bali

i promised photos from Bali...this is my favourite one...

why is no so difficult to say

i have always had a problem of saying no.

i thought i had said it. i thought i had articulated it loud enough for everyone to hear. with conviction. with confidence. that no was no.

was it not loud enough? or can people see through the no. that a yes lingers behind. revealed with a plea. a request. with flattery?

i think i've had enough. i just wish i could convince people about it.

a conversation

a conversation i had with a foreigner last week.

She: Are you a practising Muslim?
Me: Well, what do you mean?
She: I'm Muslim, but I don't practise it.
Me: Oh. Well, I suppose I consider myself a practising Muslim although I don't practise as much as I should.
She: Oh, and do you have sex?
Me: Huh?....errr...
She: You have sunni, shia?
Me: Oh, sects. Yes we do.

tsk

griping about the Mrt...or rather its passengers

i usually take the bus to work. it's a much more pleasant experience. no crowd, or little if any. there's the tv mobile and enough room to almost curl up with a book if necessary.

but on days like this morning when i head to the gym, i'd hop onto the mrt at novena to head to work. and i dread the mrt ride in the mornings. if not for the fact that it takes almost half the time i'd rather climb up a bus.

getting onto the train at novena, means that i'm climbing into a jam-packed carriage squeezing myself almost spread out like jam at the door. today someone else jumped into the carriage squeezing me literally like jam between 2 slices of bread, except that the slice behind me had a big ass. Not only did he have a big ass, he was an ass. When we got to Newton, he refused to budge from the entrance/exit of the carriage. He just stood there, while i was face on with passengers desperate to get out of the train. I couldn't move cos he had me practically pinned there, between another guy, and it wasn't as if this ass was a small one!

so i started saying under my breadth:

'You have to step out of the train' repeatedly with my volume gradually increasing.

you have to step out of the train you have to sept out of the train you have to step out of the train YOU HAVE TO STEP OUT OF THE TRAIN YOU HAVE TO STEP OUT OF THE TRAIN

he finally got the message and stepped out. i think he was quite afraid of me cos he let me back into the train first after all the passengers got out of the train.

yeesh what is it about Singaporean train passengers. are we so ridiculously afraid that we can't get back onto the train?

anyway. i was surfing today and found that Virgin did a ranking of the top 11 metro/subway systems in the world. and we're not one of them the list goes:

1. London, England
2. Paris, France
3. Moscow, Russia
4. Madrid, Spain
5.Tokyo, Japan
6. Seoul, South Korea
7. New York City, USA
8. Montreal, Canada
9. Beijing, China
10.Sao Paolo, Brazil

I've been on the London Tube, the Seoul Subway and the NYC Subway- and hey i think we're just as efficient. Maybe not as beautiful as some of the stations in those cities- which boasts beautiful architecture and interior- but come on! NYC's subway's can be quite dirty, dark and gloomy.

but if passenger ettiquette had anything to do with the rating, i'm not surprised we're nowhere near the top!

runnin into rina

i didn't really run into rina. we had planned to meet. it's been eons. i can't even remember when was the last time we had met.

things have changed so so much. coffee used to be an excuse to spend hours mulling over life. meticulously labouring our every inner thought. we still do, perhaps not so meticulously, and certainly not over hours. minutes perhaps. lucky if we make an hour or two.

we haven't changed much i think. Rina is still the lovely dreamer that she is. a light spirited soul. sometimes i feel that her spirit is trapped in the physical. that she's meant to float by weightlessly. lightly. with nothing weighing her down.

between the two of us...i think i've altered more. have i forgotten how to dream endlessly and aimelessly? i can't seem to tell. i'm contented. i know. but i've forgotten how idealistically optimistic i was. it seems foolish now. but i remember when it meant everything to me.

peter pan. tell me whether what you know is true?

back from bali

i was quite upset that my time in bali came to an end...
but i must say that it's good to be home...
back in the crazy office...

i'll post photos of my trip soon...
and some good tips about bali...
if you're keen on going...

it was an eventful return. had some good news i hope to share with everyone soon...

luv u all....
so so much.

at lunch last friday

P: I, it's great to finally have lunch with you after all these months.
I: Yeah. I'm sorry. I've just been so busy!
P: Me too. Anyway, I'd really like to see you again, and more often too.
I: Oh.
P: No...I don't mean it that way. It's just that, you know...we should keep in touch.
I: Well yes, me too. Well since NUS is so near Holland V, I could swing by for lunch.
P: I would love to swing by to Holland V!
I: Ok then. Let's do that. We should identify a certain day of a month to meet every month.
P: Like what?
I: How about every last Friday of the month.
P: You make it sound like you're scheduling a monthly departmental meeting! So government!
I: But you know. It's really difficult with me. I always say, yes let's meet more often. but it never pans out.
P: Yeah! That's you! Always doing that.
I: See, so if we schedule it, it's more likely to happen!
P: Ok then. No every last Friday of the month is not good. Make it third Thursday of the month.
I: That's ok with me.
P: Ok then. But we have to skip this month. We'll start in April.
I: Cool.

*go figure*

again

i'm in the office again...
3rd Saturday in a row...
i know i know...
you're probably wondering why? if i'm so busy i have the time to 'idle'...
maybe because it keeps me sane...
after 3 hours of work in an office i see five days a week...
you just need to do something else...
and figuring as there's noone else to talk to beside surviving Chiam S.T and Viv (my fishies)...
this keeps me sane.

*sigh*

again.