in vancouver, starting soon

It is with great regret that I note the sluggishness of my posting; and everyone else seems to have slowed down as well. Fear not! As school term starts, like the lusty salmon that swim against the current, I shall write more and more despite the inevitable increase of social and academic engagements. 

 

I’m currently in the law library of UBC – okay that’s not entirely true. I came to the law building looking for something similar to what we have back in BTC but er so far I have not found rows and rows of shelves and silent judgment. I have found, however, a row of couches and coffee tables so I have happily plunked myself down betwixt waiting for reception to open. I’m staying at a hostel that’s right next and apparently linked to the accommodation that is to be my semi-permanent residence. Tomorrow it all begins and I will be able to finally move in, clearly far slower than everyone else on yeaboiiii who 1) flew off earlier and yet somehow 2) got into accommodation earlier. Rest assured fellows that I shall be Skype-ready over the weekend and you shall no longer be deprived of my real-time virtual presence. In the meantime here is a delicious greek donair, which looks and tastes like two days worth of caloric and nutritional intake:

 

mmm yes I also had a falafel before this but I finished it before I took the bus up. Food in Vancouver is wonderful (I’ve had dim sum, pho, eggs benny, indian food, korean, japanese, and now greek) but I miss Singapore, and the wild and wonderful things, hawker food and meals with friends. 

Gambino Only Plays For Thirty Minutes Though

it is 6:53 am

my brother and i have been awake for 2 hours now

bags are packed – plastic bags, cold gear and long johns all curled up in their respective corners

secrets of the Orient have been employed – cash in shoes, in secret pockets, strapped to our thewy bodies

routes have been charted – we are overage T S Spivets (one of us with a limp too) traipsing across unknown territory to board a ‘National Rail’ that will, hopefully, ferry us to the promised music Mecca

if we can just meet one kind soul, one wiling cog in the unfeeling machine that is now powering our festival…

if a B & B would fling open its doors to two weary wayfarers, itinerant wanderers who have a ‘Back-to-Back Sleeping With See-Thru Ground Mat Doubling As Raincoat’ as their sole alternative…

adventure awaits.

wish us well, our constant comrades. we have fought with (electronic) words and mailed-out missives – this our last hurrah – once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more!

When It Rains

London was top ballin everyday until

– my ankle kissed stability and pain-free movement goodbye by embracing a 3 year old injury

– my brother discovered that, while Weston Park ROAD is 90 minutes from where we now live, getting to Weston Park PARK is a 10 hour train journey (this was honestly pretty hilarious because we scrolled down “Travelling to V Festival” on the festival page and reached this section

and just started laughing because wow we are in so much trouble)

– Emily from Ticketmaster says that higher management is stonewalling her from giving me help

 

STRANGELY, 

I am rather chill about it all – perhaps being in an apartment alone and snacking regularly helps / Josh is not privy to the bad news from Ticketmaster yet / my parents are chill about it all so no stress from them

But yes – if I could walk/run normally, we could still go be ballers and camp out and be wild and adventurous so now I just have to hope hard that somehow things work out…!!! 

Oh and it’s Josh’s 20th birthday tomorrow. So…

PARTY DON’T START TILL I WALK IN SO THE PARTY HAS STARTED

WHAT IS UP MY PEOPLE 

Deepest apologies for not posting any earlier I couldn’t find stable Internet was lazy

I’ve been in the States for about a week now and it’s been fantastic. I’ve passed through San Francisco, Yosemite, Ashland, Oregon and now I’m in Castle Rock, Washington. Will update more with pictures if I ever get round to uploading. I’m also currently too full to process information and to write anything cogent I’ve had two rounds of home cooked ribs and blueberry crumble peristalsis kicking in rn

ttyl bois 

Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance – Lester & Joseph

Day 2 – Joseph

i’m really enjoying the 8 minute walks to Russell Square station.

the weather is a gentle chill 90% of the time, so i talk to God and shuffle my iTunes (and my feet, when good songs come on ((and almost every song is a good song because it feels *new*, and crisp, and jiggy)), and tonight it’s just been Liztomania, then Half Moon. ah! what a fantastic mood to bask in… :))))

 

(three hours later my right ankle did a number on me and buckled so hard that a stray-seatbelt-spotting policeman would have mewled in delight / made it back to the apartment by curling my toes inward to cushion my ankle / stopping every 10 steps to rotate it

this is why i forward warnings about gallantry and gung-ho gestures in the SAF to anyone who will hear me out, but also i’m just glad that it’s better now – may it hold up as i hobble cobblestones for the next 4 months….!)

