Friday - November 6

TGIF, ready for a few beers and to shake off work. I call my friend Hailin and ask where people are headed to which she replies Harry's. Feeling good that I don't have to ask where that is for once (I ate there for lunch earlier that day) I head out across the street to a British influenced pub. Looking around, I don't see Hailin (It's not a huge place) She calls me and asks where I am and I tell her right in front. When she says so am I, it dawns on me that there are more than 1 Harry's and this is in fact a chain. They of course are at the other Harry's which I walk to in about 10 minutes.

Yada yada yada, a few drinks later let's get to the part where we learn something. I've been both a witness and a participant to many a beer chugging competition, however whatever the delivery vehicle be it a cup, glass, funnel, etc from what I've seen has never been a bottle given the obvious air displacement dilemma. One person that we were with offered a gem of wisdom that may have been his only solid contribution to the evening, but it was a good one. If you put a straw in the bottle and bend it down so air can still get out, you can chug that bottle like it was a mug. That was the good news, here is the bad news. I was crushed, beaten embarrassed like like a fat kid in a speedo. Luckily I didn't talk a big game like the other guy who was beat, so in comparison I still looked good.

Ready to call it, I was easily convinced to go out to a club (the same one I was at last time). It was good times, a bunch of wild dude were visiting from Hong Kong and bought us all shots. I was minding my own business when a guy asked me what I was doing here. I replied that I was working in Singapore. He asked me again what I was doing here, and I told him I just moved, but I'll be here for a while. When he asked me the third time, the weird feeling I got was confirmed by the look he was giving me. He wasn't asking me what I was doing here, he was asking me what I was doing HERE, in the club. He was very close to me and started grabbing for my wrists which I moved a bit to avoid his grasp. I started doing a quick run-down of what was about to go down. Either A) don't do anything, hope this guy backs off B) Wait too long and lose first movers advantage when he actually does something C) Use a little Krav Maga action which was perfect given the very close quarters (knee and elbow). The problem was, I didn't really know the outcome of any of these scenarios and was worried about how many friends he had with him and if they were the chess playing type or the Bruce Lee type. Not to mention, I didn't want to find myself in a Singaporian jail my second weekend here. Luckily, one of the girls I was with pulled me back into their circle and diffused the situation. The guy left immediately, and left his friends behind. I asked his friends what that was about and they said they hadn't a clue. I guess there are drunken idiots everywhere you go. His friends turned out to be pretty ok guys and I actually started talking with them for a bit. The world is a strange place.