In Macs

My McChicken tastes exactly the same. The things I do for internet access. Dinner party in less than an hour and I spend S$12.30 on a meal here. Won’t have time to upload photos I think, not if I want to finish all my goals for the half hour I have left.

I’m staying outside of Lyon proper, with an old woman who’s extremely paranoid about getting into trouble should anything happen to me, but the fetters she puts on my doesn’t chafe too badly, yet.

Just to put things into perspective, it’s dangerous at night, when it’s dark, but there’s a total of maybe 6 or 7 hours from 10, when it starts to get dark, to 5, when it’s totally bright daylight. And she prefers I return at 7 for dinner, so that’s maybe two and a half hours for visiting the roman ruins, the Notre Dame of Lyon etc.

Today, there’s neighnourhood party, so I couldn’t go with the rest to old Lyon and the Saint Jean-Baptiste Cathedrale.

I packed for summer, and I got frickin’ 13 degrees Celsius. The locals also say that it’s not usual weather, that by this time it’s warm. I see trenchcoats and leather jackets everywhere and I feel even colder. Some of us have resorted to borrowing warmer clothing.

Yesterday it was raining, and we went on a boat trip on the Saône river. I think I froze there. The rain isn’t heavy compared to what we have, but the winds are strong.

This weekend, I’m hoping to go on a day trip to avignon, a couple hours train ride from here, but the details are sketchy and I’m not sure if it’s possible, especially if the weather stays this way.

So far, school is relearning everything we’ve learnt before, with lots and lots of listening and oral practice. The good thing is that it’s difficult not to use at least a little french outside of school. The bad thing is, it’s easy enough to get by with english really.

Breakfast is bread and butter (baguette of course, but they leave their bread out to harden and omg is it hard to eat), lunches at the school is ermm, a lot a lot, not amazing but not that horrible either. Dinners tend to be microwaved unless my host’s son or daughter is around, which is probably really rare.

The good thing is, I’m eating cheese everyday (and yogurt, but still think that Meiji strawberry yogurt is the best heh). No wine, apparently not all families have aperitifs for meals, but that’s fine with me.

That’s all the time I have, so until next time!

Summer 2008 - Paris Pre-Immersion

Paris was everything I expected and more. Old buildings subtly calling for attention with it’s architecture and infused with a history you can only guess at. The city is a blend of old and new that can never be experienced in Singapore, with it’s clean roads and everything sanitised. The wide bridges across the Seine draws a sense of awe, and buskers line the streets.

I took my time at each location I went. Sacre-Coeur and Montmartre on the first day. The Louvre and the Eiffel Tower to the see the lights on the second, without going up, and the third day going up the tower by escalator, going to Notre-Dame after and then dropping by the Centre de Georges Pompidou, the modern art building. We wanted to go to the Mall, but the shops were closed by 8, so we walked around the streets, eventually ending at a second hand clothes shop with a really cute dog.

Sacre-Coeur and Notre-Dame are both religious institutions which have become tourist attractions. The former didn’t allow photos to be taken inside, and it’s easy to see how some people may feel overwhelmed in it. A part of me feels sad for the sacrilege that the two are just another place for people to visit.

The Louvre, wow. Paintings and sculptures of the pre-modernist age. If there were impressionist works, I didn’t see them, but greek and roman mythology was well represented subjects, and I like greek deities. I took too many photos there and ran out of battery, which was the only thing that stopped me from continuing. And of course, I didn’t want to say I went to the Louvre but didn’t see the Mona Lisa.

I wanted to walk up the Eiffel Tower, but my companions didn’t want that, and my shoes didn’t really have good support anyway. The view is nice, but my attention was captured by this little girl with really pretty eyes, and views are never nice on point-and-shoot cameras.

Tags: paris, 2008, summer, louvre, montmartre, eiffel tower, art, kids

Summer 2008 - Getting There

The plane ride, at least the first long haul one, was a little scary, I sat next to this guy who kept drinking and asking for more vodka, throwing a little fuss at the flight crew in the process. He was perfectly respectful to me, but it was nice that the crew seemed concerned for me, even if they didn’t show it overtly.

After the second flight, transiting to Paris from London, I met a couple of Singaporean backpackers on their graduation trip. We were even headed for the same hostel. Good thing I met them, considering how confusing the city is when you first touch down.

