I recently travelled all the way up North from Brisbane to a rural little town called Cooroy, located in the Sunshine Coast area, to visit a good friend of mine. He is my senior from my Honours class and we sometimes hang around to chat after lessons. While showing me around the Sunshine Coast area in his car, we talked a lot about our post-thesis futures. My friend is moving to Nagoya, Japan to teach English as a private tutor. I couldn't help but feel so envious. The dude, coming from a place so rural that the train only stops by twice a day and the nearest bus stop is a 1 hour walk away, is going so far beyond his little town to begin a new chapter in his life in a new environment. He admits to being nervous about the move but I know he is looking forward to working in Japan. I want to be like him, going places that are far beyond the familiar, to seek new challenges and adventures.
Many people I've been catching up with here in Brisbane have been asking me about my plans for the future now that I've finished my Honours programme. The main concern now would be getting a job, and this will most likely have to be in Singapore. I love Brisbane and would very much like to work here or somewhere else in Australia, but the reality is that in recent years it is much harder for foreigners to find a job in Australia now that the Australian government has tightened the working visa rules. Furthermore, a lot of the jobs I am interested in working in or are related to my field of study require at least Permanent Residency in order to apply. This leaves me little choice but to return to Singapore to work.
Honestly, I have mixed feelings about returning to Singapore. On the one hand, I look forward to seeing family and friends, as well as eating cheap and good local food. On the other hand, Singapore is small. I don't just mean small in the geographical sense, but small in the sense that there are many cultural, social and political restrictions on the individual. Ultimately, I think I'm reluctant to leave my peaceful and enjoyable life here in Brisbane to return to the fast-paced Singapore life, having lived here in Australia for almost four years. Four years. Has it really been that long ago when I first came here? And now my time here is coming to an end so ... soon?
Perhaps I shouldn't be looking at things this way. Sure, unlike my good friend, I'm heading home rather than a new country to begin a new chapter in life. I may be returning to the familiar, but I'm going back as a new person. The me today is not the same as the me who first left Singapore for Brisbane four years ago. At the end of my overseas university experience, I find that I am less timid and so much more confident of myself and my abilities. I'm pro-active, and willing to speak up and work hard in order to get what I want.
What I want is a challenging yet fulfilling next chapter in life. After all the adventures I had studying abroad in Brisbane and Leeds, I will never do boring again. I aim to see more of the world, meet people from all over and learn from them, because there is just so much to know and discover. To all this I'm going to have to start somewhere first, and Singapore really isn't a bad place to begin. I'm going to return and begin to prove myself. I'd work for a few years in an industry of my interest, establishing my career, before moving on to the great beyond just like my good friend.
Tomorrow, I will be leaving Brisbane to return to Singapore. I will certainly miss Brisbane very much; it has been a home to me for the past four years. I am also going to miss greatly all the wonderful friends I have made during my four years here. Some of them I will never forget, and will treasure their friendship dearly. We shall keep in touch and someday we will meet again. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for the wonderful memories. I shall tuck them away in a special place in my heart, keeping them like a charm to remind myself of the joy, adventures and fulfilment that going beyond my comfort zone can bring.
I may be returning to Singapore, but I shall not be working there for the rest of my life. No, Singapore is just a springboard from which I'll leap towards greater things. I'm ready to come back and take advantage of whatever opportunities I can find back home. I know I can. Beyond beckons, and I'm raring to make my move.
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Friday, June 28, 2013
Saying my goodbyes
The last few weeks of each university semester is always the most bittersweet because I always have to say goodbye to good friends who are moving on to new phases of their lives. This semester is especially bittersweet because I'm the one who has completed my Honours thesis and am moving out of Australia very soon.
So, over the past few weeks since I completed my thesis, I have been seeing various people here in Brisbane who are dear to me. We meet up, often for a meal/ tea, talk and reminisce, exchange gifts, and part ways with hugs, handshakes, well-wishes and promises to visit if we ever visit each others' neck of the woods. It's hard and quite sad, especially since some of them are so dear to me, but I'm thankful that we at least got a chance to say our goodbyes.
