The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

Watched this Japanese anime movie a couple of nights ago at the cinema. It's a science fiction story about time travel, which always holds an endless fascination for me. (Some of the favorite movies watched in the last year - Dejavu, Next, Somewhere in Time - are all about time travel).

And it's sooooo farneee.

Yay, we should be able to visit the Ghibli Studio Musuem next month in Japan!! I very thick-skinnedly asked my Tokyo colleague (whom I never met in my life, hoho) to help me get tickets at their 7-11 store for August. She very sweetly and obligingly agreed. :) Hope they don't run out with the school hols there!

hmm... maybe should have a pre-trip DVD night soon for Hayao Miyazake fans! But my part-time helper is still not back yet from holiday in China. Treehouse very messy, sigh. But I think the folks won't mind, hor?

Snowball

The reason why I still kinda like working in a bank is because there is always something new to learn. Today, at the team department meeting, we learned about Snowballs. Not the white fluffy things you play with on ski trips, but rather, they look something like this:

Every week at our team meeting, the 10 of us take turns to go around the table to talk about current legal risk issues in the respective lines of business we support. One week we might learn about standby letters of credit, another week about american depositary receipts, yet another, interest rate swaps. The idea is that we would share our knowledge in the areas we individually specialize in, and collectively come to a better understanding of how the bank works as a universal enterprise. I like these sessions as they tell me how the various financial products "click" together in banking business.

So this week, we learned about Snowballs, a financial derivative product. It is essentially an interest-rate or quanto swap structure that can be locked in for 5 to 10 years. The structure is a step-up, where the first coupon is a fixed rate, and subsequent coupons are determined by the previous coupon benchmarked against Libor, so making it sensitive to interest rate movements. Such a product allows the end-user to take a view on where they think interest rates are heading in the long term.

My colleague, the derivatives expert, tells us although a snowball looks simple (okay, if he says so), it is actually a highly risky financial instrument. It doesn't take a genius to see that to predict the next move from US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan over the long term is an extremely difficult, if not impossible, thing to do, since we all know that global interest rate movements are based on a complicated entanglement of micro and macro economic factors.

Because a snowball works on a cumulative formula, if one was not so lucky, one could see a snowball melt completely in a very short span of time. For instance, over a period of 9 weeks, a counterparty has been known to lose more than US$20 million as a result of one single trade. That could mean total bankruptcy for a medium-sized company in 2 months.

Learning about this sort of thing always puts me in a sober mood about how much is at stake daily in the financial world, and why companies can crash overnight if people take extreme risks with money. A lot of it is driven by greed on the buyside of course, but one also need to think about the way sells-side promoters go about their business. There is no small amount of aggression going on. What does it take to instill a culture of integrity in an organization? Should you sell products to CFOs who may not actually understand them? Will people dare to call an inappropriate trade what it really is? It is a formidable task I think, because one is often up against individual greed and hyper-shortsightedness in a very money-crazed world.

Impressionistic Poem

1(a

le
af
fa
ll

s)
one
l

iness

Left: e.e. cummings' impressionistic poem titled "1(a...(a leaf falls on loneliness)" (1958)

Right: trying out oil pastels last night on noir paper (an impressionistic leaf)

Arts Fest: 《北京人》 (China)

可能是看多了后现代 (postmodern) 话剧，上个周末在剧院里看曹禺经典作品《北京人》的演出时， 反而有点不习惯人民戏剧团导演李六乙较传统的处理手法。其实这部话剧排演得很好，很细腻，演员也都很杰出。还要提醒自己，曹禺在中国当时写这部戏完全开创了现代”话剧”的先锋, 是个了不起的先驱者.

