my first day.

Tired. I'm very very tired. After 12 hours to LA, 3 hours of rushing to my connecting flight, 5 hour connecting flight, it felt like I wasted a whole day on a plane. What's surreal is, I went in late at night on 08/25, I come out early in the morning 08/26, as if I didn't waste any time. Perhaps more time would be wasted when I travel back.

Then, I was also tired because I thought about A LOT of things when I was on the plane. ESPECIALLY the connecting flight to New York. It's just things like why am I doing this? and will I fit into this whole new culture? kind of thing. I was VERY scared of thinking who I might become years from now -- a cold, indifferent, rowdy person, just like the people around me on that Delta Airlines flight. And it didn't help that I was reading Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake, which chronicles the entire life of a person who grew up away from his family's cultures, and all the consequences that it brought about -- how sometimes, your aversion of your own culture will haunt you one day, when you have kind of turned your back on it. But what's my culture? Asian? No Way. There's Filipino, there's Chinese, and there's Singaporean. It's just that sometimes, my future looks so uncertain. When deep inside i am so sure of some of my feelings, it frustrates me to think that they're only true in my little emotional world -- that in reality, none of that could come true. it's just too complicated to be true.

It was during these tough times when God never fails to amaze me. I prayed, and asked for comfort. I didn't ask for an answer, cos I knew I'd find it soon enough. But for now, I really needed to get over this whole phase of being uncertain about things. Then I read this:

"... in the world, you have tribulations, but take courage; I have overcome the world."

-John 16:33

Which made me feel so secure that we have such a great God. That's what really amazed me when I was on the plane. God is still the God of the Philippines, the God that I became so much closer to in Singapore. And now that I'm here, He's still the same, still there, eventhough I'm on a different time zone. He's still there. And I will be forever grateful and humbled by that fact.

Well, there's so many more things that I thought about, which I might touch upon the next couple of days, and so many things that happened as well. But for today, since I'm very very exhausted, I shall keep it brief and detailed -- with pictures!!!

Well, I met up with Mia today, my friend from all the way since I was 13. (she insists that it was even before that, it's just that I kind of snubbed her all the way, according to her.) We went places, evethough I was suffering from severe jetlag. We had some western food, and the serving size was really humongous. I mean, I didn't even order the large helping. And it had one big fat slab of mashed potato on the side (And to those of you who know me extremely well, you know how much I abhor potatoes.) I didn't finish it, simply because it was too much! Oh, I ordered some kind of roast beef slices thing. I mean a common Singapore meal might have 3 or four slabs of it (moderately-sized). This one had, I promise, at least 10 slabs of steaming hot slices of beef with a generous pour of baby back rib sauce (great.), a serving of cornbread larger than my clenched fist, and what would be larger than the equivalent of an upsized coleslaw and mashed potato at KFC. Can die. 7 bucks. Other than the great meal, I really had lots of fun flaunting my newly acquired accent, which I pulled of so well that the immigration officer was stunned, and the cab driver thought I grew up in Los Angeles. Hahaha. Sometimes it's really such a blessing that I can imitate voices.

Ok ok. photos!

Times Square and all the billboards.

The Empire State Building. I really tried bending down, crouching, and everything -- still couldn't take a photo of the whole thing.

Now, due to the recent Snakes on a Plane craze:

Snakes on a billboard in Times Square!

The snake man himself. At Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. (outside. I didn't go in. Unless some of you want to sponsor me.)A nice random shot of an intersection between 45th Street and BroadwayNow I thought this shot that I took looks really, really nice. The legendary yellow cab in the heart of the city -- Times SquareBeautiful background, well.. uhmmm.. just so you guys know that I'm really here... yah... nuthin much to say about the foreground.

Yeap, will post again when I can. By the way, I was really happy to catch up with some of you online last night, especially the ones that I really, really miss! 8 months left! take care all of you! By the way, these pictures are there for a reason. Show it to your friends! your family! it's an advertisement of a city I have yet to love. So that you will come and have a meal with me. God bless all of you! Do update me about your lives okay?

I'M OUT!!!