tHe RainForEst Cafe

Services Marketing Reading for this week reminded me of the Rainforest Cafe. The topic for the week focused on creating a service experience economy and the author used themed, entertainment businesses as examples of how successfully (or not) these businesses reach, create and leave a truly memorable experience with customers. The journal reading was such a pleasant read! So unlike some of the really boring pieces we had to read earlier on in the semester. Haha! This reading was truly entertaining... talking about how the economy seems to have evolved from industry, to services, and now to an experience-based one. The section on the Characteristics of Experiences and the 4 categories of experiences we can get as consumers also made me think through some of the more recent events i encountered, and places i visited. And from that section alone i realized i'm definitely more of a passive (than active), esthetic-seeking participant in lots of instances. Haha!

Anyways, because the author mentioned the Rainforest Cafe quite a bit, i was reminded of the outlet i visited back in SG. That was a really really long time ago though... must have been when they first opened at Liang Court in 00/01? I think i went there a couple of times... with peeps from PA/SEMIS. For dinner. Have never gone back there since... honestly, is it even still around in SG??? Themed dining places in SG never seem to last very long...... No matter.. even if its not available in SG anymore, i'll say it definitely left good impressions and memorable experiences for me. Heeee! Still remember the lower-level was where they had their merchandise for sale. The 2nd level was where you could dine. The place looked like a huge jungle (rainforest settings mah!). The background 'music' was the sounds of the rainforest, waterfalls, animals..... all really really nice! Honestly, i don't even remember much of its food expect the portions were huge! I guess that's another point the author of the article i read was trying to make - that sometimes in providing an experience, the actual product (food and beverage in the case of the Rainforest Cafe) is secondary to the actual service experience the customer has.

Oh wow! i just realize what i nerd i can be! This is actually an entry so like the reflective journals we have to do every week for tut.s!! Only far simpler and i can use my comfy conversational English to pen my thoughts down with. Haha!

i lOve pOtLuCks!

was @ Olivia's earlier this evening

with Abby, Yanis & Wilson

*burp*

had farrrr to much to eat again i think

hurhur

everytime we have potlucks we eat far too much

stir fries

curry

chicken

more stir fries

more chicken

......

i can see my tummy now

sticking out when i sit down

*horrors*

*sucks in tummy and holds breath*

kekeke


after dinner we played guillotine again

that game's pretty addictive actually

and it works your mind leh

and makes you 'think cunning and sly'

muahahaha

but im pretty bad at that la

i always end up one of the lowest points

cos when i have 'bad' cards on hand i dun normally throw them out and sabo other peeps

-_______________-

quite toopid hor

but if i sabo others means cut their points

aiya

im just lousy at trying to be sly i think

bah


neways

home again

time to rethink that 100% PURE NZ branding presentation

see if i can get some creative juices flowing

(very unlikely but... i'll TRY...)

MUST try to inject some discussion and participation opportunities to the rest during the presentation

Tracey does seem to like the presenters to get everyone involved

arrrrrgh

God, grant me some creative veins/blood/whatever shite it is that makes other peeps so creative and me so *bleah* UNCREATIVE

(see, i even lack creative skills to come up with creative ways to talk to God --- geez, look how many times i have used the word creative in the last 2 sentences)


i think im still too full la

starting to type nonsense

*burps again*

freaKed oUt...

...

he kept staring at me on the bus

i kept my face turned away from him

but i could still see his reflection from the window mirrors

he kept turning to stare

...

when i pressed the bell to alight

he got up too

...

i decided to get off from the front doors

but then i realise he stood at the bus-stop waiting after getting off from the back

...

then he starting walking after me

all the while saying

"hey pretty girl, where are you going?"

and he kept following me!!

...

i was so scared i went into Myers' Ladies and stayed there for a good 15minutes before coming out

...

...

...

thankful he wasn't around anymore

but that just freaked me out this morning!

...

...

...

'lest you think it was some old shabby beggar or mentally retarded or whatever whatever kind of man,

let me tell you he was a pretty well-dressed, clean-shaven, mid-aged man!!!

THIS WORLD IS FULL OF CREEPY, FREAKY, WEIRDOS!!!

EatS, sHootS & LeaVeS...

pure bo liao-ness led me to this site and take this short quiz...

my England is okie okie only leh...

bah!

must brush up on language skills...

must get Ms. Lim Ee Lin to tutor me ^^

wahaha!!

