The urge to get a new tech has come and now I am itching to get my hands on a new laptop. My current Aftershock has served me really well for the past 4.5 years and it will continue to serve me until the day it dies, but carrying it around in my bag to work has not been a very pleasant experience for my shoulders.
If there are projects that are happening, I normally like to drop by those sites first to take a look at what is happening before actually heading to the office and it is something I do all the time until very recently.
Travelling to multiple sites in the past with a 2.5kg laptop sitting in my bag was always a pain, but the rotten icing on top of that cake was that sometimes, I wouldn't even take out the laptop from my bag because by the time I have visited my last site, back when I had 4 sites to run at one time, it would already be 5pm, and returning back to the office just to sit around for 2 hours until closing was pointless.
So now, when I have the laptop sitting in my bag, I no longer have the mood to visit my sites before I go to the office and that really isn't a good thing, I am becoming lazy because of the potential strain my shoulders will be in, add the horrible weather into the equation and that laziness suddenly feels justified.
I was looking at the Microsoft Surface a few months back, before my trip to New York, contemplating whether I should invest in a new laptop or go on a holiday, and I honestly do not regret picking New York because it was a really good trip, but what I do regret is getting the Nintendo Switch for the trip because I barely touched the console there, and for weeks now, it has been sitting in it's dock, in perpetual charge and I paid $500 for it, such a huge waste of money, even got a copy Breath of the Wild, thinking I will really get sucked into the game, but don't have the time nor the mood to play it for more than an hour at one go. My declining interest in video games is a sign that I am getting older.
Anyways, after I came back from New York, I immediately felt broke, so the thought of getting a new laptop completely left my mind, but a few days ago, that itch suddenly came back and I started researching online again. I have lost interest in the Microsoft Surface because it's too expensive for me, now my eyes are set on getting an Apple Macbook Air, but I am currently a little worried about the OS transition from Windows to Apple, it will take awhile, I know I will get used to it eventually, in fact, I am really keen to try Apple's operating system, but my biggest concern is the software compatibility with Windows because my main need for the new laptop would be it's ability to run Sketch Up, I don't need it to render because I can use my current Aftershock laptop for that, but in order to be able to render on my Aftershock, the file has to be compatible with Windows OS.
Decisions, decisions, decisions.
While I take time to contemplate on the laptop situation, work has also been feeling a bit messy, J&J's project is happening right now, things are going according to plan, there are a few minor changes with some of the renovation works and I have been getting the occasional text messages from Jenny sharing her concerns about how everything has been going on site, but overall it is still manageable. Took some time yesterday to really break down the cost of their project just to see how pathetic my profit margin would be and it is pretty bad.
The total project is about $27,000, this is after all the miscalculations and that giant discount I gave them, if I hadn't miscalculated and gave them the giant fat discount, the project should have been at around $30,000, which means a project of that scale should be netting me with at least $3000 in commission, but after some calculations, I am looking at about a $1,400 commission, it's not great. I do hope that J&J are at least aware of the fact that they have gotten a really really good deal from me. It's really such a newbie mistake for me to make with them, I have been in the industry for 2.5 years and I still made such a huge calculation mistake.
There is another project in sight that I might potentially get, the large one that would amount to $80,000. From my conversations with the homeowners, I can tell that they have pretty much decided to engage me, but they just haven't finalize that decision on paper yet. We have met SO MANY times, I would be surprise if they suddenly choose to back out and engage someone else.
The problem with that big project is that they have zero idea how little time they actually have left and the husband is actually no longer in Singapore to confirm the design details, so everything has to be decided with the wife and the whole arrangement just feels really really messy. There really isn't any sense of urgency on their end and because they haven't officially engaged me yet, I also don't really feel all that obligated to rush them, which I should. We'll see how it goes I guess, I might have to convince them to delay the renovation because starting it in 2 weeks time from now is going to be a huge bloody mess.
Sunday, 23 June 2019
Celebrity Run-In At Work
A mini celebrity came to the showroom today to request for a quotation and I was presented with the opportunity to serve her because I happen to be the nearest to the entrance.
So what happen was this afternoon, as I was busy doing my work in the Showroom, I heard the main door of the Showroom open and close and initially, I thought it was maybe one of my colleagues who had entered, but when no one walked past, I realized it was actually a customer, I didn't really want to get up and greet the customer who had walked in at first, but because no one else was around to greet them and I assumed the customer who walked in had prior arrangements with another designer, I begrudgingly got up and went up to the husband, fully expecting him to go...
... at this point, I was only focusing on the husband when I was walking towards them, it was only when I actually started asking them if they had made an appointment did I find the wife very familiar looking and it took me a split second to realize who she was.
She isn't a household name and she isn't someone that everyone would immediately recognize, or even recognize at all, literally no one else in the Showroom recognize her or knew who she was, but I knew who she was because I watch a lot of Youtube videos and she happens to be a host of one of those shows that I watch. Honestly, aside from that Youtube show that she host, I have never really seen her anywhere else, I heard she does act on Channel 5 shows, but no one really watches Local Television anymore, so once again, not a huge celebrity, but she was famous enough to get me flustered and when she told me they didn't make any appointment, instead of asking someone to take over like I normally would, because I was legitimately busy, I actually told her and her husband that I would serve them and brought them to the table I was seated at.
I quickly ran over to my locker to grab a name card, passed it to her and we began the consultation. Throughout the session, I felt like she had a friendly but distant vibe, we didn't really click at all during the consultation session and when I get this kind of vibe from a regular client, my immediate action is to not bother following up. I just felt uncomfortable around her and not because she is unpleasant, I mean she was as pleasant as a regular person would be when we were talking, but I guess because she is "famous" in my eyes, I wasn't treating her like a regular client, I was treating her like a famous person, and it just got me really flustered and I really did not like feeling, I felt like I was walking on egg shells around her because I really wanted her to like me but I also didn't want to come on too strong and try too hard to make her like me.
I was comfortable around the husband though, but I just can't with the wife. I'm too socially awkward for this working relationship to work, not like I had any chance to clinch their project to begin with, I mean I did give her a lot of misinformation, shared with her all the wrong pricing, gave her the wrong ball park figure for the overall renovation cost. She told me I was their first Interior Designer, I must have set the ball really low for the other Interior Designers, now I am just contemplating whether I should even bother preparing the quotation for her or not, there is no doubt that the other Interior Designers she visited after me enlightened her on my many pricing errors, if she visited other Design Firms after me that is.
To prepare or not to prepare, that is the question, I am just afraid that if I don't prepare a quotation, she might talk about it on social media or maybe down the road, might bring it up as a passing remark about her renovation experience in some random interview or maybe even on her show, it's highly unlikely but not impossible, maybe one day when her internet show runs out of content and they make her do a house tour, she might bring it up. I don't follow her on Instagram because I am not really a huge fan of hers to want to do that, but now maybe I will just stalk her on Social Media a little to see if she has any updates on her Interior Renovation journey.
So what happen was this afternoon, as I was busy doing my work in the Showroom, I heard the main door of the Showroom open and close and initially, I thought it was maybe one of my colleagues who had entered, but when no one walked past, I realized it was actually a customer, I didn't really want to get up and greet the customer who had walked in at first, but because no one else was around to greet them and I assumed the customer who walked in had prior arrangements with another designer, I begrudgingly got up and went up to the husband, fully expecting him to go...
"Yeah, we have an appointment with so and so..."
... at this point, I was only focusing on the husband when I was walking towards them, it was only when I actually started asking them if they had made an appointment did I find the wife very familiar looking and it took me a split second to realize who she was.
She isn't a household name and she isn't someone that everyone would immediately recognize, or even recognize at all, literally no one else in the Showroom recognize her or knew who she was, but I knew who she was because I watch a lot of Youtube videos and she happens to be a host of one of those shows that I watch. Honestly, aside from that Youtube show that she host, I have never really seen her anywhere else, I heard she does act on Channel 5 shows, but no one really watches Local Television anymore, so once again, not a huge celebrity, but she was famous enough to get me flustered and when she told me they didn't make any appointment, instead of asking someone to take over like I normally would, because I was legitimately busy, I actually told her and her husband that I would serve them and brought them to the table I was seated at.
I quickly ran over to my locker to grab a name card, passed it to her and we began the consultation. Throughout the session, I felt like she had a friendly but distant vibe, we didn't really click at all during the consultation session and when I get this kind of vibe from a regular client, my immediate action is to not bother following up. I just felt uncomfortable around her and not because she is unpleasant, I mean she was as pleasant as a regular person would be when we were talking, but I guess because she is "famous" in my eyes, I wasn't treating her like a regular client, I was treating her like a famous person, and it just got me really flustered and I really did not like feeling, I felt like I was walking on egg shells around her because I really wanted her to like me but I also didn't want to come on too strong and try too hard to make her like me.
