why so black and lonely?

Here are the top 10 things to do while you’re on the MRT and you don’t have any MP3 player or handphone with built-in music player, and you don’t bring any books, newspapers, or magazines either.

10. Using your imagination by staring at the floor & ceiling of the train and thinking of what you could do there to make your own version of Sistine Chapel.

9. Practicing those deduction methods from the Sherlock Holmes book you read last night by applying it to people in front of you. Note: Keep your deduction to yourself; you don’t have to share it with the fella as you don’t want people to admire your newfound skill, right?

8. Secretly counting the eyelashes of the girl sitting across you. Hmm, where have I read this line before? Clue: Google, REM.

7. Continuously wondering how unfair life is if you have to work your ass out everyday, and this lady gets a job where she just has to keep saying "doors closing", "next stop" all the time.

6. Organizing your own quiz show by guessing the songs heard from the music player from people around you.

5. Making a little survey & observation about music player among the commuters. Hey, you could sell the result to Apple and make money, you know!

4. Keeping your mind sharp by memorizing the name of every station you passed during your daily trip IN ORDER.

3. Trying to look busy by fiddling with your handphone, while what you actually do is flipping your address book from A to Z over and over again.

2. Pretending to fall asleep if the guy sitting next to you looks at you annoyed about your reading his newspaper uninvitedly.

1. Thinking of the ideas to write a post in your blog about the top 10 things to do while you’re on the MRT and you don’t have any MP3 player or handphone with built-in music player, and you don’t bring any books, newspapers, or magazines either.

So I needed to go arrange for my work pass today, and after consulting the ever dependable map I walked to my first stop. Actually, I wasn’t that sure where its location was, but luckily I made a correct turn which eventually led me to the right way. Upon arriving I only spent less than 15 minutes there; such the efficiency of this country.

Then, I had to walk back to the office first before moving on to the next destination. The journey back was quite difficult as it’s getting closer to noon, so you could imagine the heat, humidity, sweat and all of that.

I was about to go out of the office when it started to rain heavily, and I believed I made the mistake of braving the weather as I was dripping wet immediately just on the left side of my body. But the journey must "walk" on, as I knew that I was already heading to the right direction.

First impression, what a revelation. Now I know where I stand in this country. Such an eye-opener.

I had to mingle with the Indians, Banglas, Pinoys, Chinese, and fellow countrywomen. I wonder why from places that I’ve seen, these guys were kept treated this way. So many whys were crossing my mind upon seeing them as I think they’ve been through enough just to make a better living. A better treatment & respect may go a long way for them. So, Old Man, please just keep that F or P word, in your case, to yourself. Shame on you.

I’ve cleared everything in another 15 minutes and I rewarded myself with my first venture into the famed Kedai Ibu. It was okay as I liked the tempe but I think they can improve on the rendang gravy. I might become a regular customer if only the location was quite nearer to the office, because all the food consumed there would have been all burned out by the time I arrived back in my cubicle.

Half day was spent today just for walking, and walking and I guess I’ve covered about 3 kilometres. Hopefully the result would show up on my waistline. I need to see the result first before deciding whether to do this again or not in four-day time.

Nampaknya 2 bulan terakhir ini godaan buat buang-buang duit akan semakin besar. Entah itu godaannya dari bioskop, toko DVD, rumah makan, hawker center, toko mainan, atau toko buku. Tambah banyak aja barang-barang yang bisa bikin duit molos dari dompet.

Kalo godaan dari toko buku datengnya dari Pak Crichton yang akhir bulan ini bakal ngeluarin novel barunya. Sementara karangannya Pak King soal Boo’ya Moon udah nongol duluan, lengkap dengan 2 versi terbitannya (UK atau US) di toko terdekat. Senin kemarin pas lewat di Citylink Mall kayaknya liat di display kalo seri terakhirnya Lemony Snicket udah nongol juga. Trus tadi pas lunch break dan mampir ke MPH yang di sebelah kantor, gue malah disambut dengan banner gede soal diskon 20%. Lemah jantung dah jadinya.

Kapan ya waktunya gue bisa cuman duduk di kursi goyang di rumah sambil ngebaca buku dengan tenang & santai, sementara terus di samping masih ada lagi setumpuk buku yang dengan sabar nungguin buat diberikan sentuhan kasih sayang.

Padahal gaji bulan ini aja belon masuk dan detail masuknya gimana aja masih kagak jelas. Tapi ya okelah, mendingan ngimpi shopping dan yang enak-enak daripada ngimpi dikejer mahluk mengerikan yang namanya Statement Of Work!

On second thought, kayaknya oke juga tuh kalo nulis soal monster jadi-jadian yang namanya SOW!

Here or there, not all people can get my name right. Very frustrating. Is it THAT difficult???

I went to the church today, the first visit ever since I’ve come here. And it still didn’t change since my last visit there a couple of years ago. The AC is still freezing people to death, the choir is average, and the band seems superficial.

It’s funny how I never like attending a mass where the choir involves a band, complete with drums, bass guitar, and other percussion. It made me feel like I was in a birthday party somewhere, instead of a church.

I guess I could never get used to the customs here as I don’t like the songs either, and I keep saying everything in Bahasa because that’s the way that I like and the one I’m most comfortable with.

The office organized a teambuilding session last Friday at Sentosa which I thought was right on time for me as it made my initiation much easier. The session was in form of laser gun games where we were divided into teams and fought other teams in a predetermined mission. It was a lot of fun as we could finally play out our (or is it MY?) lifelong fantasy of running around with machine guns and shooting people to death

The first mission was to familiarize ourselves with the guns, so we just tried to kill as many enemies as possible. While the second mission was to be the first team to inflict a certain number of kills to the other team.

Our team, Team D, or Delta Force, managed to win the second mission which gave us the gold medal, which is great, as I think I’ve never won a medal before in my life!

The session was continued at a beach side cafe where we had our dinner together and the alcohol was free flowing. I knew it was the time to go when one of the bosses was thrown into the jacuzzi, and soon one manager and another follow him unwillingly to the jacuzzi. I managed to escape because it wasn’t fun to board the train dripping wet, eh?

Everybody was happy that night, but the next 2 days climbing the stairs became a very difficult task to do as all the running & squatting during the games started to show their ugly effect.

So here I am, finally. Together again. The usual 9 to 6 has started, the food is okay, the people has been great so far. I even manage to win a gold medal!(that’s a story for another day). Even though answering questions about the haze & surviving to live without the maid has become a boring routine. I’m not the typical of what you think we are, people!

The house has been terrific. The cable TV has been installed. The broadband Internet is super duper fast, yeaa!!. I can even watch YouTube! I just need to get myself a wireless router and a comfortable rocking chair next month, then my little version of heaven on earth is complete.

Let’s wait till the headache kicks in sometime this week, that’s when it starts to get pretty interesting.