Play Time
Esplanade’s annual The Studios experimental theater season (Apr 17-Jul 19, www.thestudios.com.sg) is back, this time with a more tightly-curated selection of boundary-pushing pieces. Highlights include filmmaker Ho Tzu Nyen’s arty, trippy Ten Thousand Tigers (Apr 17-19)—a continuation of last year’s Song of the Brokenhearted Tiger—and Blank Space Theatre’s Mark Rothko bio Red (Jul 10-13). True theater buffs should definitely go for the insider-y Rant & Rave (May 1-4) a “documentary” of the local theater scene all the way back to the ‘80s. Also don’t miss free performances like Edith Podesta’s dark prison drama Dark Room x8 (Jul 5).

Sir Mix-a-lot
You’ve heard of open mic nights—now there are “open bar” nights every Thursday at 28 HongKong Street. If you fancy yourself a pretty good amateur mixologist, go up to the bar and ask to show off your skills. But be warned: You’ll have to fight off quite a few established local bartenders around town, too. Another place to share the love with other cocktail fanatics is newly-public bar Manor Cocktail Room, previously an invite-only whisky tasting room, now spearheaded by local bartender Din Hassan of Bitters & Love. It’s not just a run-of-the-mill bar—here’s where the alcohol industry-types congregate, dream up new concoctions and get collectively plastered.

Beach, Please
We don’t like to play Chinese whispers, but the rumors of Bali beach club and restaurant group Potato Head (www.ptthead.com) opening something along Keong Saik Road are getting pretty hard to ignore. Is it going to be a bar? A bistro, maybe? The Potato Head website says that they have a boutique hotel in the works, so it could be that. In other sexy beach club news, we caught up with the newly-opened Nikki Beach in Phuket and they’re saying that they really, really want to bring Nikki Beach to Singapore’s East Coast. We have our fingers crossed.

On the Road
The Circular Road action just keeps on coming, doesn’t it? Following late night pedestrianization efforts and the big St. Patrick’s Day street party, the next festival we hear will hit the Boat Quay area is the debut of Singapore International Comedy Festival (Apr 23-26). Twenty-nine comedians from all over the world will perform at various venues all along Circular Road and Boat Quay over this four-night (and 131 show!) fest. Log on to www.comedyfest.com.sg for the line-up and ticketing info.

A to Zee
2014 has been pretty great for music fans so far. This month isn’t quite as crazy as the last, but Malaysian indie/pop/jazz starlet Zee Avi is going to be back in town. Also worth catching are Far East Movement at the H20 Festival and neo-traditional folkster Tim Eriksen, who’s in town for Esplanade’s A Tapestry of Sacred Music.

Bar Watch
Fans of The Library’s Stefan Ravalli, we feel your pain. The star barkeep is now off meditating in the Himalayas, so Nicholas Quattroville—who’s worked at London’s W Hotel and La Bodega Negra—is taking the helm with a new, pared-down cocktail list. Other hip new faces on the mixology scene are US imports Ricky Paiva at the Regent’s soon-to-open bar Manhattan—told you hotel bars were getting hip, didn’t we?—and Tyler Hudgens at New Orleans-style resto Life is Beautiful.

I love my work. There’s no doubt about that.

My morning ritual is switching on the TV, making a cup of tea, and bringing it back to my room to watch the news.

Gone are the days of throwing my own galas and parties—Playhouse has been keeping me so busy. It’s my life now.

It’s very difficult to get people to like you all the time, and vice versa.

People don’t realize how much of an investment time is.

I cannot neglect my friends. Even when I’m busy, like I am now, there are times when I sneak out for a meal or coffee with them.

I think women just have intuitions about people—some call it energy, some call it chemistry. I always listen to my hunches.

People used to ask, “don’t you want children?” and I would say, “oh yes, I love kids. I love them fried.”

Single people should move out and live on their own. When I did that, years ago, standing on my own feet made me relate to the world very differently. I also led a great bachelorette’s life!

I don’t know how people can go to a party and not drink. I drink to make other people interesting.

20 years back, I just couldn’t wait to grow up.

The only way to find yourself is to go out into the world, try different things and taste the salt. And I’ve tasted the salt… a lot.

The closest thing I have to a guilty pleasure is drinking. A glass of wine or a nice G&T really hits the spot when I’ve accomplished something—like answering 20 emails in one shot.

Life has come to a standstill because of Yes, Prime Minister. I haven’t had time to read, go to the cinema or even re-watch Yes, Prime Minister on BBC Entertainment!

I do meet people whom my instinct tells me “don’t touch!” But I do try to be diplomatic—and open—to them.

When I was studying in the US, I was exposed to a lot of drugs. But I never slipped up. My tiger mom had trained me well.

Youth is your ammunition. You can afford to make mistakes when you’re young. Though that’s not to say you can’t make them when you’re old!