So Singapore Idol came and went, with too much time wasted sitting in a large room, watching people play bridge, watching the finalists rehearse their songs over and over and over because they were out of tune and out of beat and making Mrs Babes sigh. I thought that was particularly funny because Mrs Babes is normally very unperturbed about things.
The more memorable bits:
1. Freezing in a recording studio past midnight with toes turning blue with a rumbling stomach, while looking jealously at my desk partner's bedroom slippers that she took from the office during the break. Apparently the floor was expensive so we all had to record barefoot.
2. The waiting. Boredom never felt so tangibly painful. You feel your mind frozen in negative space, the rest of your body is restless, dying to do something, but the something that you can do (like study) you can't summon up enough energy to do. So you watch the others play bridge, and you just stone in all antisocial-ness.
3. Because of the boredom, you seek excitement from listening to other people talk. Like Tama Goh the tight leather pants band member, or Casey with the multiple ear holes with huge silver earrings, or Iskandar talking about how he hasn't slept in days. It's a Different life. And difference is so appealing. But at the same time it was a normalising experience - because "different" wasn't that "different". And "different" became an acceptable "normal". (Am talking in cryptic circles unintentionally - two days of minimal brain activity decreases abilty to articulate.)
4. When you hear finalists whine "I don't want to go for rehearsals", you know you're not the only one around who is bored and sian and tired of being bored and sian. But the boredom makes them do stupid things like randomly kiss female hands. Paul Twohill is mad. He doesn't look as hideous as he does on tv, but for some unknown reason everytime I saw him he went "Boo!", and I expect it's the boredom, but really, the whole hand kissing thing was gross, and I bet it was only to attract attention from the rest of the fans hanging over the railings trying to get a picture of him backstage. 10 minutes before we went on air I wormed my way out of the pit to run to the toilet and wash my hands. I felt so violated.
5. The sensation of fearing for your ear drums asnd going paranoid when you see your friend's mouth moving but there's no sound coming out.
Other than that, it's back to mugging and essays and meeting up with the friends I forgot I had.
