Monday, May 22, 2006

what not to do on the train

"so i walked under a bus, i got hit by a train" - bachelor girl (buses and trains)


so everyone knows that if you're a young, able bodied person, technically you should give up your seat for someone who needs it more. but really, how many people actually do that?

besides the usual pretending not to notice, pretending to be asleep and various pretendings in general, there are those who just blatantly don't care.

recently i was taking a particularly long train ride when i saw such a display of disregard that annoyed me.

i was standing in the crowded train when the person next to me got up from his seat. the few people standing near his seat all moved a lil so that the guy could make his way to the train door. then out of courteosy we all hesitated for a short moment to see who should take the seat. but before any of us could make a move, this young lady from a distance away started pushing her way through and plonked herself on the seat.

okay, fair enough. you snooze, you lose. but what irritated me was that there was an old man who was also making his way to the seat. he was nearer to it than she was. she knew that he wanted to sit and yet she sat anyway.

even worse was that she didn't sit in her seat proper. instead choosing to sit at an angle so that she was blocking everyone else's way and her umbrella poked and nearly tripped someone. yet she remained oblivious to all.

and then the seat next to her was vacated. so she put her hand on that seat to reserve it and shouted for her train companion (who was standing a distance away) to come and sit down. her train companion couldn't hear her, so in the midst of everyone else standing in the train, she poked her with her umbrella.

when her train companion sat down, i saw that she was an elder lady. it shocked me that the young lady would go sit in an empty seat first instead of offering it to the elder lady she was with.

talk bout terrible train etiquette.

Friday, May 12, 2006

birth days

"just a day, just an ordinary day, just trying to get by" - vanessa carlton (ordinary day)

on wednesday my department colleagues went for dinner to celebrate celine's birthday. we had plenty of food including crabs once again for the second time in 2 weeks. per usual the boss man had to take his hat off to celine and i who can sure polish off copious amounts of food.

our fave was the clams...

we even ordered 2 servings of it. it reminded me of the clams in spaghetti vongole(which is my fave type of spaghetti) and a lil of this as well.

and what's a birthday without a birthday cake?

and yes, she's young enough to actually reflect her age in the number of candles.

****

so today is celine's actual birthday. and it so happened that recently i found out that another friend of mine shares the same birthday. and in turn, that friend knew at least 2 other friends or friends of friends that had the same birthday too. what a coincedence.

with a year of only 365 (or 366 if it's a leap year) days and a gazillion people roaming the earth, go figure that there should be plenty of people sharing your birthday. even famous people.

take mine for example. i share my birthday with madonna and vanessa carlton (we're even born in the same year!). and to top that off, it's elvis presley's death anniversary as well. whenever i open the newspapers on my birthday, i'm bound to find some articles devoted to remembering the king of rock n roll. i feel quite special.

Monday, May 08, 2006

and now...

"well i just heard the news today, it seems my life is gonna change" - creed (with arms wide open)

my guy friend who is based in china shared with me a piece of good news today... his wife is pregnant.


okay so i seemed to be a whole lot more excited than he was though perhaps it's 'coz he's had a few months to get used to it. and probably 'coz i'm not the one who has to support and raise a kid, he is.

this got me thinking bout how things have changed. i knew this guy friend of mine through cell group in church when we were 20. we got along well 'coz we were both just that bit weird and different from the rest. and while he was serving national service, he'd sometimes call me during guard duty just to chat and pass time. and then he went overseas to study and we still kept in touch, meeting up when he was back for the holidays. then he went to work in china and came back home to hold his wedding with his china bride. and now she's pregnant.

wow! it feels so unreal. to have a friend who you've known for a few years get married and have kids. i can still remember the time when we were still in the same cell group, talking bout our single status and lamenting bout how we aren't exactly the type that attracts many local people. and now he's a dad.

i'm really excited. i can't wait for him to come back and for me to see his kid. he and i always talked bout how weird people like us need to carry on the weird species. and now he's gone and done just that.

Monday, May 01, 2006

tabula rasa

"and even when your hope is gone, move along, move along just to make it through" - the all-american rejects (move along)

recently i was reminded again bout the concept of tabula rasa.

how could i forget? i’ve always loved that idea and found it appealing.


tabula rasa: latin for "scraped tablet", though often translated as "blank slate"
definition: a need to start over from the beginning



and indeed that’s what i need.

i need to start over from the beginning. to wipe my slate clean and start all over again. there’s just been a fair amount of baggage in my past that i wanna get rid off. i need to move on and carry on.

i'm trying to let the past go... the good, the bad and the downright confusing. afterall it's not like any of that matters at this point.

so this is me wiping the slate clean.

tabula rasa.