at 9am-ish of the 14th February 2011, I stepped out of my hotel room to head for my breakfast before kicking off the day with meetings and final previews with client. along the hallway, I was greeted by this young chap and our conversation ended with a ‘Happy Valentine’s Day’ wish from him. then all of a sudden, it just hit me that it was the V-day which I totally forgot. perhaps I didn’t bother to remember becoz it wasn’t that significant to me.
seeing the lobby and buffet area was well decorated with pinks and loves and a 2-door Lexus with white and purple ribbon was parked right in front of the hotel entrance. indeed, love was in the air… everywhere...
after a fulfilling breakfast, I decided to go for a walk-thru at the ballroom just to make sure everything was working as planned. after a few ticked off the checklist, I headed back to my room to prepare for 1pm meeting at client’s office.
when I entered my room, I was surprised to see a stalk of rose with a note written ‘dear ms Jamie, hope you have the best valentine here with us in Ritz Carlton.’ it did definitely cheer me up on a stressful day. at least for a single lady (yes, I that's me) who hasn’t receive rose on a valentine’s day for years.
that rose didn’t keep me long in my fantasy land, I jumped into work right after until 12pm and departed for the meeting. it was undeniably a long winded meeting, from going through the to do checklist to drilling into nitty gritty details of the event. the meeting finally ended at 5pm-ish. thank God.... or should it be oh my God?
do you know what does it mean by 5pm at Jakarta on a Monday? dreadful traffic! my 2 guys’ colleagues and I was waiting at the office lobby to get a cab. we waited for about half an hour but couldn’t get any cab. then came the MD from behind greeting us and we were complaining to him bout the horrible traffic and that we’d been waiting for the past half an hour but no cab available. the gentleman MD offered to fetch us back since he’ll be checking into the same hotel as us to prepare for tomorrow rehearsal. but with a condition that he can only fetch one person. being the only girl in my team, I was given the privilege to get the free ride back to the hotel.
while waiting for his driver to send his car to the lobby entrance, I was thinking to myself why only fetch one person? most probably a 2-door BMW or Mercedes. I was nervous for sure as this is my 1st time working with this MD and I do not want to screw up the previous good working relationship with something stupid from me. as I waited nervously, I heard a roar. a roar that I thought it sounded fimilar but I just couldn’t recall what is that. then I saw….. (be prepared for this!)
a black FERRARI! a freaking FERRARI! read my lips….. a FER-RA-RI!
the driver came out and the MD walked towards the car. my colleagues and I was stunned. so stunned that I think we looked so stupid. and yes, I got a free ride on a freaking Ferrari with a MD. it was definitely a slow (due to the traffic) and awkward (the nervous + shocked feeling) ride but it was definitely my once in a lifetime moment.
I was bragging and bragging with my friends and colleagues once I reached the hotel. I just couldn’t believe that I had the ride of my life. even now, I am still in a slight state of shock every time thinking back of that particular moment of the ride.
well, although I didn’t have that special one to celebrate valentine with me or having someone to ask me to be their valentine... but this is no doubt my best valentine of all. given the chance to ride on my dream car… and I really do literally mean dream :P