RILLA...in Singapore

RILLA...in Singapore

So there's no one to see me consume what I can only describe as THE most ghetto dinner ever (saltines with butter and some apple-pomelo yogurt) while catching up on How I Met Your Mother episodes online. 

I have to watch HIMYM online because I dont get American TV in Singapore. Except for a couple of HBO channels and a couple of Discovery Channels and E!. But the programming is delayed, so I'm watching last season's Keeping Up With the Kardashians....so I'm all caught up on them.

And I have to watch HIMYM online at home, because I have to use my VPN so that the internet thinks I'm in America. Because in Singapore, on Singapore internet, you cant stream. Which means that for the most part, I am without ESPN360, Pandora, CBS.com, hulu and anything else streaming. Except YouTube.

So to celebrate my access to television, I poured myself a glass of wine. From a screw top bottle. That was S$15 on sale. (Regular price: S$25). 

And now I'm eating leftover Thanksgiving cookies that I smuggled back into Singapore from my trip to the US to visit the fam last week.

I'm VERY glad there's no one here to witness this progression of events. And judge me for it. To my face.

Asian Adventure: Day 1

So you know how I told you The BF moved to Singapore?  Well, he did. He’s still there. And now I’m going to visit! I’ve been planning this visit pretty much since before he left, so I’ve been looking forward to it for a while. We’ve planned side trips to Indonesia (awesome little beach resort on an Indonesian island) and Cambodia (touring around Siem Reap and the temple ruins at Angkor Wat) and Malaysia (Malacca and Kuala Lumpur. KL has some REALLY tall buildings. Like the hotel double tower thing that used to be the tallest building in the world until they built the Burj Dubai…or whatever they’re calling it these days.  But yeah, that’s pretty much why I want to go there. I like tall things. Eiffel Tower, Space Needle, window seats on airplanes: I like looking down on things from up high. It’s fun!)

I’m literally en route, writing this from the Tokyo Airport (which is lovely).  With the time difference, it’s just about midnight in Seattle, so as a first post of my Asian adventure, I’ll start by giving you the highlights of today. To make it easier, I’ll break it up into things I did and things I didn’t do.

Things I did today:

• -          Got up at 5am to finish packing and getting my apartment ready to leave.
• -          Washed some dishes that have been sitting in my sink/on my counter for LITERALLY weeks, waiting to be washed. (Go ahead, judge away. I judge myself for that.)
• -          Went to The BF’s storage unit to get his flip flops and bathing suits (for said island beach resort trip). Somehow, despite talking about it several times –and visiting the storage unit several times (ahem, tent) I managed to not remember to do that until TODAY.
• -          Got a tetanus shot. Technically, I got the full DTAP booster, for tetanus and diphtheria and pertussis. Been meaning to do that for a while. Figure I should really make it happen before leaving the country.
• -          Took a shower. (This may sound unworthy of mention, but when looking at the rest of these lists, I think you’ll understand the feat this was.)
• -          Packed a ridiculous amount of stuff into 2 suitcases and a carry-on tote. Managed to keep one of the suitcases under the 50 lb weight limit. Speaking of, when did they change the international baggage weight limit to 50 lbs?!
• -          Watched the cab I called to go to the airport drive off without me. I was wrestling the aforementioned heavy suitcases out my apartment door and the cab driver apparently got tired of waiting and drove away. I watched him drive away.
• -          Talked to my mom, The BF, Queenie and texted with Julie Vegas, Fritha and KJ.
• -          Drove to my office and picked up two large boxes of Christmas china. Took them home.
• -          Interacted with co-workers assisting me in this endeavor without earrings, make-up or combed hair. I also had not showered or brushed my teeth. They helped me anyway.
• -          Bought vitamins. Fit them into the aforementioned suitcases.
• -          Attended a conference call for work.
• -          Met a Gamecocks fan in the Tokyo airport. He’s from SC and his brother is a linebacker on the football team at Carolina. He was impressed to meet an alumni from SC in the Tokyo airport. Or maybe he was just scared cuz I’m so old. Either way.
• -          Read a whole book.
• -          Watched The Avengers. It was good….kinda wish I’d seen it in the theater though.
• -          Watched The Hunger Games. Twice. Even though I have seen it. In the theater. At IMAX.
• Made it onto my 1pm PT flight, with bags checked and carry-on stowed and even had time to get an iced coffee at the airport SBUX.

Things I didn’t do today:

• -          Watch tv or use the internet. Cuz I canceled cable while I’m gone and it shut off at midnight.
• -     Remember that I had no tv or internet. Until I tried several times to access both of those things , including Netflix via XBOX 360, several times.
• -          Brush my teeth. I know. Gross. I felt gross all day. I was basically naked when my cab driver called to tell me he’d arrived, so in the rush to throw clothes on and wrestle my suitcases out the door, tooth-brushing didn’t happen. Of course, if I had known that my cab driver was leaving me and I’d have to wait 10 mins for another one, I could have brushed my teeth. And put on face cream. And maybe even make-up. Because those are things I also did not do.
• -          Sleep on my first flight like I’d planned.
• -          Work out. (ha!)
• -          Wash my hair. I meant to do that, but….well……you know.
• -          Remember to put deodorant on BEFORE I packed it. Fortunately I was able to quickly pull out some deodorant from my travel toiletries bag and did wear deodorant today.

So that’s the first day of my Asian adventure. More to come. 

"Before you see it on Facebook...."

Things our parents never had to deal with: phone calls from friends that begin with "I just needed to tell you something before you saw it on Facebook".

Generally this statement prefaces some big news (engaged, married, pregnant, divorced) and generally I'm grateful for the heads up. I dont mind learning big news about long-lost friends this way, but close friends, I would rather hear from personally. In fact, I have warned friends who I expect to have big news soon, that this news should be conveyed personally. Fritha, Conan, Rosie, Frannie, PattyCake, Pickle - I'm looking at you.

I had two such "before it's on Facebook...." conversations recently: one was a dear friend who was telling me she's engaged (so excited for them!!!) and one was a friend telling me she's expecting twins. (TWINS!!!) And this is very exciting news.

It's just such a sign of the times that these conversations take place. We are all so addicted to the internet (by "we" I mean "me and hopefully y'all too, but I say we so I'm not alone in my psychosis") that it's the source of information gathering, news sharing, meeting, dating, buying, selling, learning, telling.....you get the point. And while it's often very efficient to share news on Facebook, because you can quickly reach a large number of people, there are still some of us who like the phone call.

So any of you about to share big news, make at least a few phone calls before putting it on Facebook. If you call me, I promise to respond with an appropriate amount of emotion and support. Possibly even an overload of emotion and support. I mean, you know how I do.