Ugly Singaporeans

I'm sure many of us would have faced this situation- a bus stop overflowing with people. The tricky part is when the bus arrives, who gets left out? I faced this situation last Sunday after my tuition at Chai Chee and was waiting for the bus when suddenly, I saw a crowd approaching the bus stop. I figured out that they must have either attended a function or classes in Bedok ITE.There was only one bus plying that route and I was beginning to get worried. There were more and more people coming out of the ITE and I was secretly hoping the bus will come as soon as possible as I didn't want to face the prospect of being left behind at the bus stop. Once I caught sight of the bus, I began to reposition myself and when the bus stopped, I moved to a lesser crowd route where I can easily board the bus. Once I tapped my Ezy Link card, I felt a sigh of relief and proceeded to take my seat.

However, I observed that some people were not moving to the back of the bus to let more people enter the bus. There was a huge gap at the back of the bus and many people were packed like sardines at the entrance. This scene is repeated day in day out in many parts of Singapore but I cannot help but wonder why are some Singaporeans so inconsiderate towards others? I have experienced the feeling of being left out due to some of my incosiderate Singaporean mates who obviously don't give two hoots about others. This selfish attitude should be condemned and I can't forsee a change in their attitude. The government could and have spent perhaps millions of dollars on courtesy campaign but I feel that the money could be channeled towards offering rewards to Singaporeans who are considerate. That might work considering that we go to extreme lengths to make an enquiry about the 4D numbers to get rich!!

I can't help but wonder what takes a person to say Thank You. Over the past few days, I made it a point to hold the lift door and lecture thearter door if need be and on some occassions, some people have said thank you and some people will give you the blank look and walk off. Once I was in the lift with two women but I can't help but listen to them conversing in Mandarin on where to go for lunch. I was wondering if food was their only topic of conversation. When the lift door opened, I pressed the lift door as I was close to the button panel and the well-dressed ladies didn't even bother to say a thank you. This incident will not stop me from being a civic conscious citizen(I will try my best) just because some people are screwed up!!

1 hour break

I guess i'm starting to hate the one hour breaks in between my lessons which occurs at odd timings as I couldn't possibly study during the 1 hour break and my effective study period will be at most 40mins after I have settled down and once I start to pick up pace, it's time's up and I have to go for my next lecuture or tutorial. The worst part is not to have friends who share the same break time as you as I'm doing some weird subjects and it could get irritating at times. Tomorrow, I have three 1 hour break slots one after the other and I will rather finish those lessons at one go but I guess the breaks can sometimes be a blessing in duiguise as I could do other productive things besides studying.

I'm currently blogging to fill up my 1 hour break and surfing so that I do not have to do these stuff when I go back to my hostel room and I could study at night which I feel it's the most productive time for me to study. My core subjects seem to be pissing me off as the lecturers seem to get more boring and the concepts are harder to grasp compared to last semester. The worst thing about my lecturers are that they can get monotonous and dry and it's worst when it's a core module where the lecturers have to be enthusiastic and drum up the student's interest and instead, they fail miserably.

I'm glad that Arsenal is making some progress in the Premier League by winning their latest match and at the rate they are playing, they should be able to grasp third place and if the two top clubs would slip up, Arsenal will even be crowned champions and as they say: IN YOUR DREAMS!!

A week of Drama

School started a few days ago and it feels as if I have been in school for weeks. The week started off with Monday Blues as I couldn't shake off the weekend mood and had to attend lectures with half a mind. The lecturers in my faculty are so good at putting people to sleep even though it's introductory lectures and it's meant to be light. I also did some catching up with my faculty friends and exchanging the New Year pleasantries and holiday stories. Being a co-chair of the NTU-NIE speech contest, I have to do loads of planning together with Wahyu, my other co-chair and by the time I come back to my hostel, it will around 12am.

The worst highlight was misplacing my pencil box as it contained my stationary for the entire year and the thought of replacing it really put me off. I somehow managed to find it in a lecture theatre when I had to travel the places I visited around my huge campus. Lesson learnt: I began to check for my pencil before I leave a place.

After my tuition, there was a sudden downpour and I had to borrow an umbrella from my tuition kid. The rain was so bad and the wind kept changing direction that my entire shoe was drenched and my jeans was soaked and while I was in the chapter meeting, I was freezing my ass off and coughing so bad that I went to the toilet to take off my socks. It was an experience and it made me realise that I should perhaps carry an extra pair of socks in my bag in case of a sudden downpour.

