Assorted Ravings of the Slightly-Weird

The Suaku Singaporean Reports: #1

1st report from the Suaku Singaporean:

So, E3 was a blast! Checking out the new games and the consoles... I can think of a couple of people who would love to be in my shoes. But as it turns out, as long as you have some kind of company credit card or you can show some vague tenuous link to the electronic entertainment industry AND are willing to pay at least USD325, you can definitely get it. Not worth it to me, but to some people who really really want to see models dressed up as their favourite game characters, or try out the newest games (some that haven't even been launched yet), or just revel in the biggest loudest geek party of the year, then E3 is definitely for them.

After E3, I headed over to the east coast of the US of A to pay tribute at my company headquarters. Turns out that United Airlines now have these self-serve e-ticketing check-in counters which makes checking in a breeze, especially if you don't have any check-in baggage. They've installed these self-serve counters at the old check-in counters so instead of seeing a row of people behind the counters there's now only 2 to 3 max. You go up to any touchscreen, swipe any credit card and they'll pull out your name and confirm your destination, then they'll show you your assigned seat and you can try to change seats or upgrade using your miles, and then if you have any check-in you print out a luggage tag else you're done! The only thing is with check-in baggage you still have to wait for the airline personnel to come get the luggage from you but it sure is easy. Checking in took just 5 minutes as opposed to lining up for at least 30 minutes like before.

But since 9/11, they've really become a whole lot more vigilant so all passengers have to pass through baggage screening where you have to take off your shoes, empty out your pockets and take out your laptop/camera to be screened separately. And woe betide you if you misplace your boarding pass! As opposed to pre 9/11 where anyone (even without a boarding pass) could walk into a domestic terminal, right up to the gate and wait around.

So I'm now in the east coast and I'm tired, sleepy AND cold. Turns out that it started raining here yesterday so it's wet and gloomy. And I don't have an umbrella or a windbreaker. )!*#@ Luckily my new laptop bag has a rain cover so that helps a little! And I'm grumpy too because I spent over 2 hours waiting in the lobby of my service apartment because the keys that were left for me were the wrong ones. Grr. 2 hours that could have been spent SLEEPING.

To sign off, here's the tip of the day: Never ever take a red eye.

Posted by scrabbyfoo at May 21, 2005 12:11 AM