Singapore

DRAWINGS

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OIL PAINTINGS

Portraits

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Still Life

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Nature

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Monkeying Around

Some Pages From the Book

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will be continued...

One Day in a Life of an Obsessed

ONE DAY

IN A LIFE OF

AN OBSESSED

COVER

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Full Story Layout in Thumbnails

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read the thesis story

One Day in the Life of an Obsessive

·

• · She wakes up and realizes her hair clip is broken.
• · She is feeling frantic. She doesn’t want to get up yet. She doesn’t feel like she is ready for the day. She decides, to go back to sleep, but after breakfast. She discovers her bananas, which she usually has for breakfast, are not in their usual place. So she wakes up her boyfriend and asks him if he has seen her bananas. And he is annoyed because he wants to get another half an hour of sleep, before his day starts.
• · Still naked she runs upstairs to look for them, and in general to prepare herself for the day: like refill her empty bottles of water from the night before, before the upper level of the apartment turns into an office. (During the office hours she avoids mingling upstairs). The cat runs after her.
• · While she refills the bottles with water, she looks again for the bananas on the kitchen counter, to no avail. The cat wants to be fed, but Elle has no time for it.
• · She inspects the refrigerator for her other foods to discover they are also mostly gone. She reflects: ‘maybe I ate them myself?,’ and resolves it with: ”but that is only a maybe”. The cat is still asking for food.
• · She turns to the cat, taking notice of its round frame (the cat has a disproportionately large stomach in contrast to it’s short tail and small head). Elle is puzzled. ‘This cat is fat’. She notes.
• · Elle gets on the phone and meticulously orders: (“only firm apples, please, like the last time. No, you do not only carry firm apples, hurry up”).
• · Since it is early morning, and no one is in the office yet, at this end of the hall, and hopefully no one is in the office at the opposite end of the hall, she proceeds, still undressed, to pick up the paper from the hallway. The paper does not give in easily.
• · And despite her concern not to be seen undressed, after successfully retrieving the paper, distracted by the interesting article in it, she stops in the door way, at the entrance to the apartment, to read it while the door is still wide open.
• · The delivery guy appears. He addresses her: Hello. She looks back at him. Her mind is still in the article.
• · As she realizes what’s happening, she jumps to hide behind the door and orders him to place the bags on the ground.
• · She has him wait while she goes through the bags inspecting the firmness of the delivered goods.
• · Covering her nudity with the newspaper, she returns to the corridor to hand over to the delivery guy, some of the apples that failed her firmness test, to be taken back to the store. She assures him that his choice to deliver rotten fruit does not affect her general opinion of him: as of a good honest poor Mexican, like she has seen in the movies. She ads that she is sure things would be different if his boss would just speak English to his workers instead of broken Spanish. “No, I don’t think of you any less, YOU ARE A GOOD GUY.”
• · Al in the meantime has woken up and is yelling for the paper.
• · Instead of taking the paper downstairs, she wraps her self in it as if it was a towel, and she proceeds to collect the food.
• · The only precious food items she decides to leave behind are Al’s poppy seed bagel from yesterday, and his smoked salmon: no one besides him likes smoked salmon in any case (because salmon stinks!) and the bagel… who would eat someone’s last bagel? - Only a jerk,” she thinks. So she leaves these items in the kitchen, sort of hidden in between the other kitchen mess including the somewhat stale bread and a pile of plastic bags.
• · She goes downstairs, with the big heavy fruit compartment from the refrigerator, jam-packed with fruits and water, without feeding the cat. In fact she acknowledges to the cat that her actions are deliberate: “Fatty, you clearly eat plenty when I’m not around”.
• · She enters, of course she makes a lot of noise and she wakes Al up. He loves her so he is not angry. He says: ‘What are you doing?’ she doesn’t answer. She just goes on to hide the fruit around the room. “Please let Gertrude in to the room so she can clean it”.
• · She tells him she can’t let anyone in, because someone has been eating her food: she says this bedroom and especially the space around the bed is the only area in this odd office/home arrangement that she has any control over. And she would like to keep it this way and for this she has to keep everyone out including Gertrude our dearest cleaning lady!
• · And also she tells him: that last week she had a mango in the refrigerator, for which she had a very precise eating plan: She was going to share it with her dear friend Mushi: a girl-pal who loves mangoes. And Elle was going to cut the mango for Mushi and then watch Mushi eat it, as a snack in-between lunch and dinner, prior to going out for dinner. So she tells him how she went to take a look for the mango just to find out to her astonishment that between the previous night and that morning, it had evaporated.
