We've arrived! We got in, very bleary eyed, at 9am this morning Melbourne time. So far things are going our way: Our hotel let us check in early so we could take a quick nap before setting out on errands. We found a suit for Mark's interview tomorrow (he looks hot!). Mark got a haircut. I bought a new coat, scarf, and gloves (it's winter here). We both got new sim cards for our phones, the phone numbers will be e-mailed to relatives tomorrow (probably). So, all the goals for the day have been completed.
It still doesn't feel like we're here long term though, maybe after a few days it will sink in.

Such sweet sorrow. Everything is packed, thrown away, given away, or mailed. We just had the final inspection of apartment and got the full deposit back (yay!). At the airport now, waiting for our flight out. Hooray for free internet. I'm feeling an odd combination of melancholy and excitement.

Bye, Singapore, it's been interesting and fun.

Another list of the top 100 wonders of the modern world. I've only seen 11 from this list. Only three from the top 50. Life is short.

While Nirvana is usually my music of choice when cleaning house, a day of cleaning AND packing required something a little different. I credit Marjorie for cuing up the right thing. For future reference, The Modern Lovers is the proper choice for such an occasion.

Four more days. We spent today doing an array of moving errands, such as returning movies and library books, packing things up, and throwing things out. Then we went for a swim this evening. We'll miss the pool at our condominium. We don't use it often, just the occasional swim, but it's always enjoyable. We'll also really miss the animals we see and hear frequently in our neighbourhood. Yesterday evening we heard a choir of frogs who had moved to the pipes along the canals to increase the sonic impact of their croaking, it was amazingly loud and made us both start laughing. This morning at the bus stop I saw a beautiful blue kingfisher and two sulfur crested cockatoos, along with the usual mynahs and orioles. We'll still have cockatoos in Melbourne, but probably not the others. I'll also miss the frilled lizards I see frequently sunning themselves along the fences on my way to work, and will even miss the little geckos we find in the house (though I won't miss the poo).
We've been really fortunate to see such a variety of wild life in their natural habitats here. The highlights for me are the following:
Mudskippers, their amazing, and not uncommon here.
Flying lizards. We've seen two here. They're very cool.
Hornbills. We saw two little ones on our way to Tioman island in Malaysia, and one here near the zoo that may or may not have been wild.
Bee eaters: They're really beautiful birds, and uncommon enough that it's a real treat to see them.
macaques: I'm not the biggest fan of monkeys, but seeing them in the wild is special.
Monitor lizards: They're so prehistoric looking. Very similar thrill as seeing an alligator.
The white-vented mynahs: They are probably the most common species of bird in Singapore, but I love them. They're funny, charming, and almost always bring a smile to my face.

Does this make sense to you? Mark and I are trying to save money by mailing our things by surface mail through the Singapore post, rather than through a shipper/mover. Today I wanted to insure a few packages, which ultimately left me with a lot less faith that our packages are ever going to arrive. The post handlers wrote on the insured boxes "insured for X dollars"; who does that help? Is it just to alert potential robbers that there might be something valuable in the box? Because let's face it, if the box goes missing writing on the box isn't going to be helpful. Nice of them to write out just how valuable the stuff might be in dollar amount too, isn't it, just in case you're only willing to risk it for really valuable stuff. They also gave me a hard time about my boxes (standard moving boxes, well packed) and said I didn't use enough tape (I did), and made a big fuss of re-taping the edges of the insured boxes (only the insured boxes, the others aren't their problem) with little insurance stickers (I'm sure that will make a big difference).
So we've sent about 12 boxes so far, with about 8 more to send. I'm thinking we'll be lucky if we see 10 on the other side. On the plus side, it is MUCH cheaper to send our things this way.
Moving sucks.

The great Singapore black-out. Last night, right in the middle of Six Feet Under, the power goes out. This is a first during our time here. The blackout seemed to stretch a long way -- I climbed to the top of our building, and there were lights in the distance, but mostly dark for several miles in every direction. For 45 minutes or so, we got to experience what it was like here before electricity. Damn hot. How did people sleep?

Tonight was my last soccer game. They let me play striker for the last twenty minutes, which was fun. I had no goals, but got an assist after committing a flagrant foul that was not called. Afterwards, beers at Turf City. Then goodbyes, which I've really come to hate.

I'll find a team in Melbourne, but will it be as fun? Doubtful.

Turns out the Chinese opera we heard the other night from our window might have had another interesting twist to it. On opening nights, apparently, Chinese opera troupes play their first performance to an empty theater. It's for the ghosts, you see. We couldn't tell if there was a crowd there or not but this might have been what was going on.