I was comfortable around the husband though, but I just can't with the wife. I'm too socially awkward for this working relationship to work, not like I had any chance to clinch their project to begin with, I mean I did give her a lot of misinformation, shared with her all the wrong pricing, gave her the wrong ball park figure for the overall renovation cost. She told me I was their first Interior Designer, I must have set the ball really low for the other Interior Designers, now I am just contemplating whether I should even bother preparing the quotation for her or not, there is no doubt that the other Interior Designers she visited after me enlightened her on my many pricing errors, if she visited other Design Firms after me that is.
To prepare or not to prepare, that is the question, I am just afraid that if I don't prepare a quotation, she might talk about it on social media or maybe down the road, might bring it up as a passing remark about her renovation experience in some random interview or maybe even on her show, it's highly unlikely but not impossible, maybe one day when her internet show runs out of content and they make her do a house tour, she might bring it up. I don't follow her on Instagram because I am not really a huge fan of hers to want to do that, but now maybe I will just stalk her on Social Media a little to see if she has any updates on her Interior Renovation journey.
Tuesday, 11 June 2019
The Dumbcunt
I honestly have no fucking mood to respond to Jenny.
No fucking mood to respond to her fucking text.
She just send me pictures a few minutes ago of one of her neighbor's house, completely covered in protection sheet, and it is a pretty excessive level of protection, every single surface is completely covered and taped really tight, and she asks me if I will offer that level of protection for her house.
I have been in this Industry for 2.5 years and for all my projects, I have never wrap the house up like a fucking Christmas gift before, so I told her that I will definitely be laying the protection for her, but not to that extent because it was a little excessive, I knew she wouldn't be satisfied with that answer because it is Jenny I am dealing with after all, and she responds with...
Who made you the fucking queen to decide what is the standard, please kindly go and ACTUALLY FUCK YOURSELF!
Proclaiming that this is the standard when this is your first renovation, when you have only seen your neighbor's house, like what the actual fuck?
So if I go to a high end chocolatier, pay top money and have an amazing piece of chocolate there, suddenly that is the standard that every chocolate bar should have? Suddenly I am a chocolate connoisseur and have the right to go to Cadbury to start pissing at their quality of chocolate?
That client probably paid extra to get that level of protection because it's not a normal corrugated cardboard sheet, it's the thick plastic protection sheet.
Out of all the clients that I have met so far, Jenny is the first one who doesn't give a shit about my commission, which is shocking because she just made me realize how nice all my other clients who offer to pay more actually are. Even if my other clients are difficult to deal with, at least they have some sort of empathy.
This relentlessfucking bitch woman really pissed me off when she accused me of overcharging her 2 days ago and she is pissing me off again today, I have never actually gotten so angry at a customer before until Jenny.
I was literally typing a response along the line of...
... but quickly backspace and had to put the phone down to cool off.
I guess feeling anger rather than fear towards a customer is a good thing, when I am fearful of a customer, I am placed in this inferior position of wanting to please the clients, but when I am pissed off at them, I don't feel entitled to please them, I just need to exercise more self control and not send a response full of expletives.
I did not bother to respond to her, but she later asks me to increase the size of a particular carpentry and I just told her that if she wanted to increase the size, the price is going to increase, to which she goes...
.... no bitch, you ain't getting any free upgrades from me anymore. I had to say "my carpenter will charge more" instead of "I have to charge you more" to let her know that I am not the one who wants to charge her more because this bitch thinks every additional charge I am adding into their quotation is my attempt at trying to earn back the discount I gave them, she thinks every upgrade she request is free, like I am running some sort of charity organisation for her.
No fucking mood to respond to her fucking text.
She just send me pictures a few minutes ago of one of her neighbor's house, completely covered in protection sheet, and it is a pretty excessive level of protection, every single surface is completely covered and taped really tight, and she asks me if I will offer that level of protection for her house.
I have been in this Industry for 2.5 years and for all my projects, I have never wrap the house up like a fucking Christmas gift before, so I told her that I will definitely be laying the protection for her, but not to that extent because it was a little excessive, I knew she wouldn't be satisfied with that answer because it is Jenny I am dealing with after all, and she responds with...
"This is what my neighbor shared with me, this is the standard."
Who made you the fucking queen to decide what is the standard, please kindly go and ACTUALLY FUCK YOURSELF!
Proclaiming that this is the standard when this is your first renovation, when you have only seen your neighbor's house, like what the actual fuck?
So if I go to a high end chocolatier, pay top money and have an amazing piece of chocolate there, suddenly that is the standard that every chocolate bar should have? Suddenly I am a chocolate connoisseur and have the right to go to Cadbury to start pissing at their quality of chocolate?
YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!
That client probably paid extra to get that level of protection because it's not a normal corrugated cardboard sheet, it's the thick plastic protection sheet.
Out of all the clients that I have met so far, Jenny is the first one who doesn't give a shit about my commission, which is shocking because she just made me realize how nice all my other clients who offer to pay more actually are. Even if my other clients are difficult to deal with, at least they have some sort of empathy.
This relentless
I was literally typing a response along the line of...
"No Jenny, this is NOT the standard."
... but quickly backspace and had to put the phone down to cool off.
I guess feeling anger rather than fear towards a customer is a good thing, when I am fearful of a customer, I am placed in this inferior position of wanting to please the clients, but when I am pissed off at them, I don't feel entitled to please them, I just need to exercise more self control and not send a response full of expletives.
I did not bother to respond to her, but she later asks me to increase the size of a particular carpentry and I just told her that if she wanted to increase the size, the price is going to increase, to which she goes...
"But I just want to increase it by a little."
.... no bitch, you ain't getting any free upgrades from me anymore. I had to say "my carpenter will charge more" instead of "I have to charge you more" to let her know that I am not the one who wants to charge her more because this bitch thinks every additional charge I am adding into their quotation is my attempt at trying to earn back the discount I gave them, she thinks every upgrade she request is free, like I am running some sort of charity organisation for her.
Sunday, 9 June 2019
Le Piece of Shite
During my last meeting with Jonny & Jenny at their site on Friday, I had to break the news to Jonny that I have accidentally undercharged them for quite a few items and needed to recoup my losses, so I could no longer honor the original price I had promised them for a few of the newer items they wanted to add to their renovation. Jonny was really understanding and said he didn't mind me charging him a little extra because he didn't want me to run the project at a loss.
At that point, I was only speaking to Jonny alone as Jenny was still at work and would only arrive about an hour later, so the conversation was mainly about the design changes that had to happen after we learn of the restriction the management has set for renovation. Jonny didn't have any protest towards the new changes, he was accepting every one I had to implement and never once did he bring up the increased pricing for discussion.
So after briefing Jonny through the changes, we made some small talk and then Jenny arrives, and the first thing Jonny tells her is about the price increment, he explained to her the reason for it and it was not so much in a tattle-tail sort of way, but more of just letting Jenny know about my predicament. Jenny was clearly a little unhappy with it, I could sense that she wasn't really all that empathetic towards my situation when I explained it to her myself, she kept playfully whining about it, but the whining was pretty short lived and we soon went back to discussing and finalizing the design.
After going through the changes with her, Jenny, being the indecisive person that she is, requested for me to prepare more 3D drawings for her, to update the colours of the carpentry so she can compare and choose between the different options, and as we were talking about the drawings, Jonny suddenly goes...
... my initial thought to that comment in my head was...
...because I know that my 3D drawings are not the best, but my past clients have never had any issues with them before, and even if they did, they have never let me know about them, when I do bring up the 3D being not as good as what my In-House designer can do , almost all of them will tell me it is good enough for them, that they don't mind a slight dip in quality if it meant that the drawings could be churned out faster.
But the initial shock I felt from that "truth bomb" was soon replaced by a sense of annoyance because of the sheer number of 3D Drawings I have already rendered for them, a total of 44 drawings.
The market rate for a single 3D drawing is about $80, 44 drawings would equate to $3520, and I am essentially updating the changes for them for free, so to have the audacity to request for more changes, and then criticize my drawings. Am I suppose to feel bad that you think my drawings aren't up to par, so I should feel even more incline to prepare those drawings for you to make up for what you have deem to be of inferior quality drawings ?
Just when I finally have a good impression of Jonny, he had to make that comment and smear a huge chunk of shit all over positive image I had painted of him earlier, like a huge "Fuck You" for having the audacity to even think of him in a positive light.
