Virginian Virgin

Happy New Year...

2005-12-31T09:06:00.000-05:00

...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

2005-12-30T16:14:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-28T15:04:00.000-05:00

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...

2005-12-24T03:40:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-24T02:13:00.000-05:00

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

Home sweet home...

2005-12-23T16:27:00.000-05:00

...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

2005-12-22T03:23:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-21T02:35:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-20T03:38:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-20T00:35:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-19T02:40:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-18T03:55:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-18T02:28:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-17T01:33:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-15T23:17:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-15T06:12:00.000-05:00

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...

2005-12-15T03:49:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-14T11:38:00.000-05:00

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...

2005-12-13T23:12:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-12T05:06:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-11T05:55:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-10T04:01:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-09T00:15:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-07T22:25:00.000-05:00

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

2005-12-07T19:11:00.000-05:00

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!

2005-12-05T17:27:00.000-05:00

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!

2005-12-05T12:22:00.000-05:00

IT'S SNOWING!!!!!

The unbearable likeness of being GEP 2

2005-11-30T12:46:00.000-05:00

So, like, what's the deal with this GEP thing?

Apparently the headlines in Singapore are all ranting and raving about the GEP, albeit in a somewhat negative way. Of course, this kind of thing makes headline news because we don't care about how the international media is so uptight about us hanging some drug trafficker (although admittedly, I think that thing has been blown out of proportions - why's everyone upset about him being hung as opposed to Singaporean laws tying our judiciary's hands?). C'mon!

But seriously, this GEP thing is ridiculous. Let's look at what people are talking about:

1. Parents bribe and coerce their children into joining the most exclusive/prestigious of clubs - the Gifted Education Programme.

Parents are morons if they think that getting into GEP is such a big deal. GEP examinations are similar to IQ tests - you largely get selected on the basis of intelligence. So an invite to join GEP is like an invite to join MENSA - it's an indication to you that your child is smart (possibly in the 98th percentile or upwards) and that he could join a program with some benefits. What's the big deal? Why is it prestigious? Intelligence is a trait you're born with - a GEPer is as much intelligent as a blonde is, well, blonde (a crude version might be a man with a 17 inch dong). Why are people kicking up a big fuss about this? Big frackin' deal.

2. Gifted children only hang out with each other.

That's like saying Normal (Technical) students don't mix with Special stream kids. Like, duh. C'mon!

3. Gifted students have difficulty relating to the man-on-the-street.

And pray tell, how often does the man-on-the-street get his voice heard or get related to in Singapore? In all fairness, can you think of anyone who relates to the man-on-the-street in our country other than taxi drivers? Hell, taxi drivers ARE the man-on-the-street.

4. MOE says GEP students are doing as well at exams as non-GEP kids, refuting Don Shiau's claim that GEP kids don't do so well in exams. 75% get 8 distinctions at the O levels and 78% get 3A*s at PSLE.

Wow, I didn't even make 26th percentile. But seriously, what was Don Shiau thinking, suggesting that GEP kids don't do well in exams? I mean, we have virtually 100% scientific proof that intelligence will translate into academic performance (on an aggregated basis - there are freak individual cases like me).

5. The blogosphere is pissed off that GEP kids are immature, elitist and fullashit.

Which pretty much applies to just about every other intelligent kid in Singapore. I mean, we bloody encourage this kind of behaviour. Get full marks for exams - new computer. 99? More tuition. Let's compare our grades. Oh, you only got 90 - you dumb kid, Auntie May's daughter got full marks and is going to get 300 for PSLE! Why do you hang out with that John, he's so stupid?

Seriously, life in Singapore as a kid is harsh, man. Everyone wants their kid to be 'The Brainiest Kid' (a horror of a tv show and btw, Cheryl Fox ain't looking so foxy these days). They want their kids to enter exclusive programs - GEP, IB, Through train, SAP, "Xin Suan" (rapid mental arithmetic). As a society, we don't particularly encourage maturity or egalitarianism for our children - do you hear of parents who enrol their children in volunteer work to care about society? Or draw comics because that's his passion? Or be journalists so they can make important social contributions (oh wait, I forgot, this is the Singaporean press we are talking about). Hell no! We want our kids to be elitist and as differentiated as possible. That's us as a society. It's the new class war.

I don't see what's the big deal about GEP - unless you have a complaint that it's social engineering and we don't want to go down the slippery slope of eugenics. It's just a program where intelligent kids are grouped together and then intoxicated with lotsa experimental drugs - no wait, I'm letting on too much here - it's just a program where intelligent kids are grouped together. And taught in an environment with small classrooms and where the emphasis isn't just getting 100 marks for every paper (not until the exam years or unless your Head of Department is anal about academic achievement). It is NOT a prestige to get into GEP. It is NOT a measure of how your life will turn out to be. There are many freaks in GEP. There are many non-freaks in GEP too. And there are also many freaks in general.

Seriously, if people want a mature discussion, then start asking what we can learn from GEP, what GEP can learn from other academic programmes and go do something about it.

C'mon!

The unbearable likeness of being GEP

2005-11-29T00:34:00.000-05:00

So, it's time to start settling and getting back into the groove. Exams commencing in a week's time (a discovery from attending class, which is increasingly becoming less of a fun activity), and just some random thoughts floating around my mind.

1. It's another 17 days or less before I leave Charlottesville. Everyone talks about how time flies when you're having fun but I can't think of any person who has ever commented that the exchange went by too slow and that they're dying to leave the country and go back to the Motherland. Much as I hate being back here after a week of travelling, leaving here is going to be something quite lamentable. Sigh.

2. Being in Philly and Middletown was a good opportunity to gain perspective, listening to people who have chosen rather dramatically different paths in life. Serious thoughts of having a 'normal' (9-to-5) job with time put aside for personal enhancement, enrichment and enlightenment (yeah, right) are surfacing. Oh, the fact that the job applications aren't going fantastically prolly makes a difference. But in all honesty, putting aside time to read, to learn a foreign language, to manage one's personal finances actively - all these are things I crave to do as well. Bugger.

3. Isn't it funny how when we were growing up, the epitome of achievement was getting a top scholarship with a government agency so that we would be able to go overseas and experience a foreign education while getting paid to do so? 5 years down the road, it's interesting to see how people are all shaping up. Interestingly, for a person who pretty much messed up his A levels and not having a secure career ahead of him, it appears that my happiness level is greater than that of my peers serving their belated NS now. Seeing friends go overseas to pursue astronomy in a liberal arts college and others refusing to be bonded to the government to major in psychology oddly affirms to me that sticking it to Boon Lay University and joining a new university without a physical campus was perhaps the best decision of my life to date.

4. Chicago has too many revolving doors.

5. The best friends that you can possibly have in the universe are those that you can not talk to for ages (ranging from months to maybe something like 5 years) and yet you can pick up the conversation like it was just yesterday. Better still are those that you never had that many sentences with but find so easy to relate to and are able to just continue chatting about random stuff, ranging from current affairs to weird topics, common themes of childhood and whatnots. This is the one thing that I'll be forever grateful to GEP for.

6. The weather here is 18 degrees celsius. Like, what the hell.

7. To make myself feel better and justify my US$300 expression of momentary madness, here's a picture of the suit that I talked about. Comments most welcome.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, back to our regular scheduled programme...

2005-11-27T20:18:00.000-05:00

So finally, after a hectic week of travelling around the country (well, not really around but just within a few states), it's back to the grind at dear ol' UVa. Lotsa thoughts going around in my mind but I'm exhausted, so let's just rewind things a little.

My time in Connecticut wasn't really spent exploring the typical places that you would as a tourist. Like Philly, time there was spent on just hanging out and touring the university campus a little. Wesleyan is really a very scenic kind of place, a quiet quaint little town that is worth retiring to. In fact, southern Connecticut is considered one of the richest parts of the country, with an income tax supposedly higher than New York. That's pretty damn impressive.

Pictures paint a thousand words, so here goes:

The School of Fine Arts (or Performing Arts or something like that). Wesleyan is considered one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country. The snow does add a bit to the scenery, no?

This is where Mark spents the bulk of his time. Funnily enough, he is one of 2 undergraduate Astronomy majors in the university.

This is the place that is known in Wesleyan as the waterfall. It's probably one of the more scenic sights and supposedly a great spot to bring dates. I can't imagine why.

One of the highlights of my time in Middletown, Connecticut was dining at a joint that Mark frequents - Thai Gardens. In fact, he goes there so often that besides the Wesleyan 15% discount and a free iced tea per person, he gets a free bowl of crabmeat soup and is pretty much the adopted son of the owner. I mean, we ate there for both lunch and dinner on Saturday. No wonder they love this guy.

Lunch was pretty quiet, and highly refreshing - for the first time in a long while, I was able to talk to someone whose goal in life wasn't just becoming a gazillionaire and working his ass off for it but understanding these things well enough and yet wanting to use that to do some good. Somehow the idea of just having tons of money so you can channel it to the purposes you want comes across as being more interesting than buying fancy cars and houses, although it's hard to say where I'll end up in time to come (possibly and probably none of the above?).

Dinner was joined by another 2 Singaporeans (yes, amazingly, there are Singaporeans in Wesleyan). It was cheap too, coming up to US$6 a head after taxes, tips and whatnots. And in trueblue style:

Admittedly, not my best photo. Dinner, less the pictures of the soup.

From left to right: Yours truly, Corrine, Shuwei, Alice and Mark.

Finally, after a chill-out session of watching 'The Mask of Zorro' (Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta Jones are one hot couple! They should swap spouses), we headed off for the airport. Again, best chronicled by pictures:

Mark searching for directions to Bradley International Airport (and hamming it up for the camera).

In true Singaporean style, we had to stop over for food. Can you believe this is from Denny's? It looks pretty darn good, no?

And the final goodbyes. 3am at the airport. How often can you find someone willing to drive you at 2+ in the morning?

Leavin' on a jet plane...

2005-11-27T05:40:00.000-05:00

This one's gonna be quick. Am at the Bradley International Airport and oddly enough, for an airport with virtually no amenities (trust me on this), I'm able to get free wireless Internet access. Anyway, this airport in Hartford, Connecticut is pretty rundown and not exactly the best exciting of places. While most airports in the United States tend to be somewhat lacking in facilities prior to checking in, this one's actually worse AFTER checking in - just one stall selling drinks at $2.36 for a 20 oz bottle (compare that with $1.36 in the airport in Washington D.C.!). Gah.

Finally, the beginning of the end of this whirlwind trip around the USA. Middletown, where Wesleyan University is based, is a really typical university town in terms of how the place is set up but it's not quite a university town with activities not necessarily centering around the university residents (unlike UVa, they don't form a 20,000 strong army). It has a charm to it that's slightly European in flavour, a remnant of its New England legacy. On hindsight, this leg of the overall tour might have contributed significantly to the exhaustion (I mean, the flight's in 35 minutes at 6:25am) but it was quite something to catch up with Mark. Here's a chap I've known for about 14 years and in all that time, despite us leading pretty much our own lives, it's fascinating to know how we are still able to communicate with each other - including areas of interests such as financial markets (strange evolutions, ain't it?). Unfortunately, his sense of humour hasn't changed too much...sigh.

The announcer's making noise for us to go get ready for boarding. Photos and further reflections to come, although the marathon trip back to Virginia up ahead is really what's top of my mind. Urgh.

Connecticut

2005-11-26T01:41:00.000-05:00

The travelling marathon continues with one's arrival in Connecticut, halfway along the east coast en route to Boston. Of course this is the final pitstop for this week's amazing race, in a race around the United States for a million dolla- memories, I mean.

The morning began pretty early, with the amazing Esther going over to check on car rental company Enterprise, which had supposedly hooked us up with a car for today. True to form, the company had a million and one unannounced disclaimers, including things such as two bills to identify yourself if you're under the age of 25. Like, wtf?!?! Obviously this turned out to be a big mess for all involved and we were forced to resort to alternative forms of transport, promptly resulting in bookings for my first train ride through America via Amtrak.

