It should come as no surprise that I do not like men who are too forward. Well, maybe not all men who are forward, but rather, men who I consider to "show hand too early" as we say in local gambling lingo. I am as big a fan of the flirting game as any girl out there (which may come as a big surprise to my friends who've known me for years because there are still times when I metamorphise back into the shy, nervous, reserved girl I was for many many years when I was schooling) but I really only like to flirt with guys who have, to (once again) put it in Singlish, have some sort of standard, okay? Guys who tell me that I'm the sweetest girl they've ever met, or that they're thinking about me within a few days of meeting me, seriously freak the crap out of me. As I'm a nice girl, or perhaps, a girl who'd prefer to inconvenience herself rather than others (think Claire Richards in White Oleander), I do give people the benefit of the doubt... by laughing (rather weakly) or responding in a cordial, but not flirty, tone.

This is however rather more difficult to do over SMS. (Yes, I am a text flirt.) And if you are a guy and you ever make the cardinal error of texting a girl you've just met about how you think she could be the girl you've been waiting for your whole life (perhaps not in such explicit terms, but nevertheless, that is your intent), do not ever then follow up a few hours later with a text asking her if "Cat's got your tongue? Why no response?" And if, for whatever reason, that still doesn't elicit a response from her, for the love of all that is good and pure, do not call her half an hour after the last text because if the text messages haven't already freaked her out completely, then rest assured, that phone call will send her running to the airport, passport and hastily-packed bag in hand, anxious to flee the country because you, my friend, have just shown her that your stalker potential is incredibly high.

I've said it once... many times in fact, and I'll say it again: men in Singapore, be they local or foreign, do not know how to flirt. They're either too blur (local), too anxious (local) or too sleazy (foreign).