The past 2 weeks in bullet points

1. So I've met someone. E. is 25 and like C., attended Ngee Ann Poly (except he did Film and Sound, not Mass Comms). Like C., he is now doing a degree course in Mass Comms at SIM University (except he is one year below C.). And like C., he lives in Hougang Ave 4 (one bus-stop away from C.'s mother's place to be exact). In some pictures, he even looks like C. If it sounds like a classic case of Mr Rebound/Replay/Replacement, it probably is. So I'm taking it slow. Maybe I'm not ready for a new relationship cos I haven't played around enough yet, but as J. said to me a few days ago from HK: "You can never have enough of playing around... " Anyway, back to E., who of course knows all this history and has as a result become totally paranoid about comparisons with C. And comparisons are popping up all over the place, since the "bear" circle in Singapore is so small. I think K. summed it up fittingly with his one-word response: "Aiyo."

2. I bought a new phone (again). And at $1,188 it's the most expensive one yet, marginally eclipsing the $998 I paid for my Sony Ericsson W900i. Granted it's 180g and built like a brick, so the Nokia N93 is not the sleekest thing around. But it does have 3G, wi-fi, a 3.2 megapixel Carl Zeiss lens and video capture at near-DVD quality of 30 frames per second. I was sold instantly on the fact that there's no other phone like it in the market today (and the salesgirl at the Nokia showroom who was really nice and thoroughly deserved her commission for smiling ever so slightly at my attention-seeking bimbo comments). But more importantly, it's a phone that takes phones to a new level for me. And that, in a silly sort of way, implies the opening up of new avenues and vistas in life. As I told A. in my most serious voice today, "I've realised that looks aren't everything... it's the features inside that you want to be wowed by daily." After which she squinted at me and replied: "Who are you and what have you done with c7676?"

3. More retro fever on the music front as I bought crystal clear remasters of Depeche Mode's Some Great Reward and Culture Club's Colour By Numbers. And in the process rediscovered what a great and soulful singer Boy George is. I also bought a 2-hour documentary on the Pet Shop Boys that caused me to take out all my PSB albums to listen to them again. And in the process rediscovered one of my favourite lines of all time:

"I never thought that I would get to be
The creature that I always meant to be
But I thought, in spite of dreams
You'd be sitting somewhere here with me"

Being Boring, Pet Shop Boys

4. M. is back in town, but strangely, I've not had time to meet him face-to-face yet. As usual, though, we've been egging each other on to buy expensive new phones.

5. I went for a one-day air pistol course, after which I reaffirmed something about myself. That I would only take up the sport if there was some kind of competition between my friends and me over who can score higher and wear nicer clothes to the firing range. But I would never find any challenge in improving myself over time, because I frankly find that totally pointless.