StanChart Singapore Marathon 2008

This is supposed to be all about my run, except that I did not run...

Yesterday, 7th December 2008, was supposed to be the day I complete my first full marathon. Although far from prepared, I had nevertheless decided to go for it last night. Armed with a bunch of three bananas (LOL... I managed to find this small 'bunch' at Carrefour) and some bread, I had gone down to Hon's house to stay overnight as it is far nearer to the run venue. Unfortunately, despite his kind hospitality, I was not able to get a good rest on the makeshift 'bed' of sleeping bag with two blankets. Having wrongly assumed that he did not have any spare pillow to offer, I rolled up one of the blankets to use as a neck support.

It didn't work.

Between 1130pm and 4am, I must have been asleep for a total of less than 3 hours, in the midst of all the tossing and turning. At 4am, after realigning my position, I tried to get some 'last minute' of rest before my official wake-up time of 4:35am on my phone's alarm.

I woke up at 5:30am(the marathon was supposed to start at 5.30am), wondering why the 35 minutes seemed like an eternity. As it turns out, I had set my alarm to sound on Saturday instead of Sunday. -.-" Stumbling into the toilet, I contemplated joining the half marathon or going back to bed. 15 minutes later, my eyes still as puffy as when I woke up, I decided it would be safer for me to get some much needed rest. I woke up Hon when I re-entered the room, and was promptly chided for not asking for a pillow as he passed me one. Ah!! Finally I could get some sleep!

Surprise!

Came home today to find 3 envelopes addressed to me: one from Citibank, one from DBS, and another one from an unknown party.



I opened the last one first, and to my pleasant surprise, it contained my IC! (I couldn't stop smiling for the next 10 minutes) Seems like the guy who took my IC had some conscience afterall. Then I started wondering why he did not return my driving license as well, or even the whole wallet.



I started to analyse the handwriting, and came to the conclusion that whoever wrote the address on the envelope is probably a male in his 40s - 50s, educated with good pen control (Lol!). My mum agreed with my analysis...



The envelope from Citibank contained my new Clear Card. Wow! They are very efficient indeed! They never fail to provide me with prompt service, and their phone operators are good too!



The letter from DBS was another pleasant surprise. Apparently whoever took my wallet had attempted to withdraw cash using my POSB debit card, but was rejected after exceeding the maximum number of allowed tries. I was telling a friend earlier today, that I hoped that guy would attempt to use my cards so that there may be a chance of catching him, and my wish came true! I had thought he would use the credit card instead of going to the ATM since most retail staff are not very vigilant when checking if the signature matches. Hopefully, now the police will be able to trace the culprit and help me to recoup my belongings...

Towards justice!

My wallet!!

Haiz... I lost my wallet for the second time this year.

The last one I lost in July was last year's birthday present from RC; this time it's this year's birthday present from WP. I've only had it for less than a month!! Argh!!! Gifts from two of my best friends, and they are both gone...

As if it wasn't disheartening enough, I had to endure tons of scolding and nagging from my mum. Some even bordered on the ridiculous.
"Why are you so careless?!"
"After the last incident, why haven't you learnt your lesson?"
"How are you going to get a job in future if you can't even take care of your wallet?"
"Don't think losing your IC is a small matter! You think lose IC just pay money can settle
everything no big deal? If they use your IC to borrow from loan sharks, we could be locked
in house you know? What if they splash paint at our door step?"
"Both times you lost your wallet in AMK. 'They' must be targeting you."
And more...

Looks like I'm fated to stick with my $10 wallet.

Who moved my bus?

I've never been so disappointed with SBS.

Time: 8:35am
Place: Bus stop beside Dover MRT, outside Singapore Polytechnic
Offending bus number: 74

I was already late for my class, which was supposed to commence at 8:30am. Nevertheless, I thought I could be just 10mins late if the waiting time for 74 is minimal. I was initially relieved to see a big crowd of students at the bus stop as it meant that 74 is late and would probably arrive soon (it is the only bus connecting to SIM and NP from Dover MRT).


