- From Tokien (June & July '06)

What great magazines we have at the student bookstore. I shall spend limited free time with Entertainment Weekly (rest-of-2006 movie roundup: Babel! Candy! Happy Feet! Volver! And Jude in no less than three films?) and Tokien (Bueno Aires-based Korean designer; Jena "the one who's going to grow up to do something surprising" Malone; skateboarding photography; Chris Ware cartoons; guide to Savannah; behind-the-scenes of Wassup Rockers).

The wise woman builds her house,

but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.

- Proverbs 14:1

I may have a permanent sunburn - that's how much this place boils. Thank God for my new roommate, Alice, who arrived with a power fan and fridge. And the cabbie who picked me up from the airport, a Sudanese dude named Noah, if he did get seasonably lost in the Law School area when all I wanted was to get to the IRC. We talked TOEFLs (he's going for his Masters at George Mason University), America's obsession with pre-marital sex, how gorgeous bi-racial kids are (his cousin married an Indonesian), post-war Sudan, how New Yorkers are the best tippers, and also compared cultural roots, while his phone rang continuously with his homies telling him to get on down to a barbecue they were having. "Call me if you need help - remember you have a brother here!" he declared, before speeding off to the party.

Clearest sign that I'm back -

Me: So why'd you choose to stay in the IRC?

Laid-back first-year: I don't know, man. I just love everybody!

Unpacking, running into random people, dinners, semester plans - once and again, the world is huge. But jetlag exhaustion is so much so that I am too tired to answer simple, friendly questions like "What is your favourite sandwich?" So many things. I am considering a publishing internship at Scholastic New York next summer - let's assume it's closer than I realise. And from here we work.

My favourite tea-egg smell permeates the house. Stomach is heavy with sting-ray, satay, sugar-cane juice, a testament to love. The last thing this time was CG dinner at Chomp Chomp and a lot of screaming with laughter because we uncovered a lot of mutual mysteries. Like What Lies Beneath a CHIJ Pinafore ("how long did you think the blouse was?") and the fact that there are slits in boxers. How come I never knew that males have always had pee-flaps? Church people are like family; they've known you forever and sometimes close sometimes not-so-close, but they'll always remember when you were young and stupid and love you anyway. Everything that can come close to God's eternity.

I almost bought more uni merchandise today while visiting 1c girls. Wearing a HDB-coloured T-shirt shouting "I TRIPLE-HEART NUS" would be a stretch though. I've almost done with packing and think I will write again before Friday. If not, will be quick-sentimental and blow-kiss this multi-summer goodbye.

Javier: You're leaving?

Ramon: That's right.

Javier: For how long?

Ramon: Take my book, it's behind you... look at the bookmark.

Javier: "To my son".

Ramon: Read it.

Javier: "To my son.

Forgive me, son, for not being born.

It's not my fault you were left behind.

It was the roses that were afraid.

Forgive me for not having played with you.

And if you're born after I'm gone,

remember always that I still love you.

Give your mother a kiss for me

And don't resent me.

Hate is a bad thing."

Ramon: Well? You get it?

Javier: Yeah.

Ramon: Explain.

Javier: Well - it's about the son you never had. It's as if you were talking to him, apologizing to him.

Ramon: Good. What did I write below?

Javier: "To Javier".

Ramon: Well?

Javier: Well what?

Ramon: It makes no sense to you?

Javier: But I'm not your son.

Ramon: Sure, I know that. But I dedicated that poem to you for a reason, right?

Javier: But I'm not your son!

Ramon: What do they teach you at school? Go on, beat it!

Javier: (leaving) You're all being so weird.

- The Sea Inside

I had to put myself on the waiting list for both Media Studies and Spanish. Why can't I just crash at David's house and not worry about what time the storage company is going to deliver my things to UVA. Why do I have to haggle for a pay-cheque? This is the expected response when you aren't instinctively prepared and feel annoyed at yourself for not being instinctively prepared.

Should sleep and stop massaging the yellowing bruises from minor bicycle crash at East Coast which gladly did not end in a wrecked sandcastle and angry SJC students. Huixin coerced me into visiting SCGS this morning where National Day celebrations ended by 9, also early Botanic Gardens family breakfast tomorrow. Remember Huixin's late grandpa who said "Of course I loved her! We eloped - I saw her and TOOK HER AWAY" and hopefully I can reach out and hold all of your hands with due sincerity before it is too late!

This is beginning to sound like Breakfast on Pluto's Patrick, I sail a bit too much on other people's styles to write uniquely, you'd think.

I now very belatedly have Jay Chou's 七里香 album on my iPod and decided I don't like listening to lyrics with zero idea of what they're about. I have a very poor ear for Mandarin, needing to visualize words, and hence began coming up with my English versions of the songs. Now if an ang moh were to ask what exactly is so beautiful about one song? They need translation, and good translation also.

For example there is little effect in literally translating "就算没有结果 我也能够承受" as "Even if there is no result, I can accept it." Taken in love-song context, my own interpretation would be "I can handle this, even if there's nothing left to save." Of course Chinese metaphors are more flowery than foreigners are used to, but cannot be erased entirely the way ignorant Caucasian translators infused corn field allusions into Sanskrit poems.

窗外的麻雀 在电线杆上多嘴
Outside my window, sparrows chatter on the telephone wire

你说这一句 很有夏天的感觉
You say, “That’s a line to remind me of summer.”

手中的铅笔 在纸上来来回回
My grasped pencil moves swiftly across the paper

我用几行字形容你是我的谁
I use these lines to describe: who you are to me.

秋刀鱼 的滋味 猫跟你都想了解
You want to savor everything, like a cat does the salty taste of fish.

初恋的香味就这样被我们寻回
We thus quietly discover the sweet smell of first love.

那温暖 的阳光 像刚摘的鲜艳草莓
This warm sun is as unexpected as freshly picked strawberries

你说你舍不得吃掉这一种感觉
You say, you can’t bear to eat up this feeling.

雨下整夜 我的爱溢出就像雨水
It rained all night. My love is as fervent as the downpour.

院子落叶 跟我的思念厚厚一叠
Leaves falling on the roof thick and plentiful; like my musings

几句是非 也无法将我的热情冷却
Nothing spoken can stem my passion

你出现在我诗的每一页
You appear in every page of this song.

雨下整夜 我的爱溢出就像雨水
It rained all night. My love is as fervent as the downpour.

窗台蝴蝶 像诗里纷飞的美丽章节
The butterflies outside dance like the beautiful verses in this poem!

我接着写 把永远爱你写进诗的结尾
I write on – and conclude with “love is forever.”

你是我唯一想要的了解
You’re the only thing I need to understand.