Tuesday, October 29, 2013
The weather seems weird these days. I'm not talking about absurd weather changes like snow (although it did hail in Singapore once recently). I have noticed that it changes quickly, from stormy to sunny and vice versa.
It's as if the transition was cut short.
The Sun was flashing all its bright glory upon the expanse of concrete jungle this morning but I hear thunder and when I look out my window; brewing storm clouds.
It's...as if I were back in Pulau Tekong! gasp, that place of horror!
The weather there was erratic and extreme, no wonder so many people fell sick.
Despite this island being hot and stormy, most times humid and wet, I've actually grown to like it.
I remember when I lived over at my granny's house when I was 5. It was a nice 4 room HDB, with a big family living within which included my 2 uncles, my auntie, a cousin and of course my dear granny.
My parents were busy with their careers then, so they let me and my sis & a maid live there.
The floor was paved with large tiles a square foot large. During hot summer-like days, I would laze around the living room, playing with clothespins, wooden blocks and play dough or marbles (but rarely marbles because I got scolded for making too much noise). My granny would just sit in her wooden chair and fan herself with a rattan fan while she watched over me and her favorite channel on tv.
The cool tiles upon my 5 year-old bum was ecstacy. Imagine putting cold porcelain against your skin.
I would also spend a long time at the balcony, gazing at garden plants sway when a warm zephyr passes, studying the plant casting a shadow onto the floor and trying to draw it.
When i had afternoon naps, I would sleep on the floor with a pillow. When the tiles warmed up, I would shift myself to a cooler spot by flipping myself over. Sometimes I even ended up at the kitchen from the living room!
During my school days, morning assembly was quite long. I remember being forced to stand under a blazing morning sun while the Principal droned on with his speech on school achievements. After that sun basking hour long speech, I had my first tan when I was 8.
I also sweat easily under a hot sun. My friends often joke with me after I run. I think I wouldn't survive a day in a desert.
When there were storms, I would go into the bedroom and cover myself entirely in blankets and try to sleep because I was quite afraid of thunder and lightning. (my uncle fooled me into thinking that they strike naughty children) The toilet door was a normal hinge door, painted in a hideous blue color and was about 3 tiles away from where I usually laid the mattress to sleep.
On stormy days, the gap underneath the door allowed wind to gust in, which felt so much like a blower fan. I often stayed there for hours imagining I was flying and making weird noises. The wind was essentially toilet air but I didn't care, I was enjoying myself.
I was literally a sheltered kid when I was young, rarely going out to play and often staying at home. Trips to the nearby playground was a luxury and could only be earned by good behaviour or good grades in kindergarten. (this is some serious asian style parenting)
When I was primary 3, I walked to my primary school which is located a good distance away from my granny's home (800m?) I remembered being caught in the rain once while walking home and I forgot to bring an umbrella. My maid at that time also forgot to bring one so we got thoroughly drenched. It was also the first time I got soaked in rain and it felt surprisingly...good. The feeling when pearls of water collide with your skin and streams of water run down your legs to your ankles is strangely soothing. Even showering doesn't get close to this because the water droplets are not large enough or hitting you with 'that' amount of force or release the rainy smell: petrichor. (heck, there is a name for the smell of rain!)
It rained so hard that the sidewalk became puddles and grass fields became swamps. I got so drenched you could describe me as what the Chinese call: luo tang ji.
We got home and the maid got scolded by my parents but I wasn't, which I felt was kind of unfair for her.
Over the years, I've been caught in similar situations with friends and it was all quite a laugh.
Closer to now, the most recent I relived this feeling was running an urgent errand in camp.
Oh weather, I don't hate you. Even if I do complain about you sometimes. Hot, humid, wet and stormy. You make so many beautiful memories for me and this I love you for.
signing off.
Call Of The Wild at 2:38 PM
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
It's about time I met up with some of my buddies!
That's why I went out yesterday with my buds YK and Bry to catch a movie. (coincidentally we took off on the same day)
And the title of the movie?
About Time.
About Time starts off slow, about this british boy and his family in Britain living an idyllic life by the coast where they would have tea every day without fail by the beach and watch a movie outdoors every friday night.
His Father also gives a wicked commentary when both of them plays table tennis!
This boy, named Timmy, is rather ordinary and plain, also rather awkward in social situations. On his 21st birthday, his Father reveals to him a secret that all males in his family possess: the ability to travel back in time.
The method its seems would be to stand in a dark area, clench both fists palms down and think hard about a point of time in one's past.
This seems rather absurd but HEY its a movie :)
Hearing this, the boy proceeds to test out his power by correcting an awkward moment he made during a New Year's day event.
He soon discovers the first love of his life when 2 girls stay over with his family, one of them a gorgeous blonde whom he falls head over heels in love with. Determined to win her heart, he uses his power to woo her but to no avail. Realizing that matters of the heart are harder then one perceives it to be, he gives up and watches her leave by the end of that summer.
He moves to London and stays with a very amusing playwright, gets a job as a lawyer and goes on in his life feeling rather lonely. Until one day, together with his friend, they both attend a dinner in total darkness (some sort of new experience in dining?) and he meets the woman of his life. Her name was Mary ( and is also the name of his mother).
