forbidden city???

AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
It’s happening again!

Situation recap - going back in time:
April 07
- Team mates resigned
- 2 bosses to approve my leave
- One of them approved, the other rejected
- Verdict: Japan trip cancelled

Nov/ Dec 07
- - Team mate resigned
- 2 bosses to approve my leave
- One of them approved, the other reluctant
- Verdict:
BIG boss dropped an email on the 11th hour to announce that office will be closed from 24th to 28th dec with no leave deducted (Miracle to my prayers!!!)

If that wasn’t enough, now I’m faced with these problems:
1) Air ticket
I’m currently on the waiting list. I have a flight to get there but there may not be a flight back. Woohooo!!! Shall I just stay rooted there and try and find a job there then? Or be an illegal immigrant?

2) Hotel
Since I can’t confirm the dates of my journey yet (which is either 19th/ 20th Dec to 28th Dec or 21st Dec to 29th Dec), I can’t book any hotel. Darn!

Imagine the trauma I was going through as I pieced the situation together. For a while, I thought I was doomed and could never step foot on Japan. It was soon to becoming the ‘Forbidden city’ that I could only lay my eyes on yet not within my reach (BTW, Yoshinoya/ hello kitty and Muji in Singapore doesn’t count).

Then there was another set of depressing remarks:
- It’s winter there! Are you crazy?
- It’s sooooooooooooo expensive. Why don’t you go another time?
- Why so last minute?
- Aiyo… why you go alone? Don’t go lah.

Strange enough, I get 2 very different sets of response (I’m lumping colleagues and family’s response together):
Colleagues: Cool…
Family: Orh…
Friends: Don’t go… but can you help me buy something back?

Discussions almost broke into arguments, so I shall leave it as that as I’m determined to make this come true.

764,899,200 seconds. That’s the approximate number of seconds I have lived till this hour since the day I was born. How many more 764,899,200 seconds to go before my life comes to a halt, where I degrade into nutrients for vegetation and nothing but a phantom to the yet unborn in many years to come?

Or would I have merely a few seconds left before all these come to an end where my name could no longer ring a bell in the human mind?

Life.

Short but sweet? Or long but miserable?

How many a time have we ever looked back and said “I wish I could turn back time”?
How many regrets can one have in life?

Like a child not knowing what it means by “fire could hurt”, perhaps it’s time to reach out and see for oneself.