CNY is supposed to be a time of familial gathering, a time to be happy that you still have some relatives around to celebrate yet another year on the earth of ours, and most importantly, to collect that yearly salary from those same relatives that you appreciate.
Amidst all this
hoo-
haa about being grateful about the fact that my family members are still around to celebrate this once-a-year occasion with me, it also ends up becoming a yearly affair to see how much more irritating my twin cousins can get. Those pretentious little snots have utterly mystifying
English accents, given that nobody in their direct family have those accents. They're strangely pesky for little kids too. Over the CNY holiday, one of them managed to go into my room, with a closed door, and
USE MY LAPTOP for his little ridiculous online flash game. He comes into my house and thinks that he can just hop around using my laptop for free? Come on, you have pay to even use the computers at the lan shop.
Not all's doom and gloom when CNY rolls around, however, as much as TVMobile insists on playing those tired tunes redone to death by the flavour of the month stars of their own company. It does warm the cockles of the heart to see that a large family of almost 40 can decide to appear in the same little flat every year for some mahjong and dinner, regardless of personal schedules and commitments. That should be what CNY is all about. Sure, there are some notable absentees every year, but what matters is that most married couples do drag their families to meet up at least once a year, to have dinner. My bank account also smiles at that prospect.
And so it ends.
Approximately 5 months, 21 weeks, 145 days, and just before
CNY, it ends. That's right, my attachment has finally ended.
Its been awhile, hasn't it? I guess the reason why I haven't been updating is because doing the weekly reports are just too tiresome. After the weekly reports, I end up being so drained that its simply so difficult to write anything else anymore. That's not to say that the weekly reports are long drawn essays, no no. They are filled with so little information, that its
sooo difficult for me to just think of things to say. To think of even one
coherent sentence is too impossible.
This little adventure isn't at its end, though. There's still the final report and final presentation to go. By the end of the next two weeks, I will finally be truely free and fully concentrate on going to the army. Oh, joy.
Well, I suppose i don't really have much to say at this point. I guess I'll end here.
Well, its be awhile since i last updated. Been having the writer's block. Of course, that is also a euphemism for being lazy, but honestly, I've been getting that feeling. That feeling of not being bothered to blog anymore. Thinking of how each blog post appears to the person reading it. The same reason why my prev one kinda died off.
On a (only very) slightly happier note, I intend to collect all the thoughts in my head, and release them into the wilderness that is the internet. (Which was the entire reason why I set up this damn thing in the first place.) Only time will tell if I actually bother to finish this long one. Let me start of in a slightly cronological order.
ULTIMATE (FRISBEE) Parte Uno
I went with eli and lwl to
ParkView Square over Deepavali (Diwali?) for some
ultimate. Two interesting things in that sentence; ParkView Square and ultimate. For starters, ParkView Square is a pretty awesome building. It is opposite Raffles Hospital, and diagionally across Bugis Junction.
Affectionately known as 'Gotham City', its a pretty gothic looking building, with a front porch adorned with statues of many famous people, including Plato, Winston Churchill and Sun Yat Sun. There is also a giant sculpture of a golden crane right in centre of the porch. On the first floor, there's a pretty impressive looking bar, with an equally grand toilet. Small, but pretty darn neat. Both me and lwl had some time to recce the place a little, as we waited a usually late eli.
Ultimate, on the other hand, is a game played with a frisbee. It looks kinda gay at first, because honestly, what's so difficult about throwing a frisbee around? Upon closer inspection, however, much technique is needed to actually make the damn disc go where you want it to. The ultimate (ultimate, geddit?) goal is to eventually throw the frisbee to the guy who's standing at the end zone, a la american football.
Why would I be playing this game, you ask? Well firstly, it was Deepavali. I wasn't about to spend a whole day rotting in front of the laptop. Secondly, after hearing eli wax lyrical about it for a rather long time, I decided to go down and see what the fuss was all about. Thirdly, I thought some exercise would do me some good.
However, it wasn't such a good idea. Mainly because it rained. No wait, that would be an understatement. It POURED. It poured so badly that I could almost hear the cats and dogs whining in pain after bumping off the sheltered walkway. lwl and I were left shuddering in the cold, finding places where we would be entirely safe from the flood-inducing rain. Crazy eli, ever the lucky bastard, arrived just moments before the rain died down, holding his palms out and wondering what the big deal was.