First thing you notice in Paris is GRAFFITI. Lots and lots of it. Not the kind that’s on the designated walls in Singapore either. Some of them are really nice and look like they’ve been there a long time.

Written on Sunday 1 June.

Tags: graffiti, paris, 2008, summer, flight, london

Crush

The first time I noticed you, I was in a little bit of a fix. You had this really cute expression, and when I randomly mentioned my problem, you went to all that trouble to help.

I didn’t think much of it, and it wasn’t like I knew you, so I just got on with my life. Later, we met formally, working together, and I found myself drawn to you more and more.

But I knew there wasn’t a chance. Whatever hope I held on to was tempered with this knowledge that came out of nowhere.

It was painful, but I was content with sneaking glances whenever I could. I’m pretty sure you didn’t realize anything, and I didn’t tell anyone. That was a can of worms I didn’t want to open.

The confirmation came as a sort of relief, that I’d trusted my instincts, and I tried to let go, with little success. Mainly, I continued to hide, fighting the urge to run away in the other direction every time I saw you, while at the same time wanting to say more than hi.

A long time later, I thought I’d gotten over you, but then seeing the two of you together, you with that happy smile, hand in his, I wanted to die. Maybe I did, a little, inside. It didn’t propel me into depression or anything, oh no, I don’t do that, but it wasn’t something I wanted to experience again.

Thankfully, I never saw the both of you together after that.

And now, much later, you’re still with him, still going strong. And I’m still here alone, pining, waiting for someone else to come along and sweep me off my feet.

There’s a whole world out there.

Even FACEBOOK is in collusion with the school

Boggle (I refuse to use the name it goes by now) doesn’t load properly *scowls*. How am I going to procrastinate like that?

3 more papers.

And then, 3 more weeks.

I need to do a lot of packing in the meantime. Sigh.

Talking is so tiring sometimes

People, I know I have a lot of obscure references and leave you with fewer information than you can see right in front of you, but communicaton is MORE than just stringing words together.

Hello? What happened to body langauge and tone? The latter still exists in digital form you know.

Why do I have to keep qualifying myself with extra words, which by the way uses more energy than I’m willing to expend, when if you take that little bit more effort to think about what I’m NOT saying, you’ll understand me a lot more?

Sigh. Detail-oriented people give me headaches.

/rant

P.S. For those who GET me even with extremely vague comments. I <3 you. You know who you are, saves me a lot of energy. (And I can count on one hand.)

WTF

SCV fined S$10,000 after airing lesbian kiss in music ad

SINGAPORE: Cable television operator Starhub Cable Vision (SCV) has been fined S$10,000 for airing a commercial of a Mandarin pop music video which showed two women kissing.

The commercial, which was to promote a song by pop singer Olivia Yan, was aired on MTV Mandarin Channel on 26 and 28 November 2007.

The Media Development Authority (MDA) said in a statement on its website that “romanticised scenes of two girls kissing were shown and it portrayed the relationship as acceptable”.

The statement added that the scenes breached TV advertising guidelines, which disallow advertisements that condone homosexuality.

The MDA has also consulted the Advisory Committee for Chinese Programmes, and the committee agreed that the commercial had promoted lesbianism as acceptable and romantic, especially when shown together with the lyrics featured. - CNA/vm

What else is new?

Musical Heaven

A feast. For the ears, the senses, and the soul.

Sounds, piercing, triggering visceral responses.

Suspension of belief.

Here in the now.

Playing on loop in my head.

Remnants of songs echoing, reverberating.

Recalling sensory heaven.

Feeling alive.

Giving a whole knew meaning to music.

Damn.

After my lecture played this song (the video’s kinda creepy, but that’s one perspective, and there are layers underneath which I’m not going into) in class on monday. I don’t want to listen to Celine Dion sing anymore – in english.

Loss

A man dies far away, and millions mourn.
A story still in the process of being told, its creator unable to finish.
Disparate reactions from fans and detractors.
Worry about their own pleasure in the final product.
Some want change, others for it to stay true.
When the most important,
Should be the grief over the loss of a life,
And not a story.

For one of the most important persons who started me on fantasy fiction, who died last year without completing his epic.