In Continuum.

It rained today, a weather that is not supposed to be surprising in this part of the world. I remember making a comment about the weatherman who'd come up in the middle of at the end of news reports to give an update on the weather. Having lived in the warmer parts of the planet for the better part of my life, the job of the weatherman as always been one of the easiest that I know of. That is probably the reason why most of the weather reports in Singapore has been done by computer graphics these days - technology taking over human beings in its purest form in the news studio. Anyway, watching a weather report in Singapore is kind of like watching a game of soccer between Brazil and Singapore - you pretty much know the result. Every single day of the year is the same as the one before, with temperatures generally ranging between 25 and 32 degrees celsius, though there are occasions whereby it'd dip a degrees below or above that range. But for the most part, we have three kinds of weather system to take note off, something that isn't exactly rocket science. It is either sunny, cloudy, or rainy in Singapore, and it isn't difficult to predict any of those on your own either. A weather report is almost like the obligatory black character in an American comedy sitcom. You know, you have to have a member of the cast from a different race, or else you'd be called a "racist". Similarly, it is as if you don't have a weather report in your news, you are a gay news agency or something.

There is no point watching the weather report in Singapore because every day is the same, day in and day out. Every once in a while you get a particularly heavy rain that lasts for an unnaturally long time, or a thunder storm that sweeps across the island for half an hour. Heavy rain sometimes cause mini landslides in certain parts of the island, not to mention the occasional tree that gets uprooted somewhere. But relatively speaking, if you compare the weather reports of Singapore to a great many countries around the world, you'd find that its existence is pretty redundant for the most part. If you are leaving your home on a sunny day, all you have to do is to arm yourself with an umbrella and you are all set. If you are really afraid that your wardrobe will be drenched by the rain, maybe you could toss in a poncho or a raincoat, and that should be more than enough. In terms of weather, Singapore doesn't provide a lot of excitement, which in some ways could be a great thing to many people out there. I mean, if you want to get away from the blistering cold up North, Singapore would probably be a great destination for you because, well, it is blistering hot all year round for the most part. I, for one, am not a person who likes the warm weather very much. There are two things about me that I've discovered over the course of this trip that I haven't noticed before: I adjust to jet lags surprisingly well, and that I love the cold more than I thought I do.

In Taiwan, things get a little more interesting at times. You still get the sunny, the cloudy and the rainy most of the time, but at least we get a semblance of winter up there. No longer do you have to walk down the streets under the blazing hot sun while listening to Christmas carols coming from a street side store. In Taiwan, at least the air is chilly and the wind blows right into your bones. You have weathers like that, and there are times in winter when you could drive up into the mountains to see the snow, because it does snow in mountainous areas in Taiwan if you are patient enough to brave the traffic all the way up, not to mention the journey down. It is predictable weather in Taiwan most of the time, save for an abnormal situation that arises every once in a while. Typhoons come spinning into the coastline a couple of times a year, and Taiwan only recently survived the relentless power of mother nature a few months back. When the typhoon comes along, the weather stations kick into overdrive, and it is the sole source of information that people rely on for the most part, because they are supposed to be the most accurate. For that couple of times, the hopes of the people dangle by a thread that hangs onto the weather channels, and they actually serve a very real purpose in times like that.

Still, I don't think I have really experienced a real typhoon, at least not when I was in Taiwan. I remember there was a time when I visited my grandmother when the front drive was flooded with water. My cousins and I then took out our toys and played with the water that gathered at the front door. In retrospect, it was quite an unhygienic thing to do, but then we were boys back then, and we were meant to be sweaty and dirty for the most part. Anyway, such a weather condition was a rarity, and the weather has been pretty predictable for the most part, no matter how much my parents would try to disagree. You see, as parents, you tend to over-protect your children at times, especially in their younger years. When I was in my younger years, my mother would pile clothes onto me as if I am some kind of clothing rack, and I remember those days when I would be in four layers of clothes despite the fact that it is just sixteen degrees out. That, in context, was pretty damn cold for my tiny little body, and my mother knew that. Winter in Taiwan, compared to winter in Buffalo, was probably just the appetizer. In fact, people over here probably call that their summer, because it really doesn't compare. It isn't actually winter in Buffalo just yet, since it is still in the season of autumn here in Buffalo. But you can start to feel the chills already, with the trees dying and the flowers withering. This is the beginning of winter, this is what autumn is like. I cannot wait for it to come, and yet I am somewhat terrified.

All of a sudden, the weather report has been propelled to a great level of importance in my life, at least on the dashboard of my Macbook. It is a widget that I check about ten to fifteen times a day, simply because of how everything changes. The temperature that you see today is probably not going to be the temperature that you see yesterday. If they predict a sunny day on Wednesday, it is probably not going to be a sunny day by the time Wednesday rolls around the corner. Sunlight is a fragile thing here in Buffalo, because you don't get that a lot, at least not anymore. It was the case when I moved from Singapore to Buffalo, when the hint of summer could still be found in the bushes and the trees. It was a time when the warmth was just about to leave, and I caught its tail right as it was about to leave the room. This is autumn though, this dreadful and rainy days is what autumn seems to be all about now. If not for the rain, the skies are usually covered in a depressing shade of gray, and clouds would loom close to the grounds than they normally would. I use the words "depressing" and "dreadful", but that doesn't necessarily mean that I feel that way. I love this dull and somewhat morbid weather around here, with everything dying around me. They say that the fall is the best time to be in Buffalo, because you get to see a little bit of everything. I believe that saying very much, and it seems to hold true so far, for the most part.

