Nothing In Particular

To be honest, this post is just an effort on my part to keep on blogging in case I lose the momentum of it.

Tomorrow will be the last day of September. It has been seven days since the first day of fall but it doesn't even feel like fall yet. Maybe it's the warm afternoon temperatures, or the green leaves still hanging on the trees... I don't know what it is, but summer seemed awfully long this year. Well alright it felt awfully short while I was in Singapore though!

I can't believe how congested my schedule got over the course of a month! I'm looking at my new October whiteboard and it seems ghastly empty compared to the September board.

Dragged roomie out to the grocery store with me yesterday.

Walked ten minutes to a little shop next to school called Bergen Fruit to get some tofu, beansprouts and a carrot. Altogether the food cost me only 2.75USD! I'd call that a bargain in this part of the world.

Super happy to be buying food after a tough day at cross country practice.

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Anyway, I was thinking today- why am I such a people-repulsive person?

I was having dinner with some schoolmates today and we started talking about two foreign exchange friends that we made last year. They went back to their countries already, but everybody on campus still talks about them. This new girl from Germany even mentioned that most people she's met on campus would somehow mention those two in conversation.

Someone then piped in that the reason we all still talk about them is because we miss them and that they were the nicest guys he had ever met in his life. Always smiling, always friendly, always down-to-earth and welcome at any place, any time.

I couldn't help but think about this a little more deeply...

What do people say about me when I'm not around? Would they say something like that about me?

I highly doubt it. I mean, I'm not dumb, I know I tend to make mean statements most of the time and I have trouble showing people my nice soft side (yes, I have one! Really!!! I'm not bluffing...).

I started thinking about why I have trouble being nice to people. I don't take compliments well (my reply to "oh I like your ..." is usually "thanks! I like it too!"; which then incurs a -_-" face from the person complimenting me) and I don't give compliments freely either, though that's been changing as of late.

I know I don't give people comfortable fuzzy vibes when they're around me, yet I'm not consciously acting like a cactus!

It's just the way I am and have always been.

But sometimes, like today, I really wished I had a higher EQ. Someone once told me that I probably had the lowest EQ in the world. I think they may be right.

Then I think about God's role in all of this- and I suddenly see the bigger picture.

I saw that before Christ, I was a way pricklier cactus than I am now. Granted, I'm still not a cuddly teddy bear (and maybe I never will be), but I'm not quite a smelly durian anymore. I think opening myself to God has taught me a lot about loving others before self and being honest with my feelings.

I still randomly say mean things to the people that I like, but that odd behaviour is slowly going away. And when I say slowly, I mean slowly. I mean, give me a break! That habit's been 21 years in the making! But now I understand that the things I say or do although may seem harmless to me, but it may not be so to others. I've learnt that sarcasm and jokes don't translate well all the time and people can seriously take you the wrong way even when you don't mean it.

So now I'm trying to, as I said before, be honest with my feelings. I will try to act with more kindness and sincerity towards others, not necessarily because I want to win their favour, but because it is a command of God to love others before self.

And if other people can't feel the love coming from me, they're probably going to discredit anything I say about the Holy Spirit living in my heart.

Sigh.

There's always so much more to learn.

Team Picture Day & Kooky Roommate

The track team had to take individual and team pictures today. Of course that meant that we all had to dress up. As you already know, coach had cancelled today's practice so that people would have time to get their hair done and shirts ironed.

The only buttoned-down shirt in my closet was this black one. Felt as if I were a frumpy old woman going to a funeral. I refused to wear my black dress pants with the shirt because then I would feel as if I were going to work.

By the time I got back to the dorms around 19:00, my tummy was growling like a bear. I fixed pasta for dinner since it's relatively quick and easy to cook.

The sauce ingredients are: a can of diced tomatoes, another small can of smoked herring in tomato sauce, spam and chopped garlic.

After dinner, as I was reading, my roommate Alejandra suddenly came into my room and started complaining about the people who live upstairs. Since I'm friends with our upstairs neighbours, Alejandra wanted to inform me that she was going to ask them to stop stomping so loudly as they walk. Apparently their footsteps were so loud that she couldn't concentrate much.

It was more of a joke, but I suggested that she take our broomstick and knock it against the ceiling instead of going upstairs.

And guess what? That crazy woman did just that! And not only did she knock the broomstick on the ceiling, but she knocked it in a line from the bedroom to the living room, saying to me "well now they know what it's like when they stomp from one bedroom to another!"

