Seesawing between Sleeping and Reading



Began the day at eleven and filled my stomach with one of the best Kway Tiao I have eaten at Xiang Xiang Food Court. It was delicious, redolent of lard and charred fragrance. Frittering away the whole afternoon reading Iris Murdoch's The Sea, the Sea to the point that the words danced before me and blurred away as I drifted into a deep nap. When afternoon gave way to evening, I had a great dinner of steamed chicken and dried shrimp sambal at my parents' house. Silence is now settling around me and I resume my reading of 'The Sea, the Sea. The complex mentality of the main character baffles me and the more pages I flip, the more amazed I am by how blind he is to his manipulative, self-admiring nature. At this stage I realize that it is drizzling outside. The pattering sound is comforting and sleep-inducing. But I am not going to heed the sensation. I want to go on exploring the book until exhaustion claims my whole being. Goodness me, another night will slip by unconsciously and I will wake up bleary-eyed and groggy the next day. It has been the tenth day I woke up without witnessing the glory of dawn.

Comments

suituapui said…
Xiang Xiang sounds familiar. I remember 2020 best though, loved the dim sum there.
June 17, 2015 at 1:53 AM
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