Creatively Written: Diary Entry

Welcome ladies and gentlemen! Step up this way to the first ever Borders Books and Movies Fair at the Expo!

Dear blog-san,

Today, I went to the Borders Book (and Movie) Fair at the Singapore Expo. It was a lot of fun. In the morning, after eating a delicious breakfast which consisted of bread from the bakery downstairs, I flipped through the newspaper and saw the advertisement for the fair once again. After a few minutes of indecision, I decided to just go for it, since it was so tempting. Hoping to catch a ride in my father's taxi to the bus stop, I went down quickly after dressing to meet him at the carpark.

Upon seeing my father and his relief driver there, I greeted the both of them cheerfully and settled down for the short ride. However, upon nearing the bus stop, my father made a turn towards Hougang instead, and I was left stranded in the car and headed in the wrong direction. As if to dampen my trip further, my bus loomed up just after my father had passed the bus stop. Red with silent fury, I sulked while my father dropped off the relief driver. To my relief however, my father offered instead to drive me to the Expo! I nearly jumped for joy, but recalled in time that I was in my father's cab!

Stuck on cloud nine, I could not resist grinning from ear to ear all the way there. On reaching, I made a beeline for the fair immediately. All at once, I seemed to be wading against a sea of human bodies, and it was all very exciting. As I browsed through the varied selection of fiction, all priced cheaply, I even found two copies of a school text that I needed for the coming semester. How lucky!

Here is the list of books I bought*:

The Harmony Silk Factory; Tash Aw
On Friendship; Michel de Montaigne
The Ladies of Grace Adieu; Susanna Clark
A Clockwork Orange; Anthony Burgess
The Republic; Plato
Plays; Anton Chehkov
One Hundred Great Books in Haiku; David Bader
The Secrets of a Fire King; Kim Edwards
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell; Susanna Clark
Mozart's Journey to Prague; Eduard Morike
The Ingenious Edgar Jones; Elizabeth Garner
Perfume; Patrick Suskind

Two hours later, tired but pleased, I made my way out of the Expo with my purchases safely stashed away in my backpack. I love book shopping!

Lots of love,
XXX

*Somehow, I don't see the persona of the diary writer reading this kind of books, but nevermind
_____________________________

Now. Admit it. How many of the phrases did you come across in your youthful days of composition writing? I can't believe I have to teach phrases like "jumped for joy", "tired but pleased" and "grinning from ear to ear" in my classes. The cliches are threatening to make my eyes drop out from rolling too much. Also, I really must find something else to harp on other than tuition....