• · She goes on: The only people that were around at that time were: 1.Your secretary from this side of the office, and 2.The staff from the other part of the office (across the hall) who ventured in and out of the apartment earlier that morning. Butti, she said, could confirm her tale if only she could speak some “human” or indeed anything but “miou”. As she speaks, Butti who has returned to the room, rubs up against her leg.
• · She proceeds to gobble down the bananas she was gesticulating with all that time while she was telling the story. And she says: “I am just having my breakfast…before it vanishes.” Al says: “don’t be silly darling. RELAX. Gertrude just wants to clean. That is her job, she likes it and she would like to keep on doing it, So don’t take it AWAY FROM HER. Why are wearing the paper? I wanted to read it.”
• · She tears off a piece for herself, hands over the crumpled paper to him and says: “You still can.”
• · “Brake your leg today darling, I love you”, he says.
• · As he leaves the room he encourages the cat to stay with Elle: “Butti go to mommy.” Elle irritated by his wish for her to break her leg, angrily, curses him with the same line “you break your leg, idiot and Lock the DOOR!”. She launches herself on the bed and falls asleep. The cat climbs on her and falls asleep too (on top of her).
• · The dream: She dreams about watching galloping horses on a sandy racetrack and she soon realizes they are about to run her over because she is also on a track. Suddenly she is shifted into the middle of a circus ring, strong lights on the ring, darkness around, the horses are there- still running, she is running away from them. Another shift and she is standing dressed as a clown, wanting to run away but realizing she has nowhere to go and feeling lost, while looking at the horses, she clenches her hands to her chest. She looks back at them as they are on the sandy racetrack again, and she is running…Now naked she, with all her might, is trying to take off (as a bird would, with her arms spread to the sides); the horses are almost reaching her. The horses, so many of them, have now transformed into feline creatures with tiger- like front bodies and paws. They succeed to hold her down by gripping at her feet. Their weight presses her to the ground and they are now slowly but repeatedly piercing her skin with their nails. She wakes up.
• · She sees a close up of Butti’s face. The cat is sitting on her with seductive, watery, half-closed eyes. It is purring and returning a gaze in a full trance of contentment. Butti’s paws move rhythmically as if she is a baby milking her mom’s tit. Her nails clench deep into Elle’s skin. She gives out a scream: Ahhh!
• · Phone is ringing: Jo-hann, Jo-hann (goes the voice caller ID). She looks at the time displayed on the screen of the phone: I have only been sleeping for five minutes!
• · So she is lying back in the bed again, still hoping to recharge. Suddenly, there is a knock at the door. Her muscles freeze; her eyeballs are fixed on the door. She is so scared of what will come next she cannot even think. Gertrude attempts to enter the room, but gives up as the door is locked.
• · Elle’s voice behind the door: “10 minutes please”.
• · In the bathroom, in despair, she puts her arms on her head: “I need to work on my thesis, but the cleaning lady likes to linger in MY room. Every week, several times a week. What does she want? She prevents me from starting my day… and she can’t even clean!”
• · She looks at her reflection in the mirror and she notices something. Rubs her muscle undr arm. She gets closer. She says: “I am not obsessed” as if she is trying to convince herself.
• · So instead of working on the thesis she is wearing her gym gear, skipping on one spot: sort of warming up (physically and mentally). “I just need to boost up my metabolism. It’s O.K, just 30 minutes (to straighten out my brain). YEEEEASY”. In the elevator, looking at her reflection, she proceeds to stretch down her waist length t-shirt to cover her crotch. As it doesn’t work, she pulls out a very baggy cardigan out of the plastic bag that hangs from her hand. In the corner just outside the elevator, while still obscured from anyone’s gaze, she stops to button it all the way up to her neck taking care not to be discovered.
• · She proceeds. When she passes the doorman’s desk she is choking herself with one of her hands and with the other she waves Hi. But no one is at the counter and her Hi is left hanging in the air. Looking back behind her shoulder, she thinks of how often during a day she would prefer not to be seen. “That is a miracle moment happening here now: a wish come true.”
• · She arrogantly plunges herself, into the busy road, disregarding the cars,
• · At the gym counter: She hands over some bucks, which she pulls out from a plastic bag, which is attached to her hand. “Excuse me? Last time I was here I was not given a receipt… I need it for…for… tax filings... When you counted the money last time and you were over, what happened to that money? Where is your manager? I would like to talk to him on my way out. And she walks away trying to maintain her rage.
• · So she works out, going from one machine to another, running out of breath. Treadmill, bicycle, elliptical, the weights, the strength machines… A scale is in the corner of her eye…. she is still working out. Then she sort of looks around, no one is looking, they are all sort of doing their thing, so she gets off the machines, pulls her clothes off. She gets on the scale.
