Also spotted around town: You know, I've been meaning to go vegetarian, but I didn't want to give up abalone. Looks like my prayers are answered.

What Marjorie didn't mention about the ice kachang was that you don't realize it has any of the weird stuff (except the corn) until you eat your way down past the part that looks like a sundae. I like surprises, but not when I'm eating...

So far, everything I've thought we would have to do without (cheerios, our favorite salad dressing, etc.) we've been able to find. So it seems adjusting to life here will be relatively easy. Another positive, I found a bookstore that "rents" books. You buy a book for a listed price, and they buy it back from you if you return it later for another listed price. I'm so in love with this idea! Why hasn't this been done in the U.S. yet?
While we are very happy to find some things from home, we have been partaking in some interesting local cuisine. Last night we had some Indonesian cuisine, some yummy dumplings and some ice kachang (a dessert with corn, red beans, gelatinous noodles, and some round gelatinous stone thing) Yummy! Also while shopping we've stumbled across some other interesting products such as this.

More wildlife spotting: today it was the olive-backed sunbird, and several unrecognized new birds, while staying at Steve's friend's house in Seletar. We also went by East Coast Park, which was rather nice, but sadly the water is too polluted to do much swimming. If you could see the tankers queued up waiting to get into port, you'd understand why. Pictures to follow shortly.

Here's a shot of our buddy, the spotted-neck dove, who has a nest upstairs where we're staying. She is incubating two little white eggs. Maybe you were expecting shots of monkeys, tigers, or whale sharks? Soon. Local street wildlife is all you get when you're holed up all day by rain and laundry.

Here's my top albums for the year, compiled a month or so in advance to save me from having to type this all up from some sweaty internet cafe deep in the heart of Indochina. Hope this "future posting" thing works.

Another pretty good year for music for me. I don't sample a lot. Usually I only buy ten or so CDs a year -- things I know I'm going to like, and they all make my list.

Note that some of these albums may be from the previous year. I'm not a music magazine -- I don't have to stickle.

10. Pinback, Blue Screen Life

The band that seems unwilling to play a chord. Every instrument plucks out individual notes, and the overlapping vocals are treated as just other instruments in the mix. Interesting pop that's oddly soothing.
Fave tracks: Concrete Seconds, Bbtone

9. Damon Alban et. al., Mali Music

Blur's front man traveled to Mali and recorded with their best musicians, then came home and modernized it all in the studio. It's a dazzling blend of third and first world music.
Fave track: Makelekele

8. Elvis Costello, When I Was Cruel

Actually, I listened to this album a bunch of times and decided it was a big disappointment. It was only after I decided that that I started to really enjoy it. I think it will be regarded historically as one of his weaker albums, but weak Elvis is still better than most artists' A material.
Fave tracks: My Little Blue Window, Radio Silence

7. Coldplay, A Rush Of Blood To The Head

I'm glad somebody's at least trying to put out the stadium-filling guitar pop/rock album that everyone wants Radiohead to do. This album surprised me; I had them pegged as one-hit wonders. Weak lyrically but everything else works.
Fave tracks: Politik, God Put A Smile Upon Your Face

6. Frank Black, Black Letter Days / Devil's Workshop

Two albums, actually, but I'm treating them as one. A little disappointingly more-of-the-same, but it's still solid work.
Fave tracks: 21 Reasons, Whiskey In Your Shoes

5. White Stripes, White Blood Cells

A man and a woman with a questionable romantic link, on stage together making a lot of noise. He writes and sings, she drums. No, not Quasi, who've made my list in previous years, but the White Stripes. Another nice surprise. Some fantastic songs, that seem to cross genres despite being played on the same set of instruments with the same basic sounds.
Fave tracks: The Same Boy You've Always Known, Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground, We're Going To Be Friends

4. Weezer, Maladroit

All my favorite bands put out CDs that seem to require many listens before you realize you like them. Weezer is the exception. You like it on the first listen, and are singing along by the second. It's bubblegum pop, but crunchier this time, and fantastic.
Fave tracks: Take Control, Burndt Jamb, Fall Together

3. Ron Sexsmith, Cobblestone Runway

Ron's best work in several years. Singing better and experimenting more, but still immaculately crafted.
Fave tracks: Gold In Them Hills, Disappearing Act

2. Polyphonic Spree, The Beginning Stages Of...

Pure joy, though some would say schmaltz. A twenty-five person choral/symphonic band that's the most uplifting thing I've heard in years. If the whole album was as good as half of it is, this would be my number one for the year, no question.
Fave tracks: It's The Sun, Hanging Around The Day, Soldier Girl

1. Sparklehorse, It's A Wonderful Life

Oh yes. My favorite album of the past couple of years. Warm and mysterious and haunting. It takes a while to seep into the cracks of your brain, but once it's there, it sets up shop. On so many albums, there's a frontal assault of aggressive songs, with an occasional slow song thrown in as kind of a relief. On this album the slower songs just build the tension -- followed by the occasional fast song that serves as a release. Featuring guest appearances by Tom Waits, PJ Harvey, and Nina Simone of the Cardigans.
Fave tracks: Gold Day, King Of Nails, Little Fat Baby