I couldn't help but burst out laughing because, hello? Who walks on the ceiling, let alone stomp on it from room to room?

It was a truly hilarious scene that still makes me want to laugh everytime I think about it. Amazingly, our upstairs neighbours seemed to quiet down afterwards. We didn't hear much stomping, so I guess the broomstick was quite effective.

Oh something really sucky came my way this past weekend.

My texting/SMS bill came out to be 50USD! I hadn't used my phone in so long that I forgot that the plan I use only allows 300 free SMS'es per month and after that, each SMS will cost me 20 cents. 300 is very little considering my incoming SMS'es are counted as well. That leaves me 150 SMS'es to send and 150 to receive.

Sigh.

Mummy asked if I wanted to get unlimited texting for 20USD/month, but I think that's such a waste of money if I have almost 600 minutes of talk time.

What do you think? I think as a college student, I shouldn't be spending unnecessary money on things that I can scrimp and save on. This is especially so if the texts I'm sending/receiving are messages like "where are you?", or "what's up?".

Yep.

Church & Mummy's Birthday

At church today, I was really encouraged in a cool way by the pastor's message.


Remember last Sunday when I had to miss my dear Phillies game but got to bring a friend to church instead? Well apparently the pastor also had to miss his first ever Phillies game in order to preach a sermon to church.


I was pleasantly surprised by the similarity in our situations and felt that God was letting me know that I did the right thing.


:)


But that wasn't the only great thing about church today. We got an awesome sermon as usual, titled "Temptation: The Struggle of the Sanctified Life".


I'm just going to share with you the main points of the message that really stood out to me.


1) Temptations try to seize our hearts.
2) Temptations try to reason with our minds.
3) Temptations try to entice our feelings.
4) God always provides an exit door to temptation.
5) God call us to resist temptation.
6) God wants us to think of others when we are tempted.
7) There are more important things in life than our feelings, what others think about us and instant gratification.


And the winning quote of the day is "Christ became like us so that He could be tempted. We are tempted so we could become more like Christ".


Yep. I chewed on it and will continue to chew on these thoughts to encourage me throughout the upcoming week!




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




Alright this morning my mom woke up and saw the presents outside her bedroom door while I was still in sleepyland, so I didn't get to witness her first reaction.


:(


But she said she liked it very much and I could tell that she wasn't kidding, so yay!

To celebrate her birthday, we went to this Korean place nearby for lunch.

Barbecued short ribs was the clear winning dish from the start. Somehow, Koreans make the best marinade sauce ever!

I was super hungry so I ordered an additional spicy kimchi tofu soup.

Unfortunately, I don't think my mom enjoyed the lunch very much because Max and Alex were being very clingy and didn't allow her much space to eat at all. I know she wished that they'd gotten a babysitter for the boys.

I kinda felt bad ("kinda" is not proper english... But I don't feel typing properly today) for enjoying the food because it's Mummy's birthday and she obviously didn't enjoy it.

Sigh.

Then after dinner later in the evening, everyone gathered around the table to sing Mummy a birthday song.

Check out the ice cream "cake". They're actually just bowls of ice cream with a candle stuck in the middle. The boys were way more thrilled about the novelty of it all than anyone else.

And that's pretty much it.

We all took a long nap this afternoon so naturally we didn't do much else.

Oh, want to hear another cool story?

Ok so I drove back up to school around 21:00 and arrived around 22:30 just now.

On Sunday nights, it is usually just impossible to find parking anywhere on campus. Tonight was even worse than usual, with the side streets being completely filled with cars.

I drove around in circles for about twelve minutes, not bothering to pray until I couldn't take it anymore. How stupid of me right? I should have just prayed first before looking for parking!

Anyway, this time I found myself doubting that God would answer my prayer because the situation looked really hopeless. I mentally prepared myself to either park far away from school or to drive around for another half hour.

BUT GUESS WHAT?

After I finished praying, I turned and drove down the street I wanted to park in, behind another car. I was thinking to myself that even if a lot opened up ahead, the car in front of me would get it first, so I likely wouldn't find a lot.

Even worse, when we got to the end of the street, there was no parking for the other car and for me (note: there were about five other cars circling the streets for lots).

I made a left turn and was about to pass the tiny parking lot that I usually park in for the fifth time when I saw from the corner of my eye that THERE WAS NOW A LOT!

Oh me oh my.

I immediately signaled, did some crazy turning and reversing while other cars beeped behind me and grabbed the lot that God MIRACULOUSLY gave to me!

