Fragile life

This is a post I've been meaning to write for some time but could not bear to put it into words.

My friend messaged me on Facebook that our mutual acquaintance has passed on. Perhaps 3-4 months before he asked if I wanted to be part of his music group. I replied in the negative, citing time constraints and the like. Granted, this is not the only friend I've known that has passed on, the news still hit me hard. He was after all, the one who tutored me through the grade 5 theory exam, going to his home every week. He was the one who bothered to organise gatherings with his malaysian friends so I can widen my social circle. He was the one I've known to be a kindly uncle figure who would do his best to help you if he can.

Life is fragile and we would be prudent to treasure our relationships.

State of the Wardrobe

Spent half the day tidying my wardrobe; Here's the breakdown.

Left

a) T-shirts

b) Hiking wear and accessories

c) Formal Jackets

Right

a) Formal long sleeve shirts

b) Informal long sleeve shirts

c) Short sleeve shirts

d) Polo T-shirts

e) Bottoms

Within each category, it is organised by colours: Richard Of York Gave Birth In Vain. All told, I wound up with 2 bags of stuff to donate to the Salvation Army and about a half bag to alter. My friend suggested I use one of my jeans to be donated to get the 50 dollar discount at Levi's. I think this is an excellent idea.

I've been on a roll organizing stuff lately. Before this, it was my bookshelf. What next, I wonder.

Update: Turns out, "next" are my drawers and the blog itself. Some of the links(e.g. Twitter widget, Allconsuming.net) were outdated. I've updated the Twitter widget and replaced the allconsuming.net widget (which previously tracked my book consumption) with the Goodreads widget instead. Cobwebs thus swept, I'm a happy camper.

It's been a while

So it's been awhile since my last update.

Well, happen to look up why iPhone laterally inverts photos taken by it's front facing camera and found out it actually does that so that words appear normal on its photos. Think mirror and words on a page and you'll get the idea. Fascinating.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2491655

Learning about life

"That dream; this dream; I have so many.
   All of them, all of them,all of them
  You make them possible for me
  You make them possible for me "

                                                   Nobita-kun 

What really strikes me in all the episodes of Doraemon I've watched is that there is always one central theme doled out in 15 minute bites. That central theme is inevitably about life - A 15 minute life lesson if you will. And through it all, Doraemon sticks it out with Nobita and attempts to teach him and through him, the audience, about life and how one can live it out better.

I don't know about you,but this episode really takes the cake.

Apropos resolutions

Here it is, on record : my resolutions for 2012. I'm going to go really modest this time so chances are, more likely than not, I'll keep them. In no particularly order except the order in which they pop in my mind:

1.  Run a 10 km in under an hour
2.  Pass my Grade 6
3.  Teach my violin student to read notes
4.  Laugh at myself more
5.  Exercise more
6.  Watch what I eat
7.  See the dentist regularly
8.  Practice my violin more
9.  Spend more time reading
10. Spend more time with family

The Visit

In what must be my first dentist visit in - let's see - in a really long time, Friday saw me lying on the dentist chair. The company sponsored one visit per year so I thought I might as well take it.

The Caucasian lady who attended to me looked nice enough. Cleaning only? Yes, please. Maybe a routine checkup as well? OK. It all seemed quite innocent. It even started very mildly, some blowing of air, looks like everything's OK. And then she found my wisdom tooth and things pretty much went down hill from there.2 X-rays were taken and after some explanation from her, found them to not adversely affecting the other teeth. I imaginarily heaved a sigh of relieve.

Then came the cleaning/ scaling. The whole exercise reminded me mildly of my mum scrubbing at a very stubborn stain on a shoe except that this time, it involved some rather scary looking industrial impediments. Inwardly I was quite thankful for the sunglass she gave me because the looks I gave her from this point on were of pure pain. To think when she gave me the sunglasses she said she wouldn't even know if I went to sleep. If only I could!

I think she might have sensed I was in some pain and kept telling me what a good job I was doing and that what she was doing was "very good" for me. I was actually quite embarrassed after the whole thing ended. It was as if I was in primary school again. But then again, the sessions weren't this bad then - were they? To make matters worse, she tried to talk to me during some points in the entire episode and all I could say was "Arhh" and "Gnaarh". It certainly wasn't my finest hour.

