writing this entry from the viewing gallery of
the “best airport in the world”. feeling kind of
strange because I’m more used to the surroundings of terminal two, not terminal
one. here, the seats are farther away from the glass
panels, and the lighting somewhat brighter, as is the background music.
waiting to send a friend off. he’s flying overseas for a one-year attachment at silicon
valley – that’s a damn long time – a quarter of his university life. the bad thing is his flight’s at
upon reaching, at about
after that I headed for the viewing gallery. the surroundings of the escalator were cordoned off for
cleaning (damn the sars paranoia), but I noticed the
area just before the up-escalator wasn’t wet yet. so I
gestured to the cleaner a motion as if I were going up, he nodded and I gave a
brief smile. stepped over the cordons (is there such a
word??) and took the upgoing escalator. then I heard this loud “hey!” and turned to see this
authoritative-looking surly malay fellow motioning to
me to get down. no choice, so I went back down,
whereupon that guy took it upon himself to lecture me about the ills of
stepping over “cleaning-in-progress” barriers. I just apologised
– didn’t want to create a scene – and walked off. not
before confirming with him if the gallery was closed too. and
he confidently told me it indeed was closed. then I thought,
how can the viewing gallery be closed? heh
so I took the lifts and went up. realised
it’s not closed. and here I am. that
dimwit.
well, in the short time I’ve been at this
place, my tranquility’s been interrupted twice. both
times by malay families. not
trying to be racist – I’ve nothing against malays –
but malay families tend to be large and multi-tier,
with extra-noisy kids who seem to speak – I mean, scream at the top of their
voices – gibberish. and of course they make me think
they’re monkeys. and they don’t seem eager to prove my
observation wrong either as the clamber earnestly up the guard rails in front
of the glass panels. ok, they’ve left so peace is
restored. my irritability lowered, I then realise the nature of malay
families, and somewhat envy them. ever noticed how malay families always seem to be big and extended,
close-knit to the point that they picnic at visitors’ areas in hospitals even?
(sars precautions
notwithstanding) guess this communal spirit’s part of their lifestyle. cool.
on an entirely different note, the senior I
was talking about has watched nemo already. and she liked it lots. was just
discussing about ideal boyfriends just now on the bus – don’t know why we
ventured into this – but we all agreed that the boyfriend must not only be nice
to her, but be nice to everyone too. think this is
something that might have escaped some of my friends. they
see the guy being wonderfully nice to them, but don’t notice the bastard side
of them to other people. perhaps it’s something to
take note of? heh, she also
said she doesn’t mind someone younger as long as that someone’s suitable. but that’s another story altogether.
ooh. just heard
the sound of a plane taking off. no majestic sight of
lift-off to crystallise that image conjured by the
distant rumbling though. my thoughts and heart then go
out to those in the flight industry severely affected by the war and sars. hope my air stewardess friend hasn’t been laid off or
been negatively affected in any way – think she’s coming close to the end of
her enforced two-week no-pay leave. hope she flies
again soon.
just finished reading this really crappy
(but funny) book called the teenage textbook (
the background music’s stopped. learnt something new – the elevator music they play actually
stops! heh. it was nice though; the silence now rather unsettling. then I realise something: I’ve
never come to receive anyone at the airport before; every time I’m here it’s to
send someone off. kinda sad,
but it’s natural I guess. people don’t always tell
when they’re coming back; more do when they leave. thinking
about human psyche, I suddenly remember yet another friend I was trying to
console this afternoon over his results. he’s got a
cap of 1.9 so far, and that’s pretty bad. tried hard
to console him but he’s pretty worried about not being able to graduate. he’d worked out what he needed to achieve in future in order
to improve, and he said he needed at least C-pluses in all of his future
modules. the sad thing was, he didn’t look cheerful
saying that; his tone of voice made that task seem herculean.
gives some food for thought for those out there who
seem to score As for fun eh? tried to reassure him,
promised him I’d help him in all ways possible; study together etc…
cool I’m into my third A4 side of paper. think I gotta go pee soon though. coke never fails to unsettle me – give me hot tea any day.
this long night gives me space to take stock
of my life – to get a grip on what’s going on now. (you
can stop reading here cos it can get boring – I just wanna do some self-gratification).
ok, on serious matter, right now I have 3
tuition students, one sec four english at $22.50 per
hour, one JC1 GP at $25 per hour, and one sec two english
at $25 per hour. assuming constant sessions that works
out to a healthy $480 per month. just need to wait for
payday I guess.
then on the band front there’s 3. my jazz band where I have practices on tuesday
evenings 6-11 and saturdays 1-6 (usually with dinner
after that). along with this is the amazing paperwork
that basically sucks up the rest of my free time. then
there’s this neighbouring (that’s a very nice word
considering its location!) varsity band I’m guesting
for. practices 7-10 on mondays
and wednesdays. (saturdays too; but I can’t go because of jazz). thankfully I’ve got friends with licences,
and kind enough to provide lifts, one to, and the other from, the practice
venue. then thursdays. that’s where the dilemma lies. sectionals
for the neighbouring symphonic band, but main band
practice for my own varsity symphonic band, which still basically sucks. yeah like a vacuum cleaner (collective groan at lame joke). probably have to alternate between the two, but kinda hard cos both have
performances coming up. so that leaves fridays and sundays free – sunday taken up for two tuition students.
whoa that was a mouthful. now
I’m depressed at the realisation of my life (or the
lack of it thereof). then again it’s all going to
clear up. once the “guest” band’s concert’s over in
mid-july my mondays and wednesdays would be freed. and
once my jazz band’s fest is over in mid-august my tuesdays
should be freed too. that leaves thursdays
and saturdays to band. good
enough.
oh, and anyway friend X recommended me to
a music tutor agency, and I got myself registered as a saxophone tutor. sadly I’ve got no paper qualifications so that wouldn’t look
nice. but I guess I’m sure of my teaching abilities. kinda eager to go get my grade 8
practical. seems possible.
so two short-term/medium-term aims are
these: get grade 8 practical, and get driving licence.
not to forget the all-important
maintenance/improvement of my grades. and somehow I guess
I’m quietly confident of achieving these, as long as I don’t lose my head. and nothing else crops up. (though I
can’t guarantee I will resist if a very nice girl suddenly starts wooing me in
the middle of all these – though that’s totally impossible. hah).
whoa. I’ve come to the end of my third A4
side. think this is the longest I’ve ever written here
by hand. gonna have a hard
time transferring all these to the laptop. ed: yeah I took one hour. time to do some
reading. sorry if I’ve bored you, but take care all.
dejectium out
0144 hrs gmt
+8