Thumb Appreciation Day
2005-02-18 @ 11:47 p.m.

Ended early on Wednesday, because Mr Kwok had a seminar or something, so he cancelled our tutorial. We watched this video about Robert Frost, who didn't read very well. He declaims instead of reading, which is really trying because he spoke in a very ponderous fashion. Have finally got down to copying out the notes from Mr Sowden’s earlier lectures, the ones that took place before I decided to wake up and start paying close attention. Have been feeling damn shagged the whole day, which is awful. Guitar practice was unceremoniously ended because people needed LT2 for DramaFeste rehearsals. Not that I’m complaining, because I’m rusty after not having practised for two weeks! Sleeping late and waking up early is a vicious cycle that I need to break out of soon. Even coffee doesn't have much of an effect anymore, what little of it I'm getting anyway.

Thursday wasn’t so bad, because I got to slack during Mr Tay's tutorial again. It'll be such a pity if I don't do well in his subject. Surprisingly, Mr Batchelor approved of the notes I prepared on Good-Bye And Keep Cold! Turns out that it's one of those poems that's as simple as it looks. Plodded through the rest of school, and ended up painstakingly writing out my lecture notes on national income determination. Now I have nice lecture notes! Mr Purvis has inadvertently revealed to me the reason for the popularity of On A Tuesday Morning among my friends. It's written by one of their own. The teachers don't like that one as a whole though, being more partial towards Another Night On The Patio, which really isn't a terribly good title, now that Mrs Perry's pointed it out to me. The more I think about it, the more I feel that this poem is distinguished by its more adult perspective, in comparison to everything else I've written. (Most of which is nothing to scream about anyway.) Thought of two lines that have potential: A broken rind lies covered in soot/Under the chimney, robbed of its fruit.

Dangerous Liaisons was brilliant! Getting in was a breeze. The only one of us they stopped was Kelly, because she was in uniform. We went in separately to avoid arousing suspicion. Thong was uncharacteristically late! (Speaking of Thong, the part where the courtesan goes on about "le thong" was priceless.) Theatre in Singapore strikes me as being very much a social event, and the number of beautiful people we noticed among the audience was absurd. Anyway, the costumes of the characters were gorgeous! Andrea De Cruz's character had the best ones in my opinion. The changing colours of the dresses perfectly parallelled the shift in her character's emotional state over the course of the play. Incidentally, the way she expresses shock reminds me of Jennifer's reactions to a typical Thong comment. A lot of symbolism in the play, like how Tan Kheng Hua's character is always draped over the tops of the swings, which themselves connote the idea of a playground. I think the idea of Mark Richmond's character really falling in love with Andrea De Cruz's wasn't entirely convincing, but that probably has more to do with time constraints in developing the plot. Dialogue was witty and amusing, with the odd descent into cheap shock tactics. Now I feel like reading the book that the play is based on! Did you know that Les Liaisons Dangereuses, the French book on which Christopher Hampton's play was based, has inspired three film adaptations to date? They are Cruel Intentions, Dangerous Liaisons and Valmont.

This week