Newsletter 08: Settling in, sort of

Wednesday, 12 November. Much computering in my new folding chair!

Also, rain. Dinner at the end of our street included yummy Beef Kway Teow, and fried rice that would have been better without the chili. And without the little purple octopus tentacles [sigh].

Thursday, 13 November. More computering in my new chair. Took pictures of birds trying to dry out on the roof after the rain. One particularly bedraggled one didn't seem to be able to fly at all.

Dinner at the dumpling place again. (Qun Zhong Eating House, recommended by Lonely Planet.) Again, we had tasty dumplings and another "Chinese Pop Tart."

Friday, 14 November. Computering. Walked to Liang Court at Clarke Quay for lunch. Visited Kinokuniya there, and bought a book! (The novelization of Joss Whedon's movie Serenity.) Saw lots of Stephanie Meyer books.

Dinner with our real estate agent and his co-worker in Chinatown at a Teo Chew restaurant (called Teochew Restaurant Huat Kee).

Saturday, 15 November. Ate lunch at Spinelli's (a San Francisco cafe chain), bought groceries at Cold Storage, and picked up clean shirts from the Laundry Inn in China Square Central. Took MRT to Clarke Quay, visited Liang Court again. Ate dinner at "the busy place" just around the corner.

Sunday, 16 November. Went with Aquinas to find the Singapore Weiqi (Go) Association. Tried to find a copy of Terry Goodkind's Pillars of Creation in the Kinokuniya at Bugis Junction. Found it, but at a painful price and published in strange dimensions, larger than US mass-market size, smaller than US trade size. Also saw books of strange dimensions vaguely similar to US mass-market size. Decided maybe I should just read a book I already own; I still have five to pick from.

Went to the National Library's Central Lending Library across from Bugis Junction and signed up for a library card. The fee for foreigners is about SG$50 per year, plus a $10 registration fee. If my library card keeps me from buying new, mass-market-ish paperbacks at SG$17.50 apiece, it'll pay for itself pretty fast. But will it do so even in spite of the used book stores? I bought Chainfire, one of the later Terry Goodkind novels, at Books Point at the Bras Basash complex, just across from the library. It was "only" SG$5.00, though it's turning brown prematurely from the humidity, and the cover, showing the British illustration, is not in such great shape.

Part of me wishes we'd decided to live near Bugis MRT.

Monday, 17 November. The seasons have changed here; we've gone from the [perpetual] rainy season to the *rainier* season. And I have some kind of skin allergy, apparently. Bits of me itch; I suspect it has to do with the heat and sweating, but it could be any number of things. I have some cream and some pills from a doctor who assured me that the itch isn't infectious, i.e., that it's not viral, bacterial, fungal, or parasitic. That news was reassuring; ever since Aquinas and I started watching House, I have trouble thinking of any medical problem as non-dire. We bought season four of House on iTunes and have been watching it in the evenings on Aquinas's laptop. Dinner at the downstairs Korean place, with mochi and fruit from around the corner. I've been enjoying making juice from Ribena syrup I got at the Cold Storage.

Tuesday, 18 November. Itchy. Went to Cold Storage and bought the Japanese equivalent of Woolite, trying to purge evil laundry detergent from clothes.

Wednesday, 19 November. Went to Thompson Medical Center to learn more about the skin allergy. This sign in the lobby there is weird for so many reasons.

Bought new detergent and new higher quality sheets and comforter, hoping to calm my skin.

Thursday, 20 November. Slept late in the new sheets. Worked on job contacts and more laundry. Aquinas and I ate dinner with a colleague from NUS and his wife at the dumpling restaurant, Qun Zhong Eating House.

Friday, 21 November. More jobstuff. Dinner with colleagues of Aquinas.

Saturday, 22 November. Errands in Chinatown, errands in Orchard. Saw The City of Ember in a sneak preview. For dinner, ate at Shimbashi Soba, where we watched a guy make fresh soba noodles.

I've noticed that many small children wear squeaky shoes here. It's brilliant; you can't lose them if they inevitably make a little squeak noise every time they take a step....

Sunday, 23 November. Worked on Latex stuff. Dinner at the Sichuan restaurant across the street.

Monday, 24 November. Met with interior designer about the apartment. Had steamboat lunch (including tasty deep fried pumpkin appetizer) around the corner behind China Square Central (at Guo Fu Hot Pot?). Bought Terry Goodkind's Phantom new at a somewhat reasonable price at a roving bookstore set up in the atrium of China Square. Stall owner said it didn't pay to pay rent a fixed shop to sell books. Ventured out again to shop for a mattress at the Furniture Mall. Ate dinner at Cafe Le Caire around the corner from the Furniture Mall in Arab St.

Tuesday, 25 November. Talked with a contact of a colleague at UBS Library Services about publishing companies. Went to Orchard Rd., rented the next Terry Goodkind book, bought a new kind of laundry detergent for the fourth time, got a tasty lunch at BreadTalk, and explored the mammoth cave of books that is Kinokuniya at Ngee Ann City. Saw a Princeton book (Economic Gangsters) in a prominent location on a table with the business books (it's bright yellow).

Later, got my itchy skin checked out and medicated by yet a third doctor. Dinner at a nearby hawker centre.

Wednesday, 26 November. Went to a recruiting company and filled out a couple of forms. Truth be told, the best part was taking pictures out the windows 55 floors up.

Sent out a dozen emails to publishing contacts. Went to meet a friend of a friend at the American Club. She roped in her friend the designer, who met us at the apartment to talk about furniture and floor plans. Found a fried rice stall at the hawker center around the corner (at Chinatown Complex). Came back and answered job emails.

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