The Zoo

Yesterday we took a trip to the zoo. Erin and I had been once before, when we visited last year, but we thought it would be fun to go with Zach and his entourage. It is a holiday weekend here, so the place was pretty crowded, but we had a good time. Below are a couple of highlights and observations:

This is Zach at the Pygmy Hippo exhibit. They are incredible, adorable creatures, but Zach was intrigued by the turtles. To be fair, the turtles were cool as well, and more active than the Pygmy Hippos.

Cheetahs have pin heads. Really... I don't care how fast they run, they look dumb.

Malaysian Sun Bears are the smallest species of bear on earth. They also (a) have the coolest name, and (b) are ridiculously adorable. This one is sleeping in a tree, and nearly falling out.

This scene struck me as funny. There is a line of people trying to use a vending machine that is clearly identified as being out of order.

Frustration and Podcasts

I have a confession to make: I am having kind of a hard time adjusting to life here. For lots of reasons. I am bored. I want a job, and I feel frustrated that I am not getting more responses than I have received. I could complain, and wish for better, but there is an expression about wishing in one hand, and well... I know which hand will fill up faster. So despite the frustration I keep looking, and keep being nice to people, and keep taking advice, even if it makes me uncomfortable, like calling or emailing their friends who may or may not know someone who may or may not be willing to talk to me. Actual jobs are never even mentioned. And then there are the agencies, tons of them that post the same jobs, and I apply to them all, and do not hear anything from any of them. Yes, its frustrating, and sometimes I let it define me. I don't hear anything, so I must be a loser. Other times, I know that I am a pretty decent guy, who really wants to work and can do a really great job. And maybe people just can't see that from my CV.
And we miss home. The New York Marathon is this weekend, and right now I am torturing myself, thinking about how great it would be to be able to see my big brother and my good friend Matt run this race in the city at the center of the universe. And the following weekend is the Richmond Marathon, and that is like a high school reunion for me... better, actually, because I like the people that I ran with.
So that is the bad. I get a little bored, I get a little crazy without the structure of having a defined goal (i.e. a job to do with tasks to accomplish). Which is nonsense, of course. I have goals. I am supposed to be training for a marathon here, which I may or may not be running. I cook dinners, and take care of pets, but I wonder if I can be completely content doing only those things day after day. I know one thing that will help. I run a Bloomberg like ticker of airline ticket prices when I start missing home. That is probably not helping, and I need to stop. I find myself saying things like, "Erin, ANA is down to $1200 with fees included, I'm moving it from my hold list to my buy list, this thing is hot... HOT!" Its like living with that Mad Money dipshit.
So what do I do to feel good about being me today? I hang out with my friends, and we drink coffee, and laugh and joke. I go to the gym, and I read, and I do my favorite thing in the world right now: listen to podcasts. This time in my headphones makes me so happy. I learn things. I can be on a crowded train, and completely unaware of what is going on around me because I am so engrossed in what I am hearing.
Sidebar: I am surprised that more people here do not miss their train stops. Allow me to explain... People here work insanely long hours, and are therefore ridiculously tired when they get on the train in the morning. It looks like Mardi Gras, the morning after on the train at 6am, minus the vomit (usually). People slumped over, eyes closed, seemingly unconscious. I am surprised that these people do not have to be rousted when the train reaches the end of the line, but somehow, people get where they are going.
Okay, back to me. My favorite podcasts include the usual line up of This American Life and the Moth, along with Freakonomics Radio and Planet Money. Who knew that I guy with no interest in finance, and who is in fact quite bad with money, would find so much joy in listening to stories about economics, the financial industry, etc.
And even better, these Podcasts point me to other media, like books and television that I might enjoy. I was listening to another favorite podcast, WTF with Marc Maron, and he interviewed Patton Oswalt, who raved about Battlestar Gallactica in a way that made it appealing even to me (decidedly not a sci fi guy). We are currently making our way through the first season. On another occasion, Ira Glass highly recommended the book The Big Short, about the housing market disaster... I loved it.
And the best part of all is that this incredibly smart, hugely entertaining stuff is available FOR FREE. And the ones that are not free, like archive episodes of TAL, are available for next to nothing.
Any one have any other favorite podcasts to suggest to me or the halves of dozens of other readers of my blog.
Cheers

Busy Week... Sort Of

We have been pretty busy this last week, by my new standards of things anyway. Friday night we had dinner at Kudeta, on the 57th floor of the Marina Bay Sands. The view was amazing, even if there was a ton of smoke in the air from the fires in Indonesia. The restaurant has apparently only been open for a few weeks now. The food was great, and the company was as well. I ordinarily do not enjoy getting dishes for the whole table to share, but our de facto host suggested that we do this, and I was glad that we did. We got to try a lot of different dishes, things I might not necessarily have ordered, and enjoyed nearly all of them.

This is the view. Pretty amazing, right?

Here is a picture I took one afternoon this week:

Partners in crime, these two are.

