Balloon on a Broken String

 

I’m not a boy,
I’m a big, fat balloon
Flapping in the wind
Floating over the treetops
On a broken string
I’ve never been tied down
To anything

***

I drift carelessly
On a summer breeze
I bounce above the trees
I try to be cheerful
But I can feel myself
Deflating all the time
Up in the sky.

***

I”m sad and alone
But you’d never know
It to look at me
I look ever so happy
Up here by myself
But I wish sometimes I looked
The way I felt

***

And I know I look shiny and bouncy
But I’m all empty inside
And I worry that if I was to just burst suddenly
That nobody would even notice me

<3<3<3

screened tee.th

Groggy-eyed and obviously slightly irate at having to wake up on a bright saturday morning when all sorts of possibilities are suggesting themselves to me I kept my muted silence as we made our way for the oral health screening at bukit ho swee. Not that I minded having to help out; it’s just the massive hurdle every early morning that always put me at the wrong foot going. We squeezed in hong yi’s car in his ingenious formation thought out last night when we were heading back after drinking at wine company. The oral health screening logistics practically ate up all our seats.

To DL where the really cute portable dental chairs are waiting for us to carry them down, the chairs were like miniature coffins clinging on to our backs and forcing us to hunch subserviently. We took ada’s car to the destination void deck to start preparing. I partnered with wenyi for the day. Citycare is a nonprofit organisation who helped made this possible, liasing with us and origins exterminators to set up this event for the folks.

There were countless of kids who came to participate, some really excited, some spouting gibberish, some leaving in tears. I had 3 children who simply refused to sit on my chair, bawling their eyes out while their mother persuaded them in vain. Some others were really cooperative and pleasant to work with. I cannot for the life of me grasp the whole idea of children being scared of dentists. Why, when i was little i didn’t think much of it. & considering I had quite a number of fillings done during primary school days. But i will never forget my dental nurse face. It is an etched memory here to stay. Her helmet haircut and thick make up, oh they are the very thing(s)

The screening was also quite a good chance for interaction. The juniors were pretty lovely, helping out and being nice like helping me to discreetly take sweets from the table meant for kids. Hungry,what. The year twos were a real helpful and responsible bunch as well. We also did crossword puzzle in our spare time & mutually agreed that it was flawed; ‘horses’ simply cannot be found.

1pm sharp we concluded our affair, hauled back the crazy chairs and logistics to the car and headed out to lunch. Mel was very amusing when she forgot how to parallel-park and was getting all flustered over being at the correct place. Spice was closed, what a pity. We went to eat chicken rice and prata from a lesser known shop nearby. Nonetheless I got my prata bomb and suddenly life is so sweet.

so the third buffet night already.

Morning clinic brought a rush of blood to my face, unexplained and perplexing. We had UROP after school, finally trying our hands on the rapidform and polygonal editing tool software on scanning the models and sectioning them. The mother ancient computer of 512gb ram was the main limiting factor. I managed to scan 2 sets of models. While liane & jacq went through the casts that were already scanned. After the session we returned back to my room and laid stagnant on my bed til the clock struck six.

We arrived at the guild house in a timely fashion. I sat with Hong wei for the evening, together with meihui and her date gerald, & the year one girls. Michelle was really friendly, and something about her is amusing. Hong wei was ultra sweet. He got me a KT Turnstall CD and a book with a pretty cover. & just so nice that I didn’t have her first album. I only had drastic fantastic. The year ones did a mambo dance performance. I sat there wondering what would be in the minds of the older doctors and profs. Some of them formed a band twenty thirteen and performed some awesome numbers. My table was the one with the crazy enthusiasts, them juniors shouting encore and giving standing ovations. Really supportive I’d say.

The year twos’ song was very gutsy with two lines of lyrics in reference to prof neo. For a moment I thought it was teachers day. & then there was our class video, pointless but hilarious all the same. The year fours did a nostalgic one chronicling their school life punctuated with short snippets of videos in between photos. The food were great.

We went to dempsey for drinks afterwards.

dance dance

Right after lab concluded on a good note on wednesday, we went to film what would be the class entry for the performance on buffet night. At clinic 2 where it was empty save for a few nurses knocking off, they were amused at our absurd dance rehearsal right smack in the middle of nowhere. Boon was the mastermind behind this whole shindig. The dance was easy enough, I thought. Them korean boys made it so cute and effortless. But during the actual filming i couldn’t for the life of me remember the 4 step sequence.

Memory’s turning into a sieve.

