Went to the esplanade after dinner to sit by the water. Upon arrival, we were greeted pleasantly by a curious sight. There in the water, hundreds of white spheres were floating aimlessly, bobbing up and down with the rise and fall of the little waves.
They were of different sizes, and it was a visual feast indeed; every white bola had its mirror image reflected on the water, and it goes on almost, forever. There were so many of them and mulitpy each by two, you get a boundless feeling of infinity. Nice.
At first we thought it was some kind of artsy strange installation but the lights came on and it seemed like a light and ball rehearsal of some kind. We guessed it was preparation for the new year countdown party. Came home, checked it out on the internet and we were right.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/185654/1/.html
well if u think abt it, its funny to imagine how someone actually thought of this idea. Maybe he thought, hmmm we dont know what to do with these tax payers' money so ok, we can just buy as many balls as we can with them and throw them into the water. No..cant be like that. Turns out, they really mean something. These spheres. Exec producer of Marina Bay Countdown said , "The lighting is one element of the Marina Bay countdown. What we are doing is to symbolise the wish. The wish is symbolised with white spheres on the water and the lighting will symbolise the soul of the water itself."
And get this, there werent just hundreds as we thought, there were exactly 2000 beach balls floating in the water each bearing a signature! Talk about effort! ( and boy, do i love the internet!)Anyway back to the balls. But what happens to these 2000 balls after the countdown? i really wonder.Yea its a visual feast and in the name of art its a cool expressive idea but i cant help feeling that its a lil bit of a waste.
Are they gonna recycle it and use it next year? are they gonna give their balls to homeless children to play with? ( hmm wait a min, that sounded a lil obscene) But u get what i mean. So MANY of them!
I guess Idiosyncracies like these makes singapore an interesting place for the tourists. And we are eager to please arent we.
Anyway, friend and i were enjoying the sight immensely so it did it for us. We proceeded to begin the talking while taking in the view and enjoying the occasional breeze. Armed with a trusty can of chilled heineken each, me and girlfriend talked, lamented and entertained ourselves with stories, jokes and tales of everyday living.
There and then, i could have sworn that i really felt peace. Its always nice to talk to a close friend, of course the floating balls and the vertical beam of strong lighting shooting right up to the heavens helped. But it felt really nice. And i knew that i will remember this moment as a picture flashback in my mind. The mind photo is taken and stored. Its such a strong imagery and you get a feeling if you have a flashback this moment will be one of them. One of my other flashback is being at the back of a convertible as a kid, one of the first times i sat in one, and the strong breeze blowing in my hair and colliding into my face and in that picture i see the rear view mirror the color of the car and rememeber feeling as i felt then. Mind pictures are strong stuff. SO yes, you cant control when u take a mind picture, but when u do, it sticks in your mind. IM kinda glad its with mimi, cuz i will remember her this way, with the lights, balls and breeze and the feeling of comfort and peace.