Night and Day

1805hrs..

The mountains where Bear Grylls goes gallivanting.

My apartment in Christchurch; living room with a kitchen and a lovely bedroom view of the lake.

2142hrs..
I've been in Singapore for the past week and commuting on the bus to the choo choo shoe every morning.

Every morning I'll see these few people, without fail.

A mother with her son who I'll always meet at the bus stop. I've seen them since I started taking this bus. They have became my gauge to see if I've missed the bus. They'll stop at Tampines and take another bus somewhere. The mother always wears a weary and unsmiling expression. I took notice of them because I thought the little boy looked like kit when he was young.

An executive who works with the choo choo shoe, who always falls asleep the moment she's on the bus. On Monday we both missed our stop and she had to walk back.

An Indian man (either sri lankan or bangladeshi), who is ALWAYS reading a Tamil magazine full of words. It's either the Tamil reader's digest or some kind of newsletter. He reads regardless, standing or sitting and is always fully engrossed.

A very fair or pale ( depending on how the bus turns and lights changes) looking man who wears a white shirt and a pair of black pants to work. It's a white shirt everyday, and it's a faded white. I don't know how that is possible.

Really do people have to dedicate their lives to labour, day in and out, that they are so tired and have no time for other activities? What on earth are we all working so hard for? Where are we all going?

0347hrs..
It's been one and a half months with the choo choo shoe. I still can't really tell if I like it yet, though being out station is always a new experience.

There's always a lot of adapting to be done on every single flight. The work environment and people are all fluid, things done or seemed this way on one day may be entirely different on another. And I'm slowly learning to just take things as they come and try to be as positive about it as possible. So far so good.

Being in a new country is exciting, I'll always prefer exploring on my own than with strangers. But it also feels very very different from being on a holiday. I guess it boils down to the people I've for company. In Amsterdam, it was much more fun and memorable because I'd a real friend with me. Other times, hanging out with colleagues will just be an extension of work place civility and bleah bleahs.

Though there's been an exception in Joburg, where there were two other colleagues whose company I really enjoyed and felt comfortable with.

Other than that it is nice having time to myself in a new place and really just to see and taste the other parts of the world.

Having said that, I feel that I also appreciate/hate Singapore a little more. The crowd everywhere has never pissed me off so much before until now. Yet it is also nice that the humid air doesn't suck the life out of my skin, hawker food is awesome and it is always nice having the company of friends and the peace of home.

1353hrs..
 It will sound cliche that I say time really flies. But it is so true. By Wednesday, some of us will be on our first training flights already. Mine will be on Thursday. It really has been quite a journey of tests and madness, and finally this week we will be going on board.

It is a very weird feeling, I am excited and nervous, yet it feels totally different from the usual excitement of taking a plane for holiday. If this is a holiday trip, my luggage will already have been packed and ready to go, but this time I have not even come up with my "to-bring" list yet, which I will do after this.

I will be going to New Delhi on Thursday, then Shanghai on Monday. Hopefully it will be a good learning experience. And I am on Skype, friends, add me!

For now, this song is looping, and I want to do those shuffles!

0134hrs..
It's been a week of going for training. Yet it feels like I have been doing it for so long. The only thing tiring about it all is the daily commuting to and fro work. I have to wake up so early to get ready and after an hour of traveling I am still not at work. Sleep is really a luxury these days. But at least this is not going to last forever.

Today I had to pull myself out of bed to collect my passport from ICA. As usual, I was late. I've been having to cab to work this entire week and the cab fare with peak hour charge is so not funny.

Anyway point of recording today was that I met this very feisty old man when I was shopping in town just now. Paragon was having a singing performance at their atrium, with a cello, a grand piano and a female singer who looked rather familiar. It was those hotel lounge kinda songs. I was watching the pianist actually, from the second level.

So there came along this old man, with his two walking sticks. He shuffled up right to the front of the stage and started moving to the tune. He even raised his two walking sticks in the air like how people would raise theirs arms when clubbing. It really was quite amusing.

After a while he walked towards the back side of the stage and was trying to get the attention of the musicians inside the barricade by putting one of his walking sticks inside. This went on for the next song. All the time still moving to the music. When the song ended, the singer relented and finally said to the audience, " This cute old man has been very entertaining and he would like to sing a song. So he will be singing a line for the next song." She passed the microphone to him and he said to everyone, " Ladies and gentlemen, I was just walking pass while exercising, you can see my two walking sticks here. In the past, I won 4 Talentimes. I would like to sing a song for everyone, if you think uncle is good, do support me."

