ATMs and What-Nots

So I was in a queue to use a cash deposit machine at a bank lobby. There were 2 machines. 1 was spoilt; the other still working. Needless to say, the crowd was lined up behind the working machine. The spoilt machine accepted passbook updates only.

One non-local Indian holding a stash of money in the middle of the queue (in front of me), looks at the spoilt machine and wonders why nobody is using it.

He leaves the queue to try his luck at the unused machine. He realises that the machine is spoilt, and looks around over his shoulder at the queue he had left just a few minutes earlier.

He walks back to the queue, and rejoins the queue at the position where he left.

Two Malay girls behind him confronted him, and tells him to rejoin the queue from the end of the line.

One Philippine woman notices the commotions. She is right in front of the non-local Indian man.

She turns around and chides the two girls, "No, he was queued up right behind me."

The non-local Indian pretends to not understand any word the girls are saying, and keeps quiet. He stays where he is in the queue, helped by the Philippine woman.

The Malay girls refuse to swallow their pride, and leaves the lobby.

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Right in front of the queue, using the machine was an auntie who looked to be in her 40s. She was listening to her personal audio player with a white pair of earphones.

She was trying to deposit cash, but the machines kept rejecting her notes.

So she kept on trying. For a full 5-7 (?) minutes.

The crowd behind her gets frustrated, and people start asking each other what the woman is doing.

One ah-beng dressed in construction worker boots shouts out for the woman to leave. He says, "Eh auntie, go away and use some other machine. Don't keep using this machine... blah blah blah blah..."

Another guy chips in and tells her to stop trying and give up and let other people use the cash deposit machine.

The ah-beng finishes off with, "...if you keep on trying like that, we all gonna sleep here tonight already..."

The woman took her rejected notes, having tried to re-deposit it for the umpteenth time, and stands in a corner, silent against the angry mob that has formed behind her.

I left after making a passbook update at the spoilt machine, before the commotion turned ugly.

Another Workday... #5

Another workday, another weekend. Cometh thou rest, begone is thy youth.

Whence shalt this race slow down or stop, to let me take a breather?

I am entwined and grasped in a vise, falling from the heavens in a downward spiral.

This is a fucking evil vicious cycle.

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I should be happy - I am not.

I should be contented - I am not.

I should be broken - I am not.

I should be grateful - that I am.

I should be mindful - that I am.

I should be thrifty - that I am.

I should be thoughtful - that I try.

I should be loving - that I try.

I should be careful - that Itry.

I should be resting.

Another Workday... #4

One morning on the way to work, I passed by a rubbish bin.

There was a hamster cage beside the rubbish bin. It was probably discarded by someone, and it still had sawdust and all the accessories inside the cage.

The top of the cage had been taken off and was beside the cage on the floor.

There were 2 cats sitting left and right of the cage. They were licking their lips.

Another Workday... #3

One morning while walking out to catch the bus to work, I passed by an elderly couple sitting by the roadside ("Elderly" in this post is defined to be having a head of white hair already).

The man was standing and shouting at his wife. The man shouted sentences of which snippets I caught were "...I already am doing my best to earn money...", and "...what do you want...".

Although the story behind the argument wasn't clear, it was a pretty dramatic and shocking sight to see such an elderly couple arguing over money matters.

They should already be retired and enjoying their retirement life with their children (if they had any).

Somebody once told me that this song that I listen to, by Chris Rea, is simply a song that "I am too young to listen to".

Is it? I do not know. You be the judge.

Chris Rea - Fool (If You Think It's Over)

A dying flame, you're free again
Who could love and do that to you
All dressed in black, he won't be coming back
Save your tears, you've got years and years
The pains of seventeen's
Unreal they're only dreams
Save your crying for the day

Fool if you think it's over
'cos you said goodbye
Fool if you think it's over
I'll tell you why
New born eyes always cry with pain
At the first look at the morning sun
You're a fool if you think it's over
It's just begun

Miss teenage dream, such a tragic scene
He knocked your crown and ran away
First wound of pride and how you cried and cried
But save your tears you've got years and years

Fool if you think it's over
'cos you said goodbye
Fool if you think it's over
I'll tell you why
New born eyes always cry with pain
At the first look at the morning sun
You're a fool if you think it's over
It's just begun

I'll buy your first good wine
We'll have a real good time
Save your crying for the day
That may not come but anyone
Who had to pay would laugh at you and say

Fool if you think it's over
'cos you said goodbye
Fool if you think it's over
I'll tell you why

Just FYI, this song is from 1978.

