Surprise meeting

I had a pleasant surprise yesterday when I met Kelly at the UOB branch at AMK Hub. Almost did not recognise her as she was taller then the last time we met (thanks to VERY high heels). Apparently she was going to leave on Tuesday (she never inform me!), and was out doing some last minute shopping for the trip back. As there was still time before RC would reach for our planned study session, I decided to accompany her around.

The ever-forgetful girl was struggling to recall what she was planning to get. I was quite bewildered by her continued dependence on her unreliable memory instead of setting reminders on her phone. Even after my suggestion, there was no action on her part to remedy the problem. Perhaps the more pressing concern is her laziness?

Her first task (after we met) was to get new contact lens. The only difficulty in this 'activity' was that she could not recall which shop she used to patronise, and she insisted on going to that shop because they had 'this girl who performed a very accurate assessment of her degree of myopia'.

The two of us set out looking for an optical shop with "that girl". Along the way, I gave my reasoning of why it would be better to remember the relative location of the shop, if not the shop name, rather than a particular staff in the shop since she would not be able to locate the shop should the staff leave that shop. By a stroke of luck, we managed to locate that shop because she did remember the relative location of that shop. We did not see "that girl". Anyway, I was quite amused by her answer to the shop-owner's questions.

"What's your degree?"
"Don't know."
"Do you have records with us?"
"Don't know."

With her name and block number, the owner did managed to find her records and ascertained that she was a client. We then spent another 10 minutes or so at the shop as she deliberated whether to buy lenses that were 50 degrees higher than what she wore as the latter was sold out. It was around this time that I received an SMS from RC saying he had reached AMK Library.

I decided to let him wait.

After getting her lenses, with some more shopping, we separated about 25 minutes later as she went to meet a friend in town for more shopping while I met up with RC.

Any bad feelings I had about letting him wait was eliminated when he told me of his date with a lecture mate he just befriended, later in the evening. It was not the first time he threw such a bomb, informing me of his plans to meet others later the day only when we meet up. I had voiced my displeasure every time because I did not like having to have dinner alone while he goes on his prearranged date. If he had informed me earlier, I could make plans for dinner at home or with other friends. I was relieved when he told me later that he would have dinner with me before leaving.

The twist in the tale came when I received an SMS from Kelly just when we were planning to go for dinner. She had finished her dinner early, and was on her way back to AMK. She asked if I wanted to meet her. In the midst of our SMS exchanges as we discussed the best line of action, I even suggested that she could go home first and wait till I finished my dinner. What a stupid thought! Eventually, the little dilemma of having dinner with him or meeting her was resolved quite simply as I met her after my dinner, with her shopping around by herself while she waited.

There was more drama after we met up. We saw a mutual friend, SN, whom she had been avoiding in AMK Hub. She proceeded to usher me up the escalator in quick time to avoid an awkward meeting. She remained paranoid about meeting him the rest of the time we were in AMK Hub. Haha! We ended the day chatting for around two hours in MacDonald's after that, as she satisfied her Coke craving.

She was glad to meet me before she left, unplanned and unexpected as it may be. I thought so too.


I found out some interesting things about Australia(or at least the state she's studying in - Queensland):

1. A box of Strepsils cost around A$13 whereas a movie ticket cost A$5!

2. Chinese restaurants there pay A$9-10 per hour, which is considered low. In contrast, MacDonald's pay $19 per hour!! Wow...

3. The bus service employs an ancient ticketing system, whereby commuters tell the driver their destination on boarding, then the driver keys in the information and collects payment before printing out the ticket! Much time is lost in the whole process, not least while searching for the correct change. Kelly said she once stepped off a bus because she only had a A$20 note with her. She did not think of exchanging her note for smaller change with the passengers. Lol!

4. As a student, she gets 50% concession on public transport. There's a further 50% concession if she takes it during the off-peak hours, which happens to be after 5pm on weekdays, and the entire weekend! Their peak / off-peak hours are congruent with their entertainment and retail industry, and is the direct opposite of what we have in Singapore. Imagine getting movie tickets for the 'off-peak' price of $7 on a Sunday...