Wallflower

2011-11-20T16:12:00.002+08:00

偶爾會這樣想：在訓練自己變得獨立的當兒，我似乎太成功做得太過火了。

2011-10-07T00:45:00.002+08:00

Cycled home even though it was drizzling pretty relentlessly because I really wanted the ride.

Skidding briefly on a slippery metal grill, getting thumped by hibiscus bushes and trees heaving with rainwater and hanging lower than usual, the flying splatter of water and grit. Pedalling through a dark, quiet industrial area and passing uncleared offerings by the side of the road and a completely smashed up car and telling myself never again to take this route, not at night.

Thinking that those sensations were all part and parcel of being alive. Thinking, even though I felt silly for having the thought, "This ride is for you."

The Circus Monkey

2011-09-17T01:52:00.000+08:00

A circus lost its ringmaster. A monkey was hired to take over. It was reasoned that the point of a circus is to entertain and earn money, though not necessarily in that order, and that since a monkey can perform tricks and is capable of making people laugh -- sometimes -- it could ease into the position.

The monkey took over with glee. The top-hat and whip were tried on eagerly, as was the tuxedo -- but not the pants. The monkey decided that pants were not necessary. They were too long and besides, it couldn't properly scratch its balls with pants on.

And so the show began. In its top-hat and whip and pant-less tux, the monkey ringmaster juggled bananas and threw peeled skins at spectators, because that was what made people laugh. It did all the monkey things it used to do, except now it was in a top-hat and pant-less and with a whip. Finally, after a long evening, it ran and tumbled across the ring before breathlessly landing on the ringmaster's pedestal in the centre, its mouth ripped open in a wide grin and its eyes wild with anticipation for the standing ovation it was sure would come.

The animals sat in the shadows, unmoving because they had not received any cues, silent and amused. And the circus held its breath and waited, for the laughs and cheers and applause one pant-less monkey with a top-hat and whip was sure would come.

親愛的木村拓哉

2011-09-12T22:13:00.002+08:00

你怎麼會那麼帥？

你讓我覺得這世界可以有英雄這回事
覺得人要有勇氣要可以堅定，
可以害怕可以沮喪但不可以不相信自己
可以笑也可以哭
就算是武士也可以。

還有，還有，
你讓我覺得男人吃東西就應該是那麼大口大口的吃
每一口都那麼果斷
那是非常有男人味非常性感的。

2011-09-11T16:10:00.002+08:00

那一年，進戲院看了《2046》。
結果完全看不懂。
到現在我都還記得那在霧裡摸索的感覺，
然後像個傻子，不知道發生了甚麼事但反正前方好像有陽光所以就笑了。

那天，和朋友聊到《2046》。
我說，我完全看不懂。
他瞪大眼睛看著我，說那是他最喜歡的電影。
我說OK我會再看一遍。

這週末，我看了《2046》。
看了四遍，
跟著又把裡面的小故事《2047》反覆的看了好多遍。

我有個祕密告訴你跟我走

我有個祕密告訴你跟我走

我有個祕密告訴你跟我走

奇怪，這霧怎麼那麼沈重。

想看

2011-08-16T23:47:00.002+08:00

但時間不太允許。可能要推掉些甚麼吧。

If you have no trouble making it, White Days by Lei Yuan Bin is showing at The Arts House. Only Aug 20 and 26 left. Tickets here.

Some smoke sessions are more thought-provoking than others

2011-08-16T22:57:00.004+08:00

"I always thought I was cynical but then I realised that I might actually be an extreme romantic instead. If you're so miserable, then just be together. Finding someone you like is so hard. Everything else is compromisable -- money, kids, geography. Maybe it's because I'm a misanthrope. I don't like people easily, so when I met someone I actually liked I had to (makes grabbing motion). Finding a person who makes you happy is so difficult."

A friend talking about her housemate and friend, who broke up recently but who are both miserable and moping daily. She is married, has been married since she was 23 or something really young like that. Her husband is Canadian and they met overseas. She is now in her early 30s, still very happily married and existing very enviably with her friendly husband.

(I paraphrased what she said from memory, so the words are not exact.)

(Picture: At a train station in Hokkaido, I forget which. I was trudging behind this elderly couple. They were obviously old, older than my mother, but their gaits were sprightly and their posture, upright -- more so than mine at that point. The dainty lady was very properly dressed up in her neat, outdoorsy outfit, in that admirable Japanese way. I followed them until I managed to sneak a shot and then went on my way. As I strode past them, I thought, this, I want this.)

2011-08-14T22:33:00.003+08:00

'Listen. Fox was here first, and his brother was the wolf. Fox said, people will live for ever. If they die they will not die for long. Wolf said, no, people will die, people must die, all things that live must die, or they will spread and cover the world, and eat all the salmon and the caribou and the buffalo, eat all the squash and all the corn. Now one day Wolf died, and he said to the fox, quick, bring me back to life. And Fox said, No, the dead must stay dead. You convinced me. And he wept as he said this. But he said it, and it was final. Now Wolf rules the world of the dead and Fox lives always under the sun and the moon, and he still mourns his brother.'

- American Gods, Neil Gaiman

The other day at Kinokuniya, we happened to be standing near a book titled How to Win Arguments, or something along those lines, I forget.

The friend I was with, a lawyer, mentioned that she knows someone who only reads books like that.

That is the saddest thing I've ever heard, was my reply. And if you really think about it, such... instructional manuals only present theory. Fiction gives you context, the play-by-play. More importantly, perhaps, it gives you a life.

I finished the tenth anniversary edition of Neil Gaiman's American Gods today. This is his preferred text and it has about 12,000 more words than the first edition, which was cut down from what was a version of this current version. I don't remember the first edition in such detail
that I know what is different about it.

I just feel... awed.

I'd forgotten what it was like to think that, perhaps, Neil Gaiman is God.

(Actually I wasn't even intending to read this, because I thought, I'd already read it once and how different could it be, and because I have been very disillusioned about Gaiman and have not even been following him on Twitter, for the longest of time. But then I saw it at the Jakarta airport bookstore and I was still holding most of my rupiah and was upset about having wasted a few days of my life on such a terribly, terribly organised trip in Indonesia that I just wanted to spend money and so I bought it and started reading it.)

There is no other explanation for the fact that this man pulled The Sandman and American Gods out of his head. They may be about gods but they make you feel so crushingly human.

I guess that's why I suddenly recalled that conversation about that person who reads only books like How to Win an Argument. So sad.

