this is the life!

final assignment done. one more touch-up to go for the other and already i am scribbling around to live the perfect mode of existence over here. i woke at 4 am and edited the marketing essay to completion. thanks again to all who did the surveys and gave me enough data to fill an 8000 word paper to the brrrrimm.

watched 2 movies today. a rare luxury that is quite impossible to fulfil in singapore. lygon nova (where artsy films are shown and atas undergrads / postgrads/ well-read lao ah soh and ah peks and yuppie taitais hang around) offers $5.50 films for everything screened before four. technically cheaper than home's. i caught Deliver Us From Evil and My Best Friend. The first film addresses the massive cover-up of some priests by the roman catholic archdiocese in los angeles concerning members of its clergy who committed pedophilia over the span of many years. it was shameful, chilling and shocking but it didn't surprise me. very painful to watch too but humbling to the core. it details the advocacy-work of catholics working within and outside the church to address the issue. impressed me so much i went ahead and got myself a copy to share with my community back home. a stark and needed contrast to another film about religious life i caught last year, Into Great Silence, about a group of carthusian monks in france. 3 hours of coarse & barren fidelity and one hears the purity of silence and the still small voice of the Lord. 2 faces of the same church. broken and whole, the body of Christ. faith lost, torn and challenged but some are healed and regained. what it means to be christian in today's world.... My Best Friend was done in the tradition of The 8th Day. the french piece dealt with friendship between 2 men, one who was divorced and betrayed, the other simply did not know how to be a friend. a humorous mix of masculine dialogue, materialism and desensitisation which finally ended in the most human discourse between 2 protangonists at the end of the film. all through a gameshow. thoughtful. and ever so subtle. definitely a far-cry from those jack neo's 'THIS IS THE INTENDED MEANING OF THIS FILM AND I WILL PASTE THEM TO YOUR FLAT FACE' kind of film-making. artless.

popped back home, mailed a few emails and cooked myself a swordfish steak topped with celery and japanese rice. cycled to return my crashload of books. always a relief to return these books back to the library. along the way, a line of yellow trees brightens the path. an enigmatic protest staged by some disgruntled undergrads towards the 'melbourne model' greeted me. an effigy from the uni emblem with torn angel wings overlooks several gravestones carved with different student id tags. i think i know why. will share with my class. cool.

sneaked into high-tech law library to blog. some students are smoking outside. winter blues. exam hues. more than thankful that postgrads are spared from all that old nonsense. i remember very quickly those pangs and crammings during my nus days. all over. well-deserved. country-road sale tomorrow. got myself a membership. advanced notice. up to 75% off. opens 8am tmr. some nice clothes to support my transition back to work. for now, the open space...breathe.