In-Flight – Joseph

[First Hour]

1. The couple beside me that was having a pre-flight smootchie (like a smooch, but intense like a smoothie) moved to another row, leaving me to enjoy the Lego Movie alone

2. My earphones fit into the audio jack, so I don’t have to put up with headphones that clip my hair and are shabby at isolating sound

3. The change in pressure has made my headache go away. Which is 10/10 because
– i have no Panadol
– it was getting pretty bad before takeoff
– a nice lady with a French braid served me ginger ale (didn’t know where else to put this)

[Second Hour]

4. what’s the deal with airplane mode – can my intense mid-air activity really crash a plane?

(googled upon arrival and http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2001926/Your-mobile-phone-REALLY-make-planes-crash-leaked-air-transport-study-reveals.html)

5. it is great knowing that the only time that i’ll have to get up is when I WANT TO (refer to 1).

6. also, i’ve scrapped my plan to sleep from 12-530am because there’s no way that I’ll hold out for 7.5 hours not with the nooby in-flight movies so once this movie ends and i finish my free food i will recline my seat to some degree and sleep beautifully

[Third Hour]

7. I fell asleep for 20 minutes and woke up to a German man burping and his wife laughing uncontrollably with each burp. the silver lining for this patch of clouds that we are soaring through is that the butter is salted 😎

8. beef was great. chocolate cake was sugar pressed into a neat rectangle. we are 9/10 flying through a storm cloud because every 2 seconds lightning flashes (not that i can really object, since i’m watching Wolf of Wall Street) and I pull my 80:20 Nylon:Polyurethane Muji Neck Cushion closer.

[4:45 hours to landing]

9. I have lost track of time. The numbers on the screen mean nothing to me, so I get up and brush my teeth, then realise that the rest of my family is taking off just about now. i miss those eggy egglet egglings. 19 hours till i see them again.

[20 minutes to landing]

10. there is a button mushroom on the floor two seats ahead of me. the one that i had for breakfast was delicious. what i am saying is that if you’re in an airplane, then maybe the 3-second rule doesn’t begin until the plane lands…?

Pre-flight – Joseph

Two days ago, I had been dead sure that I’d be dining with my cousins at the airport before I flew.

Alternatively, my indipster group of friends would be having dinner together at 7ish anyway.

Thus, while the rest of my family made plans to reach T1 at 9pm, I dragged myself, my 3 carry-ons and my check-in to the mrt at 630 so that I could reach by 730, check in, and have a nice dinner with homies.

Now lugging luggage around is a real pain, and to top that off I soon realised that both groups would not be there after all. Great.

So as the mrt slid along from Buona Vista to the distant East, I slid into Mopesville and threw a pity party for me myself

(Host: me

Guests: me + dude on the train who was looking at my fleur-de-lis pants with gr8 concern and sadness)

THEN, as I shuffled out a witty Whatsapp and turned to disembark at Tanah Merah, I saw ck.

In the same standing cabin.

And I’m not one to exaggerate (😁), but that just turned everything around. It turned out that he had got on at Raffles Place, and blah blah details details minor plot point ONE OF MY GR8TEST PALS WAS IN THE SAME CABIN WITH ME / I NOW HAD COMPANY FOR DINNER / AND HE WAS NO ORDINARY MORTAL EITHER

Perhaps the best way to end this tale is with this (shorter) story within a (already short) story:

As I lined up at the BA counter, ck took out a pack of ba kwa. I unzipped my luggage, slotted it in neatly, zipped it back up, tossed it on the scale, and

🙂

greetings humans