Thursday, September 25, 2008
A recent night cycling trip had made me realised that I do not in fact like night cycling as itself. I used to like the ones organised because they visited places in town. It felt a whole lot free-er to be able to ride along orchard road as you like it, as opposed to having to avoid the crowd as you walk along it. Somewhere deep down, I believe that there is a word to describe this feeling. And have in fact asked around for it but I get replies like "nice", "weird", "uneasy" and several more. Talk about differing points of view....
I guess it is the beauty of the night and the vast emptiness of the streets that attract me. Then again to call it the beauty of the night is a lie for our nights are filled with operating street lamps, advertisement boards shining away at bus stops and so many more artificial installations to the natural landscape around. Yet, this is precisely the idea. Certain beauties can only be appreciated from a distance. Like the beauty of the rain falling down on your windscreen, a single droplet of water decending expresses beauty in the form of the spli second whereby time seems to slow. These are beautiful because you are not standing in the rain, safe from it. Similarly, the night is only beautiful because of all these artificial installations which protects us from the true silence and darkness of the night.
The vast emptiness of the streets is tricky. It is a feeling that I won't get anywhere else but in town. Not around a housing estate, not along the beach. It is because of its comparative nature I suppose. The beach is never as crowded as say orchard road on a everyday basis. Thus the feeling of emptiness is heightened in Orchard road at 4 am in the morning as compared to the beach at 4 am in the morning. Further to this, the vast emptiness of the streets can never be felt in a housing estate because of the very fact that anywhere around you will be filled with people locked up in places they call home, in their dreams.
Ha~ I shall leave it hanging here. I always hated conclusions. Thought that teachers were lame whenever they say that you need to repeat and talk about your points again at the conclusion. Besides that, I am only up now because of a phonecall came in right at the moment when I was slipping into unconciousness.
The Origin. 9/25/2008 12:42:00 am
Monday, September 22, 2008
I would have sworn that I had blogged about this book approximately 3-4 years ago but a check into past entries had proven otherwise. Sigh. My memory has failed me. I borrowed it from the library a few years back and have recently owned a copy of it as a gift. I find it such a good book that I have read it for the second time. This is definitely not something I would do for leisure reading.
In any case, the only reason I can think of for not having blogged about it was that it is such a good book that no single blog entry can finish talking about it. Frankly, the only reason why I find it good is because of the numerous ideas being brought together and explained in layman terms, within a story. Well.. The word "story" is not particularly correct as there are like short lectures during the course of the story. Somewhat like the analogy being the focus while the ideas are the props.
Having read it for a second time, I must say that it sort of gives me a different view of things and especially people. Ha~ While 4 years ago I thought that Tomas was foolish in his continual pursue to be with Tereza, I now understand his efforts in doing so.
There are just so many things to say about this book. Let's just say that if I were to list out all the quotes that are worth remembering, they could fill up at least 3 pages of A4 paper. Then again, because of the writer's style, the book is essentially dry but still interesting in an informative sense.
The Origin. 9/22/2008 10:25:00 pm
Saturday, September 13, 2008
That was a pretty emo entry earlier that I typed like last week but only posted it like 5 mins ago. Cuz I initially wanted to include some stuff but couldn't think of it at that time. Finally, after a week, the emo-ness is has left the house and thus I felt that there isn't any point in continuing it. But for the effort that went into typing it, it should at least be posted.
In any case, all that can be said is that for what it's worth, it was worth all the while. No doubt the end was saddening and painful, for the moments it lasted, it was beautiful. At least to me.
Oh.. I guess I finally realised sth about myself. I like to walk. Well.. Not like it is my habit or anything but I guess that very act of walking holds a strange attraction, in that the constant action of entering and leaving a place shortens the time spent in one particular place. By doing so, one can avoid the possibilities of maintaining any substantial human interaction like the curious looks of others or maybe small little tiddings of conversations of the people near you or even the uncle asking if you want a drink. To speak the truth, while we all need some social interactions at least, there are just times when human interactions can get a wee bit irritating.
On the same note, I guess this is why a lifestyle of back-packing and doing odd-jobs sort of attracts me at times.
Finally, after gym today, I found a pretty nice place somewhere in Yew Tee. As a result of the Macs and NTUC signboards standing on top of the little cluster, I had always thought of this place to be a normal market place. However, when i entered it, it held some sort of a different feel cuz of the architect. It felt like a miniature and much less fashionable bugis junction sort of place. The shops are the regular book shops and stuff. The thing that attracted me the most was the food court as it is pretty old and has not succumb to the trend of renovation to Kopitiam style, and more importantly, the variety of food there was limited as it is a small food court. Thus I was not spoilt with choice and also it did not have the sometimes-helpful-Ch-U-recommendations, which essentially tells u wat to eat when you visit a food court for the first time. In fact, when I left the food court I felt that even though the place was old and wasn;t the cleanest, everything there seems to come in a set. Aesthetically, everything looked pleasant because of this(even the old old toilets). And lastly, but equally important merit of the place is tt the Sweet talk there sells bubble tea only for 1.30!!!! haha..
The Origin. 9/13/2008 11:49:00 pm
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Have you ever watch Heroes Season 1? There was this guy who was pretty much a living time bomb and much of the season revolved around preventing him (or his likes) from exploding. I think the very idea of a exploding man is strangely attractive. Imagine an explosion within you (mind you, not via some equipment on you) that disintegrates you. Within split seconds, reduces you to the very atoms that you were made up of. It is not simply the physical loss that accompanies it. Imagine also the breaking of ties. The very imagery of an explosion from within is like destroying all forms of relations. Right from the core of them - human needs for social connections.
Much as the idea is fascinating (to me), it is largely impossible and frankly too drastic a move for one to contemplate. Such a destruction of your very needs for social interaction would mean the accompaniment of the permanent incapability to do so. I guess when that does happen, you will probably not be bothered or not desire any future need for social interaction.
On the other hand, as human, we do what we do best - to mitigate the consequences. We build walls around us. Different walls function base on different mechanism, but with the common need for social interactions. A simple one would be to continually talk about others. Show an interest in their lives. Never giving them a chance to ask about oneself or simply avoid a situation when the conversation focuses on oneself. It is an observation I made.
The Origin. 9/09/2008 09:19:00 am