*burrrrp*

stewed pork ribs and bittergourd

i like!!!

O^_^O

thiNkinG of You

a casual chat with one of our common friends last week brought back lots of memories of you and me......



how are you??
i know we chat over MSN often still...
but......



do you ever think of me like the way i think of you?

常常听人家说女人很现实...

哼！！

男人不也一样！

没有女朋友时，就会call你吃饭，看戏，喝酒...

等你突然没接到call去吃饭，看戏，喝酒时，

就是他找到女朋友不需要你陪的时候了 -_________-

**臭男人！哼！！

you people just keep contradicting yourselves.

if things back home are really that much better (as what you make it out to be), why so desperate for residency here???

i LiKe!!!

SLURP!!!

i LIKE!!!!

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Someone.

Somewhere.

In the block.

Upstairs.

IS PLAYING SOME YUCKY YUCKY OOOOOOOOOOLD TUNES!!!

Those damn damn old stuff...

The ones like "The Last Waltz" that kind!!!

And damn damn damn loudly!!

I can even feel the walls vibrating!

WALAU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOW TO STUDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH MY GAWD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ugh!!!!

...as if its not bad enough that she was picking at all the bits between her teeth with a toothpick in a fancy Chinese restaurant...
...she had to pick in such a way that all those bits flew out of her mouth onto the table and floor around her!!!
sOOOoooooo disgusting can! damn 恶!!! all those bits of food on the floor... and those that practically flew across the table from her mouth!!

i am truly lost for words at what these cheena peeps can do...

their disgusting-ness (bah! dun think there's such a word, but heck! :p) is beyond me...

UGH!!!

CaNbeRRa triP

went to Canberra with Godparents..

hell sunny!

look nothing like autumn

the place is sOOOooo dead...

buildings after buildings.

museums after museums.

monuments after monuments.

hardly took photos...

even when i did, was of parks and buildings and stuff...

was hell tOOooo sunny for me to wana stand under the sun and 'say cheese'...

reckon i'll not go back to Canberra again...

not if i can help it!

haha!!

**trip was not ALL wasted though... i got plenty of zzzzzz in between destinations... slept everytime we got onto the coach! ^^

想你...

Claire Claire... 阿姨好想你............

sOUtHcoaSt daYtriP

COMPEC organized a one-day trip down Southcoast over the Easter long weekend.

The places we went to were good, the free-flow wine at the winery was great *hiccup* ! Company i had was best!

Only the weather was lousy. Sheesh! I think it started raining the night before our trip and never really stopped!!

Our first stop:- Minnamurra Falls (River and Rainforest) (Jamberoo)

It stopped raining for abit there :) Enjoyed a really nice walk on the Rainforest Loop Walk (1.6km) but the Falls Walk (2.6km)... OMG!!! That was tough! Some of the slopes were really steep! Like.... woah! Really really really steep! And we were kinda short on time - got carried away taking cheesy, 'drama' shots on the Rainforest Loop Walk, so we had to hurry up the Falls Walk to the waterfalls >.*

** yes yes.... these were some of the drama silly cheesy shots we spent toooooo much time on at the trails. we seemed to have a thing for bridges... most of our time was spent posing at the various bridges!!! duh!

** see what happens when there are too many photographers and cameras?? you get people not ready... not looking at The Right camera... blinking... moving.... bah!

It started raining as we all boarded the coach to leave for Kiama... bah!

Second stop:- Kiama

But damn damn damn wasted!!! It was absolutely pouring when we got to the Blow Hole Point =.= So so sOOOOoooooo sian! The rain poured down on us... the winds were strong... and to make things worst, our group had to make our way down to the main town area to get lunch because the 'lil food outlet CANNOT possibly accommodate 100+ peeps for lunch AT ONE SHOT! Bah!! Totally drenched i tell ya! We all ended up standing around outside a Domino's Pizza Place for lunch - me with my homemade lunchbox, they with their Domino's Pizza.

** the ONE good shot we managed to get at the Blow Hole before it started POURING!!!! it was already drizzling when we prep.ed for this shot. you can't see, but our brollies were all ready in our hands :p

The sun came out ONLY AFTER I WAS ON THE COACH AND WE WERE READY TO LEAVE!!!!!!!!!!! DAMN IT!!!!!!!!!!

