Happy New Year...

...and say goodbye to this blog, as we move to a new location to service you better.

Seriously, considering I'm back from the States and that this blog has more or less served its purpose, I think it'll be great to preserve this in its current status. An archive, a monument of sorts. At least one I can afford.

Happy New Year, kids. Check out the new blog here.

The Final Countdown

Not the song that's been playing in my head - although the over-usage of the music in Gob's act in Arrested Development is a topic of discussion. Overall, the past couple of days have been supper nights, with lots of random conversation and just going off-tangent on all sorts of things. My mind's perpetually wandering about life post-graduation, and it relates to my constant listening of the Avenue Q soundtrack, a musical about...life post-graduation. Hmmm.

Here's something impossibly cute from the production to leave you guys going "Awwww...." just before the year ends.


The Bad Idea Bears.

Post-NYC/USA

I know that this blog has been somewhat unupdated over the past few days or so and for that, I apologize to my loyal viewers (all 2 of you). Unsurprisingly, the first thing that you really want to do when you arrive back home after a long time away is to...bum. Admittedly, others may disagree with this point of view, wanting to catch up with people and fill their timetables with plenty of activities. To which, I have to say, others are both nowhere near as lazy as I am and others are also, well, wrong.

One of the most interesting events that befell upon yours truly was the onset of a wave of insomnia. For the first 4 nights or so after coming back home, the body refused to adapt and would only take on 4-5 hours of sleep a night, before sending the owner of the body waking up. So, if I slept at 3am, I would wake up at 8am. If I slept at 5am, I would wake up at 9am (trust me, this is NOT my usual routine at all). Thankfully, the readjustment is happening very quickly and now yours truly is clocking 8 hours of sleep, taking an hourly nap mid-day and still feeling like a lazy ass the whole day. Amen to that.

Unfortunately this entry isn't going to be very exciting. This is because my days, thus far, can be boiled down into the following:

24th - Failure at attempting to sleep. Meeting Ian for nasi lemak at Adam Road (sorry Jem, I couldn't resist) and then a simple dinner at home, before heading over to Arrif's for the annual smorgasboard (is that how you spell the word?) of food, oh glorious food. Then a chat late into the morning with him and UK couple of the year Yijia and Shouzi.

25th - Attempting to sleep. Failed again. Went out for lunch at Plaza Singapura, observing that nobody cares about X'mas and all the shops are open. Hung around with secondary school friends, playing Xbox multiplayer games at $3 an hour per console. Realised friends are morons when it comes to cameras. Attached the only working picture.


Larry, Moe & Curly. All study/studied overseas.

26th - Still attempting to sleep but to no avail. Got haircut (at long last). Paid $7 for seemingly reasonable haircut. Appreciated general cheapness of things in Singapore. Spent whole day playing World of Warcraft with Ian - watched another sucker get pulled into the vicious cycle of cyberdope.

27th - Gave up attempting to sleep - still waking up at crazy hours. Met Yumi Davis (yes that's a Japanese and American name in one), a friend of mine who studied overseas, has family here (and lived here long enough to know what laksa is - speaking of which, I need to get myself some), and is currently an entrepreneur in Costa Rica. Seriously. Ate Tian Tian Chicken Rice, a stall rated 6 chopsticks by the Makansutra (apparently, they almost never gave this rating). Disappointed by chicken rice after waiting half hour to get it. Went home and played more WoW with Ian.


This one is dedicated to Cheryl, Jem and Mun and all those who are lapping up the end of the strike as well as the onset of sunny weather for the whole of last week. Like, what the hell, man.

28th - Finally got some sleep after crashing at 12am the night before. Went out for brunch with the family, trying to find a reasonable dim sum place only to find the stupid venue near Mustafa closed at 10am. Visited "Red Star Restaurant" at Havelock Road - a traditional Chinese restaurant with a pretty decent selection and kickass char siew buns. Worth a shot if you want breakfast/brunch/lunch between 7am to 3pm. Spent rest of the day WoW-ing with Ian. Wondering if this is bad for eyes.

I really don't have more to say. I miss NYC but I'm not depressed about it. Oddly, my lasting memory of the place now happens to be Avenue Q music playing in my head. Specifically, "The Internet Is For Porn".

Memories of NYC...

I'm trying to recall what I can of NYC on my last day there. Strangely enough, the first memory I have is me pointing out to Jem, Cheryl and Mun a bunch of scientologists. How did I know they were scientologists? Thank my friends at South Park, creators of an amazing episode taking the piss out of scientologists.

Since NYC was on strike that day, my day ended up starting a tad later than I had hoped for, with lots of planning to work around the strike. That totally killed any plans of mine to go to the downtown areas. Because my day started late, I also abandoned any hopes of visiting the museums (a real pity, really). Instead, I arranged to meet up with Mun in the early to mid-afternoon before being joined by Jem and Cheryl.

Prior to heading down, yours truly decided to sample a little of the quaint places near Columbia. Near where I was staying is a place called Mondel's Chocolates. The chocolates are fantastic - I bought a small sample for myself and the other people to share and specifically, Cheryl was extremely surprised at how good the chocolates were. This shop also happens to pride itself on being Katharine Hepburn's favourite chocolate place. It's pretty unique to NYC, really. Check it out at 114th Street off Broadway if you ever pop by.

Anyway, the weather was a lil' warmer than expected, so yours truly took a walk right down to 80th Street or so, to meet up with Mun. We settled in at yet another Zagat rated venue, World Coffee (yes, as I've told Jem, everything is Zagat-rated in NYC because if it's not, it's almost for sure to be pretty shite). Much chatting and just generally going ga-ga over how amazing and amazingly expensive NYC is.

This was followed by just some walking around, checking out venues to meet, because for some strange reason, Jem and Cheryl suggested a Vietnamese restaurant. Seriously, guys, a Vietnamese restaurant in NYC?! It's a good thing we decided to go with something a lil' more interesting and found Cafe Ronda, a fantastic Argentinian restaurant that cost a bomb. Something like US$40 a head for a really full set dinner - bread with some really, really good olive oil, followed by the main courses of paella and parradilla with sangria at the sides (Mun, I'm sorry it was so strong! I had no idea!). Oh, and some varieties of dessert too. I'm amazed we ate so much but it was worth every single frickin' penny. This would be arriving in food heaven.


Meat heaven.


Rice heaven.


Dessert heaven.


Sangria makes you...happy.

The dinner session lasted a really long time, and obviously there's no need to explain why. The rest of the night was just spent walking around, talking and finally hanging out at Macdonald's, because it's the only joint open late at night near the Times Square area. We finished a pseudo-fight of sorts at the MacD's but otherwise not really much action. Jem went bonkers over Vegas, ranting and raving and saying something about how it's a place where we should organise another trip but only for guys (go figure). Myself, I went nuts over NYC, pretty much ranting and raving about Broadway, dinner and how this would be a great place to meet up in about 10 years' time. I think I might just follow up on the suggestion I made to Shell about buying up Central Park or possibly buying a yacht and placing it there. Just need to find someone ultra-rich to marry now...

