where thoughts materialise.

So we're into the sixth version of my blog after the last version hung around for a year or so.

Now, a bit of info on this image. This photo was taken one lovely spring afternoon, featuring the iconic Old Well from the UNC Chapel Hill campus. I would like to think of this image as a tribute to my time in UNC Chapel Hill, the awesome friends I made and the memories I now hold dear.

A milestone in my life indeed.

I've dropped the tagboard cos its useless and taking eons to load. But thanks to Angela who helped me set it up, I still do like and will miss the pink interface.

So yeah, it's the sixth one you fellas!

Yours.

27 April 2008

you know you miss my older entries

October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008

Sunday, April 29, 2007

nimgnoy let the night fall at 10:53 PM

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Friday, April 27, 2007

The summer vacation.

8 may :: 0210h departing singapore, 1500h (local time) arriving in rome via dubai and milan.
That's after 15 hours in the air and 2 hours of transit time.

9 may :: vatican city

10/11 may :: Ancient rome

12 may :: early morning train to florence (0714h - 1051h), day spent checking in and some sights.

13 may :: florence

14 may :: morning train from florence to pisa (0805h - 0922h) , afternoon and evening at pisa, midnight train out of pisa to turin.

15 may :: overnight train to turin (0038h - 0720h), day in turin

16 may :: turin

17 may :: morning train to milan (0850h - 1045h)

18 may :: milan

19 may :: early morning train to venice (0755h - 1042h), day in venice, late night train out to naples

20 may :: overnight train to naples (0004h - 1000h), day in naples

21/22 may :: naples

23 may :: afternoon train back to rome (1124h - 1333h)

24 may :: 1615h depart rome, 2345h arriving in dubai

25/26/27/28 may :: dubai

29 may :: 0245h depart dubai, 1405h arriving in singapore

seriously, i have no idea what to do in dubai for 4 whole days.

nimgnoy let the night fall at 8:53 AM

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Thursday, April 26, 2007

455 entries later, it's amazing to see how the last 30 months has brought about change beyond what I can imagine - that in a life always in flux, the only permanence we can expect is change.

Often in a pensive mood, I'll think of my grandma. And truth be told, I think of her everyday. She has become a steady companion in times of solitude, and her imagined presence has sometimes manifested a life of its own, a result most probably because memories of her have become so much a part of my life.

What is letting go anyway? How do you draw the line between the point of letting go and moving on? And as I have figured, this line doesn't exist. Both letting go and moving on belong to ends of an extended continuum, and we merely traverse along this line of grey complexly intertwined with memory and remembrance.

I still miss my grandma and will always do. I guess that's the only permanence in my life that will never change.

nimgnoy let the night fall at 8:59 AM

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nimgnoy let the night fall at 12:08 AM

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Sunday, April 22, 2007

The voice and sounds of Shirlyn and The UnXpected resonating out of my Altec Lansings are the cure for the night-before-the-exams kan cheong syndrome.

nimgnoy let the night fall at 10:45 PM

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Saturday, April 21, 2007

Times change, best friends and out-of-the-world-places-to-mug don't. (cf http://nimgnoy.blogspot.com/2005/11/what-we-did-was-we-took-over-lt25-and.html#comments)
Mugging for the exams is always such a bittersweet phase of our undergrad life. You have so much fun in the suffering.

nimgnoy let the night fall at 11:40 PM

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Wednesday, April 18, 2007

As much as the fragility of life comes from its ephemeral nature, it is also the very source from which beauty comes forth. And few can come to believe its worth, from this point of view at least.

Hani and I used to see ourselves as struggling artists of the floating world, aptly after our A level lit text of a similar title. We live for our art and beliefs, and we very much suffer for holding on to these values too. The belief that there exists a beauty of life which everyone else seems to deem totally floaty, yet we still find meaning and reconciliation in its transient nature.

"The best things, he always used to say, are put together of a night and vanish with the morning."

Just as God created nature, and all things beautiful within that realm, He never made it to last forever. I believe that flowers are only beautiful because it will, one day, wilt and return to dust. Its temporal nature enthralls and grips you, and if you can find beauty within such premises, then I guess you've experienced this beauty of life I am talking about.

Ishiguro's novel had a profound impact on my life, and I think only Hani truly understands what it meant to me. It has led us to cherish the ephemeral, to chase the impossible.

