Hot In The City

The summer heat wave has officially descended upon
London and it is literally hot in the city. The
temperature has surged to a scorching thirty three
degrees and the ladies have invaded the city parks in
droves. And for the average London male, it is a feeding frenzy.

I just recently moved into my very own celebrity-style
home here in north London. Well, I exaggerate. It
isn't exactly loft living but it is definitely a step
up from the grimy student halls. Plus, for the very
first time ever, I own a massive double bed. No more
legs hanging over the edges! Coupled with a few
personal touches to the room, it is a bona fide "loveden".

Shifting location from White Hart Lane to Seven
Sisters isn't exactly a mark up improvement. It's
kinda like moving from cell block A to cell block B.
Over the year, I've become well accquainted with the
"shady" element of North London. Guess in order to
survive, you'll have to accquire a competent level of
"street smarts" or "spider sense". A good idea is to
get to know the neighbourhood. Walk around with a huge
grin and a big wave. Either they think that you're
really down with the hood or dismiss you as the block
loony. But you get away with it, so it's all good.

Anyway, I'm off for a little summer excursion to
Europe. Gonna be back on September 10, I actually
wanted to arrive on September 11 but the date was alittle too ominous.

28/07/2002

Spring Sun & Daffodils

I'm back once again after a long leave of absence to bore you yet again with embarrassing vignettes and random bad behaviour.

The winter was drawn out, bleak and just too damn cold for my tropical ass. But after a long arduous wait spring's finally here. It's just amazing stepping outside and the sun's shining, birds doing their little thing and flowers everywhere. And it's eye candy galore with the ladies sunning themselves in the park. Brought a cheeky grin to my face.

It's no wonder the Brits go totally out of order during the summer. Really looking forward to some of that summer madness.

Had a really good Easter holiday as well. Everyone packed away the books and hit the bars for a two week Spring break. Just dragged my battered corpse back in from a 10 day vacation round Vienna & Prague. Couldn't afford a plane ticket so I had to rough it out on a 24 hour bus trek through Europe. One thing I've learned through my bus experiences is to always go for the first two seats because there's no one in front to lean the seats back and totally put you in a tight spot. And NEVER take the middle row because that's where the toilet is. When some fat European takes a dump, it ain't all that pleasant.

Spent a couple of days in Vienna or Wien, like how the locals call it. It's always a good idea to make as many European friends as possible, so you can take advantage of the situation and crash at their place for free. You can even eat their food, borrow their towels, do your laundry, drink their beer and you don't have to wash the dirty dishes.

Vienna's an attractive city and I embraced it with drunken abandon. When you're on holiday it's hard to refuse a couple beers. Guess I left my mark on city by throwing up on the streets at 6 in the morning. But it's all good.

Then it was off to Prague for the weekend. My first glimpse of Eastern Europe. Stepping off the bus in Florenc station, the initial impression I got was that the city appeared rather rough with its grey buildings, graffiti stained walls and weird language. But Prague eventually grows on you and the old city is just breath taking. Plus I managed to crash at Petr Zelenka's pad, a Czech film director I met at the Singapore film festival last year. He even put Cindy & myself in his new film. My 15 minutes! Perhaps fame & fortune awaits in Prague? :)

Oh, and the Queen mother just passed away. Really big thing here with the nation apparently in mourning. I'll probably head over to the funeral procession on Tuesday to snap some pictures.

Till next time, the first drink's on me. Smile.

06/04/2002

Hamburg & Amsterdam

Just got back from a dizzying bus trip across Europe
to Hamburg & Amsterdam. 20 odd hours on a coach
crammed with Europeans really does your head in.
Border checks were rather strict after the Sept 11th
incident. Couple of Middle Eastern folks & Koreans got
hassled by the nazi-esqe 'Polizei'. Fortunately for
me, I totally avoided getting cavity searched. :)
Singapore passports rule!

Hamburg's a great city. Got a good deal hanging out
with the locals. Surprisingly, the Germans seem
friendlier than I expected them to be. Guess they
hardly meet tourist there, especially a dodgy asian
dude from Singapore. One striking feature about
Hamburg is the city's affinity towards social order &
efficiency. The Germans never talk on the trains. It's
really weird. Everyone just sits there, looking
straight ahead.

But they do know how to party hard. Got my ass hauled
over to a drum & bass party by the docks. The club was
housed in a run down, vacant building with bordered up
windows. You could see the steam coming out through
the door because of the packed, sweaty bodies inside.
The vibe was amazing.

Then it was over to Amsterdam. The city where sex is
for sale & the drugs almost legal. Brilliant. It's a
lovely city as well with its quaint narrow houses and
canals. So it wasn't all weed & porn. I actually
managed to get a little cultural enrichment as well.

