Phil’s blog

Clement, Keen, and I were in Singapore last week for the State of Play V conference. There was nothing groundbreaking in the talks but we got to meet some key people from the virtual worlds industry, notably Richard Bartle, co-creator of the first MUD.

We stayed in Geylang which we didn’t realize was a famous red light district until the cab driver told us. Clement’s girlfriend XinXin apparently didn’t know either because she booked the hotel for us. I’m actually glad we stayed there because it contrasts so much with the clean, modern, luxurious image that Singapore strives for. The conference was held in the Marina Mandarin Hotel which is in the midst of shopping malls and huge office buildings. That would have been our impression of Singapore had we not stayed in Geylang, which mostly consists of small shops and restaurants and cheap hotels. When we first pulled up to our hotel, we were shocked to see ladies of the night lined up on the sidewalk all the way down the street. I had never seen anything like it. Later in the trip we walked along this street to observe. Almost all of the pedestrian traffic was men, and usually the women would stand or sit off to the side with a pimp not far away. Usually it would be the pimp who tried to solicit customers, asking something like “Need a girl?” when you pass by. Sometimes the more aggressive women would try to grab you, and one even stopped Keen and stood in front of him asking “Hey superman, want to go with me?” There were also pornography merchants and people running dice tables. Our walk down the back streets was pretty interesting, but the best part about Geylang was the cheap, delicious food. Actually all the food we had in Singapore was excellent. Highlights included Indian roti with various fillings, Thai beef noodle soup, and of course chili and black pepper crab, which are specialties in Singapore. Other highlights of the trip included walking around Sentosa Island, clubbing at the Ministry of Sound, and shopping in and around Suntec City.

Here are all of my photos from Singapore.

Yikes. It has been almost a month since I posted, so to the three of you reading this I apologize. Quick status update: I’m happy, I’m healthy, I’m working a lot, work is going well, we eat out a lot but it’s cheap and usually good, I cook about twice a week, I go to the gym about twice a week, I spend most of my free time on Skype chatting with Justine (having a laptop with built-in camera rocks), and I haven’t been practicing wushu or Mandarin but want to start soon.

Despite not knowing the language I never feel alone because I have some great friends and coworkers. I’m sharing an apartment with my friend and cofounder Keen, who I’ve known since undergrad at UVA. Like me, he left his job at a large tech company to join our friend Clement on this startup. Also like me, he has an angry girlfriend in the states whom he chats with through Skype every day. And both her parents and Justine’s parents are from Hong Kong - we’re like the same person. Back at UVA we had an awesome time working on a project for our CS 340 class in which we wrote software to control a trashcan-like robot. Here’s an old photo of our team (guess who has bleached hair).

Clement and I were in the same class at UVA. He was always coming up with these business ideas and I had fun working with him on a couple of them. He’s one of the most determined and hard working people I know, and I have no doubt that he’ll succeed eventually at everything he does. That’s him on the right next to Keen in a taxi, doing some kind of gangster salute.

XinXin is Clement’s girlfriend. She’s really nice and is always driving us around and arranging nice dinners and shows for us. She’s also tall - almost as tall as Clement - and always wears heels so she’s even taller. She works and Microsoft and is doing a dual MBA program (yes that means two MBA’s) on the side, so she’s always carrying textbooks around to study whenever she gets a chance.

Wei, our art director, comes to work with us every weekday (he’s in the center). When we first met him he spoke barely any English but he studies on his own and has been improving quickly. He’s a really fun, happy guy and his work is fantastic. Prash works part time for us from Shanghai and visits Beijing for a weekend every month (he’s on the right). He’s super laid back and casual. Before we went to an investor meeting he asked Clement if he should wear his nice shirt. Clement asked if he had a collared shirt and he was like no, but he has a nice t-shirt that doesn’t have naked women or skulls on it. Johnson also works part time and comes in every Saturday, but I don’t have a picture of him yet. He’s really into his work, which is 3D engines.

Update - Justine after reading this: “‘angry probably doesn’t even begin to cut it”