Scott's Southeast Asian Adventures

Wednesday night. Work brain shut off. Ten laps in the pool under my belt. Dinner a cookin' on the stove. I'm thinking... well, random thoughts. I'm thinking stuff like: "Do you like websites?" An interview question by Zach Galifianakis. I was going to watch just one episode of Between Two Ferns this morning -- the one with "someone named Bradley Cooper" (pictured below in a slapping contest with Zach). I ended up watching them all. The one with Jimmy Kimmel is especially good. Zach: "Have you ever farted on a cocker spaniel?" Jimmy: "No. No, I can't say that I have." Cheers to my boy Ryan Tanner for drawing my attention to this noise. Unreal, is right. I'm also thinking: Why does StarHub TV's sports add-on cost so damn much? It's like two times times the price of the basic cable package, which offers a gazillion channels. Is it because they know the people in this town will pay anything in order to watch English socc...

It's officially 2010. We rang in the new year last night from Singapore's Boat Quay, where there was no shortage of fireworks -- both in the sky, and at the pub after a few of its patrons had one too many Jaeger bombs. But that's another story. I've decided, as I embark on a decade that will take me through my 44th birthday (god willing!), to write an entry in the spirit of Esquire 's "What I've Learned" column, with an emphasis on my time in Asia. My early 30s has been a time of tremendous growth and... realizations. Just a few of the things I've learned during the past 30 months: You can get the game (thanks, www.justin.tv), but the time difference is a killer. Tiger beer rules. The food rules too, but there are days I would die for a proper, American barbecue. Vietnam has color and chaos. Singapore has quality and... malls. Only the Western world (and Singapore) believe in queueing. You haven't seen anything until you've been on a cyclo ...