Just now I received an sms from a dear old friend who announced she's gonna be working in China. How long, we don't know.
I would love to work in China or Japan someday. Singapore, you can't shake off a sense of sterility and staidness when you are in it, no matter how hard the government tries to inject some form of life into the energy-sucking island. It's repressive during milder moments, and sends you into fits of misery (why is my life not going anywhere because people here are stupid, uncaring, bland, unadventurous, shallow etc etc) during less pleasant ones.
I want to go somewhere where people respect and love culture and don't see it as a liability. Its value goes beyond economics for most. I want proper engagement and vibrancy, especially in literary arts (come to think of it, I can go Taiwan too. They have lots of competitions). I want to see no more stupid buildings being built or being passed off as arts venue for just performances. It's insane, I tell you. Singapore just does not acknowledge that creative writing, literature per se, is Art.
I want to see opportunities for submissions of written works and recognition and affirmation of literature and writers through competitions. Singapore, we only have the pathetic Golden Point (or is it Pen?) that comes every two years and the SLP that is opened only to published writers. We simply dun invest in such things. Even the proposed arts school, if anyone notices (or cares), there's no mention of specialisation in creative writing, which I find damn sad and particularly suggestive (the government just doesn't appreciate the damn thing, and doesn't believe at all it may be lucrative or is an avenue to develop).
I want to write, write, write; I will pack up and leave one day, when there's no one and no bond to hold me back.
Meanwhile, Huihua, I wish you the best. Let me know if there are writing competitions in Beijing, if authentic jiaozi is truly fantastic and if China men are better than their Singaporean counterparts. We can jolly well marry China men if the latter insist on mainland brides.
I would love to work in China or Japan someday. Singapore, you can't shake off a sense of sterility and staidness when you are in it, no matter how hard the government tries to inject some form of life into the energy-sucking island. It's repressive during milder moments, and sends you into fits of misery (why is my life not going anywhere because people here are stupid, uncaring, bland, unadventurous, shallow etc etc) during less pleasant ones.
I want to go somewhere where people respect and love culture and don't see it as a liability. Its value goes beyond economics for most. I want proper engagement and vibrancy, especially in literary arts (come to think of it, I can go Taiwan too. They have lots of competitions). I want to see no more stupid buildings being built or being passed off as arts venue for just performances. It's insane, I tell you. Singapore just does not acknowledge that creative writing, literature per se, is Art.
I want to see opportunities for submissions of written works and recognition and affirmation of literature and writers through competitions. Singapore, we only have the pathetic Golden Point (or is it Pen?) that comes every two years and the SLP that is opened only to published writers. We simply dun invest in such things. Even the proposed arts school, if anyone notices (or cares), there's no mention of specialisation in creative writing, which I find damn sad and particularly suggestive (the government just doesn't appreciate the damn thing, and doesn't believe at all it may be lucrative or is an avenue to develop).
I want to write, write, write; I will pack up and leave one day, when there's no one and no bond to hold me back.
Meanwhile, Huihua, I wish you the best. Let me know if there are writing competitions in Beijing, if authentic jiaozi is truly fantastic and if China men are better than their Singaporean counterparts. We can jolly well marry China men if the latter insist on mainland brides.
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