Mea culpa. I was not loyal. Somewhere along the way after the President’s Cup in early 2006, my interest for the Lions dwindled.

But the call was made; and there we were, 60,000 strong, under brollys at first, sitting right next to the Malaysian nancyboys next, freaked out after the first goal, rumbling into reverberating roars when we equalized, fights at the border, cisco appearing to protect its people. It was an excruciating wait, before the conclusion was made; when Lionel caught Msia’s ball at the last shoot out and the crowd lost it - cheered, hugged, broke out into song and dance. Just like 05, but better.

We shook hands with our neighbours, there were friendly hugs, and pictures taken with the two different flags. Cause at the end of the day, we knew that we were highly dependent on each other, even though we fight like kids all the time. For now, I’m going to bask in the joy that soccer can bring to a nation. Come Wednesday, it’s going to get political, and to prepare myself for that, I’m going on a phad thai fast.

our favorite msian fan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MWaWIy3rEU

our post game chant but, kids don't say such words at home.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20nwBY1aqPk

"Fly to sweden so we can build a snow man together", says the swedish friend.

it's funny cause last year this time, i was searching for the next plane out of ithaca to come home from the snow scare. right now, i'm just looking for a plane out, to ithaca also i don't mind, jonkoping even better. how bout jaipur, agra, delhi, then the kerela backwaters. not that i hate it here. I need a reprieve. Being a slave too long is drying me up faster than I can refuel.

my favorite part of the day now is probably the morning where i stand under the shower for five minutes till my eyes open.

"Are you still wearing your single t-shirt or do u have a busy one now???" the swedish friend asks.

I smile, and long for a day where we can just sit and chill over wine and lasagne again.

I don’t think it’s good to be this ti(red). But getting use is getting used to. The daily commute, I actually do like, the cuppas, how many for you? Way too much, time sitting in front of the computer my eyes dry out but the emails just keep finding their way through. It is but only the beginning. If I could just be a tad more adrenaline-filled and not caffeine-needy, I’m sure I will be fine. Like jolly jolly fine, if there’s such a thing.

Nevertheless, I want to thank God for these three weeks: The weekend dinners with the most amazing friends, the tv lounging with the family after work. The consumer team that is a bit siao, very hard working, hilarious antics, great camaraderie. Tres lovely.

More importantly, the slightly bigger things they are starting to give me to do, which I appreciate very much: got to write the first draft to a pitch letter, got tasked to do a lot of research thus working the search skills and brain juice, brainstorming lots lots but again kind of disappointed with my creativity limitedness. Seeing how things are put together, learning the mechanisms, the terms. What it all means, and not.

The week is done.

Now your turn.
Sing your song, dance your dance, tell your tale – you go.

chek. m going to miss you like crazy. take care down under and don't forget about us XX

The entire working day, the anticipation was asphyxiating. I could not work at all after seeing the troops heading down to Fort Canning at lunch hour with their subway sandwiches, mats, and Muse tees.

By the time I got there at 6pm, which was not too late (!), the line was already almost 600m long. Kids, NS boys: People who didn’t have to work.

The wait for the band to take stage built on the impatience and it didn’t help that there were all these young kids! Nawaar and I were possibly the oldest where we were standing, 3 metres from the stage.

But they came. Matt and Chris and Dominic.

The three piece belted out Knights of Cyndonia as their opening, (as I had predicted but minus the horses I had hoped they would ride on stage in), and the crowd went wild under the night sky that held the Orion up nice and bright.

Then one after another: sunburn, butterflies and hurricanes, supermassive black hole, new born, starlight, stockholm syndrome, plug in baby, time is running out, invincible, soldier’s poem, feeling good.

Surreal. Matt Bellamy right in front of me with his trademark lean-back pose, hand raised like Hitler, his lanky body, committed knees on the stage floor whipping out crazy riffs then moving back and forth from the piano playing like marksim could.

I have to say though, that I’ve been spoilt by the concerts at Ithaca. There were plenty of elements that served as deterrence to enjoying the presence of one of the best bands in the world. The sound system that seemed incapable of dealing with the high-end musical equipment; the mm kids; the fact that everyone was just quiet in between songs, the really big people next to me who smelt like dead fish, the crowd not calling for an encore. At the moment where I realized that everyone was leaving and I was the only one screaming we want more, I winced cause I knew Muse will probably not return to Singapore again. The crowd simply didn’t show their appreciation to them, there was so little love, I left sad. How could we have let them off the stage just like that i don't understand.

Deterrence-s aside, I am hung over from Muse. I am. Their songs have not stopped playing in my head the whole of today, the image of Matt still edged. And if I get to see them again in another part of the world, oh you know I’ll be there.






one of the good moments during the gig:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP0X4AR1FUk
the crowd sings along to a familiar:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1y_KLWs0GI

Transatlanticism plays from Botanics to St. Regis. I watch orchard awake from its short slumber. I think about the night before, and I’m not sure what to make out of it, still. The day passes quickly, and I feel accustomed to having to serve others, never desiring to be served myself. I get bugged when others expect, not know how to abide by the code of conduct; but what is the code? We rush and we run. Tower club has an amazing view. See the journalists and match them to the columns, in my mind I say, aah. Stand with hands behind, never leaning against the wall. Silently I thank God for the countless ushering duties we had to do as councilors, the countless times we had to deal, when shit hit the fan. I silently thank God for teaching humility each day, for showing before what it is to be hospitable. Tonight I sit at Starbucks, and read the saddest part of namesake, but I am not allowed to cry.