I am quite touched to find out that I will be dearly missed when I go, even by people who knew me only briefly. The other day, for instance, I visited my favourite candied nut seller at the Jan Powers' farmers' markets held at the Brisbane CBD every Wednesday. She knows me, because I am a (fairly) regular customer who is a fan of her large-sized, well-coated, good quality Macadamias and Almonds. I told her I was going to leave for Singapore very soon and she said she'd miss me dropping by. I ended up buying three big boxes of mixed candied nuts from her to take home and share, and she was so touched she gave me a discount and a complementary small packet of candied Macadamias. We hugged, and after I told her I'd drop by again the next time I visited Brisbane, we parted ways.
Aside from meeting up with people, I've also been re-visiting my favourite hangouts and eating my favourite foods. While I was still studying, I told myself that once I finished all my studies, I'd grab some friends and we'd do a graduation trip around Australia or maybe New Zealand as well. Now that I'm done and dusted with my studies and have loads of free time, I find myself reluctant to travel very much. The only travelling I've done so far is further up North to visit a good friend in the Sunshine Coast, and then taking a plane to cross the continent westwards to visit a dear friend in Perth. I don't mind being in Brisbane most of the time. I like it here, and I'm determined to revisit as many favourite places and see as many people here as I can before I go.
I have always loved Brisbane, for its not-too-stressful pace of life, great hangouts and lovely people. Now that I'm about to leave, everything and everyone somehow seems more beautiful.
So, over the past few weeks since I completed my thesis, I have been seeing various people here in Brisbane who are dear to me. We meet up, often for a meal/ tea, talk and reminisce, exchange gifts, and part ways with hugs, handshakes, well-wishes and promises to visit if we ever visit each others' neck of the woods. It's hard and quite sad, especially since some of them are so dear to me, but I'm thankful that we at least got a chance to say our goodbyes.
I am quite touched to find out that I will be dearly missed when I go, even by people who knew me only briefly. The other day, for instance, I visited my favourite candied nut seller at the Jan Powers' farmers' markets held at the Brisbane CBD every Wednesday. She knows me, because I am a (fairly) regular customer who is a fan of her large-sized, well-coated, good quality Macadamias and Almonds. I told her I was going to leave for Singapore very soon and she said she'd miss me dropping by. I ended up buying three big boxes of mixed candied nuts from her to take home and share, and she was so touched she gave me a discount and a complementary small packet of candied Macadamias. We hugged, and after I told her I'd drop by again the next time I visited Brisbane, we parted ways.
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My favourite candied nuts seller at the CBD farmers' markets. Her stall name is called 'Aussie Gourmet Treats'..jpg) |
Aside from meeting up with people, I've also been re-visiting my favourite hangouts and eating my favourite foods. While I was still studying, I told myself that once I finished all my studies, I'd grab some friends and we'd do a graduation trip around Australia or maybe New Zealand as well. Now that I'm done and dusted with my studies and have loads of free time, I find myself reluctant to travel very much. The only travelling I've done so far is further up North to visit a good friend in the Sunshine Coast, and then taking a plane to cross the continent westwards to visit a dear friend in Perth. I don't mind being in Brisbane most of the time. I like it here, and I'm determined to revisit as many favourite places and see as many people here as I can before I go.
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| A beautiful spring day. This is the Forgan Smith building, probably the largest building in my university |
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| I absolutely love farmers' markets, and one of my favourites here in Brisbane is the West End markets, held at Davies Park in West End suburb every Saturday. I love getting cheap and good fresh produce as well as the abundance of freshly cooked food from all over the world! |
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| West End is my most favourite suburb! It's quirky, a vintage haven, offers a variety of international cuisine (particularly Greek and Vietnamese) and has a fabulous farmers' market every Saturday. |
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| Glorious, gorgeous Noosa Rocky Road from the Noosa Chocolate Factory. The best Rocky Road ever, and one of my most favourite candies ever. I just bought a large pack to bring home and I strongly recommend this local Queensland Rocky Road as a souvenir. |
I have always loved Brisbane, for its not-too-stressful pace of life, great hangouts and lovely people. Now that I'm about to leave, everything and everyone somehow seems more beautiful.