2011-08-13T02:17:00.003+08:00

Coastal Park Connector

一直很想邊綺腳踏車邊聽音樂，
可是總覺得太危險了。
雖然我不是在馬路上行駛，但還是得常常過馬路。

那天，在這條路上
我總算如願以償。
這是一條很長很直的路，
兩旁都是樹。
右邊的樹林隔著海邊，
左邊的樹過後是大馬路，然後是幾場。
這裡的車輛走得特別快，
飛機也不停的起飛。
而我聽的，
是黃小楨的 No Budget 專輯。

No one will need to love you
as much as I need to
No one will need to be loved by you
as much as I need to
EhhhhhhhhnnnnnnnnnnnVvrrrRROOOARRR
So love, is such a wonderful thing
Mm hmm mm hmm la la la la la la

就是一直這樣。

我們都要勇敢

2011-08-02T00:21:00.004+08:00

今天一直在想，接下來要怎樣。
其實也不只今天，
這幾個月都是在想這個。

我們這群孩子，沒辦法低著頭踏實地過人生，
老是懷抱著夢想，貪圖著一些自己也不知道是甚麼的甚麼。

就算是未知數，我們也要勇敢的去探索。
別忘了，要勇敢。
來，打勾勾。

2009，應該是2009，
那一年，我恨我的工作。
為了找些開心的事情來做，我買了第一台膠卷相機，
是一架Holga 135BC。
因為它，我開始用不同的角度看這個世界，
想把一些小小的幸福匡起來。
才知道，身邊每天每天都有些奇妙的小事情發生著。

去年，2010年，
我一個人在臺灣背著背包遊蕩了一個月，
一個月也不算多長，在那裡也沒發生甚麼晴天霹靂的大事，
不過回來之後，我發現我的人生觀改變了。
當你愛上了孤獨所賜的自由，
認清了其實別人追求的並非是自己想要的，
發現了世界其實真的很大，
一切就變得不一樣了。

臺灣，讓我找到了一部份自己，也在我內心深處掏了個空。
我想，那就是愛。

2011的夏天，
我又回到了臺灣。
這一趟，從那裡帶了一架摺疊腳踏車回來。
原來兩個輪子快速旋轉的聲音，
風塞滿著耳朵那呼呼的聲音，
急速的心跳與頻率呼吸的聲音，
這就是自由狂想曲。

泡泡－魏如萱

2010-12-15T00:40:00.003+08:00

詞曲：魏如萱

吹　我們吹呀吹　吹了一個愛的泡泡　然後住在裡面
哎喲　突然破掉了　你跑去哪裡了　我的寶貝
在哪裡呢　為什麼找不到　我再也不能往前走
嘿　原來就在我的面前　可是你不知道　我正在找你

飛　我們飛呀飛　飛進一個愛的泡泡　然後住在裡面
哎喲　突然破掉了　你跑去哪裡了　親愛的　我的寶貝
在哪裡呢　為什麼找不到　我再也不能往前走

找　我們找呀找　找到一個愛的黑洞　然後住在裡面

嘿　我在這裡喲　會一直在這裡　等我的寶貝
I Love You

2010-11-20T12:52:00.002+08:00

With news of the cast for the film adaptation of The Great Gatsby abuzz, I gave in to the desire to reread the book.

A post on and then, and then drew my attention to this scene in particular, and after I'd seen it on the blog, I perused it twice, more carefully, during my reading.

He took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel, which lost their folds as they fell and covered the table in many-colored disarray. While we admired he brought more and the soft rich heap mounted higher — shirts with stripes and scrolls and plaids in coral and apple-green and lavender and faint orange, and monograms of Indian blue. Suddenly, with a strained sound, Daisy bent her head into the shirts and began to cry stormily.

“They’re such beautiful shirts,” she sobbed, her voice muffled in the thick folds. “It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such — such beautiful shirts before.”

- The Great Gatsby / F. Scott Fitzgerald

It made me recall another film adaptation, this of Murakami's short story Tony Takitani. The female protagonist had sunk onto the floor in the room of beautiful clothes in a sobbing fit. I remember being bewildered in the darkness of the cinema.

Tony Takitani left the woman alone in the room. She pulled herself together and tried on a few of the dresses. She tried on some shoes as well. Everything fit as though it had been made for her. She looked at one dress after another. She ran her fingertips over the material and breathed in the fragrance. Hundreds of beautiful dresses were hanging there in rows. Before long, tears welled up in her eyes and began to pour out of her. There was no way she could hold them back. Her body swathed in a dress of the woman who had died, she stood utterly still, sobbing, struggling to keep the sound from escaping her throat. Soon Tony Takitani came to see how she was doing.

"Why are you crying?" he asked.

"I don't know," she said, shaking her head. "I've never seen so many beautiful dresses before. I think it must have upset me. I'm sorry." She dried her tears with a handkerchief.

- Tony Takitani / Haruki Murakami

I digress here but this is making me think of another scene in the drama series The L Word. Bette was in a suitor's (I think) bedroom and said suitor had unveiled a stupendous piece of artwork to her as a surprise. She was so stunned and overwhelmed, tears welled up like baubles and she collapsed in a dead faint.

(Turns out, there's a name for this. The Stendhal syndrome, according to the unverified Wiki page, is "a psychosomatic illness that causes rapid heartbeat, dizziness, fainting, confusion and even hallucinations when an individual is exposed to art, usually when the art is particularly beautiful or a large amount of art is in a single place".)

Overwhelmed by beauty to the point of tears and loss of consciousness, that was something I've had to ponder and work out and gradually grasp over the last few years.

Anyway. I was wondering if there was a link between the two. A quick Google throws up the tidbits that Murakami had translated The Great Gatsby and had supposedly once said that it was the most important novel in his life.

So there you have it. My curiosity has been satisfied and I'm off to spend the rest of the day in bed with more books.

He might be a tad old for it but I have to admit, I can't wait to see Leonardo DiCaprio in the role of Jay Gatsby.

New Year Resolutions

2010-11-14T02:47:00.002+08:00

Well, hey, if you already have a list in mind, why wait to put it in writing, right?

1. I will be less cynical.

2. I will stop buying more clothes! bags! shoes! things I don't need more of!

3. I will buy fewer books and read the mountains of them overtaking my room.

4. I will take more and better photos. I will not, however, fail to experience life because I'm busy trying to make it all come together nicely through the viewfinder.

5. I will write, not just for work, but write again to rediscover how it is to be able to express thoughts and opinions (yes, I have completely lost this ability and have been walking around like a gibberish fool always struggling for the right words).

6. I will travel.

child's play

2010-08-29T00:50:00.002+08:00

Jogja was a blast

2010-08-11T23:16:00.004+08:00

2010-07-11T21:40:00.003+08:00

The Mathematician and His Beloved Equation remains one of the most perfect films I've ever seen. I've never been able to find the DVD.

