On location

if my personal version of desperate housewives here in lah-lah land was a real show, it would probably get abysmal ratings. wisteria lane would be pemimpin drive -- a very ugly street name that i think sounds like "pimple drive".

instead of a bunch of sexy, intrigue-filled characters, you'd just have three -- me, marlon, and the bungi old guard who patrols the poolside. he's started talking to me lately. apparently i hang out at the pool so much that he notices my absences. i've tried to tell him that i don't live here, but he seems to have it in his head that i come home and swim a lot every time i'm on holiday from school (go figure). it's really weird to have a singaporean stranger -- a security guard at that -- be friendly to me. i keep waiting for him to tell me off for bringing food to the poolside.

anyway. let me show you around the set.


this is what i see when i stick my head out marlon's 11th-floor window to check for optimal tanning conditions. well, i don't really stick my head out the window, but you get the drift.


along with my phone and the house key, this is what i cart down to the deck every single afternoon. the sugar fix varies -- one time it was an apple, and today it will be a pack of oreos. or sometimes i'll have this illusion of pursuing fitness and will just content myself with water. as for the reading matter, marlon has a handy subscription to the economist, so this is when i educate myself on worldly matters outside hollywood gossip and fashion.


aforementioned self-education and snacking ensues in relative peace for about an hour or two. the late afternoon brings with it a spate of little singaporeans, clad in their little short-sleeved wetsuits (it's really weird -- for some reason, parents here don't seem to believe in normal bathing suits).

on any given day, there will be a surprising number of young dads around tossing their toddlers around the pool and whatnot -- ten points for equality between the sexes. some afternoons feature swimming lessons, with young, tan and semi-buff instructors who might be considered cute if i bothered to put on my glasses.


very little actual exercise is done at the pool. the main purpose of my daily pilgrimages to the poolside is to acquire a short-term sun-kissed glow and give myself skin cancer someday.