We ended the night walking Mun back to her place, down Fifth Avenue (yes, ladies and gentlemen, land of the Bergdorf Goodmans and super-expensive brandnames I don't recognise) before heading to her place somewhere near 2nd Avenue. Daniel, host to Cheryl and Jem, was kind enough to pick us up and drop us back from Mun's place. What a guy.

Not that much else to say - unfortunately most of the pictures are on Mun and Jem's cameras so I can't upload more pics. Just 2 things. Firstly, the bloody union ended the strike the day I left - like, WTF, man! I need to buy the lottery. Secondly, I incurred a US$129 excess baggage charge helping to bring stuff back for Jem and friends so Jem, you owe me big-time!!!!

God, I miss NYC already...

Home is where the heat is

This one's especially for Jem. And count Esther in too, actually.

Home sweet home...

...or not. Pretty ambivalent about being home but I'm just happy that the goddamn flight has finally ended. Argh.

Goodbye America, Hello Nasi Lemak

Kinda summarises what there is back in Singapore. Because I kind of have to go get ready to leave for a flight at 8.30am (it's 3:30am, and the flight is at JFK), I'm unable to blog about a splendid evening spent with Mun, Jeremy and Cheryl. Just to note, we ate at Cafe Ronda, a semi-fancy restaurant along Columbus and between 71st and 72nd street. It's Argentinian and the food was muy rica. Yeps.

So see you guys in a coupla days. Goodbye America, hello Singaporean food!

We need to ban strikes

So I've about another day left in NYC, with Jem and Cheryl popping up tomorrow, just in time to enjoy the transit strike that's affecting everyone in Manhattan. The sentiment appears to be that most people in NY are seriously pissed off about this, since it's just next to X'mas. It's hard to tell how New York is reacting to this but amongst people I've polled, I have one leftist sentiment from the ang moh (caucasian) and pretty much nonchalance from the rest who stay in this house and aren't affected.

Consequently, today was spent in a pretty slow manner and not much really got done. For a start, the oversleeping didn't help - what was supposed to be an early morning turned into a pretty late start, thanks to both yours truly and company for the day Yao Quan. Yao Quan's just come in from Caltech, where he's doing his Master's in Engineering of some sorts and visiting the area. As previously explained, Stan now runs a homeless shelter right at his place. But I took the chance to hang out with Yao Quan and it's been quite a pleasant experience - his time spent in France has made him one helluva chilled character, really.

We started our day with a visit to Amir's, a local Lebanese joint that serves food pretty damn fast. This was particularly good for Xing, who had to rush to an exam at 4pm (tells you how late we left). We also met with Khalil, a Haitian-cum-Long Island resident, who's a friend of Xing. Unfortunately we didn't get time to talk but if you had to summarise him in 2 sentences, it would be that he's a cleanliness freak and that he's going to Japan. My very apt descriptions of people also explains why I'm still working on that first novel of mine.

The original plan for the day, after grabbing lunch at Amir's, was to get some discounted tickets to Tobias' favourite - the Blue Man Group, at Astor Place Theatre. This would be followed by dinner somewhere in the area before heading out to the Village Vanguard, one of the most famous jazz joints in the East/West Village areas. Of course, we forgot to consider the basic law of capitalism, which is that companies always exploit openings. For example, when the union goes on strike, this creates a massive opening for taxi companies to exploit, such as installing a fixed rate for certain travel distances to charge you a ridiculous amount on a PER PERSON basis. Geez.

Heading down to TKTS, we decided to abandon our original plan and catch something on Broadway, or within the immediate vicnity. We settled for Hairspray, since it was the winner of Best Musical just 2 seasons ago and seemed like the kind of production that would showcase Broadway to Yao Quan. This production is based on the film of the same name, so google it or wikipedia it if you want to find out more.



Is Hairspray any good? To be quite honest...it's really quite fantastic and feels like what you'll call a real musical. It's moulded in the sense of a classic musical in terms of having a simple plot, a colourful set and one helluva soundtrack. Amongst all the musicals I've watched thus far, this one has the least complications and subplots and focuses almost exclusively on the main story and how it develops. It's one of those productions that would be fantastic if you like the way "Grease" developed, for example - lots of energy, a simple story with a happy ending and colours from the 1950s. Spamalot has silliness, Avenue Q has heart and Hairspray has...music. So yes, it's definitely a production you should catch - the singing is amazing and you have probably the most infectious soundtrack of all the musicals thus mentioned.



Not much else to blog about - short day plus the strike is just irritating. Had a good chat with Yao Quan but way too much to discuss in any case. Probably should catch some sleep, I suppose. Damn striking unions. Not the way I wanted to end my NY trip.

Strike's official

Bloody hell. They are demanding for 8% pay increase yearly for their base salary of 55k a year. Like, WTF?!?!?! What am I going to do for transport?!?!?!

The Internet is for porn

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, besides stating an obvious fact, the header topic is really part of the repertoire of Avenue Q, one helluva musical (and only last year's Tony winer for Best Musical). To paraphrase these Americans - I heart Broadway!

Anyway, today started pretty late, much later than I had originally planned. Since both Stevie and Shell (Michelle of the British Collective) were scheduled to leave on Tuesday, Shell arranged to go visit Central Park - a gorgeous fixture of the New York scene. Stevie decided to lie in a little (lazy bastard) so I only arranged to meet Shell.

Since she was running late (a result of taking the Express and landing up in the Bronx), I had to defrost and headed to the local Starbucks near the stop that we arranged to meet at. This is when you realise that all Starbucks are definitely within 4 blocks of another Starbucks. Seriously. But the good thing about Starbucks is that when you carry a hot drink out into the cold, it really makes your life a lot happier. This kinda helps to explain how Starbucks is everywhere and doing so well - I'm surprised that they were the first to come along. Whereas in Singapore, you have local kopitiams (coffeeshops) everywhere, which makes it all the more surprising that Starbucks is doing so well. And btw, they have some fantastic ginger biscotti.

Anyway, we headed down to Central Park, taking a tour around Jackie O reservoir and some other parts, heading from West to East to West. It's such a beautiful place that I think the only way to describe it would be with pictures. So here goes.


A little piece of heaven known as the Jackie O reservoir.


More of the O reservoir.


Castle on a fort, a traditional feature of America.


Someone's freezin'!


Profile of a Brit Blonde - does she look different from the American version?

Had a fantastic late lunch at a place called City Grill, serving the largest portion of tender roasted chicken EVER. For those who are visiting New York and want a place to eat after 3pm (all the bloody restaurants are closed from 3pm to 5pm - or most of them, anyway), this place is located between 72nd and 73rd Street, along Columbus Avenue. Affordable too, under $20 a head. Seriously, it was heaven in this ridiculous weather. Oh yeah, solid heated bread and great service, seating by the sidewalks in internal heating - basically you can watch the world (New York) go by. Abso-bloody-lutely lovely.

We met up with Stevie later at the Times Square area, where Shell and Stevie proceeded to get their tickets to David Letterman (yes, they got tickets to tonight's edition, with Jim Carrey the guest!). I proceeded to the Times Square area (again) and headed down to the Hershey's shop - essentially a place for chocolate lovers who are suckers enough to pay $20 for Hershey's bears. Oh, and some chocolate too.


