joga bonito

Looks like football really can be part of the glue that binds the world together. Yesterday night was so awesome having people from 6 different nations all out on the field showing off their fancy footwork. Well at least the others were showing off their fancy footwork. I was just running around like a headless chicken as usual. But still, right there on that field there were people from Colombia, Ecuador, America, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand playing as if we'd all known each other for years instead of having just met a couple of hours ago. as one of the Colombians, Juan, said, it was just absolutely amazing.

Oh and if you think those Nike joga bonito videos are cool, imagine watching it live and unedited right in front of you. Those South Americans are soooooooooooooooo friggin good. When I mentioned joga bonito they just started pulling about every move on those videos...and MORE! In fact even the worst of em had no problems pulling those moves. Now that is truly truly Joga Bonito. Also I think somehow Americans are just naturally great keepers. One of the Americans who played with us yesterday keeps for his college and boy is he ever good. One of the best keepers I've ever seen. Think Brad Freidel and Kasey Keller and you'll catch my drift.

Ow my feet hurt.

steak and shake milkshakes!! thats choc chip cookie dough on the left and dark choc/cheesecake on the right!! 

if there's anyting the americans are good at its burgers 

the wendy's frosty...the only Soquid you eat with a Fpoon 

dan the man in da basketball 

speeeeeeeedballl 

STEP RIGHT UP TO THE BEAN BAG!! when i'm not in this game it does terrible 

john says: come on over and play top glo 2, there's a winner every race. grab yourself one of these cedar point bears 

i got elephant ear i got 25 cent blue cotton candy. no fight 

sheryl and erin 

check out the wicked twister 

top thrill dragster towering over the rest 

looks like singapore isn't the only place that imports sand 

debs and carol in front of the baptism fountain 

they have an actual fireplace! 

welcome to THE CHAPEL 

one of these things is not like the others 

real life home cooked meal!!! nothing beats it 

stupid dumbasses

Ok I haven’t really had the time to update the past few days. But it hasn’t been all that bad. This week has been relatively relaxed compared to other weeks. I won’t go into details but God somehow worked out a messed up situation and turned it into one where I got more of a break than I was initially entitled to. It’s amazing how He can do that.

I’m meeting lots and lots of different people here at my game and I’m pretty surprised by the diversity of culture here in America. But of course there are the stereotypical American dumbarses as well. Been having pretty bad experiences the past few days. On Friday this champion came to my game:

“You gotta knock the cans…..”

“Cut the bullshit and give me the stuff.”

So I just handed him the bean bags and surprise surprise, he lost. In fact he only managed to hit one can out of 5.

“Fuck you you dirty cheat you didn’t tell me what I had to do!! I hit one can I ought to get a prize!!”

And then he started going around to the people around my game and hurling vulgarities at me and telling them I was a swindler and robber and all.

On Saturday I gave this idiot his two bean bags and he thought he only had one so he threw them both at the same time. I was lenient and let him have one bag back for his second shot but he just blew up!!

“Why didn’t you tell me I had two bags in MY hand!!!!?!?”

Err… uncle…YOUR hand….

And yesterday was the worst. This ethinic Indian couple left their camera on my counter but I didn’t see it until a while later. I didn’t know whose it was at the time so I shouted at this white couple just leaving my game and asked them if it was theirs. They said it was so I returned it to them. But I guess honesty is really not the policy here in America. I thought nothing of it till the Indian couple came back about 2 hours later and when they found out what happened they demanded that I pay them back!!! Said that I should’ve given it to lost and found even if someone said it was theirs. WTF.

“Hey guys, come back, is this your camera?”

“Oh yes! Thank you it…”

“Ok I’m giving to lost and found. Get the hell outta my game”

SKYHAWK!!!

Got on Cedar Point's brand new toy the SkyHawk yesterday and boy is it awesome. Essentially its a giant swing BKB-ed and on adrenaline that makes you feel like you're being launched into the stratosphere. God knows I needed that. Haven't felt so free in a while and though it took a 7 storey screaming monster swing to do it I don't mind. At least it got my mind off having a knife expertly slid into my back by one of my apartment mates. So well done I never knew it was there till a couple of days later.

Actually Cedar Point ought to pay the games employees more for the emotional abuse they have to endure. Every single day no less than 10 people will come by hollering that my game is rigged and I am an evil genius hellbent on taking over the world with my bean bags. Well ok maybe not so much that bit, but everyday people will inisist that I'm cheating them of their money, that I'm making a comission off my game even though I'm not, that the bundle of change money I'm holding in my hand is the spoil of the day. I've been called a swindler, hustler, cheat, robber of the children and given dirty looks so many times I really should be immune to it. But somehow I'm not. My conscience still tears me apart everytime somebody walks away unhappy from my game. I know it shouldn't but it does. Call me a wuss I guess.

