this has been a punishing semester, and, were i more emotionally present i might have got on better. instead these last few weeks have been so bad that by midweek i was on the verge of tears and said to myself i must take friday off: go to the bukit brown exhibition in the morning, find a nice lunch spot and read davenport and ransmayr, meet andrew for coffee and the grand budapest hotel, and then have dinner with desmond.when the whole of friday morning was spent instead sorting out messy internship applications and then, when I was stranded by the NEL and had to make a madcap dash into town (in heels and highnecked cheongsam), i thought the day was scuttled. as it happens, the second half went perfectly well — i only missed the first 10 minutes of the movie and slid into my seat just as the chapter one title card came on screen (o lush little romp! also very gerald c potter (hello basil boothroyd!) but you know, somehow *slighter* than his others (observation not criticism)) and afterwards desmond picked me up and we drove to quayside isle for dinner (me: ok this is way too yuppie, but i remember the days when i had an income and used to live like that, so very well, allons-y!) waterfront view of sailing yachts and pleasure crafts (pleasure boating is surprisingly enjoyable — i wouldn’t have thought i would like it at all, but remembering too how years ago joel took me out several times and the unexpected delight (those were the days that on his way to punggol marina he had to drive through hougang and could spontaneously stop to holler at my doorstep.) long gone, those days.
also strolling along quayside isle after dinner i found that nikei fine art has a gallery there. it was closed, so i only took away a lovely toko shinoda centenary flyer by the door. it reminded me to renew my search for another toko shinoda. (i’m terrified that if she dies (she’s already 100, afterall) prices will skyrocket and i’ll never be able to afford her again: as it is most of what is available is already beyond my reach. (i’ve wanted something from the encounter or reminiscence series for years and years, and a few years ago i very nearly got one called ‘kasanari’ and another called ‘maiden’, but someone beat me to both.) i’m now looking for this pair of lithographs, which seem to be at scriptum japanese prints in california. perhaps it is time to visit the us.
Best of the Transparent Hummingbird