More Times Square, but check out the Morgan Stanley and Hershey's lights in the centre.


Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the Americanised/New Yorker edition.

Stevie and Shell actually came over to find me and I had the good chance to talk to both of them, hanging out at a pizza joint known as Sbarro before they headed to the real taping of Letterman. My last time hanging out with them but they were kind enough to pose for the camera, which unfortunately didn't do too good a job without the flash going off.


Stevie hams it up for the camera...


...as does Shell.

So having left the Brit kids to their devices, yours truly decided to queue up for the lottery (again!) for Avenue Q. Obviously, having had a history of the worst luck possible...let's just say that I had to join the queue for TKTS. Here's a tip for those visiting NY for the first time. You want to check out if there are lottery tickets for the Broadway show you're watching and try for those. On most days, if you don't get tickets for them, you just need to walk a few streets down to get tickets for the same performance at half price from the TKTS stall, run by some guys who want to promote theatre or something. The catch, of course, is that really new shows won't have either promotions. For example, I wouldn't have gotten Spamalot! through either means but I could get tickets to The Producers, Hairspray or Avenue Q through such means. Just something to note.

So I got my half-priced tickets, first row of mezzanine floor - fantastic view, really. Oh, and the musical itself? F**KING AMAZING!



I'm not going to spoil the premise for you - if you really want to know more about Avenue Q, you can read up about it here. Essentially, what makes this show unique is that the performers perform with the puppets on stage, so it's kind of like a musical meets The Muppets. A very unique concept but it works.

What makes Avenue Q such an amazing musical isn't its level of funniness or anything like that. If you use Monty Python's Spamalot to set the bar for funniness, it's pretty hard to compare against that. But personally, I really liked Avenue Q because it's a different kind of musical from Spamalot. Spamalot is plain out silly - and for that, it's good. Avenue Q, on the other hand, has a lot of heart and is one of those shows where you can find certain story arcs that connects with you. In that sense, it was really heartening to see a smart interpretation of real events.

Other noteworthy events include the arrival of Yaoquan, who is joining the pack of the homeless kids at Stan's place. Stan's address is now formally changed to Stan's Homeless Shelter, New York. Please send all relevant mails to that address in future.


The founder of Stan's Homeless Shelter and current inhabitants.

Other noteworthy things include seeing scientologists at work yesterday on the Subway, while the possibility of a strike happening today for the public transport system still remains on the cards. As a parting note to all my friends, here are the lyrics to an amazing song of wisdom from Avenue Q.


KATE
The internet is really really great
TREKKIE MONSTER
For porn
KATE
I’ve got a fast connection so I don’t have to wait
TREKKIE
For porn
KATE
Huh?
There's always some new site,
TREKKIE
For porn!
KATE
I browse all day and night
TREKKIE
For porn!
KATE
It's like i’m surfing at the speed of light
TREKKIE
For porn!
KATE
Trekkie!

TREKKIE
The internet is for porn
KATE
Trekkie!
TREKKIE
The internet is for porn,
KATE
What are you doing!?
TREKKIE
Why you think the net was born?
Porn porn porn!

KATE
Treee—kkie!
TREKKIE
Oh hello Kate Monster
KATE
You are ruining my song
TREKKIE
Oh me sorry, me no mean to
KATE
Well if you wouldn't mind please being quiet for a minute so I can finish?
TREKKIE
Me no talkie
KATE
Good

KATE
I’m glad we have this new technology
TREKKIE
For porn
KATE
Which gives us untold opportunity
TREKKIE
For por—oops, sorry
KATE
Right from your own desktop
TREKKIE
For ---
KATE
You can research browse and shop
Until you’ve had enough and you're ready to stop
TREKKIE
FOR PORN!!


Trekkie!
TREKKIE
The internet is for porn!
KATE
Noooo
TREKKIE
The internet is for porn!
KATE
Trekkie
TREKKIE
Me up all night honking me horn to porn, porn, porn!

KATE
That’s gross you’re a pervert
TREKKIE
Ah, sticks and stones Kate monster
KATE
NO really, you're a pervert
Normal people don’t sit at home and look
At porn on the internet
TREKKIE
Ohhhh?
KATE
What?!
TREKKIE
You have no idea
Ready normal people?

NORMAL PEOPLE
Ready--- ready ----ready

TREKKIE
Let me hear it!

TREKKIE AND GUYS
The Internet is for porn!
PRINCETON
Sorry Kate
TREKKIE AND GUYS
The Internet is for porn!
PRINCETON
I masturbate!
TREKKIE AND GUYS
All these guys unzip their flies
For porn, porn, porn!

KATE
The internet is not for porn!!

TREKKIE AND GUYS
PORN!, PORN, P---

KATE
HOLD ON A SECOND!

Now i know for a fact that you, Rob, check your portfolio and trade stocks online

ROB
That’s correct.

KATE
And Brian, you buy things on Amazon.com

BRIAN
Sure!

KATE
And Gary, you keep selling your possesions on Ebay

GARY
Yes I do!

KATE
And Princeton, you sent me that sweet online birthday card

PRINCETON
True!

TREKKIE
Oh, but Kate-
What you think he do . . .after? hmm?

PRINCETON
. .yeah

KATE
EEEWWWWW!
TREKKIE AND GUYS
The Internet is for porn!
KATE
Gross!
TREKKIE AND GUYS
The Internet is for porn!
KATE
I hate porn
TREKKIE AND GUYS
Grab your dick and double click
KATE
I hate you men!
TREKKIE AND GUYS
For porn, porn, porn!
(harmonizing) porn, porn, porn, porn
KATE
I’m leaving!
TREKKIE AND GUYS
Porn, porn, porn, porn
porn, porn, porn, porn
KATE
I hate the internet!
TREKKIE AND GUYS
Porn, porn, porn, porn

TREKKIE
The internet is for

TREKKIE AND SOME
The internet is for

TREKKIE AND ALL
The internet is for PORN!

TREKKIE
YEAH!


It's too bloody brilliant. And I think the lead actress who plays Kate, who is from the original cast, probably delivers the most nuanced puppet performance ever. Really.

New York is too cold

Or so I thought as I left the house this morning at 10 for the Arsenal-Chelsea match. For some reason, my body doesn't seem to be adapting to the cold as well as I hoped, and I've had to layer on more clothes to prevent myself from freezing to death. Oh, and the match was just an occasion to spend more time with Stan, Sean and Kevin, a fellow Singaporean studying at Columbia. We headed down to a pub and had to pay friggin' cover to watch footy but considering the quality of the goals and some of the drama, I suppose it wasn't bad money. Oh, and there was the token bunch of Germans watching the Bundesliga in one corner and singing like a bunch of drunkards. At 12 in the afternoon no less.

So after watching Arsenal pretty much perform at their usual inept selves (sorry Jem, it's the truth), the Chelski 2-0 victory was undoubtedly deserved...*sigh*. Anyway, we headed to a nearby Ukrainian restaurant, only to find out that it was too crowded and thus had to head next door to another Ukrainian restaurant. Unfortunately, we found out why the next door restaurant had so much less business - personally I think the food was pretty average and for Ukrainians' sake, I hope they get better stuff to eat than what was offered. Too average, really.

