Public Transport Entrails: Part I

So, Tuesday.  I set off at eleven in the morning.  A friend in Canberra told me that at the shops in Tampines and Pasir Ris one can buy shoes for $2.  When I got to the bus stop, oh no, no bus going out there.  So I got on a bus anyway, and after some time, it stopped on Farrer Road where there was an MRT station and I got on the Circle Line, which was a stupid loop to take, then changed again at Paya Lebar Interchange, then the MRT turned into a train on an above-ground track.  Now, this was a very long journey, I was peeved off and freeing to death because of the air-conditioning.  And super thirsty, but too afraid to drink my water because there was a sign saying $500 fine for eating or drinking on trains or in stations.

View from bridge crossing from bus stop to Farrer Road MRT station

But anyway, I got to Tampines.  And there were three shopping malls next to each other.  Ayiah, all worse than Woden Plaza.  No bargains!  Unless you are searching for a padded jacket!

Jumped back on train to try my luck at next and final stop on the line, Pasir Ris.  No luck.  And no lunch because I was not in the mood for eating in the mall because that would be too trendy.  But I did eat an egg-tart.

Back on the train.  Because it was above ground, I've had two bird's eye views of the East Coast!

My plan was to spend the remainder of my day at Ann Siang Hill.  I would have to change at City Hall Interchange.  But when I got there, I thought "Why not go to the Peranakan Museum while I'm here?"  But I didn't see any locality maps and all I knew was that the museum was on Armenian Street.  Hmmm, good planning Billie.  But then I spotted Funan Centre DigitaLife Mall.  And got my keyboard cover there.  Here is a photo of the packet:

So now that I know I'm attractive, I might actually be super attractive, because I can only be more attractive than I know.

Then I saw a building which looked like a museum.  So I crossed a big road.  Turned out it was the museum for the history of the postal service in Singapore.  I didn't want to go there but thought I might be able to get a guide paper to another museum.  But then I saw another building which looked like a museum.  So I headed off down the road.  It wasn't a museum, I don't think, but there was a bus map outside with attractions on it.  I realised I had walked the wrong direction down the road, so I headed off back again.

I passed the Armenian Church, but didn't go inside and so I don't know what is the significance of it.

I turned onto a small street which happened to be Armenian Street, leading to the museum.  Actually, I had walked on this street last year!  I spent some time in this camera shop, where they didn't offer me a cup of tea, and a cup of tea was offered on this sheet I picked up from them.  Some cameras were only thirty-odd dollars, but then, of course, one must buy film and also pay to have the pictures developed!  The downside to analogue photography, which they kept promoting, it that one cannot easily upload pictures to their blog!  I got this piece of paper from them which has this written on it "Reminisce the days where film was the gold standard in photography and everyone had a Polaroid camera of two!"

I got to the museum at last, but then saw some hip people.  In fact, they were filming some bloke breakdancing in the alley.  Should have taken a photo!

There were some old fashioned shops, so I went in this bookshop which had all these intellectual books about Asia!  I bought a book called 'Narratives in Malaysian Art Volume 1: Imagining Identities', edited by Nur Hanim Khairauddin and Beverly Yong, with T.K. Sabapathy.  It "brings together a collection of essays which highlights the way in which art has provided artists with the means of imagining themselves, and imagining our nations...discuss art developments in relation to changing expressions and experiences in Malaysian social and cultural life from after the Second World War to contemporary time, while 140 illustrations create a parallel visual narrative."

I've decided it's time I got a bit more a) intellectual about things, and b) into art because it's Indie and cool and intellectual and I am possibly maybe going to be interested if I try.  Also, if I don't get into stuff, I'm going to get bored of myself on another level, like when I'm giving an oral presentation and I get bored of my own speech because I'm really not interested in hearing what I have to say.

At the Peranankan museum (yes, I eventually got there), I acquired a new passion.  It is for beaded things.   

Tablecloth made entirely from beads!

Those pouches look so much better than these trendy silicon ones I saw the other day which were ripping and were still in the shop.

As you can see from the caption, this is a striped kebaya with antelopes.  I really dig the antelopes on the stripes.  It's an eclectic mix of moods.  If I owned that top, I would wear it everyday!

There was a large section about the play Emily of Emerald Hill which they make out to be the Singapore's sole highlight of arts culture.  Visitors were invited to dress in the clothes above and film themselves speaking lines from the play.  Then, you can judge the best one.

This piece of artwork below is a bit blurry, so is the information tag.  Oh well.  I think it was about religion in Peranakan culture...anyway, it's a bit Christian and a bit psychedelic, so I think that's more than a bit Indie.

Too bad I got told off earlier about flash photography, which seems to be the default setting on my camera.  Otherwise, you would be able to see the Virgin Mary in the Victorian bell jars properly.  You know what I'm going to say...so RookieMag but not ironic!  Then again, is there anything very ironic about RookieMag?

