Decided to accompany him to tekong at the last minute on monday. So many things have changed.... all the way from the trip to the ferry terminal, right till the end.
enlistment days always seem dark and gloomy..
moments before reaching tekong..But still, it was a pretty good chance for me to finally see what my parents roughly went through on the day of my enlistment. It felt...cool...to look at the once familiar bunks, surroundings, cook house and yeah, the auditorium where I took my pledge unto the nation. But man...even in that short span of the trip, I could feel the suffocation...in a sense.
And after looking at it...I don't think I can ever go back to that kind of life man. Uh uh. Go ahead and tie me up within a capsule with a mini tv replaying barney songs, and throw me down the sea infested with flesh-eating piranhas, and a single leech sucking away all my blood bit by bit till I die.
Ok maybe not. But my point is...I don't think I can stand army nsf life anymore. As fond as some of the memories with my comrades were, once is good enough thank you.
I wonder how my reservist life is gonna be like man. Oh wait...let's worry about my ippt window opening before that. =(
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Was out roaming around one of the nights, when I felt like catching a movie. After hearing Sarah's in-depth review of the movie 'Freedom writers' ("oh yeah, go watch freedom writers! gd movie" - sarah), I decided to take the plunge.Glad I did. Turned out to be a pretty good movie for me. (Thanks Sarah!)
The formula isn't anything new. A fresh faced teacher, Erin Gruwell, hopeful about the change and impact she can potentially bring to a group of rebel, forsaken students...faces opposition along the way,and gives her all in overcoming them.
Intersecting the plot lines, was the main theme of interracial acceptance and rejection, with the Halocaust period as the background driving force. I like the way the students were given varying degrees of depth to their characters, through their recollections and diary entries. The teacher, as a white, faced closed up students, mocking fellow teachers who put her efforts down...and the reality of her sacrifice for her students which she had to pay a price for at the end. Liked the way the bonding process was built up too.
Due to our locality, we may not feel as much for the ethnic division that was portrayed. But the true story inspired movie, does give a grim reminder of what the young minds of today are exposed to. (the heart breaking diary entries read out during the movie, were all authentic and unchanged from the real-life students the movie was based on)
And it shows, just how much damage past baggages left within can do, if left undealt with or unexpressed.
"I asked them, 'How many of you have been shot at?' and at that moment all the kids raise their hands. Whether or not it was true, they had this bonding moment where they were pulling up their shirts and showing where they'd been knifed, and showing where they'd been hit."------------------------------------------
- Erin Gruwell (teacher of 'Freedom Writers' students)
“We began writing anonymous journal entries about the adversities that we faced in our every day lives. We wrote about gangs, immigration, drugs, violence, abuse, death, anorexia, dyslexia, teenage love, weight issues, divorce, suicide, and all the other issues we never had the chance to express before. We discovered that writing is a powerful form of self expression that could help us deal with our past and move forward.”
- Kimberlee (student of Erin's, a 'Freedom Writer')
Hoho, the cinema I watched the movie in was basically empty, save for 2 other couples.
My very own cinemaMmm...I guess I can really enjoy watching such movies alone...having that space and time for myself. But, don't let that stop YOU from asking me out for a movie!!
=D