[Reservist and more]
I have been on reservist for two days of last week. And there will be more fun in the coming weeks.

Our lives should not be stagnant. Just like what has happened in my camp. Many changes have taken place - things have moved forward although some people still have same ranks.

When I walk back to my camp, I see new facilities, new people but deep down inside, I recall the memories of my days in army as they are triggered one by one.

This year is the 40th anniversary of National Service. So when we went back to camp, the reason why we must serve NS was drilled into us. Accompanying that was a speech on what we have achieved so far. It's inspiring but sometimes a little funny too.

We have hidden identities. When I don my green uniform, I am an NSman. When I wear my white shirt and pants, I am a party member. When I don my orange tee, I belong to the PAYM. We all have many roles and each role has different demands and challenges.

On Friday, I caught Wong Kar Wai Dreams at the Drama Centre. The set is not very elaborate but there are many hidden messages inside the play. And these undertones make it stand out from a straighforward story.



The play, which is part of the Singapore Arts Festival, has this particular scene that I enjoy. It talks about Singapore.

The female lead is standing at a traffic light waiting to cross the road but there's a red man and she keeps standing by the roadside. Sometimes this feels like Singapore - too much red tape - and people are afraid to take the plunge.

It begins on the set of a movie. There is a cameraman, sound grip and crew. Then it shows Wong Kar Wai sleeping on the set. He dreams.

In between, there are short narrations of Wong Kar Wai's different movies - In the Mood for Love, 2046 and Happy Together - set in a series of shadow cutouts projected on a white screen.

Then there are dreams and fantasies. And subtle references about wet dreams, sex and the act of self-pleasure as the story unfolds. There's a fusion of past and present coupled with dreams (you don't know which is a dream and which is not) as the lead character looks back into her past.

So you see two versions of the same person, Ling - a young Ling and the older version of Ling. There are several kinky scenes of humping (with clothes on of course) in bed and fantasies of adultery - having sex with Bernard, Ling's best friend Trish's husband. They call it 'rampant sex' in the play. One scene has three of them in bed together.

There's also the essence of planning in the show. The actors act out a birthday surprise which has already been scripted by the birthday girl herself - what she wants, what she does, what to buy, how she is to react. It sort of has reference to the things that happen in Parliament - everything has been pre-planned and the MP just has to act his part - surprised? angry? upset? Just choose the correct one.

As the story progresses, I start to think that both the female leads are in a relationship. The married woman, Trish, does not communicate well with her husband. They rarely have sex and rarely spend time as a couple. More often that not, Ling is always in the picture.

In the end, Ling is given the option to 'cross over to the other side'. The same traffic light scene is replayed. The lights are red. Trish is on the road asking Ling to join her on the other side. She stays put.