Singapore isn't that far away, right?

Last night I helped my mate Cam celebrate his last Thursday in Melbourne for a while (at least for the foreseeable future). Many beers and margaritas were drunk, much yummy Mexican food was eaten and many great memories re-surfaced.

I remember my second day in Melbourne, when I'd gone to the supermarket, put everything through the checkout and realised I didn't have my wallet with me. Cam passed the sobbing 17 year old girl who'd moved in downstairs the day before running back through Hawksburn to get her wallet and put his hand on my arm and told me to smile. Just that small gesture was enough to give me hope that maybe things weren't so bad at all (although my ice cream still melted all over the check out).

I'm really going to miss having Cam around, apart from being one of my best mates, he is also a mentor and a big brother to me. I got to thinking about some of the things I've learnt from Cam over the last seven years and this is what I came up with:

• 'Because it will make a good story' is a good enough reason to do anything
• Taxi drivers always have interesting perspectives on life, and you should always take the time to listen to them
• That if you hear something three times it must be true
• Look confident and everyone will believe you
• Every bluff can be called
• Just because it looks like a kareoke bar, doesn't mean it is a kareoke bar
• Anything is possible if you try hard enough
• You can buy awesome stuff in Singapore (see picture below)
• There's no need to leave the house if you don't want to. Ever.
• That if you hear something three times it must be true 
• You don't have to do anything you don't want to, but you can always make other people do it
• Homemade beer smells like farts
• The best way to make a cheese sandwich (to fry it, with some cheese on the outside)
• It is possible to make an apartment-sized spiderweb with just a few balls of string
• Most people don't pay attention to the details, and if you rely on this you can get away with a lot
• Making friends with randoms can lead to some of the most interesting afternoons
• An empty day can always be filled with beer and mates
• That if you hear something three times it must be true 
• Vinyl snakeskin is always appropriate
• That I can never out-negotiate him

I hope all of Cam's new Singaporean friends realise just how lucky they are to have him, and I can't wait to come visit, but in the mean time I suppose Singapore is only a phone call away.

 Check out the awesome faux-Burberry dumpling kit he got me - Singapore must be awesome!