A little angry at a change of regulation. Instead of a maximum 70 pounds (32kg) of baggage, U.S. airports reduce it to 50 pounds (23kg). That's a weight difference of 20% of an anorexic model. And my suitcase itself already weighs 10 pounds. 

I understand the reduction is for the welfare of the airport workers, and try not to be so angry at having to repack my baggage.

There is only one rule in writing a hit song or a great advertisement:

repeat catchy slogan repeat catchy slogan repeat catchy slogan

Fill in the blanks:
"I'm lovin' it" = __________
"To the left, to the left" = _______________
"Whatzz up!?" = ______________

So no wonder Jesse McCartney's song will be a hit. "Don't stress, don't stress, don't stress, just tell him to the left, left, left." The songwriters are so smart: the song has an intertextual slogan, referring to "Irreplaceable," as if it is a continuation of Beyonce's song.

And the music arrangement is brilliant. A little R&B and a little ballad and a little pop to ensure that McCartney captures a wide range of audience.

Throw in a little marching drum beat, so that the song is not so much of a ballad now. And can easily be remixed. Of course, the company has to choose the "right" and hip deejays to remix and play in gay clubs so that now, dreamy prettyboy McCartney can attract both gay and straight crowd. (Gays' favorites, DJs Ralphi Rosario and Bimbo Jones, have remixed this song.)

Writing pop songs is a science these days, I tell you. Hear it on the radio and clubs often enough, there is no way anyone can hate this song. I'm lovin' it.

 

Trapped in this godforsaken weather. Don't mind the ten degrees celsius in mid-May but for the wind! (For those who can't read metric, it's 40-50 F.)  Not as lucky as anthony_c, skinny dipping in Puerto Rico but I've plans: Backpacking 40 cities in 30 days. I know it's still a year away but lack of preparation for Greece (and for France and Italy) really screwed me up. A little ambitious, but will adjust later.

Better start gymming now. Central America has many mountains too.

Me: Ah..good food is the answer to everything.

A: No, a good chocolate cake is the answer to everything.

L: You two, don't kid yourselves! The answer to everything is a blowjob! Because even when it's bad, it's good.

I like helping people bring things from New York back to Singapore if they order the goods online to deliver to my apartment. But I mind very much when I have to buy the products because money is such a hassle. And four iphones cost $2000. If they pay in Sing dollars, I'll lose out by paying the conversion rate. If they pay by checks, the bank charges a foreign fee and I lose money. If they pay in US dollars, I have to carry a huge amount of cash at the risk of losing it.

It isn't my fault that they procrastinate till the last minute and the online delivery date is past my return date - but I have to suffer for their mistake. Why do people like to put me on the spot when I've done nothing to deserve it? And if I say no, I'll be betraying what I've been trying to become all these while. Plus they will think me mean and petty and cheap. 

And besides, I cannot understand this obsession with iphones in Singapore. It'll be released in Singapore at the end of the year but everyone I know has one already. I understand technophilia but don't these people know there are other phones more powerful than iphones, which have been released years ago? In the end, I can only conclude that these people are buying into Apple's promotion and hip factor, something I don't understand. I'm way past Wildean aesthetics--art's for art's sake,beauty over truth bullshit. Function over beauty please. Character over beauty please. Don't be so superficial and vain, for god's sake.

And I keep thinking CWC will never do this to me. M. will, but not CWC. I don't even know M.'s friends well enough to do them this favor.

S. says, "Leave your classes behind. Your students aren't going to miss you. What's this nonsense about staying in a hostel? You won't be imposing on me. In case you're wondering, my sofa bed can accommodate two people, so if your friend wants to come..."

So if you want to go to London and I know and like you quite well... 

*

Sis to me: I thought you go to New York to study, not travel!

Me to Meng: Cost of my air ticket=your iphone.

Meng: Do you have enough money to buy both?! OMG, don't jeopardize my iphone!

Seriously thinking of London. I specialize in Victorian literature for pete's sake and I need to see what I've been reading at least once in my life.

Santorini - Athens - NY

1. Wear good shoes. Greece is hilly.

2. Gym three months before you go. Greece is hilly.

3. You'll develop a nice ass because you walk at least three kilometers a day - and Greece is hilly. 

Me: I think I'm developing a line on the right cheek of my ass.

Ant: What line?

Me: You know the line that separates the ass from the thigh because the ass has some meat on it. Mine used to flat but I'm developing a line. Now to work on my left cheek.

4. Most men have nice asses--because they climb mountains and Greece is hilly--and noses and most women, according to Antonius, are small-waisted and chesty.

5. Despite that a new (Greek) friend told me resturants have differently priced menus for the locals and tourists, the food is mindblowing, probably because the ingredients are so fresh as they grow them on hills. Many hills in Greece.

6. Greece is picturesque and bucolic and hilly.

7. Almost everyone speaks English even on hills.

8. Greeks are kind, honest, and friendly. 

9. Greece is an organic community. All animals--dogs, cats and insects--live in peace with Greeks. You'll find many, many stray animals on the streets and the Greek government doesn't put them down, unlike Singapore. Insects aren't afraid of humans even when you shoo them; you'll have to kill them when they land on your salad.  I suspect that's because Greeks don't shoo insects and they haven't evolved to learn to be shooed even on hills.

10. Greece is hilly but you know that already.

Fira - Donkey Ride - Nea Kameni (Atlantis) - Hot Spring - Donkey Ride - Fira - Fireworks


Nea Kameni: Imagine you're on a summit of a mountain and you're turning 360-degrees. One end of the photo joins the other.

Meteora - Marathon - Thermopyle - Athens

In the past, the only way the monks could reach their monasteries was to scale the sheer cliffs. And then, tourists invented roads. And now the monks carry handphones under their black robes. Damn capitalism.

Athens - Attica - Levadia - Arachova - Mount Parnassus - Delphi - Central Greece (Amphissa, Lamia, Trikala & Thessalian Plain) - Kalambaka


Temple of Apollo at Delphi 

Change of Guards - Byzantine & Christian Museum - Omonia Square - Syntagma Square - Plaka - Roman Baths - Temple of Zeus - Hadrian's Arch - Plaka


(Temple of Zeus: To give a sense of scale using human girl of average height)

Plaka - Acropolis - Roman Agora - Ancient Agora - Monatiraki Square - Plaka

(View from Acropolis: You can see Likavitos Hill.)

"Because of the expanding population in Athens, the State expropriated the land from the Church, or rather we should say, the Church 'donated' its land to the State!"

On why there is no art in Greece:
"Greeks were too busy being religious they had no time for art!"

On whether there is wireless Internet in the hotel:
"I'm sorry. Greeks aren't very technological!"

On how the Oracles are the first glue sniffers:
"A group of American archaeologists found out that beneath the Delphi mountain, there was and still is methane gas. The Oracles took a sniff and foretold the future."

More when I'm back.