Time: 8:45am

A single-deck 74 arrives, followed by a double-deck one immediately after. Unfortunately, I was not able to board either. I was not the only one who failed to board either bus though. I found out later from Sebas that the huge crowd was due to a long wait that had started way before I arrived at the bus stop. Apparently, he had reached there around 8:05am.

I thought the bus would arrive shortly.

Time: 9am

By now, I was really bored and wondering if the bus would ever come. A few started messaging away, perhaps to complain to their friends about the long wait. I was also getting tired of the Bubbles game on my handphone, which I had been playing since the start of my journey. I see the crowd building up again.

I thought the bus would arrive shortly.


Time: 9:15am

Bus 74 seems to be taking eternity to reach the bus stop. Considering that stop is only about 10 - 15mins away from its depot at Buona Vista Bus Terminal, it was really puzzling how the bus took so long to reach. Could there be a huge jam outside Buona Vista MRT?

Meanwhile, in the next eight minutes, two bus 105, two bus 147, and FOUR bus 14 (YES! It's really four!) appeared and disappeared. But still no bus 74.

I thought the bus would arrive shortly.


Time: 9:25am

Relieve! Finally the ordeal is over. For me at least. A few people were not able to board the bus. Well, I'd waited long enough; it's their turn to wait.


Conclusion

Amazingly, between 8:05am and 9:25am, which is a span of 1hr 20mins, only three bus 74 appeared at that bus stop. That makes it an average frequency of 26.666666666mins per bus! Wow! I certainly didn't expect that from our supposedly world class transport system. To add insult to injury, the wait took so long that I was not awarded any transfer rebate. -.-'''

I think it's very unfair that I have to pay more for substandard service.

Two off service bus 74 passed by between 9am and 9:25am. Another off service bus was spotted, but no number plate could be seen. I would not be surprised though, if that was supposed to be bus 74 as well. It's curious how bus 74 kept getting rerouted while a big crowd waits for eternity.

HOW DISAPPOINTING!


P.S. I spotted a broken down bus 74 parked by the road near the bus stop outside SIM, when I was waiting for my bus home.

It's a scam!

It was 10:10am on a normal Wednesday morning. I was still in dreamland.

The phone rang. I picked it up, thinking it was Mother. (She seems to enjoy bombarding the phone with a myriad of requests/instructions on those mornings that I sleep in...)

Me: (Still half-asleep, in a sleepy drone) Hello...
Girl-speaking-in-Mandarin-with-a-hint-of-a-Chinese-accent (GSMHCA): (Sobbing) Pa pa! Kuai lai jiu wo! (Translation: Dad! Save me!)

Me: (Still half-asleep, in a sleepy drone) Huh?? (I didn't quite catch what she said)
GSMHCA: (Sobbing) Pa pa! Kuai lai jiu wo!

Me: (Slightly more awake, in a sleepy drone) Ni shi shui? (Translation: Who are you?)
GSMHCA: (Sobbing) Pa pa! Kuai lai jiu wo!

Me: (A little more awake, in a sleepy drone) Ni shi shui?
GSMHCA: (Sobbing) Pa pa! Kuai lai jiu wo!

Me: (Awake now) Ni shi shui?
The girl hung up.

Damn! My brain was just starting to function and I thought I could elicit more information from her and spoil her fun with a police report. I regretted asking “Ni shi shui?” a third time. It came out from my mouth too fast, like a conditioned reflex. The first time I asked, I thought that perhaps someone I know was really in trouble and had said “Wo hen pa” - I'm scared, rather than called me “Pa pa”, which is why I asked a second time. I wonder if she thinks I'm retarded. (Hmm...)

Interestingly, I only just read about one of these scam calls last night from an online forum. Someone from an English-speaking family wrote that his mum received a call from a Chinese claiming to be him (her son), saying that he had been kidnapped. Haha!





P.S.: Hmm... I didn't know I have a daughter... Should I be happy or worried? Or maybe my dad has a daughter! ;-p

Continuing registration for UOL course

I finally found that darned letter from UOL.

