Lately

Did you know that Singapore operates four lighthouses? There’s Horsburgh, Bedok, Sultan Shoal and Raffles. The first one mentioned is located at Pedra Branca, an island that was caught in a territorial dispute some time back between Singapore and Malaysia. The last one, you have to take a boat out to get a glimpse of it. Well that is if the weather permits your little trip. You just might get to see some of the outlying islands too though most of them are prohibited areas which you really should not be going near.

Through a window view: Raffles Lighthouse.

One of twelve prohibited areas in Singapore waters: Pulau Sebarok.

Singapore Writers Festival concluded not too long ago and their most celebrated guest invited has got to be the author of the famed Sandman series: Neil Gaiman. Not only was he here to meet the fans and answer questions, there was also an autograph session after both of his talks where he committed many signatures for his ardent fans. Of late, he has been visiting China for research materials on his next project.

Partially obscured by heads: Neil Gaiman and the Moderator.

Autograph-in-progress: The art of Neil Gaiman.

Well, on to other interesting stories the next time I write =)

Jolly Jolly

A lack of updates has plagued this blog for quite some time now. Well, if you are cyberstalking me via this blog to get updates about my life, it should be painfully obvious now that this may not be the best way =) However, I shall nevertheless try to sate your appetite for me.

The Blue Mansion and Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs are both excellent shows. The former for its wit and style, while the latter for its cheery and fun-loving disposition. I can’t wait to catch Evangelion 2.0 and hopefully the third installment of 20th Century Boys!

A 3-metre white nylon rope which is not really that white any more, a fragment of a memory of a youthful me. The coincidence of a colleague’s son taking up the same CCA as me when I was in secondary school some thirteen years ago. I can only surmise what he needs the rope for and I hope it serves him well. My other hope is for it to be returned to me when his need of its use is over.

Have you ever had that moment in your life that you embarked on something but did not have a concrete purpose in mind for your actions? Have you ever had that moment come back to you when you complete that something but still have no concrete purpose? I suppose I am qualified to say I have had such a moment for the reply I gave to the question of "Why?", was a sheepish "For fun". It really was and still is, for the fun of it…

Cloud Age Symphony

For once a week, I have sang in a box for three weeks in a row. I have come to notice that my selection of songs is for one, rather limited and two, dated. If at all, I do not listen much to Mandarin songs. My exposure thus far has been from other karaoke sessions and exposure through songs used on television shows or advertisements. Since I have significantly cut back on my goggle box view time for quite some time now, that meant my knowledge of the Mandarin music scene is inadvertently stuck in a time frame of years past.

In short, I am going to need to keep track of the newer songs so as not to seem outdated when it comes to song selections. It’s not as though the one I choose are bad, but it just seems terribly repetitive to make the same picks over and over again.

Yes, once again it’s one of those potentially life-changing events that has suddenly taken reign of my attention, haha.

Prayer

September ended and left us, hopefully, a little wiser.

I tried to write but I hit a snag. The first snag I resolved and along came a second one, which presently has yet to be conquered. The words don’t come easy and the plot just doesn’t flow. "Writer’s block" or so it seems.

I wonder how and what my friends, whoever and wherever they are, are doing at this very moment…

Wake Me Up When September Ends

September quickly approaches twilight, not to be seen again till another trip along the orbit.
Yet another function of time.

What if this really "is as good as it gets"?
Build relationships, hang out with the closer ones and communicate indirectly with everyone else.
Humans, so inifinitesimal.

The accepted and majority are the rule.
Celebrate the banal and contribute to the cause, without a question or rebellion.
Am I but to simply adhere to the tried-and-tested plan?
Freedom artists waving banners preaching the mandate: Be true to our hearts.

There are trade-offs, stares and whispers.
Gossip is healthy and people we do not understand are not.
Is there but nothing more than simply work and the pursuit of defined excellences?
Know contentment and make do with reality and society.
We have been assigned our places in this world.

Please. Don’t mistake me for a mere alternate representation of "you".

* The title is a reference to the song by Green Day.

19-2000

The soundtrack will never be able to reproduce the effect one experiences from watching the live musical. The acoustics, the visual impact of the production and the theatre setting all contribute in some way to the songs, enriching them for the visual and aural pleasure of the patrons. Grooves on vinyl just will not suffice. It’s akin to the common philosophy that some things in life are better experienced on a personal level that heard from the words of others.

The soundtrack produced serves as a trigger to the memories created.

Glinda:

"You can still be with the wizard
What you’ve worked and waited for
You can have all you ever wanted…"

Elphaba: "I know –"

"But I don’t want it —
No — I can’t want it
Anymore…"

"Something has changed within me
Something is not the same
I’m through with playing by the rules
of someone else’s game…"

- Defying Gravity from the musical Wicked

So, whose rules and expectations do we answer to?

* The title is a reference to the song by Gorillaz.

Superman

My recent trips to the public library saw an exact yield of two borrowed-books, both of which I have dutifully read from cover to cover some three years back. The re-read this time round has provided fresh insights that made not help but wonder whether my life had been impacted in any way through that first contact. Yet it could be that I was already this way and a clearer understanding of themes has fleshed out that aspect of me. I am referring to one book in particular: Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman: Brief Lives.

I feel like Destruction.

You know the parts in books or shows where people remark they can understand what the character portrayed is going through? That was what I meant when I made the previous statement. Such is the extent of the influence of the graphic novel, creative or otherwise, more rampant than I had imagined.

Now, I wonder what other stuff out there do I identify with?

