Back Inaction

So we're in the second monsoon season in Singapore, which is roughly from June to September. It doesn't rain all day, but it has been fairly more consistent. This morning I heard Mike's alarm go off, and it was so dark outside I thought it was still the middle of the night. Luckily I got to go back to sleep for a few more hours, but it was still pretty gross outside when I finally dragged myself out of bed. I like rainy days like this, when you can curl up with a book and a cup of tea and you have to turn the lights on because it's so overcast outside. Plus, the rain helps cut the heat a little, if not the humidity.

Since we're finally feeling healthy again, we got to do all the stuff we wanted to do this weekend. We met our friends Neil and Elaine at a food court in Bugis and Mike and I got Indonesian food: curry chicken with lime rice and egg on a banana leaf. I've never had lime rice before, it was really delicious and slightly green; unfortunately, I think it may have ruined normal rice for me now, because white rice will never be as interesting to me.

Next we went to Bras Basah again to look at books, because hey, you can never have too many books. I really like that complex, because unlike the rest of Singapore, it's a little dirty and old looking. I happen to like that look, I've always found the best used book stores to be a little sketchy and run down. Like maybe you could trade a pint of clean urine for a couple hardcovers. It makes it feel that much more authentic. Mike found a piece of wooden board on his way to work that he wants to paint on, so we also wanted to stop by the art store to look around.

However, before we went, we got a little sidetracked. When we got off at the City Hall station and started walking, turns out we couldn't get far because the whole street was filled with tanks. A passerby told us they were practicing for the National Day Parade, even though it's a few weeks away. Singapore's Independence Day is August 9th, commemorating their separation from Malaysia in 1965. The more you know! Apparently there are fireworks, tanks, and floats, which all sounds pretty cool. However, as Mike pointed out, it probably also includes thousands of people crammed into one block party, so we're not sure if we're up to going yet. But we got some excellent shots of the tanks, including one where you can see a girl soldier texting. Now, I don't want to tell people how to act, but it makes me a little nervous when someone riding in a working tank is not giving it their full attention.

We finally got to Bras Basah, and I found four books I wanted to get, but only got two this time because they were getting kind of heavy. I hid the other ones, so hopefully when I go back no one will have pilfered them. Mike decided to get watercolors instead of paint, so the garbage board gets to stay in our spare room a little longer. Goody.

Sunday we went to get brunch, Singapore style: dumplings! We went to a restaurant that makes all kinds of fresh dumplings. It's a huge operation judging by the amount of chefs. The kitchen is behind a large pane of glass, so you can watch them make the dough, roll it out, and stuff it. They have a certain number of folds they have to put into each dumpling, and it has to be the exact same amount on each individual one. It looks absolutely mind numbing, but also something I would totally want to try and learn. We ordered SO much food, somehow we always end up ordering at least three times the amount of all the other customers. Whatever, we're bigger, we need more sustenance. We got pork, shrimp, spicy crab, and spinach dumplings, plus chili wantons and pork buns. I still think it's probably healthier than an American brunch, since no gravy was included

The same can't be said of our dinner tonight; for some reason, Mike and I were both starving when he got off work, so we finally caved and went to Carl's Jr. It was everything I remember from my childhood and more. We both got Western Bacon Cheeseburgers, though Mike got the "thick" variety and I got the regular. We got slightly food drunk and started laughing, and Mike announced with his mouth full of burger that he had never been prouder of America. USA! USA!

On a final note, I've decided I'm going to start referring to Mike and myself as "Texpats" because I think it's hilarious and clever.

Ugh

I am sick AGAIN. This is getting ridiculous. The travel books warned us that people get sick more often here, though I'm not sure if it's because there are so many people in one small place, or if the hot weather has something to do with it. Whatever the reason, apparently Singapore is just a giant sticky petri dish of germs, and they keep ATTACHING to us.

Me and Mike both have bad head colds, which is seriously the illness I hate the most. I find it cruel and unusual that my body can feel relatively fine, yet my head feels so disgusting and achy. I wish there was a way to cut off my head just below the neck, like cutting off the bruised part of a fruit. That doesn't seem like a normal thought, now that I look at it in writing. I just can't stand being stuffed up, and it's really hard for me to sleep when I can't breathe through my nose. So not only am I congested, I'm cranky from a lack of sleep. Poor Mike.

On top of everything, I had to go to the grocery store because we ran out of bread and milk, etc. I did manage to get a shot of the packaged durian they cut up in the store, which makes the whole place stink. As you can see, it's as unattractive in appearance as it is in smell. Up close, it looks like a naked mole rat, with all that wrinkly skin. Only yellow, and packaged. It looks exactly like a jaundiced naked mole rat wrapped in cellophane.

