oklahoma: week 3, anaheim, disneyland and christmas...
oklahoma city.
what a place.
it looks kinda sparse from the plane as it descended, but what a wonderful place it turned out to be.
how can i forget the dry, cold and windy weather that also gave me my first (if somewhat brief) experiences of snow?
how can forget the famous southern hospitality shown us by the people of oklahoma who made us feel so welcome?
how can i forget the great food we had at awesome places like trappers (ultimate fried chicken... and gator!) and spaghetti warehouse (spaghetti and meatballs and that awesome, awesome sangria...)? and what about the stuff we cooked too?
how can i forget the fun lessons that i had with the great teachers who taught me, as well as meeting up with the lecturers who taught me back home in singapore?
and how can i forget the company of friends, both old and new, who made the trip so full fun and enjoyable?
oklahoma city and oklahoma city university will always have a place in my heart. it was just such an awesome experience.
thank you.
============================================================
i might've been here before... 16 years ago.
but it all seems... alien to me.
it felt... odd. odd that i couldn't quite recall anaheim and that nothing really seemed to spark off the memories from all those years ago with jie and dad.
descending onto LAX provided somewhat of a culture shock too. after all, oklahoma was vast and sparse...
california, in comparison, looked like a beehive swarming with activity with its many clusters of buildings as far as i could see out the window.
even going to disneyland felt a little different.
rides like big thunder mountain and splash mountain felt just like they did all those years ago... but experiencing space mountain again just felt like a new experience.
chionging all the high adrenaline rides was a real rush tho. the maliboomer was a crazy freefall ride while soarin' over california was a simply magical experience that could've only have been done by disney. and california screaming? an absolute blast of an insane roller coaster ride.
one thing that didn't change?
those huge turkey drumsticks dad got me 16 years ago.
yum.
============================================================
it's that time of year again.
though, for obvious reasons... this year has been a break in my traditional christmas... well, traditions.
no christmas vigil mass at sji this year nor helping brother mike with the tree decos.
just midnight mass at st boniface church, which is roughly 2 miles from the hotel, which had a huge creche and SEVEN christmas trees (though only decorated with lights). which i walked to and half way of fro.
no family around for dinner and countdown.
just a dinner of maple glazed atlantic salmon and shrimp at red lobster with friends after shopping at brea mall. with chicken breast strips, calamari and cheese fondue for appetisers, a delightful glass of riesling to accompany dinner and a warm chocolate chip lava cookie sundae to top it all off.
no sifting through the presents under the tree and opening them all up after wishing everyone else merry christmas.
just a simple gift exchange with the others (which i wasn't around for since i was walking to church at the time).
it may not have been a typical christmas, but it will definitely, definitely stay in the memory for many, many years to come.
a merry, merry and blessed christmas to all my friends and family out there from anaheim. i love you all.
============================================================
if i had to choose one of my lecturers from ocu as one who i respected and whose company i would enjoy, i would have to say that dr musselman is easily one of my favourites. he's funny and knows so much, it's hard not to love the old coot.
we met him as a class for lunch on our last wednesday in oklahoma and he was talking about our exams and assignments when he started talking to me about mine.
he said he expected to hear big things from me because of that one little essay (well, sorta little 1,585-word essay...) because of the way i wrote it.
it was nice to hear those kind of words of empowerment from someone you respect so deeply... but i just can't help but wonder what old musselman thinks and expects of little old me.
only time will tell.
what a place.
it looks kinda sparse from the plane as it descended, but what a wonderful place it turned out to be.
how can i forget the dry, cold and windy weather that also gave me my first (if somewhat brief) experiences of snow?
how can forget the famous southern hospitality shown us by the people of oklahoma who made us feel so welcome?
how can i forget the great food we had at awesome places like trappers (ultimate fried chicken... and gator!) and spaghetti warehouse (spaghetti and meatballs and that awesome, awesome sangria...)? and what about the stuff we cooked too?
how can i forget the fun lessons that i had with the great teachers who taught me, as well as meeting up with the lecturers who taught me back home in singapore?
and how can i forget the company of friends, both old and new, who made the trip so full fun and enjoyable?
oklahoma city and oklahoma city university will always have a place in my heart. it was just such an awesome experience.
thank you.
============================================================
i might've been here before... 16 years ago.
but it all seems... alien to me.
it felt... odd. odd that i couldn't quite recall anaheim and that nothing really seemed to spark off the memories from all those years ago with jie and dad.
descending onto LAX provided somewhat of a culture shock too. after all, oklahoma was vast and sparse...
california, in comparison, looked like a beehive swarming with activity with its many clusters of buildings as far as i could see out the window.
even going to disneyland felt a little different.
rides like big thunder mountain and splash mountain felt just like they did all those years ago... but experiencing space mountain again just felt like a new experience.
chionging all the high adrenaline rides was a real rush tho. the maliboomer was a crazy freefall ride while soarin' over california was a simply magical experience that could've only have been done by disney. and california screaming? an absolute blast of an insane roller coaster ride.
one thing that didn't change?
those huge turkey drumsticks dad got me 16 years ago.
yum.
============================================================
it's that time of year again.
though, for obvious reasons... this year has been a break in my traditional christmas... well, traditions.
no christmas vigil mass at sji this year nor helping brother mike with the tree decos.
just midnight mass at st boniface church, which is roughly 2 miles from the hotel, which had a huge creche and SEVEN christmas trees (though only decorated with lights). which i walked to and half way of fro.
no family around for dinner and countdown.
just a dinner of maple glazed atlantic salmon and shrimp at red lobster with friends after shopping at brea mall. with chicken breast strips, calamari and cheese fondue for appetisers, a delightful glass of riesling to accompany dinner and a warm chocolate chip lava cookie sundae to top it all off.
no sifting through the presents under the tree and opening them all up after wishing everyone else merry christmas.
just a simple gift exchange with the others (which i wasn't around for since i was walking to church at the time).
it may not have been a typical christmas, but it will definitely, definitely stay in the memory for many, many years to come.
a merry, merry and blessed christmas to all my friends and family out there from anaheim. i love you all.
============================================================
if i had to choose one of my lecturers from ocu as one who i respected and whose company i would enjoy, i would have to say that dr musselman is easily one of my favourites. he's funny and knows so much, it's hard not to love the old coot.
we met him as a class for lunch on our last wednesday in oklahoma and he was talking about our exams and assignments when he started talking to me about mine.
he said he expected to hear big things from me because of that one little essay (well, sorta little 1,585-word essay...) because of the way i wrote it.
it was nice to hear those kind of words of empowerment from someone you respect so deeply... but i just can't help but wonder what old musselman thinks and expects of little old me.
only time will tell.
greg last trudged in on 12/26/2008 02:31:00 am
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