So after that diss and a few more design related discussions later, we were finally done. Even though I was criticized for my drawings, I did feel a weight being lifted off my shoulder after hearing how accepting Jonny was to the extra charges. This project is a mess and I still wish I hadn't accepted it, but to be able to recoup my losses is just one of those small little victories that made me feel a little better about it.
When I was finally home, Jenny sends me a text, requesting to have a copy of the new quote, saying she wanted to have a closer look to see if everything adds up, so I send it her way and then there wasn't any further replies from her end.
Saturday came, and things were pretty quiet on their end, I still owed Jonny and Jenny the 3D so I was honestly expecting them to rush me for it, but they didn't, and Sunday rolls around and things were pretty peaceful as well, my plan was to send all the new 3D on Monday because I just wanted to have a nice and quiet weekend with no disturbance from Jonny and Jenny, and that wish was almost granted, ALMOST, because at 10 pm on Sunday, Jenny sends me a text message, accusing me of overcharging her for the new items.
I have explained my situation to Jonny and he understands my predicament, he then explains it to Jenny and even though she was whining about it, I thought she would at least be empathetic to my situation, but I was wrong because of course she has to drop my a text message at 10pm on Sunday to accuse me of overcharging her and ruining my almost perfect weekend.
It took me an hour to finally send back a reply explaining to her the "overcharges" because it's really difficult to respond back with...
... and not piss her off. I mean I wish I could send an angry text to her and just tell her that if she ain't happy with the price, she is free to terminate the contract, or if she thinks the items are too expensive, then take it out, simple as that, but I tried to reason with her, and I told her that is she was up for it, I will lower the amount more, not to earn, but to reduce my losses and she is FUCKING relentless.
I told her that charging her HIGHER for certain items isn't me trying to earn more from said items, it's me trying to reduce the losses instead because I undercharged them, and then I told her that I hope she would understand my predicament, and she comes back around and accuses me of charging her higher for the new items to make up for the huge discount I had given her from the start...
.... it's like she is not even taking the time to actually read what I am writing to her, there is a fucking huge difference between me earning extra and me trying to reduce my losses, I am the latter, I explained to her that I if I sold it to her at that price, I will be making a loss, and she doesn't fucking get it, this has nothing to do with me earning more to make up for the huge discount I gave them, she keeps thinking I am out to cheat them off their hard earned money. It just fucking pisses me off when a client would picture me as a this calculative person who is out to scam innocent homeowners, FUCK YOU!
She keeps going on about how my price is higher than the other Design Company ,claiming that because the other company is supposed to be more high-end than mine, my price should be lower. I checked the price and realized that the "high-end" company was selling them at a slight loss and they are able to do so because everything else in the quotation is jacked-up, of course Jenny suddenly gets selective-reading when I try and explain that to her, and wouldn't stop yapping about how my price is too high.
In the end, I had no choice but to lower it down, I didn't want to get into an argument with her, so this was the only way to shut her up and Jonny didn't contribute to the conversation at all. Jenny then begrudgingly thanks me for being understanding and tells me she will refer her friends to me if I do a good job, like bitch go fuck yourself, I don't want to deal with any potential Jenny 2.0 and Jenny 3.0, once this project is done, we are done!
I don't want to owe you any fucking favors.
The project hasn't even started yet and I am already getting pissed off by them, I can't imagine the shit show that will ensue once it actually begins.
At that point, I was only speaking to Jonny alone as Jenny was still at work and would only arrive about an hour later, so the conversation was mainly about the design changes that had to happen after we learn of the restriction the management has set for renovation. Jonny didn't have any protest towards the new changes, he was accepting every one I had to implement and never once did he bring up the increased pricing for discussion.
So after briefing Jonny through the changes, we made some small talk and then Jenny arrives, and the first thing Jonny tells her is about the price increment, he explained to her the reason for it and it was not so much in a tattle-tail sort of way, but more of just letting Jenny know about my predicament. Jenny was clearly a little unhappy with it, I could sense that she wasn't really all that empathetic towards my situation when I explained it to her myself, she kept playfully whining about it, but the whining was pretty short lived and we soon went back to discussing and finalizing the design.
After going through the changes with her, Jenny, being the indecisive person that she is, requested for me to prepare more 3D drawings for her, to update the colours of the carpentry so she can compare and choose between the different options, and as we were talking about the drawings, Jonny suddenly goes...
"Actually I find that your 3D looks really fake, it looks really toy-like compared to the 3D prepared by other companies out there."
... my initial thought to that comment in my head was...
"Someone finally said it."
...because I know that my 3D drawings are not the best, but my past clients have never had any issues with them before, and even if they did, they have never let me know about them, when I do bring up the 3D being not as good as what my In-House designer can do , almost all of them will tell me it is good enough for them, that they don't mind a slight dip in quality if it meant that the drawings could be churned out faster.
But the initial shock I felt from that "truth bomb" was soon replaced by a sense of annoyance because of the sheer number of 3D Drawings I have already rendered for them, a total of 44 drawings.
44 FUCKING RENDERS!!
The market rate for a single 3D drawing is about $80, 44 drawings would equate to $3520, and I am essentially updating the changes for them for free, so to have the audacity to request for more changes, and then criticize my drawings. Am I suppose to feel bad that you think my drawings aren't up to par, so I should feel even more incline to prepare those drawings for you to make up for what you have deem to be of inferior quality drawings ?
Just when I finally have a good impression of Jonny, he had to make that comment and smear a huge chunk of shit all over positive image I had painted of him earlier, like a huge "Fuck You" for having the audacity to even think of him in a positive light.
So after that diss and a few more design related discussions later, we were finally done. Even though I was criticized for my drawings, I did feel a weight being lifted off my shoulder after hearing how accepting Jonny was to the extra charges. This project is a mess and I still wish I hadn't accepted it, but to be able to recoup my losses is just one of those small little victories that made me feel a little better about it.
When I was finally home, Jenny sends me a text, requesting to have a copy of the new quote, saying she wanted to have a closer look to see if everything adds up, so I send it her way and then there wasn't any further replies from her end.
Saturday came, and things were pretty quiet on their end, I still owed Jonny and Jenny the 3D so I was honestly expecting them to rush me for it, but they didn't, and Sunday rolls around and things were pretty peaceful as well, my plan was to send all the new 3D on Monday because I just wanted to have a nice and quiet weekend with no disturbance from Jonny and Jenny, and that wish was almost granted, ALMOST, because at 10 pm on Sunday, Jenny sends me a text message, accusing me of overcharging her for the new items.
I have explained my situation to Jonny and he understands my predicament, he then explains it to Jenny and even though she was whining about it, I thought she would at least be empathetic to my situation, but I was wrong because of course she has to drop my a text message at 10pm on Sunday to accuse me of overcharging her and ruining my almost perfect weekend.
It took me an hour to finally send back a reply explaining to her the "overcharges" because it's really difficult to respond back with...
"I ain't overcharging you, you dumb fuck!, I had undercharged you previously and now I am not!"
... and not piss her off. I mean I wish I could send an angry text to her and just tell her that if she ain't happy with the price, she is free to terminate the contract, or if she thinks the items are too expensive, then take it out, simple as that, but I tried to reason with her, and I told her that is she was up for it, I will lower the amount more, not to earn, but to reduce my losses and she is FUCKING relentless.
I told her that charging her HIGHER for certain items isn't me trying to earn more from said items, it's me trying to reduce the losses instead because I undercharged them, and then I told her that I hope she would understand my predicament, and she comes back around and accuses me of charging her higher for the new items to make up for the huge discount I had given her from the start...
WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK !?!?!
.... it's like she is not even taking the time to actually read what I am writing to her, there is a fucking huge difference between me earning extra and me trying to reduce my losses, I am the latter, I explained to her that I if I sold it to her at that price, I will be making a loss, and she doesn't fucking get it, this has nothing to do with me earning more to make up for the huge discount I gave them, she keeps thinking I am out to cheat them off their hard earned money. It just fucking pisses me off when a client would picture me as a this calculative person who is out to scam innocent homeowners, FUCK YOU!
She keeps going on about how my price is higher than the other Design Company ,claiming that because the other company is supposed to be more high-end than mine, my price should be lower. I checked the price and realized that the "high-end" company was selling them at a slight loss and they are able to do so because everything else in the quotation is jacked-up, of course Jenny suddenly gets selective-reading when I try and explain that to her, and wouldn't stop yapping about how my price is too high.
In the end, I had no choice but to lower it down, I didn't want to get into an argument with her, so this was the only way to shut her up and Jonny didn't contribute to the conversation at all. Jenny then begrudgingly thanks me for being understanding and tells me she will refer her friends to me if I do a good job, like bitch go fuck yourself, I don't want to deal with any potential Jenny 2.0 and Jenny 3.0, once this project is done, we are done!
