In Continuum.

It's the way long distance relationships go, they are paths traveling in parallel. In this case, I am speaking of long distance friendships, the kind of relationships that you build always in a distance and only occasionally close enough. Our lives are divided in stages, phases that we go through from one to the other. We meet different people in different stages, and some of these people follow us through to the next stage, but most of them don't. They have their lives and we have ours, and we go about our responsibilities and our businesses while they go about theirs. That is the way it goes, and every once in a while you decide that our paths should cross, and that we should catch up with one another. The long weeks and months of not contacting one another stops for a few hours of a day, and the few of us sit down and have a nice chat about how things have been so far. That was what happened to me and my friends on Thursday evening, as we played catch up with one another's lives. It has been a while since we sat down together and talked, since we are all going through college right now, and you know how college is for the most part. It doesn't ease out until the fades out, and it is only at the end when we have the time for something else. So that was how we decided that it was time to meet, Ahmad, Valerie and I. Just for old times, and the good times.

Since it was everybody's holiday, we thought that it'd be good to meet up and try to play catch up with one another. Of course, another good reason to have a mini-celebration was because it was Valerie's last day as an undergraduate. You know, there comes a time when you are no longer a student, and you are roundhouse kicked into the workforce. She finished her very last paper on Thursday, and that marked the end of her college life. It sounded like a good cause for celebration, and perhaps mourning, which was why we thought a good supper would be a great idea. So, while Valerie went about after school to do some photo shoot with her classmates, Ahmad and I decided to catch Star Trek at Vivo City. The review is below this entry, so there isn't a point for me to go through with the details. Anyway, if you are too lazy to read the review below - which I'd not hold you to it - let's just say that the movie was really good and entertaining, though not exactly great. Anyway, so we caught up a bit over lunch, and he asked me about Neptina and how we met. Apparently I left out the details to that when we talked the last time over the internet, and we also talked about his trip to San Francisco soon in June. Seems like everybody is going to the United States these days.

Anyway, after the movie, we made a trip down to Ahmad's house, where we were supposed to regroup. It's been a while since I've been to his place, and all I remember about it was how I managed to have my shoes stolen from his doorstep when I was there. Two weeks old, those shoes that I had, and I even placed it inside his house instead of outside. I remember being extra cautious about putting them outside because, well, they were nice and expensive shoes. Anyway, I made a big racket about the issue over on my old blog, and you'd probably be able to find it if you dig deep enough. There were a lot of vulgarities involved, so be warned if you do stumble upon that particular entry. It still makes my blood boil, but what can you do about it anyway? So, we got to his place and things have changed quite a bit over there. We hung out in his room until Valerie dropped by from her home across the road. We got in, decided on a place to go, and waited for his mother to return from work for the car. I was just so hungry, I could have eaten a piece of his table. While we waited, though, it was nice to have a "blast from the past" experience with that little time capsule Ahmad accidentally kept over the years. Let's just say that I really hate my handwriting back then.

We made our way down to Bedok area where we decided to have our supper. Bar Chor Mee and carrot cake in the middle of the night sounded like a brilliant idea indeed. I've never been to that area for supper before, and it did indeed look like a good place to hang out for a while. I am not usually a fan of hawker food in general, but that particular Bar Chor Mee, or however it is spelled, actually tasted surprisingly decent. I am unsure if my hunger had anything to do with it, but I enjoyed it immensely while I was at it. I am sorry that I ordered the black carrot cake, since nobody specified. I thought everybody would be OK with black though, but I suppose I should keep that in mind the next time. We talked about a lot of things, from a certain shape in a relationship to theology. Yes, in a hawker center in Bedok, the three of us talked about religion - which was fun, and it was nice to learn that we had a new shared common ground on things. Not that they were uncool before I knew about it, but they just got cooler after I did. Anyway, you know how catching up is, you just start talking about the past, the present and the future. It was fun, though I thought it'd be more fun if there were more members from the original club present. You know, the guitar club or something, that'd be fun.

