So . . . this job is great. I didn't realize how serious my project was untill I attended the first team meeting today. It was SO corporate. Out of the 10 people on the project team, 9 are SVPs. And then there's me . . . As we sat around the table in the super-high-tech conference room people dialed in from Sydney, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. I sat back in my ergonomically-designed, lumbar-supportive, fully-ventilated rolling chair with a casual smile. "I am officially a international business man" I thougt to myself with a smile. But not a big smile, I had to play it cool, couldn't let it show that I was UBER excited. I am having a blast. The meeting was amazing, I have never worked on a team with such sharp minds before. Even my BEST project team at Statler High doesn't begin to come close to these folks. That's about all I can tell you. I had to sign a NDA promissing not to tell anyone about the details of my project. It is TOP secret. I thought that was pretty cool.

Anyway, long story short . . . work is great. I got my business cards today:

"Michael D. Blanding - Brand Marketing Executive."

Tell me that's not cool?! Praise God for that.

So after work, Andrea and I met up with some friends and we went out for Sushi. This kid named Joe came with us too. Joe knows everyone and everyone knows Joe. I knew he was kind of a big deal when we walked into the Sushi bar and all of the staff knew him by name. I readily gathered that Joe was a good person to know in this part of the world.

So after sushi, we all went out to this Jazz bar called "Actors." Aparenly it's a jam bar where all the musicians go to perform. Nothing structured. You basically just get up on stage when you're feelin the groove. Anybody can perform. I made the mistake of telling this American guy Ken that I'm a singer. As soon as the sentence "yah, I sing" escaped my lips I knew I was going to regret it. For the next hour people were trying to pressure me to get up on stage and do a little "somethin-somethin." I told them no, but inside I really wanted to. Haha, yah I guess I’m one of those types. But how could I get up there and sing? Seriousely? I was in a smokey bar full of people I didn’t know. And worst of all, EVERYONE in the audience was a musician. A talented musician. (Musicians are the most critical bunch of people to sing in front of. They’re simply unforgiving.) I thought about having a few drinks to loosen up, but I really don't like the taste of alcohol. Plus I was worried that I might sound even worse if I were drunk.

After an hour and a half of my friends nagging me to go up there, I finally mustered up the courage to do it. I grabbed the mic and leaned over to ask the piano player if he knew the Jazz classic “Summertime.” He did. I looked so out of place. I hadn’t had a chance to change after leaving the office so I was wearing kaki pants and a tucked-in navy blue polo shirt. I turned to the crowd “Everybody feelin alright tonight?” I asked. People clapped and hooted. “Y’all mind if I slow it down and smooth it out right quick?” again, clapping and cheering. (Who was that? I wondered to myself. Did I just say that?) The next 6 minutes were a total out of body experience. I had the band start the song slow, and then picked it up in the middle. I was seriousely working the crowd. People at the bar who hadn't been paying attention all night turned around, folks were even coming in from the balcony to see who was singing. I'm usually not one to brag, but maaaannnn . . . I tore it up. I ended the song by having all the musicians solo one by one. The applause was crazy, I was on a high. For the rest of the night people kept telling me how well I sang. Not gonna lie, it felt really good. I guess everybody needs a bit of that ego boosting every now and then.

Just out of Reach . . .

Today was house hunting day. Yah, yah, I know, it’s a work day . . . well I may or may not have snuck out for a two-hour “lunch break.” And this “lunch break” may or may not have taken place after my ACTUAL one-hour lunch break. But seriousely? How can I be expected to do good work for this company unless I have the peace of mind that comes with knowing that I have a roof over my head at the end of the day? So really, I would argue that my house hunting excursion of sorts, was very much work related. It’s funny how bold we employees get when the big boss is out of town.

I don’t think I will ever be able to get over how much Singaporeans LOVE to text message. And y’all thought I was bad? I was shocked when my Realtor text me before even calling/emailing me. My boss sends me text messages regularly requesting updates while she is in Shanghai. People here even get their cell phones linked to their bank accounts so that they can transfer payments via text message. It’s pure insanity. According to the Guinness book of world records, the citizens of Singapore have the fastest average texting speed of any country in the world. WOW! My question is . . . who cared enough to measure that nonsense?

Anyway, what was I talking about? Oh yah . . . HOUSE HUNTING. So I skipped out from work at 1:30pm with my colleague Andrea, and my realtor picked us up to view two apartments. The first one was GORGEOUS! It was brand new, fully furnished with hardwood floors and oak furniture. It was HUGE too. Everything about it was perfect. It even smelled great. The apartment had fantastic facilities: three tennis courts, squash courts, a huge fitness center and an enormous swimming pool surrounded by palm trees and flowers. It looked like a resort. There were waterfalls pouring into the swimming pool, there was even a waterslide and playground for kids (in the pool! You hear me? A playground IN the pool) It made me wish I was 7 yrs old again. There was a rock climbing wall, a Balinese garden, and a fish pond. And get this; the gym was in a glass-encased room BEHIND a waterfall. Anyway, there was a concierge desk and everything. The only problem was that the apartment was a TINY bit out of my price range, a reality was REALLY painful for me. I think I had fallen in love. Sigh . . . I was really glad to have Andrea there cuz she knew all the right questions to ask. Without her I woulda been up a creek without a paddle. Pardom my use of cheesy expressions. She also brought me back down to earth when she explained to me that spending 2/3 of my salary on apartment rental is simply NOT WISE.

