Simple things

I would like to give a shout out to Kimi who brightened up my morning with the email he forwarded to me... Really pleasant surprise, especially when I was feeling so down the past few days.

I feel soooo good about myself now and I've since decided that my mantra for the day will be, "I'm a bombshell. I'm a bombshell. I'm a bombshell." You get the drift.

But I'm saddened to know that our local boys lack a good vocabulary. One describes every female that walks within his sight as 'hot', even though girl one is an exotic Anglo Saxon Chinese mix with huge bone structure and girl two is a petite Asian lass. Another guy, when asked to go into details about the sports car he intends to purchase can only use sporty, sleek and fast. Right. That's so helpful dude.

Also, for the past few mornings, I've been listening to the morning show with Digby Taylor on WKRX91.3 (if any of the promotions executives there are reading this, you owe me a gift/present/prize for the plug). They have a segment at 8.45am where two listeners call in to participate in Football Crazy. What happens is each participant represents his/her favourite football team to answer three general knowledge questions (three options are normally given for them to choose). Each correct answer scores a goal and the person with the most goals wins.

Don't ask me why but I always seem to remember the ones that lost. They trip over questions that are so easy.

One guy couldn't name the director for Passion of Christ and chose Steven Spielberg. Like, hasn't he been reading the papers? Another couldn't tell what's the MRT stop after City Hall when you travel south. Dude, Marina Square comes after Raffles Place, which is next in line from City Hall. Yet another thought khakis are aprons.

Of course there're other easy questions with obvious answer choices, but there'll inevitably be someone who doesn't fail to get it totally wrong.

It's definitely the failure to read widely and observe things carefully. This is something that the local lads are guilty of. So many of them can't be bothered to flip the newspapers or surf the news sites. Don't even try to ask them whether they read novels or magazines. They seem oblivious to their surroundings and people's feelings. They also have a reluctance to travel and experience new things.

So is it any wonder then, that I delight in the company of my more well-read and well-travelled female friends? Is it any wonder then that so many of my female friends, including myself, delight in the more intelligent company of better read and travelled expatriate males?

Sure, there are local guys who are different, but they are the exception rather than the norm. Half the time, they're accounted for or too career-driven. Or maybe have some huge fault like a serial skirt chaser.

To end, I'd like to say that I'm heartened that some of the younger generation have developed the habit of reading good books. I've come across quite a few recently but the one that stands out is Chloe's friend Calvin. I sincerely hope there are more of such guys out there...