August was a month that breezed by quickly, mostly because I spent my weekdays after work editing my novel in time for Epigram’s Book Prize. The deadline was 31 August but thankfully I managed to finish it five days before and enjoy the rest of my month (or what’s left of it).
In the writing world, I submitted two short stories – a creative non-fiction piece called ‘Slowly, Slowly into the Night’ for Cha Journal and a fiction piece called ‘Chemical Burn’ for FIXI’s Heat Anthology. Another piece of good news was my poem ‘Why do you cross the border every morning?’ being accepted for publication by Contrappasso Magazine in Sydney.
In August, I read only one book and it was ‘The Two Faces of January’ by Patricia Highsmith. It was quickly followed by watching the movie online which I really enjoyed. I loved the feel and costumes of the film, though the main character Chester MacFarland was quite different in my mind. The movie spiralled into me wanting to watch other Kirsten Dunst films and ended up with me laughing and reminiscing over her role as Claudia in Interview with the Vampire.
Elsewhere in the social world, I attended an awesome office warming party by beauty blogger Roseanne Tang, had a delicious Peranakan dinner with a childhood friend and our mutual friend from Vietnam, attended a surprise hen do at Botanic Gardens for a beautiful bride-to-be, played badminton and even had high tea at Fullerton Bay Hotel.
Over the National Day long weeked in Singapore, I managed to catch up with a friend from Manchester, cooked salmon with baby potatoes for another friend from Melaka and stayed over at another friend’s place in Commonwealth. That weekend, I discovered Joe’s Kitchen and it was simply yummy Thai food. At the start of the month, my sister also made a weekend stop and we had a delicious local breakfast at Chin Mee Chin.
August was quite a big month for shopping, since I had started earning again after a six-month break. There was a gold and leather sandal from Kurt Geiger, black apparel from Zara at Marina Bay Sands, a pair of Kappa sneakers from Queensway Shopping Mall and lots of me-time at Sunway Pyramid in KL shopping at MNG and Topshop.
I ended the month by attending Bloom, a women’s conference by Acts Church in KL and also participating in the Bersih 4.0 rally, occupying the streets along Jalan Raja and Jalan Parlimen with my fellow countrymen. To that, I say Selamat Hari Merdeka and Selamat September!
Wan Phing Lim 