We headed back to catch some very much needed sleep - especially for me. Headed down to West Village for dinner, meeting up with Becca, a fellow SMU student who is on a university-organized trip to New York. The place of choice, Pepe Verde, was a recommendation by Meghan, and to put it in her words, the place was very affordable. For those who are in the region, do check it out - good pasta for under $12, and self-service, so no need to tip. It's at 559 Hudson Street, near the stops at 14th Street. Look out for it.

So, West Village is supposed to be the Gay Central of New York. This kind of helps to explain why Joon thinks that there are way too many gay people in NYU, which is kind of next to West Village. But interestingly, for a place that's supposed to be buzzing with life, it's really kind of dead for a Sunday night, at 8pm no less. Personally, I was interested in checking out the Village Vanguard or Blue Note but those places are kind of expensive so it looks like a possibility for another night. Anyway, dinner was good and being poor students, we did what poor students do - walk down the streets of NY in search of places to go that were cheap. The final result was just sitting down at various MacDonald's and Starbucks joints, very uneventful. It was nice though to talk about all sorts of random things (you'll notice that I'm quite the yakker).

Time flies when you're in New York. I'll probably head down tomorrow to Central Park and walk around some of the museums. Chances are, more queuing for Ave Q - let's hope that works out man!

And I need more sleep (it's 4am! Argh).

More New York travel tales

One of the things that I've particularly enjoyed about being on exchange is the opportunity to meet with a pretty diverse range of individuals who are highly intelligent but don't channel their energies and intelligence into becoming corporate scumbags like yours truly (I've got to stop using that phrase). For example, I've had a number of discussions with Andrew, Joon and Jenne (an ex-neighbour of mine) about all sorts of issues (a large part being political) but it's so interesting to gain people's views on just about anything especially if they're sensible, coherent and of course, deferential to my supreme intelligence. Erm, right.

But seriously though, I really do enjoy meeting people who are really smart people that do pursue their own things and are really comfortable in their skin. In fact, it's actually the presence of this amount of diversity that gives me some pretty good vibes about America (despite them electing the monkey man - twice). People aren't drones and there's always something to be said about that.

One such example is Meghan, Stanley's housemate and probably best described as a trueblue New Yorker. I had the chance to speak with her quite a bit today and let's see, maybe a bit of a background. She's extremely tall (maybe 6"1? - taller than me anyway) and quite attractive (complained about getting hit on in the library just today). An engineer of sorts (can you believe it - a tall and attractive female engineer?). Originally from Canada but sorta grew up in Texas, a.k.a. George W. Bush land, so that was enough to leave me worried about opening my mouth. Hmmm.

Turns out that apprehension was best put aside because I probably forgot to think about the Canadian background too. Like most New Yorkers, her political views were clearly quite liberal. But it was interesting talking to her because she has a personality, a rare trait for most engineers, as we know. In fact, we started talking about some articles in the Economist, their writing style and political coverage and somehow drifted to finding things to do in NYC. So her recommendation was to check out West Village, NYC's Bohemian/Gay Central (can you imagine - more gay than Broadway?) for good reasonably priced food and also to check out jazz clubs, naming off a bunch of people I've never heard of. This moved on to suggestions of alternate things to do, like visiting an exhibition by Schiele (google the guy's works - I think you'll all be amused) to attending performances by punk groups, amidst a story of how she was at a Bulgarian bar enjoying Middle Eastern music and then listening to a Ukrainian band performing punk. She's almost overcompensating for all the engineers in the world with no personality (that's quite a list we've got there). I mean, how far out (I hesitate to use that phrase) is that, really?

So, anyway, yeah, meeting new people with interesting personalities is always an experience - we even discussed politics in Singapore vis-a-vis the US (surprisingly a conversation that lasted more than 5 minutes, given the lack of real material). But experiences like this leave me puzzled - why is it that we rarely find people who know stuff outside of their academic pursuits, particularly in Singapore? I seriously wish at times that I could discuss all sorts of things with people back home but right now, I just worry that I'll lose the richness of these interactions.

On a totally different note, I'm wishing I had much more money and much more time to explore NYC. But now, I must sleep - off to meet Becca and Kairen tomorrow for dinner, let's hope they're up for some jazz afterwards.

New York makes you gay

Not really, but NYC does get pretty gay and interestingly, is probably part of the reason why it's so vibrant. It's only from this perception that you understand the big hullabaloo in Singapore about getting in the pink dollar and why there's a "need" to create vibrancy to do so - although personally I think it's really a chicken and egg thing in terms of vibrancy leading to more attractive place for "alternative" lifestyles leading to creation of more vibrancy, etc etc.

Day 3 was perhaps the least satisfying bit of my time in NY (thus far and let's hope it stays this way) - a result of bad luck (admittedly, testing my luck at every juncture) and just generally wandering around on 2.5 hours of sleep. Why 2.5 hours of sleep? Well, yours truly wanted to go get some standby tickets for a NYC fixture...yes, ladies and gentlemen, live from New York, it's Saturday Night Live!

Or not. Waking up at 5:30am makes you realise that when you try to take the subway early in the morning on a Saturday, you really want to make sure you find a way to not miss the train. Because if you do, IT'S A FUCKING LONG WAIT. Personally, I must have spent half an hour waiting for a train ride that takes about 12 minutes. Like, WTF, man. Anyway, arriving outside Rockefeller Centre, where NBC Studios is located, at the ungodly hour of 6:45am makes you realise that there are way too many clowns who like SNL despite the trash that it's sorta become (I blame Jimmy Fallon).


Mad about SNL.

I did manage to get myself a standby ticket, numbered at only 62 for the 'live' taping of the show. Considering there are 300 seats, that meant yours truly needed about 20% of the people with seats to give up theirs before one could stand a chance (guests for this week: Jack Black and Neil Young). So naturally, much later in the day, I decided to screw this and not watch the damn thing.

Stevie, one of the British exchange kids, was supposed to meet up with me but like all Brit guys who spent the previous day getting plastered (apparently David, another one of the Brit kids, was busy stealing bottles of vodka at a private party for the Brits - see yesterday's entry), couldn't wake up. So after receiving a wake-up call from your correspondent, we ended up meeting nearby and heading to an Irish pub to watch his beloved Aston Villa against Manchester United. Unfortunately, Villa sucked (sucks? - sorry Stevie, it's the truth) and the final result was 2-0, but John, Stevie's brother who was in town, seemed a pretty happy lad (along with the usual random bar 'expert', a rabid Man U fan who was bitching about having to sell out his stake to Malcolm Glazer). I had my first taste of a 'Irish Country Breakfast' - good thick bacon, toast, potatoes, sausages, eggs and black and white pudding. To quote a certain Frankie Valli, grease IS the word.

So I bade farewell to a heartbroken Stevie and met up with Candice, one of the Singaporean UVa kids who was in town, and we proceeded to try our hand at the lottery tickets for Avenue Q (there are 12 given out, and everyone gets a choice of either 1 or 2). This being Broadway, the person who gave out the tickets was obviously very gay - when someone asked for 1 ticket and got picked, he asked if anyone was willing to take 1 ticket and abandon their friends. Some lady did and naturally his reaction was "Oh, you're a cold-hearted bitch."