This is certainly not the conventional take on life, or a very good way of looking ahead either. Many of my actions, fueled by this belief, hint at these transitory and illusionary qualities, and had been frowned upon as extravagant and arrogant.

I can understand why - I used to think that to pass away one's time and to spend one's skill celebrating things so intagible and transient, I suppose it all rather wasteful, all rather decadent.

In the words of Ishiguro through Mori-san, who was explaining the floating world, 'But I've long since lost all such doubt, Ono,' he continued. 'When I am an old man, when I look back over my life and see I have devoted it to the task of capturing the unique beauty of the world, I believe I will be well satisfied. And no man will make me believe I've wasted my time.'

nimgnoy let the night fall at 11:03 AM

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nimgnoy let the night fall at 10:07 AM

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Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Seriously, you CANNOT get a better view than this - Circle 1, front row, right smack in the centre. Our seats were indisputably the best of the best seats in the house. A tip for you guys: VIP box seats are not the best seats in the house (though you pay a good 15 bucks more), cos they are located at the back of circle 1, which really isn't the best view cos you can't see the chandelier at the top.

Quite amazingly, I watched this production like it was my very first time. Much of what I watched 12 years ago in Kallang Theatre did not quite stay in my mind so it was a refreshing experience. But some things do not change though, like the perennial mystery of how the phantom quite magically disappears in the final scene, well you gotta watch it to know what I mean.

Anyway, it was Hani's bday treat and the look on her face when I gave her the tickets was priceless. It was a surprise kinda thing.

The stage was elaborately done, can't help but take shots of it, illegally of course. And the masquerade scene was my proudest shot as yet, sneakily taking out the camera and turning off the LCD screen before swiftly snapping the shot through the viewfinder and sliding the camera back into the bag. For the uninitiated, its the photo in the background.

It was a okay production, with the sets taking most of the limelight. But I could have been moved more.

nimgnoy let the night fall at 12:23 AM

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Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Once in a while, a song comes along and takes you away. And its reasons are often less than significant and quite ludicrous. It could simply be the melody, some words, the voice, or just some particular rift which hooks on. But they all connect you to a certain time and space, bringing you back where it all happened, where it first began, to be reminded of the time that has gone forever and the space you might or might not ever find yourself in again.

Current song on repeat mode: Starlight by Muse

Anyway, to illustrate my point above, Madison Avenue's Don't Call Me Baby is one of those songs. Though its really trashy and lyrics really non-meaningful, it reminds me of the days in England cos we (Hannah, Karen, Vic and I) got locked out of this hotel somewhere off Coventry and we were running round the hotel building freezing in the little clothes we got on and this mtv was on the huge screens when we finally found our way into the nice warm lobby for dinner. Okay its totally absurd but this song always reminds me of this silly but very fun blunder in the chilly evening of England, shared by 4 good friends, thousands of miles away from home.

nimgnoy let the night fall at 11:09 AM

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Monday, April 09, 2007

nimgnoy let the night fall at 10:36 PM

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Friday, April 06, 2007

What a night, what a night! Maundy thursday still remains one of the best nights for Wala. It was so last year too, but this year we had shujun, jon and michelle along with us.

And last night was prolly the first time we had somewhat of a decent chat with shirlyn, who remembered dear jess too. On hindsight, we've really came a long way since we were first there 2 or 3 years ago. Wala's like the third or fourth home (on thurs and sat nights only..hurhur), where we know the little quirks of each waiter or waitress, call the manager by name, and get smiles and small talk from shirlyn onstage.

Okay, i cant wait to post the photos.

Shirlyn's new CD is out in stores now, with Window playing on radio stations, and she's officially launching the CD at our favourite waterfront arts centre this saturday.

nimgnoy let the night fall at 11:53 AM

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Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Now now, this new extravaganza in Sentosa, is a little too tacky and campy for my liking, though the fountain and pyrotechnics parts were rather impressive. And I reiterate, that that is the inherent problem we face here in sg, that our productions of shows at this scale is attempting to please one too many, and if you have drips and draps of bite-size servings weaved in the show, you end up not satisfying much of any of the target groups at all. We're there, but always not quite there yet.

nimgnoy let the night fall at 11:45 PM

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