I like to write and share with people what i'm going through. And apparently some people enjoy reading what i have to write. So i thought i should begin on a project that i will keep for life. A short online novel about my life in the amazing city of New York City. Here we go!

Introduction

People who know me know that Im a big fan of the TV show Friends. I have watched every single episode of that series at least 3 times and every time i watch it, i laugh at the same jokes even though i can totally see them coming. In fact, i still watch it here whenever there is a rerun in the evenings. Watching the six friends, namely Ross, Monica, Chandler (My favorite friend), Phoebe, Joey and Rachel, created a dream within me. I started to imagine how it would be like to live in New York City in Greenwich Village with 5 other friends, spending every moment of the day with one another, living every day like a comedy, filled with laughter and joy. That is my dream.

So when i was admitted into New York University, i knew that was where i was going. It was my chance to fulfill this dream of mine. I packed my bag and left for the Big Apple, bracing myself as the next chapter of my life begin to unfold. I knew it was going to be an amazing adventure, despite having no friends in the city. But i was not afraid. I knew i could make friends. But making friends that i could live with and become part of my party of six, that's probably the problem. Some of you are probably wondering: why couldn't you do this in Singapore? Singapore is a city and you already have friends that you have established in your 21 years, why not settle there?

To answer this, we have to face the truth. Let's be honest with ourselves. Singaporeans just aren't as fun as the americans... do you honestly imagine Singaporeans as the cast of Friends? It's a rhetoric question so don't even bother answering. And i always felt comfortable in the states. The land of freedom, alcohol and marijuana. Not that i indulge in them, but at least there is the option. Ok fine I indulge myself in the first two. Happy now?

Back to the main story. After a 24 hour flight which i survived by downing as much free wine as i can to knock myself out, I found myself at the world famous JFK airport to be disappointed by it. I imagined it to be flooded with people, but it was like a ghost town when i arrived. But i was not going to let this dampen my spirit. I got into a taxi to make my way to the city, and as i drew near to Manhattan, the skyline of the city made my heart pound. I was filled with excitement. I was finally in the city of dreams, where people come to pursue their dreams and find love. Or at least according to Jennifer Hudson in Sex and the City.

And before you know it, it has almost been a year. Life in the Big Apple moves so fast. There is so many things to do, see, hear, eat and enjoy. I excluded smell because unless you like the smell of sewage and vomit, i don't think you will find New York having a pleasant aroma. It is just so fast paced, which is why there are times you need to slow down and just reflect upon your life. Maybe do some free yoga at St Mark's or sip coffee in one of the local cafes. If you give up finding one, the starbucks at every street corner will suffice.

It was one of those days that i had just finished all my homework and was chilling in my friends' apartment. Alright fine. I finished all the homework that is technically due the day after. I live one day at a time. You can't fault me for that. I was just looking at my friend Thuy and Lilly making stupid sounds, wondering how i got myself caught up in this crazy bunch of people. And then i thought about the 3 guys and 3 girls from Friends. I looked in the room i was in. The room i practically spend more time in than my own apartment. 4 girls 1 guy. The 5 of us: Yawei, Lilly, Thuy, Melanie and myself. And i thought to myself: I am a long way away from my dream life.

And just at that moment, we all burst into song from a youtube video, and i realize, perhaps i am not that far off from my dream. Perhaps i am living my dream without even realizing it. And perhaps i am currently in the production of the pilot season of Friends II, starring me and my 4 girl friends in NYC Greenwich Village.
Signing out - 4/20/2009 11:17:00 AM

omg omg omg... Seriously... Why must they do this to Dragonball, one of my favourite comics of all time... Dragonball is the reason why i didnt get my 260+ PSLE aggregate which caused me to get into ACSI! IT SAVED MY LIFE! If it wasn't for dragonball keeping me entertained when im suppose to be studying, i could have gone to RI and become... become... A TRUE RAFFLESIAN! Omg just saying it makes me sick. Thank God im not...

I can't believe they are doing this... a white guy as Goku. and CHOW YUN FAT as Roshi the turtle old man?! wait that should have been old turtle man... Ok thats how upset and angry I am. I am becoming incoherent with my language!

Anyway some happy thoughts. I went to the gym today. I did some weights and ran a little. But the best part of it all was that when i got back, i made myself a healthy berry smoothie consisting of frozen mixed berries, yoghurt, 1% fat milk and soya protein powder! Muhaha all this so that i could pig out just now at the Singapore Student Association at NYU elections. But now i feel fat from eating too much char mee and prawn noodle soup. haha

Signing out - 2/08/2009 11:23:00 AM

For those of you who know me, it is no surprise that I'm not a sports person. I was never good at any sports. And I have tried many. I started with swimming. Was never good enough to join the elites. Then I tried tennis. Played for a year or so. Got thrashed by a friend who only played the sport for a month. Was forced to try golf which I was horrible at. Badminton, table tennis, bowling, waterpolo. Name it, I've tried it and I suck at them all.

I have purposely left the most played sport by guys out. That would be football, or soccer just to clear the confusion for my American friends. I hate soccer. There is a story behind it. My dad abandoned me to this soccer camp against my own will and it was horrible. It scarred me!!! I was bullied everyday because I had no friends in the camp. I remember crying and asking my dad to bring me home, which he just laugh off. And since then, I hated soccer. Don't judge me. I was young. There are some who almost drowned and became hydrophobic. Mine was soccer.

I am getting somewhere with this. Bear with me. So yesterday was superbowl and it's tradition to watch it with a bunch of friends even if you aren't a football fan. After all, there are great commercials on and a half time show. So in my attempt to integrate into the American culture, I joined a bunch of Americans in my first ever superbowl.

Football is pretty much like rugby. And I hate rugby. 4 years in my highschool AcsI which highly exalts the rugby players and spending a vacation with irwin seet the rugby coach caused it. and it is such a caveman sport. It's just people crashing into one another. Bunch of retards.

But something weird happened. During the superbowl, I found myself cheering. My heart was racing as I see the quarter back make his pass and the receiver catching it and running with all his life across the field. I can't believe it either. I actually like watching football! So as I read up about the rules and decide which team I'm going to support next season, I guess I am becoming more American as the days go by.
Signing out - 2/03/2009 05:22:00 AM

Woohoo I love my iPhone! I'm playing with it now, waiting for my stats class to start and I realized that I can blog on my iPhone! Of cos only if there is wifi available which can hardly be found in new York city... So low tech...
Talk about my stats class. I seriously think my stats professor is turning senile. He is teaching us probability and he can't even answer the questions on his own powerpoint slides.
Question: if you roll a die 10 times, what is the probability that you will roll at least one '6'?
His answer: 1/6. Because all you need is one 6, hence the probability of that is 1/6. The later rolls doesn't matter anymore hence 1/6 is the answer.
I was speechless. Even ian loo could get this question right.. Ian was my math disciple back in acsi days, along with ben wai and Raphael who all did very well for their o levels I think. My memory is fuzzy. Anyway that's not the point. The point is that I'm a fantastic teacher. Hehe at least I'm better than my stats professor... Unbelievable...
Signing out - 1/30/2009 04:22:00 AM

so life is filled with so many things so shoot me if i havent found the time to sit down and blog. you guys know how much i can drone on about my life. I really have to apologize to people who get turn off by my super lengthy writing. After all, i myself can never seem to motivate myself to read an email that is more than 4 lines long, so it kinda doesn't justify why i make people go through the painful agony of reading my multiple page comments. Ok so before i go on again droning on about everything and anything, just wanna share this amazing ad i saw in class. This is the reason why i actually enjoy college.


Signing out - 12/10/2008 12:45:00 AM

I think my 2 years in the army and 9 months of slacking have killed my brain. I seem to be taking a looong time to absorb information. The worst part of it all is that in this sem, the courses im doing are mostly writing stuff. Lets see what im doing.

Writing the Essay: Yup i guess the course pretty much says what we do during class. We write essays. I feel like im back in secondary school where we have to write short stories. BUT imagine this in an environment with kids with amazing vocabulary and expressions. OMG... this class is such a pain to go through. Every lesson, i just sit there praying i don't have to speak. I don't want to sound stupid. We spend every lesson analyzing(with a Z) text and criticizing them. Ok i spend my whole life doing Science and Math. In JC i was a triple science student. I dropped history when i was sec 3. Another words, i don't analyze text. I read them and take them as FACTS. So i really have nothing to say when im reading a poem or a short story, let alone reading the essay belonging to the person sitting beside me who wrote about him cheating on his girlfriend by sleeping with his best friend. omg... a 17 year old... And i was suppose to give comments about his DESCRIPTIVE RICH essay. faint... Hope i can get a B in this class...

