I went to an outdoor music festival thing (Igloo Fest) in Montreal today, on the recommendation of a friend.
I almost didn’t go. But I’m glad I did.
It was kind of amusing.
They had a fire, and people were giving out marshmallows on sticks, so I grabbed one and toasted it. And as I was standing there, with thousands of watts of speakers thumping about 100m away, the wind kicks up and I end up squinting through the snow and wood smoke with tears in my eyes.
And then two girls next to me kiss each other. Not making out, just a short kiss, and they both walk off, presumably to get marshmallows.
It took a moment to register.
But then I started laughing to myself.
Simply because it was so absurdly different from what I’d experienced so far.
I was standing in the middle of a crowd (I don’t usually like crowds), toasting a marshmallow (Admittedly, I’ve done that before), squinting against driving snow (a rare experience for me) and wood smoke (more experience, but still rare), watching two people share a semi-intimate moment with each other. (Erm… TV.)
I do not believe I’d ever see any combination of that anytime soon in Singapore (even without the snow).
I can’t put my finger on why it struck me so much. But it did.
The only thing I could think of was that I’ve been isolated, partly by choice, partly by circumstances; and now I’m opening up to new experiences. And the world is going “Oh hey, you know that place you lived in for 18 years? Yeah, well, the world is a whole lot more messy. And dirty. And different. But it’s a whole lot more interesting. Enjoy.”
Hello world.
(Alternate title was The Real World Incorporated – from a TDWTF forum topic about expectations not matching to the world. But then I remembered a line from a song I heard somewhere.)