gallivanting

everyday i go to the office by 9am and i wake by 7.30am. that has been my sad routine for the past 3 days, monday being a public holiday, monday that saw me eating dim sum and snoozing on a wet evening.

while invigilating yesterday, i looked at the backs of heads, hair tied up in ponytails, boys with nicely shaven heads, cropped hair, and observed how the neck, besides joining our torsos to our heads, does a graceful imitation of a curve.

gallivanting again last night when i dressed down in jeans, a black tee, and realised that i was putting on weight - damn! it should have been those late dinners at J.B, Malaysia, the chips snacked on while crouching ahead of the goggle box and the generous colleagues at work.

i sat on the train - such a pity they don't call it a subway. across me was a girl dressed in a black tube with her chest spilling out of her chest.
the train was at orchard when a blood-curdling screech filled the air and all the commuters gaped and looked around but the source of the sound was nowhere to be found.
there is a sense of loss when you are on the last train - not many commuters and not too few either - probably since it is the last train, many pack onto it - and the train is relatively empty, so looking towards the back of the train, you can see the black of the tunnels rush past the train in a billow of nothingness, and there is a sense that the train is transporting all the tired souls to a never, neverland.

nevernever land was city hall to me, where i alighted. i'd even forgotten whether to turn left or right to get to the bar - such is the distance that work has drawn between me and the nightlife, but i'm not complaining. at 24, there is a sense that perhaps time has overtaken me time and time again - the younger ones have it all.
so i turned left and walked through the glass doors before deciding that i should turn right instead. it was the correct choice, otherwise, i would have had to walk around the shopping centre.
so once more nothing much has changed, from the last time i took a jaunt by myself, during the end of term when the heady feeling engulfed me. in december last year, the lights added festivity to the night and people were rowdier, more carefree, more inclined to spontaneity.

***

the lights have not changed and neither has the decor, and neither has the lift. the areas leading to the lifts had beautiful rugs made of beads and trinkets hung above a spotlight each, so that the lights bouced off the trinkets and beads, creating the illusion of floating shimmers.

i took the lift up and walked to the bar and already, i could sense that the crowd was a good one. i took a place near the bar, the exact same spot where i'd sat a good four months ago and gazed once more at the captivating night scene, 70 floors above the world. the lights shimmered, the lights glittered. over at millenia walk, there was this place with windows outlined in a bluish light and the different windows took their turns to light up - i'd forgotten all about it till yesterday.

i can't believe how stupid i was to mix up a martini and a margarita - i ordered a martini in the end - B dazzled. it came with a cherry and a fanciful stalk. thank god for happy hours.

the music rocked. but i can't remember much of it. i do remember hollaback girl, let's get it started, stayin' alive and smattering of others. in any case, rememberance is just simply a recollection of past events.

i asked for the menu again and wondered about what to order. and then they started playing house and i took it as my cue to leave, as i was gazing out at the beauty of the night scene once more, the waiter came over and wanted to take the menu away, i pushed the martini glass to him and he asked if i was waiting for someone. i was more amused more than anything else, and then he said that someone wanted to be friends with me and vaguely pointed in the general direction of the thinning crowd.
i smiled, waved my hands and declined.
after that i left soon after since i didn't like the feeling of being watched.

***

in the end, obviously, i returned home. and while it only lasted a good 2 hours, it's good enough to sustain me.