I'm not saying that being here isn't fun or anything but I'm starting to get the impression that Cedar Point really doesn't give much of a damn about its employees. One of my roomies just got terminated by the company after he protested their giving him much fewer hours than stipulated in the contract signed back in Malaysia. Oh wait I'm not sure if he quit himself or they terminated him but what I do know is that he officially left the company at 4 pm and they expected him to pack up and move out of the employee accomodation by 5 pm. They even sent cops over to make sure so we had to hide him in one of the girl's apartments till he can sort out what he's going to do for the rest of the summer. And he can't leave this compound because once he does he can't come back in. Talk about being a fugitive. I'm not sure how this will work out but it means one of my own roomies is gone.

Alright I gotta go cook my catfish fillets. Haven't had fish for ages.

ben and jerry for presidents!! 

sorry la shaun i don't have tua liap lumix like you 

don't say erin act cute. i put her up to it :) 

17 singaporeans, 1 chinese buffet restaurant, 1 helluva mess 

no fight la 

*chinaman accent* china dragon buffet!!! they stayed open just for the bunch of us homesick singaporeans 

breather at last

I'm sitting in the rec room now after a gruelling day at work. 14 hours straight and its a Saturday so the park was totally packed today. I was still getting people to play my game at 1045 pm. I'm just sitting here savouring the feeling because I've finally got an off day tomorrow. Its been a full 10 days of nonstop either 12 or 14 hour shifts every single day. Well almost because my area had lots of people yesterday so the sup decided to give me break to prep for today. People say they'd prefer to have clocked all the hours I've clocked but I'm honestly utterly exhausted. Been almost falling asleep on my feet in the game the past few days. But PHEW. ITS OVER. And I'll finally get to go to church for service tomorrow morning!!

After I got sent home from work yesterday, went down to the Sandusky Mall with Marcus to give it a look around. This is going to sound gay but we got so engrossed in shopping that we missed the last bus back to the Commons!!! Shopping over here is pretty darned good!! Aeropostale stuff was going 2 polo tees for 30 USD! Jeans for 17 USD!! And original Levi's jeans cost a mere 25 USD!! Now we know how all the buggers selling us this stuff back in Singapore are ripping us off. Anyway we missed the bus and didn't want to take a cab back so somehow we came up with the idea that we'd prowl the carpark and ask people if they could give us a lift. Ok that didn't really work and people kept giving us two Asians weird looks but it was pretty good for a laugh. Had to take a cab back later anyway and the driver stopped to pick up this drunk old guy on the way and that was when the conversation turned hilarious as the old guy started discussing the attributes of 'sexy black bitches'!! We didn't say a word but we were laughing our heads off!! And it turns out the taxi driver didn't just drive passengers. He provides delivery service too. In his words 'if someone needs some ass tonight I'll send it to him!!'

People here really crack me up.

ISAAC IS EVIL

A little kid came to play my game today. I tried explaining the rules to him but I wasn't sure if he understood. Just stood there looking at me with huge eyes and holding out his money in tiny hands while his mom stood behind him.

And he lost.

He stood there expecting a prize which didn't come and when it didn't come HE STARTED CRYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And his mom gave me one of those looks that said I'd be burning in hell for a loooooooooooong time. ARGH I FEEL LIKE A MONSTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Watch out Saddam. Watch out Satan. ISAAC'S COMING!!!!!!!!

not exactly orange county

Working at Cedar Point has been quite an eye opening experience so far, not least because of all the people I'm meeting over here. A big proportion of the people who work here at the park are what we'd call disadvantaged back home in Singapore. A lot of them come from broken homes with parents who earn low wages and who might not even give a damn. One of the black guys who used to hang around in our place, Terrell, he spent a night ranting about the plight of black people and generally blasting his own race. Well he comes from a family where his brother and him share the same mother but different dad while his sister and him share the same dad but different mom so I guess I really can't blame him. I learnt a lot about how a large proportion of black people lived that night. And the thing is, Terrell is only 19 and he shows a maturity that I think I still lack at 22. But Terrell's gone now. Gone from Ohio I mean. As if he didn't have enough to worry about, his diabetic mom just got hospitalised in a coma so he had to grab the next bus back to Detroit.

Lots of these kids show a maturity beyond their years. At least beyond the standarads we're used to back home. The guy who runs the game next to mine, Bobby, is only 16 and his mom barely gets by earning a minimum wage. His car has no gas and he has absolutely no money at all to get anymore. As in no money in the entire household because he's yet to get his paycheque. This is a man in a boy's body and he doesn't even have a dad to look up to.

I think if you walked and talked to everybody working here at Cedar Point you'd find enough stories to fill a hundred books

the guys of 1002...well almost all of em 

finished product!! with ricE!!