itching all over. ewwwwww.

on the cusp of standing up just walking out and saying goodbye to everything around me.

What else? book-in blues.

It's curiouser and curiouser how that even after 621 days, 14 hours, 57 minutes and 32...33...34 seconds, or 1 year, 8 months, 12 days, 15 hours thereabouts... i still dread booking in. Not as badly as before, but like an ex-girlfriend, or an ex-lover, the feeling never really goes away, not totally.

169 days, 1 hour, 59 minutes and 52 seconds to go. Or 5 months, 16 days, 1 hour, 59 minutes, 52 seconds. that's if i don't get my early release. if i do get my early release it'll be 148 days, 13 hours, 59 minutes and 53 seconds or 4 months, 26 days, 13 hours, 59 minutes, 53 seconds.

Numbers and figures... take me back to the staaart....

NOONOONOOO....didn't mean it THAT WAY!

It's been a long, long week. Haven't been out of camp at all. just got out.

Thanks zhu! i can't help it but i love your post on the 20th September! hehhehheh... difficult to tell when you read this blog, right hor?

hmmm this week i read a few books. Some Singaporean novels. I highly recommend Darren Shiau and Colin Cheong to all Singaporean readers. Heartland, The Man in the Cupboard and Tangerine - Singaporean books about themes that are close to heart and home.

A critique for The Man in the Cupboard. Very well written - some murderous thoughts you've had there, Mr Cheong? Very, very well written in the first person - entirely entertaining and true. But to steal a quote from the lifestyle, "lacks complexity", "linear" and "simple". Novel? more like novella. It's very nice, but in the end, it "lacks oomph", in Sharon's own words. But that tends to be a problem for Singaporean writers.

All through the Singaporean books i've read, there're recurrent themes about home, rootedness, east vs west, growing up... but those are themes close to heart, aren't they? And majority of them are meandering narratives, not really stories. They're more of autobiographies.

Ah well.

I don't have the degree in creative writing or literature so i can't say much. And i'm lazy. So good night.

did this during COS last wkend. recalled frank quietly's all-star superman splash page... ballpoint pens are my new best friends!

oh, lookout for this sunday's lifestyle!!!! they're carrying my short story.

THERE THERE THERE!!! Golden point awards picture. You can get the winning short story here. Oh i'm shameless.

Well!!!!

There's something to be excited about. After a four-year long hiatus, comics favourite prodigal son is finally returning. And what a return!!!! Ultimates Vol.3 in 2006 is going to rock your world. Watch out. Joe Madureira!!!!!

Who's Joe Mad, you might ask. Who? How can you be so ignorant! Joe Mad is only the 2nd most popular comic book artist of all time, after Jim Lee. Jim Lee sold millions, but Mad was a trailblazer, a prodigy. He came to work for Marvel when he was only 17 years old!!! established himself as a powerhouse, and when he was in his prime, he retired to become the visual director for a computer game company. He's an amazing artist. He was the VERY VERY first to fuse american style comic book art with manga, and it was absolutely brilliant. still is. amazing artist. check out battlechasers - a must get book.

so watch out world!

Mad is back.

If last friday was a good day, consider wednesday very, very, very good.

I cannot express in words how thankful i am to God for how much he has blessed me. And no, I did not get married and neither did my wife give birth nor did i score straight A's.

Refer to the life newspaper, pg 2 for 2nd Sept 2005, and you'll know why.

It was really incredible. I turned up for the awards ceremony, flustered and having just booked out. I sat next to a fantastic writer. He's a corporate lawyer and a published novelist many times over. Next to him was a pretty, young woman, a princeton graduate in English Literature. Me?

NSF. A levels.

Yet to win...

feels incredible.

I thought they might need an acceptance speech, but i never got the chance to give one, so here goes.

"I didn't think i'd win, so i didn't prepare a speech. (Nervous laughter) It's ironic how words fail me when i need them most. First of all, I want to thank God for being my constant source of inspiration and the Holy Spirit for its guidance. Then I want to thank my mum for encouraging me to join. I thank my sister for her enthusiasm. I thank my dad for just being here. I thank Vanessa for being an inspiration for one of the characters, and i thank Battle for having this wonderful tattoo that inspired me to write the story. Lastly, and equally importantly, i want to thank the NAC for awarding this to me. Thank you, everyone."

I thought it would be a quiet and dingy affair, with cheap reception food and styrofoam cups. But with Beatrice Chia and Timothy Nga as hosts - Eunice Olsen, Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Patricia Mok, Aaron Aziz, and several literary celebrities, more Singaporean celebrity writers, it was quite a big event in the end. I felt like country mouse going to the big city, when i was invited up to the VIP reception at the pod. who knew the national library had such a lovely view?

all said and done, it's back to normalcy again.

and life hiccups giddily, and goes on.