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Tone&Wei: BFF

filling the Blank

the ends that don’t meet

the rationale

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TONE &WEIBFF

I’ll buy you a diamond ring, my friend If it makes you

feel alright. I’ll stand by you, won’t let nobody hurt

you. I get by with a little help from my friends. You’ve

got troubles, I’ve got ‘em too. There isn’t anything

I wouldn’t do for you. We’ll stick together to see it

through cause you’ve got a friend in me. I’ll lean on

you and you lean on me and we’ll be okay. Lean on

me, when you’re not strong, and I’ll be your friend,

I’ll help you carry on, for it won’t be long, ‘til I’m going

to need somebody to lean on. No I won’t be afraid

Just as long as you stand, stand by me. I’ll be there

for you Like I’ve been there before I’ll be there for

you ‘Cuz you’re there for me too. I get by with a little

help from my friends. I’ll stand by you, I’ll s

tand by

you, I’ll stand by you. I get by with a little help from

my friends5

Hello! Would you like to introduce your-selves?Wei: Hi, my name’s Tone, you can call me Tuuuuuuuuunaaaaa. hahaTone: Hey!! Fine, my name’s Wei and I have dreams about having babies with printers. Hah!

How has your day been? Oh, it’s been good. No, actually, we just had dumplings, so it’s been Great.Based on that theory, yesterday, Tuesday, Monday, and Sunday would have been great too.Haha! Yeah! What can I say, a dumpling-filled day is a happy day. Generally, any day with warm meals for you are happy days.That’s true. I forget to eat sometimes.

Are you busy working on some new projects? Oooh yeah, we’re working on some stuff that’s just off the richter! It’s-A surprise. It’s supposed to be a surprise. Something somebody obviously forgot.(pouts) But.. oh fine. Can I at least say what it’s about?That’s exactly what you can’t say! Can I say that it involves type?...And it’s called-Wei!!! I’m sorry. He’s such a child. You’ll hear about it soon enough, I promise. You never let me say anything! I’ll bake you some muffins later.Really? You’d do that, Tone? Where? In my kitchen? Can i help?

Off the top of your heads: Love or Money?Love.Love. Really, you too? I thought you said Money the other time. No... I’m pretty sure I said Love. You know me, just full of love all the time!(snorts) Just full of swoon, you mean.We-ell, with looks this good...

Your idea of the perfect life? A cosy home with a perfect couch.One filled with love.Not too hard, not too soft, just perfect. Where you can sink yourself in just that perfect amount.Huh? What are you talking about? What does that even mean?My perfect couch!That’s what happens when you’re being vague, Tone. I wasn’t being vague! You just weren’t listening! Oh and dumplings everyday. Maybe pho on extra special days.That’s my family’s weekly menu right there. You should move in. You’d have your perfect life.Except for the perfect couch part.That’s true. We can work on that.

Just friends? Or something more? I’m still working on my Chinese.How does that even relate to the question?Oh, I don’t know... you know...No, I don’t! And I’m pretty sure noone else does.I guess you’ll never know then...I guess we never will. Not if you’re answering...Gimme some love? Oh alright...

filling the

blank as told by di numberfour

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As a self professed creative person, it should be a safe assumption that paper is my friend. After all, it is a versatile canvas for outpouring of ideas or masterpieces. However, one of the things that top my daily routine of obstacles to overcome is to make the first mark on a clean sheet of paper. An all too familiar scenario: I place a piece of paper in all its woody scented glory on the table, smooth it out, pick up my pen, uncap it, lower it down, its nib closing in on the surface...

And suddenly I am overcome by a tidal wave of awareness of my shortcomings. Who am i that i think myself worthy to tarnish this pure slate? What have i accomplished in life that is worthy enough to be permanently recorded? Are my thoughts of such level of importance that they need be written down? What masterpiece of the century could i possibly create to warrant inflicting lines of ink on the paper that could be used for better purposes than my lofty dreams? And the crux of it all: What if i change my mind, or make a mistake and it is there for all the world to see?

There is no hiding from the piercing truth of words on paper. Even as i write this, forcing myself to construct cohesive phrases out of my rambling thoughts, underlying patterns of self worthlessness seem to reveal themselves.

So maybe i need professional help with my issues. But in the meantime, I thought I would share my home remedies for ‘blank paper syndrome’ (it IS a syndrome, I googled it).

In true denial style, instead of addressing the problem within, this metrod involves shaping the medium to fit, i.e. the paper is the variable here.

So, since the problem here (ignoring potential psychological and/or behavioural issues) is the blankness of the paper, my solution is to eliminate it (the blankness, not the paper). Ironically, to eliminate blankness is to add stuff to it. Think used paper, the more used, the better. Student diaries, outdated planners. Printing proofs (I am now a vulture at the school’s unwanted prints box). An idea that’s been sitting at the back of my head for awhile now is to paint a foreground area onto some newspaper, taking care of course not to cover it too opaquely or completely, lest it bring me back to square one.

Try it. You may just find, like me, bliss in the freedom of used paper.

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on not having directionwe seem to live in a world that’s getting more and more fast paced. at just the beginning of my 20’s, i sometimes feel so old. watching shows like idol don’t help either, with contestants barely hitting puberty making me feel like i’ve wasted my youth away. i wonder sometimes if some people are born knowing what they entered the world to do. i’ve swapped education pathways and still have no idea what i want to do with my life.

i’m currently in my 2nd semester of my 2nd year in my degree. everyone says 2nd year is when you realise if this is for you. 2nd year is when you discover your personal style. i’ve yet to have any epiphanies on either. it’s not comforting at all to hear that 2nd year is also when most students drop out.

how do i know what i should do? will direction show itself one day? will i wake up and find my true passion? what if mediocrity is all i’m meant to fulfil? without the weak there is no strong. and if i refuse to be a wallflower?

on not having moneyi was asked, a few days ago, of money and love, which i think is of more importance. and i had to stop and think. and then i had to stop and think about the fact that i even had to stop and think. once upon a time before this jaded persona became me, i would have said love, love and always love, without missing a beat.

i blamed my hesitation on the temptation of money in my current financial situation. i’m not so far gone as to believe that money buys happiness, but the lack of money sure makes happiness seem more distant.

on not having lovei’ve just recently seen the end of a two year long relationship. Oh no, no, not that recent. Well, i suppose i should get out of the habit of saying ‘recent’, when in fact it’s been nine months. 9 months! wow that’s pretty long. pardon me, i haven’t been keeping count. 9 months, that’s a whole gestation period. if i were in hollywood i could’ve been married, divorced, fought over the settlement, maybe even do it all again.

or not even hollywood. everyone seems to be in and out of love so quickly these days. but i just couldn’t do it, you know? so i took time off love, or whatever the idea of love is these days anyway.

on dealing with itbut you know what? there’s only so much you can whinge about before you realise you’ve just got to suck it up. some ends, you just can’t make them meet, especially if you only focus on those loose ends. some wise words i was told: life is like a tennis game. you’re only got what, 20 seconds? once you stuff up, to pull yourself together again and be ready for the next serve.

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the rationale‘be the first to say hello’ is a magazine based on the idea that everyone has something to share: stories, anecdotes, advice or even just a snapshot of their life at the moment. This magazine is not about endorsing products or advertisements, it is simply about the people. It is designed to portray this with as personal and honest a feel as possible.

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