A Mind of My Own

I finally made it to the Garden Festival at Suntec City with DD. The queue for the tickets counter wasn’t that long since it was 3pm. When we were near the front, this auntie from behind us just cut through us and smiled all the way to the counter. The usher didn’t say anything and just told us to go to the counter next to her. If the counter was full, I would have yelled at that auntie and usher.

Having gotten our discounted tickets using NTUC union card, we proceeded to go up to level 6 where the Fantasy Gardens begins. Without further ado, I shall introduce my readers to the welcome pillar.

Warning! Mostly images and may slow down loading.

Rather bland, I must say but then again, if too flowery, it would destroy the rest of the garden designs.

The theme of the gardens at level 6.

Giant bee.

This grasshopper loves the violin.

The shy ladybird.

Chelsea Sunset arch. I love it because it contains Stargazer Lilies. A whole bunch too!

I was wondering what this was when I was near. However, after stepping back, I saw a face but still couldn’t figure whose face. Using my camera, I realised that it was Marilyn Monroe! DD wondered what she was doing there at the festival.

DD immediately said that this was designed by Singapore without looking at the label. You know why?

These were the crabs that made the kids go wild and crowded around the area. I had to stand and raise my camera at an awkward position and swiveled it so that I could take this shot. I love S5 IS!

A serene view of a Chinese water village. Live kois were reared in the display pond too.

Three deadly plants that digests anything like ants, mice and insects. I so wanted to get a small plant to get rid of the cockroaches mainly.

Did I mention that I like perky ones?

I like to relax too.

DD love the pair of Dutch clogs. I wonder why.

For more photos, check out my album. My overall experience at the festival was tiring because I had to capture the photos of the displays fast as soon as the crowd had moved because the next wave would immediately cut in and I would be capturing people’s head and hands covering half the photo. It took some techniques with my wonderful S5 IS.

I did however, plonked myself in front of another person taking photos of a display. Oops. DD asked why I had to do that. For such festivals, it’s always best to visit in the morning instead of afternoon as people will be taking afternoon leaves just to avoid the crowd too.

I did notice a familiar face, an ex-colleague taking his children out for the festival. The wife was rather charming and she smiled so sweetly.

This outing got huge. Usually, I would manage to get only at most 6 people confirming their availabilities. It was a huge surprise that I have 12 confirmations. I nearly fell off my chair when I read the email. Happy is WishBoNe.

Since HF and the rest have not been to The Cathay at Handy Road, we decided to go for Billy Bombers. At 2pm, NL sent me an SMS saying she was down with flu and cough. Naturally, MC wouldn’t be going either. Sad is WishBoNe. At around 4pm, RK SMS me that her SO was going since his work got canceled. Happy is WishBoNe. The total number came to 11. We were to start dinner at 6pm. Usually, the group arrived late but whenever we purposely put an earlier time, everyone arrives just within 15 of the said time.

CD was the last to arrive due to her cycling trip at East Coast Park. Her friend drove her from East Coast Park to Balestier, Bukit Timah, Lord knows where else, then to Newton and finally, Orchard Road. She wanted to tell him to go to a particular exit as it was faster but she wasn’t sure and kept quiet until she reached. Some people cannot accept road directions. Best to be quiet about it and learn the hard way.

Since all of us were done with dinner except her, we decided to go to another place and discussed for 5 minutes and came up with 2 options. TCC Orchard and KTV just near The Cathay. Another 5 minutes of choosing either venue and we finally decided on TCC. That’s when we found out that TCC is near PS, thus, saving us a trip to somewhere else along Orchard Road. That was 7.30pm.

CD had half her sandwich at TCC. We all got drinks after the waitresses at TCC helped to arrange the tables to accommodate all 11 people. A tight squeeze but we managed. With only 2 guys in the group, it wasn’t that difficult.

It was 8.30pm when we finished our drinks at TCC. Since the night was still young, we discussed if we should go to another place. Another 10 minutes of throwing up options and we decided on Marina at Keppel Bay. Only JC has a car, so the group had to be split into 2 cabs. I don’t know how the rest split up but since 3 of us knew the way, the ones who knew would take the cab with those who didn’t know the way. RK, RK’s SO and me took JC’s car. Happy is WishBoNe.

When we arrived at the place, the carpark was full and a valet helped JC but he didn’t know how to operate the doors for her 2-door Peugeot. I can’t remember which model but it’s one of the early adopters for auto-door in private cars. The rest had arrived earlier and the staff informed us that all the restaurants were fully booked due to weddings. We chose an auspicious date alright.

Since we had arrived and most of us had never been to the place, we took some time to walk around the place that we could access. I took a few photos and realised that I need more practice in night shots.