It's based on a Yoko Ogawa novel titled The Housekeeper and The Professor and since the English translation was released last year, I've been avoiding it. The nuances and refinement of Japanese novels can be lost in translation to English, and I didn't want to risk ruining perfection.

But I saw this post and my heart stirred.

So I read it, and it wasn't too bad, and it reminded me just how much I am looking forward to this year's Japanese Film Festival (because it was at one years ago where I saw the above), which has a heart-burstingly excellent line-up.

2010-07-06T01:08:00.002+08:00

I've lost my voice. But you already knew that.

I didn't think I needed to explain, but then I thought I should.

I've lost my voice, and I don't know if I'll ever get, or want, it back.

2010-06-06T16:03:00.003+08:00

Whoever says it's life that makes monsters out of people should check out the raw nature of children, a lot of pups who haven't yet had their dose of failure, regret, disappointment, and betrayal but still behave like savage dogs. I have nothing against children, I just wouldn't trust one not to giggle if I accidentally stepped on a land mine.

A Fraction of the Whole (Steve Toltz)

Train ride 火車

2010-05-31T03:03:00.000+08:00

2010-04-17T03:04:00.004+08:00

The living room is dark and low-ceilinged, with bookshelves all along the wall opposite the windows. These books have not made George nobler or better or more truly wise. It is just that he likes listening to their voices, the one or the other, according to his mood. He misuses them quite ruthlessly—despite the respectful way he has to talk about them in public—to put him to sleep, to take his mind off the hands of the clock, to relax the nagging of his pyloric spasm, to gossip him out of his melancholy, to trigger the conditioned reflexes of his colon.

- Christopher Isherwood (A Single Man)

2010-04-17T02:45:00.002+08:00

I want to be able to listen to recordings of piano sonatas and know who's playing. I want to go to classical concerts and know when you're meant to clap. I want to be able to 'get' modern jazz without it all sounding like this terrible mistake, and I want to know who the Velvet Underground are exactly. I want to be fully engaged in the World of Ideas, I want to understand complex economics, and what people see in Bob Dylan. I want to possess radical but humane and well-informed political ideals, and I want to hold passionate but reasoned debates around wooden kitchen tables, saying things like 'define your terms!' and 'your premise is patently specious!' and then suddenly to discover that the sun's come up and we've been talking all night. I want to use words like 'eponymous' and 'solipsistic' and 'utilitarian' with confidence. I want to learn to appreciate fine wines, and exotic liqueurs, and fine single malts, and learn how to drink them without turning into a complete div, and to eat strange and exotic foods, plovers' eggs and lobster thermidor, things that sound barely edible, or that I can't pronounce. I want to make love to beautiful, sophisticated, intimidating women, during daylight or with the light on even, and sober, and without fear, and I want to be able to speak many languages fluently, and maybe even a dead language or two, and to carry a small leather-bound notebook in which I jot incisive thoughts and observations, and the occasional line of verse. Most of all I want to read books; books thick as brick, leather-bound books with incredibly thin paper and those purple ribbons to mark where you left off; cheap, dusty, second-hand books of collected verse, incredibly expensive, imported books of incomprehensible essays from foreign universities.

At some point, I'd like to have an original idea. And I'd like to be fancied, or maybe loved even, but I'll wait and see. And as for a job, I'm not sure exactly what I want yet, but something that I don't despise, and that doesn't make me ill, and that means I don't have to worry about money all the time. And all of these are the things that a university education's going to give me.

- David Nicholls (Starter for 10)

2010-04-11T14:39:00.003+08:00

But, of course.

Bought two mangoes, one after another, which she peeled and cut up on the spot for us. Ate a slice that tasted slightly tangy, salty. I did not expect her to have washed her hands before manhandling our mangoes but could not help wondering what she had touched. Swallowed with faint grimace.

Street food for those looking for a more "authentic" experience in the touristy Old (or is it Central?) Market area. Perhaps a different stall would have changed my opinion of the food. The coconut shake was quite the thing though. My companion was quite keen to have an all-local culinary experience. Me, some pasta in one of the recommended low-key joints would have been nice. Towards the end, we started having separate meals. I sit with her while she eats, and vice versa. It was fun, but this trip did make me realise just how important food compatibility is.

I didn't like Phnom Penh. But it did have more amusing urban sightings like this for picture purposes.

The little hand belongs to a kid sandwiched between them, and that's a live chicken she's holding.

2010-04-10T14:51:00.003+08:00

grains of cambodia

2010-04-10T14:30:00.002+08:00

2010-04-09T00:47:00.002+08:00

Now we all loved one another to death. Which is to say, until the end of the evening. There was no other place to be, it was unimaginable not to float on our backs in this ocean of luxury, an archipelago of personalities lobbing witticisms across one another's beaches.

- Jonathan Lethem (Chronic City)

2010-04-06T22:10:00.002+08:00

"I think that every reader on earth has a list of cherished books as unique as their fingerprints... I think that, as you age, you tend to gravitate towards the classics, but those aren't the books that give you the same sort of hope for the world that a cherished book does."

- Douglas Coupland

Lovelife 2010

2010-04-05T23:27:00.000+08:00

2010-03-11T14:02:00.001+08:00

She drinks pints of coffee and writes little observations and ideas for stories with her best fountain pen on the linen-white pages of expensive notebooks. Sometimes, when it's going badly, she wonders if what she believes to be a love of the written word is really just a fetish for stationery. The true writer, the born writer, will scribble words on scraps of litter, the back of bus tickets, on the wall of a cell. Emma is lost on anything less than 120gsm.

One Day/ David Nicholls

Edit: An impulse buy, I didn't expect it to like it so much. Finished it in a day (today, aided by the fact that it was raining and, after a long break, I finally found myself back in a reading phase, which is good, because I have stacks to go through). The end was a punch in the gut, leaving a dull, lingering ache like how Atonement did. But it was necessary, I suppose. The way everything comes to an end.

I'm home.

2010-03-09T23:54:00.002+08:00

Unwittingly took almost 200 pictures with the phone. Then there are the nine rolls of film (I brought 16 but it turns out I didn't need them all).

I liked Siem Reap. Apart from some amazing temples, it was a rather charming town with friendly people.

Phnom Penh, not so much. That the trip ended there was a little bit of a killjoy.

Pictures to come, slowly.

期待

2010-02-20T05:42:00.000+08:00

2010-02-06T11:44:00.003+08:00

In an ideal world, I would have the guts to go up to this man and ask to take a streetsnaps-style picture. But since he looked the tiniest bit bitchy and I could never muster up the nerve to ask to take proper shots of older Chinese folks (they always look like they'll snap right back or say no, neither of which I wish upon myself), this is the closest I could get to his immaculate red-accented getup. (He was also wearing black framed glasses and had a totally snooty manner, and would look at wares with head cocked, but that could mean he was trying to keep his hat perched at the desired angle. In any case, it only accentuated his outfit.)

