Opps! I Did It Again!

Hello Peoples!

Thank you all so much for your comments. They will certainly enable me to improve this blog, build up a fan base (from the current 8 or so of you who have actually botherd to leave comments), become a celebrity blogger and ultimately take over the world. As for those of you who refuse to leave me your pearls of wisdom, don't come knocking on my door when my world tour kicks off and comes to your part of the world.

I must admit I have never been a fantical manic for anything, maybe except for cooking. However, last weekend, I did something I've never done before.

I went and watched a musical twice. That's right! For the loyal readers of this blog, you will remember that I've written about this little musical that Matt got me to watch up in the Blue Mountains. The musical is Hedwig and The Angry Inch. Thats right, I watched it for the 2nd time and it still moved me to tears. Someone else was moved to tears too, heheheh, but we'll talk about that later.

Really, no one would really understand what I'm talking about in the next few paragraphs unless they've seen it for themselves. This blog entry is a tribute to Hedwig, well, until I find the next superhero to worship. Sometimes I wish that Hedwig was a real person. I would buy her albums, go to her concerts and even queue up for her CD signings.

The great thing about this musical is that everyone takes away something from it, regardless of your background or musical liking. For a musical to do so much with so little (there is no set change, and the main difference between the Newtown and Katoomba show was the projections in the backdrop, which brought more of a visual impact to the story), it must have a really great storyline.

And what a story it was. The main message I got from it can be summed up from the line "To get away, you have to leave something behind". Well, maybe not in those exact words, but you know what I mean. I can draw many parallels between the musical and my life, having left Singapore in 1999 to Australia for a "better" life. I put inverted commas for the word better because I don't think I had a hard life back in Singapore. I can't say I've always been as outgoing as I am now. In fact, I was a typical Singaporean, very reticent about speaking my mind, moulded since I was young to take a certain path to "success". Success meant getting good grades for school, going to university, getting married and having children. These were the values my parents were brought up on. And I can understand why they would want the same for me, because bringing food to the table and having a roof over their heads was the number one priority for them and their children.

Now before you think I am an ungrateful borsted for chiding my parents after all they've done for me, don't. I'm not. I am utterly grateful to my parents, especially my mum, who single handedly worked as a cleaner to bring up her 3 boys and see them through university. Even though she was struggling, she never once complained and gave us everything we ever wanted, including what was considered as luxuries in those days such as computers, CD players with karaoke functions and a 29" TV. That I will owe her forever. However, there is something within me that wanted more. I wanted out and needed to break away. As I grew older, I became more bored with the the Truman Show lifestyle in Singapore. True, everything is provided for, its got a great transport system, food is fantastic, standard of living was manageable, its clean and safe, its got shitty weather but you can't change that...The thing that got to me was that it was soul-less. Nobody speaks their mind, everyone thinks in the same way, and there are no space for creativity.

Everyone is judged on the basis of their

1) JOBS

I'm a lawyer/doctor/accountant => wah! must be earning a lot right? set for life!

I'm a dancer/bank teller/artist => where got future?

2) CARS

I just bought a BMW/Mercedes/Lexus/Porsche => wah! nice car! come lets go jiak hong (Singapore slang for joyride)

I just bought a Proton Saga => ok....why spend so much money on COE to buy such a lousy car?

3) THEIR KIDS' UNIVERSITY COURSE

My son is doing doing medical science/law at National University of Singapore => wah! so smart huh? You lucky hor, no need to worry when you retire already lah!

My son is doing food technology at the University of New South Wales => foot technology? what the hell is that? Reflexology issit?

Forgive me if I sound bitter, I'm not. Really! I have had great memories there, growing up playing with my cousins, running amok at the playground, the mahjong uncles and aunties forcing us kids to run through dark and dingy backlanes at my grandma's place to get them their chicken satay & char kway teow and gambling & underaged drinking of Tsingtao beer during Chinese New Year. Every now and then, these memories pop up in my mind and bring a smile to my face. However, as I matured, the place just got more and more suffocating for me and my ticket came in the form of my uni course of choice. You see, food technology was not offered in any Singapore universities and I had to come here. I am certainly happy where I am now, although I do miss my family, espcially my mum. She does get out quite a bit, goes to dances and cruises with her friends, but I do feel a tinge of guilt when I call her some nights and she's just watching TV at home. She never says it, but I could sense that she's quite bored and I wish I could whizz over and share a bottle of wine with her. Well, you can't always get what you want, for now, regular phonecalls will have to do. Who knows, a few years down the road, Sydney's shitty train schedules, skin cancer inducing sunrays, exorbitant housing prices and nasty Asians who behave like pricks in the Midnight Shift may start to suffocate me. Then, it'll be time to move on. I think I might have been a Mongolian gypsy in my last life.

Of course, its nothing compared to what Hedwig went through.

Go see the show before it finishes!!!!

I think its time to stop whingeing, Grand Master Wong!