I have a passion for that. I sweared that many women in Singapore would raised both hands and of course their flip flops or eight inch stilettos to declare it as an Olympic event. In case people think that men are goal oriented animals who zipped into a shopping mall and come out in 5 minutes flat with the desired item, I am I think a rarity. I enjoyed the long leisurely walk into crowded malls and looking at items and gizmos in display. In fact I was pleasantly surprised to read this on the paper a few days back. In fact i applause this move by retailers! What a great way to remake Singapore! MAke us the shopping paradise, make us the food paradise and make us the city of decadence.
In case you are thining that I am putting a negative spin on this, I am a true advocate of shopping. I find it really lacking when shop assistants who were giving people the 5 cents face if people strolled into the shop just 15 ( i repeat again 15 minutes) before it close, And it is just 9.45pm. I was given this rude treatment when my wife and I patronise this THIS FASHION shop at Suntec City at the time earlier stated. A nice top caught my wife's eyes and it was beckoning for her to try it on and buy it... And to cut the long story short, she took a couple more dresses and bottoms ( if that's what you call them) to try on, much to the disgusted looks of the shop assistants. I was waiting outside trying to make myself look busy. It must have been a sight seeing a man, with a handbag and browsing through the tube tops and mini skirts. But I would spare all of you the imagination. While I was "engrossed" with the windowshopping, the lights went off like some scary scene in a japanese horror movie and the shutters eased its way down, at that was 9.50 pm ( about 10 minutes BEFORE its closing time) In an attempt to add new shopping experience to the shoppers, the lights went psychedelic, flashing lights which goes in sync with the chinese techno song blasting through the stereos. And our shopping experience were totally marred and no surprise we bought nothing from the shop..
Anyway, backto the midnight shopping, I totally love the experience of shopping after 10pm ( not am) it is quieter and as Singaporeans are generally a late-sleeper nation, so it make plenty of sense to have extended shopping hours. I am really GLAD.
Anyway back to my shopping habits, I have this soft spot for music. Just a few days ago my wife was attending a chinese dinner and I waas wandering along City Hall to Suntec area, yes all alone and enjoying every minute of the 3 plus hours I had. Most of the time I was just wandering aimlessly, looking.... observing and of course deep in my own thoughts. I spend a grand total of 1.5 hrs at the music shops, and about 3/4 of an hour in the bookshop and I ended up about $100 poorer. Impulsive buyer I think so... Load of happiness... yes definitely
The therapeutic feeling of shopping and buying... D#$@.. I am becoming a woman.... :P
Anyway, these are the stuff I got.....
From Gramophone ( Capitol Building)
1) Corrine May "Fly Away"
A classic album in 2002 with little or no fanfare. The songs are great and the lyrics are meaningful especially the song "fly away"
When will you be home?"
she asks as we watch the planes take off
We both know we have no clear answer to where my dreams may lead
She's watched me as I crawled and stumbled
As a child, she was my world
And now to let me go, I know she bleeds and yet she says to me
You can fly so high
Keep your gaze upon the sky
I'll be praying every step along the way
Even though it breaks my heart to know we'll be so far apart
I love you too much to make you stay
Baby fly away
If you really want to be a bit cheapskate and sample ALL her songs before you trust my impeccable taste. Can click here and then look for the albums and lyrics. Don't complain if you got to fork out your allowance to get both of them.. Be warned...
2) Lisa Ekdahl sing Salvatore Poe
A swedish jazz singer with that breathless voice which is so .....indescribeable If yoiu love Lisa Ono, you should get this.. You want to know more about her, sure!
3) Madagascar OST
I like to move it.... move it..... you like to.... Need I say more..
At HMV (City LINK)
4) Black Eyed Peas Monkey Business
Cool and funky.. Always on my stereos.. Pump it.. Don't
and last but not least....
At MPH
5) 1421 The Year China Discovered the World by Gavin Menzies
"...On the 8th of March, 1421, the largest fleet the world had ever seen sailed from its base in China. The ships, huge junks nearly five hundred feet long and built from the finest teak, were under the command of Emperor Zhu Di's loyal eunuch admirals. Their mission was 'to proceed all the way to the end of the earth to collect tribute from the barbarians beyond the seas' and unite the whole world in Confucian harmony. The journey would last over two years and circle the globe. When they returned Zhu Di lost control and China was beginning its long, self-imposed isolation from the world it had so recently embraced. The great ships rotted at their moorings and the records of their journeys were destroyed. Lost was the knowledge that Chinese ships had reached America seventy years before Columbus and circumnavigated the globe a century before Magellan. They had also discovered Antarctica, reached Australia three hundred and fifty years before Cook and solved the problem of longitude three hundred years before the Europeans..."
Cool... history from a sinocentric point of view..
If you would excuse me now... I got to get back to my purchases...
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