Episode 1041: A Couple Of Firsts

Cyril Wong's debut collection, squatting quietly, is one I've been trying to track down since I started buying local poetry. So imagine my surprise on spotting copies in BooksActually today. Seven copies to be exact, although their sale has been interdicted by the poet because he regards the collection as juvenilia. Too bad for me then! I did pick up a bunch of other local writing though, raking up a tab of nearly $90. The only non-local book was Christiania Whitehead's The Garden Of Slender Trust, which I've been aware of since she lectured us for EN121 in first year. Curious to see what sort of poetry she writes. Headed to the National Library to pick up some books and then it was back to Raffles City for dinner at Shahi Maharani with Claudia, Derrick and Thong. As Claudia pointed out later when we were having drinks in Brotzeit, the conversation we were having (mostly merciless ribbing) could just as well have been had in our JC days, with the obvious addition now of alcohol. I suppose that's a good thing actually, right? It's nice that some things don't change, even half a decade on. Before that, we were in Loof, so I've finally visited the rooftop bar at Odeon Towers. Not terribly impressed though. Overpriced, tiny drinks, and we had to ask for our change back after paying! Another first was paying a visit to CHIJMES after Brotzeit closed, in search of dessert. Thank goodness we found gelato at Lippolis, after a lot of semi-aimless wandering!