Browsed by
Day: 16 July 2002

A Short Page from my Life

A Short Page from my Life

A few days ago, I emailed my friend on some of the thoughts and feelings I had, over the years, about our friendship. I have finally mustered enough guts to write and I have never written a more truthful letter in my whole life. I waited and waited, there was no reply. Has she taken offence in what I had said? So, sighing, I dropped her a one liner, telling her to give me a short mail, at least to tell me what she thought about my confessions? I waited for a reply, not daring to hope.

Today, I received it. She laughed at how silly I was. We are friends and always will be.

~~~ Memories are to be cherished. ~~~

Reminiscence

Reminiscence

Today I received an email from my friend. “I am not sure why, but I keep thinking of my childhood days, unconsciously.”

I am sure that everyone does, especially in a time like this. The ever present recession for the last 5 years, the fear of loss of job and stability (or even, have already lost the job), responsibilities – to your family (well to almost everyone in the world) and everyone is pressurizing you to get married, if you have not, if you have, well, to have children! This is a never-ending story. Some people choose to hide in their make believe world of nonchalance, while some of us take refuge in our sunny childhood memories.

Once in a while, I pull my memories out of the box, dust them a little, and flip through them carefully. Whether they have been happy or sad, they have made me what I am today. Therefore, my greatest fear would be to lose them, bit by bit, to time…. As compared to now, the biggest problem that I had during my schooldays was so trivial and yet, so important at that point of time. My whole world revolved around examinations, BGR and competitions. It was small, contained and carefree.

I have wished for umpteen times that I should have studied harder for the examinations, for Singapore is an academically governed society. Employers judge you according to the class of honours that you have obtained. But, what is life without friends and play?! Well, I only remember the times I spent having fun anyway. I have great pity for the people, who shuttle between the lecture theatre (sometimes to the library too) and home. I just wonder what kind of things have they filled their memory chests with? Images of the lecturers (puke) or books or examination papers (Shiver)??? Sometimes, I even thought, “Hey! What would have happened if I had followed my heart instead of my head?” But I will never know, because all these are just “what ifs”.

Memories of these days will never fade from my mind. How I wish that life will always remain so simple.

Ah Mon

Ah Mon

Sing “Di-gi-mon, digital monster, digital monster… der der!” (I have forgotten the last part of this phrase.) I have been hooked to this anime since I came here. I have seen the first few seasons on tv before, on and off, but definitely not a follower. I don’t collect the cards, nor do I go crazy over the merchandise (believe it or not, I have a 30-year-old friend who does!).

I think it must have been the severe tv deprivation that I have contracted while I was in Germany that led to this symptom. After half a year of non-English movies, except for CNN, I am glad, no, not just glad, I should say estatic, for any form of English program I can glue my eyes on. Well, actually I consider the digimon series, from the snatches that I have seen, to be a rather decent anime. The right dose of humour, believeable characters, enough fantasy and makebelieve thrown in, to make an enjoyable show.

I have almost forgotten what an anime or cartoon series look like, after I have outgrown my cartoon watching phase. Sure, now and then, I do watch the Disney cartoons in the cinemas. However, Western cartoons are definitely different from the Japanese animes. The animes do not have the sleek computer animations, that the western cartoons throw in with abandon. But they thrive on their storyline. Every element in the shows is very well packaged, from the soundtrack, which is usually sung by a hot Japanese pop star, to the very detail of the plot. These are things which the western cartoons find hard to compete against. From the simple Doraemon to the mature Maison Ikoku. Anime cater to every kind of viewers.

Anyway, this might be due to the influence of Japanese anime in my childhood. Xiao Tian Tian, Tai Kong Bao Lei, Xuan Feng Xiao Fei Xia… etc… At that time, english cartoons were still in their Mickey Mouse stages.

So I am going to miss Digimon when I leave this place. Sigh…!!