My coworkers Hong I and Meng Wah told me this today during lunch, which was interesting in itself. We went to a dim sum restaurant on the seventh floor of a public housing project. It was rather like a banquet hall. But the food was really tasty. We had three kinds of dumplings, pork ribs with yams, glutinous rice, porridge, spongy meat-filled rolls, tea, and chestnut(?) cakes for dessert.

Got another ping on the job front today. A recruiter called me from Australia about a CV I posted on a job site. He asked me if I had any experience with HAV. Sorry, I said, as I had never even heard of it. Later he mentioned it again, and I asked (so I could look it up later), "Are you saying H-A-V or H-A-B?"

"No," he said. "E-J-B. Echo, Juliet, Bravo".

I thought language issues weren't going to be a problem. But "E-J-B" in an Australian accent sounds an awful lot like "H-A-V" to my ears.

Violent streak? Me? Frustrating game today. The team we played against had a player who was the biggest cheater I had ever seen. You breathe on him, and he falls down and cries out like he's in agony. The problem was, the ref fell for it almost every time.

I was covering him. I'm usually a pacifist, but I can't stand that sort of crap. So I tried to rile him up by calling him every name in the book whenever he was near me. At one point he ran through my space, so a grabbed his shirt, and of course he fell down and cried for the ref. The ref missed this one, so I said, "Awww, what's the matter? You fall down there?" It was all I could do not to at least step on him. He was just ignoring my taunts, so I figure, as long as he's falling anyway, and the ref's letting it happen, I might as well get my licks in. He was subbed out before I could do much. But he came back later, and then worst thing happened, which was that he scored the go-ahead goal. While I was covering someone else, but still.

Even now, the big dumb jock in me wishes I had left him with some scars. Sports are primal sometimes.

Anyway, the coach announced that this would be my last Sunday game (though there's a Wednesday night one that I'm still playing) and everyone applauded me. At least I hope they were applauding me, and not the fact that I'm leaving. It was nice.

Asian moment. Sometimes we forget we're living in Asia. We've gotten used to things, and often take the comfortable route as far as food, transportation, and shopping. But last night, we came home after dinner, and there was a Chinese opera going on at the little temple that we can see out our window, just down the street. This was about 10pm. They have a new open stage back behind it, and a tent set up for onlookers. We can see just a tiny bit of stage through binoculars. When the wind was from the right direction, we could hear the music, which is really strange to Western ears. Minimalist, with plinking noises and occasional cymbal crashes; the singing is kind of shrill. The closest Western equivalent from pop culture I can think of is that "We are Siamese if you please" song from the Disney movie.

"HELLO!" How many ways can you say hello? I figured out recently that I can say hello in 10 different languages: Hindi, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Hebrew, Hawaiian, Mandarin, Japanese, and Fijian. Which seemed impressive until I acknowledged that I don't remember (or never learned) how to say hello in Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian, or Malay. I do know some Malay/Indonesian words, most of which are food words such as Nasi for rice, mee goreng for fried noodles, ayam for chicken, etc.. My knowledge of Thai and Vietnamese is pretty much limited to food too.

Steal a poll: I stole this off Marjorie's blog ;-)
Where Were You When...
The Questions:
1. Where were you when you heard that Ronald Reagan died?

It was only a week ago, but oddly, I don't remember where. I think it was at work, and I saw it on the Yahoo home page.

2. Where were you on September 11, 2001?

Atlanta. Marjorie called and woke me up and told me to go turn on the TV.

3. Where were you when you heard that Princess Diana died?

Lulu's Bait Shack in Buckhead, in Atlanta.

4. Do you remember where you were when you heard Kurt Cobain had died?

At work. That very night, I went and saw Frank Black with the Ramones. Frank Black, when he was with the Pixies, was a huge influence on Kurt Cobain, and their album Surfer Rosa is usually quoted as the inspiration behind Nevermind. So I thought he would say something about it, but he didn't. All Joey Ramone said was something like, "Too bad about Kurt Cobain. Still, he did go out in the true punk style."

5. Take one for The Gipper: What'?s your favorite flavor of jelly bean?

Once you go black, you never go back.

6. Where were you when Magic Johnson announced he was retiring from the NBA due to AIDS?

I remember first hearing about it after coming back from a work trip to Italy.

7. Where were you when Reagan was shot?

Don't remember.