When I arrived in Buffalo, it was a rainy day. Rain isn't common in Buffalo, and it started out like a tease in the very beginning. It would rain for about ten minutes, and it'd come and go without you even realizing it. It tends to start raining heavily all of a sudden, and it'd vanish just as soon as it arrived. In between these sudden and short pangs of rain, the weather here has been punctuated with mostly sunny days, or chilly days with moderate amount of winds. Comfortable is the word to describe the weather that I have been experiencing for the most part, as it is possible to grab a book and an iPod and sit in the middle of a big green field without feeling too hot or cold. I've sat in the middle of the grassy field right next to the Center for the Arts a dozen times, and I must say that the act of sitting in the middle of a field and reading a book makes you feel like a real college student. I mean, that isn't the kind of thing that we do in Singapore, because you don't get a lot of big green fields around the school campus at all. We have a forest across the road, but then it isn't the kind of pretty forest you want to go to. It is a tropical rainforest, and that equates to swamps, heat, and mosquitoes. Besides, most of the big green fields in Singapore are either going to be turned into a residential area, a business district, or it has been already turned into a soccer field.

At that point in time, it was possible to head out of the house with a t-shirt and jeans, no problem. When the winds blew, all we had to do was to put on a hoodie or a sweater and we were good to go. Even in Toronto, the weather was fair for the most part, comfortable to walk in the streets, and there isn't a need to wipe sweat off your forehead once every fifteen seconds. My theory of loving the colder weather has always been this: If you are cold in a cold country, all you need to do is to pile on clothes and you'd be fine. If you are hot in a hot country, you can strip naked and walk down the street and still feel incredibly hot. There is a way to battle the cold, but there isn't a way to battle the hot unless you enlist technology. Although air-conditioned jackets are not exactly science fiction in our day and time, nobody really wants to carry such things around on our shoulders. Besides, most of the designs are pretty damn ugly, and they all look like space suits from Star Trek if you ask me. It is easier to keep warm, and besides the fashions involved in colder countries are just freakin' awesome. I know that half the clothes I bought here are probably not applicable in the warm weather back home. But screw it, autumn/winter fashion is simply mind blowing. One word: layering.

It isn't very cold just yet, but it is soon about to. Over the weekend, I spent my time in New York City - which is my favorite city in the world now - and something happened to the weather system back home. It rained in New York City as well, kinda like a tropical monsoon that'd come in the morning and leave by afternoon. At any rate, it wasn't the funnest thing to have to carry your shopping bags in the rain in New York City, but we survived it anyway. More on that when I attempt to blog about my trip to New York City. These days, though, if you check out the weather reports, everything is either rainy or just somewhat cloudy. Clear days don't seem to exist anymore, and you see either the sun with a bit of cloud, or the sun with a bit of rain. Everything in between is rain, rain, rain, and rain. In fact, the raining part of the weather got so bad over the last weekend while I was in New York City, that parts of this place got flooded. People received weather warnings here, and there were reports on hails in certain parts of this city. Over at Sweet Home Road, people reported a hail storm back there, and I am just glad that I wasn't caught in the middle of one of those. The thing about the cold is that it is fine when it is just cold and nothing else. When you add rain and/or wind to the mix, you want to stay at home and not get out.

Still, this is probably just the foreplay of winter, since it isn't officially here yet. I have done my preparations, of course, and they involve thick clothing and a trusty water bag, in the event when I do need it. Even these days, I leave the house with a set of gloves to keep me warm, not to mention three layers of clothes on my body. A t-shirt, a sweater and a jacket with scarf is pretty much all that I need these days when the temperature dips below ten. It is still extremely comfortable for the most part when the wind remains calm, and I am still enjoying myself. Right now, at twelve midnight, my windows are actually opened because the room feels really stuffy. The scary thing about the winter is that you don't really know if the stuff that you bought are going to be enough until winter comes. You know, like the thick down feather jacket that I bought prior to this trip. I have no idea if that is going to work when the temperatures dip below zero, and it certainly isn't going to help for the fact that I paid more than two hundred dollars on that thing. The same applies for the scarves, the gloves, the shoes, the socks, and everything else that I have bought to keep me warm. Only time will tell, and that is a phrase that I hate with a passion. I want to know now, so that I can buy more and feel good about the days to come.

I remember the morning when the lot of us prepared to travel up to Toronto. We traveled there via Greyhound, and more about that trip in the coming entries I suppose. That morning was a particularly cold one, and I remember waking up at six in the morning with condensation on my window. Six degrees outside and dropping, and that was the morning when I piled on so much clothes that I must have looked like I gained ten pounds. I took pictures of Lake LaSalle, the lake that is right next to the place that I live. You could see mist coming off the surface of the lake because it was just that cold, and condensation formed every time we breathed out through our mouths. It was fun on my part, jumping up and down to keep my body temperature high in the blistering morning cold, and I was especially frozen because of the fact that I forgot to bring my gloves out that morning. I've learned my lessons, and now they stick with me wherever I go. Anyway, there is a sort of excitement lingering in the air, I suppose, when it comes to winter. The first snow is going to be somewhat exciting, and I imagine myself jetting off in a plane when I eventually get sick of the color white. The snow is probably going to be fascinating for about week, and then it is going to suck for a long time. Before then, though, I must say that I hate the rain, and I say this to mother nature: either start snowing or stop raining right now, thanks.