Leading the blind

This is my dog, Chip.  I've probably mentioned at some point that he'll be sixteen years old in a month.  Sixteen.  That's like Okinawan islanders in dog years. 

This dog has always marched to the beat of his own drum.  As a pup he was willful and boisterous.  As a full grown adult he grew territorial and opinionated and he actually bit passersby twice.  He's never been a lap dog and he's not the kind of dog you can take on a day out at the beach, who lies shaggily content in the sun at your feet.

I love him all the same.  In some ways, Chip is a lot like me - anxious, jittery and curious about everything he sees.  As he grew older he mellowed and eventually, cataracts milked the light from his eyes.  He started sleeping a lot and though he was still snuffly and alert, he had become a demure shadow of his former self.  I imagined he was going to be like that the rest of his years.

For some reason, in the recent weeks he's become an absolute handful, as if he's found a second wind.  He still sleeps in large chunks but at night, he sits up as if possessed and proceeds into ungodly caterwauling till the wee hours.  

For fear of waking the neighbours or my (not very even-tempered) father, I jackknife out of bed, thunder down the stairs and entertain him in midnight sessions that sometimes last until 4am.  You may have guessed, my friends, that I'm not getting very much sleep.  

I've tried everything from feeding to timing his resting hours to chasing him up and down the driveway.  I'm at the end of my tether, but dammit, I can't help but love that stinking mutt. 

Yesterday, I decided to try a new tack.  I took him for a walk.

Chip hasn't been on a proper walk for a long time.  First he had a weak back and the vet said that we should abstain from long strolls for a while.  Then the blindness set in.

I wasn't sure if he would be able to negotiate the pavements outside the house, but I figured some exercise would do him good anyway.

I found a good harness and his old leash and we set off to make a couple of loops on our old route, and I couldn't believe how much he had changed.

When we used to take walks, he was so aggressive that would attempt to attack dogs four times his size.  He once got into a bad scrap with a cat and came away growling, blood dripping off his knotted muzzle.

Now, I have the most docile dog in the neighbourhood.  I watched in wonder as he passed huge retrievers and shaggy black mutts, merely turning his head then trotting on.  I let him go right up to a house gate with a yapping brown puppy behind it.  He had a few cursory sniffs and made to leave.  For once, I'm the one smiling and relaxed as other dog owners shout and yank their snarling charges aside.

Walking a dog is as much about communicating through touch as it is about obedience and with homeboy, touch has become that much more important.  I let him make as many mistakes (in relative safety, of course) as possible, and soon he was scaling nose-high sidewalks and avoiding drain grates like he used to.  We kept a good pace up and I saw his legs start to churn in that high-stepping trotting motion I used to love so much. 

Chip naturally floundered and lost his orientation a little but he was still sensitive to the tautness of the leash, he still knew how to step around it when he had entangled his legs and best of all, he now trots to heel.

I don't know if it's helping him release any of that new energy he seems to have found, but it felt good to hear the confident rat-a-tat of his claws on the asphalt and walk in the darkness to the crystal clinking of a neighbour's windchimes.

We both enjoyed ourselves very much.

Monthly moments: March

March has been a pretty full month for me, from flying to Australia for Becky's wedding to being busy with work and friends.  I appreciate the fullness though, and every moment spent with loved ones was precious to me, so much so that I tried to snap as many memories as possible.

Beck and Marty have a Singapore flag and an Australia flag hanging in their home.  Talk about bilateral ties!

A technically not-so-hot picture but one I love nonetheless because of the pose and the smiles they've got going on. 

Everyone at work went absolutely nuts over Candy Crush.  My friend Rebecca and I spent an inordinate amount of time discussing strategy and one day, at Starbucks, Edie decided to just sit down and start playing.  Not to be outdone, Shirin got on her phone as well and in three minutes, I had joined in.  It was ridiculous, the three of us sitting at a table with our coffees, ignoring each other and frantically smashing candy.

There was a brief period of time where we were all jostling for pole position, but I've since been overtaken violently.  In my defense, it's mainly because they've been deliberately holding back lives and tickets. 

The hot weather has our garden blooming wildly.  I love the sunny, unapologetic colour of our yellow bells.

Banksy worthy graffiti near Little India.  I took this with Little because I occasionally carry my G11 when the DSLR becomes too heavy for me.  For a camera with a severely scratched lens (my fault completely), it's performing admirably!

