dwayne blogged

To get to Spokane I had to transit at the Tacoma International Airport in Seattle. The huge mall experience at Pacific Marketplace was excellent and indeed improved my spirits. There was even a cafe with free wireless internet with any purchase. I had an excellent Red Tea Smoothie there. What’s with all the different coloured tea now? And when I got to Spokane, I saw a house in two parts on the road! Literally… moving house!

I wanted to get my friend a nice house gift for letting me store my stuff at his place and staying there, so I actually used bits of my old desktop and constructed him a semi-new computer for just US$200! All it takes sometimes, is putting your hands where you never dared to. I’m so proud of myself. Heh. Look what Daniel got? His own desktop! We went to celebrate with one of my more favoured food now… gumbo!!

I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but the US & Singapore have become both my homes. It’s impossible to be in two different places at a time. But in some strange ironic way, I am getting the best of both worlds. Here’s some interesting product trivia. Chunky Soup is hardly available in Singapore anymore. Meanwhile, check out the newish Fully Loaded ones in the US ! Then, there’s Clorets breath mints (in Singapore) versus Clorets gum (in US). Gum is banned in Singapore, but I don’t see the breath mints anywhere in the US. I end up hording products that I can’t get in either country between them both.

If I had a "whaddya do?" smiley, I would put it right here.      

I saw a great run of the next show, Ain’t Misbehavin’, at Merry-Go-Round Playhouse before I left Auburn. Now that I’ve left Auburn, I’m starting to remember it fondly. The Thoroughly Modern Millie cast hosted a fashion show where we designed and modelled our own clothes. Mine was made from only white cloth and toilet paper! As I promised on my MySpace blog, here are the pictures.

From left to right, pictures with the cast. 1) Bethany Moore (who plays Miss Dorothy whom Ching Ho, me, falls in love with). 2) Joy Lynn Matthews (who plays Muzzy. She also originated one of the 4 women roles in Menopause, the musical). 3) Chris Shin and Megan Thomas (who play Bun Foo, my brother and Mrs Meers, my boss). I miss the show ALL you guys! Best wishes to everyone for the future.

Andrea and I visited the Agriculture Farm just opposite the Playhouse (theater). We learnt of the farmers’ way of life back then and also got to study the tools and machinery they used for farming. A very insightful experience. In the early days of technology, farming machinery was apparently often "consulted" when developers were stumped.

Megan drove us to Skaneateles for lunch and a bit of sight seeing. The lovely view is from the back window of a clothing store owned by our very own director/producer’s sister. The store happened to be selling a line of clothing designed by a Singaporean! Small world! (The latest entry on my MySpace blog talks of more of such discoveries).

Cast members have been very generous about their cars. Andy drove a bunch of us down to the Treman State Park in Ithaca. We took a hike around the gorge, by the waterfalls, through the trees amongst nature (the two other boys got stung by bees) and now have many pictures to remember the lovely afternoon by. It’s not that uneventful in these parts after all!

August 9th, 1965 was the day Singapore became an independant country. I am writing this minutes after trying to watch Singapore’s National Day Parade online at 7am in the morning here in New York. Frustrating. Skip ahead. It is 7:45am. After trying unsuccessfully at http://www.ndp.org.sg/, http://ndp.mediacorp.com.sg/livestream.php and http://www.tvunetworks.com/NDP/NDP_webplayer.html, I finally get feed from the latter. Well worth it! The parade looks better than before! I don’t just happen to wake up this early every day. It is meant to be.

I am getting a little teary watching my performer friends back home singing! Sebastien, Nuris, Asha, Gani!! It’s a great song too (no cheesy lyrics), backed by a chorus and ending in fireworks and another song sung by Kit Chan. Voices and people I know from home makes it all the more special. I am definitely looking forward to returning home this September. Happy 42nd birthday Singapore!!

I really don’t think it’s because there’s not much to do in Auburn that I have fallen in love with Wegmans as a supermarket. If you want, feel free to dispute this. After all, I have… "not much to do". The first thing I noticed was their deli. I grabbed a wonderful peach smoothie for only $2.75! And they have a good variety of salads, wraps and sandwiches freshly made everyday. Then, I discovered the trail mix section. Tons to choose from to make your very own bag of trail mix. Wegmans is also environmentally friend. They sell sturdy grocery bags for only 99 cents to encourage cut-downs on plastic and paper bags.

Even more exciting, is the fact that Wegmans has their own products. Their Berry Granola Crunch piled atop plain vanilla yoghurt is what I have for breakfast every morning. Their stuffed pasta selection is also pretty cool. It’s a bit of a toss up now which chain I prefer. Wegmans or Trader Joe’s?