Living The Dream Again: March 2006

random thoughts on a thursday night

i've been a quiet boy recently. not jetting to some exotic or freezing city in Europe for the weekend =)

but the honest truth is that i am actually quite broke already and the festive period in April doesn't help as the flights from the budget airlines during this period arent that budget! the cheapest travelling i can find so far travel to prague by taking a 22-hour bus ride during the Easter week and that will still cost me bout 70 pounds!

and in 5 months' time, i'll going home and there's actually alot to plan before i leave. e.g. sorting out my tax-back claim, shipping my stuff to Singapore, paying up my credit card bills, and what to do with my bank account and on top of these, i need to shortlist the places that i can visit because of my financial constrain. so sad, i would really really like to visit them all but i cant afford it =(

on top of the usual travel, i shall spend abit more time exploring london. go to 1 or 2 more musicals, have coffee/tea at Soho, take some nice pictures... i'll try =)

work is work. it's shit. all i can say is that i do my best every day and it's draining me. but at the end of the day, no one can fault me for not trying my best.

it's getting warmer in london, averaging 13 degree this week. so you can imagine how cold the weeks before this was. however, the weather also brought along some unwelcome elements. the rain and the wind. sigh! it's never perfect. hopefully, it doesn't rain this weekend and next coz i might be going to Windsor and somewhere else... another road trip i think. then Seville and Granada in May =)

i think i've spoken enough. time to rest early, more drinking tomorrow night.

where i'll seat for Silverstone!

i'm going to Silverstone and i've upgraded my tickets from 200 to 249 pounds! it's one of those once in a lifetime thing so i wont mind paying more for the better seats. the best seats cost bout 350 pounds i think!

this probably means one less place to visit =(

SilverStone, IStanbul, Seville & Granada, Sicily & Stromboli

i'm going to Silverstone!!!
erm, make that i am paying 200 quid to go to Silverstone!!!
in case you have no idea what/where Silverstone is, it's a formula one circuit in UK! according to one of my colleague, it's well worth the money. there's not only the F1 race itself to see, there's also the atmosphere and all the other exhibitions and stuff there. =) i'm looking forward to it! just pray that the weather will be good that day! warm and sunny day! no rain please!

i'm going to Istanbul too but the flight is expensive! 200 quid again! i'm deciding between spending 3 days in Istanbul or 5 days with the additional of Ephesus. i cant decide because Ephesus is very far down south but it's not worth travelling all the way to Turkey for 200 quid and only spent 3 days there. *sigh* how how how? any advice?

Granada and Seville has been planned but i am not sure what are the dates that i should travel.

Sicily and Stromboli is tougher to plan and let me tell you why:
firstly, Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean. in Sicily itself, there's Palermo, Mount Etna (the highest active volcano in Europe) and Taormina. this will probably take bout 3-5 days to cover. then there's Stromboli which i really want to go! it's an active volcano island off Sicily that requires a ferry-ride to get to and the hike takes 4-6 hours. and it's preferably to spent the night on the volcano to enjoy the spectacular view. never had so much difficulty planning for a trip. has anyone been to Sicily or Stromboli? can you kindly provide me with some info.

time to hit the bed, planning for Sicily is giving me a headache.

here's a price-list of some of the beautiful watches

Tag Heuer
Monaco
USD$2326

IWC
Ingenieur Chronograph
USD$6532

Omega
Constellation Double Eagle Chronometer (black face)
USD$2444

IWC
Aquatimer Chrono Automatic
USD$4996

i got the above prices from a website offers the watches with great discounts! it seems alittle dodgy as i'm not sure if the watches on the website are genuine or not. but if anyone is interested in getting me a piece or two, please note that i like the Constellation Double Eagle Chronometer and Monaco.
=)

=)

here's a summary of life for the past 6 weeks.

i've been doing quite a fair bit of travelling. i drove up to the Lake District though the weather wasnt fantastic. nothing much, but at least i've been ard UK. which reminds me, i still got to move ard UK and visit Edinburgh, Windsor Castle and Leeds Castle. Stockholm is cold but it's really pretty. the girls, i mean people there are friendly when u start talking to them. but of course it was a girl who chatted with me at the Ice Bar. u can do nothing in Stockholm or do the usual European stuff. ie. visit museums! both are fine. i probably didnt do Krakow justice because once we landed, we went to the concentration camp, then a 2-hour bus ride to Zakopane and spent the night and following day on the mountain before making our way to Krakow to stay for the night and visit the salt mine before spending 4-6 hours in Krakow itself. but it's all good.

i can't decide if i should try to save abit more money or spend it on travelling. i've just added Vulcano and Stromboli to my travel list. it's supposingly a place where u can see a live volcano spewing lava and that it's nice to watch sunrise and sunset. too many places to go, not enough money and too little time. but i'll still have to leave towards the end.

i wonder how does everyone feel bout their work. i don't enjoy mine right now. the problem is not that there's too much work, but it's just that the 2 of us cannot do everythin that's required. i've already voiced it out, but since they insist, i can only obey and prove that it's not practically possible. come on, how do u expect 2 person to print and re-name 400 faxes, read and reply 250 emails as they arrive, match the timesheets and invoices, do the payroll and the billing. anyway i dont wish to talk bout it. i'll do my best and i can only do so much.