Monday, June 10, 2013
Anime Review: World Premiere of Makoto Shinkai's "Garden of Words"
I've been wanting to review this for a very long time, ever since I first watched Makoto Shinkai's latest film Garden of Words on 28 April this year. Now that my thesis has been completed I can finally get round to doing it! Also, given that the film was just released in Japan about a week ago, this is a good opportunity to discuss the film and why I highly recommend watching it.
I was one of the lucky ones who attended the world premiere of Garden of Words on 28 April. The film was fresh out of Shinkai's studio that day, having been completed only 3 weeks before being screened at the world premiere. The screening was shown at the Pacific Fair Shopping Centre, located at the Gold Coast in Australia, as part of this year's Gold Coast Film Festival. I couldn't have been luckier! I happen to be living in Brisbane, which is about an hour's train ride away from the Gold Coast. 28 April also happened to be my birthday :) It was certainly a very happy birthday as not only was I among the first the view the film, I also got to meet Shinkai himself during the autograph session and shook his hand! All these perks made the highlight of the day even more special. As it turned out, Garden of Words is definitely another masterpiece from Shinkai, one that is best summed up as achingly beautiful.
(Note: Contains some minor spoilers!)
According to Shinkai, what makes Garden of Words unique is that this film uses the traditional Japanese understanding of love as "lonely sadness" or yearning someone in solitude, instead of the modern notion of love as romance. The use of this concept actually does not make Garden of Words too different from Shinkai's previous works, such as 5cm per Second, Voices of a Distant Star and Children Who Chase Lost Voices, all of which deal with the issue of coping with a distant love. However, Garden of Words differs from these previous films in that it focuses on the coming together of two people driven by their longing for each other instead of lovers who become separated from each other.
The two main characters of Garden of Words first encounter each other at a park during the rainy season in Tokyo. Takao is an aspiring shoemaker who decided to skip school to sketch shoes in the park whenever it rains. Yukino is a mysterious older woman who also decided to skip work to read and drink beer in the park when she feels like it. Both slowly get to know each other, discovering that they look forward to the rain that would bring them together at the park. However, they have difficulties working out their feelings for each other, and with the rainy season drawing to an end, they must quickly deal with the yearning they feel for each other.
The challenge of pulling off a film about how lonely desire draws two lovers together is that the love between the characters needs to be developed at the right pace and their blossoming feelings explored with sufficient depth. I'm happy to report that Shinkai has managed to tackle both aspects very well. This is evident in the care and attention he places on various little details that do not seem significant on their own, and are therefore easily taken for granted, but when taken as a whole are crucial in contributing to the beauty of the overall film.
Take, for instance, Takao's ambition of becoming a shoemaker. During the Question-and-Answer session at the end of the film, Shinkai explained that shoemaking actually plays a role in the deepening relationship between Takao and Yukino. Shoemaking is intimate because people do not normally show their bare feet to strangers. When Yukino removes her shoes and allows Takao to use her feet as a model for the shoes, as seen during the movie trailer, it reflects the growing intimacy between the pair as Takao is permitted to touch a normally private part of a person's body. In fact, making shoes is Takao's way of intimately connecting with other people. Coming from a family broken apart by divorce and living with a mother who is sometimes preoccupied with her younger boyfriend, Takao did not experience much love in his life. He seeks enjoyment in the craft of shoemaking, partly motivated by a childhood memory in which his father, older brother and himself surprised his mother on her birthday with a stunning new pair of shoes. Ironically, Takao is so caught up in the intimate craft of shoemaking that he is unaware of the people around him, as Yukino observed at one point during the film.
Rain is another significant part of the film that deserves greater appreciation. Shinkai even went as far as to describe rain as a character of the film. Rain was present at many of the significant moments in Takao and Yukino's deepening relationship; it was what first brought Takao and Yukino together at the rain shelter at the beginning of the film and it made their subsequent meetings at the park possible. Rain was therefore central to the love that grew between Takao and Yukino. In a way, Shinkai explained, falling rain is like falling in love: you cannot help it happening.
