Dancing with Sugar Plum Fairies to get into the Christmas spirit...

Team Taylor Deportation/Repatriation Countdown

Days left in Singapore: 15

Days left until arrival in the Queen City: 22
Family,

And a good evening to you all from across the globe after another GREAT DAY in the Lion City.  The Bull actually took the day off today, as he as EXHAUSTED when his head hit the pillow last night.  I do think it was the right call, however, as last night's sleep was one for the books - arguably THE DEEPEST SLEEP I've had this year in Singapore.  Yes, Jenny and I have slept better in places like Bali where the mattress isn't made of corrugated steel, but to actually be woken up from a dream by the alarm is a rare, rare pleasure for this guy.  Throw in my fifth consecutive AFD (but the streak will die a violent death tomorrow), and you've got a guy who's feeling good.  That being said, I'm getting up for a 3-4 miler tomorrow morning, so talk to me then...

Today was good day at work, but the featured activity of the day came at 8 PM, when the Bull wandered into the Esplanade Theater on the Bay to watch the Singapore Dance Company's rendition of "The Nutcracker."  Now anyone who knows me knows that I much prefer death metal to ballet, but given that tickets were only $30, I a bachelor digging for activities to keep me occupied, and the fact that this heat has driven me to got to ANY LENGTH to get in the Christmas spirit, I felt it was a worthwhile investment in Sing dollars and time.  If nothing else, it was 2.5 hours in the air conditioning, which automatically makes things feel a bit more festive. 

I told the girls at work that I was going to the ballet, and, well, you could have heard a pin drop.  I then proceeded to mimick the "dance of the sugar plum fairies," and all was going well in my comedy routine until Tiffanie gave me the "go to Hell" stare and said, "You better stop making fun of that if you don't want to get hurt, man."  I instantly smoothed out my fake tutu and got off the balls of my feet.  Apparently Tiffanie is in LOVE with this show, and my dancing (as well as my horrible "dun-dun-dun, dun, dun-dun-dun, dun-dun-dun") was not endearing me to her.  In fact, they even took bets on when I'd first nod off.  The over-under was 18 minutes (it was 16 before my eyes started REALLY burning, for the record).

For the show, I had "restricted view", which was $45 cheaper than the next available seat and was actually still REALLY good.  Truth be told, I should have looked into these for Richard III!  The first act was a bit slow, and I must confess that I did contemplate bolting out of there halfway through.  But then I thought, "what the hell else do I have to do?" and promptly wandered back in for the second act.  I'm really glad I did, because it was MUCH better.  Act 1 was a bit choppy, and there wasn't really much dancing (and what dancing they did wasn't timed very well).  Act 2, however, was WAY more entertaining and featured more of what I think of as "proper ballet" (and I think we can all agree that I spend TONS of time thinking about the mechanics of "proper ballet").  Plus it had lots of songs that I recognized, so I was instantly more alert.

I must, of course, make the comment that the theater was SO LOUD with people talking non-stop.  There was a kid, his mum, and I guess his grandmother in front of me, and you'd think they were sitting around the Thanksgiving table.  In act II, the poor guy had seen enough dudes in tights and just started looking into the crowd, making a gun out of his thumb and finger, and capping people.  In his defense - at 8 years old this stuff wasn't too thrilling for me either.

The walk out and back was nice as well.  Clarke Quay is really starting to heave with Christmas parties - I was really surprised to see the bars overflowing with people.  I will confess that I was very tempted to go to Barossa (right outside the theater) and have a pint of Archipelago Brewing (pronounced in American vs. Queen's English, so we're clear), but the desire to make it halfway to digits (and the knowledge that I didn't run) kept me in check.

Okay, that's all the news that's fit to print.  Chat tomorrow!

Love,

Sam and (enjoying her last night in Jaipur after what I'm sure was a FANTASTIC visit to the Amber Palace and a brilliant dinner involving some veg curry) Jenny (and Cath)