Not much success for the afternoon queue and unfortunately the same story with the dinnertime lottery tickets (Saturday afternoon matinee performance had actually a small set of people trying for the lottery tickets). What makes these tickets really interesting is the fact that you pay something like $21.25 for each ticket and you get FIRST TWO ROWS seating. Possibly some of the best seats in the house (or worst, depending on stage elevation) but why they do this is almost beyond me. It's good fun, though, particularly if you win it. You really should see the audience cheering on when someone isn't present during the draw and he gets picked - a forfeited pick, in reality. Anyway, yes, audience - bunch of cold-hearted bitches, to quote our favourite gay Broadway ticket dealer.

So amidst this failure, we headed to Chinatown for lunch (Candice and I, not all the cold-hearted bitches). Some searching for a dim sum place brought us to a place creatively named Oriental Food Restaurant. Not much of a spectacular affair but very typically Chinatown - guys who only speak Cantonese (but somehow understood our mandarin and of course our orders of har kau and siew mai), table-sharing and service without a smile.

"
"Why am I paying so much for this pau?"

Post lunch, our destination was Ground Zero, where Candice wanted to check out Century 21 (hidden agenda...women and shopping...). Ground Zero is actually very near Brooklyn Bridge, the bridge which connects Manhattan to Brooklyn (no shit). Despite being pretty far south of Manhattan, it's really quite a lively area and pretty scenic too.


The area around Brooklyn Bridge is just as built up, despite being the link to the world outside of Manhattan.


Okay, so I just might be in need of a haircut...

Ground Zero is obviously an important historical site. I've not had the luck to be in New York prior to this and I think it's difficult to comprehend the deep sense of loss Americans, but particularly New Yorkers, would feel. You see a pretty vast area of emptiness but the thought that 2 magnificent structures of modern architecture used to be there just doesn't seem to be plausible - it's just so very empty. I don't know about most others but for me, many of these historical sites just seem to carry such a sense of poignance that standing there and soaking it in almost gives you the ability to relive a bit of that history.


Ground Zero and surrounding architecture, Part 1


Ground Zero and surrounding architecture, Part 2


America: Home to conspiracy theories.

Otherwise, today was relatively boring - did some shopping at Century 21 (huge but I can't stand shopping for more than 1 and a half hours at a go - was ready to kill someone at the end of it all) and bumped into quite a number of the NY BSM kids from SMU, including Divya, Kairen, Dot and Faizal. They were spread out over Chinatown and Century 21 no less (and those who know Dot and Faizal can imagine where they were). Shower time - part 2 of today's post coming up next.

NYC Day 2

I knew the last entry was horrific so I'd quickly start with some background information for those who are very lost based on that no-sleep entry (yes it's my excuse).

1. I'm currently staying with Stanley, a friend of mine who studies at Columbia University and is unbelievably kind to be hosting me while he prepares for his finals. This guy is way too kind, man. Stan, if you're reading this, I owe you big time. Buy you dinner when I get my consulting/i-banking signing on bonus (more like, IF I get it).

2. Sean is a friend of Stanley, while Xing and Meghan (yes with a H) are housemates of Stanley. The casanova stays with three ladies. Incidentally Xing is his cousin - very very small world, I must say.

3. I passed Carnegie Hall on the way from LaGuardia to Stan's place. It's actually pretty exciting to be passing a landmark of sorts - that's the kind of thing that reminds you that you're in New York (yeah baby, yeah!)

Today began rather early in light of the lack of sleep the day before - NYC turned out to be surprisingly sunny so I managed to wake up before noon and procrastinate my way through a few hours, surfing frantically for a musical to watch and places to go. After much searching and more or less gaining understanding of NYC's Broadway ticket booking system, your correspondent decided on the hottest show of the season - Monty Python's Spamalot!



Spamalot is basically a pure rip-off of the Monty Python movie - and it's bloody brilliant. Unfortunately, I haven't had the chance to catch the movie so I can't pretend to know enough to compare. The cast is quite something though - it features Tim Curry, David Hyde Pierce and Hank Azaria (with both Curry and Azaria being pretty damn amazing, I must admit). Miss it at your own peril...oh wait, you suckers aren't in New York? TOO BAD MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.



Seriously though I really enjoyed this performance even though I paid a bomb for it. It's exactly up the alley of irreverent humour, making fun of just about anything that matters (or not) and also tearing apart the notion of musicals in general. As their ad goes, the show's got "cows, coconuts, killer bunnies and french people (they struck out the word 'witches', on the basis of it being 'too expensive')". I'll leave a few quotes later to show you what I mean.

Other than that, wandering around Times Square was quite fun - I think. Damn camera died on me, don't have enough pictures to show. Met up with just about almost the whole gang of British exchange kids (most of them were caught offguard, thanks to Michelle's arrangement - hehehe) - we ate in Little Italy, right next to Chinatown. The place we ate at was Puglia and I need the pictures from them because my camera died (I need pix from the Greek restaurant too) but so far, food in NYC has been amazing. Amazingly expensive. And amazingly tasty.

On a totally random note, New York City uses a public transport system which is known to most people as hell. In all honesty, Manhattan being a "grid" actually makes it quite manageable and I don't really get it when people say the public transport system is chaotic and all that. It's definitely not the friendliest, agreed, but you don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure it out, seriously. In fact, my only complaint would be that it's friggin' near impossible to get to the other side of Central Park short of walking, because the damn red and green lines run a million miles away from each other before meeting closer to Broadway. On the plus side, I got unlimited travel for a week for US$24 and the subway runs PAST midnight. Are people in Singapore listening to this?!?!?!

Okay, some pics and quotes to end off this entry. Catch Spamalot if you can!!!! Broadway's got me hooked.

King Arthur (Tim Curry): "I have a question. Why is it that our era is known as the Middle Ages when there's nothing after us?"

King Arthur: "Get to Broadway? That's great - I have to be somewhere which won't be founded until 1000 years later and in a country that's not been discovered yet."

Lancelot (Hank Azaria) (getting married to a prince - yes, prince, not princess): "Imagine, 1000 years later, this will still be controversial."


Times Square in the day.


Don't you love the neon lights?


Joining the military - now available at a place you wanna be spotted at (more than what we can say for Iraq...)


Dedicated to my dearest friend Swati Bhargava: Eat my shorts!

Okay, gotta queue for standby tickets for Saturday Night Live, so off to get a pass then bed!

New York, New York

I've arrived in New York in time for the first strike by the public transport workers in about 25 years. Talk about apt timing. I mean, they literally strike tonight at midnight (or if I'm "lucky", on Monday instead) - 25 years and I have to be right in the middle of history. Why can't I make history as the guy to strike the most amount in a lottery?

Btw, for those who want to know, I've been told that part of the reason they are striking is to get more money. Apparently they draw something like 55k a year but that's not enough and the proposed wage increase of 24% spread over 3 years seemed a little too miserly. Only in America would we see such ridiculous behaviour!

So anyway, I didn't get any sleep last night, getting ready to say goodbye to the place I called home for the past few months. As I departed this morning for the Amtrak station, my thoughts could have effectively been summarised as "Oh shit, I forgot to throw out the leftovers from last night's Chinese takeaway". Seriously.