I don't want to owe you any fucking favors.
The project hasn't even started yet and I am already getting pissed off by them, I can't imagine the shit show that will ensue once it actually begins.
Friday, 31 May 2019
Final days in New York
The trip back to New York was bittersweet because on one hand, I was glad I could be in New York City again but on the other hand, I also knew that we will be going home the next day and it was just really sad.
We rode the Amtrak back and upon leaving the train, I was immediately greeted by the stench of the subway, and I knew for sure I was in New York.
My Sister decided that since it was our last night in New York, she wanted our stay to be a little better, so she booked a slightly more expensive hotel that was in a prime location, literally across NBC Studios at 30 Rockefeller Road.
View from the hotel room, the white building is the NBC Studio, which was the Studio where we had a tour of during our 2 day.
Unfortunately, the only thing that was better about this Hotel was the location because it was really really small. The lobby of the hotel was super small, the hotel room itself was also really tight and narrow, it only had one bed so I had to sleep on a sofa bed, the walkways are really tight, the bathroom is really small and the whole hotel just felt really squished up.
That being said, I did really like the Interior of the room, even if I don't get to sleep on the bed, it looks more much modern than the other 2 hotels and the colour scheme is probably something I will want to have for my own home in the future.
So the point of this trip back to New York, aside from it being easier to get to JFK Airport the next day, was mainly to get all souvenirs, we didn't buy much during our first trip because packing our bag full of souvenirs then would mean having to travel to Washington and back to New York again with all those souvenirs in the luggage and that wasn't really ideal.
Of course aside from Souvenirs, I also had wanted to make sure to visit Magnolia Bakery one last time, so after our dinner at a Japanese Steak House, which was something like Pepper Lunch, which was pretty good, we made our way to the bakery and unfortunately, because it was really packed, with a queue that was lining outside the shop itself, I decided to drop by again much later at night since the bakery would be open till midnight.
We headed to the nearby Duane Reade and got a bunch of candies and snacks to bring home and I took a long time contemplating whether I wanted to buy a bag of candy for my office colleagues or not because I am not very close to all of them and even though I definitely wanted to get some stuff for the ones I am close to, I just didn't feel like the ones that I weren't were obligated to getting any sort of souvenirs from me.
The last time someone went overseas in my company, he actually brought back a few bags of chocolate, hardly anyone ate them and looking at the bags in the fridge,barely untouched for the first few weeks just made me feel really bad for that colleague. It's underappreciated and no one thanks you for it, so why even bother, I would rather get individual gifts for people I know will appreciate them and also just people I actually want to get gifts for, no point wasting money on everyone.
Anyways, after purchasing quite a few bags of candy and loading them into my luggage back at the hotel, I headed out when the sky got dark and went back to Magnolia Bakery, this time the line all contained in the shop itself. There were like a bunch of people standing outside the bakery initially that I thought were queuing up, but then they just turn out to be just standing around, thankfully I didn't join that cluster fuck thinking it was a line because that would have been a huge waste of time and also extremely embarrassing when they suddenly just left together and I am just left standing there like a stupid tourist.
Since I had cupcakes the first time I visited the place, this time I decided I wanted to try their famous Banana Pudding and also just get a piece of their Cheesecake, which is served in a small round.
I wasn't a huge fan of the banana pudding though, and googling the recipe has made me realize that nothing in the banana pudding is made from scratch, which is just disappointing. The recipe is shared on the Magnolia Bakery's Website and it is essentially instant pudding mix folded with some whipped cream, Nilla wafers and fresh bananas. I could have made this myself, and this medium size cup of banana pudding was about $7 USD, which is crazy expensive for something that was made using mainly instant pudding mix and boxed biscuits.
I got the medium because they were out of small and the large one is just not a good idea, I only had 1 night and the next day to finish everything, if I had a few more days, which I honestly wish I did, I would gotten more cheesecakes and have them throughout the remaining days. Oh, and the reason why I couldn't get a cheesecake during my first New York visit was because the Ameritania Hotel locked the fridge for some reason, so my Sister and I couldn't get any perishables,, which was such a waste because it was our longest hotel stay and I could have used some dairy based drinks in the fridge, like those bottle of coffees from Dunkin Donuts, which I did not manage to try even though I told myself I had to, another regret to add to the list.
So the night essentially ended with me stuffing myself with the Banana Pudding and then falling asleep, feeling sad knowing that this will be my last night in New York.
I woke up pretty early the next day, at about 5.30 am, for some reason I kept waking up early in America, only once did I sleep till 8am, the other times I always got up at 6.00 am, not that I was complaining, I would rather spend more time awake than asleep on my last day in New York.
Started the day with Cheesecake.
And I did my best, tried really really hard, I would have liked to pair it with a hot cup of tea or coffee, but there wasn't any available so settled for the final can of La Croix I got from Washington.
My sister got up about 2 hours later, we washed up, skipped breakfast and headed straight to the nearest Milkbar at Chelsea to get our cookies.
I ordered a Birthday Cake Shake on my first day in New York, and on my last day, I ordered a Birthday Cake Latte, it feels like such a full circle experience for me, starting and ending the trip with a Birthday Cake flavored drink from milkbar.
I was drinking it in Starbucks though, my Sister had to use the bathroom, so I had to be really conspicuous about it and I hid it behind my bag of cookies, was really tempted to replace the pink straw to a Starbucks green straw, just to really sell it, but the bag felt like a good enough cover.
After this, we took our final Metro ride back and went to the MoMA Store to get some last minute gifts for my family members.
It was really difficult to shop there because even though everything made for a great gift, 90% of the items there were way too expensive for me to get, so most of the gifts I could get for my friends were strictly MoMA branded gifts that were more affordable but definitely still a little too expensive in my eyes.
We were at the MoMA for a while, then headed back to the the Hotel after, packed everything up, checked out of the hotel, left our luggage with the hotel and headed out for our final lunch.
It was a hot day and I kept thinking this must be New York physically preparing me for my trip back to Singapore, except I completely forgot about the crazy humidity in Singapore. I wasn't sweating in New York on the last day despite the higher temperature, but the moment I landed in Singapore and was walking into the airport via the jetbridge, I just started feeling sticky.
Our final meal of the trip. After the steak I had the previous day in the Japanese restaurant, I was just craving for more steak, so I ordered it and it wasn't as good, it did satisfy my cravings for steak though, so it did it's job, although my one complaint was that the stick was not done to my request, I asked for medium rare and they just gave me well done. It was a very thin piece of steak.
After lunch, we still had a few hours to kill, so my Sister and I decided to split up once again, she do her own thing and I will do my own, then we will meet back at the Hotel Lobby to prepare to leave for the airport.
I had clearly overestimated the things I wanted to do, we had about 2 hours of time to do our own stuff, I was done in about 45 minutes. If I had more time, say if I had till night, I would have maybe visited SOHO and gotten cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcakes, or even took a train to the Upper West Side, just to take a final stroll through the neighborhood, but I didn't want to risk it, so I just settled for the hotel lobby, probably the worst Hotel Lobby out of the 3 Hotels we stayed in because of how small it was and how limited the number of seating was, one arm chair and a bench that could sit just 3 people, and it was the most expensive hotel we stayed in, such a waste.
My sister comes back about half an hour before we leave and then the van that was set to pick us up and head for the airport arrives about 15 minute late.
It was not a good ride to the Airport because traffic was abd, the driver kept honking at cars while we were still in the Manhanttan area, calling out pedestrians for crossing when the light isn't red, because that is one thing that New Yorkers do, just cross the road whenever they felt like it, no one there gives a shit about the traffic lights, it's crazy.
The ride took about an hour and it was quite agonizing because of how bad the traffic was, thankfully my motion sickness was still manageable by the time we actually reached the airport, and as we were coming up into the different terminals, the driver ask everyone which terminal they were headed to, almost everyone in the bus was confused by the question.
My sister and I knew our Terminal, so we shared the info with the driver, then another couple shared theirs, then there were this bunch of French Tourist who were just confused and kept giving the driver the wrong terminal, one of them eventually figured the correct terminal after checking their flight online so their shit got resolved, but then there was this one particular guy who just completely did not give a single fuck...
... and the way he was saying "I don't know" was so nonchalant, like it was not his problem to deal with, that it was something the driver will eventually figure out for him, he doesn't even bother checking his flight details online to confirm the terminal and I was just completely blown away at his attitude.
Luckily for him, a few of the other passenger in the van happened to also be dropping off at the Terminal where Delta Airlines was located, so he did get to the right terminal, but my gawd, looking at how unbothered he was when the driver was desperately asking him for the terminal just makes him so punchable.
