Can't touch me!

Boy oh boy, am I glad to be back! I've had so much fun in Singapore catching up with people and enjoying the nice sunny weather, but my dire financial situation, coupled with a few unpleasant potshots aimed at me (regarding my weight) by my pot-bellied, round-cheeked uncle made me wish for Melbourne again.

What can I say? It's gorgeous. Beautiful city with sandstone buildings. Horses trotting merrily along the grid of the CBD. It's so cold that a near invisble white mist permeates the crisp air, which gently obscures the trees. Branches so bare they reach into the air like skeletal fingers. Trams changing along. People bundled up like bao.

Yes, I think I do love Melbourne.

First day of uni, and I was nearly late for my first lecture! Our Introduction to Media and Communications lecturer is one formidable looking lady, with a deep dulcet-y voice, piercing eyes, a mane of red hair and a 'take-no-shit' attitude. I think I'm scared of her.

But it was fantastic meeting up with the gang again. Gare Bear looked surprised to see me. "You look different, he said, after a while.

"Yes, I cut my hair."
"Yeah, and there's something else different about you too."
"I lost a bit of weight." (Thanks to my late night one and a half hour jogs, 2 litres of water a day diet, and many, many fruit dinners.)
"Hmm yeah," he says, "You look healthy. You're glowing."

I think I must have laughed so hard he went, "What's with that cheeky smile?"

Sheryl (who's got a new job at the curry house at union house) was also at the lecture, as was Remy, (who's got a swanky new hair colour) and Eunice, whom I'm not really close to. Jaime was there too *blushes*. There's also quite a few new people. I'm ashamed to say I felt great relief at being able to sit down with people I know, and not feel lonely and lost, and not exude that general aura of unfamiliarity and tentativeness a new person does. I'm not going to just stick with my old friends, though. Part of my plan (for world domination, heh) is to really try my best to go all out and make new friends, expand my social circle, and make connections. (which Media Comm people should be doing right?)

God, that last sentence makes me feel like a chirpy cheery cherry-flavoured cheerleader.

After lectures, I went with the Gare Bear, Asher, Gare's friends Michael and Andrew to have coffee at Chichilata (spelling?) cafe before catching Lucky Miles at Cinema Nova. It's such a hilarious movie, with so much heart and humour, it's impossible not to like it. The cinematography is blazingly brilliant, the editing is very sharp, and the acting is on the dot. Normally one wouldn't think that the story of boat people landing in the unforgiving deserts of Western Australia, struggling to seek asylum in a refugee-unfriendly country would make for great comical fodder. Surprisingly, it does! Most of the humour comes from the guileless innocence of the three main characters, alongside the cultural and communicative clashes arising from their different backgrounds. But mainly it's the humour from the absurdity of the whole situation that makes this film so enjoyable.

That's what humour should be like, in my opinion. It should not be punishing, nor malicious, nor cruel, the way it is when it is used as a weapon against the oppressed and the disadvantaged.
Humour should be gentle. When it is biting it should be used for satirical purposes as a tool by the oppressed against the oppressor. Humour should elevate the soul. Stephen King once talked about that blissful, wonderful feeling when you have such a good laugh that your belly aches, and tears are streaming down your cheeks, and you're gasping for breath and you just want to die from happiness?

That's the best kind of humour there is.

Labels: University