To All The Ladies In The House Yo, Yo I want to send a long distance shout out to all my girls at home. Seriously ladies (Jen, Kristina, Alison, Karen, Chris..this means all you guys) please comment when you read the blog! At least occasionally. I need to know you're out there.
Now for something completely different...
We went to the S'pore zoo yesterday, it was fantastic in ways that no zoo in the U.S. could begin to emulate. They have many no bars exhibits where there is NOTHING between you and the animals. For example, one area called Fragile Forest contains flying foxes (bats), ring-tailed and ruffed lemurs, tree kangaroos, a two-toed sloth, many different species of birds and butterflies, and there is nothing, I mean nothing, between you and the animals. It's truly fantastic. Another interesting tidbit from the zoo, they have lots of North American critters that we would never think to put on exhibit, i.e. raccoons and squirrels (you have to go to the zoo to see squirrels here!). We're members of the zoo now, as we were in Atlanta, it's those little things that make you feel more at home.
Another interesting tidbit, on the bus ride home from the zoo I saw a macaque hanging out on the side of the road, so I guess S'pore still has wild monkeys too.

I had been telling everyone that we are exactly twelve hours off from Eastern Standard Time here. Right now, because of Daylight Savings I guess, we're actually thirteen hours ahead. So if it's 8 pm there, it's 9 am the next day here. Just FYI.

Some other random observations:

I've ridden the bus more in the last week than I ever did in the states. They have a kick-ass subway system too that we've been taking a lot. And a ten-minute cab ride runs you only about USD$ 3.

This place must be the toe-stub capital of the world. Workers layout out sidewalks and architects designing houses seem to have no problem with leaving one- or two-inch rises or drops in the footpaths. I have no idea why that is.

There's a spotted-neck dove nesting just outside the window upstairs where we're staying.

For a week now I've had no idea what time it is, nor even what day it is. Nice way to live.

Can't escape fast food exports, but you can ignore it. It's funny they have it here but they don't get it quite right. We passed a KFC/Taco Bell/Pizza Hut combo and I peeked in to see if they happen to sell Nacho's bell grande (pretty much my only fast food weakness), no luck. What they do sell are "taco meals" and "lasagna meals" both served with a side of fries, yuck.
We leave for Vietnam on the 9th (Monday). A few days later than we were hoping but we still managed to find a good deal. The plan is to fly into Hanoi, explore northern Vietnam for several days (Halong Bay, Perfume Pagoda,) then fly to Hue. From Hue we'll make our way down the coast stopping at Da Nang, Hoi An, Nha Trang, Phan Thiet, Dalat, and finally Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon. We fly back to S'pore from Saigon on the 30th. We're not spending as much time in Vietnam as I originally hoped, but it looks like they'll be work for Mark here starting in January and we need to find a place to live and such. Lucky for me, there's an Ikea here (which Mark refers to as "ickea" after an apparently traumatizing experience in the Newark store)

Some random observations from around Singapore:

I'm feeling very tall.

There are at least a dozen karaoke bars within easy walking distance from where I'm at. Not the same without Tommy White though.

It's pretty durn hot here.

Hooray for mass transit!

Businesses spotted:
McDonald's (of course)
Starbucks (ubiquitous)
KFC/Pizza Hut/Taco Bell
Long John Silvers
Orange Julius/Dairy Queen
Swenson's
Border's Books
Kenny Rogers Roasters (yay! My favorite)
Subway
Burger King
Hooters (believe it or not)
Haven't resorted to American food yet. Still loving the hawker centers where you can get a huge plate of food for like two dollars.

We're booked to Vietnam. For a while today we thought we got on it too late; we went to one travel agent who told us there were basically no flights we could take anywhere within the date range we wanted. Then we tried to book online with Travelocity and Expedia and they both said they couldn't send paper tickets outside the USA. Finally we went by another travel agency that was recommended and they got us everything we wanted at the price we wanted. We leave on the 9th and are getting back on the 30th. We're coming back here, as opposed to going on to Cambodia and Thailand, because it looks like I'm going to have work here come the start of the year. That's great news! I'll be working on some graphical interfaces at the local pay scale (which is apparently lousy) but it's a foot in the door.

After running around taking care of all that mess, we stopped at a quaint local coffee shop (cough cough) and while we sat outside sipping our beverages, a mynah bird hopped up under the table next to us and proceded to serenade us. It's the little things.

Now we have a week to kill in the Singapore area. So many options.

Today, after shaving our tongues, we went with our friend Steve and the woman he's been seeing to check out apartments by where she lives, in Seletar. It's a former British Royal Air Force base, and is unusual for Singapore in that there are actual wide open spaces and surprisingly cheap rents. The down side is that there's no good public transport from there -- you'd pretty much have to have a car, unless you'd rather bike to the front gate, catch a bus to the MRT (subway), and then take that into town. It would probably take well over an hour. Cars here are very expensive to own, insure, maintain, and keep filled with gas.

