it lies, unopened

i realise yesterday who thomas reminded me of.

***

the fact that a prominent minister of singapore will be kick-starting the light-up ceremony over at chinatown brought to mind o'farrell's characters, mel and jake, the crowd, the push, the pull and how you just flow in a crowd, devoid of direction, moving as if attracted by the pull of a magnet in the direction the general want to go. there was an outlet and they wanted to leave, but a man carrying beer bottles dropped them, the glass bottles broke into tiny shards of glass and the beer foamed and swirled out upon the ground. they had to return to the crowd once again though why they preferred being pushed around the crowd to stepping on shards of beer seems unfathomable to me unless they were barefooted.

and then i thought of last year this time when we were together watching the certain minister's son instead kick-starting the event, walking through the crowds, pushing our way through, sidestepping and worming our way into any fatigable corner in order to move, just to move will do.
and then stuck and not moving, the firecrackers went off without warning and there was cheer and merry-making and you could literally see the crackers lighting up in bountiful sparks.

and then we meandered our way to burger king and sat down and ate and has it already been a year dammit?

***

your present lies unopened in my bag.