Anyway, as I was standing at the checkout line (or "queue" as they call it here), the cashier started chatting to me. I could only partially understand what she was saying, since her accent was pretty thick. She asked me if I was in school, and I said no, I was done with school. She kind of gave me a weird look and asked again, and I realized she was asking if MY CHILDREN were in school. So that's great, that makes me feel really good about myself. Not only do I not feel well, I look like I'm old enough to have children in school. Awesome. I guess I'm officially at that point in my life where I can't pass for a college kid anymore.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to drink a cup of tea, eat a prune, and give up on life.

Awesomeness

I have a confession to make: I love puzzles. Crosswords are my favorite, but plain old jigsaws are a close second. And the tackier the artwork, the better. If it has a rainbow and a unicorn, I want it. If it's a Thomas Kinkade paint-by-numbers cottage with God rays, I'll take it. If it looks like it came out of a Wal-Mart reduced price bin, all the better. It's not so much that I find them fun, but something about completing a big jigsaw puzzle is very satisfying to me, like scratching an itch. I also enjoy untangling things. I'm not entirely sure what this says about me as a person, but it probably has something to do with deep-seated neuroses.

So, yes, I am a puzzle junky. And given my predilection for the eye sore variety, you'll understand how excited I was to find the puzzle pictured above. Mike and I found it on sale for $2.90 at the mall. It's an orange-haired, robe-wearing character from Bleach, a Japanese manga. According to Wikipedia, "Bleach follows the adventures of Ichigo Kurosaki after he accidentally obtains the power of a Soul Reaper—a death personification similar to the Grim Reaper—from Rukia Kuchiki. Gaining these abilities forces him to take on the duties of defending humans from evil spirits and guiding departed souls to the afterlife."

That all sounds great, but this has to be the LAZIEST drawing I've ever seen. First of all, there's no background, just the color blue. And it's pretty obvious the artist didn't feel like putting any effort into the bigger version of Mr. Kurosaki. He doesn't even have any arms! It's just a big torso! I used to do that in middle school when I didn't feel like putting hands on my sketches, and I never got to have my work turned into a puzzle. I mean, for the love of God, it's a cartoon, not photo-realism. Would it have been too hard to give him limbs?

The finished product:

How awesome does that look?! I want to hang this on the wall so people can come and admire it. What an excellent way to spend my day.

Lurking

I'm thinking of growing out my bangs. (Yes, I know no one is interested, but this is my blog dammit, so you will read every inane thought that comes into my mind.) My reasoning is twofold: first of all, they grow pretty fast, and I don't want to have to keep trimming them. More importantly, my face gets sweaty whenever we go outside, and my bangs always end up plastered to my forehead. I've also forsaken any kind of make-up, since it just melts off. Basically, I look like crap all the time. Luckily, I'm married, so no matter how bad I look, Mike still has to love me because HE PROMISED. So it's settled: growing out the bangs.

We started off the weekend with a pretty full day. Mike decided he had craving for ranch style borracho beans, so we went to the grocery store to get what we needed. We had to search around awhile, but we finally found some pinto beans hidden away in a lonely imported foods section. Going to the grocery store on a Saturday is always a nightmare, but it's especially bad in Singapore, since the aisles are tiny as well as packed. Plus, the music they play is awful; I had successfully avoided hearing "My Heart Will Go On" for at least five years up until today. You win again, Celine.

We dropped our groceries at home and then went to get some lunch. We've been meaning to try this restaurant called Lerk Thai, which I like to refer to as Loitering Asian. (There's also this bakery here called Bread Talk, which sounds like it was named by somebody with synesthesia.) Anyway, Lerk Thai has this papaya salad Mike wanted to try since we saw Bourdain try it on TV. It was a little too heavy on the fish sauce for me, but Mike liked it. He got some red curry chicken, and I got pineapple fried rice, both of which were excellent. However, my dish came in a hollowed-out pineapple, so advantage: Emma.

After that we headed back to Bras Basah, since we wanted to get some more used books. I'm on a mystery kick right now, I think watching so much Law & Order has started to warp my brain. I'm so glad we found this place, since I'm going through books at an alarming rate, and I can't afford to support my habit if I buy new. I found a copy of Let the Right One In which I'm very excited about, since I really enjoyed the movie. Why is it that every time any foreign movie does remotely well, Hollywood feels the need to remake it? We're American, we're not stupid; we can read subtitles.

...But not tonight, tonight we're watching The Big Lebowski and eating beans. Class all the way.