Finally, one cannot help but marvel at the breathtakingly beautiful art and scenery that characterizes so many of Shinkai's other works. Shinkai mentioned that for this film he improved on his visual art by using a new colouring style. Shinkai's sharp attention to the film's art is reflected in the life-like details of the surroundings its characters are embedded in: the shimmer of the curtains, reflections in the dew drops, the sparkle of the rain and even faint clouds of pollen and dust in the air. At the same time, the dominant use of sky blue and jade green gives the film a lovely dreaminess. The mesmerizing quality of the film's art led the host of the Question-and-Answer segment to joke that the film was "scenery porn". Shinkai chuckled at that and replied that he never thought of his artwork as visual porn, for him, the gorgeous visuals served to enhance the overall film experience. One might argue that such emphasis on the beauty of the film's art may distract from the main story; there is a risk of style over substance in other words. Garden of Words would have fallen into this trap if the development of its story was weak to begin with. However, as described earlier, Shinkai paid careful attention to developing the intimacy between the two main characters that is central to this film. The loveliness and dreaminess of the Garden of Words' art therefore do not distract but reflect the mood of a film that sets out to explore desire.
Shinkai's Garden of Words is truly a work of art, not just in the visual sense, but also in its ability to capture the lonely desire that makes falling in love painful yet beautiful. I would even go as far as to rank it as highly as Shinkai's other widely-lauded film 5cm per Second. Others may disagree with this ranking but this beautifully crafted film is sure to at least touch one's heart. If the reaction of the audience at the world premiere of Garden of Words is anything to go by, this film would be well-received: at the end of the film, there was a brief silence before a long applause. Shinkai admitted after the film that he was a little worried of how an international audience would react to his new film. "Did you like it?" he asked the audience hesitantly in English. The cheers and second round of applause said it all.
I was one of the lucky ones who attended the world premiere of Garden of Words on 28 April. The film was fresh out of Shinkai's studio that day, having been completed only 3 weeks before being screened at the world premiere. The screening was shown at the Pacific Fair Shopping Centre, located at the Gold Coast in Australia, as part of this year's Gold Coast Film Festival. I couldn't have been luckier! I happen to be living in Brisbane, which is about an hour's train ride away from the Gold Coast. 28 April also happened to be my birthday :) It was certainly a very happy birthday as not only was I among the first the view the film, I also got to meet Shinkai himself during the autograph session and shook his hand! All these perks made the highlight of the day even more special. As it turned out, Garden of Words is definitely another masterpiece from Shinkai, one that is best summed up as achingly beautiful.
 |
| Shinkai signing my Garden of Words poster at the cinema |
According to Shinkai, what makes Garden of Words unique is that this film uses the traditional Japanese understanding of love as "lonely sadness" or yearning someone in solitude, instead of the modern notion of love as romance. The use of this concept actually does not make Garden of Words too different from Shinkai's previous works, such as 5cm per Second, Voices of a Distant Star and Children Who Chase Lost Voices, all of which deal with the issue of coping with a distant love. However, Garden of Words differs from these previous films in that it focuses on the coming together of two people driven by their longing for each other instead of lovers who become separated from each other.
The two main characters of Garden of Words first encounter each other at a park during the rainy season in Tokyo. Takao is an aspiring shoemaker who decided to skip school to sketch shoes in the park whenever it rains. Yukino is a mysterious older woman who also decided to skip work to read and drink beer in the park when she feels like it. Both slowly get to know each other, discovering that they look forward to the rain that would bring them together at the park. However, they have difficulties working out their feelings for each other, and with the rainy season drawing to an end, they must quickly deal with the yearning they feel for each other.
The challenge of pulling off a film about how lonely desire draws two lovers together is that the love between the characters needs to be developed at the right pace and their blossoming feelings explored with sufficient depth. I'm happy to report that Shinkai has managed to tackle both aspects very well. This is evident in the care and attention he places on various little details that do not seem significant on their own, and are therefore easily taken for granted, but when taken as a whole are crucial in contributing to the beauty of the overall film.
