SUPERNATURAL

I went to my uncle's place the day before to stay over so that i could wake up early to watch the crew from SUPERNATURAL to set up the shop and street. They turned an innocent lookin Langley into some sleaze street. My uncle's shop became a tattoo and piercing shop. The shop selling vitamins next door became some lingerie store and above us...they hung neon signs showing lounges and what nots. I spoke to one of the crew members. If i am not wrong he is in set design. He was from Emily Carr and was from the philipines.



Later on more trucks and trailers came. They were parked behind my uncle's shop. As i was waiting in front of the shop, I got acquainted with the barber shop owner's daughter. We went over to the cafe as we knew they were gonna start filming over there. As i was thirsty, I went into the cafe to get a coffee. Inside, I saw the major film equipment. The camera was a beaut. There i got to speak with another crew member and he introduced me to other. The sound department and the lighting department. One of the gaffer lighting guys gave me his email and said i could contact him for contacts.



As soon as they finished filmin the first scene, they moved across the street to film on the other side. They kept having to do so many retakes. Once it was because Jared Padalacki dropped the bag...and mind you, I have no idea how he did that as i saw him catch it. When they were taking a break or at least i thought they were, i did sumthing that i might have regretted doing. I went to have a sneak peek behing near the alley where the Mexican restaurant was. There, i got acquainted with a few guys working in the restaurant and one of them got me in. It was then that i saw Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalacki up close.



Unfortunately, i was not allowed to take pics as the security was tight. They were going to move some props so we had to move outside. As we were chatting outside, I got to ask a PA about how she got the job and stuff and what were her responsibilities. Then she suggested that she would try to get a gd pic of them for me. So passed her my camera and was waiting for her to snap a pic and pass me back the camera. After a long while, she came out and gave me the thumbs up and told me to go in.



Jared and Jensen were so sweet...they actually bothered to formally introduce themselves. After the brief introduction, i took a pic with them...yes i did...cousins...you can all kill me now...I will die a happy woman. Anyway, I then went back to the shop to show the pic to my uncle and aunt.



As we were about to head home, the manager came to speak to my uncle and then asked me for my address so that he could send me something with their autograph on it. One of the other PAs was so happy for me...she hugged me and suggested that i should have a can of beer before bed incase i could not slp...



That was the end of one exciting day...it was for me at least...heex

Art fair in Langley

My 2 aunties and my uncle left for the shop at 8.30 and i was allowed to sleep in and go down with my cousin and his gf. They got up to go jogging which i obviously did not join them in as i hate running and i dun have any weight to lose just as yet. So i stayed at home and played with lucky.
At about 10+ 11, we made out way down to the shop. My uncle's shop sold pretty cool stuff like replicas of the terracota warriors and fossils of dinosaur eggs and and squids. There was an arts fair and it was an eye opener. There were so many beautiful things onsale. From paintings to bags to accessories. There were so many pooches there as well. It was heaven for me. There was also a few stages where people performed. There was belly dancing and music. Hotdogs and burgers were on sale and I had a burger for lunch. It was kinda big but i finished it. I also helped my aunt and uncle do some advertising by walking up and down the street wearing a scarf and carrying an umbrella from their shop. A waitress, Annete from the restaurant we had dinner at actually came as promised. My auntie also have me a pair of earrings anda pendant from her shop.
There was face painting and a magician and there was this booth selling princess tiaras. I was so tempted to get one for fun but then again, i could make it myself.There was also a chalk drawing competition for kids. I hung out at this native shop for a while and the owner happened to know my uncle. He explained a lot about totem poles and moon bouncers and sissityl (howeva you spell it) thingy. It was pretty cool. It had a happy face and welcoming hand in the middle and had 2 serpents at the side. Apparently that was to protect your home or something. I also learned that the poppy plant was also known as the flower of tears due to the pain it caused due to heroine and opium.I love that place. Gonna get some stuff from there one day.
I then went back to the shop to join the rest and then took lucky for a walky. I was told that she does not pee and crap in the afternoon but oh well, she did. She peed a few times..and mind you..she really peed...not the kind to just mark her spot.She then dragged me to a grassy patched and then stooped in a weird position and pooped! I had no plastic bag on me. Thankfully, this lady nearby saw and passed me a plastiic bag. she was a life saver. I then went back to the shop and soon followed the couple to go on their computer game console hunt. Before we started the hunt, we went to tim hortons to get a bite. The hazelnut cuppacino with chocolate drizzle was damn good. We then went from store to store and finally found it at superstore. We finally found the legendary Nintendo Wii. We were so happy...although i dunno y i was happy also. I also bought a pair of shades.
We went back to the shop to pick up lucky and went back home to wait for the rest before we handed back to granville to have dinner at Afghan Horsemen Restaurant. The lamb was nice.the eggplant and the rice was really good too. Th ambience there was relaxing and comfortable. After dinner, I went for my freshies 2007 gathering. Surprisingly many of them turned up.
We walked to a petrol kiosk to get some wood and marshmallows and then headed down to the beach. It was helluva long walk. But talking with my new friends made it shorter and less tiring. We set up a bonfire and toasted marshmellows. We talked and took pictures as well. A few of them then walked me back to granville island so that my auntie could pick me up and head back to langley.
We reached home at abt 12 and we started playing Wii. It was damn cool. The remotes were wireless and it follows your movement. I so wanna get one. We played bowling and tennis. But soon after, i was getting atad tired and decided to go to bed. The moment my head hit the pillow, i was gone.

