An Overdue Update

Hey, I'm still here... I know you were worried :)

An update? Back in Orlando!! The Australia thing didn't work out due to a confusion with the classes. So far I'm on track to graduate THIS SPRING!!! Yay! I'm taking 17 credit hours this semester and they are whooping my butt!  More on those in other posts...

What have I missed... Halloween! Very fun!
I was a zombie/attack victim one night, The Princess and the Frog the next day, and a movie theater employee the next. Sorry, don't have any pics right now.

Anything important going on? Well...
Wreck it Ralph came out... so funny!!! (Yes, still working at the theater)
Also, Hotel Transylvania and Argo were very good. Not interested in movie reviews? How about something different...

Election!!!!

NO, I'm not going to give you my 2 cents on who you should vote for, and I'm not one to share my political views, but boy am I glad election day is finally here! I cannot stand all the political campaigns and the bashing on facebook! Speaking of facebook... one of my friends, Kristin K posted this as her status this morning and I feel that it sums up many of my feelings about facebook and politics. I will just post it as my closing statement. Over and out :)

~*~

"I know people are proud of whichever candidate they voted for, 

but I'm so sick of seeing that stuff on my feed. 

 Please, go vote and choose whomever you'd like, 

but don't brag about it like you've accomplished something mindblowing.

 Congratulations, you and millions of other people have 

gotten out of bed and waded through the lines to bubble in a name.

 Earthshattering. It's just as annoying as the

people who think they're being edgy by loudly 

proclaiming they won't vote because politics sucks blah blah blah.

 We all know. You are not being unique or articulating a new viewpoint.

 Vote or don't vote. I promise you the only people who care are too

 busy circle jerking to ever see your status. Yes, it's important to vote,

 and wonderful that we have that freedom, but please spare us all

 from your tittering mindlessness while you brag about 

which name you bubbled. If you really want to help a candidate, 

then donate some money or make a Super PAC. 

Your facebook status has never, and will never, convince anyone to vote for a certain person. 

It's a bumpersticker. The people who already agree with 

you will nod appreciatively and flash you a thumbs up,

 and occasionally someone who disagrees will blare their horn and comment. 

But there will be no meaningful dialogue, no essential truths or clarity.

 It's just a bunch of people screaming names at each other. 

The ballot is anonymous for a reason - and this is important now - 

 people do not want to know who you voted for. 

So stop telling us, or I'm gonna call the cops for unwanted solicitation."

Halloween

Happy Halloween! 

So in case you are wondering, Halloween is not a big thing in Asia. The Chinese are really superstitious and tend to stay away from things involving "bad spirits" and the like. The holiday is not, however, nonexistent... especially here, in Singapore where there are so many foreigners.
To be honest, I am not entirely familiar with how or if Halloween is celebrated in most parts of the world, though it probably does not get as much attention anywhere else as it does in the States. Here, there are Halloween decorations strung up around stores and little costumes for sale. Most of the stuff, however, seems like cheap small items and is no where near the level of decorations you would see in your everyday Walmart.
In general, Singapore does not do Trick-or-Treating, but certain apartment complexes or living areas where there are a lot of Westerners will open up and let their residents wonder freely, gathering their assorted candies.

Last Friday the Marines held another social at the Embassy...a Halloween Party! I signed up!... and I mean, who wouldn't? At the very least, you can get $5 pizza and $5 drinks! Good pizza is a rare and iffy thing here. the pizza they served was from this place called "Canadian Pizza" and it actually tasted okay... though there was a profound lack of pizza sauce. 
The costume contest promised on the invitation (winner drinks free) never happened, but costumes were abundant!  I didn't have many resources to pull from, so I wore a blue dress I have and attached some blue  wings and flowers to myself, decorated my arms and face with little sticky gems and lots of blue make-up and went as a fairy. My friend Heather went as a basket of laundry, and her husband accompanied her as Static Cling. My other friend, Kevin was the Green Lantern. Dexter, who works at the embassy, did not dress up. boooo haha There were a lot of other costumes there too... a Zorro, a Pimp, Cereal Killers, a slutty policewoman, cats, candy corn and so many more. Funnily enough, there was also one guy dressed up as a Mexican. I assumed, being in Asia, that it was really as Asian underneath the sombrero and mustache, but it  turned out to be a real Mexican!... imagine my surprise! lol
Anyway, it was a fun party and we stayed from around 7 until 11 or so. The actual party went on much later, but we all wanted to catch the public transportation home before it all shut down, and so dutifully headed out to catch a bus.

