Let it not be said that I only have negative things to say about work: after a meeting at the MOE yesterday we got an unofficial, self-declared half-day off, which was blessed relief after the three excruciating hours listening to the non-sequiturs of the MOE Director of Personnel. Went to Ghim Moh with two colleagues while considering how to commence the afternoon's gadding and mindlessly ordered hor fun which I had to pick all the chicken bits out of because it was Friday. Chatted, variously, about the state of the economy, Hendon Camp, good Italian restaurants in Singapore, Justea and expatriate teachers in junior college. The last made me feel like popping into RJC, what with it being around the corner at all, but decided not to because the last time I went the only teachers I saw were KLee and Evans, who apparently doesn't even remember me any more.

So I hopped on the MRT aimlessly, and it was about then that Von rescued me by replying to one of the many messages that I had sent to friends all around the universe saying that he was in Alexandra. Ah, I thought, the hated hospital, got off the train as it conveniently passed Redhill, got on the 33, landed up outside AH...when Von called me to say that he was heading towards Ghim Moh in a cab. By then, of course, it was threatening to pour, so Vaughn dropped off a friend, got in a different cab, and we ended up in Borders slightly damp and out about $15 between us.

(It turned out that Von was not in AH in any case, he was in Anchorpoint. Assumption is the mother etc.)

Anyway, I announced that I needed to buy ties and long-sleeved shirts for my interview next Monday (yes! I got it!) so we trotted off to Isetan and scared the salesgirl a little and Von said that it was better to do tailored shirts than buy $130 Alain Delons and also said a lot of things about cufflinks and such which I didn't understand. So we abandoned the department stores and headed for Far East Plaza where I picked a tailor shop sort of at random (well...not entirely at random...the reason I headed straight for the place I did was because I've had something made there before, once upon a very long time ago). Spent an unholy amount of time looking at fabrics and designs, Von giving me none-too-subtle instruction about which I should choose (only geriatrics wear silk! windowpanes are cool! pick collar A!), and after being slightly ripped off by the tailor (the price of one of the fabrics increased mysteriously from $65 to $70 in the space of a few breaths), I emerged with a chit receipt thing for two shirts - one white, one blue with little textured embossed squares, very subtle - which I will collect on Monday after work and before bridge.

After that was ties from Tangs, one mandarin with a black lattice pattern and the other deep crimson, and then in search of coffee because Von was "shopped out" (and pointing out all the silliest clothes to me - an undersized Celtics top and what can only be described as a diaphanous, sleeveless, $100 monostrosity). We lighted in Orchard Galilee, recapped Minz's free-main-course-redemption woes, got shushed by a very ugly man, had cappuccino (correctly spelled) and cheesecake, and talked, as always, about the horridly uncertain future.


Von says that he might start a blog, so people who know him please leave encouraging comments and such. It will, however, be very strange, and involve symbols that you must click on in a certain order before you can access entries, so don't ever expect to read anything off it. (Not to mention that fact that he says that nothing interesting ever happens to him, which is so patently untrue that it is eurtnu).