Well, now I'm back in gloomy London waiting for
classes to start. Kinda realized today that I haven't
had seafood in about 6 months. Really depressing.

28/01/2002

It's Pitch Black at 5 in the Afternoon

It actually snowed last night, which was pretty
amazing. Tiny, irritating snowflakes that mess up your
hair. The weather has plummetted to a gut-wrenching
five degrees. My tropical ass just isn't used to this
shit. Just where the hell are the bikini clad 'birds'
and cocktails with little umbrellas?

Took a break from the five hour gurns and booming bass
of clubland last week for a little cultural
enrichment. Actually dragged myself out of bed early
on Saturday, which was an amazing feat in itself. Had
a little walk around portebello market, with its
quaint antique stalls and trendy second hand clothing
stores. Purchased a snazzy leather jacket to keep my
chattering frame warm. It's bound to make me the most
popular guy in school. :)

Spent Sunday hanging around Speaker's Corner, Hyde
Park. Folks here get their weekly '15 minutes of fame'
chance to air their grievances and the opportunity to
engage themselves in constructive debate. Totally
unlike our 'ring fenced' goverment endorsed farce at
Hong Lim Park. Witnessed a rather entertaining show of
flag waving Afghans spewing their insane rhetoric and
bull. Cops had to break it up because they disapproved
of placecards stating 'Blair is a murderer'. Good
Sunday afternoon fun.

Things have been picking up this week. Actually got
myself a job making phone calls for the university.
There's a fund raising campaign going on right now and
all I have to do is call past graduates for money.
Taking the verbal abuse over the phone for five pounds
an hour is fair enough.

Also managed to schmooze my ass into the 45th Regus
London Film Festival as a volunteer. Lots of leg work
and coolie type labour but an interesting experience.
The RLFF isn't exactly too generous with free tickets
for screenings, so that means I'll have to kiss ass
double hard (Put in a good word for me Philip!).

The election was a gagging, clean as sheet walkover.
Might've saved everyone the time by not holding it at
all. It's really taking the piss, some of us may never
get to vote at all unless we move to Hougang or
something. Has the suicide rate gone up because of the
recession?

Tonight will be my very first Hard House, Nu NRG night
at Heaven. All pretty exciting.

Sometimes it does get kinda lonely here in the big
city so keep the love coming through. Look forward to
seeing some of you next summer.

09/11/2001

Dreaming Of Roasted Chicken Rice

White Hart Lane, where my decrepit campus is situated
is apparently one of the roughest neighbourhoods in
North London. Your chances of getting mugged or
bruised are 3 times more likely to happen than any
other zone in London. But you know me, a man of risk
and danger. Sleep among the wolves I say.

Apologies for not keeping up with the regular
missives. Must've been all the late night soirees and
having my head up in skunk clouds half the time. ;) Or
it might have been because of all the serious academic
work I've been doing. There've been the occasional
bouts of loneliness but the sun does shine and after a
couple of pints of Stellas, it's all good.

The past week has been massive. Got hooked up with an
excellent opportunity writing for the school magazine,
MUD. Guess those snazzy I-S write ups really helped
(thanks Sharon). Been doing a couple of club and gig
reviews this week. Sorted myself out on the guest list
for the Mixmag launch party at Cargo last Wednesday.
It was a little media savvy affair. Managed to shake
some hands with the good folk from Muzik, Ministry
Magazine & Timeout. They must've been wondering just
who the hell this funny looking Asian dude is.
Should've told them that I was from I-S. Ha ha.

Had a really big one last Friday. Was sweating it out
at the Lamb gig held at the Forum in Kentish Town.
Louise Rhodes and Andy Barlow are just quality.
Sensual vocals over nasty broken beats and bass. Lamb
showcased most tunes from their latest album, What
Sound. I recommend it to everyone. There were a couple
of old tunes as well. When they dropped the brilliant
Gorecki during their encore, the crowd just went
absolutely nuts. Nice one.

Heard the zouk out line up this year's gonna be a
massive gurning affair. Top line up with Yousef,
Emerson, Giles Peterson etc (send me my plane ticket
Tracy!). Tell me how it goes man.

How's the situation back home? Just had a hoax bomb
scare last weekend in central London. The folks here
are kinda worried about the Anthrax situation. It's a
dangerous city. Step out of Fabric and Boom! Maybe I
should just stay in for a bit.

You folks really have to come here next summer. Need a
little Singaporean company. Miss you guys *sniff*.
Well, our model goverment's rigged elections are just
round the corner and they're not allowing overseas
votes. Guess they know those who went overseas aren't
exactly buddies with the pap. So what's your vote?

