Cheers.

Glasses clinked, conversations flowed freely, there was incessant laughter amid the banter. I recall it was a squarish table we sat at, an ideal setting for after-dinner talk, for everyone was within sight and earshot of one another.

I was reminded of some American dramas that I've watched, where a family or group of friends would sit around at a large table, engaging one another in a spontaneous, lively exchange of ideas, usually over or after a meal. The image of a vibrant interchange of ideas amongst a group of people always attracted me, perhaps because it's not in our culture to talk spontaneously in a large group setting.

The topics discussed shifted almost naturally, with hardly anyone realising their transition. Jokes were cracked - mostly by JM who could turn a line into a story - opinions contested, memories recalled.

I allowed myself to go with the flow, adding something or replying only occasionally, mostly because each time there was always someone doing the talking.

And when I'm not talking, I was the odd, impolite guy fiddling with his camera, seemingly uninterested, finding interesting angles and taking pictures - like the one above.

Last 7 days

Over the last 7 days
I celebrated a very good friend's bday
With a gregarious group at a cozy restaurant in Dempsey
Met up with another friend who's back from UK
Sat at Walas, drank and shouted to get myself heard
Found out that he's engaged and getting married this year -
My first good guy friend of my age tying the knots
He's going back this Sat and coming back in August to hold the wedding
And I thought,
Life's journey's so wonderful sometimes unbelievable yet so beautiful.

I sms-ed another friend
A friend from university days whom I've not met for more than a year
Asked him out and we caught up over a meal at Pasta Mania
He filled me in about the others and i found out that
This very bright girl (1st class honours) had just died of cardiac arrest
And I knew,
Life's journey's so wonderful but not without its tragedies and aches.

I sms-ed another good friend
Arranging gathering and fixing dates
Realised something's not so right coz she sounded impatient tense and sharp
This was not her usual nature and I worried for I know these were signs
Clear signs that she's burnt out and out

Many more things happened over the last 7 days
Good and bad, happy and sad, all were had
And I pray,
The next 7 days will be more good than bad more wonderful and bright.

Treasure-Trove

A photo snapped and a moment
freezes, its subject becoming an
object of study and reminiscence,
until the day it can't be found and
memories become a misty haze.

Like a piece of trusty lock that
lay silently and inconspicuously,
it unlocks personal memories that
recall fond moments past their expiry.

They used to unfold like a chapter
of life in hard pages after pages
but now lay mostly hidden in invisible
folders that lock stories already forgotten.

I still prefer its old glory - the physical touch
and frozen frame as real as the thing
that happened and gave it life.
Flip the pages, feel the edges
Let nostalgia flow and suffuse your senses.

The blue sky shimmers above, the perfect
backdrop to a group of un-uniform boys -
and a girl - boisterious and gathering close
like they have never before fallen in together.

The quiet and rustic charm inspires as
i rode down the track that stretches
for all i care - only the rustling breeze
and swaying lallang move, just like I, and
that is all i need for company to go on forever.

Treacherous though our neighbours are,
we rode streches unscathed perhaps
because luck and sobering mind were on
good terms that morning. Prata was our
reward, and so was the good company,
Unquestionably.

Those silly grins on our faces
staring down ourselves staring
back at us, so funny and fun, it
all seems not too long ago when
we were idling undergrads, free and unruly.

These are treasure-troves, precious
like the thoughts a dear friend offers
you when you are down and out, reassuring
like the ease you feel on entering your own house.
They - they're the eternal gatekeeper of our memories,
Truly.

The thing about Wednesday is...

Over beer with L at Harris after work today, our conversations inevitably - and frequently - veer into the topic of work - and, no surprise, it's mostly about the bad part. Like how her proposal was axed by the big boss, how things on my side are still the same, how i am praying hard that i will get a hopeful call these days. And i think pretty much everyone else in the bar were talking about work too. After all, everyone is dressed in sleek, executive garb and downing beer. But they don't look miserable; quite frequently there would be jovial laughter erupting in some corners, probably a response to some jokes about clients, bosses or their company?