To be sure though, I stood up from the dentist's chair a little more well informed than before. I now pay a little more attention to my dental health. I (try to) floss everyday. After all, if even I don't bother about them, them who will, with any luck accompany me for the next 60-70 years, who will?

Feedback

Dear Sir/Mdm,

I wish to provide feedback on the level of service I received with regards to the box office staff at Marina Bay Sands Theatre.

On the evening of 02 April 2011, I went to watch a performance of THE LION KING musical at 8pm performed in Marina Bay Sands(MBS) Theatre. Since my cell phone battery died on me, I had no means of contacting my friends who were holding on to the tickets. Faced with such a situation and with only minutes to spare, I turned to what looked like the most senior(in authority) person on hand at the box office. I was explaining my situation to her in the hopes that she might approve me using the phones installed at the box office. Alas, this was not to be. In the midst of my explanation, another customer came with a query and she, whether intentionally or not, deemed his query to be more important than mine and turned away from me.

At this point of time I was incredibly frustrated by the lack of help rendered. The show was about to commence and not only did she not give me a reply, she didn't ask her assistants(most of whom were milling about)to help out and perhaps most disappointing of all, decided that assistance in my matter was of lower priority compared to another member of the paying audience.

I wish to know what the policy of MBS is with regards to assisting audience members. Is their jobscope limited to only selling tickets? Furthermore, if a more authoritative figure were to exhibit such behavior , what more the people under her? I believe it is imperative that such unhelpful service be weeded out and stemmed at the source in order to uphold what I perceive to be a mostly high standard of service from MBS staff.

However, despite her behavior, another staff decided to ,of her own initiative lend her own cell phone for me to use. She helpfully suggested that I could check with the front of house if my tickets were left there by my friends. Due to her responsiveness in lending her cell phone I was able to contact my friends in short order and to watch the performance in time.

It was a simple act but one that enabled me to leave the theater a satisfied audience. It was also one that the more senior person chose not to see.

In my humble opinion, of the various times I've come to watch performances at Sands Theatre, they've been mostly smooth sailing and service standards are tip top. Let not a few tarnish the image of the entire institution.

Best regards,
Daniel

Chance

A random conversation I overheard after I boarded the NUS shuttle bus at Engineering block.

Boy: Does this bus go to Business?
Uncle: No. You have to take Bus B.
Boy: Oh ok. Thank you.
*Boy proceeds to disembark*
Uncle: Wait wait wait!!!
Boy: ???
Uncle: Did you lose a wallet earlier in the day?
Boy: Yeah I did.
*Uncle hands over wallet to stunned boy*
Uncle: I saw the photo look like you.
Boy: It's mine. I have been looking for it! Thank you uncle!
Uncle: Have a nice day!
Boy: Thank you very much!

And for the rest of the journey, the bus uncle kept wishing people who dismebarked "a nice day" ahead. Somehow, it felt more appropriate when he wished the guy who found his wallet back.

It's not that often something like that happens you know. I mean what are the chances you get onto a bus with the same uncle on it and it's not the bus you want to take somemore? I have been taking them buses for 4 years and I cannot even recognise one of the drivers if I were to see them outside.

Fair game

So today I went to the NUS Career Fair and who should I see but one of my supervisors during my internships. I asked him if he was still at the same place and we then proceeded to discuss other things - like prospects in his company. It was one of the more relaxed recuiter-recruitee talks I had and I even had a chance to drop off my resume there too.

The morale of this story is be nice during your internship because it's a small world after all.

My little cousin

These few days I have been busy helping my uncle move house. Part of my help entails me looking after his son so that he doesn't get in the way in the midst of all the unpacking after the big move( which was no small feat for one day of work, both the move and the babysitting).

Today the four year old came and woke up me bright early in the morning. The little guy wasted no time and asked me to load the "Ben Ten online game, the one that can transform to humongousaur one" on my computer. I thought I might catch a wink or two more after loading it but no, he kept glancing back to make sure I was watching. After it was "Batman , Gotham city rescue". I taught him that batman's wings were really sharp and could hurt more bad guys at one go.