活著

2010-02-05T01:10:00.001+08:00

The word that best describes what I have been feeling recently is 'alive'.

Are you a moron or you think I'm one?

2010-02-02T16:01:00.002+08:00

The warning (with three exclamation marks) is my favourite bit.

From: Webmail Update Team [mailto:barnaghhouse@eircom.net]
Sent: Tuesday, 02 February, 2010 1:53 AM
Subject: Update

Dear Webmail Account User

This Email is from Singnet webmail Customer Care and we are sending it to every webmail Email User Accounts Owner for safety. we are having congestion's due to the anonymous registration of web mail accounts so we are shutting down some webmail accounts and your account was among those to be deleted. We are sending you this email so that you can verify and let us know if you still want to use this account. If you are still interested please confirm your account by filling the space below. Your Username,password,date of birth and your country information would be needed to verify your account.

Due to the congestion in all mail users and removal of all unused webmail Accounts, webmail would be shutting down all unused Accounts, You will have to confirm your E-mail by filling out your Log in Information below after clicking the reply button and send it to (acc.update@9.cn), or your account will be suspended within 24 hours for security reasons.

*Email Username :..............

*Email Password :..............

*Date of Birth :..................

*Country or Territory: .........

After following the instructions in the sheet, your account will not be interrupted and will continue as normal. Thanks for your attention to this request. We apologize for any inconveniences.

Warning!!! Account owner that refuses to update his/her account after 48 Hours of receiving this warning will lose his or her account permanently.

Thanks.

Singnet WebMail Program.

acc.update@9.cn

What Type Are You?

2010-01-27T17:49:00.003+08:00

@mondayboo tweeted this so I clicked.

I love the way the test is conducted. The video, the narrative, all those hand motions, and how they have your answers scribbled down on the tiny notepad after. And the resultant typeface.

I am Archer Hairline.

Designed by Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones, Archer Hairline is a modern typeface with a straightforward appearance but one that has tiny outbreaks of elegance and tiny dots of emotion only apparent on closer examination.

If you are someone who is outwardly composed but will occasionally run into the bathroom for a quick laugh or quiet cry before emerging to the world outwardly composed again, then Archer Hairline is your type.

#cathaywtf?

2010-01-24T17:16:00.000+08:00

Told the guy I didn't need the Picturehouse envelope for the ticket.

"Ah... You can return it to the usher when you pass them your ticket."

So I tried to. And the girl gave me this blur fuck face and pushed it to me anyway. And I just added another piece of trash to this world.

Seriously, Cathay, what the fuck?

笑翻了我

2010-01-24T01:31:00.003+08:00

媽從袋子裡拉出一塊透明袋包裝著的蛋糕，然後問：“甚麼來的？”

弟回答：“我去捐血。他們給的。”

“要死啊！我煮這樣多東西給你補，你去捐掉它換一塊 cake 回來！”

2010-01-23T01:38:00.002+08:00

After looking at me snap away for a while, the uncle came to tell me that there was a beautiful alley nearby. He then led me to this and before he went back to do his job (blocking off roadside parking lots with stools and and directing cars into them), he told me that directors have come for a shot of this alley and a famous French artist had done a painting.

Some day soon, I need to go back for a better shot.

#thingsthatmatter

2010-01-22T00:36:00.002+08:00

"I'll buy you strawberry shortcake lah. That's what you want right?"

"No. What I want is to know that I am right, and to have cake because I'm right. That's what I want."

2010-01-21T21:01:00.001+08:00

It didn't matter in the end how old they had been, or that they were girls, but only that we had loved them, and that they hadn't heard us calling, still do not hear us, up here in the tree house with our thinning hair and soft bellies, calling them out of those rooms where they went to be alone for all time, alone in suicide, which is deeper than death, and where we will never find the pieces to put them back together.

— The Virgin Suicides / Jeffrey Eugenides

Conversation with a friend about a mutual friend and his girlfriend

2010-01-20T12:45:00.001+08:00

"每次看到她都不一樣。她現在跟以前差很多！＂

＂很好嘍。他喜歡 plasticine then 剛好給他找到一團。＂

2010-01-19T22:46:00.003+08:00

I don't remember how I took this photo. I was on foot the entire time in Malacca. I know where this is, and I know I crossed this road several times. But I don't recall risking my life and stopping in the middle of the road to take this.

Bitchy conversation

2010-01-12T17:59:00.000+08:00

She-who-does-not-want-to-be-named: What was her name again? I didn't like the look of her.

Me: Yah. She has that… helpless face. Damsel who needs to be saved.

She: Yah! I can't stand girls like that!

Me: I know. (whines) 救我！救我！(booming growl) 我就是不要救你，怎樣？去死吧！

Us: Hahaha!

Yah, I know. We can be so annoying. But that's what friends are for.

2010-01-09T20:23:00.001+08:00

3.26pm: Slouched on the pleather couch in The Library. It's actually just a few half-hearted shelves of books, with more encyclopedias than real reading material. (Although to be fair, encyclopedias are pretty interesting. I did spend a fair bit of time with them in primary school. Projects—zapping pages and pages from thick volumes in the library, making friends with the photocopy auntie, playing catching and getting earfuls from pissed off librarians…)

The ceiling fan is turning lazily, silently. Some jazzy song is playing in the background. Behind me is a window. I could hear a rock band jamming, I wonder in which rundown shophouse, but they have stopped. A muffled rock band is remarkably soothing. I can imagine their dreams, youth, talent and good looks without subjecting myself to the reality that, well, maybe they only have dreams.

3.38pm: It's almost time to head out for my coach ride. Bye bye, Majestic Malacca—for this price, I do think you could have paid finer attention to detail, but we'll save that for another day. In no time, I'll be home. I love travelling and I love homecoming. Sometimes it's the staying that is problematic.

2010-01-09T00:24:00.003+08:00

3.14pm: Trapped on St Paul's Hill. It was the heaviest downpour but what made it immense was the whipping wind. It was pushing me off my feet as I stood in the pavilion, rendering the shelter overhead useless. A dash into the darkest recesses of the church ruins was necessary. Fortunately or unfortunately, I had lots of company, including a boisterous group of teenagers hell-bent on filming a music video.

3.23pm: The wind has decided to give it a rest. Slowly the crowd has stepped back out from the dark corners to get some air. Some have headed down the hill with their umbrellas. But the rain is still terribly heavy and the thunder sounds threatening. But I am terribly thirsty.

