Nada Bin Sri Laden

As usual, it always feels kinda ‘empty’ once the exams and the term end and you have a 6-week break. Apart from trying to go full-gear into my final-year project (which is due next March but was conceived almost last March), trying to catch some movies and trying to relax, I found myself in a frenzy to clear my cupboard. Out came the files, the books, the cute keychains that I kept for posterity (yeah, posterity my posterior), and all the rubbish that’s been hiding in there for the past few years.

Mercilessly, I began to sort the inhabitants of the cupboard into “to live” and “to die”. Old Starhub bills from 2000, my Edusave updates from primary (?!) school, my Community Chest thank-you letters (with pictures drawn by Angela, 8), anything and everything went to its respective heavens. It seems so odd that when you see some things at time A, you think “eh, this is damn important sia…” or “ah… this I will keep to show my son who probably won’t give a hoot”, but then at time B, when you’re older, wiser and have less time for bullshit, you just put them all in one NTUC plastic bag and chuck them off into a Laden Bin.

The basic principle I will try to stick to is simple: I’m not going to last forever, so why keep things as if they will last forever? I have come to believe in simple living and keeping minimal possessions. The best things are things you can keep with you and things you’ll be remembered long after you pass on, like (orchestra music please) good manners, a light heart and love for the fellow being. Not some frivolous trinkets amassed over the years that collect dust and just fill up space. Think no more folks - don't let 'sentiments' fog your mind and clog up your cupboards. March on to a Disposal Frenzy now!

Now on to my next task that always slips by me: cutting my hair. Currently looking like Paul McCartney in the 60s in his 20s (only the hairdo, not the face), I plan to make my hair look like Aamir Khan’s in Dil Chahta Hai. Whether or not Aamir Khan will attempt suicide after knowing this, or whether or not the Uncle downstairs would be able to pull it (not the hair) off, I’m not sure, and I’m too scared to try. Instead, I’ve been mulling over visiting the new type of barbers who typically have a “stylo” shop at a shopping mall, and include the name “Sri” or “Nada” in their shop to sort of associate or confuse the already-confused hair-cuttee (like me) into thinking of some of the more famous barber shops like Sri Nada. The barbers look like young dudes, so I guess it would be worth a try.