82 - Clubbing in Singapore.

Wow, it's been eleven days since I last blogged. I think I'm going to use my day off today to prepare some more blog posts to be published throughout next week. I've been really thoughtful lately, but just hate that I haven't expressed those thoughts on Blogger.

So, since I last spoke to you all, I was heading off to Singapore. My mother wanted to see an Air Supply concert, and she had correctly assumed that I would be the only one who would agree to go with her all that way just to see a show. Singapore was, to me, a good place to visit. They had nice food, and a beautiful combination of sand and sea called Santosa beach. It seemed like a very pleasant place to live. And everywhere, I could see people who enjoyed living there, the expression on their faces revealing a feeling a lot like mine in how I love residing in Hong Kong.

We were only there for four days and three nights, and my mother and I had both taken three days off work just to be there. On the first night, my mother permitted me to go out clubbing and bar-hopping. The nightlife in Singapore was fantastic. It's a place called Clarke Quay, and it consists of a whole line of restaurants, bars, clubs and pubs, that line the banks of a river. It seemed a lot cleaner than Hong Kong's partying districts, and a lot less crowded, even though there was still a lot of people.

After scouting the area for an hour or so, asking various bouncers for the entrance fees and the availability of an open bar, I routinely bought some breath mints from 7-11, and paid twenty Singaporean dollars to enter a nightclub called Zirca. It was quiet at around 9pm, but I waited 'til the party started, as it usually does on a Thursday night. Three young-looking people seated a table seemed sociable and welcoming, so I joined them. We ended up dancing to pretty much the same boring tunes they play in Hong Kong. Singaporeans certainly have a lot of energy on the dancefloor, but by 2am, I just couldn't keep up with them, I wasn't feeling up for it, the alcohol started making me miss home, and so I went back to the place where my mother and I were staying in.

When I got home, my mother bade me go to the bedroom. I went, and as soon as I stepped in, she gave me a big, heartful hug, and said in Chinese, "You worried me to death!"

My mother has a keener interest in health and safety than I do. She always hears stories of the malicious things people do in different places. There are innocent, Indonesian girls that get raped in the middle of the night when they're alone. There are love interests who you think you can trust, who may tell you they have nothing wrong with them, but in actual fact, have a sexually transmitted disease like AIDS. And then there are young guys like me, thirsty for alcohol, who might get served a drink that contains some sort of sedative, so that the strangers behind the bar may carry me off into a world of crime, and teach me how to deal drugs illegally (and God knows what else), and transform me into a monster that will also, sneakily and heavily, sedate other young boys for generations to come, to keep the future of drug trade alive.

While I was having fun in Singapore's clubbing district, my mother was alone, creating an untrue image, of which I will never know the exact nature of, in her mind, of what might have happened to me, in the most unfortunate sense. I actually regretted going out that night, and I did not go out for the next two nights we were there, because of what transpired on the first night. I felt sorry to her, for worrying her. It's understandable because she hardly approves of me going out at all, even here in Hong Kong. She doesn't know that Singaporeans are friendlier than Hongkongers. She has no idea that Singapore and Hong Kong have two of the lowest crime rates in the world, Singapore's being even less than Hong Kong's. And, she doesn't know just how often I go out.

It's logical for her to worry, with what she doesn't know.

I have no doubt that I will return to Singapore some day, to properly experience the nightlife there without anybody worrying me. I guess when you go on holiday with your mother to a foreign country, some things will never change and you still can't go out drinking, whether you're finally 18 years old or not, because it worries her. It always will.

81 - My first job.

Today, I tried bartending at a local restaurant/bar. It was actually quite awesome, and there's still a lot I have to learn. If I continue to work hard, though, I earn 7000 Hong Kong dollars a month. That's roughly 583 pounds, or 903 American dollars, per month. Pretty damn good for a first job, eh?

I learned how to hold the glasses, how to wash the glasses, how to make distinctions between the different glasses, how to polish the glasses, how to dry the glasses, how to shelve the glasses and how to position the glasses, how to pour beer properly to get the right amount of head, what to do when you accidentally have too much or too little foam, where the extra beer kegs are kept, and how to change them, how to garnish a Coke, or a cranberry juice, or a fruit punch, how to make a proper iced lemon tea, how to clean the bar, etc...

