The Bus Is My Other Car.

Long sleeves, ties and staircase

Entered the office lobby to find that it was over-crowded because two of the four lifts, serving 12 floors, were out of service. The majority waited for the two lifts or decided to use the service lift, meant for freight and was rather slow. The minority, like myself, decided to take the stairs. For the first time I saw executives in long sleeves and tie scaling the stairs and panting. LOL! Some of them usually take the lift when going only one floor up or down. Serve them right for not exercising...

posted by 23degreecelsius @ 11:38 PM 0 Comments

Taiwanese

Took the M5 exam today. As it was my first exam after A levels that deserved seriously mugging, I was quite tired from the brain-drain, well, after what the army has done to my brain... *pauses for a moment and wonders where's my brain?* Fortunately, I passed. Very delighted to meet my wonderful junior Shuhan for lunch, who brightened up my otherwise mundane day with Taiwanese egg tart and her never-ending rantings about working life!

On Monday I went with Joshua Pang to SMU's 'How to use the library in 60 minutes' workshop. Was a useful workshop that pre-empted the amount of research we have to do in university, bleah. And it brings me to the thought clouding the minds of those who have just ORD and awaiting university entry - worries about the future.

I guess the turning point in my life came at church last Sunday. Ditto to Jeremy Koh, whom I guess, was also vexed over the lack of direction in life after ORD. Rev Stanely preached about discipleship, about disappointing behaviour by Christians outside church. It hit me particularly hard because over the years, I have become more self-centered, justifying my secular lifestyle by the unsatisfactory behaviour of other followers. Using swear words frequently made me feel like a rotten apple. I refuse to commit my life to the Lord and let God take the front seat, ruminating about the 'what ifs' in life and whether I myself have tried my best to steer my fortune. Re-dedicating my faith and committing my life to the Lord made me feel more confident about coping with the uncertainties in my life.

posted by 23degreecelsius @ 10:06 PM 0 Comments

Post-ORD and 2007 Reflections

Two days after my ORD, I met up with my former army colleagues for international buffet at Sakura. That was on 8 Nov Deepavali. The usual 'G' (gossip) Khakis, addition of Chief clerk and her daughter, and my dear bro (as our dear S1 would address him) Henry. We talked about things in that hell-hole as if we were still there - why chief clerk isn't posted out yet, who kenna charge, what the heck is Potato up to and how the new national-slaves will respond to him etc. At the end of the day Henry and Chief foot the bill! YAY

The first two weeks after ORD, much of my lifestyle still reeked of army. I was doing area cleaning every alternate day, looking after my dog, exercising and running at my own pace. Army has done good to me! =) I am sure mum will be happy with me helping out with the household chores. I thought I was on a long block leave and had to report back to camp again, only to realise that I no longer have to sign that bloody book in book out book HAHAHAHA! Ahhh life was a joy.

I flew with my family to HK on 18 Nov for a holiday Day two and I kenna gastroentiritis (vomit and diarrhoea) because the HK relatives treated us with too good food. Imagine two consecutive 12-course Chinese dinner and dim-sum for breakfast. But my stomach, so used to bland meals, cannot tahan these delicacies. On day 2, father and I took a mid-night cab to a 24-hr clinic in Yau Ma Tei to see a doctor. For all the suffering Yau Ma Tei entails for my family... (On a 2001 trip, my father had had a bad stomach-ache and we almost couldn't find a toilet in time for him). Out of five days in HK, I spent 1.5 days in the hotel. The virus spread to my mum and niece. We were all tired. As such the trip was rather uneventful.

Returned to a windy and sunny Singapore. Went to tour Sentosa and shop at Vivo City. Simply loved the feeling when I just return from an overseas country, as though you were seeing Singapore from a fresh perspective as a tourist. You could slow down and enjoy the scenery instead of rushing through. But this nice tourist feeling didn't last long once I started work as admin assistant at AIA on 27 Nov. And my area cleaning and active lifestyle came to a standstill... like the evening peak hour traffic. Sigh, although I like a fixed routine, life is mundane again...

December was work work work with small activities in between. The tempo more laid-back as the festive season was approaching. Attended the kick-off day by AIA at Expo. A pleasant surprise to bump into Chief Clerk and family at John Little Expo Sale! My weekends were spent attending a scholarship tea session (8 Nov), my niece's birthday party (9 Nov), sending my family members off for school trips and sleeping. Town was already overcrowded before the eves - a sign of good economy. So I gave the countdowns a miss... anyway, I have never liked to go countdown for the reason that I might die in a terrorist bombing.

I sat down with Freakonomics in my hands but my mind somewhere else. What have I done in 2007? What have I learnt these two years from the army? I wanted to write them out but it is uncountable and indescribable. At the end of the day, I knew I turned out to be a better person.

And before I knew it, 2007 has passed.

posted by 23degreecelsius @ 10:56 PM 0 Comments