Evening Run... #1

I went running in the evening.

I saw my neighbour's cat lazing along the corridor on the way out.

I petted the cat's head and it grinned at me.

I ran past some Gurkhas doing their daily runs.

I heard the wind in my ear.

I saw some kids playing at the fitness corner.

I saw kingfishers standing in the bed of a canel, hunting for fish in the fast-flowing waters.

I saw people getting off a bus, going home.

I saw some boys on bicycles.

I felt a sharp pain on the back of my neck when I reached home.

I tried to go to sleep early.

Another Workday... #2

Over the past few months, I have been training up my skills in the art of "bomb disarmament".

And I am getting good at it.

Just Another Week...

Here's a roundup of notable events that occurred during the past week:

1) I was waiting for the lift one fine morning to go to work. The lift doors opened and a pile of barf on the floor greeted me.

Oddly enough, the barf didn't stink as bad as I had expected it to.

2) I saw a mynah hunting for food beside a drain. It hopped onto the grille to cross the drain. One foot (sic: claw) disappeared between the metal grilles and it momentarily lost balance.

Fortunately the mynah didn't get injured and hopped away in one piece.

3) I was walking up behind a resting cat, and it heard me only when my foot was beside its head. It jumped up in surprise.

I ran away.

4) I saw a little boy (probably 5 or 6 years old) taking a leak a few meters away from a bus stop, pissing onto the fence surrounding a school. His mother sitting at the bus stop saw him drop his pants, and shouted at him not to piss into the school.

The boy refused to listen and continued to give a golden shower to the grass growing under the fence. I walked past him and saw his shiny bottom like a fresh peach under the glaring sun.

4) A co-worker asked me if I had already applied for PR (Permanent Residence).

The Boy and The Watch

So it was one fine weekday morning at the bus stop.

A little boy (who often comes to the bus stop with his Father) ran off to catch his school bus. He left his watch on the seat. His father was not around; presumably he had left already.

I pretended not to notice the lone watch on the seat, but there was no one else around at the bus stop. So I picked up the watch and kept it.

******************** The Next Day ********************

I brought the watch along with me, hoping to catch the boy with his dad.

Indeed, a few minutes later, the man came with his son. I walked over to the man:

Me: "Did your son lose a watch yesterday?"
Man: "Yes."
Me: "What color is the watch?"
Man: "Err... black."
Me: "What's the brand of the watch?"
Man: "I don't remember."

At this juncture, I took out the watch and held it in front of the man. His son was a few meters away playing when he noticed me. When he saw the watch I produced from my bag, he immediately walked over and reached out with his hand to take the watch from me.

I stood there looking at the two of them. 2 seconds passed. Silence. They made no eye contact with me.

I walked away in silence.

Extend concession fares to pre-enrolment poly students

Again, this is an interesting letter which was written to the Straits Times Forum on 23rd February 2009. The letter is reproduced as-is, with comments from me in bold letters:

I APPEAL to SMRT and SBS Transit to extend student concession rates to those who have been given places in polytechnics but have not enrolled yet.

OK.

Under the present system, they are not eligible for student rates until they enrol, which will be in late April. On the other hand, students who opt for junior colleges have already started classes and are eligible for concession rates.

You are missing the point here; you missed out a "thus" in between your words "... are eligible...".

In these trying times, it is a burden for parents to have to pay the full adult fare for their teenage children.

Concession are for students who are studying. You will have to justify the following questions:

1) Why does your child need concession when he/she does not need to commute to school every day?
2) Why does your child need to travel so often every single day, such that it has become "a burden" for you?

Angela Vander Straaten (Ms)

If your child is working part-time somewhere, your travel expenses shouldn't be a problem. If your child's not working, but yet is travelling so often every day while waiting to enrol in April... . Somebody's not telling the whole story here. 'Nuff said.

Flogging a Dead Horse, or... The Little Nyonya

5th January 2009. That was the day when Mediacock.. oops, I mean, MediaCORP, ended its run of the drama series The Little Nyonya.

Today's date? 9th February 2009. Even 1 month later, you still can see commercials on TV featuring themes from The Little Nyonya.

When the show has ended, it has ended. What the fuck are you guys thinking?

