Time

It may seem hard sometimes.
It may be too much of an uphill climb sometimes.
But most times, at all times, I will love you till the end of time.

This I promise you.

A full 2011, an even fuller 2012

New Year resolutions? None. Am never one for all the drama and annoucement.
For me, it's always been the same motto : Live & Love to the fullest.

And every year, I am consistently surprised with what Life & Love has dished out for me. To my delight, 2011 has been a palate of many wonderful discoveries.


Memories of my 2011 adventures :

• New life in a new land.


• Brief layover at desert city and confirmed that I will never be able to live in a desert. Ever.


• Discovering exotic Brazil and meeting some awesome locals.


• Confirmed the theory that language is never a barrier when there's sincere friendship.


• Jumped off a cliff and survived to tell the tale (I still owe a post on this one, I know. Whoops)


• Fell in love with Taiwan and resolved to make it my next port of call in Life.


• Survived a 16-hour beach rave party and met some pretty awesome folks from many exotic lands.

Most of all,

• Survived and actually enjoyed a LDR.


• Learnt new respect for the motto "Absence makes the heart grow fonder"

And what does 2012 have in store for me?
So far, the plans for the first half involves Bali, India and Ozzieland.

Hold on tight. The ride ahead is surely gonna be exciting!

Happy birthday, Mee

No matter how much time passes,
No matter how tough the going gets,
No matter how far we've flown away from the nest,
We will always celebrate the day it all began.
For her, for him and for us.

Sweethearts

Someone told me recently that we look like childhood sweethearts. Curious and slightly amused, I asked the person to explain how she came to that conclusion.

Her answer : "Coz you both look so happy together, so comfortable with each other, so confident of each other."

Huh?

Does that define what childhood sweethearts are?
Maybe to some, but definitely not to me. Nor to him.

So I pondered on it abit and figured what the person was trying to tell me was that we seemed like soul-mates, considering that we seem to read each other's body language and facial expressions really well. And the confident vibes that others get around us, I guess that just gave her the impression that we've been together for a really long time. Like forever. LOL.

(Can't believe it's gonna be 7 years in another 2 months. Geez, where did the time fly to? And will we be hit by the 7-year itch? Heh. Only time can tell, eh)

Honestly, I do not know if forever exists but what I do know is that I treasure my 'now' and will do all in my power to maximise my 'now' rather than mull over forever.

Do you believe in forever?

P/S - The more I think about it, the more I think I am turning into a cynic. Good or bad, I still haven't decided. :P

Doing for the sake of doing

It's amusing, really.

For some folks to pen articles telling the world of how they've saved lives, changed the world, etc. All from doing something that they have to do, or found themselves forced into circumstances that dictate them to do what they do.

Well, I guess one can argue that they took lemons out of Life and made lemonade. But to me, being proud of something is when it's accomplished through passion. Through dedication. Through perserverence. Through believing in oneself.

So, no I can't say that I agree to certain articles singing praises for individuals who do what they do because they are thrown into the circumstances. I cannot react to the article with a "Wow!". The best I could give is a hmpf and a if-i-have-nothing-nice-to-say-i-better-shut-it smirk.

So, hmpf.

My God!

She is carefree.
She is reckless.
She is restless.

"She must be a non-Christian", someone remarked.
"Why do you say that?", I asked.
"Because if she has found God, she wouldn't be so empty. Which is what she seems to me. Empty as an abandoned shell by the seashore", that same someone said.
"Sorry, I beg to differ. Her faith has nothing to do with her choice of life", I snapped back.

And that has touched a sore spot in me.

Why does a sick/sad person got to be non-Christian?
Why does a lost person assumed to have not found God?
Why does God have to be Jesus Christ?

Who died and made them GOD?!

Geez.

P/S - I don't look down my nose and tsk'ed at you for being restricted by your religion. You claim to be smart, with brains blessed by God. So, use it to remember that you have no right to look down your noses at others who do not share your faith. Remember that well.

A letter to Tony

Had quite an experience traveling home last weekend and decided to share it with the man behind it all. Didn't expect much though. So, imagine my surprise when I received an email reply from The Man this morning.

Here is my original email :-

To the Management of AirAsia Berhad,

Flight #: AK 5806
Departure Date: 20 November 2011
Departure Airport: Penang
Destination Airport: Singapore
Assigned Seat #: 24D

Since January 2011, I have been a faithful monthly supporter of AirAsia, picking it above the other budget airlines to commute between my workplace (Singapore) and my home (Penang). So far, I have encountered the occasional flight delays but
thankfully, never encountered any flight cancellations or any other major changes.

However, the good impression I had of AirAsia was tarnished by a recent incident. Flight details as shared above. Dutifully, I performed my mobile check-in for my 20Nov flight on 18Nov. As usual, I received the 2D barcode and email confirmation on the same day (as per attached email). My SIN-PEN travel leg was smooth but I cannot say the same for my return leg from PEN-SIN. I learnt that AA double-booked the same seat to 2 different passengers. We’ve all heard about promotions of 2 tickets for the price of 1 but this is definitely a first to hear of 1 ticket for the price of 2!

I have attached a copy of my boarding pass which clearly stated that my assigned seat is 24D. However when I reached my seat, a guy was already seated at the same seat and when we compared boarding passes, we were both shocked to see that we were assigned the same seat for the same flight on the same travel date.

Now, if it was a human mistake, it would be understandable and somewhat acceptable. This, however, was an auto-allocation from your booking system. I learnt from the fellow passenger that he performed his mobile check-in and was allocated
that seat number by your automated system. Just like I was.

For a company that boasts of being the “Best low cost airline” award winner for many years running, it was indeed an unpleasant surprise and definitely a disappointment.
Now, I will be always wondering if the system is pulling a fast one on me every time I perform my mobile check-in. Definitely not good customer experience.

I had to stand at the back galley of the aircraft and waited for all the other passengers to board before the crew could find me a vacant seat to sit me for the flight. Fortunately, the flight was at 95% capacity, which meant that I didn’t have to be offloaded from the flight (Imagine a very stressful traveler on a late Sunday evening after a very busy weekend in Penang before heading back to prepare for an equally long week ahead in Singapore. Being offloaded would NOT be fun!).

Thankfully, this story has a good ending.

The crew on AK 5806 on that night were very helpful especially one particular crew by the name of Jeffrey Koh who did all he could to help abate my growing anxiety as I watched more and more passengers board the aircraft, taking up all the seats I could see that were vacant. So I would like to thank Jeffrey who helped turn an otherwise stressful traveling experience into a decent one. Decent enough to avoid a freaked out, grumpy passenger onboard an AA flight.

Having said that, I would still like to lodge an official complaint against the apparent gaps in your online booking system that have caused unnecessary anxiety to your passengers. Logic tells me that I would not be the only passenger encountering this for as long as the system gap is not addressed.

I hope this email gets to the right parties within the AirAsia organization so that some needed changes can be made for a better traveling experience for all of us faithful AirAsia passengers.

Thank you and have a nice day.
From: Eleen , a frequent AA traveler

And his response less than 24 hours later:-

Dear eleen, pls accept my sincerest apologies on what had transpired. It is embarrassing but definitely non-intentional. I suspect a tech glitch and certainly did not oversold your seat. Lau is the head of ICT and will revert on why this has occurred. Regards, tony

Followed by another email from the head of ICT within the same day.

Hi Eleen,We have begun checking how this could happen.Will revert shortly. Thank you.

Short and sweet.

Let's see if they have managed to turn this negative experience around. So far, I must admit I am somewhat impressed.