In Continuum.

You know how the weather has been as of late, white curtains just won't do any longer. The light and the heat has infiltrated the white curtains and turned my bedroom into a concrete oven, and I needed to do something about it. So I got myself a set of dark brown curtains, and they are so dark that they are practically black anyway. My mother and I spent the afternoon taking down the old ones and putting up these brand new magical curtains, and the result is a makeshift darkness that I am very satisfied of. The makeshift darkness is also accompanied by a table lamp that I used to own, and it is not providing a little light of warmth at the corner of my working desk as we speak. It kind of looks like the lamp in the Pixar logo, something which excites me for no apparent reasons whatsoever. Anyway, I am enjoying this newfound darkness in my room because of how it mimics the night so well, but the same cannot be said about my new neighbors upstairs. It's not that I don't like them or anything, but when they did the renovations, they  obviously forgot to take curtains into consideration. 

Yes, the noisy renovation upstairs has stopped, and it gave way to the sound of children screaming and rolling about on the floors. I have a suspicion that my ceiling (their floor) is no thicker than the ruler in my pencil case, which would explain why the drilling was so excruciatingly loud, and why I am able to know what they are doing just be listening to the footsteps. Anyway, I am thankful that they have moved in, because it gave those accursed workers a reason to stop whatever they were doing, and I don't suppose they are going to move out anytime soon. It should be something exciting to have a new neighbor, you never actually know what you are going to get. I think of my block as a box of chocolates somehow, and each unit is like those compartments in a box of chocolates. You get those really tasty chocolates, and then you have those that taste more like those cheap processed chocolates. Well, changing a new neighbor is like having a brand new flavor added to the collection, and you never know how they are like until you taste them. OK, that came out totally wrong, but I do not intend to change it. So sue me. 

I was minding my own business one night at the computer when I stopped minding my own business and starting minding my neighbor's business. That is to say, I stopped whatever I was doing and went to the balcony to eavesdrop on what they were up to. Look, it does sound mildy perverted, but I can assure you that I did so for all the right reasons. The mother was screaming at the children, and the children were crying their eyeballs out for one reason or another. I didn't catch what she was scolding them for, but I did catch the words "I will not show any mercy!" and "Stop biting on your nails!" in mandarin. To my surprise, I think my neighbor upstairs are Taiwanese like ourselves, especially from the way they spoke. It was pretty obvious, since I grew up speaking the language as well. The children just kept crying, and the mother just kept on screaming, and the whole ordeal ended with lights being turned off in one room and some doors being slammed. The crying of the children died down into a quiet murmur, until even they were drowned out by the sound of the traffic from far below. The first night in a new home, and already they were on the brink of domestic violence.

But who can blame them anyway, it must be difficult to adjust to a brand new country. Of course, I am merely guessing on the fact that they have just moved here from Taiwan, judging from the age of their children and the lack of curtains. Yes, they don't have curtains for their bedrooms, and I wonder just how they have been able to keep themselves sane in the summer heat. Alright, I suppose all the screaming just goes to show that they probably lost their sanity, but I bet it can all be traced to the lack of curtains. I see them hanging their laundry on the windows, and then using their bed sheet and blankets as curtains, which was rather amusing and sad at the same time. I don't remember my family being this desperate when we moved over - at least we had our curtains I suppose. I wonder what else that they don't have, I wonder if they remembered the toilet bowl or the shower heads. You know how these things tend to just slip your mind when you are concerned with the house in the big picture. Anyway, so they don't have curtains, and their home must seem like a great contrast to mine in days like that. 

I don't remember much about the first days in Singapore, just bits and pieces of it. I remember the agent that brought us to our home on the first day, I remember she had thick black rimmed glasses that weighed down on her nose can gave her a very nasal voice. Then I remember the first night when the whole family shared a few mattresses and slept in my parents' bedroom. That is pretty much all I remember of the first days in Singapore, those first days when I thought I was having a holiday here. The people upstairs must be experiencing the same thing, all that fear of the unknown and how helpless they must feel! It's a brand new country, with a brand new lifestyle to get used to amongst everything else. The most troubling thing is perhaps the fact that this country is still going to operate as per normal, with or without you. They are not going to stop in their tracks just to help you fit in, you got to find a way to do that yourself. That is probably the scariest part of it all, and that is also what I told my parents the other day over dinner. 

I told the folks that it'd be nice of them to go upstairs to say hello, to let them know that someone from back home lives downstairs as well. If I were them, it'd definitely be comforting to know that someone close by is willing to help. But my parents can be so traditional sometimes, they think it rather pretentious to make the first move like that. Well, if both families are going to deem it pretentious, then neither of the families are going to go anywhere, right? People are just so stubborn these days, and I wonder how it'd be like if I make a trip upstairs one of these days to introduce myself. It's not like my parents did not invite the neighbors to our new home in Taiwan after it was renovated, and that was not pretentious? Anyway, the children seem to have bounced back from that night, and have been laughing and screaming as usual now. Strange, what is it with old people and young people despite the families moving out and moving out? I never seem to have people around my age moving into the same block - do you know how frustrating it is? Just when you think that the new neighbors may bring along people of the same age as myself, you get kids. More kids, and then some. 

I like the idea of dropping by a neighbor's house to hang out, to just be there for an afternoon and to have him or her come over and to do so the same. I think that'd be fun, but I have never had a neighbor like that before. Of the four units on my floor, three of them are devoted Christians and they are always trying to "save" us by inviting us to their churches. If you know me well enough, you'd know that asking me to church is probably the hardest thing to do at this point. My point is, I don't know a neighbor in my block who is interesting enough for me to hang out with on a regular basis, and vice versa. It'd be nice, but they are all either too young or too old. I'd seem like a makeshift grandson or a babysitter if I hang out at their places too often, and therein lies the problem and the boredom. So much for the new neighbors, they don't have people my age, which kind of sucks. Other than that, I do hope for them to find a place in the society soon, because moving to a different country can be difficult for sure. I mean, it's the whole thing about an uncharted territory that scares even the bravest souls for sure. You know, you never know what is going to happen, you don't know how the system works. You just have to reach into the box and feel your way around even if something bites you back and you have to scream in pain afterwards. We have come a long way ourselves, and it is time for you to test the waters too. 

In the mean time, I have my brand new curtains and my makeshift darkness. If there is something I'd bring up to the neighbors, it is probably not going to be a freshly baked pie or some fruits though. I am probably going to bring up the curtains that the family doesn't need any longer, just so that they don't cook themselves in the afternoons. I am looking forward to studying with the new table lamp and definitely the dark weekend mornings. It'd give me a good reason to sleep in for the whole day, alone in my bedroom and without any disturbances save for that of the stomach. Well, I said alone, because a company is not going to be possible these days, as far as I can tell. It just seems unlikely these days, and I am feeling selfish. Save for the old curtains, I am still willing to donate those.