A tale from Down Memory Lane

This entry is a tribute of sorts to Tessa. The format, writing style and content will be my own interpretation of reboot>review. Well, Tessa has challenged her loyal blog followers (such as shameless ol’ me) to remember our childhood memories and share it with other people. She claims it’ll make us “warm and fuzzy inside”. Well, here goes.

Childhood memories don’t hold much meaning for me, ironically. The few I do remember include: slapping a girl one-year-older than me in Kindergarten (aged 5), speaking Chinese for the first time (aged 6), sticking out my tongue at a P.E. teacher and getting punished for the first time in Primary One (aged 7), falling into the school pond while trying to collect some water (aged and enjoying the ‘worship’ of little Primary One kids (aged 9).

Amazingly, one of my earliest memories would be the feeling of extreme excitement when my kindergarten teacher read us a story about two feuding families (It was a picture book so I don’t remember the title, but I doubt it was Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet: Abridged). Naturally, I don’t remember the whole story anymore, but one scene on the page really appealed to me, and this was when the two matriachs of both families (comely, attractive women in their own right) were in a heated argument which threatened to result in physical combat. Although it would be many many years before lust actually entered my life, but it soon became apparent to me that I had a major fetish for catfights (although being a rather gentle kid even then, there never was the attraction for any form of sado-masochism). My fetish lasts till today: the first porn site my father caught me looking at was www.catfights.com, and I don’t think I ever forgave myself for getting caught.

Hmmmmm… I hardly feel “warm and fuzzy” now. Maybe I should try really hard to retrieve a happy memory this time.

I guess the earliest happy memory would be the first time I saw my wonderful sister, Sharon, at home. It was a especially bright and warm Monday, and although Mum had been resting in hospital for a week now, it was finally time to see her and the baby back home. I remember practically rushing out from Maris Stella High School to meet my father, who was a teacher next door, at the now-defunct Mount Vernon Secondary School. For a place I’d never really explored, somehow I managed to find my way around Mount Vernon, looking for my father. He was just as excited, if not more than I was. He spotted me first, while he was outside his second storey staff room, and I ran to a spot just below him on the first floor.

For the first time ever, he threw me the car keys, and for a split-second moment, I realised what was so enjoyable about a father-son game of ‘Catch’. Then my fumbling butter-fingers missed the keys, and the moment left as as quickly as it came. Both of us ran for the car as fast as we could, and I remember not being able to control my excitement the whole journey home.

Reaching home, I kicked off my shoes and ran across the house to my mother and my baby sister. Practically ignoring my mum, as most young children would when they see a new object, I peeked into the huge rattan baby basket lying on top of the swing. And there, wrapped in a couple of blankets was the most beautiful person I’d ever seen in my life (till I met someone else six years later, of course). Her face was flushed pink, and she had little rosy dimples above her cheeks. She was awake, and she smiled at the attention she was getting, revealing tiny white teeth which looked lovely against her lips.

I guess that’s why I’m finding it hard to accept the fact that she’s really grown up now. She has crushes, swoons after Hollywood stars, listens to pop music and has mood swings on a regular basis. The irony is, she’s now at the age when boys do become attracted to her, and I’m worried that I might not be so friendly to those guys who try to hit on my sister, although I do empathise with them. I guess I’ll just be there for her if she needs me, but I’ll trust her to think for herself and do the right thing.

I recommend… reading Tessa’s blog on a regular basis. She’s really an amazing person who’s autobiography will one day be a bestselling self-help book.

I do NOT recommend… taking me seriously. Sure I’ve said some things that are nice and decent, like this blog’s first post about Tessa, but some of the things I’ve written here are stuff I would normally not tell a potential wife, let alone an acquaintance or even a complete stranger. But I guess I realise that by revealing stuff about myself, I let go some of my inner demons, and prevent them from taking over my heart and soul.