Day 2 at our apartment

Auntie and I had planned to walk to Granville Island so that I would know where my school is. We planned to wake up early but not as early as expected. For some reason, I thought the building was going to collapse. There was this really loud drilling sound that happened twice. And during the first time i heard the sound, I heard a woman screaming as well. After clarifying, I found out that it was the garage door that caused the sound. As for the screaming lady, it took half a day for me to find out what caused that. Wanna know what it was??? well, it was some weird sound coming from a stupid bird...a seagull. Yes finally in my life, i get to see seagulls. At first i thought they were some soft toys hanging aroung. Later on, i realise that they were moving...i had a shock of my life.
After getting ready, we walked to granville island. It was not a long walk, neither a short one. As the weather was cool, it was not so bad to walk out so far. When we got there, I was amazed at the place. There was the Public market which sold extremely fresh meat, fish, veg and fruit. They all looked soooo good i was tempted to buy. There was also a wide variety of food to choose from. There was also the farmer's market. People set up stalls there and the veg there is really fresh as well. I saw this black poodle there. and when i say poodle, i dun mean small toy poodle that can be carried around. This one was HUGE! It looked like one posh bitch. It had cosmetic jewellery on..my gawd. Ok that's besides the point but hell..that was one not very cute poodle in my opinion.
Leavin granville island, we went down to robson street to get the cable box and then went to a place near chinatown called T&T to buy asian goods like oyster flavoured sauce and some other groceries. Auntie wanted to get a place near there but was advised against it as there was a park nearby and at night, a lot of drunks and homeless people gather there. Carrying our loot, we walked to the bus stop and wait for bus number 50. The bus tickets there are like 2.35 for 2 hours. We saw the bus coming and we picked up our bags. The moment we picked our bags, we turned around and saw the bus leave. It was sooooo embarrassing. Aparrently we were standing at the wrong place and the bus was running late on it's schedule. So never mind, we waited for the next one which took us back home.
Then came hell. Having called SHAW before we left for granville, we had already set up an appointment with them to come over and fix up the internet on wed 22 aug. and because of my auntie wanted the CNBC channel, we had gone to buy the cable setup box. We called them again and the ding dong battle began. We were told to call back to activate the box but the person said that we had to get authorization from the landlady and so we called her and she called them. The landlady later called us and said that they told her that we could charge the xtra channel with my internet account. So we called them again...mind you...there was a long waiting time each time we called. anyway, someone by the name of Tai picked up and said we could not do so as the cable is cable and internet is internet. So we called the landlady again and she called them to give them the serial number but she did not know where we had bought the box and therefore it could not be activated. We called them again to check if it had been activated and coincidentally, the lady who picked up had just gotten off the phone with out landlady and so we gave her all he info she needed. Then she tried to activate it and said there was a weak signal and got a technician to help us. After a long time and my squeezing in and out from behing the tv cupboard a few million times, auntie pulled and dropped the phone and the line got disconnected. We called again and this time we got a guy called Bobby and he settle everything with the account for us. Apparently, because of the appt we had fixed, we could not get the immediate order to get the cable done. He sent a signal to turn the box off and then turned it on which was supposed to take one hour max.
Auntie and I decided to cook and have dinner which was 2 chicken thighs and chai sim...one whole packet of it. Not bad actually...between us, our meal cost only 2.50. After dinner, we called them again. Finally we got someone who could help us. i swopped cables again and we finally was able to get the cable. The problem was with the stupid remote control. It was not the JVC remote control and therefore it was not on channel 3. So we got cable to watch finally but i was too tired and went to bed. It was a tiring day.

