verbal
Felt that this photo would be quite apt to describe me and my blogging. It feels really weird to work on a blogpost after so long, and even WordPress looks so strange now! Well, not sure where I should start so maybe I should start with this photo. It was taken on the site of a theatre performance I did in September, a former fire station at Paya Lebar, which is really the best place anyone could do a production in. It’s quite funny to think that I’d pass that building so many times on the way to work and never thought much about it. Sometimes when I do think about these things though, I get so angry and wonder just how much things have to change before a place ceases to be a place you know anymore. Do you know what I mean? I feel a bit rusty talking about these kinda things but I guess as long as the words flow in some sort of way (even randomly so), it can’t really be a bad thing? I wrote something about this topic quite a while back, it is here if you are interested. I have been trying to write more these past few months and so far most of it has found its way to Facebook (on many a quiet, sleepless night), but the idea is to write a bit more on my other blog and just write a whole lot more in general. I find that the more I write (and it’s not always good), the easier it gets and the more I get into the swing of things in terms of finding a new turn of phrase or exploring some of the thoughts I’ve always had. I guess I should apply this to blogging here as well and not just rely on Twitter and Instagram so much. I love those two sites, but sometimes there are some aspects of my life that can’t properly be encapsulated within 140 characters or a well-selected photo, right? That’s all for now – one can get so chatty when one tries.
the sky: historic, geographic, spatial, prolific.
Because I needed something epic.
An incinerator designed by the artist, Hundertwasser. Vienna, Austria. September 2008.
Power lines. Bratislava, Slovakia. September 2008.
Crash. Cinque Terre, Italy. October 2008.
Looking up. Cinque Terre, Italy. October 2008.
Epic architecture. Pisa, Italy. October 2008.
Onset of dusk. Venice, Italy. October 2008.
Post-mass, post-Pope sighting. Vatican City, Italy. October 2008.
Holocaust Memorial, solo trip. Berlin, Germany. October 2008.
Falling night. Berlin, Germany. October 2008.
Ripple. Dubrovnik, Croatia. October 2008.
Almost holy. Lovcen, Montenegro. October 2008.
Still waters. Mostar, Bosnia Herzegovina. October 2008.
Perfect timing. Barcelona, Spain. November 2008.
Columns. Sevilla, Spain. November 2008.
Compacted. Paris, France. December 2008.
A foggy London town. London, England. December 2008.
Suburbs. Outside Vienna, Austria. January 2009.
Casual-like. East Coast Beach, Singapore. April 2010.
Get set. Perth, Australia. July 2010.
Off the Georgetown ferry. Penang, Malaysia. December 2010.
Bustle on Bukit Bintang. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. December 2010.
The Kuta crowd. Bali, Indonesia. May 2011.
Advantageous. Skyline, Singapore. July 2011.
Sepulcher. Yogyakarta, Indonesia. December 2011.
Afternoon sky, unnamed road. Yogyakarta, Indonesia. December 2011.
Sunrise. Pasir Ris, Singapore. Early 2012.
Crater. Bandung, Indonesia. April 2012.
5am sunrise. Frankfurt, Germany. June 2012.
Summer dreaming. Kassel, Germany. June 2012.
Sunset. Pasir Ris, Singapore, June 2012.
how did we get here, again?
Eh.
I don’t know how it happened but my last post was in January. It’s been kind of a weird year for me, not sure if it’s the same for others born in the Year of the Ox? Many times I’d remember the blog and want to write, but somehow it seemed really unnatural. Perhaps I’ve changed over the past year or so, which is why I stopped myself from writing here, which I associate with shiny, happy, positive thoughts. Not that I’ve been unhappy of course, it’s more like I’m in this state of development and it seems like the kind of person I am now is not the nabbycat that you might know.
Anyway, I’m back here again, which is, for all intents and purposes, good. Before anyone worries, I am still pretty much happy and shiny and positive, but I think what changed is that there’s some void within me that’s been occupying my thoughts as of late. I think it’s of no coincidence that I’ve started to explore writing more seriously. What this means, to me at least, is two things – #1, that it’s making me delve into some darker parts of myself, as you can only write what you know; and #2, that the more I start writing the more I start to ask some pretty fundamental questions like whether I like what I do, what is my purpose in life, etc. Yep, pretty heavy stuff. For a 27-year-old like myself (at least in May), this has some heavy implications, I mean, I’m not at an age where I can be foolish with my choices and the choices that I have made, I have built my life around and settled somewhat comfortably, if precariously so.
