Festive Spirit

Been busy with a new project - the Southeastern Coast Gallery for the Australia photos. It's really consumed a lot of my time, not only because the pictures are nice (heh, if I do say so myself) and they remind me of a good time spent overseas, but also because this project has been characterised by an unusual sense of possibility. The ideas that I had for its design have been more easily implemented than for other projects, and to my surprise, my rudimentary JavaScript skills actually allowed me to self-programme something useful, rather than to use my old method of poaching bits of code from online coding forums and databases. So this project seems blessed, somehow, as if some force from within its nascent form also wants it to be completed as much as I do.

The pictures, too, are endearing. Somehow the pictures that came out of Australia were generally more colourful and evocative, somehow more well composed. I don't know if it's got anything to do with my family's increasing experience with photography and this camera in particular. But I have to say that the settings in Australia really just lend themselves to be photographed. The scenes spontaneously compose themselves, the lush landscape, the built environment, the people, the weather all somehow conspiring to produce a pattern so compelling that I cannot resist whipping out my camera. And yet, it is also the talent of Australia to make such exquisitely composed scenes without a trace of contrivance or artificiality. So there is, this time, a surprising number of good candid shots, shots that tell of a moment and portray and emphasise its essential character.

So throughout this project, so far, I've been dwelling in a certain sense of enlightenment, as if by presenting these photographs in a specially crafted gallery, they are empowered to uplift and enrich me. These photos already hold a special place in my memory, but by repackaging and retouching them, more patterns are emerging that serve to make them even more precious. I guess a part of this can be seen as self-indulgence, but it has been so long since photographs have spoken to me so eloquently, and I am quite taken up by their siren song.

Next up - a gallery for the Malacca pictures. I think that will be all till Christmas, when I hope to launch these two new projects, as well as the revamped Lumière Project site. New and improved is the order of the day, and this is a time of renewal and rebirth, of finding oneself again and regrounding oneself in preparation of the next stage of life. And after the East Malaysia trip, this cycle of traveling will be completed, I reckon.

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Anyway - Borneo trip's confirmed. I'm flying off again on 2 Jan, coming back on 9 Jan. An East Malaysian sojourn squashed into the period of time between New Year's Day and my 21st. I'll be visiting Soph's hometown of Kuching, then joining her for her Kota Kinabalu leg, where we'll also be joined by one of her university friends. Heh, I wonder what it'll be like, traveling with two practicing college students. Must practice my discoursive skills again, to at least be able to fend off intellectual forays.

The trip is still in the planning stages, when it's just all promise and anticipation. A range of options lies before me, and I find it invigorating to find what can be done given the limited time and resources that we have. It's like a puzzle to be solved, an one that suits a planner, I guess: how to make the potentialities of infinite possibility compatible with the strictures and limitations of a system. And once again, it's the issue of striking a balance between planning and spontaneity; though if Malacca was anything to go by, small-group traveling would require far less planning than Australia, because small groups are naturally more manoeuvrable and adaptable.

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And besides making the gallery and planning for the next trip, I've also gone out a bit. Kay Hwee and family have flown off to New York to pass Christmas and New Year in the Big Apple, the lucky gits, but Joel and I were able to catch them on their penultimate day in Singapore. Watched The Warlords with them, which was the biggest Asian offering at the box office this holiday season. It was disappointing: a wannabe show trying and failing to be deep and epic, in the way that Hero and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon were revolutionary for the genre.

That evening, finally met up with YS for dinner. She'd been back from Canberra for weeks already; in fact, she may have left on the day I touched down in Brisbane. But due to travel (ah, what a happy hindrance this is!) and the testimonials, we only found the time this week for a reunion. She's back to work at PUB, getting to know the workings of the organisation, and preparing for a year of exchange at the University of Virginia. That places her in the general neighbourhood of the Northeastern US when I get there next year. This tips the balance for my winter plans somewhat: if more people are in the US than in Europe next winter, then I won't do the transatlantic jump. But the choices have to be weighed carefully, since most of the Europeans will be entering their final year next year, and there won't be another winter in which to do the transatlantic jump.

Anyway, had a good time chatting and catching up, I for the most part regaling her with Australia stories, and my impressions of the land and the people from Down Under, and YS looking forward to Virginia and ultimately returning to Canberra. This reunion, the conversation came more easily, I think partly because we have almost five months of stuff to talk about, but also because now I feel more of an equal to her, having thrown off the experiential fetters of the Army, and having two new trips behind me. It may be fallacious, this perception of inferiority, but it was a real barrier; though I was in the Army, I didn't feel as adult as she was, and I've said before that the Army period was a discontinuity in the progress of my life, an abortive branching off of experience, a dead end, and a period characterised by waiting for life to resume. Now, things are moving again, and most importantly, there is a sense that things are moving forward, a sense of direction, that makes me more in tune with the vibes of an undergraduate, I reckon.

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Some of my people have returned: witness Soph's (initially abortive) return to Singapore, on the same day that Kels touched down, and our little Humanities classes reunion dinner at Newton Circus that progressed into an epic Munchkins battle at Kels's place. Witness the return of YS. And witness the plans for anothe reunion, on Christmas Eve, that invites people like Vaish and Aparna and Mel, continentally displaced friends and classmates coming home for the holidays.

But more are not coming back, and to some of these I have posted cards for the season. It's a shock to realise how late in December it already is, and how it's probably too late to send anything that will arrive before Christmas itself. But it's important to remember people in this period; if they can't be here in the flesh, the least you can do is to spare a thought for them (and, perhaps, find a way to spare more than a thought for them and to do something nice that bestrides oceans and continents). To all my people overseas, I still think of you frequently, and I still wish you could be here, even though I understand why you won't be here.

Walking down Orchard Road with YS after dinner, we ran into the whole festive spirit of the place. Crowds of people on the night streets, a choir in front of Paragon, and, magically, a procession of brightly-lit and -coloured floats driving past bearing a host of angels. The fairy lights twinkled overhead amidst the broad leafy canopy of tropical trees, and volunteers wished passers-by a Merry Christmas. I think the organisers did a good job this year; the place really feels joyful and warm. But also, this is the first Christmas season in four years that I've been able to enjoy without any worries or hindrances whatsoever. And I know that it all seems so much more special this year, because this is the time between the end of the long wait of the Army and the start of the most exciting phase of life so far.