Some ang mo bastard stole my food the other day.
Bought pizza and frozen sweet & sour chicken. Was
looking forward to eating that. Asshole. Oh well,
another start to the week. Maybe I'll sign up for the
gym on Tuesday. A little excercise will do me good.

21/10/2001

Wish My Heater Works

Got up at 8:30 this morning to a pounding headache and
an extremely dry throat from the pub festivities the
night before. God, how I loathe morning classes. Spent
20 mins trying to get my hair right, moulding it for
the perfect bed-head look. You got to keep up an image
for all the ang mo chicks. ;)

Stepped out of my flat and it was pissing down icy
rain. Made it to class but my chick pulling hairdo was
all ruined. Life is just so unfair.

Had a rather messy weekend prompting a huge recovery
session on Sunday. A day of rest, so the bible tells
me so.

Was at Fabric on Friday (Yes, again), sweating to the
sounds of Ed Rush and Optical. Drum and Bass does
crazy things to your head after 4 hours of intense
pounding. Spent Saturday evening at the Fresher's
Ball, housed in a tent at Trent Park Campus. We had
the Honey's (fluffy girl group), Urban Cookie
Collective (Euro cheese merchants from the 80's) and
DJ Pied Pier & the Masters of Ceremonies.

It was all in all a pretty horrid affair. UCC even
played 'the key' twice because they ran out of tunes
to play. Remember that irritating track? I got the
key, I got the secret...

Anyway, I got pretty messed up on the bumper cars. The
Brits call them 'dodge ems'for some unexplainable
reason. Like how they call girls 'birds' and a good
looking girl 'fit'. Crazy Brits. I just go 'çheebye'!

Well, school's been fun. I dare say this for the first
time and the food can always be better. I want to eat
some damn mooncakes. Maybe I'll sneak over to the Hong
Kong girl's flat and steal some.

02/10/2001

Where's The Damn Sun?

Well, well. Last weekend was rather exciting. Took a
trip with a couple of boyz to the Walthamstow dog
races. I'd never been to a dog race before, only seen
it in gangster type movies like Lock, Stock...

Proved to be true with thuggy types peering over
betting slips and drinking pints. I decided to put a
couple of pounds on two races but ended up betting on
all 14 races. Jesus, the buzz was really amazing. Lost
in the end though. I just can't win... :(

Got back to the halls only to find out that an
American girl almost got robbed 10 min before I
arrived. Apparently, two white dudes tried to grab her
bag. She managed to run into her apartment but the
white dudes smashed the glass door in. They ripped out
the public phone and trashed the extinguisher. One
British lad tried to intervene but got his ass kicked.
Pretty intense! If I was there, I would've sorted the
whole fuckin mess out with my one inch punch.

London's finest, the Met, were called in but came a
predictable 30 min late. Damn pigs.

Over the weekend there was a fund raising event along
Oxford St for the brave men and women of NYC's Fire
and Police Dept. It was a little event for those who
lost their lives while trying to pull survivours from
the rubble and for those who still continue their
search.

There was an immeasurable show of support from the
British people and others who were there on Oxford St
that Sat evening. I must admit I was a bit
overwhelmed. You really have to be here to feel the
sadness and akward tension that permeates the city.

London could be next and the people here know that.

Anyway, school's started so it's about time to jolt
myself into the academic mood.

24/09/2001

Pills & Thrills

I know it's been awhile but I've only managed to sort
out my internet connection. The Brits aren't known for
their efficiency really.

After a rather harrowing plane ride on Air France, a
day after the tragic incidents in the States, I
arrived at London Heathrow to a bomb scare at terminal
3. A quintessential British Welcome.

Orientation was a real blur and everything was a tad
bit disorganized. My rather bleak looking campus is
situated in Tottenham, White Hart Lane. Just 5 mins
away from the (in)famous Hotspurs stadium. Sundays can
get pretty hairy.

I've got a dodgy little room and the furniture's quite
grimy. Food has been a real challenge and the weather
chilling. But the people here are amazing. I seem to
be the only Singaporean (No, we're not in China!) here
so I get a lot of the usual Qs.

Hooked up with a couple of crazy dudes who do pirate
radio and have been spending most nights getting stone
faced on Guiness at the student bar. The Brits drink
every fuckin day and it gets really rowdy. All good
fun!

Was at Fabric last weekend. Massive underground club
with a ear shredding sound system. Xpress2 on 6 decks
on the main floor and Terry Francis in the second
room.

Really miss you folks back home and I think you should
come over and visit. London is an amazing city and
there's just a bit of naughtiness for everyone.

17/09/2001