After walking around the place with TCC being the only available place to us, we decided to go have ice cream since ES was craving for it since dinner. Walking would be a breeze in the cool night but I wanted to take a ride instead of walking. So, we took the car with RK’s SO, the sweet man, gave the valet service amount to JC.

We arrived at Haagen Dazs at 10.30pm and asked for the seating arrangement for 11 people. After waiting for a few minutes, the rest had arrived and we got our seats. We ordered 7th Heave, waffle with ice cream and brownie. The flavours for 7th Heaven: Mango Sherbet, Cookies and Cream, Rum and Raisins, Belgian Chocolate, Strawberry Cheesecake, Green Tea and Berry something.

The white smoke is the dry ice in case you don’t know. We chatted until 11.30pm. From pool stories by RK with her job as a lifeguard to ghost stories and disturbing couples making out cars late at night when ES’ hubby and RK’s SO were young. Cheeky men.

ES’ hubby used to drive out late at night with his best mates with their cars mod with speakers that blasted out music at high volumes while parked in between the cars. They would even wave hi to the car owners left and right. Other antics included hide and seek in the 7th month at some haunted house. 1 seek, the rest paired up to hide.

Finally, we wrapped up the night and this time, JC sent HF, CD and me home. I saved a lot of transport money. Thanks JC! I have enjoyed my night. Been quite some time since we had such a huge gathering since our graduation. KY failed to turn up nor returned our calls. Wondering what she is up to.

Thus our night venues:

• Billy Bombers at The Cathay
• TCC just outside Dohy Ghaut MRT
• Marina at Keppel Bay
• Haagen Dazs at VivoCity

4 places in a night. Oh boy.

What the future holds I’m not sure. I just want to be sure about something and yet afraid to do it. It’s my first step towards something. I have tried to work towards another goal, getting a writing job but unfortunately, been rejected twice. It isn’t as much as some who may have been rejected 10 times.

I find that in Singapore, if you want to work towards your dreams, it isn’t that easy. Various factors include:

• Your own flat.
• You lack the reputation such as being featured in magazines for photography, writing, etc.
• Your own car.
• You have been doing what you hope will help you but unfortunately, your face needs to be plastered all over the net and your name must be found all over the net before anyone will want to feature you.

I will be facing the unknown and I think I may have to plaster my name all over the net and write my name all over the net so that the idea that I have in mind will take off. I don’t know how long it’ll take but I hope that it’ll pay off well.

Life here has been good. I can walk home after 7pm without much worries except for that time when I saw that flasher. That memory wasn’t good because that wanker hasn’t been caught and I don’t know why the police never did call me for a photo fit. Oh wait, Mas Salamat was/is more important than some penis attention. Sorry.

While I have some complains about the public transport, I will not say that I don’t love my country. I just love my country only. However, life has become stressful in some ways because if you are not promoted at work, you are screwed when you reached your 30s for a woman and 40s for a man. It isn’t written but it’s all in the mindset.

The future is scary because I know what I don’t want. However, I don’t know what I want. My elimination list is rather long at this moment and I hope that by the time I have eliminated 70%, I know what I want.

Family outings used to be great fun for us. We looked forward to Genting Highland trips as we would get to ride the bumper cars by ourselves. My mother would announce that next week, we will be going to Genting and I would pack my bag happily.

A family trip in the long car ride was not the highlight was we would get car sick. We have serious motion sickness. However, the thought of enjoying the cool weather and the theme parks was enough to be excited about a non-exotic place for a holiday.

Over the years, my family trips reduced as we had different schedules due to CCAs and meeting with friends for shopping or projects. The family favourite routine is to arrange for a trip on the go. Once the decision to visit the zoo was made, the very morning, as long as the sun was shining brightly, we were off to the zoo.

It is so much easier to just go out as a family upon the decision was made as any other days would have resulted in one missing family member. Take the Singapore Flyer ride, it was made in the evening and when I reached home, I had to go out after dinner for the ride.

There was no time to think too much. The weather was just perfect and the traffic was fine. It isn’t much of a routine but something that is tradition in my family. The fastest way to have a family trip, decide on the day to go anywhere in Singapore as long as weather permits.

Feeling cranky on a rainy morning. Everything started yesterday. As I’m in a cranky mode, I’m blaming everything, big or small and it doesn’t matter whether it’s reasonable or not. Starting off from yesterday morning. I got to the platform and saw my usual spot taken. Got into the train only to find my spot taken too. Rode all the way for 45 minutes till it was my station to alight. (See the pattern? My, my, my all the way.)

Nothing went right at work. It started to work only after 3pm. Things got better after knock off. Went off to meet HF for the Lasik forum and listened to the talk. Registered for the eye evaluation (free for this month) after the talk despite HF’s hesitation. Think I dragged her into it. Must have lost my head there. However, after contemplating for 5 years, might as well take the bull by the horns. Went home late.