My Sister and I were the last to be dropped off because our Terminal was the furthest away. The driver was nice enough to lend us a hand with our luggage, so my Sister tipped him and we made our way into the Airport, did our check-in, went through TSA and the airport was kinda boring, it was definitely no where near as mall like as the one in Changi Airport, there were a few shops here and there, but we spend most of our time in the food court waiting, I got myself a Pretzel from Aunty Anne's and then got myself a Pink Drink again from Starbucks.
After a few hours of waiting and doing nothing, we were finally able to board the plane, I went to a nearby gift shop and got myself a last minute gift, a nice little soywax candle and that was it, the trip was officially over, we were in the plane and that was the start of a fucking nightmare of a ride. Now when I think back to that flight experience, I actually feel so upset that my amazing trip was had to end on such a horrible note because the airline allowed one fucking druggie on the plane and did nothing about it when he became a disturbance to everyone who was seated around him.
I had to deal with the druggie's antics for 3 fucking hours before I got moved, and even then, the new seat was also not great, so many shit happened on the flight back to Doha, my Sister actually helped me write in a complaint letter but the response to the complaint was just a generic...
.... no, it was not beyond your control, you could have trained your attendants to deal with the druggie by confining him somewhere else where he wouldn't be a nuisance, but they did nothing, they left him where he was for the entire duration of the flight. I was lucky because I voiced out and requested to be moved, there were others who weren't so lucky and had to sit through his shit for 12 hours.
Now I am actually scared of taking such a long flight back because of the off chance I might get seated next to such an inconsiderate asshole. I was lucky because there were spare seats, but what if there weren't, am I suppose to just deal with it for 12 hours? Seriously, get your shit together Qatar Airways, this is the kind of experience that would scare anyone from taking long flights with your arline.
We rode the Amtrak back and upon leaving the train, I was immediately greeted by the stench of the subway, and I knew for sure I was in New York.
My Sister decided that since it was our last night in New York, she wanted our stay to be a little better, so she booked a slightly more expensive hotel that was in a prime location, literally across NBC Studios at 30 Rockefeller Road.
View from the hotel room, the white building is the NBC Studio, which was the Studio where we had a tour of during our 2 day.
Unfortunately, the only thing that was better about this Hotel was the location because it was really really small. The lobby of the hotel was super small, the hotel room itself was also really tight and narrow, it only had one bed so I had to sleep on a sofa bed, the walkways are really tight, the bathroom is really small and the whole hotel just felt really squished up.
That being said, I did really like the Interior of the room, even if I don't get to sleep on the bed, it looks more much modern than the other 2 hotels and the colour scheme is probably something I will want to have for my own home in the future.
So the point of this trip back to New York, aside from it being easier to get to JFK Airport the next day, was mainly to get all souvenirs, we didn't buy much during our first trip because packing our bag full of souvenirs then would mean having to travel to Washington and back to New York again with all those souvenirs in the luggage and that wasn't really ideal.
Of course aside from Souvenirs, I also had wanted to make sure to visit Magnolia Bakery one last time, so after our dinner at a Japanese Steak House, which was something like Pepper Lunch, which was pretty good, we made our way to the bakery and unfortunately, because it was really packed, with a queue that was lining outside the shop itself, I decided to drop by again much later at night since the bakery would be open till midnight.
We headed to the nearby Duane Reade and got a bunch of candies and snacks to bring home and I took a long time contemplating whether I wanted to buy a bag of candy for my office colleagues or not because I am not very close to all of them and even though I definitely wanted to get some stuff for the ones I am close to, I just didn't feel like the ones that I weren't were obligated to getting any sort of souvenirs from me.
The last time someone went overseas in my company, he actually brought back a few bags of chocolate, hardly anyone ate them and looking at the bags in the fridge,barely untouched for the first few weeks just made me feel really bad for that colleague. It's underappreciated and no one thanks you for it, so why even bother, I would rather get individual gifts for people I know will appreciate them and also just people I actually want to get gifts for, no point wasting money on everyone.
Anyways, after purchasing quite a few bags of candy and loading them into my luggage back at the hotel, I headed out when the sky got dark and went back to Magnolia Bakery, this time the line all contained in the shop itself. There were like a bunch of people standing outside the bakery initially that I thought were queuing up, but then they just turn out to be just standing around, thankfully I didn't join that cluster fuck thinking it was a line because that would have been a huge waste of time and also extremely embarrassing when they suddenly just left together and I am just left standing there like a stupid tourist.
Since I had cupcakes the first time I visited the place, this time I decided I wanted to try their famous Banana Pudding and also just get a piece of their Cheesecake, which is served in a small round.
Medium Serving of Banana Pudding and a Red Velvet Cheesecake.
The cheesecake is actually really nice, but I couldn't finish it because it was too much. I did attempt to make their cheesecake before following their recipe and I can say they taste pretty similar.
What I like about their cheesecake is that the cheese taste isn't super strong, so it was like eating a very thick and dense mousse, plus the color looks pretty.
I wasn't a huge fan of the banana pudding though, and googling the recipe has made me realize that nothing in the banana pudding is made from scratch, which is just disappointing. The recipe is shared on the Magnolia Bakery's Website and it is essentially instant pudding mix folded with some whipped cream, Nilla wafers and fresh bananas. I could have made this myself, and this medium size cup of banana pudding was about $7 USD, which is crazy expensive for something that was made using mainly instant pudding mix and boxed biscuits.
I got the medium because they were out of small and the large one is just not a good idea, I only had 1 night and the next day to finish everything, if I had a few more days, which I honestly wish I did, I would gotten more cheesecakes and have them throughout the remaining days. Oh, and the reason why I couldn't get a cheesecake during my first New York visit was because the Ameritania Hotel locked the fridge for some reason, so my Sister and I couldn't get any perishables,, which was such a waste because it was our longest hotel stay and I could have used some dairy based drinks in the fridge, like those bottle of coffees from Dunkin Donuts, which I did not manage to try even though I told myself I had to, another regret to add to the list.
So the night essentially ended with me stuffing myself with the Banana Pudding and then falling asleep, feeling sad knowing that this will be my last night in New York.
I woke up pretty early the next day, at about 5.30 am, for some reason I kept waking up early in America, only once did I sleep till 8am, the other times I always got up at 6.00 am, not that I was complaining, I would rather spend more time awake than asleep on my last day in New York.
Started the day with Cheesecake.
And I did my best, tried really really hard, I would have liked to pair it with a hot cup of tea or coffee, but there wasn't any available so settled for the final can of La Croix I got from Washington.
My sister got up about 2 hours later, we washed up, skipped breakfast and headed straight to the nearest Milkbar at Chelsea to get our cookies.
A dozen cookies, strictly for friends who deserve them because its of limited quantity.
I ordered a Birthday Cake Shake on my first day in New York, and on my last day, I ordered a Birthday Cake Latte, it feels like such a full circle experience for me, starting and ending the trip with a Birthday Cake flavored drink from milkbar.
I was drinking it in Starbucks though, my Sister had to use the bathroom, so I had to be really conspicuous about it and I hid it behind my bag of cookies, was really tempted to replace the pink straw to a Starbucks green straw, just to really sell it, but the bag felt like a good enough cover.
After this, we took our final Metro ride back and went to the MoMA Store to get some last minute gifts for my family members.
It was really difficult to shop there because even though everything made for a great gift, 90% of the items there were way too expensive for me to get, so most of the gifts I could get for my friends were strictly MoMA branded gifts that were more affordable but definitely still a little too expensive in my eyes.
We were at the MoMA for a while, then headed back to the the Hotel after, packed everything up, checked out of the hotel, left our luggage with the hotel and headed out for our final lunch.
It was a hot day and I kept thinking this must be New York physically preparing me for my trip back to Singapore, except I completely forgot about the crazy humidity in Singapore. I wasn't sweating in New York on the last day despite the higher temperature, but the moment I landed in Singapore and was walking into the airport via the jetbridge, I just started feeling sticky.
Our final meal of the trip. After the steak I had the previous day in the Japanese restaurant, I was just craving for more steak, so I ordered it and it wasn't as good, it did satisfy my cravings for steak though, so it did it's job, although my one complaint was that the stick was not done to my request, I asked for medium rare and they just gave me well done. It was a very thin piece of steak.
After lunch, we still had a few hours to kill, so my Sister and I decided to split up once again, she do her own thing and I will do my own, then we will meet back at the Hotel Lobby to prepare to leave for the airport.
