The Most Memorable Gift - I never got.

While we're on the topic of christmas gifts, I must say thaat every gift I've received is special and cherished in its own way so there isn't a "best gift" - hahah, go ahead roll those eyes!! However, the most memorable gift I've ever gotten came in 1985 when I got a brand new spanking state-of-the-art Atari XT video/computer system from Santa. What makes it memorable is what I did NOT get that year. You see, the Atari came out the same year Nintendo released their popular Famicom video game system in North America - the NES. Well...to make a long story short, we all know how Nintendo did compared to Atari. Not only did Nintendo have better and more popular games (Mario Brothers), but they had those cool accessories like the Light Gun (remember Duck Hunt!!), the Power Glove and that little robot that could play against you. Plus all my friends were asking Santa for the NES. Now despite all that, I still asked Santa to give me the Atari XT. Why? Well, it could play games too...like Pole Position and Missile Command. But that wasn't the kicker. I asked for it, because it came with.....a keyboard, and it had an option for a magnetic tape drive (aka. cassette tape) and it looked more like a personal computer. And guess what......you could program it with a computer language called BASIC. I was such a nerd back then.

p.s. I finally got my NES about 7 years later in 1992, after Santa found it within himself to stop laughing at me and end the suffering.

All I want for christmas is my E-Class Benz

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Originally uploaded by JCee.

The last few weeks have been super busy with work, photo classes, all things x-mas related, and searching for videographers and DJ's. Last weekend I was up at Burnaby Mountain to take some winter pics. As you can see from the pic, some lucky gal (or guy) had their Christmas gift (or bday) wrapped, and parked outside the restaurant. I'm not a big fan of Mercedes but i wouldn't complain if someone gave it to me. ;-) So what's the best Christmas gift you've ever gotten?

Singapore Fling

I decided to stay in Beijing an extra day to finish some shopping, but by the time Saturday rolled around i was looking forward to leaving behind the pollution, traffic, and people horking (spitting) in the streets (among other things). Arriving in Singapore was a most refreshing experience. It was the first time i had asked for "Airport Pickup Service" from the Pan Pacific, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Upon disembarking the plane, I was immediately met by my own personal escort who walked me all the way through immigration, baggage claim and customs. I was then met by a limo (a Mercedes Benz E class i believe) and my own "driver" who then drove me to the hotel. Upon reaching the hotel, I was greeted by hotel rep who took me DIRECTLY to my room (didn't have to go to the front desk). Once I got to the room, she took down my credit card number, gave me my keycard and then she was off. It was the FASTEST check-in experience I've ever had...which is in contrast to the experiences i had in Beijing.

Today was our last day for client visits, so we hoped to make it a good one. You know the meetings being productive when the customer asks YOU if you have more time to stay and chat with them. In the end, the future business in Singapore looks promising so i hope to make it out here again soon.

We literally ended the night off on a high note. Our Singapore contact took us to the top of the Swissotel Stamford, the highest hotel in Singapore at 72 storeys high. The view from the restaurant up top was simply stunning. Singapore is such a refined and sophisticated city compared to Beijing, but it obviously can't compare in culture and history. Pssssht...who cares about the thousands of years of culture...just as long as the cabbies are honest!!! hahah.