Travelogue #5: Singapore

the view from my dad's apartment. wow, right?

I know a monster update is in order, but I've been having too much fun to actually sit and write it all down. First and foremost, I think it's hilarious that everyone here talks to me and regards me as a local even though I have no idea what the shit they're saying. People I meet are completely confunded that I don't speak the dialect here even though both of my parents are Singaporean. I keep trying to explain that I was born in the states, and even when I lived here I only went to American schools, and they just won't have any of it! Even so, I've managed to get by these past 2 weeks with the basics - "lah" is a word that is tagged on to the end of every sentence as emphasis, and when said in the right way, can effectively convey any emotion you're trying to get across with its appropriate sentence - "put the fish in the oven, lah." "Hillary finally pulled out, lah." "Why you so dark, LAH!?!?" (my aunts.)

last night I went to this music festival called Rock The Sub at one of the only venues in town that supports local music - this place called Timbre. On the whole it was a fantastic show save for the crowd full of old people and preteens that looked either scared, shocked, or just...bored. The bands were REALLY GOOD too, but nobody seemed to be feeling it. I was hooting and hollering throughout one band's (awesome) rendition of Zeppelin's "Dazed and Confused," and people looked at me like I was an axe murderer holding their kid's head in one hand and a bottle of beer in the other. It's really eye-opening experiencing another country's music culture on the other side of the world...there definitely is one, but there's absolutely zero support for musicians here in Singapore. You cannot make a living playing original stuff, the only way to make money doing it is to play covers at a bar for a hundred bucks a week. And even then, people are still only mildly interested in what you're doing, they consider it background music. And these people are WICKED good!! There was this Indian lady who could sing like a muthaf&*#@$ and had killer piano chops to boot, playing her own stuff at this bar... and do you know, people didn't even seem to care less. She could have been juggling chain saws along to Meat Loaf and they still probably wouldn't have turned away from their drinks. It was rather depressing. How do you make a living through art these days? Not even music, but painting, film, writing, theater, etc. There's definitely a way, but it's difficult as hell. Maybe there's some nobility in the fact that creating beauty isn't a basic need of society. Maybe doing it for love is the only reason after all.

What else...I went to my mom's old church on sunday and was introduced by my cousins as "Lily Lam's daughter" (maiden name). People FREAKED. "LILY LAM!?" Apparently, my mom was a BAMF at her church when she was my age...she was really pretty and popular and had a lot of boyfriends and was the star singer of the choir etc. Jeez. I had no idea she left such a legacy on that place. People were grabbing me and telling me how much I looked like her and I met a thousand people I had never seen in my life who were all incredibly interested in me, the spawn of Lily Lam, goddess among men. Damn, mom. Break me off a piece of that!

things are starting to blur again...it always happens that as soon as you get into the swing of things it's time to hitch up and go somewhere else. I'm going to australia on Tuesday and I haven't even begun to pack yet. Alas, the summer goes on and on...no time to think much today, am going to dinner with the aunties (all 6 of them). There is delicious homemade chinese food to be had, there is wine to be drunk. (drank?)

love!



^singapore's financial district.

and by the way.....Iron Man was SO GOOD!!!!!!