Anyway, the second place that we looked at was GARBAGE compared with the first. It was dark and dingy and had a view of a parking garage. Gross. I set one foot in the door and gave my realtor the “absolutely not” look. This is a look which I have mastered after three years of hanging out with Crystal Thomas. We hopped back in the cab and went back to the office. The cab driver on the way back was HILLARIOUS! Like, ABSOLUTELY HYSTERICAL. My Singlish is VERY GOOD for an Ang-mo (translation: caucasian) but this guy’s accent was SO ridiculously thick even I couldn’t understand half of what he was saying. He was laughing, and talking and telling jokes. It didn’t seem to bother him that Andrea and I couldn’t understand the punch lines well enough to know when to laugh. We tried to humor him the best we could. The most noteworthy among his comedy repertoire was a joke something along the lines of “Wai dos arfabett last time got 26 retter, now got 24 retter? Becos E & T phone home!” As soon as we stepped out of the cab the two of us BURST into laughter that we had been suppressing the whole cab ride. Andrea doubled over and nearly laid down in the street. I was laughing so hard I walked into a parking meter. Ouch.

Back at the office the day finished up pretty well. After hours of conference calls and back-and-forth price negotiations with our web design agency, we finally got our Holiday Inn promo website launched. Check it out and vote! http://www.hi-everydayhero.com/. Actually, even better, submit your story and enter the contest. Maybe you can use the prize to come visit me in Singapore.

Walao Man!

About the title: "Walao" is an exclamation commonly used in Singapore to express shock, amazement, surprise, or frustration.


Today was NOT my day. I knew that from the moment I woke up. I showered, got ready for work, and headed out the door and toward the bus stop. After waiting for the bus for a few minutes I realized that I had left my wallet in my hotel room safe. YIKES! No wallet means no bus pass.

I walked back to my hotel and went up to my 17th floor suite only to realize that the room key I needed was ALSO in my wallet in the locked safe. Just my luck! I headed back down to the front desk to get a new key made only to realize that I needed proof of my identity (i.e. my drivers lisence, which was OF COURSE . . . in my wallet, in the safe.) Anybody starting to see a pattern developing here? The front desk clerk gave me a quick quiz on my personal info to vertify that I was indeed who I claimed to be, and made me another key. I ran back up to my room, got my wallet and just as I was heading out the door for the 2nd time, my room phone rang. AAAAAAHHHHH! At this point I was late for work (only my 2nd day . . . not a good look.) I picked up the phone, only to find it was my mom, perky as ever. You know when you are in a bad mood and all of a sudden you come into contact with someone who is ENTIRELY too happy? It just makes you madder.

Anyway, to save time, I called my parents back on my cell phone to talk while I was walking back to the bus stop. As soon as I set foot out of the hotel front door I saw the bus coming down the block. I sprinted across eight lanes of moving traffic and flagged down the bus driver, who had already begun to drive away from the stop. It was SUPER embarrassing cuz everybody on the bus had already seen me stupidly running through traffic balancing a laptop, a cup of coffee, a cell phone, and the morning newspaper. Not to mention the fact that I am ALWAYS the only 6’2” white kid on the bus. My existence in this country is kind of like the proverbial pink elephant in the room I guess.

If things weren’t already bad enough, after 10 minutes of phone conversation, I realized that I was on the wrong bus. Yes, I had gotten on the 64 bus thinking that it was the 51 bus. (I guess I DO need to wear my glasses more often.) By this point I was on the totally opposite end of the island. Orchard Road!? I wanted to be in Bugis! Trying not to make a scene, I quietly got off of the bus and caught a cab into work. Somehow my 80-cent morning commute turned into an 8-dollar adventure. Hummphh. I walked into the office late, looking frazzled. Andrea giggled a bit as I sat down across from her at my desk. After quickly flashing her the “I don’t want to talk about it” glare she stopped. She knew what was good for her. Haha.

But all in all this day ended up not being so bad. The website for the ad campaign that I am running is due to be launched tomorrow (my 3rd day of work) so I’ve been in conference calls all day with our web design agency. I really thrive off of this energy. I also found out today that I might be going on a business trip to Sydney, Australia to run the casting call for our Holiday Inn TV commercial. God is good.

After a super jam-packed day at the office, Andrea and I walked to Arab street to grab dinner. It was gorgeous. All of the streets were lit up for Hari Raya (The Malay festival of lights) The Golden roof Mosque was lit up too. We both had Murtabak and lime juice. (FYI Murtabak is Indian flatbread with egg and curry chicken backed into it. It is AMAZING.)

I’ve been back at the office for two hours now doing some extra work and trying to get on my Boss’ good side. It’s almost 10pm so I guess it’s time to call it a night.

All in all, I guess today wasn’t a bad day after all . . .