This morning, the heavy rain started at 7am. Prayed it would stop but knew it won’t. Decided to take the feeder bus. Waited for 15 minutes for 2 fat single deck feeder buses to pass by before taking the expensive express bus that was on the same route. Reminded me of the other time when a taxi had to be hailed instead.

Got to the platform and the train had arrived. Had a feeling that my spot was taken again. I was so right. Hated the men who took the spots and cursed all those who only alight at the next station because they took up the seats that were far from me.

I arrived at the office only to realise that I was locked out of the department because the manager didn’t inform the security that my contract had extended. To think she is supposed to know all these.

Ultimately, decided to be negative for the morning. I have two choices, be positive or be negative. I chose negative for the morning. Must stop being cranky.

Having my articles featured is both a bane and a boon. While I have some comments that aren’t well-thought, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t any who don’t think. I have been called lame and other sorts of names.

First, my piece on listening to commuters got quite a number of comments. Wow. Only when I project a negative view then I get a response. So, shall I write more negatives views? No? Oh well.

1. Raising prices will always get complains. No matter what. It seems that the explanations have gone from being detailed, to being general. Was it detailed in the first place? Like fuel prices raising, so there is a need to maintain, etc.
2. Anyone taking the train knows that going from Boon Lay to Tampines takes more than an hour of train rides. If anyone else is able to get there in less than an hour by train, show me how.
3. If anyone can show me a way such that no one will block the doors during peak hours whereby everyone is rushing to work, show me how.
   [via Flickr]
4. If anyone is able to tell me that the waiting time for a train during non-peak hours is less than 11 minutes, let me know.
5. If everyone is able to move in when needed, why would so many others say otherwise?
6. When the train is delayed, what are the announcements? For a delay of 10 minutes and above, speculations are bound to fly around. What happened when it was delayed not due to someone jumping the tracks? The story was told after speculations flew around.

If no speculations should be flying around, then transparency should be implemented. If not, there will always be unhappiness. I didn’t say that it isn’t efficient. All I feel is that whenever there is a price increase, people expect more. This goes the same for that vacuum cleaner, or any product of service. You don’t expect that $200 shirt to have seams coming out after 2 washes, do you?

You want more people to use your services, it’s like building a good relationship.

When the MRT was first setup, I was curious about it. After a while, I noticed that it arrives according to the dictation, less than 4 minutes of waiting. Over the years, I’ve noticed that I have to wait for 7 minutes for the next train should I have the unfortunate fate of walking towards closing doors and risk losing my leg or arm.

After so many years, the fares have increased from 20 cents (I think) to 90 cents for 3 train stops. Now, I wonder if the price for 2 train stops will be $1.20 onwards since the price of oil has been rising despite the MRT not using any petrol, diesel or whatever liquid fuel for any matter. It uses electricity that is generated from the power station or somewhere.

The slogan for SMRT is Moving People, Enhancing lives. Is that what they are doing? Moving people alright but at what pace? Can we actually reach from one end of Singapore to the other end in 20 minutes using the train? No. I have tried and it took me 1.5 hours, the fastest was only 1 hour and 15 minutes. By car, it would have taken me 20 - 30 minutes provided that all the traffic lights are green and no traffic jam.

[via Flickr]

In what ways have our lives been enhanced? I see people blocking the whole stretch of the platform at popular stations like Jurong East, Outram Park, Raffles Place, City Hall, Bugis, Ang Mo Kio and Bishan. None of them will let me alight unless I’m using a long umbrella that is wet, using a large bag to barge my way through or holding a hot kettle. All these are during peak hours.

[via Flickr]

I’ve met different people in the trains such as telling others to move into the middle of the car, inconsiderate people taking up floor space, loud music that not everyone enjoys, non-existing announcements of the stops, loud or soft announcements of the stops, people eating and drinking to their hearts’ delight and many others.

I have even had elderlies rushing into the train to grab that available seat they have already marked with their eyes. Another elderly lady attempted to poke me with her umbrella despite a lot of people alighting. It’s very rare to see someone giving the seat to an elder or pregnant lady.

World class transport means that it’s supposed to be efficient. It does arrive on dictation, after 11 minutes of waiting. It shouldn’t stop violently due to some other train still at the station. Signals should be given way ahead. Or have they until the driver belated sees the red light?

If the price of the rides have to be increased, service such as waiting time should be improved. It isn’t reasonable if the price increased but the cleanliness and waiting time standards have gone down the drain.

There should also be transparency such as delays that don’t let others speculate about suicides on the tracks. Speculation is to be expected if there is train delays. Don’t just state that there will be a delay and sorry for the inconvenience caused. It can’t quench the cat’s curiosity thirst.

