Archive for the 'Rants' Category
Its a little known fact ( to all but my closest clubbing friends ) that I invariably succumb to temporal insanity whenever fed any music by Paul Van Dyk. Its like flipping on a switch inside me. His Politics of Dancing II Tour at Ageha in 2006 was one of best gigs I ever went to, so its utterly saddening that I had to miss his In Between Tour earlier in June this year due to work commitments.
I have only the album release on the 14th this month to salve my pain, but for my Singaporean friends, PVD will be spinning at Zouk on the 1st of September, you lucky chaps. You won’t be needing any booze; PVD’s music alone is intoxicating enough.
A seemingly perpetual drizzle that lasted 3 days washed away the arid summer heat and with it came numbing, piercing gails, the sure harbinger of autumn, rattling the flimsy wooden window panels of my old house. Interestingly, this transitional change in the seasons, though happening a thousand miles away from home, brings back very vivid memories of Singapore, rainy days where the temperature drops and huge storm clouds would loom in the sky, casting a bluish, melancholic mood over everything and one could almost feel the rain before the first drops have even started to fall.
Am I homesick ? Perhaps. Or maybe its just because it rains so seldom here in Tokyo (comparatively) that I relish those quiet moments of lucidity, that few precious seconds when everything seems to stand still, transporting me, albeit fleetingly, back home.
On planet Tokyo, people travel to work in elevators. I mean lifts. No I mean cars damn it. But cars are elevators. So are lifts cars too ? Or are elevators lifts ? I’m confused !!!!
I don’t ever remember seeing a Macdonald’s print ad as hip as this one in our ( Singapore ) Mac’s. Not even remotely close. Simple and clean, yet screaming coolness, its interesting how a mere Macdonald’s tray sheet can tell you about a country’s culture and fashion sense ( or lack thereof ).
I would like to take some comfort in believing that the jetlag suffered from the flight back to Tokyo after my annual Singapore holiday is the genuine cause of my recent bumming and inactivity in all matters big and small ( school doesn’t start till the 2nd week of April. I think. ), but a full week would be pushing it. even for someone particularly susceptible to disruptions in their circadian rhythm. Its astonishing how a mere 3 weeks of indulgence in convenient Singlish ( there’s virtually zero chance of communicating in english here in Tokyo, much less singlish for that matter ) and the all too familiar, snug comfort zone can do to one’s hitherto half-f**ked Japanese; it was as if my inner brain functions have been all this while waiting for the opportune moment to steal back, realign their native, singlish languaged neurons from the spots where the Japanese *once* occupied.
I was a tourist by the time I touched down in Narita; already I could foresee nightmarish days when school starts, awkward lost in translation moments, but we’ll deal with that as it comes along. Before crunch time sets in I think I’ll just catch up on a few more dvds, yes please.
As far as I can remember I’ve always had bad things happen to my everytime I board a flight, bizzare as it seems. Take for example my first momentous trip out of Singapore to LA for the Siggraph convention in 1999. As our plane was descending to LAX I started making out ( it was a window seat ) pinpricks of red, flashing lights all over the runways and no, they weren’t guidelights but the entire LA fire department waiting to douse out our plane which incidentally had a leak on its wing and was just waiting to explode into tiny little bits, myself a part of that. Great.
The 2nd time was on a photography job to Brunei with my boss in 2004, 10 minutes after the plane took off my ears started hurting really badly and I was fully expecting blood to come pouing out any second, genuinely fearing for my life. I later found out the excruciating episode was due to the plane ascending too quickly ( due to the short flight time the plane ascends faster than long flights ) and the change in air pressure wrecking havoc on my ears. Now the return flight wasn’t too comfy either.
Finally, during my first trip back to Singapore from Japan last year, I yes, lost my wallet at customs 10 minutes before last call. I was tripping, almost turned into a raving madman just waiting to get arrested by airport security and had to settle for home minus my wallet, with all my important documents inside. Just minutes before take off this angelic, beautiful Japanese airport attendent raced down the aisle and handed me my precious. Darn. Should’ve gotten her number.
So, what’s going to happen on today’s flight back to Singapore ?
*UPDATED 24TH FEBUARY* Either the gods or someone must have cursed me to suffer a life time of inescapable, horrible fates everytime I board flights because it has happened again : I missed a perfectly good opportunity to meet this beautiful japanese lady Kiyomi ( now living in LA but was in Tokyo to stay with my ex-sharemates Takeshi and Kojima ), heck, she probably even arrived at their house right about the time I was boarding my plane back to Singapore. See here for a photo of Kiyomi ( the girl applying makeup for Kojima ): http://www.lionbus.undo.jp/
Article on an online Japanese newspaper, quote : “Japan says its research whaling is in accordance with international rules” International rules my ass. I’ve never heard of any research that kills its subjects with harpoons and whose meat eventually turns up on someone’s menu in a Japanese restaurant. Leave those whales alone you fucking bastards.
Ok, the person in the bottom photo’s not me, but its going to be one day, I promise you that. (You just wait Jason. Ha. *green with envy*) Still not getting the picture ? Watch Iwai Shunji’s Love Letter.
Winter are the days when I have to roast my Nutella Chocolate spread over the kitchen stove before I can apply them on my bread because the cold weather have had them frozen; Winter are the days when I feel I have the rabies because any contact with water is like having dry ice pressed against my skin; Winter are the days when snow, glittering, tiny little flakes of crystals descend from the heavens, the harbinger of wintry days.
Winter is here.
