Dreaming of Ohio.
Apparently LJ is down, so I will post this here during my limited window of Internet access (yeah, it's annoying) in the mean time.
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Whoever thought anyone would make that the title of an LJ post?
Well, it's true. I decided to take advantage of the first of my entire week of currently blank slots in my calendar due to it being the "study week" here before exams. Much like the recess week, the study week is an excuse to do a lot of work: I have 1 paper to complete, 1 whole project to finish, review sessions to attend, and 3 exams to, well, study for -- but nonetheless things have calmed down a bit. But I had been low on sleep and had a 6 hour project meeting last night, so I slept in.
I just awoke and was, for the first time in a long time, jarred to find myself in Singapore. I had a few dreams I remember (all involving food) but the last took place in Ohio. I can't say it was actually a place I had been to, or even actually Ohio, but the merchandise led me to believe I had returned to the state in which I was brought into this world.
I was driving along when I passed a huge sort of fair / bazaar type thing. The whole tented area itself was much to large for Singapore to waste land on, though the corporate sponsorship and marketing extravaganza feel to it all was much reminiscent of my current island home. I stopped and walked around for a bit. There was one shop that had incredibly oversized t-shirts. I remember thinking they were large even for Americans. They were hanging on the wall and taking up at least 2/3 of the entire tent wall and had American flags or slogans about Ohio on them. As I walked around, I thought only of things I could buy for my friends in Singapore.
I walked around a bit more and saw all kinds of little novelties and such. One store had musical instruments of all sorts: guitars, synths, etc. I started to see all kinds of hand drums and thought of my excitement to play them, then turned the corner and saw four or five teenagers rocking some of the drums. All together and all better than me. I listened for a while.
Finally I made my way over to the candy and ice cream sellers. I looked and looked and thought and thought and ended up ordering one scoop of ice cream. The flavor I don't remember but it didn't describe the flavor of the ice cream anyway -- it was something like James Dean Slept Here. The guy at the register told me they were running a special and 5 scoops were only $5 (my one scoop cost $1.15), but I told him no. The deal was ridiculous. I reached into my wallet and was horrified to see that I only had Sing money. I looked all through it in every pocket, remembering I had just bought something else. At long last I found exactly one dollar, a dime, and a nickel (though they were a bit warped, I really have some trouble remembering even now what American money looks like), and paid the man.
Quick sidebar: you may not associate ice cream with Ohio or Pennsylvania, but there's a reason. Singapore and the US present a tradeoff: sushi for ice cream. In the states, good sushi is not too commonplace and quite pricey, but delicious ice cream is everywhere and pretty cheap (unless you want to treat yourself to Coldstone). Here, I can get pretty decent sushi on every other block for next to nothing. But good ice cream is hard to find and quite costly.
Just as I was about to indulge, I awoke. My first thought was about how odd it was that I dreamt about Ohio. Not my family or friends, but the state itself.
---
Whoever thought anyone would make that the title of an LJ post?
Well, it's true. I decided to take advantage of the first of my entire week of currently blank slots in my calendar due to it being the "study week" here before exams. Much like the recess week, the study week is an excuse to do a lot of work: I have 1 paper to complete, 1 whole project to finish, review sessions to attend, and 3 exams to, well, study for -- but nonetheless things have calmed down a bit. But I had been low on sleep and had a 6 hour project meeting last night, so I slept in.
I just awoke and was, for the first time in a long time, jarred to find myself in Singapore. I had a few dreams I remember (all involving food) but the last took place in Ohio. I can't say it was actually a place I had been to, or even actually Ohio, but the merchandise led me to believe I had returned to the state in which I was brought into this world.
I was driving along when I passed a huge sort of fair / bazaar type thing. The whole tented area itself was much to large for Singapore to waste land on, though the corporate sponsorship and marketing extravaganza feel to it all was much reminiscent of my current island home. I stopped and walked around for a bit. There was one shop that had incredibly oversized t-shirts. I remember thinking they were large even for Americans. They were hanging on the wall and taking up at least 2/3 of the entire tent wall and had American flags or slogans about Ohio on them. As I walked around, I thought only of things I could buy for my friends in Singapore.
I walked around a bit more and saw all kinds of little novelties and such. One store had musical instruments of all sorts: guitars, synths, etc. I started to see all kinds of hand drums and thought of my excitement to play them, then turned the corner and saw four or five teenagers rocking some of the drums. All together and all better than me. I listened for a while.
Finally I made my way over to the candy and ice cream sellers. I looked and looked and thought and thought and ended up ordering one scoop of ice cream. The flavor I don't remember but it didn't describe the flavor of the ice cream anyway -- it was something like James Dean Slept Here. The guy at the register told me they were running a special and 5 scoops were only $5 (my one scoop cost $1.15), but I told him no. The deal was ridiculous. I reached into my wallet and was horrified to see that I only had Sing money. I looked all through it in every pocket, remembering I had just bought something else. At long last I found exactly one dollar, a dime, and a nickel (though they were a bit warped, I really have some trouble remembering even now what American money looks like), and paid the man.
Quick sidebar: you may not associate ice cream with Ohio or Pennsylvania, but there's a reason. Singapore and the US present a tradeoff: sushi for ice cream. In the states, good sushi is not too commonplace and quite pricey, but delicious ice cream is everywhere and pretty cheap (unless you want to treat yourself to Coldstone). Here, I can get pretty decent sushi on every other block for next to nothing. But good ice cream is hard to find and quite costly.
Just as I was about to indulge, I awoke. My first thought was about how odd it was that I dreamt about Ohio. Not my family or friends, but the state itself.
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