但是我个人还是觉得,在50年后的今天, 曹禺提倡的”现实主义艺术”, 定义可能需要随时代演变再次修改。因为在这个后现代的世界里，现实更加复杂了， 人文价值观也多了层次。譬如在戏中的表妹素芳， 她是个很完美的女性 - 孝顺、温柔、隐忍、宽容， 她俱全了这些传统美德。可是我猜测，后现代女性欣赏的，更可能是坚强，有独立思想。

《北京人》给我的最深印象，还是征部倾斜的舞台， 在视觉上把人带入了老北京的四合院里。 剧中的最后一幕，屋旁的土墙倒塌了，四合院更加剧烈的倾斜，这种象征性的倾斜展示，既是一个时代的、历史的倾斜，也蕴含着每一个剧中人物心灵的、命运的倾斜。我想曹禺40年代在中国呈现这部戏时， 并不会有机会采用这种表现手法。而我们这个年代，视觉艺术 （visual arts）和其他种类艺术的交流甚至结合，都是司空见惯的。前几个星期的“立陶宛Romeo& Juliet” 就以非常缤纷的视觉艺术注入在完全传统的剧本中。

eh, 那干嘛今天要用中文作记呢？没什么理由，只是从香港回来后，好久没用中文了。

记得学生时期，一直都认为曹禺是个相当有意思的文学家。其实他专研的是西方文学，读的文学课本跟我们没两样- Beowulf, Illiad, Coleridge, Shakespeare. 但是他对文学的贡献都是用中文媒体的。我一直也都不明白，自己读了那么多年西方文学和法律，现在 看电影话剧时，还是觉得中文的最易懂，最明白。我想是生长的环境吧？

最后一件有趣的事。曹禺原名“万家宝” 。 “萬” 字拆了，变成“草禺”， 他又再改成“曹禺” . 但大家有没有发现到，如果加上“船” 字边，不就变成“遭遇” 吗？哈哈哈… 这个悲剧文学大师其实很幽默的。“现实主义”也就包括犹豫和幽默，喜剧和悲剧吗！

Arts Fest: Dollhouse (New York)

Too disturbed by the play to really write about it. There is something discomfiting about seeing real life dwarfs sitting on doll-house-sized furniture (forming part of the set) while normal height women stoop or crouch and crawl about the stage, trying to fit into the half-sized world. Hearing children (the same size as the men) screaming in terror as giant witches with long white hair sweep the stage on stilts. Watching love-making scenes where husband and wife, as well as the audience, feel tortured.

The play is disturbing because it makes one ask these questions: "Why do women manipulate men?" "Why is an insecure man such a frightening creature?" "Why do women act like sweet gentle dolls to win the favor of men, only to grow into cruel giants and crush the men as revenge for the disappointment they face about discovering that the men were not who they thought they had married?"

Perhaps it was also disturbing because it reminded me of things in the past.

My guy friends, don't ever think you are acquiring a doll. My gal friends, make sure you really can respect him.

20, 30, 40

These were the things in people I found attractive when I was 20 years old:

1. A deep speaking voice (preferably in a British accent).
2. White hair (I am not kidding)
3. Ability to quote scripture (in KJV version only, as I was Reformed Bible-Presbyterian)
4. A sense of humour like Bill Bryson (in fact I said I would marry anyone with his sense of humor)
5. People who can speak many languages (with at least one being Chinese)
6. People who have worked abroad or are well-travelled.
7. People who can make other people laugh (e.g. Bill Bryson, see above)
8. Natural cooks
9. People who listen and talk in the ratio of 2:1
10. People who can do any one or more of the following: draw portraits of old people/play the cello or French horn/write children's poetry.

Things I find attractive at 30:

1. A person who can make people laugh but who also enjoy other people's humor (these do not always go together)
2. People who enjoy food but take care of their health
3. Great tennis coaches/art teachers/dance instructors/teachers in general.
4. People who have as many friends of the same gender as they do of the opposite (not as common as you think)
5. Men who don't mind their wives earning more than them.
6. People over 30 who still read.
7. People who can doing things alone.
8. People who are interested in relationships/marriage but don't talk about them all the time.
9. People who live richly but do not need to optimize everything to the nth degree.
10. Authentic people

I think there are still some similarities in the 20 and 30 lists. But attractive people are starting to fall into a certain pattern. I wonder who will be the attractive people at 40. If I still keep this blog at that time, I will write about them.

Pilates

"In ten lessons you'll feel the difference,
in twenty lessons you'll see the difference,
and in thirty lessons you'll have a new body"

- JOSEPH PILATES

Well let's see. Just finished one Pilates course and will be renewing the package this week. But I am beginning to see how Pilates make sense.

