I have not been on a cruise ship prior to this trip..

This time round I heard

After a series of HR meetings and objections and suggestions..

The company finally settled on cruise over Batam or Bintan.

The biggest ship by far of the Star Cruises group.

On a very tiring Friday evening (we still had to work in the morning)

We got onboard and took pictures with the star cruise mascots and dancers.

Upon checking into the cabin..

Both the mountain tortoise me and colleague began taking pictures of the cabin.

Hurhurhur..

The cabin was bigger than what I had expected though the bed was too narrow..

Most likely to end up on the floor if you made a full 360 turn..

No wonder many colleagues complain about stiff bodies and neck aches.

Walked around the ship before dinner..

Got acquainted with directions..

We were supposed to gather at one of the restaurants “Bella Vista” for company dinner in casual smart wear.

Collared shirts only,

No berms and open toed footwear allowed.

Dinner was served at a very dimly lighted location.

So dim that I mistook a chilli as a capsicum.

And that burning sensation left me in tears.

A six course meal that was not satisfying at all.

Because practically every colleague I bumped into thereafter had to take supper..

They were all grumbling about the dinner..

All claiming they were damn hungry.

After some magic show,

Dear and I settled supper at Blue Lagoon for some porridge buffet..

Thinking finally they served decent food.

Halfway through,

We realized the buffet cost $12 per pax (excluding 15% service charge)..

o.0

So we stuffed ourselves silly..

Another colleague walked past us and affirmatively told us free food doesn’t taste good there.

LOL..

We checked out the top deck after dinner..

As well as the smoky (pun intended) casino.

As I penetrated through the crowd..

Indonesian Chinese were evenly distributed..

Mostly fair skinned women who carried conspicuous LV bags,

And they donned thick curls complimented by big sunglasses..

Everything about them was huge.

They took out huge stacks of huge notes from their huge LV bags,

Untied the rubber bands that held the notes and laid them on the gambling desk.

Quite a scene as they changed them to chips..

One of our bosses stayed at his poker table throughout the entire first night..

Without taking a single wink, he continued his game after the next day’s breakfast.

Another colleague followed suit and induced a third colleague to borrow more.

All of them lost 1k plus each at least.

*****

After breakfast the second day

We walked around again, waiting for the company event to start.

Tossed the flint stone kid around..

These kids reminded me of the nostalgic times when we were the ones being tossed around by our parents.

Fat cheeks, small hands, fat tummies..

But nevertheless, cute.

Yes, innocently cute.

We checked out the "bridge" of the ship.

I have absolutely no idea why it's called the bridge..

They gave out the 5 year and 10 year awards too =)

When it was time for games...

The very first game..

Ros lost her phone and had no means to contact us for her wedding back then..

It was only recently that she bumped into Jamie and I at Suntec and Botanic Gardens respectively.

Define fate heee..

And now here we were..

Catching up on old times..

Both of them had not been to Orchard Central in fact..

So I recommended Ootoya for dinner and they liked it =D

Old friends are really hard to keep anymore..

I really do enjoy and treasure this reunion.

*****

Right after mommy's nasi lemak,

The active gang suggested playing with Ming's friend's rock band set..

So there started a whole round of noise and more noise..

We were considerably normal at first..

Till Ah Bob (4) started singing this..

We practically went mad..

High on energy I supposed..

Hurhurhur..

Back to the circle of trust with da hoola hoop..

Luv this picture..

Plus this:

These group shots had us rolling in stitches..

Simply could not get everyone to be unanimously serious.

LOL

Let us end the night with the clash of Bruce Lee and Spice Girls..

*****

Freaking audaciously sexual and violent..

But I love the music plus the sypnosis.

*****

Meaning of the song (From Wiki)

The main inspiration behind the song was Gaga's fear of suffocation as she felt that she seldom found time to just letting it go loose and have fun.

"Fear of suffocation—something that I have or fear is never being able to enjoy myself, 'Cause I love my work so much, I find it really hard to go out and have a good time. "I don't go to nightclubs, You don't see pictures of me falling out of a club drunk. I don't go—and that's because I usually go and then, you know, a whiskey and a half into it, I got to get back to work."

The phone addressed in the lyrics of the song is not a physical phone, but a person in her head telling her to keep working harder and harder.

Gaga originally wrote "Telephone", with Rodney Jerkins, for Britney Spears. however, Spears' label rejected it and Gaga recorded the song as a collaboration with Beyonce Knowles for The Fame Monster.

Damn cool song.

*****

The tiger year.

*****

What an (detrimental) advancement of technology..

LOL

Saturday was not possible..

Finally caught this musical =)

The show started off in the direction

Where the world famous Italian director Guido Contini (Daniel Day Lewis) suffers a writer's block under the entire scrutiny of the media..

Every fan of his comically reminded him how they loved his movies, those non-flop ones..

What made things worse

The ensemble of temptress around him made things worse.

Distracted,

The Italian director could not find his inspiration from his wild imaginations of sexualities with his leading ladies..

Every wild fantasy would be accompanied by a musical piece.

And Daniel Day Lewis delivered his role convincingly generating strong chemistry between him and each of his leading ladies..

I'm no master in musicals, but I do know how to enjoy them..

And I particularly loved the Kate Hudson piece.

Musicals to me is another form of performing art to convey the innermost feelings to the audience in a colorful and rhythmic demeanor..

He gained fame, at the expense of his morality

Lost was the direction of life, gone was his urge to write.

Simply led by the mob..

And he had absolutely no idea how to rectify it.

A musical with sexy numbers..

Beautifully shot.

The storyline was almost easy to comprehend but meanings abstractly heartfelt.

The cast was an impressive one.

Practically every single leading lady has an Oscar title to their name.

Penelope Cruz was damn convincing as a mistress..

Nicole Kidman played a minor role but she was drop dead gorgeous as usual..

Marion Cotillard was the perfect wife of poise with an air of French elegance..

Though the movie ended with an abrupt note

I thought it was the best directional summary ever for the whole movie.

The protagonist held a child and hailed "Action"..

He was ready to direct again.

*****

Strained.

Stressed.

Simply jaded.

The feeling of trying to be confident when I'm absolutely not, came back to haunt.

Audit is really as what Suki says picking bones in eggs..

But how to pick the bones if you are not that familiar with that scope?

The checklist is there to follow alright..

I had a hard time picking those bones.

Now I'm not even sure if those bones are really bones or metaphorically, veins.

*****

Sometimes lines are not drawn very clearly,

Sometimes there isnt enough time to make a choice..

Sometimes sometimes sometimes..

Situations happen.

So I made a quick decision that day with 4 faces staring intently at me.

But was given a piece of mind later..

And I cant find my voice..

Havent felt so incompetent,

So lousy..

Okie I made a futile decision.

I just felt, useless.

*****