Afterwards we tooled around and went shopping some more on Orchard Road. I bought an electric razor and Marjorie got a hair dryer. We also bought some groceries and cooked cashew chicken for everyone back at Steve's place. Tomorrow we hit the travel agent and book our trip to Hanoi, and hopefully look at some more apartments and such. I'm really having a heckuva time just putzing around, and all the food we've had so far has been great.

Last night we went to a "Thanksgiving party" hosted by a guy from Knoxville, TN and his wife who is Japanese. The food was great and the people were rather nice. There were a few American guys, a few Aussie guys, a kiwi (new Zealander) guy, and one Singaporean guy. All the women, with the exception of myself were Asian, either Japanese or S'porean. That was a little weird for me, but everyone was extremely pleasant. I'd like to be as open minded as possible at this point.
One potential gaffe of the night: A Brit put me on the spot and asked if I thought America was "the best democracy in the world", to me this is a very loaded question, how do you answer that? I said I believed we have one of the better systems, and that truthfully it is impossible to compare the U.S.A. to say Canada, because the U.S.A. is so powerful. Then I said I thought Americans had a catch-22 in foreign policy where we're damned if we do and damned if we don't for every thing we do. The British guy seemed okay with this answer, but I felt very shrill and strident afterwards having been baited into a political debate straight off the plane.
I fear this post may seem too....I don't know, but too something. We're having a good time, and fortunate to already have made the acquantance of so many people.

We're here! After months of talking about it, then more months planning, we're finally here. I had my doubts at 5:00am Thursday morning when we were told at the United ticket counter that we couldn't enter Singapore without a ticket leaving within 90 days. Our original ticket had us leaving in May, of course we're not planning on staying in S'pore straight through to May, we're planning on going to Vietnam in four days, but we hadn't purchased the ticket as we were told it would be much cheaper here....Anyways, we just changed our return date and the lady at the counter took pity on us and didn't charge us the change fee on that end (changing it back however...) In spite of the counter agents pleasantness, I'm not impressed with United Airways. The plane was older then the plane we flew in on last year on Japan Airlines, and the seats were horribly close together, 18 hours spent with no leg room! Luckily on the flight from Atlanta to San Francisco and the flight from Hong Kong to S'pore we had emergency exit seats with abundant leg room, or it would have been 25 hours with no leg room. Also not a fan of the reservation system for United, i.e. the unexpected change of planes in Hong Kong, of which there was NO MENTION when we booked the flight, and the lack of notification that we would need to have passage beyond S'pore within 90 days before getting to check-in. 30 hours straight traveling is not fun. Last year we spent a night in Tokyo to break up the trip coming and going, I think that is really the smart way to do it.

Leaving the states one of the last images we saw was the beautiful Golden Gate bridge stretched out in the San Francisco bay. Nice image to have as a keeper. Actually from the plane we saw a lot of interesting landscape including some icy mountains in the Aleutian Islands.

Overall, my spirits are definitely better now that the move and the goodbyes are behind us. Now we just need to concentrate on what we have to look forward to. So far, I'm glad to be here.

Hello from 36000 feet. Marjorie and I are somewhere over the Pacific after our stopover in San Francisco. The day had an inauspicious start; while at the Atlanta airport ready to make our departure this morning, we learned that we would not be allowed to fly with our current tickets, which have us returning next May, since the longest you are allowed to stay in Singapore without a visa is ninety days. If we could show tickets onward from Singapore, that would be okay, but we were planning on buying those in Singapore. A wave of panic hit us. But the nice lady at the counter let us change our return date to a time just under ninety days from now.

Another surprise, of the not so unpleasant variety, is that we learned that our flight from San Fran to Singapore has a stopover (which was not mentioned at all on the web site we booked it from) -- Hong Kong. Neither of us has ever been. And even though we won't have any time to explore, it'll still be cool seeing it from the window.

And in a happy coincidence, I brought along a big fat book to read while we're in the travel-around phase of our journey -- Tai Pan (by James Clavell, author of Shogun), which (at least initially) is about the founding of Hong Kong.

Anyway. I was hoping I could tell you exactly where over the Pacific we are, as I brought along my GPS. But alas, I can't get a signal inside the plane. I suppose that's not surprising, in retrospect.

At any rate, we seemed to have left the US officially now. Can we call ourselves ex-pats if we don't even have a place to live yet?

I have nothing to do, and I'm stuck in a middle seat in coach, so forgive me if I prattle on about nothing. It's a United Airlines flight, so it's all pretty Western, but they did try to serve something remotely Asian for dinner; I had the spicy chicken with rice and vegetables, that came with tiny shrimp with rice noodles and the tiniest little bottle of soy sauce (I joked to Marjorie that it was like being invited to dinner at Barbie's; she said it all looked like it had been made in an Easy-Bake Oven). They just showed M. Night Shyamalan's movie, "Signs", which I saw in the theaters, so I just watched a little without listening. They're promising to show us some movie called "A Gentleman's Game" in a bit; it's about golf and sounds pretty lame.

Now that the movie's over they're showing the plane's position on the TV screens. We seem to be directly south of Anchorage, equidistant from there and Washington state.

Off to play some video games. My old boss lent me a demo copy of "Age of Mythology" which is pretty cool. I usually don't go in for those overlord sort of games