Brink of existence

Here’s another series of images I call Brink of Existence. I took these photos at Chinatown when I was 22 for a visual comms class.

I think the mood and composition say quite a bit about how some people are less noticed in society, in our day-to-day lives. I played with the colours a bit to create this series…

Don’t let your existence fade away…

Periwinkle’s Adventures

Periwinkle went to the playground in her cheery yellow sun dress.

She went “WHEEEEE” on the swing.

She saw two girls throw their hands up as they went down the long purple polka dot slide.

Daringly, Periwinkle walked to the top of the slide, sat down, and crossed her hands in front of her chest, all prepared to slide down.

“WHHEEEEEE!” screamed Periwinkle as she shut her eyes tight and went onto the slide.

It was the longest slide she had ever been on. When she finally stopped, she opened her eyes and found herself to be at a completely different place.

It was not the playground that she was at one minute ago.

Quote of the day?

“You hate your job, don’t you?”

That line from Renee kinda made me think about it more. Context – Renee shares about her job all the time. Apart from that fact that she talks more than I do, she somehow feels for her company, her brand. When she watched the news of the 380 landing, she felt quite proud. She shares about the shit that happens, the good that happens.

I rarely discuss my work.

So that prompted her to say that to me last night. I don’t hate my job, that I know.

Maybe, it’s just the feeling that I could do more. With my work, with my life. Or rather, work and live doing what I truly would feel gratification from.

Symphony of zombies

I think nearly eight years ago, I had to take the train from Raffles Place on a weekday morning. That was the first time I experienced the Symphony of Zombies.

As I walked towards the train station around 8.30am, there was a surge of morning human traffic flowing against my direction. Every single working adult had the same aim - to get out of the station and into their work places. Their shoes clattered, their heels clonked. No one exchanged words. It was a symphony of eerie morning rush. The sights and sounds in North Korea's mysterious subway probably bear some resemblance, just minus the clutter of commercial messages at our train station.

Today, I was there again at about the same time. Same surge, same direction. No one spoke, yet the symphony was clearly beyond audible. It was almost like a well-rehearsed mass display, without the fireworks since it was underground. Some of them had earphones plugged to them. Maybe there was a conductor instructing about their correct positions and timings. I looked at those faces and I thought about the stories behind them. Only a few folks were running; the rest walked briskly. Maybe they weren't looking forward to heading to their destinations. I looked at those faces and I thought about what they did before their weekends ended. Maybe they had some exciting adventures? I thought about what was driving them, maybe someone was badly ill, maybe someone had years of education to complete, maybe they were getting their promotions in a few months.

I shot a short video of the mass display. Everyone was just so in sync - coming out from the gates and walking towards the same escalators. All the escalators moved only in one direction. There were a few lost sheep who walked against the crowd. They had to walk down the stairs since there was no escalator planned for them. Just like me. I walked against the flow. Maybe I was one of the performers too. Just that I was lost. Or maybe I hated the conductor and wanted to screw up his show.

Or maybe I was just too early for my appointment and had too much fun watching these poor souls rushing to work on a Monday morning while I was on leave.

One more time

I had a dream. It was very surreal. It looked like an alumni dinner. Ishi was there.

He was there to sing from an album called Confessions. Not too sure if it was his album. He first appeared on the stage and I was shocked at his entrance. He had the same hairstyle as the one he had during the later stages of SuperBand. Slightly wavy. I think he was wearing a white top with some red prints.

I don’t think he sang. He searched for the rest of the foursome in the sea of audience and caught the eyes of Joey, Rosy and me. He walked down to us, and gave each of us a hug. I could really feel the hug. It was really tight. Really tight. No words were exchanged. I hugged him back.

I woke up, with my eyes still closed, and realized it was a dream. Tears flowed uncontrollably. I tried to go back to sleep, to continue the dream. I couldn’t. I sobbed in my bed. I didn’t know if I felt happy or sad to see him again. It was a surreal meeting but it felt real. It was most likely around 6am.

If I had known that the last time that Chiang and I met him at Esplanade was our last time, I would have given him the same tight hug even though he said he was sweaty and smelly from teaching dance.

I would.

October 1st

Happy Children’s Day! In celebration of this day that will never belong to us again, I bought a Disney edition of Scrabble and had my first game of it with my dad last night.

I only had one letter left. He had two. Ha.

Happy Children’s Day :)