Rachael Yamagata, The Album Leaf, Yo La Tengo, and so much more at http://www.mosaicmusicfestival.com/. But becky is a poor starving intern/student. She has to make choices now.

family just had dinner with colin seah (and wife) who did all this work: http://www.modonline.com/index_v1.html

dumbfounding.

and they're such nice people too.
thank You for the lovely individuals you place in our lives to bless us.

Blood Diamond - a bit late for social media review but oh what a great story. though i wonder how much was exaggeration esp on the depiction of the africans and their cold-bloodedness, i'm glad ultimately the finger was pointing at the consumer, yes, us. the revelation (child soldiers, conflict products), there needs to be more of these. hurray to hollywood for once.

and the weekend slips away....

Heels suck.

That said, I shouldn’t be complaining about what has been, of the past three days, and next hundred odd days could be. The place is nice, well-stocked pantry (sometimes champagne, sometimes cakes, always coffee), we have a nice loo, got my own table (I was kinda expecting being relegated to a table in some obscure corner of the building so this is definitely pleasant), it’s a huge huge office, and dhoby ghaut is much better than say, race course road.

Of course, the inevitability of typical intern moments – photocopying, never ending media clippings, pretending to be busy amongst all the busy working people cause they have nothing for us to do – that, is the hardest thing and many of you probably heard my cries of dismay by now. I felt completely invisible, many times wondering if this was going to work, I feared for my brain deteriorating day by day, many times wondering why I studied so hard to do what a primary school kid could do, or do better.

It’s easy to be frustrated, but ironically (delusional?), I don’t think I could be happier, having gone through it, having to continue going through it. Besides, it was much worse at p******* so comparing relatively, this is almost paradise. When we met up at Brewerks after day two, seeing how most of us interns were in the same boat, I somehow felt as if we are all going to be able to walk out, more humble, more meticulous, better people, if we made these six months as good as we would want it to be. Then witnessing how we were each others support, like chit and her constant encouragement to walk down the halls of the office with head high, smile on the face, the text messages and the love flowing around oh! it was incredible and I hope it will bring us closer together despite being away from each other.

Alright, I shouldn’t be making too many conclusions so fast, shouldn’t be saying so much: it was merely a 3-day week. But I do believe that I’m surrounded by brilliant individuals at Weber. There is much to learn, reject, there is time to decide. At first I was skeptical, my first impressions of colleagues dubious, my assurance that public relations is and will forever be public relations. However, after eavesdropping and observing, these people are smart, and very effective communicators, very very hard workers. And for this reason perhaps, WS was voted best PR agency in Singapore by clients for year 2006. I really shouldn’t complain. So slap me if I do.

Imagine my joy today when Margaret (boss) came to the table and asked me to join in onee of the internal meetings today so that the consultants can give me more work. Imagine the joy it was a hallelujah moment. It was also definitely an opportunity because the stuff we do with this client is very public promo comm. To deal with it so close so real, even though I was just sitting and listening, it was a thrill. No more proposals, this is the real shite. Then to hear Nina say to another consultant at the end of the day, “let’s get the interns to write a bit”. I flipped.

Starting work at a new place is like attending a new school for the first time all over again. There’s so much to learn, so much to figure out, many moments of butterflies. It’s uncomfortable, but exciting. A bit like traveling to a new place but more at stake. So, much thanks to the nice people out there for all the lovin these couple of days, I really appreciate it. Esp love from above, You are mighty and kind.

Come hang out first Thursday of each month yeah? It was a riot with Dr Cenite and Marko on Thursday. How the conversation moved from the renaming of the school, to taxi drivers, to Dr Aquilia’s very hot husband, to parents, to Detroit, to the reality of post grad, to the single life, serbian or not, I don’t know. But I surely like my lecturers. And I have said my peace of mind to the sub dean. He says we’re not turning journ, so I guess that’s the verdict. Point is, come hang out first Thursday of each month.

Oh. Shoutout to tsin (from the land of ang mohs + underage drinking) and han shinawatra (even more so now!) Welcome home.

Waah. Prison Break. So smart to wait many many episodes later to do flashback. Sooo smart and sooo good I love it. Rentboy you bluff about Wentworth, he's not gay. You men just jealous. Idiots.

Finally, I bought namesake while waiting for val and wanting a coffee and a read. Jhumpa Lahiri makes me want to call myself an indian over and over again. She writes about the culture so beautifully, she's a genius. The movie for this novel is coming out 07 so I highly recommend if you're looking for a next book.

Apologies for the mighty long and possibly boring and incoherent post. I’m almost certainly sleep talking and I actually have more to say but goodnight for now. Love love love XX