A nation's biography and a woman's memoir...

History is the current theme of the titles that I've just read and started reading. Hehe!

As part of my training for the museum guiding activity at the National Museum of Singapore, I picked up a copy of Mark Frosts's and Yu-Mei Blasaingamchow's Singapore: A Biography.

I've just finished the book and I'm quite confident that I've picked up the key events and personalities that any museum guide should at least know.

Also, the book gave me a much better understanding of the country that adopted me. When I learned that I got the job in Singapore, I told myself that one thing I was really going to do when I get here is to immerse myself in the local culture, to learn about the local way of life.

This thinking I suppose stems from the years I was volunteering/working with the Ugnayan ng Pahinungod (the volunteer program of the University of the Philippines). One of the programs I handled was the Summer Immersion Service Program. Every summer, a group of students would be deployed to very remote areas around the country where they are to stay for about three weeks. The aim really of the program is for the students to see that there is something happening outside of the classroom and that there is a need to do something, especially that we belong to the country's premiere state university.

That kind of "learning" was the reason why I really wanted to be involved in different activities while living in Singapore. Believe it or not, I hardly get bored when I'm in Singapore. There are quite a number of things to do around the island. Having lived here for two years (and I'm hoping it will be for several more years), one thing I would like to do really is to show visiting friends that there is so much more to Singapore than Orchard Road. Hehe!

Anyway, the topic deserve a post on its own. I'm going back to the book. What I really loved about the book is that it introduced me to personalities that not too many people know about I guess. We're talking about individuals who don't get to be in the same spotlight that is given to Raffles. People like William Farquhar (who I generally liked very much more than Raffles), Elizabeth Choy, Mamoru Shinozaki, David Marshall, Constance Goh, Mrs. Siraj, May Wong (as in May Wong bar at Neil Road! Haha!), even the rickshaw pullers, the coolies, the convicts, the amahs, the samsui women, and so on.

In a way, reading the book also allowed me to look for parallel histories between Singapore and the Philippines. Hmm, to a certain extent, I think this is one thing I will be able to offer museum visitors when I become an official museum guide. I can relate Singapore history to the histories of neighbouring countries.

Singapore: A Biography is certainly going to help me do that as it is my bible on local history. Hehe!

Meanwhile, the other book is the memoir written by Grace Coddington. In the first few pages of the book, Grace wrote that people only learned of her or became more interested in her after she was featured in the documentary The September Issue.

Grace, I know you won't get to read this, but I want you to know that I have known about you long before The September Issue. And even then, I was already a fan. Sally Singer was correct when she said you are one of the greatest living stylists ever. Because you really are. Period.

I think those who were mentored under her are very lucky. Hehe!

Anyway, I just started on the book. It's been with me since December 2012 (!!!). Haha! I kept on delaying because I didn't want to take out of it's plastic wrapping. Hehe!

What I wouldn't give for the book to be signed by Grace Coddington.

More on the book after I finish it.

What book are you currently reading?

Why you should date a writer...

Stumbled upon this blog post of Fickle Cattle's Von Bryan. I thought it was worth sharing because I could fully relate to several thoughts he raised in his wonderful blog post below. :)

(This is a response to this particularly brilliant piece of writing found here, entitled Never Date a Writer).

You should date a writer. You should date a writer because he will fictionalize everything. He will write about things you have done to him, ohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifrhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif things you have never done to him. He will write about the time you held his hand, in the rain, and shared an umbrella. Or said nothing when he cried copiously in a movie theater. He will write, in pure passionate prose, about how, during the time you were together, you came across a stray cat on the street and you cried and you took it home and gave it to him and he fell in love with you for the first time.

You should date a writer. You should date a writer because he will fictionalize everything. He will write about the time you fought, and made up, and made love, and fought again. He will scour the details of your lives, and make from them poetry. And his words will sing in your head like birds in spring.

You should date a writer. You should date a writer because he will fictionalize everything. He will write about things that have happened, or that have not happened. He will write about the time you broke up, and he broke your heart. Or the time that he asked you to stay, and you left. He will write, words bleeding on a page, about love and life and lessons learned.

And you will learn about the time he waited outside your door for hours, not knowing if you were coming home or not. Or about the time he baked you a cake, lopsided and burnt, and threw it away because he did not want to give you a stupid ugly cake on your birthday. Or about the time he woke up at 5am in the morning to get you fresh flowers in the market, because he couldn't afford the ones they sold at the mall and he knew how much you liked them.

Or about the time when he was sick, and you were there, making sure he was safe and warm. How you skipped work that day, and puttered around his apartment, making more noise than was probably necessary. And how you kissed him on the forehead when you thought he was asleep, and whispered a promise he dared not believe.


You will learn about the time he stood by your door, and told you he loved you, and how that was the happiest and scariest day of his life. How nervous and fearful he felt, not knowing if you loved him back.

You should date a writer. You should date a writer because he will fictionalize everything. He will immortalize in words, the life you shared, or the time you both laid in bed, and whispered affectionate promises of forever.