After grandma made him have lunch, he insisted I bath him and after he extracted a promise from me to go down later, he went downstairs with grandma. If you are reading this, I'm sorry I had to break the promise. After some time they came back up ( grandma told he had fun with paper boats and chasing little birds) and we had a guitar sing-a-long session. He made me sing a song about playing games with him strumming which went something along the lines of "playing games with Deaglan is fun, fun, fun!". Later on he surprised me by really sitting down and letting me go through the activity book which consisted of activities like spot the difference(he totally loved that one) and identifying and coloring in objects that start with the "b" sound. He asked me how I could colour so nicely(I told him I practiced a lot) and if I could help him ask grandma to see if he could take the book home.

Somehow, I managed to make him angry and "unfriend" me again today but after a minute of two of tap-tap revenge playing on my own, the temptation proved too great and we went back to being great friends, playing the two player version. Thereafter his dad called up to say he was coming and we went down to wait for him and have a game or two of catching and hide-n-seek.

It may not sound like much, but man was it tiring. OK. Boring update over.

Tomorrow he comes again.

Shameless

There are some people who really test the limits of my patience. One of them are people who do not do anything in project groups. And when you ask them to do something the answer will invariably be "no problem" or in this case "np". When they miss a meeting they will blame it on the e-mail server which of course doubles up conveniently as a excuse when sending files over as well. If you didn't send me the file just tell me. Don't ask me if I received it and then act perplexed because if anything else, honesty will improve my opinion of you just that little bit.

And that's one of the things, my friends, that you shouldn't do in year 4. Because it's just not cool.

Touched

I was at the computer lab in Engine today printing my notes.The wait was excruciating because some people decided to send their 200+ mb file for printing. Not one student but two. So I was standing there waiting for my print job to be done when someone I assumed to be freshie asked me how to print the notes.

He had logged using his user id, his cash card was in place - so far so good.

But he was jabbing at the screen with his fingers.

Me: You have to use the mouse.
Freshie: Oh.

And that was that.

Hot wheels

Overheard conversation while I was selling Puma shoes this afternoon that brightened my entire day.

Dad: Son you see, a Ferrari shoe.
Son: Where!? Where?
Dad: There you see the Ferrari Logo there.
Son: oh ya...

Son: Got wheels anot?

Next up

is 2009 but first a review of 2008.



February saw me starting Violin lessons with Violin Sensei and it has been an amazing one year although it certainly feels like it has at least been two. It remains one of the things that I do not regret doing.

Happy are the hours I spend on the violin though I think it is one of the most misunderstood instruments. Sounding nice is never easy but with the violin, I think it just takes the phrase to a whole new level.



Just a month later, NUSWS celebrated it's 40th anniversary with a 50 min symphony , Planet Earth. Words like awesome and fantastic just do not do justice to the entire experience.

I fear future concert experience will be tainted/enhanced by the lens of this one.



My very first experience as a member of the audience of the SYF Display Band Competition was at the National Stadium which they are forever saying they are planning to demolish. I wonder till this day if the tubas are able to hear themselves.

In the very same month, I found NUS's best kept secret , Naxos music library, available free to all undergraduates.



Before the exams started I attended the Lord of the Rings symphony which more than blew me away.My committee and I then planned NUSW's Dinner and Dance '08 straight after the exams. Suffice to say, I had a lot of fun with the event(20 lucky draw prizes!) and in tight succession I was whisked for a 3 month internship at Singapore Technologies where I slowly blinked out of existence.

In June I found Marutama Ramen with my friends. Enough said.


Walked the Southern Ridges with SgWalkers in August! It must be the singular most healthy thing I did this year which was not only free but also loads of fun. Also discovered that I loved free things. =)

A stroke of good luck found me in September with a free concert conducted Mr. Leonard Tan.



My grandpa went home to the lord in October. Not a day passes that I do not think of him. I hope you are well where you are , kongkong.



As a finishing touch, I ran my first Marathon with a good buddy of mine.

All in all, I've had an immensely eventful year. I have learnt alot and studies is definitely not one of them. As I look back upon the year, I see that I did try my best to do the things that I ought to do but it is the things that are left undone that most often leave the greatest impression.

This year has seen many changes and many of them, for better or for worse are permanent. Nothing anyone can do or say or think will change anything because often times, the imperative lies with me.

Hello 2009.

Stand guard

I was booking in with my laptop the morning when the guard called me over. I lifted my eyes and saw a painfully familiar face, one that at that very moment I couldn't place. I made small talk, still trying to place him, walked over to my office, sat at my desk and realised that he was my one of my tutee's brothers.