Bookings aside, breakfast at a typical American diner's was pretty much the last meal for the Philly trip. Grease was the word for the day.

Having pretty much wasted our time in Philly staying indoors all the time, Esther proceeded to give us a tour of Upenn enroute to the Amtrak train station. Like most university campuses in this part of the world (with tons of funding), the campus is beautiful and generally quite scenic. See what I mean below:

Yes, fellow Singaporeans, now you finally know where this was ripped from.

In traditional tourist style, yours truly decides to take a shot in 'The Button', a monument of unknown significance at Upenn.

Farewell Philly.

The trip to Connecticut via Amtrak cost a fair bit but given the lack of alternatives, wasn't exactly that bad a deal. In essence, a 4 hour ride with lots of comfort, leg room and just about everything you'll need from a flight except for perhaps speediness. On a totally random note, Ansel and Esther are crossword freaks. Make that crossword FREAKS. We passed through New Jersey and New York along the way but of course, yours truly utilised the time for something quite productive - shuteye.

Arrival at the Meriden Amtrak station presented me with a little surprise. Nopes, not my kind host Mark (someone I've known for about 13 years, can you believe it?), nor the -8 degrees celsius that resulted in smoky breath (had already experienced a pretty chilly morning in Philly). Rather it was snow.

Overwhelming, like everything else on this trip. No, really...

Nothing impressive, as you can tell from the pic above. But Mark was kind enough to pick me up from the train station in his car (finally, someone who drives!), bringing me to meet some of his friends from Wesleyan for dinner at a joint called 99. Decent food, quite good company - for some odd reason, Mark's surrounded by Asian bankers and banker wannabes.

From left to right: Roberta, a sophomore who knows the weirdest random facts; Liang, a banker-to-be who just celebrated his birthday and is now indulging his time in fantasy basketball; Alice, yet another banker-to-be who also happens to be Mark's girlfriend; Mark, one of the few friends I have that's brave enough to do something like Astronomy as a major and finally, yours truly, in serious need of a haricut and some exercise.

The rest of the night was not particularly eventful but nice in a chilled out manner - Roberta and Liang treated us to ice-cream (where Roberta displayed an amazing talent to know everything under the sun, ranging from the atomic numbers of uranium to an understanding of the Stockholm Syndrome) and we watched '12 Monkeys' at Liang's place. End of night.

As a final note to wrap up this entry, one of the things that'll make me forever grateful for this whole exchange is the one week spent. It really reminds one how lucky you can be to have friends who are just amazing in terms of taking time off to catch up with you, to host you, to cook for you, and much more. Mark's staying with his girlfriend right now so that I can sleep on the bed (as opposed to the floor) - I mean, how much more amazing a friend can you possibly ask for? It's not quite the same as getting a job paying you $100k a year but friends like these money can't buy. Cheesier than my Philly cheesesteak, but true.

Now I just wish to have my own place...

Thanksgiving

2005-11-24T23:44:00.000-05:00

Today was Thanksgiving and in essence, an excuse for us all to just cook lots of food, get stuffed and just be happy. The weather was so cold that we stayed indoors pretty much all day. Erm, yeah. Here's pictures of dinner:

Master chef Esther and our substitute for turkey - chicken.

My biggest contribution to dinner - Asian-styled omelettes at a Western celebration.

Dinner - First look.

A 2nd look at the massive dinner.

Kelvin: "How does he do it?"

The woman who made it all possible, winging it for the camera.

Philly Day 2

2005-11-24T00:26:00.000-05:00

My Philadelphia trip is turning out highly distinct from my trip to Chicago, but in a way that is equally enjoyable. In terms of sightseeing, it's really not quite the place to be, as the ever-enthusiastic UPenn students would tell me. In terms of catching up, this time has turned out to be pretty priceless, and it's good to get a bunch of my friends together (not that they don't know each other to begin with).

Kelvin, a friend studying at Duke, arrived this morning and is also enjoying the kind hospitality of Ansel and Grete...Esther, I mean. For those of you who didn't get it the first time, Esther is my friend. She is not part of a random American family hosting Asian hobos for Thanksgiving. She's also Kelvin's friend, which explains why we're both staying here for our time in Philly. You hear that, Mr Sam?

Today turned out to be pretty pleasant - lunch was spent trying out the supposedly infamous Philly cheesesteak. Essentially, it's just a sub with melted cheese and lots of meat stuffed onto it - nothing overly fantastic but I suppose not every place is like Singapore, laying claims to fame via food. Our lunch was joined by Chee Won, who I think hit it off pretty well with Esther, and of course, Kelvin, who he had not seen in probably 7 years?

The legendary and highly underwhelming Philly cheesesteak.

Old classmates Chee Won and Kelvin catching up.

The afternoon was then turned over to our preparations for tomorrow's Thanksgiving dinner - celebrated by 5 Asians in some weird part of America. Essentially, that translated into a trip to the grocer's and getting chicken (because it's cheaper than turkey and tastes better) and other items that we could remotely cook without messing it up. Costly, but doable.

Took the time to meet up with Darren and had a pretty good chat about everything in general at a coffee house - Buck County was the name, I do believe. Darren is a nice chap by and large but that guy should stop acting so innocent and guai all the time. Liar. Haha.

Dinner was subsequently held at a Japanese place called Ajia - home to a sushi buffet that cost about upwards of US$20. Apparently, that is cheap by American standards, particularly if the sushi tastes edible and decent. Goddamn yankees should learn to make cheap decent food, man. For those of you currently in the States, have a look at a picture of our wonderful dinner:

From left to right: Esther "Gretel" Lee, Chee Won "Don't call me by my slave name Chris" Lee, Virginian Hobo, Kelvin "Insta-haircut" Ho and Ansel "I don't even know these guys" Unknown-last-name. Look at all that sushi!

Philly is turning out to be pleasant - I don't recall the last time I've had the chance to talk to so many friends, especially ones that I've known for such a long time, over such a diverse group of topics, with so many of them over such a short time period and just having the kind of good old-fashioned bonding that makes you think that maybe not working a 100-hour work week and just being able to chill might not make for an unhappy existence.

Philly

2005-11-23T01:44:00.000-05:00

This is the 100th post but unlike Darren, I have absolutely no intention of dedicating this entry to my father, my mother and just about every ah kow ah neow that I know. The only persons I might wanna dedicate these entries to would be all the kind folks who've hosted me, but somehow I think blogging gratitude is kinda cheapskate as a form of expressing thanks, amongst other things.

I'm currently blogging from the humble abode of Esther and Ansel, who have kindly agreed to be my hosts for the duration of my time in Philadelphia (affectionately known as Philly). That's right, people, I left Chicago this morning promptly for Philly - or rather not so promptly, with raging winds of about -4 degrees celsius. Missed my check-in time by about 10 minutes and had to be shifted to a later flight. Good thing being that Chicago was home to United Airlines so moving to a later flight is about an hour's delay. Unfortunately that was another hour of McDonald's hell. Yes, folks, more McDonald's for lunch. *groan*. I feel as if I'm filming "Supersize Me 2 - the Asian Edition".

Admittedly, leaving Chicago wasn't something that I was all that excited about. It's a really great city, a place I would live in, given the choice (apparently the state voted in some interesting Senator by the name of Barack Obama - more on that later). For those of you yet to visit Chicago, miss it at your own risk.

An uneventful flight to the Philadelphia International Airport was followed with a pretty long heart-to-heart chat with Renhua, heading off to Barcelona. Pretty lucky that I was able to catch him before he flew off, although hauling one's ass across 3 terminals isn't exactly my idea of fun, especially with the wind blowing straight at you. And unlike the Singaporean airport, most US airports do NOT have places to eat outside the checking-in zone. Bah.

Being the consummate budget traveller (especially after that US$300 purchase, and not to forget a friggin' giant suitcase which is impossible to lug around and just pissing me off), I had to settle for finding my way around by way of the train and bus services here. I actually enjoy travelling by public means as opposed to touring the city I'm in by taxi - it gives me a greater sense of the vibe that flows through the place, and it gives me more spending power in time to come. Anyway, travelling independently has its perks when it comes to pretty much setting your own schedules and finding your way around any way you want, I suppose. I didn't even get lost. Hah!

Relatively uneventful night to wrap up my first day/night in Philly. Esther was kind enough to offer me a Pennsylvanian beer (and I was naturally rude enough to forget what it was) as well as dinner, the tv set and general discussion topics. TV shows included My Name is Earl, The Amazing Race & The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (featuring that Obama senator, who was actually funnier than Jon Stewart - no mean feat). Those are great but having someone to bitch about Singapore and bitch about the US and just about mutual friends in general is so immensely satisfying that it's one of those experiences that's pretty much irreplaceable. Yes, you ACS/ACJC kids, you're being bitched about. Stop twitching those damn eyebrows already.

Not much else to talk about, except that Ansel does some graphic modelling/rendering in his spare time and the lad is, for lack of a better phrase, FRIGGIN' GOOD! Saw his renditions of TIE Fighters and TIE Interceptors - very professional. Erm, yeah. That's all. And, oh, this quote from the Illinois Senator Barack Obama:

"The war in Iraq is kind of like driving a bus into a ditch. Obviously you need to reverse the bus out of the ditch, no matter how hard it is to do. Of course, you probably should fire the bus driver in this case."

Chicago Day 3

2005-11-21T22:06:00.000-05:00

I forgot to mention in yesterday's entry that we walked down Michigan Avenue, which is really Chicago's Orchard Road. The only difference being that Michigan Avenue probably has way many more places that are affordable to all sorts of demographics, like Marshall's, where I blew my US$300 on the suit. But anyway...

Today began with a trip to the commercial exchanges of Chicago, which is probably part of the history behind Chicago's development into today's services centre. Because of TWAT (The War Against Terrorism), most visitor centres are closed. WTF. As a consequence, I abandoned my trip to the Chicago Board of Trade and instead visited the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange started as a location where all sorts of producers and farmers could gather to engage in futures contracts to lock in their prices. Like all services that used to be meaningful, it has now evolved into a global bastion of capitalism, with the vast amounts of scumhood that all of us young budding jedi - I mean traders - seek. Basically, it is now an arena using the 'open outcry' system - a system where hedgers openly makes outcries of rage about the way traders and speculators come in to eat up all their profits.

A great bastion of capitalism and greed.

Check out the very educational pieces below:

Naturally, after this very exciting tour through a small room in the lobby of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, I had to go overcompensate by doing something involving scale. This led your correspondent here to the Sears Tower, only the 4th tallest building in the world. What makes Sears Tower unique is that it was built in 1974 as a feat of architecture and was the world's tallest building for 24 years before being replaced by the Petronas Twin Towers (or possibly something else, whatever). Consider how impressive the architecture is for 1974:

In any case, the visibility isn't great at this time of the year but you're still able to see lots of stuff. They charge you US$12 just to go up and then try to rip you off by taking a photograph and offering to sell it to you at a highly discounted rate of US$21. US$21! I mean, honestly, aren't you pushing your luck there, buddy?

So, a view of Chicago from the top...

Notice the shadow being cast by Sears Tower?

That great body of water is Lake Michigan, which really adds a certain depth to the beauty of Chicago (pun unintended. really). Can you imagine dry land instead of water?

With its famous statue, this was the only possible view of the Chicago Board of Trade today...

...or not.

After spending inordinate amounts of time looking down on the people that should be worshipping the ground that I blog on (okay, so you got it, well done), the next part of the day was spent in perhaps the most meaningful way a Singaporean can possibly approach a new city.

Scouring for food.

Travelling alone, the dynamics of the food search changed quite a bit. Obviously there was no point in finding a fancy restaurant to dine by oneself. In search of fast food, one could come quickly to one conclusion about Downtown Chicago (and perhaps the rest of Chicago too).