Asian American Studies: Very interesting learning about the history of Asians in America. Except there is soooo much to read. And i have to write a paper to hand in next week. A paper consist of a thesis and evidence and explanation. I was like ok.. i don't know what a paper is. What do you expect from a triple science student?! Throw me a periodic table and some chemicals and i will make things happen for you, not give me a tonne of books and ask me to come out with a THESIS. What is that anyway... So anyway i went up to my teacher also known as a preceptor.(I know.. what's that... im like is that a kind of robot from transformer? "Im a preceptor! Surrender to me, Decepticon! Megatron too!") I told her "i have no idea what a paper is." And she replied "Didn't you hear the question? Just write. Write alot. Understand?" Im like "aaa NO." And she replied "Just write. See you next week." FAINT... I hope i at least get like a C for this paper... and its GRADED. sigh... Should have done a chemistry major or something... my room mate is having trouble remembering the formula of acids like HCl and HNO3... sigh...

Intro to Media Criticism: My favourite class! This class is sooo fun. We learn about how the media uses certain tricks and we watch clips and advertisements and evaluate why they do what they do. It is really interesting. My first assignment which i did in the first week was to watch the old version of romeo and juliet and the new one with leonardo dicaprio and evaluate which one should a freshman class watch. And for my current big assignment, i have to choose a contemporary tv show and write how they portray certain values in society. ARGH!!! I KNOW! Its like a fun assignment for a tv freak like me!

Calculus: Speechless. After 4 weeks of limits, we finally start learning how to do differentiation. This class is known as my catch up on reading/facebook/pon if needed to catch up on homework class. I gave up trying to look like im paying attention. A free A!

And besides these 4 classes which im taking for credits, im taking 2 other language classes which takes place once a week. So for an hour weekly, i will learn how to speak cantonese: Ngoh kiu derrick! Ne mat meng? & spanish: Me llamo derrick! Como se llamas? Its really fun and stressfree because there is no homework!

And thats pretty much school. From mon to thurs, mostly packed with lessons and homework. Then on friday, my weekend starts!

Btw, i was saying "my name is derrick. What's your's?" Hehe... drop me a msg and tell me how you guys are doing. Haven't talked to so many of you guys for a looong time.
Signing out - 9/28/2008 05:22:00 AM

My goodness. I just realised i have been in New York for a month. Time pass so fast...

Ok back track a little.

I remember on my first day, it was so crazy. The cab driver dropped me off like 25 meters away from my apartment and threw all up baggage and stuff onto the sidewalk and drove us. I stared at it and was like "ok i need at least 2 people to help me carry all this stuff into the apartment. I could see the apartment, but i couldn't just leave all my things on the sidewalk and run into the apartment and ask for help. So i decided to ask the "friendly" people of New York to help me look after my stuff while i run to ask for help. Well just like Singapore, people are just too busy to stop for a minute and help a poor asian kid. After being rejected for about 5 times, a kind lady decided to help me. Thank God.. so i finally got someone to help me bring all my stuff into my room. It was crazy! Taking a 3 hour bus ride from Philly to NYC chinatown, then finding a cab and driving through the crazy streets of NY to finally reach my apartment at Union Square which is flooded with people.

Then it was welcome week. And welcome week was awesome. The university planned a lot of events which were really fun and some really weird.

The fun ones:

1) Hypnosis show. omg.. people... hypnotism is REAL. I am a true believer. This guy got normal people and i know they are normal because some of them are my friends, to forget a certain number exist, to think they are werewolves, and actually think a belt is a snake. Its bloody creepy but super hilarious at the same time. That was by far the best show i have ever been to in my life. Its amazing.

2) Comedy Night. 2 comedians were invited to do stand up comedy. One of them was from Last Comic Standing. Those of you who have starworld should know this show since they flood the schedule with that show. She was HILARIOUS. but then the next guy came along and no one has ever heard of him and he kept us in the auditorium for like an hour plus. He is funny but not funny enough to keep me in there for an hour. Felt liking throwing a tennis ball at him when he started talking abt politics at 12am.

3) US OPEN. Yes people i was at the US open and i managed to catch the history making Ivanovic match. Yup the match that seed no.1 for woman lost to an unknown girl who is ranked like 188 or something. And i was there cheering for the underdog! It was such a cool experience.

4) Daves and Buster. Just imagine a really nice arcade that is all colorful and pretty. And then imagine not having to pay a cent to play all the games.

5) FREE FOOD! There was free food everywhere we went!

The weird:

1) Rocky Horror Show. Apparently this is some cult movie abt transvestites. And honestly, i was abit creeped out BUT i did enjoy myself. Firstly, everyone was dressing up as trannies. Guys n girls were wearing skirts and fishnet stockings and make up and ok... thinking abt it just makes me sick. Then throughout the movie, people kept shouting comments. Its apparently all planned so the comments blend in really well with the movie, making it super hilarious at times, and at others, im just trying to figure out what they are saying. Then suddenly out of nowhere, people started throwing toilet paper rolls around and rice and water. And there was this part of the movie where everyone got up and dance to the music. It was WEIRD... not to mention the show started off with a weird program of who can fake the best orgasm. *shake head* i know... i didnt know whether to laugh or to cry.

2) The crazy people of New york. Or should i say there are many crazy people in New York. This weird guy came up to me at the subway and said "You are gay right? Love the way ya standing! Keep it up!" Apparently standing cross legged is a gay thing here... Not to mention all the wierd homeless people asking for change and all the crazy performance around the parks, especially at union square where i live.

3) The stupid skit they make us put up to sing our school song... omg yes... stern the biz school has a stupid school song and we had to sing it in different genres... Making biz school kids do drama stuff and sing is not a good idea. There is a reason why they are in stern and not in tisch, the famous school of film in NYU. (btw there is a strong rivalry between the 2 schools)

Tisch kid: You stern people are so boring. All you think about is making money and losing your soul. I don't understand why you guys will study something so boring.

Stern kid: Well i don't understand why you tisch kids would pay so much for college to graduate and fight for a few open jobs.

So they can say whatever they want... in the end, its the stern kid that make it in life. :D

I guess that sums up welcome week. Go to my facebook album to view all the pictures i have taken in NYC.
Signing out - 9/25/2008 02:25:00 AM

Woohoo! I finally figured out how to use the wifi in NYU. You would think that NYU being one of the richest school in the world would be super high tech. Well, it isn't. I don't even have wireless in my dorm. Totally ridiculous. SO ANYWAY because now i finally figured out how to use the secured wifi in school and using the laptop in most of my classes, expect me to blog more, especially on Mon & Wed when i got calculus class which is soooooooo boring. Ok back to my tv shows. I just spend all my time here doing my homework or watching TV. TV!!!!
Signing out - 9/18/2008 08:45:00 AM

Sorry have been really busy packing my stuff and unpacking and orientation is just way too happening for me to have time to blog. So i finally got a little time so here we go!

So... Day 4! Nothing much really. Was our rest day. We went to this upscale mall. Very nice place. Had a lot of shops. Not outlet so wasn't really into it. But there was just so many nice things! So anyway i couldn't resist it so i bought something from american eagle again. Did i mention i love american eagle now? Oh and i bought a pair of abercrombie slippers. For the first time in my life, i actually forked out 30 bucks to buy a pair of flip flops... DUN JUDGE ME!! In my defense, its really comfortable... and it looks real nice. Like really comfortable nice. And its abercrombie! its like limited edition in Singapore, ok! So anyway this is how it looks like.


Abercrombie stuff are sooo nice but soooo expensive. oh well.

Then we had dinner at this place called the Cheesecake Factory. omg.. im bringing this is to singapore. Franchise it. It has the most amazing cheesecake in the world. And the food is good. I didn't bring my camera so i didnt take any pics of the food. But... i had to pack a cheesecake home. It was sooooooo good. When i first put a chunk into my mouth, i experienced what i call "food orgasm". Its when you taste such good food, you enter into a state of extreme happiness and contentment. The only other time i got this was when i ate sushi at this sushi bar in hongkong and another time when i had this amazing chocolate cake at mortons. But anyway this cheesecake is creamy. Not too sweet. Texture is right. Cheese flavor just right. and the cream they give is sooo good. Its light and not so sweet which makes it wow. EVERYTHING ABT IT IS GOOD. This is how is looks like.