What are the chances of that?

Reconsider

I was typing this awful sounding e-mail to someone I know and I was nearly done. All that's left to do is sign off and click the send button but I clicked "save as draft" instead. Because I've been there before and it absolutely sucks when friends do that to you.

Happy endings

When I saw the basketball boy the fourth time this week, thanks to his mum, for intensive revision before his exams, he kept reminding me about the basketball I owed him as a present for scoring an A for both his Mathematics and Science papers. He further assures me that his English teacher gave him $30 and his Chinese teacher a basketball pump.

" so now all that's left the basketball, " he tells me with liquid, imploring eyes.

But this is the boy who tells me that every Friday is bubble tea day, who tells me to look behind when I'm going through questions and tries to scare me to no avail and that my socks smell.

The very same one who is going to get a basketball very soon.

A surreal moment

To paraphrase RC, so it really is true.

I checked my timetable and yes, it matches with the article, Industrial explosion startles NUS.

At that time I was in a lecture by da boss when suddenly there was a faint boom that sounded faintly like thunder and in the words of my lecturer, " for those viewing the webcast at home, there is dust falling from the ceiling." Of course she was tremendously practical about the affair and postulated if her time comes, it comes. We then happily went about examining how dislocations could strengthen materials.

Respect.

Morning call

The moon was still up in the jet black sky and it is swollen with light. A single phone call shattered the silence in the house and the boy woke up to answer it. Just before he could, the call ended but through caller ID, he already knew who called. He called back, thinking it was urgent.

It was his grandma. She had thought it was a Friday and she had called to wake him up. After assuring her that it was indeed a Saturday the boy placed the phone back into the holder and smiled. That call had made his day. It was 0530.

Homecoming

Coming home on Fridays is always a wonderful experience not only because of the Nasi lemak but also because of the sense of familiarity whenever I step into Eastpoint. I have lost the number of times I have popped into KFC for a spot of zinger and come out a happier man.

It is fitting therefore to dedicate an entry to this neighbourhood I have called home for a good 6 years.

Simei or 四美 gets it's name from the four beauties in Chinese history, Xishi(西施), Wang Zhaojun(王昭君), Diao Chan(貂蝉) and Yang Guifei(杨贵妃).

The history of these four beauties are replete with amazing stories.

It is said that Xi shi's beauty was so resplendent that while leaning over a balcony to look at the fish in the pond, the fish would be so dazzled that they forgot to swim and gradually sunk away from the surface, birds would forget to fly and fall from the sky and the moon would fade. To complete the already jaw-dropping imagery, flowers have been said to close their petals in ignominy when near her.

I don't know about petals closing but the neighbourhood that I have come to love is quiet, tranquil and honestly, I am satisfied with that. Back in my army days , I would meet my friend at Eastpoint and after a quick bite we would traipse to one of the seats in the void decks and there he would teach me a magic trick or two. The four beauties would smile upon us as I tried to palm a card and I remember clearly wondering what the devil they were doing there. It looked like the decorative wall of a olden day Chinese brothel. Suffice to say, I happily forgot most of the magic tricks.

Simei is not without it's fun side. Just a few hours ago as I was walking past the same spot, I saw a couple canoodling each other as a team of Sepat Takraw players behind them got their match on the way. I postulated that maybe the couple got high to the shouts and the occasional squeal that emanated behind them. I never got round to confirming it as a Sepat Takraw ball whizzed past my head and narrowly missed my left ear.

According to Wikipedia,the town planners originally named some roads in Simei after the four beauties but replaced it because the non Chinese population had difficulties pronouncing them. That was a masterstroke. I can almost picture the scenario .

"How to get to she-she street ah?"

I would imagine inhabitants of the blocks along that street would be none too pleased.Now, we have Simei streets 1 to 6. Not a terribly windswept and debonair affair to begin with but at least it works.

Near my home is the only park in Simei, creatively called the Simei park. It consists of a playground, an elderly fitness corner and jogging tracks that is as minimalistic as one can get. They were just concrete walkpaths with one addition -distance markings. That is why I normally go for my jogs around the estate instead of in the park itself. It is too monotonous.

Key in hand, I would sneak past Eastpoint and upon reaching Changi General Hospital , scuttle across the road to Chankat Changi Secondary School ,make a loop for ITE College East and reach home base just in time for breakfast. The route was great as long as the storm clouds kept their distance and the school children out of the way.