3.29pm: Fuck! Thunder made me almost jump out of my skin. Twice. Just as I had made up my mind to go.

3.32pm: Oh, my terribly comfortable hotel room, I am thinking of you.

3.33pm: To think the day started off so scorching hot. It's a good thing I managed to see this church when it was still sunny. Because it's breathtaking against a blue sky. The extended Korean family is leaving. I shall follow them. They're so noisy it's comforting right now.

2010-01-08T11:31:00.003+08:00

It's easy to feel at home here, along these winding streets.

There are lots of curious guest houses. Shall venture to stay in one the next time. With such charming accommodation options, it's hard to imagine why people would opt to room in generic chain hotels. Which look really out of place here.

Hallo, Malacca!

2010-01-07T20:52:00.007+08:00

Yet to take any photos of the hotel facade. The postcards provided in the room do a fantastic job. And quite honestly, that's the classic shot everyone takes.

The room is marvellous.

Mostly because of the bathroom.

And the fluffiest bed.

View from the bed. There's a Japanese novel in the room. Along with boring mags like Prestige, Tatler, etc. The usual "atas" crap.

Welcome tea came in this super lovely basket with fitted slots for the tea set.

View from the window. Walked past the ferris wheel in the afternoon. It's a mini wheel in a mini theme park. So dilapidated I thought it was no longer operational.

Turns out, it was waiting for night.

Last day of the year

2009-12-31T07:09:00.001+08:00

No resolutions this time. Tried it once last year. Don't think I enjoy the process of coining up a list, forgetting about it, and then ending up being a wee bit disappointed when I recall the things undone. So for 2010, I'll just wing it.

Happy New Year.

2009-12-29T20:35:00.001+08:00

「不過你應該有一位喜歡的男人對嗎？」

「是的。不過我和那個人在現實中結合的可能性，無限接近零。因此就算我在這裡死掉了，因而失去的，也只有無限接近零而已。」

老婦人瞇細了眼睛。「你認為自己可能不會跟那個男人結合，有什麼具體理由嗎？」

「並沒有特別理由。」青豆說。「除了我是我以外。」

「你不打算對他，做什麼努力嗎？」

青豆搖頭。「對我來說最重要的是，自己在心裡深深地需要他這個事實。」

老婦人很佩服似的暫時注視著青豆的臉。「你這個人想法非常乾脆。」

「因為有這個必。」青豆說。然後把雪莉酒杯拿到嘴邊。「不是因為喜歡而這樣做的。」

--《1Q84》Book 2／村上春樹

2009-12-27T00:02:00.001+08:00

Ayumi內心抱著巨大的缺陷。那是像地球盡頭的沙漠般的地方。不管注入多少水，都會從注入的旁邊被吸進地底去。事後沒留下一點濕氣。任何生命都無法在那裡生根。連鳥都不會從那上空飛過。是什麼在她身上形成那樣荒涼的東西呢？只有Ayumi才知道。不，其實連Ayumi自己可能都不知道。

--《1Q84》Book 2/ 村上春樹

Am I the only one who hates bra shopping?

2009-12-12T15:52:00.001+08:00

1. Why are bras so exorbitantly expensive?
2. Why is it so hard to find unpadded bras?
3. Why is it so hard to find decent plain seamless black unpadded bras (yes, thick lining is also padding can)?
4. Why does M&S sell pairs in black-white or beige-white combinations? To prevent lots of white leftovers? So why manufacture white ones?
5. Why the fuck does this phone keep auto-upcasing the word 'white'?

Look up. All the way up.

2009-12-06T01:56:00.005+08:00

I like to tilt my head back to see what's out there. Feel the strain in the neck, arch in the back and the sway of my ridiculously, need-to-be-lopped-off long hair.

The world up there is full of surprises.

I also like how other people automatically look up quizzically to see what this crazy person is looking at or taking a picture of.

(Okay. With the Blackbird, Fly, I'm actually looking straight. But the perspective is still up.)

2009-11-25T01:42:00.000+08:00

黃小楨

2009-11-25T01:39:00.002+08:00

大溪地
作詞：孫詩雯　曲培芷　編曲：金木義則/黃小楨

潮濕的地　雷陣雨　沿著想你的邊緣遊戲
曾經　聽到的　那只是　那只是
劃過的雲　我還可以　閒蕩　焦慮　清醒屋裡沒有你
約好住在漏水的公寓　一起接雨和拖地
等天放晴　到大溪地　或在家裡
你看(著)我睡醒
也許陽光透過玻璃上凝的水滴　好安靜
不需多說一句　
潮濕的地　雨不停
靠著我　(還)有沒有你　遠遠的承諾
是真的　是真的　是你所有的表情
我還可以　合上眼　想起　忘記落空沒關係
靠著我　不可能忘記

kena a-tagged!

2009-11-24T23:24:00.003+08:00

by him. so here goes.

where is your phone?
bed

your hair?
poofy

your mother?
here

your father?
there

your favourite food?
tough

your dream last night?
chaotic

your favourite drink?
latte

your dream/goal?
stillness

what room are you in?
messy

your hobby?
film

your fear?
loss

where do you want to be in 6 years?
autumn

where were you last night?
motion

something that you're not?
warm

muffins?
cinnamon

wish list item?
japan

where did you grow up?
redhill

last thing you did?
think

what are you wearing?
tee

your tv?
uninterested

your pets?
impossible

friends?
email

your life?
transition

your mood?
glassy

missing someone?
subconsciously

vehicle?
public

something you're not wearing?
heart

your favourite store?
kino

your favourite colour?
depends

the last time you cried?
pms

your best friend?
cliche

one place that i go to over and over?
memory

facebook?
voyeuristic

favourite place to eat?
home

i tag:
mathematician
lawyer
economist
(you blogless guys can comment)
jen
zann
hairydonut

oh, one-word answers only yah.

Brilliance

2009-11-21T10:41:00.006+08:00

非常愛這首歌。
第一次聽到是在電影<<愛的發聲練習>>里。

它也收錄在范晓萱&100%的<<赤子>>專輯。

歌詞是Barbie填的。 Barbie就是大S徐熙緩。選擇用Barbie﹐不知道為甚麼我覺得好貼切。

還有﹐小S編的舞。
每次看完心情都變超好的。

跟著﹐這是小S編的曲﹐而詞是已過世的杨明学寫的。
我沒記錯的話﹐這首歌是范晓萱和小S在他病逝後想要替他完成的。
當時是看節目知道的。好久以前的事了﹐映象有點模糊。
(是<<康熙>>還是<<百分百>>?)看了她們現場唱﹐然後到處找這首歌。
最後﹐是在范晓萱<<還有別的辦法嗎>>專輯里才讓我找到。

我從台灣帶了一堆CD回來﹐聽最多遍的就是<<赤子>>。

而ASOS<<變態少女>>是一張我覺得完美的專輯。

最後﹐十八和十九號的<<康熙>>太好笑了。

I want to watch this

2009-11-21T10:15:00.004+08:00

A Single Man. Tom Ford's directorial debut, based on the novel of the same name by Christopher Isherwood. The trailer feels like a perfume ad at times. But that's to say it's gorgeous. That bit when Julianne Moore throws back her head and laughs? And every single time it closes in on the intensity in Colin Firth's eyes.

