3resilience

...and the new year hangs tantalisingly on the brink of Tomorrow. Been spending a lot of time on new year greetings, composing them carefully. It was a project that was inspired like Elsewhere: encountering an artifact that suggested itself so compellingly to be a part of a larger whole, and indicated what should be done with itself to make it complete. It's like finding a block of marble that suggests to the sculptor what statue it should be, I guess, in the stereotypical vision I have of how sculptures are born. Or, perhaps, encountering a tree that shows you what kind of ark you should build with it.

And partly, too, the energy to do this project has come from the approach of 2008 itself, so long-awaited and yearned for. It is, I guess, a way to acknowledge that 2007 has passed honourably and fulfillingly, and has laid a worthy foundation for the promise of the new year. It is a signpost firmly pointed forward, and an emblem of action: as I wrote, the approach of 2008 adds a sense of velocity to the sense of direction that 2007 gave me. It is finally time for life to move onward to the goal that I've had my eye on for almost two years now.

Received a letter today from Columbia asking for a report of what I've been doing for the last six months, and a reaffirmation of my decision to matriculate there in August. I think I'll relish writing that letter, and there is so much to include: not only the work in the Army, but also the three trips since then (the next one also hanging tantalisingly on the brink of Tomorrow), and the projects I've been up to - perhaps most usefully, the refurbishment and relaunch of this website and related paraphenalia. And it's also the season for everyone to submit their applications to be admitted to US universities next year. Yes, life for this batch is gaining momentum again, and it will be good to have everyone moving forward once more, and feel the energy that was absent during the long wait in the Army, that certain purposefulness and striving that is kindled by a cherished objective. I sincerely hope that everyone gets the opportunities that they so rightly deserve.

So, in these ways, I find 2007 coming to a most satisfactory close. Also, in a flurry of letter- and postcard-writing, I've tried to touch base with my people who are overseas, a sort of radio check of the old modes of communication that we had. And also will be meeting up with whoever's here in the days to come. Passed Christmas Eve at Vaish's place in a small, jolly reunion of Arts-fac types, spiking the cocktails with high-velocity jokes. Whiled away the afternoon with Thong today at a tea-house (no, not the one he's quitting soon) over pots of fragrant pu'er-and-ginseng tea and a Japanese infusion of green tea and rice, throwing around ideas for ideal birthdays. And spent a long, long time with Yiting chatting over dinner, between souvenir-shopping and coffee as a digestif, jumping between the past, present and future with the accumulated energy of two months incommunicado. And tomorrow, linking up with Liulao (who'd contacted me out of the blue with a short-lived offer to relief-teach at CHS) and the CHS gang, before perhaps seeking out the tail-end of a RJGE reunion lunch.

And, of course, there's the Sarawak-Sabah trip coming up. It's a breathless progression - I'd thought that December would be far more empty, allowing me to savour the build-up to the big events of Christmas, New Year, and the next trip. It's really good that things have rolled along so swiftly, and staved off vapidness for me so well; but a part of me, still wistful, yearns for more time, as always, to appreciate the textures of the idea of a thing before plunging into the thing itself.

Oh well, as Joel says, seize the time while it's still here. Commit to the present and stave off a lethal dose of reflectiveness. There'll be enough time for that, when the future is no longer so promising.

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Today marks the start of a new project, tentatively entitled Directions. Hopefully will be ready before the year is out.