• · Disappointed (her weight is still the same and has maybe even increased), she launches herself off the scale and she walks (naked, but the plastic bag is still dangling from her hand) to the dressing room. There, she gets on another scale and is completely distressed now because it shows even worse results. She marches out of the gym, (grabbing her clothes on the way), still obliviously naked, and crosses the road towards her apartment building. She says: “Forget the manager- next time I will handle that.” The road is empty because the few astonished drivers have brought their vehicles to a halt. Only a very juicy, largely built female bicycle rider, in pink sexy shorts and camisole, with red washed out dye in her hair, keeps on peddling and singing, as she is passing Elle.
• · Elle says hi to the doorman, quite animated with a big smile, (slapping her hand with the doorman’s hand in a ‘hi five’ which he offers) and leans over the counter and picks up a short conversation (both doormen are around): I know you were late today. Both of you. Ha, ha, ha. Of course you were. You are often late.
• · Since they don’t look amused, she proceeds to the emergency door that leads to the staircase. And concerned that she may have said (or done) something out of context yet again she adds: Don’t worry. What is it to me? I won’t tell anyone. Just admit it….(silence) As she says those things her brain is grinding a new idea: may the doormen misinterpret her attempts at friendly conversation as pickup lines? May be they are silent because they are upset with me for it?
• · A sense of relief comes when the door to the staircase is almost closed behind her. She finally hears a friendly response: “looking good Elle!”.
• · The door is closed, the smile dissipates from her face: she falls again into her previous thoughts. She climbs the dark stair well and while doing so, she mumbles to herself (in distress): she has put so much effort into something for so long, without results- realistically speaking her legs have not become even one inch longer.
• · She stops between the 27^th & 28^th floors, enters the apartment through the backdoor, into her room, throws the clothes she was holding in her hands in the sink, and immerses herself in a stream of cold water from the shower head.
• · She sings as she hand washes her gym clothes. Then she takes time to groom herself. For a moment her hair is wet and sticky. She asks “Don’t I have another hair clip?” but doesn’t find one. While she is standing in front of a mirror, her hair starts to dry and therefore grow bigger.
• · As she comes out, she sees the Gertrude and Butti next to the window: …’Hi Gertrude!’. She realizes Gertrude and Butti are eating. From her plate! She quickly determines they are eating a poppy seed bagel with… with salmon!… Elle is first shocked, but quickly recovers and acts animated and happy (instead of confronting the partners in crime). Her hair has become very big …
• · Gertrude grabs the cat into her arms. There, Butti smitten, stretches on her large breasts. “Miou” she purrs pretending to be innocent. Elle still embarrassed from catching them in the midst of committing a crime, tells Gertrude of Butti’s great love towards her Aunty and that she Elle feels no jealousy at all. (Just like a good mother would not be jealous of an aunt that her child decides to love more than her). Elle doesn’t look at Butti.
• · The phone is ringing again; she uses this moment to free herself from the party. She throws at Gertrude as she leaving: ‘Sorry, I need to get the call, but just wanted to say: you can leave earlier today. No need to wait until the laundry is dry. I will fold it myself. I enjoy small chores around the house. And don’t clean the room: no need to refold the clothes in the closet or anything. I will also do it myself. It is a pleasure to be of help sometimes. My mom, you know, also used to be a cleaning lady. Gertrude excitedly replies: “OK, Thank you, thank you so much”, and hurries out of the room.
• · (Joachim, Joachim) the phone keeps on ringing. But she still does not answer the phone. Instead she seats herself in a chair at a desk, and looks at the clock. Butti is in the corner of her eye. “There is no one you can trust in this world”…” 5pm. Already! Thesis!”
• · She picks up a piece from the newspaper article she left in the room earlier. She talks to herself: I cannot believe that article on worms. Could there be worse creatures on earth? And they eat everything in their way… in fact these parasites exist right among us. Worse than that- they are inside us. I even read somewhere everyone has at least a few. It is just a matter of controlling them from maliciously doing whatever they want.
• · She opens her sketchbook and as she stretches her hand to grab a pencil, her arm poses in the air, and she goes for the telephone.
• · Hello? Mom! How are you doing? Is everything O.K.? How is Dad? And Grandmother? I cannot speak at length now: I am working. Yes of course Mom, I am studying and working. I am his private secretary: his right hand: he wont’ do without me. Of course he pays me a salary. Hey! I am an independent woman. Don’t worry: You have a very smart daughter. Hi Dad! Are you listening there on the other handset? Good. How is life? Mine is good, too bad I have to run, but I will call you. O.K.? I hhh…ha..…..love you!
• · Konkistador? Hello. What are you doing….reading what? No need to recite it again. Please go to the next book. No. No, I don’t know how to trade shares. Don’t quit your job: you are not an actor yet: drama class, once a week, that’s all. Of course you can make it in the Movies, … they would love you, they could make a blockbuster just based on one of your usual days.
• · She hears a different voice saying: Elle? She looks shocked at the handset.
• · “Nana?” Nana’s voice continues: “Elle, have you started working on your thesis?”
• · Elle replies: “Nana, don’t tell me what to do!”. She hangs up the phone and she starts crying.