I would have liked to have made this next picture the final and crowning picture for this post, but alas, I have more to say.

 Peranankans who converted to Christianity may have also converted the "traditional" cabinet or whatever it is called for worshipping ancestors and gods to one for worshipping Joseph, Mary and Jesus Christ.  Note: I did not make Christ the surname of that family.  I don't know why there's that guy in the red top on the side.  Maybe it was a reflection of another painting.  Or maybe it's an Asian Jesus who appeared in my camera.  Must be a message.

 I was looking forward to some Nonya food since I had not had lunch.  But there was only a tiny cafe without room to swing a cat, let alone carry my bag in.  Yeah, there wasn't much.  So I stayed hungry.

Then, I was rushing rushing rushing home.  I found a bus stop, decided which bus to take, then was sitting for a while but no bus was turning up.  Damn, I looked at the routes board again and the number for the bus I wanted was in grey rather than red, so I thought "maybe the bus doesn't come here", though actually it probably does go there.  So I rushed over to the MRT station, which was Bras Basah, got on a train.  Then I heard the announcement for the next station had a sudden feeling I'd gotten on the wrong direction of the line, so I got off at the next station and switched platform.  All good, right?

But the thing was, I didn't know where I should get off! I thought it would be best to try to get somewhere I knew.  But then it stopped at a place called Buona Vista Interchange and I thought I had seen it written on the bus sheet near my place.  So I hiked in the rain out of the station, across the road and down the road to a bus stop to find that none of the buses I wanted were going where I wanted to go.  So I hopped back on the MRT and got to Holland Village.  The MRT station had three exits for different bus stops.  Some how, I picked the correct one and hiked a bit up a hill in the rain to catch a bus and it was all good.  But I was a few minutes late for dinner.

The moral of the story is that if you run out of water and are thirsty, you will be a bad decision maker when in a rush and not be very orientated.

Also, at the end of that day, I was feeling no desire to go out ever again or explore ever again.  Also, I felt that it might be an idea to study a map before going out, but also that I should not need to do that since I had learned the whole of Singapore.

On Food Photography

What does food photography mean to me?  Well, that is a question, not a statement.  The types of pictures I take of food are not what you would expect.  I don't go for a pretty picture.  Often, food is not pretty.  Not even before you eat it.  It is the idea that is important.  Blah Blah.  Just trying to say a few words.  But anyway, the point is, I'm not the type who tries when they take a photo of food.  I just try to get all the important parts into the photograph.  And I use a camera, not a phone.  So here are some pictures of things I have eaten/places I have eaten at.  I'm not trying to be apologetic or anything, not because I actually don't care about you (because these photos are for you because otherwise why would I take a picture of something I have eaten and put it on a blog?), but because I actually like these photos, more than I like Singaporean food.  lol.  I don't know why I'm even gonna say this, but if you just read that, you wasted your time.  

My dragon fruit.  Red fingers for three days.

Bhattura at Komala Vilas in Little India.

This was at Niqqi's Cheese Prata (can't really remember the name) near these hotels which called themselves "Waterfront" and "Oceanview" but were not near any water except the rain.  Despite my random clicking of the photo button, I couldn't get a shot of the woman hurling the prata dough in the air.

arma et virumque cano - That is What I Kept Saying In My Head at the Airport

I started reading the Penguin Classics copy of Virgil's Aeneid, which is translated by W. F. Jackson Knight.  I'm pretty in love with it.  It's given me a new dream.  I've got to get good at translating the Aeneid.  Translating Latin is going to be my new talent.  At present, I have not been maintaining any talents, unless you call blogging a talent.

I might also pretend that I am Aeneas on my travels.  I'm not actually a fan or anything of the bloke, but I like to think that maybe someone like the Gods cares for me.  If that even makes sense.

I have been in Singapore for more than twenty-four hours now.  I had a turbulent flight.  But don't worry, it turned out okay and I didn't throw up even though I was stuck in my seat for three quarters of an hour with a painful bladder and a tray of cookies and cream mousse and lamb in cream sauce.  I'd like to be cryptic, or should I say "kryptik", and leave it to you to decide whether the A380 is Indie or not.  It's not that I'm a country turtle or anything, but I had the time of my life because the INFLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT WORKED.  Even during turbulence, take-off and landing, and other times.  I watched Gosford Park and I recommend it.  Indies are culturally aware and I think satirical movies about the English class-system in 1935 should be high on your agenda.  Like, one must get the staples watched, but it's really rather more important to digest the unmainstream Indie works.  I'm just saying.  But if you still wanna keep up with the Jones or the Jonas brothers or whatevs, fine, go ahead, waste your days away watching Woody Allen films until you feel you could respond to any situation as Woody Allen.  And it had a stunner cast!  Then I actually had a sleep.