Now, it is not my nature to boast but I am convinced that the vegetarian beehoon below the block next to mine is one of the very best. I should know - I spent many a beautiful morning there beehoon on the table, nursing my Milo Dinosaur.

Next to it, we have surprise surprise, a barber. It is one of those old school barbers who still has the very prominent red and blue spinning cylinders which I think borders on being hypnotic. I have lost count the number of times I sat on the plastic chairs of the beehoon store and upon looking at the trance-inducing thing be overcome by an overbearing desire to have my hair trimmed. It is most peculiar.

Being one of the questions I have always wanted to ask let me state for the record the scientific name of the harmless looking thing. It is called a Barber Pole. And it is not found only in Singapore. A quick search led me back to the medieval times. During those days, barbers also performed surgery on customers as well as tooth extractions. Assuredly a more intricate affair than today's barber, the pole itself also represents the staff that the patient gripped during the procedure to encourage blood flow.

Wikipedia also states that the red and white stripes symbolize the bandages used during the procedure: red for the blood-stained and white for the clean bandages. Originally, these bandages were hung out on the pole to dry after washing and as the bandages blew in the wind, they would twist together to form the spiral pattern similar to the stripes in the modern day barber pole. This was ground breaking stuff and it was all happening 10 stories below. I bet you never knew. That makes two of us before today.

If you were to ask me to pick between the barber downstairs and the 10 min QB house at Eastpoint I would beyond a shadow of a doubt pick the barber below. Those uncles sure can chat more than the face-masked aunties of QB any day, free comb not withstanding. Besides, I do not like the idea that I am paying SGD 1 dollar for every minute. With the uncles, I am sure I am getting my money's worth with colourful updates to the political scene thrown in absolutely free of charge.

These two already take the cake for interesting shops 2 minutes from my doorstep but careful government planning has also placed not one but 2 grocery shops and a clinic whose doctor is about the only one in Singapore who can cure my uclers. He would take a cursory peek at my lips ,write the prescription ,in his doctor's handwriting no less and within minutes I would be out of there, medication in hand like a happy school boy. I would have a bath, put slapped on a bit of cream and the very next day I would be ready for a KFC family feast. I once visited the neighbour polyclinic , gleefully went home for having saved enough for 2 zinger meals and the very next day found 2 more daughter uclers . It is most upsetting.

Then we lose the rent a place and run your business concept and trade for the run your business from your own living room concept. Just 2 steps away from ucler healer's HQ is a home-based Roller Blading School. That is all well and good but it would be better if the sweaty knee guards and rollerskates did not stink up the 2 metres of corridor. I have had the misfortune of walking into the dank wall of air and had a fleeting glimpse of the deadland marshes in Lord of the rings. I nearly fell into their Koi pond.

When I am not terrorising the friendly storekeepers of street 1, I am beside the Simei MRT at Eastpoint level 1. This is almost always a given. With the heavenly( and I am not joking when I say this) aromas of KFC beckoning me, it is always hard to find my way up the other floors. Another must visit is the Pet Safari hidden just behind the Burger King. They had just undergone a face lift and if I may say something from a purely objective point of view, the Pet Safari before rocked. The one now, flopped. Thankfully it still has the cute hamsters which never fails to amuse anyone regardless of age, language or religion.

Not 5 metres from Eastpoint is the row of shops, one of which I get my weekly dose of Nasi Lemak at. That stretch could easily replace Eastpoint without a bat of an eyelid. There are not 1, not 2 but 3 coffee shops, 2 handphone shops, a salon, a VCD rental outlet, a confectionary , a vegetable stall, a photoshop cum past year's test papers shop, a dentist, a hardware outfit, a groceries place and to top it all off, my mum's favourite hang out, a baker's wonderland, Phoon Huat.

I thought I have Phoon Huat to thank for all the cookies my mum has baked but it's website told me otherwise . Steeped in history and tradition, the company was established in 1947 by a certain Wong Tai Fuang when he moved to Singapore from Hainan Island in China and set up a shop at Middle road. So thank you Mr. Wong. You rock.

Upon closer inspection and an in depth analysis I think to replace Eastpoint would be a mistake. It is the KFC. I cannot live without it.