reunion

it felt a little surreal today, as if a vague dream suddenly pops to the fore from the back of my mind. It started off with the revelation and familiar voice calling my name in the van. viola! a connection made when I was 19 and pretty much disappeared for a long while becomes part of my adult world without warning. he is still as funny and witty, still has that ability to make people around him laugh out loud incessantly. no awkwardness, just a familiarity with a little distance that time had wedged between us.

it's cool that there are a group of us newbies bumming around by ourselves for a while. We're enjoying the non-intervention kinda orientation by ourselves, separate from the old timers. corny remarks, laughter and friendly digs fill the makeshift office space constantly. good vibes. i'm starting to appreciate the off-handed remark by some people that humour is one of the most precious gifts God has given to humankind. it's a miracle drug that bridges distance and cures boredom. a first day of work begins to feel like reunion.

updates

a whole myriad of happenings come crashing in, before the start of a new phase of life. hospitals, waiting, praying, wondering, silence, pacing, sitting outside the A&E department in the hot sun, switching my mp3 on and off, watching worried people pacing up and down the same corridor for news from the doctors, constantly sms-ing people to update them and to cancel on activities so i can be left alone to fight the battle. All strangers, yet a sense of camaderie as our eyes meet, and our minds preoccupied with the same uncertainty and worry.

In recent days I've become strangely used to fighting this alone physically, though i get assurances that prayers are being offered for me and my family. There came a point in time when I thought, how much easier it would be if there was someone standing by my side, and being my prayer warrior. But it's ok. i'm ok alone.

the weight of the world

i felt the weight of the world's obligations upon my shoulders again, so I made the decision to cancel most appointments for the last week and the coming one for myself. I said MOST, because I'm still pretty much a doormat at heart. I just can't bring myself to cancel on certain obligations. and so i compromise yet once again. It's so sad, on one level, that I have to live my life according to the needs of others. Yet I remind myself on another level that I am no island by myself after all; others need me as much as I need them and I can't just bail out on them as freely as I would want to.

Yet, how i wish i could disappear from the face of the earth legitimately, at least for one week?

POOF!

Much Ado About Everything

Caught the play, Much Ado About Nothing with the rest of the quartet at Fort Canning last Thursday. I enjoyed it thoroughly, both the company i had and the play itself. It's a different kind of dynamic with them, that is comfortable, interesting and fun. Perhaps coz each of us have such distinct personalities. Eugene the decisive leader of the pack who comes up with side-splitting comments when you're offguard. Therie the sweet-looking yet feisty LEGO doll with the hearty laughter. Darryl the practical philosopher who moves freely between reality and the realm of idealism. Rae the romantic fighting off their relentless environment-sustainability, rhetorical attacks on dreamy balloons floating into the night sky. And we all talk politics. You can't find a more interesting quartet, can you?

As for the play, I was a little wary of how much I could enjoy it at the start, since I never fancied myself to be a "play" person. I have always enjoyed the novel to the film adaptation of any story, due to the paucity of description that goes into film, and I quite naturally thought that a play would dilute a story even further. Alas, I now see the beauty of a play. the dynamism and space available for interpretation is immense, an art form that the pen or film cannot offer. Each medium causes a story to shine in its own way :)

The Shakespearean language took a little getting used to, so I was clueless for the first 10 mins, quite honestly. When my brain finally got attuned to Shakespeare however, i promptly fell in love with the grandiose language of love and loss. It was so rightfully intriguing. Reading Shakespeare would not have done him justice, since his plays are written to be expressed in the form of theatre. and theatre under the stars at that! it was beautiful. the scene of the balloons carelessly and carefully floating away to the stars had such a transient beauty to it.

Perhaps it's Fort Canning, perhaps it's the British accent, or because of the effort to infuse an Asian element to the play, I got the feeling I was watching a story unfolding in colonial Singapore. A little strange at times, but never reaches the point of being jarring. Enjoyable, i would say.

Definitely worth your money folks ;)