In Space, No One Can Hear You Blog

Hello,

That's what they'd say here in Singapore. No fancy Ni hao, just, hello.
*Sigh*
Singpore is....a very big mall? And concrete? And lots of palm trees.

Let me lay out a totally and absolutely true scenario for you (void of any of my usual sarcasm). Here I am, walking the streets of Singapore, on my way to the hospital. It's getting a bit to humid for my liking and I happen to be near a taxi queue. Figuring that a cab would be worthwhile, I wait in line for the next available cab. As the cab pulls up, I reach for the handle, but stop short, somethings wrong. Aha! Out of my bag I pull a round, green, luscious Durian fruit. Now my life is at peace, with my delicious Durian and an a/c cab, what could possibly go wrong. Once I entered the cab, my eyes welled up as I witnessed this monstrosity:



DEAR LORD! Do my eyes deceive me? NO durian allowed? Look at that big red cross! What the hell? Can't someone just enjoy their taxi durian in peace?! Fuck you corporate America!

In a cab today, I broke the only two rules they had: no drinking, wear seatbelt. There I was, a rebel without a cause, lounging with a grape champagne bubble tea in one hand, and no seatbelt in the other.

Anywho, me being me aside.
I've mostly been spending lots of time at the hospital looking after little Min Lian. She just got heart surgery (scary) and is currently recovering in ICU. Today we watched the first episode of Pokemon together (bonding moment), and I could only think about one thing.

IS HO-OH IN THAT EPISODE?!
You guys remember when all the Spearows attack Ash, but then Pikachu saves him? Then they're all burnt up and laying on the ground and the clouds clear and there's a rainbow and there's this bird and- I swear it's Ho-oh!

I couldn't very well ask Min Lian. I don't know Mandarin.

We also did some other awesome stuff like:
Blew some bubbles together
Ate a shitload of candy (she hand fed me m&m's)
Watched a baby sleep
Played with some Doraemon magnets
Decorated each other with red Goofy stamps

Playing with kids is really awesome. I used to think I really disliked kids but then I realized it was a mix of two things

1) I don't like babies. They're too small and fragile, it's kind of scary
2) I don't like the idea of having a baby. It's just gross. Don't ask

But hanging around with little kids is awesome! They like you no matter what and they always want to do cool stuff with me that no one else wants to do. Like Chun, before I left we spent about 2 hours throwing balls from a ball pit, then another hour lying on the floor wriggling around.

I stayed with Min Lian for about 4 hours today. Each day I usually visit her twice, each for at least an hour. I usually get kicked out of the room (I'm not allowed to be there while they give her shots and stuff like that) so I venture out to the vending machine section



Intriguing. The sign ontop advertises the fact that they are delivered, fresh, each day to this vending machine. I would love to have that job.



That boy is the flash! Look how fast he is! A blur! Anywho, a look at your typical vending machine. Way more uh, mystical than back home.



A closer view of the many delicious drinks. Milk isn't very popular in Asia, which means most of your milk options are soy. Sweet.



No, I did not get insta popcorn, but tomorrow. I promise.



I did however try my luck on these here capsule machines (I can never resist).
Guess which one I chose?



Yeah.
All I really wanted was a Turtwig, I would have even settled for a Piplup or Pikachu. What did I get? Dialga, Palkia and Chimchar. Stupid fire monkey. All I'm saying is, one of you is getting a small Chimchar as a present when I get back.

I found out Little India was only a few blocks away, so when baby went to sleep I took a stroll over.





I ate at a place where you had to take off your shoes and eat on the ground.



Vegetarian dish and butter naan. Lime drinks are also very popular here, and MAN are they delicious!



I wanted to get my haircut here SO BADLY!
They were closed.



Self-explanitory.



A beautiful temple, decorated at the top, and beside it, another cultural artifact.


Woo!



A few more things that have nothing to do with Singapore, China, Japan or lovely children:

The Hulk.
It's out today.
I'm going to wait until the baby falls asleep then sneak out and see it.
I'm not a huge fan of the Hulk actually.

World War Hulk (the last Marvel crossover) was pretty terrible (I blame you and you alone John Romita Jr!), but I did really enjoy the long forgotten Wolverine vs The Hulk and Planet Hulk. The new movie looks quite promising, Eddie Norton as Bruce Banner and --- as Abomination. Stark is making an appearance as well, there's also a rumor that a certain "special someone" might make an appearance as well. This movie to me is less about The Hulk and more about the fact that Marvel Studios are re-claiming their licences. I'm less excited for the Hulk and more excited to see what they do with Thor, Captain America and The Avengers (and hopefully a new Daredevil? *crosses fingers*). The Hulk and Iron Man are just going to be awesome examples of how they intend to make these movies part of the Marvel UNIVERSE (as in they are RELATED to each other, and have a certain sense of CONTINUITY)
After the piss poor job other studios (ahem, Fox) did with our beloved characters: Daredevil, Elektra, Fantastic Four, The X-Men, Spiderman (say what you will, but Toby McGuire was nothing even close to the real Spiderman).

I'm missing all my comics here too. Secret Invasion? I heard Tony might be a Skrull? I hope he isn't.


I really have absolutely nothing to write about.
I saw a cat with half a tail today.
Once I get back to Beijing I promise I'll update ALL THE TIME, WITH PICTURES AND STORIES 1000 TIMES MORE AWESOMER THAN NOW!
Being here really gets me down.
I know that sounds like a REALLY dumb thing to say, but Singapore is EXACTLY like home except that:
I'm alone
and
it's really humid.
There is no culture or feeling to this place (the food is good though...) it serves merely as a tourist attraction to white people. Lots of places to shop (If I didn't know better I'd say this entire country was one big shopping mall), mainstream movies, McDonalds on every corner, everyone speaks english...it sounds like the perfect travel destination to some, but I really miss buying meat from the "meat window" in town. I miss women screaming at me and grabbing me to buy bags at their store. I miss all the little babies. I miss the nannies who don't know english but always try to talk to me. I miss the people in town running out of their houses to scream "HELLO!". I miss people laughing at my improper use of chopsticks. I miss the terrible engrish that plagues that city. I even miss the cab drivers who spit out their windows, without a care in the world.

I miss Beijing.

Bu ku Gabriela.