Getting my geek on!

With Nick away playing golf on segways and drinking from dawn ‘til, well, dawn the next day, and then on again, I decided a while ago that I ought to fill my weekend to the brim to keep me super busy, and to make the most of the free time. When I heard that there was going to be a TEDx Singapore event, then I signed myself up immediately.

            TED talks are one of the podcasts that I take with me to the gym, so the idea of seeing some live, Singapore specific sessions sounded like a great idea, and it really was. Plus, the event ran from Friday lunch through until Saturday evening, so it was a great way for me to pass the time without becoming temped by the booze and food filled plans that everyone else seemed to have lined up.

During the day and a half there were some really great talks. They covered off everything from the sustainability of the seafood that they eat obsessively here in Singapore, to presentations from city planners explaining how they build the new towns in Singapore, and how they are begin to invest to make them smarter, better and more efficient. The opening segment was a 12 year old reading a book that he wrote with his dad on Singapore being a weird middle ground between the West and the East. The founder of Lonely Planet guides spoke and explained how their very first book was the story of their road trip from London all the way down to Singapore.  

            There were a couple of slightly less impressive speakers, but for the most part it was a really great event, and one that I would certainly encourage people to go to if they come back into town again!

Cirque du Soleil!

When Nick was back in the UK without me earlier in the year, tickets for Cirque do Soleil went on sale, and in what I can only assume was a knee-jerk ‘I ought to be out and having fun too’ reaction, I bough two tickets in the most ridiculously expensive section of the big top seating.            

            Thankfully, we are now doing our best to be sober whenever possible, so what better way (other than slobbing on the sofa) to pass a sober Friday night than with a carb-free dinner and an amazing view of the Cirque du Soleil spectacular!

            I have been to a couple of Cirque performances in the past, as has Nick, so whilst we knew what to expect, we were blown away with just how impressive the full set up and show is. Everything from the costumes to the set design is impressive. Then add to that acrobats and strongmen with the occasional clown appearance and it really did make for a very special (and yet well behaved) Friday night!

Hitman, a complete miss!

There has been quite a bit of noise in Singapore recently about a new film called Hitman 47. Based on a graphic novel, the most exciting thing about this specific film is that around a third of it was filmed in Singapore (not something that happens over here all that often) and so the locals have been getting ridiculous excited about seeing their city on the big screen.

            Joining in with the fun, Nick and I went to see what all the fuss was about last night, hoping that even if the film wasn’t that amazing, at least there would be a bit of interest in seeing some of the famous Singapore landmarks.

            Sadly, it was really nothing but a disappointment. The film was utterly rubbish – the script was weak, the acting was poor, even the visual effects were pretty lame. I might be being more negative than necessary purely because I was a little bit sleepy and not really feeling it, but Nick agreed that it was around a 1.5 / 10 on the ratings scale. What a disappointment.

            Still, I got some popcorn, so that helped brighten the experience ever so slightly! 

Jurassic World

I have been ridiculously excited about going to see the new Jurassic World film for way, way too long! I have never really been very excited about the cinema, and in London the idea of spending an evening watching a film in a dark room is just about as unappealing as it gets. However, thanks to the amazingly set up cinemas out here that are an easy walking distance from our house, and that come complete with your own duvet and fully reclining chairs, it’s a lot easier to get enthusiastic about a night “at the movies”.

            Add to that the excitement of dinosaurs, Chris Pratt and tickets for the opening night, and you have a recipe for success on your hands!

            We booked four tickets so that we could force Kev and Jules to come along with us, and having fed them lasagne and salad for dinner (veggie, low-naughty lasagne for the girls), it was go time, and it was amazing!

            I don’t want to give the story away, but it was pretty much 100% what you would expect. Jurassic Park has finally opened to the public, and the dinosaurs being treated as you would find animals in the zoo, performing tricks for sweets, being set up in specific enclosures to show them off to the public, and even being ridden and played with in the petting zoo. Sure, it all goes a little bit wrong later in the film, but for the first ten minutes, there is nowhere that I would love to be more than in the midst of Jurassic World!

Saturday birthday treats

I made Nick come with me to the ballet last Christmas, because Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake was touring, and I thought it might be a good introduction to the ballet, being a bit more modern and expressive in terms of the story telling. I was wrong, Nick not only didn’t really understand it, but the bits that he did understand, he didn’t like. I assumed that this was a sign that we had tried out the ballet, and we had decided that we didn’t need to go again. Ballet trips would be things that I do with my mamu and my friends, but not my Nick.

Enjoying the ballet in my new birthday top!

You can imagine my surprise when one of my birthday boxes ended up containing tickets to the St Petersburg Ballet’s version of Swan Lake this Saturday! He might not like the ballet, but he does apparently like me quite a bit, so Saturday was set aside as a day to take another shot at ballet appreciation.

As another day off our healthy eating plan, we decided to sandwich the ballet performance between two incredible meals – pizza for lunch (mmm, carbs!) and afternoon tea for dinner. The treats certainly helped power Nick through to the end of the performance, but I think it’s fair to say that this was the most expensive nap that Nick had ever willingly paid for.

That said, from the 10 minutes or so that he stayed awake for, Nick announced that the traditional ballet is much more up his street. He’s said it now – tickets will be booked for more performance as soon as I hear that they are coming to town!