That was all over the weekend of course...what did I do for actual Halloween night, you ask? We made fajitas. haha... not very "halloweeny" I guess, but hey, they tasted good! Actually, my brother also had carved a pumpkin a couple days before (those things don't last long here, but I took a pic before it got ruined... it is the one at the top of the post) and we ended up making some delicious Oreo Ball treats. We tried to decorate them like eye balls, but that part didn't turn out so well. They were very  tasty, though, I assure you!

HHN at USS

Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Singapore!

So I thought I was going to have to miss HHN this year, but Singapore hosted one of their own! So exciting! Theirs lasts only two weekends and is much smaller than Orlando's, of course, but I was still really looking forward to it!

I went with my brother, and since we don't have work or classes during the week, we decided to go on the only Thursday the event was offered, hoping it would also be the least crowded day. Oh sweet success, how we enjoyed your succulent taste! To start with, let me out line how the park is laid out. The entrance brings you into their Hollywood area, though some stands have been creatively reconstructed as Bollywood themed instead. The whole park is one circle, so we'll pretend that we are moving in a counterclockwise direction. Next you come to New York, Sci Fi City then Ancient Egypt. After comes the Lost World, the kingdom of Far Far Away and Madagascar. El Fin. During HHN, only Hollywood, NY, Sci Fi City and Ancient Egypt were open. I was slightly disappointed about that, because I had expected that we would be able to go through pretty much the whole park even if some shows were closed down.

 There were only 2 haunted houses in the whole park... only two! I know that sounds pretty bad, but they were both really well done. Also, the park is so much smaller that it would have been hard to fit in as many as there are in Orlando.They had 5 or 6 scare zones total, however. Actually, almost everywhere, with the exception of directly in front of the rides and house entrances, was sort of a scare zone. Their post-apocalyptic NY area was really quite amazing. They also had a circus themed of area... the "carn-evil" in Hollywood, some creepy scientific creations around the Sci Fi zone and Mummys (...Mummies?) rampaging through Egypt.
There were only 4 rides open in the entire park. One was one of those spinney rides... like the tea cups at Disney, but all sciency-themed. Sci Fi city had two roller coasters. Battlestar Galactica: Human and Battlestar Galactica: Cylon. These two reminded me of the Dueling Dragons ride... they were the same theme and everything, but two separate coasters.  Both were really fun and, by a some fluke, we got to ride at the front of one of them during one of our rides! Yesss! The Mummy was also open, and we rode that one more than once as well. It is pretty much the exact same ride as the one in Orlando, except I noticed that in the room with all the fire, the fire is not as hot here! Thank goodness! Take note, Orlando...less fire is okay!
All in all, it took very little time to get through the whole park. We did almost everything there in about an hour and a half. Of course, as I stated earlier, we also managed to pick the least crowded day to go which saved us hours of wait time! After our first time through, we stopped at the Dinner to try our some hotdogs and milkshakes. The hotdogs were okay, though not really American tasting, but the milkshakes were... weird. They must have used some keep type of mixture because they tasted more like Wendy's Frosties... but bad.
We left the park right before midnight (HHN lasts 8-12) and managed to  catch one of the last MRTs home! Score!... then all I had left to do was sit up another hour waiting for my enrollment date to open on my school website so I could register for classes next Spring, but I won't get into that now... that could be a long story.
Anyway, so conclusion? HHN at USS was fun, but definitely not on par with Orlando's. I am rally glad I got to experience it though!