Amtrak, the national rail system, is a nationwide monopoly. As any student of economics would know, this makes it a system that helps to generate inefficiencies. I was greeted with the heartening news this morning that the train was running late by only 8 hours. The alternative was to take a bus out to DC, which was naturally provided for by these people. In fact, this is the same treatment that yours truly and the other exchange kids have been receiving for the amazing $10.40 Amtrak ride to DC. Talk about a sale backfiring on you.

So moving from the Amtrak station, yours truly decided to make his way out toward Dulles airport on the public transport system out in the freezing snowy cold of only -6 or -8 or so. Anyway, amidst some waiting at the Dulles airport, yours truly was notified by a friend that he had secured a job offer with a top investment bank - if not THE top investment bank in all of America (and some say the world). And proceeded to spend 1 hour on the phone. Which made the phone very hot. So folks, if you're freezing, don't smoke - use your handphone.

Short flight delay of about 20 minutes (they had to made sure the damn planes weren't frozen before take-off) but otherwise uneventful - more time to sleep, already. Getting from LaGuardia to Manhattan thus required a shuttle service (which I have generally found very comfortable and reasonably priced, both in NY and in DC). This began the ride from hell - over 1 and a half hours to go down some few blocks. Bah.

Got the chance to meet Sean, Xing and Megan (not to be confused with Maggie - she'll hunt you down). Had dinner with the 1st 2. Too tired to blog properly, but so much to look forward to!

A quick list:

1. Ground Zero
2. Watch "Avenue Q"
3. Go to Wall Stret
4. Visit the Met
5. Times Square

Any other ideas?

Last post from Charlottesville

It's 6:15am, my taxi is scheduled to arrive at 6:30am. Goodbye, Charlottesville, you will be missed.

And say hello to NYC! On no sleep no less...

To all me posse at da UVa...

I've never been particularly spectacular with goodbyes, but to all those with whom I've shared the last 4 months at UVa, I just want to say thank you to each and every one of you for making this one hellUVa experience (*groan* - bad jokes galore at 4am). I'm really exhausted (3-4 hours of sleep the night before and a taxi to catch in perhaps another 2 to 2 and a half hours) but somehow I think not completing this entry before leaving would be inappropriate.

So here goes.

SMU Exchange Kids

To Jeremy and Liying: Thanks for all the memories, doing just about everything together on this trip. Short of finding me a Scarlett Johansson lookalike, you guys were just about the best exchange buddies one could ask for. From whining about jobs/jobs/nojobs to poker to trading/astronomy to everything about life in general, you guys will be etched in my memory, for better or for worse. Probably the latter.



The Carltons

To Dan, Emily, Frances, Allie and Will: You guys have been amazing (or to paraphrase my American friends: "awesome!") in both having the most well-adjusted, kind-spirited family in the world and in also sharing that part of your world with us. Showing us the sights of Charlottesville with your family gave us the chance to live as children once again (albeit ridiculously oversized ones) and amongst all the gifts that you've given us, recapturing that sense of wonder is perhaps the most precious of them all.



The 5 Guys

To Andrew: Thanks for introducing us to the other 2 incredible guys and friends that you have. For a future President, you've acted in a manner that's incredibly hospitable, warming relations between our 2 countries. Driving up to DC and being willing to put up with our crazy shopping expeditions (I blame Jem and Liying), bringing us to football games and chomping 5 Guys burgers with us will always be something I remember. Oh, and that shot of you chuggin' champagne from the bottle. Priceless.

To Joon: You silly Korean, we love you to bits. You're probably one of the few people in the whole world where everyone universally agrees that you're too good a person for your own good (including letting people wear your pants so they can walk home in the freezing cold). You've been great fun babbling nonsense and TV shows with, and I'll definitely miss having someone to talk to about random ideas and topics. Get your visa status sorted, we'll see you in Singapore.

To Alex: Now that I'm safely outside the reach of your wrath, I just want to say that you have a priceless surname (Mr Goodenough, I kid you not). Thanks for entertaining us with your very priceless drinking routines - the Jekyll and Hyde changes never cease to amuse and entertain vey single one of us, 'til the day. Happy drinking, don't drink and drive and take bites when chomping on tasty burgers in future. Erm, that's all, really.



We, the citizens of Singapore (and some say Malaysia boleh!)

To Clara: Feisty girl with lots of attitude and some say, even more money. Thanks for stealing all my ice-cream and borrowing all my Arrested Development DVDs. Erm, why am I thanking you? Okay okay, seriously, thanks for feeding us and hanging out with us and listening to us whine about jobs. We look forward to some makan times in Singapore.

To Mun: Why you now then hang out one?!?!?! It's a pity we couldn't really get to know each other earlier but thanks very much for buying me a buffet dinner at everybody's favourite dining hall, Newcomb. For a Malaysian, you rock a lot. Serious (pronounced see-ry-yers for effect). Come back to Singapore soon, you illegal immigrant - we'll eat Johnson Duck then.

To Helen: Thanks for trying to arrange activities to include all of us exchange kids even though we've not exactly been the most receptive of audiences. Erm, whoops. It's been fun talking to you at ridiculous hours in the morning and attending events promoted or organized by yourself (although Celestial sucked, haha). Learn more Hokkien, you'll understand why "The Best Bet" is so ridiculously funny.

To Shu'en, Candice and Jenn: I'm grouping all of you together because I'm pretty darn tired and lazy. To all the ones in the Comm school, please remember me for more than being someone you can turn to for finance questions late at night. You have all provided much entertainment in your own ways, ranging from Shu'en's blurness to Candice's need to wear 10 layers of clothing in weather that's 15 degrees celsius to Jenn desperately trying to explain how the SPH works as an organisation. Now go forth and do the Singaporean thing and erm, procreate? No, seriously, go forth and do us proud.

The British Lasses, or King Charlie's Angels

To Michelle, Sujata and Sian: Exchange with you guys was wonderful and we wouldn't have given up the chance to have been here with you amigos...unless the alternative was Keira Knightley, Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman. You ladies have been lovely, treating us to your homestyled cooking and participating in random poker nights and screenings of movies. And of course, balancing the guy-girl ratio so we get into frat parties. Whatever will we do without you lifesavers?



Neighbourly type
To all my neighbours: You guys are absolutely insane and that's why you guys have been so wonderfully weird and entertaining. I've had fun discussing all sorts of history lessons, political lessons (from the perspective of Republicans no less!) and great exposure to American life. Thanks for the extra t-shirt and yes, visit Singapore some time, as some of us have a tendency to say. No excuses!



I probably have more but blogging at the computer makes you tired. And it's 5:30am - time to go hail a cab, methinks...

It's too cold

I've less than 24 hours left in Charlottesville so I got to do some packing and the likes and settle administrative things. Unfortunately, the weather has plunged from 4 to -7 degrees celsius overnight, making it nigh impossible to go do all the important farewell things, like settling other people's administrative worries (hint hint to Liying and Jeremy). Dammit. This isn't how I wanted this to end.

Just another day to go...

