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Showing posts with label nostalgia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nostalgia. Show all posts

But dreams can't all be real

Ever had that moment, when you're laid out on your bed, just getting ready to fall asleep and all you hear is just that silent and almost discreet tapping sound from the sky. "It's going to be a cold night," you think aloud to yourself, and you wrap yourself under the sheets. At that very same moment you have absolutely nothing else to think about and your mind just.. wanders. 


It wanders through your thoughts, it wanders through your dreams, your memories and it always ends at your most disconsolate ones. Because isn't it only human to reminisce on the past from time to time? These memories are what defines us isn't it? It enables us to reflect and to learn.
   
All the things you could have done. You should have done. And you imagine what your world would be like if it was any different. What if I had studied harder? What if I had chosen that job instead? What if I had really gone with true feelings instead. What if? What if? What if?  In what predicament, placed you on that path you are so grounded on now.  


That so- very important, initial choice.  And now you begin to consider all those things that have already happened. The path ahead seems blurry now. It starts to turn cold. And then you doubt. 


You doubt the choices you are going to make, even yourself. Some choices you selfishly made for yourself, most of it for the benefit of the other. If only you had listened to "I". What "I" wanted. And not listened to "Me", not for what you would think of "Me". Decisions firmly made because of the need of the time and not because of what you deserve.

As you walk on that path and look back, a shadow, your shadow which follows you, will always always remind you of what you want, but cannot have. You are always on the verge of losing your equilibrium. Grim. But that's a small sacrifice. Because where your dark shadow follows you like a demon, it can also be a hero to you. It waits with you, always willing to remind you, remind you that it's not the friendliest or the most popular. but it is always with you. To remind you that somehow, no matter how hopeless, there's always still a little light left shining on you.



Hope.

Some poem from the past

In the distance, a familiar horn echoes through the meadows
In the distance, I see smoke as dark as night heading my way
I am afraid it might scare the fishes,
I am afraid that I will go home disappointed

Beside me is my sister, young and inquisitive
Watching big brother, fishing with naught but a string on a stick
I am afraid that she might laugh at me
I am afraid that she will not be proud of me

Further down the river is Father and Uncle John in their fishing boat
Father says it is not about catching the fish, but the experience of the wait
I am afraid that he might be wrong
I am afraid that I will not grow to be a better man

Drawing closer, the familiar horn signals its arrival
From the dark smoke emerges the mighty locomotive
I remember why I fish here every week
I remember what I want to be

I want to be at the helm of my future,

“I am not afraid of the dark clouds ahead”
“I am not afraid of strife”

The world is full of possibilities.

Blink is Back





Let me get this straight, do you want me here?
As I struggle through each and every year.
And all these demons, they keep me...


Up All Night (2011).

Bursting my Bubble

If I had to have Sociology as my first-ever lesson in such a long while after being out of the service, I'm glad that was it.

Follow You




I’m ready to leave it all behind
Your love works wonders, the ruler of my heart
I let go of my ego just like you said
I come into being hopeful again

Hate New Beginnings


As the end of Service draws nearer and I slowly get this hint of what being on the outside feels like again, and it's this very discomforting feeling I'm getting.

It's when you finally have the freedom to live your life again, to it's "fullest" with no restrictions, you realise... To take life into your own hands, what happens? A terrible thing: No one to blame.

The world is yours again, what are you going to do about it?

Summing It Up (2010)

Well, the end of another year is at the close. And I shant comment on how I spent it. nor whether I loved it or hated it.

So a pictorial review on what yours truly has been up to the past year.















As you can see, most of the pictures are of me and my memories in the military service. How I went through the ranks and am now serving as a Platoon Sergeant. It's not a glamorous lifestyle, one with dinners and outings and all that shiny, fancy stuff. But it's a service, and the perks are well... secondary.

The Ninja and the Princess

One of the many reasons why I love the Internet: Scanlations.

While wallowing in my own self-regret and denial of what a letdown the system is... (and apart from the raging fever non-self induced puking), I turned to read some manga online - a brief respite from long route marches and battles I will fight and never "win".

There were your usual titles: Naruto, Bleach, FMA and more obscure ones such as Ghostsweeper Mikami and School Rumble.

And then there was Recca Hanabishi. Your average Japanese 16-year old, who went to high school and basically goofed off most of the time. Oh, and who could shoot flames out of his right hand. Not forgetting the eight Flame Dragon Spirits that lived in him.

