Monday, October 16, 2006
Big shot and a Birthday - 4:53 PM
Ok, I seriously didn't put the picture up with the intention of freaking people out, but the girl you see on the left side is Ruoxi my sister. People just can't stop screaming when they her picture, especially when its next to mine... why?!? sigh...But again, you can verify for yourselves that my double eyelids are au naturale, and I have never had to slice my eyelids ok? It just runs in the family.
Anyway, its Ruoxi's birthday today, so a shout out to my elder sister. The smart and responsible one in the family... ready to wipe our asses when we poop accidentally (DON'T take it literally u all). But ok, its her birthday, so lets sing a song for her:
*r&b style*
'Happy birthday to youuuuuu wuuu ohhhh,
Happy birthday to youuuuu mmmmmm,
happy birthdayyyyy to Ruoxiiiiii, eee-eee-yeahhhh,
Happy birttttttthhhh-dayyyyy toooo-woooohhhh youuuuuu'
OK, now thats outta the system, we shall move on.
Did you meet a big shot today? You did not? Why didn't you? Did I? What kinda question is that?? Well, DUHHH OF COURSE I DID! What do you mean who?
Today, we had to good luck of meeting the President and COO of the Sands Macao Corp come to meet a few selected student leaders of the HB School. His name is William Weidner, and for the people who don't bother, Sands Macao is the company that owns and operates the Venetian hotel, the Venetian Macao, and the successful bidders of the Singapore IR. WOOOO... Mr W. happens to be our alum from our esteemed school (in my own words, no one seems to agree except for ourselves), and so he flew in via a private jet just to meet us for a couple of hours. Wow, so people REALLY own private jets!! I thought those were just stories you hear from VH1's 'THE FABULOUS LIFE' program.
He's really nice, kinda longwinded, but don't get me wrong...he's nice, just a lil longwinded.. you know, old man n all. hah. He started telling us about his experience in East Berlin, war in Korea, yada yada.. and I was just zoning off... But then we started asking him questions, and it got better la. He talked about how he made his first trip to Mainland China in the 80s, trying to break the Stanley Ho casino monopoly in Macao, and how Macao is improving their infrastructure in terms of bridges and hotels to accomodate the bustling casino business... and how he met the Chinese govt and people and had to pretend that he understood them for a few years, before they could do business together.... and he went back to East Berlin, and that Reagan was right that the wall should be removed (yah, around the world conversation)... And people asked him questions about finance (cheem!) stuff and I was totally staring into space.
Of course, me, being from Singapore.. just had to ask questions about the IR! I mean, wasn't that splashed all over the news since last year? And can I say that its the first time I took the initiative the raise my hand and ask a bigshot a question? I'M FINALLY FEELING LIKE AN UPPERCLASSMAN, when you have the guts to ask questions after hearing the seniors ask them for the past 2 years... and so I said 'I'm from Singapore, and so we're very excited over the casino. My question is : What potential did you see in the business, and what do you expect from it'. aei, I swear... everytime I tell someone I'm from Singapore, their eyes light up immediately. No joke.
So he said that Singapore basically had everything Macao lacked ... good infrastructure, solid transportation, 33 000 hotel rooms, great space...and that he is extremely confident that once the casino is in place, the scores of shops and meeting space thats gonna be available will overwhelming. He said he had dinner with our very own Mr. Lee Kwan Yew and his wife, and that he's a very interesting person to talk to... and he credited Singapore's success largely, to Mr. Lee. He said EXPO is like crap, and Suntec is already obsolete, so the IR will also serve as a great meetings n convention location. holy.. suntec is obsolete? thats sad...
Later on, someone asked a question about how they are heading towards other countries in their business, since their goal is to really become the biggest and best in the casino-hotel-resort area. He said if Singapore, with its -he glanced at me for awhile- tight assed reputation can adapt and mix it up a little, the other countries can definitely do the same. And then he talked a lil about caning and the death penalty to illustrate to the other American students, who at this time were giving each other bewildered looks 'WTF? YOU GET FINED WHEN YOU SPIT?!?', they seem to be thinking.
So all in all, it was a good solid 1hr that we spent with him. A lil short, we could have gone on and on.. but you know, it was 3.20pm and his private jet was waiting for him for take off at 4pm. Isn't that great, not having to go thru checkin and wadeva crap? And so he left. But we're meeting him again in NYC in November, where he will be honored as industry leader of the year. So long, Mr W.!