After Hong yi capped it off with 2 takes we moved to a more publicly embarrassing location of lab four. Several ngs along the way, arousing more interest by our classmates with our arms flailing and kuku hand actions we recruited another 3 to join the dance at the next scene: outside dean’s office. The galls we have. It was a hushed, cramped and furtive affair. Then with our emboldening spirit we suggested dancing in front of the dean’s car. Now with more strangers curious and mercilessly staring at us like monkeys in a cage we did a 10 men dance this round. Several cars hindered our progress.

The final showdown was to be at our new temporary building. Just outside the construction site our crew was now 15 men strong. We had audience to grace our performance the likes of the construction workers hanging perilously on scaffolds, nus runners & fleeting bus passengers. For credits we did the VISA dance one by one. Funnily it turned out to be so not very easy at all. Our variations served testament to deceptively easy moves.

During buffet night itself we managed to gather some laughter from the floor. There was an added david-hands-butterfly segment and our ngs included. pity about the almost 2nd prize.

WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY. If i was born deficit I’d never have the courage to survive.

all out

We went to the movies on saturday, my mum,my sis, bernard and myself.

UP, the geriatric-friendly movie was the talk of the week. With Carl looking suspiciously like  Woody Allen and Russell a splitting resemblance to my oft absent of a brother (which was why i suspected mum wanting to watch this in the first place) the animation was first-rate with its storytelling and awesome texturing and modelling. The jokes were not the usual goofy slapsticks but unexpected humor. It has its share of poignant moments, coupled with a not-so-typical moral of the story.

Since I was little I always feel old before my time. Not mature; just old. It’s a matter of preference, really. & watching UP just serve to bring home to this point how I never could appreciate such cartoons. I think it’s great. But the very thing of it all, the content and story just lose me after a while. PG rated films could never hold my interest for long. It won’t be the movie I’d rave about definitely, in spite of me thinking how PIXAR has really gone beyond frontiers and  raise the golden benchmark in animation.

Right after the movie, I caught up with mariana and xiaoyan in town. Went to fix my fossil watch which was missing a 6 from it’s watch face. We dallied for a while & then made our way to zhilin’s birthday party. I was surprised to know that roy, stef and junqi were coming. They got her a charming Artbox suitcase adorned with the same prints I had for a file, encased within a fitting spongebob squarepants soft toy. The suitcase took the cake.

I had trouble identifying zhilin and zhini that evening. Both wore matching attires, very similar hairstyles and talk with identical vocal cords. We tried our hands at guitar hero. Got axed a couple of times. I sang one way or another by the blondies which was almost idiot-proof. We parked ourselves later on at the fondue station. Greedy pig me had smudged chocolate over my front, my denims and on the table edge where I leaned. They had to stop me.

Roy taught us texas hold’em. Without stakes involved we got bored after a while, though I kind of enjoyed it. We sang happy birthday to the pair of twins and while they were making their speech I realised I was looking at the most fortunate and happy family I’ve ever seen. I felt a little sad. Is it like being Shep Campbell?

Xiaoyan likes The Submarines too[:D]

and here goes another week

The week went past in haste. Fear of turning into Dolores Price and double gross Dottie spurred me to 12 rounds every evening. Thinking of rolls of fat and the wobbly fingers set my quivering legs into motion. Tuesday night was a surprise fun with wenyi, yu en & nic coincidental meeting at the track leading to a late night conversation of things while nursing our aching calves. Away from the school setting everything else becomes alot less restrained and stifling.

 On thursday I had my first extraction. It was a day of unexpected happenings. Extracted two periodontically involved teeth with the help of Dr Wu. The few things that would forever remained etched in my mind would be one, the sinking of needle in fast-forward speed time and the white blanching. Two, the grinding of bone as I placed my finger on the alveolus. & of course three, the actual uprooting of tooth. In panic everything went as a blur.

Same day, we joined the juniors for shears supper. My virginal experience sampling the stuffed chicken & daniel’s special. The year ones were really a good fun to talk with. Turned out, stars IS already sub-mainstream, but more geared towards the younger ears. I should have known when I saw carisa there that time. And the group of O levels groupies in front of us at the autograph session. Anwar described himself to be the greatest Midnight coward fan. How lovely.

Earlier on today we went to meet the engineers behind the whole 3d imaging of teeth for our UROP. It’s like a very advanced photoshop designed for 3D imaging. With alot of awesome features to do this do that. Fell asleep halfway cuz of the late supper the night before. Someone pulled my ponytail. Didn’t try to find out who, less it’s not shahira.

sure is for people who don’t know enough

So it took me three years to finally watch Imagine You & Me.

