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January 22 Those wily teeny-boppersSo I went out with Sg friends to The Pumphouse - a converted powerstation that's now a nightclub/cocktail bar/restaurant/noodle house etc. complex - last Sat night. I'm in my 'cool clothes' or at least as cool as I think they can be; the beauty of living in a tropical country with Topman is that when they have a sale, e.g. 70% off, there are still sizes left for me as the style and fashion aren't quite aligned to mainstream Sg taste. I bought the kind of blazer I've always wanted for $40.
A wannabe clubkid girl saunters up to my D and I, "Hello, my phone has run out of battery, could I borrow yours to make a quick call to my friend?" D's phone is also out of battery, so I hand her mine. She has a quick and oddly stilted conversation with her friend, "Oh...yah...I'm outside and calling you. Okay...see you."
Today after coming home from the gym I get two missed calls and a text message:
Hello. This is da girl you lend ur fone to outside Powerhouse..HEE..you want to be friends?
Sneaky bitch.
I'm gonna try this trick next time too. January 01 Travel catchupWell, I've been a bit slack posting lately - mainly because I've been finishing work and organising my move to Singapore.
I foolishly thought that I might be able to finish my project, but alas alack, twas not to be. Hopefully someone will be assigned to it soon enough and complete it; but even if it ends up lying around gathering dust, perhaps if manufacturing is not for me I'll switch back into research and pick it up again.
We've been to Berlin and Paris recently, as well as a bonfire celebration during Guy Fawkes at Lewes. London gets to the usual big city craziness around Christmas time and I took some interesting street snapshots during this festive season. Christmas I spent with Leon, his mum, her bf and his children having a lovely and large lunch/dinner. The photos are on my flickr website, accessed through the thumbnails below:
Berlin is a lovely city; reeking in recent history. That's the one thing I notice about this part of the world: there is so much documentation and analysis of events. Not like in Asia where such thoughts and activities are considered too dangerous for civilians to do by governments. As a result, a city like Berlin that's seen so much heartache, schism and finally joyous reunification seems vibrant with new possibilities and beginnings. The former demilitarised zone Potsdamer Platz now gleams with high-rise glass and steel buildings. Check-point Charlie is preserved in memorium, while Snack-point Charlie takes the edge off our physical hunger. A friend once told me of the ghost stations in formerly divided Berlin where trains from the West didn't stop at heavily guarded and rather derelict stations in the East.
Where it's at now in Berlin, is mostly in the former East. All the cool restaurants, shops and bars are there. So, we got to see quite a few of these former ghost stations, now spruced up, but still bearing hallmarks of old-fashioned design and tiles.
I've heard Paris described as an entire city under heritage protection. This, to a degree, is true - there are some fantastic and beautiful palaces well-worth protecting. Somehow though, I feel that this tremendous weight of historical beauty, i.e. ideas of beauty, give Paris an air of the designer label woman: the classic beauty, Catherine Deneuve - je ne sais quoi timeless French chic. This aesthetic contrasted with what I got from Berlin: vibrant, emergent, a bit crazy but young and funky; a place of possibilities rather than polished accomplishments. Highlights of Paris included Notre Dame, L'arc de triomphe, the Eiffel Tower (beautiful at night) and Pere Lachaise cemetary where luminaries like Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison are buried.
Of course the food was quite good, although a little rich for me. Mind you, we were picking things like foie gras - simply because it's really good value there. |
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