Here are somethings that either brought me joy, inspired me, or made me reflect.
一半一半: Song by Ricky Hsiao.
I’m not familiar with 蕭煌奇, Rick Hsiao’s music but I like light and breezy songs. This song caught my attention because of the familiar Taiwanese Hokkien words that are similar to Chinese dialect I grew up speaking, Teochew. Words like 流汗 (sweat/perspire), 驚寒 (feel the cold) and 目屎 (eye muck) often featured conversations/remonstrations that were spoken to/yelled at me.
“Don’t run around so much! You’ll sweat so much and be sticky and disgusting”
“Are you wearing enough? You’ll feel the cold if you’re not careful and catch a cold!”
“Go wash the eye muck out of your eyes!”
Ok, maybe not the most pleasant conversations. But they are still snapshots of my childhood. Isn’t it easier to remember the bitter but harder the good?
過去的夢
一半藏入心肝
一半交予運命
管伊緣分早就註定
日頭毋驚流汗
落雨毋驚寒
Passage from River Town by Peter Heller
She smiled as she spoke, but it was a Chinese smile that served as a mask against deeper feelings. Those smiles could hide many emotions - embarrassment, anger, sadness. When people smiled like that, it was as if all of the emotion was wound tightly and displaced; sometimes you caught a glimpse of it in the eyes, or at the corner of the mouth, or perhaps in the wrinkle stretching sadly across the forehead. Anne had high cheekbones and deep dimples, and today I thought I saw a trace of her sadness wavering along her cheek.
Painfully accurate observations of Singapore culture.
I was initially offended by Amandine Honvault’s post. Why is she criticising Singaporeans’ attempt at sharing their love for food, displays of humility and directness with close friends? But then I realise, our actions are understood from our own shared cultural lens which non locals might not have had the chance to experience, let alone understand. While that might be true, reflecting on my own behaviour in the past shows a strong current of competitiveness, humble bragging and passive aggressive displays of “I know better”.
I don’t always send all my posts via emails and I’ve also started posting some life updated in a section on my substack called Life Updates. I feel people may not always want to see posts about Artie but you can check it out here if it interests you.