8. Where were you when the Challenger exploded?

I was witness! I was going to school in Orlando, and had worked at the space center the summer before. I actually came out to watch the launch, despite the fact that it was 9 a.m. and freezing. I was maybe 50 miles away. I watched the smoke trail rise, and when it started to bend the wrong way, someone else who was standing nearby said, "Is it supposed to do that?" And I said, "No, it's not supposed to do that..." I ran back to my dorm room to catch what was happening on TV.

9. Where were you when the 0J verdict was announced?

In Vicenza, Italy, working on the NATO base. I watched the verdict with pretty much a whole platoon of soldiers, of mixed race. There wasn't much a reaction from anyone, beyond a collective sort of "Huh".

Steal a poll: I stole this off Kristen's blog
Where Were You When...
The Questions:
1. Where were you when you heard that Ronald Reagan died?
2. Where were you on September 11, 2001?
3. Where were you when you heard that Princess Diana died?
4. Do you remember where you were when you heard Kurt Cobain had died?
5. Take one for The Gipper: What'?s your favorite flavor of jelly bean?
6. Where were you when Magic Johnson announced he was retiring from the NBA due to AIDS?
7. Where were you when Reagan was shot?
8. Where were you when the Challenger exploded?
9. Where were you when the 0J verdict was announced?

My answers:
1. Where were you when you heard that Ronald Reagan died?
In our apartment here in Singapore. Hardly a shock, the man had been suffering from Alzheimer's since his second term in office.
2. Where were you on September 11, 2001?
At the "Babies Can't Wait" office in Decatur, GA. I was given an assessment to a little guy who ended up graduating from our program when the first plane hit the World Trade Center, I remember thinking it must have been a small two seater before seeing the footage on television. I watched the towers go down minutes later with my horrified co-workers on the office tv used for conferences. I had to stay at work the rest of day and maintain some type of surface normality. To add to the amazing stress of the day, Mark and I heard from his best friend that evening that another one of our friends had gone into a coma and wasn't expected to survive. Luckily, our friend lived and is okay today.
3.Where were you when you heard that Princess Diana died?
I remember this perfectly. I was in New York, in Times Square with Kristina. We read the news along the ticker tape. It was something like 1am or later, in the middle of the summer. I remember going down to wait for the subway after reading the news.
4. Do you remember where you were when you heard Kurt Cobain had died?
I'm shocked I don't remember the exact moment I heard about this. I was/am a big Nirvana fan. The memory seems vaguely confused with Jerry Garcia's death, they died the same year a few months apart. That seems sad to associate the death of these two, but.... What's funny is that I can remember the exact moment I first heard "smells like teen spirit". I was in Hasting's Music in Fayettevile, Arkansas, and I remember thinking the song was amazing. I may have purchased Nevermind then, if not it was only days later.
5. Take one for The Gipper: What'?s your favorite flavor of jelly bean?
I like the pina colada jelly bellys, and the watermelon flavour.
6. Where were you when Magic Johnson announced he was retiring from the NBA due to AIDS?
Don't know.Somewhere in Atlanta.
7. Where were you when Reagan was shot?In Augsburg, Germany where my family was stationed at the time. This is another confused memory where I'm not sure if I'm remembering remembering the Reagan shotting or John Lennon being shot, again they happened within a few months of each other. I remember feeling sad and confused about them both, butJohn Lennon being shot was more tragic to me, even at 10 years old.
8. Where were you when the Challenger exploded?
Home in Shirley, Massachusetts. I was home taking a sick day or skipping school (I think it was a legitimate sick day) and remember watching it over and over again on the news crying. My mother had been away on a business trip and I can remember picking her up at Logan airport with my dad and telling her the news. Did it really happen that way mom?
9. Where were you when the 0J verdict was announced?
I don't remember where I was when the verdict was announced, probably at home because if I'd been panicked about riots (I lived in Atlanta), I'd remember it. I do remember where I was when the Bronco chase took place: I was at work at Rocky's. It was a relatively busy night, I remember the restaurant being mostly full, and everyone's attention riveted to the television.

Feel free to copy the poll and post your own responses in the comment box. Or e-mail your poll to me or Mark and we'll post them.

Mr. Nutty. The last time I had a night off from Marjorie, I ended up going to the library. Last night, though, I didn't even make it that far. I stayed at work until 11:15, writing. I'm a wild man!

I did manage to knock out 1350 words of a story idea I've been bouncing around. That's still short of the daily average that's required (1667) for completing a 50,000-word novel in a month, but I still felt pretty good about myself afterwards. I'd say the story is about two thirds done.