Third:- Seven Miles Beach (Gerroa)

We were suppose to hang around at the Beach for 20-25minutes... but i think we stayed there 15minutes MAX! Why??? When we arrived, the sun was out and we were all rushing to get shots of the double rainbow at the Beach. So pretty!!!! But 10minutes later....??? It started to STORM all over again!!!!!!!! WTF!!!!!!

** Carrie and i -- see see! the pretty double rainbows ^^ PRETTY!!!!

Final stop:- Jasper Valley Wines and Vines (Berry)

WAAAAAAAAAH!!! Me was happy there! Free-flow wine! Very very the nice!!! We were there for over an hour *clap clap* very happy! *hiccup*
** Shawn and Henry -- i had to put this up. someone commented that that's Shawn's classic pose! haha! that cheeky boyish grin, hands on hips, butt out! wahaha!

We got back to Uni. just after 7:30pm. John (being the nice guy that he is!) drove me back up to Randwick. Good thing he did tooooooo! When we got off the coach, it started to drizzle. Within minutes of saying our byes to everyone else and we had started walking up the Main Walkway, it started to POURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! My poor poor 'lil Hello Kitty brolly :( Again, got totally drenched when we reached John's car, because even though we had the brolly, John is too tall lah!!!!!!!! When i share brolly with him, have to hold it higher otherwise will knock his head mah!!! Duh! But when we hold the brolly higher up, poor short me gets wet lah =.= Sianz!

** my 'partner' on the coach (aiya! the guy who sat nxt to me lah!!!) -- John the Nice Guy. pSsst:- John really can sleep leh! No matter how long (or short) the bus journey, no matter what time of the day, no matter if its sunny or pouring outside... he can fall right to sleep! (Actually so can i lah... Wahaha!)

he looks sOoooo red and drunk here after all that wine. heeeee!

Finally got my hands on 白色巨塔 - The Hospital

I is going on drama marathon! Whoopiiiiiiiiiiie!

^^

Ma says the most random things...

Right in the midst of an MSN conversation where she was asking if i've gone for Good Friday Service, she goes...

"You cannot take abalone and octopus... you can take beef, black beans sardines but not herrings"

...

Then she goes back to sending and playing MSN Winks for Claire Claire to see.

A few Winks later...

"You cannot take too much yogurt"

...

"Make you fat"

.....................................................

OKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY

Then she hangs up.

-______________________-

tHe mUsic i Once lOved sO muCh...

*Seagate Overture*

*Pine River Trilogy*

*Alvamar Overture*

*Exodus*

*The Light Eternal*

*New York! New York!*

All the wonderful wonderful wonderful (limited vocab i know...) band music we used to play and i used to listen to night and day!!!

I found these old mp3s in my external hard-drive earlier today!

And i've been listening to 'em the whole night!

Amazing that after 10 years, i still can 'auto' start to 'tut' and 'hum' to all the pieces.

And i can still remember all my flute parts... what solo comes next... which section does the melodies where.....

Waaaaaaah!!!

I LOVE 'BAND' MUSIC!!!

no wonder the 'lil girl at home now can't stop talking about band practice and SYF... i must have been like that last time too *sheepish*

many many moooOOooons ago...

gOOd lUck for SYF piggy-let!

erjie LOVES you!

MeetiNG afteR (at LeaSt) 15 YeaRs!!!

Godma (Margaret) & Godpa (Francis) are in Syd.

Godbrother (Albert) just moved to Guildford a couple of months ago.

So i went to see them earlier this afternoon.

OMG!

The horribly long train journey from Central to Guildford!!!

ONE HOUR!!! Damn long can?

And i had to share the cabin with LOTS and LOTS of high school kids who just finished sch... DAMN NOISY those kids!

Neways... back to the meeting...

Wah!

I can't believe i haven't seen Godma for sOOooooooo many many mOoooons!

I'm trying to recall when i actually last saw her...

Can't remember ever going back KL & gg to Subang to see her after moving away leh...

Even CNY... we only ever went back to Mantin....

which means........

the last time i saw her was actually....................

MY FIRST HOLY COMMUNION!!!!

OMG!

That's 15? 16? 17 years ago???

*faints*

*fingers crossed we can arrange a suitable date to go Canberra together before they go back to Malaysia*

Pray hard hard! ^^

hMmmmm... NiCe!

Love the sight and smell of fresh muffins from the oven ^^

Strawberry muffins today!

Should i make a batch of Chocolate-cherried ones tomorrow?

I really should be studying for mid-term actually...

Haha!

Oh whatever...

Think about it after brekkie *.<