National Day

Today is National Day, a long awaited break for me. It’s been almost close to a full year since I last took a long holiday. That was last year’s August, when I made a trip back to Taiwan with my mom to visit her family. (This made me a “half” Taiwanese? My mom came over to Singapore with her adoptive parents, separated from her sisters and brother since young.) I am looking forward to a break soon, hopefully by November I can go for a 2-week holiday, to somewhere cool or cold. Anyway, this is just an idea.

Today is a family day for me. Seven of us, made up of my nieces, nephews and myself, we caught a nice, heart-warming movie “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. It has been close to 2 months since my last movie, how I missed the nachos and the smuggling of cheese fries into the theatre. I am a law-abiding citizen most of the time, except when it comes to food, I smuggled durians up the bus (I know I have a good friend who reads this blog regularly who dislikes the smell of durian, please forgive me for my little indulgence in food), I smuggled food that is not sold by the cinema into the theatre, I sometimes eat sweets, even very occasionally chew gum in the train. Forgive me for imparting really wrong values to my young nieces and nephews; this is one thing that I knew it is not good yet I still commit, because of the “sin of gluttony”.

I enjoyed the show tremendously, for it’s old fashioned family value and simple moral lessons to kids and even to parents, of not spoiling your children, not letting them watch too much TV, of not putting too much emphasis on achievement and winning, and finally the emphasis of enjoying what you already have, which is, your family, a simple down to earth story that I loved and I enjoyed greatly. If you have time for just one movie, do catch this one!

I also did something I loved to do other than the abovementioned; I saw the fireworks, not on TV but in real time. I loved fireworks, and am always thrilled by the impact, and the “woo wah” sound of standing beneath them, being enveloped by the lights and the short-term beauty. Saw one of the most beautiful fireworks I have ever seen during the opening of Esplanade. Saw several fireworks during several Chinese New Years and New Year Days. Saw the fireworks at National Stadium during the few occasions I was present at the National Day parade.

Today, I was so excited, upon hearing that there would be fireworks in several parts of Singapore, I actually dragged my mom and my eldest brother to accompany me to the nearest one to take a look. It was not the most beautiful I have seen, yet the event was still memorable, how we parked at the road side, and I stood in great anticipation for the release, not wanting to wink my eyes just in case I missed the first shot!

I love to see fireworks, despite they being so short life, yet precisely because they are so, that I tend to cherish them even more, knowing that it is a moment to be savored, and being only able to be stored in my memory. Therefore this painting above was also drawn from memory (not that beautiful despite my 2 attempts to paint them, realised it is not easy to paint fireworks), not with reference to any photos, this may not be those that you would ever see, as it is a composition inspired by several fireworks. Hope you too have a wonderful day today, either with your family or your friends, just like I did! Wish tomorrow is a holiday as well, how I envy students, for they do not have to go to school tomorrow!