I'm still going to workshop it before any of you all will ever see it. I found a pretty good on-line SF workshop that I've joined. They require you to critique other's works if you want yours critiqued, and so I've written up a few. Let me just say that I won't be the worst writer there. I won't be the best either, but I think I'll improve a lot.

Quitters Inc, part II. Moving is a good time for new beginnings. It's also a good time for endings. The following are things that I've resolved to give up once we get to Australia:

Packaged ramen-style noodle soups. I love them; I never outgrew them after college. But they're just too artery-clogging.

Polo shirts. I've always been indifferent about them but Marjorie hates them so away they go.

On line "Boggle"-type games. I've played Playsite's TangleWord and Yahoo's Word Racer for about eight years. Playsite tells you how many games you've played, total, and based on that I computed that I've spent scores of days playing. I don't regret it; as leisure-time activities go, you could do worse than one that increases your vocabulary. But it's time to move on.

Ellipses (...), emoticons (;-), and leaving the subject off sentences, as if I'm writing a postcard (e.g. "Woke up late today. Went to the store."). None of these are particularly bad, I don't think. But by damming up some of my usual forms of expression I hope to rechannel some of it down other paths.

Soda.

Crap TV. I'm not opposed to TV; one can learn a lot from it. Or, just be entertained by it. But I could stand to be a little more selective.

Blogging during working hours. ;-)

Two more weeks before we leave Singapore. Today is a particularly nasty air quality day here as the entire island is covered with a smoke haze blown over from fires in Sumatra, Indonesia. The fires are apparently started by farmers (slash and burn agriculture anyone?)and are technically illegal, but clearly the government is unwilling or unable to do anything about it.
I've been thinking a lot about our time in Singapore,trying to compartmentalize the experience into things I've learned, things I still have no clue about (and I'll never know what I missed, will I?), and things that have become "normalized". There are so many things that seemed bizarre when we first got here that don't even phase us now, for instance:
Many people here use umbrellas to shield themselves from the sun, this is partly for shade, and also partly to avoid tanning. Skin whitening creams sell big here.
There aren't many dogs in Singapore. It's very rare to see stray dogs here (although they're common in other places we've been in Asia). Lots of people are afraid of dogs here and will literally cross the street to avoid them. Cats on the other hand are very common. A lot of food centres have cats that hang out. The cats here look different than north American cats too, the cats here have smaller heads. I call them the "microcephalic cats".
Most of the time Singaporeans don't know where we're from based on our accents. I've had many people ask me if I'm British or Australian. This seemed odd to me at first, but then I realized I was being stupid and that I would have no idea where in Asia a person might be from based on the way they spoke English (although I'm getting better at this).

There are a lot of things like this, most of which we've probably already written about. I'm so ready to leave here at the moment. I wonder what we'll end up missing.

Poker face. Ben Affleck has apparently just won $356,000 in a poker tournament.

This makes sense to me. To be good at poker, you must not let your face betray your emotions. KIND OF LIKE AFFLECK DOES IN HIS FILMS.

Historic. Today mankind entered space for the first time the right way -- privately. This is how space will be won. A huge milestone in mankind's history. "Mike Melvill" is the name of your lucky first astronaut.

A banner game. Who is the man? I ask again, WHO IS THE MAN?

Ventz PM beat Kuay's Team 2-0. Mark S scored both our goals
[...]
PM also played well in taking the lead with Mark scoring with a Maradona-ish (v England in Mexico WC) run from midfield. He doubled our lead with a header from a corner. We did well to contain them in the 2nd half as our oppoents raised their game and in the end no more goals were scored.

Everyone was pulling for me to get a hat-trick. I didn't have a chance until the very last play of the game, when a corner kick came straight to my foot. Caught it on the full volley and shanked it wide, and the ref blew the whistle.

An injured teammate was taking pictures too, and said he got both my goals. Soon, I will bore you not just with words, but with pictures!

Boxing day. We're starting to pack boxes in preparation for mailing them down. Well, okay, Marjorie's started the packing, but I'm offering helpful critiques. Somehow we managed to accumulate quite a load of stuff, without ever buying much here. It's going to be at least 15 good-sized boxes to mail, in addition to our big suitcases and carry-ons.

Happily, while packing, Marjorie came across the pair of glasses I bought in Barcelona that disappeared during our last move and that we thought were gone forever. Hooray!

Yesterday we visited Jurong Bird Park for the last time. They have a new Lorikeet exhibit that's very cool. It's a huge aviary with hanging walkways connect five towers a hundred feet off the ground. Although, these birds won't be as exciting to us soon; they seem to be everywhere down in Melbourne.