Four Seasons of Summer

[1-3]

The CBD is usually quiet during the weekdays.

What I meant was today was really packed with people hanging around the area, all in their trendy clothes and supreme outfits. Was that the new trend? To be decked with flashy shoes and high socks that screams 'loooook at me, look at my latest kicks'. Sure, the shoes looked nice, but the amount of leg hairs sticking out of those high socks looked off-putting.

Then there were the ladies in their sleeveless blouses and short shorts. Like real short to the brink of mistaking their clothing as poverty wear. It was hard not to stare when you try to avert your eyes only to spot another teen in a similar fashion. It almost felt like there was an unspoken contest where the least clothing to surface area wins. Biased opinion aside, it almost felt like a battle of the Hypes in this urban jungle.

Or I am getting too old to be chasing trends. Once this new year passes, I would be hitting 26 years old.

Yay to passing the quarter-life milestone. Fun fact, according to Googgle, quarter-life crisis could start as early as eighteen. But don't quote me for that.

At the peak of the escalator, a sea of black heads swarmed the walkway leading to the shopping centre. The Starbucks on the right of it was chock full of hipsters in their shades when there was barely any sun, either with a MacBook or fidgeting with their camera. Inevitably, I drew a sigh at the sight of the queue.

I suppose it should be expected. After all, the countdown party was held at the Esplanade every year, and City Hall is considered a walkable distance from the location. Despite all the chaos, there seem to be some sort of order around it as barricades formed the way out the station's exit and to the streets. Typical during large events, armed officers patrolled the streets and act as a marshal to guide the traffic whenever necessary. I managed to slide my way around the crowd and into the mall. The blast of cold air coming down on me at the entrance felt refreshing from the humidity out there.

Despite celebrating the new year, some stores were still playing the Christmas jingle, and a couple of them were already playing the tunes of Chinese New Year. Make up your mind on a theme, dammit. There was still a couple of hours before the reporting time. In fact, I had too much time to kill that I was at a lost. The only reason why I would leave the house early was because of the tube behind my back. Every now and then, my hands would find their way behind my back, patting on the cardboard tube as though to assure myself it was still there.

After settling in one of the quieter cafés nestled at the corner of the mall, I ordered a cup of triple-shot cappuccino. That should be enough caffeine to keep me awake through the night. Speaking of which, didn't I have a cup of coffee an hour ago...

Pointless thoughts aside, I removed the tube behind me and tucked it on the chair beside me. Apart from the tear-down gig happening tonight, it was also payday in another form of work, i.e. commissioned artwork. Thanks to Yui's branch of contacts, I was able to get a commission request for a decent price.

I removed the tube cover and carefully unrolled the piece of laminated artwork within it. The poster was for a local three-piece band "The Masketeers" that was set to perform tonight. Apparently, the poster was meant for their upcoming concert next month happening at the Esplanade as well. For some reason, local talents were rarely raved or talked about in Singapore (a completely personal opinion). Frankly speaking, the only few local talents that came to head was JJ Lin or Kit Chan, celebrities who have made a name for themselves outside of local soil (surprise, surprise!). Perhaps the only solution for the locals were to move out of the country and do their own marketing out in the international stage.

In other words, the entertainment industry is broken in the city-state.

More pointless thoughts – despite designing the poster for my client, I had no idea how the band members even looked like. The poster contained no designs about the members. The only direction I was given was to include a horse, dinosaur, and cat in the artwork. Three completely different creatures hooked with instruments, what was that about? But a quick Googgle search would also tell you that much about their band.