I was lucky in how I got the job. I was just going from bar to club, from pub to restaurant, asking each manager if there were any summer jobs available. I stumbled into one yesterday, after entering over fifty other places, and the manager at this one let me try out today.

It was actually a lot of fun, a lot more fun than I expected. I thought I would spill something on a customer, or break a glass, but nothing of the like happened. It was actually sort of abnormal, how perfect the five hours went by today. I am totally going to work my butt off to keep this job and be a good bartender.

Bartending is something I've always wanted to do. I just turned 18 (the legal age to enter an alcohol-serving facility in Hong Kong), so this fact in itself is, again, just too perfect. This also means that finding a part-time bartending job in the UK will be easier this fall, now that I'll have the ongoing experience behind me.

As I'm counting down slowly 'til the end of my summer, with this job, and my mother, and my father, and my close friends, I have everything I need before I head to uni. Life is damn good.

(Oh, and I'm going to Singapore from Thursday to Monday. My mom wants to see an Air Supply concert real badly.)

70 - Ever kissed a stranger?

I've done this quite a few times in my life, and by golly, it's weird, exciting and nerve-racking all at the same time. It's even more distressing when it's in public, when you're not actually single (tsk tsk), when it's a member of the same sex, when you have to go to school the next day and face that person, when your mother sees you doing this, when you didn't actually know the person you were kissing wasn't that good-looking...

That didn't all happen last Friday night, but you get the picture - you can regret a spontaneous make-out session with a stranger. And I'm feeling that regret right now. I mean, when I woke up on Saturday morning, I could not believe what I had done.

Ah, well. It's all sorts of horrible now, but I'll be laughing about it soon enough. But for now, in my mind, I'm thinking... really, truly, SERIOUSLY, I'm not going to drink for a while, not until the 20th or so of May, when my examinations have passed. I do not need to be getting drunk and doing crazy stuff at this point.

Kissing a stranger... what were you thinking, Mike?...

56 - Ten Things I Love With The Letter "B".

HektikLyfe, creator of The Silent Podium and Now On Video, has tagged me in a little meme that's similar to my Alphabet Meme before, but this time, it has to begin with B, and it has to be ten things that I love.

I'm assuming we're meant to stray away from anything sexual, or anything that can be suggestive of erogenous zones. It's hard for me, the teenager, but okay, okay. Here's what I came up with:

Bones - The television show, Bones, gave me a fascination with bones and first inspired me to be a forensic science anthropologist. I love learning the names of bones, the etymologies of these names, the structures and the characteristics of different bones and joints, and learning about the way they form, and the ways they can break, and how disorders and fractures can be fixed.

Bowling - I love to bowl, but I haven't been in a couple of years. I really love it because it's in an air-conditioned room, it's fun for the family or your friends, and well, I'm damn good at it.

Beaches - Beaches are my happy places. I can lay on the beach in the rain or sun, at night or in the daytime, summer, fall and spring. (It really is too cold for me in the winter, though.) I actually like sand all over me, seawater in my eyes, hair and ears, and having my skin all sunburnt and peeling.

Bars - Bars and clubs are places that I'm quite familiar with, although I don't go out as much as I want to, mainly because I can't afford to. I'm happy that I've experienced it a fair bit more than my fair share though. I like music that makes you get up and dance. I like dressing up for the night out. And, of course, the drinks don't cause anybody any harm. (Well, yes, they do.)

Broccoli - My favorite vegetable. As a child, I used to pretend I was a giant, and that I was eating trees.

Bananas - One of my favorite fruits. Bananas are unique in that no other fruits are similar to them. Apples are like pairs. Oranges are like grapefruits. Strawberries are also like that, a very weird fruit.

Blindness - This is a book by José Saramago. I think it's a very good book and the movie didn't do it justice. Everyone: purchase this book and read it.

Bicycles - Cycling is like bowling. It's lazy, you just sit back and move your legs. It's easy, it's for the family and the friends, and 'm a natural.

Breakfast - My favorite meal because food for breakfast tends to be tasty and energizing.

Blogs - I can't believe nobody else tagged to do this didn't mention blogging. I think blogs are a wonderful medium for socializing and it's become a big part of my life right now. I love it.

I'm not going to tag anyone, but for sure, tell me if you're going to steal this, I'd love to check it out. :)