Gone Fishing

I’ll be away on holiday for the next two or so, leaving my parents and cat back here to hold the fort and defend the island against aliens from outers space. Meanwhile, try not to mess up the place. Business as usual in a couple of weeks, so, see you then!

d

Points of order.

Hello,

I came back from Malaysia at the beginning of the week.

School is basically officially over, with my FYP poster presentation done, all the loose ends tied up, and having tried my commencement gown on yesterday. I’ve yet to indicate my attendance and place an order for my gown though, so I better get to it. The poster presentation went by fine. The graduation night dinner was okay too, and I suppose I managed to settle a few things that I didn’t think I would be able to.

I’ve been busy clearing up admin matters and getting the house in order. Have also been meeting many people and enjoying myself in doses. I am looking to get back to work very soon. There actually are deadlines I have to meet so I better get to it. I think my mood is swinging very gradually in the right direction so with some luck I’ll be back at it real soon.

I’ve been doing a lot of revisiting lately. I rewatched my favourite Audrey Hepburn movie, Charade, last night in the new Criterion edition. I reread Vila-Matas’s Bartleby & Co. and have been rereading Gao Xingjian’s 《灵山》. I’ve also been listening to some of my favourite music.

I got my place to do an MA in Literary Studies. I’ve yet to officially accept it.

My copy of Radiohead’s The King of Limbs arrived in the mail and I have to say that the packaging is quite lovely and thoughtful.

My to-do list is immense. I’ve not seen such a massive to-do list since I last had… well, lots of things to do. But seriously, I put it down on my whiteboard and even as I’m cancelling things, new things keep surfacing. I don’t think this summer break is going to get any easier.

I got a new keyboard and mouse. I love my new keyboard and mouse. And mousepad.

Okay, I think I’ll get back to work now with the promise that I’ll be back blogging again with more frequency.

Of course, these promises… they are guilt-generating machines.

d

End of term.

So it came and went. As they put it.

The end of the term, and the end of these rather strange four years, sees the end of many good and bad things, and things neither good nor bad as well. It also sees the beginnings (or hopeful beginnings) of many other things.

But let’s be less romantic today.

I spent yesterday generally relaxing and catching up on a few things. I also packed up my study materials this morning in anticipation of the exams. I have two papers this semester, one on the 28th and the other on the 30th. Then I have a final presentation for my FYP on 10 May, which I have to prepare for in the meantime. I have no idea how to study for one of my papers, so I intend to make notes for the subject and hope it all becomes clear as I move along. The other paper will require more traditional terms of engagement.

I have also made plans to start writing again. I should be doing a bit of short fiction in the foreseeable future, before diving into revisions for longer projects. An idea has begun to precipitate for a short story, so I’ll probably be working on that once it is less murky. I have written the opening line, though basically nothing else beyond that.

For the upcoming break, I intend to work on said revisions, travel (as you already know), and get to some… personal enrichment. I haven’t played the harmonica for ages, and would like to get back into shape again as far as that is concerned. My primitive education in chess will most certainly continue. Finally, there is a small matter of picking up Spanish. I think I’ve found someone interested in taking a class together with, so that is something of a start. I have something of a reading list going too, which will be useful for travel, I imagine, but also for clearing out some of the bigger books that require more time (and sometimes more patience). There is also the waiting that I have to do regarding my applications.

Yes, I guess that is the big picture, as they call it. Things look neither good nor bad, but they have also never looked stranger to me, and for that alone I’m quite thankful.

d

P.S. I also have an immortal cough going right now.

Strange Days

It’s really an odd feeling going into the (technically) last week of my undergraduate life. As I’ve been writing in some thank-you cards, I am not quite a believer in new chapters, distinct phases, and all that jazz. Nevertheless, it does feel something momentous can be found within these last few days, or at least something important. I don’t subscribe either to any great sentimentalism or sense of nostalgia, but there is an element of those things to be found as I go about thanking the people I am indebted to, and also as I try to reinterpret and reframe these past four years, to renew my understanding of them as it were.

It’s been especially rough, but I guess you always think so. These past years have also been remarkably transformative, and I look back at it, often saying: Who would have thought?

To run into the territory of cliché, most things seem far less predictable, and even far less normal in light of the last dozen hundred days. In a literal sense, it’s nothing in the realm of a David Lynch movie, but there are concordances and motifs at work that make it an apt comparison. I find myself emerging perhaps not any wiser, not any cleverer, not any better by any conventional metric, but certainly more in touch with my fears, the general senselessness of living, and the wonderful strangeness of being. That is, I don’t necessarily feel like any better of a person–I’m not sure if there’s any real way to measure that–but I feel different, and maybe in this post-modernist (post-post-modernist?) world, that’s as much as we can hope for.