Tuesday, Erin and I went to see Vampire Weekend at the the Esplanade Theater. They put on a great show, and played almost every song from both of their albums. Musically, they are as good as their studio stuff, which is impressive, and the vibe of the show was nice. There were a lot of well behaved teenagers their (for the most part), and it brought a really good energy to the show. Lots of kids from the international schools.
Other highlights from the last few days: Last night for dinner, I made a Boyce family favorite... Crunchy Meat. It probably goes by other names, but it involves boneless pork loin, pounded flat with a mallet, breaded, and cooked. I was pretty nervous making this, as I have never breaded anything in my life. I had to confirm with Skip three or four times the exact order of things, and some of the specifics. In the end, it turned out well. And it was delicious.
And finally, Benson got a bath today.
As I said, busy by my standards, but not all that exciting.

Sumatra is Burning

Since saturday, there has been a smokey haze over the city. This happened once before, just for a day or so, and we were told that it was due to fires in Indonesia. This time there was no question as to the cause. Not only does the air look hazy, it actually smells like smoke. And its only gotten worse. I have tried to take pictures, using my phone, but t never does the haze justice. Here is the best one that I have gotten, taken five stories above ground from the pool at my gym.

Its hard to even tell that those are buildings in the background. I saw a newspaper today that said this was the worst air quality the city has experienced in years. Its probably the worst air quality I have ever seen, with the exception of being in Florida once, very near some forest fires, and there was actually ash visibly floating in the air. Erin tells me that people at her office have been sick all this week. That can't be good for any one. 

I was thinking earlier today that this would not be good marathon weather. Hot, humid, and the air literally thick. 

Tomorrow we are having dinner at the top of the Marina Bay Sands, so we are hoping that there might be some improvement in the conditions between now and then. The big draw there, in addition to the food, is the view. 

Personal Training

I know that I am not in the very best shape of my life. I do, however, like to assume that I am in at least relatively good shape. I am not running as much as I would like. The heat is a bit stifling, and the humidity makes me feel as though I am running in soup. I do run though. I think that should count for something.
When Erin and I joined the gym recently, we also purchased three personal training sessions each. We thought, "we are paying for the gym, it would be good to know how to use all of the equipment, and do it right." The first session began with a fitness assessment. Think middle school gym class... One minute of sit ups, one minute of push ups, sit and reach, chin ups, running, balance, and my favorite, the body fat percentage. Mercifully, unlike middle school gum class, our gym does not use the fat calipers to take a pinch of the arm and leg to make the calculation. You simply stand on a scale and as though by magic, it spits out a number. All of these various components are added up. The total score for the entire assessment is out of a possible 24 points. Mine... Well, not so good.
And then the real work began. Legs, arms, chest, shoulders, abs, back...
I woke up the next day in pain. Terrrible, awful pain. That was Sunday. Friends helpfully reminded me that Monday the pain would likely be worse. It was. On Tuesday I returned for my second session. This morning the pain is only kind of bad. I think that is likely due to me spending as much time as I could in yesterday's session stalling. I took a little longer at the water fountain than was necessary. If that didn't work, then I just laid on the floor with my towel over my face in between sets and grunted at my trainer if he suggested we move on. I will surely be in perfect shape in no time.

I wish I was cooler than I am

When I was back in the States, I went through my CDs and imported a bunch of songs that I did not previously have on my computer. When we moved here, I had to leave the CDs, and I missed some of the music. So when I come back to Singapore, I am listening to some of the music on the computer, and playing some of it for Erin. A lot of it was stuff that I haven't listened to for a long time, and in many cases, music I thought I was simply too cool or too sophisticated for these days (not that I think that my current tastes are all that sophisticated). I want to believe that I am too cool to listen to Jimmy Buffett, but as I was playing it for Erin, and thinking about how I still know every word, I realize that I am not as cool as I think I am. When I was younger, I would listen to music for hours at a time, usually late at night while playing video games. I would listen to Jimmy Buffett's boxed set, or Peter Gabriel's greatest hits, or a handful of others... and I knew every word to every song. Twelve or fifteen years later, I still do. And I still love it. Its maybe not as much who I am anymore, but its still part of who I am. And thats okay. I would probably rather not admit that I have seen Jimmy Buffett in concert 5 times, but I have, and there was a reason. I loved that stuff. I do have to wonder, though, if I might not have done better in college or graduate school if my brain were not filled with song lyrics and other facts and information that I filled my head with in those days and still can recite today.

Benson and the red poodles

We took Benson for a walk this afternoon, and he met yet another red miniature poodle. I don't know what it is about them, but he attracts them, and he has the best time with them. We let him off his leash, and instantly this little guy charges towards us. It is such a great sight to watch B run around and have a great time with another dog.
The weekend has been uneventful otherwise. We had a nice dinner last night at Boomerang, the Australian restaurant on the river where we took Benson and ate kangaroo. Benson had other plans last night, so it was just Erin and me. When we visited there previously, there was a mother cat living in the bushes with two kittens. Three months later, we saw one of the kittens wandering around, significantly larger than the last time we saw it.
Erin had a slightly more eventful weekend, taking part in a walking relay that her company sponsored for charity. Her leg was from 3am to 6am Saturday morning. Erin did discover where the transgendered ladies of the night hang out at the that hour of the night. In case anyone wants to know, just ask my lovely wife.