15 October... exactly two more months before I see Changi Airport in the distance. There are just so many things I want to do back home (esp. eating and all).. Probably my parents are giving my brother a holiday too (after the O's).. but still dunno where to go. Because, ultimately I have the final say as to where to go. *evil grin* There're quite a few places I'd love to go too.. if u ask me where I really want to go now, I think it'd be Moscow, St. Petersburg and all.. but the security situation there now, *hai*. I don't want to be caught in an explosion or sth. My mum suggested Myanmmar, cos she has a friend staying there.. hmm. anyway, to be more practical, i'm longing for the char kway teow opposite tjc (the one i'll happily queue up for 20 mins just to eat that during lunch), more muah chee.. and more beef soup. *yummy* I can actually imagine what they taste like as I'm writing this now.
Romance... communist-style
I'm reading this book called "Once Upon The River Love" by Andrei Makine.. he talks about life in Siberia during the communist period. On Page 100, he reflects on the effect of state propaganda on love.. quite urm. interesting :) I quote:
I recall one very typical film about love. Boy meets girl. On a path in the midst of the fields of rye, in the evening. They walk along silently, artistically shy, heaving eloquent sighs from time to time. The moment of decision approaches. The audience holds still, subsides, waiting for an appropriate embrace. The young kolkhoznik removes his cap, makes a broad circular gesture, and declares: "You know the rye this year, Masha: I bet it yields twelve quintals per hectare!"
A groan of frustration shook the darkened auditorium.
Especially because the heroine was very beautiful and her partner definitely virile. ... ......
But all the lovers could see, hovering over the fields in the evening, was the misty outline of the messianic project, the sun-bathed peaks of the future. They stifled their natural urges and concentrated on talking about the harvest. The kiss came as a more or less optional extra. It made the screen go dark. And before it lit up again we heard the first wails of the baby that had appeared in the arms of its happy mother. Clearly these moments of darkness were a filmic expression of the night of the gestation period...
Vehicle registration plates..
You know, back in Malaysia, vehicles registered in Johor all start with "J", KL = "W", and so and so forth.. Then occasionally back in JB, u see cars with registration plates beginning with a "K" = kedah, "R" = perlis (the most northern state, 900km away from JB), or "D" = kelantan. And you just have that kind of feeling that these cars don't exactly originate from malaysia.
But then, in Oz... when u see cars registered in "SA", "VIC", or even worse, "NSW" (!) here in Perth.. the feeling perpetuates itself.. It's like, "how in the world did the cars survive the desert journey?" For the record, it is nearer from Perth to Singapore (3901km), as compared to Perth to Sydney (4400km).. (!).