just your average handsome boy next door

And I Got Over You

May 6, 2011 at 10:59 pm | Posted in General | 9 Comments

Okay hi guys I’m finally back so many things to talk about let’s go one by one:

1) Sick

Yet another 39 degree fever. This time the entire sick period spanned 4 days, from Monday till last night. If I’m not wrong it’s also the third time in four months I got a >39 degree fever… I’ve been falling sick a lot ever since I ORDed. So I made up my mind – after I come back from Europe I’ll start running a lot again. Screw the weights and mass gainers. And before I start school I’ll probably take IPPT, can try for Gold again hahahaha, though I doubt I’ll be able to get under 10 mins no matter how much I train now…

2) 9 more days to Europe

So the past couple of weeks I’ve been doing intensive research, planning, bookings and corresponding, for myself the UK part of the trip. I’m quite excited about it now; hopefully the sickness doesn’t recur.

3) Driving woes

The whole of last week my dad went to Shanghai. So I had the car all to myself for the entire week. Basically, after just one week, I angrily declare that I hate driving now!!! Main reason being, it’s soooo damn tiring to focus on nothing but the road, the cars and driving itself. And I drive for very very long hours, which is my own fault because

a) I Keep Getting Lost

Yes, in small sunny island Singapore. If you’ve seen my FB status updates, then I guess you know the night I tried to drive back from Clarke Quay at 7 plus, my journey resembled something like

bugis > cityhall > clarke quay > bugis > dhoby ghaut > city hall > dhoby ghaut > orchard (going circles) > PIE in the opp. direction > toa payoh > AMK > novena > newton > bt timah rd in the opp. direction > town > bt timah rd (and probably many more, i forgot)

I wasted more than 10 bucks on ERP, plus another 10 for forgetting to put the card in the first time. Also wasted like a quarter tank of petrol. Also wasted 2 hours.

Ya I know I’m not the most directions-savvy man around. In my defence, it was the first time I was driving in town. However, the fact that I tried to follow the 190 route for substantial parts of the journey and still contrived to follow wrongly (3 times at least) is quite unforgivable, and rather astounding. A few days later, though, I managed to outdo myself again.

Trying to get to Peace Centre (for the uninitiated it’s somewhere near Bugis) I somehow turned out at the wrong exit at KJE (or was it BKE???) and ended up circling around Woodlands and weird-looking industrial areas… after more than half an hour, with the help of Gothere.sg on my iphone I managed to steer myself back to PIE and the correct exit. At Thomson Road however, I turned the wrong direction and ended up driving around AMK / Bishan in circles for REALLY long. By the time I found my way back and finally reached my destination it was 2 hours from the time I left home…

b) I Keep Banging

Like I keep telling my friends, I don’t think I am a bad BAD driver, just that I’m slightly careless and that little reckless sometimes. Plus I get distracted really easily and can’t focus when there are passengers, whether they’re talking or not. With this information in mind, along with the fact that I’ve driven my dad’s car for less than 5 times (not counting the numerous 5-minutes-fetch-my-sister-from-LotOne-trips), I think it’s quite miraculous that I got through the week without any major incidents. Of course, there were quite a few light knocks, most of which were small oversights on my part during parking, and they resulted in erm, some scratches and dents.

My dad was quite *stunned* when he came back and found out about all the above adventures. Of course, he wasn’t super surprised, because he’s seen me in action before. But he’s gonna spend more than 1k on repairs and repainting – the bulk on the latter!!! As well as another 400+ bucks for the 1 week of car rental. Heartache for him haha.

Anyway, like I said, within one week I got so tired of driving I couldn’t even bear to think about it. It’s so draining, doubly so on a person whose ability to focus is close to zilch. Now I treasure the moments on public transport – letting my mind drift and go into Zen mode, daydreaming amidst the literally moving scenery, looking at the pretty girls sitting or standing near me / letting them look at me and my handsome face, feeling the warmth of being surrounded by humans instead of cars, listening to my own itunes music instead of the radio, having earphones that beat lousy car stereos. Saving money. Saving the Earth. And in my case, reaching my destination faster. Hahahahahahaha.

4) Work

Basically the story of my work at the Science Centre is: Contract stated 4 weeks. However we’re only needed for half the day on most days, and none at all the last week. So overall I earn less than 500 bucks. Then one colleague borrowed 200 bucks from me and disappeared. I don’t know if the money is ever gonna come back. Sigh.

