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It was the strangest thing. MDO was coming to Singapore and Magdalene and I wanted to meet them. I'd been listening to them for years but never entertained the notion of them ever coming here, so the news that they were dropping by came as a huge but very pleasant surprise. We thought we had a good chance of it since we're practically the only people in the country who've even heard of them. But no one had any information to offer as to what they'd be doing and which hotel they'd be at. So, out of desperation, I decided I would just call whatever hotel I could think of and see if they were there. I had little hope of this yielding anything promising, since there are SO many hotels, and furthermore, they'd probably be registered under someone else's name. We called a number that gives you an automatic voice message telling you the telephone numbers of the different hotels. First one we called was the Grand Hyatt.

"Good morning, Grand Hyatt Hotel, how may I help you?"

Me: "Good morning. Could you check for me if you have a Mr Pablo Portillo on your guest list, please?" (Pablo's name came to mind first, and besides, it's the easiest to spell.)

"How do you spell the family name, ma'am?"

"P-o-r-t-i-l-l-o."

"I'm sorry ma'am, we do not have such a person."

So I said, "Thank you! Bye!"

The receptionist, abruptly surprised, replied "You're welcome?"

The very next number proved to be the jackpot.

"Good morning, could you check if you have a Mr Pablo Portillo on your guest list, please? That's P-o-r-t-i-l-l-o."

"Umm...yes, we do."

A stunned silence. "You do? Has he checked in yet, or will he be there later?" Magdalene's hopping up and down, disbelief written all over her face.

"The guest has checked in, ma'am."

(My knees trembling) "Could you put this call to his room, please?"

"Sure, one moment, ma'am."