The Resident Tourist

“Doubt leads to overthinking. And overthinking leads to not thinking.”

-- The Resident Tourist, Part 1, Pg 179.

The papers today had an article on this Singaporean, Troy Chin, who lived in New York for about 10 years before moving back to “the island” and publishing his own comics. Lots of them are on his website here.

I’ve read part 1 of “The Resident Tourist” and like it. I’m not much of a comic reader and the only singaporean comic i’ve read is Chew On It, found in the papers, but i’m taken in by the minimalism of his drawings as well as their stunning resemblance to the original buildings, signs and places.

some of the panels are hilarious. i love how everyone asks him if he misses the food in Singapore, and their disbelief when he says no. i identify with that, because while i love the food here when i’m back, there’re so many other kinds of good food in japan that i’m very well fed over there too – i stopped thinking of singaporean food after several months of being there.

 

“These are all just trivia to me. I could have read about them in some Fodor’s Guide. They don’t hold any real meaning.

I’m sad that I am not sad enough that these things are history.

It makes me wonder if it was a mistake to come back here. “

-- The Resident Tourist, Part 1, Pg 129.

“I don’t hate coming back… I just don’t belong here.”

-- The Resident Tourist, Part 2, Pg 194.

It’s National Day today – 45 years ago Singapore gained independence from Malaysia. This entire week there has been special reports in the papers about unique or interesting things about certain parts of the island, and ‘everyday folk’ recounting their memories of ‘home’. Some of these manifest in the form of short clips between shows on tv – one of them featured this lady going all nostalgic about this place in Singapore where she used to play with her parents, and she expressed regret that she can’t do the same thing with her children.

and i thought – this clip is meant to stir up patriotic feelings and sentiments of ‘home’, but instead all i’m thinking is that from her words, ‘home’ is not the same anymore. i’ve only been away 2 years but a fair bit has changed. bus fares have increased; there’re more new swanky malls in town; the field across from my bedroom window where people used to play football in the evenings and on weekends no longer stands, having been replaced by several blocks of high-rise rental flats.

i wonder if this is culture shock, but the adjustment process must go faster. i probably should put in more effort into getting a job – at least there’ll be something else to occupy my mind! i’m certain that National Day season isn’t the best time to return here though..