In any case, eli decided that since he was there anyways, he would disregard the increasingly subsiding rain, puddles in the field that looked like actual ponds, and general common sense to go down and decide to play some ultimate anyways. lwl decided that the puddles posed too much of a drowning threat and opted out. I, on the other hand, was stuck in between. To be absolutely crazy and wade across the shin level water to play a game that I never have, or to stick with my buddy whom I met in primary school, and been friends ever since, to be a sane person for once? It was a no brainer. I went snorkling in the pitch.
It was wet, cold, and muddy. There was lots of running around and not getting the frisbee in my hands at all. The one time I actually got my hands on the damn disc was when I somehow intercepted the guy I was marking, somehow quickly passed it to some other guy for the counter, and we somehow got the point. There were a couple other occasions where I briefly touched the frisbee, only for it to rebound off my palm for the turnover.
I spent what seemed to be an eternity running around aimlessly across puddles, only to run back towards where I came from. But when all was said and done, what I remembered was not the feeling of squishing the water from my wet socks against my equally wet sole of my boots, not my cramped calves, not even my mom shrieking in horror at my muddy cleats. When I looked back, I saw the other fellas on the pitch who were not even on my team taking time out in the match to deliver a few pointers to this noob who was obviously slowing them down. I saw the other guys play sportingly, so much unlike the other 'gentlemen' playing football (there's no referee!). More importantly, I saw what most other people can't see at first glance: that team spirit and genuine friendly-ness, even to a noob.
FRIENDS FOREVER (?)
I went back to np for a while yesterday, and managed to catch up on the latest gossip happening around the class now. Its amazing how quickly life changes. Well, I know that change is constant, but when major changes happen around you, you just can't help but be astounded at the magnitude of it. For one, its interesting how a good friend for years can just, in one fleeting moment, become a person you detest.
I've always stared at wonder at how lightly friendships are taken. It seems that people can just randomly create, and subsequently dissolve long standing friendships. Of course, we have all seen how quickly and unamicably Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie turned from BFF to lifelong enemies and then back again, but I have always thought of it as something that bored celebs do for some much craved attention. But it seems that such everyday dramas also happen in real life.
Of course, there are various reasons for such splits. Disagreements, somebody stole somebody's boyfriend/girlfriend, and of course, the perennial favourite, irreconcilable differences. It could start of with something small and highly insignificant, like that little, incessant twitch of the shoulder. Like how a single snowflake evolves into an avalanche, these little things add up. And by the time they're realised, its too late. The damage done is irreversible.
I've always thought of myself as a decent enough friend, willing to understand flaws of others enough to know that they will never go away, and at the same time looking at myself, deciding on things that I should work on. But lately, its been more and more difficult to do that. Perhaps its the curse of being too observant, but it is getting harder to just ignore those little things anymore. Those things that, if left unsaid, will lay undetected for years to come. Once pointed out, however, they become as clear as day and you ask yourself why you never noticed them in the first place.
He never was my closest friend in class. And now, we have what I would consider a friendship of convenience. It is so much more convenient to be friends with him than to not. And then, nightmare of nightmares, he starts calling me 'bro'.
Dude.
WTF.
I have better people to call 'bro', and I don't even call them that. You talk to me for the past couple of years and you think you have somehow ascended to the position of bro-hood? Come on. Try harder. Also, just cause I am there to listen to you whine like a girl about how lonely you are because ironically, you have lost a girl, doesn't mean I enjoy it. You ask for my advice? Fine, I give it. Not that you even listen to it. Its really not my problem if you choose to wallow in your own little pool of self pity, sighing to yourself all day. I would very much rather just watch safely from a distance, chuckling to myself at the sadness of man. It becomes my problem, however, when you somehow decide to rope me in and ask for my advice, telling me your problems which is seem oh so insurmountable, EVERY SINGLE DAY. Its bad enough I have to wake up at 6am every weekday morning and drag myself to work but YOU, you telling me your bloody problems just almost drives me to suicide. Got a problem? Suck it up, be man, and deal with it.
God, that felt good.
*TOO BEE UPDATED*
Since my attachment started, I have only been thinking of two things at any given time on a day to day basis. 12pm, and 5.30pm. Lunchtime is one solid hour of getting away from the drab white walls of the office, and to at least see a bit of the sun. All while filling up the stomach. It is a happy time.