I had clearly overestimated the things I wanted to do, we had about 2 hours of time to do our own stuff, I was done in about 45 minutes. If I had more time, say if I had till night, I would have maybe visited SOHO and gotten cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcakes, or even took a train to the Upper West Side, just to take a final stroll through the neighborhood, but I didn't want to risk it, so I just settled for the hotel lobby, probably the worst Hotel Lobby out of the 3 Hotels we stayed in because of how small it was and how limited the number of seating was, one arm chair and a bench that could sit just 3 people, and it was the most expensive hotel we stayed in, such a waste.
My sister comes back about half an hour before we leave and then the van that was set to pick us up and head for the airport arrives about 15 minute late.
It was not a good ride to the Airport because traffic was abd, the driver kept honking at cars while we were still in the Manhanttan area, calling out pedestrians for crossing when the light isn't red, because that is one thing that New Yorkers do, just cross the road whenever they felt like it, no one there gives a shit about the traffic lights, it's crazy.
The ride took about an hour and it was quite agonizing because of how bad the traffic was, thankfully my motion sickness was still manageable by the time we actually reached the airport, and as we were coming up into the different terminals, the driver ask everyone which terminal they were headed to, almost everyone in the bus was confused by the question.
My sister and I knew our Terminal, so we shared the info with the driver, then another couple shared theirs, then there were this bunch of French Tourist who were just confused and kept giving the driver the wrong terminal, one of them eventually figured the correct terminal after checking their flight online so their shit got resolved, but then there was this one particular guy who just completely did not give a single fuck...
Driver : Which terminal?
Guy : I don't know, I am taking Delta Airlines.
Driver : Which terminal is that?
Guy : I don't know.
... and the way he was saying "I don't know" was so nonchalant, like it was not his problem to deal with, that it was something the driver will eventually figure out for him, he doesn't even bother checking his flight details online to confirm the terminal and I was just completely blown away at his attitude.
Luckily for him, a few of the other passenger in the van happened to also be dropping off at the Terminal where Delta Airlines was located, so he did get to the right terminal, but my gawd, looking at how unbothered he was when the driver was desperately asking him for the terminal just makes him so punchable.
My Sister and I were the last to be dropped off because our Terminal was the furthest away. The driver was nice enough to lend us a hand with our luggage, so my Sister tipped him and we made our way into the Airport, did our check-in, went through TSA and the airport was kinda boring, it was definitely no where near as mall like as the one in Changi Airport, there were a few shops here and there, but we spend most of our time in the food court waiting, I got myself a Pretzel from Aunty Anne's and then got myself a Pink Drink again from Starbucks.
After a few hours of waiting and doing nothing, we were finally able to board the plane, I went to a nearby gift shop and got myself a last minute gift, a nice little soywax candle and that was it, the trip was officially over, we were in the plane and that was the start of a fucking nightmare of a ride. Now when I think back to that flight experience, I actually feel so upset that my amazing trip was had to end on such a horrible note because the airline allowed one fucking druggie on the plane and did nothing about it when he became a disturbance to everyone who was seated around him.
I had to deal with the druggie's antics for 3 fucking hours before I got moved, and even then, the new seat was also not great, so many shit happened on the flight back to Doha, my Sister actually helped me write in a complaint letter but the response to the complaint was just a generic...
"Sorry for the bad experience, unfortunately it was beyond our control...."
.... no, it was not beyond your control, you could have trained your attendants to deal with the druggie by confining him somewhere else where he wouldn't be a nuisance, but they did nothing, they left him where he was for the entire duration of the flight. I was lucky because I voiced out and requested to be moved, there were others who weren't so lucky and had to sit through his shit for 12 hours.
Now I am actually scared of taking such a long flight back because of the off chance I might get seated next to such an inconsiderate asshole. I was lucky because there were spare seats, but what if there weren't, am I suppose to just deal with it for 12 hours? Seriously, get your shit together Qatar Airways, this is the kind of experience that would scare anyone from taking long flights with your arline.
Thursday, 30 May 2019
3 Days in Washington
Right after New York, the next destination was Washington and honestly speaking, I wasn't really sure what to expect from Washington.
We took an Amtrak from Penn Station and prior to the train ride, which I knew was going to be about 3 hours long, I decided to give Dunkin Donuts another chance and got a cup of coffee and a box of Donut Holes.
We visited the White House, there was a protest that was happening outside about kidnapped children, it was a small group of protesters just walking around in circles, holding signs and chanting something about returning lost kids to us or something.
And it was bloody hot, once again, not a humid country so I didn't actually sweat at all, but my face got really disgustingly oily, my nose was glistening in the Sun, it was gross.
The roads were also cordoned off for some reason, so there were areas where the traffic lights really didn't matter, and when me and my sister were about to cross one that was near the White House, it so happened that a car was heading out, I kinda alerted my Sister and we stopped rather abruptly, the driver sees us and ushers us to move ahead, and when both me and my Sister were finally across, she suddenly turns to me and goes...
... and proceeds to sneakily video tape her while she (Kellyanne) was waiting for the traffic lights to turn green.
My sister later googles Kellyanne Conway and confirms that the driver who gave way for us to cross was indeed Kellyanne Conway because she was wearing the same blue blouse she wore that day to give a speech at the White House.
3rd famous person we saw after Stephen Colbert and Julianna Margulies, the latter was a guest on Stephen Colbert Show. It was pretty cool, I mean I was hoping to see at least 1 famous person during the trip but I managed to catch 3, even though the 3rd one is more infamous than famous.
For dinner, the original plan was to visit Cheesecake Factory, so we took the train there and the subway stations are so clean compared to NY, it looked like a set straight out of a Christopher Nolan film.
Unfortunately when we did finally reach the place, Cheesecake Factory was closed because of a power outage, in fact, quite a few stores there were close due to a power outage, I assume it must have been caused by the tornado earlier.
There wasn't much option available at where we were at, so we just went to a nearby convenience store and got a few snacks, I bought half a dozen cans of La Croix and we headed back to the hotel to rest for the day.
We made a few stops every now and then for some photo taking, I was not interested in taking any photos of myself because the lighting was just horrible. Having sunlight shine directly in my face just made me look kinda fat, really accentuates my double chin that doesn't normally exist. One photo exist on my phone, I might use it as a profile pic on Instagram one day, just for shits and giggles.
Saw the Abraham Lincoln Statue, which was really cool, really crowded as well.
This time, I made sure to take a photo of the interior, because the queues were pretty long here, unlike the one in the Upper West Side in New York.
We took an Amtrak from Penn Station and prior to the train ride, which I knew was going to be about 3 hours long, I decided to give Dunkin Donuts another chance and got a cup of coffee and a box of Donut Holes.
This time, the coffee wasn't a latte like my last 2 orders, instead it was a brewed coffee with creamer and sugar and it wasn't good at all. It was even more bitter than my last cup, the after taste was just not great and I drank only about 50% of it on the train, donuts were just donuts, 5 of it were regular glazed donuts holes while another 5 was the chocolate variant. I really do not like Chocolate Donuts, I just don't like the consistency, so I didn't actually finish the donut holes.
Shout out to the counter guys at Dunkin Donuts also, I accidentally gave him 3 twenty dollar bill instead of 3 dollar bills and he was very honest about it, another customer who was making his order beside me also said I was lucky that the cashier was so honest about it. American notes are just confusing because they are all in the same colour, and I really wouldn't have know if I overpaid for my donuts because I was not keeping track of my spending, which was horrible, for all I know, I might have given out wrong bills multiple times, but only the Dunkin Donuts cashier was honest enough to return the excess to me.
Anyways, my Sister and I got lunch from Pret-A-Manger, or more specifically, I made sure to buy enough to feed myself a light lunch and all my sister got was a small grain bowl.
The ride was pretty pleasant, the seats were of a comfortable size and the journey was smooth. Another reason why I didn't finish the coffee was also because I tend to get the runs after drinking coffee and I didn't want to risk having to visit the toilet on the train, read online that it's pretty nasty.
Reach Union Station about 3 hours later and it doesn't smell like piss, the architecture was pretty impressive.
I mean the ceiling of the station looks like this, I was definitely not in a New York train station anymore.
The Washington Capitol Building greeted us from a distance once we exited the station. The place was pretty full, everyone was just fumbling around and so were me and my sister, she called an Uber and it took a while to locate said Uber because of the sheer number of vehicles that were just coming and going.
We did eventually find our Uber and made our way to the Hotel, did all the check-ins and even though the hotel room was much bigger, the ceilings were a little too low for me and it felt a little claustrophobic.
The views from our hotel room
During our unpacking, I got an alert on my phone that there was a tornado warning, my sister's phone started buzzing too and then a huge storm appeared and it was pretty intense, the warnings were urging everyone to stay indoors until 4.15 pm, but my Sister kept insisting that the storm looked like a regular heavy shower back in Singapore, and kept wanting to leave the hotel at 4.00 pm because she was hungry, which was just shocking for me that she was suddenly not making sound decisions.