The pianist and the cellist started the tune and he sang. He really is good. Everyone clapped for him after he finished his first line. He ended up singing half the song until he decided he had enough fun. He totally lifted the mood of the entire place, everyone who saw were smiling. It is pretty amazing a man at his age is still so positive and high spirited.

After his one minute of fame, with his walking sticks, he walked away from the stage like a super star, smiling and waving to the audience.

1057hrs..
The rest day is supposed to rejuvenate and recharge, and yet I come back to work feeling more tired than before. Public holidays are like traps. You look forward to them with excitment and anticipation that you have the day off to do this and that. The day arrives and you wake up late to find that half your day is gone, and before you know it, the day is over. The next day, you are suddenly jolted back to the reality of work as if the holiday never happened, yet you know that it did, and it leaves you feeling all sad that it is over. As you sit at your office desk feeling lethargic, you go and check the calendar for the next public holiday.


It's not so bad, the next one is 11 days away. That's not that far away to look forward to.

0309hrs..
I think this is officially my favourite "holiday".

0147hrs..
I ate so much candy today it is not funny.

I bought a whole big packet of pick and mix candies after lunch today. It is just one of those things you feel you should go crazy on. I would start from one end of the pick and mix section, put every type of candy the shop has into my bag, and slowly make my way to the end. I like the sour skooks or spooks or sooks. The long green flat candy with sour sugar coating.

So the wider their candy selection, the bigger bag I'll end up with.But the one at my workplace is just a small stall, and there were only about 18 types to choose from. Pretty disappointing, but enough for a while.

Then my colleague bought a packet of Ketjas juice gummies or something. I finished that at too. It was awesome.

On a more awesome note, Laura has a job! Yay!

And omg, can I have 23 of these for my birthday? I can eat all of them and then proceed to have a stomach ache and then diabetes.




They are giant gummy bears.

2203hrs..

0012hrs..

0213hrs..
I caught Twilight in the cinemas for the first time today. I'd watched the previous two online only just last week, and it was pretty interesting. Vampires are intriguing. But anyway, Eclipse was so so bad. Thinking back now, the movie was really like a mixture of bad acting flimsily put together, and the only redeeming factor was Taylor's abs and some hot vampires.

Hot vampire ≠ Edward.

I don't know how he went from quite good looking Cedric Diggory to sparkly lame vampire Edward Cullen.











I think I should read the book, it is probably less painful than the movie. Does anyone have the books?

0100hrs..

0025hrs..
Which means kit is coming back soon. like super soon. It didn't even feel like a month. Thanks to technology.

But still different.

This is my favorite picture from being out on my own. And I realized I will be really unhappy if I have a job that does not leave me with time to myself.


And having seen so many art pieces yesterday, it seems that the most beautiful piece of art consists of really simple and few colours. Like just black ink on paper. Absolutely breathtaking.

Modern art really just baffles me. There was this whole video of a Vietnamese woman cutting up chunks of meat and fitting them into glass cubes. It just went on like tt for the longest time.
Bizarre is an understatement.

I can't believe Lous is going to be back tmr!

2256hrs..
Amidst all this H1N1 Swine Influenza A craze, Kit and I decided to lunch at a Mexican place today. Can't say I like Mexican food, though the salsa and guacamole were really yummy. The only veg in my entree were onions. haha i like onions actually. But this is not a good place to go on your first date. haha there's still this onion-y taste in my mouth.

Perhaps im being ignorant, but I really don't get the importance of this AWARE brouhaha. When I read that they are going to have a Extraodinary General Meeting (EGM) today, i thought, "Omg this is just getting ridiculous." It is ultimately just a catfight that got blown out of proportion. So now after this EGM, they've got a new exco... and like now what? The world is still not a better place. Still don't get it.

On a lighter note, i just watched the video of the kid with IQ of 156, and when some Americans were asked what the capital of Nigeria is, one said Mugabe.... lol.

Well, i just googled, and capital of Nigeria is Abuja.Google is my best friend.

0211hrs..
School's over! I can't wait to get to baking.


