Wednesday, April 28, 2004
I've developed an affinity for supermarkets and houseplants. Yesterday I bought fruit juice and fresh milk at NTUC Fairprice Ang Mo Kio, and then today I had a box of cherry tomatoes from NTUC Coronation Plaza for lunch, and stopped by at Shop N Save Jurong East Central to buy bread and peanut butter. I come home late and fuss over the pot of petunias I recently bought in honour of Mother's Day - trimming dead flowers, checking on the stem cuttings, watering, fertilising. I've even started growing balsam plants from seed - something I haven't done in years.
Goodness. I'm finding new ways of wasting time.
Anyway, I've been awakened to the fact that petunias really are lovely. They flower profusely and provide a daily, beautiful cascade of bright-hued blooms that are especially soothing to the eyes after an entire day's worth of school. They don't look as though they belong in humid, tropical, predominantly and overwhelmingly
green Singapore. The colours are
dazzling. I could stare at them all day. OK, maybe I shouldn't restrict myself to simply staring. Pencil, watercolours and camera all spring to my enchanted mind. Imagine the possibilities... notwithstanding the ability.
JK Rowling did petunias an injustice when she named Lily Potter's sister.
Oh, caffeine pills do exist and they can be obtained over-the-counter, i.e. without doctor's prescription. However, there supposedly aren't any available in Singapore. Not because of some import ban, but because 'there's no caffeine pill trend in Asia', so there's simply no demand and hence zero supply. You could still arrange your own overseas delivery, but I'm not that desperate.
Of course I was disappointed. By now, I'm pretty much game for higher doses of caffeine. Either that or I'll have to abstain for some time to water down the tolerance that I've already built up. Save it up for more critical crunch periods.
Just came across something that put a smile on my face: Sweet messages in Chinese about love on a well-adjusted picture background scanned in from disturbing and quite literally screwed-up manga... I saved it, of course, to revel in the hidden irony. A tiny detail that wouldn't matter to anyone else, to be sure. A nice picture's just a nice picture if you are unware of the implications.
words were spilled on Wednesday, April 28, 2004
(0) comments
Thursday, April 22, 2004
Gave out nomination forms today during Photog. The relentless passage of time is beginning to sink in. In a few weeks' time there'd be interviews, then elections, then investiture and handing over.
As much as I welcome the relief from the strain and angst and headache of CCA leadership, uncountable disasters and spectacular screw-ups, frustration with bureaucracy and self-doubt over many, many things - I'll still miss Photog. Even if my term was one big screw-up, I'll still be sorely reluctant to let it go. I've grown rather attached to it.
One comforting thought: we have a few J1s whose passion and skill for photography outstrip ours. There's talent, certainly.
One not-so-comforting thought: to be frank, we haven't done much to inspire the others. Big Fat Failure No. 1.
Shan't elaborate on the rest, must focus on positive thoughts, must focus on Tasks At Hand. To bed! To bed!
words were spilled on Thursday, April 22, 2004
(0) comments
Glad to be 18
Kill Bill Vol. 2 has been rated M18! YES!!! And it opens tomorrow!
I'm determined to make this my first official M18 film (never mind the fact that I've already watched more than my fair share of... artistically-rated stuff). By hook or by crook I'm going to watch it at the cinema.
It had better not be cut.
words were spilled on Thursday, April 22, 2004
(0) comments
Sunday, April 18, 2004
On Caffeine
It's approaching 3a.m for goodness' sake; what the hell am I doing. Anyway, I've finally fulfilled one of the burning ambitions of my life and finished a short write-up with minimal technicalities on - gasp -
caffeine. Research thesis it isn't - since I haven't read any detailed texts and papers and whatnot. Read if you want. Correct any errors that I may have made.
words were spilled on Sunday, April 18, 2004
(0) comments
All this weekday tiredness is getting on my nerves. By rights I should be asleep by now in preparation for tomorrow, but my Sunday late-nights are precious to me, because that's about the only time of the week I can feel relaxed enough to indulge in a bit of catharsis and nonsense writing. It's a great pleasure to spill 1000+ words of pure nonsense into Microsoft Word. Blogging demands a great deal more restraint.
Saturday was marvellous. After NUS IBO training, I decided to pay a long-overdue visit to Ghim Moh and partake of its hawker centre food. Ghim Moh has changed from when I last saw it, though. Thanks to ugly upgrading works, the place has lost a substantial bit of its rustic, ol' neighbourhood charm. Nonetheless, the food is still good. It gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling - being in a hot, sticky, greasy hawker centre tucking into
kway chap and sipping on iced sugar cane juice. Pure heartlander bliss. Though the crowds of green-and-white clad RJC students rather spoiled the effect. My mind refused to reconcile 'prestige JC' with 'hawker centre'.
On my way back to the MRT station, I spotted a family of mynahs: 2 adults, 1 fledgling. In the sweltering April afternoon heat, I stood and watched, fascinated, as the adults and their young one played tug-of-war with the dismembered corpse of a lizard. Alas for the poor lizard, that old tail-shedding trick hadn't been successful. One of the adult birds held the tail in its beak while the other had the rest of the body, and the fledgling hopped around its parents begging for the morsels. At once I wished that I had my camera.
After Ghim Moh I made my way to my most dearly beloved Woodlands Regional Library, where I then spent the entire afternoon in bookworm bliss. It was a luxury, yes, but one that was well worth the time because I came out of it feeling somewhat more literate, enlightened and much happier. Books are my lifeblood. Woodlands Regional is book heaven, and going there is a near-religious experience. But then of course I have no life. :-)
One of these days, when I find the time, I will camp out there from morning till night. Anyone desperately lacking a life and willing to join me?
For those who are interested to find out what I was blabbering about in the last post,
De Profundis is an extremely long letter composed by Oscar Wilde, addressed to his lover Lord Alfred Douglas, while being in prison for homosexual offences. And yes, it's definitely in English. Oh, and it's also a love letter, albeit a highly philosophical and unconventional one. Randy SMS it definitely wasn't.
words were spilled on Sunday, April 18, 2004
(0) comments