And on friday, i went touring around the nice part of Philly. The touristy part where i get to learn the history of USA and see the liberty bell and hear all about benjamin franklin. At first i was like 'that guy sounds familiar... is he like a president once?" My friend was like "no... he was the guy that discovered electricity." And i went "Electricity? Isn't that Thomas Eddision?" And she said "no... he invented the light bulb." And i went "oh. oh well. not like it matters now!"

So anyway... just some shots of the city and stuff.




















Signing out - 8/27/2008 04:11:00 AM

Just a short commericial break.

You guys can contact me over MSN, or email. My school email which i will access pretty often is derricksee@nyu.edu. You can also get me on facebook. Or Skype (derrick_see) to make better video calls. Or you can simple call my cellphone at 1-646-932-1052. (1 is the country code while 646 is area code). For those using starhub, just punch in 018 before this number and you will be able to call me for free. (By free i mean no international charge. You pay local minutes) Or ichat which im still trying to figure out. But then again, most of you guys dun have macs.
Signing out - 8/22/2008 12:24:00 AM

Again we woke up early to make our way to an amusement park in Penn, also known as Dorney Park and Wild Water Kingdom.

Kinda like Wild Wild Wet and Escape Theme park put together then multiply the place by about 10 times. Again we drove at least an hour to get there. In America, everyone drives.

We first went to the water park which is nothing special really. Same stuff as fantasy island. Just look nicer.

However the rides were a world of a difference. Seriously. I screamed so hard for so many of them. And if i didn't scream, it was because it got stuck in my throat because it was way too scary. Let me show you guys the rides. They were so so fun. And apparently, there is another theme park called Six Flags which have rides that are death defying! So exciting! Im so going there during the hallloween month when fright fest in on!

Im just going to show you guys how the rides look. Here we go!







Just some highlights. There were a few rides that were absolutely memorable.

The first one was the Talon! It was so so so good!



It was so good i went on it twice. And i knew i had to share it with you guys. So i actually video-ed it! Just so that you can join me on this ride. Muahaha it was INSANE!

Next scary one was known as the Steel Force. It was the best roller coaster i have even taken in my life. The drop was OMG ARGHHHHHHH -Choke- ARGHHHHHH!


Then the newest and the most interesting ride and by far the best i have ever taken is the VOODOO. It was soooooo good. Imagine a U shaped track and ya just going back and forth and super high speed. Actually don't bother imagining it. I got pictures and video for it!


This was how fast it was.


So anyway today i had breakthrough in my life. I became more secure with my body. For the first time in my life, i took off my shirt and went barebody and didn't feel ashamed. You know how in Singapore its so malu to take out our shirts at the beach because everybody's body is like sooo good with six packs and stuff. Psh. But here! IN AMERICA! EVERYONE IS SO FAT! American TV is totally giving us the wrong impression. In about 40 people, maybe you will find one with a really good body. And i means both boys and girls. The only people that were fit that i saw in the park were the workers(esp the cleaners) and like 2 guys. Yah thats all. EVERYONE ELSE WAS GROSSLY FAT and they all took off their shirts. You know what! Just to prove my point, i will post a picture of me barebody!

oh btw the other 2 are friends of my friend, My. Their names are Ricky and Anne. Great bunch of people.

We left in the evening after completing all the scary rides.

It was a fantastic day. I absolutely love roller coaster rides. I wish you guys were here with me. So maybe make arrangements and come to the states and we will go on these rides together. Im telling you. Its totally worth it. It is NOTHING like our crappy escape theme park. Seriously lor. Escape makes me want to ESCAPE from Singapore! oh man... im sooooo loving America! and i have to say, my photography skills are really good! Hehehe...
Signing out - 8/21/2008 10:14:00 PM

We woke up really early to start our drive to Delaware. Delaware is a state nearby to Philly. It is about a 2 hour drive. The agenda for today is SHOPPING!

You are probably thinking... why go all the way to delaware to shop? Because in Delaware, its tax free! Means you dun have to pay the 7% tax like how we pay for our GST. And not to mention, there is a huge outlet mall there with many brands such as Ralph Lauren and A&F.

After a grueling 2 hour drive and messing with the radio and listening to Jesse Mccartney's Leaving and Leona Lewis's Better in time and Chris Brown's Forever about 5 times each, we finally arrived at the Rehobeth Beach Outlet Mall. It was HUGE. Huge in a sense that there were soooo many stores, to the point where there is no way we could finish them in a day so we had to choose particular stores we want to go to.

Of cos i went crazy. The first store i went in was the Ralph Lauren Store. In there i spent an hour shopping. I left the shop buying 3 collar shirts, 1 sweater vest, 2 bottles of cologne (explorer & blue) & a handtowel. So lets see how much i saved. In singapore, it will probably cost 140 a shirt. The vest probably 170. Cologne are 90 each. handtowel maybe 10. So all together, i bought a grand total worth of 780 dollars worth of stuff. I paid 300 dollars. A SAVINGS OF 480 BUCKS! WOOHOO! Not to mention when i get back to Singapore, i will be looking all rich and fashionable in my Ralph Lauren Clothes. REAL Ralph Lauren and not the fake ones YOU PEOPLE buy in Thailand. PUI!

Lunch time! We went to this really interest place called IHOP.
Apparently it stands for International House of Pancakes. I was like why is it called international when i have never heard of it! Anyway the pancakes there are AMAZING. The Syrup they give, i can drink it! Their butter pecan syrup is OMG good... a must try. I ordered a cinammon apple crisp pancake breakfast set. And the servings are HUGE. No wonder Americans are soooo fat. LOOK AT THIS!


This is what they have for BREAKFAST! Amazing... Anyway i managed to control myself and not finish everything, but seriously, the food was good... You know how in Singapore the only good pancakes we can ever find is the hotcakes in Macs. How depressing is that... Anyway these pancakes were YUMMY!!! Better than those at macs. And the syrup was about 20 times better than those at macs. So So good.

I then headed to the American Eagle store and there i went crazy again.

I never knew American Eagle had such nice clothes. Not to mention affordable. I bought 2 berms and 2 jeans there. The jeans were really good quality and cost about 50 each.

Walked a lil to the converse store and bought 2 pair of shoes. They were selling at 30 bucks! And i just love converse shoes.

The highlight to me was the Calvin Klein Store.

For the first time in history, i can actually afford Calvin Klein. Shirts were going for about 55. Graphic T about 20. Unfortunately, none of the sizes fit me! Can you believe it?! Even the S is too big for me. I concluded that Calvin Klein only produced clothes for models which is why even the S is too big for me. Damn it. Sucks being a small asian kid! Anyway i bought a pair of pants and a wallet there. The wallet was going for less than 50 lah! In singapore, it will probably cost 100+!

Next stop, Abercrombie! So so exciting!!! But this one was a major disappointment. The guys section was like 20% of the store and they only sold some nice t shirts. It was like walking into an esprit store and having difficulty finding the men section. But anyway i couldn't resist it not buying an A&F shirt so i bought a pretty tight shirt which made me look so so slim. Muhahaha!

And before you know it, it was evening already. AND I HAVENT DONE MY MAIN AGENDA! I have to buy my macbook pro!!! This was a 3k+ transaction so the savings are close to 300 dollars! We rushed our way to the apple store and made it just on time. Chose my stuff and made the payment. Walked out of the store with a Macbook pro and a mighty mouse, AND my free Ipod Touch and Printer!!! And the amount i spent is less than the 3099 Apple singapore quote for a macbook pro. SAVE SAVE SAVE! Ok that just made me sound really aunty... macham at the shop & save advertisement. jian jian jian! I imagine myself smiling and xiang yun and her mother... OH did i mention i saw xiang yun and her family at Astons the other day? Her husband Edmund Chen is CHEAT. My god... he looks soooo young. When he was standing with his son, he look like a brother lah! He looks like he is under 30 with his pink complexion and slim and built body. CRAP! Isn't he like 70?! He has been on TV ever since Lee Kuan Yew cried on national TV during the malaysia singapore break up la! ok fine i exaggerate... but seriously... He is soooo cheat...