It's a miracle because there is NEVER a lot in Lot 4 on Sunday nights. I thought God would likely provide me with a second-rate lot somewhere obscure and that would've been good enough for me; but instead He gave me an awesome lot that I wouldn't even have dreamt would be available!Just goes to show how little faith I have and how awesome God is.

:)

Yep, that's my cool story. Sorry if it wasn't cool enough for you.

It was for me though!

And that's all for this morning (It's 01:23! :P)

BUH-BUH-BUH-BUH BYE!

Kinda Lazy Saturday

Rereading yesterday's post made me aware of how much complaining I've been sinking into. I see that complaining is only a surface of a deeper habit; and it's not a nice one.

Perhaps I'm trying to blame the coach and the team and the weather for my inadequate performances.

Perhaps it's me being afraid of failure, not wanting to admit that it is a necessary step towards success. I often forget that in order to reach a higher point, I must dedicate myself to hard work. I must be prepared to accept unwelcome situations and not shift responsibilities- indicating that they are situations outside my control. That's my bad habit. Always pushing responsibility away, always trying to blame someone or something else.

To be fair, I will say that everything is actually in the Lord's control, not mine. But God also granted man responsibility for his actions. He gave man authority over the living creatures of the earth.

In that vein of thought, I know God expects me to act, think and speak as if I were accountable. I can only pray that He gives me the strength and wisdom to carry out His will... As you can see, I'm quite capable of slipping into unsatisfactory behaviour.

Sigh.

Well, that aside, today turned out to be rather unproductive and relaxing.

Got to spend a little bit of quality time with Koshka before heading out to discover a new running trail (more about that next time) and a new running store. Well the store isn't new but I just discovered its existence so it's new to me.

Mummy cooked an awesome dinner on the barbecue grill outside.

Steak with homemade mushroom gravy, asparagus and tomatoes. I think the only seasonings used in everything was pepper and salt.

It was super delicious!

Tomorrow is mummy's birthday, so I snuck out to the mall after dinner to get her a present.

I know it sounds last minute, but I've already thought about what I wanted to get her. There really isn't anything she needs or wants so I had to think really hard! Anyway, I left the gift outside her bedroom door for her to stumble upon when she wakes up in the morning.

You know, another reason why I may be nitpicking on my cross country team right now is because I'm watching Dear Boys.

What has that got to do with anything? You may ask. Dear Boys is about a Japanese boys basketball team... which is a far cry from cross country.

It's just that, watching Dear Boys makes me recall all the times I've ever played basketball in the past. I miss being on a team, having an important role to play, depending on others and being depended upon. The community that is built may become stifling sometimes, but more often than not it is uplifting and rewarding.

It makes me wish that our team were more cohesive like that.

It also makes me want to play basketball again. I haven't touched my ball for a really long time. It's probably covered in five layers of dust now (one layer for each year). My shoes are not in their shoebox but I barely touch them as it is. The only time I would touch them is to move them out of the way to get my other shoes.

I'd like to shoot hoops but I don't know anyone who'd like to shoot with me...

Well we'll see.

I'm looking forward to church tomorrow.

:)

Getting Baptised & Thoughts On Cross Country

Yesterday was a special day on two accounts: firstly, because it was the first day of autumn and secondly, because I got baptised.

The moon shone so brightly that it looked like daytime even at 23:00.

I got baptised in somebody's backyard. They generously loaned us their hot tub for the four baptisms that were to take place in the young adult service group. Two other people were baptised first, then me, then someone else.

Before actually being submerged underwater, I was to sit in the tub in front of everyone else and just share a bit of my journey with Christ and why I wanted to be baptised. I was so nervous and overwhelmed by the two baptisms before me that I was crying even before I got into the water- so I don't even know what I was saying during my testimony. Something about being obedient to Christ now...

After sharing my testimony, Jay- the young adult pastor said something like "In the name of the Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit, I now baptise you... I declare you now dead to sin", as he said this he pulled me backwards so that I was completely underwater, "AND ALIVE IN CHRIST!"- and that's when he pulled me back out of the water.

When I came out I suddenly felt my limbs go weak and I was crying so hard. I just sat there in the tub crying and crying... But yet I felt so glad.

I never felt the need to be baptised before until maybe about half a year ago. I guess God was just prompting me, letting me know that baptisms are an outward expression of faith and also a step in obedience. If there is no student above his/her teacher, why should I not be baptised when Jesus himself was?

Anyway, I'm so grateful for the experience and it was everything awesome in my imagination and so much more... I am excited to see what's next in my walk with Christ!

