at paris CDG now. super kewl architecture! Pictures to prove will be up later. Unlike Singapore’s busy and bustling Changi Airport or Indonesia’s gloomy Soekarno-Hatta Airport, CDG looks fresh, yet laid back. and of course too any souvenirs to choose from. Didn’t buy any at this point of time though..
Currently waiting for my transfer flight to Warsaw. From Warsaw I’ll take the bus to Sopot. Still a long journey.
Air France was good. I sat at the back rows, very near to the self service area. My individual TV was not working =( so I kept shuttling from my seat to the self service area to get beverages and snacks. They had sandwiches, ice cream, and nissin cup noodles! So good! Hahaha..
Ok going off now. Wish me luck for the entire journey and my choir competition!
I’m gonna take off this evening. 23.15 to be precise. The flight is going to take 12 hours, without any sun in sight. Oh no.
The journey is going to be tiring. This is the breakdown.
12 hours flight from Singapore to Paris.
2 hours flight from Paris to Warsaw.
+/- 4 hours bus from Warsaw to Sopot.
Oh God.
The next time you’re hearing from me again, I’ll be somewhere in Europe! (or rather in Changi airport using the free internet =P)
See you people! Expect stories and photos from me! Will be back in Singapore on the 3rd of June.
I have been smitten with this beauty ever since the last disaster happened in Suntec City which goes by the name IT Show. It was love at first sight.
I went around Funan to get this stuff. Well, I once went to Sim Lim Square days ago but every salesperson there was so rude and making me uncomfortable. (“Are you buying or just asking?” WTF)
I settled at Song Brothers Funan. It was cheaper than the retail price ($499). It was $485. Ok, not that much difference but the free gift that comes with it matters. For this I’ve got extra battery, extra memory (4 GB), FOC card reader, a screen protector, and a case. Other stores actually offer other free gifts like flash memory, tripod, etc etc. They all offer $499. A tripod sounds like a good free gift but I don’t really need tripod anyway since I’ll be mostly shooting things on my way (and yes, of course my Europe trip!!). One store offered me reduced price original battery but it all went up to $500++. No can do. One store had a price so low but the salesperson “attacked” me by directly asking what colour I want just after I asked the price. Whoa, slow down buddy.
At first I wanted to buy the white one (to erm, well, match my macbook). But they didn’t have the stock of the white one. Other options were silver and pink. I don’t like silver stuff (even though i love the colour) since usually it scratches easily and the scratch will be visible.
Case in point : my dear Nokia N70.
(I juz realized my stuff have 70 in it)
oh and of course this photo was taken using the spanking new T70.
Oh anyway. Pink? Nah.. The pink looks… kinda fragile to me. If I want a pink camera, I would prefer this T2 pink. If I want to go “yuckz”, I’ll go to the really “yuckz”.
Ok, the pink is cute but it’s really yuckz for me. Sorry.
This T2 is $100 more expensive with bigger internal memory. But with $100 less I get free extra memory anwyay, so yah.
Aaanyway. I finally chose black coz it looks sturdy and elegant. Hehe.
Well if you’re wondering where the part 1 is… I haven’t written it yet due to the lack of photos. But anyway you can have a sneak peek..
Anyway. The 2nd part of my birthday celebration was to have a birthday dinner. You know, just a small dinner with my closest friends. I’m kinda on a budget (Europe, remember?) so I can’t take my buddies to the coolest restaurant available, so I took them… To Sizzler!
Okay, at first I wanted to take them to Hotpot Culture. Coz we’ve never been there and I heard it’s worth a try and I have a $20 voucher from yebber. I called to make a reservation but..
“Hi, I want to make a reservation please”
“I’m sorry but it was getting overwhelming so we don’t accept any reservations”
“If I come at around 7, will I get a place for 9 people?”
“You can try”
“Ok…”
And obviously I didn’t try. Why? Coz I don’t want my friends who have come become disappointed (and maybe cheated. Haha) when we have to wait for tables. I mean, it’s not fun. It’s supposed to be my birthday dinner and we’ll celebrate and all stuff but if we have to wait for a table for that… No thank’s.
I searched for a buffet restaurant. The reason I want a buffet restaurant is to make sure everyone happy to choose whatever they want and to minimize the risk of spending too much money coz somebody ordered too much (well.. If you know my friends…). Sadly, the buffet restaurants available usually charge above $20. Out of my range. Poof.
So I turned to Sizzler. As you might have known, I went to Sizzler for Valentine’s day and for some Christmas gathering with my piano teacher.
The reason I chose Sizzler was its salad meal. At 17++ per person, you get the whole salad bar! With no limit, of course. And the salad bar is not just about veggies and the likes. It has delicious pasta, yummy soup, pieces of meat, aaaaand ice cream! Oh and we can choose the ice cream toppings! Haha this sounds like an advertisement, but I’m not kidding. It was good. It’s really worth the value. LOL. My friends went back to the salad bar at least twice. LOL.
And soooo we had fun. Glad that I held the dinner. It was kinda rush and I told them in like 2.5 hours before the dinner but they all made it (except one who was busy with her boyfriend =PPPP). Thank’s a lot guys…
Pictures are in my facebook photos. Sorry, only friends are invited.
The part 1 is coming up. You’ll see why I called it part 1. =P
Tickets are booked!