Luckily when we actually left the hotel, the storm had subsided, so we headed to the closest subway which was just across the street and got ourselves new Metro Cards, then took a bus to Ben's Chili Bowl shop and had Chilis.
It was a pretty good, I had Chili Cheese Fries and my sister just got a bowl of Chilis.
After that, we walked around a bit and explored a few of the landmarks on our own.
We visited the White House, there was a protest that was happening outside about kidnapped children, it was a small group of protesters just walking around in circles, holding signs and chanting something about returning lost kids to us or something.
I found this building to be pretty impressive looking, in fact, all the buildings in the Washington Mall are very impressive looking, there are no skyscrapers in Washington, all the buildings are pretty low compared to the Big Apple.
And it was bloody hot, once again, not a humid country so I didn't actually sweat at all, but my face got really disgustingly oily, my nose was glistening in the Sun, it was gross.
The roads were also cordoned off for some reason, so there were areas where the traffic lights really didn't matter, and when me and my sister were about to cross one that was near the White House, it so happened that a car was heading out, I kinda alerted my Sister and we stopped rather abruptly, the driver sees us and ushers us to move ahead, and when both me and my Sister were finally across, she suddenly turns to me and goes...
"OMG, that is Kellyanne Conway."
... and proceeds to sneakily video tape her while she (Kellyanne) was waiting for the traffic lights to turn green.
My sister later googles Kellyanne Conway and confirms that the driver who gave way for us to cross was indeed Kellyanne Conway because she was wearing the same blue blouse she wore that day to give a speech at the White House.
3rd famous person we saw after Stephen Colbert and Julianna Margulies, the latter was a guest on Stephen Colbert Show. It was pretty cool, I mean I was hoping to see at least 1 famous person during the trip but I managed to catch 3, even though the 3rd one is more infamous than famous.
For dinner, the original plan was to visit Cheesecake Factory, so we took the train there and the subway stations are so clean compared to NY, it looked like a set straight out of a Christopher Nolan film.
Unfortunately when we did finally reach the place, Cheesecake Factory was closed because of a power outage, in fact, quite a few stores there were close due to a power outage, I assume it must have been caused by the tornado earlier.
There wasn't much option available at where we were at, so we just went to a nearby convenience store and got a few snacks, I bought half a dozen cans of La Croix and we headed back to the hotel to rest for the day.
We went to a nearby Cosi to get some Salad for dinner and it was pretty good, perfect pairing with my LaCroix, its like a healthy meal that white girls would eat because #healthgoals
The next day, we had a segway tour planned, headed to a Panera Bread for breakfast, ordered a cup of hot chocolate and a bacon egg croissant sandwich if I remember correctly and it was a nice breakfast. American Breakfast is really my kind of breakfast, a nice egg and bacon combo will always work for me.
The segway tour itself was alright, we went to a few monuments to look at the buildings, learn a bit about the history behind some of them, the Sun was extremely hot that day and I actually got sun burnt after the segway tour.
The guide was pretty entertaining and she did a good job keeping what could have been a boring topic for me pretty interesting, the segway itself was very fun to ride, looking at all the other visitors having to walk from Point A to Point B and knowing I can just segway to Point B from Point A within a fraction of the time was extremely satisfying and my leg was very thankful for the segway.
We made a few stops every now and then for some photo taking, I was not interested in taking any photos of myself because the lighting was just horrible. Having sunlight shine directly in my face just made me look kinda fat, really accentuates my double chin that doesn't normally exist. One photo exist on my phone, I might use it as a profile pic on Instagram one day, just for shits and giggles.
We segway along the main road, which was really interesting because the bicycle and segway lanes are actually in the middle of the main road, so cars were just passing us by while we were zipping through. No pictures of that because its dangerous to segway and snap, wouldn't want to segway into oncoming traffic.
This was a long stretch of road and flanked on both sides of this pathway were all the Smithsonian Museums, so many people were walking and it is a really really long stretch of road, so I was really thankful that I could rely on my segway.
We visited the Washington Monument, the guide asked if I wanted to take a picture with my Sis and we both turn down the offer because horrible lighting.
Saw the Abraham Lincoln Statue, which was really cool, really crowded as well.
Really nice view of the Washington Monument, this was one of the final legs of the tour, my face was covered in a layer of grease at this point.
After the tour ended and we went back to the Segway Tour shop to return the segways, my sister and I decided to actually visit the Museums, the tour only showed us where the Museums were but never brought us in because it would take way too long to cover every inch of all the Museums.
We decided to split in the Museum of Natural History, so she went to do her stuff and I did mine. I didn't stay very long though, after walking the grounds once and seeing how crowded the museum was, I immediately lost interest, went to the souvenir shop to get a few stuff for my friends and then headed right out.
The goal that day was to drop by Georgetown Cupcakes to get cupcakes from there, but it was lunch time and Georgetown Cupcakes was too far for me, so I scrapped the idea completely and went to milkbar, because I am really predictable.
This time, I made sure to take a photo of the interior, because the queues were pretty long here, unlike the one in the Upper West Side in New York.
Did not get any cookies, but got myself a bagel bomb because lunch and I needed something savory, a cup of milkbar pie iced latte or crack pie latte, not sure why different stores have different names for it, and a chocolate birthday cake. I wanted to get the regular birthday cake but just blurted out chocolate cake when I ordered it, stupid boy.
The bagel bomb was pretty good but it was not enough for lunch, so I did get a chicken noodle soup from Pret-A-Manger near the hotel as an accompaniment, it was a good meal. Not super sure how I feel about the birthday cake frosting though, it was not a texture I was familiar with me.
I lingered in the hotel for a while, didn't really want to explore Washington all that much, so I just waited till my Sis came back from her Museum visits and then we headed off for lunch at Momofuku, which was literally in the same space as Milkbar, I went to the same place twice for lunch and dinner.
I got myself a bowl of Dumpling and it was about 8 USD, which is crazy expensive for 5 pieces of dumpling, it was not bad though.
After this meal, I went to get Gongcha because there is one near the hotel and surprisingly, the prices are the same, so what is $4.50 in Singapore is also $4.50 in American, but in USD, numbers are the same, currency isn't. They were really slow when it came to preparing the drinks, I was waiting for way too long for a cup of bubble tea, there is definitely a difference in drink preparation efficiency.
I actually realize that there is a Bubble Tea shop in New York called Boba Guys that supposedly sells the best Bubble Tea there after I came back to Singapore, so I am really sad that I did not do ample research on it and missed it completely.
That marked the end of the 2nd day in Washington, on the third day, it was time to leave and since we had to check out of the hotel by 10 am, there really wasn't a lot of time to travel to some fancy place for breakfast, so we settled for a cafe nearby called Compass Coffee.
Pretty nice interior, the Sun was just shining in like crazy, it was bloody hot. It is actually a lot warmer in the air-conditioned room than it was outside.
I got myself a cup of Cherry Blossom Cold Brew and Croissant, really fancy stuff, I don't really know why, but I drank a lot of coffee when I was in America, it's like my default drink, I have a cup everyday even though I hardly touch one when I am in Singapore, it's something about the air that makes me want to look like a fancy coffee drinking connoisseur.
Last day was pretty short in Washington, it was less than half a day because by 1.30pm, we were on the Amtrak, on the way back to New York, which I was very happy about, but also extremely sad because that meant that the trip was very soon coming to an end.
I really didn't care that much about Washington, it was honestly a little boring for me, it was a lot cleaner than New York that is for sure, but it's a very political and history rich place, both are topics that do not interest me at all, so it was nice to go for the experience, but I probably won't go back again for a holiday.
Back to work again...
So work has officially started again today. Haven't reported back to the office yet, but I did meet a client today, Jon and Jenny, whom I signed a contract with before my trip to New York even though I really didn't want to, and I kinda wish I hadn't actually gotten their project because I am still in a bit of a holiday mood.
Still missing the weather in America, the low humidity and cooling weather in New York, not so much the one in Washington because I got pretty sun burnt there.
Heading out today to meet Jon & Jenny wasn't too bad because there was a bit of rain, so the weather was not crazy warm, but the high humidity is something I just absolutely abhor because I just felt sticky almost immediately when I left my house to walk to the bus stop.
Anyways, the meeting with Jon & Jenny was alright, they were nice enough to leave me alone during my New York trip, so when I finally met them today, they had a few changes they wanted to make to their design, we walked around the apartment a little, they turned on all the aircon, which was awesome, and we just did some on site measurements and talk about how small their apartment was because it's just an experience anyone who ever buys a new condo will have, the realization that they had just paid a million dollars for a hamster cage of an apartment.