I'm glad that Arsenal handed Liverpool a 6-3 trashing in their own backyard. The result is even more signifacnt as it's their second meeting in four days and I expected Liverpool to exact revenge in the league cup tie after the 3-1 defeat and half of Arsenal team is made of youngsters and unknowns and that makes it even sweeter. Liverpool specialises in cup competitions and they now have the Champions League to work on as the league title seem a distant dream for them. I have a bad feeling that Arsenal is likely to lose their next game as they have played two games in a span of four days and I hope to be proven wrong of course

Another Food Mishap

2007 seems to be a year of food mishaps. I recently had a brush with the ill fated Changi Village Chendol which gave me a stomach ache and yesterday it was the beriyani. Let me recollect the unfateful event. I met Megan at National Library at bugis as we felt bored staying at home and watching the same old programmes on television and decided to break away from the monotony of our lives by enriching our brains. The National Library is the best library in Singapore as it boasts a huge collection of books and I do not get disappointed when I pay a visit to my favourite library. After the eventful outing, we waited for Prakash to pick us up and we went to Vivo City, a huge shopping centre at Harbourfront which recently opened its doors and boasts an unhealthy attendance almost every day to put people like me off who hates crowds.

True enough, Vivo City was big enough and we spent time in one wing. After all the walking, we went to Long John Silvers for its economical food and I was put off by the counter girl who asked me in a Singlish tone to upgrade my drink to medium. I have noticed that at some fast food outlets, the couter staff will usually suggest a medium drink to make the staff buy medium but I'm not a heavy drinker unlike my friend Prakash who drinks to his heart's content.

After filling our stomachs, we went to Serangoon for dessert and I was not really keen on dessert as I felt that I had space for some heavy food. I suggested Karai Kudi and my friends agreed to my request. I ordered chicken beriyani and Prakash couldn't resist ordering the beriyani. After eating the beriyani and downing a glass of tea where Megan had to make a joke about the English colonial times when I drank my tea too slow as I was feeling full, we were pondering on our next destination as it was only 9pm.

Prakash suggested going to Mustafa on the spur of the moment as he drove past Mustafa. When we got to Mustafa, we took a stroll around the Mustafa shopping centre commenting on sunglasses to docker shoes. Trouble started to brew when my stomach started to feel uneasy. i decided to take a risk but my stomach began to feel funnier by the minute due to the beriyani. We were on our way to the old Mustafa shopping centre and I was thinking of a place with a decent toilet. I was brainstorming a few places in my head and I felt that the Farrer Park mrt station was the best place as it was clean and there would be more toilet cubicles. After paying a visit to the toilet, I chanced upon another cubicle where there was an act of vandalism on the wall. Upon closer examination, there was a picture of a naked lady drawn on the cubicle with the words in Tamil, don't trust a woman. I felt that it was quite funny and I was not happy as I wasted money on beriyani which went down the toilet bowl.

After walking around in old Mustafa, we decided to go back home and we parted ways at eleven. It was an eventful day with unforgettable experiences.

Chendol

What can a harmless bowl of chendol do, one may ask? I would have replied it tastes good and what possibly can it do besides filling your stomach until last night. I went to Katong to have dinner with my friends and we tucked into a bowl of laksa. The katong laksa is one of the best I have ever tasted as the soup is very tasty and it seems the recipe is kept a secret. After the laksa dinner, my friends decided to go to Changi Village to eat Nasi Lemak and we went there and one of our good friend has still not made an appearance as he was always late and we asked him to come there straight.

In the mean time, we chatted on the way to Changi Village and we bought Chendol. The chendol was better than average and I was relishing every single spoonful of the delicious chendol. Trouble started to brew when my stomach started to rumble and tumble and I decided to stop as I felt that the chendol was the main reason for my uneasy stomach. I even contemplated buying the famous Nasi Lemak but stopped myself short as I knew that I would not enjoy the food.

When I got back home, my stomach started to rumble and tumble again and the pain made it more difficult for me to sleep. I tried all kinds of ways to make myself tired but I just couldn't sleep. I took some water(suupposedly to treat an upset stomach) but the pain refused to go away. I finally managed to fall asleep at six in the morning and woke up to a less painful stomach. I guess I shouldn't have taken too much of food containing coconut oil suddenly especially chendol as I couldn't contain my sweet tongue and it led me to suffer for one whole night and made me realise to choose my food wisely instead of blindly.

New Year's Day Eve

Every year, my friends and I will think of spectacular ways to celebrate the NYE and this year was no different as we wanted something different to kick-start 2007. Some of my friends love clubbing which I have totally lost interest in as I feel that it's a waste of time to spend time with all those smoke blowing in your face and it will be the same old music which the clubs love to play over and over again. The usual nightspots like MoS, Gotham Penthouse and Double O were suggested as the crowd going to these clubs will be happening. Until the final day, the venue was not confirmed as I wasn't keen on clubbing and was more for pubbing and my friends were unsure about the venue as they were indecisive.

