A Day & Night in Singapore

I sit here, in a dark room ingesting inconceivable quantities of chocolate milk, 1 litre, 2 litre, 3 litre, 4. All the while pondering what to do with my time. I sit here calm, not panicking despite the fact my paypal account is limited and I haven’t done SQUAT since arriving in Singapore despite having more than ample time to do so.

Typically, in the past, when stuff didn’t go my way, I’d freak out and play the “why me, I’m so unlucky card”. Now, I realize at any given moment a multitude of people are getting screwed in a million different ways. “C’est la vie” as the French would say.

Back to yesterday.

Met some friends at Raffles City Mall, proceeded to visit the financial district and the sight of the new monster casino they are building. Whenever I look at casinos I laugh, then when people tell me how they plan on winning big, I laugh even harder. Look how lavish and luxurious these buildings are. Also remember they are built with “losers” money and the shattered hopes, dreams and financial statements of the many fools thinking “they will be the lucky one”. Mind you, there are “the lucky ones” but most get totally destroyed then go eat a low budget meal and feel bad for themselves, why take the risk anyways?

I digress.

After the the business district we strolled through China Town and I bought the most disgusting meal I’ve had in my entire stay in Asia. It was this beef noodle thing but the beef was boiled and 78.93% fat or more on each “chunk”. These Singaporean guys sat with us and were laughing saying in these places, if you buy beef, go to someone who specializes in beef or forget it, they agreed our meal look disturbed and arguably diseased. As a result I left most of the meat, I wish I could tell you I didn’t eat some but I did, it was horrible. The other guy I was with bought the same meal and wouldn’t even touch it.

Shortly after, having decided to quit smoking as a result of the last “thoughts” update, I bought 3 pairs of silk boxers. Spending $11.10 a day on smokes in Singapore is sinful. It’s crazy how you could change your silk  boxers 3 times a day and you’d still be spending less then on cigarettes and you wouldn’t be killing yourself, mind boggling really.

I’m not going to repeat things, just check out this video blog update from yesterday for what happened during the day. I had grandiose plans of returning home, changing into “evening attire” but those never developed and found myself out in the club district in beach like attire.

The alumni party was good, met lots of old friends for the first time. One guy worked for Dow Jones, so we chatted about stocks while downing ale. He had an interesting perspective and the more I chat with brokers, guys who design software for hedge funds, analysts etc… I’m realizing more and more that most / much of the volume on all major indexes is just robots moving massive amounts of coin based on technical algorithms. That’s why “Ronnie the Retail Investor” usually gets left holding the bag, they see a massive say volume spike and think it’s accumulating, no it’s just a 36-72 wheel semi truck in the market buying on a program and then selling a  for a 1% or .5% gain say a minute later or even less.

They  move such big orders that in that ~30 seconds of exposure they often turn a profit larger than many households earn in a lifetime. Crazy, yes? Knowledge is power and when you’re driving on the same high way as these 18, 36 and 1341530 wheelers on a tiny peddle powered moped, you must be aware or pay the consequences. Also, everyone seems to want to buy stocks after they have been going up for a while, yet no one wants to buy them after they have been going down for a while… Interesting how the herd thinks, yes?

The drinks were $7S for 2 which is an absolutely ludicrous deal for Singapore. Met a lot of cool people then crashed a KPMG party. Was chatting with some ladies when the announcer singled them out to come on stage effectively “blowing our cover”. We continued to hang out and mingle until this one guy was on to us, so we left. If I had been there in custom made cashmere suits like the rest, probably would of gone undetected really but instead I was in flip flops and cargo shots.

After the alumni function I was ready for bed, but that never happened. We hit up “Le Noir” which enforces a dress code of pants and dress shoes or something to that effect. The bouncer said no way to me and I as cool with that and as I mentioned, ready to go home. Shortly after this lady from Malaysia comes out and I start chatting with her and suddenly my “shorts and flip flops are “ok”. H3ll I even had a shopping bag with boxers in it and a 1L bottle of water, the oddest “night club attire” I’ve ever had. Turns out it has nothing to do with the lady from Malaysia, my friend is an “acquaintance” with the manger who is also the manger of Attica. I will note this, when you go into a swankish (sic) club dressed like a bum, suddenly women are more interested in you, primarily because they are wondering “who is this guy if he can get in dressed like that…”

Go into this club and mingle and meet a friendly and diverse international crowd. ok, there wasn’t really any mingling this wasn’t a cocktail party, it was a dance club and that’s what we did.  Had we left at 1-2 am, that probably would of been fine but found ourselves at MacDonald’s buying over-priced low quality garbage at ~4AM.

Singapore does have a diverse nightlife and it’s good fun. It’s funny though how you can buy a cheap ticket out of Singapore and save ~$100 but then go out and suddenly it cancels out. Flip side is if you were going to spend X amount, a flight and night out is more value for your buck then say, just a flight out, yes?

It’s pouring here and I’m sweating in Singapore with a fan, that’s alright though. Spoke home and my friends / family are scraping ice off their sedans and getting ready for a deep freeze. Being “away from it all” makes me wonder why I or anyone else for that matter ever put up with that in the first place. Snow is great fun, in the mountains but when it’s in the city streets… Why not move somewhere more accommodating?

Today, I have done nothing except go to the store to buy beverages and some Indian place for eats. When you have been traveling for a while and plan on traveling much longer, a week or so in certain places just “relaxing” does a world of good and is often just what’s needed.

I will note that wearing flip flops in the rain is hazardous, they become very slick and ~3 times yesterday I almost seriously eat it, with a “wow that was close sentiment”, none worse then after checking out the Chinese temple above. Almost totally twisted my knees. When you are traveling, if you can’t walk, you’re screwed. On the topic of the statue below, I’m not sure if he’s welcoming or telling you to get lost, mixed messages I believe.

Good day,