Oh, Colin Firth.

2009-11-19T14:48:00.001+08:00

2009-11-15T18:44:00.002+08:00

The last time I was in the Harajuku/Aoyama/Omotesando area it was cold and wet. On this trip, the sun was shining and bathed everything in golden light. Shadows were dense and dancing, and there were covetable bicycles and pretty sights around every corner. So I got a little trigger-crazy.

I need to stop bringing out so many cameras though. Aching shoulder notwithstanding, the juggling really got to me.

2009-11-13T00:30:00.000+08:00

2009-11-13T00:03:00.002+08:00

'Do you really like studying?'

Mattia nodded.

'Why?'

'It's the only thing I know how to do,' he said gently. He wanted to tell her that he liked studying because you can do it on your own, because all the things you study are already dead, cold and chewed-over. He wanted to tell her that the pages of the schoolbooks were all the same temperature, that they leave you time to choose, that they never hurt you and that you can't hurt them either. But he said nothing.

- The Solitude of Prime Numbers, Paolo Giordano

I couldn't put this book down. This is merely one of the passages that struck me. I like it, I think, because he said it gently.

2009-11-12T23:56:00.002+08:00

在漁人碼頭聽到這首歌﹐才發現這次的離開真的就是旅行的意義。

2009-11-12T18:12:00.002+08:00

Test post.

This evil cat was cute till it bit me and viciously, deliberately chased after my feet.

Lesson learnt: Once I am crossed and my affections are lost, I loathe everything about you.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Ikebukuro

2009-11-04T01:55:00.003+08:00

It was a cold morning.
I sat at the hotel's smoking corner for the free wifi.
Wearing red socks. They kept slipping down.
Decided to buy new socks from IOIO departmental store but it was only 10am.
Ootoya for breakfast? Haven't had the chance to try it in SG.
Yes! It's open.
Had salmon. Was alright.
Sat by window and wondered why such a large group of people was needed to close off the main road. The Japanese do it most methodically. It's like they have a rule book complicating things.
Waiting to cross the road. Drizzling. Two girls discussed in Mandarin how long my hair was.
Holding damp umbrella and wondering if it's okay to spend so much on a pair of socks. But Vivienne Westwood socks come in the craziest designs.
Paid for socks with credit card.
High school marching band! Girls with cute blue capes!
Pictures. 3GS goes black screen. Panic.
Finish taking pictures. Returned to hotel to attempt to revive phone.
100 yen to use the internet.
No phone. Unable to convert yen to SGD, how was I supposed to shop?
Google Apple service centres. Ginza. Which station exit is the nearest?
No way to tell time? What if I miss my flight?
Panic.
Breathe. Mind clears a little. Google black screen iPhone 3GS.
There it is, the solution.
What would I do without Google?
Head towards station.
What's going on?
Lots of people sitting in neat rows on the road, waiting for something to happen.
In chronological order:

Actually there are more of that morning. But the ones on the Golden Half are magical, somehow. They remind me of every single thing that happened - if not for loose socks and a phone blackout, I would have left Ikebukuro before the festivities started. They're like my portkey.

2009-11-04T01:36:00.002+08:00

I really like the pictures taken with the 110 Ikimono camera. It makes me feel like I've gone back in time.

2009-11-01T02:39:00.002+08:00

Collected the 13 rolls today but I'm really too sleepy to upload them. So here's one for fun first. I'm fascinated by how it looks like one of those colour sketches. I think I might even have once seen a drawing or poster of Omotesando that looks exactly like that.

2009-10-26T21:39:00.002+08:00

The twins worried about virginity individually, and they worried about it together. But the most basic problem was one they never talked about: sex was something they couldn't do together. Someone would have to go first, and then the other would be left behind. And they would each have to pick different guys, and these guys, these potential boyfriends, would want to spend time alone with one or the other; they would want to be the most important person in Julia or Valentina's life. Each boyfriend would be a crowbar, and soon there would be a gap; there would be hours in the day when Julia wouldn't even know where Valentina was, or what she was doing, and Valentina would turn to tell Julia something and instead there would only be the boyfriend, waiting to hear what she was about to say, although only Julia would have understood it.

It was a delicate thing, their private world. It required absolute fidelity, and so they remained virgins, and waited.

- Her Fearful Symmetry, Audrey Niffenegger

2009-10-21T21:17:00.001+08:00

Dear Mom and Dad,
Here's the reason that I pulled the stitching out of my feather pillow and then pulled all of the feathers out of it too: I thought that I was going to find a bird.

- Dear Everybody by Michael Kimball

2009-10-17T22:59:00.006+08:00

I didn't realise that I'd taken so many pictures on my 3GS but I did. More than 300 of them.

It's not an astonishing number considering how much there is to capture in a city like Tokyo. But it is a little brow-raising when I factor in the 13 rolls of film waiting to be developed, and the fact that I no longer find a lot of charm in digital pictures.

But I like the camera on the iPhone. It produces pictures that ignite a warm, fuzzy feeling in me. It's not the sharpest chap around. Sometimes it's dreamy, sometimes it's hazy about details, sometimes it captures light so beautifully the resultant picture takes your breath away.

So I keep using it.

This is the view from my first hotel room. Stayed there for two nights. I would off all the lights, curl up on the couch by the floor-to-ceiling window, and stare at Tokyo Tower till I felt cushioned by the enigmatic city.

2009-10-17T22:30:00.004+08:00

Jonathan was obsessed by the weather when we were kids, and he once told me that the clouds were his friends and that they had formed to protect him from the sun, which he thought was trying to cook him for dinner. He often talked about the weather trying to kill him, but I never thought it would lead to Jonathan killing himself.

- Dear Everybody by Michael Kimball

2009-10-16T01:16:00.003+08:00

Oh wow. Did you know that 8storeytree now has a physical shop called THIRTYSIX (91 Bencoolen Street, Sunshine Plaza, #01-32 )?

Also, there's gonna be an exhibition on the 36 frames project starting tomorrow.

