mr bean's holiday!

When Salman and I saw this trailer at TM GV some time ago, we quickly decided that 'this one die die must watch.' And we agreed that such movies is best watched in the company of guys only, because it is easier for us to let it out and give it a good hard laugh at the theatre. Anyway, Salman and I were most amused by this scene shown above, until we found out that the reason why he cycles so much faster than the tour de france peeps is because he was earlier holding on to a fast-moving vehicle which slowed down, and due to Newton's 1st law (cheh!), he 'propelled forward', overtaking all those disgraced Armstrongs.

It was the same for the movie Night at the Museum a few months back, which I got to watch as complimentary, together with my squadmates from SOC. It was then that I felt I had nothing to hold back, when we laughed and laughed till our jaws hurt.

It's movies like these that give us a good break from our lives, albeit a short one. Then inevitably but truly, it's back to facing the vicissitudes of our individual lives.

latest obsession

THIS:

... inspired by Pursuit of Happyness and a random geek I ran into on a random MRT ride who was playing this magic cube (or whatever it is called) in a damn pro way.

Eh wait. That makes me a geek. Haha. Oh well, I'll make a cool geek then. HAHA.

my journeys on the mrt.

My MRT rides these days have been far from mundane. In fact, it is something I look forward to more now, unless there's an alternative way of getting home faster, like hitching a ride from my sister who's also on the way home and taking the (ahem) driver's seat.

It's not surprising to encounter many interesting situations along the train journey. Really. You can witness the moralistic side of Singaporeans, where they willingly give up seats 'people who needs the seats more than them'. I'm in! You can also observe those pretentious Singaporeans, who probably thinks they have a more urgent cause to occupy the seats than those on walking sticks and/or 50-inch waistlines. This, I'm out, for sure.

Sometimes, very amusingly, you come across a hybrid of both situations, like I just did, hours ago. Listen to this: on my train journey from Queenstown to Tampines station, the first stop at which many people alight is Outram, for that's the interchange for north east line. As 3 consecutive seats beside me was de-occupied by passengers alighting, and as there wasn't anyone standing in the vicinity to want to occupy those seats, it was rather predictable that it would be occupied by people boarding the train at Outram. But what wasn't that predictable was the sheer kiasuism to chase for these seats by those tai-tais or aunties, as though the seats would vanish if they were split second late. Really, they were literally running for the seats, as if their b*tts were on fire. This promptly reminded me of what Neil Humphreys sarcastically wrote in his book 'Scribbles from the same island', that if you include these tai-tais in the Olympic 100m finals alongside the world's bests, and after 50m or so, prop up the mrt seats at the finishing line, they'd probably take a clean sweep at the medals. This is not the end of the story.

Apparently, after all the seats were taken up by these tai-tais, there was this particular tai-tai who was pathetically left standing. No, I did not even think of giving up the seat for her. What happened next is the amusing part. One of those 'potential Olympic 100m gold medalist' actually stood up after sitting for barely 3 seconds, and offered the seat for the poor tai-tai. Imagine the senario: the one left standing felt embarrassed of having someone give up seat for her, so did the one who gave up the seat, so both ended up offering each other the 'golden' seat. 'You want to sit? Na *points at the seat* go ahead.' 'No lah, it's okay it's okay, you sit *points at the seat*.' And these went on for the next 5 minutes.

So you see, this is the kind of amusing things I get to see on my MRT rides.

In my recent train rides, I would pop in my ear piece from my dear sony ericsson, listen to my mix of favourite songs, at the same time (attempt to) read a book along the way. It makes the 36 minute train ride seem shorter, as I grow engrossed in the contents of the book. In fact, I think I'm still engrossed in the book that I'm currently reading, Neil Humphrey's 'Scribbles from the same island', which talks about his views on aspects of a Singaporean's life which most people take for granted, and he does it in a humourous and sarcastic way. In fact, I think I'm subconsciously adopting his kind of tone in this blog entry. I would not exactly brand it as a good read, but it is beneficial for one who needs some humour in his/her life.

