it is funny how u say those things, Garf. and the song u posted.
i was walking with peter around our neighbourhood one day and he asked me, "do u think u are attached to new york?" i think it was the day after we received my employment authorization document.
i was quiet for awhile; registering the question in my head. i looked up and see the empire state building in all its' glory, looming in the distance ahead of us. i picture myself leaving new york city, i imagine packing up the apartment, and i think of my life without all the new york things - both good and bad - that we've adapted to. i imagine looking at the new york city skyline from the window seat of an airplane. "would i miss it?" i asked myself.
maybe. but not much. my attachment to new york is mild; i'm attached to this apartment, the streets, neighbourhood. to put it simply, when i leave to go somewhere new, this sort of attachment is replicable. i'm sure in a few months time, i'd feel the same way about rotterdam. amsterdam. or wherever we will go to live. my attachment to kl on the other hand runs deeper than that. i'm attached emotionally to people - family, friends, pets. they're irreplaceable.
having said that, i disagree with just one bit in the song. the part when it goes, "i just want to go home". irregardless of my attachments, there is no way i'll ever "just want to go home...."
in fact, the lines are so blurred now that i often think, "what is home?" i think for now, home is where the heart is. it is no longer as simple as a geographic location.
today we went to see the 4th of july fireworks. i arrived last year a few days shy of independence day, full of hopes and promises. today i looked back and saw myself reading the girls' parting letter in the aircraft as i leave malaysia, tears streaming down my face. then i came online and looked at our blog, and realized that we've grown closer than ever. distance somehow worked it's miracle and strengthened our friendship. it is a wonderful feeling.
sunny day on pier at hudson river.
very often i put myself in your shoes, kit. wonder what u'd be thinking. what u'd see and all that. how it's like for u everyday n all. but, it's nothing obsessive la; i'm not that lesbo ok. and.. just thought u might like this song..? sang by michael buble. heard it already? this, i dedicate to u man, kit. (haha. this song is to make u miss home more. nyiahaha) and at the bottom is a most recent picture of some of us. *thumps chest twice*
"Home"
Another summer day
Has come and gone away
In Paris and Rome
But I wanna go home
Mmmmmmmm
Maybe surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone
I just wanna go home
Oh, I miss you, you know
And I’ve been keeping all the letters that I wrote to you
Each one a line or two“I’m fine baby, how are you?”
Well I would send them but I know that it’s just not enough
My words were cold and flat
And you deserve more than that
Another aeroplane
Another sunny place
I’m lucky I know
But I wanna go home
Mmmm, I’ve got to go home
Let me go home
I’m just too far from where you are
I wanna come home
And I feel just like I’m living someone else’s life
It’s like I just stepped outside
When everything was going right
And I know just why you could not
Come along with me'
Cause this was not your dream
But you always believed in me
Another winter day has come
And gone away
In even Paris and Rome
And I wanna go home
Let me go home
And I’m surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone
Oh, let me go home
Oh, I miss you, you know
Let me go home
I’ve had my run
Baby, I’m done
I gotta go home
Let me go home
It will all be all right
I’ll be home tonight
I’m coming back home
H O M E
After being a resident of New York for almost a year now, I finally visited Coney Island. For those who have never heard of it, Coney Island is a peninsula, formerly an island, in southernmost Brookyln with a beach lying on the Atlantic Ocean.
The area was a major resort and home of Astroland amusement park that reached its peak in the early 20th century. It declined in popularity after World War II and endured years of neglect before being revitalized.
Coney Island is also famous for its hot dogs; Nathan's Famous' original hot dog stand opened on in 1916 and quickly became a landmark. An annual hot dog eating competition has been held there on July 4th since its opening and the current record is held by a tiny Japanese guy who ate 53.75 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes.
The nearby Brighton Beach area has a distinctive ethnic feel to it because there is a huge population of Russian and Ukrainian in the area. Think Russian cafes, food stores, banks and even boutiques selling mink coats. Or are they faux fur? I hope so. We lounged on Brighton Beach instead of the Coney Island Beach to escape the hustle bustle of hyperactive kids overdosing themselves on sodas and cotton candy.
My fondness for Canada is a serendipitious one. I half-heartedly agreed to go for a business trip with Peter after much kicking, screaming and hand-twisting. I remember it was my all time low point; I loathed just breathing the air of New York and wanted so badly to get away from everything American. As for Canada, I had no idea why I grouped Canada as America. That was why I was kicking and screaming. Little did I know that I'd enjoy Toronto so much. It reminded me of being in Melbourne.
I had been behaving ridiculously about everything New York ever since I got back from my backpacking trip in Asia. I had the most amazing experience of my life there. Everywhere I went the places resonated with me and everyone I met touched my heart; some shook my very core. Back in the streets of trendy Soho I felt nothing. All these people whisk pass me and yet I feel nothing. I remember texting Peter saying I have a new way to describe New York - the city with no soul. I just could not feel my heart; I felt absolutely cold and coupled with the assumption that my work permit was never going to come, and that all I'll ever become in New York City was a museum-cum-indie film connoisseur, I was ready to exit on the next flight out.
Back to my Toronto story - I was surprised at how warm it gets there! I was totally under the assumption that Canada is cold all year long and I'd need to wrap myself up even during summer!
I was really amazed at all the ethnic neighbourhood; my favourites include Greektown, Koreatown and Little India. I like that everything was authentic and fuss-free.