At the end of these four years, I have no idea where exactly I’m going. I mean, sure I do have plans, and I do have a sense of direction, as they put it, but there’s also a definite sense of unpredictability that I’ve denied for a lot of my life. Look at it this way: I went into this course with the idea that I would complete it and emerge with my degree and various other technical details; that was the plan; that wasn’t simply all I got; in a way, that doesn’t even nearly begin to describe the past four years. So I’m keen. With a nose for adventure and a heart for new surprises, I’ll be more than glad to see what else–that is, on top of the said plans and directions–the next four years have in store for me.

I don’t want this to collapse into a sentimental mess, so I leave you with one of my favourite quotations as I propose a toast to these strange days past, and the stranger ones to come.

“There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea’s asleep, and the rivers dream; people made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there’s danger, somewhere there’s injustice, somewhere else the tea’s getting cold. Come on, Ace. We’ve got work to do.”

d

Disgust

Hello. Some updates:

Buy art. Support Médecins Sans Frontières. Help Japan. [via The Working Proof]

I had a cockroach in my right shoe today. I did not realise until after I had removed the shoe to knock out the strange object under my toes. By then it was too late because the roach was in smithereens. Not exactly an everyday encounter. Thankfully too.

I’m about a fortnight away from the submission of my thesis draft. That’s really fast. I did not expect that at all. I’m putting together the things as I go along now, but I’m sure it’ll get more hectic as the days are whittled away.

I have a splitting headache now. It might explain any stray grammar.

Recently I realised, or at least was reminded of, how few dependable friends I have. It is somewhat saddening, but also good to be aware of, in some sense. I guess there’s no sense in getting into too much detail about it. Ultimately, it is very disappointing, but there really isn’t much to be done about it. They say that you can choose your friends but not your family, but I think that sometimes you don’t really even get to choose your friends.

My notebook died. Well, not exactly, but it’s kind of… not in very good shape. I wish this had happened earlier when the warranty was still active, but that’s the way it is with warranties, isn’t it?

I haven’t written in what feels like ages, and want to get back to it again soon. Easier said than done though, as is common wisdom.

I will probably be too busy to take care of this place in the coming weeks. I hope not. But we’ll see. I won’t let the cobwebs gather, I promise. Meanwhile, the other blog is still alive and well, much to my relief.

Okay, that’s it for now.

d

Things that might interest you.

Or might not! Who knows! That’s half the fun.

There is a new Lykke Li album. There is also a new R.E.M. album arriving soon. And recently, I’ve really been enjoying the new PJ Harvey album, Let England Shake.

Things are slowly falling into place, in some way. My FYP, which I’ve yet to describe to you, I know, is coming together, though it’ll be a pretty close finish. My other subjects look a bit tough, but also enjoyable in their own ways.

There is finally the feeling that I’m closing things out, that this is really the final semester. It feels… odd, I guess, but I guess in a way (that is, hopefully the only way in which I can say it without looking silly) I can’t say I didn’t see it coming. I mean, I was half-expecting it to surprise me. But no surprises.

I’m planning overseas trips. Plenty of them. Well, okay, so that’s a lie. Not many of them, but at least more than I normally go for in a single year. (Three, if all goes well.) Fingers crossed!

I’m starting to make headway with my humongous book queue. [Click here for a reminder.] I’m reading Le Clézio. It is my first exposure to his work. My friends all comment on the back cover thus: Who is that dashing chap there? Well, okay, not in the same words, but to the same effect. He was/is a rather dashing bloke, and a marvellous writer to boot. (I’m reading Fever.)

I’m tempted to buy a couple of other books but I’m really strapped for cash (due to said planned overseas trips) and more importantly find it embarrassing to have to explain my enormous reading queue to my parents. Why are you buying so many books? they exclaim. I don’t mind them asking because, seriously, I ask myself the same thing every now and then.

Okay, I’ll tough it out for a month or so first and then get those two or three, plus three others I want to preorder, when it feels right. Then I think I’m done with book puchases till the end of the year. (I swear!)

It’s nice to be blogging again. But it’s time to go back to work.

Have a great weekend ahead.

d

Book Queue

The majority of people who ask me about the books that I own tend to ask me how my library looks like. I suspect this is because they don’t really know how my ever-increasing collection actually fills up space. How much space does it actually take up? Is it a big mess, as all well-used literary libraries apparently should be? stacks and stacks of books with that lovely musky old-book smell? Well, unfortunately, they’re usually disappointed to find that it doesn’t take up as much space as they had initially envisioned, and also that it’s all quite tidy. (That’s not to say that I have a lot of space though; it still takes up more space than I should by right be able to afford.)

However, I’m not going to show you how my library looks like today. Instead, I’m going to tackle a different question, one that very few people ask:  How does my book queue look like?