L has some not so cheerful tasks ahead which she ain't looking forward to. I can't change her lot even if i very much wish to believe that I have cosmic powers.

So I said: Cheer up! It's Thursday tomorrow and it's going to be the weekend!

She gave me a suspicious look, doubting my assertion. And it seems to say this: It's Wednesday, mid-week, not the end of the week, so the weekend is not exactly here yet, you know.

I sensed her suspicion and quickly added: You see, on Thursday you look forward to Friday knowing that it's the last day of the work week, that the weekend's finally arrived! Thus, on Wednesday you look forward to Thursday knowing that Thursday is the day to look forward to Friday, the last day of work in the week!

Tah Tah. One must always look towards the end...of the week! And it's true, really, that the end of the week is upon you before you would realise it. Trust me, enjoy your Wednesday by looking forward to Thursday, because on Thursday you will be thinking about Friday and how wonderful it is that the weekend's arrived - almost!

Positive thoughts breed happiness. (My moment of profundity!)

Disclaimer: this does not apply to those who work in the weekend.

All in a week

So, in the span of one week I caught four films – three in the cinema, one at the National Museum, which by the way is a wonderful place to visit. That’s more than what I would normally have watched in easily a few months (although to be completely honest, I hardly go to the cinema to catch a show.)

The Singapore International Film Festival was on-going last week and I caught 3 of the films that were being shown. That’s not bad except that out of the 3, two of them quite frankly bore the hell out of me. I am no film connoisseur or critic; in fact I am a member of the amorphous masses who don’t have any background in film appreciation.

Still, one of them seems to me genuinely bad – and unfortunately, it’s a local one – because the characters don’t seem to accord with reality (unless there’s a dramatic purpose in the apparent incongruity), and the whole film leaves one puzzling as to what the Director is trying to convey. The plot was flimsy and I certainly wasn’t convinced of its depiction of characters.

As for the other one that bored me quite completely, the abstract in the festival catalogue has this to say: this aesthetically brilliant noir-thriller promises to leave a hauntingly indelible impression on its viewer.

What it didn’t say is whether the impression is for the better or worse.

No doubt, the Director is a deft old hand when it comes to the use of cinematic devices in this particular genre. His noir film unfolds with consistency and flair, the angles of camera and distances used to good effect in creating suspense. However, all this is overwhelmingly overshadowed by the excruciatingly slow pace in which the plot unravels; and this is further heightened by the lugubrious silence of the film, which is in black and white.

The scenes are shot at but a few locations, each of which the camera nearly always lingers for an awfully long period of time. This creates a claustrophobic mood. It’s a challenge to follow through and discover the truth – but not before one’s patience is put to test.

Lest I be accused of being unappreciative of the aesthetics, well, within 15 minutes of the film’s starting, there were audiences who walked out of the cinema. After that, more and more people left the cinema in the next 2 hours. One gets distracted after sometime, wondering when the next person will leave. After the first hour, I dare say it never took longer than 10 minutes before the next group of people walked out of the show.

The last film that I caught at this year’s SIFF was, as the brief of the film puts it, ‘a memorable ode to music’ that quite simply pleases. This one comprises a string of fantasy sequences that flow with ‘poignancy and wit’. The music, settings and spoken words create a poetic mood that delights; and one can surely identify with the idiosyncrasies and human emotional frailties that were depicted.