Again i digress... And after that we called it a day and drove back to Philly. By the time i reached home, it was close to midnight. And again, i totally knocked out till the next morning.

Just to sum up my day!

And say hello to my new macbook pro! The reason why im blogging right now!

Signing out - 8/21/2008 09:07:00 PM

On sunday night, i dragged my luggage into the airport and checked it in. Soon after, people started to crowd around me. I just want to thank everyone who came down to send me off. I realise changi airport is very very far away for most people so it really meant alot to me.

Unfortunately, we were unable to set a guiness record for most number of people crowding in T3 to send one person off. Just as we were trying to make more noise to seem more happening then some other gang, we looked to the corner to see about 100 people snuggling together to pray for one person. Psh... and we only had like a party of 20 at most? Failure... Sorry folks.

So anyway i can't believe i started tearing and actually broke into tears saying my farewells and giving my goodbye hug to everyone present. I was so sure i was going to be all excited and happy to leave Singapore. But for some weird reason, each time i hugged someone and said thanks and good bye, all my memories of that person just came flashing pass my head and the gratitude is just overwhelming. It was soooo malu when tears started to form and words started to get choked at my throat. It's like watching a movie in the cinema and when the sad scene come, you try to suppress your tears because you don't want the person sitting beside you to know you are crying.

But then again, i get teary easily. Sheesh i cried while playing final fantasy X because my dear yuna had to leave me. I even cried during Gundam Seed Destiny. Why exactly, i can't remember... too many robots being destroyed or something. OH and not to mention i actually teared when i saw my pink IC on my ORD date in the army. I remember i used to tell people its just a card lah... no big deal... its the freedom that mattters. But for some weird reason, when the card was given to me on my ORD day by some low ranking clerk, tears started to form in my eyes. It was like being stuck in a dark tunnel for 2 years and finally seeing light. The feeling is indescribable... And ever since, i have never looked back.

Digressing... Anyway my best friend Mr TAN QIAN JIN had to make a scene on that day. Had to make the whole thing so drama. You see, he was suppose to deliver me a CD. But on his way to the airport, he fell asleep. At the interchange, he rushed out of the train, forgetting about the cd that he left on the seat. Anyway he chased after the CD all the way to pasir ris before making his way back to the airport. And he said on the phone "YOU BETTER NOT LEAVE BEFORE I ARRIVE". My flight was at 1150pm. 1100. Not here. 1105. Calling. 1110. Still not here... 1115 He should be here by now... 1120. I see a mad man running at top speed across the airport and towards me. That mad man crashed into me and gave me a hug. This was after about 10 times of "derrick, im not kidding. ya going to be late for your flight. just go in now." So anyway, after that drama appearance, i rushed into the gate and to the plane. Thank God i made it on time.

Then the plane took off. OH YAH. Ok recently i have been talking to my friend about SIA girls. They told me the girls now really cannot make it. And OMG... so true... the woman serving my aisle... her hair was like a cone on top of her head and her face had so much make up on, it was hideous. Not to mention her voice was loud and shrieky! Everytime she came and said "orange juice?" or "tea or coffee?", i cringed. It didn't help that my stupid entertainment system was down.

Yes just my dumb luck. Why do bad things always happen to me? Its not like i do bad things... im a good person you know. If you look hard, you can actually see a halo hovering over my head. nod nod nod. So anyway initially i was assigned to sit in front of the plane but i didn't want to be sitting in the middle of 2 people so i moved my seat to the back of the plane where it was much more comfortable. Unfortunately, the last quarter of the plane could not get the entertainment system working so for the entire 12 hours ride from Singapore to Frankfurt, i had to force myself to sleep the entire journey. So so miserable. Especially when there is sooo many good movies available. And to compensate us, they gave us a 75usd voucher to do inflight shopping. I was like ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! JUST 75?! I paid almost 1k more to take Singapore airlines over Cathay Pacific and you give me 75 dollars to make up for that 1k?! I was hoping for a business class upgrade voucher but it didn't come... sigh... maybe i should make a big hooha... Oh well. On my flight back to singapore, i will be getting 2 free bottles of duty free alcohol then since i couldnt get to use my voucher as everyone used it before i could. Sucks sitting at the back of the plane...

Thank God the flight from Frankfurt to New York was alright. The entertainment system was repaired so i could watch my movies. But as you know, things are never nice for me. The indian guy sitting in front of me was TOTALLY DISGUSTING. He sneezed and had mucus hanging out of his nose. And he just threw in on the floor beside him. (history: we were both taking window seats but there was a space between the seat and the window. Big enough to put a bag) So for like half the journey, that disgusting glob of mucus was staring at me. It was totally gross. And he didn't bother cleaning it up. And the best part was that he actually took a pillow to cover it at the end of the flight. EWWWWW! Good luck to that CMI SIA girl...

So after being on the plane for about 20 hours, i continued my journey on a cab to a train station in manhattan to make my way to philadelphia, Pennsylvania. And finally, after about one and a half days of travelling, I arrived in Philly!

Here are some pics i took.



Me being lost in the train station in Manhattan, joining in the crowd to stare at that huge board. Apparently, we are waiting for the train to arrive.

Arriving at pretty philadelphia train station.

We headed straight for Chinatown. I got some fake chinese food. Singapore vermicilli noodles and thai pineapple rice. The Singapore noodles(i know.. there is no such thing in singapore...) was alright. Was just beehoon fried in tomato sauce. The pineapple fried rice was just plain fried rice in a pineapple. And we had roti prata too. But it was only alright... Forgive me for forgetting to bring my camera along.

Shopped for a phone and a phone plan. Then went shopping for my bed sheets and stuff before heading home. Loooong looong day. Havent slept for almost 24 hours. dead tired. Heading to Delaware tomorrow!
Signing out - 8/21/2008 11:11:00 AM

Woohooo! It's time, people! I am finally leaving the sunny island of Singapore to pursue my American dream in Manhattan NEW YORK CITY! Stay tune as i blog my happenings in the states. Im sure you guys will enjoy the next phase of this blog as i bring you around the big apple and many other states in USA. I will touch down in US on Monday night so come back around wednesday (after i have shopped for my laptop) to check whether i survived the super duper long 23 hour flight to Frankfurt then JFK. So in the mean time, you guys have a great week ahead. I know i will! NEW YORK CITY, HERE I COME!
Signing out - 8/17/2008 03:33:00 PM

For one day, we took a break from taiqi and chinese lessons to visit the city of Beijing. We got up early in the morning and headed to the Forbidden city.

Apparently, the forbidden city is the biggest and most well preserved imperial palace in the world. I was like isn't it the only imperial palace in the world? Anyway a tour guide was bringing us around and he was speaking in mandarin so we obviously didnt bother about the tour. Instead, we whipped out our cameras and started photowhoring. We took pictures of different poses and positions at every building we went to, which in my opinion, all look the same. Here are some fun shots we did.






We then head over to the Urban Planning Museum or whatever you call it, where they showed us how beijing city was structured and how they built up really cool buildings and the new airport for the olympics. Which brings me to the topic of how on earth are they going to clear the polution?! You guys should see the situation in Beijing... the place look so foggy, but its not fog! Its POLUTION! The air is so bad, i don't see how athletes are going to survive. I think if i run about 400 metres, i will start gacking. Another round and i will suffocate to death. And the photos they took to advertise the olympics like the new stadium? Blue skies? omg.. the power of photoshop... I won't be surprised if more people pull out from the games.

After dinner, we watched a kungfu show which was good in terms of the kungfu performance but horrible in terms of storyline. It was about a boy who joined the temple to learn kungfu. He became really strong and then took over the temple as the new abbot. End of story. I was like omg... you gota be kidding me... They should have skipped the story line and just show us the kungfu moves. I was trying really hard to stay awake because they kept playing this really soothing music which was really hypnotic. Not to mention we were beat from walking around the palace and the museum.

On our way back to the school, i was making fun of nikki(my new best friend) because she fell asleep during the show.

This was how the conversation went.
Nikki: The show was really good but i was just too tired... but i enjoyed it though. Just wish i could have stayed awake. Anyway, did the main character turn good again

Me: umm since when did the main character turn bad?

Nikki: He did! That's why the back drop was all red and stuff.

Rex(some guy from SMU): No he didn't...