Recca was undoubtedly the first anime that I saw because I skipped school one day on the account that I was "sick". More like an excuse to watch TV the whole day because Dad finally decided to get cable TV or what I like to call "SCV" (before Starhub came along). Why in the world would anyone need the Power Rangers or Pokemon (did Pokemon even exist in '98?) when you had Recca and his team of Hokage* ninjas.


*coincidental similarities with the Naruto Universe on this one, but no... no Rasengan or Kyuubi can ever hope to claim
first. Sorry Kishimoto. =3


This anime was adventurous, action-packed (with copious amounts of bleeding) and they even sneaked in a little romance (unbeknownst to me at that time). Shit, for a 9-year-old, I found my idol and hero right there. Not in some cartoon or comic book character wearing brightly coloured spandex. Just a feisty high-schooler who fought for nothing but the lives of his friends. And he had friends who would fight for him too!

I probably learned alot about love, friendship and being strong-willed in those 42 episodes that aired on AXN that year. Now I look back and wonder what ever happened to that 9-year old me. The one that used to look so brightly on the future and expected the best of things. Now I just grumble on Life's propensity.

Then I realise, that kid never left me.


I unknowingly left that kid behind years ago. I found new friends, new companions.

But now I remember... those flames of hope.2years aint too long


to the trembling that’s like the sound of a heart

just got off the phone with someone while standing at the corridor right outside my door...



The couple in the flat opposite of mine still fight at night.


The boy who lives a few stories down that very flat still uses the computer until the wee hours of the morn. He's older now.


Nothing much have changed the past months I've been away. And on the very night I return home, I am welcomed by the very same sights and sounds. Every week in and out.


I want to get out. And make it just like old times.

Sometimes


I wonder where my head was at the past 2 or 3 (since its already 2010) years. Then I tell myself, you're so stupid, stupid, stupid!



Occasionally I also clean out scattered items around the room and spend a bit of time figuring out where to store them when I come home on the weekends. I read old letters (some in a bottle), clear out notebooks filled with little sketches and notes probably long forgotten.

And I neatly put them away in a single box.

There are just some things you don't wish to forget. Very much like a windy night along the Singapore river.

2010



Bye 2009, I liked you.
Although, you were a pain at the start. And probably a slight of a jackass towards the very end too. (But who said the year had to be perfect anyways)

Have a happy 2010 everybody. *throws confetti* =)

It's been minutes, it's been days.

One year ago, today, I sat at my desk facing at an empty Word document. "This wasn't how I wanted it to be," I told myself as the cursor blinked at me.

It's been a week since I've stepped into that dinky "refurbished" office on level 7. It didn't look spectacular, all they did was clear out the old crap and placed a few new tables and chairs.

I went through old stacks of hype, considering sections I would want to keep and sections I would want to throw out if i found them redundant.

"Seriously? I'm doing this on my birthday?" Considering the things I would have to put up with, I had a mind to just pack up and leave. The worth just wasn't there. But I had a job to do, I chose to do it. So be it, there's no turning back time was there?

From time to time, SMS-es would be coming in with well-wishes. I'd reply them as best I could with a smiley face or two. But it wasn't a happy birthday, it was just... as they said it, a birth-day. Nothing but a date to signify when you were born unto this earth, and to measure how long you would live until the day your time was up.

How weary I was of that day, I was counting the hours until 6pm when I could leave and go home to the family. They would have prepared a simple dinner, all the things I like to eat, and a regular-sized blackforest cake from Bengawan Solo. Just as we do every year.

Deciding to put everything on hold, I went to sort through the files on the external hard-drive. Re-organising two and a half years' of work had to kill some time. Nearly an hour passed, and I only managed to sort through a year's worth of work. You would imagine the memories one would remember while doing this, imagine the small grin I had when I clicked open a folder titled, "Nias".


Two years ago, today, I waited in line at the check-in counter to deposit my luggage. It would have been my first and last overseas trip during my time at the Polytechnic. "Consider it good for your portfolio once you graduate," I told myself. But some part of me just wished I was back home in bed, waiting for those SMS-es of well-wishes to stream in.

"It's gonna be fun." And it was. I made friends with people I least expected to do so. Some didn't last. Some grew stronger than I ever intended it to be. It's not much of a memory, no pictures to bring home, no souvenirs... but that quiet hour at that jetty, on the edge of Gunung Sitoli was all I can remember best from that fourteen days... who knew what it would have amounted to.


