adventuresofxt&dd

Monday, December 11, 2006

Oh what a day....



I won't exactly say that this is a day I've been waiting a long time for, but at the back of my head, I have always been wondering when we will meet again. It has been 2 whole years. So many things have happened since. I wondered what you look like now... whether we'll get along the same..... what we are going to talk about?

Though the meeting was a short 3 hrs, it was lovely, pleasant, simply a joy. You seem like still the same wonderful girl I adored so long ago. We had lunch at a neat french brasserie, chatted like old friends, caught up with each others' lives, promised to see each other soon... though soon may be another 2 years. It feels that in a way I know you well.... but then maybe not.... afterall, counting today, we've only really met each other for 9 times. It could very well be the case of us always being on our best behavior whenever we meet each other. Oh well, not like that is very important.

More importantly, this meeting seems to bring to a close a chapter of my life that was never properly completed. The end, while not ugly, was abrupt. I'm glad to see that you still look great, and doing fairly well in your life.... it was great meeting up.


That afternoon, xt & I finally had a chance to test out what we had been preparing for the longest time - playing hold'em at a casino. It certainly felt like a fish out of water in the beginning. Though along Champs-Elysees, it is not your typical pretty LV casino where it is luxuriously decorated and spacious. This was cramp, messy, and made to be just sufficient in terms of ops & deco.

To get a seat on a table, you actually have to bug the runner to write your name on a white board; not unlike when you play pool at a pub and have to write your name on the chalkboard if you wanted to play. We then had to wait rather long for a seat.

There are all sorts of people here, who are of course all strangers, so that feels different as well, especially when we are so used to playing with our frens. You try to check out the crowd and get a read on what type of people we'll be playing with, but there are simply so many of them.... you brain can't process it so quickly.

Then add to the fact that we were about the few handful of asians there, and probably the only asians there who don't speak French. At least the Americans don't stand out that much you know....

So we played at this 2-4 euros blind table, and did pretty well I must say. Other than getting some experience playing real poker, I think we managed to get an accurate read of the type of table we were playing at, and how best to play against it. Not to mentioned getting paid abit for all this.... haha... So we'll definitely try to go back a few more times to validate our strategy, gain more experience and hopefully make some extra pocket money along the way....

It was certainly a great day... one of the more eventful ones I've had....

- DD

Friday, December 08, 2006

random nonsense from xt
Hello pple, finally an update from xt... ITS DEC! Life in France has been going well but I have been missing CJK and XLBs for a long long time already so I am really looking forward to going home! This exchange in Europe is really a new experience for me, I have washed more clothes and more dishes in these 3 months than I EVER did in the past 18 years or something. I realised how powerful my mum is.

Cheryl who just came over a couple of days ago commented that I am a chinaman for missing all the cheena stuff like fried rice and chinese tv shows but I guess thats just me, I don't feel totally at home in Europe. Its also not easy when you have been missing a person since day 1. I know the place is insanely beautiful with all the monuments and stuff and the museums here are just crazy.. I have spent 9 hours straight in the British Museum but somehow I still feel that while Europe is a great place for spending a vacation and to sightsee but theres no place like home!
Being in Europe also made me appreciate Singapore even more:

1. you can walk around at 4am without fearing being mugged/stabbed/whacked/raped etc.

2. you can buy stuff at 4am.

3. shops are open on sunday.

4. you dont have to stay awake and stare at everybody on the mrt becaz you are worried that you will get pickpocketed.

5. you dont have to wait go to the bank 4 times and wait for a week for them to print your account balance.

6. you dont have to stand in line at the post office for 40mins with 2 counters open and JUST 4 people in front of you to post a letter.

I guess now that I have sort of seen the rest of the world, I can say confidently that Singapore is a great place even though we dont have chewing gum and that you get fined for jaywalking around school.

now for the pics..
..me in amsterdam
...christmas lights in london
...the big ben.. i think.. haha


... the british museum .. thats one of the doors of Sargon's palace, some assyrian dude.
...the Elgin marbles
... visiting Xuefen in Nice..
...the Bay of Angels
...me and Yixuan on the Nice beach
...Monaco! check out the houses and the yachts.
...the exit of the Monaco F1 tunnel

Nice is a very nice place. haha.. Thats it!

-the xt