An American Favorite

I don't think I could ever get tired of looking at Norman Rockwell paintings.

Whenever I am in that mood, I love spending an evening alone (like tonight), snuggled in my couch (Copland or Gershwin music playing in the background) poring over the Norman Rockwell artbooks which I had lugged back from the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge Massachusetts three years ago. I personally don't think there is a better or more enjoyable way of learning about American history or the psyche of its people at that time than looking at and reading about Norman Rockwell's paintings.

Norman Rockwell is of course famous for his depictions of American life in the world war and post-war years. The Saturday Morning and Evening Posts cover has become almost synonymous with American illustrative art in the 20th century. There's something about them which a Times magazine photographer now might find hard to replicate.

This is a master storyteller. Here are a few of my favorites.

Going and Coming (Saturday Morning Post cover, 30 Aug 1947)
The details are amazing here. The top picture shows an enthusiastic family going for a boat trip in the morning, the bottom picture a much more fatigued group. Notice the perfect knots that tie the boat in the top and the frayed ropes at the bottom. Only grandma remains unchanged.

The Gossips (Saturday Evening Post cover, March 6, 1948)
Each person here was a real life model from Rockwell's neighborhood in Vermont. They had no idea that they would be part of this depiction of America's favorite past time! Rockwell added himself and his wife Mary in the picture to take the sting out of the commentary.


The Marriage License (1955)
This is one of the saddest paintings I have ever seen. I stood in front of it for almost 20 minutes at the Stockbridge museum when I first saw it. It is based on a real incident that happened in the town that Rockwell lived in shortly before he painted this. The marriage registry clerk in the painting had just lost his wife a few weeks ago. Notice the cigarette butts on the floor, and the cat which looks like it has not been fed for a while. The clerk's posture is in contrast to the hopeful stance of the newly wed couple in the picture.



Saying Grace (1951) This one tells of a rare moment in American history where the faithless wonder about the Faith.


ok, I will stop posting now. But there are so many wonderful stories to tell through through pictures.

Arts Fest: Sinfonia Eroica (Belgium)

Click here for the YouTube excerpt.

Went to watch modern dance "Sinfonia Eroica" (set to the "Heroic Symphony", Beethoven's Third) by Belgium choerographer Michele Ann De May on Saturday.

There were nine dancers on stage. In the first ten minutes, I did not get too much out of it, because I found myself unable to concentrate on all nine dancers. I then decided to concentrate on three of the dancers, two female (one with the yellow skirt, the other brown) and one male (the shorter guy with the green pants). Things gradually took shape for me. By the end of the dance, I was very relaxed, and able to watch all nine of them on stage, and come to my own interpretation (and enjoyment) of this dance piece.

Twirling dresses, half-buttoned shirts
Nine friends, or four courting couples
All sitting on a bench. Each takes a turn
To be a Hero. She dances like a diva
He falls over like a dunce -
They all learn to laugh together.

A flying trapeze, and all that water!
Some splash freely, others roll gently...
Do you fall in love easily, or carefully?
Couples come together, they split up
All change partners, but one
Remains single by necessity.

I think I have grown quite fond of Beethoven's Third recently.

The Fourth Class Project

With Beard Papa cream puffs, orange vodka cocktails, and John Legend crooning in the background, we spent a very happy afternoon at L&W's apartment doing yet another craft project in anticipation of the arrival of E&Z's baby. E&Z are of course based in New York so we couldn't really have a real baby shower, but everyone put in their creative best to contribute to the project. The plan is to mail the finished work to E&Z in New York, just in time for the arrival of their baby in a few weeks.

The theme this time was "Ocean Creatures Growth Chart". Even those who were out of town or engaged with other matters made their sea creatures beforehand and everything worked remarkably well again despite the compressed time frame. It never fails to amaze me how this precious group of friends from Hwa Chong days still meet regularly after all these years and share in the important moments in one another's lives.

We were well pleased with the fourth project. I must say again that the class is getting better each time in this. Something to do with 16 years of friendship perhaps? :)

(Click picture to enlarge)


Other Class 91 A15 projects. Click here for previous posts.