But just yesterday, dear ol' Mr Sun decided to go on strike, leaving the damn rain clouds to take over the sky. And oh boy, did it rain. It rained real bad, because the canteen upstairs, the last holy scantuary of the whole building (apart from the first floor where I regularly spend about 5 mins about every 2 hours) was packed. The queue for the only food stall almost reached the lift, no kidding. I was forced to pick up some bread and bear not just with the agony of hunger pangs, but even worse, to bear with being in those 4 walls for a little while longer.
If hell were a place on earth, it would be a tiny room in the corner of Level 4, Corporation Place. Where time stands still, and you just sit. Sometimes, they give you stuff to do, but its all just a tiny distraction from the big picture; the fact that you will be forced to waste your life away for all of eternity. I swear, I have seen my fingernails grow while sitting on that highly comfy chair. Hang on, the left index looks a couple of millimetres longer now.
Thankfully, the radio, always the trusty companion, decided to give me a perfect way to redeem that awful day. Bernie, the boss of everybody's favourite BOTAK JONES, was in the studio today, and was talking about the new item on the menu. Wagyu beef.
For those not in the know, wagyu is widely considered to be one of the best breeds of cattle to consume. If you can only eat beef once in your life, try wagyu. Or kobe. The beef, not the basketball player. The two cattle are rather similar.
Anyways, after work, I quickly rushed down to the Toa Payoh branch to get my fix. It was 200gms of bliss. In fact, for 36bucks, it ain't too overboard, even if you're taking into account that the recent stock markets are plunging like Guo Jingjing from 10 metres, abeit not as gracefully.
It was a brilliant wrap up to the day. And I, for once, am satisfied. =D
(note: this was done on notepad, and then cut and pasted.)
when was the last time you went to a hawker centre?
an actual hawker centre. one that can only be termed 'organised chaos'. as you walk down the aisles, the flames almost spill out from under the wok, threatening to set fire to anybody who attempts to walk past it. as you walk around the radius defined by that firen from the hounds of hell, a shout of 'SIAM AH!' rings through the air, causing one to almost jump. as you turn around to wonder at the source of the noise, the layer of grime on top of the tiled floor almost cause you to slip and fall.
now that, boys and girls, is what i would call an actual hawker centre.
the old market near my house that had been simply left alone for quite a few years just reopened. it was one of those really old markets. as in wet market old. the kind of place where you would be standing at the vegetable stall, deciding on the freshest and ripest tomatoes and all you would smell, is that stench from the drain. while pointing out your choice chicken hanging from the hook and you would smell the drain. and finally, just before leaving that market, you decide to stop by the fish stall. taking a whiff, all that lingers in the air, is the smell of.. you guessed it, the stench from the drain. indeed.
so i turned up at the newly refurbished place, hoping for the best. took a walk around, and i noticed a sign hanging around at every single stall i saw. either that was the flash of blue pieces of acrylic, or it was simply adorned on every stall.
'BANQUET', it proclaimed proudly.
oh boy, did i step into a trap.
it was horrible. i've always avoided like the plague any place where people consume food with the words 'KOPITIAM', 'FORK AND SPOON' and 'BANQUET'. havent exactly tried food rep yet, so cant complain yet. i avoid them not that the food is bad, although the food there is really mediocre at best. its just simply too clean, too orderly and too organised. the stalls are decked out neatly in a row, all stallholders wearing that neatly pressed uniform, just waiting for you to please, please, please buy your food from them. now i understand that has all to do with the increase in the standard of living, but maybe they did too good a job this time, because somehow, a clean and orderly place with people lined up in neatly pressed white uniforms just looks so strangely familiar.
and the was exactly like i expected. food was not the best around, prices were steeper than everest, and it didnt smell like one. it was quite amazing. a hawker centre (it had no air con, so doesnt qualify as a foodcourt) that did not smell at all of cooking oil. everybody knows that smell takes up about 60% of taste, so imagine my dispair when everything just looked so uniform, so clean and rubber stamped. sigh.
its things that these that take the soul out of 'soul food'. progress for the sake of progress should
never be encouraged. hawker centres are part of our culture, much like that kiasuism that so many of us are tempted to proclaim as our religion. do we really want all the food courts around to have that same same but different chicken rice stall, noodle and of course, the customary muslim food stall, all dishing out the same drab fare, shamelessly allowing our tastebuds and minds to accept such mediocrity on a regular basis, available at any of those franchised, brand-name food courts.
so, tell me, when was the last time you went to a hawker centre, and the soup accompanying the bak chor mee you ordered was absoulutely crowded with unidentifiable brown bits, much like that yellow cloud from the miso soup,but just tasted so damn good.
