My Journey…

Does anyone know the difference between them?

I didn’t, not until today.

England - Only includes the southern part of Great Britain, the territory known as England.

Great Britain or Britain - The entire island off the coast of Western Europe, includes England, Wales and Scotland.

United Kingdom, fullname: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - Britain and N. Ireland

There you go. Hope you find this piece of information useful.

One thing I miss about Malaysia? Other than the food, I miss its range of pirated DVDs. I have lost that privilege now.

Owning one original dvd here cost from $15.99 to $25.99 depending on the film. You can also purchase old movies from the dvd store for $4.99 (I bought Hide and Seek)

Since buying them are expensive, we rent DVDs for $4.49 each. Yup! I can own 2 pirated copies in Malaysia! The place I rent dvds, Blockbuster, has a movie package where I rent 2 dvds and get 2 bottles of coke and a pack of popping corn for $9.99.

This is what I got for the weekend!

I believe you have been in a situation where one person wants so much to speak with you about something you are totally not interested to listen to and you hope that person would bugger off but you can’t tell that person so?

That happened to me, few weeks back, when I was at a nursery in a dodgy Latino area buying plants. This guy who works there was not interested to help me pick plants, he was just interested to chat. This place is filled with Latinos and I didn’t think offending anyone would be a good idea. So this is how the annoying conversation went when I got to the nursery

Man: Hi maam, how can I help you?

Me: I wanna get some plants for my window planter. Will need some plants which can withstand heat, cos I am planning to put them at the balcony, but no direct sun, only morning sun.

Adam had a laugh when I told him this.

This is the book for those who are hooked on the Romanovs. It’s very well written and the last days leading to the killing of Tsar Nicholas and his family was very well documented.

The book retells the events, through the eyes of Leonka, the kitchen boy to the Romanovs. http://www.sitestories.com/thekitchenboy/

The book does not just end there. It was said that 2 bodies were missing when they found the grave where the Romanovs and their helpers were buried. This book will tell you what happened.

I literally can’t put this book down. I learned a few words of Russian reading this book.

Truth or fiction? You decide.

Jerry is safe to be driven on US roads and is not emitting black smoke which is bad for the environment. Way to go Jerry!!!

Spring is here! Sun is out and flowers are blooming…

Flowers and plants, just what is lacking at home. Since we don’t have a garden at home, I thought I’ll create a cosy ‘garden’ area at the balcony for morning coffees or sun-downers. This was what I did 2 weeks ago.

The balcony overlooks the pool area, so it’s great sitting out there. I have 2 window planters with different types of plants at each side of the balcony. Each planter has some decorative rocks around it and a tea-light holder at each side (which I thought would be useful if we needed some light at night)

One the table I have a Spider plant. It’s a hardy plant and does not require much attention.

I planted this myself. I have some white decorative leaves and pink furry plants at the back row. Each side I have pink and violet Verbena (I think tiny flowers at the sides would look nice). The main flowers in this planter are Daisies and Magnolias.

(At time of writing, Daisy isn’t doing too well. I think I have not been watering them well enough. I hope Daisy will survive. White leave and pink furry thing is growing.)

I picked the plants but the guy at the nursery planted this for me. I picked red Geranium (far left), Begonias and Miniature Roses.

(Geranium is doing very well and has been blooming. Rose is ok, just that alot of it fell off last week when a storm came. It will bloom more flowers again, am sure)

Adam and I love this new spot. I normally spend the evening out there with a book. Adam would join me with a drink when he gets home from work.

Like in Msia, we have to renew our car insurance annually in the US. Once renewed you get a sticker similar looking to our road tax, and it has to be displayed on the windscreen.

There’s no road tax in US (thankfully!) but it’s required by law that your vehicle is sent for a state inspection annually. Inspection includes a comprehensive safety inspection and emissions test and it cost $39.50. Once you passed the test, you get another sticker.

Tyres on my car are worn out. So I got all 4 changed today. After spending $420 on the tyres I thought it’s in tip-top condition for an inspection. Guess what? JERRY FAILED!

2 reasons:
a) Light at the number plate is not working (I didn’t notice that and didn’t think it was a freaking problem at all)
b) The Jeep’s main belt is badly cracked (dangerous!!!)

I have to get that 2 fixed tomorrow and a reinspection so that I get a sticker before my current one runs out end of this month.

If you fancy something entertaining and funny to read, this is the book for you. The Game by Neil Strauss.

It’s a true story of Neil’s journey into the secret underworld of pickup artists. This is an international community of men who have devoted their lives to perfecting the art of seducing women. These men run ‘games’ in bars and clubs across the world with their own private language. Some pickup terms and acronyms:

Doggy Dinner Bowl (DDB) Look - noun: the entranced expression a woman gets in her eyes when she is attractted to a man who is talking to her.