(silence for 2 seconds)

And we all burst into laughter. We laughed so hard, the entire bus was staring at us. Nikki... Fact number one about her: She is pretty blur... she is a blonde stuck in an asean body...

So anyway, the centre of Beijing City is really boring... Its just that palace and a few restaurants... like a FEW. I thought it would be like filled with restaurants and cafes and starbucks. It was sooo boring. So disappointed with Beijing.
Signing out - 7/03/2008 10:51:00 PM

I like to write and share with people what i'm going through. And apparently some people enjoy reading what i have to write. So i thought i should begin on a project that i will keep for life. A short online novel about my life in the amazing city of New York City. Here we go!

Introduction

People who know me know that Im a big fan of the TV show Friends. I have watched every single episode of that series at least 3 times and every time i watch it, i laugh at the same jokes even though i can totally see them coming. In fact, i still watch it here whenever there is a rerun in the evenings. Watching the six friends, namely Ross, Monica, Chandler (My favorite friend), Phoebe, Joey and Rachel, created a dream within me. I started to imagine how it would be like to live in New York City in Greenwich Village with 5 other friends, spending every moment of the day with one another, living every day like a comedy, filled with laughter and joy. That is my dream.

So when i was admitted into New York University, i knew that was where i was going. It was my chance to fulfill this dream of mine. I packed my bag and left for the Big Apple, bracing myself as the next chapter of my life begin to unfold. I knew it was going to be an amazing adventure, despite having no friends in the city. But i was not afraid. I knew i could make friends. But making friends that i could live with and become part of my party of six, that's probably the problem. Some of you are probably wondering: why couldn't you do this in Singapore? Singapore is a city and you already have friends that you have established in your 21 years, why not settle there?

To answer this, we have to face the truth. Let's be honest with ourselves. Singaporeans just aren't as fun as the americans... do you honestly imagine Singaporeans as the cast of Friends? It's a rhetoric question so don't even bother answering. And i always felt comfortable in the states. The land of freedom, alcohol and marijuana. Not that i indulge in them, but at least there is the option. Ok fine I indulge myself in the first two. Happy now?

Back to the main story. After a 24 hour flight which i survived by downing as much free wine as i can to knock myself out, I found myself at the world famous JFK airport to be disappointed by it. I imagined it to be flooded with people, but it was like a ghost town when i arrived. But i was not going to let this dampen my spirit. I got into a taxi to make my way to the city, and as i drew near to Manhattan, the skyline of the city made my heart pound. I was filled with excitement. I was finally in the city of dreams, where people come to pursue their dreams and find love. Or at least according to Jennifer Hudson in Sex and the City.

And before you know it, it has almost been a year. Life in the Big Apple moves so fast. There is so many things to do, see, hear, eat and enjoy. I excluded smell because unless you like the smell of sewage and vomit, i don't think you will find New York having a pleasant aroma. It is just so fast paced, which is why there are times you need to slow down and just reflect upon your life. Maybe do some free yoga at St Mark's or sip coffee in one of the local cafes. If you give up finding one, the starbucks at every street corner will suffice.

It was one of those days that i had just finished all my homework and was chilling in my friends' apartment. Alright fine. I finished all the homework that is technically due the day after. I live one day at a time. You can't fault me for that. I was just looking at my friend Thuy and Lilly making stupid sounds, wondering how i got myself caught up in this crazy bunch of people. And then i thought about the 3 guys and 3 girls from Friends. I looked in the room i was in. The room i practically spend more time in than my own apartment. 4 girls 1 guy. The 5 of us: Yawei, Lilly, Thuy, Melanie and myself. And i thought to myself: I am a long way away from my dream life.

And just at that moment, we all burst into song from a youtube video, and i realize, perhaps i am not that far off from my dream. Perhaps i am living my dream without even realizing it. And perhaps i am currently in the production of the pilot season of Friends II, starring me and my 4 girl friends in NYC Greenwich Village.

omg omg omg... Seriously... Why must they do this to Dragonball, one of my favourite comics of all time... Dragonball is the reason why i didnt get my 260+ PSLE aggregate which caused me to get into ACSI! IT SAVED MY LIFE! If it wasn't for dragonball keeping me entertained when im suppose to be studying, i could have gone to RI and become... become... A TRUE RAFFLESIAN! Omg just saying it makes me sick. Thank God im not...

I can't believe they are doing this... a white guy as Goku. and CHOW YUN FAT as Roshi the turtle old man?! wait that should have been old turtle man... Ok thats how upset and angry I am. I am becoming incoherent with my language!

Anyway some happy thoughts. I went to the gym today. I did some weights and ran a little. But the best part of it all was that when i got back, i made myself a healthy berry smoothie consisting of frozen mixed berries, yoghurt, 1% fat milk and soya protein powder! Muhaha all this so that i could pig out just now at the Singapore Student Association at NYU elections. But now i feel fat from eating too much char mee and prawn noodle soup. haha

For those of you who know me, it is no surprise that I'm not a sports person. I was never good at any sports. And I have tried many. I started with swimming. Was never good enough to join the elites. Then I tried tennis. Played for a year or so. Got thrashed by a friend who only played the sport for a month. Was forced to try golf which I was horrible at. Badminton, table tennis, bowling, waterpolo. Name it, I've tried it and I suck at them all.

I have purposely left the most played sport by guys out. That would be football, or soccer just to clear the confusion for my American friends. I hate soccer. There is a story behind it. My dad abandoned me to this soccer camp against my own will and it was horrible. It scarred me!!! I was bullied everyday because I had no friends in the camp. I remember crying and asking my dad to bring me home, which he just laugh off. And since then, I hated soccer. Don't judge me. I was young. There are some who almost drowned and became hydrophobic. Mine was soccer.

I am getting somewhere with this. Bear with me. So yesterday was superbowl and it's tradition to watch it with a bunch of friends even if you aren't a football fan. After all, there are great commercials on and a half time show. So in my attempt to integrate into the American culture, I joined a bunch of Americans in my first ever superbowl.

Football is pretty much like rugby. And I hate rugby. 4 years in my highschool AcsI which highly exalts the rugby players and spending a vacation with irwin seet the rugby coach caused it. and it is such a caveman sport. It's just people crashing into one another. Bunch of retards.

But something weird happened. During the superbowl, I found myself cheering. My heart was racing as I see the quarter back make his pass and the receiver catching it and running with all his life across the field. I can't believe it either. I actually like watching football! So as I read up about the rules and decide which team I'm going to support next season, I guess I am becoming more American as the days go by.

Woohoo I love my iPhone! I'm playing with it now, waiting for my stats class to start and I realized that I can blog on my iPhone! Of cos only if there is wifi available which can hardly be found in new York city... So low tech...
Talk about my stats class. I seriously think my stats professor is turning senile. He is teaching us probability and he can't even answer the questions on his own powerpoint slides.
Question: if you roll a die 10 times, what is the probability that you will roll at least one '6'?
His answer: 1/6. Because all you need is one 6, hence the probability of that is 1/6. The later rolls doesn't matter anymore hence 1/6 is the answer.
I was speechless. Even ian loo could get this question right.. Ian was my math disciple back in acsi days, along with ben wai and Raphael who all did very well for their o levels I think. My memory is fuzzy. Anyway that's not the point. The point is that I'm a fantastic teacher. Hehe at least I'm better than my stats professor... Unbelievable...

so life is filled with so many things so shoot me if i havent found the time to sit down and blog. you guys know how much i can drone on about my life. I really have to apologize to people who get turn off by my super lengthy writing. After all, i myself can never seem to motivate myself to read an email that is more than 4 lines long, so it kinda doesn't justify why i make people go through the painful agony of reading my multiple page comments. Ok so before i go on again droning on about everything and anything, just wanna share this amazing ad i saw in class. This is the reason why i actually enjoy college.

I think my 2 years in the army and 9 months of slacking have killed my brain. I seem to be taking a looong time to absorb information. The worst part of it all is that in this sem, the courses im doing are mostly writing stuff. Lets see what im doing.

