From Texas to Taiwan, I present to you - Nancy and John!

Family,

And a good evening to you from across the globe after another GREAT DAY in the Lion City. The Bull achieved a personal victory tonight, as he FINALLY managed to complete a workout in the "A" group without getting lapped. Granted, I finished last in EVERY SINGLE HEAT (boys and girls together - I was truly suckin' the hind teet), but I managed to stay on pace with them for the first time EVER. After 4 weeks off, that was a really good feeling.

The work day was good, and Muffin and I even managed to get out for lunch at Pastamania. I decided to "upsize" my pasta today, thinking that the portions would still be "Asian size" (translation - my cracker ass is STARVING whenever I finish the "extra large" portion of something out here - it's not even a starter by US standards). But oh, no, ladies and gentlemen - they took one look at the Ang Mo's dunlap and proceeded to put enough grease, fat, lard, and heavy cream sauce into that to drown a herd of rhinos. I polished off every last bite...but I had trouble breathing for the next 3 hours. We will NOT be doing that again.

So last night was a great one for the Bull and the Striker, as we got out to Orchard for a long overdue dinner date. As some of you know, there's an American gal (with family from Taiwan) who works with me named Nancy (she's the one responsible for the Jellyfish AND the chicken feet incidents). Well, Nancy's been RAVING about this soup dumpling place called Din Tai Fung, and last night we met her and her husband John there for dinner. LET ME TELL YOU - this place was EPIC.

Picture STACKS and STACKS of dim sum rolling out, with the highlights being a) pork soup dumplings and b) pork soup dumplings with shrimp on top. DUDE - SOOOOOOOOO GUUUUUUUDDDDDDD (peppy cheekies). I seriously ate until I thought I was going to rupture. But I learned a very valuable lesson, as dim sum is sneaky. You see, after we'd completed the first feeding frenzy, I was still starving. So we put in an order for TWENTY MORE dumplings, which came with 6 free dumplings. The result was nothing shy of gluttony, and it was only about 28 seconds after I'd eating the last one that I realized I should have stopped about 10 pieces back. But hey - NO COMPLAINTS. Nancy - you were on the verge of being black-listed from food selection. Now, however, you are TOTALLY back in my good graces.

Tonight's food was less exciting but still tasty - sandwiches and salad back at the palace. And now it's time to read for a bit and call it a night, as the Bull didn't sleep last night due to learning about a film called "The Human Centipede." If you know what this is, then you too are probably still trying to book in twice daily therapy sessions. If you don't know what this is, DO NOT GOOGLE IT. Parents - just trust me on this one - I only have your best interests in mind.

And last but not least - GO MAVS!!!!! Amazing stuff, baby! Good for the league, good for the game.

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

Love,

Sam and Jenny