It was the morning peak hour in Serangoon MRT. Students were rushing and adults, clutching onto their all-important briefcases were strutting hurriedly along the tunnels of the subway station. I stopped. Right in the middle of the pathway of the travelators and laughed. My mum was with me, but I just stood there and laughed - one person standing still amongst all the busy blank-faced people - if they showed any expression, it would be one of a furrowed eyebrow or pursed lips. But yes, I laughed. My mum urged me to continue to walk on, and I did, only slowly - wearing a smile of no, not happiness, but of hysteria. Perhaps I was mad but more than that, perhaps we all were. We were all the mad products of a society that was controlling us.
Whatever I said in the above paragraph, did in fact happen - not recently but this year. It happened on a day when I wasn't in a hurry to get to anywhere or pressured to accomplish something in a limited amount of time. In other words, it was a day where I was able to take a step back and observe how pathetic we all were, as members of this system, slogging our guts out. I was laughing because it's so crazy how we all seem to be so busy with what we were doing, acting all important and highly and yet were really just robotic slaves, simply by-products of this world we live in. And I knew that if I were to be in the MRT on another day, I would be just like one of them. In my little bubble just hoping to reach my destination as fast as I could, to complete my designated task as productively as I could.
In all honesty, being a part of this system isn't something we can escape from -we are all not responsible for our own involvement in this and we wouldn't be able to get out of it. Ever. Then again, perhaps I'm making it sound a lot worst than it really is and being a part of this may not necessarily be that bad a thing. We can still be incredibly happy people if we tried. Sure, I'm just a student and I haven't been through a lot but I do understand that we still need to work to survive - we need to eat, we need a place to live in and none of these come free but I strong believe that we can still be happy if amidst all the work, we step back once in a while and seek comfort in the little things that mean most to us.
For me, doing that means unplugging myself from busy and crowded places, and being in the comfort of a cozy corner with a warm cup of something lovely or embracing nature. I am not the biggest fan of botanical stuff and have no interest in floral and fauna but somehow, being in an environment filled with trees and seeing lots of green things makes me feel incredibly at peace and it has a calming effect on me. In places like these, you won't be surrounded by people who are rushing to get from one place to another - just people taking some time off to enjoy a leisurely walk, run or cycle. Life seems to go in slow motion in places like these, something we don't find very often nowadays. To me, a picnic in the botanic gardens makes for the perfect date :-) Just saying.
Today, I somehow ended up in Bishan Park with Priya, Swan and Phionna and it was an amazing day that made me very happy - even though I didn't really show it there and then because I was really tired and the sun wasn't very friendly this afternoon. I initially planned to go to the park alone to take photographs for my Photography Options and cycle a bit but the three of them decided to come along, which made my plan much better than it already was because they made for a wonderful company! Being with them made me very happy today.
Love love love
We took lots of photos today, as we were all armed with cameras, ready to snap photos of water for our photography Options assignment.
:-)
I think Bishan Park is honestly going to be one of my favourite hang-outs from now on - we found this very lovely playground that brought us, or at least me, to my childhood days where I used to come to Bishan Park every week and played in the playgrounds. Unfortunately, I wasn't familiar with the playground equipment here because it was probably new ones that I didn't play with when I was younger. I think it's really the little things like these that make us appreciate life a little more and take things a little slower :-)
Pee-a-boo!
Swan being a daredevil - looks really high and dangerous from this angle but it's actually really low :-)
To me, being able to play in playgrounds is something special - it's something that (generally speaking) only children are given the privilege to and yet a privilege that is commonly overlooked. As children, when we play in these structures constructed for fun and we fail to understand how blessed we are to have the time to just play. Then again, we tend to understand things only when they are gone - that's how we all work and that's how it'll be and we can only look back and sigh and think about how we have all grown up :-( 20 years down the road, I'd look back at my 16 year old self and think about all the things I took for granted as well.
Also, it's only in slow-moving places like these that we truly meet the most wonderful people who are the most kind because they are at peace with themselves. For the two photos you see here - above and below this chunk of words - they are taken by this really kind lady who happened to pass by. She offered to take the photos for us without us having to ask her and among all the encounters I've had with strangers who help me take photos, she's definitely at the top of the "amazing" list. Somehow, I feel like she took the photos with so much heart, even though these four schoolgirls wouldn't mean anything to her a few weeks later. My logic is that if you're in a park having a leisurely stroll, chances are that you have more time to spare compared to a random stranger in a crowded place like a tourist attraction. And that, I feel, means a lovelier photo because of the thought and effort put into it :-)
We walked a lot and it was quite tiring because we didn't realize that Bishan Park had two parts to it and both parts were insanely huge. All of us didn't eat lunch either so we were rather hungry as well.
Grassy plains!
The following four photos are quite hilarious and I think I'm going to have fun captioning them (pardon me):
Phionna: Hey why you come and steal my beautiful spot?
Me: But I want a photo too!
Phionna: You think you very big is it?
Me: Oops :-(
Phionna: HAHAHAHAHA ok then goodbye! Friendship over!
Me: Oh no :-( I didn't mean to - please come back :-(
Me: Ooooh look - camera! :-) Yay :-)
Swan being fabulously Sharpay
Quite pretty right! :-) Unfortunately, they weren't flowers, but leaves.
So we trekked and trekked and finally reached the traffic junction that separated Part 1 and Part 2 of Bishan Park - we wanted to get McDonald's which was on the other end of the park because our empty stomachs were getting the better of us.
Priya, Swan & Phion! :-)
Got distracted by the swings hurhur
Yay :-) :-)
The arduous yet never ending trek towards the McDonald's that never seems to appear :-(
Yes! Finally :-) Salvation at last! Trust me, we were super happy when we could finally see the lovely big yellow M against the brown building.
Only a bridge separates us from our food! :-)
Yummy for my tummy - fast food tastes incredible when you're hot, tired, sweaty and gross
Priyaaaaaaa
Phionnaaaaaaa
Haven't eaten the apple pie for such a long time - I honestly believe that this is one of the best things you can spend $1 on :')
Priya's hot fudge sundae! :-)
And ending my post with these two crazy girls who were going back to school to do Pilates! :-) Props for being resilient - I backed out and went home hurhur
In conclusion, today was an amazing day and I will definitely be trying my best to emulate days like these because they make me very happy and happiness is essentially something that will keep me going for a long while.
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