jam junket

I gotta step my 21st century game up.  Regular internet action, here I come.

Duffy - Live and Let Die

After shopping, CJ and I toured our campus 7 star resort.

M.I.A w/ Wilcannia Mob - Mango Pickle Down River

Woke this morning, not to the banal calls of any domesticated northern species of bird, but instead to the exotic trills of many a Singaporean early bird, catching their respective cockroaches or small lizard.  I looked over at my roommate, still asleep, clutching her stuffed wolf donning a knitted Waldo sweater, and silently wondered to myself, “Do they have wolves here?”, followed almost immediately by, “Do they have sweaters here?”

Yesterday was one of the most productive days I’ve had in a few months, it felt real good like.  Left the hostel in the morning and caught a cab to the university.  The cabby, a delightful woman to be sure, circled our residence hall at least three times, turning down multiple driveways in a attempt to get CJ and I as close as possible to here:

Our residence hall.  After having been shown to our respective rooms, we dropped our bags, and registered, a mostly painless and expeditious process.  After that we attended the University Fair, where every campus group throws unbelievable amounts of free swag at you in an attempt to interest you.  Needless to say, I may be go-carting in Laos, playing kayak water polo in the school’s Olympic-sized pool, and learning at least three different types of martial arts.

Then we hopped on a bus to one of the many malls in Singapore (malls are air-conditioned, hence shopping is THE national passtime) and grabbed some items.  CJ and I were one of the first students to find the store selling bed linens, and as such, I like to think we started the very popular trend of carrying a rather large pillow around as a fashion accessory.  We should go back to the store and ask for a cut of the sales with all the promoting we inadvertently did.

In true local fashion (yes, we’re locals now, we’ve been asked for directions twice!) we’ll be heading back to the mall today to pick up some more things, and open some bank accounts.

En route to Singapore, Cj and experienced what I’m choosing to call a prolonged day, more hours of sunlight than would usually be had, entirely due to the fact that we were flying into the sun for the majority of the flights.

This made me realize, for every moment of every day, somewhere in the world, someone is watching a sunrise or sunset.  Ah, the efficient beauty of creation.

Everything is so green and so clean.

At breaky this morning, CJ (the girl) and I met Francis (the guy) over some toast, and decided to spend the day walking about together.  Did I mention Francis is from Montreal.  We would travel to the other side of the world to hangout with someone from our own backyard.

Luke Christopher ft. Asher Roth - Roof Tops

Why is it only 2:27?

The Fern Lofts Hostel East Coast.  What a dream hostel.  We were pleasantly greeted by Chris at 1am, given a tour and showed to our room, the quintessential guest room, equipped with a double bed, side table, desk and most importantly air conditioner. 

Two nights = C$100 / 2 people = C$25 per night, and it’s only that expensive because we got the private room.  And there’s free breakfast.  And there’s free WiFi.  And there’s a bus stop less than a minute away.  And there’s a bar downstairs where we get 30% off.

In recent months I’ve receded from the interwebs, as if to prove to myself that life does happen outside of the 21st century’s proverbial box, aka my laptop.  And happen it did!  This post, as with many of the following will be written from Singapore, the apparently illegitimate lovechild of British North American colonies, and the Rainforest.

It all started with a dream and prayer.  Those, and few legally binding documents securing student exchange positions for myself, and CJ at the *trumpet flare* National University of Singapore, School of Environment and Design.

Yesterday (or was it the day before?) we boarded a plane at 10:00am destined for Vancouver from our beloved Toronto, only after security confiscated one of my many vanilla scented (you know how I do) sprays.  The flight was uneventful, but peppered with impromptu massages and free concerts from our multi-talented and youthful plane-mates, situated quite fortuitously in the row right behind ours. 

Flying over Alaska on our way to Honk Kong

A brief layover, and we boarded a plane to Hong Kong.  Here, our advanced seat selection lead to a spacious row for three, shared between just CJ and myself, with only a person each in the rows surrounding us. 12 hours with three meals, our own individual screens and a window seat was not too shabby.  One of the flight attendants (we affectionately and secretly called him Grampa) even gave us a second brownie after lunch.

Our plane to Singapore at the airport in Hong Kong

We boarded our last flight, Hong Kong to Singapore, with CJ and I both beside each other, but also sandwiched by strangers, in the middle aisle of the plane.  Needless to say, we were tired, cramped, and done with planes.  Arrived in Singapore:

Went through Immigration, grabbed our bags (the last ones to come off the luggage conveyor), whipped through customs, caught a taxi from the airport, and got to our hostel at around 1am.

And how many times did I check my laptop?  Not a one.  How many countries did I fly over?  Too many to remember. 

Theophilus London ft. Devonte Hynes & Solange Knowles - Going Overseas

Been on repeat. Soooo smoooth.

WVIL, A Glimpse at the Future of Photography After Cameras Die

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1663674/wvil-a-glimpse-at-the-future-of-photography-after-cameras-die-video

This camera is sex.

Sergio Mendes - Yes, Yes Y’all