LV Lounge, Big Hairdos and Bed Surveys

Went for a short work trip to Jakarta this week. It was my first trip there and it was not scary at all as people make it out to be. I felt very safe and I thought the Indonesians I met were really friendly and hospitable.

I have never seen so many big hairdos, Gucci sunglasses and Louis Vuitton luggage bags in a business airport lounge in my life. OK, so these are the people that have been jacking up the property prices in Singapore.

The famous pillow menu at Four Seasons is impressive indeed but I had a major stiff neck the next morning because the bed was way too soft. That is one problem I have with U.S. hotels - I don't understand why they like soft beds so much. I much prefer the beds at the Shangri-la or the Mandarin. The Andon Ryokan tatamis in Tokyo are even better.

I find it tiring to travel for work. Am glad I don't have to do it often.

More Thoughts on Work

Yes, the last post was a snapshot of the way things have been changing on the workfront in Singapore in the last 12 months. On average, investment banks are seeing a 60% YTD increase in IB fees for the first 5 months of the year compared to the same period last year.

What this translates to in real life is a threefold increase in the deal pipeline as compared to when I first returned home in December 2005. Deals are now much bigger, more complex and require a shorter execution time frame. There are more emergency calls at night, more disruptions on weekend afternoons.

Does one feel the stress? Yes, but not always just because of the longer hours or more intense days. Everyone's working extremely hard now in this market, and I know my work life balance is still much better than that it would have been if I had stayed in law practice. I still manage to go off before 8 pm each day and do not usually have to go into the office on weekends. However, as an "ER" lawyer, I do have to be on standby to handle crisis calls, which are definitely happening more frequently these days.

The real stress comes from this. As a legal risk assessor, I sit in a position where I can see how the fever pitch of this market can cause things to fall through the cracks and standards compromised. It means having to be more vigilant and insistent about voicing one's concerns even as people get bolder and bolder chasing deals, and pay less and less attention to risks.

I am noticing that I feel more tension in my body these days. I get more quickly exhausted at the end of each day. The stiff neck and shoulder aches do not go away easily. On some mornings when I wake up, I do not feel completely rested. I know all this has to do with the gradual building up of tension at work over the last months. The first I thing I do in the morning and the last thing I do at night is to check the Blackberry.

An investment bank is a strange place to work in. People do three or four things at one time. They talk fast, and only in millions. You cannot get them to pay more than 30 seconds of attention to anything you say, so you have to say it very clearly and quickly. 25 year-olds buy BMWs as their first cars. But they spend more time in the air than on the ground. They also don't sleep.

Like I said, I do not think I should be the one complaining, because I know many people are working much harder than me. Whether or not I think they should be working so hard is besides the point at the moment. It is the state of the market now.

I do not personally believe this market will continue indefinitely. I graduated from the class of 1998, the year of the Asia financial crisis. I also witnessed the dot.com boom and bust. I went through 9-11 and SARS in Hong Kong. In other words, I belong to that generation of employees who know too well that good times are not guaranteed, and a change in the macro environment can come anytime.

I think quite often about why God has put me in this job. I am quite interested in the financial industry but there are certainly other things I would like to pursue more. I have been thinking that maybe He has put Christians in the marketplace perhaps as a check and balance of some sort in this relentless world of money creation? It was interesting to find anecdotally quite a significant number of Christians in the regulatory and control functions in my firm. A coincidence perhaps, but it does make me think about the purpose of work for a Christian, and how God uses us in the world economy on this side of heaven.

Or perhaps God's purpose of putting us in this environment is to reveal our own attitudes towards certain things. - work, money, relationships, service to Him. How driven am I by worldly ambitions? Can I live simply on the same budget as say, 5 years ago? Am I able to give generously, both in terms of money and time to people? Do I continue to make service to God and fellowship with Christians a priority despite a busy work schedule?

The tree that has the fewest leaves stand strongest in the wind. Even as we work hard now, it is wise to keep life simple in Him, and we might not perhaps not falter as much when a colder economic climate does come around.

Work Life YTD Comparison

This Business Times article explains a lot about state of one's work life in the last 12 months.

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/companies/story/ 0,4574,237031,00.html

The MINT Toys Museum

Even though I am not really a "toys" or a "children" person, I did quite enjoy the birthday party that my old classmate held for her one-year old son at the Mint Toys Museum at Seah Street last Saturday.

