more random Life in the SGP

one funny thing about Singaporeans is that they call themselves Spores (actually S'pores since the somewhat official abbreviation in the media for Singapore in Singapore is S'pore but they mostly just write Spores or worse yet: spores) . I think this is horrifying and would never willing call myself a spore. I think they like it... like it's some kind of sci-fi thing or they're going to take over and multiply... it's kind of ironic since the birth rate is so low here and the population isn't on track to even sustain it self moving forward. I guess all the women want to have a career here or something. At work we use the abbreviation SGP which is think far better and more humane.

Camera phones have really changed the way people... well, use their phones. To quote The Streets "
Ahhh see
Right see the thing that's got it all fucked up now is camera-phones.
How the hell am I supposed to be able to do a line in front of complete strangers
When I know they've all got cameras?

I've seen a few articles in the paper encouraging people use their camera phones and post images to the STOMP webstie of the Straits Times. Interesting. Never miss a chance to report your fellow citizen breaking the law. It turns out I am Big Brother and I've signed on for a two year contract with the phone company. Actually everyone is more Big Brother than me and He doesn't even have to do anything...probably wasting away in Bali. Well the point of this entry was just to post a bunch of photos I've found on my camera phone that I've taken since I arrived. There's nothing much special about them but I guess I thought they were interesting enough since I had decided to commit the space on my camera for them until now when I've taken them off.

Indian food is often served on a washed banana leaf. It's claimed to be more hygenic since one can never be sure a plate had been washed and cleaned enough...but if it's a banana leaf, be assured it's nice and clean. I guess maybe it's the same reasoning why you should eat with your right hand only.

Archipelago Brewery is a very good craft brewery here in Singapore. I met the brewer at a tasting he was hosting a few months ago and he's from California as well and related to a co-worker of mine. He's using a lot of local SE Asia ingredients in the beers like lemon grass, ginger, and other spices resulting in very nice beers and a lot of press.

Cabs with my name written on them. I am some kind of bank loan called 'James'

your ordinay Lizard traping box next to the rest of the pest control. I haven't seen any geckos in my apt here up on the 7th floor but the are all over the place.

I saw two snails in the last two days! and I had never seen a snail here before that. these look like sea snails. At least the shells do. I've never seen snails like this before on land so I figured they must have crawled up from the sea but this one was on the wall just at the subway (MRT) exit by my place...that's basically the center of the city so it had a long crawl. The other one looked just like this one but I was late to a meeting so I didn't take it's picture. Now I wish I would have. I'll look for it tomorrow.

My morning commute. This was a strange time when there was NO one else on the MRT platform. It rarely happens and it only lasted less than a 30 seconds.

A rainly day though a cab window

another rainy day though a cab window.