Befuddled Humphreys

Samuel helped me obtained an autographed set of Neil Humphreys. Neil visited two universities on consecutive days to give short talks and hawk his books. Yea, he’s moving from Singapore to Australia and I am sure he will pen more hilarious anecdotes of his scuffles with poisonous Taipans and roo poo boots cleaning Sundays.

I have long heard of his famed ‘Notes from an Even Smaller Island’ which presents a warts and all view of our little red dot of an island. Following the success of the former is his sequel entitled ‘Scribbles from the Same Island’. By then, he was making a living by being a columnist with Singapore’s TODAY newspaper. To 'raise money' for his relocation plans, he decided once again to put his talent to good use and published his last Singapore related book ‘Final Notes from a Great Island’.

Truth be told, before my personal purchase, I never read any of his books. Blame it on the ‘oh so hot’ waiting list reserving these books at the National Library. Or my penchant for non-fiction business and self improvement books. Point is, I never got down to reading his humorous scrutiny of the oddballs in Singapore.

Still, his bundled pack of three books for $36 (with an autograph thrown in) sounds like a reasonable deal. And, they would make good material for light reading on days I scour my personal library for a quick perk-me-up.

The pleasant surprise:
Neil personally autographed all 3 books! (That’s a nice gesture) And there’s a slightly different message in each of them.

Autograph in 'Notes from an Even Smaller Island'

Autograph in 'Scribbles from the Same Island'

The bummer:
Message in his last autograph…

SAMUEL TAN! WHATCA told Neil???!!!!

Samuel’s not my little brother. I only have 1 cute younger sister. Hm…Aileen, should I trade you for Sam? Sounds like a smashing idea.

Samuel with Neil.

Shucks! Wish I took a picture with Mr. Humphreys. I'll definitely strike up an equally goofy pose for the photo too.
Yes, Neil's the man. Funny, goofy, and nice.

So long, farewell!
XOXO, An even tinier Ivy from the tiny Sunny Singapura.