Who would have thought that Singapore would have one of the best mint toys museum in the world? It is amazing that the entire $5 million collection is a private one belonging to a Singaporean too. We had a guided tour of the museum by the very knowledgeable curator, who obviously has a deep passion for toys. The entry fee is $10. I would highly recommend a visit. The architecture of the building is pretty interesting in itself.

But the museum trip made me realize that most of the toys were unfamiliar to me. I think it has something to do with spending the earliest years of my life being taken care of by my grandma in Batu Pahat. Toys to me at that time were little chicks in the garden and turtles that my older cousins caught. Being brought up in a Hakka family also meant that my parents were very frugal, and they believed that the only "toys" that we should have were books. They would buy me any book I wanted, and I always had lots of those, but I never did own a Barbie doll in my life.

Well, maybe my Enid Blyton collection might be worth something one day :)

Documenta 1-11

We went to the very (literally and figuratively) cool National History Museum today to visit the travelling archives exhibition of Documenta.

Documenta is one of the most important contemporary art exhibitions in the world today. It is held once every 5 years in Kassel, Germany. I don't think I will be able to make it for the one to be held there this summer, but it was kind of cool to see their archives for the past 11 exhibitions at the NSHM. It's like seeing modern art and world history compressed in 5 year time capsules.

Now on till 31 July 2007 at the National Museum. It's free. :)

Domestic Goddess?

My part-time helper has taken two weeks off to visit family in China. On Saturday, I spent most of the morning pottering about the house, cleaning out the fridge, doing the laundry and straightening things up generally. It was quite a nice and therapeutic thing to do , with Yoyo ma's Soul of the Tango playing the background and the air-conditioner running while the sun blazes outside. Using the vacuum cleaner, one could even practice pilates stretches.

I mused about the state of domestic affairs.

As most friends know, I am interested in interior design and creation of living spaces. I also enjoy cooking, and there's nothing I enjoy more than having a few good friends over for dinner.

This may give the impression that I am some kind of aspiring domestic goddess or at least a Martha Stewart wanna-be (without the law suits). I wished I could claim that, but I am not.

I like food immensely, but I know I am not a born cook, like a few of my friends are (interestingly they are mainly male friends). I enjoy going for cooking classes when I travel, but it's mainly for the cultural experience. I like creating a theme out of dinner gatherings (e.g. Japan Hour, Passover etc), but I am happy to leave the cooking to other more talented cooks.

Also, I have also noticed that visitors often comment on how neat my apartment is. But it really did not become this way through my will and strength. I just happened to be blessed with an incredibly good part time helper, who is germ-phobic and dirt-phobic, and who insists on arranging my clothes, books, CDs and skincare bottles in HER way. Even though I don't consider myself to be terribly messy, I certainly am not overly anal about having perfect order in my environment. My mom is a reliable witness to that fact.

I sometimes wonder how people manage without help. It does take a great deal of discipline and stamina to keep the house in that general level of cleanliness. With work being so busy these days, the last thing I think of when I return home is to do the ironing and cleaning. For this reason, I have the greatest respect for my mom. She used to hold a day job, and would still faithfully for the family every single day. I don't remember ever waking up without breakfast being ready or coming home from school without a piping dinner waiting. We could not afford a domestic maid, and so she did everything herself. Our house (even my room) was always neat and tidy, all entirely due to her effort. I guess it was just Mom. She has been like that all her life, efficient and taking pride in everything she does. Now, she is what I would consider a domestic goddess.

Emerveillé

Sylvie Guillem explains to Akram Khan that there is no English equivalent for this French word. It's the feeling that a child gets when standing in front of a Christmas tree. It's akin to being "marvellized".

Arts Fest: When Sacred Monsters Speak

Dance has the ability to express human emotions which cannot be described with words. That's why dancers normally don't speak when performing. In certain exceptionally gifted dancers, the combination of extreme physical prowess and their silence on stage gives them an almost divine quality - they become gods and goddesses in the eyes of the audience (therefore the term "Sacred Monsters").