The cousin i never knew i had

Surprisingly...this mornin, i was not woken up by any sound coming from the garage so i was able to sleep til 9am. After breakfast, we went to london drugs to get some detergent, the computer fan and some other stuff. After that, we went home to do some laundry. I tell you..the washing machine is one of those old types where there is this pole in the middle and you have to pull and turn the knob to the setting you want and then push it in to start. The dryer was even worse as it was placed higher. The knob was so weird. We had a hard time figuring out how to use it. But we found out that to stop it, you just had to open the door...LOL...
We then had some rest before my cousin and his girlfriend came to pick us up. I finally got to see the cousin that i never knew i had for 20 years. He was nice. His gf was Taiwanese and she mainly spoke chinese which was a slight problem for me. We then took an hour drive down to Surrey for dinner and to meet my uncle and auntie. We had dinner at this Italian restaurant which was called olive garden. The soup was awesome and the main was kinda huge and we had to doggy bag it. The bread was damn good. We packed that for the next day's breakfast. When we got home, they gave me a tour of the house and i had a whole room to myself. It was a big room. My cousin's room was in the basement and i was invited to join them downstairs and we watched the simpsons the movie. We talked and i was finally able to access the internet. I was also told that the filming that i was going to watch next thurs was for the TV series Supernatural. I was so damn excited and happy. Might get to see the 2 cute brothers or at least one. The movie ended at about 1.45 and i went to bed at 2. Oh and did i mention? They have a dog. It is a schnauzer and her name is LUCKY.

The cousin i never knew i had

Surprisingly...this mornin, i was not woken up by any sound coming from the garage so i was able to sleep til 9am. After breakfast, we went to london drugs to get some detergent, the computer fan and some other stuff. After that, we went home to do some laundry. I tell you..the washing machine is one of those old types where there is this pole in the middle and you have to pull and turn the knob to the setting you want and then push it in to start. The dryer was even worse as it was placed higher. The knob was so weird. We had a hard time figuring out how to use it. But we found out that to stop it, you just had to open the door...LOL...
We then had some rest before my cousin and his girlfriend came to pick us up. I finally got to see the cousin that i never knew i had for 20 years. He was nice. His gf was Taiwanese and she mainly spoke chinese which was a slight problem for me. We then took an hour drive down to Surrey for dinner and to meet my uncle and auntie. We had dinner at this Italian restaurant which was called olive garden. The soup was awesome and the main was kinda huge and we had to doggy bag it. The bread was damn good. We packed that for the next day's breakfast. When we got home, they gave me a tour of the house and i had a whole room to myself. It was a big room. My cousin's room was in the basement and i was invited to join them downstairs and we watched the simpsons the movie. We talked and i was finally able to access the internet. I was also told that the filming that i was going to watch next thurs was for the TV series Supernatural. I was so damn excited and happy. Might get to see the 2 cute brothers or at least one. The movie ended at about 1.45 and i went to bed at 2. Oh and did i mention? They have a dog. It is a schnauzer and her name is LUCKY.