Well, I just won't think about what's going to happen after this semester.

2348hrs..
As he alighted at Jalan Bersah, I started to wonder if there are prostitutes there as well.

During the bus ride home, this rather old/middle aged man was having a really loud conversation on the phone, can't blame me for eavesdropping really.

He kept saying, "If only you'd called me 10mins earlier, now I have to go get food for my wife." It was all in Chinese.

What caught my attention was when he said, "Business must be very good today right, that's why you only call me this late. I called you so many times today but you were so busy. If only you'd called me earlier, then I can still..., now I've got to get food for my wife."

He just kept repeating how he had to get food for his wife and how he can't .... He never mentioned what he can't do though. And that went on for about 10 mins.

Throughout this time, I was already forming the impression that this guy is one of those assholes who had retired and has too much time and money, so they spend it sleeping around, yet I was trying not to jump to any premature conclusions.

THEN, he said, "I saw you this afternoon at 4 at the 4D shop, when my wife and I went to get food. You were wearing a red top, grey shorts and carrying an umbrella right??"

One thing confirmed, its definitely a woman he's speaking to. What guy will wear red top gray shorts carry umbrella to buy 4D in the afternoon.

"How can you not see me, I'm so big? I can't call you, I was with my wife! Do you want me to get into trouble?!"

Two, he is hiding the relationship with this woman from his wife. Definitely up to no good.

Then he just kept saying how he can't tonight, he promised his wife he'll be getting her food, and how maybe tmr he can ... ( again he didn't complete his sentence)

ANYWAY, my point being, how is it possible that he still cares about his wife, and yet sleep with another woman every night before going home?? Its illogical. If he doesn't care about his wife anymore, then why not just leave her and have all the sex he wants with these other women, whom I am quite sure are of Chinese Nationality.

His poor wife is probably at home thinking how nice her husband is to her, when in fact he has been unfaithful. Disgusting.

Stupid disgusting old man.

1645hrs..
So I am now two teeth less.


It was really like a surgery you watch on House. Like before the surgery, they check your BP, then the doctor administers the anesthesia, then some nurse cleans you up and cover your whole body, including your face, save the area they are going to operate on. Then they place the surgical kit on your chest, and another nurse will read out the patient's details (i.e. name, ic number, surgery procedure) before the doctor starts to operate on you.

If you are going to extract your wisdom teeth or for any surgery, opt for General Anesthesia. Rather sleep for 6 hours than go through all that traumatic drilling, sawing and tugging.

And not being able to see what was going on made it even scarier. But the only really painful part of it all was the injection of the anesthesia. I could really feel the needle going through my gums and jaw. Other than that it was ok, just scary.

It was weird after that I can't feel the whole right side of my face, including my head and ear. I tried knocking on my head but there was nothing.

So my diet so far has been porridge and chocolate milk. And since I've finished the milk and my brother finished my soy milk, I shall starve. I am now perpetually hungry. It torturous not being able to eat.

I realized that if there's something I wouldn't be able to take in old age, it would be the loss of teeth. I PROBABLY wouldn't mind the winkles and the loss of energy, but if i can't eat my food (as in proper food that you can chew and taste), I think I would rather die.

I AM SO HUNGRY.

Anyway, I was quite amazed by how my bigger tooth looks. It really looked like the prototype of teeth. Surprisingly, the dentist didn't cut up the bigger tooth (left), but she did for the smaller one (right). Sorry if you think its gory. The blood stains couldn't come off apparently.

On a side note, I think Jude Law acting as a trannie, disturbing.I guess it is the only way to save his balding hair and downhill career. =(

0046hrs..
1. Hook on bait without dirtying hands.2. Cast bait and wait.3. Think about what these annoying prawns are doing not getting hooked by our bait.

"Maybe they're having a convention down there to come up with strategies not to get hooked."

4. WAIT...bake in the hot sun..WAIT..bake..
5. Yay prawns! finally.6. Stare at it/give it a punch/talk to it, then tug out hook from prawn's mouth. Add sound effects of pain, if necessary. (NEVER HOLD IT BY THE FEELERS)

7. Rejoice for a bit.
8. Repeat 1-7 until you get 50 prawns. (when bored, bully the person sitting next to you)
9. Impale.10. BBQ.11. YUM.
12. Waffles and Playground!