After the movie we set off for Chinatown and ended up having a round of drinks with a group of merchant seamen. Things got a little hazy after that. This morning I woke up down along the docks smelling vaguely of fish sauce, and with a new hole in me.

Actually, we just went to a department store and had it done, but the first way to tell it was better, don't you think?

We found a bit of "Christmas cheer" yesterday: We saw Elf. Will Ferrell is very funny, and this movie has the potential to be a huge Christmas classic. It's funny, without being cynical, and there's no reason the kid couldn't see and enjoy it.
We also got an early present for me (us?), by way of altering Mark, but I'll let him blog about that.

Am I really that clichéd? MSN is listing the ten best spots to propose. The place where I proposed to Marjorie is listed there (Ile.-St Louis in Paris). What can I say, I'm a sucker for the classics.

Movies, bad and good. I recently remembered two movies to add to my worst movies list, "The Net" starring Sandra Bullock, and "The Lawnmower Man", with Pierce Brosnan. Be sure not to rent these stinkers sometime real soon.

We went and saw Igby Goes Down the other day, which was a little gem of a movie. We also rented Hulk and The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, which were bad and "meh", respectively.

I've been so depressed by the weather here lately. I'm sooo sick of being hot, and at this time of year, when Christmas trees and decorations are everywhere, it seems wrong that it's not at least a little chilly. I can't wait to be home and be cold. Of course I'm sure I will complain about this too. The countdown's started though, it's going to be a long month until I get on the plane homebound.

Write write write. I started writing my story today. Finished only 520 words in an hour and half. At this rate I would have had to put in about four and a half hours a day to win NaNoWriMo.

But it's a start. The beginning was the part I thought I had fairly well worked out, but it proved challenging to lay down the basis for the story while at the same time revealing just what sort of strange world it is where it's all taking place. I suspect things will speed up, but not by all that much. As you can guess, I've given up on finishing by the end of this month, but at least I haven't given up altogether.

Today marks one year here for us. For me, it has been one year in which I haven't set foot in the United -- what is it again? States? Not something I thought I'd ever do.

Yesterday Marjorie and I went to the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Just a very nice, peaceful respite from the city proper.

Then, to celebrate Buy Nothing Day, we went and bought $300 worth of groceries.