• · She calls up Johann who has been calling throughout the whole day and whose calls she has ignored. He accuses her of not wanting to speak to him. She cries even more. Tells him he does not understand. Tells him about how she is concerned the worms may attack them during their travels in the South Pacific or they may be attacked by a Tsunami, or even worse: a Tsunami of worms. And she explains how they should get out of there and only fly with very safe airlines (if such airlines exist- because these day you can trust no one).
• · When she picks up her head she realizes that Butti is not there, Gertrude is not there, the room is clean, the contents of the closet are refolded and fruit has disappeared! What is going on?! The exact opposite to what she asked for, has happened.
• · Confused and desperate but in hope that somehow, with a bit of luck, there is a chance for the fruit to be located, she thinks that maybe, just maybe, Gertrude having wrongly taken the clothes from the drier could have mistakenly placed the fruit there. She makes her way up, right through the heart of the pumping office life, towards the machine. She opens its door and… she sees lots of dry clothes. Feeling around a bit with her hand she finds no food there. Now overwhelmed by feelings of complete loss of control, betrayal and rage begin swiftly weighing down on her.
• · Al! I need his analysis on what happened, now! And possibly I can prove to him that: No one likes cleaning- seems like eating is a hit now days. Without thinking, she walks through the kitchen toward his desk. but stops behind the door to the living room as she remembers that this is an office now: she can’t just go talk to him. She peeps through the hole and assesses the dangers of the room: looks sort of empty. So she gets the courage and steps forward. At this point someone’s back appears right in front of her. She ducks and crawls back behind the door.
• · She decides to try to catch Al’s attention from the hole in the door. He actually sees her or at least she thinks he sees her. She vehemently gestures him with her finger (even though if he looked he would only see her eyes).
• · At this point more people enter into her view…their big bodies block the view of him. They surround his desk and starting to conduct a meeting.
• · She is forced to retreat back into the remote part of the kitchen where the dryer and the water tank are located.
• · She sits there and when someone comes to get water she either turns around to them and pretends she cannot see them as the big glass of water she is gulping down is obscuring them, or just ducks and looks away as if she doesn’t see them. (She doesn’t’ like the idea of saying hello to them, because then she might need to have a little chit chat. She doesn’t like that possibility at all. She remembers how the doorman downstairs acted weirdly when she was chatting with them! And in any case greetings are overstated in our society”.
• · Eventually, after hiding for so long, she falls asleep next to the water tank.
• · In the evening Al picks her up, drapes her over his shoulder and carries her away, out of the building, for a dinner at a restaurant.
• · He places her into a taxi and gets in after her. She is not happy: she insists that dinners in fancy restaurants prevent her from creating wonderful artwork, like her thesis for instance: ‘Nothing has been done yet, and it is all, you know whose fault. Yours!’
• · In the restaurant she is concerned that she is not dressed properly: look what you have done again. I am embarrassed to be in such a restaurant wearing what I am. She crosses her arms on her chest. Al remains cheery.
• · Leaving the restaurant, she whines: ‘You forgot about me. You saw that I needed you, but you forgot. I cannot trust you’.
• · On the way back from the restaurant, as he pays for the taxi, she waits outside. On the dirty windshield of the taxi, she is etching with her finger a circle and then the rest of the letters spelling “Obsession”.
• · As they enter the building the doormen are still there. “Hello Mr. Fishsmish!”
• · In the elevator she shares with Al her concern on being too flirtatious with men. And that she thinks, they think, she is coming on to them. And may be she does a little bit? What do you think, Al?
• · He asks her what happened to her hair today. Why is it so big and unruly? She ignores him as she thinks about Gertrude.
• · She keeps on in the same vein, complaining about her thesis, bananas, the dream and Butti’s nails etc for the rest of the evening.
• · He makes the bed. While she tells him how her fruit has disappeared today, again, between the time she dispersed it around the room in the morning and when she absent-mindedly was speaking on the phone and how that explains the fact that the bed is not made, He listens silently and finally exclaims: “Darling!” as he kisses her with understanding on her forehead.
• · Lying in bed, she is unable to sleep because she can’t stop thinking about the Thesis. “The Thesis, is an abstract idea because nothing actual has been put on paper. Not a drawing, not even a line”.
• · Then Al tells her that he has something for her and he will give it to her tomorrow.
• · In the morning he clips a new clip into her hair.
• · She is having a productive day and thanking him for it: “Thank you darling. You are a genius”. Al: “It’s all you darling. Nothing to thank me about”.
• · They are in a gallery. All walls, floor and ceilings are covered with drawings with exactly the same format as the drawings of this project. The images on the paper are of Gertrude, the cat, Nana, Konquistador, Dad, Mushi, Al, and other scenes showing people in action, possessed by their obsessions… Al turns to the readers to explain how one can solve anything in life by redirecting excessive energies productively.