Wishy Washy

Christine and I once talked about how things could be so hectic, the only quiet time you'd have to yourself is laundry time. I don't know why but I still enjoy washing my clothes by hand. Maybe it's just because my mouth is not moving but sometimes I get a lot of really good ideas from the moment I pour in the soap. Then we mull over it or whatever while we're scrub-a-dub-dubbing. By the time we get to the fabric softener, I feel like ditching the laundry and running for some pen and paper. More often than not, I lose the ideas somewhere between wringing out the clothes and pegging them up on the line. It's rare for me to hold on to them. This is why people dictate to secretaries.

Nani remembered The Notebook

Nani is such a sweetheart : )

Leaving for Kedah in the morning... I cannot wait to get the final semester over and done with! Six years of TESL is hell. At least with med school, all six years are necessary. My classmates agree that our second year of foundation was not, which leaves us all fuming at the thought of a wasted year. Honestly, I could have been working for months by now! I need money, dammit. In this day and age, who doesn't? Some more Z was supposed to find me work and he didn't, the traitor ; )

But what really pissed me off was how I had to turn down another invitation to read at a literary event... Do you have any idea what it actually means to be invited (by the British Council, no less) to read at an event? The kind lady was like, "Oh I thought you'd finished studying by now..." and in my head I was going, "Yeah, one would think, right?" Why, God, why?

The good news is, something tells me the headache and tension of a final semester mixed with the anxiety of future posting and postgraduate studies is going to give me a lot to write about. Wish me luck!

Placement

This is a word that currently holds so many meanings for me:

1. Exactly how shall I place my tiles in order to beat my dad at Scrabble?
He remains undefeated and it's awe-inspiring yet irritating at the same time.

2. How am I going to get my books sold in stores?
Somebody was supposed to help me with this but she's been so busy I can't ask. And no, I'm not holding it against you : )

3. (I hate the fact that I'm actually wondering, but...) What number am I out of the 25 in our class?
Hey, this actually means something to some people, alright? So what if I am kiasu?

4. Where am I going to be posted come July 2009?
This is a scary one. Keeping my fingers crossed.

5. Less is more.
Aunty Li, you cannot have that many plants out on the balcony... It doesn't work : (

Unwell

Is it just me or can we associate being unwell with some good writing? Either your head is messed up and you've got a lot of good crap coming out of your subconscious or you're too sick to get out of bed so you just stay in and write your fingers off? I have a cold right now and I'm stuck at home so we'll see what comes out of all this later.

Been revisiting the past year's poetry. Rescued some random stuff from a previous journal too. There's not much, but I do like what I have. I think I hardly wrote at all this past semester, and I blame it all on practicum. I hope this is not a foreshadowing of my writing practice in the future. Then again, there are a lot of things you don't have to do once you're teaching for real, so... I should be able to have more time to myself. Unless Miss Niceness takes over and goes two extra miles. I'll be the death of me, I swear.

Anyone who read Characters Under Glass before it was published might remember The Notebook with the embroidered cover. Guess what? We now have Notebook 2! Again with a pretty cover. The past couple of days I rearranged all my post-Characters poetry and wrote them in there. I don't know why but there's something romantic about a well-kept handwritten copy of poetry. My brother-in-law was like, why? and I'm like, dunno.

Wet Feedback

So far only two people have cried in response to my writing:

Christine
Faiz

There are a few pieces that could potentially make my mother cry but she's very good at this poker-face thing...

I don't know. Part of me believes that this is the ultimate in feedback. When the emotion in a piece is so strong that it moves you to tears. How often does that happen these days?

What Happened There?

Faiz told me that one of the reasons he no longer writes poetry is due to the fact that he no longer has much angst to draw from (so he says). He suspects that may be one of the reasons I don't write as often as I used to. I worry that he may be right. Of course not all of my poetry came from young adult angst but still... Then again, the volumes of angsty poetry coming from all corners of the world tell us one thing: this stuff makes you write.

Some time later I should have more anthologies sorted by theme : D

Voices Launch

Readings at Seksans on the 25th was especially fun for a number of reasons:

1) We had Reza Salleh singing us some beautiful songs
2) We had the successful Malaysian writers joining us
3) We had the book launch (Congratulations, Poetry Underground)

4) I dragged Faiz and Zul along

The great Reza Rosli invited us for his open house after that. I would now like to take the opportunity to ask anyone living in Bukit Jelutong: is there such a road as Jalan Kubah 9? If there is, it doesn't matter because that's NOT where Reza's house is (Thanks a lot, dude)! Oh well : ) At least I was fortunate enough to have been given a rather accurate map. Hazlan and co. were not so fortunate, hehehe... By the way, Reza, the house is gorgeous! Thanks for having us : )