Facts of Life

How do sometimes people seem to have it all?

At least they look so in photos ... Either my idea of skewed perfection is my definition of "having it all" or maybe they are just simply photogenic (my eyes always look crossed and lopsided or glazed by the flash on my specs in photos),

or maybe having it all does not really matter and being happy with what you have and trying to make full use of what little you have is the silver lining at the end of the day....

"SHOOT FOR THE MOON AND IF YOU MISS YOU WILL BE STILL AMONG THE STARS"

Quote from P.S. I Love You by Cecelia Ahern

Picture sourced from http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonyhoffman/121727283/

Crossing the Border

Today I had the opportunity to do a long overdue and postponed trip to Singapore.

Minus the details on the usual fanfare of researching on the internet beforehand, preparing unnecessarily and meeting two hours earlier only to eat, laze and gossip away in a food court, we managed to arrive in the island shopping paradise in one piece using the usual combo of buses and public trains without getting lost (That's a first!). I will also conveniently forget the details on how we made the poor person who was supposed to be showing us around the place to wait for an hour. Typical red carpet behaviour that we practice at practically any place.

The MRT Station at Orchard reminds me of some high-end Cineplex ...

First Stop: Orchard Road (I did say a shopper's paradise ...)

The person just had to put his foot there at that particular moment.

Nice is the word. Takashimaya.

You hear it by characters of Gossip Girl and you see it here for real ... xoxo (Out of place ...)

My staple idea of class...

The epitome of CUTE!

Brands, dollars and a feast for the eyes that loves both of these (especially when window shopping is the only option).

Next, I have to say this ... THE MOST I have ever paid for a ferris wheel (a.k.a. The Singapore Flyer) ... S$ 30?! albeit one that was advertised as the "World's Greatest Observational Wheel." It was well great for photos of the island and the surrounding borders like Malaysia and even Indonesia. Surprisingly, we had to go through an intense security check before we boarded the thing.

Wonder why they put up a net at the boarding site??? Any ideas?

The skyline from the pod of the Singapore Flyer.

The Esplanade zoomed from the pod. Looks more like a soursop than a durian.

Finally, we had this weird urge to visit Little India in which we really did properly spend (since everything did not cost more than three digits) . Even so, the food costs a way notch higher than in Malaysia (and that before converting!). We had tea and tracked the laid-back lanes to find a neat shop that sold all kinds of Indian crafts. We found things from Nepal and even weird ones like camel-bone jewel cases...

What a nice looking teapot at Little India ...

However, we were worn out to the soles of our feet by the time we decided to call it a day and the disgusting journey back with the pushing crowds to board buses and unruly behaviour just exhausted us further. Weirdly, the Customs people (both to and fro) in Malaysia never did bother checking our passports. Either they thought we looked too innocent or left it to their counterparts across the Causeway to being so capable at doing their jobs as well.

During the interchange while zooming back to Kranji MRT Station before boarding the bus to Woodlands Checkpoint. Too bad cameras are not allowed there ... Could have given more depth and colour to our suffering there.

P.S. The dates on the pictures do not reflect anything except my laziness to set the proper dates on the camera.

P.S.S. To all the unsuspecting people who ended as victims of me cam-whoring, my sincere apologies for catching all of you off guard with my Kodak's FLASH!

Confused Circadian Rhythm

Finally, I am supposed to have begun writing but well I am just so confused because my sleep pattern got so botched up that I can't even differentiate day and night. So, no afternoon nap for today and it is Sleep-All-You-Want in the bus back home.

Interesting things around the neighbourhood:

1) There are increased number of dogs.
2) This naturally is bad news for me.
3) Not only they restrict my mobility, they yelp all the way through the night when you are trying to elucidate the relationships between the internal thoracic artery and posterior inter-costal arteries.
4) They look cute when they are young, but still...
5) ... (Nothing to add here, just to fill up the space ... I am confused, remember).

Kindness and Gaining Clarity

Today, I had the misfortune (maybe I was being punished for a earlier crime) for walking three kilometres into a cowboy town to find that the saloon (OK Don't smack me ... the barber shop) to be closed. On top of that, there was no cab or whatever means of transport to get back to campus unless you count the ones which left me as I approached them. MENTAL NOTE: I have to get tested for the Transport Repelling Gene and Anti-dog Gene the next time I visit a geneticist.

However, when I was walking back in a fury of anger, shame and of course trying to clasp on positivity out of the whole event like exercising (finally!), a middle aged uncle in a small truck called out to me and asked whether I was headed to campus and asked me to hop in. I said yes and despite feeling a little bit apprehensive, I got on to his truck. He was a gas seller and I asked him how he knew where I was going, he said I looked new around the neighbourhood. Point: Despite being here for about 2 years, I rarely venture into the surrounding jungle, sorry development. This was in fact the third time. In the truck, we had some small talk but I couldn't help thanking my lucky stars and the Infinite for this stroke of luck (Hey, he saved me 2 km of walking and helped me to do some soul-searching). One thing was for sure: humanity and kindness does exist.

Sometimes, in life, when all becomes nearly meaningless like how I was for the past weeks, things like this happen by a stroke of incidence and so unexpectedly that they bring you back to clarity and pave you in a path of motivation. This one certainly did.

What do you think?