chronological recollections... 29th august 2006

my family at the airport at noon, 29th august 2006... somehow any entourage bidding me farewell evaporated to the evils of lectures and tutorials because i seem to be the only one not flying off at some unearthly hour... and yup family includes you dear =)

me and my jessie!

campus of limestone giants

and oh i didn't mention... while Kingston isnt full of these kinds of buildings, Queen's University is. like micnie's U of T... maybe not so grand... but all limestone giants from centuries ago, beautifully restored and preserved. and yeah its a kind of place you can bring a book and picnic outside your lecture venue. idyllic. le serenissimo. beautiful. amazing. pictures akan datang.

of squirrels and freezing summers... Kingston, Ontario

Kingston is a wonderful town indeed. it has as many squirrels as singapore has shrubs. everywhere u turn u see one. but the mind-baffling thing is everytime u whip out a camera, u NEVER see one. or rather, the one u just saw u no longer are seeing.

otherwise, Kingston is a cosy, comfortable town with downtown Kingston, Princess Street, just a relaxing 20 minute walk away... people here are mostly friendly and accomodating; cars stop at a green light to let pedestrains across the road. something i will never ever see in singapore. and being a university town helped lower the overall age profile of the residents in Kingston; either students, or very old seniors who have been living here for ages. the former seem to dominate still, though. this huge building here, City Hall, is actually showcased on the Kingston website itself, a local grand dame that housed the local administrative departments.

home on the other hand, is in a cosy little room at Harkness International Hall... a little run down, but cosy nonetheless... and friendly pple around me, all smiley and nice... only the residents here seemed to booze quite a little, so for teetotaller chiew this is a new environment to get used to. the weather started out cool and chilling with summer sun, but for the past 2 days, though, has been uncharacteristically cold, alike last semester's Great Singapore Winter. i've been here almost a week, and just had time to get down to writing these entries, and i'm still not very acclimatized. freezing my butts off...

so sorry folks no other pics yet... havent had the time to upload, so i shal just post these descriptive narrations of my initial emotions, impressions and events transpired. given my long-winded expressions and bombastic vocabulary so often groused about, if you so choose to swear off reading my travel blog, i can fully understand. anyway this is about me mugging in kingston, though mugging hasnt really started. "when pictures are up, you will see them." spoken matter-of-factly, this sounds rather farrell... can't blame me, i'm in farrelland.

alfred monk

my sincere apologies for the lack of updates on my mugging escapades so far in the land of maple syrup and in particular, the town of a thousand squirrels who jus seemed to pop up all over the place wherever you turn. its a miracle i have yet to see one run over by a car. hey do not label me a sadistic furry mammal hater i love squirrels ok i think they are seriously cute and cuddly. its just that there aren't enough cars around the town of Kingston to run them over even if they line themselves in deep slumber across the campus. downtown, of course, is a totally different proposition.

anyways, back to the subject matter pertaining to the title of this post.

i was aboard CX828 from HK to Toronto and had just taken off into the polluted grey skies of the Jewel of the East when the cabin crew apologized that the inflight entertainment was facing some problems and our choice of multimedia enjoyment would be limited in scope somewhat. irate passengers trying to tune in to tom cruise blowing the world up in MI3 were visibly but remarkably silently cursing their good luck; i had watched Thank You for Smoking from Singapore to HK before transit, and i settled happily for Ice Age 2 on this entertainment deficient flight. no loss in utility here.

after ice age came the listless period of sifting through channels of blank screens when i chanced upon Tony Shaulbus (is this how i spell it? no tagboard yet folks, sorry... so pls just comment on my poor vocab of acting talent names and correct poor deprived me) in his very very recently award-winning show, Monk. for the uninitiated (or simply for other muggers like me who thought this was a show about shaolin monks sitting in meditation pitted against Columbian Nachos chanting in prayer), Alfred Monk is the star of the show, a stellar detective yet oddball in life. ironies abound in this show, which i thought was superb in the social paradoxes portrayed. the said thing abt Monk is that he had lost his wife and still stayed close to his in-laws -don't snigger, though i admit that i somehow put this across a little wrong- he hence had fond and painful memories of his beloved wife who had passed on, but who upon doing so left such a deep scar in his life that he had yet to overcome.

and in this particular episode he had to help his Hollywood producer dad in-law solve a case of cheating gameshow contestant and collaborating gameshow host, the latter held to blackmail by the former for causing the death of a personal assistant. to do this, Alfred Monk had to put up in his in-laws' place, where he had fond memories of him and his wife visiting the family home and which struck him so deep in his painful heart. Monk was a frank and unassuming personality, and he was genuine with his emotions. seeing him the way he was, i could not help but be reminded of how i wasnt in put up a brave front when i left my family and my dear jessie at the airport to take this 22 hour inflight entertainment-deficient flight to toronto. i'll miss them so so much. and seeing Alfred Monk pained in missing his wife so dearly, i know i miss mine too. 119 days more, and i'll be back by your side.

i love you dear.