Flake - verb: an occurence in which a woman cancels or does not show up to a planned meeting

Triangular Gazing - verb: a technique used directly before attempting to kiss a woman, in which, while making eye contact, a man takes several short, suggestive glances at her lips.

Cock Block - noun and verb: a person who interferes with or hinders a pickup artist’s game, whether accidentally or on purpose. A cockblock can be a friend of the woman, a friend of the pickup artist or a complete stranger.

AFC (Average Frustrated Chump) - noun: a stereotypical nice guy who has no pikcup skills or understanding of what attracts women; a man who tends to engage in supplicative and wimpy parrterns of behaviour around women he has not yet slept with.

Each pickup artist has a routine they normally use, but they normally go in a certain sequence.

Step 1 - Select a target
Step 2 - Approach and open
Step 3 - Demonstrate value
Step 4 - Disarm the obstacles
Step 5 - Isolate the target
Step 6 - Create an emotional connection
Step 7 - Extract to a seduction location
Step 8 - Pump buying temperature
Step 9 - Make a physical connection
Step 10 - Blast last-minute resistance
Step 11 - Manage expectations

Welcome to The Game.

I am a proud owner of a Grand Cherokee Laredo 5.2L V8 Jeep (for about 1 and half months now). It’s black and cool!

It’s nicknamed Jerry the Jeep by the previous owner (Temara, who is a friend of ours) but Adam prefers calling the jeep J-Lo (for some obvious reasons which does not require much explanation).

Jerry the Jeep (or J-LO) came all the way from Canada. Temara bought Jerry when she was transfered to Canada from Australia. Jerry has then stayed in Canada and subsequently moved to Utah, when Temara got a transfer there. Soon, with another transfer, Jerry came to Houston.

It has been a long way for Jerry, but I believe fate has brought us together. Jerry (or J-Lo depends who is driving it) has lots of space in it and is our frequent ride to the airport (cos Adam’s car can’t fit a decent sized cargo luggage… hehe).

With Jerry, I could see the roads better and chances of getting bullied would be much lower. People here are crazy drivers. They drive fast in their huge 4×4 or trucks and they could just cut into your lane whenever (somewhat like Malaysia, but more scary). These crazy people in their huge trucks most often would disregard Adam’s type car and would stop really close behind cos either they don’t give a shit or they don’t notice the car being there.

Jerry is also our reliable ride when we go shopping. We can buy anything from food, to hardware, to plants and we don’t have to worry about getting it dirty or scratched (Adam’s very careful with where we are going and what we are going to buy if we went in his precious)

So what does Adam drive? ….

Nissan 350z 3.5L 6cyl 6M

We don’t have a name for it, but it’s our reliable ride to fancy dinners, night out in the city or a drive over to our friends’. It’s also Adam’s quick ride to work.

I have recently joined a ‘club’. Name: Schlumberger Spouse Association (SSA)

What is that? SSA is a global, voluntary, social association of Schlumberger spouses (ahem… not quite spouse yet, but they accept partners too…)

Objectives of SSA:

• The SSA aims to help all Schlumberger spouses and families to adapt and integrate to their environment.
• The SSA seeks to foster a sense of fellowship and create a sustainable network amongst all spouses and partners.

Basically this is a team of women who does not have much to do. Therefore they meet up so very often to keep themselves occupied (and start bitching once they make friends)

SSA has a bunch of activities planned. Weekly activities:

• Mondays and Thurdays - Belly Dancing classes
• Wednesdays - Mahjong for adults or Play Group for kids

Monthly activities

• Wine Tasting Trip
• Bunco
• Lunch Bunch (meet up for lunch and wine and chat the day away)
• Tennis and Lunch
• Morning Coffee Sessions
• International Cooking Demo
• Bowling

There are Special Outings as well, varies every month but some examples are

• Antique Shopping
• Pistol Shooting
• Wine 101 Course

Sounds interesting? I have only been to 1 morning coffee session so far. It is fun meeting people from other country. You learn where they are originally from, where they have been posted to and how they cope with moving, especially with kids.

The women I met were really nice, friendly and welcoming. I guess they are welcoming and hospitable because they know how it feels being new to a country without many friends, and they are friendly because that’s the only way for them to build a network of friends! I guess this is a good way for me to meet more people and have some of my own friends, as currently my friends are really friends of Adam’s.

I got an invitation to a Newcomers Coffee session next week. It’s a session to welcome me (and other new members or those new to Houston) to SSA and Houston. I believe I will meet more spouses then and will keep you posted on the outcome of this coffee session.

Cheers!