But what if the dancers do speak, like they did in tonight's performance? Then they become real and human. They laugh at themselves, and we with them. They ask, "Is this right, or is this wrong?" They shed the false veneer of perfection, and by doing so, they move beyond their limits.

"The God Krishna is most often pictured in blue with long curly hair. When I was a child taking up Indian classical dance, I desired to become this vision of perfection. But then, I started losing my hair."

Charlie Brown: " Why are you crying, Sally Brown?"
Sally Brown: "I don't know, I just feel like crying."

Waiting, Not Waiting

A close gal friend of mine just put down the deposit for the purchase of a property for herself in Hong Kong after getting fed up of paying rent which has been escalating out of proportion in the SAR. She was telling me how another (Singaporean) female friend asked her how she felt about the decision. Did she feel pressured by the thought of having such a big financial commitment? Did she not wish that if there was someone else to share the burden with (read: boyfriend/ husband/ sugar daddy)? "All your worries will be settled in that case!", was what I think the friend said to her.

My gal friend and I both laughed at that remark. But how do we really feel about this issue?

I remember 15 months ago, during the time when I was making the same decision to buy my own place when returning to Singapore, two guy friends (one single, the other married) whom I have known for a long time said, on separate occasions, jokingly "Women these days certainly don't need men anymore hor? They have their own Assets." One of them actually said, "Are you sure you want to do this? Guys might get scared off you know."

For both my friend and I, these thoughts simply did not cross our minds. Maybe it's just a Singapore thing to make a big deal out of buying a property, I don't know. For my friend in Hong Kong, it was mainly a financial decision. For me, it was partly financial, and also partly personal. Living spaces are very important for me. After renting apartments for 6 years in Hong Kong, I felt I would really like to create a living space that I was totally comfortable with, since many of the activities I enjoy doing (personal hobbies, entertaining close friends) are done at home. Living with parents was just not an option since I had accumulated so much stuff over the years. In a different property market (like the crazy one now), I might have made the decision to continue renting. But when I did buy my property at that time, I was really quite at peace with it.

I guess this brings to the forefront a larger philosophical question about how one approaches life as a single person in these modern times. Theoretically, there is a much greater degree of choice for a single person as to how he or she wants to spend her time/money/resources (both material and emotional) than a married person might. But somehow, as singles, some people might ironically feel more constrained about life choices as they feel they are somehow in a waiting room, waiting for life to start with the right person who would come along to combine their life resources - someone to give them courage and support to live life more fully than they feel able as single people.

I think we have all been in that waiting room, and some of us may still be in there. Waiting for that person to go on vacations with. To share the mortgage or car loan. To teach Sunday School or to lead bible study with. I think you can kinda tell (after a while) whether a person is or is not in the waiting room

Well, I say to us, "Go live life now! Learn something everyday. Go on that backpacking tour. Start those flute lessons, Love the people around you. Serve God now."

And when and if the "right" person comes along (and this will happen entirely according to His will, with or without one waiting), I think I would want that person to be someone who has not just been sitting in the waiting room either.

(Photo from local property website. Yes, I am looking around again to see whether I can find a place which I like enough to move to. Still just looking. ).

Arts Fest: Romeo & Juliet (Lithuania)

A slice of stage heaven indeed.

Honestly, I was a little worried that this was going to turn out to be a yawner zzzzz.... for me and my fellow theatre friends. I mean, after all it's Romeo & Juliet, how much different could it be from the countless acts I have seen? I didn't even like the Di Caprio movie version very much. (In fact, R&J is not even one of my favourite Shakespearean plays). In addition, to my horror, after dragging 3 other friends along to book the early bird tickets for this, I realized that it was 200 minutes long, excluding intermission, and it was to be played at old Victoria Theatre, on a weekday night after a long day of work! I was however quite curious about the Lithuanian theatre company (am currently quite taken by Eastern European art generally), and this became the first performance that kicked off this year's Arts Fest for me.

But I think all of us enjoyed it very much and were riveted to our seats (except L who had to tear herself away to go fetch her daughter) throughout the entire performance.