Birthday's of mine have always been quiet affairs, no loud parties, no celebrations, no fuss. But the past two years was most memorable because of the choices I've made, and the people I've met along the way. Some stayed, some didn't. Others just moved on.

I could continue to stay and be perturbed by events that upset me. Or I could just carry on forward, knowing I have more choices to make (hopefully ones I won't regret this time).

So I bid my teenage-dom behind. Come 8th Oct, I move on with a new phase in my life. It's not a choice of mine that I have to go to an offshore island notorious for stories of punishment and ill-treatment. But, it is a choice of mine to be the best I can be when that day comes.



Fighting Spirit.

I have that. Because you only get it when you believe in yourself. Thanks for reminding me.

The End.. for now

I'm... graduating.

Am I suppose to feel all warm and tingly inside? Like how when you look forward to being 16, 18, or even 21. 'Cause you know you've gone and done something worthwhile, but the fruits of your labour is pretty much intangible.

You think about the friends you've made, about the things you've achieved, about the choices you have made, about a love found and lost, about the happy moments when you've discovered your independence, about your future, about your past, about your present and about rediscovering yourself.

You think about the things you could have done better and the things you would have have done differently.

I wished I could have done better, I wish I could have done things differently. But that's the reason why they are "could" and "would". Because you can't.

So the things you can do, is everything you haven't already done. Right or wrong, I guess that's up to you to decide what huh?











See you guys soon.



These photos exist circa 2006- July 2009. Too many IBP photos to choose from (those responsible, you know who you are.) Shall update those soon enough. =D

Me?

Nope, I'm not at all siao.
-
Just gotta sit back and hold on, and hold on tight.

Social Survival

"Zeo Mega Battlezord expects you to read and think about it or it will fire it's tiny lasers at you"


I've been working at the airport as an Airport guide (not the most glamourous of jobs but it pays well) for a good 5 days now and frankly, I hate the place. Maybe it's because my post is at Departure or maybe it reminds me of how stuck I am on this little island we call Singapura. I see men and women in suits going towards the business class check-in counters and leaving past immigration and I even see a few familiar faces return if I'm posted at Arrival.

Then I wonder to myself, "How the fuck do I get to be like them?" It's bad enough that already I'm having a hard time planning my course of action for possibly the next 10 years.

It sucks when I'm barely 20 and I'm trying to come up with a lifeplan. So at one point, while helping a passenger figure out how to get to the Coffee Bean, a revelation. Money.

That's the definition of planning for the future in this country means. Money.

Plain and simple.

You get money from having a career (businessman recommended). Careers leads to having money. You bills NEED money. Your house, your car, your daily necessities, your need to provide for a family. All requires money.

I guess for a country that has a land mass of less than 300 sq miles, money is as simple as you can get to measure your damn worth.

If you can secure a good and regular income, and know how to save and invest, chances are, you're halfway home.

But a little luck goes a long way as well. If let's say, for some uncanny reason you just keep finding yourself stuck in a rut. Well, I guess that's tough luck. You can go about a million and one ways (I'm currently at my 2,074th way) to make your life a little better, but middle-class will just be as high as you can get. It's vicious cycle, thats why it's called a rut.

So if you're Singaporean (or are from any country for that matter, cause I know some Finnish people do read my blog), can you honestly say "money isn't everything"?



Heck, what the hell do I know. I'm just an airport guide.

Each breath that you has a thunderous sound

I might have done well for my last semester, but fuck that I fooled around in my first year. Now everything's still going down the drain.

Simple Things

make me happy =)










And then, there are other things that make me happy as well. =D

Oooh yea. =)

Today couldn't have gotten any worse

You know, sometimes, when you think that things are picking up, life just looves to throw you a curveball.

For example, I left an hour early to go to the driving centre for my Cl2B Theory lessons at 6.50pm. Took the train at 5.55om. And then, the train was faulty so every station took about 3.5mins? to travel in between.

Then at 7pm, I boarded the bus and being Ubi/ Eunos, there's always a huge jam at peak hour. And by the time i got to the centre, at 7.15, I had to wait til 8.40pm to attend the second half of the lesson. Which means I need to retake the first half. Next Week. -.-

Don't you just love it when karma strikes.

P.S: Oh right, the reason's cause I'm an ASS who only knows how to piss off the people who are important to me because I take them for granted. Thats why.