Look at this cool thing from the aeroplane.  If you look hard, you will see that there is some bird crap with a feather in it stuck to the camera.

I went to Orchard Road today.  I walked up and down a million times, but one could count on one hand the number of shops I entered.  And the shop I wanted to go to was not even open.

Here are some things I have eaten today.  But I will spare you the details so I will not talk about the chuee kway, the apple or the curry puff, none of which I have photographed.

Note:  Above are two photos of one fish.  I didn't eat two, incase you know, you thought that.

I cannot remember a time when I ever went to Singapore and didn't go to Takashimaya to get a pancake filled with chocolate and in the shape of a fish.

Then I decided it would be cool to go to the mall for young people.  Unfortunately only the food places were open.  I took these photos of the closed clothes shops.  Most, I think, were hipster men's shops, but I imagined myself going in and buying something without realising they were for men.  Then I walked around the park and went to the 'underground' cool young people market.  I considered getting this coloured chalk pastels for hair.  Maybe when I go back.  All sorts of colours.  There was a picture of it's effect...on blonde hair.  So hmmm...

Naturally I came first, as  the mall was almost a ghost town.  But don't worry, I didn't get creeped out by the idea that people might pop out from around corners in hats like these:

That is class - using fonts which really speak to the niche.

The age old tradition cool young skaters have of buying hydroponic basil under the awning of an old red bus.

I think Maccas Mans has a competitor for Indiest outlet.

My lunch - Penang Char Kway Teow!

Saw some Indie people, too.  Shall I ask people if I can photograph them?

Also, I bought my brother a Gangnam Style t-shirt.  Good job Billie!

The Yoghurt Phenomenon

Oh no. I just realised this post never posted! Don't trust the scheduled post!

So what's with the new sudden blogging like it's a random thing or something?  I'm getting really into my personal style (that doesn't mean I'm getting into myself as a person or whatever or anything.)  You see, up 'til now, I've been more into public style and commenting on what the general public or certain parts of the public such as Indies do.  And I would have opinions and I would voice them.  However, I would not consider myself as have being a bastion of my personal beliefs during that time.  Lol.  Jokes.  Must have ben the Tavi Gevinson effect on me.  I'm talking about how she went from being a trend connoisseur to being a trend creator.  I've really forgotten what I was trying to say.

So, anyway, I'm getting into the alternative and the mystic.  Oh wait, that's mystic with a 'k' like Mystik Spiral.  For a month maybe, I was really irritated with anything alternative.  But now I'm embracing it.  Kind of like the opposite of when I tried to be Indie (years before I started this blog and doubtlessly long before you even knew there was such a thing as Indie music, assuming you even knew about music labels anyway.)  Yeah, and then I totally went anti-Indie.  But then I just stopped being agro.  And then I loled.  Like, I developed greater depth and breadth in my humour.  But, like, now, I'm kind of ironic about existing, so it's all good.  I'm not trying to be random or anything, but I'm just letting my style be as random as their conception.

The other day my mother asked me why I was suddenly so confident about my appearance.  I tried to get her to understand, but I guess old folks these days just don't understand that something can be ironic because it isn't.  Why do adults have to be so imposing of the ideas?  Old fashioned things fail sometimes.  Like, hello!?  Did they not live through the fear-of-the-post-apocalyptic-phase phase?  So why can't they just take the future and the present a bit more lightly?  They must be so mainstream-ed out, I don't even wanna say.

So anyway, now I just feel comfortable with talking openly about myself on my blog.  I don't need to make any tricky allusions of anything.

So anyway, today my dreadlock turns one week.  This is a fact which not many people know about me.  I copied the method by the Danish youtuber Anna April. So, I'm going for this minimalist look by just having one dreadlock.  My mate Joanna and I are going for this new look called "Hippy doing the IB".  Which means that we are really cultured in global matters/affairs/phenomenons/stuff.  She linked me this brazilian psychedelic song from the sixties:

This kickstarted our new movement.  Ironically, we have to be into World Music.  Which I hate because alternative people like it.  Friends, Romans, countrymen...the wise words of Christian Lander:

WARNING:If you live near a white person who is into world music, start looking for a new place to live. They are literally days away from buying a new instrument. (p. 120 Whiter Shades of Pale)

Our new look is somewhat eclectic but also all about putting pieces together that challenge society's conventions.  The key idea is to successfully integrate hippy items and preppy items to form an outfit.  It's wild.  People these days are using the term "off the rails", so I'll use it, too.  But the look is not simply hippy and preppy mashed together, it's also intellectual in the fact that I'm striving to be an OXYMORON.

