very very much

The fall in May did give me a bump on the head for a few days, but the rest of the year was a strange combination of intense work days and nights of sheer ennui (which, according to J, simply calls for exercise). In any case, I’ve been thinking of reviving the blog, and what better reason than to have a chance to say - Dear friends, have a blessed Christmas!

J and I were somewhat uninspired at first when it came to the door design for Christmas and the new year. We did have all kinds of rabbit-inspired motifs at first. A giant 3D origami rabbit (nah, been there, done that). Vinyl sticker designs (too much of a hassle). A brand new coat of paint (but we’ll miss the 2 kids).

It was dinner with a friend D in early December and hearing his story that made it clear to J and I the message our door should bear in Christmas and into 2011.



The text and rabbit outfits are cut out from ampulets studio's year-end project last year. This year’s year-end project, incidentally, will be late going out to friends and the studio’s clients. Why? Now that’s a story I will tell once I get the all clear for its happy ending.

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p/s Just for fun, I dug out the links to the past doors! 2009 2008, 2007,2006

Door Gift

Last week J and I found a box of old Christmas decorations he bought before we'd even met. It was only after putting some of it out on the door to our flat that it occurred how sad it must make Boy #106 and Girl #15 look - home alone clutching the iron gate while the body-less snowman twirled above their heads in the monsoon weather. Perhaps some kid in our block (we discovered later it was the 9 year-old niece of our neighbour upstairs) felt this way too, because last night, she slipped this painting under our door.


company for the home alone kids this new year's eve with Mr Cross-eyed, Lil' Fearful, and Ms Those-Aren't-My-Friends

friends, whoever it is you will be with this evening - you, them, him, her - amps wish you good company.

blessed

Friends, amps wish you a blessed Christmas - albeit belatedly - and give you this drawing by J/TOHA in his inimitable freestyle, about insatiable appetites and the real blessing that we may therefore miss.


click for flickr view

And in keeping with this theme, our favourite presents this year include a small container of "A Hot Hot Rub for Aches & Pains" from cousin KM that promises to also "Conquer All Demons" (!) and a faux gold plaque from an aunt that declares for us "Christ is the Head of this Home".

happy belated children's day

Lelong lelong, amps fresh and chip-chip - collage by J

watermelon man: The washing machine broke.
persimmon girl: Huh, what's a washing machine doing in a melon patch?
wm: And my laptop screen, it broke too.
pg: That's tough luck.
wm: Not to mention 2 weddings to make even my wallet broke.
pg: Ah, fruit mating season.
wm: Oh, it's tough - so tough -[he cries, black melon seeds falling down his face]
pg: Cheer up watermelon man, stop crying...look, you are getting your pink protective styroforam packing all dirty -
wm: Oh no, oh no, and my washing machine's broke!

This year, adult-type problems almost threatened to keep us from saying this, but - amps wish you, especially you folks who have laundry to do - a Happy Belated Children's Day!

counting down?

9 more days to this

The family, over the obligatory Chinese New Year game of mahjong, shares this conversation:

Bro: I warn you, my tiles are real beautiful. [chuckles to himself]
Aunt: Pong!
Bro: Wah, 3 flowers and a pong-pong game...that's 5-tai.
Aunt: ...[The real professional, she gives nothing away on her face.]
Dad: Eh, Y, pass me some egg rolls.
Y: Ohr.
Dad: [munches, dropping the crumbs all over the green table top] Oh, after a few more nights, you'll be married and then you'll no longer live here, that's fast -
Bro: Pong! Game!
Dad: Darn, look at my tiles - almost perfect already...
Y: Aiyah! Mine too!
Aunt: ... [She smiles and dusts the egg roll crumbs onto the floor for the faithful family dog.]

Well, at least 1 person is counting down.

happy children's day?

What? No presents?!? - image by J

Overheard outside a childcare centre yesterday, a weary 5 year-old:

"I hate children's day! So many things! So many presents!"

Well, for those of us who didn't get any presents, hope you have a happy Children's Day.

Another day older

Like all good Singaporeans, J & I spent the national holiday watching movies.

One was Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, all dark chocolate with marshmallow & fudge. The other film we watched with Monster Ru was Tsai Ming Liang's misplaced and disappointing The Wayward Cloud...like chunky Watermelon juice with seeds (aiyoh, not suitable for children). This is one rare occasion when I would vote for the candy-coated Hollywood product instead.

Teenagers in general spend a fair bit of time at the cinema, mostly consuming Hollywood visions. 2 weeks ago, responding to the Chinese conference "Culture and Youth: can they grow up together?", a writer from the Chinese language daily Zaobao observed if Singapore's cultural development would be stuck forever at the "teenager" phase - consumerist in nature, fickle, fueled by the desire for random self-expression and for freedom from tradition and authority. These are, of course, only the negative traits.

i.
ii.
iii.
I don't want to grow up - drawings from Kidnap News

Since post-independence-Singapore is only 40 years old (starting yesterday!), the writer laments that we seemed to have intellectually and culturally cut ourselves off from anything before the 40 years. In defining our cultural milieu, the decision-makers, story-tellers and even the man in the street cannot reconcile the experiences of today's youth with their parents' and their grandparents'. These remain discordant, disconnected pieces.

In this way, our cultural malaise is the denial of having once been old and denying the wisdom that can be found in tradition and heritage. Like a teenager, Singapore strives to constantly re-invent and assert our youthful vigor. Though this gives rise to significant anxiety about our cultural identity, the writer concludes optimistically that Singaporean culture will mature - given time, space and the solid food from poetry.

The article got me thinking - not about Singapore per se - but in self-centred teenager fashion, about myself. And in resolving to grow up, I would, for a start:
1. admit that even children are not innocent (don't romanticise childhood, very regressive - unless it results in a film like Tim Burton's);
2. care more for our parents/families;
3. lament less, commit more to others;
4. get decent medical insurance;
5. stop wearing sneakers; and
6. allow that all these will need more than just time, space and poetry.