The 36 frames project was created by ndroo, www.fuzzyeyeballs.com. Each participant is given a set of 36 themes. They are to shoot all 36 themes in the listed order on a roll of 36 exposure, 35mm film.

During LomotionSG's Sunny Rehab III, the project was initiated and all members of LomotionSG present were given a set of 36 themes. A time frame of only 4 hours was given to complete the task.

Exhibition details -
2 winners' exhibit :-
selected based on all 36 shots.

36 winners' exhibit :-
the best pic for each individual themes.

Start Time: Friday, October 16, 2009 at 2:00pm
End Time: Saturday, October 31, 2009 at 8:00pm

Brief, Wistful Conversation Lawyer and I Had About Solon

2009-10-05T22:39:00.001+08:00

Haha I finally figured out what solon is…

ha

i want man
useful thing to have at the back of a person's med cabinet

yah, very

2009-10-03T00:32:00.003+08:00

I've watched this clip many times but the wonder never ceases.

Sleepless Weekend

2009-09-28T19:08:00.014+08:00

So I headed to Mustafa after the movie. It was after midnight so the streets were much quieter.

Jam/ fruit puree/ fruit concentrate that Mustafa suggested eating with prata.

Delighted to see my favourite Red Leaf pens though I didn't buy any.

Even more delighted when I turned a corner and stepped into pencil heaven.

Shelves of wooden pencils waiting to be sharpened. There was also pail heaven. And dishwashing sponges heaven. And water bottle heaven. Lots of heavens, depending on what rocks your world.

Went home. Finished a book. Hesitated. Then headed out again.

Chinatown for my favourite glutinous rice. The two smiley, friendly uncles have two more helpers now. The price has also increased (from $1 to $1.20) and there're also $1.50 and $2 portions. But that's super cheap for something that is so bloody good.

That shophouse is lopsided. And I was a little disturbed by the repaint job when I first saw it. But the yellow and green have since grown on me.

Lantern time. Did you ever play with candles at old playgrounds or along the corridors? I loved that about Mid-Autumn when I was a kid. It was always "Yes! That time of the year to play with fire again!".

Decided to squeeze in a trip to this estate at Bendemeer. I always go past on my bus rides and I love the way the blocks of flats look. There's so much detail.

See the cat waiting for her turn?

And I started to get woozy and decided to head home to bed. Sleep debt is hard to pay back. Still freaking sleepy now, despite collapsing soundly from 1 to 4pm, and then again at 11pm till 9am this morning.

2009-09-26T02:29:00.003+08:00

2009-09-23T20:47:00.004+08:00

Christine: I mean, they kind of rub my ankles, but all shoes do that. I have low ankles.
Richard: You think you deserve that pain, but you don't.
Christine: I don't think I deserve it.
Richard: Well, not consciously maybe.
Christine: My ankles are just low...
Richard: People think that foot pain is a fact of life, but life is actually better than that.

I have a blister on my right ankle. My Irregular Choice sandal has been rubbing against it all day. Which is funny, because I've worn it a few times and this is the first time it's targeting that spot. Did my ankle just drop?

Ever since I re-watched Me and You and Everyone We Know in that hotel room in Bangkok at 5am that morning, I've been thinking about that scene. I thought about it when I tried on a pair of lace-ups at Topshop that cut viciously into my ankles. I think about it when the shoes I own do the same. I thought about it today, each time I took a step. I thought about it when I was showering and the water was causing the open wound pain. I generally think about it when I think of the show and sometimes I just think about it.

People think that foot pain is a fact of life, but life is actually better than that.

Boat ride along Chao Phraya River, Bangkok

2009-09-23T00:31:00.002+08:00

Touristy Bangkok

2009-09-22T04:55:00.005+08:00

2009-09-22T04:34:00.001+08:00

2009-09-20T17:26:00.002+08:00

我要的是陪我耗尽青春

-posted by the mathematician

2009-09-20T17:15:00.002+08:00

Was looking at United Nude shoes at Taka the other day. Was a little tempted by this.

Checked out the website and realised that I like this

and this too.

But I won't.

2009-09-15T17:17:00.003+08:00

Love this.

It looks like pencil scrawls, doesn't it?

From the Marc Jacobs show.

(This morning, my entire Twitter feed was flooded with mentions of what these people were seeing at the show.)

2009-09-07T22:15:00.006+08:00

Wat Arun, or The Temple of Dawn, was breathtaking. Literally gasped when we drew near enough to see the porcelain mosaic that covered the entire monument, made more spectacular by how everything was glinting in the (scorching, relentless, brutal, blinding - I still have tanlines) sun.

You or Someone Like You by Chandler Burr

2009-09-07T21:21:00.003+08:00

It took me to unexpected places.

I can't quote all that I liked from it, because that would be way too much stuff. I don't think anyone would be amused.

Read it, just read it.

Now I need my own copy. Damn.

Ah!!

2009-09-07T21:17:00.001+08:00

2009-09-07T01:03:00.002+08:00

... that when we read fiction, we pour our own particular store of emotions--say, the sense of loss we feel for those disappeared from our lives--into the characters set before us. We take the few words with which the writer sketches these characters, the thing he said, the pain she felt, where they were, and our own emotional stockpile magically creates people. As the human eye fleshes out the pixilated image. Fictional characters are highly sophisticated Rorschach blots, and we, along with their author, are their authors. When you read a fictional character, you too are creating her.

-You or Someone Like You, Chandler Burr

While Waiting

2009-09-05T01:13:00.001+08:00

2009-09-04T17:31:00.001+08:00

David Bailey in an interview with the Guardian:

There's not much personality in it any more. You can't say, "That's a Helmut Newton picture", because you don't know who took the picture. "Who did the retouching?" is the question you ask. It makes mediocrity look good. And people who are really good, it makes them look mediocre, so it's a levelling out. It's a bit like socialism.

I don't say "laugh". If I want them to laugh, I make them laugh. If I want them to be grumpy, I'll probably be rude to them.

I don't do tips. You can either do it or you can't. Everyone is going to take one great picture in their life and hopefully I'll do two so I'll have the edge.

Via The Cut.

2009-09-04T17:08:00.002+08:00

Saw this on it will stop raining* and found it sad and uplifting at the same time. Uplifting is kinda strange, I know. But that was my second reaction. Maybe because he looks pleased in the photo. Maybe because, hey, he has his photo now. He has the experience of smiling into a camera, knowing that he won't be forgotten, he has left his mark.

"a total stranger. he came and asked me to take his photo because no one’s asked to take his photos in like 10 years, and he wanted to have one taken before he died. he even said that he may die tomorrow. he left me 1000 yen (about 10USD) and his address to send the picture to, not to mention leaving us all so confused and kinda sad for him."

