I resurrected an old tag, sms-musing, that tags posts that were conceived in the field while I was doing something else, which in today's case, was waiting for the bus. I might just keep using this tag if I have such epiphanies each time I'm out in the field, probably as a way of capturing those in-the-moment thoughts that come from doing something more stimulating.
Speaking of stimulating, I went to grab my favourite sushi for lunch today. I have been following them since a long time ago since their first stall in VivoCity, and their aburi nigiri is to die for (get the assorted one---comes in stacks of 10 and is borderline omakase). The rest of the menu items are generally good as well because of Chef Johnson's consistent use of fresh ingredients.
My record was eating 40 pieces of those delicious assorted aburi nigiri sushi. I've stopped doing that for a while now because I wanted to lose weight. Sushi, delicious they may be, still has lots of carbs in the form of the rice after all.
I used to be a little less loud about this place, because the more people realise how tasty their food is, the harder it may be for me to find a place to sit there when I head down to dine in. However, times have changed,
------
After my comfort food, I went on for a walk along the river and headed towards Clarke Quay proper. Seeing the tear down of Liang Court brought out some sadness in me. Liang Court was, back in the day, the place to go for anything that is of the Japanese culture. Recently, I had spent some time there prior to its demolition, and loved the Kinokuniya book store that was there. There were also a craft beer place, and it was also the place where I went to for my slim hip flask.
All these have gone down the path of history now, like all things in Singapore. This is in contrast with Melaka---going there with a fifteen-year separation revealed almost no changes whatsoever.
Not sure what to feel there, but it is just a thing I suppose.
The walk was supposed to take me from Clarke Quay Central through Clarke Quay, follow Hill St up north before ending at Peace Centre.
But I got side tracked. A while back, I talked about Seng Yew Book Store, and claimed that it was still alive. But that was based on Internet pictures. So I thought to myself, `hey, since Bras Basah Complex is sort of along the way, why not check out the place to confirm it?'.
And that was why when I was already at the vicinity of the National Museum of Singapore, I decided to switch over and walk towards Bras Basah Complex instead. It took me a while, but I got there...
...and promptly got suck into 书城音乐书局, or more affectionately known as 书城 for short. They have an English name (``Music Book Room''), but I have never heard of anyone calling it by that name. I bought two books, one on 笛子 techniques (and associated training pieces), and one on 箫. I was tempted by the melodica by Suzuki music, as well as two 膜孔-less 笛子 (it was a G-梆笛 and a D-曲笛). The melodicas (``melodions'' using Suzuki Music's branding) were easy to not be too tempted by because they were in the hundreds for price.
But those two 膜孔-less 笛子 were sub-fifty each. So tempting... but I remembered that I have a Grenaditte piccolo and a Grenaditte treble flute that covers the range of the G-梆笛 and D-曲笛 respectively. They were also chromatic in nature, and actually had a wider compass than the two 膜孔-less 笛子. And so the temptation was gently pushed away.
I spent the next couple of hours just walking about Bras Basah Complex, exploring various stores, staying clear of bookstores (and Artfriend) in general. I did enter Swee Lee though, and found that their renovated premises to be more stylish than before.
As I wend my way through, I finally reached the top of the commercial part of Bras Basah Complex, and sat down to this interesting panorama:
I would've sat there longer had the rain not start to pick up and scatter me away from the open air ``roof-top''.
------
I think that my urge to revisit many places again might be related to the concept of transactive memory. Mumbo-jumbo aside, the premise is that when we remember things, we tend to build strong associations as part of the encoding of the memory. Association is a very strong mechanism in the reinforcement of a memory, it is part of how the method of loci can be used to memorise stupidly long lists of things.
More mundanely, it also means that if one's memory of a place was when one was with someone else doing something, it often is the strongest memory of that place.
This is bad for me because it means that I do not have another way of looking at the [objective] reality, which means that I will keep getting reminded of a reality that is no longer true. This constant reminder from an old memory is a great way to develop more and more ``down'' episodes.
As I mentioned in my earlier SMS-musing, life's experiences (as both mental and physical ones) have hysteresis loops involved---even when we ``go back to a previous state'', we don't actually go back to a previous state verbatim since we have already been conditioned with whatever that has happened in between visits. Memories cannot be erased, but they can be put into a different context, the so-called ``time will heal'' effect. And the fastest way to put memories into a different context (thus dulling the one causing a stronger [negative] affect) is just to build new ones.
So visiting Bras Basah Complex alone today doing similar enough but different things compared to the time that I was here with someone else helps to recontextualise the memory and reduce the pain that it will cause.
Am I just rationalising things to myself, or is there another purpose behind this?
------
In other news, I have a new ear worm.
I first heard it while I was at my favourite bar.
What drew me to the song was the repeated refrain:
Back from the edge(Lyrics sub-texted from Musixmatch.) It's not that the lyrics are particularly deep, but that the delivery of the lines just resonated with me. It's a mix of wistful, anger (especially from the line beginning ``Oh, back from the edge''), and a certain victorious feel to it.
Back from the dead
Back before demons took control of my head
Back to the start
Back to my heart
Back to the boy who would reach for the stars
Oh, back from the edge
Back from the dead
Back from the tears that were too easily shed
Back to the start
Back to my heart
Back to the boy who would reach for the stars
Who would reach for the stars, yeah
That's about all I have for now. Till the next update.
No comments:
Post a Comment