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Baptism took place yesterday in Hatfield, Pennsylvania.

This morning however, I had to drive two hours back up to New Jersey just for cross country practice.

See the picture below?

If you look in the distance, you can see New York City and the Empire State Building jutting out towards the right-centre of the picture. That's the view from the Pulaski Skyway on a usual clear day.

This however, is the view of New York City in the horizon as I drove over the Pulaski Skyway today.

Can you see the Empire State Building jutting out anywhere?


No, right?


And mind you, in this picture, I zoomed in a lot more than I did in the previous picture.

The difference lies in the fact that today, the New York Metropolitan area received a severe haze warning. The weather report sent out an advisory for people to stay indoors and refrain from strenuous exercises between 15:00 and 18:00.


As you can see from the above picture, the haze was really thick today. It reminds me of pictures in Beijing during the 2008 Olympics.

Did my track coach care that there was a severe haze warning?

Nope.

He thought it very queer of me to ask if practice was cancelled today.

I really felt like screaming at him. I don't get it. He cancelled Monday's practice because we're getting our team photos taken FOUR hours after practice and he doesn't want us to look sweaty... But he won't cancel today's practice even when our lungs are at risk?

Practice was so horrible today because many people couldn't breathe, especially those with asthma. I really can't stand this kind of irresponsibility!

I suppose this tirade stems from a deeper dissatisfaction that I have with the coach. Halfway during a hard practice the other day, he just gave us another "long distance sucks and I don't care about long distance at all" speech. It completely demoralised me for the rest of that day and I just got so pissed off going to practice after that. He made me feel as if my hard work on the track didn't matter at all.

There are other things as well... But they are too technical to discuss. I think only distance runners who have ever trained under a knowledgeable coach would understand what I'm talking about. Not even my own teammates know what I'm talking about. (He tells us he's having us taper for Indoor season right now when our Indoor championships are in FEBRUARY! Our cross country championships aren't even until five weeks from now!)

I find myself getting so frustrated once again with his coaching methods that I feel as if I were slipping away from the happy place that I just got to in running.

I love running cross country, but listening to your coach and teammates constantly talk about how much they hate it eventually makes you hate it too.

But I don't want to hate going to practice!

Oh I don't know what to do.... I really don't.

The two other distance runners who truly love cross country are on the boys team and they've told the coach that they want to train under a different schedule now- because my coach is giving us sprinting workouts that are not suitable for long distance. The boys advise me to do the same before I ruin my season by getting injured or being too tired to race.

I wish I could!

At least the two guys have each other to run long distance workouts with. I only have myself. No other girl likes to run long distance- they all detest running anything above three miles. I don't blame them, but I do wish so much sometimes that I were on a good distance team with a coach who has at least run before in his life. And I don't mean running to catch the bus.

Anyway, this is all I have.... and I know I should be grateful for it.

I just think sometimes, what if? What if I were in a different team? Would I still be running these times for my races or would I be faster? How much faster?

I feel like I lost something- but that's because I choose to think that way. And what do I really know anyway, right?

I know I gained a lot too. Being in this school has given me an athletic opportunity that I may not have had in another school.

Well I can't have everything I want and that's that. I don't know what's worse- running on your own or running with a team that hates running.

Drove back to Pennsylvania again right after practice. Traffic jam all the way!

God, please grant me more patience. I think the traffic is not as tiring as my impatience with other drivers. Please take that away. I am so sick of it. I don't want to offend You anymore!

:/

And goodnight :)

Procrastinator Me

Last night was a really long night. Or should I say this morning was a really long morning?

Worst of all, I can't begin to tell you how disappointed I feel right now.

Disappointment in myself.


Basically, I had a seven page paper due first thing this morning and instead of starting it early on Monday, I procrastinated and procrastinated until last night. And guess what time it was before I even began typing the first paragraph?


23:00!


I don't know how I managed to do it, but that's not the point. I didn't even touch 7 pages. I only wrote 5.


The point is, how could I have procrastinated this much, especially for a class that I particularly enjoy? Somehow I just couldn't sit down and write the essay. My mind kept wandering about... Sometimes even just looking up words in the dictionary would lead me into a train of thoughts that went halfway across the universe.


I am just so disappointed in my mediocre performance.


What happened to last semester's discipline? I must say only a shadow of it lurks in my brain now. I really hope it comes back soon.

And looking at this didn't help either. (Remember this frame, Huimin?) It made me dream about holidays and all sorts of nonsense.


