A Mind of My Own

Travelling to work can be a tedious task if I have to board squeeze into the crowded bus along with thousands of others who are also going to the same place. I have to do the same in the evening and try to be the 1st to board since the bus driver can be too generous with sudden brakes that make everyone move with inertia towards the front while the standing ones fall like dominoes.

I’m not sure if I would like to come back for another 5 months although the money would be very useful. I just believe that things will be better in the next few months and I can finally take a breather. A long breather that will be enjoyable.

My short 2.5 months stint had been rather interesting since I would want to do it again but at another place. Meeting new people have been fun and I never had so much fun before!

I find it interesting that people often want to plan the career path for others if they find out that the person has no concrete idea in the first place. I had my career path including a family with kids planned out for me. I doubt that I want to compromise the time with my kids with work. I love my family more than my job. However, I’m spending more time at work than with my family.

I’ve seen ex-colleagues who took leaves just to make sure their young children are well again only to return to the office with their bosses telling them not to take too much leaves. I’ve seen people taking a lot of medical leaves due to their health. I’ve seen colleagues complaining about the lack of compassion by their bosses when their family members passed away.

It’s just so scary even though those are little things. However, little things lead to big results. Life is simple, it’s just complicated with people who want too many things.

As my stint here will end in 5 working days, I’m just glad that I won’t have to squeeze into the bus and pray for a seat even if it’s a 20 minute ride. It’s always good to be able to have a seat.

I was attempting to change the auto-top up amount of my EZLink card. The CEPAS card that was issued to me a few months back. However, I was told to call a number and ask them how to do it. I thought it’s just a simple process of waiting to re-apply after deactivating the GIRO for it?

If you would like to change the auto top up amount, please deactivate the facility by presenting your NRIC / Passport and ez-link card at any TransitLink Ticket Office. Please wait for at least 7 working days for the status of your ez-link card to be updated before reapplying for the facility again.

The above is extracted from the website. Nowhere in the paragraph did it state that I had to call the customer service to ask them how to deactivate it since I can’t possibly do it on my end. If anyone has any shorter or easier process, do let me know.

In addition, I find it strange that the Customer Service is unable to refund the amount if I were to request it for the Citibank SMRT credit card. I had to re-queue at the Passenger Service to do that. All I could do was to terminate GIRO at the Customer Service and then proceed to Passenger Service to get my refund.

I can’t even do a refund transfer at the Passenger Service since they don’t have it. After getting my refund I had to requeue at the Customer Service again. This meant that I had to queue 3 times and I thought Singapore is a very efficient society?

In the end, my adventure to get a refund took me about 55 minutes, that was due to a kind lady redirecting the rest who just wanted to replace their old cards with the new card. By the way, I had to top up my CEPAS at the self-service machine that took me 2 minutes as no one was using it.

In order to have some sort of convenience, I hope that in future, there is a real efficient way of doing things that have been electronified.

National Day is now over. I spent some special time with my DD for the first time as we didn’t had the privilege to in the past due to work. DD managed to borrow a car and we drove all over Singapore. Well, nearly. First from my place then to have breakfast at Thomson Road for some half boiled eggs and tea.

After that, we went off to Seletar and found out the small entrance to the reservoir. We didn’t check that out since I was concerned about the returning of the car. Our next stop was Punggol Beach that was still being developed. It was weird to see people swimming in the sea while someone was fishing. Won’t they get entangled?

We saw mostly tiny fishes in the sea and wondered if anyone will catch any fish longer than 10 inches. Two young policemen were keeping watch while 2 even younger men were selling ice cream. Ice cream is best when it’s shared. In fact, food tastes better when shared.

Since we were in the Seletar camp area, DD showed me where he used to serve his National Service. We also managed to check out Marina Country Club and saw some private yatchts. We also went to Seletar Airport and I wanted to see some awesome private jets but we didn’t enter the area since it was meant for people who were landing and flying off.

National Day was really hot. The morning after National Day started off with a light drizzle. Apparently, Singapore was tested in 1968. The heavy rain didn’t deter us and since then, I noticed that it’s always hot or light drizzle on National Day. I know of this because of Lee Hsien Loong. He mentioned it and the speech was shown in this year during the celebration.

As long as we persevere, we will make it. Our National Day songs in the past have spoken of the hardships our forefathers have gone through. It’s a gift to us when we have it so good now. No worries when the ladies are returning home late at night. Although ladies still have to watch out for themselves.

Having spent some precious time with DD, I have come to realise that our country has gone through times that we can’t even begin to comprehend. We have it good now because of the hardships that others have gone through. In order to enjoy the fruits of labour, we have to work hard for it. I have tried shortcuts to gain some things but they never lasted long enough for me to really enjoy it.

The weekend was well-spent. I would like to spend some time exploring the ulu parts of Singapore with DD again.

