halftime
I've been back for 67 days (including the day in which I am writing this) - just over 2 months, with only roughly 7-8 more weeks to go before my tentative date of departure... and I just thought that I would write something to commemorate half-time. After all, if sport events have scantily clad, young, nubile women cavorting around in impossibly short skirts with ridiculous pompoms yelling idiotic stuff while performing athletic stunts, the least I could do was to draw my own line in the temporal sand.
In other words, I felt like blogging.
I'm an hour into a Saturday as I begin to write. I didn't do much today - had very little sleep, woke up and had to rush to brush, wash, and shave just so I wouldn't be too late for an afternoon lunch with my pseudo-family and my grandparents. Stuffed myself silly on dim sum, and had to endure comments by my grandparents that I am too thin, that I'm too pale, that I'm spending too much time on my own and not meeting enough people (read: girls. they want me to meet a nice girl and get married soon. 'soon' being in the next 1-2 years, preferably.), that all I do is read my books.
I swear, even the usually decent dim sum couldn't keep me from rolling my eyes at each comment. They're awesome grandparents and I love them dearly, but god, can they be interminable when it comes to my future plans. I had to plaster a fake grin and just go along with whatever they said. (Thank goodness I speak decent Hokkien.)
"Yes, Grandma, I am too thin. I need to eat more."
"Yes, I should go out more often and meet more people."
"Yes, I ought to think about marriage soon."
"No, I really enjoyed the winter in Canada."
"No, I'm not seeing someone seriously now."
God. Interminable, I tell you.
At least the lunch was mercifully brief.
I would write about my evening, but nah. I'll keep it to myself. It suffices for you - the reader; heck, my reader (there's only a few of you anyway) - to know that I didn't do much, but yes, I enjoyed the first half of the evening immensely, and yes, I am at home on a Saturday night. I spent it reading bits of Life of Pi by Yann Martel (brilliant writing, I think), Envy by Kathryn Harrison (decent, haven't really gotten the point of the book yet though), and started on a new novel called The Forget-Me-Not Sonata, generously loaned to me by a friend. (You know who you are.)
I could have gone out to a pub and enjoyed myself more(?) instead of staying at home alone - mom, sister and dog were all out, believe it or not - with only the occasional mewings of a stray cat to accompany me. But the time alone was useful, if not calming.
A lot has been happening since the last blog post, and no, most of it wasn't pleasant. The pleasant bits were utterly fabulous though. I did write about them, but I decided against publishing them. I might in the future. I don't know. Screw the unpleasant stuff... I've had enough of horrible things in my life.
On to more agreeable things.
For one, I've kinda decided to do something to kinda celebrate my graduation. After all, not everyone can say they graduated with an Honours with Distinction in Philosophy without any prior formal training in Philosophy. And did so with a rather respectable cumulative GPA, if I might be so audacious to add. I've been trying to decide if I should buy myself something nice to kinda congratulate myself. A little pat on the back, retail style. I want (need, some people would say) a nice watch, but I too want to get myself another book. Or books, for that matter. Can't do both, if that's what you're thinking. It's just graduation - I didn't save the polar bears or solve world hunger. I guess I ought to just buy the things I need, and not the things I want.
Ah, fuck it. I'll just forget it, maybe even the celebration spiel. Like the halftime mark that's arrived in my short jaunt here, graduation is just the end of one period, and the beginning of another.
Edit: I killed a cockroach at my sister's behest. Plus, I have maybe 6 completed posts that I chose not to publish. Reading, and murder - sounds like my kind of Saturday night. And I just realized how quickly I vacillate between celebrating and not celebrating my idiotic graduation. Look what philosophy has done to my decision-making skills. Ugh.
In other words, I felt like blogging.
I'm an hour into a Saturday as I begin to write. I didn't do much today - had very little sleep, woke up and had to rush to brush, wash, and shave just so I wouldn't be too late for an afternoon lunch with my pseudo-family and my grandparents. Stuffed myself silly on dim sum, and had to endure comments by my grandparents that I am too thin, that I'm too pale, that I'm spending too much time on my own and not meeting enough people (read: girls. they want me to meet a nice girl and get married soon. 'soon' being in the next 1-2 years, preferably.), that all I do is read my books.
I swear, even the usually decent dim sum couldn't keep me from rolling my eyes at each comment. They're awesome grandparents and I love them dearly, but god, can they be interminable when it comes to my future plans. I had to plaster a fake grin and just go along with whatever they said. (Thank goodness I speak decent Hokkien.)
"Yes, Grandma, I am too thin. I need to eat more."
"Yes, I should go out more often and meet more people."
"Yes, I ought to think about marriage soon."
"No, I really enjoyed the winter in Canada."
"No, I'm not seeing someone seriously now."
God. Interminable, I tell you.
At least the lunch was mercifully brief.
I would write about my evening, but nah. I'll keep it to myself. It suffices for you - the reader; heck, my reader (there's only a few of you anyway) - to know that I didn't do much, but yes, I enjoyed the first half of the evening immensely, and yes, I am at home on a Saturday night. I spent it reading bits of Life of Pi by Yann Martel (brilliant writing, I think), Envy by Kathryn Harrison (decent, haven't really gotten the point of the book yet though), and started on a new novel called The Forget-Me-Not Sonata, generously loaned to me by a friend. (You know who you are.)
I could have gone out to a pub and enjoyed myself more(?) instead of staying at home alone - mom, sister and dog were all out, believe it or not - with only the occasional mewings of a stray cat to accompany me. But the time alone was useful, if not calming.
A lot has been happening since the last blog post, and no, most of it wasn't pleasant. The pleasant bits were utterly fabulous though. I did write about them, but I decided against publishing them. I might in the future. I don't know. Screw the unpleasant stuff... I've had enough of horrible things in my life.
On to more agreeable things.
For one, I've kinda decided to do something to kinda celebrate my graduation. After all, not everyone can say they graduated with an Honours with Distinction in Philosophy without any prior formal training in Philosophy. And did so with a rather respectable cumulative GPA, if I might be so audacious to add. I've been trying to decide if I should buy myself something nice to kinda congratulate myself. A little pat on the back, retail style. I want (need, some people would say) a nice watch, but I too want to get myself another book. Or books, for that matter. Can't do both, if that's what you're thinking. It's just graduation - I didn't save the polar bears or solve world hunger. I guess I ought to just buy the things I need, and not the things I want.
Ah, fuck it. I'll just forget it, maybe even the celebration spiel. Like the halftime mark that's arrived in my short jaunt here, graduation is just the end of one period, and the beginning of another.
Edit: I killed a cockroach at my sister's behest. Plus, I have maybe 6 completed posts that I chose not to publish. Reading, and murder - sounds like my kind of Saturday night. And I just realized how quickly I vacillate between celebrating and not celebrating my idiotic graduation. Look what philosophy has done to my decision-making skills. Ugh.
NIGEL
1:33 AM
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