I guess I should hide it in a corner next time I'm trying to get homework done.



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


Last night is probably just an example of how temptation has been overcrowding my senses recently. It's been so thick and happening almost all the time that I can hardly pause to breathe.


Yet I know that I will never be tempted beyond what I can overcome in Christ.


I wonder what's the deal? Is it because I'm getting baptised this Thursday? Is the devil out to make things difficult for me?


It must be so... But in all the crazy whirlwind of events, I can still sense God's presence and the comfort of His guiding hand.


I was lost but now I'm found!


And I don't think ANYTHING can ever snatch me from my saviour's hand again!

West NY & XC Meet

Hurrow errayburday!

Before the blogging bug slips away, I decided that I HAD TO write down a bit of what's been going on over this past weekend.

Well before I talk about that, this is what I wore to school today.

The reason for this outfit being that I woke up a little late this morning and didn't feel like finding two pieces to wear (this is a one piece).

Had porridge with luncheon meat and cucumbers for lunch.

Oh yes, last night, I finally finished watching "Hotaru No Hikari 2"! I don't know whether or not to be happy about that since the drama ended on an interesting unfinished note.

The first Hotaru No Hikari was recommended to me by Cass back in 2008, I must have watched the whole series at least 7 times from front to back now. When I found out that there was a Hotaru No Hikari 2, I almost squealed in delight. To me, no other drama out there has such an adequate blend of comedy, romance, appropriateness & cuteness- all of which are important qualities in a drama to me.

The first Asian drama I ever watched was "Winter Sonata" and that was consequently followed by other Korean dramas where the good people were punished and the lovers never ended up together.

After that, I really hated watching dramas with sad endings or sequences that were way too miserable. Why would I want to watch something that would make me cry every five seconds?

Anyway, if you've never watched or *gasp* even heard of Hotaru No Hikari, go watch the first one, then the second one which is even more hilarious than its predecessor!

Now on to the weekend!

Saturday evening, I went with three other friends to West New York for a walk. West New York is not in New York City, but rather in New Jersey. It lies west of New York City, across the Hudson River; and that's why it's called "West New York". As you can see, the Jersey-side view is quite fantastic. You can see the whole of Manhattan stretching from Staten Island in the south to Upper Manhattan in the north.

We were all starving after a while, so we traipsed over to some Philly Cheesesteak restaurant for dinner. What's all this Philly stuff doing OUTSIDE of Philadelphia anyway?

Mikas & Shona.

Natalia & I.

I had my veggies on the side because that it would've felt a little strange to have veggies in my cheesesteak. Usually cheesesteaks just come with the meat and melted cheese.

The meal was a relatively good deal- a footlong (30cm?) bun with steak & cheese, your choice of veggies, fries & a drink for 9USD. Not bad at all considering that a smaller meal at Burger King would cost you almost 7USD.

The only weird thing was that this cheesesteak came in a nicely toasted Italian sort of bun, rather than the usual cheap soft buns. It was nice and crunchy but I rather missed the usual cheap buns. They would've been easier to swallow.

Ok and maybe I've been living under a rock for a really long time but I have never seen such cute little towelette packets before! Compare size to hand. So cute!!!

When you open it up, it unfolds into this transparent wet towel which smells like lemon-flavoured dishwashing liquid. Good for wiping the insides of my car!

Anyhow, it was a nice chilly Saturday for walking. The view of Manhattan at night is as stunning, if not more, than the one in the daytime.

Sunday dawned fair and warm. Just the right climate for a track meet at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, New York. Took us about an hour to get there from school.

It was a smaller meet than usual, but the competition remained fierce nonetheless.

I filched this photo off Facebook.

Unfortunately, it's one of an NJIT runner running past me right before the finish line.

:(

The meet ended on a good note and high spirits. For the girls, it was the first 6km race of the season. Our first two races had been 5km races but the extra 1km didn't seem to faze us this time.

It's hard to imagine that already half of the cross country season has flown by and we only have about 5-6 weeks left before the indoor season starts. Excitement for the future always seem to be tinged with a sort of bittersweetness for the present. The present that will in time, become a past, a history...

Well melancholy thoughts aside, I have one 7-page paper due by Wednesday, a German exam to study for, 3 chapters of Russian, 2 novels to complete and a bunch of articles to read.

So..... Tooda-loodle-loo for now!

Busy Busy Busy

Hmm where to start?


Ah Yee is visiting us in the U.S. this week, so there's been a lot of activity going on in the family department. On top of that, my school work has been steadily piling up and I find myself exhausted by the end of each day.