K-Town
I also visited Casa Loma, Canada's majestic castle and former home of prominent financier, industrialist and military man Sir Henry Pellatt. An unabashed romantic, Sir Henry engaged the noted architect E.J. Lennox to help him realize a life-long dream - the creation of a 'medieval' castle on the brow of a hill overlooking Toronto. Begun in 1911, it took 300 men nearly 3 years to complete and cost $3,500,000 at that time. 
The house cost approximately $3.5 million and upon completion in 1914, at 98 rooms, it was the largest private residence in Canada.
Notable amenities included an elevator, an oven large enough to cook a steer, two vertical passages for pipe organs, two secret passages in Sir Henry's ground-floor office, three bowling alleys and massive stables a few hundred feet north of the main building. It is huge! Casa Loma has five acres of gardens and an underground tunnel connects Casa Loma to its stables and potting shed.
And oh, it is a popular filming scene too. Parts of the movie X-Men were shot at Casa Loma, which stood in for Professor Xavier's school for gifted mutants. Other films which include scenes filmed at Casa Loma include Chicago, The Tuxedo and The Pacifier.
I also visited the Bata Shoe Museum. I know most Malaysians would go, "Eh? You mean the cheapo brand that you Buy-And-Throw-Away?" Yes, the buy-and-throw-away brand indeed, but only to us Malaysians! Now let me enlightened you okay. When I was in Spain a few years back, I was surprised to see BATA shoe boutiques. They're stylishly designed and decorated, and nothing like the ones we see in Malaysia. That was when I realised that BATA is not a Malaysian brand and that they do a lot more than just school shoes.
Last year when I organised a communications conference in KL, I extended an invitation to the MD of BATA Malaysia to speak on behalf of the multinational corporation. He presented a case study and I remember everyone in the conference was very fascinated at all these BATA history and facts thrown at them in a 40 minutes session. Which Malaysian would have guessed that BATA has 4 business units worldwide that is BATA Europe, BATA Asia Pacific-Africa, BATA Latin America & BATA North America, retail presense in over 50 countries, production facilities in 26 and in its history has sold 14 billion pairs of shoes? There is even a BATA canal somewhere in Europe. The BATA history goes back to 1894 in Czechoslovakia.
The museum on the other hand, has to be one of the most interesting museums that I've ever visited; it features shoe and shoe-related exhibits from Chinese bound foot shoes and ancient Egyptian sandals to chestnut clogs and glamourous platforms. The collections are divided into different sections; North American Indians, Ethnological, Circumpolar, History of Western Fashion, and the Walk of Fame that features a growing collection of famous people's footwear from every arena: artists and authors like Picasso and Margaret Atwood; performers like Mikhail Barishnikov and Glenn Gould; film stars like Elizabeth Taylor and Gloria Swanson; politicians like Indira Gandhi and Winston Churchill; as well as sports figures like Donovan Bailey and John McEnroe.
During my visit there was an exhibition entitled Watched by Heaven, Tied to Earth:
Summoning Animal Protection for Chinese Children that showcased over 200 beautifully crafted Chinese children’s shoes and garments that explores the many meanings and symbolism that Chinese mothers and grandmothers used to protect their precious children. Through an astonishing array of shoes, hats, bibs and accessories dating from the mid-19th century to the present, the exhibition explores long-standing traditions and beliefs that continue to resonate in China. Bee, I wished you were there. You'd be so fascinated by those cutesy animal-themed baby shoes and hats!
Enough about shoes. Possibly the best introduction to the myriad cultural groups which make 
During the 1920s, it was known as the Jewish Market. Today, you can sense the city's rich, multicultural mix, obvious in the shops packed with goods from Europe, the Caribbean, the Middle East, South America and Asia. A visit to Kensington is like a sensory trip around the world. It's also a treasure trove of vintage and second hand clothing shops, tucked in among eclectic restaurants and cafés. The Kensington area is a maze of narrow streets and alleys, some of which are lined with Victorian houses. Many of these have been painted in bright colours. During my one week stay in Toronto, I must have gone back several times. I brought the guys there over the weekend too when our flight back to New York was cancelled due to a thunderstorm.
The rest of downtown Toronto look like this:
Chinatown. See Carol, doesn't it look Melbourne-ish? What we call trams, they call streetcars.
The 'audience' at the Air Canada Centre.
Toronto is a mish-mash of modern and historical buildings, with tons of green spaces in between.
The CN tower is the world's tallest freestanding structure on land, and of course, Toronto's landmark featuring indoor and outdoor observation deck, glass floor and a revolving restaurant.
I dare u. To jump on the glass floor. Muahahah.
Lake Ontario from CN Tower.
We rode on the bus that runs every hour from Chinatown to the casino in Niagara Falls. There are no casinos in the city in Toronto so most people have their gambling fix i;n the casinos by the falls. We just wanted to see the infamous Falls. Hehhh. After looking at these photos , I am convinced that I need a camera upgrade.
We arrived in late evening so after a quick oohs and aahs and camera snapping session, we walked to the nearby Clifton Hill tourist district in search for dinner. What we found was an a la Las Vegas town, brimming with one after another American chain steakhouse restaurants.
On Sunday before catching our flight at late afternoon we went for a Caribbean festival along the harbourfront. I had Jamaica's famous jerk chicken!
