14 Jan 2009 or The First Post of 2009

The spider had established itself. A big web spanning 50cm across, with a second layer starting to form behind. It had grown to around 8cm in length, pretty remarkable given the open location it had chosen to make it's home. The line of dead insects stuck on the web seemed to be 'arranged' in order by the web master. That was the last time I saw it, on 12th Jan.

The row of bougainvilleas have been pruned. The arachnid and it's home were gone.

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I arrived at Tampines. There was no queue at the station control. I thought I could change my ez-link card.

The sign on the glass panel at the control says the nearest locations for the replacement of ez-link cards are Tampines and Bedok Ticket Counters. I thought the Station Control IS the Ticket Counter.

"Hi, I would like to exchange my ez-link card!" I flashed a smile.

Station staff pointed at the sign and replied curtly, "Look here."

I read the sign again. I did not realise my mistake.

"Ya, it says Tampines Ticket Counter..."

Looking irritated, she shot back, "Go to the Ticket Counter!"

"Isn't this the Ticket Counter?" I was totally bewildered.

Finally, looking very irritated, she pointed to a sign higher up the glass panel: STATION CONTROL.

I turned back to walk away, and promptly saw the Ticket Counter at the other end of the station. I left wondering why she couldn't have politely pointed out the Ticket Counter to me right from the start instead of beating around the bush and speaking with such attitude. Even if I had been ignorant, she should have been polite, which is the least I expect from a service staff!

Membership promotion, anyone?

In October, I received that scam call from a China girl. Today, I received a telemarketing call from Sam. He is an Indian.

Now, I do not have any prejudice towards Indians, but some of them do speak with an incomprehensible accent, and Sam is one of those.

"Good morning, my name is Sam. I'm calling from ... Company... Our company is celebrating our 10th anniversary, so we are having a promotion. 50 selected people will get to sign up for our membership at...and you are one of the lucky ones selected. This card...very good...many discounts with...free accomodation at ...Hotel at Kuala Lumpur...Transferrable to your friends and family members... Two years free... Only have to pay $59.90; $59.90 to sign up for the membership!"

The "..." represent the parts which I could not understand. I told him, "Sorry, I'm not interested."

And I told him, "Sorry, I'm not interested."

And I told him again, "Sorry, I'm not interested."

"May I know why is that so? This is a very good deal, and we are having a promotion now so only 50 people will get it. You will only have to pay $59.90! Other people have to pay three hundred and ... to get it. Our company is located at Genting Lane, and we have been here for 10 years already. If you have any queries I can transfer you to our ... Manager or you can call 6*******(I did not bother to remember)."

"No, I don't want it."

"...Can I have your name and address so we can send our courier team to your place to explain the details to you? It's really a very good deal..."

"Sorry, I'm not interested. You can give the promotion to someone else."

"Sir, can I have your name and address so we can send our courier team..."

I interrrupted him, "Sorry, no."

"...to your place..."

After some more rambling, he finally gave in to my persistent rejection.

"Ok. It's really a pity that you are giving up this chance, Sir. "

Phew... Finally! Actually throughout the conversation, I was wondering whether I should have just hung up the phone, but I decided that would be too rude of me. I believe many would have done so if they had the same experience. Anyway, I did not believe that the so called 'promotion' is only for 50 people. He probably said that to everyone he called up. Unfortunately for him, I do not have the habit of taking up dodgy offers from people of ambiguous background, saying things I could not understand half the time.

While it was a relieve to finally get him off my back, I was to have another shock shortly after. Barely 10 minutes after he hung up the phone, I received another call. A private line, just like before.

"Good morning, my name is Sam. I'm calling from ... Company... Our company is celebrating our 10th anniversary, so we are having a promotion. 50 selected people will get to sign up for our membership at...and you are one of the lucky ones selected..."

"You called me earlier."

"(Pause)Ya...actually I really think it would be a pity if you give up this chance. For only $59.90, you get to enjoy...while others need to pay...If you have any queries, I can transfer you to our...Manager..."

"No, I'm not interested. Bye!"

Kevin's Wedding Dinner

The Merchant Court Ballroom
Swissotel Merchant Court, Singapore
20 Merchant Road

On Sunday, I attended the long-awaited marriage of my army bunk-mate, Kevin Lu, with his girlfriend of ten years, Brenda Tan. But before that, Fabian and I met up with WP and Joanne at Tampines, for a ride down to Orchard to meet Kenny for some shopping.

There's a bicycle stand along the sheltered walkway behind the MRT station. Many people wait there for the free shuttle service to Giant. And it was here, I found a number of bicycles with rubbish in their baskets. So many inconsiderate and self-centred people around! :-(

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Wei Ping was driving his sis' husband's car. It is a very interesting car. The back seats came with seat-belts but no clips for them. So how are passengers at the back supposed to fasten their seat-belts? Hmm...

At Orchard, we spent some time looking for a cheap carpark. One particular dark and cramped hotel carpark charges $4.00 per entry! Luckily though, we managed to get a lot in the Shaw Centre Carpark at only $2.14 per entry! :-D

Kenny was late. We were supposed to meet at DFS Galleria at 6pm. It was close to 7 by the time he reached, along with his girlfriend, two younger brothers, and the girlfriend of one of his brothers. His mum was there too, and had evidently reached much earlier as she berated him for his lateness. We were quite surprised to see the family turnout, which we found out later was due to Kenny's mum playing Santa to her three sons, promising to buy one a Gucci belt each (WOW!) while getting a Gucci bag(and more) for herself.

I even met Leng there while waiting for the family to get their stuff. Wei Ping and Fabian thought she was my girlfriend. Lol! Apparently she was there to buy the LV wallet for RC for their gift exchange. Singapore is so small that we can easily bump into someone familiar along Orchard Road.

It was almost 8pm by the time Mummy Goh completed the purchase(she was actually the fastest among the four shoppers, so it really wasn't her fault that they took so long) with a 30% staff discount courtesy of Joanne. We watched in amazement as she fished out a thick stack of $50 notes, with more left in her bag!

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It was finally time to make our way to the dinner, more than half an hour late. After some initial confusion over the location of the banquet at Swissotel, we arrived at the Ballroom, where Kevin and bride were waiting at the entrance to welcome guests. Ha! Dinner has not commenced yet!

Unfortunately, it was already past 8:30pm by the time the dinner started, and my stomach was growling away. Fortunately, there was extra food available as two of my fellow guests were absent. :-p

There was a video montage of Kevin and Brenda, from when they were babies to their current stage as husband and wife. There was also a video of the proceedings earlier in the day, and we saw how the army friends who were chosen to be his 'Brothers' were treated to 'kaya' (wasabi) buns and raw bitter gourd juice. What a nutricious and 'delicious way to start the day!

It was almost 11pm by the time we ended. The nine-courses were all pretty delicious and I really enjoyed my dinner. The only minor grouse I had was that prawns appeared too often. Haha!

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.