Well, I must admit I was pretty queasy about the queer theme back then. Hate it that xiaoyan is right about this, ha. 

Anyway, Lena Headey is stunning. Like Trinny Woodall and Rebecca Hall the lovely brits. Oh and let’s not forget Elaine Cassidy. I first caught notice of her in The Brothers Grimm. She’s a more healthier version of Keira Knightly, hands down. I took a peep into her filmography and lo and behold, Remains of the Day was made into a movie? Of Kazuo Ishiguro’s works this particular book left me feeling clueless at the lack of plot. Maybe I was dense.

Imagine my delight when midway into the movie the familar sound of Suspended From Class by Camera Obscura weaves in. One of my all-time favourite numbers. I was so excited by the mere starting of it. What I love about this is that I happen to believe in it, as well. Does it matter, the gender divide. Well, everyone has their own. Just don’t preach off.

TGINationalDaySOON

I’m feeling patriotic. Public holiday always a cause for celebration in itself. I’m wearing a red shirt.

I could hardly kept my eyes open during morning lessons. I saw what i scribbled on my paper in a half asleep state later on, which consisted of illegible squiggles and signatures. And I was so sure i got it all there in pen and paper. Even in my sleep I was dreaming about pbl how miserable the quality of sleep. Right now I am still primed for bed. But no, friday night is not for early bedtime.

After school I helped annabelle and karen to stream A Frozen Flower & we watched it in a very public location:lab. Yu en was a threatening presence. He’d also seen it and said it was not bad. Later on Xiaoyan suggested watching it. !And i thought i would have no one to go with to watch arthouse film. Okay, it’s not really arthouse, this one.

On thursday we year 3s went to watch the float performance. The dance was fun and cute, infectious towards the end with its high energy tapdance-ish aerobics. Love the songs. No mainstream please. The costumes were really lovely. I concede, ha ha. The float was great in its form. The effort put in was really commendable.

Mr Punch was lovely with quaint signs and rooftop view. Mariana said the buildings are shaped like a middle finger. There’s an ovaltine ad to our left and an oddly placed aijinomoto one by the corner to our right. The cocktails weren’t fantastic; the view was. For a good hour we had the tiny cosy area to ourselves. I bet the cctv is from mustafa. The 4$ one. We had some starters. Beef meatballs that were almost like meat loaf. The minced mash is so cannibalistic. Xiaoyan was down with some FLS. Hope it doesn’t escalate to pneumothorax.

Recently on a literary phase. Norwegian wood check. Fingersmith halfway through. Got myself Revolutionary road, wally’s lamb she’s come undone and another sarah waters’s. yay perfect time to sink my teeth into them pages.

I’m really happy by myself. Social stigma is an ass to deal with. Go figure.

I see bright lights ahead in 0.7mm wires.

Last week ended with with a dull note, myself feeling more dreary with worry despite of the weekend to come. Changed my rubber bands to bright blue. Suddenly my braces are lit. Stayed for the welcome tea, which I suppose was more of a refresher course to staff introduction than the year ones who could bearly remember the passing of faces and names from the respective departments.

Suddenly it’s hard to imagine two years had fleeted past since my own welcome tea. I don’t remember much, not even my own interesting fact. Tonight I realise what a big deal it was, to gather all the faculty staff to introduce themselves formally to the freshies. The dinner reception is always a crucial key to attendance.

Met my line junior; shu li. Who incidentally does graphic art and listens to the likes of stars, camera obscura yada yada.

I finally set foot at tampines one. I am so delayed in everything now. Feels like dental school is casting me into fossil. Urbanwrite is driving me crazy with all the irresistable stationery. We tried restorans selayang opened by Terence Cao & Zhang Yao Dong. It was utterly delicious. The noodles were springly and slightly thicker with all the mishappen kinks. Rich in flavour, oddly in semblance to cintan mee. The char siew came in generous slices, each mouthful putting singaporean char siew to shame. Those red feebly slices are simply no match. Them KL people are in a different league altogether.

Next stop, naturally is ion orchard. Might as well catch up while the mood is there. New malls are exciting. Funny, i didn’t feel the same when vivocity opened. Got myself a new pencil box from artbox. teeriously, i don’t know what to do when I graduated and have ran out of use of all my favourite collectibles pencil cases. The new addition is a plastic neat case with APPLE stencilled on it.

Four new shirts for the wardrobe. Tried taiyaki for sentimental sake. Think watashitachi no kyokasho. Ate alot. But happy. As for the literary soul in me, I bought Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. 3 chapters into it & already I’m loving it.

Miss Maud & Miss Smith <3