The theme of this post is "getting more cultured during the final quarter of 2012".  The theme of my life during the third quarter was watching all of the Daria episodes and wearing my limited edition Daria t-shirt.  Dude!  I still haven't watched the movies!  I suppose I'm saving them for a milestone event.  Anyway, I've talked about point one, which was my new passion for having personal, cultured style.

Point two is how on Halloween (totes pissed off I forgot to celebrate All Saints Day, which I think is MY PERSONAL day, seeing as I don't have a patron saint), which was on Wednesday, I went with some mates to my local cinema.  I couldn't even pause before saying that I consider it the most Indie in my "city".  Yeah.  And the room wasn't even half-packed.  And I forgot to present my student card, so I paid full-price.  And the one thing I hate more than not getting a bargain is paying extra.  Whatevs.  

We watched The Rocky Horror Picture Show.  Lol.  Probs one of the shittest films but I loved the cultural experience!  People were yelling out lines and rude things on cue and they were dressed up and had brought props.  So intense.  And then afterwards, these "old" couples were analysing the experience.   They'd probs been watching it every year since the senventies.  And they were saying how great it would be to see a full audience and who would get really into it.  And my mate Hannah and I were like "I didn't see you dancing along" but we didn't actually say that to them.  

So anyway, despite my fondness for the songs, I didn't find the jokes funny.  And I am suffering post-traumatic trauma from the portrayal of sex in that movie.  Believe it or not but I'm gonna be concise:  It's a film which can't be forgotten - I'm scarred for life.  Whatevs.  But speaking from the point of view of someone who would be commenting on a pop-culture icon,  I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who is immature.  And if you were to be mature, you wouldn't be watching that film.  But anyway, if you need someone to convince you to join the late-night Rocky Horror watcher cult, I'll again refer you to Christian Lander:

Under no circumstances should you ever accept an invitation to go see The Rocky Horror Picture Show. White people spend less time preparing for their SATs than for this movie.  (p. 183 ibid.)

ANYWAY...This is the part where I reveal my excitement at my big overseas trip which is coming up very soon.  I shall keep you in suspense by not revealing any further details.  I hope to blog at least once whilst away.  Here is a song, which features in two of the most teen icon movies Clueless and LOL, to sum up general Canberra Indie vibes a la moment:

The Land Down Under

ARGH.  Hahahaha.  Here is a post I wrote nearly two months ago but didn't get the photo until the other day!  So here it is:

It's been such a long time since last blogging in that I can't believe I actually managed to get my password right.

I really wanted to write this blog post.  But then I closed a door on my big toe and then the spark to write left me.  

But then I forced myself to write it.  So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't really want to write this blogpost but feel I need to.  So I guess I'm not a quitter after all.

I've noticed how in so many posts I've illustrated my exciting exotic adventures overseas.  So in this blogpost, I'd really like to take the time to spend time writing about some great travels I've actually had, like, actually in Australia.

A few weeks ago I went to Milton to pick up my new puppy Camilla.  But I don't want to put a picture up now, not because I'm too lazy, but because one day I'll do a whole photographic post of pictures of her many looks.  Like the Simpsons Movie, which is really only the kind of movie one would watch once, but I've actually seen it a few times (I don't know why, I don't even like it that much.)

I really liked Milton, the shops had all these things one just can't get in Canberra!  I loved the bookshop, it had good books and good style.  And while I'm mentioning the word style, style is so much more than just appearances.  It's like how these days people are using this word 'swag' all the time, it's a concept that couldn't be so easily described before!  So style and swag are closely linked.  But you can't say a bookshop has swag.  Anyway, the thing is, the world these days is deep.  And then there was this antique furniture place and all these people lying around on the grass without shoes on.  The vibe was good.  I would try to use that abbreviated form of the word 'casual', but I can't spell it.  Actually maybe that word would not be accurate.  Because it was totes spunky and sophisticated as well.  And then we ate lunch at this vegetarian place and it was really good.  It was also quite slow, but hey, who am I to say anything when I've never tried putting sprouts on a small plate next to a pie that had just come out of the heating up box?  I learned a valuable lesson from Quinn Morgendorffer today about the value of quality of time over quantity of time.  And I need to tell you that when you're in a place where you're receiving good vibes, it's good for you, so don't sweat or swear.

I didn't take my camera with me, so here is a photo my Dad took in this AMAZING shop called Twigs where where the woman in the picture, called Rachel, makes beautiful handmade clothes.  The jacket on the left is very interesting - it is reversible.  (If you can see it.)  And I bought my mate Alyce a pair of earrings which were in the shape of an intricate flower but handmade out of this plastic-like stuff, all one piece.

This is a MUST GO place.

Moving on, as this is the appreciation of Australia instalment of my somethingness, it's time I share this wonderful photo I took probs half a year ago or more at Bondi Junction (in Sydney) in the shopping mall.  I lol EVERY TIME!