There are no fast food joints except McDonald's (and arguably Subway) in Chicago.

I'm serious. If anyone finds me a KFC, a Burger King, a Taco Bell, an A&W's or a Wendy's downtown, then I'll say that you have a career in treasure-hunting. Or something like that. There are no fast food joints in this part of the world except McDonald's. I think that gives some perspective as to why McDonald's is the most prominent fast food chain and is the one that gets all that lawsuit, hatred and jazz. It is the most ubiquitous food chain around the world, even in America itself!

Anyway the rest of the day was fairly uneventful. I returned the 'Bowling for Columbine' DVD to Virgin Megastore (it cost US$10 but about US$6 online - hey, what do you expect me to do, it's this country's return policy). And proceeded to spend the returned money and a bit more on this US$90 (US$99 with taxes) Samsonite suitcase to lug all that junk that I've been buying. And then came back to Stony Island (where I'm staying) where I saw Keith doing his market simulation game and proceeded to teach him to take advantage of fools and corner the market. How appropriate to do something like this on the day where I've gone to the trading pits! (Well, it was as close as I could get, so shush y'all).

Just a final note before I leave you, my dear reader, more pictures of Chicago. Coming from Singapore and staying in an area which isn't exactly all that upmarket, I'm used to the idea of homeless people existing even in very (supposedly) rich parts of the world. But still, to see the amount of homeless people out in the middle of Michigan Avenue, or State Street, or Adams Street/Jackson Boulevard (the financial hub of Chicago), kinda just reminds you that even the richest of the countries in the world has its poor people. No moral message here, just something to think about.

These 2 'corn cobs' are the pinnacle of city living in Chicago. The bottom parts are car-parking and the top parts are apartments, similar to a condominium. Right by the riverside, you have parking lots for your personal boats to go up and down the river. Sign me up already!

This is the place we had lunch at yesterday. Besides an audacious claim, it also has an outlet just down one of these streets known as Pizzeria Due.

Don't you just want to move here already?

According to the CME, yours truly is a 'spectacular speculator'. Did you hear that, you damn investment banks?!?!

Chicago Day 2

2005-11-21T01:51:00.000-05:00

Day 2 of Chicago, and what a day it's been in! Yesterday convinced me that Chicago was the slums and the pits and a dreary place to live in (less the hookah) but today exposed me to some of the famous wonders for which the lovely city of Chicago is heralded for.

Home to Keith, Shu and some hobo from Virginia.

This day began at about 10am, after a peaceful slumber at the only extra beds that most college kids can offer - the couch. In any case, we headed for the downtown area, which sorta defines Chicago from a daytime perspective - magnificent architecture and wonderful scenery. Here's a sample of the things that one can see in terms of architecture and the Millennium Park.

Millennium Park has 2 notable video displays where they show pictures of residents of Chicago. Here's a sample of one of them.

How the f*** did we get these pictures taken?

This view captures the beauty of Chicago architecture and the skating rink at the Millennium Park

I'll upload more pictures later in this entry but didn't want to overwhelm you kids too much at first.

Lunch was at Pizzeria Uno, a place that claimed to give birth to the Deep Dish Pizza. The Deep Dish Pizza is supposed to be a speciality of Chicago - it's essentially a pie disguised as a pizza, with the usual topppings that you'll expect on a pizza but with meat stuffings and a crust so pie that you're wondering what the hell you're eating. If a picture paints a thousand words, then...

Going back to Chicago architecture, some notable buildings include the Chicago Tribune building, which is actually home to random pieces of stones from all over the world. Not exactly random, though - we've got the Berlin Wall, Lincoln's tomb, the Parthenon and other such famous spots. Another building I thought was kinda crazy was this one:

What's with that diamond top?!?! Solar panels or wot?

The afternoon was spent bumming, shopping and chilling. Due to the massive amount of food consumed (we packed away the unfinished portions and gave them to some homeless people), there were many intermissions between stops. I also did something pretty crazy - spent about US$300 (not including the 10% sales tax) on a Hugo Boss suit. I know I'm gonna be upset with myself when I go back to chomping on spags for the next month but hey, when else will you get a decent and branded suit at US$300? It's arguably a bargain (rrrright). I did get a coat to prevent my arse from freezing, though.

We wrapped up the evening with a trip to Second City. Second City is THE place to go for comedy in Chicago - or even America, for that matter. Second City is really quite the holy ground for comedy in America, with an illustrious history when it comes to the amount of talents that have walked out its doors. This comedy club was home to James Belushi, Bill Murray, Dan Castalleneta, Mike Myers, Dan Akroyd and Tina Fey, amongst other comedians. I mean, look at that list!

Anyway, at US$9 a head (yes, we got it at half price thanks to my ISIC card - finally found some bloody use for it), you get about 2 hours for the revue, or what is essentially a series of skits that have been prepared and constantly updated. Then after that, you get a bonus hour of experimental skits and a short improvisational comedy performance from the cast. It's really not shabby at all, if you think about it. And it's definitely a sight of Chicago that distinguishes it from other cosmopolitan cities - I really suggest that all visitors have a look.

I don't really have much else to say except that I'm almightily pissed off that the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade may not be open to visitors due to the whole terrorism bollocks. Man, whatever else will I do tomorrow?!

I'm exhausted. Good night folks, hope you liked the pics.

Live from Chicago

2005-11-20T01:47:00.000-05:00

I'm blogging from the room of Keith and Shu, the two very kind souls who have gladly accepted to host me over the duration of the next few days. For those who are actually keen to know who they are, Keith was a fellow intern during my time during my summer internship, while Shu is his roommate and originally hails from Delaware. Actually, more like China.

I hate it when people ramble, including myself, so I'll try to put in some chronology to talk about this trip to Chicago.

1. Originally scheduled for 3.30pm, the ticketing lady at Independence Air was kind enough to bump up my flight to the 2pm one since I was early and it didn't make any sense to keep me waiting at the airport. That's possibly one of my few positive encounters with airlines. Anyway, thank you, Independence Air, you've actually done something right!

2. Made my way from O'Hare to UChicago without getting mugged. Erm, right. Touchwood. In all honesty, though, Chicago looks kinda dreary when you first leave the airport, but it's not too bad a place. More details later. In any case, I've arrived on a good weekend because the temperature is the same as in Virginia, and also because Keith has no work this weekend. Woot.

3. Dinner was at a Sze Chuan restaurant, and for about US$14 a head, we ate as if there was no tomorrow. No words can describe the senes of satisfaction of being in a place with lots of good Chinese food to choose from, so see pics below. Chinatown rox.

4. The last activity to wrap up the day was a trip to Belmont, the bohemian/hippie/gay central of Chicago. We visited a hooka joint named Samah, and I think it's quite a spectacular welcome to Chicago (my usual edge to my writing is being taken off due to the fatigue of travelling). The service was fantastic (free refills on teas and the charcoal) and the atmosphere kinda feels like a somewhat more upmarket kind of tea joint with the availability of a hooka. If I work in Chicago, I'd be spending lotsa time in this place. Erm, yeah. It was good. I like Chicago already. :)

Too tired to think, here's pics of dinner.

Dinner - The Before Edition

Dinner - The After Edition (Notice it's only 3 people for dinner)

Pre-Chicago

2005-11-18T02:15:00.000-05:00

I do apologise for the lack of updates for all my readers and fans out there (that's right, all 0 of you). But let's face it - it has NOT been an eventful week. Well, almost.

I'm dead tired (damn this Astro homework) so here's a list to summarise and do a quick point form storytale of sorts. Erm, not really.

1. I've just come back from a comedy performance by Pablo Francisco. For those of you who've had the pleasure to see him on television or see his videos, you'll know that he does great impersonations of voices, like a lot of comedians. At US$10, he was a gem and since we were off-camera, all forms of lewd jokes came out. Which is something nobody really minds, really.

I gotta give credit to the UVa University Program Council here, for being a student body that really handles programmes that a lot of university students are able to enjoy at highly reasonable prices. I mean, seriously, Pablo Francisco at $10 and Jason Mraz at $15? You can't really complain now, can you? (*hint to SMU kids who are dying to set up the university's 578th club that does nothing*)

2. This week turned out to be surprising in hearing from a number of friends studying in the US who are moving along in the whole job hunt process. Interestingly, all 3 friends (spread out amongst 3 pretty good American universities) are at different stages of the process - one's in the midst of interviewing, one is deciding between offers and the other has accepted his offer. I'm actually very happy for most of them, and this is actually one of those instances where I can proudly say that I don't look on with jealousy as they all really deserve this.

No, seriously, no jealousy! Stop laughing already, bitches.

3. Got back a mid-term exam for my Financial Trading module. Results were shockingly pleasant, and Jem did well for this exam too. While this does give me a reason to whine about how I don't have 200 job offers to choose from, I think there may be hopes at running a hedge fund.

Anybody got US$10 million to spare? I promise not to lose it all.

4. I've been tagged to join a list of Singaporean bloggers who study in the US. Which means there's more than 1 person (yours truly) reading this blog. How...unexpected. Maybe I should cash in on this and do something...like set up a business importing mutton soup into this country. Oh how I crave for kambing soup and bak kut teh...be still, my gut!

Gonna be off to Chicago this weekend, where temperatures are currently a-raging -7C (that's right, NEGATIVE) and with wind chill, it's supposed to have the effect of -14C. Wish me luck, amigos - I'll need it.

The weeks they are a-coming to an end...

2005-11-14T22:48:00.000-05:00

The weekend felt very quiet, despite being eventful in terms of attending parts of a football game (vs Georgia Tech) and a trip to Monticello, a museum of sorts dedicated to Tommy J. Best described in pictures, methinks.

This is the Rotunda, the historic site from which Jefferson planned the university around. It is a World Heritage Site and has clear influences from the Pantheon in Rome.

Booyakasha! Ali J and his posse.

America's presidents used to be Renaissance men. Jefferson, besides writing the Declaration of Independence, designed this house and spoke at least 6 languages. That's about 5.5 languages more than the current one in the White House.

This would have no significance except I've been craving fried chicken very much and have finally found something to satiate those KFC-craving tastebuds. This was served at Michie Tavern, an eatery in existence since Jefferson's time.

The War on Arrested Development

2005-11-11T23:02:00.000-05:00

Ladies, gentlemen, my fellow Americans,

Yesterday, November 10, 2005 - a date which will live in infamy - the sitcom Arrested Development was suddenly and deliberately cancelled by the television forces of the Empire of Rupert Murdoch.

The world was at peace with that network and, at the solicitation of many viewers, was still in conversation with the show's producers looking toward the maintenance of the sitcom on television. Indeed, one year after Fox had commenced filming of the 2nd season, the network executives delivered to the press a formal reply to the show's status. While this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no hint of its impending cancellation.

It will be recorded that the continuous shifts of airing slots makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time the Fox network has deliberately sought to deceive viewers by false statements and expressions of hope for continued filming.

The attack yesterday on the sitcom has caused severe damage to network television. Very many intelligent viewers have been lost. In addition viewers have been reported gutted on the high seas between their tvs and their sofas.

Yesterday the Fox network also launched an attack against Kitchen Confidential. Last year Fox forces attacked Firefly. Last year Fox forces attacked Family Guy. This morning the Foxes attacked Arrested Development.

Fox has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the intelligent viewers' area. The facts of yesterday speak for themselves. The viewers of Arrested Development have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of great television.

As Commander-in-Chief of the Virginian Virgin blog, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.

Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the Arrested Development viewers in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

I believe I interpret the will of the intelligentsia and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.

Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.

With confidence in our armed petitions - with the unbounded determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God.

I ask that the viewers of this blog declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Fox on Friday, November Tenth, a state of war has existed between the readers of this blog and the Rupert Murdoch Empire."

I'm in love.

2005-11-11T12:49:00.000-05:00

It's true. I didn't come to UVa expecting this but I've fallen head over heels in love.

