First, chew no gum*

That's the Hippocratic Oath**, right?

If not, it must be in the Singapore Constitution.

Okay, maybe not, but we will be investigating that the weekend of August 18 when we head to Singapore.

We pleaded with our friends Marty and Cyndy (and their kids) to come over to Bangkok for the weekend while they are in Asia. Finally, after much trash talk by me, Marty turned the tables and asked why we didn't just come to Singapore.

I don't know if he really meant it, or if he just wanted to shut me up. That was his first mistake. As many of you know, I never shut up.

So taking up the gauntlet that he threw down, I did a little research:

Me: 'Boss, can I get a half day off on the 18th?'

Boss: 'Take the whole day off. You don't do anything around here anyway.'

Research done, we got down to the planning (read: I got down to planning. Katherine is still unsure whether she can go, but in the end, she'll go. She LOVES not chewing gum.) and will likely be arriving in the fair city-state of Singapore on Air Asia about 15:30 on Friday the 18th. Asian discount airlines rule. We'll likely fly round trip for about $180 each.

Last time we saw Marty and Cyndy was about 4 years ago in San Francisco. She was very pregnant and he had a broken foot. We are one for two so far. Until we go to see them, I'm not walking or running anywhere. I don't want to give irony a chance to rear it's ugly head. Maybe it wouldn't be irony. Whatever it would be, I don't want any part of it.


*in fairness, I think that Singapore repealed the no chewing gum law a few years ago.
**yes, I know that 'First, Do No Harm' is not actually a part of the Hippocratic Oath.