Musings from Singapore: Sporadic AirCon

Almost everywhere is air conditioned....note that I said ALMOST.

My office is air conditioned, but the elevators are not. And the hallway outside my office, where the elevators are, also not air conditioned. My first day at the office, I had wandered around trying to find the place (I took the correct MRT to the correct stop, but had no idea which way to go once I got off the train. Thus, the wandering). Them I took the unairconditioned elevator and waited in the unairconditioned hallway for someone to let me in.....in the 90 degree heat and 90% humidity. By the time I got into the office, I was a hot sweaty mess.

Most buildings - including my office - have box unit air conditioning (that everyone refers to as AirCon, not to be confused with Con Air, a delightful film from the late 90s in which Nicolas Cage sports a rad mullet) rather than central air. I have several thoughts on this:

• Box units allow for tighter control on the area cooled and the electricity used to do so. At night, I can turn on the bedroom aircon unit, turn off the living room unit, close the bedroom door and stay cool all night, without using electricity to run the living room unit.
• Since it never changes season or temperature here in Singapore, there's no need for a heater. That renders a full HVAC system unnecessary, so maybe unit aircon is more efficient.
• This leads to interesting architectural challenges. My aircon units need an exhaust and fan system, which must be connected to the unit. This means I have a box outside my window that powers the unit. There's one outside my living room window and another outside my bedroom window. My building has open columns in the middle of the building that are JUST for housing these units. In the US, buildings have square (or rectangle or trapezoid or whatever) exteriors and the interior is wholly covered by central HVAC. 

I turn the aircon in my apartment off when I leave in the morning. And if I'm the first in the office (or last to leave), I turn the aircon on and off there as well. It's a different system, for sure. Just another quirk of living in Asia.

And I'm pretty sure that if I had gone to school in Columbia, South Carolina in buildings that had air conditioned classrooms, but not hallways, it would have been a long, sweaty four years. You know, more than it was already.

Singapore is like a hangover

You know when you're hungover, you feel tired and achy and icky and weird. And it's hard to focus. And bright lights and loud noises hurt your head. Yeah.

The root cause of this, of course, is the dehydration that comes from drinking too much. And with the long plane trip, lack of good sleep and hot hot sweaty weather here, I have become a bit dehydrated.

Anyone who has been to my desk in Seattle has seen the evidence of my regular water consumption: there is a large pink cup and a large water bottle on my desk at all times. I take them to and from the kitchen several times a day to fill them up.

In Singapore, I have only a miniature little water bottle that I fill and refill often. And it has taken several days to get caught up on my water consumption, to the point that I don't feel completely cruddy. 

Due to my experience living on the west coast, with many beloved family and friends on the east coast and my regular cross-country travels, I underestimated the impact of jet lag. I may have even scoffed (at least in my head. Usually.) at the wishes of "good luck with the jet lag". I dont know if it's because I'm going the opposite way, or because of the time and route that I flew or if it's just because it's so hot here.....whatever it is, this jet lag mess is no joke.

But I'm powering through and today is much better. I'm fairly functional, staying awake at my desk and might even have the energy to walk home from the train station (instead of taking a bus). 

It's funny how God truly gives us things in life to prepare us for what's to come. Only in this case, I didn't think that all those times I went to work hungover would prepare me for my international experience. (Fritha, Pickle, Pie - I'm looking at you). 

Freddie Prinze Jr.

So...Freddie Prinze Jr.

He's cute. But is that all? Should he filed under "hush baby, don't talk"?

I'm in two minds about it. On the one hand, he has a charming smile and way of delivering clever, yet poignant lines that seems really sincere. On the other hand, maybe I'm so mesmerized by the quirky, smirky, dimply smile that anything falling out of those lips sounds good.

He seems like maybe he has some talent. But he keeps getting cast in crap roles in crap movies. (Three words: "Down to You". I dont know who owed whom what kind of favors, but why in the world were Julia Stiles and Henry Winkler involved in that hot mess?)

But is he getting the casting shaft? Does he have a bad agent? There's only so much an actor can do with a lame character and stilted dialogue.

Or is he cast in lame roles because he can't act.

But if all he's done is lame roles, then maybe nobody knows just how good he can be. Or maybe everyone who saw "She's All That" has seen exactly how good he can be.

Sigh. I think I watch too much TV.