almost there Thursday, 31 August, 2006
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I was chatted up at a bank by a banker today. Coffee a year later? How funny is that, right? Hurrah for forthcoming Singaporean men. I’m not interested though. His two phone messages (I gave him a chance!)… did not pass. Know what I mean?
Whatever that was (and that was fun), I will be in the air this time tomorrow, bound for an adventure. I’ve been imagining it, preparing for it, waiting for it, talking about it, writing about it for so long and now, I’m about to live it. Watch this space for stories.
I’m all packed, so I can spend the whole of tomorrow enjoying a lazy day.
Thank you for the calls and messages in response to my I’m-leaving-my-number-will-be-cancelled announcement!
living Monday, 28 August, 2006
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Ok the exam is over. OVER. If I fail this one again, which is likely, I’m not ever going to take it again. I am DONE with taking this bloody ABRSM diploma in performance exam. I have slaved for it for too long. Maybe it’s because this piece of paper will serve no real function in my life as it’s turning out, plus the fact that I really have fought the good fight so! I’m setting my foot down now- enough is enough. No more exams or I swear the joy I derive from playing the piano will be whittled to nothingness. I was talking to Tania about music over lunch on Friday and we discovered that we find piano-playing very personal. Like how we best like to play the piano when there’s no one at home. That is what I want for me and the piano henceforth.
Alright ranting over. Arms ache. I just made a batch of chocolate muffins with lemon frosting. Yum. Stressful morning i.e. need for early afternoon baking.
Leaving in three days! Yikesirbee (Win a Date with Tad Hamilton, anyone?). Deep breath. I know I’ve been living for the past 21 years and I have had a bit of excitement in the States just a couple of months ago… but it feels like I’m about to start living, you know? Like arms-wide-open-and-embrace-life living. Grand.
sick Wednesday, 23 August, 2006
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Headache started Saturday night, but I poopoo-ed it and thought I’d sleep it away. Come Sunday, it was still there but it wasn’t so bad, so I sat my ass at home, even went for a run. Monday bad. Tuesday morning: piano lesson. Thereafter, went to a (cute) doctor who told me, to my surprise, that I was running a high fever. Infection-finish-your-antibiotics-come-back-if-need-be. Only deteriorated from there. I’ve spent the last 24 hours ++ pretty much dead and in pain. My headache this afternoon was so bad that I teared for an hour. Sharp sharp pain.
I loathe being sick.
The bright side, if there is to be any, is that I’ve had to slow way down for the past day. It hasn’t been easy, considering I have an exam on Monday and then departure on Thursday. Things to do, but I must remember that I need to rest and take very good care of myself amidst the hustle and bustle. You think I’ll learn? Pah. Okay maybe.
the mother Sunday, 20 August, 2006
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The mother made carrot cake. Her first attempt at making the cream cheese kind, because I like it. So good. She made banana pizza too. I’ll miss my mother’s kitchen creations when I’m away. I’ve always had them. Never took them for granted, but I’ve always had them. I remember our first home was very near my primary school and she used to come and give me my lunch when I needed to stay back for the afternoon. I was the envy of all my friends!
I’ll miss going into the kitchen and asking her what new or old thing it is that she’s about to make. And then I’d ask if I could help and the answer would usually be that it wasn’t necessary. That’s the thing about my mother. She is SUPER efficient. That is where my efficiency comes from, dear friends! Wonder no more. Lately, I’ve been telling her to slow down, but can she? No, because it makes her feel completely uncomfortable. That’s my mother for you. She prepares breakfast in the morning, goes to the market, hangs the clothes, goes for a jog (yes a jog every morning… puts a lot of us to shame, does it not?), sweeps the floor, irons the clothes, cooks lunch. All to some radio station or other, usually very loudly. Then! She has the afternoon to talk on the phone, watch television programmes, check her email, play online games, read and nap. After dinner, she relaxes again and talks to everyone who’s returned from school and work. And that is my mother’s typical day. And she’s very loud. VERY L.O.U.D. And fast. I’ve mentioned that already, but she is that -very very fast.
So yes I’m going to miss my mother when I’m away because she has always been there. I think we’ve both had good training though. I was first away for a whole month in Lyon when I was fifteen. Then I’ve stayed on campus on weekdays during semesters for two years. And I’ve recently spent over a month in the States. There were always emails and phonecalls, of course. And now, we both have webcams, so that should do it. It’ll be the longest I’ve ever been away, but I want this so badly. Hell I need it. I feel restless; my life needs a shake-up pronto.
Less than a fortnight away!
happenings Thursday, 17 August, 2006
Posted by paperdoll in people, places, possessions.2 comments
I am the happy owner of a Logitech QuickCam for Notebooks Delux which features intelligent face tracking, a 640×480 VGA Video, 1.3 megapixel images and built-in audio.
Zouked and Phutured last night. Was alright. Many many old schoolmates. Many. Too many very sweaty very young people. At one point, we were all trying to avoid contact with the wet back of the T-shirt of a boy (yes the word of choice is boy) canoodling with a girl. Near impossible. Too packed. That was awful. YUCK.
