After some time waiting I got back the first mark for the distance part of my current study and got a pass. I'm still not sure how this happened but I'll take it. I probably should be putting in more effort than I currently am, but given that I'm doing the course as a hoop-jumping exercise for my current employers I promised myself I wouldn't let this completely consume my life - something that all previous participants in the course insist happens. So I'm trying to maintain a bit of self in the midst of this chaos. Unfortunately I don't have holidays again until September and I'm already beginning to feel the need for a few days off. Fortunately my life in Singapore seems to move in the opposite of dog years (cat years?) i.e. long stretches of time move remarkably quickly.
A friend called tonight to see how I was doing and he laughed hysterically when I told him I was sitting on the couch watching a film about cheerleaders (Bring It On : All or Nothing for those keeping score). It made me think... am I now too old to be watching movies about cheerleaders? The answer is, probably... yes. Since before I was a teenager I enjoyed movies about teenagers (Teen Wolf, Breakfast Club etc) and I guess I have a certain nostalgia for that film genre. It's only when you tell someone that has no fondness for the genre that you're watching it that the ludicrousness of it all actually comes into focus. Ultimately I guess I'm just killing time. Living by one's self does that to you.
I love the freedom of living by myself. All my idiosyncrasies are on display and unable to annoy anyone. Although I did look in my fridge yesterday and get the shock of my life. My fridge contained :
- all the ingredients for making tacos (I had friends coming for lunch)
- two apples
- two bottles of soft drink
- a can of green tea
- a bag of Freddo Frogs
- cheese slices
- eggs
- soy sauce
- chilli sauce
- tomato sauce
- frozen hamburgers
- frozen vegetables
- icy poles
- a bottle of Vodka
- 4 cans of beer
If you try unbelievably hard you can make a meal with those things. Or at least some kind of obesity bomb. I really am like a bachelor from a bad American sitcom. So yes, I've turned into a cliche. The only part that actually disturbs me about all this is that if it goes on too long I will at some point become so set in my ways that I will be unable to live with anything other than cats ever again. No problem with the cat part, just a little concern about the vision of me at 45 with 8 housecats, 5 outdoor cats and the occasional stray all hunkering down for a meal together each night in liu of any actual proper human contact.
At least if that happens I'll get my own theme music.
Da na nana na na na Da na nana na na naaaaaa... Cat-Man! Cat-man! Cat-Maaaaaaaaaan!
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
The Spy Who Knew Me
Perhaps this situation is more common than I think it is, but here we go. I met a woman about a month back in a bar. We drank, laughed and shared a taxi partway to our respective houses. Nothing at all happened, nor am I interested in her that way. However, I must say she is a fascinating creature. She's half Hawaiian-half Indian, cruises around the world on a US passport and has a security pass for the embassy here in Sg. The security pass was what set my initial alarm bells off. You only get those if you actually work there. In the course of conversation she told me that she had been doing charity work around Holland area and had come back to spend a couple of months with her parents after being away for almost two years. We've met up a few times since and yesterday she asked me to meet up because she was heading away to Malaysia on Friday. I couldn't because I had work to do but that's by the by. When I asked her when she'd be back she messaged back that she didn't know.
So let's add some of this stuff up :
- Ill-defined and difficult to check-up upon job CHECK
- Mysterious trips to the port in the early morning and refusing to explain why she was heading there CHECK
- Security pass for the embassy despite being a civilian CHECK
- Trips overseas which have no return date CHECK
- Vivacious personality and elegant looks CHECK
- Independently wealthy CHECK (sorry, but if you have that much money and do charity work then you're either rich or you have another job entirely)
If she's not a spy then God knows who could be one!!
Though if she gave such obvious clues away then she'd be a pretty crappy spy...
So let's add some of this stuff up :
- Ill-defined and difficult to check-up upon job CHECK
- Mysterious trips to the port in the early morning and refusing to explain why she was heading there CHECK
- Security pass for the embassy despite being a civilian CHECK
- Trips overseas which have no return date CHECK
- Vivacious personality and elegant looks CHECK
- Independently wealthy CHECK (sorry, but if you have that much money and do charity work then you're either rich or you have another job entirely)
If she's not a spy then God knows who could be one!!
Though if she gave such obvious clues away then she'd be a pretty crappy spy...
Sunday, May 4, 2008
You live in the Heartlands now
I've moved into Singaporean government housing, which is very different to our Western convention of government housing - which is always for low income earners and crime-ridden. I'm sure I'd be safe in saying that the vast majority of Singaporeans live in this kind of housing. Needless to say, it's hot here, so people keep their windows open. As you walk past you can smell the food cooking and hear the tv blaring. Miniature gardens adorn the walkways out the front of apartments and the forecourts out the front are a breeding ground for strays of every kind. I love cats so this really isn't a big deal for me.