5) Politics

I’ve sat on this post for so long it’s ‘Cooling-Off Day’ already. From what I’ve seen and heard so far, I do fancy giving the opposition a chance to prove themselves. Not saying that we should vote for the sake of voting against the PAP, but some of the speakers do look really capable… watch Pritam Singh’s rally! I mirror Jiang ‘SuperMegaTroll’ Lai’s sentiments on his ‘pedigree’. I don’t like Nicole Seah’s ah lian antagonistic style though. She, like with many of the opposition candidates, are just angrily bashing the incumbent government. I applaud them for their bravery and conviction, and agree that articulating the dissent and unhappiness of the plebeian is important. Yet, I feel that anybody can do that. So like many of my friends, I think they should offer some viable solutions. Of course, it’s not easy, given the fact that they, like you and I, do not have sufficient knowledge of the intricacies in current policies- say, budget breakdowns and figures. Or secret defence issues. Many, many things the government deal with and have access to. And many of which will be integral in proposing a concrete solution. But we don’t need a detailed work-plan of how you’re going to solve the problem, we just want a rough idea of how you aim to tackle these problems, the angle you’re approaching the issue from. Many of the rally speeches don’t even come close to offering that.

That said, after watching on youtube SDP candidate Dr Ang Yong Guan (ex-colonel, SAF-turned-private-sector psychiatrist) blow his audience away in his rally with his over-enthusiastic, clownish (and many would agree, psychologically-unsound) mannerisms that also border on being boorish and crude (not to mention the creepy laughter and excessive(?) and unnecessary Hokkien), I realised there is really a divide between Singaporeans. Why so? Though a lot of the comments on the video slammed Dr Ang, one comment claimed that many of the Aunties and Uncles cheered for him, because his style conveyed his passion, his emotions, his connection to the heartlanders. For the young, educated Singaporean like myself, I’m pretty sure we all see his said performance as a joke. It’s really hard to please everyone, isn’t it? It’s the same for film media, advertisements, music, marketing campaigns etc. Singaporeans are so diverse. It’s always elites vs. heartlanders, the old vs. the young, and to a smaller extent race, religion, language, gender differences.

Anyway, back to the point. Singaporeans are lazy and kiasi and like to take the convenient, safe route. And that is essentially the reason why many keep voting for the PAP – because of their ‘track record’, because we don’t want to take a risk with a possibly less capable government. But Mr Teh made a valid point on FB:

always remember when the PAP came to power in 1959, they had no ‘track record’ to speak. Singaporeans took a chance on them and gave them the mandate. We all have to start somewhere. If the US took 200 years to elect an African-American president, it tells us change is possible, you need to give it time and opportunity.

Because the foundation of our civil service will remain, a change in leadership will only affect decision-making at the top. So Singapore will not become a 3rd World country overnight if the less capable government screw up. Though I’m not underestimating the amount of damage a really bad decision can produce. In any case, a majority vote will be needed for big question marks, so there’s no chance of say, Singapore waging a war with Malaysia or the like.

Just because the PAP performed well in early to mid- Singapore history does not mean that it will continue nurturing / producing capable leaders for tomorrow. Like many young Singaporeans griped, over the past decade they’ve been disengaged, high-handed, arrogant (“repent for the next 5 years” wtf), motivated by self-interest. I believe it requires competition, in the form of the opposition, for it to maintain and better its standards. So why not vote for an opposition we think is capable enough to take over?

And even though I know politics is unfair, that it is inevitable and necessary, I do not like the ‘democracy’ in Singapore. The papers are what, 70% PAP news? And of the remaining 30%, there are some which didn’t put the opposition candidates in a very good light. Surprise, you don’t see anything remotely ‘bad’ about PAP candidates at all. The gerrymandering is another constituent (ha ha) of our ‘democracy’.

That said, I won’t be losing sleep if the PAP triumphs again. This GE might represent the most exciting one our nation has seen thus far, but the majority of people (young men and women no less) I know are still pro-PAP and I believe more Singaporeans than not will vote for them. So I’m pretty sure life for most will be the same after it, at least till the next elections. It’s rather refreshing though, to see a politically apathetic community suddenly undergo an ‘awakening’. Personally, I wouldn’t have given a shit about this GE too if Chai hadn’t told me how hotly contested the seats are this time round. So to be honest I don’t actually feel as strongly as I sound in the above paragraphs… it’s just my personal take (though much of it is not original – facts and opinions posted by various FB friends, friends-of-friends and so on – I picked those I liked) on the whole hullabaloo that is the GE, seeing that many of my friends are so caught up with it.