My friends were roaming around for a club to enter and the clubs in Clarke Quay were totally packed and my friends decided to pay Mohd. Sultan a visit as they wanted to check the clubs in that area. As for me, I came late and had to meet them in Clarke Quay and later Mohd Sultan as I was only familiar with Boat Quay and it took me a hour to reach M.S but the walk made me very familiar with the terrain which I should have known years ago but I guess the walk was worth it. I called them up and they told me that they are in Cheeky Monkeys.

For starters, Cheeky Monkeys is a small club with a clientele usually consisting of Indian, Malay and Cauasian clubbers as the club usually plays hip hop and R N B and it recently opened its door again after going through a renovation and shifting to another location down Mohd Sultan. I was annoyed with the choice of the club as I feel the clubbers there are usually immature and they love to play mainstream hip-hop. I couldn't voice my opinion as I felt bad about making them wait for me and giving me directions and I reluctanly parted with my $20 for the cover charge.

When I entered the club, the first thing that struck me was the club was almost empty save for a few clubbers as it was only 10pm. I couldn't see my friends sitting in a dark spot as it was too dark and Param had to come and get me when I strayed over to the other side of the club. I took my Vodka Lime and sat with them and saw the gloom on my friends' faces knowing that it's going to be a long night. There were only a few clubbers and we saw an interesting couple, an Indian chap and a cauasian chick kissing infrequently and the only people on the dance floor and leaving after that, depriving us of a source of entertainment. The music was our only companion and I went to see the pool action at the other end of the club and those guys were simply amazing probably due to the fact they play on a regular basis.

By the time I returned to the table, I saw an improvement in the club's attendance as we saw a group of chinese clubbers and one of them reminded me and Megan of our mutual friend and we ended up having a laugh about it at the expense of the chinese clubber. We also saw an influx of bargirls attired skimply to basically flash their skin to get the hot young blooded male clubbers to purchase shots but I guess I was too pissed to consider even buying shots. I then saw a group of Indian clubbers in their late twenties and this put my friends off totally as they had expected another crowd. Suddenly, there was an inflow of Cauasian clubbers and they totally lifted the mood except that these people looked underage to me. Some of them started to dance on the bar tops and the rest on the dance floor and on the podium. My favourite song by Nelly Furtado, Man Eater was also played at the exact time.

I wondered if the people at the door were lenient to let the suspect underaged clubbers enter the club to boost the pathetic attendance and atmosphere. The worst thing that could happen to us was that we counted down to NY at a rotten club and I felt damn disgusted but it was an experience which would not be forgotten for a long time. We hung around for some time before we went to the nearby hawker centre to fill our hungry stomachs. The Mee Pok was better than average and Sara joined us later. My friends went to check out the crowd at Cheekys and were not keen on going back again except for Param who loved the music.

We headed down to Plaza Singapura and on our way, we saw clubbers sprawled on the sidewalks puking to their heart's content after getting drunk and boyfriends helping their girlfriends and police officers in full force to maintain the peace and ensure that the celebration goes on smoothly without any fights and commotion. There were loads of eye candy moments with gals dressed in figure hugging jeans and in low-cut tops flauting their assests and offering the world a peek of their fabulous body. I wonder if these girls wear the tops out of necessity as it shows more skin and it's attention grabbing.

We reached Plaza Singapura in one piece and we chilled out at Starbucks and we saw our junior batch also there and we exchanged the usual happy new year handshakes before we started to embark on an intellectual debate if Sadaam was alive or not and our talk was full of name callings and coining of new nicknames. We soon got bored and walked down to Tekka where the three friends decided that they want to take a cab from there as it was nearer for them when we planned to stay on till the first train or bus starts service. Suddenly, we saw 2 transvestites walking and some of our dear friends felt a surge of homophobia surging through them and hiding behind me and I was unhappy as I felt that those people didn't pose a threat to us and it was rude of them to behave in such a manner. The 3 muskeeters left and Prakash and I embarked on a journey to Lavender to kill time.

We ended up walking to Kallang Macdonalds and we caught up on current issues and people. When we reached the Macdonalds, there was a long queue and there was a group of Indians who were rude with the service staff who were obviously pissing the hell out of me as it was New Year and they should have taken a resolution to be more nice to the service staff in future and they let their stomach control their minds. We spent another hour in Macdonalds before we went to take bus 12 to home sweet home.

It was not exactly the best NYE party but it was well spent in the company of friends as I feel that it's the best way to celebrate.