With Arrested Development (just be glad I didn't drag this one out).

I can't go on enough about how I love the show. It's so absolutely brilliant that every episode bears repeat watching about at least twice just to get all the hidden jokes. And of course, the killer bad puns just blow me away (yes, you need to have a rather sick sense of humour to enjoy bad puns) (incidentally they are known as double entendres).

----------------------
At a costume store:

Shopkeeper: "Are you going to buy this time or are you just curious?"

Tobias: "I suppose I'm, erm, buy-curious. Haha. I have a big TV opportunity."

Shopkeeper: "This is where all the big TVs come."

----------------------
Family attorney Bob Loblaw: "There's a 'Startled Straight' program at the fair. It involves you speaking to At Risk Male Youth - scare them away from criminal behavior."

George: "Okay I can do that."

At the fair...

Narrator: "But as it turns out, the fair had 2 'Startled Straight' tents. And George Senior had wandered into the church-sponsored one..."

George: "You wanna be some guy's girlfriend?"

Narrator: "...intended to scare gay young men into a heterosexual lifestyle."

George: "You wanna have some guy messing around in the middle of the night and reaching for your junk?"

Audience member: "Is he ugly?"

George: "No, it's pitch black. You don't see him. It never stops, guys, and everybody acts like it's no big deal."

Audience member: "Is there a cover charge?"

Freezin'

2005-11-11T00:21:00.000-05:00

I was supposed to do an entry a few days ago about the elections for the position of Guv'nor of Virginia but as is the case with most exchange kids, I got lazy and distracted playing computer games and thus now have no entry on that event. I'll prolly do up a post tomorrow when the weather is warmer.

Yes, you heard me right, when the weather's warmer. The erratic weather has just gone ballistic again, changing back from the average 10+ degrees at night to under 5 right about now. All in the space of 1 day. WTF.

So instead of freezing my ass off typing this entry, I just wanna say that it's been good watching television this week and sitting on my arse all day everyday playing computer games. Erm, yeah. Too cold to think. Brrrr.

Tea Bazaar Pics

2005-11-06T23:55:00.000-05:00

Pictures of my neighbours, in foreground. From left to right: Hong, Jenne (concealed by Hong), John, Althea, Rohan, Ashley and Laura.

This is my roommate, John. Quite the camera whore, or in his own mind, sex kitten.

Althea, the resident Krazy Kat, who's also prone to punching people as a form of greeting. Trust me on that one.

One of the many decorations used to create a somewhat hippie environment at the Tea Bazaar, home to the neo-hippies or something.

Part of what gives the Downtown area its feel is its mish-mash of somewhat old school places like this movie theatre and other things like the very European sidewalks. I wish there was better lighting to capture the whole place for this picture.

The Politics of Oil

2005-11-06T04:00:00.000-05:00

And for those of you who think that life's a breeze, within this class blog lies proof that I actually do work. Sometimes. Rarely, but sometimes (yes John, rarely, but sometimes). If anyone has a suggestion for a future entry, I would be most glad.

Rotten bananas

2005-11-06T02:19:00.000-05:00

The expression that time flies is so clichéd that I'm tempted to avoid it. However, as my friends know, I'm lazy, I plagiarise and thus am uncreative. Well, anyway, the point of all that ranting is just a note that my exchange is due to end in slightly over a month, which, on hindsight, appears to be a much shorter period of time than one would actually realise. That's right, folks, yours truly has been here for almost 3 months. Wow.

Like most weekends in Charlottesville, this weekend went by rather eventful. For example, I've learned a number of very important things.

I've learned that:

1. My neighbours are absolutely crazy. But lots of fun. They organised a trip to the Tea Bazaar, a hippie joint at what is known as Downtown (unsurprisingly, the hippie home of Charlottesville). This is an event for everyone to go down, smoke sheeshas/shishas/hookas (however the hell you spell it) and just make merry.

Photos to come.

2. ABCs (Asian-Born Chinese) make just about the worst frat boys ever. And hold the worst parties. Ever.

The gist of this was a party that we had been invited to. Unlike normal frat parties, getting invited to an Asian party is horrible, because being on the invite list means you're a fellow Asian and thus ripe for plucking, the stingy yellow bastards. That's right, amigos, no free entry and no free flow of booze. That's just terrible, really.

So, besides going to a very costly event, they decided to forget the aircon. Having had the ability to just about gather 90% of all the yellows in UVa (quite a feat - I mean, even I got suckered into it), they packed us all like sardines into a club with no airconditioning.

Did I also mention that we had a bunch of people who decided that since they wanted to pretend to be black, they would take over the stage and do da thing. Except he couldn't decide between being cool deejay or fierce bouncer. So here's some random organizer chap, who just kills the music (and folks who know their music know that this is the worst thing you could do), goes over the mike and starts saying, "Okay, guys, those of you dancing, move in front. Those who wanna get drinks, go behind to the bar. Oh, by the way, make some noise! Yaaaaaaaaah!" (I seriously am not kidding).

To top the night, the whole event was busted by the cops for underaged drinking. Glad that I left way before that. I think I've given up on "partying" in dear ol' UVa.

3. The best thing to do when you've had something to drink is to find a bunch of other people who listened to the same music 10 years ago and form your very own choir on the spot. Which, it turns out, is much better than going to a party organised by, well, the worst organizers ever. I mean, honestly, I can actually lay claim to having done a better job - those of you who've been to Bedroom*jocks/Indulge! events would know.

4. America has a lot to offer in terms of shopping. In all honesty, I think there's really no point buying things until they're on sale, because they go for ridiculous prices. I've gotten myself a cap from Old Navy at about US$2. A Banana republic shirt, on the other hand, will set you back 78 smackeroos before discount. I'm just waiting...

5. My neighbours are absolutely mad. I've been instructed to blog that we just spent the last hour watching people take personality quizzes in a state of drunkenness on Saturday night. So there, if any of you ever find this blog, congrats, you'll know that I've actually blogged about the event.

Finally, a transcript of a recent conversation where I'm trying to convince my neighbour to become an "evil capitalist", as Carl and just about every other debater would put it.

Me: "Y'know, you really should consider that evil capitalist thing."
Neighbour (henceforth known as J): "See, the problem with that is that I'd like to keep this thing known as a set of morals."
Me: "You don't need that. You're Republican."

I dunno why, I get such a kick out of political jokes. And no, I don't just mean the ones who get elected.

Blame it on the weatherman

2005-11-03T17:45:00.000-05:00

It's been some time since the last update - the week has been hectic (not just by exchange standards), with 3 quizzes, a lab session and of course, lots of Football Manager to play. Not to forget those darned job applications too, with a couple due this week.

D.C. was fantastic for a 1-day trip - I got the opportunity to visit some of the museums at the place known as the Mall. Amongst the more noteworthy exhibitions included one on Brown vs Board of Education at the National Museum of American History, an exhibition on American involvement in military campaigns at the same museum, as well as one on military aviation history at the National Air and Space Museum. Photos to come for sure, but man, loading pics from these places are always way too much effort.

Halloween also passed last weekend and as my roommate quite succintly puts it: "Halloween is an excuse for women to slut out". It's really quite true - for those who've had fantasies of either meeting or becoming catholic schoolgirls, french maids, devils, angels or bunny girls, well, UVa would be where you find them or where you'll be joined by others in similar costumes. Amongst the more creative ones we saw was a girl with her Facebook profile (similar to a Friendster profile) cut out on cardboard and sticking her face through where the picture column is - you gotta give it to her for creativity.

The weather's absolutely insane - it's been 20 something degrees in the day, dropping to 0 degrees at night. At the same time, the reversal of daylight savings time means that everything sorta happens one hour faster. So the sun gets up one hour earlier, while sunset occurs at about 5:45pm. Yes, kids, you heard me right - sunset at 5:45pm. What the hell is wrong with this country?!?!?!?!

Time to head off for more lab work - one of the good things of night sky observations is that at times, you get really lucky and get to see beautiful phenomena. Check out the Pleiades, which we were able to spot last night (incidentally, it's the logo of Subaru, the car company)

Off to DC again

2005-10-29T02:05:00.000-04:00

It's about 2 degrees celsius outside so I've been literally chillin' in this weather, getting my arse frozen off. In all honesty, my ability to deal with the cold weather seems to have improved from the days yonder. Then again, it could just be me learning to wear more clothes in this crazy weather.

The week that's just gone past has been quite a week for movies - have caught the following ones (in order of ability to remember). Just a note, for those that don't know, UVa has a place known as the Robertson Media Center (yes, spelt 'Center') and it's a fantastic joint where you can borrow just about almost any DVD. Their collection is amazing and it's all free. So the movies are:

1. Leaving Las Vegas - One of the saddest movies I've watched in a long long time. And very depressing. About the story of 2 people who are in a destructive relationship that is doomed from the start. Very very very haunting soundtrack.

2. Elephant - I think this one won at the Cannes Film Festival in 2003. Explores the viewpoints of many different people in a school shooting, although officially not based on Columbine (yeah, right). Supposedly great cinematography.

3. The Shawshank Redemption - A really good film about how Tim Robbins learns to age on camera gracefully while portraying a wanted man in prison. With Morgan Freeman in the token black man role. I wish I watched this in the cinema, though.

4. The Matador - A supposedly funny film with Pierce Brosnan sporting an Irish accent and Greg Kinnear sporting a mustache that makes him look rather less gay. Incidentally, Pierce Brosnan doesn't age quite as well as Tim Robbins does.

Finally, I'm off to DC again tomorrow - the good folks at IRC (da Collective, remember?), after having a wonderful wine-drinking session (where we were introduced to Boursin, a kind of garlic cheese that goes very well with free wine), are taking us up to the capital once again. Whoever wants something from DC, drop me an SMS.

Banker wannabes being...banker wannabes

2005-10-29T00:15:00.000-04:00

A lil' bit of Halloween humour. This one had me in guffaws.

As I lay me down to sleep...

2005-10-27T02:56:00.000-04:00

...I notice the weather outside is 36F. That's 2 degrees celsius, mofos. WTF?!?!

Why the world is the way it is.

2005-10-26T02:01:00.000-04:00

The secrets of the universe laid bare here.

Dinner @ The Rotunda

2005-10-25T22:02:00.000-04:00

Poor Liying got locked out of her room today, and we had to make a trip to the key room to retrieve a back-up key. Of course, the rapid decline of temperatures over the past few days (it's bloody 5 degrees outside!) sure as hell made the trip a really fun one. Liying, if you're reading this, I hope you're okay and do remember that you owe us big-time for freezing our asses off with you.

The IRC (International Residents' College/Community/Collective), which is where we stay, hosted a dinner yesterday at the Rotunda. The Rotunda is Tommy J's (that's Mr Jefferson to the more respectful) contribution to the University of Virginia, and is now a World Heritage Site, one of the few man-made ones in the United States, actually. It's a gorgeous place and we couldn't help but be tourists, naturally.

Dinner - baked potato with asparagus and chicken with rice stuffing (with blue cheese). Don't you just love exotic looking food?

Dessert - some custard-based cherries on top of a chocolate crust. As you can guess, I don't write restaurant menus for a living.

That guy on the right has some serious issues with his lips, man. Picture of the Browns (Chief of the Collective), Brit gals and Singaporean Exchange Reprezant

The Rotunda, viewed from the inside. Apparently Jefferson used to dine here al fresco

Monday morning comics

2005-10-24T12:20:00.000-04:00

Found this in today's daily. This is so wrong. Haha.

Crazy American grocery shopping

2005-10-24T03:59:00.000-04:00

Grocery shopping is so weird here.

1. I bought 2 tubs of Haagen-Dazs ice-cream at US$3.69. To all those in Singapore, eat your hearts out while I eat my ice-cream out.