It's -6 degrees celsius, probably the coldest it's ever been in Charlottesville and I'm here at my table preparing to get ready for home. Except that I'm not really doing much to get ready, I'm just sitting at my computer whiling my time away prior to leaving C'ville. Hmmm. Not exactly productive.

Jeremy left this morning and his departure was quite a debacle, for lack of a better word. For starters, out of the kindness of my heart, I walked over at 6am to assist them with loading the luggage and all that jazz for a 6:15am taxi. Only problem being, Jem and Cheryl were both asleep. Hmmm.

So after trying to rush everything down for the taxi that got away (on hindsight we should have gotten him to wait but that would have meant a running meter), we flagged for a taxi for 10 minutes but to no avail. Thus came into the equation Andrew the lifesaver, who got his car and rescued Jeremy and Cheryl from the certain hell of missing their train amidst a lonely departure to New York and then San Francisco. Okay, that last line made no sense whatsoever. But anyway, word of advice for Jeremy. LEARN TO USE THE FRIGGIN' ALARM CLOCKS!

2 other eventful memories of the day:

1. I was tasked with the almighty responsibility of helping some characters to top up the alcohol. I'm not sure if it's a good idea to divulge any names since the Department of Underaged Minors Boozing (yes, folks, that's DUMB to you and me) is probably on to me. Feels good to know I still have some use though.

2. Mun, officially the favourite Malaysian of the Singapore contingent at UVa (with Mahathir ranking a close 2nd), very kindly swiped me into the Newcomb Dining Hall for a free dinner. The session was really good - I finally got the chance to talk a bit more to Mun and it's also a means of kickstarting the goodbyes. Well, not really but it's starting to sink in real fast now that Jem and Liying and the Brit girls are gone. It's almost depressive. *sigh*.

Lunch tomorrow with what's left of the original 5 Guys gang (I would really suggest going to eat at 5 guys as a fitting tribute to the place) and then packing for New York (although I could do that tonight). And just as a reminder to self, David in Shanghai recommends I check out the following place:

Sushisamba
87 Seventh Avenue South
Phone: 212.691.7885

Anybody who's been there and knows if it's good, do tell me.

Counting down the days

Since Liying has left Charlottesville, while Jeremy the lazy ass refuses to blog whatsoever (but forgivable, his girlfriend is literally in town), the onus falls upon yours truly to provide the details of the final ever weekend in Charlottesville (well, on an exchange basis, anyway).

Friday started out, well, with an exam for Public Choice, so you can imagine how exciting that was. So, anyway, post-exams, the other two kids were visiting Angie Turner, our academic co-ordinator prior to saying goodbye (Liying was leaving on Sunday after all). Turns out her husband owns an ice-cream stall named Dips N Sips and that they're friends with the Carltons, who were scheduled to meet us later in the day. Talk about a small world.

As usual, the Carltons brought us to a fantastic dinner place (Western Grill - which for some reason Jeremy thinks is Woodies...says something about where his mind is...) where basically both your Charlottesville correspondent and Jem decided to stuff ourselves with meat, meat and more meat (sounds kinda wrong, doesn't it?). Dinner was amazing and the company was just as great. In fact, the Carltons are perhaps some of the people we will miss the most. Personally, I think what really makes them such a wonderful family is the fact that they have got such huge hearts, in every single member of the family. For all the outward bitterness, cynicism and jadedness (or so I exaggerate, assuming I spell correctly in my state of 2 beers), to have been part of a family with the biggest heart is perhaps one of the rare privileges of my 24 or so years of existence.

Memorably, Frances, who is all of 8 years old, cried for us (more likely, Liying). How much bigger a heart can you ask for from an 8 year old?

Saturday was spent doing the customary rounds of farewell to a large group of people. The first goodbye was with Joon, who is probably too sweet for his own good. Despite being one of the most dedicated students around, he took lots of time off to hang out with us, both over this weekend and the last one. And for a guy who had to leave in 10 minutes, he lingered just to be with us. What a guy. Seriously, what a guy.

Later, Saturday night was accompanied with a buncha very very cool Singaporeans (the ones who stay at the IRC + Michelle a 'changmoh'). Ice-cream at Arch's, with Cheryl, Jem, Liying, Clara, Mun, Jennani, Shu'en and Michelle (I seriously hope I didn't miss anyone). It's really nice to see folks putting in so much effort to coordinate something for us, especially since we didn't hang out that much. To paraphrase a Ms Clara Lee, you guys rock my socks! (WTF does that mean, anyway?)

And Sunday.

Sunday kicked off with the fond farewells in the blog entry prior to this. Except it wasn't very poignant because I was certain of meeting all 3 again pretty shortly - that plus rushing to the Amtrak station. My turn to bear the pain of waking up early come Thursday (*groan*).

So Part 1.5 of the day was lunch with Cheryl, Jem and of course our beloved Andrew at Milan, an Indian restaurant in Charlottesville. The place is amazing - I've been there 3 times and every time I keep wanting to go back for more. It's so amazing that Jem's bitching about not going there earlier. And he always wondered why we never found the same love for "Hong Kong Buffet" restaurant.

Part 2 of the day was some time spent with the Singaporean gang at Kai's place watching 'The Best Bet'. Apparently yours truly laughed the loudest, a result of being part of a family that speaks Hokkien. Good pulut hitam (is that how you spell it) courtesy of Kai, lifts from Helen and just a nice time watching one helluva Singaporean movie to remind you of your heritage. And speaking of heritages, here's a recommendation from a friend in the UK: link here.

Finally, day ended with good ol' army bitchin' with Jem and some beers. Shit man, I am so going to miss having my own room and my friends being 2 minutes away. *sigh*

Farewell to the British

It's almost 6am over here in Charlottesville and I'm awake because we're about to send off L'ing, Michelle and Sujata (a day after the departure of Sian, who called from DC to say goodbye!). I'm not really able to find a picture with just the 3 of them inside so this will have to make do:


The British Collective bid you adieu.


Good times. And memories eternal.

So if all you folks who are leaving Virginia are reading this, please know that your friends over here will miss you very much - especially now that Cheryl has arrived, rendering yours truly a very very bright lightbulb. Gah.

I gotta go run and say my goodbyes now (and provide free porter service for all those damsels in distress). Later alligators.

10 reasons to go home to Singapore

1. Nasi lemak
2. Laksa
3. Sugarcane juice
4. Orh lua
5. Sambal stingray
6. Har chiong kai (a.k.a. chicken marinated in shrimp paste)
7. Sambal kangkong
8. Roasted duck
9. Teh tarik
10. Curry fish head

'nuff said.

On Americanquirks Part 1

It's about 6 days before I leave Charlottesville and true to form, I'm not studying but instead, wasting my time before blogging. It's true, finals bring out the worst procrastinator in all of us (particularly us exchange students) and if I wasn't goofing off here, I'll be playing computer games or something. Hardly much better, really.

So it's currently -2 degrees Celsius outside, with "frozen rain" pouring upon us all (according to my Firefox weather add-in). Hmmm. Having not done spectacularly for the previous final today (the one time the instructor actually tested from the textbooks which he had not been referring to all day every day), I shall attempt to finish this entry relatively quickly in an attempt to be relatively productive.

Here's what I'm gonna miss (or not) about America and Charlottesville.