Off to Vancouver

Had a good night's rest but hell..i have no idea why i woke up so early!!! I woke up once at 5 and then again at 6. When i woke up a third time at 6.30, i totally gave up on going back to bed and hoping to sleep in. We then went down for breakfast. It was a buffet breakfast as usual but it did not have much variety. they had porridge with lil side dishes, fried rice, fried bee hoon and western breakfast consisting of toast, ham and eggs...at least that is what i remember. We then went up to check our bags and make sure that we did not leave anything behind and then checked out of the room by 10.20am as our bus was arriving at 10.30am.
We got up the bus and we made our way to the airport. When we got there we went to the third level and went inside for lunch. Auntie had fish and rice while i had kong ba and rice. It was fabulous. The meat was very tender and the rice had some mince meat and sauce on it. It was satisfying. We then walked to our boarding gate which was helluva far away. After a while, we boarded the plane but we had to wait as it was a full flight and many had not gotten onto the plane yet. I had the window seat and there was a fantastic view. My Aunt sat in the middle and a Tainwanese guy sat next to her. The poor guy was on his way to the US and it was going to take him about 30 hours to get there as he could not get a direct flight. He was to go to some dessert area near the border of Mexico for some work assignment and can you believe it..he was to stay there for 3 months!!! in the dessert!!! I would so not wanna be in his shoes.
Unfortunately, it was an old plane and there was no screen directly in front of me. It was one with the huge screen which everyone shared. Therefore i had no choice but to do what i did best...SLEEP. i slept most of the time and when it was dinner time, they announced what was on the menu. There was the Eastern meal which was porridge and the western meal which was western...that was what they said. Well, it was pork and pasta. the pork was more like ham so it was a good thing for me.After about 9 hours or so, I could see snow capped mountains outside my window. We were nearing vancouver. Boy was I glad. At about 1.15pm, we arrived and we went on to queing to get out passports stamped. We had to get our luggage before we could proceed to the immigration side to get my student visa. It did not take long before we got everything settled. We walked out and the weather was fine. I was in a long sleeve top and jeans and it was cool but at times it was quite hot. We waited for a while before my Aunt's friends came in her red jeep to pick us up.
We then proceeded to Four Seasons Hotel to collect the keys to our apartment and went to the apartment to put our luggage. We then went down broadway to get my bank account opened and then went to a japanese restaurant for lunch. It was 9.95 for an all you can eat meal. We had loads of sashimi and sushi. I had my much needed miso soup and cha soba. We then headed back home. The apartment was beautifully furnished. We have cable!!! yay mi! There is a small kitchen and a dining area. There is the reasonably sized living room with one 3 seater sofa, one 2 seater sofa and another one seater. There is a fireplace which looks pretty real but apparently it runs on gas...LOL. I thought we had to go and chop wood once we used the one placed there. well it was just to make it look real. There is a small flight of stiars which leads to our rooms. I took the less grand room as it feels more free and easy and comfy. I have a preety big cupboard to store my clothes and i have a secretary table which resembles the rose wood one i used to have when i was a little gal staying in Tampines. I have a queen sized bed which I will have to share with my cousin when she gets here. Well I have the whole bed to myself til she gets here which is about 5 months later. We have 2 solariums in the house. One is sheltered and connected to my room and the other is outside in the hall. At night, I can look up and watch the star. It is beautiful as the skies are clear and there are hardly any clouds.
Having realised that we needed to buy some stuff and so we went to this place called super store to get them. When i reached there i felt as though i was in one of those hollywood movied where they have to go shopping at this real big supermart with a huge carpark. There there practically sold everything. It is like carrefour,giant or NTUC. I dunno why but to me that was heaven. Mum would have loved it. they have loads of things for baking. After shopping we went for a super late dinner at 10.30pm. We drove around bradway street and finally found a restaurant that was open. It was chinese. They had really good congee. We ordered side dishes like pork liver, beansprouts with silverfish and pig's blood with liver and stomach. It was real good and i swear that was totally comfort food.
After dinner, Auntie's fren sent us home where we practically changed and dropped dead.

Taipei

After a 4 hour plus flight in which I watched a movie i long wanted to catch, 300, we finally reached Taipei. As I have never been to Taipei, I was surprised that the weather there was exactly like in Singapore. Over there, there was another cockup. As my Aunt had been there before, she told me that someone would be at the airport waiting for us with our names written on a piece of paper. But when we reached, we walked up and down twice only to find that there was no one there waiting for us. We went to the information counter and was told that we had to get a sticker badge and a slip to show that we were there for an overnight transit.
After waiting 20 mins or so, we boarded a bus to go to TaoYuan hotel. It was supposed to be 10 to 20 mins drive away but it was farther than expected. The bus was nice. the only problem with it was that the stairs were really steep to get to our seats but we had a nice view of things from up there. We passed many shops that had neon lights outside. They were places where one could go and chew somthing like beetle nut. Ladies dressed sexily would attract potential customers to buy them.
Soon we reached the hotel. It was a relief after a 4 hour flight. The hotel was old and tired but pretty decent. Our room was on the 11th floor, 1108. It smelled like one of those old changi chalets. I guess it was because the rooms were not occupied much. It was about 9 at that time and we were a lil hungry and therefore we decided to go out and get dinner. The streets were filled with food stalls and supermarts. Along one street, one could find 3 7-eleven shops and there were others just like them. The streets smelled alil like the gutter, it took me a while to get used to the smell. as i broke nail, we had to buy a pair of nail clippers to relieve me of my pain. It was hell.
We settled on eating beef noodles. It was heavenly. The noodles were a bit hard and starchy, but i like my noodles that way. The beef was real tender. It was scrumptious My Aunt had wonton noodles. The noodles were the same only thinner. The wonton skin was a lil thick but it was alright. The best was the dumpling. It was filled with meat and it had gu cai inside. My favourite. We then headed back to the hotel where she just relaxed and watched tv while i was playing around wif my new mp3/mp4 player.

Leaving the nest

Leaving home was one of the hardest things i had to do. Almost the whole family was at the airport. My godbrother and godfather was there as well. 3 of my cousins left school early just to send me off and they are one of my closest cousins. Min being the eldest is the closest to me out of the 3 of them. I watched them grow up as i used to babysit them. We all cried despite all the laughter and the chitter chatter before the final 10 mins.
As we were about to leave and went in to check in, I was told by the lady at the counter that i had gotten the wrong boarding pass. It was for a Li Kewen going to kaohsiung. We were all baffled. I had to go out and get another boarding pass from the check in counter. The police did not even check that the name on my boarding pass and my passport matched.
After everything was done, we went to our boarding gate and left for Taipei.