Closing Down Continues

Today my bank accounts and Banker’s Guarantee and all that other financial stuff were officially closed down. The only link I now have to living a “local” life is the fact that my phone still works, and that’s only got a lifespan of about 48 hours at best and then that too will have its plug pulled.

On some level, things are finally startint to seep in that I am leaving this place. For the last year or so I’ve been mostly hanging out with the editor of GameAxis for obvious reasons. We see each other all the time at the office, and, more importantly, we just get along really well, being in just about the same age group, and having a similar sensibility with regards to games, comics, art, film, authority, and how to buck authority. Tonight was his birthday and so the Wife and I had our last dinner with him in what will potentially be either ever, or for the next year or so depending on how his–and our–fortunes turn out with regards to certain projects. But he’s been a really fun, great guy to hang out with, and like the fella’ I had dinner with on Friday, is one of those people I count as a good friend here. I’m gonna’ miss him and the way we’d launch into a tangent about a particular comic book, trashy film or obscure game that would usually leave the rest of the crowd kind of wondering exactly what Tibetan monastery we had gone to school together in.

Also, for the first time since one of my friends got married, I watched Transformers The Movie. The Wife had a vague recollection of it as a kid, but this time she got the full on treatment, and, thanks to my incessant playing of Guitar Hero, had a newfound respect for the wailing guitar solo that follows soon after the hardcore utterance “The Transformeeeeeeeeeeeeeers!“

And, in case anyone is interested, the Wife is now doing her own personal Top Ten Countdown, where she lists the things about this island she is not going to miss. You may have to scroll up to see it.

Respect Your Elders

Tonight was one more in a seemingly endless parade of dinners and get togethers that have been converging ever since it was announced The Move was happening and was not some fake, pathetic, plea for attention or, a petty way to try and get people to convince us to stay with offers of more money and better party invites. This particular dinner was with The Wife’s grandparents and, as you might expect, I kind’a had to rein it in and not be as obnoxious as normally could be.

It’s always a bit weird for me in situations like this. I don’t live the typical Expatriate Lifestyle (that is to say, full of maids, money and more or less hanging out with other white people and experiencing the High Life while the locals madly scramble about to appease my every whim) and I don’t live the local life either (that being, scrambling to appease white people, or, on lucky occasions, coming into enough money that you can pretend to be a white person). Actually, I think I probably live that most rare of things in Singapore, the non-wealthy Creative Life, which mostly entails doing some kind of creative work, but actually relying on it to make a living rather than being a hobby to kill time while waiting for your white husband to come back from the office.

But anyway, so yeah, The Wife’s grandparents. It’s interesting to see what the old fashioned Singaporeans are like, because this is, in my opinion, a far more genuine take on The Real Singapore than what you normally get if you try to read the pamphlets and brochures. I mean, these people were alive (albeit as kids) during the Japanese occupation of the island in WWII, and they were already adults when they witnessed their home go from British trading post to sovereign nation. More importantly for me, however, these people didn’t grow up having cellular phones given to them at childhood, having maids accompany them to school to carry their books, and laugh at poor people, citing either idiocy or an innate genetic inferiority on their part on their part for their economic condition. I am sad to say that most of the Well To Do in Singapore (or at least their children) have PRECISELY these traits and characteristics. So it’s nice when you meet some people with experience and history who have worked hard for what they have and actually appreciate what it can cost to get those luxuries their children may take for granted.

Of course, they usually also think them crazy hippie artsey types are bad for the economy which is why I had to be on my best behaviour and, when asked what it was I do, I replied with the half truth, “Uh… I’m a… Journalist. Yeah, that’s it.” Somehow, that goes over slightly better than “I bitch about games on the internet.”

Still, it was an interesting snapshot view of The Wife’s outer satellite ring of family orbits. And her grandfather has a Jaguar. That’s the first time in my life I’ve ever sat in one of those things, and he wasted no time in showing off the thing by taking it from zero to 60 in about 6 seconds. I also paid one last visit to the Boys & Girls of GameScore, my all time favorite gaming store in Singapore. They actually didn’t know that I was leaving, so there was the usual round of goodbyes and “keep in touch, man” and all that other stuff which I find endearing and at the same time vaguely depressing and painful.

Oh well, just a few more days now…

Drills, Del Toro & Dinner

The Wife is currently harboring the opinion that Singapore, now realizing we are about to escape its grasp, is now doing everything in its power to make our final days as annoying as possible.

Case in point, waking up at 10 am on Saturday morning to the sound of drills and hammers tearing out chunks of wall of the apartment below you.

The odd thing about this is the Wife actually heard the noise from this sudden renovation yesterday and, duly alarmed about it, went down and asked the superviser of the fun whether this would continue over the weekend and was told, absolutely, positively in no uncertain terms, NO, there would be no construction over the weekened. But then you have to remember that in Singapore there is a tendency to simply tell people whatever they want to hear, rather than get into a conflict about it, so everyone agrees with everyone else verbally, but then continues to actually screw each other over in action and fact. This resulted in a hasty coffee and then retreat into town for the afternoon. As you may have already guessed, the afternoon was spent catching an evening sneak preview of Pan’s Labyrinth. Of course, for people in North America, this is hardly a sneak preview since the movie’s been out since December, but I’m still currently living on an island where V For Vendetta was heavily censored to keep it from giving anyone the wrong idea about government, remember that.

