I also read in the paper recently that some theaters, for a dollar extra, you can sit in the "lover's seat" section. Seats in this section have armrest that can be moved out of the way. It's a good marketing gimmack and I wonder if that will work in the States. I can just see couples taking up a few seats instead of using the backseat of a car. It might be terribly disturbing to other audiences in the theater 8-)
I was quite dismayed to find out that you get a seating assignment for a movie in the theater. With luck, we managed to get the seating on the very last row by showing up 3 hours before the show. (I was informed AFTER the fact that you do get a chance to pick your seat assignment when you buy the ticket) So, being a daring American, I decided that we should pick the best seat and sit down. But eventually we were "pushed" to the front of the theater. At that point, it was either staring the straight up at the screen or straining the eyes trying to make out the faces. Needless to say, it wasn't very pleasant.
Let me just mention a few miscellaous things here. You do see ATMs (It's Automatic Teller Machine and not Asynchrous Transmission Mode for those telecom people 8-) in S'pore with the "Plus" logo on them. But don't expect to get access to your accounts in the States 8-( I try to use my Chase CASH USA card on one of ATM here with a "Plus" symbol. The word "USA" should have been a dead giveaway. But with my adventurous spirit, (some call it stupid) I decided to give it a try. The worst that could have happened is the card get gobble up by the machine and I will just go to my bank in NY to collect it 8-) Well, the machine simply rejected the card, no excitement there. I thought the Plus network is a world wide network. Does anyone know?
Another thing I will never get used to - wet bathroom floor. I think this is just an Asian thing not particular to S'pore. I remember when I was a kid in Taiwan, we used to spray water all over the bathroom. Nowadays if a kid has done that in my bathroom in NY, I would have simply clobber the kid 8-) Most bathrooms in Asian countries are designed to be water resistant. That's why US hotels that cater to Asian visitors always have signs saying please take shower in the tub and keep the curtain inside the tub. Anyway, back to my story, I got quite a few wet socks by going into bathroom without checking the floor first. But there are advantages to this scheme, it's easier to clean the bathroom and you don't have to worry about kids splashing water while they are taking a bath 8-)
Finally, I just wanted to thank those who responded to my requests for Letterman's top ten and Star Trek: TNG. The net is great for soliciting information. Again, please feel free to send me a messages if you just want to chat. One more request: What is happening to the ** Energizer bunny ** ? The last commercial I remember was King Kong climbing a building to destroy the bunny. Anyone willing to help me out?
p.s. Let me just mention the recent case about this American boy Fay. He was sentenced to 4 months of incarceration, 6 strokes of canning and fined mainly for vandalism. I am sure there are enough debates on the net that people don't need my two cents worth. But just an observation, we are talking about the two extremes of legal system here. Drug dealing, for example, is punishable by death in S'pore. While in the states they can be back on the street the very next day. There might be a middle ground for a perfect legal system here but it's up to the future historians to decide and be the judge.