1. Everyone wearing Northface jackets.

2. How everybody uses 'sketchy' to define something that Brits would call 'dodgy' or us Singaporeans call 'farnee'.

3. The way everybody here pronounces "route" as ROO-OUT. It's a homonym for "root", dammit!

4. Liquid paper being known as "WiteOut".

5. Chinese food that comes with fortune cookies which attempt to teach Mandarin by using a different set of Hanyu Pinyin from the written Chinese.

6. Our version of 'torchlight' being known as a 'flashlight' in this country.

7. 'Tailgating' being a term for a party as opposed to a traffic offence.

8. Popped collars and anti-popped collars.

9. Aggressive anti-abortion, anti-Cheney, anti-non-radical-Christianity, anti-genocide-in-Sudan, anti-Kaine/anti-Kilgore (folks from Virginia would understand) groups campaigning on 'grounds' (read: campus - that should be a point in itself).

10. Chalk scribblings and drawings all over the university, to the point of random poetry written on boards.

Anybody else got interesting stuff to add?

On Nguyen

This is an article that I'm moderately proud of, providing some form of economic analysis into what I think destroyed any hope of the grant of clemency in the case of Nguyen. Comments are most welcome and I hope I didn't write in a fashion which is not understandable to the layman or someone with too little a grasp of game theory and coordination - it's relatively simple at the level I'm writing at.

I thought I'd contribute my 2 cents' worth to the whole Nguyen debacle since it has more or less died down and I want to chronicle my thoughts on an issue which has finally brought Singapore to the very first item on the Google News.

As a backdrop, I'm not personally a big fan of the death penalty, perhaps a result of my slightly leftist social leanings (although I'm certainly an economic rightist and I find myself at odds reconciling the two at times). Still, I think the media coverage, particularly from Australian perspectives, have somewhat missed the point on the real issue, so here's what I really think.

1. Australia's views on Singapore laws are alright but it's not going to change a thing. For starters, Australia has no jurisdiction over Singapore. Laws are cultural- and custom-specific and while I think Australia and Australians have the right to express their opinions on the subject matter, the laws of any jurisdiction should be respected, especially in a democracy (yes, I know everyone's going to nitpick about this but Singapore is technically a democracy, albeit one not quite in spirit but in letter). Even if you argue that Singapore is not a 'real' democracy, I certainly don't see sufficient sentiment to suggest that this law is actually not part of the people's will and thus should be banished for eternity. I might personally not be a fan of this law but to me, it's pretty much a reflection of what people want and democracies reflect the people's will, not mine (however much stronger my case might be - which explains why I think stupidity is the failure of democracy). If you don't agree with the laws, here's a suggestion - don't bring drugs into Singapore. Transit or otherwise.

2. Is Singapore truly a friend of the drug lords in Burma? Well, accusations are flying back and forth and I think it's reasonable to suggest that until we see real evidence - if anybody can find me a website documenting that - then this is a point which really doesn't go anywhere. In any case, even if Singapore were supposedly a friend of the drug lords, until we see Singapore being actively used as a port-of-call for these druggies (as opposed to Singapore trading with the government of Burma), it's hardly in contradiction with the law of drug trafficking in Singapore (remember, a government's ultimate duty is to protect its people first).

3. I am of the opinion that the biggest problem we have with this legislation is not so much the fact that we still do hanging (come visit Virginia or Florida if you want to see folks who like capital punishment) but more the fact that the legislation comes with mandatory sentencing. I'm of the opinion that this eliminates the role of the judiciary in a system where the three branches of government are supposed to be distinct. The role of the judiciary is to interpret the meaning of our legislations and a proper legal system should have considerations such as mitigating circumstances, which often affects the degree of sentencing. Mandatory sentencing seems to suggest that our judiciary is either incapable or unwilling to make such decisions and I can't think of how that would be healthy for our judiciary.

4. The whole criticism that Singapore has no transparency in its legal system because the plea for clemency is at the discretion of the President is absolute nonsense. Any judiciary process has proper channels and these channels do not have unlimited appeals - there is a normal due process followed by a Court of Appeals to appeal your case. At this point, should you be proven guilty in both cases, your sentence is considered final. Any appeal to the President is in fact outside of the legal system and thus you can't complain about transparency in this aspect. However, I do admit that I am not sure if possession of over a certain amount of drugs results in a trial where you start as "guilty until proven innocent" and if that is the case, then perhaps that aspect of the legal system deserves criticism. Not the President exercising discretionary powers to grant someone clemency.

I'm happy to hear from legal experts about any of the specific points noted above because in all fairness, I do not claim a large level of expertise in these matters (although I broadly understand the principles). But honestly, let's not miss the point about Nguyen - he's a convicted criminal and he has been sentenced to die. Whether Singapore should keep the death penalty is an issue that Singapore itself must grapple with. Similarly, whether Singapore should have mandatory sentencing is the real issue it should wrestle with too, as opposed to whether Singapore's laws are "barbaric" and whether Australia should have trade sanctions with such a backwater lil' country.

In Gob's words - "C'mon!"

Napping and instant gratification

One thing about winter that seriously bothers me is how napping in the afternoon totally messes you up. For example, if you go to sleep at 4 something and wake up at about 7 (i.e. yours truly at the moment), then the whole area is pitch black and you're like "Woah, did I just sleep the day away?". And granted I've done this often enough to kinda get used to it but waking up with the sky pitch black seriously disorients you. I mean, the sky should be dark AFTER 7, not at 5+. Bah.

I need a haircut.

Having survived 2-3 nights of crazy sleeping hours to finish the Astronomy labs, I'm glad to say that I'm rid of astronomy for pretty much forever. I generally do enjoy learning and going to the lab to see night sky phenomena is actually pretty fun but somehow the sense of dread of completing astronomy sessions just kinda botches everything up. Plus I hate Physics. With a vengeance. Like the Sith kind of vengeance.

Had the chance to spoke to my Financial Trading professor today, who was actually really nice about talking about career options in, surprise surprise, trading. I can most definitely see the appeal in a career in trading but right now, yours truly is semi-disillusioned with the whole jobhunt shebang and seriously couldn't give a damn. That plus finals tomorrow and the day after and Monday and a nice holiday to NYC shortly after.

Just watched Arrested Development on Monday and there's this part in the show where Charlize Theron (mega-hot, just behind Scarlett Johansson) yells at the lead character "I want to have sexual relations". Just thought it was interesting how I had this conversation with someone about sexual relations in America - apparently it tends to happen before you become boyfriend and girlfriend with somebody. Then it dawned upon me America was the land of instant gratification and all was well again.

Welcome to Narnia!

I felt like an idiot grinning from side to side as I walked to class. First snow is gorgeous. It's fun throwing snow at people. And the best part of the whole day? Astronomy final's cancelled and Arrested Development is back on at 8. This has got to be the best Monday ever.

Oh, btw, the title of blog entry courtesy of Michelle Kemp, superstar trader-to-be.


Room with a view?


Now it's starting to look like we're on a movie set...


Modern day Narnia.


Yes I need a haircut but check out that lake. Talk about picturesque!


This is how snow looks at night.

It's snowing!

IT'S SNOWING!!!!!