"After all, this is IKEA Heights."

2009-09-03T21:06:00.002+08:00

This is bloody hilarious. The James guy is very funny. The whole thing is.

Please watch it. I'm moving on to Episode 2 now.

IKEA Heights from DaveAOK on Vimeo.

Via Racked.

2009-09-02T23:53:00.000+08:00

2009-09-02T01:34:00.001+08:00

你会把我给毁了
如果我允许。

2009-08-31T23:45:00.005+08:00

I really like Yu Aoi. And how cool is the spread?

Because I like making lists

2009-08-31T01:55:00.007+08:00

Magazines purchased from Kino in August:
Haco no. 21
So-en Oct
Lucky Sep
Allure Sep
Vogue US Sep
Vogue Paris Sep
Spring Sep
Fruits Sep
Popeye Sep
Cool Trans Sep
Elle Sep
Vanity Fair Sep
Wallpaper Sep
Time Aug 31
Monocle Sep

Books purchased from Kino in August:
Let Me Tell You Something About That Night by Cyril Wong
Mr Darcy, Vampyre by Amanda Grange
The Lies That Build a Marriage by Suchen Christine Lim
The Tummy Trilogy by Calvin Trillin
Hardboiled Hard Luck by Banana Yoshimoto
On Photography by Susan Sontag
The Sartorialist by Scott Schuman
Coco Chanel A Biography by Axel Madsen
Chanel by Edmonde Charles-Roux
Front Row Anna Wintour: What Lies Beneath the Chic Exterior of Vogue's Editor In Chief

Books borrowed from library today:
You or Someone Like You by Chandler Burr
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Happens Every Day by Isabel Gillies
The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney
Influence by Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen

Cameras I now own:
Holga 135BC
Golden Half
LC-A+ RL
Black Slim Devil
Blackbird, Fly
Fuji Instax Mini 7
Diana F+ Tokyo Rising
Digital Harinezumi
Canon IXUS

And because I am refusing to go to bed. Maybe I'll do a random list every Sunday night.

Please make me some lists. About anything. Tell me something about you. I like to read lists too.

I like.

2009-08-30T23:32:00.002+08:00

Head Porter Plus and Visvim.Via acanned.com/ @acanned

2009-08-30T21:57:00.002+08:00

Dark clouds trying their darndest to take over the other morning.

Fashion moment

2009-08-30T20:41:00.002+08:00

I like reading about fashion. Perhaps more than I like or care about fashion. And these are what I have to pore through currently.

Like I said, I'm developing a reluctant curiosity about the Olsen twins. A random flip through Influence in Kino made me want to see more in greater detail, but I wasn't about to fork out $60+ for it.

That's where the library comes in. Our library is wonderful, do you know? I found four of the titles from my latest must-search-in-library list (stored in my phone).

You or Someone Like You by Chandler Burr is one of them. I pick it up every time I walk past that long table in Kino but in a poor effort to save money, I always put it back and tell myself to wait for the paperback. But now I've gone and gotten it from the library and I worry that it may be The Northern Clemency all over again.

You see, I refused to buy it ($40+, it was) and before the paperback arrived, I triumphantly found it in the library. It ended in horror because I really liked it and now each time I walk past it (in paperback, less than $20) I wish I own a copy but I can no longer justify it since I've already read it!

And, the icing on the cake is that after reading this, I think I should have gotten The Perfect Scent, which I also nestled back into its slot on that shelf, after all. Fragrance is something I should learn more about, because I really dislike writing about it. "Exciting and original" metaphors sound good to me.

I think I'm crazy. I certainly sound crazy.

Does book buying get other people in such a tizzy?

(Tomorrow's last day of Kino's 20% for members.)

Into flats lately.

2009-08-30T20:00:00.005+08:00

I bought four pairs in shoes in Bangkok. And discovered the other day that the Irregular Choice sandals are cheaper here in SG. Self-consolation: Maybe they don't have my size, maybe I wouldn't have fallen for them here. Sometimes love is about timing and opportunity.

Finally wore these Gap/Pierre Hardy sandals again on Friday, after months and months. I should wear them more often. They're easy to walk in. I think I want the grey sandals from the upcoming collection too. But maybe I'll wait for sale this time. We'll see.

Chuck Taylors I got from rockstar a while back. I like the all white and palest of grey muted colour palette. The Muji plimsoles, well, I've been abusively wearing them everywhere for picture-taking excursions. After BKK, they're rottenly dirty and embarassingly stinky. Time for a wash.

This means I've gotten six pairs of shoes (Gap from last year, I think) since June. Some self-control is in order.

I should also be barred from Kino. Maybe I'll take a picture to show you all the stuff I've bought from them in August.

(They had 20% on National Day weekend and the entire second half of the month, plus it's Sep issues for magazines and Sep issues are important for both work and personal gratification.)

2009-08-30T19:33:00.005+08:00

We stayed at Reflections Hotel in Bangkok. It's a little old but I really liked it. They're undergoing renovations now so it should be spanking clean once again soon.

Pictures of rooms have yet to be developed so I guess I'll show you another day.

2009-08-30T18:57:00.002+08:00

Love the dress, love the shot. I'm not sure in which order. For some strange reason I can't stop staring at it. So I've made it my wallpaper.

Via ii-ne-kore.

Let's make a date, you and me.

2009-08-29T00:20:00.003+08:00

We'll meet at the table beside the window but I'll get there first. I'll order the sweet and scalding hot milk tea that I like and I'll read while I wait. I'm one chapter into Mr Darcy, Vampyre. And several into the unauthorised biography of Anna Wintour. And halfway into The Sartorialist. But I think I'll switch to No one belongs here more than you. for this exercise. It's quirkier, weirder, more pretentious and more extraordinary, no? I'm having a Miranda July moment after re-watching Me and You and Everyone We Know in a pretty but slightly old hotel room in Bangkok at 5am in the morning. I didn't really like it back then, when I saw it in the cinema. But I do now. Either I've gotten older or stranger. Oh, but I digress. I tend to do that. When you arrive, I'll be slouched in the seat with my legs stretched out, both hands holding the book open while its spine is propped on the table. You'll sit down diagonally opposite me and adopt the same bad posture. Our eyes will meet for a fleeting moment. You will take out your book and your drink (pre-ordered at the counter before you approached the table) will arrive. We will read. We won't say a single word. We may sneak glances or we may appraise. But not a sound will be made. We will read for two hours, during which we are permitted to stare out of the window or to observe other customers. At the end of it, you will stand up. You will pay for your drink and you will go. You will leave me to my thoughts.