last post from the island

Went to watch Singapore Dreaming yesterday, and it was amazingly good for a SG production which basically revolves around typical SG family life. I watched it out of curiosity over how attractive and inspiring can family dinners and minor squabbles be. A family falling apart, adults who cannot see beyond money and making ends meet, not in the way of being unable to put food on the table, but unable to afford the latest instalment of their luxury car and move into a condo. It is understandable where they are coming from, a pursuit of a material life, a need to be constantly "upgraded", like the lifts and corridors. But still, to me there is nothing wrong with a HDB flat and taking public transport. (You can fall asleep on the MRT, but not while you are driving. :p) I felt sadness for the characters, because you know there are a lot of people like them, who will never be satisfied.

But that does not make me glad to leave the island. I also have no idea what it is supposed to feel like. It is very difficult to feel excited when you think about the massive amounts of adjustment to be done 13-and-a-half-hours plane ride away. Yet, there is a lot of things to be done and new people to meet. Western cultures may not be superior, but they are definitely different. Thus, there is no reason for it to be a sad thing. Admittedly, things can change while I am away, but in Sg, things change very fast anyway, whether you are here or not. I woke up one morning to find the grass patch of the previous night transformed into a cement patch. And the following morning, it became a carpark. So when asked on two separate occasions, how I feel about going to school, my answer: "Stone."

And before I go tomorrow, shall do something here that is inspired by Nic's last sg post.

The times when:
- I called you "monkey" 9 years ago because you did rock climbing. And the name stuck ever since.
- you only managed to get a picture of me only after you lure me onto the suspension bridge at Fort Siloso.
- you sang lakukeracha all day long
- we sang off-tune Chinese pop songs every recess.
- i went on and on in Mandarin, not realising you speak Malay.
- you taught me how to MUD.
- our slave-driver threatened to hang you on the fans.
- we climbed on to a ledge on the fourth floor in school to do a suicide film and got a huge scolding.
- we spent whole holidays together, watching videos render
- we ice-skated so many times and translated articles for each other
- we took spastic photos in the the skating rink of our "snow"-covered gloves
- we "moo-ed" to each other because we were bored, and you wished the world was made of Cadbury chocolate.
- we spent an inordinate amount of time mulling over NE in everywhere from KAP to Starbucks
- we panicked together over the incomprehensibility of econs notes
- we sat at Bedok Jetty till the last train, watched fireworks at Merlion Park and sat at the Esplanade breathing in second-hand smoke
- you were so caught up with the Jap version of "Journey to the West" and we teased you about "Chinese Robot"
- you left food on my table because I was dumb enough to run home to grab my notebook
- i made you walk all the way to Whitley, the wrong one. And you didn't scold me.
- i told you countless times how i'm amazed you do showbiz. I still am.
- we sat at Island Creamery, chatted the whole night and nearly forgot to go home.
- we ate brunch at Simply Bread, despite the impossible amount of work you have.
- we cluelessly explored 10 blocks of AMK at night and were thrown out together from ICU
- we sat in the wrong Macs waiting for the guy, and you had to explain filing and lines
- you threatened to leave me at a rubbish bin if I get drunk, but later insisted on sending me home
- we teased you about being squinty. You coined your own insult.
- you said I am short, only to tell me the next day that actually, you are shorter.
- we sat at Thai Express, eight people eating two desserts.
- I broke down in front of you, so you did all the talking, telling me what you felt, unbiased, was best for me.
- we ate sushi and laughed so much, we thought the chefs think we are mad. Our favourite pasttime is watching the conveyor belt.

Before I uproot myself to a temperate place, thank you for everything you have done and for leaving me a lot of memories. Though things won't, shouldn't and better not stay the same, keep in touch while we all change for the better! Heh. Take care and we will catch up, in a while, back in sunny SG.

email: ongrl@singnet.com.sg
MSN: zhai_helleva@hotmail.com
skype: windtothywings