I’m going to board Ryanair from Paris to Rome. It’s very cheap! The problem is.. They’re using Beauvais Airport which is.. Well.. Quite far from the Paris city itself. I haven’t found a good info on how to go to the BVA safely and comfortably. I only found some private airport shuttle, but they are freaking expensive! Anybody that went to France want to give me some recommendations? Thank’s =)
I think my Rome trip is kinda more planned. I have already booked Terravision bus that will take me from Ciampino Airport to the Stazione Termini in Rome. Maegan is going to pick me up from there! =D The bus only costs 6 eur. What a deal! After I research on the Internet I found out that there’s actually a public bus from CIA to Termini but it’s less frequent than Terravision’s bus and it only costs 1 eur less. Oh well.
I’m going to stay in Maegan’s room while I’m in Rome. Hope Maeg will have time to show me around =D
Next stop.. I’ve booked Transavia ticket from Rome to Rotterdam. Well yeah Rotterdam not Amsterdam. Unfortunately there are no budget airlines flying from Rome to Amsterdam. (as long as I’ve researched) The nearest one I can find is this Rome-Rotterdam route. Ryanair flies from Rome to Eindhoven, but it’s a bit too far, compared to Rotterdam.
And then at Rotterdam I’ll be shuttling to Rotterdam Centraal (ticket costs 2.70 EUR if i’m not wrong, buy from the bus driver), and then buy a ticket to Amsterdam Centraal. Well yeah I’m quite nervous about buying the tickets.. I have browsed through the official website of Netherlands transport and have been practicing using their online demo. Hope I’ll survive. Hahaha.
Actually I’ve been meaning to post this even before I watched The Leap Years (which is so sappy I don’t want to further review it).
As many other people, I was very interested in the trailer’s background music.
I first heard it on a bus, when the trailer is playing on that super disturbing TV Mobile. My first thought “Wah Singaporean so cool ah can make a song so good!”. And the trailer is not bad. It’s good. The beautiful scenes.. So photographic. I especially like the end part. You know, when the paper plane is thrown? The piano sound is just perfect!
I then found out from Rinaz that the song is actually a song composed by a Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto titled “Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence”. (In case you don’t know it, I have soft spot for Japanese composers. You know those Final Fantasy songs??? If you don’t know, never mind)
It didn’t take long for me to realize that.. They’re not the same!
You want to try? Just play the first seconds of the leap years trailer, until about 00:13 (that’s the solo piano), and then stop.
And then play this video, just the first seconds too..Approximately until about 00:13 too.
Not yet?
That one might not be too obvious.
Now, play the leap years trailer from 03:20 until approximately 03:40. That’s when the strings/violin gets the melody. Remember the melody.
Play the “Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence” from approximately 01:30. It’s when the violin comes in too.
Different?
Of course!
I can’t understand it. Why on earth must they rip this song? It’s not even using the song, okay. If they’re using the song and they have copyright problem, that’s more understandable. But ripping the song?
It can’t be just an “inspired” song. The structure is too similar. Piano solo at the front, followed by the melody by strings? (well okay merry christmas mr lawrence actually had the melody on the piano first before moving on to string. the leap years trailer song skipped this and changed it with some drum beats while people are talking in the trailer)
And especially this piano riff at The Leap Year’s trailer 04:10 and Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence at 04:08 (heh the timestamp is even almost the same)
No, it can’t be just inspired! It’s almost exactly the same. Especially the end part. Remember the part I said, when the paper airplane was thrown? That piano tunes. Is it a coincidence that both the composers (or rather one composer and one ripper) had the same idea about the piano tunes? Nah. I don’t think so.
I just.. I can’t understand it. Did you guys listen to Corrine May’s songs in the movie? They were awesome. So soothing, calm.. Really, they were good. I’m sure Corrine is capable of composing a good, catchy song for the trailer too. So.. Why can’t they just Corrine’s songs? Why? Why must rip Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence?
And maybe they just made a song similar to Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence to avoid copyright problems? Boy did the song get my attention! And I’m sure many other people too. I swear, my reason to watch The Leap Years was the trailer’s song. Ok I’m shallow, but, I don’t know, I think when you already have a boyfriend you tend to become more rational and realize that those romantic stuff are really not the things that matter. Hahaha.
Oh by the way, as I said, the film is good. Visually. The scenes are beautifully captured. As for the story.. I say, just let it exist in fairytale land.
*still can’t understand why they rip the song instead of make a brand new song*
*sigh*
btw, here’s a bonus. The trailer of the film Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence. Looks quite interesting. (and of course interesting trailer background music =P)
Well, I know that my blog has been quite boring and I have no motivation to update it with usual interesting stuff, but I figure that this moment has to be mentioned.
I turned 19 yesterday, on May 4th 2008.
To be honest, it feels… Erm.. Weird.
19. That means only one more year before I’m hitting the two-oh. The thing is, I feel too old for my own age. Maybe because I hang out with older people. =/
I would post about my birthday celebration later after the photos become available. As usual, they rest in my friend’s cameras since I don’t have any cameras. (please donateeeee)
However, in this post, let me say thank you to all of you guys that have greeted me in many ways possible. Facebook wall seems to be the favourite choice this year, while I got more birthday sms last year. Oh I miss the time when my friends will “compete” to call me on 00:00 AM or just send an sms. Well I dunno… For me receiving birthday greetings online is not half as fun receiving greetings offline. Ok, sms or call is kinda online, but I feel it’s still more close and intimate than.. Erm.. Facebook wall.
Nevertheless, thank you all! I’m gonna have a great 19th year and I mean it!
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