Having played Geo Challenge with a vengeance because I was dethroned by my friends, one of them a couple on the same day, I decided to play it more. Now I know how high I can get. However, my poor mouse is being abused from all my left clicking.

I think I need a new mouse again soon. Perhaps for my birthday if it can last that long. I have this urge to visit a lot of places like Las Vegas for its strip of lights, Tokyo for its Sakura blossoms, England for its bridges, Moscow for its famous colourful buildings, Switzerland for its alps, Hawaii for its beaches, Phuket for its beach, Maldives for its beaches, etc.

Looks like I need to earn a lot more than I am trying to now or I have to be thick-skinned and asked for sponsors. Anyone? So far, I fail in my itinerary planning since my geographic skills still need some improvements.

Frankly speaking, it’s expensive just to take flights to anywhere in the world. So, I do like the idea of travelling around the world in 80 days just like what Phileas Fogg and his trusty assistant, Passepartout, had done. Maybe I need to plan out more in detail and then see where I would like to end up with first.

The next question is, am I able to go without 3 months of Internet if I were to travel via trains, buses and airplanes?

The year of the rat has gone and it came with Obama’s victory to the presidential post. Not an easy one since the whole world is watching him trying to let the finances going again. Bush’s takeover was certainly a bearish year. A quick slide to the bottom when one company after another announced their bankruptcy affecting pretty much the whole world since every trade is interwined with another.

Here, politics come into play since it is a great loss of face to announce one’s ability to handle the finances poorly to one’s spouse and another to the whole wide world. From what I gather, the Bush family haven’t been great in finances, otherwise, useless wars wouldn’t have been created in order to creat such morbid jobs to save the desperately injured.

Not that I should be the judge. It is hoped that in the year of the ox, the graphs will shoot up again so that jobs can be maintained and perhaps new ones for the fast changing economy. Money makes the world go round and that’s why trading is still a hot job but it is not an easy one either.

I have been trying various ways to earn some money while being online and it is a long road ahead. Those who have been successful have at least taken a year due to their commitment to their day jobs before quitting and joining in the foray of the digital world.

I hope that something positive will come along and I can go for holidays without worries. Sometimes, I hate it when money is the root of all evil. May the bull help us all.

Arranging my own holidays is fun when I get to choose my preferred accommodation. Here, Arrange Your Vacation comes into place. I like the neat sections where Latest Rentals and Featured Rentals are placed prominently so that I can just click and check out the best prices.

What’s even better is that RSS is available so that I don’t have to check the site everyday. I can just read from my RSS Reader and be updated when there are new rental rates being updated. The blog gives out tips on renting vacation homes too. A bonus since most sites on accommodation rarely give out tips.

In addition, you can view the lodging in various countries just by viewing the regions available such as, Asia, South America, Saint Helena and more. As an added bonus, you can even search for your preferred lodging by type, location and rental categories.

Site Rocks

• Various options for choosing the accommodations: Rental type, Rental Location, Rental Categories, Region, Countries.
• Clearly marked sections by using different colours.
• RSS options for rental updates.
• Newsletter subscription option available for those without RSS readers.

Site Improvements

• Scrolling down just to know that there are other search options available. Viewing by Rental Regions can be placed as a sidebar.
• Newsletter subscription option is placed too near the footer.

This review was done for this contest. Join before Feb 28, 2009.

[via Blog Contests on The Net]

Oh boy. So, what have been the buses been running on? Diesel! That’s right! They don’t run on oil, silly! And how does diesel come about then? It’s a processed version from crude oil. See? Crude oil and oil are different! Learn your Chemistry! Now I wonder if what I have learned in school was wrong. Hang on, I have not learned anything about petrol, diesel, oil, etc!

First, the fare hikes were due to rising oil prices. It all started in 2006, in July as far as I can remember. Just a year later in Dec 2007, another hike. Yet another year later, we see the oil prices dropping like no body’s business but someone says what?

“public transport fares are not directly linked to oil prices.”

Oh. My. God. So, what are buses and trains running on again? Trains run on electricity. Buses lei? How I know? My Science all returned to teacher already.

Questions Over the Links Between Public Transport Fares and Oil

Fare Hike is Not Directly Linked to Oil – Shows various links on how much PTC is earning; profits hor.

Bus Fares Not Linked to Fuel Prices?! – Forumer asks.

Oil Price Drop but bus/SMRT Still Hike Fare?? – Forumer asks.

SMRT Plans Fare Hikes for its bus, MRT, LRT service – I know it was in 2006, but it does says a lot, right?

Who Pays the Fine? – Now I remember why the fare hikes.

I must be crazy but who can say no to a movie that is half the price you will be paying for in Singapore? Economy is going down and my pocket is shrinking. Watching a movie in Singapore is getting more expensive with each month. As if I am watching them at the cinemas everyday.

