Just had a movie marathon at my place today. I can understand why some people are such fans of films... It would be fun to inhabit a movie world...

Hahaha... This is really very funny.


First Day at School

A millionbillionwillion miles from home
Waiting for the bell to go. (To go where?)
Why are they all so big, other children?
So noisy? So much at home they
Must have been born in uniform
Lived all their lives in playgrounds
Spent the years inventing games
That don't let me in. Games
That are rough, that swallow you up.

And the railings.
All around, the railings.
Are they to keep out wolves and monsters?
Things that carry off and eat children?
Things you don't take sweets from?
Perhaps they're to stop us getting out
Running away from the lessins. Lessin.
What does a lessin look like?
Sounds small and slimy.
They keep them in the glassrooms.
Whole rooms made out of glass. Imagine.

I wish I could remember my name
Mummy said it would come in useful.
Like wellies. When there's puddles.
Yellowwellies. I wish she was here.
I think my name is sewn on somewhere
Perhaps the teacher will read it for me.
Tea-cher. The one who makes the tea.

Roger McGough

I remember moving into hall six in February with optimistic notions of condo-like living (the rundown version) - swimming pool, basketball courts, etc downstairs, because I live right next to the NTU sports and recreation centre. Now, two months later, I've finally cashed in on the promise of living next to the SRC by going for a swim - and it is like condo living -if you lower your expectations and discount the condo itself, haha.

The only thing is that the pool gets really crowded in the evenings, so much so that we can only swim breadths and not lengths after 5pm. But it was kinda interesting looking at the swimming forms underwater... people look wonderfully strange when they swim... a kind of silent, slow, buoyant dance...

I feel relaxed now, the relaxed feeling of having exerted myself. And it was nice when, after I had stopped swimming, I leaned my head against the edge of the pool wall and looked up at the blue, blue sky and wispy clouds and imagined. And it was all the same. It was all the same...

Dying well?

I had meant to blog weeks ago about the Saturday special on "Going gently into that good night", or Dying Well. I cried several times while reading it, but was fascinated by it. Kind of reminded me of this, which I had blogged about previously. I think death is an inevitable part of life (does this sound paradoxical?) and have no qualms about talking about death to people if they want to talk about it, albeit of course in an appropriate way - although I realise that this is really not easy.

That I had cried a few times while reading the Saturday special was a testament to how sensitively (though I'm still not sure if that is the right word to use) written it was, and the beauty of the stories themselves. The special had been spurred by the Lien Foundation's project on Life before Death, which you can read more about here (read the legacy albums!).


Anyway, the reason I wanted to blog about it is that it reminded me of things that I have realised (or perhaps I knew it but never put it into words or resolved to act on it) over the past few months:

1) Life here is too short to be hampered by fear or laziness. (Have to remind myself periodically because I tend to forget).

2) I should do more for others (including my family) while I still can.



And yes, the short fiction below had been inspired by the Saturday special, the Lien foundation website, and a show about a dying guy that I had started to watch but stopped watching for a while because I was too busy. However, it does not necessarily represent my own views… my own views, while similar in some ways, are more like this…

Fiction in 55 words

He was going to die, and he knew it.

And realized the meaninglessness of his life so far.

So he loved more. Laughed more. Hurt more. He was better to his parents. Struggled to leave his mark on the world in some small way. Gained insights on life.

He died. But he died well.



--------------------------------------------

Fiction 55/ 55 Fiction, or fiction in 55 words, which we had to try writing as part of our Approaches to teaching Literature class. Was trying to see if I could get a complete story in 55 words, and here's the result (well, actually, I think it's 54 words because I decided to delete one). I think it's a bit trite, and perhaps could have been conveyed differently, but that's perhaps to be expected from a story concocted in less than 15 minutes.

Okuribito

It's been a long time since I've watched a good Japanese movie. Went to catch Departures or Okuribito, finally... The Japanese have a knack of making things beautiful... the music, the dialogue, the scenery, the cinematography, the acting... Of course like many other movies, it wasn't flawless - almost a little bit cheesy at one or two parts... but it managed to touch and amuse with its attention to little details, and that's good enough....

And.... Happy Chinese New Year! Decided I should post my requisite Chinese New Year shots.


Headed down to Chinatown last week to get a feel of the 'Chinese New Year' atmosphere.


In these times of recession, some are perhaps looking toward the god of fortune for a glimpse of the future. (Doesn't look like he's answering though...)


Still, on the whole, Chinatown was busy.






Especially the favourites every year, the bak kwa (roasted meat) and waxed meat stalls.


However, it seemed a bit less crowded than when I went the last two years, though the crowd came in around seven-plus or eight. Some stall holders seemed to have to work a bit harder at luring the crowd, and some had to wait a bit.






A boy enjoys the view of Chinatown from the top.



Ushering in the year of the cow...

The Shop Around the Corner

I borrowed this old show from the Arts, Design and Media library to watch over the weekend... And I think it is one of the best romantic comedies I've seen. Of course, it has its flaws, but the dialogue still sparkles (almost 70 years on!) and the chemistry between the leads (Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart) is palpable.

This film was remade more recently (You've Got Mail), and as much sentiment as I have for the latter movie (having enjoyed it then for the scenes of New York and the quaint bookshop), I must say this is better in terms of plot development, wit and layering.

This is the first of James (or Jimmy) Stewart's movies I've watched, and I think I'm going to look for more to watch!

Look at others, and be distressed.
Look at yourself, and be depressed.
Look to God, and you'll be blessed!

Meant this for a New Year's post, but just didn't have the time to do it until now. I hope that in the new year, with all its challenges, I won't forget the above!

Looking back at the last year, I thank God for blessing me with better than a expected class of honours despite my mediocre results and challenging fyp. It was really He who brought me through the trying times of my fyp and enabled us to complete it with such success.

God comforted me when I felt like giving up, gave me peace when I was worried about my future, stretched me and brought people along to help me.

I want this year to be one of worship, looking at Jesus instead of stressing out, and remembering that unless the Lord builds the house, we labour in vain. And yes, I must exercise more too... ;p