So there you have it, that was quite the no-holds-barred entry. I hope this doesn’t scare anyone away, if anything, it’d be great to hear your comments, if any. Though I did consider it, I don’t wish to stop blogging, because I do think this blog has been an important part of my life, and the readers that I have, I do hold dear and value. I can’t promise a post filled with sunshine and rainbows every week, but I will endeavour to be truthful to myself and this blog.
Thanks for reading.
p.s.: In happier news, I wrote and directed a play in mid-March, which got this rather nice review (Scroll down to “Mentah”).
Image credit: wikispaces
o brother
Hi all! As you can see, I am slowly easing myself into a more regular blogging schedule again!
Thought I’d post this photo up because it makes me laugh and is quintessentially Najib, which is my brother’s name. He likes to come into my room and ask me to take outfit photos, or sometimes he shows me his latest purchase or asks me if his shoes match his outfit. Yep, that’s my brother for you! This time he came into my room and made me clean up the sofa area so that he could take this photo, haha! But I do love him though! He recently came back from Hawaii (for a school trip) and came back with a vintage Hawaiian poster calendar for me and a keychain with “Ohana” or “family” (if you watched Lilo & Stitch, you’d know) on it for the whole family. Sweet eh? If you’re thinking “Awww, that’s sweet that you’re so close to your brother”, well you’d be right, but it wasn’t always like this. We grew up fighting a lot, and I think I even *hated* him at one point in time, but I guess as we grew older we started to band together, especially when my parents got divorced and also when we helped each other keep secrets from our parents (haha). So yes, I have a lot of love for him, although sometimes I do wonder how it’d be like if I had an older sister!
How about you guys? Are you close to your siblings, or not? Or do you have a special relationship with them? I’d love to know!
FSAMO
Hi lovely biscuits! Yesterday I got a bit of disappointing news. Some of you might know (if you follow me on Twitter, if not add me at @nabbycat) that I was involved in Short + Sweet Singapore which is a festival which presents 10-minute plays. I registered to be a director, picked my script, conducted auditions for actors, picked the cast for my piece, had rehearsals, was planning my lighting and set design and so forth, and all these within the span of a couple of weeks. Though there was really a time crunch and it was quite stressful, I was actually really looking forward to seeing the result of my rehearsals with my cast. The performance was scheduled for next week, that is, until the organisers decided to cancel the entire show. And this, one week before opening night.
Well, let’s just say I was shell-shocked. Especially when you are told that the reason behind the sudden cancellation is “due to unforeseen circumstances”. Shock soon turned into anger, then disappointment and now, resignation. The good news is that there is a chance that all the work my actors and I put in might not be in vain, there might be an alternative platform to showcase our work sometime next year, so all is not lost. Also I have decided to think positive and take stock of all the things I learnt from the experience – being in charge of how rehearsals go, sharing my vision with my actors and having them trust me, these were things completely new to me and quite amazing experiences in and of themselves.
Sorry for that long story but thought I’d document my thoughts during this whole period. Anyway, I decided to turn to my blog to cheer myself up since I haven’t really done that in a while. It’s kind of like blog therapy in a way. Looking for nice images and reading blogs can be a really good source of comfort – it’s like you can curate your own source of happiness. Here are some visuals that caught my fancy, enjoy! It’s really a hodgepodge of images but I guess that’s probably just my state of mind tonight.
