Looks like one way or another, I'm pitching in whatever I can spare into next year's drama effort. Even if drama doesn't come under my portfolio. I love being a drama queen too much, I guess. And thanks, Drama Club for the unexpected card. It is nice to be appreciated!

Met with Mel and Tina this afternoon to finalize the small sticking points of our collaboration. Not much to iron out, actually, other than a couple of admin details. The rest of the afternoon we just yakked about inconsequentials over tea and some gu niang pastries in the lobby cafe of the Intercontinental. The pastries, I left to the 2 gu niang, though they were nice enough to let me have the things that didn't appeal to them.

All I ordered was a pot of Earl Grey to keep me company and happily scoffed the cast-offs. And there were still some left-overs by the time we finished.

Celebrated Jen's belated at 1827. Each of us ordered a set dinner and though the original idea was to mix and match dishes, we ended up just focusing on what we ordered for ourselves instead. 2 reasons: 1) the food was excellent, and 2) the portions were too small to share equitably.

We also met tonight because our friend, Lawrence, was back in town visiting, and he brought his friend, Aaron, with him. It's Aaron's first trip to Singapore, so we tried to advise him on the must-do things while he's here. Too bad he's on such a short trip. He's on business for this organization called Compassion, exploring the ground here for church organizations who are keen on helping them raise funds for needy children.

I'm not sure we gave Aaron a proper Singapore experience, though. 1827 serves Thai-fusion cuisine, and the dessert Adrian brought was from an Italian pastry shop. A bit atas, rather than heartland, which I think he would actually prefer. Anyway, there was talk of taking him to red-light district Geylang for durians, but our dinner ended pretty late and the riverside stroll around Boat Quay left us too tired to indulge ourselves in this horrific 'Welcome to Singapore' initiation ceremony.

Well, guys, have a fruitful meeting tomorrow, and maybe we'll see you again in December!

Just been unexpectedly reunited with a long lost pal. Dan, the Man, whom I thought was supposed to return to TO after his wedding in '01 (or was it '02?) stayed on here after all, had a kid, and DIDN'T tell me! For the last 5 years or so, I thought there was this gulf of Pacific Ocean between us, when in fact, he hadn't gone anywhere.

I've known him since he was in his pimply teens -- a lanky, affable chap -- in his 20's he started hitting the gym and bulking up, and today he's responsibly married, employed and paternal. In fact, it was this afternoon's invigilators' meeting at CJ that I bumped into him, as a fellow invigilator, and currently teaching math at a top-ranked college in Bishan.

Wow. Hopefully, we're now both a lot more mature these days. Let's not have another incident in which we nearly get run over by a train again, ok?

Mimi and Q-tip anticipate a treat! 

Brekkie is served, courtesy of Rocky Master's at the Expo. PIE!

Steaming pie insides. There really is a moist, hot beef stew in here! 

Took the dogs, Q-tip and Mimi, to Tanjong Beach for a swim. Keeping our fingers crossed worked. The haze was below 50, and all things considered, it was quite a nice day. We went early, so the beach wasn't crowded, though not too far from where we had spread our mat, some kids were playing some kind of game with a frisbee. They weren't very good at either throwing or catching, but they were making happy teenager noises, livening up the place a little. And, no, in case you were wondering, they didn't bother us with their noise. We could still nap through their game.

Lunchtime found us at the Colbar. Dog-friendly place, not too far a detour from Sentosa and quite reasonably priced. Uncle looked exceptionally cheerful today, and took my order with a smile. Service culture seems to be spreading. The Colbar makes good sausages, I found out. Short, fat pork sausages, crackling, crispy skin holding together a juicy, fragrant mince of pig meat. Gorgeous.

Had to spoil my day of brainless activity by catching "The Prestige" after dinner. This head-scratcher of a movie made me work to figure out what was going on. 2 rival magicians each holding a massive grudge against the other obsessively try to outdo each other's tricks, sabotage each other's performances and steal each other's ideas. Hard to decide who to root for because both are equally driven and vicious in their game of escalating revenge.

But the plot is just a distraction from what we are led to really want to see: how a magic trick called "The Transported Man" works. And as any good feat of magic, the answer is right there in plain sight, though the audience will always overlook it.

But as we begin to unravel the 2 magicians' secrets, we have to ask ourselves if learning how their tricks work was worth it, or if we were better off not knowing. At the lengths that magicians go to create their illusions, the audience would rather marvel at the deception rather than believe the painful, obvious truth.

Curiosity compels us to ask, "how did he do it?" But in this movie, curiosity really does kill the cat. There is such a thing as too much info.