It was a visual feast. Suddenly, my O-levels literature textbook jumped to life in front of my eyes, in the most delightful and unexpected way. Even though the whole thing was in Lithuanian, the director opened up the infinite possibilities of Shakespeare's words, through flying dough, metal objects, ropes, lights, and most importantly the human bodies which moved strongly throughout the play. The actors and actresses were fantastic. No matter how small their role was, they created pure chemistry together on that small stage, every one of the 200 minutes was pulsating with creativity and genius. It was a physically tactile play. And super funny too.

What impressed me most about the play was the amount of passionate effort put into it. OKT Vilnius is in fact only a small self-funded theatre company in backward Lithuania. They have kept themselves fiercely independent so as to be able to work their art without interference from the government.

You can really tell that these are a group of people who truly love their art, and have thought deep and hard about how they want to present it to the world. I am now curious about the people of Lithuania and the cultural scene there. Even though the original play was set in Italy (known for its passionate people) what I saw on stage were not Italians but a very interesting set of East Europeans who are passionate in a different way. They have a deep understanding of Western European theatre (despite the language difference) but have injected their own unique characteristics in it. I can't quite put a finger to it yet, but it's very attractive to me (in the same way that a lot of Eastern European art and music is starting to attract me).

It's physically sensual without being overtly sexual. It's intellectual without being pretentious. It's creative without being gimmicky. It's nationalistic yet universal.

What a great start to the Arts Fest this year.

Opera: "Porgy & Bess"

Car tunes for this week: American folk opera "Porgy & Bess" by George Gershwin. I am also listening to the symphonic version that Robert Bennett arranged after the opera ended its run on Broadway in the 50s - there's just something about that combination of jazz, blues and classical orchestral makes you want to hum, whistle and tap dance along as the CD plays over and over again in the car (since I ain't got the $1500 6-CD changer that my dealer offered to sell me with the Shark).

And of course, I never heard the opera quite the same way again after listening to all-time favourite preacher Tim Keller speak to a group of musicians in New York a few years ago during an open forum titled "The Journey of Love", a deeply incisive discussion on the main themes of the Gershwin opera - i.e. hope, hatred, prejudice and what it is that keeps modern folks from giving love to one another. I so wish we have more preachers like Keller who are able to bring out biblical truths from traditonal as well as contemporary art and culture.

Another thing to look forward to this autumn in New York.

Mayday 五月天 Concert

I have never been too much of a lyrics or songs person. Good lyrics only marginally increase my enjoyment of good music, while bad lyrics often hinder it. When I do listen to songs, I like it when I don't understand the lyrics at all (i.e. preferably Italian/Gregorian/Tagalog). They could be singing about what they had for breakfast, for all I know or care. When I do understand the lyrics, I am liable to conduct practical criticism on them. This is especially true for me for Western pop music, which is why I almost never voluntarily listen to it, because I find the lyrics generally painful to hear (unless they are recommended by a few trusted friends who know what sort of lyrics I like).

Now, what about Chinese pop music? I would venture to say that Chinese pop lyrics can be even sillier than Western pop. You know, the cotton-candy variety that is either hopelessly naive or ridiculously forlorn. But interestingly, I actually know and listen to more Chinese music than I do Western pop.

You see, I grew up with Chinese pop. Radio 93.3 was always playing in the background at home because Mom was Chinese-educated. We spoke Mandarin at home and watched Chinese programs on TV. D was always strumming some Chinese number on his guitar in the next room. So while I grew up with a reading diet heavily slanted towards Western literature and philosophy, I imbibed Chinese pop music and television like a passive smoker. I did not (and still do not) actively seek it out, but it has become an inextricable part of the culture that molded me.

Which was why, when a trusted friend suggested it, I happily agreed and went along with her and a couple of other serious fans to the Mayday 五月天 - 离开地球表面 ("JUMP") 演唱会 last weekend.

Yes, yes, I did, with all 7100 people at the Expo, the median age of which was 16.5, and stood clapping and stomping on my feet for almost 3 hours straight. Heh.

I think I kinda missed going for Chinese pop concerts. Used to do that from time to time in Hong Kong. In fact I had a standing instruction for my secretary there to book tickets for me through the year whenever concerts came up - the standard fare was Andy Lau, Sandy Lam and Jackie Cheung. I went for some of those, which were quite entertaining. The most memorable one was Leslie's before he died - the rapport he had with the audience was incredible. Towards the end of my life in Hong Kong, I was going for mainly Taiwan gigs, who came to Hong Kong often, as I enjoyed their witty bantering on stage a lot (it helped of course that I could understand them, as opposed to only 70% for Cantonese concerts).

