7.03pm; friday
it's been a busy2 weeks but it's all been good :) there was nutcracker last thurs which was amazing and fantastical- every ballerina was in perfect sync. and when the sugar plum fairy pirouetted across the entire length of the stage with such speed and synchronicity as the orchestra's play intesified, i was pretty much left in complete awe. i am so glad i got a chance to see it, merci beaucoup jh :)
then later in the week ven and me caught 'merry christmas' and i can see why it did well at cannes with the way it keeps you emotionally wrought- your heart wrenches and the tension is palpable. met joel/joey/ jo-el (haha) after and it was to dan ryans for oyster shooters (yay!) and too much good food. i had taken a video of venetia downing the oyster shooter, looking quite perturbed and awful as the hot sauce and tabasco overwhelmed her but alas my camera decided to screw up on me upon playback. many weird antics later, went over to 'the bar' for good jazz and just went all warm when they played 'as time goes by'. sure there was no humphrey bogart but oh well, it was just so good all the same :).
xmas eve was with the family and cousins, cooking and watching re-runs of everybody loves raymond, kickass of a show! hmm, this hols i've been spending a lot of time withthe family, especially my mom and dad and i can be doing something random on my own later in the day and suddenly get a horrible pang of home sick, imagining how it'd be like to fly back for uni, away from my parents and comforts of home and the assurance that there is always, always someone and some place here i can rely on. and yet, sometimes i just wish i was back on my own in the apartment, doing my own thing, walking through the city to look at the myer xmas window display.
kin, nic, zq, rohai came over for lunch on boxing day bearing drinks, and 3 different types of cakes. we laughed our heads off over 'charades', 'pyramid game', 'win lose or draw' and each others struggles with such weird and amazingly hilarious descriptions and interpretations. what i learnt-- i shouldn't give the answer away (smacks forehead), kin's idea of fire during charades is tapping away at her mouth ala red indian, nic sure has her own way of doing the twist (grin), zq can't draw donald duck for nuts and rohai has a warped idea of what an outline of a xmas tree should look like. hah,i had such a fun time :) our plans to hit the bowling alley on ny eve promises a ball (pun!) of a time.
the people/ steamboat/ me giving the clue at pyramid game
racking my brains/ donald duck/ kin attacking food (again)/ rohai at charades
then there was lunch with abby and yaq which brought great and fond memories catching up along arab street, simply talking for hours on end over wedges, afternoon walks, apple crumble, drinks of berry manilow (heh, i know) and after 8 years, it's so good to know that some things never change. we still have our silly moments (eh yaqin- elbert einstein? heh), me thinking that 'm' comes after 'g' and abby still stops every now and then for that perfect snapshot :)
yesterday jh, jolene, eng tat and andy got together (finally) for dinner at pregos and dessert at menottis :). as usual, we reminisced about tj and talked about how we were all getting on over the great food. there'll always be the weird things i do or say (come on jolene the whole reference to andy roddick was a bit hard to follow!) that sets everyone off laughing but it was good knowing that we still do bother to meet up and still have such a great time which is very heartening to know :) .
i do realise that it can get quite tiring for such a meticulous post, chronicling my days, narrating ever so tediously. but i've realised that i will look back, read these entries some day and want some record of times where my memory fails in words/ photos. the last 2 weeks however hardly encapsulate the past year. earlier in the year, it was particularly tough on me emotionally and then the rigours of exams/ readings took every bit of convincing that i really wasn't such a git. it was the bright cheery voice at the end of the line that remind me how i shouldn't falter (thank you thank you jh) together with those letters that you and jolene post, kin and nic with their snail mail as well, surprise my often dull days. and perhaps most of all are those much needed phone calls with sooch, her listening and constantly assuring that things would be alright. thanks babe, god only knows what i'd do without you.
when i was reading hilary clinton's 'living history' she quoted a scene out of 'a league of their own', a movie i remember watching and loving. as i read the line she quoted (of tom hanks to geena davis), the scene in the movie played in my head and i understood completely the context and how hilary clinton meant for it to encapsulate the internal conflicts she faced. and though i suppose i will never face such an agonising decision of whether to run for the ny senate, i can safely say that i foresee myself frustrated, helpeless, hopeless, confused and conflicted, well.. pretty much bloody pissed at the shit that has to be ploughed through whenever things get too hard. BUT "it's supposed to be hard. if it wasn't hard, everyone would do it - the hard is what makes it great". i can't say for sure that i will derive great comfort in knowing that but at least it put things in a different perspective and as a new year approaches i reckon that's what everyone needs in times of such conflict, another perspective. and so 2006 approaches.. well, au revoir deux mille cinq.
"i could feel it go down
bittersweet, i could taste in my mouth
silver lining the cloud
oh and i, i wish that i could work it out"
-the hardest part, coldplay