Writing the Essay: Yup i guess the course pretty much says what we do during class. We write essays. I feel like im back in secondary school where we have to write short stories. BUT imagine this in an environment with kids with amazing vocabulary and expressions. OMG... this class is such a pain to go through. Every lesson, i just sit there praying i don't have to speak. I don't want to sound stupid. We spend every lesson analyzing(with a Z) text and criticizing them. Ok i spend my whole life doing Science and Math. In JC i was a triple science student. I dropped history when i was sec 3. Another words, i don't analyze text. I read them and take them as FACTS. So i really have nothing to say when im reading a poem or a short story, let alone reading the essay belonging to the person sitting beside me who wrote about him cheating on his girlfriend by sleeping with his best friend. omg... a 17 year old... And i was suppose to give comments about his DESCRIPTIVE RICH essay. faint... Hope i can get a B in this class...

Asian American Studies: Very interesting learning about the history of Asians in America. Except there is soooo much to read. And i have to write a paper to hand in next week. A paper consist of a thesis and evidence and explanation. I was like ok.. i don't know what a paper is. What do you expect from a triple science student?! Throw me a periodic table and some chemicals and i will make things happen for you, not give me a tonne of books and ask me to come out with a THESIS. What is that anyway... So anyway i went up to my teacher also known as a preceptor.(I know.. what's that... im like is that a kind of robot from transformer? "Im a preceptor! Surrender to me, Decepticon! Megatron too!") I told her "i have no idea what a paper is." And she replied "Didn't you hear the question? Just write. Write alot. Understand?" Im like "aaa NO." And she replied "Just write. See you next week." FAINT... I hope i at least get like a C for this paper... and its GRADED. sigh... Should have done a chemistry major or something... my room mate is having trouble remembering the formula of acids like HCl and HNO3... sigh...

Intro to Media Criticism: My favourite class! This class is sooo fun. We learn about how the media uses certain tricks and we watch clips and advertisements and evaluate why they do what they do. It is really interesting. My first assignment which i did in the first week was to watch the old version of romeo and juliet and the new one with leonardo dicaprio and evaluate which one should a freshman class watch. And for my current big assignment, i have to choose a contemporary tv show and write how they portray certain values in society. ARGH!!! I KNOW! Its like a fun assignment for a tv freak like me!

Calculus: Speechless. After 4 weeks of limits, we finally start learning how to do differentiation. This class is known as my catch up on reading/facebook/pon if needed to catch up on homework class. I gave up trying to look like im paying attention. A free A!

And besides these 4 classes which im taking for credits, im taking 2 other language classes which takes place once a week. So for an hour weekly, i will learn how to speak cantonese: Ngoh kiu derrick! Ne mat meng? & spanish: Me llamo derrick! Como se llamas? Its really fun and stressfree because there is no homework!

And thats pretty much school. From mon to thurs, mostly packed with lessons and homework. Then on friday, my weekend starts!

Btw, i was saying "my name is derrick. What's your's?" Hehe... drop me a msg and tell me how you guys are doing. Haven't talked to so many of you guys for a looong time.

My goodness. I just realised i have been in New York for a month. Time pass so fast...

Ok back track a little.

I remember on my first day, it was so crazy. The cab driver dropped me off like 25 meters away from my apartment and threw all up baggage and stuff onto the sidewalk and drove us. I stared at it and was like "ok i need at least 2 people to help me carry all this stuff into the apartment. I could see the apartment, but i couldn't just leave all my things on the sidewalk and run into the apartment and ask for help. So i decided to ask the "friendly" people of New York to help me look after my stuff while i run to ask for help. Well just like Singapore, people are just too busy to stop for a minute and help a poor asian kid. After being rejected for about 5 times, a kind lady decided to help me. Thank God.. so i finally got someone to help me bring all my stuff into my room. It was crazy! Taking a 3 hour bus ride from Philly to NYC chinatown, then finding a cab and driving through the crazy streets of NY to finally reach my apartment at Union Square which is flooded with people.

Then it was welcome week. And welcome week was awesome. The university planned a lot of events which were really fun and some really weird.

The fun ones:

1) Hypnosis show. omg.. people... hypnotism is REAL. I am a true believer. This guy got normal people and i know they are normal because some of them are my friends, to forget a certain number exist, to think they are werewolves, and actually think a belt is a snake. Its bloody creepy but super hilarious at the same time. That was by far the best show i have ever been to in my life. Its amazing.

2) Comedy Night. 2 comedians were invited to do stand up comedy. One of them was from Last Comic Standing. Those of you who have starworld should know this show since they flood the schedule with that show. She was HILARIOUS. but then the next guy came along and no one has ever heard of him and he kept us in the auditorium for like an hour plus. He is funny but not funny enough to keep me in there for an hour. Felt liking throwing a tennis ball at him when he started talking abt politics at 12am.

3) US OPEN. Yes people i was at the US open and i managed to catch the history making Ivanovic match. Yup the match that seed no.1 for woman lost to an unknown girl who is ranked like 188 or something. And i was there cheering for the underdog! It was such a cool experience.

4) Daves and Buster. Just imagine a really nice arcade that is all colorful and pretty. And then imagine not having to pay a cent to play all the games.

5) FREE FOOD! There was free food everywhere we went!

The weird:

1) Rocky Horror Show. Apparently this is some cult movie abt transvestites. And honestly, i was abit creeped out BUT i did enjoy myself. Firstly, everyone was dressing up as trannies. Guys n girls were wearing skirts and fishnet stockings and make up and ok... thinking abt it just makes me sick. Then throughout the movie, people kept shouting comments. Its apparently all planned so the comments blend in really well with the movie, making it super hilarious at times, and at others, im just trying to figure out what they are saying. Then suddenly out of nowhere, people started throwing toilet paper rolls around and rice and water. And there was this part of the movie where everyone got up and dance to the music. It was WEIRD... not to mention the show started off with a weird program of who can fake the best orgasm. *shake head* i know... i didnt know whether to laugh or to cry.

2) The crazy people of New york. Or should i say there are many crazy people in New York. This weird guy came up to me at the subway and said "You are gay right? Love the way ya standing! Keep it up!" Apparently standing cross legged is a gay thing here... Not to mention all the wierd homeless people asking for change and all the crazy performance around the parks, especially at union square where i live.

3) The stupid skit they make us put up to sing our school song... omg yes... stern the biz school has a stupid school song and we had to sing it in different genres... Making biz school kids do drama stuff and sing is not a good idea. There is a reason why they are in stern and not in tisch, the famous school of film in NYU. (btw there is a strong rivalry between the 2 schools)

Tisch kid: You stern people are so boring. All you think about is making money and losing your soul. I don't understand why you guys will study something so boring.

Stern kid: Well i don't understand why you tisch kids would pay so much for college to graduate and fight for a few open jobs.

So they can say whatever they want... in the end, its the stern kid that make it in life. :D

I guess that sums up welcome week. Go to my facebook album to view all the pictures i have taken in NYC.

Woohoo! I finally figured out how to use the wifi in NYU. You would think that NYU being one of the richest school in the world would be super high tech. Well, it isn't. I don't even have wireless in my dorm. Totally ridiculous. SO ANYWAY because now i finally figured out how to use the secured wifi in school and using the laptop in most of my classes, expect me to blog more, especially on Mon & Wed when i got calculus class which is soooooooo boring. Ok back to my tv shows. I just spend all my time here doing my homework or watching TV. TV!!!!

Sorry have been really busy packing my stuff and unpacking and orientation is just way too happening for me to have time to blog. So i finally got a little time so here we go!

So... Day 4! Nothing much really. Was our rest day. We went to this upscale mall. Very nice place. Had a lot of shops. Not outlet so wasn't really into it. But there was just so many nice things! So anyway i couldn't resist it so i bought something from american eagle again. Did i mention i love american eagle now? Oh and i bought a pair of abercrombie slippers. For the first time in my life, i actually forked out 30 bucks to buy a pair of flip flops... DUN JUDGE ME!! In my defense, its really comfortable... and it looks real nice. Like really comfortable nice. And its abercrombie! its like limited edition in Singapore, ok! So anyway this is how it looks like.


Abercrombie stuff are sooo nice but soooo expensive. oh well.

Then we had dinner at this place called the Cheesecake Factory. omg.. im bringing this is to singapore. Franchise it. It has the most amazing cheesecake in the world. And the food is good. I didn't bring my camera so i didnt take any pics of the food. But... i had to pack a cheesecake home. It was sooooooo good. When i first put a chunk into my mouth, i experienced what i call "food orgasm". Its when you taste such good food, you enter into a state of extreme happiness and contentment. The only other time i got this was when i ate sushi at this sushi bar in hongkong and another time when i had this amazing chocolate cake at mortons. But anyway this cheesecake is creamy. Not too sweet. Texture is right. Cheese flavor just right. and the cream they give is sooo good. Its light and not so sweet which makes it wow. EVERYTHING ABT IT IS GOOD. This is how is looks like.


