May is always a big month for me. It marks the end of the first half of the year, and is halfway to the finish line. It the chance to get things right in the second half, and to reset from the midway line. My best friend was born in May, and when I was at university in the UK, May was the end of the exam period. May always had the best weather, for it was neither spring nor summer. It was the best time to travel because of its in-between period after Easter and before summer.
In May I watched only one movie, but it was a big, bad film. It was Mad Max: Fury Road, and if the year ended now, it would go down as my Film of The Year. I give it 10/10, as no film has ever caught my attention and imagination so strongly as this. I read five books this month, two of which were poetry collections by Seamus Heaney and Jackie Kay respectively. The others were Tozer’s Knowledge of the Holy, Hadi M Nor’s Family Values and Penguin Reader’s British and American Short Stories.
May was a good month for me in terms of the writing world, and I have so much to be thankful for. My short story “The Last Day of January” was accepted for publication with my monthly writing group, Writing The City. Our book launch will be on Saturday 13 June, 3pm at the National Library. I also re-wrote a short story for submission to Esquire Singapore and edited another piece for an anthology called “A Tale of Two Cities” published by the Singapore Writer’s Group.
In May I continued my A-Z Haiku Series on instagram, which I started from last year. This year, I dedicated each alphabet to a person I knew. I also found a writing mentor and entered into a one-year writing pact with her as she is helping me to look through my manuscript. I also wrote my first ever rubaiyat called “A Rubaiyat to Remember”, and participated in a writing collaboration with a new writing friend for submission to OFZOOS.
May was also an exciting month of many firsts. They included oyster happy hour at Tanuki Raw, a sleepover at Mandarin Oriental, a chillax stayover at Tiong Bahru, attending the Defu Lane photography project, discovering Changi General Hospital, tasting Auntie Anne’s cinnamon sugar pretzel and discovering Mrs Pho on Beach Road. Not firsts but equally exciting were a night out at ONE FC at the Indoor Stadium and a karaoke session at K-BOX @ Cineleisure.
I have never been a bucket list person, but in May I ticked off a few things, like “Buying insurance before I hit 30”, “Watching Shakespeare in the Park” and “Visit the Istana Open Day”. I am also one step away from getting my Singapore driving license, as I passed my Basic Theory Test (BTT) with flying colours at 50/50! There were wonderful lunch treats at Cedele @ Wheelock, Peking duck at Imperial Paragon and pancakes at Refuel Cafe.
At the workplace I’ve had much favour, clocking in hours for subbing, writing and editing assignments, which I’m extremely thankful for. I ended my month by setting aside a weekend with the Acts Church family in KSL Resort in Johor Bahru, a surprisingly good hotel with good food and service. It was also a busy month leading up to preparing our new home at 154 Tyrwhitt Road – very exciting indeed!
Wan Phing Lim 