Orlando, Florida

I came back from the States a few days ago, and weirdly, adjusting to the jet lag here was much harder than adjusting to the jet lag there. But once I finish playing catch-up to my work, I can finally focus on writing that test review for Into The Book(:

The funniest part about being in the US was all the places that people though Singapore was in. (If you don't know, Singapore is in South-East Asia, just below Malaysia, but I'm sure you knew that already). The most common response was "Oh, so you're from China", although there was a person who thought we were part of Africa, then the Middle-East. I'm not too sure how to respond to that, but then again, Singapore is a very tiny island-state.

Much more flattering (at least to me), was being mistaken for a Japanese, although I have a feeling it's because I don't speak with a Chinese accent. After all, the teams from China thought I was from Hong Kong (Although I feel that my Chinese is too poor for that!).

The trip there was very uneventful, and very long, which meant that I finished Mansfield Park before just randomly walking about on the plane, eventually giving Literature and Chemistry lessons to my juniors. Hence, when I was getting ready for the trip back, I bought many books (7 to be exact) from Target and Page One, Hong Kong. They aren't very thought-provoking, but they are fun to read. Although, I still had too much time left on my hands.

The trip back was more eventful though, with a baby throwing up on Shahdan, and then, Shahdan spilling a cup of coffee on himself. I was also prevented from returning to my seat for about 3 hours, so I sat at an empty chair and read/re-read my books(:

I had planned on writing a very long piece on my trip, but now, I don't seem to have any inspiration. I do, however, have snippets that I wrote while in US (on my iPad), when I assumed I could work them into this post. But I think they sound rather cliched, but you can judge for yourself:

The first thing (and only complete prose) I wrote was when I saw the sunset from the plane. I really recommend everyone see a sunset from that altitude at least once in your life:

The sunset from the airplane is breathtaking, perhaps more so than the sight of the sunrises. The bottom layer of blue, which seemed more like purple (at least to me) melded with a lay or pink (coral pink?) and a final layer of yellow. As I paused from reading Northhanger Abbey every few minutes or so, the purple-blue gradually swallowed up the pink and yellows, til the sky was a deep, beautiful blue; not the dark of night, but neither the warmth of sunset.

This reminds me, I also finished Northhanger Abbey on the plane, which means the next ebook I'll be reading is The Mysteries of Uldopho.

Then next thing I wrote was on the last day, and is more of a list of ideas/points/guidelines (I'm a terrible packer, and I had to 'force' my friend, who is a guy, to pack my luggage)

Thoughts while packing/Packing rules:
1. Pack the absolute minimum, then pack some more
2. If you know you are going to shop, or even if you don't, it's a good idea to leave some luggage room, about one quarter, although some of my teammates left their luggage three quarters empty, which makes a half-empty luggage the norm. This helps when you're packing on the last night.
3. Plastic bags are essential for storing dirty clothes, and they don't take up room
4. Bring an expendable bag to use as hand-carry luggage
5. Never wear contacts on long flights

As you can see, it gradually deviate (I don't know how, there are only 5 points), to a list of things to do on long flights. Most of which, I learnt the hard way (especially about contacts). The last thing I wrote, and which I'll end of with, deals with time (but not in a deep, philosophical way)

The nice thing about Florida is that it has exactly 12 hours time difference with Singapore, so there's no need to adjust your watch, although it makes it rather confusing when you're trying to figure out what day of the week it is.