Take, for instance, Takao's ambition of becoming a shoemaker. During the Question-and-Answer session at the end of the film, Shinkai explained that shoemaking actually plays a role in the deepening relationship between Takao and Yukino. Shoemaking is intimate because people do not normally show their bare feet to strangers. When Yukino removes her shoes and allows Takao to use her feet as a model for the shoes, as seen during the movie trailer, it reflects the growing intimacy between the pair as Takao is permitted to touch a normally private part of a person's body. In fact, making shoes is Takao's way of intimately connecting with other people. Coming from a family broken apart by divorce and living with a mother who is sometimes preoccupied with her younger boyfriend, Takao did not experience much love in his life. He seeks enjoyment in the craft of shoemaking, partly motivated by a childhood memory in which his father, older brother and himself surprised his mother on her birthday with a stunning new pair of shoes. Ironically, Takao is so caught up in the intimate craft of shoemaking that he is unaware of the people around him, as Yukino observed at one point during the film.
Rain is another significant part of the film that deserves greater appreciation. Shinkai even went as far as to describe rain as a character of the film. Rain was present at many of the significant moments in Takao and Yukino's deepening relationship; it was what first brought Takao and Yukino together at the rain shelter at the beginning of the film and it made their subsequent meetings at the park possible. Rain was therefore central to the love that grew between Takao and Yukino. In a way, Shinkai explained, falling rain is like falling in love: you cannot help it happening.
Finally, one cannot help but marvel at the breathtakingly beautiful art and scenery that characterizes so many of Shinkai's other works. Shinkai mentioned that for this film he improved on his visual art by using a new colouring style. Shinkai's sharp attention to the film's art is reflected in the life-like details of the surroundings its characters are embedded in: the shimmer of the curtains, reflections in the dew drops, the sparkle of the rain and even faint clouds of pollen and dust in the air. At the same time, the dominant use of sky blue and jade green gives the film a lovely dreaminess. The mesmerizing quality of the film's art led the host of the Question-and-Answer segment to joke that the film was "scenery porn". Shinkai chuckled at that and replied that he never thought of his artwork as visual porn, for him, the gorgeous visuals served to enhance the overall film experience. One might argue that such emphasis on the beauty of the film's art may distract from the main story; there is a risk of style over substance in other words. Garden of Words would have fallen into this trap if the development of its story was weak to begin with. However, as described earlier, Shinkai paid careful attention to developing the intimacy between the two main characters that is central to this film. The loveliness and dreaminess of the Garden of Words' art therefore do not distract but reflect the mood of a film that sets out to explore desire.
Shinkai's Garden of Words is truly a work of art, not just in the visual sense, but also in its ability to capture the lonely desire that makes falling in love painful yet beautiful. I would even go as far as to rank it as highly as Shinkai's other widely-lauded film 5cm per Second. Others may disagree with this ranking but this beautifully crafted film is sure to at least touch one's heart. If the reaction of the audience at the world premiere of Garden of Words is anything to go by, this film would be well-received: at the end of the film, there was a brief silence before a long applause. Shinkai admitted after the film that he was a little worried of how an international audience would react to his new film. "Did you like it?" he asked the audience hesitantly in English. The cheers and second round of applause said it all.
Monday, June 3, 2013
Thesis Submitted!
I wanted to blog about this the day it happened, but was too busy celebrating my freedom and forgot. No matter. On this blog, I hereby officially declare my thesis, 'Stories, Spectacles and Sports: The Politics of Visaulizing the Beijing Olympics protests', SUBMITTED :D
I submitted it a day before the official deadline actually. From my experience, leaving something that important to the last day would be too nerve-racking. This turned out to be a very wise move as the day I made my submission turned out to be a very hectic one full of all sorts of drama. It all begin when I went to print 3 hard copies of my thesis at my university's print centre. A couple of minor screw-ups with the printing occurred, which made me a tad nervous. So I went through each of the 74 pages of each hard copy just to make sure that everything was okay before I got my three copies binded. All the meticulous checking left me only 15 minutes for lunch. I grabbed a bagel, wolfed it down and had about 5 minutes to get to my last tutorial. Then it rained. I opened up my umbrella to prevent my precious copies and I from getting wet and rushed to class but still ended up about 10 minutes late. After class, I tried to submit my 3 hard copies to the Student Enquiries Officer, but she had to leave early and told me to drop by tomorrow to give it to her. So I decided to make the online submission of my thesis but my laptop ran out of power. I headed to the library to use one of the computers to make my online submission. Once I logged on to the school portal, I realized I lost my course profile that I wanted to refer to while making the online submission. Yep. Talk about a series of unfortunate events! I bet even Lemony Snicket wouldn't have been able to think up of all that crap befalling someone. If all these happened on the actual day of submission, I'm sure I would've suffered a mental breakdown.