Still, after watching it, I liked it a lot. I didn’t love it, though I can completely see why it has garnered so much critical praise. There’s a little something in the film for everyone, and the script is very tight, the story is well told, the parallel narratives nicely balanced, and the performances are universally excellent all around. The imagery (particularly the fantasy elements) were gorgeously composed, lit and shot, and there were some very significant themes, both politically and socially. It’s an extremelly well put together movie, and I cannot for the life of me understand why I don’t unabashedly love it, despite the fact that I have nothing but good things to say about it. I see many parallels here between what Del Toro did in The Devil’s Backbone, his other movie that takes place in the Spanish Civil War era that also centers around children, paranormal events and military instability running concurrent with the occult plot. This film however, was a much more elegant and mature attempt and what he had done in the other movie, and I generally prefer it more, though I like both.

In a weird sort of way, I’m beginning to think that the way Del Toro manages to weave the supernatural, macabre and humanistic story elements all into one movie might actually make him a good contender to do a worthy Death and/or Morpheus/Sandman movie. His visual sensibility is very poetic and I could see Dave McKeans visuals sliding quite nicely into Del Toro’s methodology.

And finally, there was a nearby eatery which had recently opened, and the Wife and I have been dutifully ignoring it until tonight. It’s a “steamboat” restaurant, which, if you’re not Chinese, means that every table has a small gas stove sitting on it. When you sit down to eat, they give you a big pot of chicken stock and turn on the stove so that the chicken stock can simmer. You order assorted meats and vegetables and then toss them in when the stock approaches boiling and thus, just keep adding to the soup and heaping more into your bowl as you see fit. Simple, filling and decent tasting. Also likely the first and last time we will ever eat this place.

And now, after all this pedestrian blogging, I’m going to be even more boring and scamper off to watch My Neighbor Totoro again. It’s been years…

The Tourist & Geeky Goodbyes

It cost me 30 Singapore dollars to become a tourist.

After going to the Ministry of Manpower aka, MOM, I got in line behind 200 other people who all decided that they needed so kind of Foreigner Love on Friday afternoon. It took a while, and many runs through the various futuristic race courses of Wipeout Pure on the PSP, but I finally did it. After the horrendously ridiculous bureaucratic storm that has dogged the attempt to renew the Employment Pass so I could stay legal until January, I went in with the official notice from my “employer” saying I’d been fired and they cancelled the renewal. I had to pay the administrative fee for cancelling the renewal, but it’s now official; I am a tourist.

Then I went off to the home of one of my older friends on the island and we had one last dinner and geek out with Gears Of War along with the usual talking about the years we’ve spent as gaming losers, the good ol’ days, etcetera ad nauseum. It was good. I’m gonna’ miss the big lug. As well as those guilty hours being Huge Nerds when saner, more people were worried about their golf scores, or how the chick at the other end of bar perceived their flirtations. It’s little things like hanging out with friends like him that made Singapore a slightly less intolerable experience.

Oh My God, I’m Worthless

Despite the fact that I didn’t actually do much except watch, point and occasionally sign documents, after seeing the movers cart off the bulk of Our Crap, I am tired. I am also, as promised , typing away this blog entry on the somewhat crippled laptop (crippled, as in the battery doesn’t work, so it only operates when actually plugged into a socket) because my computer is now on its way to some warehouse where it will sit until such time as the boat comes in and its loaded up for a trip to India and Africa, then across the Atlantic. At least that’s my theory.

In practical terms what this now means is I have no value as a human being (or at least a very minimal one) since we all know that a person’s true worth is defined by their material possessions and has nothing to do with their character or achievements.

There are still a few things left sitting around. Although Guitar Hero is now gone–and anticipate 48 more hours of lucidity until withdrawal hits and I get the shakes. Bad.–a few Playstation 2 games remain to kill some time with. I’ll be bringing the PS2 with me along a few other assorted items.

So the next six or so days are going to be filled with little in the way of enterainment except for that which I can make myself. Mr. Rogers would be proud…

Last Night Of Rock

In anticipation of The Move (with the majority of the stuff being shipped off on a slow boat to Canada tomorrow afternoon), I brought the ol’ plastic Gee-Tar down to the GameAxis office for one last night of Rockin’ With The Boys. As usual there was much fun to be had, and I’m going to miss those guys.

I’m also going to miss this computer. After tomorrow, I’m going to be making all my blog entries for the next month or so from the somewhat crippled laptop. With any luck the computer–still functional, I hope–will arrive in Canada in February along with the Rest Of The Crap that the movers will be shipping off.

Speaking of which, I still have a few odds and ends to itemize…

Not A Cartoon Character

Instead, The Wife started wondering whether or not them crazy female devils ever decided to take up new and interesting hobbies. Like bodybuilding and professional wrestling. Y’know, wholesome stuff like that…

Also, after tabulating all the “funny books” I have now arrived at the grand total of us having approximately 160 graphic novels between us, most of it English, some purely in Japanese for art reference. Of those, there are two separate copies of the entire Sandman run, one in trade, which is mine, and one in hardcover, which is hers. Am now tabulating DVDs, and just. Doesn’t. End. So far, the only noticeable casualty of borrowing seems to be our copy of Triumph The Insult Dog, which was loaned to someone and for the life of me I can’t remember who it was anymore. Oh well…

Also, in retrospect, it was naive in the extreme to believe we had less than $3000 worth of stuff… So much for cheap insurance…

The Boring Way

And how do you ring in 2007 when one part of the couple is a talented neurotic artist and the other is a snarky, overly verbose writer, both about to start on a new chapter in life together?

You make lots of coffee and itemize your books, CDs, DVDs, comics and games on Microsoft Excel so that the movers will have a complete list of insurable items when they come to take your stuff away (and hopefully not lose or break any of the stuff) on the 4th of January.

Gee willikers, we’re excitin’ folks, yeah?