At long last, I'm back. You have to give the people what they want, and apparently there are a few Ramblings Junkies out there, so here is your fix.
Truth be told, it has been a while since I've shared my thoughts and experiences (like since May). My only, humble excuse is - we've established a life here. I'll admit to having been resistant for a while. There's work, we have friends, a surprising number actually, of really great friends, and we're busy. One of the things we are busy doing, however, is hemorrhaging money. Singapore is expensive, and Kellie and I are getting to the point where we have to Pump the Breaks a little on the spending. If our only expenses are food and booze, and we run low on money (money being my entire salary) - something's not right. Our group of friends has now started meeting on Friday or Saturday nights at a Hawker Center (outdoor food market/food court type place) for cheap eats. It's amazing that you can eat (well) at a Hawker for S$10 (US$8) but as soon as you add a table and waitstaff (usually with guaranteed crappy service) you pay at least S$25 per meal plus 10% service charge and 7% tax.
Now some of you may still be waiting for the Bali blog, and I'll get to that. Short story - we didn't like it. Dialing back to the good ole days of this blog's launch - here is some stuff to ponder, verbal vomit style.
In Singapore:
- Watching the B's in Game 7 at a bar at 8:00am on a Thursday morning is extra fun because we knew that our friends and family at home were doing the same thing.
- Mayo is an acceptable topping for anything
- The guy at Subway wants you to order a Foot Long, even though you're in a metric country. In fact, if you order a 30.4 Centimeter Long, you get a dirty look. True Story
- Umbrella's are used almost as often when it's sunny as when it's rainy
- White people are almost the only ones that wear sun glasses in Singapore
- Flip flops are perfectly acceptable for riding motorcycles, as are construction site hardhats with a strap
- Tree is not a distribution engine for leaves, it's the thing between two and four
- It is customary for EVERY person waiting for the elevator (lift) to push the button
- On the back of trucks, there's a sticker that says 8 PAX, or 4 PAX. That is the number of people that are allowed to ride around the city in the back of the truck. I'll get a picture, but the best one I saw was 23 PAX.
- There is an exorbitant number of people in Singapore with strange limps. Seriously, I have to imagine that the Limp per Capita is higher here then anywhere else in the world.
- As a sign of respect, older people in Singapore are referred to as Auntie, or Uncle. When you take a cab, you call the driver Uncle. "Thanks Uncle." "Take a right Uncle." "What I pay for rent is none of your business Uncle." "Two coffees please Auntie." It's pretty cool. I'm sure I'm starting to overdue it
- I've definitely taken the spice-intensity level up on the food I eat.
- The Lion King was a great show, but hearing Simba and gang speak with accents was strange
- There are hundreds and hundreds of places in Singapore called KTVs. It stands for Karaoke TV. 14 of us went for our friend Rob's birthday and had a blast. You get your on room for your group, and we had 3 huge plasmas, light shows, tons of music to sing on a great sound system and booze. All very affordable. NOW, this was a "clean" KTV. Most of the KTVs in Singapore, and in Asia from what I hear are not so innocent. Basically, at a dirty KTV, our party would like exactly the same, except all our women (wives, fiancees, girlfriends) would be replaced by "Mama-San's girls". . . .
- We celebrated the 4th of July here in Singapore on the 3rd with a BBQ at our condo. It was a fantastic time with more than 2 dozen guests.
In other news - in the ever-awe-inspiring words of Mr. Neil Diamond: WE'RE COMING TO AMERICA! Couldn't be more excited to Ship Up to Boston. Right now it's Thursday morning at 12:32 which means we leave in less than 24 hours. We'll be home from Friday the 8th until Thursday the 21st.
Highlights of my trip home will be, and in no particular order:
- Seeing friends and family (of course) - you others, you know who you are, don't take up any of my valuable home time
- Not letting Winnie out of my sight from wheels down to wheels up
- DRIVING
- Coors Light
- A LARGE Italian Sub (or 5)
- Steak. Steak Tips, Steak Kabobs, Steak Salads
- Driving
- Playing pool
- Coors Light
- Doing some landscaping at the Grafton House
- Mom's Chicken Parm. Il Forno's Chicken Parm, House of Pizza's Chicken Parm (that's any house of pizza)
- Getting a break from sweating
- Being able to be at K&J's wedding with Kellie
- Shopping at Wrentham
- Here's a strange one. Eating Chinese food. There are no chicken fingers or boneless spare ribs or General Gau's here
If you'd like to feel bad for us, take this into consideration: we leave Singapore at Noon on Thursday (Boston time) and arrive at Logan at 1:30pm Friday Boston time. Yummy
I'll try to send up a post from America. Thanks for tuning in
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