It seemed like I have been searching for it for years, digging through mountains of notes, flipping through piles of bank notices, and swimming through a sea of other paraphernalia. Oh, how much I've sweated just to uncover it - my letter for continuing registration for my UOL course.

I thought it was quite silly of them to mail the letter to us so soon, when I received it in August. Or was it July? It was SOOOOO long ago I couldn't recall.

Anyway, I was supposed to fill up the form and mail it over with the cheque for the continuing registration fee by 10th October, and I was really starting to get worried yesterday when it continued to remain MIA. It didn't help that the humidity and heat was stifling and pretty much driving me crazy. You can imagine my relief when I found it. No more exertions in that torrid weather!

I wasn't very happy though when I saw the fee - 261 GBP (Great Britain Pounds), and increase of over 7% on the previous year's 243 GBP! I was to change my mind, however, after my trip to the bank to get my bank draft. Thanks to the drastic weakening in the GBP this year however, this year's fee cost me almost SGD$50 less! Woohoo!!

Hopefully, the exchange rate will stay favourable till next year, when I pay for the exam fees.

One week and more in review

Last week was an emotional roller-coaster.

Saturday: Celebrate JC's 21st birthday at Waraku followed by chess party
Sunday: Attend colleague's wedding reception
Monday: Got scolded by grandma for visiting her in hospital
Monday / Tuesday: Attend a close friend's grandma's wake

Ok... Actually much of the emotions subsided after Tuesday and life was more or less back to normal.

Until Sunday.

During tuition.

31st August.

The day before Teachers' Day.

I received a few presents for which I was secretly pleased, more so when Kenny lamented that he did not receive any. Even if they are just high-class trash (so says Mrs. Ang, which is true in a way).



This week was more 'exciting'.

It's not often that the office gets shifted, and now that it's nearer to home, I was really keen to see it. In the end, even though equipment are new and some new facilities and equipment are available, I can't help feeling a little disappointed at the reduced capacity and somewhat unwelcoming feel of the new office. Then again, as Peter says, the rental is expensive, and I guess it makes sense for him to maximise the use of every bit of space available.

Lunch at Long John Silver's was an eye-opener. I really had to open my eyes wide to look out for the seemingly endless ants appearing in their drinks. The counter staff filled and refilled three cups with Sprite, and huge ants appeared every time. The exasperated guy meekly requested for a change to Coke, which I agreed to. Thinking this was a one-off incident, I went back to my seat to join my colleagues. Then Jolene spotted an ant at the bottom of her almost finished cup of Iced Lemon Tea. Examining Alicia's cup of Iced Lemon Tea, we spotted an ant in there too!

Together, we went to the counter, planning to demand an explanation. But being the nice guys we were, we merely told the counter staff to be more careful while the embarrassed guy refilled a cup wif Iced Lemon Tea from the SAME dispenser where the ants came from! Subsequently, we saw him continue to serve customers drinks from that dispenser! Hey dude! Is that how Long John Silver's got it's 'A' grade for hygiene??? I would have written in to NEA if I had photographic proof of their 'hygienic' practises.

More drama followed on Tuesday. On my way to PS for sp, I came across a face-off at the traffic lights outside the MRT station. A white car was stopped beside a white Mercedes cab, and the rear passenger of the car was trading Hokkien vulgarities with the cab driver. Moments later, he got out of the cab and motioned for the cab driver to get out of his cab to 'settle their argument', all the while blasting the cab driver with an endless tirade of crude phrases. Even when the lights turned green, he simply turned around to scold the drivers behind who sounded their horns at him! When they finally drove off, the show did not end. Speeding ahead, the taxi driver swerved momentarily into the path of the other vehicle, causing the other driver to execute an emergency brake, before swerving back out into his original lane! I'm sure that was not the end of the story, but that was all I saw.

Today was pretty anti-climatic by comparison. The most interesting thing that happened was my discovery that the Samsung i780 which I had bought online with my Singtel iTwo Value contract, at what I thought was a very good price of $138 only last Friday, was now available at $48 with the same plan!!

ARGH !!!