Matrimony and Materialism

Saturday:2-530pm I take a quick bath, wolf down a bowl of Kokka vegetarian noodles with home-made sausages and fresh tomatoes, and frantically hail a cab to take me to the church just opposite Republic Polytechnic. It's the wedding of my ex-boss and godsis. Hmm...he looks dashing in the photos and she appears years younger. The minister who is the legal witness and registrar speaks with a strong accent originating from the USA, which makes him sound like Robin Leong. I engage in casual banter with my ex-colleagues and bandmates, its mainly recording sessions and future performances before I'm off again. EQ is leaving for Brisbane @910...so I gotta meet with V&G to purchase a couple of farewell stuff for her. (Ok..I admit she's very special to us..esp V)

539-730pm We're now browsing for farewell cards in a humble gift shop @ Hereen. V isn't particular about our gifts. Haha, but for her he would not mind walking the furthest mile. So after a series of intense debates with G, he buys the cards and gives G a chance to indulge in his pop culture gay fashion with the botiques on the top floor. It's Zara, topshop and even Emporio Armani. I'm looking for cool ecko denims and Tees...but well a call comes to G's phone. It's the girls. Changi Airport-8pm. We are always hard-pressed for time..aren't we?

8-9 I am having my dinner @BK Changi Airport. V is rapidly scribbling his words down into the 3 cards he just bought for EQ. G is telling me he can't wait to see her friends and catch a moment of glamour. I agree, her friends are rich, smart and beautiful. Literally walking sex symbols. We almost couldn't find them. Last we hear they are checking in, but my eagle-eyes don't spot a shit. We walk a few rounds and its 845, we kinda think she left without saying goodbye. We make a last turn back to departure gate...haha I see her friends, esp CSN (No she's not some news anchor woman) That girl's a queen...always.

9-910pm Perhaps we are getting really emotional. EQ arrives late...real late..so everything seems to be taking place so fast. Every moment counts here. V finally joins us. He managed to finish the Long Letter. Ok..so what if EQ's drop-dead gorgeous model beau is with her? V doesn't give a shit. He closes up to her...and they stare real hard into each other's eyes. It's been so long since they parted ways. Many things to say...so lil time. She gives him a final hug and off she goes. So long my friend....

930-330am The night is young..welcome to NTU's bash at the Embassy. Its' dark, hot and smoking. I take a glass of vodka coke and jump down into dance floor. The crowd's down a bit tonight, because of zoukout's hyped up presence a few miles away. Nevertheless...there are dark vixens lurking around, wearing their tight halters and staring at you, scanning you like some specimen. Haha, I really dig the band...black guys play and move so well, you wonder what the hell their moonlightin here. I share a jug of vodka lime with G and I dance again. V tries to get fresh with the chick next to him, but actually he's trying to numb the pain he felt earlier on at the airport.

330-430amZoukout...its a long walk from the underpass to the carpark, and that's not even the place where it happens. It's 4 of us now V,G, M and me. Well, we're not drunk yet, but V and M are starting to do crazy things. A group of young arty-fartys are havin a tequila feast of their own at the carpark. They ask us to take a pic for them. G snaps the shots and they drown him with a bottle of their drink. He gets high he actually does a flip! So we stagger and sway our way into the entrance. My legs go soft, and I fall to the ground...feeling bloody thirsty. The others take the entry tags from nice folks leaving the party and smuggle themselves in leaving me outside, to the reverberations of DJ Sasha's beats. I take out my mobile and ask Chen out. He had been inside Zoukout since 10, and he tells me the drinks are really expensive. We sit for a while, until my 3 nannies arrive to bring me back to the hotel room.

430-530am The urban skylight from our room is breathtaking...and Zoukout looks like a night market from above. I take a hot shower and the faces of all the babes I've seen the whole day return to me again. Sweet temptation...I close my eyes and exhale. Their all asleep, cept for V who is unusally broody. He posts a question, "You think I will be with her again?" The words are soft, virtually inaudible. M's rhythmic snoring has set the calm. "Anything's possible" I reply. Silence.

The stuff in my closet
Taking a break from writing on my Joey adventures..to reflect on the sublimal fabrications of a mind bred in boredom..

It is a lost feeling of aimlessness. Many of my friends have completed their service to the country and are now into a new phase of their lives in university. Some are packing their bags for schools abroad, while others have resolved to stay. I'm happy for them...but sad for myself..just like the kid who got left behind when the piper of Hamlin took all the other children through the mountain walls.

Things will not be the same. I won't be getting the frequent calls to hang out. Conversations will be about a life I may not get to experience. Their social ciricle may change, and I may just drift away. Does this mean I have to start a new life as well? A new chapter in my life...without the buddies I've grown up with through most of my teenage life?

There are always two sides of a coin...A beautiful dream, which mathematically speaking is everything but an utter possibility...and the harsh reality, which is instilling a greater dose of dread every single second. I love to dream, and think of the What Ifs? in life. What if I was a child prodigy? What if I was born into a rich family? What if I had my own car? What if all the gals were attracted to a shorty like me? I know my passion that lies deep in me. But sadly I know, that if I were to follow it, I MAY never make it big..or pay all my bills. It would be a hand to mouth existence... totaly disregarded and despised.

Many say my life is boring...that I'm afraid of the excitement. Its true...I'm a bad drinker so I don't frequent clubs, I can never get pass stage 2 in an arcade game, and I'm to small for any competitive sport. But how many folks my age get to travel work and live alone in an European country for 2 months? Get to work in a stage team and perform in over 30 locations around the country? Sign young gals autograph books that he doesn't even know? Direct plays and compose songs? Or even sail to the far seas while his fellow Ns Men (officers and specialists alike) are huddling in the jungles of Brunei? I really think this is Divine compensation

Well...I doubt I will ever hold a degree...own a car...get a big job...or even marry a beautiful gal. I doubt whether people think highly of my accomplishments..(if there are any). Never mind...for now, I think the adventures of Joey and Kelly will do just fine...

Reminiscence

She came back...after a few months in the land down under. We had dinner-Crystal Jade at J8. The scallops tasted great, the conversations and gossips were delightful. Turning back the pages of my past tertiary life, those were the things that kept me smiling, despite all the troubles that surrounded me.....

Peace stood outside the porch of his little cottage. The open field lay before him. It was an appaling sight. Bodies were sprawled on the ground. They were men, some wore uniforms and held rifles, others wore turbans and kept thick beards, eyes caught in rude shock and agony. A stench covered the still air, and ugly birds flew down to scavenge among the corpses

Peace covered his face and wept. He was only a child. He always was. How could he ever understand the things he saw? Everyday he awoke to greet Old Rain Man in the sky and Mother Nature who danced freely in the wild. Today they were gone...leaving him all alone, to face the torment of Man, a race born of knowledge but bred in violence