Finger pointing isn’t even needed. Just facts and transparency. I thought going for interviews state that as employees, we should own up to mistakes? Commuters don’t really care much about how long the inquest for such incidents will take, just that they need a solution to their transport problem.

All these factors determine why we are taking the public transport. Increasing the taxi fares don’t help because everyone is trying to earn more money. Everyone is out to win, not lose. While the buses have less graffiti, the waiting time still needs to be improved.

Taxis are there to provide a more personalised transport mode. Buses are there to provide a general mode, albeit more than the train. Trains are there to get us to the general area. Changing between trains and buses are common, it’s how much of a hassle.

If you have to change from bus to train to bus just to get from Seng Kang to Tampines or Bedok, what mode of transport would you choose? How long do you think the public transport will take? 20 minutes? 50 minutes or even an hour?

Are the commuters’ voices being heard in the first place? Are the ones stating all the changes and implementing them taking the public transport at the same time as those commuting to work? Do they even know?

I took half day just to take my degree. The place doesn’t allow me to collect it on other days. I decided not to attend the ceremony. Just felt that the 2 hours during noon weren’t going to be worth my time. DD decided to drive me there. We turned into Orange Grove Road but missed the turn after the private apartments. I’m so bad at reading maps. After the collection, we went to Nihon Mura at The Cathay for a very late lunch.

After lunch, we went to Bugis to collect DD’s birthday present by the union. Totally got lost because there were some streets that were one way. When DD turned in at Seah Street and prepared to reverse park, there was this idiot (didn’t catch the license plate ) driving racing pass us by barely 1mm from the driver’s side. Fortunately, DD braked on time. That’s why I prefer DD to lovingly drive me around.

We proceeded to look at the street directory again. I shall never become a navigator. I can’t read maps. Finally, we figured the route and proceeded to the union and waited for this lady to answer some idiot who loved to call at the moment we were about to be served. The present? It was a diary with a calculator.
I wondered if it was worth risking hit by some reckless driver. Well, since we were in the area, might as well redeem the gift. That’s what the union is always for. Redeem gifts like manicure sets, diaries, calculators, torchlight-cum-radio-cum-siren and other whatnots.

Lesson for that day was that never read maps if one is unable to read them. Consulting them during critical times would result in wrong turns. Always be alert on the lookout for some rash drivers thinking that they are Formula One drivers who can maneuver way much better than F1 wannabes.

Having had the privilege to travel a few times, I must say, my favourite trip is to Australia. I went there during the Chinese New Year. Of course I visited my relatives before that. It was a package tour but ended up half free and easy.

However, it wasn’t that bad because we had a guide who drove us around according to the itinerary. In fact, I still remember this couple, there were only 3 couples. This particular couple caught SH and my eyes because of their odd pairing.

They didn’t look married. They didn’t behaved married. They behaved as if they were brother and sister. We just couldn’t make out what sort of relationship they had. The guy wasn’t that great in English and there was this one time, it rained heavily on our way back. One of us wanted to buy something and the guide recommended 7-Eleven. And so, we went there to make some purchases.

Before we alighted, the guide was telling us a whole lot of information and we weren’t used to the accent yet. This guy (from the odd couple) kept nodding and agreeing. At the end, he asked, “Ee kong simi?” (What did she say?)

We couldn’t keep our laughter in. I guess face was the issue here. It’s one of my favourite trips as it was rather relaxed and we had someone to drive us around. The only thing was that I got sick of was seeing kangaroos and koala bears from day one to day six. I did like feeding them though.

6 unimportant things about me. Gee, I wonder if there’s anything so unimportant that anyone would truly want to know about me. Modobs, for you.

1. I’ve always secretly dreamed of marrying someone who has a huge house like a bungalow, with 2 maids, a golden retriever and a private swimming pool. Oh no, now it’s no longer a secret.

[via Flickr]

2. Somehow the idea of living in the era where martial arts are dominant has always fascinated me. I like the idea of flying from tree to tree with ease. Does make it a whole lot cheaper if I can fly to work instead of depending on the public transport with prices that are exorbitant and unreliable at times.
3. I have a driving license but I prefer DD to lovingly drive me around.
4. I like to do many things but lack the maintenance drive for them. Things get started by be enthusiastically but the tying up of loose ends are by others. Oh dear.
5. I prefer to stay at home and devour books. I used to be able to do that because I didn’t have to worry about bringing home the bacon. Now I have to do the latter. Sad. So very sad.
6. I’m still proud of that horse picture I drew many years ago. It was displayed on the art board of the day!

[via Flickr]

With these, I shall now tag Jian, Jasmine, DK, Cris, Pubed and Xinyun.