Well, here it is:

Well, it’s not exactly entirely my book queue. The right-most stack of five books are books that I’m reading now. My queue is made up of the other three stacks.

I counted forty-five. Together with those that I’m reading now, it makes fifty. And actually, I loaned one book to a friend without having read it (Wolf Hall), so it’s actually fifty-one. I find it a lightly worrying number. I’ll never get through this properly. Something new will come in again before I reach the halfway mark, I’m sure.

It’s a slightly eclectic mix, I think? It’s mostly in English, though you’ll spy a couple of Chinese books, and even one in Japanese. Most of it is fiction or poetry, although there are at least three non-fiction books (Men in White, Hatfield’s Herbal and Henrietta Lacks) that I can think of off the top of my head. Oh the 北岛 book I’m not reading yet is non-fiction too. Some are newly released books, some are less recent; some are brand new, some are second- or third-hand; some are absolutely new to me, some are rereads (new purchases, usually); and so on. There’s an art book and a comic book in there. There’s also literary criticism and books of interviews.

Okay, I guess I should spend less time blogging and more time reading. Until next time.

d

Panda Cookies

Been meaning to put this up, but have been… busy. Panda cookies! Courtesy of the awesome Huitian.

Thank you, Huitian!

See more in flickr. [via flickr]

d

Back in business.

Hello, hope you had a good break this Chinese New Year. Mine was relatively normal and slightly boring, but it was okay, I guess. I am currently quite stressed about something but I guess it’s still going as well as it could.

I’ve been reading a lot. I’ve also been meeting friends, which is great. Mostly smooth-sailing.

This week on the menu: aforementioned stressful issue; FYP, FYP, FYP; some administrative issues; my Singapore theatre project, which has to do with Drama Box; meeting up with some other friends; and the new blog. That’s probably as much as I can swallow at this point. Oh yes, I should also blog more, so I’ll try to get things back on track. Empty promises, maybe, but I won’t give up the ghost without having a shot.

Been spending a lot recently. Most of it has been on tickets, clothes, and some books. I can feel myself slowing down in this respect though, which is a relief. I often wonder if other people get the same sort of feeling when that happens, assuming that our spending patterns can even be compared.

Oh I’ve spent some money on new music too. No regrets though. Some great new stuff available recently.

My FYP is doing fine, though maybe going a little slower than I would’ve liked. I’ve got some stuff the puzzle out right now and it’s not looking too optimistic. I’m hoping to stumble on some bright idea by the end of the week. I also hope to finish a model by the end of the week, so it’s not exactly going to be a piece of cake, if I can put it that way.

On the project side, we’re hoping to visit Drama Box this week and get some stuff done at the very least. Watch a couple of plays and obtain a couple of scripts, one hopes.

Yes, I realise I’m writing in a very haphazard manner; I’ve not been sleeping well.

Okay, I’ll be back soon. I already have a couple of ideas of what to be writing about, but it all kind of depends on what happens during the week.

And oh yes, who knows, it might be after the finale of my stressful event the next time I’m here, so, should that be the case, see you on the flip side.

d

Another Week

There goes another week and here begins another one. It’s not got off on the best note–my arms hurt like crazy from some training and I’ve had quite a few things to worry about–but it should get better as the week goes along. It’s going to be a packed week, basically, or perhaps eventful is a better word. Whatever it is, it’s family and friends closer to the weekend, so I’m keeping that in mind for now.

On a related note, tomorrow is a more straightforward day than today was, and today didn’t turn out all that bad.

I put together my new blog as I was promising over the weekend. It’s still finding its feet so I’m going to link to it a bit later. It’s also nowhere near a functioning edition, and in that respect, I actually just set it up as a sort of temporary fixture on WordPress. I’m going to have the hosting worked out when things get more comfortable. That’s the idea, of course; reality doesn’t really like behaving according to intention.

I’m reading Secret Rendezvous (密会). It is splendid. On the back cover, someone describes it as seeming like a collaboration between Hieronymus Bosch, Kafka, and Mel Brooks, and that’s kind of true. I’m about a third through it and completely engrossed in it. I’m just too tired to read now and want to do it justice, so I’m not going to try.

I know I promised to talk about my FYP. I still remember. I’m going to try to do so the next time. I actually have some pictures. I’ll put them up in that post and hope that the pictures are enough to make you happy. I doubt it.

I studied a couple of chess games over the weekend, including one less well-known Fischer game that was quite brilliant. I’m terrible at this, both chess and chess history, but I do enjoy it as a side project of some sort. A hobby, yes. I don’t know why I didn’t say that the first time.

Tomorrow, I’m having classes about Singapore theatre. I’m also going to be discussing with my team members our project for that subject. I get the feeling it’ll be interesting. We’re doing Drama Box, and to end off today’s post on a peculiar note, I’m going to link to them. [via Drama Box]

All right, see ya.

d