2. It costs US$6 to buy a pack of 2 Oral-B toothbrushes but if you get 2 of those packs, you only need pay US$5. So in effect, you're better off taking that extra pair and throwing it away (or giving it to charity) if you want to save money shopping.

Of preparation for Halloween

2005-10-22T18:31:00.000-04:00

One thing that I am eternally grateful for is the enormous amount of hospitality that I've received while here in the States. It makes me want to ensure that when I'm back in Singapore, I'm able to have my own place so that I can put up friends who visit in the region or in general, just be able to spare a place and spare time to bring people around.

There's Andrew, who brought us all the way to DC, and happily spent a weekend with us instead of his family, his girlfriend or whoever. He's been absolutely amazing, driving us around now and then, and since I know he reads this blog, I'd just like to say a big thank you, and also that we need to go grocery shopping soon, so please get those engines ready. :P.

There's John Paul, a fantastic guy and good friend of Andrew, who put up 3 of us Asians in his room (making him look like a dodgy trader of Asian labourers) and brought us around during the time we were in DC, despite him not exactly knowing us. That, btw, involved walking an hour up and down Georgetown (the Orchard Road of DC) in the blazing sun trying to figure out where we were.

The list probably goes on and on but the one group of people I'm particularly fond of and feel particularly indebted to would be the Carltons, Liying's host family. They have been amazing not just in terms of their hospitality, but in terms of just providing us with experiences that you would never ever be able to replicate, they have been absolutely wonderful.

Consider the experiences they've brought us to: visiting an apple orchard, a show-and-tell in an elementary school, pumpkin carving for Halloween. I can't imagine ever having those experiences here if not for them bringing us about, and I certainly can't imagine the amount of fun that we would actually have with such a warm and lovely family.

Let the pictures tell you more:

6 children, including 3 oversized ones and the Carltons.

Will, taking it all in. He's probably the most adorable thing/person on this blog.

My project for the afternoon.

Our end products. I must admit, it's quite the real thing, eh? Carvers from left to right: Emily, yours truly, Jem

An amazing treat for children of all ages - caramel apple. Thanks to Emily for that (and the unpictured cookies I'm eating while typing this).

Pictures from a game to remember

2005-10-19T01:39:00.000-04:00

The beginning of the stampede. It sure as hell doesn't look like the stewards were bothering to hold us back

The invasion of the masses. Apparently, the last time this happened was also when UVa beat FSU. It probably didn't help that there was a sign "For your own safety, please do not invade the pitch" just a minute before the end.

And they just keep on pouring and pouring...

A moment to savour - desperate attempts at bringing down serious heavy duty goalposts. A.K.A. "What you missed on ESPN".

The makings of a footy fan.

2005-10-16T01:55:00.000-04:00

I have finally become a fan of American football.

What began as a day of shopping (Jeremy and Liying's idea of showing Darren and Kaixiang around) ended with a football game that was perhaps the most memorable sports event in a long long time. Or at least among the ones which I've had free admissions to, anyway.

Today, Virginia played Florida State University (FSU), ranked 4th nationally (UVa is unranked on the Top 25 list, after losing to Maryland and Boston College over the last 2 games). Pre-game discussions went a little something like this:

"Dude, we are so going to get raped man."

"I'm not watching the game, man, we are so going to get raped."

"I'm going home and not watching the game, man, we are so going to get raped."

The list goes on.

Anyway, since our dear friends from Penn decided to pop by, we thought we would showcase to them something a lil' unique about UVa (although according to Darren, the abundance of good-looking women already makes UVa distinct from Penn). We headed to Scott Stadium, home of the Virginia Football (that's Americano football) team. Darren and KX didn't pay for admissions because they managed to pass off as a South Korean lass and an Indian girl respectively (I might have the two mixed up). Master of disguises they are, indeed.

We arrived to find our team up 13-10, which is, for lack of a better word, rather surprising. The star quarterback, Marques (pronounced "Marcus") Hagans, was supposedly on form - apparently he either threw or rushed a career high (don't look at me, I don't understand this game either). Anyway, the quarterback is a really important player in American football because he's the player who chucks the ball to the others when you're trying to score, or roughly translated, he's the player whose nuts everyone's after.

So the star quarterback plays a really fantastic game and at one point, we're leading 26-10. This is the point where the audience goes crazy, random Americans start high-fiving me and I'm singing some seriously weird version of "Auld Lang Syne" known as "The Good Ol' Song", a tune they play whenever Virginia scores. You have to understand that such a scoreline is something along the lines of Arsenal leading AC Milan in a Champions League game by 4-0 (i.e. an impossibility, or certainly nigh impossibility).

Reality kicks in as the game goes on and FSU goes on to score about 11 in the 4th quarter, giving them all to play for with at least 5 minutes to go. To cut a long story short, FSU f**ks it up, Virginia makes some interception with a minute to go and kills enough time to win the game. Which is a feat to remember, considering that this is a team that has only beaten a former Top 10 team all of...5 times (or the other way around, I can't remember).

Naturally, this being an occasion to remember, we stormed the field and engulfed the players. That's right, the whole stadium went mad, we dashed onto the ground itself and had a good ol' time watching as people tried desperately to bring down the goal posts. The euphoria of watching your local underdog kicking some serious ass is really a fun feeling, and let's face it, we all want to be football hooligans.

For a more technical analysis of the game, you might want to read this. For more pictures, you'll have to wait for someone to pass me some. But man, storming a football pitch is what it takes to make you a football fan. You should try it sometime.

PS: On a sidenote I spent US$10.48 today purchasing 2 books, which are pretty far apart in their ideological leanings. Michael Moore's "Dude Where's My Country?" covers the left-wing, anti-capitalist vox populi while this autobiography of Jack Welch, former head of GE, is the story of the capitalist hero, or vox money.

Jason Mraz Live!

2005-10-15T02:21:00.000-04:00

I need to get the pictures from Shu'en, because we were convinced by Liying that bringing digital cameras were bad ideas (which turned out otherwise, but then, we didn't have enough people with hand bags to hide them in, I guess). In any case, what a concert!

Too lazy to write flowing prose (tired too), but here's what made it great.

1. Raul Midon. He's a blind musician who is by far the most talented guitar player I've ever seen live. His music has clear influences of jazz and soul and he's talented enough that he can mimick the sound of a trumpet while tapping the guitar to mimick a drum. In other words, a one-man jazz band act. Did I also mention that he's got a rich voice? I swear, I've never seen a more talented live performance. Why isn't this guy famous yet?!?!?!?!

2. Showmanship - Jason Mraz is from Richmond and his image is so college-y that it's no surprise he totally pumped up the audience with the whole "I'm one of you" attitude. Countless references to Charlottesville, UVa, the nickname "Cavaliers" (a nickname for a UVa person, most often used in athletic team references) and references to UVa beating Florida State in tomorrow's football game - an unlikely possibility but enough to win the support of the audience.

3. Jason Mraz can sing. Helen, the President of the UVa SingSoc, tells me that he has vocal training and that's why he's got the ability to quickly change vocal styles. But seriously, the guy's goofy, he's got a penchant for robot moves and he sings pretty damn well. Oh, and his band can play too. What more do you need?!

Random Thursday musings

2005-10-13T16:51:00.000-04:00

One thing that I think I'll miss about UVa when I leave for home is all these crazy squirrels running around all the time. For some reason it adds to a sense of homeliness which I think is slowly but surely disappearing from SMU, now with its city campus. On the other hand, there's going to be Old Chang Kee on campus at SMU, which is something I can never complain about. Ever.

Summer has left so long gone that I'm freezing my ass off. This also means that I'm likely to end up putting on weight as the weather gets colder, which is depressing news. In any case, you know the seasons have changed when the weather is this f**kin' cold, and when the fashion accessory of choice is not the oversized shades (which every girl in UVa has) but the rain jacket/trenchcoats.

I wanna be a trader. Damn.

Of Gob & Gobfathers

2005-10-11T16:29:00.000-04:00

There isn't much better on a Tuesday afternoon than eating a US$2.88 tub of Ben & Jerry's ice-cream known as the Gobfather while watching Gob & his father on "Arrested Development" after messing up an Economics paper.

Oh yeah, NOT messing up the Economics paper would be better.

Yet another careers entry...doesn't the author have anything else better to blog about?

2005-10-11T00:25:00.000-04:00

I know I always inadvertently end up blogging about careers but having spent over 3 years in college waiting to get a real job, it's one of those topics that's always on my mind. Coming on exchange and taking a mountain of debt doesn't exactly ease up any of the pressure, and perhaps having too much time to worry about it gets to me a little.

So anyway, a number of things about careers today - it just happened to be one of those days, I guess, where I'm being reminded that I soon have to decide where I'm going wit my life. Argh.

1. I received a call at about 2pm (US time) from [Unnamed North American Financial Institution]. On a whim, I applied for their Investment Banking Analyst Program. Thus was I awoken from a mid-day slumber (been staying up to prepare for a Spanish paper this morning) and screened via a phone interview for a potential Super Saturday event. Of course, being just awoken, I probably made a fool of myself - for example, I hadn't had the time to really look into this company and couldn't give a list of the company's merits. Thus have I learnt an important lesson - if you sign up with whatever firm, you better bloody read up the moment you've submitted your thing. Then again, working in the USA would have been something of a long shot.

2. I also had the time to chat with a former colleague of mine from my days working at a Who's Who publication in Singapore. This lady of Jap-American descent is currently in Costa Rica doing a publication based on travel, which is as far out as it gets from doing a Who's Who publication in Singapore 2 years ago. Her words to me were "Don't turn into a suit. You've got more brains than that" (or to that effect). I suppose this would have been something one would shrug off, only that later in the evening, I had the opportunity to speak with the speaker of that celestial tongue (hey, don't look at me, she came up with that name). She thinks we're too young to commit ourselves to the rat race, and duly suggested I turn to working in an NGO. I thought it might have been kinda rude to laugh at that point.

3. Kudos to my university, which has had some tremendous success in recent days in bringing in some top-notch financial institutions to present on career opportunities, as well as some career opportunities without presentations. A sample would be as follows:

Barclays Capital
Citigroup
DBS
Deutsche Bank
GE
Goldman Sachs
HSBC
Lehman Brothers
UBS

Today, I noticed on my university's career page that the Boston Consulting Group and Macquarie Bank will be coming to visit to recruit people. This is, of course, wonderful news but it's really irritating to see how all these things start appearing the moment you're away. And I don't even have new episodes of Arrested Development to keep me occupied from these thoughts.

A tourist in DC Part 4

2005-10-08T15:31:00.000-04:00

The Washington Monument, one of many sites named after former Presidents in DC. Take a closer look at the lovely sunset in the background.

Lincoln Memorial from far out. Right in front is the area where Jenny from "Forrest Gump" runs up to say hi to Forrest when he's making his peace speech.

Dedicated to the memory of those who lost their lives fighting in the Pacific.

Slightly more poetic than what I could muster. I know Ian would enjoy this.

Abe@Lincoln Memorial.

A tourist in DC Part 3

2005-10-06T01:21:00.000-04:00

A sculpture from a Native American museum.

A yearning for a lost legacy. The small words in white indicate the numerous tribes of Native America

Capitol Hill, ladies and gentlemen. Majestic, isn't it?

La casa blanca, home to squirrels, interns and oh yeah, presidents

Singaporean tourists pretending to be happy to have walked 13 streets only to find out that the friggin' White House is visible from a million miles out

Why tests and exams are a waste of everyone's time

2005-10-04T14:28:00.000-04:00

Not perhaps the most insightful of observations but this can technically be proven from an Economics perspective (ah, yes, the power of attending Economics classes half-asleep). Let us consider first the following analogy:

Theft, as we all know, is a problem. Besides the clear ethical issues with theft, it's an economic problem, as we need to start allocating resources in order to ensure that theft doesn't happen. For example, we need greater quantities of police, we need guard dogs, we need burglar alarms, we need guns and the works. All the resources can be devoted to something else more productive (like, say, making Krispy Kreme donuts) but have to be allocated to the prevention of theft, and thus, economic inefficiencies occur.