Okay. Now is seriously getting freaky. Three out of five people read my blog not long after I’ve mentioned them somehow. Yeah, my ex-classmate told me yesterday that she read my blog (this is the same one I said I was going out with yesterday, just in case you didn’t realise.) A 60% chance of someone reading my blog soon after I mention them is as high as I dare to take it. Who knows, the next person who reads my blog may be that Indian cross-dresser my da jie told me about yesterday. *shudders*

Anyway, yesterday we had a pretty good time, although it would appear that I predicted (with some accuracy, what happened). Yes, the Tiong Bahru nightmare continues. They call me while I’m halfway across the island towards Tiong Bahru, and ask me why we’re meeting there. Best part is “we” here doesn’t refer to the two people I planned to meet… Apparently, my da jie’s colleague and former schoolmate of ours is tagging along too. Remind me never to trust a girl to be alone (Well not ALL girls, anyway).

Anyway, we end up at Orchard Cineleisure’s Food Court for dinner (a place I would never have gone on my own because I’ve been there so darn often, but Singapore is VERY small). Me and three girls. The more I think about it, the more I realise this is a record for me. So sue me, I’m getting a life only now. After that, Da Jie drags us all to HMV because she wants to decide whether to buy Shakira’s Laundry Service or Celine Dion’s A New Day Has Come. I pray that she will not spend too long deciding. Fortunately for me, my ex-classmate (to tell you the truth, she’s much more than that to me, but I can’t say it here because she reads my blog) keeps me occupied otherwise.

All in all, a rather satisfying way to end the day, and though it may never happen again… I know it’s a start to getting myself a “life”.

I’ve noticed that I only blog in the mornings when I am at work. I guess it’s because my Internet connection at home feels like crap. Half the time it isn’t able to maintain a proper connection to the Magix server, and the other half of the time (which technically happens a LOT less than the former) I get disconnected minutes after someone worth talking to greets me on ICQ (Okay so that sounded a little ego; let me clarify that: anyone who talks to me is worth talking to.)

Anyway, life is good now. Really. I’ve arranged to meet my da jie and another ex-classmate of mine for dinner today, and not surprisingly, I had to leave my handphone at home. Yes, I’m a genius. So now, I’ve only got less than an hour to go home after work, grab my phone, pray that they haven’t mutually decided to stand me up, and arrange for another place to eat. *bleh*

I’ll let you know what happened tomorrow.

The biggest irony of it all, is that I’m bringing them to Tiong Bahru Plaza. Tiong Bahru was where I had my last outing with healer (aka caduceus). That was a pretty good “date” except I made a blasted fool of myself half the time (HEALTH SURGEON’S WARNING: If you think Peter holds even the smallest attraction for you, DO NOT attempt to go out with him unless you take proper precautions prior to meeting him). It was also where I caught Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within with three of my choir Section Leaders. That was good too, except I never did go out with any of them again. Haha.

Okay. Now I’m scaring myself.

Welcome back to my blog. Today I shall just put two test results that I grabbed from Tessa’s blog, reboot>review.

Which Star-Crossed Marvel Lover Are You?

This is ironic, because I’ve NEVER identified with Wolverine, except when I wanted to shred paper faster. Oh yes, and Al-Qaeda members too. Not that I shred either on a very daily basis. (Okay… bad joke…)

which Episode II character are you?

Queen of Naboo. You could have a split personality - simply to hide who you really are. You are extremely polite and gentle. However, if needs be, you will take action and can be a very good leader. You have the power to make people believe in you - use this power. The one you love could also end up being the one you hate.

Ack. I’m the Queen of Naboo. Someone I really have NO desire to emulate, considering that even if I were a woman, I would never EVER fall for a James Dean kinda person, especially if that person really couldn’t act even if his life depended on it, and had freaky pipe organ march music playing in the background… although I might change my mind if that were MY theme song instead…

Now Natalie Portman on the other hand…..

If you have cable TV (and by that I mean Singapore Cable Vision), you have to subscribe to Star Movies NOW! In this day and age, where movies are a dime a dozen, it’s really difficult to actually enjoy a decent, down-to-earth movie that doesn’t really on its cult status to take off (you know which movies I’m referring to).

