rowlandanthonyimperial
Saturday, December 29, 2007
21:50
Independence.
You wake up in the morning and you find yourself alone in the bed, in the room, in the stillness of the air at the break of dawn, surrounded by four tall corners that are commonly known as walls, concrete or wooden or fabric they're all the same, under a ramshackle roof and beside dirt-laden, almost opaque windows that inconscientiously protect you from the harshness of the outside world.
You see yourself buried under the emblazoned sheets given by your mother, the smell of a distinct detergent soap stubbornly lingering in every square inch of your homeland cotton fibre, amidst the innumerous days and nights of absence from home.
You probably never washed them at all.
You stretch your hands as if you're reaching hers, you kick your feet as if your younger brother is positioned at the far end of the bed tickling you, and you open your eyes wide enough to let yourself notice that another day has passed, and a new one has come into picture.
You are still alive.
But you are alone, all alone, and you keep wondering why. Why?!
Off you go to your morning routine.
You think of the things to do for the day. You think of becoming Superman so you could do everything at ease. You suddenly change your mind. You wouldn't want to be going around wearing an exposed shocking crimson-coloured underwear in public.
No wonder many people yearn for independence, and choose to live by themselves.
It keeps the human imagination flowing.
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My friend Benazhir sent me this sms last night:
Today, Singapore is the benchmark of education in Asia. While Singapore is busy making records in academic excellence, Japan is making breakthroughs in information technology.
And the Philippines? Busy setting records like the most number of couples kissing on Valentine's Day. ~ Francis J. Kong
It is quite true, isn't it?
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It's Day 3 in the Big Brother House. Cheers.
Big Brother: Lee Kuan Yew, who else
House: Singapore, where else
Cheers: a convenience store usually and strategically situated beside NTUC Fairprice.
I have been here in Singapore for three days now, a majestic feat for a person who has expectedly failed to bid adieu to his hometown vacation frenzy. The no-study mode is still omnipresent within me, and it is quite likely to be a dangerous threat to my studies. The inevitable war at the juvenile battlefield known as SJI International will commence a few days from now, and here I am totally unequipped and unprepared. I see my fellow IB students intensely preparing for the said war, taking French lessons way ahead of the school curriculum, preparing and reasearching stuff related to the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, and I see myself without my ammunitions and arsenals and whatever you call them bombs and grenades of knowledge and readiness and emotional preparedness. Indeed, slackness has monumentalized within me, and demolishing it off will be a great challenge in the near future.
Anyway, yesterday was a terrific day for me. Kenneth, Rheyza and I went to Parkway Parade. We shopped, we ate, we talked, we walked, we joked around. Basically we had fun. Kenneth went back to his new hostel, Dunman High, and Rheyza and I were left to continue lavishing our settling-in money. We went to Plaza Singapura, intially with the fervent intentions of watching I Am Legend at the Golden Village, but instead ended up savouring the sumptuous meals we ordered at Hot Potato. Well, I think it was a good decision to forgo the initial plan. See you around next time, Hot Potato.
Plaza Singapura. Not for those with Altophobia.
After filling our empty stomachs with twenty-seven dollars and forty cents, off we went to Carrefour to buy some stuff that I need: Vaseline Lotion, Lady Jayne (WTF?) Comb, A container for my Gillette razor and Oral-B toothbrush and Colgate toothpaste, Listerine Mouthwash.
And, unexpectedly, we found some five-dollar books stocked like Payatas rubbish inside the store. I bought three. An unprecedented fifteen-dollar loss.
Waiting for bus no. 14 in front of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd.
And I would not let myself pretend that I am alighting opposite St. Patrick's School ever again. I don't live there. I live near Holy Family Church. Curse you Bus no. 14.
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