Our new favourite hangout place.  Edie, Shirin, Amanda and I went to the Next Door Cafe after one of our late classes to unwind and eat platters of cheese and charcuterie.  Never underestimate the power of salami after a long day.  

The staff isn't terribly friendly but the drink selection is pretty good and as a bonus, there is a playground with a pole across the road.  Where we actually roll around at one in the morning.

At the other end of the spectrum, there's coffee with my mother.  We do this about once a month.  We don't talk, just read in companionable silence while sharing a baked good and I briefly feel loved and at peace. 

My first, horrendous attempt at a shorthand letter for Amanda.  I doubt she'll be able to decipher it.  And I doubt I can even remember what I wrote.  Genius!

And finally, an absolutely delicious sushi lunch from a restaurant in Novena whose name I cannot remember.  Each piece of fish was delightfully blowtorched and drizzled with its own individual sauce and every bite was fresh and flavourful, with the exception of that crappy Spongebob-like tamago you see there.

I generally hate tamago and palmed it off on my mother. 

I mean, a sugary omelette?  What the hell's that about?

In the meantime...

I thought I would share this amazing Robin Skouteris mashup of 24 (or more!) artists that I'm really enjoying.  It's a great boost in the morning, and as an added bonus, trying to see how many you recognise can be fun!

Angels in the architecture (Rock and Roots Day 2)

Paul Simon and Bonnie Raitt were amazing, as expected.

 The second day of Rock and Roots was far more crowded than the first, and by the time Priya and I had pushed our way through the crowd and found prickly seats on the grass, we were dripping.  

The music itself was a heavy, sticky blues laced with Bonnie Raitt's sweet-opium song.  I've never really actually listened to her before but it was beautiful to be able to hear the confident, experienced, telling voice of someone who's been there and done that.

On top of that, she was warm, charming and funny and Priya and I found ourselves enjoying the set immensely.

Paul Simon, on the other hand, was someone I had been waiting a long time to see.  Once I was about 12, I found my father's Simon and Garfunkel CD on a shelf and I've been hooked ever since.  When I had ploughed through that catalogue, I started listening to Simon's solo stuff and found myself completely mesmerised.

On the first day of Rock and Roots, I ran into a friend, Suj.  When I told him I was coming back the next day to see Paul, he rolled his eyes and said, "What, you mean Mama Africa?"  I laughed, but I love his African music.  I love all of it. 

The thing that gets me about Paul Simon is that every time I listen to him sing, I feel like he's talking directly to me.  How can you listen to lyrics on songs like America, hear him plead, "I'm empty, and aching, and I don't know why," and feel like you've never once understood just how he feels?

His songwriting is so intelligent and sensitive that each number he played was a story, slowly unspooled by his lazy voice.  Every bit of narrative was a tender surprise, coupled with swooning melody. 

He's not the best, most dynamic singer ever, but the human moments that he captured during his set nearly brought me to tears. 

And of course, Priya and I danced our asses off to You Can Call Me Al.

There was some kind of a Timbre after party, but this is more our speed:

Ice cold drinks at the nearby SMU vending machines...

... and once we've cooled off, we get a cab to Siglap for the real after party at Mas Ayu!  Nothing beats steaming kway teow goreng and nasi pattaya at one in the morning.

Among other news this week, fresh mangoes have been the order of the day for breakfast.

And Amanda's been teaching me to write in shorthand!

It's all lots of fun, but I've just found out that my name in shorthand looks like the word "Pu"!

Sometimes

It's late and it's been a busy (and slightly poorly) week.  I'm still at the computer doing work right now, so I thought that as an interlude, I'd show anyone who's listening how my silly dog runs in his sleep.

You know.  Sometimes.

Rock and Roots, Day 1

When I heard Rufus Wainwright was coming, I absolutely refused to believe it.  I mean, this is Rufus.  Whom I had to wait seven years to see in London.  No one else in Singapore seemed to know about him, except for Priya, and that was because we used to listen to him together back in the university when we were going through a massive Rufus craze.  (Now I know that Edie and Jia Min are fans too!)

I was so, so happy to be watching Rufus with Priya at last.  It was like a big pilgrimmage for us because we sort of discovered him together, followed him through the years and have lamented many times that he was not likely to come this way.  When we found out he was gay, we were completely crushed because it meant neither of us stood a chance with a man who played piano naked for four hours every morning.  

We used to watch the California music video on Youtube - this was back when he had long hair - and every time he got to the end of the first verse, said "Puh-leese" and sexily rolled his eyes, we clutched at each other and screamed.  I know, right?  I'm ashamed to admit that we once watched it ten times in one night.  