I bought Grey’s Anatomy Season 1! Contented sigh.
chop stir flip Monday, 14 August, 2006
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Today, I visited the supermarket to buy A LOT of things and prepared dinner for the family. It was really nice to chop and stir and flip. And the food was YUM. Yay for the Chef! And then there were the random exchanges of words with everyone, including an unexpectedly long one with the brother.
I will always enjoy The Sound of Music. That’s what I was cooking to(:
bumbling along Saturday, 12 August, 2006
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Have been rather absent, haven’t I? Life is bumbling along.
I caught two plays by W!ldrice in the past week. Homesick was enjoyable. I commented on the piece of paper provided: Thank you for putting up an interesting show. It echoed many of my thoughts on the way Singapore is -a tidy summary. In summarizing, it also made me think more about the questions that we may never find answers to. Who is a Singaporean? I’d like to think that there is no definition -we can be who we want to be without having to fit into preconceived categories. At the same time, I think labels are necessary. Necessary as a platform for us to talk about Singapore -labels for us to tear down and build up so that we may expand the vocabulary to talk about Singapore and hopefully, to excite(/annoy) Singaporeans to make our voices heard. The discussion forum post-play was not very interesting. You know what?! I was bitten by bedbugs in the theatre. I now have spotty feet and ankles\: I couldn’t sleep well for two nights because the bites itched awfully.
The Campaign to Confer the Public Star on JBJ, I enjoyed less. Pam Oei was amazing though, as always. Rodney Oliveiro was very funny as the cop. There were a number of references I didn’t get and I think I would have much preferred attending the post-play discussion for this show to ask about them. Too bad I didn’t go for the performance that would be followed by it. Favourite line from this one: The imperfect past makes the present tense. Haha!
I’m glad I watched both.
Besides these two plays, I settled all my administrative preparations for the year ahead. FINALLY. I have my plane ticket and my insurance. I have applied for my visa. I have all my modules approved. The modules step was a tough one because I had to essentially know what I was taking for the next two years, both at the Sorbonne and in NUS so that I could fulfil all the requirements for my major and my minor (trying for a minor in English Studies) and USP and graduate on time. I had a nice long talk with one of my favourite professors about my academic future. I have given goodoldmoe (hoho) all my documents so that I can get my allowance (very exciting!) for the year ahead. I’ve half-packed.
Been meeting with friends too for meals and 21st birthday parties. And chance meetings with acquaintances. Strange how I’m a bit different and they’re a bit different and everything’s a lot different. Staying at home to have random conversations with family, as well as to read (liking Lolita and am about to reluctantly finish it) and play the piano in the day and watching (and re-watching) films late into the night. I’m enjoying my room a lot now that it’s all tidied up. Will miss it when I’m away.
dwelling Friday, 4 August, 2006
Posted by paperdoll in people, places, ponder.6 comments
I went to the new R*ffl*s J*n**r C*ll*g* (hey it looks adorably undignified with all the asterisks!) a couple of days ago. To share my experience as a student in the Un*vers*ty Sch*l*rs Pr*gr*mm* (haha this is fun) along with a fellow student, an associate professor with twinkly eyes and a cheery woman from the office.
After the official business, I walked around. I looked into the classrooms where students were doing their homework or playing musical instruments. I watched the literature week performances taking place in the concourse. I bought mocha milk from the drinks stall auntie (same one) in the canteen. I asked the bookshop auntie (same one too… uncle was nowhere to be seen) for PE shirts. It was very nice wandering around.
Had chats with Mrs P*rry (so very likeable), Miss J**nn* L** (still full of energy like she was), Mr S*wd*n (who’s now a grandaddy and cannot pretend to be young anymore but has lost weight and does look younger) and M*ss T*ng (who has very short hair now), in that order. We talked about how we were and how other people were and they all expressed nostalgia for the old campus. I must say that I’d been putting off the visit to the new grounds because I thought I’d be jealous of how it was new and big and hence the toilets wouldn’t be as smelly as they used to be in the old campus. Recall the need to hold your breath when you walked past them, let alone use them. Shudder. Well, new’s usually better than old, isn’t it?
However, I have to agree with the teachers -the old space was nicer. It was cosy. In being charmingly inadequate in its facilities, it was quite perfect. Recall waiting in the itty-bitty dug-out concourse for assembly, sitting in the canteen which always had a nice wind blowing through (hold on to your short skirts!), checking out nice legs (beep beep, my fellow admirers of the boy with the legs) in the spectators stand, enjoying the air-conditioning in the container classrooms, “consulting” the clever(er) classmates’ practicals while perched on the creeky wooden stools in the labs. There was also Gimmo a walk away. And laid-back chic Holland V a long walk or a short bus ride away. And gelato at Guthrie House a walk (to the Red House) and a bus ride away for the lazy afternoons before PE class. Those were good times. So no I do not envy our juniors, though I still think it would have been nice to be the class which had the first year in the old campus and the second in the new.
These couple of days, I’ve been cleaning out my room. (To the sounds of Jazz Piano- A Smithsonian Collection. Excellent album.) Throwing away a lot of things. Filing and rearranging done and to be done. And I find myself constantly sitting in the middle of a phenomenal mess (order in the making) looking at or reading over things that bring back memories. I feel like I’ve come a long way to be where I am now. I like it.
