I've been having this horrible gnawing pain in my stomach for the past five days. Might have to take a blood test tomorrow to see if it might be a case of stomach ulcer. Weird. Don't know what happened. I still think it was the subway foot long I had. Lee was just commenting on how much I've been eating. And truly, I've been quite a glutton these past five months. Maybe this is just my body's way of trying to balance itself. That's my theory anyway, that my body tends to do that--I'll be eating/snacking like there's no tomorrow, and be in the pink of health and then I'll get sick, really sick.
Strange things happen when I'm sick. I start getting homesick laying in bed. I thought of LengKong Tiga, and the rainy season just around Christmas time. The air would smell different, and I would wake up and go downstairs and the tiles would be cool under my feet. It is the one time of the year, I don't mind an overcast sky, and I'll think of gingerbread. I suddenly just miss Singapore and all those Christmas I spent there. Best Christmases of my life. Somehow, having you guys during the holiday season always just makes Christmas more special. And then, there's also screaming out the window with my sister right at midnight.
OK.ok. I guess that's what sickness does, this strong bout of homesickness and nostalgia. But I do miss home, you know. LengKong Tiga comes the closest to home. Afterall, I did live there for 12 years. 12 years. Where will I be in 12 years?
By: Nippy | Wednesday, June 29, 2011 at 9:58 AM | | 
At the S.F. Playhouse, in the restroom cubicle where the flush was problematic, was a note on the toilet tank that said: Hold handle down with vigor and intent. (so I did just that. Someone should have seen my impressive performance. I deserve a Tony.)
By: Nippy | Friday, June 24, 2011 at 1:53 PM | |
HOt hot hot in San Francisco, and I can't stop listening to "Beatrice" by Cohen Hartman and the bone machine. God, Cohen Hartman is so so so cute. I want get myself a goofy musician to squeeze the air out of! Lock him in a cage and feed him hamster food. (Is this fantasy getting out of hand yet?)
I'm going to go to Santa Cruz with Lee over the July 4th holiday. He's such a kid. But I'm super excited (hope you are too Lee, you better be..)
By: Nippy | Tuesday, June 21, 2011 at 11:58 AM | |
Viriginia Woolf, whatever I said before about your writing being pretentious, I take it all back. I've always read on the BART and I have never missed my stop before. It is only your writing that can do that to me--make me miss my stop, make me unable to extract myself, make me feel like I'm being dragged along, pulled under,or at times floating along the currents. Your writing does that to me, make me feel like I've step into a living body of water. Currents, undercurrents, hot, cool...all of that. It feels alive.
I take it all back.
By: Nippy | Saturday, June 18, 2011 at 12:43 AM | |
No offense to psychologists and psychology majors, but I was telling my mum the other day how I feel that psychology is really B.S not grounded in any kind of real scientific evidence and is all bollock theories. Today, through a Kate Bush music video, I happen to read up about Wilhelm Reich--credited as one of the most radical psychologist of the 20th century, the guy is quite insane.
I mean, seriously, the founders of psychology are a bunch of loonies. Colorful and interesting nonetheless, but boy, they are barking mad, how can anyone really take their theories seriously, really? Really? I mean Freud and Jung are crackpots. Weirdos.
Honestly, if this entire school/field is reading the thoughts and theories of mad men and taking them seriously, I don't know what this says about people who pay good money just to go talk to these people. Who is more mad?
By: Nippy | Thursday, June 16, 2011 at 11:55 AM | |
So I have been thinking of visiting Cambodia again when I come back to Singapore this year. Today, I found this article http://www.bbc.com/travel/feature/20110610-cambodia-off-the-beaten-track on BBC.
Want to watch sunrise at Angkor Wat again, this time with better company. Anyone want to join me?
By: Nippy | Wednesday, June 15, 2011 at 7:30 AM | |
This morning, before leaving for work, I had to choose. Pick one book to bring with me to read on the train--because I love reading two/three books at a time. I have simultaneously started reading The Waves by Virginia Woolf--it has always been on my to-read list and The Committments by Roddy Doyle. It is probably a very bad pairing. I have always enjoyed reading Viriginia Woolf, but The Waves is especially challenging, found myself drifting off yesterday on the train. That sometimes happen, the words kind of float by. Then there is the boisterous and super super funny book by Roddy Doyle. I hesitated for only 5 seconds and went with Doyle instead.
Honest to god, it is a gift to be able to make someone laugh. I was smiling like a bloody fool all the way to work because of the book. Smiling to myself, waving to the doorman outside to Hilton, feeling just grand.
The Committments is mostly in dialogue, but they are just so damn well written. I can hear them loud and clear, and they tell me exactly what I need to know about these characters. There is no blinder/distance. I feel like I am right there. It is intimate, funny, and just pure sincerity. In contrast, Woolf's writing seemed stand-offish, inaccessible and at times a little (do I dare say this?) pretentious. (ok I did it). I'm sure Woolf will redeem herself and blow me away like she always does. But for now, I am happy having Roddy Doyle accommpany me on my way to work and home. Roddy Doyle, I love you!
By: Nippy | Thursday, June 09, 2011 at 12:37 AM | |
Reading Jhumpa Lahiri's essay in the New Yorker on her becoming a writer almost made me cry (only almost, but still...) I hate and envy how she can talk about her journey and her writing with such clarity, humanity, and so so beautifully. Oh yes, I'm just a real spiteful mean-spirited thing (Lee, you are so right, but I've been so good. I don't talk/moan about it to you anymore now do I? At least, I make a concerted effort not to, every time the thought bubbles up--that black evil bubble). But I do envy that. When will I ever be able to write nearly as well? Will I ever?
By: Nippy | Tuesday, June 07, 2011 at 8:43 AM | |
Been reading Edith Wharton, and I would like to try out her story structures that are usually divided into 3 little sections. They are usually 3 scenes that she sections into parts. Will do that once I have a story idea.
Also, the story with no dialogue. And the story with only one character.... So exciting!
By: Nippy | Wednesday, June 01, 2011 at 3:45 AM | |
