9.44 - The mobile rang and I scrambled to find it.
Minutes before I was swimming, in my dream
I was floating on my back, the water warm, the sun engulfing me
With tenderness.
Then I was packing a back pack, walking out of the Abbotsford terrace I knew so well.
*
The headhunter: Hello, are you... erm...
E: Yes.
The headhunter: You're really still in bed?? Ok. Go wake up, have a coffee, and ring me after. I have good news.
E: I'm awake now. Tell me the good news. Quick.
The headhunter: You'll be working on a project with them for a month, and if you make a good fit, they'll talk about full-time at the end of the month.
I made a few squealing noises, a couple of coos, and there were a few notes of gratitude too. What a way to wake up. After a paper, a presentation, and a few beverage-free nights, I'm bloody glad I made the cut. For now anyway.
*
A little before 4 - Finally secured my ticket.
Tomorrow I fly off to Penang. The pearl of the orient, they say.
They want me to start on Monday, so the trip had to be truncated.
There'll be other times to see the beaches and bars.
*
I'm enjoying my first g&t in a while.
And there's every reason to.
*
Kater!

Yes you, Miss Chew, Cos, Nic, Bryant, Mikey (even though you don't really count because you left first), Aka Tombo, the Calvin girlies, Scanlan & Theodore, Revolver on Sunday afternoons, Alice Euphemia, Cookie, the Robot boys, City Cafe, balmy evenings at Claypots, winter in Lorne, summer in Sorrento, Flinders Lane, Degraves St, Milo my baby, Greville Records, the bread aisle in Coles, Christmas barbeques, wearing cardigans in summer, milk crate moments, magnolia tree.
God I miss you all.

(1) 'Is your asking salary negotiable? Because you don't have the relevant experience.'
(2) Having to wait at reception just because the interviewer feels the need to assert some authority
(3) Having to listen to cheena-piak receptionists go on (and on) about slimming pills while waiting for the fucker
(4) Having to sit and sweat in a suit while the interviewer saunters into the conference room in a cotton tank and skirt
(5) 'Where do you see yourself in 5 years?'. I have serious myopia, so 6 months at a time, ok?
(6) Having to fill in a 5-page application form detailing everything already listed on my CV, which incidently had already been sent through prior to the interview
(7) 'Where do you see yourself in 10 years?'
(8) 'What will you contribute to the company if you get the job?'. Pay me what I want, and I'll be your slave. Promise.
(9) 'What do you do in your spare time?'. Isn't 12 hours a day, 5 days a week, enough of an intrusion into my personal life?
(10) Realising while in the elevator after the interview that my lips looked like they'd suffered a second-degree burn from flaky lip gloss

A few Heines at Colbar,
Where the fluorescent tubes and long bottles of Tiger are reminiscent of HDB coffee shops,
But without the HDB ah-peks and ah-bengs*.
It was an unusually cool night in Singapore,
I was content with fuss-free company, cigarettes, and feet on plastic chair.
It'd been a good day in my laughable effort at the job-hunt thing,
Because from having nothing for me, the recruiter offered a possible position with an international brand management company, as well as one with his own.
~
I am keeping busy - in functions of the mind, anyway.
Between follow-up calls and emails,
There is M. Amis' Yellow Dog, QT with mum the dowager, nagging reminders to go see the Commes des Garcons guerrilla store, missing him.
~
Yesterday as I loitered outside Citibank at Capital Square
Trying to decide on (1) coffee; (2) lunch; (3) who to call; (4) what the fuck to do now that I was already in town,
The masses swept through. Unpronounced. Unmarked.
Black pencil skirts incorrectly (and unflatteringly) shortened to mid-thigh lengths, Guccis, the sound of women dressed in their work-best dragging their sorry little Charles and Keith clad feet, purse and packet tissue in hand.
It scared the shit out of me.
Yea yea, welcome back, I hear you say.
~

It's the piece of patchy sky beyond aluminium grills.
The fly that has flown in and out three times, and counting.
Your gentle snores,
Almost in sync with the spinning fan blades.
Skin against beige leather and the evidence of humidity in between.
Orange suitcase leaning against your powder blue wall,
Almost ready to go.
The smell of steamed tofu moseys through the air of inactivity,
I cannot keep still.
*
Clarity - when awe of serendipity subsides
*
He: The man of many plans, gadgets, navy shirts and hypotheses.
She: A creature with mayfly foresight, gungho hyperboles, and butterfly-shaped diamonds.
So she will let inevitability lead her way,
And hope this is his way too.
*

Where Moira will take us,
Home to home,
Conception to revelation.
*
We are made of post-it notes and love for life.
We were made from someone else's predetermination.
*
Cleaving assemblage of jest and tenderness
All, past and future.
Slip it into your overnighter,
It'll take you a long way.
*

Aluminium Group - Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Catpower - Beaumont - Ryuichi Sakamoto - Pete Yorn - Mozart - The Orchids -

Glad my CDs have arrived.

No, I can't seem to keep away from the pinks.

To soldier on. To keep it real. Fight because it's so easy to flee. Grow a thicker hide. Pity does not make you a victim. Being so afraid of falling into the traps of mediocrity. Resenting the Singaporean dream, the status quo - isn't it really just fear of infection? To slag, to steer clear of. To create a terrene reality away from it all. Ideas. My notions of quick relief; survival escapism. Resignation - No. To resign is to settle. I choose selective adaptation. Take more of the good, less of the not-so tasty.