Similarly, if you look at tests and exams, there is absolutely no productivity gathered out of them. They're designed in a way to see if you have the information you "need" in your heads, but no knowledge is transferred or gained and in no way is someone's productivity increased as a result of testing. It's a waste of resources because the time could have been spent elsewhere (like visiting your local Krispy Kreme), we could hire less TAs and graders, we could have less quantities of teachers/professors, less red pens could be sold, etc. In a nutshell, it's economically inefficient and on that basis alone, we should do away with tests and exams.

*Yes, I know it's not a brilliantly written piece and someone's going to argue that the benefit is that grading acts as a sorting hat which acts as some form of lubricant in matching demand and supply in the job market but transaction costs are a result of inefficiencies, right? And besides, who said Economics makes sense?

A tourist in DC Part 2

2005-10-04T01:58:00.000-04:00

Think I can afford larger pics...

"What's with the hair, Georgey boy?". Yet another clueless Asian tourist.

Perhaps one of the least rated landmarks of DC. The Watergate hotel, home to the collapse of a presidency and the independence of the 4th Estate.

The waterfront on the way from the Watergate hotel to Georgetown. Lovely lovely place for a meal if you printed enough money.

This is exactly the kind of thing that retards Darwinian's natural selection. Warning signs for the seriously retarded.

A tourist in DC Part 1

2005-10-04T01:35:00.000-04:00

Having been influenced heavily by Jeremy to act like a tourist when being a tourist, the following entries shall be filled with memories of the time we spent in DC...

All smiles before the road trip. From left to right: Clara and the Washington Redskins wannabes.

In varying modes of ecstasy - Krispy Kreme at Dupont Circle.

Wisconsin Avenue, Washington DC's "Orchard Road" of accessible pseudo-high fashion. Possibly the least All-American area in DC. Very quaint, very European.

Andrew proving to Jeremy that Americans can be easily excitable too.

The staircase seen in the movie "The Exorcist", filmed on location at Georgetown University.

The MacDonald's Phenomenon

2005-10-03T02:15:00.000-04:00

Back from DC after a weekend which can best be described as time-consuming. There's just so much to describe that pictures will certainly tell a much better tale. Interestingly enough, the thing I want to talk about most isn't particularly DC-related - it's more to do with just some random thoughts off the top of my mind.

I've had the opportunities to eat at McDonald's twice over the past 3 days and it's interesting to just note the demographic of people going in to eat at the great McD's. If you look at the average Mac's in the US of A, you can neatly categorise the people going into Mac's within 4 main categories:

1. Blacks
2. Hispanics
3. Fat white people
4. Tourists

This is, of course, not 100% representative of the demographic of people who go into MacDonald's but probably serves as a good general guide to the kind of people who are loving it. To the average Singaporean, this demographic probably isn't the kind one would expect (given Mac's positioning in Singapore) but when you probe a bit deeper, you start to get an idea why.

The divine M in this country has been my eatery of choice for the past 2 days because as far as food goes, it's the cheapest and most convenient food that's actually edible in many areas. M is ubiquitous. You see it everywhere (something that's noted by Andrew on the drive all around the country). Relative to most other fast food, it's a hell lot cheaper (usually $1 - $2, which is quite something since fast food here costs about as much as in Singapore). There's no need to bring in restaurants here obviously.

So, if you look at the above groups, you sorta get a feel for what MacDonald's is. Historically, given that there are large pockets of poor blacks/hispanics, it's unsurprising to see that this demographic tops the list of the M's customers. With regards to the fat white people - again if you look at the obese people (and I mean really obese, not just normal kinda fat), you'll see that these people tend to be those working in environments which aren't exactly on top of our wishlists of dream jobs. There seems to be a strong connection to suggest that the pricing methods of M has made it such that it's really an accessible form of food to the masses. Unfortunately, the trend of upward mobility in terms of income seems to lead many to seek some way of classifying themselves - a class war, if you will. And interestingly enough, fast food seems to appear to be the arena for which this kind of class wars are fought.

What then, of the tourist? The only seemingly logical conclusion is that the proliferation of MacDonald's the world over has led to many people viewing the M as a symbol of Americanism, or perhaps a symbol of just American food in general. In terms of pricing, the M doesn't exactly place itself in quite the same spot as in its home market - food centres sell cheaper food than the M back in Singapore, while many Asian cities still use the M as some indicator of how globalized that location is. A series of random thoughts, perhaps, but to see how it all comes together is fascinating.

*Disclaimer: All ideas here are based on random thoughts from the author, whose observations are in no way scientific. And no, I'm not racist, you yellow bastards.

Maiden trip out of Charlottesville

2005-09-30T01:31:00.000-04:00

I just concluded an MSN chat with Renhua and Suraj, two ex-debaters (yes, ex-debaters, bitch all you want the two of you) who are absolutely in love with each other (go figure). Essentially they're both good kids but anyway, talking to them surprisingly made me realise how much fun debating was and the days of being a debater/trainer/chief-terrorist-sending-out-nasty-emails is surprisingly something I think I miss. It's possibly the only thing that brings out the human goodness in me - the desire to actually help others do well in life. Now and then, anyway.

The weather is starting to turn and freeze on me, which is kinda irritating. Autumn kicked in pretty dramatically last Saturday - at the Homecoming game. The best assurance of the fact that the weather has changed dramatically could be the fact that everyone around me is bitching about how cold it is...BEFORE I bitched about it. Cue fellow Singaporeans Jem and Clara (incidentally, it's 49F outside, which makes it a very cool 9 Celsius. KNN).

Random thought: watched the Champions League game of Pool vs Chelski yesterday in one of the suites where I stay. It's actually pretty nice to finally be able to get hold of some proper football. Match sucked, though - Chelski bore the hell out of everyone. As usual. Still, it's pretty nice to be able to get hold of something as simple as a sport that the real world actually watches - hey you Americanos, are you listening to me?!?!?!

I'm off to Washington DC this weekend, meaning no updates (potentially) for some time. Am too tired and uninspired to come up with a piece that makes any sense (or fun reading). Here's a picture of my delicious lunch - the cold weather is so going to make me fat.

PS - Anybody wants something from DC, drop me an SMS.

How much more can you stuff on a sub?

Los locos en Singapur tambíen

2005-09-27T23:46:00.000-04:00

Turns out that it isn't just UVa receiving its fair share of nuts. Apparently these are the memories of Singapore I'm missing out on:

suraj says: dude
suraj says: this term
suraj says: all of us have been running into lots of weirdos here in spore man
Song says: like wot?
Song says: update ur blog, man
suraj says: u have no idea - ur country has some pretty scary characters
suraj says: i cant write bout it as interestingly as u manage it
suraj says: like one dude we met at newton food court at 4 AM in the morning
suraj says: this drunk singaporean indian
suraj says: who came and sat nex to yogi, chintan, ritwick, atish, ashish and me
suraj says: we were having supper after a party but none of us was drunk
suraj says: man this dude was crazy...he started talking loudly about indian history - with a british accent
Song says: haha
suraj says: he was talking bout india's war wid china
suraj says: and shit in our history which no one knows about
suraj says: then he has no money and wants a fag...so he asks the cigarette shop dude to give him a pack
suraj says: the shopkeeper refuses
suraj says: then this guy goes and abuses him like crazy
suraj says: and the WHOLE food court is looking at us
suraj says: and we dont know how to turn down this dude cos hes drunk
suraj says: u know possibly doped actually
suraj says: this was the first weirdo we met
suraj says: then yesterday
suraj says: chintan, yogi and i were coming out of kopitiam
suraj says: and we met undi and shivram
suraj says: and we were generally talking - opposite SESS bld
suraj says: now chintan wanted to smoke but he dint have a lighter
suraj says: so he went to these 2 european chics (very hot ones i might add) who were smoking
suraj says: and used their lighter
suraj says: now 2 tables next to those foreigners
suraj says: was sitting one old chinese dude
suraj says: who calls chintan and asks - "dont u have ur own lighter?"
suraj says: chintan explained to him tht he left his at home
suraj says: then this guy for no reason gets all aggressive and starts shouting - dont u have money...yada yada
suraj says: it became pretty confrontational...
suraj says: then we were more chaps so we stopped chintan and then we went to SESS
suraj says: this dude was eyeing us all over from the distance man
suraj says: every time wed look at the dude
suraj says: hed get up all ready to like - let me kick ur ass come down here u coward - kinda look
suraj says: and he was hanging aruond Kopitiam for like 2 hours after this happened
suraj says: WEIRD!!
suraj says: then this morning i was returning from my uncle's place...this is like 40 mins ago
suraj says: and at selegie street...nex to peace center
suraj says: there is this well-dressed chinese dude...possibly 24-26 yrs old...with a big purple gun which shoots out small balls
suraj says: and every passerby who crosses him...this dude takes aim as if hes gonna shoot u...and he keeps aiming at u till u walk away from him
Song says: wtf
suraj says: like hes a sniper and hes gonna jus shoot u
suraj says: he then did this to me also
Song says: u're seriously surrounded by blogworthy weirdos
suraj says: and tho its jus a ball
Song says: i'm stealing ur stories
Song says: and posting it on my blog
suraj says: its from a considerable distance
suraj says: hahaha do tht
suraj says: and ur always wondering
suraj says: when hes gonna fire
suraj says: its seriously spooky man
suraj says: and EVERYONE around u
suraj says: is looking at u
suraj says: everytime he takes aim
suraj says: everyone is looking at the sniper and the passerby
suraj says: wish i had a camera
suraj says: now i know the value of a fone camera!!
Song says: see!
Song says: this is why u need to invest in tech

You are all going to hell.

2005-09-27T23:24:00.000-04:00

Freedom of speech brings about a lot of fun, if you're a tourist/exchange student. For example, a family of religious people came to the university yesterday to stage a demonstration of sorts. The banner they had said something along the following lines:

"YOU ARE ALL GOING TO HELL."

No, seriously.

This was, of course, captured by the university press, as seen by the link here. In fact, I was present when she started shouting, screaming something along the lines of how New Orleans was no accident of nature and how everyone is going to hell.

In a situation like this, what would be one's reaction? To join the protest? To argue with them? To alert people of this public nuisance and call the cops?

True to my Singaporean roots, I yanked out a camera.

Unfortunately, I soon discovered the disadvantages of not carrying your camera everywhere (interestingly, this after a weekend where I almost left my camera behind in Polo Ralph Lauren). So I did the next best thing. I yanked a Singaporean with a camera.

In any case, it was pretty insane, by any standards, and quite a sight. I'll get the picture up when I get it from the fellow Singaporean. In the meantime, here's a comic that I found kinda amusing, and very descriptive of the popularity of the McIntire School of Commerce within UVa.

Something almost funny

2005-09-26T12:14:00.000-04:00

Just a lil' something for those of us who thought it might be fun to major in Philosophy...and for those taking Ethics back home.

Click here.

Intermittent blogging

2005-09-25T22:58:00.000-04:00

I know the site is overdue for a series of pictorial updates but until the time comes, dear reader, you will have to put up with my philo-wank and whatever substitutes I can find discussing the chronicles of life in Charlottesville.

Like most weekend, this weekend was surprisingly event-filled. Friday commenced with a celebration of Jeremy turning 24, thus officially beginning his quarterlife crisis (his words, not mine). Surprisingly he did not get very drunk, which is quite something, since it is a well-known fact that Jeremy enjoys drinking at a rate faster than his liver can process. Anyway, happy birthday to Jeremy. Bloody pseudo-Italian bastards took forever to serve us the food for that night's dinner, so the evening had to be quickly forgotten with lots of drinking, with guest appearances from the British lasses. I use the word British carefully here, since out of the 3 representatives from the University of Bath, only about 1 is actually British. Picture to be shown shortly.