Well, my attachment is starting soon. Tomorrow, to be exact. I'm still kinda apprehensive about it, mainly because I still don't know exactly how often I will have to go down to the Cooperation Place worksite. Its on the other side of the island for me, a lot more worse than going down to Ngee Ann from my place. But hey, I'll be getting 600 bucks a month, and hopefully, I won't spend too much of that salary, and have some left for my eventual car lessons. Which should conclude by the time I go into the army. Of course, all that is just wishful thinking for now.
Meanwhile, Mom's been busy, opening up a childcare centre of sorts, right smack in the living room. That's right, there are kids here now, only from the hours 8am to about 6pm. Effectively increasing the number of people within the house from 5 to 7.
This one's name is Gareth
And this one is Aaron
And, no, they don't do some kind of baby talk or any form of baby communication.
Having the kids over here has taught me one thing that I already knew, but just needed confirming. That us older, more mature humans have this innate responsibility to attempt to please, or at least make other, smaller beings laugh. The fact that they have absolutely no idea on what we are doing, or look silly doing stuff apparently does not prevent us from doing such stunts. Which means, the urgent need to please such objects of lesser neurological activity greatly predates the feeling of modesty. Which means that people most probably kept pets/ had fun with babies way before pandora's box was open.
Pets are probably nature's answer to couples who want kids, but can't be fucked to have kids. ('fucked', geddit?) They're cute, can only make noises, and easily satisfied with food. Simple needs, really. Its all any living thing can ask for. I've never really understood this urge to be accepted by animals. But I certainly do accept it. I like animals, for sure, but after all, it does seem a little needy to be accepted by an animal of all things.
No offence to any animal lover though. I'd love to have a dog, but my mom insists on being afraid of anything with fur on it. She was pretty pleasant to the terrapin and guppy. Dogs and cats though, are a whole other matter. She is the type who would avoid felines and canines as if they were those adolescents you see in the orchard underpass, holding on to a metal can with a slot on the top, just large enough it fit a dollar coin. The worst ones are the ones who camp at the foot of the escalator, and you happily get on the escalator going down, only to be suprised at the sight below. By the time you do notice them, however, its too late. There's no going back up the esclator, that would be too obvious. You would have to be forced to meekly surrender any loose change you have with you, and gratefully exchange said coin with a round sticker, and gladly paste that sticker on your shirt, proudly pointing at the sticker when another such school-going kid shoves a large metal can in your face.
Just came back from the YEP bbq. Was actually supposed to be Han Song's b'day, but Ngoc turned up in Sg all of a sudden, then it turned out to be double celebo. Ngoc's actually one of the HueHelp volunteers that we met back in Vietnam, and my guess is that she's here for a holiday. But she's leaving tml, so I suppose it was all good timing then. She still seemed to be slightly out of sync with the rest of us, but was kinda mostly hanging out with the ECH people, I guess we don't have to feel too bad.
Anyways, enjoyed myself slightly more today, compared to other times out with the YEP people. I wonder why. Perhaps its the fact that it was a smaller, slightly more intimate gathering. Perhaps its the fact that the talk-cock session we had lasted 3 hours, despite that the fellas wanted to study. Perhaps its because some of the people who went YEP didn't turn up.
Exams are coming up. Had a lab test yesterday, completely and utterly buanged it. Badly. Really badly. Revision's coming up, and the retest is next thurs, and the wireless lan tech paper is on fri. Guess I can only blame myself not prepping enough for the test. Not that it was in any of the show runs that I recieved. Got a written paper tml as well, but its a multiple choice paper, so I have about 25% chance of getting each question right. Looking over the final test answers now, hoping some questions will happily pop out in the paper tml.
Cake in the face then. As is customary in most birthdays with a cake, the birthday boy (or girl) has to have some cake smashed into the face. Of course, we couldn't resist letting him off this time round. And thus, the cake in the face.
Nonetheless, he seemed happy enough.
And the group pic.
Thought of the day comes from a song, titled 'Thou Shalt Always Kill', by a pretty half decent duo, Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip. Yeah, its a wierd name.
'Thou shalt give equal worth to tragedies that occur in non-english speaking countries as to those that occur in english speaking countries.'
Lot of meaning, that. Especially now, when Russia is still having problems with Georgia.
