Those crazy Singaporians!

Afternoon with Gwen

The main mission for this day was to hook up with Sam's friend Gwen and learn all about the city and what-not. The funny part about our arranging to meet was me telling her to look for the "confused-looking white guy, wearing a Boston Red Sox hat".

The secondary mission was to do a little selling on Chow's behalf to Gwen. Sam is a bit keen on her, and wanted me to put in a "good word". On the train over to meet her, I pondered my strategy for the sell.

Sorry Sam, for spreading your laundry in public. I hope you don't mind. I'll make sure that Gwen doesn't see this site... In any case, if it turns out to be too much, let me know and I'll edit any mention of you outta this entry.

Gewn turned out to be a super-cool chick with loads of interesting things to say. I could see why Chow had taken a liking to her. We wandered all about. Perhaps most importantly, we ended up in a hawker stand that sold the most amazingly good (but CHEAP) food imaginable. I got a solid meal for about US$1.50.

Sam had always hyped up the food in Singapore, and I ad always assumedthat he was exagerating just a bit. Turns out that he wasn't stretching the truth at all. In fact, the Singaporians don't typically exaggerate what they say, which makes communication with the likes of me (the ever-exaggerator) a little interesting at times...

I ended the afternoon with Gwen by spending several hours sitting along the river sipping a very extoic drink called an "ice-mocha". Those cooky Singaporians. Imagine, if you can, my fellow Americans, a coffee-like drink that has a chocolate flaver! But wait, there's more! Now imagine that chocolatey-coffee drink ICED. Woah.

So Sarcasm might not be my strongest suite... I just thought it funny to drink a totally Americanized drink from an American company in Singapore.

In any case, I started with the "soft sell". Sam is a great guy and what not. Telling stories that cast him in a favorable light. By the end of the afternoon, I had moved from "soft" to "medium" right on to "super-subtle".

"I think Sam is a great guy, and that you should really go for him".

"Did I mention that Sam is an awesome guy?"

She thought it was amusing, so I don't think I did any damage to Sam's creed. In fact, it might have helped (a little)

More good food

Anyway, I then met up with Alissa, Amy, and Alen II. Totally different Alen this time. Together, we all ventured into "Little India" for a fantastic Indian dinner. The meal for the 4 of us cost like $0.01 or something. Amazing place with Amazing food! Chow was right!

The boom-boom what?

The real adventure for the evening began around 10:00 PM or so. This is when we met up with Gwen and all ventured to a place called the Boom-Boom Room. A bunch of guys get dressed up in drag, and sing and prance about while delivering timely political stand-up comedy. I'm from San Francisco, so this shouldn't be a problem, right?

Yikes.

It was a lot of fun. The guys (gals?) all looked convincing, and put on a good show. It turns out that this was the last performance. Ever. So it was packed. Everyone was pretty excited to see what would happen. In fact, there was a documentary crew filming the crowd's take on the demise. I graciously agreed to offer my sadness on the closing of such a venerable institution. Me being me, I offered jokes about how I had been there every day for the last ten years, and was devastated by the loss.

First of all, they took me seriously (remember the lack of exaggeration?), Secondly they didn't think it was funny. Oops. Can we say lack of taste on my part? So much for spreading America's good will towards the world on that day...

So the show was great. They started at 11:00 PM, and were still going strong at 3:30, when we finally left. "I am too old for this crap", I thought as I hit the sack at 4:30 AM again.

Those crazy Singaporians. I was then convinced that all they do is party.

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