Every time I get a New Condo project, when the owners get their keys and see their space for the first time, it's always the same reaction...
... I remember getting my first New Condo project, entering the space and just feeling shocked that the bedrooms are so insanely tiny, which wasn't great for the homeowners because my genuine reaction of shock is akin to adding salt to their wounds.
But anyways, as the meeting was going on, I was really hoping that Jon & Jenny's kids won't show up because I really do not like and really do not know how to talk to teenagers, and they have 2 teenage sons. I'd much rather deal with just the 2 adults, if the kids have any comments, let the parents be the proxy because I just automatically assume all teenagers are going to be brats and difficult to deal with.
The chances of the kids showing up are pretty high, this being the first time Jon and Jenny got their keys to the apartment, it's pretty common for the parents to want their kids to also come with them to see the new space.
So as we were discussing about the different room, Jenny gets a call from someone and she starts talking about how she will open the gate and for the person on the phone to just come up, and from the tone she was using, I knew she was talking to one of her kids and I just wanted to quickly wrap things up and leave before the kid shows up, and then the door bell rings and I hear the voice of a teenage boy echo through the apartment, talking rather excitedly about how his day at school has been and what not.
The immediate thought in my head was..
... and then Jenny brings his son over, introduces him to me and he was pretty friendly, very extroverted and honestly was a little too much for me.
He was really chirpy and talkative, almost has this bounce in his step whenever he started talking about his day at school to his Mother and he was waving so excitedly at me.
I am someone who is not naturally chirpy and talkative, but I force myself to be more extroverted when I am with clients so they would feel more comfortable, I just feel like I have to be more outgoing than the client and always have something to talk about around them, I will always have to flip that switch in my head and because I am naturally more introverted and maintaining that outgoing personality can get really tiring for me, so when the chirpy son arrived, I just felt like I had one up him, or at least be as chirpy and as talkative so as to be able to keep up.
He was really excited about his new room, but not so excited about the original proposal, he wanted to do his own layout but it really doesn't work, so I tried to share with him why it was not a good idea, like how I had explained to his parents earlier who understood the issues the new layout will have immediately, but alas this was his room, so ultimately, he has the final say, and he decided he wanted to stick with his own layout instead, talking about how the original layout isn't good because it was too high risk for him and joking about how he was afraid he might fall out of the window if he tripped, and as much as I would NOT go for his layout, if a client wants it, all I can do is adhere to their wishes since they will be the one who will have to live with that horrible decision.
The kid wasn't pissing on my idea, I mean the idea was never mine to begin with, it was what his Mum and Dad requested, so I didn't really care about him rejecting the original idea, what I didn't like was just how the kid was not listening to why I didn't think his own idea was good and the fact that he keeps dissing on the original idea that had a better layout.
His Mum did share with me that he wanted to become an Interior Designer in the future as well, so maybe he is attempting to take creative control of his own room as a way to validate his future career choice, but honestly speaking, once it is done up, living in the horribly laid out space will do anything but validate his choice, instead, it will just make him realize that he is a complete greenhorn and actively making a decision that goes against a professional's advice is probably not the smartest thing to do.
The kid is fifteen years old, he has his own ideas and that is why I find teenagers exhausting for me to deal with because that is a stage in a kids's life when the parents start letting them decide for themselves and they don't always make the best decision.
Before I left, I did say my goodbyes to both Jon and Jenny, and also extended my goodbyes to their son, telling him...
...he gave me this awkward smile...
...followed by a furrowed brow...
... like he was confused why I was saying "Bye" to him and then finding me weird with that furrowed brow expression. I mean I did straight up lie to his face because it wasn't nice meeting him at all, but I just found that furrowed brow he gave me at the end was really unnecessary.
So that ended my work for the day, on a rather uncomfortable note, then I headed home and started sweating because the weather here is a bitch.
I just wrote a post to bitch about a 15 year old kid, what the fuck is wrong with me.
Still missing the weather in America, the low humidity and cooling weather in New York, not so much the one in Washington because I got pretty sun burnt there.
Heading out today to meet Jon & Jenny wasn't too bad because there was a bit of rain, so the weather was not crazy warm, but the high humidity is something I just absolutely abhor because I just felt sticky almost immediately when I left my house to walk to the bus stop.
Anyways, the meeting with Jon & Jenny was alright, they were nice enough to leave me alone during my New York trip, so when I finally met them today, they had a few changes they wanted to make to their design, we walked around the apartment a little, they turned on all the aircon, which was awesome, and we just did some on site measurements and talk about how small their apartment was because it's just an experience anyone who ever buys a new condo will have, the realization that they had just paid a million dollars for a hamster cage of an apartment.
Every time I get a New Condo project, when the owners get their keys and see their space for the first time, it's always the same reaction...
"I didn't realize it's so small."
... I remember getting my first New Condo project, entering the space and just feeling shocked that the bedrooms are so insanely tiny, which wasn't great for the homeowners because my genuine reaction of shock is akin to adding salt to their wounds.
But anyways, as the meeting was going on, I was really hoping that Jon & Jenny's kids won't show up because I really do not like and really do not know how to talk to teenagers, and they have 2 teenage sons. I'd much rather deal with just the 2 adults, if the kids have any comments, let the parents be the proxy because I just automatically assume all teenagers are going to be brats and difficult to deal with.
The chances of the kids showing up are pretty high, this being the first time Jon and Jenny got their keys to the apartment, it's pretty common for the parents to want their kids to also come with them to see the new space.
So as we were discussing about the different room, Jenny gets a call from someone and she starts talking about how she will open the gate and for the person on the phone to just come up, and from the tone she was using, I knew she was talking to one of her kids and I just wanted to quickly wrap things up and leave before the kid shows up, and then the door bell rings and I hear the voice of a teenage boy echo through the apartment, talking rather excitedly about how his day at school has been and what not.
The immediate thought in my head was..
"Fuck... this.... shit...."
... and then Jenny brings his son over, introduces him to me and he was pretty friendly, very extroverted and honestly was a little too much for me.
He was really chirpy and talkative, almost has this bounce in his step whenever he started talking about his day at school to his Mother and he was waving so excitedly at me.
I am someone who is not naturally chirpy and talkative, but I force myself to be more extroverted when I am with clients so they would feel more comfortable, I just feel like I have to be more outgoing than the client and always have something to talk about around them, I will always have to flip that switch in my head and because I am naturally more introverted and maintaining that outgoing personality can get really tiring for me, so when the chirpy son arrived, I just felt like I had one up him, or at least be as chirpy and as talkative so as to be able to keep up.
He was really excited about his new room, but not so excited about the original proposal, he wanted to do his own layout but it really doesn't work, so I tried to share with him why it was not a good idea, like how I had explained to his parents earlier who understood the issues the new layout will have immediately, but alas this was his room, so ultimately, he has the final say, and he decided he wanted to stick with his own layout instead, talking about how the original layout isn't good because it was too high risk for him and joking about how he was afraid he might fall out of the window if he tripped, and as much as I would NOT go for his layout, if a client wants it, all I can do is adhere to their wishes since they will be the one who will have to live with that horrible decision.
The kid wasn't pissing on my idea, I mean the idea was never mine to begin with, it was what his Mum and Dad requested, so I didn't really care about him rejecting the original idea, what I didn't like was just how the kid was not listening to why I didn't think his own idea was good and the fact that he keeps dissing on the original idea that had a better layout.
His Mum did share with me that he wanted to become an Interior Designer in the future as well, so maybe he is attempting to take creative control of his own room as a way to validate his future career choice, but honestly speaking, once it is done up, living in the horribly laid out space will do anything but validate his choice, instead, it will just make him realize that he is a complete greenhorn and actively making a decision that goes against a professional's advice is probably not the smartest thing to do.
The kid is fifteen years old, he has his own ideas and that is why I find teenagers exhausting for me to deal with because that is a stage in a kids's life when the parents start letting them decide for themselves and they don't always make the best decision.
Before I left, I did say my goodbyes to both Jon and Jenny, and also extended my goodbyes to their son, telling him...
"It was nice meeting you."
...he gave me this awkward smile...
...followed by a furrowed brow...
... like he was confused why I was saying "Bye" to him and then finding me weird with that furrowed brow expression. I mean I did straight up lie to his face because it wasn't nice meeting him at all, but I just found that furrowed brow he gave me at the end was really unnecessary.
So that ended my work for the day, on a rather uncomfortable note, then I headed home and started sweating because the weather here is a bitch.
I just wrote a post to bitch about a 15 year old kid, what the fuck is wrong with me.
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