I cannot fathom the hypothetical situation if a series like Prison Break, Heroes, House, or even Lost still running advertisements AFTER the series finale has ended. It would be a totally ridiculous and ludicrous situation.

Seriously.

If big shows like these organized a THANK-THE-FANS outdoor show, or world tour after the series... hmm wait. Now I'm the one sounding stupid for even coming up with that hypothetical scenario. OK, I know, so I shall stop.

But you don't, you dumb fools.

Flogging a dead horse, milking the dead cow, beating off the dead man. Whatever. It has been nearly 10 years since I last sat down and watch a local series from the pilot episode, to the series finale.

This stretch is still going strong. And I'm proud of it.

English-speaking bus drivers, please

Talk about feeling alienated in your own home country...

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HE can see only vague outlines. When he travels on buses, he needs bus drivers to alert him when his stop approaches.

UNHAPPY: Visually-impaired, Mr Nair is disconcerted that not all bus drivers understand simple English. TNP PICTURE: KENNETH KOH

But Mr K Saseedaran Nair was let down twice on the same day, two weeks ago, by bus drivers who failed to alert him about his stop.

The reason: Neither driver spoke English.

Mr Nair, 45, a former mini-mart owner, was diagnosed with a rare genetic disease known as Leber's Hereditary Optic Neuropathy syndrome less than a year ago.

It has severely affected his vision.

He felt helpless when he realised that the driver of the bus he was taking, SMRT Service No 187, did not understand a word he was saying.

He had boarded the bus at Lakeside MRT.

Mr Nair, who speaks English, told the bus driver he wanted to get off at Bukit Batok swimming complex.

But the bus driver, a Chinese national, replied in Chinese.

'I was taken aback that he did not understand even simple, basic English,' said Mr Nair.

After about three minutes, a passenger came forward to help, but the driver could not understand the other passenger either.

The passenger eventually advised Mr Nair to alight and take the next bus instead.

But that bus, which takes the same route, had a Chinese-speaking driver too, while the passenger beside Mr Nair also did not understand English.

Mr Nair then sought the help of two school children sitting in front of him.

He said: 'The driver communicated with them in Chinese when the bus was approaching my stop. They translated it to English for me and I managed to make my way home.'

Although it was the first time he had had such a problem, he felt the issue should be taken seriously by public transport operators.

Mr Nair said: ' People who work in Singapore need to know basic English.'

His concern: In case of an emergency, such as a passenger suffering a heart attack, how will the bus driver be able to assist?

He said: 'We are trying to place Singapore on a high pedestal in the business world, and we have foreigners coming to Singapore.

'But what will they think when they see that the drivers can't speak English?'

A SMRT spokesman said that the company does ensure that both its local and foreign drivers are tested on their English language proficiency.

According to SMRT, its bus drivers from China undergo a training programme that comprises courses in English language and English skills for customer service.

Local applicants must also take a basic English test.

And during an emergency?

The spokesman said: 'During training, they are taught to be proactive and seek help from other passengers if they face a communication problem, for example, if they are not able to understand the language or accent.'

SMRT has been notified about Mr Nair's case and is investigating.

Geraldine Yeo, newsroom intern

Chinese New Year, Year of the Ox, A.D. 2009

While many people start to take the chance to make new year resolutions, I suppose I won't follow suit by making such things on this blog, since that wasn't meant to be the original purpose of this blog.

While there are still many oddity and weird scenes I am seeing on the streets lately, I have become very forgetful as of late due to my new job.

However, a few notable things worth mentioning (this is, afterall, a nitpicking blog):
1) 23rd January 2009: Spotted a white dead cat with no blood on its body lying beside a drain.
2) 26th January 2009: Spotted a roadkill on the road. It seemed to have been formerly a white cat with some black markings on its body. Couldn't really make sense of it, since its head was missing.
3) 28th January 2009: Saw a dog owner dragging her dog into a feet-washing area near the beach. Dog was desperately trying to get out of the area; owner was lifting the dog up by it's leash like a crane dangling an iron chain tied around a stack of pipes.

While I will try to keep up and include more nitpicks in this blog (most people start one, and the interest/effort/enthusiasm) dies down after a short while, I have to admit that I have been seeing less on the streets. Not because the people on the streets are getting nicer/happier/better/, but because I seem to have become "mabok" (wooden; unfeeling) to such sightings already...

However, I will do my best to keep this up for you (yes you, whoever you are) who still views this blog. :)

Random Picture of the Day... #4