In the end, there was a happy ending. There wasn't any specific or crucial things to take note of when making the online submission so I went ahead with it on my own. After the online submission, I managed to find my Honours course coordinator and told her that I was unable to pass the Student Enquiries Officer my 3 hard copies. She said that I could submit them to her and she would pass the hard copies to the Student Enquiries Officer the next day. With that, I managed to overcome all the challenges that came my way and completed all official submission requirements one day early! The day ended with me hugging my Honours course coordinator, shaking hands with my thesis supervisor and rushing off to Hamilton suburb to try and catch the sunset as well as have a celebratory dinner plus dessert.
Since I officially completed my Honours programme, life has been such a breeze. I have done a great deal of catching up with my social life, eating out at places I've wanted to visit and re-visit for a long time but didn't have the time to do so as well as indulge in plenty of shopping. This is very likely going to be the last month of my stay in Australia so my plan is to enjoy my remaining time here to the fullest, now that I have completed my Honours programme. There are people to visit and thank, places to revisit and things I want to enjoy while I'm still here. June is going to be an unforgettable month because I'm determined to make it happen!
I submitted it a day before the official deadline actually. From my experience, leaving something that important to the last day would be too nerve-racking. This turned out to be a very wise move as the day I made my submission turned out to be a very hectic one full of all sorts of drama. It all begin when I went to print 3 hard copies of my thesis at my university's print centre. A couple of minor screw-ups with the printing occurred, which made me a tad nervous. So I went through each of the 74 pages of each hard copy just to make sure that everything was okay before I got my three copies binded. All the meticulous checking left me only 15 minutes for lunch. I grabbed a bagel, wolfed it down and had about 5 minutes to get to my last tutorial. Then it rained. I opened up my umbrella to prevent my precious copies and I from getting wet and rushed to class but still ended up about 10 minutes late. After class, I tried to submit my 3 hard copies to the Student Enquiries Officer, but she had to leave early and told me to drop by tomorrow to give it to her. So I decided to make the online submission of my thesis but my laptop ran out of power. I headed to the library to use one of the computers to make my online submission. Once I logged on to the school portal, I realized I lost my course profile that I wanted to refer to while making the online submission. Yep. Talk about a series of unfortunate events! I bet even Lemony Snicket wouldn't have been able to think up of all that crap befalling someone. If all these happened on the actual day of submission, I'm sure I would've suffered a mental breakdown.
In the end, there was a happy ending. There wasn't any specific or crucial things to take note of when making the online submission so I went ahead with it on my own. After the online submission, I managed to find my Honours course coordinator and told her that I was unable to pass the Student Enquiries Officer my 3 hard copies. She said that I could submit them to her and she would pass the hard copies to the Student Enquiries Officer the next day. With that, I managed to overcome all the challenges that came my way and completed all official submission requirements one day early! The day ended with me hugging my Honours course coordinator, shaking hands with my thesis supervisor and rushing off to Hamilton suburb to try and catch the sunset as well as have a celebratory dinner plus dessert.
Since I officially completed my Honours programme, life has been such a breeze. I have done a great deal of catching up with my social life, eating out at places I've wanted to visit and re-visit for a long time but didn't have the time to do so as well as indulge in plenty of shopping. This is very likely going to be the last month of my stay in Australia so my plan is to enjoy my remaining time here to the fullest, now that I have completed my Honours programme. There are people to visit and thank, places to revisit and things I want to enjoy while I'm still here. June is going to be an unforgettable month because I'm determined to make it happen!
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