Everyone searches for fun, but how many of us actually find it so that we can say that we live our lives having lots of it. I think fun basically means something we enjoy doing, something that is not mundane, something which is exciting, different and gives us a rush.
However, fun comes with a timer. That timer is the period of time before work, also known as school. Our parents like to tell us how schooling is the best period of your lives, because after that comes work, commitments, and basically the end of living just for yourself. I used to ask them how could school be any fun? I'm in school half the time, and the other half I'm doing homework or projects. I basically had no life.
But, to them it is considered the best part of your life because everything you're doing is for yourself. If you fail your exams, no one else gets affected but you, so to a certain extent you can still choose not to study for them. I think people actually study to live up to their parents' expectations, or to unconsciously try to do as well as them. It would explain why those which have poor relationships with their parents usually do badly in school. Because they don't have the obligation to do well.
For your parents, if their job sucks, they can't just say damn this job sucks, I'm going to quit. They are stuck because of this thing called commitment and a need to put money on the table to feed their families. Have you seen what happens when adults get retrenched? Its like the end of their world. The job isn't fantastic, but they would rather have it than not. And the amount of bullshit they put up with at work, its incredible sometimes. That really sucks. I can't say I'm really looking forward to it, but its coming very soon now.
My parents are already telling me that once I graduate they'll retire and I can take over supporting the family. I think they are just saying that because they know I want to bum around and not look for work after graduating. Also so that they can finally get started on their eagerly awaited retirement plans, like going travelling or doing stuff people do when they retire. Just what do people do when they retire anyway? Overnight mahjong sessions? All-day karaoke sessions? Whack little white balls with a metal club?
But I still cannot shake off the feeling that I haven't had enough fun. It doesn't help that I have an insatiable appetite for enjoying myself, like if I can't find fun I'll create my own. I don't really have much time to enjoy myself, and in addition Singaporeans don't really know how to have fun. I think its because there is really a lack of options for it here. What can you do in Singapore anyway besides going to a mall? And how many things can you do in there? Very soon you start feeling like you've been to every mall worth going to in Singapore, which one should I go to this week? But you end up going out anyway because it beats staying at home and being bored to death.
You know how people look forward to convocation? I really wonder how joyous an occasion that is. Because I will look ahead and wonder what next? What could happen next that could possibly be better than everything else I've had before? I hope when that day comes, I'll have some real answers.