie is so-so. But if you wanna relive Las Vegas, go watch the movie man!

Guess everyone is back from Summer trip and catching on life in SG. So am I. And I heard of some good news amongst us! haha congratulations to weinah aka hansheng! Hope everyone enjoyed every little bit of ur summer trip, be it the happy, fun, boring, fustrating or sad moments. Afterall these have become part of our memories which we will properly tuck it somewhere.

And for me, I'm stuck in some camp. If you guys need to go take IPPT, do call me up.
I'll be watching you get GOLD...

js

Final entry from Tokyo

hey GIPeeeps...

glad that everyone's enjoyed their summer break and for some who are STILL gg to cont travelling, may y'all have lots of fun! anyway, we had our last dinner in japan and it was sashimi.......

ok! see ya guys back in s'pore!!!! byeeee! regards from tokyo....

with love,

fiorence + kt

we're back again!! hahaha...

let y'all take a look at our room...our messy room....and check out clar's socks......so cute right

japan has been so much better than the US and we're enjoying ourselves....talking and just chilling all the time.....anyway, we've not touched any western food yet and we'll cont to do that!.....every night we'll try to eat sth good...and yes, we found this bbq place...the food was gooood but a bit ex....(we almost got cheated!!)

after the food and beer.....look at the red faces....we got a little high and couldn't walk THAT straight...was really funny...and clar kept laughing abt every single thing...he was mad.

cheers with love,

fiorence + takky......

Hi GIPigs...its us again!!

today Is our 3rd day in Tokyo and we always wake up so early everyday, so got a lot time to keep bloggin.... The sun rises at around 430am and we will always wake up at 5 to 6 am every morning and guess wat, we will sleep at 8pm at night... Probably due to the jet lag... To those coming Tokyo(Dylan, Tayapi, Jane and Jon Jon), dun be like us, okie?? Haha.. Here are more photos that we took during our 3rd day...

our first breakfast tog....here's the nx quiz....haha...which set belongs to who....make a guess!! free gift again!! tag the answer!!!!! =)some sights of japan....

GIPigs at work AGAIN in the middle of the day.....

hahaha....we just keep eating and chilling....will blog soon again....=)

take care and have fun,

fiorence + takky...