Since DD will be free only this week, I felt that a trip to JB would be nice and perhaps we could catch a movie or two. We managed to watch Twilight and Bolt. I saw one scene in Twilight that was obvious cut off and the flow wasn’t there anymore. A pity since I wanted to know why the swoon-worthy Edward Cullen was flying off from Isabella Swan. Oh dear, am I giving away too much?

As for Bolt, it was really a show for kids since it tells of how a dog truly believes in his owner so much that he even believes in his powers. I like the part when he discovered that he was hungry. I think I am giving away too much.

After watching two movies, I realised that Edward Cullen in Twilight doesn’t make my heart pulpate unlike my teenage years. Oh crap! I am getting old!

After watching Twilight, there was some time left to have some late lunch. 4pm for a lunch is really late. Thinking that Sushi King at City Square was having a discount for showing the Cathay ticket stubs, we decided to have our meal there. Unfortunately, the promotion was over. To ensure our eyes weren’t deceiving us when we saw the poster at the box office, we checked and found the poster gone. *&@$*@YHE@*U

Should have gone to the slightly more expensive Japanese restaurant just next to Sushi King since it looked like the food would be fresh. Sushi King doesn’t have exactly quality fresh food. For dinner after watching Bolt, we decided to have cheesecake at Secret Recipe. Yogurt Cheese was sweet and sour at the same time.

Lemon Cheese was lemony sour while New York Cheese tasted of Oreo chocolate since the base was made from chocolate. I was rather disappointed that the staff wasn’t that fluent in English. Meaning, I should go learn Bahasa Melayu soon. Except, where the heck do I even try to find someone I can converse with regularly?

Eventually, our trip to Johore Bahru ended. However, with the same amount of money spent there and in Singapore, we got to eat more and watch more movies.

This is madness! I thought that November would be a good month for me to start on National Novel Writing Month and that was why I finally decided to join. However, I didn’t anticipate that I would be taking up a part time job, attending a Korean Fiesta, visiting Night Safari and attending a wedding dinner within the first week of November.

I make it sound as it they take up a lot of my time. Actually, traveling will take up most of the time since the buses can’t be trusted despite what the newspaper said. I have waited for buses as long as 30 minutes for a feeder bus.

I got this part time job all thanks to The Young Businessman. Frankly speaking, I like how flexible my time is now provided I remember to check and key in my appointments into my trusty Samsung Omnia.

8.30am: Wake up.

9am: Type NaNoWriMo

9.45am: Chop ingredients for soup.

10am: Type NaNoWriMo

10.25am: Keep the dried clothes.

10.40am: Give up trying to complete NaNoWriMo

11am: Prepare to go VivoCity for Korean Fiesta.

12.05pm: Reach VivoCity and unsure which organiser to look for to retrieve the tickets.

12.20pm: Just sit at the benches at the amphitheatre without the tickets.

12.30pm: Korean ambassador gave a speech.

12.45pm: Singapore Minister George Yeo gave a speech.

12.50pm: Show started with excellent drumming from the girls.

1.20pm: Show ended with great breakdancing and drumming from the girls.

1.25pm: Sat at Coffee Bean with HF while she lamented the lost of her mobile.

1.30pm: HF’s younger siblings arrived.

1.45pm: Went to the family car to check if the mobile was stuck between the seats. No success.

1.50pm: Walked around VivoCity to check out the mobile phones.

2.15pm: Went to IMM to look for someone familiar working at Singtel.

2.45pm: The girl was on a break. Thus, went to Burger King for a lat lunch.

3.15pm: Looked for the girl again.

3.45pm: Finally settled on a new mobile.

4.15pm: Finally settled on the payment after checking the details.

4.45pm: Arrived home.

5pm: Bathed.

6pm: Prepared for meeting HF and RK to visit Night Safari for the Halloween special.

7.05pm: Arrived at the MRT to wait for HF.

7.10pm: HF arrived.

7.20pm: Reached Chua Chu Kang MRT.

7.22pm: Checked the bus going to zoo.

7.30pm: Went to Wang to have some light meal.

7.50pm: RK finally arrived.

7.55pm: RK bought some mineral water.

8pm: Waited for the bus.

8.30pm: Arrived at the zoo and walked towards the Night Safari’s entrance.

8.35pm: Squeezed through the crowd taking photos of the ghosts, draculas, vampires hanging near the entrance.

8.45pm: Queued for buying the tickets.

9.15pm: Finally bought the tickets.

9.20pm: Queued for boarding the Halloween horror tram.

10.15pm: Finally boarded the tram with The Joker.

10.30 – 10.45pm: Got scared by all the horrors.

10.50pm: Alighted the tram and started walking around.

11.45pm: Got reminded by the staff they were going to close.

12mn: Took a few more photos before leaving.

12.15am: Queued for the taxi.

12.45am: Reached home.

12.50am: Bathed.

1.20am: Sleep.