Tiong Bahru, Kodak Pro Image 100

I learned to love Singapore again last month. I’ve always been in a weird relationship with the country, and maybe it’s wrong to ascribe how I feel about an entire country on the state of highly personal things, but that’s how it keeps working out. After the first time I visited Singapore, I vowed never to return again, only to be proven wrong when my family hauled ass over there to visit an art exhibit (!). And then we sort of became regulars.

Kodak Pro Image 100

It’s funny how that happened. Perhaps it was because Singapore began changing as I did, maybe not. All I know is that I’ve found reasons to love it again. Despite the heat and everything else.

On the way to Laneway, Fuji Supreria 400

These are stories, I guess. Small snippets of the trip with photographs that are, truthfully, pretty blurry. I was reacquainting myself with the focus meter of the LC-A+. I don’t think I’ve gotten the hang of it yet, but I’m getting there.

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I’m working on my intense (!) backlog for Nothing Spaces—updating which I know shouldn’t feel like an obligation, but they’re things I’ve intended on posting about anyway—but here’s one of the little sprinkled joys I’ve had the last month.

I went to the Vincent Moon screening in Big Bag Wolf. Apparently, it was held on the very same day as he landed in Manila. In between shuffling in the airport and the screening, he found himself on a jeepney to Intramuros. Without reading the signs.

Anyway, I’ll save the rest for later. For now, let me gush a little bit about this wonderful man. He made a name for himself shooting Take-Away Shows for a French music blog (his friend’s) and I suppose that’s what he’s primarily known for. Now, he’s reaching a little bit deeper, in pursuit of a more spiritual side to music. That’s why he’s here, anyway.

I gave him my copy of The National’s A Skin, A Night to sign, because humans have this weird quest to collect people’s signatures (a habit brought to my attention by my brother while we were driving after a show). He looked totally bewildered that I had it, muttered something along the lines of “This is my passion,” and signed it. (Later, I will learn that he hated this film and had not seen it in quite some time.)

On the back, he wrote something in French, which stirred that part of me that wanted to learn the language so badly:

How beautiful is that?

The rest of the night was illuminating. At the risk of sounding ridiculously obvious, I was completely over the moon.

February has been, thus far, exciting. Aside from the grandness of Laneway, February has been randomly filled my pockets with tiny sprinklings of amazingness. It’s all very cool; hard to believe that everything only happened in a span of 28.5 days. Funny, too, that this great month has an extra day.

We saw Toro y Moi play again, and this time I got to take pictures for Restless Cities. Not the best ones, obviously, but I briefly thought about being a photographer in late high school up to early college because of gig photography. Then, I accepted that that was probably not a smart direction for me. Still, though, I had a lot of fun.

In preparation for Death Cab for Cutie on March 5 (woohoo!), Attraction! Reaction! put together another Death Cab for Cutie night. I went to my first one as a college sophomore, and I think this has been the only other one after that. Amazing. Coverage for this up on Restless Cities. I can’t wait for next week (!!!) which is when Sarie and I have planned to camp out in line five hours before show time. Probably not joking.

I’m glad I’m spending my extra leap year day doing non-waste-y things. I finished up a bit of work stuff earlier today. Tonight, I’m seeing The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and I don’t know, from this vantage point, the rest of 2012 looks absolutely stellar. If all goes according to plan, that is.

I guess February is music-filled; I miss going to art shows and getting to read. I’m in the middle of my third book for February, which is kind of sad because I set out to read 7 (heh) this month. It’s okay, though, I think I’m kind of in love with it. (These are the books I’ve read so far.)

On another note, I’ve been sad about this blog. I don’t know what to do with it. I think I just miss writing, and things pile up, and then I sort of forget how to without sounding unlike myself. It’s nice to look back on the things that have happened the last month, though, because despite feeling sad or unsure about certain things, at least I have proof of all the good things that have been happening to me.

Nownow began as a series of mixes Petra made for the music blog we used to run. A nownow mix is a bunch of songs that are:

- the single songs from a freshly-acquired album that happen to appeal to me most
- music that has recently been associated with a particular experience
- a song i smoke to
- guilty pleasures
- classic can’t-let-go songs

the NOWNOW turnover rate: the reason i call it NOWNOW is because it changes almost every day. songs get added, a couple get taken away. the really high turnover rate makes it forever new. this is my fickleness in its most flattering light. it’s the one playlist i’ll never tire of, & i’m happy to share it with you guys.