Well, Keeping the Faith (2000), directed and produced by co-star Edward Norton, also starring Jenna Elfman and Ben Stiller. It’s a classic romantic comedy with excellent Catholic and Jewish social commentary interspliced.

Norton (Fight Club, American History X), Elfman (Dharma & Greg) and Stiller (Meet the Parents, There’s Something About Mary) play childhood friends who meet up some twenty years later, with heartwarming consequences. One is a Catholic priest (Norton), who’s best friend is a rabbi (Stiller), and although they grew up together, play basketball regularly and plan to start an inter-faith community centre, their friendship is put to the test by the arrival of a beautiful high-flying businesswoman (Elfman).

Most of the screentime is shared by Norton and Stiller, who portray two rather different people (Father Brian and Rabbi Jake) with the same goals: to revolutionise their respective flocks, and they do. Both the parish and the synagogue are filled to capacity once word gets around that there are “new acts” in town. However, this does lead to some complications. The mothers in the synagogue keep “advertising” their marriageble daughters to Rabbi Jake, and Father Brian notices all to often the coy glances of women in the parish congregation.

Neither of them are interested, though. Until eight-grade classmate Anna “If God had hired me, He would have made the world by Tuesday” Riley re-enters their lives. With her sharp wit and relentless workaholic attitude complimenting her attractiveness, Jake and Brian find themselves drawn closer and closer into a love they never thought could happen. But while Brian continues to dream about her, Jake takes the next step, and soon finds himself in a sexual relationship with Anna. This is where the actual story begins.

Jake is adamant about keeping their relationship a secret, because 1) Anna’s not Jewish, so he’s afraid it will cause a scandal and 2) he knows of Brian’s mutual attraction to Anna, and he doesn’t want to spoil their friendship. However when the relationship breaks down several months later, Anna tries to find solace in Brian, but Brian gets the wrong idea and ends up embarrasing himself. Of course, as all romantic comedies go, Jake re-unites himself with Anna, and Brian is more than content to be best friend to both.

As romantic comedies go, this one really stands out, because the film never loses sight of the fact that Jake is still a rabbi, and Brian is still a priest. Both Stiller and Norton have an amazing number of lines which give a real insight into their respective religions. Co-stars Anne Bancroft as Jake’s mother and Eli Wallach as the retiring Rabbi Lewis also add a lot of interesting depth to the story. But the best line of all must go to the part-Indian, part-Irish, part-Muslim, part-Catholic Bartender, who sums up the story by saying, “May those who love us, love us. And those who don’t love us — may God turn their hearts. And if He cannot turn their hearts, may he turn their ankles, so that we may know them by their limping.”

I give it 4 out of 5 Strings, because Ben Stiller has a tendency to over-act.

Just visited this site called Strength of Salvation.

To say the least, I’m very disgusted.

How did I get there? Well, apparently, a Yahoo! websearch with keywords “Catholic War Machine” leads me to a page within this pro-salvation site which denounces the Roman Catholic Church for being, among other hideous things, a murdering, rampaging autocracy, having a hand in all kinds of atrocities such as the Crusades, the Inquisition and the Third Reich. Nothing new to me here. But when the rest of the site claims to prove that not only Catholics, but Muslims, Baptists (and all other Protestants), atheists, people who celebrate Easter and Christmas, people who read the New Internation Version (NIV) Bible, and all the other Bible versions (other than the King James Version) are all going straight to hell on the last day, I just cannot ignore this insult.

The truth is, I’m no stranger to anti-Catholic sentiment. I’m no stranger to the majority’s ignorance of Catholic practices, teachings and traditions. But that is only because I am adamant in my religious beliefs. Having been Catholic my whole life has been a great boon to me, because I enjoy the presence of the Lord in the Sacraments. I’ve never totally agreed with the Church’s teachings, especially those on being the only path to salvation, but I do recognise that the Lord is God, and that is all that matters.

AFTERTHOUGHT: Ironically enough, despite my strong sentiments, I’m still a really normal guy. and to prove it, here are two dumb tests (something that would really interest my buddy Wai Liong of Temporary Insanity).

Which tarot card are you?

What is YOUR Highschool label?