No, It's Not What You Think... (It's What You Do)

mood: braindead

music: Juicy! by Kiko

No really. I have the counter here, somewhere. But right now I’m staring at this weird web show and… and… it’s almost taking a lot of effort to even just remember who I am. I just wanted to check a few stuff in the internet because I couldn’t get to sleep, but I never counted on encountering something like this.

I promise to be more coherent… soon. But right now, my brain is still adjusting. I never expected this much weirdness… that didn't come from Japan.
 

location: Singapore

mood: nostalgic

Soon, I’ll be leaving this place and head back home for my first leave. In the future, when I return, I will be assigned to projects that will require me to go onshore for long periods of time, with nothing but a few days to stay on land, maybe to just to write a few reports. Surely, that time will come when I’ll be able to stay in this place for only less than a week.
 

But before I finally say goodbye (for now) to this place, let me show you around first, this place that I called my home for almost a couple of months.
 

I won’t really miss this place, because I will still be visiting the crew flats from time to time. But I can’t deny the fact that I was thankful to be assigned here during my first few days in Singapore, instead of some random hotel room.
 

I met friends here. Friends who, in a way, made me feel less alone.

Home Far Away From Home

location: Singapore

mood: sad

My boss is planning to send me back home, probably this Thursday or Friday. I’m still in denial... I feel a strange mixture of relief and dread that I don’t even know how to describe.

My boss told me that they had to send me back because my visit pass runs out this Monday, and a second extension is simply not possible. “Unless something comes up tomorrow, we really don’t have a place for you yet,” he said. I asked him again if there is a way to extend my time away from home. “Would you rather spend Easter here?” he asked. I told him that I don’t mind spending Easter away from home, but when he asked again, I confessed that I really don’t want to go home so soon. He looked at me apologetically and said that there really was no other way. “We’ll probably have a project for you by mid-April,” he said.

I walked back to my laptop dazed with a welling pit in my stomach. Thursday… that means I have less than two days to prepare. For everything.

The pros:

1. I’ll probably be home in time for my brother’s college graduation.
2. I can visit my dentist to have my braces readjusted sooner.
3. I’ll be able to collect from Jansen. He owes me big time.
4. I’ll be home for K’s birthday, just in time to surprise her. Maybe.
5. I’ll finally be able to attend to my “unfinished businesses” before they blow out of control.

The cons:

1. I’ll be attending to my “unfinished businesses” before they blow out of control.

There’re still so many things to do, so many places to explore… and just when you were having fun, you realize that your time is finally up. And to think I’ve already psyched myself up for my first ship.

I even made plans this weekend. *groan*

I haven’t earned a lot of money yet during my stay here, living life purposelessly like the slightly pampered bachelor that I am. What’s even more depressing is that I’ll be coming back home in probably the gloomiest part of the year in the Philippines: Holy Week, when everything’s all silent and black and morose. And don’t even get me started on the immigrations issue that’s waiting to grab me by the balls on my return flight.

It’s probably one of the most embarrassing things that could happen to a field staff like me: a soldier all geared for battle, with no war to fight, being sent back home without any glory to speak of.

I hope something does come up tomorrow.
 

location: Singapore

mood: whattodo whattodo whattodo...

I don’t have much time left: no time to debate, no time to explain, no time fret, no time to panic. I guess this is bound to happen when you’re having too much fun. 

I know what needs to be done. I’m not running away; as a matter of fact, it looks like I’m about to do the exact opposite. Just thinking about it is making me feel uneasy, because it’s happening all too soon. And considering the recent developments that I have posted, I’m sure that this post will also mislead a few people, namely those who are quick to jump to conclusions (exasperated sigh). 

Things will begin to make sense again soon enough. Just have faith. 

But! 

Before we go deeper into that, let me just clean up my crap here before I hand this laptop back to the IT Department.

Behold! a few pictures taken at Vivo City.

Having Fun at Plastic Land

God is always at the horizon, watching my every move. I have nothing to fear.

location: Singapore

mood: cultured

music: Wildest Times of the World by Vonda Sheppard

(Written last March 8)

Penny and I finished our training early yesterday, which of course, was a cause for much celebration, because that meant that we had plenty of time to prepare for last night’s concert. It didn’t hurt either to see that the clouds have courteously drifted a safe distance away from the island of Singapore; it has been raining on and off a few days before yesterday, and we were getting worried that our open-air concert experience would get washed out because of the storm. Well, the universe was kind to us back then, my friends, and things aligned nicely to conform to our plans.

With all conditions checked, Incubus was incoming.

Of course, there was one bit of a snag: we got the day off starting at 1pm, and the concert wouldn’t start ‘til 8pm. With the concert organizers probably letting people in as early as six in the evening, that still left us with a five hours of free time to kill.

So, what to do?

Penny suggested that we go to the Greek Masterpieces exhibit at the National Museum of Singapore.

She told me that she planned to go there for quite awhile now, but she couldn’t find someone who’s interested to go to a museum with. I‘ve been meaning to go there for quite awhile myself, ever since I saw the announcement in the newspaper that there’d be a few Louvre pieces that’d be put up there for display. And yes, the fact that we’re going to an art museum and then to a rock concert afterwards struck me as something cool in itself.

I kept on forgetting that it’d be her first time to go there as well since I’ve been so used to having her as my tour guide and expecting her to give me bits of trivia about the places that we were about to go to, so I ended up asking her questions on what to expect anyway. We got a bit lost…

…but along the way, we passed by a few landmarks that I haven’t been able to appreciate in the light of day, like the Raffles City mall…

…the Capitol Building…

…the Stanford Court…

…the Fort Canning Tunnel…

…and that nice network of greenhouses that turned out to be the Singapore Management University.

Finally, we arrived at the National Museum of Singapore, which was to be my first trip-to-a-museum-that-wasn’t-forced-unto-me-by-a-Social-Sciences-teacher. The S$8 (Php 224) was reasonable enough, but I probably wouldn’t drag anyone there who’s not exactly into the arts… or who’s not interested in seeing naked bodies.

Right at the door we were greeted with the towering statue of David, which of course had nothing to do with the Greek Classics, but it was there anyway. You won’t see it in the picture, but if you looked closely enough, you’d notice that the statue’s skin was riddled with flowers, leaves, and vines reminiscent of Malay batik patterns, which was a nice Singaporean touch.

The museum, like most museums of today, was nothing like the old ones that we used to visit back in high school. Gone were the halls that smelled of old paint and the discolored walls veined with cracks and in their place were escalators, swipe-able bar-coded paper tickets, digital displays, and wide open spaces that made the whole place look like a quieter version of a mall.

Not that I’m complaining of course: the sun was beating down on us on our way there that I sure appreciated a few hours of air conditioning.

Also, like in most museums, cameras aren’t supposed to be allowed. But after the tour, the students who were in the area suddenly whipped out their cameras and started snapping here and there, so I went with the flow and took a few picture as well (okay, not so few then, it would be sad, after all, to be surrounded with all those nice little artsy-things and not be able to capture an image for yourself).

After this, we went towards Fort Canning for the riotous pandemonium of the Incubus concert. I’d tell you more about it, but I still have an IT Show to go to later this afternoon, and I still haven’t eaten lunch.

(to be continued)