Yesterday

I thought “Mary Poppins” was my first and last musical of this academic year.

But I was wrong.

I went to the West End yesterday with my good friends.

Yes, I’m crazy. I went to watch “Phantom of the Opera” yet again, with 4 major exams ahead of me.

But I have to say, every time in Her Majesty’s theatre, it was a magical experience.

So magical that I feel it’s worth it not staying in my room cramming.

By the way, if you think the film version is fantastic, I can assure you the film version is really nothing compared to the stage version.

Well, if it is not phantastic, the musical wouldn’t have been running everyday for the past 18 years. And nobody would have thought to make a film version based on the stage one.

And I really enjoy the 谢幕 of Phantom. Simple yet elegant. Just like 黄城.

I really don’t mind watching Phantom again.

It turns out we’re going to watch another musical before I leave for Peru.

Maybe “The Producers”. Or “Billy Elliot” which just opened 4 days ago.

*****

“Hey EW you are really young!”

“How do you feel hanging out with a bunch of oldies?”

I was struck by these comments made by some friends yesterday after Phantom and dinner at Mandarin Kitchen at Bayswater.

By the way, I need to digress for a while. The lobster at Mandarin Kitchen which specialises in seafood was fantastic. We were so satisfied after dinner.

So after all, London has good food. It’s just the matter of willing to spend money.

For the past 3 months, I’ve been spending money as if my father prints them.

Well I’m sponsored. And hey, I’ve got the money!

Oh no, it’s really not me. And I know this is no good. But who cares?

I need to indulge and have pleasure sometimes. Oh yah, I went shopping a bit in Covent Garden as well before the musical.

We then went to a nice jazz bar after dinner and I had my most expensive Long Island Iced Tea in my life. I could have gotten two whole big jugs of Long Island back in Singapore. Now I know beer is dirt cheap in London, but not cocktails.

Anyway, I was insane yesterday and so, I had expensive alcohol at that cool bar after Phantom.

And so now I can’t study.

Partly because of the comments made by my friends.

Ok, back to the point I want to make.

It then occurred to me that for the past nine months, I’ve been hanging out with people much older my age. Some of them are at least a decade older than me. Neil is probably 4 decades older than me. Well, he always claims he is only 35. And he runs faster than me, I can’t believe it. He once joked, “The speed of running seems to be inversely proportional to the person’s age.”

And yet I don’t feel distant from them.

Not at all.

Although the conversation topics have mostly been really serious, like politics, investment, religion etc.

Yet, I don’t feel any gap between us.

And I really learnt a lot from them. Things and lessons you can never find in books and journal articles. Well, they have much much much more life experience than I do.

Am I growing old too fast?

(Well I guess maturing faster also has to do with my career choice as a journalist. Every internship every summer seems to add 5 years each to my mental age.)