Saturday was Homecomings (yes, with an "s"), which apparently is a high school tradition which involves a football game and some form of a dance. Apparently, at college level, they basically screw the dance (unless you count those kinds at frat parties) and just have a football game. In order to ensure that the game goes well, what happens is that the homecoming game is scheduled against a crappy football team. Or so that's what I hear.

Actually I'm just too lazy to blog - too many random thoughts. Here's a little picture of what you can find in the daily newspaper at UVa...if you pay some attention.

Don't go to law school.

2005-09-20T21:38:00.000-04:00

Have had the opportunity to attend another career presentation, this time by a top consulting firm. In fact, it's not the first presentation I've attended by this company and short of their bias (perceived or otherwise) towards recruitment processes,

First things first, the cream puffs were once again, excellent. The amount of chocolate was fantastic, and the cream just sufficient. This is on top of their fresh strawberries and a set of killer hazelnut/walnut brownies. Good God.

In terms of actual presentation, the lead presenter was very smooth, which was different from the presentation by the Financial Institution a week ago. It's so smooth that even I want to consider applying for it, despite my cynicism towards their recruitment of SMU graduates and my preference for an industry driven by finance.

Actually there really isn't much but I suppose there's hope yet when you see presenters like that coming down. Makes you almost want to work there just so you can be that smooth in future.

Finally, what really stood out for this company was how the presenter chose to end his presentation. In a nutshell, it went a lil' like this:

"If you had to summarise my presentation into 5 words, these would be my 5 words. Don't. Go. To. Law. School. That's right, don't go to law school when you graduate just because your parents and your friends thought it was a good idea and you didn't know what else to do. You may think that you're widening your options but in reality you're going down a path that's one of the most narrow in terms of career opportunities.

"Don't go to law school unless you know this is what you want. Don't go to investment banking unless you like finance, because that's what it's all about. If you don't like finance, don't join an investment bank. If you aren't sure about what you want out of life and want to take the opportunity to learn a bit about everything, than do go to consulting. That's my advice to you - join consulting if you're really keen on learning new things and doing different kinds of work everyday. So remember, 5 words - don't go to law school."

Random Monday musings.

2005-09-20T00:39:00.000-04:00

These past few days have had me thinking about jobs, careers and the usual crap about graduation. It's sort of an indication that eventually, all of us are going to grow old and have responsibilities and not be able to sleep in when you feel like it (insert your own variation of bumming/stoning/sloth here).

Just a number of thoughts, and since they don't have so many links, a lil' numbering.

1. I attended a presentation by [Unnamed Global Financial Institution] in UVa. To put it quite mildly, I was mightily unimpressed. Yes, they brought down the artillery in terms of the seniority of people presenting - there were the usual HR people, the ex-UVa MD and of course the folks from the Investment Banking Department, which everyone is oh-so-keen on. Yet, it was unimpressive. There was no formal presentation on the opportunities, the departments that were recruiting, what distinguishes the firm from others. They put on a Vice-President that was with the firm for 8 years, and yet I could have done a better job presenting. In Singlish. The idea that America is really a wonderful place full of the most talented people across all levels is perhaps an idea we should all look at again and rethink.

2. That being overseas at this point in time is perhaps likely to result in a number of missed opportunities - a big risk, perhaps. Based on the recruiting calendar, financial institutions are having a field day at SMU. Ranging from Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, GE, Barclays Capital to Goldman Sachs, it's refreshing to see that graduands of the university back home are in demand. It would, of course, be nice to be among that group, though. But this sorta leads me to point 3.

3. Surprisingly, being away from Singapore and being exposed to more cultures than I'm traditionally used to, it's been a really pleasant experience having the opportunities to gain insight, either via reading, talking or just watching movies about other people. Sometimes I think that it might be nice to pursue a life of academia, sit still and travel the world for a reasonable pay. It kinda beats waitering (especially with that mountain of debt awaiting me after this exchange trip) but having the right amount of intelligence to do internships and the right amount of intelligence to pursue a life of academia are 2 very different things. It's interesting how as time progresses, I get less and less assured of what I want out of life. Hmmm.

Of drunkards and frat parties

2005-09-18T04:13:00.000-04:00

I know that I've sworn off frat parties since the disaster that was my last frat party but today was a celebration of Joon turning 20 and quite frankly, it would have been kinda rude to not go. So anyway, that was the frat party.

As a precursor, I'd like to add that we've been shopping at an area known as Fashion Square. Not too far is a place known as Marshall's - amazing stuff at amazing prices. DKNY/Tommy Hilfiger ties @ US$10-$13, lots of wallets for about US$10++ and trousers from brands like cK costing up to US$20. I would have gone trigger happy but unfortunately they didn't have sizes or clothes that I needed. Jeremy and Liying, however, were 2 very contented people. In fact, Jeremy shopped to the point where Joon and I wondered where he crossed the threshold of being straight. That's how much the boy shops. Serious.

So anyway a bunch of us went to Joon's place and headed off to the frat party. Now, judging from a former frat party, you'll know that these events tend to be boring mating fests. However, one of our beloved members of our party got sufficiently high/drunk to spout out some rather nice gems (name withheld to protect identity). Unfortunately, since yours truly had to be sober to take care of the drunken kids, yours truly does not remember the gems of wisdom that were spouted. Perhaps in a day's time - in the meantime, your war correspondent here has got to take a break.

(Yeah it's a lousy entry but it's 4am in the morning and I've been hauling drunks. Spare me!)

F**ked up cereals

2005-09-17T13:36:00.000-04:00

Whoever invented sugar-free cereals should be shot. They taste goddamn awful.

Shopping Spree

2005-09-15T11:17:00.000-04:00

Added a lil' somethings to my collection.

Yawn

2005-09-14T02:30:00.000-04:00

A tad irritated as of now, since my beloved Spyware Doctor decided to close all my windows as it went about deleting spyware from my computer. Gotta rewrite random thoughts but I think these are what I want to talk about:

1. Having had the opportunity to get to know one's neighbours a bit more is kinda refreshing. Specifically, in the space of the last 2-3 days, I've had the chance to talk to about 3 of my neighbours and all of them have certainly provided me with some food for thought.

My next door neighbour, like most Indians, is a really friendly guy who's invited me over to watch The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He's really up to date on current affairs and like most liberal arts students, somewhat left-leaning. We've had discussions about politics and things like that and so far we've clicked pretty well, which is pretty nice. Oh, and he's supposed to bring me out for garlic naan, which would be a welcome break from the usual burgers and pizzas.

Living in one of the suites on the ground floor is another lady who leans on a diferent end of the political spectrum. She's pretty interesting - her concentrations are in Economics and Political Studies with a minor in Systems Engineering (yeah, I know). People who are from these fields of concentrations (the liberal arts) tend to fall on the left end of the political spectrum but she considers herself a conservative, although she also considers politicians "criminal" (her words - I personally prefer "scum of the earth"). We talked about polarities in political views and she mentioned how during Election Year (2004), people were pretty polarised and it was hard to find grounds for people to agree to disagree. Bush is not rated particularly highly amongst college kids so her leaning in that direction certainly got her into some interesting debates. Incidentally, she's a Southern girl, so that might put some light on political leanings (I don't know what the link is but some folks claim Southerners tend to vote Republican).

2. Since we mentioned burgers and pizzas, I've gotten so fed up of the diet that when I was invited to a free lunch by [Unnamed generous Singaporean], with it being a buffet (that's how the meal plan here works - you eat as much as you can for a prepaid fee), I actually took 2 bowls of salad. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I'm officially eating grass. And enjoying it. Oh the horror of the American diet.

3. Got a surprise guest on my blog today and it's kinda nice to be in contact with someone whom you've not met since JC days, effectively. It's actually pretty nice to also find other Singaporeans who've studied Spanish, although I doubt any of them feel my pain now. Yes, E, you actually get a mention in my blog, so don't you renege on that cheesesteak you promised me.

Memories of the first ever Americano football game.

2005-09-14T00:32:00.000-04:00

The Chief Photographer taking a break from it all. The main attraction: Joon Lee.

2005-09-14T00:30:00.000-04:00

The stunning turnout for a home football game. Against the lowest-ranked team no less.

2005-09-14T00:27:00.000-04:00

The burger-mashing legend: Alex Goodenough.

2005-09-14T00:24:00.000-04:00

"For he's a jolly good fella!" Our very own pre-match hoedown.

On quotable quotes

2005-09-12T22:02:00.000-04:00

"People have vices not because they feel bad but because they feel good."

-Source: Roommate

2 Bloggers Charged With Seditions Act

2005-09-12T09:29:00.000-04:00

Dude, like, WTF?!?!

The link.

An alcohol-fuelled weekend

2005-09-11T23:28:00.000-04:00

The title says it all.

Friday: Lots of beers in celebration of Alex's birthday. The poor drunkard was counting his steps as he walked to the bathroom. That's how drunk he was.

Saturday: Lots of mixers, but generically these 3 categories: Vodka-Midori Melon Liqueur, Vodka-Peach Schnapps and Peach Schnapps-Coffee Liqueur. Poor [Names changed to protect the innocent] (one of our fellow Singaporeans who is unbelievably generous with food but also potentially very violent) threw up. The kids stayed over, I walked back. Nothing beats sleeping in your own bed.

Today: Peace and quiet and more Spanish homework. Gah.

On careers

2005-09-09T09:31:00.000-04:00

I got a call from [Unnamed Financial Institution] at 7:00 this morning, informing me that I had been shortlisted and pencilled in for a psychometrics test next Thursday. Under most circumstances, this would have been a wonderful thing. Unfortunately, I'm also overseas on exchange, which makes it nigh impossible to do this test (I am not fucking fly back for an unnamed financial institution).

I'm taking a massive risk being overseas for the key recruiting season for top financial institutions in Singapore but what can one do now that one is overseas? I prolly should attend more of those career sessions here though and see if it's possible to gain some interview practice. Somehow I'm just not in the mood to overly slack off.

On Finance things

2005-09-08T11:09:00.000-04:00

2 short notes

1. Our trading class yesterday had the good fortune of hearing Jerry Parker speak for about 1 hour 15 minutes. For the uninformed (including myself prior to Jerry Parker's arrival), this Parker dude was part of a team of "Turtle Traders" - a program started by a successful trader Richard Dennis to show that traders are not born but made. Considering that this guy has billions under management (he's the Chief at Chesapeake Management), the fact that he just decided to take an afternoon off to speak to guys at the McIntire School of Commerce at UVa is pretty amazing (despite the fact that he is an alum). The ability of UVa to tap on resources like this is something that has really stood out - I wish SMU had the ability to tap on such resources at times, though.

2. Today's Money and Banking class had the professor spouting some words of wisdom re the American attitude to bankruptcy.

"In Japan, bankruptcy is viewed as a badge of shame. But bankruptcy is a good thing. It simply means that the net worth of the common stock is zero. With bankruptcy, the company has a 2nd chance at a lease of life."

The positive attitude towards bankruptcy is certainly something I think we all need to adopt. Why are we so ashamed of bankruptcy and treat it as a failure? Crazy Asians and their concept of "saving face".

FEMA

2005-09-08T01:05:00.000-04:00

This is a copy of what was written by FEMA Director Michael Brown to his Homeland Security boss. Commentary below.

Office of The Under Secretary
U.S. Department of Homeland Security 500 C Street SW
Washington DC 20472
FEMA
August 29, 2005

MEMORANDUM TO: Michael Chertoff
Secretary of Homeland Security

FROM: Michael D. Brown
Under Secretary

SUBJECT: DHS Response to Katrina

We are requesting your assistance to make available DHS employees willing to deploy as soon as possible for a two-week minimum field assignment to serve in a variety of positions. We anticipate needing at least 1000 additional DHS employees within 48 hours and 2000 within 7 days. Attached is a list of requirements that employees will have to meet before deploying.