He gets her number and he gleefully skips back to the playwright's apartment, where he discovers that the playwright's work was ruined because an actor forgot his lines.
He decides to make the play go smoothly and uses his powers. This time the play goes smoothly and the playwright is delighted, he is delighted, BUT WAIT. It means that in this timeline, he does not attend the dinner and hence, does not meet Mary.
Either attend the dinner or the play. Faced with this dilemma, he chooses the latter and becomes depressed.
He knows Mary likes Kate Moss, so he tries to meet Mary at a Kate Moss exhibition, with seriously funny consequences.
His final break at success was when he seized the opportunity at a party to contact her, thereafter they had dinner, then followed by a long stroll back to her apartment and then a lovely time on the bed. (he used his powers several times for this!)
What happens next will be about their life together and how they cope with having a child, he didn't use his power much after that, he lead a seemingly joyous life.
His sister meets with an accident and he tries to stop it from occurring by travelling all the way back to that New Year's party but he finds that the consequence is horrible. That his child will be different because time travelling alters which sperm fertilizers the egg, meaning he can't alter past events before the birth of his child.
He realizes that travelling back in time cannot and will not fix every problem in life unlike in his younger days.
He makes the tough decision to let his sister face the accident, then help her from that point in time onwards.
Then his father is diagnosed with cancer and soon passes away which saddens him, although he can visit him any time in the past. After some time, Mary wants to have another child, so you see another dilemma presented to him here. He will have to say goodbye to his Father forever.
He does say the final farewell to his Father in the end, living the rest of his life in a very meaningful way, which was to live each day like its your worst, then using his power, live it like its the best and see the beauty of living. Then eventually, living each day and enjoying it without using his powers.
I like this movie really much, it teaches you some important things. Try to treasure your time living, also, we are all travelling in time, forwards but never backwards, something we all have in common. Because we don't have Timmy's power, we can't correct awkward situations or mistakes as much as we want to. People dream of time travel because we cannot reverse what has already been done, we want to have a second chance at doing things to get a more desirable outcome. This movie teaches you that there's no need to do so. Time travel need not be invented in future if people are able to appreciate the beauty of living in the moment, something that Timmy achieves nearing the end of the movie.
Also, this movie is full of laughs! Do catch it if you can, but do not delve to much into the technicalities of time travel, its merely a romantic, comedic and some part serious movie. Also, Rachel McAdams is so cute.
About time I signed off.
Call Of The Wild at 2:50 PM
Monday, October 07, 2013
I received a great shock this morning!
But first of all:
Last Night
I was preparing for FTT (final theory test) for driving. (yes, i'm learning to drive a car!).
I was sure I prepared for everything:
revise test questions, check
online revision test, done
wallet and keys, packed
spare pen, check
a receipt for the test, check
checks arrival time for test, check
said goodnight to parents, check
plan my journey to driving centre, done
checks arrival time for test, just in case.
check check check check
sets alarm
This Morning:
wakes up at 7.30am, wash up and eats breakfast.
checks arrival time for test. okay, i really like to remind myself of the test time. Test time is at 9.15am.
goes off at 8.30am and reaches Hougang bus interchange.
Takes bus 55 till I reach the bus stop opposite CDC driving school. It's now 8.55am
Climbs up stairs to 2nd floor and searches for test room.
Found it!
Lips dry, goosebumps on arm raised, facial muscles tensing and pinky wriggling, I walked into the room nervous.
Examiner asks for my IC.
Whut?
I present him my CDC card, my brain says:" That's not it!"
Examiner says:" That's not it.."
My pinky wriggled.
Dang! I clearly knew I had forgotten something!
If you thought that several years of intense schooling and life changing national examinations had prepared me for this moment, it hadn't.
So I told the examiner:" Perhaps you could accept this?"
I presented him my ez-link card. Hey! Its as close to an IC as ice-cream is to sorbet!
The rock hard exterior of the examiner refused to budge. I felt my insides crumble.
"Only IC or passports allowed as proof for sitting this exam only!"
"I thought you had taken the BTT? You should know that we only accept IC or passport."
National examinations had not prepared me enough for this.
PANIC MODE PANIC MODE PANIC MODE
I recall my IC inside my card holder, behind my camp pass.
Brain: "We have a situation here, code red, keep calm and reach for your handphone."
Brain is smart, it knows my Dad is heading home after fetching my Mom to work.
Dad almost wanted to wrangle my neck over the phone, but what's done(or not done) has happened and we move on in life as always.
I'm very sorry for what I've done(or not done).
I wallowed in despair, just kidding. I simply sat down on a bench at the lobby, while I waited for Superman to arrive. I felt a little anxious, tried not to look at the time and read through some notes.
My Father saved my life! I was a little late for the exam, but I had my IC. I proceeded to sit down at my seat and ponder over the questions on the computer screen.
I passed the test. :D
Oh, the great shock this morning was that I ran out of fruit juice. I needed it to perk me up for the day ahead, oh well...
signing off.
Call Of The Wild at 7:35 PM