Thanks for listening (reading) guys!
rambler gambler
Went to see the Dali exhibition at the ArtScience Museum about two weeks ago and had a pretty enjoyable time. I’m beginning to appreciate the whole Marina Bay Sands shebang a little bit more these few days, though I’m not sure at what point nonchalance turned into appreciation for the whole MBS machinery. And I mean machinery in a good way. Like you definitely need really solid systems in place for the entire place to run smoothly. I bet they could film a TV series set in the area like Las Vegas does. Especially with the Gardens by the Bay developing there. Me and erfen popped by over the weekend and we were rather awestruck. Words like “Jurassic Park” and “Avatar” and “otherwordly” were being bandied around, and not said ironically, but really meant. Worth a look! What do you think about MBS? Love it, hate it, don’t care? I definitely would love to be able to stay for a night at the hotel and have a dip in the famed infinity pool. Just one of those things, I guess.
big wiener
Hello biskutians! (haha)
Pardon my infrequent posts as I find myself feeling rather unmotivated to trawl the interwebs lately, due to work-related fatigue. Oh to be a Singaporean cubicle-warrior!
Of course one could call it laziness. I won’t lie, sometimes at the end of the day I find myself just inexplicably drawn to my bed, unwilling to turn on the laptop and stare at what is invariably another version of the computer screen (read=work).
I find that I’ve taken less photos recently too, which is rather sad, because sometimes stills of my life, while seemingly fresh at the time of action, fade fast from my memory without any photographic evidence. The tablecloth in that delightful cafe where you had a sprawling lunch, becomes just a plain red instead of a rich vermillion, for example.
I’ve got to start taking photos again.
Anyways, I’ve veered from the point, which is to announce that recently I got a bit of good news. Some of you might know that I participated in the So You Think You Can Blog challenge organised by the People’s Association a few months back.
Well, I’m happy to say that I won! And I won an iPad 2 no less! 🙂
Thank you to everyone who supported me, it really came as a surprise and no, I’m not just saying that ala winner’s of all past, present and future Ms Universes! Hehe.
Tangs everybody tangs!
Congrats to the other winners, sherms (represented by her mom!) and William. Yes, that’s Mr Yam Ah Mee! 🙂
Ya’ll know I just had to! Mr Yam was so super nice! While posing for photos, he will talk to you and engage in conversation hehe!
All photos taken by erfen! 🙂 (except this one of course, hehe)
PA was celebrating because they now have 1 million members! Of which I am one now. Discounts at Cold Storage woohoo!
Soo many people were out and about on that rather hot day. So much love for PA.
Yep, plenty of love going round! 😛
Thanks to PA for choosing me as well. I am not worthy! Do check out OurCommunity.sg for news on the courses and workshops available at your nearest CC today!
Oh yes, and as you can see, the undercut is back! Not sure about the length so I might just have another haircut sometime soon.
Selamat Hari Raya Haji to all my Muslim readers! I had a rather good one with way too much good food as usual. My family goes visiting on Hari Raya Haji so it’s pretty much the same as Hari Raya Aidilfitri, but I know many others who stay home and chill as well.
Well, no matter how you spent the day, I hope it was a good one! We all have Monday off anyway so let’s make the best of it! Toffee nut latte anyone? (Yes, I am obsessed again!)
Have a great week!
island in the sun
Happy Deepavali everyone! Am posting these pictures taken in Bali back in May, yeah how did six months pass by so fast?? I have no idea and now suddenly I am reminded of how old I am. Hur to the hur!
Bali was so amazing but it was way. too. short. Need to go back soon and explore Ubud next, which we didn’t have time for the last time. It was a great getaway nonetheless – we played frisbee by the beach at sunset, sat by the roadside listening to the most amazing live music (paying cover is so 2008, people!) and became a little bit obsessed with Caprisone. Isn’t it funny how they are some things which you kind of obsess over only on holidays but don’t pay much attention to when you’re back home?
How are you spending the public holiday? I’m finding myself watching Sex and the City re-runs on HBO On Demand which I recently realised that we have and eating some pb&j sandwiches. Yesterday night was spent cycling to Marina Bay Sands, we took the scenic route and I was struck (not for the first time) by how beautiful Singapore can be.
Hope you have a great day!
that you could have this, one day.
Hi dears! I did this exercise for my friend where I had look for ten photos which represented success to me. It was a really interesting exercise and made for some good soul-searching as well. These were some of the photos that I picked.
You should try it as well!
Image credits: weheartit, Max Wenger, Gary Pepper Vintage
chai&biskut 