It is beneficial to use DHS employees as it allows us to be more efficient responding to the needs of this disaster and it reinforces the Department's All-Hazard's Capabilities. Also, DHS employees already have background investigations, travel cards and badges, all items that normally delay filling our surge workforce. FEMA Response and Recovery operations are a top priority of the Department and as we know, one of yours.

We will also want to identify staff with specialized skills such as bilingual capabilities,

Commercial Driver's License (CDL), and logistics capabilities.

Thank you for your consideration in helping us meet our responsibilities in this near catastrophic event.

Attachment

cc: Michael P. Jackson
Deputy Secretary

Janet Hale
Under Secretary for Management

Attachment

Requirements (for personnel):

You must have your supervisor's approval.

Contact your Human Resource Office to follow-up with FEMA Human Resource Office

You must be physically able to work in a disaster area without refrigeration for medications and have the ability to work in the outdoors all day.

Must be willing to work long hours under arduous conditions.

Role of Assigned Personnel:

Establish and maintain positive working relationships with disaster affected communities and the citizens of those communities.

Collect and disseminate information and make referrals for appropriate assistance. Identification of potential issues within the community and reporting to appropriate personnel.

Convey a positive image of disaster operations to government officials, community organizations and the general public.

Perform outreach with community leaders on available Federal disaster assistance. Training will be provided.

A roster of available personnel will be developed and made available as components identify personnel for deployment.

Selected personnel from the roster will be given training in Emmitsburg, Md., Atlanta, Ga., and Orlando, Fla., before you are deployed to the field. You will be expected to use goverranent credit cards (in good standing) for transportation, lodging, meals and other incidentals.

Contact your agency financial officer for information on obtaining government credit card (if you do not hold one).

Point of Contact to accept and process your assignment:

Human Resource Operations Branch, 202-646-4040

You will be walked through the system for further processing and deployment.

Deployment Information:

Selected personnel will either go to Atlanta, Ga. for Community Relations Training or Orlando, Fla., for all other Training and assignments. After which they will be deployed to a disaster Joint Field Office (FCO) when conditions are safe. Some organizational clothing and equipment will be supplied.

Type of personal supplies you should bring:

Sunscreen
Sun hat
Sun Glasses
Walking shoes
Mosquito repellant
Medication (both over the counter and prescriptions)
Valid driver's license
Government ID
Cash (ATMs may not be working)
Government equipment (cell phones, computers, blackberries, etc)
Appropriate clothing (walking shorts acceptable)
Rain gear

In the words of an editorial:

"Say what?
A roster of available personnel will be provided?
Stop by Atlanta, Ga., for community relations training?
Convey a positive image of disaster operations?
Don't forget your sunscreen and walking shoes?
Bring appropriate clothing, walking shorts, of course, being acceptable?
What planet was Mr. Brown on when he wrote this, as the storm raged?
Why is he still in office?"

2 days' worth of thoughts...or not.

2005-09-08T00:31:00.000-04:00

So much has happened over the 2 days but sometimes all I can think about is the insanity of all that's happening with Katrina. I'm probably much slower than most of the world in seeing some of the really horrendous stuff out there.

Life, however, goes on. Since this is in effect an alternative to a journal tracking what happens over the days, I'd just have to continue listing what I do here.

Today, I ran. Not for my life, but actual physical exercise. This is extremely shocking because I am, in general, a lazy bastard and rather prone to bouts of non-physical exercise. In fact, it was quite refreshing to run in the cool of the dawning Fall chill. The weather is just about right - short of the humidity that grips you in Singapore while providing sufficient cool such that you break a very small sweat. Which is actually nice if you have the fitness to run a longer distance.

On another note, the Astronomical Observation Lab session yesterday went pretty well. I am now able to identify the Vega star, the Cassiopeia constellation, the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper, and also randomly point to the sky and pretend that it's a dragon named Draco. I'm not sure I can get away with randomly pointing to the sky but we'll find out in due time. However, it still doesn't change the fact that it's pretty cool to have a class where u're just standing there watching the skies and leaning your head so far back that you might just snap your neck and become the resident freakshow.

I wish I had a picture of the night sky now.

Comments

2005-09-07T21:19:00.000-04:00

Amigos,

I'm sorry I've had to turn on comment verification but the bloody spam bastards have gotten to my blog already. Wankers.

Tears for Katrina

2005-09-07T19:55:00.000-04:00

These 2 vids are just too heartbreaking.

Waiting for the Cavalry

Shepard Smith & Geraldo Rivera Unleashed

2005-09-07T19:19:00.000-04:00

The grand prize! Jason Mraz 'live' in Charlottesville! (Don't you just love the enthusiasm in these captions?)

2005-09-07T19:16:00.000-04:00

The happy campers in our queue. From left: Jem, Joon, L'ing, Michelle (from the University of Bath).

2005-09-07T19:09:00.000-04:00

More of the queue for Mr Mraz.

2005-09-07T19:04:00.000-04:00

The beginning of snaking queues for Jason Mraz this morning at 9am.

2005-09-07T02:24:00.000-04:00

People say all sort of shit about how messed up the government is in Singapore but between our government and the lunacy of the system and administration here coordinating the Katrina efforts, I'd rather settle for our government any day.

What I love about this country (Stars and Stripes) is that it gives me the belief that public discourse matters but what I also hate about this country is the level of political sophistication and bickering. Democrat politicians sniping non-stop at the Bush administration instead of trying to help, while Republican politicians focus on converting the Supreme Court to the right-wing instead of trying to help. It's amazing that we needed a comedian to go on Crossfire and point out that all this partisan bickering does jack for everyone.

2005-09-06T23:26:00.000-04:00

One day it'll be my name on the SMU equivalent! I wish...

2005-09-06T23:17:00.000-04:00

The impressive Capital Markets Room (or something like that). This room, as you can see, simulates a trading room (complete with software like Telerate), Dow Jones tickers and was donated by ex-students of Julian Robertson, fund manager of Tiger Management.

Katrina

2005-09-05T04:27:00.000-04:00

This has got to be the most shocking thing ever. Check out this picture to see what I mean.

"Mr. Bush flew south on Friday and proved (as if more proof were needed) that he didn't get it. Instead of urgently focusing on the people who were stranded, hungry, sick and dying, he engaged in small talk, reminiscing at one point about the days when he used to party in New Orleans, and mentioning that Trent Lott had lost one of his houses but that it would be replaced with "a fantastic house - and I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch."
- Bob Herbert for The New York Times

"But a president who flew from Crawford to Washington in a heartbeat to intervene in the medical case of a single patient, Terri Schiavo, has no business lecturing anyone about playing politics with tragedy. Eventually we're going to have to examine the administration's behavior before, during and after this storm as closely as its history before, during and after 9/11. We're going to have to ask if troops and matériel of all kinds could have arrived faster without the drain of national resources into a quagmire. We're going to have to ask why it took almost two days of people being without food, shelter and water for Mr. Bush to get back to Washington."
- Frank Rich for The New York Times

"Michael Brown, the blithering idiot in charge of FEMA - a job he trained for by running something called the International Arabian Horse Association - admitted he didn't know until Thursday that there were 15,000 desperate, dehydrated, hungry, angry, dying victims of Katrina in the New Orleans Convention Center.

Was he sacked instantly? No, our tone-deaf president hailed him in Mobile, Ala., yesterday: "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

It would be one thing if President Bush and his inner circle - Dick Cheney was vacationing in Wyoming; Condi Rice was shoe shopping at Ferragamo's on Fifth Avenue and attended "Spamalot" before bloggers chased her back to Washington; and Andy Card was off in Maine - lacked empathy but could get the job done. But it is a chilling lack of empathy combined with a stunning lack of efficiency that could make this administration implode"
- Maureen Dowd for The New York Times

"George W. Bush gave one of the worst speeches of his life yesterday, especially given the level of national distress and the need for words of consolation and wisdom. In what seems to be a ritual in this administration, the president appeared a day later than he was needed. He then read an address of a quality more appropriate for an Arbor Day celebration: a long laundry list of pounds of ice, generators and blankets delivered to the stricken Gulf Coast. He advised the public that anybody who wanted to help should send cash, grinned, and promised that everything would work out in the end."
- The New York Times

"We've got a lot of rebuilding to do. First, we're going to save lives and stabilize the situation. And then we're going to help these communities rebuild. The good news is -- and it's hard for some to see it now -- that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch. (Laughter.)...

...Again, I want to thank you all for -- and, Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job. The FEMA Director is working 24 -- (applause) -- they're working 24 hours a day.

Again, my attitude is, if it's not going exactly right, we're going to make it go exactly right. If there's problems, we're going to address the problems. And that's what I've come down to assure people of. And again, I want to thank everybody."
- George W. Bush

An All-American Weekend Part 2

2005-09-04T03:42:00.000-04:00

My first American football game resulted in my deciding that American football is actually bloody boring.

Basically, American football is a form of bastardised rugby (either that or rugby is bastardised American football - you decide whichever one you like). The idea of the game is to race to the opposing side and score a touchdown, which is just crossing the touchdown line. You get 4 attempts to move the ball 10 yards, and everytime you move the ball 10 yards, you reset the play and the same game repeats itself until you either fail to move the ball past 10 yards (which results in play going over to your opponent, where they'll try to do the same shit to you) or until you score a touchdown. That, in a nutshell, summarises the game.

It doesn't sound so bad but every time the play stops, there's a series of ridiculous interventions, tactics, switch of players and whatnots. Tonight's game, which had 4 quarters of 15 minutes, took over 3 hours to complete. That's right, 1 hour of game time but 3 hours of real time. Unless you're used to 5-day cricket matches, this is perhaps the least dynamic game EVER.

Collegiate football, however, is also striking in the amount of commercialism that goes into it. A standard ticket to the game costs US$40 (UVa students get in free). That's right, an inter-college game costs US$40, and the stadium is packed. According to Pepsi, the official attendance for today was 61,134. Pepsi sponsored the Game Stats for today's game but this is advertising at its least relevant. What does making a bottle of soft drinks gotta do with counting people in a stadium?

Oh, you get video replays too on the big screen here. It's all sponsored by just about every other company that wants to sell junk to UVa kids and the nearby community (which is actually a lot of companies - UVa is a relatively rich school). You know those plastic foam hands you use to gesticulate your support? Those are sponsored by Alltel (I ought to get myself one of those). The level of commercialism to this whole setup is mind-boggling, but you start to get an idea why it is possible to pay a football coach over a million a year and to build a stadium that's 70,000 in size. Cripes.

The evening ended with a screening of "All the President's Men", the story of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein reporting on the Watergate scandal, which subsequently led to the impeachment and resignation of Nixon. It's actually a highly riveting film, with the exception of it having the most anti-climatic ending sequence in the history of cinema. The movie reaches its peak about 2 hours and 15 minutes into the show and ends about 2 hours 16 minutes into it. WTF.

But on a more contemplative note, the whole movie really set me thinking. There are often times when a lot of us Singaporeans mock the way America can be (inefficient, stupid alcohol laws, amazingly obese and unhealthy food, hot lasses wearing too many clothes) but perhaps one of the great things about America is the independence of the press and the 4th estate in general. There are days when I wish Singapore had the same kind of journalistic maturity, where members of the mass media did not have any pressure to act as an extension of the people, and as a "bridge" between people and government. Certainly the government of the people in SG is doing a decent job (all things considered) but I don't believe in the system of self-checks. In all honesty, when you look at the political landscape in Singapore, how much check and balance do the people really hold in terms of being able to hold the government to task? Short of the elections (where over 40% of the people don't actually get to vote) (and also in a system with marked cards - serial numbers on your voting cards!), there really isn't an avenue to which we institute the checks and balances that's necessary for a strong democracy. Certainly not all in America is admirable but when it comes to the ideal of the freedom of press, that was perhaps one of the best Amendments ever made to a Constitution.