I'm living in an estate, where there are many many residential buildings. The estates here are unique in that the first floors are generally taken up by shops and restaurants. It's truly amazing because these shops are generally cheaper than a supermarket or anywhere else for that matter. It may only be a matter of 50 cents for the average item but I can see that for people with families this would really add up over the course of a month. I spent $1.90 on dinner this evening. I'm sure this will all become very humdrum after a couple of months of living here, but as a total outsider this has severe novelty value for me.
It's also very strange for me as someone who grew up in the suburbs of Melbourne. Living in a big house and only vaguely knowing the neighbours and a handful of people in my street (usually because they had children of a similar age), the idea of living in this kind of estate is positively mind-blowing. I'm sure most Singaporeans would laugh at this notion, but to me I walk through the estate and I see a community. I see people sitting outside on public seating chatting to one another, there's the lady who goes around the estate filling up cups of water for the strays and then there's the hawker centre in the middle of the estate upon which people converge to eat, talk and drink some Tiger. I'm very sure that these estates have their issues, their racial disharmony and their petty arguments between neighbours, but ultimately I walk through this place and get a sense of community. Which is something I think is rapidly being extinguished in Western countries in favour or privacy and security (of which I'm also in favour hehe).
I'm living in an estate, where there are many many residential buildings. The estates here are unique in that the first floors are generally taken up by shops and restaurants. It's truly amazing because these shops are generally cheaper than a supermarket or anywhere else for that matter. It may only be a matter of 50 cents for the average item but I can see that for people with families this would really add up over the course of a month. I spent $1.90 on dinner this evening. I'm sure this will all become very humdrum after a couple of months of living here, but as a total outsider this has severe novelty value for me.
It's also very strange for me as someone who grew up in the suburbs of Melbourne. Living in a big house and only vaguely knowing the neighbours and a handful of people in my street (usually because they had children of a similar age), the idea of living in this kind of estate is positively mind-blowing. I'm sure most Singaporeans would laugh at this notion, but to me I walk through the estate and I see a community. I see people sitting outside on public seating chatting to one another, there's the lady who goes around the estate filling up cups of water for the strays and then there's the hawker centre in the middle of the estate upon which people converge to eat, talk and drink some Tiger. I'm very sure that these estates have their issues, their racial disharmony and their petty arguments between neighbours, but ultimately I walk through this place and get a sense of community. Which is something I think is rapidly being extinguished in Western countries in favour or privacy and security (of which I'm also in favour hehe).
Thursday, May 1, 2008
I don't friend you
As I waited at the Starhub store the other day to change address and sort my renewal of contract I happened to notice the two children beside me. The young boy, who was no more than 6, was sitting there writing a list of the people he "friended" and the people he "doesn't friend". Similar to a friends and enemies list, it's much much cuter when it's divided into people we friend and people we don't friend.
Am sitting here in my new apartment, hot but content. Singapore has been frightful the last week or so. The sun is shining and the humidity is sapping my will to do... well... pretty much anything at all. For some bizarre reason the assignment I submitted last weekend uploaded as a blank document. Given that I missed a deadline for a non-assessed piece of work I'm now looking like a prize fool. Have suggested to the course tutor that I email my assignments at the same time as I upload them as a gesture of good faith.
But yes, I find myself once more living alone in a foreign country. The last time I did this was when I was living in Shanghai which was a bizarre experience unto itself (during the SARS scare). I know a lot of people don't, but I quite enjoy living by myself. I'm a fairly sociable creature but living alone gives me some serious time to myself even if that just means sitting on my arse updating my blog.
Saw Iron Man last night. Lots of fun, a smart script in many places helped along by Downey Jnr's performance, some great futurist tech and a very pretty looking suit of armour. I wasn't actually expecting to enjoy this one quite so much, but its a very nice start to the Summer blockbuster season. Bring on the Bat!
Am sitting here in my new apartment, hot but content. Singapore has been frightful the last week or so. The sun is shining and the humidity is sapping my will to do... well... pretty much anything at all. For some bizarre reason the assignment I submitted last weekend uploaded as a blank document. Given that I missed a deadline for a non-assessed piece of work I'm now looking like a prize fool. Have suggested to the course tutor that I email my assignments at the same time as I upload them as a gesture of good faith.
But yes, I find myself once more living alone in a foreign country. The last time I did this was when I was living in Shanghai which was a bizarre experience unto itself (during the SARS scare). I know a lot of people don't, but I quite enjoy living by myself. I'm a fairly sociable creature but living alone gives me some serious time to myself even if that just means sitting on my arse updating my blog.
Saw Iron Man last night. Lots of fun, a smart script in many places helped along by Downey Jnr's performance, some great futurist tech and a very pretty looking suit of armour. I wasn't actually expecting to enjoy this one quite so much, but its a very nice start to the Summer blockbuster season. Bring on the Bat!
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