Manifestos

I was along the Kallang canal near Bishan Park when I remembered my vegetation-loving cousin telling me about the pink trumpet tree being in bloom during the wet weather we've been experiencing now, after that truly terrible spell of heat and humidity.

So I took a closer look, and I realized that the bishan park park connector was lined with pink trumpets! (the picture does not do the scenery any justice) Not quite expecting a moment of tranquility induced by its faint likeness to cherry blossoms, I was surprised to find the asphalt littered with pale pink and white flowers. Most of the flowers on the ground were, however, mostly damp, disintegrating, and brown, owing to the relatively heavy amount of traffic that passes through it.



I am really liking this weather. The trees and shrubbery around are colorizing the landscape with their bursts of inflorescence, and as soft breezes caress the air and the leaves and the rippling streams, the blossoms that are lifted by the wind scatter themselves, as if poetry in motion. Am deeply moved alone by the entire idea of walking along an overhead bridge with bougainvilleas overflowing into my path. Am wishing that every day in the year would be as pleasant and idyllic as this.



On a weirder and totally separate note, I am also 'forced', as it were, to listen to — here it comes — dixieland clarinet pieces. A music enthusiast has passed me a stack of CDs to listen to, mainly because they were on the clarinet which is an instrument that I have not touched since primary school, and thereafter, I am obliged to engage in thoughtful discussion. I'm totally fine with the whole CD-recommending idea, because it broadens my musical perspective thatsortathing, but I am not enjoying dixieland. It's the sort of thing I'd listen to, along with Cyndi Lauper and Abba, purely for its novelty value and to make an ironic statement of some sort. Sadly. I prefer bebop and swing. As in, Glenn Miller, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, that sort of thing.

Case in point - One Note Samba (Ella Fitzgerald):


Which is scat singing, and it's actually pretty cool.

Also, I've finally bought a new jacket! After all these years too, really.