* The title is a reference to the song by Five For Fighting.

You’ve Got A Friend

For a healthy dose of life and friends, look to CSC.

A handful of folks graduated turned up, like Weichung, Jasmine, Terence and I.

Thursday evening at CSC’s Annual General Meeting. It’s a simple matter, a formality that marks the handing-over and taking-over of duties where the baton is figuratively passed on. While the number of familiar faces I could hold comfortable conversations with numbered quite a bit, so did the number of unfamiliar faces. Nevertheless, the event served well to summarise the hard work the students contributed over the course of their term in service, and to inform me of all that has transpired and to remind of what we all have to eventually leave behind.

8-8-7-7-6-5-4

Friday night in the company of alcohol and music. EIC was playing in the background at Wala Wala and we ordered plenty of alcohol and chicken wings to go around the table of 6. A Thursday spent with the new generation of CSC members and a Friday evening with an all-graduated cast. We even bumped into a couple of other graduates when we first entered! This end-of-work-week event was something I had looked forward to for it had been planned by Quek and Kai Loon for quite a while. Something like this once in a while certainly does wonders for the spirits =)

lim jiu ho!

Look to CSC for that healthy dose of life and friends.

We Can

Presently, I have been swimming once a week.

In the past, whenever I decided to head to the public swimming complex near my place, I would make sure to do so at some sunny point of the day. I have consistently kept it this way for my annual or semiannual trip to the pool. The reason was simple: There would be maximum exposure in the sun to get some sort of tan. A bit of Vitamin D intake once in a while for someone like me who sits far too often in front of the laptop.

These days, I prefer the quiet of the late evenings where there’s hardly anyone else and I can swim freely by myself. To try for the sun would mean to go at the before-work timing or mingle with the lunchtime crowd. While both are viable options, it is the hassle of having to rush and change into working attire at the end of the swim that puts me off.

Too often we hear that exercising is good for the health and I wonder just what constitutes doing something beneficial for one’s health. Does climbing up and down hills count? Does walking distances matter? Granted the back is well taken care off, can carrying boxes and boxes of canned food be a form of workout?

Keeping fit and staying healthy. Well, at least there are some efforts that we as individuals can undertake.

* The title is a reference to the song by LeAnn Rimes.

My Side Of The Story

First there was August. My recollections of it are a blur. I spent my days helping out in preparation for an event. Work is work and there is no escaping it, not unless I can be independent of my worldly and familial ties. Then perhaps I can freely pursue some different path without a worry. Yet, the highly likely possibility is "perhaps not".

August did however, end on a high note in spite of the seeming-jadedness and routines. I had a play to look forward to, a story to experience that made me think, ponder and marvel. Theatre in a different light, from the grand production of songs and flair that was Wicked to this intimate setting of familiar stories and life experiences of Recalling Mother. An artist tells a story. What do I think and what is the point to it? What does it mean to appreciate life more?

I ask you a question, albeit slightly paraphrased from its original presentation at Recalling Mother. When you were young, when or how did you come to know the woman in the same house as you was your mother?

September marks my one-year mark in "the working world". Perhaps I should look forward to the F1 race. That is going to happen in town where I work and there is bound to be a cheery atmosphere of delight and engine-revving sounds. In the meantime, it’s meeting up and catching up with friends as usual, I think. Maybe I can do something by myself, like fly to some place on a budget flight for a long weekend and just be.

The world continues and I haven’t the slightest clue to my life…

* The title is a reference to the song by Hodges.

Keep Breathing

It’s almost been a month since I returned from my trip.
It’s almost been a month since I really blogged about anything other than my trip.
It’s almost been a year since I started working.
It’s almost been a year since so many different things happened, pulling me in different directions, flooding my senses and perceptions.

There are days in your life when you wonder why the heck you are who you are, doing whatever it is that you do.
Too many days, too many times.

Some days, you have no solutions.
Some days, the solutions you do have, do not work out.
Some days, you have a solution that no one will approve or endorse.

What do I do when such a time comes?

* The title is a reference to the song by Ingrid Michaelson.

魔幻季节

One trip made to the United States of America.

My return saw my luggage piled with two new black souvenir T-shirts and a white hooded sweatshirt among other things. I am the kind of tourist who likes to buy keepsakes as a form of memory, to remind myself and jog that vast vault of experiences trapped in the confines of the cranial cavity every once in a while. Though I have not gotten down to reading it, the most interesting piece of purchase for this trip has got to be the replica of the set of rules and regulations handbook given to inmates of Alcatraz. This is the kind of physical objects that link me with where I have been and what I have experienced.

I am not sure to whom I should direct my gratitude but nevertheless, I am grateful for a safe and sound trip. An ease of mind with no threats of dangers, I find, does wonders for the experience in travelling. Soak in the atmosphere of a foreign environment without a worry. I do admit I haven’t been out for most of the nights so that might be something I missed there. However, if you are looking to take a trip to America, I will recommend you San Francisco =)

Places visited and territories explored, I must say I loved the feeling. The feeling of being on my own, by myself, travelling with no one else, venturing on my own. That is not to say it is a hassle to travel with friends. The security and companionship are both extremely appealing factors as well. Yet independence compels and sometimes I posit it should not come as a surprise if I take time out of the blue to just fly somewhere on my own. The only problem being to find some place safe enough for me to travel by myself.

Back to the realities of life in a country I call home, I dare say I have gained, infinitesimal as it may be, an appreciation for the foreign and local. Here’s looking forward to the next trip out of the country!

* The title is a reference to the song by 梁咏琪.