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The police officers called my home after they couldn’t contact me on my mobile, and as luck would have it, they reached my mother instead.

Now, my mother is prone to over-reacting, and her first thought was to start crying when she heard the words ‘police’ and ‘your son’.

When I called her back to tell her that the police officers had passed my keys to me, I hung up the phone feeling extremely irritated – and for good reason.

I understand why she was upset, but I don’t think it was justified for her to get so upset over something like this. Plus, this isn’t the first time she has over-reacted to something like this, and she has a tendency to overly-dramatise not-so-significant situations. Most importantly, even if the worse had happened, what good would crying do?

I don’t think I’ll be able to tell her this, because she’ll probably over-react while I am trying to explain all this to her. I don’t know if I’ll have the patience to explain all this to her, either.

But what I am going to do is to bring her to watch this play. Hopefully it might open up some space for us to discuss what happened.

Recalling Mother
Presented by Checkpoint Theatre

Dates: Wed, 26 Aug – Sun, 30 Aug 2009.
Time: 8pm – 9pm.
Venue: ARTSPACE@Helutrans (39 Keppel Road, Tanjong Pagar Distripark #02-04)

In this funny and moving piece written and performed by Claire Wong and Noorlinah Mohamed, two women tell stories about two other women – their mothers – and the complexities of living with (and not living with) Mother.

The performers discuss the genesis of the piece:

“Neither of our mothers has much formal education, but they’re both highly intelligent, capable and strong women. Both are wonderful cooks and love to feed us.

“But they find it difficult to talk to us – and we to them. Neither of them is fluent in English. We, on our part, have only functional abilities in our “mother tongues” – Cantonese and Malay, respectively. So, we get by, functionally. But we can’t share our deepest, most complicated thoughts and ideas to our mothers in a common language.

“Yet through our telling and re-telling of stories about our mothers – and about ourselves with our mothers – we discover a kaleidoscope of memories, and of insights into ourselves, and into that strange, complicated and wonderful relationship that we think almost everyone has with their mother.”

Performed in the intimate setting of an art gallery to an audience of just 80 people per night, Recalling Mother is a unique and engaging theatrical experience. Nuanced, compelling, honest and surprising, Recalling Mother is a celebration of the joys and challenges of motherhood – and daughterhood.

Tickets: $28 (excluding SISTIC booking fee).
Discount of 15% for groups of 15 or more.
Buy your tickets starting August 6th through the SISTIC Website: www.sistic.com.sg, the SISTIC Hotline: (65) 6348 5555 or SISTIC Authorized Agents islandwide.

Supported by Valentine Willie Fine Art.

Teaching kids to talk back increases family harmony – but only if you do it right. (via)

People with two copies of the high-risk variant of the gene are likely to develop depression in response to multiple stressful experiences like divorce or assault, but they are fine if their environment remains benign. (via)

When I was in Sec. 3, they wanted to retain me because I wasn’t doing well. When I told them the reason why I wasn’t doing well was because I couldn’t study at home, they sent me for counselling instead. (Ed: the speaker meant that home wasn’t a conducive place to study in because of disruptive parents.) At counselling, the lady kept on talking; she didn’t even give me a chance to speak. When she’d finished, she told me that whatever had transpired was between me and her. Then she called my mum to go down to the school.

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue is a quadruple-bill presented by the NUS University Scholars Club (USC). This year’s production is directed by Leonard Augustine Choo, and features plays written by Christine Chong, Lucas Ho and Laremy Lee.

Date: Fri, 22 May 2009 – Sat, 23 May 2009.
Time: 8pm (Fri and Sat); 3pm matinee (Sat).
Venue: Esplanade Recital Studio.
Tickets: $20, $18 (Matinee).

$2 Discounts for students, NSFs and bulk purchases (min. 10 tickets)

Parental Advisory: Coarse language and explicit sexual references are made in this performance. Children below the age of seven (7) will not be allowed into the theatre.

For more details and special offers, visit the Facebook Event Listing, the production website or drop the club an email.

Join us and our talented cast for tears, laughter and everything in between. Welcome to the wedding of the year.

Something Old By Laremy Lee The aisle has been swept, the guests are seated, and the ceremony is about to begin. But just when everything seems to be going according to plan, two uninvited guests arrive. Benjamin, the groom, must explain as best he can why he has not invited these two guests – a particularly difficult task, given that they are his own parents.

Hope to see you there!