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shiny happy people
vivienna nostalgia the old blurificationthe old photogalleria |
9.12.04 what a beautiful thursday afternoon.i just had the most inspiring moment in december, for the past few hours. i had a late lunch at the kopitiam nearby - Bee Sun Eating House - something which i'd do when there's nothing to do and when no one's around. i've been taking the same ten minute route for years and it struck me that i really love bishan. i can't wait to move out soon as i complete NS, but i'd probably end up like 2 streets away, living on the first floor in a 3-storey HDB flat. i leave my house and walk across the road to an island of flats and carparks. i see, amongst other cars, an impreza, a bimmer, a whole lot of nissan sunnies and a familiar seat ibiza, the car model my brother used to own. his first. i've become an obsessive car perv in the past months and the thought of getting my first car had been lusting with my mind whenever i see or hear a vibrating engine. for the record, i'd aim to get a used '99 lancer or impreza - whichever my wallet allows when i'm 23. the modern car is the most beautiful thing invented. when i grow up, if i don't become an editor, a race driver, a motorsport promoter or any job that suffices in being able to own and maintain a car, i'd be a car washer/polisher or pump attendant. it's probably the equivalent of a woman working as a florist or childcare worker. beautiful.. i walk down a industrial metal makeshift staircase to the kopitiam and look. the same stalls that've been there ever since i was old enough to explore the neighbourhood. there're 3 stalls that i normally frequent - one that sells excellent wanton mee, hor fun and laksa that caters to morning and afternoon crowds, another which has fish bee hoon, tom yum fish bee hoon and fish soup with rice. the third stall has a variety of noodles, you know, variants of kway teow, mee pok, the like. there's 4 other stalls actually. the chicken rice is crap (served with chicken bones and chicken blood), the economical rice stall owner smokes over the food he serves, the western food's expensive (as ever) and the cze char stall opens after 4pm. i proceed to the not-too-old auntie at mee-abundant stall. she's always smiling whenever she greets a customer. over ten years of toiling over steaming hot boiling water and the bright sunshiney smile never fails to appear, even when i'm making my way to the washroom adjacent to the stall. anyway. i tell her husband that i'd like a bowl of prawn mee with soup. another thing i love about this stall - most things cost $2. it's a godsend while i save up for my first set of wheels. no wonder my brother goes there so often. i almost fall while stepping on a wet puddle of water on a smooth tile surface, and employ an evasive action with my hands, torso and hip to avoid landing on my ass. i've done this a thousand times and i end up looking sillier than i would if i just fell. but falling a thousand times isn't a good option. i need to buy a new pair of slippers. i walk to a table in the exterior sheltered dining area. nice and bright. i walk past the uncle with whiting hair with no signs of balding. i order a teh C with less sugar. eighty cents. well worth the taste, milky and the aroma of tea always settles on the perfect places on my tongue. my T-spot. this uncle cycles on an antique bicycle to work everyday. he lives in toa payoh. i'd live in toa payoh if i couldn't get a home outside of home in bishan. he whistles and sings beautifully every now and then, as if he suddenly thinks of his beloved wife. no idea if he has one though. really simple guy whom i admire. inspiration. the other drink stall server is a pudgy, moustached guy who on many occasions, seem to avoid serving male youth. any combination of male youth sitting around a table, unless more than 5 pax, wouldn't be approached by this man. add female species for service. or just walk up to him while he's clapping his hands, chasing birds away. he's always drinking beer after hours and never seems to go home. a wife-beater, i sometimes think. i always wonder about these peoples' pasts. i wonder if they're satisfied with their respective lives. then i remind myself the infinite possibilities i have at my age right now. inspirational place. if i had some decent cooking skill i'd work at bee sun eating house. singapore tradition at its best. oh yeah, there's always this group of 50 - 70 year olds sitting around a table with kopi's and oolong tea's, spending hours in the morning talking and debating in hokkien. i don't understand why i can't learn language. it's disappointing that i don't know my own hainanese dialect. the loudest and seemingly most prolific uncle at the table - the regulator - closely resembles my primary school principal chen keng juan. and i just learnt he's an ex-principal now. i like nostalgia. i walk back up the makeshift metal staircase and i appreciate that it isn't wet. i look at the sky and it's cloudy yet bright. i appreciate a bit more of the 8000°K light streaming down. a rare sight. i walk across the road and go back the route on which i encounter a modded hyundai tuscani. it's not that i don't enjoy raising children, i just have a lifelong passion for cars. i return home and my brother's watching a japanese instructional video, something about pitch control for the concert band. much as i'd like the idea of being closer to my family, i also wished i were born in the seventies. generation gaps are difficult. my family needs a kitten. vivienna's cat, honey, should be the ambassador for world family day. well, that's my post for today. hope it wasn't too excruciating to read about self indulgent blabber. such is life... 0 Comments: |
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