To tell the truth, the films that we wanted to watch at the SIFF were all sold out by the time we got to buying the tickets. There were many good shows but unfortunately they all had limited screenings. One can only hope to do better next year, and hope also that some of these films might be available for screening locally in the later part of the year.

unlike any other day

today was just like any other day. it started with me hauling myself out of bed after much self-persuasion. i brushed my teeth, shaved, changed into shirt and pants, then left home and walked to the train station. Just like any other day - alright, maybe i walked a little faster. but other than that, it was the same.

i passed through the turnstile, took the escalator up and walked to the same spot that i stand at and wait for the train every other day. and when the train came, i packed myself into the centre - exactly the mid-point - of the carriage, plonked my bag onto the ground, then stared at the passing scenery as the train moved along. first it was the lake, then the identical blocks of flats. soon enough the pre-recorded announcement played, almost as natural and routine as my journey to the train station, that i sometimes don't even realise it.

standing in the train, my mind, as usual, was still getting accustomed to the reality that it is function time. it usually takes a few stations to pass before it jolts into operation mode, whereupon i would rummage my bag either for a) my never-finishing novel; b) the Economist; or c) my MP3 player. A and B are exclusive for obvious reasons. C doesn't take place when A or B happens, because i don't belong to the multi-tasking generation. i like to say that i prefer to enjoy my music wholeheartedly.

when my mind slowly shifts into slightly more advanced operation mode, i start to scan my surroundings. depending on when this takes place, sometimes my surrounding (view) could be just two strangers flanking me and the row of people blissfully seated in front. many a times i would spot a familiar face: the young working couple with their two daughters in tow; or the young father invariably in singlet and three-quarter pants carrying his barely 2-year old daughter; or the auntie who looks resigned to the fact that nothing short of a miracle would an empty seat be waiting for her when she gets onto the train. there's always a familar face, and it goes to show that i am a normal chap who, like most if not all people, wait and enter the train at the same door all the time, no matter if we wake up to a bad hair day or not. we do the same things over again, though perhaps not often realising its sameness - that's how our frenetic lives maintain a semblance of order, i suppose.

and after a long tiring journey standing and my mind becoming operationally ready by the minute, i finally reached raffles place station where i crossed over to the north-bound train. this is always the welcome interlude - there's always a nice empty seat, and i usually get to choose where i want to seat. all in a day's journey to work, just like any other day.

then on the way to office, i would get my tea or coffee to fully shift my mind to turbo operational mode. the soul may be unwilling, but the mind had better be ready to fight fires still simmering from yesterday, not to mention fresh fires that will no doubt rage with urgency as the day goes by.

there are variations to the actual proceedings for the rest of the day. but the essence, the theme, the structure remains unchanged like the day before, all the days before: replying, scheduling, planning, refining, calling, discussing, submitting. life can't be any more predictable than this.

But - a BIG But - the usual day did not end the usual way. i still made the same journey home, now in reverse order somewhat, except that the time was not turned back. i still returned to the same home, paid the same train fare, bore with the slightly less packed crowd in the train.

But it was different. Amidst the jarring din and weariness and slowly self-shutting mind (whose operational readiness started declining since a few hours ago), i was engaging in the most quintessential activity of today's wired world - text messaging on my samsung phone. it made all the difference for an otherwise ordinary, just-any-other-day day, because i was connecting with a few friends, smiling faintly as i thumbed messages, oblivious to the engulfing noise that i usually consciously resist. and did i mention that the train journey seemed twice as short as its usual time?

i promised Val that when the stars are aligned i will make our meeting happen (later at night when she informed me of her travel plans, i told her i would intervene using my cosmic powers if need be, to make sure the all stars align themselves). i told tamk that night out for drinks should be on the cards. i also buzzed jon who just came back from cambodia, who replied that 'it was quite good but pampered (him) was glad to return to good ol singapore after 6 days.' this was, i believe, when my face creased into a grin and i replied him immediately. i also messaged Lisa and XY, telling them to check out yesterday's Life! on the article on Laos. most of them replied me, and i am not embarrassed - as should be obvious by now - to say that 'hearing' from them has made my day.

Val's last message to my cosmic power sms was this: Haha! Indeed i believe u are powerful.. Hee. Kay u take care. Hopefully see ya real soon! :)
And to Ms tamk, thank you very much, for acknowledging what i always knew - that i'm (firmly) in the core, not the periphery. Hahaha!

Just like any other day, but even better. Today.