Happy Birthday YW! -25 Sept

Thankfully, there's no full day Admin Orientation or classes or the like today. But it's not like I've had alot of time for fun so far since I've been busy running errands. Today's list of "I've done":

1. Pep talk with Sis- she might be coming to the USA next week!
   
2. Apply for social security number &....

Getting my first parking ticket while at the social security office. :( It's so horrible cos I missed the parking attendant by 4 mins! And come on, it wasn't like I didn't want to pay but I was all alone and had no coins to put into the parking metre because the banks here don't allow me to change my SGD into USD unless I'm their bank customer- & the irony is that I can't be their customer unless I have a social security number.



Since Americans like to pay everything by credit, why don't they have credit card meters instead? :( Feeling tragic that I'm typically so 奉公守法 。。唉，好冤枉。

To balance off the bad karma for the day, today's YW's bday! She's my new colleague from LSE and it's been a blast just getting to know her. She's such a genuinely nice, caring, unpretentious person. We're exploring options to be housemates (she's really hot on the idea)- but let's see how that works out. I have reservations about living with colleagues- it's too close for comfort.


[The 2 other guys are also in the same program]

She's never driven a car before so we had to head to downtown where she lives for dinner. Had vietnamese pho and springrolls with thai ice tea (what a strange combi) and they were a refreshing break away from homecooked food!! :)

1st Day in LA & Cashless

This new blog isn't quite about me. You know I much prefer living than writing. But sometimes, life is lived forwards but only understood backwards. So I guess it helps internalise my life, and more importantly, help stay in touch with my dear family & friends given the distance in time & geography. :)

Packed the whole night w/o sleep (including my now-super-clean table!) and pulled a last min stunt of re-packing 2x33kg baggages into 3x22kg given the new restrictions that checked-in luggage mustn't exceed 23kg each. My relatives came by and gave me farewell presents- they were so, so sweet. I am always indebted to them. Hung out with some of my close friends the night before & more surprised me with a send-off despite my best try to keep it discreet:



I guarantee it wasn't planned for- because it was so unexpected, it took up all the (very little!) time I had left to change SGD into USD...and ended up having a very tragic first few days in LA without USD. Plus it was the weekend when I arrived and US banks weren't opened. And my AMEX & Visa credit cards couldn't work for various reasons.

Flight was not-so-okay given the in-flight entertainment system was down for my row. But good thing was the people around me transferred their seats, so I had all 3 seats to myself. And an unexpected Service Recovery voucher. Nice- at least SIA 会做人。Flight time passed sooner than expected given I zonked out like I've taken 10 bottles of sleeping pills. Oh! And Sworn's batch girl, Yayoi, was on the same flight so Sworn asked me to say hullo and get VIP treatment. :-)


I was picked up in a huge limousine and I was welcomed to Los Angeles with their local newspaper. Took a picture of it to remind me of my New Beginning.



My beach front apartment at Playa del Rey - which means Beach of the King (10mins from Santa Monica) is really pretty. I was pleasantly surprised to see that this tastefully furnished living space has all the necessities. And I really liked my super huge king size bed with heavenly pillows & nice quilt!





The beauty of this place makes it painful to think of how I'd become a "slum dweller" in 45 days when my present corporate housing lease ends. :( Then it's going to cost a bomb to keep a apartment that comes totally unfurnished.

After putting down my luggage, I took a quick walk around the neighbourhood and even random, supposedly "ugly, dirty" public beaches here are pretty long, soft and nice. I think I can learn some roller blading over here without bumping into people! :)



Being totally cashless with no USD and lots of SGD, I could barely get anything done. Until a small local grocery store took pity on me and allowed me to buy my "Heavenly Food" with my Heavenly Amex credit card. 明天会更好！:)