Well, that's basically my train journeys for you.

What about yours?

the signs were right after all.

1. My last driving lesson was on the 10th of March, taken by a young instructor. My previous experiences with young instructors have made me feel entirely demoralised. But this was a true exception. He was quiet for the first 20 minutes or so, and after a few minutes on the roads, he popped the question, "You didn't make it the previous round. May I know why?" He later added that the reason why he asked was that from the way I drove, like how I turn the steering wheel during turns and how I negotiate potential road hazards, it is as though I was an experienced driver. He felt that I had no reason to be coming back to CDC, except for lucklessness during the test. He was very encouraging, and possibly the best instructor to have ever taken me, in terms of how comfortable I feel as I drove beside him. As I strode to the bus stop on my way home, I wondered, "was that a sign?" It could mean two things - that I was ready to pass the driving test or that I could get complacent and screw things up on the day of the test.


2. As I was flipping through the Life! section of the papers later that day, unusually reading the horoscope portion, I was quite taken aback upon reading this for Capricorn: "You have come so far and so fast that you have the urge to rest. Buck up. You can see it through till the end. Feeling out of your element is normal, but you would not have been given this opportunity if you were not ready." Once again, I pondered, "is this another sign?" I didn't dare to think further because I didn't want to mount any unnecessary pressure on myself. My stand was to give the best I can, and if it didn't turn out as expected, I will resign to God's fate (after a lil moaning).

SO these two signs were right after all. When the tester marked the block representing 'PASSED', I couldn't believe my eyes. "Congrats," he said, and then reality sets in. It was a good news, an extremely good news. It's never quantifiable to measure my jubilation at the moment. It's just too great. I kept whispering words of thanks to God. After six months of stint with the CDC, it has finally ended. It has been a long time, since the very first lesson when I was taught on the basics of getting the car to move. I was especially proud of myself, for I knew this license was going to be something that I entirely own, with my own effort and money. Paying for the entire course of driving was not easy, especially when we do not get alot of allowance as NSF. But it was a promise that I kept to myself, that I want to take full responsibility of the costs so that at the end of the day, this license will be one that I treasure and be very proud of, and whose importance I fully embrace.

The first time on the road was an exciting experience. I pleaded my sister to allow me to drive to SOC, with her by my side. She was kind enough to sacrifice her time to accede to my request. It is a distant journey for a total amateur on the roads, from Tampines to Queenstown, via ECP and AYE. But I deliberately chose a time when the traffic was very light. There were alot of firsts: first time driving out of my neighbourhood carpark; first time driving on the expressway; first time being overtaken; first time overtaking another vehicle; first time hitting 105km/h; first time sending my second sister to work; first time sending myself to work etc.

This achievement is very personal and is something that I will treasure in a very long time to come. Yet another milestone in my life. =)

damn koyak*!

*'torn' in malay, or in context, 'messed up'

It's 0023 hours now on 10 March, and I just woke up.

Having worked night shift last night, it was inherent for me to catch up on sleep the next day. Yes I did, and I slept in base until it was time for Friday prayers. Thank God the mosque is just a stone's throw from my base. It was barely 3 hours of sleep. After prayers, I had to make my way to Bras Basah to purchase some second hand O level pure science guidebooks, in order to better prepare myself for the tuition I will start to give in April.

By the time I reached home, it was already close to 5 in the evening. So I had to sleep (no matter what), but with only 2 to 3 hours of sleep in mind. I intended to wake up at around 7 plus or latest 8pm. But I guess I subconsiously snoozed my alarm repeatedly until it gave up on me. One thing I never wanted was to wake up the next morning, realising that I had slept through the entire previous evening and night. That feeling sucks cos it makes me feel like I had skipped one night in my life.

Sigh, I hope this koyak-ness doesn't last too long for me. I can feel it taking a serious toll on me.

ok I'm going back to sleep now, goodnight.