Last night was a breezy evening spent with all my old lost & long forgotten soc science mates after watching the Honk! musical at Victoria Theatre. It was an enjoyable show - on the usual feel-good themes of acceptance and social differences, optimism and hope. In particular, the local references were witty and well-timed. As though the show had set the mood for the evening, it was a merry and easy-to-slip-into-your-shoe-size kind of friendly small talk with them. Free wines available at the reception helped as well I believe. Haha. Anyway, I think I can understand the happiness SarahWong felt when she said she felt all warm & fuzzy inside when she reconnected with the other SocSci girls when I wasn't around. Our stroll down empress lane & parliament lane was dotted with numerous stops taking crazy group photos set against the pretty night time urbanscape.
It's a season of mixed feelings now. The gorgeous colonial buildings, bright lights and a big-bang Chingay extravangaza promised in our current recession. This recession hangs thickly in the air all around us. Everyone talks about it like it's a deadly plague and this sense of dread and gloominess weighs heavily on everyone's shoulders. Yet at the same time, the whole is full of optimism with regards to the new 44th American president Obama. I'm not going to be his groupie & champion him before anything concrete has been done. I just hope that he proves all the skeptics like me wrong, and ideally new America can help to make this world a less ugly & less dangerous place.The frail truce in Israeli & Gaza has garnered most of international attention now and the horrific conditions in Congo are largely ignored and forgotten. Everyone else can continue with their lives, pretending nothing has happened. Me included and I'm always filled with guilt when I actually do think about it. Instead I worry about my upcoming assignments deadlines, whether I should fork out 180quid to attend the Glastonbury festival 2009 and how to fit my friends into my schedule etc etc. While a normal girl like me who feels obliged to want to alleviate all the suffering in the world, I can't think of any way which I can help to make a real difference. Even if I can, sometimes my own selfish decisions get in the way and if that happens, does that make me a bad person? I guess I'll just listen to my Primary school teacher and stick to reduce, reuse & recycling for now.
Oh yeah, here's wishing a Happy Lunar New Year to everyone too. Whether you're here in Singapore doing your last minute spring-cleaning, or you're overseas, far far away from home; chinese or non-chinese; whether you know this festival exists or not; whether this festival still has any meaning to you or not - I think it's safe enough to say that a large majority of people are hoping for a better future. Hmm... Maybe festivals carry on & on & on forever in societies and cultures because of people's eternal optimism & hope for mankind. I want to believe in that, at the very least.
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