I think Chinese music keeps me in touch with a side of myself that is not often vocalized or presented to the world.

So ya, I am 中文派 like that. :)

Songs and Lyrics, or 纯真

长长的路上 我想我们是朋友 如果有期待 我想最好是不说
你总是微笑的你 总是不开口 世界被你 掌握
月亮绕地球 地球绕着太阳走 我以为世界是座 宁静的宇宙
今晚的天空有一颗流星划过 在预言着什么
在无声之中你拉起了我的手 我怎幺感觉整个黑夜 在震动
耳朵里我听到了 心跳的节奏 星星在闪烁 你怎么说
你心中一定有座 浓雾的湖泊 任凭月光再皎洁 照也照不透
你眼中闪烁湖面 无边的温柔 那波光在 诱惑
你已经有他就不应该 再有我 世界的纯真此刻为你 有迷惑
我想我应该轻轻 放开你的手 我却没有力气 这么做

"Whatever that is too stupid to be said, could be sung"
- Joseph Addison (1712)

Changed Skin

Just changing the skin of this blog for a bit (or a while) to fit the retro mood that I am feeling.

My Neighbour Betty Boop

I have been avoiding her.

Yes. Betty is my neighbour. She is now in her silver years but looks just as coiffered as ever in her lycra pencil skirts and curled bob hairdo (dyed an auntie mahogany red). Her voice still has the same high pitch tone as in her swinging twenties.

(Conversation in Lift that has occured x times in the last 3 months)

BB: "hei, ^^ Veeee, you just come home from work ahhhh? "

Me: "Oh, hello Auntie Betty. Er ya, I just got back. How are you?"

BB: "Aiyah, very busy lor, so many people wanting to see flats these days you know? "

Me: "Uh, good business for you"

BB: "You are so lucky you know, got your apartment so cheap. Now people asking for $XXXX already!"

Me: "Really?"

BB: "Ya lor, eh..must call me when you want to sell your apartment, okay? I know people ready to buy, very good price !"

Me: "Er...ok thanks...I think about it."

BB: "Don't think so much lah. Once every few years only can make this kind of money you know?"

Me: "Erm, I am quite happy staying here..."

BB: "Aiyah, first you sell yours, then buy the bigger unit next door lah. I also know neighbours here who want to sell you know? .....okay my floor is here, so you must call me okay ?" (exits lift in her clucking platform shoes)

Ya. Auntie Betty is my neighbour and our residential property agent. In the 20 years that she has been staying in my estate, she single-handedly brought about hundreds of sale and purchase transactions, seen numerous families move in and out, and witnessed the property market rise and crash n times.

I can't believe that I am having to think about my position in the market again so soon. It was less than 18 months ago that I bought the Treehouse. All that hacking and reconfiguration and decorating (the apartment was seriously old and awkward-looking when I bought it) seemed to have taken place only last month.

Frankly, the idea of selling makes me exceedingly sad.

It is not because I don't want the trouble of moving (my secret dream job is actually to be a decorator, like some of you know), but I admit I have grown attached to my place. I love waking up in the morning to chirping birds from the forest patch across the road, I love having the unblocked view of the sunset over Mt Sinai valley. I love that it is a low-density development and there are very few screaming kids at my pool even on weekends, I love it that my estate looks nothing like the cookie-cut glass condominiums that are springing up all over Singapore.

I know it would be very very hard to find something like this again, even with the capital gain and whatnot. The bigger flats in the estate are way too big for me and in the astonomical millions $$. Anything remotely similar in the neighbourhood will also be costly.

Perhaps I am too attached to the place? Or perhaps I should not be thinking about the monetary gain and just stay put in a place which I really believe was a Godsend? Did not the Bible say that in God's heavenly kingdom there are many mansions? Why should I be attached to this little one on earth? But then, the aim of selling in this market is so that one could buy another [bigger] earthly mansion, and so will one still be be missing the point here?