Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Champagne tap

Did my first successful LP today. Had one unsuccessful one a few weeks back. And this time it was a champagne tap.

Sometimes in life you just have to trust your instinct when it's trying to tell you something, and feel your way through.

I needed this wind today.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

X

The not-so-short journey to the ballot...

Woke up at 6am to take the 7am train, to catch the 830 flight to Canberra. The night before, I was wondering what to pack. Passport: check, election notice letter: check, water bottle: check, earphones: check, textbook: check, jacket: check. That should do. A couple of slices of toast and a nespresso later, I was out the door.

Uneventful flight with short naps and some studying. Touched down at 1040h. I was warned that it would be quite cold there but when I stepped out of the airport, I got a pleasant surprise that it was colder that I thought... 8deg C. Apparently it was 0 deg last night. Nice.

Went to the bus stop... 1 bus every hour. Missed the 1030 one so I had to wait. Grabbed a flat white and walked around the airport. 3mins later I was done. There's is absolutely nothing there.






Then I met a fellow voter going to the poll, and this made the trip more enjoyable.





















The bus came and it took us to the city, where we decided to walk it. It was a 3km walk but with this great weather, it will be quite pleasant. Thanks to google maps and my phone compass I knew where to head towards.










































Got there eventually... proof! There were quite a few cars parked outside the High Comission and people were just lingering around, maybe to chat with others there. I spoke to another guy there and he and his friends drove down from Sydney. Can't tell who he's going for. Had my passport and letter inspected and I was handed the ballot paper... looks like a primary school fees receipt if you asked me. 5 seconds later, I was done. I too lingered around to chat with those around. Singaporeans being a not-too-friendly bunch, just passed looks around, with not much verbal communication other than between their own friends.


This brought me to about 1330. Made my way back to the city to have lunch and to catch the bus back at 1530.






























Canberra is really a dead town... these are the streets in the city center on a saturday afternoon. I don't think I would be able to survive here long.







































































































Job done. Hope this brings a dawn of a new beginning.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Fashion experiment


Got this pair at JB.... was thinking if wearing it to work could work, and to my surprise, it kinda did. Got 4 +ve comments, but also quite a few people looking at it (e.g. patients' parents). I think I pulled it off.

Monday, May 2, 2011

07052011

This will be first time going to the polls and ironically it won't be in Sg. At 35 years of age, it is quite unthinkable that this is my inaugural democratic decision making event, but I'm sure there are others that come to this crossroad at a later age. Nonetheless, I will be traveling 2,400kms just to exercise my right as a Sg Citizen when the day comes.

Events leading up to polling day have been quite lively thus far. I wish I could be part of the party, to soak in the atmosphere. While proponents of opposition candidates feel that 'the time is now', I have a feeling that the same old story would eventuate. I do hope that my gut feel is wrong though and that some thing a little out of the ordinary happens this time.

Things are less than ideal for my return. I would not have achieved what I have so far if not for stepping out... and I believe staying out would build a stronger bridge from reality to my dreams. While I don't see any majors changes after polling day, I do hope that things do not change hard and fast enough to make my difficult choice even more so.