had a barbie and kicked some balls with some friends at albert park today.

we had the perfect weather, cloudless clear blue skies, gentle sunshine and cool cool breeze.

my long lost tan re-branded itself on me.

a little bit about the pair of love birds. they were literally inseparable. in the perfectly still waters, they had this little ritual of theirs going; closely nestled to each other, they paddled gracefully up and down the width of the lake. but whenever they neared the end of each bank of the lake, they would pause to gently nudge the other above the beak, forming a perfect heart shape between their bowing necks. i notice that while one swan remained stationery, the other flirtatiously swirled in circles as if showing off its contours. and when it stopped, they would again caressed their bowed their heads in bliss and then continue to traverse the width of the lake.

anything repeated one time too many becomes contrived and meaningless. in singapore, the message of survival, perseverance and hope for a better future plays like a broken record. perhaps the only way for these messages to be more than mere words is for each generation to go through the experiences of war for itself.

i so not think that these are merely words for people who had gone through the japanese occupation, fallen or survived, but more often than not these words are immortalised only in death.

elizabeth choy passed away at a ripe old age of 96 today. she and her husband endured kempeitai torture met out by the japanese occupiers and survived, yet she maintained “we must have enough courage in our hearts to forgive the people who did terrible things during the war.“

the closest portrayal of the anguish experienced by those who lived through the japanese occupation was in the channel eight drama series, the price of peace. xiang yun played elizabeth choy, and although just a dramatization, the scene of elizabeth choy suffering between electrically charged probes was deeply etched in my mind.

what i witnessed was merely a reenactment, it wasn’t for elizabeth choy, and yet she has the courage to forgive. perhaps those who suffered along side elizabeth choy were happy enough to live one day at a time, not knowing how long this hell on earth was to last, but now having laid to rest in peace and not war, those like elizabeth choy are able to truly value the price of peace.

we will all be laid to rest one day, the question is not when, but in what circumstance. i really do hope that succeeding generations of singaporeans, who might not have any war veterans in their life time will still be able to value the price of peace, distinguish dramatised trivialities from matters of life and death and like elizabeth choy, have the resilience of steel to care for the welfare of others in spite of their own hardship.

student a: what is aftermath?

student b: english

i dreamed of him last night, i saw his face

all radiant and unshadowed of distress,

and as of old, in music measureless,

i heard his golden voice and marked him trace

under the common thing the hidden grace,

and conjure wonder out of emptiness,

till mean things put on beauty like a dress

and all the world was an enchanted place.

and then methought outside a fast locked gate

i mourned the loss of unrecorded words,

forgotten tales and mysteries half said,

wonders that might have been articulate,

and voiceless thought like murdered singing birds.

and so i woke and knew that he was dead.

- Alfred Douglas

Paris 1901

the launch of the new ipod shuffle.

1 gb of music, comes with the dock and 12 hours of play time when fully charged.

i want.

i would want to test this new clip ipod shuffle on the older lighter-shaped shuffle on this nike dri-fit top.

Nike+ Ready. Like a second skin – only cooler, the women’s Nike+ Seamless Fitted Tank for running lets you focus on the finish line… wherever that may be. Your iPod keeps you in the zone from the safety of the tank’s Nike+ waterproof pocket, while a cord management hole and a “no look” button make running and rocking easier than ever. Zonal venting and Dri-FIT fabric keeps you cool and dry by actively wicking sweat away from the skin to the tank’s surface for easy evaporation. A new, tight-fitting seamless design has targeted zonal venting and absolutely no friction spots for a barely there feel.

or,

i can pace my running stride to preselected music wirelessly with the ipod sports kit.

and how about a matching nike air max 360 to go along with the seamless dri-fit top?

running has never looked so good.