I decided not to post any pictures this time because there are simply too many and I only have about 15 minutes for blogging right now.


But there's something absolutely wonderful that I must share.


This past weekend, I received the devastating news that the track meet this Saturday would be moved to Sunday. Why is this news devastating? For the simple reason that I had bought tickets to go watch the Phillies play baseball on Sunday. Those tickets were bought way back in May and I got them since the cross country schedule showed that we had a meet on Saturday, not Sunday.


Can you imagine the horror I felt as the news sunk into my ears?


I was so looking forward to the baseball game since it was going to be my first live Phillies experience (and I'm a huge Phillies Phan- more about this next time...).


Anyway, I told myself not to be too upset about it but deep inside, I still wasn't very happy with the way things had turned out.


Today, God showed me how awesome His timing and schedule is.


A random situation cropped up today- a friend needed someone to talk to since he was going through some horrible experience that I had gone through myself. In his misery, he found himself looking to God for answers and asked me how I had gotten through the pain.


I told him that my wounds were healed by God and God alone. I said I had tried everything but God was the only one who really healed me.


He then asked me which church I'd recommend him to go to.


WELL.


Since my track meet is this Sunday, that means I won't be back in Pennsylvania and I'll be in New Jersey instead. And that means I'll be going to the evening service at the church that I used to attend when I lived up here.


So I asked if he wanted to come along with me and HE SAID YES!!!


La la la la laaaaa I was soooo thrilled and happy for this opportunity to share God with someone else that I just had to hold my excitement down and not jump about.


If the track meet hadn't been moved to Sunday, I would've gone to the baseball game and been in church in Pennsylvania instead. I wouldn't have had the chance to bring my friend to church...


God works in mysterious but awesome and powerful ways.
This has not only been great for my friend, but through this incident, God is also increasing my faith. He answers my prayers beyond what I can ever ask for.


:)


True, it has been a tiring week, but God gives strength to the weary. My body may be tired but my spirits are up and I can see light at the end of the tunnel!

Times Square

Alright, I've got to post something by today if not the weekend is going to come upon me like a flood.

This post covers Wednesday.

After a day full of classes, homework and cross country practice, I decided catch the St. Peter's Volleyball game with my roomie since she accused me of being antisocial and always hiding in my bedroom.

Had a bunch of fun there, even though half the time I didn't know what was going on.

On the spur of the moment, a few girls from the track team and I decided to head to New York City after the game since one of them has never yet been to Times Square.

Suni (on the right) is from Germany and is one of the new field recruits on the track team.


By the time we left the volleyball game, it was already 21:00, but we didn't intend to stay very long in the city anyway.



Telly the bookworm. Always studying! *Note to self*- have to learn more studying habits from her!

Got off at the 33rd Street PATH station.

Some cool interactive screen thing on the walls of the station. You can "scatter" the rosebuds by waving your hands around in front of the screen.

Temperatures outside fell drastically on Wednesday, from the usual 30 Celsius to a cool 20 Celsius. At night it was even 16 Celsius.

All in all, it was perfect weather to walk in.

Times Square at night is always a blur.

22:00 and still the places is teeming with people.

Sometime during the night, we walked by a random man who yelled out to the crowd "when are you people going to realise, there ain't shit to do in Times Square and there never will be!"

To American readers, sorry for the vulgarity. But that's what he said.

I thought it was a pretty accurate depiction of Times Square and its crowds. People pour through its streets day and night to see the neon lights and signboards, but there really isn't anything else to do there besides look at the shining advertisements.

Went to Toys 'R' Us where there was a little ferris wheel inside the shopping centre.

Candyland was closed.

Khadeen and her transformer.

Best display ever! Made a lot of kids cry I bet.

Super cool hair clip! They're crayons!

Headed to the giant M&M store afterwards.

M&M paraphenalia.

M&M in all colours, but very expensive!

Suni found her country on the wall. Deutschland!

Police horse on the street. It's more convenient to travel by horse in the city because the streets are small and its easier to chase thugs on those fast and agile creatures.

The only setback is that they make big poops.

Look at all the trash!

Went to Sbarros for a late night snack.

Mmmmm my slice of Supreme pizza, with everything on it!

What is a Hotel Pennsylvania doing in New York City?

Time to go home. Saw more trash in the train tracks.

The whole thing was very enjoyable and we managed to get home around midnight, which is awesome since it was a school night.

Yep. That's it!