Miscellaneous memos

I had not meant to book myself into two appointments at the same time. But I somehow knew my good luck streak would come to an end. Relying on memory and the occasional jot down on my planner is really not the way to go.

Now it is just a matter of trying to extricate myself from one or the other, and trying to postpone the appointment to another time and date.

One of my third quarter resolutions (eep, starting to sound like an analyst now) is to knuckle down and really organise my schedules and timetable. Apparently a neat desk and a neat room is not all that I should have to upkeep.

Time is a tricky thing though. It is one of the hardest things to manage and it throws up surprises when you are least prepared.

Womad
Originally uploaded by ak1ko.
The trials and tribulations that one has to go through in order to get to Womad increase each year.

Perhaps, it is because I went to the event on a Sunday last year, as compared to a Saturday this year, and with a different group of friends each time.

But this time, it costs more. There was a long queue at the entrance for security to tag us. They were only selling the event sponsored beer, Heineken. I ran into more people I knew through work and thus had to be on my best behaviour. There were longer queues at the ladies’ room. There were more Asian girls, pushing themselves on the ubiquitous white men available. And so on and so forth.

However, the music just makes it all seem worthwhile.

The day they start to suck, will be the day I stop going.

An old friend has been offered a position in a rural township in Queensland and she is moving there for the period of her contract. She is hoping that she can stay on after it is all over. And knowing how she makes her living in healthcare, I have no doubts about her ability to find work in some major city after that.

Its been a long while since I last saw her. The only other time being just after I came back from Australia. We took pictures together and I could not possibly believe that that was me then.

She slipped the photographs to me over the table and remarked, ‘You have lost so much weight since then. Singapore is not treating you right and is stressing you out. You have to come with me to Australia and put some meat back on you.’

Of course, I made my usual protestations. I eat well here, too well in fact because I have all this incredible hawker food within reach. I am huge in contrast to all the stick thin girls here. I am not entirely stressed out yet and I need to work here for sufficient experience, particularly in my line, before I can try to get a job elsewhere.

She listened, just like she always does. Then she said,

‘Well, if there was nothing holding you back, meaning you can find a job just as easily, you would leave, wouldn’t you?’

I nodded.

‘Where?’

To which I told her about my insane hopes and dreams. She didn’t laugh, nor did she comment. She merely said,

‘Well, then I hope you do it. You will be the first, but I hope you do. Because this place just sucks your soul.’

And she told me all about her own hopes and dreams.

Funny, the only common ground I could find was that we had to leave in order to fulfill them.

Actually my earlier entry on the National Day fireworks was not very savoury.

However, after watching the Singapore Fireworks Festival this evening, I could not have enjoyed myself more.

There was something almost wild and abundantly exciting about watching those fleeting display of patterns over the concrete Singapore city skyline.

It fueled a sense of ecstasy which I probably have not experienced before, and no, I am not comparing it to Aussie day fireworks again, because during all those times there was a potential love interest or boyfriend in the picture that added other dimensions of feelings.

No, it was this collective wonder at how wonderful these little bursts of light and colour could create art in the heavens.

And, yes, I am feeling very poetic tonight.

It must be the wine, and watching V for Vendetta, another show where fireworks have a huge significance in changing the skyline and history of a major city.

Another little brief event that lifts the veil of melancholy that has been plaguing me recently.

I think it is possible to talk like that after severe exhaustion as well.