Bus 70

Today I was pleasantly surprised to find my favorite bus captain, Chandra, in the driver's seat of bus no 70 on my way home.

I remember back in the day when I was working in Shenton Way, sometimes I would take the bus he's driving. He would greet passengers as they boarded and alighted. Every one. Most passengers would be taken aback and give a blank stare. I would to just smile at him.

But today, I had a chat with him, saying how I remembered taking him from a few years back. He then took off his driving glove to shake my hand. He also proudly showed me his collar pin, which is some prestigious award he got recently for the service he rendered. He deserved it.

Some of the regular passengers would exchange a few sentences with him, complaining about the weather and such.

Before I alighted, I went up to him and told him how much I enjoyed having him as a captain and told him to keep up the good work. Again, he took off his glove and shook my hand.

This is the kind of service which the service industry should try to emulate. But I think it's asking too much.

Good job Chandra. =)

Dump of Death (DoD)

It has been reported that those with weak hearts, e.g. the elderly, have arrested (heart stopped) while in the loo, doing the No.2.

This is the reason why.... when we're into No.2, our "rest-and-relax" aka parasympathetic system kicks is... this means blood is directed away from the muscles, and to the visceral organs (e.g. gut, kidneys)... and part of this effect is the slowing of heart rate (vagal activation).

Good to keep an eye out for friends/family that might be in this kind of situation.

Alfie

Friday night.... just back from the gym, having cooked dinner.
Chanced upon the movie "Alfie" on TV.

Just want to share its ending excerpt.

"I warned them all from the beginning.

I always said something along the lines of,

''I must advise you,

I am stamped with an invisible warning.

I will not commit. I will never marry.''

Despite my best efforts, I'm beginning to feel some small cracks

in my faux finish.

You know, when I look back on my little life,

and all the women I've known...

...I can't help but think about...

...all that they've done for me...

...and how little I've done for them.

How they looked after me, cared for me...

...and I repaid them by never returning the favour.

Yeah.

I used to think I had the best end of the deal.

What have I got?

Really?

Some money in my pocket.

Some nice threads. Fancy car at my disposal.

And I'm single.

Unattached. Free as a bird.

I don't depend on nobody.

Nobody depends on me.

My life's my own.

But I don't have peace of mind.

And if you don't have that, you've got nothing.

So...

So, what's the answer? That's what I keep asking myself.

What's it all about?

You know what I mean?"

Touch 'n Go

Back for the week in SG. The change was rather welcoming.

As usual, I packed my days here having breakfast, brunch, lunch, tea, coffee, dinner, drinks, supper, mahjong, bomberman-ing, crabbing with friends/family, and the time in between appointments would be spent with Tabby (eq writing this now) and studying (or at least the attempt to).

Some of the quirks I kinda missed-but-not-really of SG life during this trip back:

Lingo
- mandarin structured english
- manglish / engdarin / malanglish
- missing words from the sentence structure
- ever changing tone (as opposed to cresendo/decresendo)

Road culture
- perpetually speeding/over-taking cars
- que jumpers
- over modified korean/japanese cars
- white headlights
- paid parking
- rear windscreen cluttered with soft toys
- the "my life revolves around my car" lifestyle
- the never ending discussion on ERP

Dining
- the "get lost and gimme your table" stare
- the "dowan leh, you wait long long for my table" stare into oblivion
- al-fry-sco dining

It's still home.

And what's wrong with shaking hands? Hais...

And I'm back to the crawing board in 48hrs. See you in December.

Enter sandman

And kaypo man.
Southbank, Brisbane.

mikroMAN

A thin sheet of metal, but so much fun. Ingenius. Thx G.

Nostalgia

This used to be my playground, where I once spent countless hours.
Winning isn't everything, but it sure gives you a high.

moosic...

Listening to High and Dry by Jamie Cullum now.

It last featured when I was about to head to Gold Coast for my Med Sch interview in 2006. Crossroads. It's been almost 2 years since. Time flies.

Music. Food for the soul. Bookmarks of life's stroll.

Personality Testing

Quite interesting this.... if you wanna find out what personality type you are.
http://www.41q.com/

Here're my results.
http://www.41q.com/type.41q?p=24673335

more info on personality types at
http://www.typelogic.com/

woof woof

she's dem hyper....

Melbourne weekend

Night shots by Yarra River





Cravings....
Famous hotdog @ Vic Mart




Baskers here have real talent.



Danish pancakes. Don't really know what the commotion is about, they weren't that great.

Vic mart on a sunday afternoon.


The view from Desmond's place.

Gotta love the tram service.


Victoria is definitely the place to be.

KL Trippin