After the supper, Valerie decided that it'd be a great idea to take light graffiti shots. Now, light graffiti shots are photographs with trails of light in them, kinda like neon lights bent into shapes, but not really. You can do a Google search to check out what it is like, and it isn't very difficult to set up for the most part. You need torches for the light source, the right kind of camera to delay the shutter speed, and then the right location where it is dark enough. Ahmad thought that Punggol Park would be dark enough for our purposes (I make it sound like we were going to have some kind of satanic ritual), and we drove down there for our photo shoot in the middle of the night. We had the cameras packed, the batteries packed, the torches packed, and we even brought a tripod for our purpose. I, for one, have never done anything remotely like this before, which was why I was kind of excited for the whole thing. I was suspicious of whether or not it'd succeed, and the idea of visiting Punggol Park all over again wasn't exactly the most encouraging thought. But anyway, it is all a part of exorcizing something anyway, you replace the old memories with the new. So taking pictures in the middle of the night, that sounds like a great replacement memory.

I think it was already close to midnight by the time we got there, and there were a couple of people still in the park at that time. Fishing, hanging around in the playground, making out by the lake, you name it. We were the only people with our camera equipments, going around the lake to the far side just to get a good dark spot. We picked a little spot off the side of the walkway under some trees where the only lights came from the street lamps from far away. The equipments were set up, and the settings in the camera were tweaked for our purposes. Now, I was probably the least informed about the inner-workings of a camera, and I was utterly confused as they went through technical names and numbers that I did not fully understand. I knew what ISO was, but anything beyond that was in a different tongue. I was there for crazy lights and some fun anyway, though the ants that were biting at our ankles were really getting onto my nerves. We started with a few test shots that involved me swinging the torch frantically around. OK, it was the geek inside me trying to replicate a scene from Star Wars, and I was swinging the torch around, hoping it'd look like lightsabers on camera. It didn't, but it was a good try anyway. Once the test shots were done, we started making all kinds of shapes and stuff - good time!

Well, I don't have the pictures to show for as of now, since Valerie hasn't sent me anything yet. I'd feel bad for asking from her again and again, but let's just say that I believe in the responsibility of the photographer to send the pictures to the people involved in the pictures as soon as possible. You know, they'd want to see how the pictures turned out, right, and that is what usually happens. But, she has been packing for a trip, exchanging currencies and making last minute arrangements. I am sure she is busy and everything, and I do hope that her presence online as I am typing this sentence is a sign that she is uploading the photographs into her computer and sending it over to me - I really want the photographs. Anyway, I found a hidden talent of mine through this light graffiti thing - I am very good at drawing imaginary wings. That's right, ladies and gentlemen. If any of you needs me to turn you into an angel during a light graffiti shoot, have me around and you will have the most beautiful wings ever. At this point, I don't really have the pictures to show for, but let's just say that I do a great job at it. Ahmad, on the other hand, is awesome at drawing imaginary hearts and flowers. It's kinda fun when you don't know how something is going to turn out until the picture shows. But that was part of the fun anyway.

It was great hanging out with them all over again, and we stayed in Punggol Park until way pass one in the morning. It's strange to be in a park at that time, because you start to wonder who are those people hanging out there at that hour. There was a group of teenagers singing some weird songs in the playground, couples still making out next to the lake, and an old man sleeping on a bench with a stray cat as company. It was a strange time to be in a place like that, and I was prepared to attack anybody with the tripod that we had. But, we got back to our car, all safe and sound, though I really wanted to peek into the car next to ours. It had the engines running, the windows all fogged up, and you know what is going on inside when that happens. I just wanted to shine my torch inside and then make a dash for it or something. It would have been fun, but we did none of that. Thanks to Ahmad for giving me a ride home, and I'm just glad that we got to do something like that. It has been a while since we caught up, and I do look forward to the next time when we do get an opportunity like that. Light graffiti for the win! Pictures coming up!