And on friday, i went touring around the nice part of Philly. The touristy part where i get to learn the history of USA and see the liberty bell and hear all about benjamin franklin. At first i was like 'that guy sounds familiar... is he like a president once?" My friend was like "no... he was the guy that discovered electricity." And i went "Electricity? Isn't that Thomas Eddision?" And she said "no... he invented the light bulb." And i went "oh. oh well. not like it matters now!"

So anyway... just some shots of the city and stuff.

Just a short commericial break.

You guys can contact me over MSN, or email. My school email which i will access pretty often is derricksee@nyu.edu. You can also get me on facebook. Or Skype (derrick_see) to make better video calls. Or you can simple call my cellphone at 1-646-932-1052. (1 is the country code while 646 is area code). For those using starhub, just punch in 018 before this number and you will be able to call me for free. (By free i mean no international charge. You pay local minutes) Or ichat which im still trying to figure out. But then again, most of you guys dun have macs.

Again we woke up early to make our way to an amusement park in Penn, also known as Dorney Park and Wild Water Kingdom.

Kinda like Wild Wild Wet and Escape Theme park put together then multiply the place by about 10 times. Again we drove at least an hour to get there. In America, everyone drives.

We first went to the water park which is nothing special really. Same stuff as fantasy island. Just look nicer.

However the rides were a world of a difference. Seriously. I screamed so hard for so many of them. And if i didn't scream, it was because it got stuck in my throat because it was way too scary. Let me show you guys the rides. They were so so fun. And apparently, there is another theme park called Six Flags which have rides that are death defying! So exciting! Im so going there during the hallloween month when fright fest in on!

Im just going to show you guys how the rides look. Here we go!







Just some highlights. There were a few rides that were absolutely memorable.

The first one was the Talon! It was so so so good!



It was so good i went on it twice. And i knew i had to share it with you guys. So i actually video-ed it! Just so that you can join me on this ride. Muahaha it was INSANE!

Next scary one was known as the Steel Force. It was the best roller coaster i have even taken in my life. The drop was OMG ARGHHHHHHH -Choke- ARGHHHHHH!


Then the newest and the most interesting ride and by far the best i have ever taken is the VOODOO. It was soooooo good. Imagine a U shaped track and ya just going back and forth and super high speed. Actually don't bother imagining it. I got pictures and video for it!


This was how fast it was.


So anyway today i had breakthrough in my life. I became more secure with my body. For the first time in my life, i took off my shirt and went barebody and didn't feel ashamed. You know how in Singapore its so malu to take out our shirts at the beach because everybody's body is like sooo good with six packs and stuff. Psh. But here! IN AMERICA! EVERYONE IS SO FAT! American TV is totally giving us the wrong impression. In about 40 people, maybe you will find one with a really good body. And i means both boys and girls. The only people that were fit that i saw in the park were the workers(esp the cleaners) and like 2 guys. Yah thats all. EVERYONE ELSE WAS GROSSLY FAT and they all took off their shirts. You know what! Just to prove my point, i will post a picture of me barebody!

oh btw the other 2 are friends of my friend, My. Their names are Ricky and Anne. Great bunch of people.

We left in the evening after completing all the scary rides.

It was a fantastic day. I absolutely love roller coaster rides. I wish you guys were here with me. So maybe make arrangements and come to the states and we will go on these rides together. Im telling you. Its totally worth it. It is NOTHING like our crappy escape theme park. Seriously lor. Escape makes me want to ESCAPE from Singapore! oh man... im sooooo loving America! and i have to say, my photography skills are really good! Hehehe...

We woke up really early to start our drive to Delaware. Delaware is a state nearby to Philly. It is about a 2 hour drive. The agenda for today is SHOPPING!

You are probably thinking... why go all the way to delaware to shop? Because in Delaware, its tax free! Means you dun have to pay the 7% tax like how we pay for our GST. And not to mention, there is a huge outlet mall there with many brands such as Ralph Lauren and A&F.

After a grueling 2 hour drive and messing with the radio and listening to Jesse Mccartney's Leaving and Leona Lewis's Better in time and Chris Brown's Forever about 5 times each, we finally arrived at the Rehobeth Beach Outlet Mall. It was HUGE. Huge in a sense that there were soooo many stores, to the point where there is no way we could finish them in a day so we had to choose particular stores we want to go to.

Of cos i went crazy. The first store i went in was the Ralph Lauren Store. In there i spent an hour shopping. I left the shop buying 3 collar shirts, 1 sweater vest, 2 bottles of cologne (explorer & blue) & a handtowel. So lets see how much i saved. In singapore, it will probably cost 140 a shirt. The vest probably 170. Cologne are 90 each. handtowel maybe 10. So all together, i bought a grand total worth of 780 dollars worth of stuff. I paid 300 dollars. A SAVINGS OF 480 BUCKS! WOOHOO! Not to mention when i get back to Singapore, i will be looking all rich and fashionable in my Ralph Lauren Clothes. REAL Ralph Lauren and not the fake ones YOU PEOPLE buy in Thailand. PUI!

Lunch time! We went to this really interest place called IHOP.
Apparently it stands for International House of Pancakes. I was like why is it called international when i have never heard of it! Anyway the pancakes there are AMAZING. The Syrup they give, i can drink it! Their butter pecan syrup is OMG good... a must try. I ordered a cinammon apple crisp pancake breakfast set. And the servings are HUGE. No wonder Americans are soooo fat. LOOK AT THIS!


This is what they have for BREAKFAST! Amazing... Anyway i managed to control myself and not finish everything, but seriously, the food was good... You know how in Singapore the only good pancakes we can ever find is the hotcakes in Macs. How depressing is that... Anyway these pancakes were YUMMY!!! Better than those at macs. And the syrup was about 20 times better than those at macs. So So good.

I then headed to the American Eagle store and there i went crazy again.

I never knew American Eagle had such nice clothes. Not to mention affordable. I bought 2 berms and 2 jeans there. The jeans were really good quality and cost about 50 each.

Walked a lil to the converse store and bought 2 pair of shoes. They were selling at 30 bucks! And i just love converse shoes.

The highlight to me was the Calvin Klein Store.

For the first time in history, i can actually afford Calvin Klein. Shirts were going for about 55. Graphic T about 20. Unfortunately, none of the sizes fit me! Can you believe it?! Even the S is too big for me. I concluded that Calvin Klein only produced clothes for models which is why even the S is too big for me. Damn it. Sucks being a small asian kid! Anyway i bought a pair of pants and a wallet there. The wallet was going for less than 50 lah! In singapore, it will probably cost 100+!

Next stop, Abercrombie! So so exciting!!! But this one was a major disappointment. The guys section was like 20% of the store and they only sold some nice t shirts. It was like walking into an esprit store and having difficulty finding the men section. But anyway i couldn't resist it not buying an A&F shirt so i bought a pretty tight shirt which made me look so so slim. Muhahaha!

And before you know it, it was evening already. AND I HAVENT DONE MY MAIN AGENDA! I have to buy my macbook pro!!! This was a 3k+ transaction so the savings are close to 300 dollars! We rushed our way to the apple store and made it just on time. Chose my stuff and made the payment. Walked out of the store with a Macbook pro and a mighty mouse, AND my free Ipod Touch and Printer!!! And the amount i spent is less than the 3099 Apple singapore quote for a macbook pro. SAVE SAVE SAVE! Ok that just made me sound really aunty... macham at the shop & save advertisement. jian jian jian! I imagine myself smiling and xiang yun and her mother... OH did i mention i saw xiang yun and her family at Astons the other day? Her husband Edmund Chen is CHEAT. My god... he looks soooo young. When he was standing with his son, he look like a brother lah! He looks like he is under 30 with his pink complexion and slim and built body. CRAP! Isn't he like 70?! He has been on TV ever since Lee Kuan Yew cried on national TV during the malaysia singapore break up la! ok fine i exaggerate... but seriously... He is soooo cheat...

Again i digress... And after that we called it a day and drove back to Philly. By the time i reached home, it was close to midnight. And again, i totally knocked out till the next morning.

Just to sum up my day!

