ampulets

Last night, despite the lure W!ld Rice's Singapore Theatre Festival , J and I embarked on a little night cycling adventure instead. I'll be honest. To call it an adventure would be an overstatement We stayed unheroically on park paths and street pavements, safe from the Homeric battles and journeys of growling trucks, roaring cars and squealing scooters. So modestly, ampulets present here the Tour de Chomp Chomp . From our flat to the busy Braddell Road (which marks the border between the dusty Potong Pasir constituency and prosperous Bishan) is a quiet but broad road, wide because it was built for container trucks. At night, with the infrequent buses, it is even more deserted... ...and creepy. At least to me. Especially when the Toa Payoh Evangelist strikes. The "Toa Payoh Evangelist" is a skinny middle-aged lady, her eyebags large behind round gold spectacles. Almost every night, she would find an unlit spot near a bus stop, or as we experienced last night, behin...

time

[Trigger warning: this post mentions death and suicide.]

Drama(grand)mama

Today is my Grandma's birthday. I think 85 year-old Tan Poh Choo is the only bona fide artist in my family. For a long time, she was able to state on official forms that her occupation was "actress", or to be exact, "opera artiste". Sold when she was a child to one of the oldest Teochew Opera Troupes ( Lao Sai Toh ) in Singapore, Grandma Amps was its star in the 50s and 60s. Her popularity was attested by a series of photographs (one above), commissioned by a wealthy fan to be taken on the grounds of his house. Once, looking through her chocolate boxes of photographs, I had also spotted one of her receiving a congratulatory banner from the now Minister Mentor himself! L-Court of the Emperor (Centre: Grandma; 2nd from left: Grandpa) R -The Rare Tear (Right damsel: Grandma) Click for larger pic Since her strong features were made even more striking by the mask-like opera makeup, it was seldom that she played the role of the damsel, whether in love or distress. I...

one-woman Taipei

Are you romanced by the idea of solo travel? Solo travel seems to be the rite of passage for some folks. But I don't fully understand this romance....Perhaps for some, they need the distance and independence from not just family and friends, but also from all things familiar to create an awareness of one's singular existence and identity. Or maybe it’s just the encounter with the exotic and what it promises.

Massacre in Geylang...and Toa Payoh

With all the renovation and major hacking up of concrete done to J's apartment block, the natural world was feeling the strain. Since their homes were being threatened or even invaded and destroyed, lizards, cockroaches and ants residing in all the secret nooks of the block have had it tough. They have been forced to migrate ...and where else, but some to J's apartment. (Just in case you think we are slobs - we've always been conscientious in the hygiene and not-leaving-food-around department, so we've never really had many of such guests in the apartment before.) However cruel it all is, we decided in the end to resort to a variety of ant, cockroach and even, lizard traps. The lizard traps are the most primitive. They are these little cardboard tunnels where the base is made of a super sticky material, so that when these little houselizards tramp through the tunnel towards that tasty snack - schlick - they are stuck. The Untimely Death, 19 Aug,morning : Yesterday, we w...

paralysed

J/TOHA's second post! ( The first was months ago.) I held my mom's left hand, the weak side, and asked if she could grasp my hand. She said it was impossible, and told us not to force her to try. "Don't give up. Keep focusing on it. Train your mind to understand that this is your hand, and you want it to move when you tell it to." "Don't force me lah." Deep down, I was a little disappointed by her response, but I couldn't help but to liken her situation to mine. Definitely not a fair comparison, but I felt, at that very moment, paralsyed. Not literally or physically, but my mind was numbed, blurred and confused. Life at work has just gotten worse. What's new, most of you who know me might say. I don't think I want to elaborate how bad it has gotten, but just take it that it is so bad I felt like tendering my resignation on the spot this morning. A month back, I had kind of decided that I would quit my job this May and to enrol in a ful...

mad moments (and lessons from art - updated!)

At the spur of a mad moment, I signed up for a certificate programme in oil painting at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA). Almost 20 years ago, I had done the same thing - completed a certificate in printmaking at NAFA and boy did I struggle to get there after work on time each week! What made me think I can do it now?

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