Well, he really did come to Singapore.  It's true.  I was standing in the front row.  

And he did sing California!

The day started with a Swiss lunch at Wine Universe - Edie, Shirin and I wanted to try out something for restaurant week and the set was only $25 with three courses.

We settled into a nice table by the window and I proceeded to stuff myself violently.

A melted raclette, Parma ham and cornichon starter.  The raclette really tasted like a fried goat's cheese that I used to eat when my relatives brought it down from Bangladesh.  When we fried it, the whole house stank up, but dayum.  Was it ever tasty.

Barramundi fillet with cauliflower mash and asparagus.  For someone who hates cauliflowers, I found the mash surprisingly delicious.

And coffee creme brulee.  Tasty but weird because the whole thing was warm, and in my mind, creme brulee is supposed to be cold.

I spent the whole afternoon wandering around Vivocity trying to get a lens cap for Big's kit lens.  Being an extremely forgetful person, I took the lens cap off in Australia and never found it again.  My mother used to say it was lucky all my body parts were attached lest I lose them too.  (Spoiler:  They sell no such kit lens cap.  My beloved camera has to go very carefully into a cloth bag.)

I met Priya just before Rufus' set and we trooped down to Fort Canning, where I ran into Jia Min, a friend from work.  (It's a good thing I wore my Dr Martens because by the time Robert Plant came out, the girl in front of me was standing on my toes.)

Someone called Kara Grainger opened.  She was hot and played some nice bluesy stuff, but by this time I was breaking out in cold sweat.  Just before a band or musician that I really like comes out, I start to get really nervous and there aren't many musicians I like more than Rufus, Ben Folds, The Beatles or Queen.

I'm going to skip straight to Robert Plant first because I'm going to leave the mess of crazy Rufus fangirl pictures to the end.  I thought Robert Plant was pretty cool.  He was chill and funny and his band was really tight, even though Priya didn't like them that much.

They had a really weird spacey vibe and lit lots of incense before they came on.  Plant himself kept dancing like he was about to do yoga and at one point, he started waving the incense over the audience with his hands, and I couldn't stop laughing.

At one point he even had this guy from The Gambia come out and sing and play a stringed instrument and we were all like, "Wait, I thought Africa was under Paul Simon's purview!".  Hah!  No.  But it was slightly strange.

Still I enjoyed taking lots of pictures and indulging in some mild headbanging.  The last "heavy" concert I'd been to was Iron Maiden over a year ago and I'd forgotten how much I missed it.

So, Rufus came out before Robert Plant and I thought that he was absolutely wonderful.  Until he set foot on the stage, I didn't actually believe that he was going to be there.  The last time I saw him, the act was a lot more dramatic and less relaxed and I enjoyed watching him in a more casual setting.

We were so close to the stage that we could see how light his eyes were and see the sheen of sweat on his face.  His voice is still so smooth and strong, powerful on the vibrato and he plays the piano like a God.

And of course, he's so preeetty.

He came out with some big sunglasses on and opened with The Art Teacher (what is with the mad love for that song?  I don't get it!) and then played The Maker Makes which sounded very ethereal.  Right before he started, he talked about Brokeback Mountain, then grinned and said, "This one goes out to all the homosexuals in the audience.  Live long and prosper!"

He's not the best guitarist, but the songs he played on guitar were lots of fun, including California!  Priya and I went nuts!  He even played on a Hello Kitty guitar that he bought in Korea.

I can't remember the whole setlist, but there were lots of songs I loved including Hallelujah (the definitive cover for me), Martha, 11:11 and Going to a Town, which always makes my hair stand on end.

I was hoping for some other numbers like Grey Gardens, Hometown Waltz or Vibrate (because I've never seen that song played live), but I settled for Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk as the finale.  Every rollicking piano lick on that song makes me want to jump for joy.

Halfway through, Priya squealed and pointed to his shiny shoes, a pair of studded smoking slippers.  I really want some too!

And of course, Rufus had to be a little bit of a diva.  He launched into the first line of Zebulon as the audience descended into hushed silence, then suddenly shouted, "Could you shut up those of you in the corner!" at a bunch of rowdy tech crew members who were laughing loudly on stage. Yikes.

He wasn't angry with the audience though and he let us know it when right before the last line in Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk a man in the audience shouted, "Marry Me, Rufus!" and Rufus broke into a huge grin and said, "Okay!" in delight.

Come on.  Who can be mad at that face for long?