And now, I’m going to steal/revive this idea. Nownow is for the things I have been consuming and/or obsessed with as of late. Hopefully it’s helpful, entertaining, etc. At the very least, it’s documentation for myself.

Clockwise from the top left:

• The Drums’ Portamento, which I have been listening to a lot ever since coming back from Singapore. I’m scared I’m going to get sick of it so I put it on rotation with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Death Cab for Cutie, in preparation. Anyway, I love Portamento because it’s refreshing and nothing exactly like I’ve heard before. Also, I’m pretty smitten by Jonny Pierce. He’s amazing to watch perform.

 

• Daytum! I’ve abandoned and come back and abandoned etc. over the last few years. I’ve found a great use for it, though—tracking everything I need to track, i.e. savings for big purchases, work hours. Plus, it provides a visual of my work vs. play vs. errands.

 

• My Planner! I used to be attached to my planner’s non-existent hip. And then, I wasn’t, and then my life fell to pieces I became super disorganized. This is to get me back on track, and so far it’s working. Plus, it’s really pretty.

 

• COCO SUGAR. THIS IS THE BEST SUGAR SUBSTITUTE I’VE EVER COME ACROSS. I was skeptical (but hopeful!) at first, because something this good couldn’t possibly be a healthier option, but lo, it was. It’s safe for diabetics because of the low glycemic index, and it has a lot of nutrients. No dangerous chemicals, additives either. 100% natural. Hard to believe, but I’m just happy this exists and that we make it in the Philippines. I want to make my lola try it. I’m tempted to just eat and eat and eat it but I’ve read that sweeteners in general aren’t particularly healthy, heh.

 

• Solaris by Ferrania, which is a film I’ve coveted and found in Singapore! Part of me wishes I had hoarded, but I’m waiting for my roll to develop so I can decide if I should ask someone to get more for me.

 

• My Lomo LC-A+. I put this away for a while because I didn’t understand how to use the focus (lol) but Shine taught me estimates, so I’ve been taking it out whenever I go out of the house. Exciting!

I hope I can do this every week or month. Just to keep track and remember and sometimes, share.

I will keep referring to my Singapore trip as a Long Weekend, even though it isn’t, technically. Nonetheless, it was fun. When we landed on a Thursday afternoon, we decided to swing by Orchard Road then just to get it over with. I think we had Orchard Road overload from our last trip. Because of this brilliant decision, we had time (and energy!) to explore the rest of the places we haven’t been to. But that’s another story.

Here’s a slideshow of Instagram photos. I was going to do a collage, but I like big photographs! The following are from Laneway, the house we stayed in, and weird ice cream.

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Part II of this post: Our winner for the Field Notes Giveaway, Via, didn’t reply to my email for the last few days, so I picked a new one, alliekabok on Tumblr. I forgot to take an iShowU video of my randomization, and I obviously can’t re-enact it, so here are screencaps. Anyway, I just sent her an email and am expecting a response within the next 24 hours. Allie’s been a loyal reader of Nothing Spaces and has been a keen commenter.

Thank you again to Avalon.ph for the goods (haha) and for all y’all who joined. It’s been fun!

In other news, I’m so dreadfully sick of this layout. Aren’t you? I hope I find the time to change it soon.

I have successfully accomplished 4 out of 10 January Goals, which seems pretty pitiful, I guess.

Here are my February goals, with some of January’s goals carried over:

• Read 7 books
• Exercise 3 times a week
• Save 50% of paycheck
• Revive Maybe Very Happy
• Organization
        — Workspace
        — Room (Spring Cleaning)
• Start working on an exhibit for June
• Do branding for shop
• Work on online portfolio (Funnily enough, I did this in January)
        — Design business cards. Print them.
• Get better at film photography
        — Get the Nikon FM-2 fixed

I like doing monthly goals because I get to fine-tune my “progress” during the year. I know it’s kind of a dorky thing to do, but I like having a way to steer me towards the person I want to be. Or at least, some kind of accountability for my own goals.