music...

currently listening to 'Made of Bricks' by Kate Nash. Not a great album all in all, but has a couple of good songs. She's a bit to mockney for my taste (and she reminds me of my sister a little bit). Still, this one resonates with me a lot.

Hoez....

I had an interesting insight into another side of Singapore tonight. Went out for dinner with Alan to Chijmes in the centre of town. Its quite a nice little square of eateries and bars. Had some very good Japanese food, then had a couple of beers an a few games of pool. Then I wandered off to find a taxi. I went a different direction from Alan (who has a car) and as I was leaving and waiting to cross the street I got propositioned by two hookers (teamwork is important in all things). Considering I was waiting to cross the road and not paying them any attention, I was apparently giving off the right signals (which seem to consist of being white, male and alone). One of them grabbed my arm and after telling me she liked my muscles (a good sign she was full of shit) asked me where I lived... It took a surprising amount of forcefulness and insistence to convincer her and her friend that I didn't want to take one or both of them home. Fortunately I managed to disentangle myself before the lights changed again. (getting busted for jay-walking would have been too weird)

(and no I didn't take either/both of them home)

Sweat Angels....

Went to Arnis training yesterday. Am still doing three sessions a week, have a tournament in a few weeks, so we have an extra training session on Wednesdays. The tournament training is more like some crazy kind of boxing training (think Rocky I-VI). Lots and lots of crazy variants of push-ups
(Clap, wide-narrow,
switch, vertical... don't ask, they all hurt lots). After about 15 minutes I was making sweat angels.... Snow angels are when you lie in the snow and wave your arms and legs to make an angel shape. In my case, it was a bit like that but with sweat.

Tattoo

I've never seen a tattooed statue before.... (from the Chinese Garden)

Bonsai!

Went to the Chinese Garden last weekend (Chinese Garden MRT stop). I keep passing it on the way to Arnis, but only just got around to going in. The Chinese part was quite nice, with the usual large pagoda. The Bonsai Garden was really impressive. I've never seen such a variety of bonsai, especially some very large/old ones. Also some styles were really impressive, especially the combination of rocks and trees, to create a miniature cliff.










I mean to go back every now and then and just sit and contemplate the trees in a more zen like way...

Strange ways to spend a weekend....

We felt like doing a bit of exercise this
weekend, so we wandered over to Spring Gear at East Cost Park and hired KangooJump boots for an hour. As you can see from the picture they are ski boots with bloody big springs bolted onto the bottom (apparently a Swiss invention). They are pretty fun. Its a bit like jogging (it is still quite tiring) but much easier on the legs/knees. We had lots of fun bouncing along by the sea, making lots of small children jealous. Might try and go either v.early in the morning or after sunset. We went at 5:30 and it was still pretty hot.