And say hello to my new macbook pro! The reason why im blogging right now!

On sunday night, i dragged my luggage into the airport and checked it in. Soon after, people started to crowd around me. I just want to thank everyone who came down to send me off. I realise changi airport is very very far away for most people so it really meant alot to me.

Unfortunately, we were unable to set a guiness record for most number of people crowding in T3 to send one person off. Just as we were trying to make more noise to seem more happening then some other gang, we looked to the corner to see about 100 people snuggling together to pray for one person. Psh... and we only had like a party of 20 at most? Failure... Sorry folks.

So anyway i can't believe i started tearing and actually broke into tears saying my farewells and giving my goodbye hug to everyone present. I was so sure i was going to be all excited and happy to leave Singapore. But for some weird reason, each time i hugged someone and said thanks and good bye, all my memories of that person just came flashing pass my head and the gratitude is just overwhelming. It was soooo malu when tears started to form and words started to get choked at my throat. It's like watching a movie in the cinema and when the sad scene come, you try to suppress your tears because you don't want the person sitting beside you to know you are crying.

But then again, i get teary easily. Sheesh i cried while playing final fantasy X because my dear yuna had to leave me. I even cried during Gundam Seed Destiny. Why exactly, i can't remember... too many robots being destroyed or something. OH and not to mention i actually teared when i saw my pink IC on my ORD date in the army. I remember i used to tell people its just a card lah... no big deal... its the freedom that mattters. But for some weird reason, when the card was given to me on my ORD day by some low ranking clerk, tears started to form in my eyes. It was like being stuck in a dark tunnel for 2 years and finally seeing light. The feeling is indescribable... And ever since, i have never looked back.

Digressing... Anyway my best friend Mr TAN QIAN JIN had to make a scene on that day. Had to make the whole thing so drama. You see, he was suppose to deliver me a CD. But on his way to the airport, he fell asleep. At the interchange, he rushed out of the train, forgetting about the cd that he left on the seat. Anyway he chased after the CD all the way to pasir ris before making his way back to the airport. And he said on the phone "YOU BETTER NOT LEAVE BEFORE I ARRIVE". My flight was at 1150pm. 1100. Not here. 1105. Calling. 1110. Still not here... 1115 He should be here by now... 1120. I see a mad man running at top speed across the airport and towards me. That mad man crashed into me and gave me a hug. This was after about 10 times of "derrick, im not kidding. ya going to be late for your flight. just go in now." So anyway, after that drama appearance, i rushed into the gate and to the plane. Thank God i made it on time.

Then the plane took off. OH YAH. Ok recently i have been talking to my friend about SIA girls. They told me the girls now really cannot make it. And OMG... so true... the woman serving my aisle... her hair was like a cone on top of her head and her face had so much make up on, it was hideous. Not to mention her voice was loud and shrieky! Everytime she came and said "orange juice?" or "tea or coffee?", i cringed. It didn't help that my stupid entertainment system was down.

Yes just my dumb luck. Why do bad things always happen to me? Its not like i do bad things... im a good person you know. If you look hard, you can actually see a halo hovering over my head. nod nod nod. So anyway initially i was assigned to sit in front of the plane but i didn't want to be sitting in the middle of 2 people so i moved my seat to the back of the plane where it was much more comfortable. Unfortunately, the last quarter of the plane could not get the entertainment system working so for the entire 12 hours ride from Singapore to Frankfurt, i had to force myself to sleep the entire journey. So so miserable. Especially when there is sooo many good movies available. And to compensate us, they gave us a 75usd voucher to do inflight shopping. I was like ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! JUST 75?! I paid almost 1k more to take Singapore airlines over Cathay Pacific and you give me 75 dollars to make up for that 1k?! I was hoping for a business class upgrade voucher but it didn't come... sigh... maybe i should make a big hooha... Oh well. On my flight back to singapore, i will be getting 2 free bottles of duty free alcohol then since i couldnt get to use my voucher as everyone used it before i could. Sucks sitting at the back of the plane...

Thank God the flight from Frankfurt to New York was alright. The entertainment system was repaired so i could watch my movies. But as you know, things are never nice for me. The indian guy sitting in front of me was TOTALLY DISGUSTING. He sneezed and had mucus hanging out of his nose. And he just threw in on the floor beside him. (history: we were both taking window seats but there was a space between the seat and the window. Big enough to put a bag) So for like half the journey, that disgusting glob of mucus was staring at me. It was totally gross. And he didn't bother cleaning it up. And the best part was that he actually took a pillow to cover it at the end of the flight. EWWWWW! Good luck to that CMI SIA girl...

So after being on the plane for about 20 hours, i continued my journey on a cab to a train station in manhattan to make my way to philadelphia, Pennsylvania. And finally, after about one and a half days of travelling, I arrived in Philly!

Here are some pics i took.



Me being lost in the train station in Manhattan, joining in the crowd to stare at that huge board. Apparently, we are waiting for the train to arrive.

Arriving at pretty philadelphia train station.

We headed straight for Chinatown. I got some fake chinese food. Singapore vermicilli noodles and thai pineapple rice. The Singapore noodles(i know.. there is no such thing in singapore...) was alright. Was just beehoon fried in tomato sauce. The pineapple fried rice was just plain fried rice in a pineapple. And we had roti prata too. But it was only alright... Forgive me for forgetting to bring my camera along.

Shopped for a phone and a phone plan. Then went shopping for my bed sheets and stuff before heading home. Loooong looong day. Havent slept for almost 24 hours. dead tired. Heading to Delaware tomorrow!

Woohooo! It's time, people! I am finally leaving the sunny island of Singapore to pursue my American dream in Manhattan NEW YORK CITY! Stay tune as i blog my happenings in the states. Im sure you guys will enjoy the next phase of this blog as i bring you around the big apple and many other states in USA. I will touch down in US on Monday night so come back around wednesday (after i have shopped for my laptop) to check whether i survived the super duper long 23 hour flight to Frankfurt then JFK. So in the mean time, you guys have a great week ahead. I know i will! NEW YORK CITY, HERE I COME!

For one day, we took a break from taiqi and chinese lessons to visit the city of Beijing. We got up early in the morning and headed to the Forbidden city.

Apparently, the forbidden city is the biggest and most well preserved imperial palace in the world. I was like isn't it the only imperial palace in the world? Anyway a tour guide was bringing us around and he was speaking in mandarin so we obviously didnt bother about the tour. Instead, we whipped out our cameras and started photowhoring. We took pictures of different poses and positions at every building we went to, which in my opinion, all look the same. Here are some fun shots we did.






We then head over to the Urban Planning Museum or whatever you call it, where they showed us how beijing city was structured and how they built up really cool buildings and the new airport for the olympics. Which brings me to the topic of how on earth are they going to clear the polution?! You guys should see the situation in Beijing... the place look so foggy, but its not fog! Its POLUTION! The air is so bad, i don't see how athletes are going to survive. I think if i run about 400 metres, i will start gacking. Another round and i will suffocate to death. And the photos they took to advertise the olympics like the new stadium? Blue skies? omg.. the power of photoshop... I won't be surprised if more people pull out from the games.

After dinner, we watched a kungfu show which was good in terms of the kungfu performance but horrible in terms of storyline. It was about a boy who joined the temple to learn kungfu. He became really strong and then took over the temple as the new abbot. End of story. I was like omg... you gota be kidding me... They should have skipped the story line and just show us the kungfu moves. I was trying really hard to stay awake because they kept playing this really soothing music which was really hypnotic. Not to mention we were beat from walking around the palace and the museum.

On our way back to the school, i was making fun of nikki(my new best friend) because she fell asleep during the show.

This was how the conversation went.
Nikki: The show was really good but i was just too tired... but i enjoyed it though. Just wish i could have stayed awake. Anyway, did the main character turn good again

Me: umm since when did the main character turn bad?

Nikki: He did! That's why the back drop was all red and stuff.

Rex(some guy from SMU): No he didn't...

(silence for 2 seconds)

And we all burst into laughter. We laughed so hard, the entire bus was staring at us. Nikki... Fact number one about her: She is pretty blur... she is a blonde stuck in an asean body...

So anyway, the centre of Beijing City is really boring... Its just that palace and a few restaurants... like a FEW. I thought it would be like filled with restaurants and cafes and starbucks. It was sooo boring. So disappointed with Beijing.