fish finger.
So, the injury which made my middle finger look like a sausage was not a sprain as I initially thought it was, but ligament damage. Some price I have to pay for playing at the cage for free. I went to the chinese physician expecting some cracks and twists and of course pain but I never expected to have to have my finger bled and blood from the swollen joint sucked out. So now my finger is swathed in a bandage and feeling not quite so stiff. Physician says it'll heal in a month, just about the time I enter National Slavery. Talk about good timing. The downside is of course, the pain, and also that in this one month I have to abstain from beer, teh-o peng and other favourite beverages of mine because I'm not allowed to have beer, tea, or cold drinks, or seafood. In the meantime, I shall go and whine and wallow in self pity. Because it's what real men do.
justin.
license to travel.
Not long ago, I made my way to SSDC to take my Basic Theory Test, having not studied for it. It was one test I was looking forward to. Besides, passing it would mean one step closer to driving. So I put on my full battle gear of t-shirt, bermudas and slippers and proceeded to the test venue.
The questions were amazingly easy and I breezed through it in slightly under 10 minutes, whilst the people left and right of me were in question 10 and 18 respectively. I even smiled to myself as I detected a wrong answer. So I decided to check my answers to see if I had gotten anything wrong. One particular question, which looking back at it was quite obvious, but led me thinking was,
Q: At the red man, pedestrians are crossing the road. What would you do?
A. Tap your horn at them to get your right of way.
B. Stop and let them pass.
C. I forgot the answer.(As in really I forgot. It wasn't one of the choices.)
My initial answer was B, because it was the safest. But then, my other side came out and thought to my side which said B, "If the pedestrians were crossing at the red man, wouldn't stopping your car at the green light cause more problems?" So I picked A, which needless to say, was wrong. In the eye of the law that is. If pedestrians didn't know how to obey traffic rules, then death is certainly a risk they have to face isn't it? So I clicked end test at the end of 10 minutes and there popped up a big red box containing FAIL. I was stunned but not particularly disappointed. How could I fail? The next time I take this test, I'd be using adult public transport fares! And its another $6.80, you money grabbing test givers! I was worrying about everything other than the test result because I know deep in my heart, in the middle depths of my heart, and even the surface of my heart that if I had not checked my answers and left in 5 mins, my result would be a yellow PASS in a blue box.
With that thought in mind, I smiled an ironic smile to myself, bought myself a sprite to congratulate myself for giving such a civic minded answer and made my way home. I reached home at 2.50pm, the time the test was supposed to end. Then I smiled to myself again, making people on the streets think that I am either A) A pervert B) A lunatic C) A person with slight mental retardation D) A dork or even E) A person who knows he failed his BTT because he gave some cock answers disregarding safety. As of now, that person's license to travel remains as a card, starting with E and ending with Z Link.
justin.
blogging after bangkok.
It felt so long ago when I met Daniel at Changi Airport to depart for Bangkok, Thailand 4 days ago. The poor airline food, the arrival, where the hired vehicle took us to Baiyoke Suite Hotel. Our 1st reaction was "CHAO CHEE BYE!". The entrance to our hotel was nothing more than a flight of steps down to a small lobby. The check-in lobby was at the 5th floor, and the lobbies on each floor looked pretty old and all. But there was no time to complain. We had a city to explore.
Our hotel, being located at the Pratunam area, was pretty accessible to everywhere. But the human traffic in the area made Orchard Road seem deserted. There was basically no space to walk at all. You had to push and shove your way past pretty much everyone. A distance requiring 2 minutes to walk took about 10 minutes. We first went to Platinum and walked around for some, sliding along the slippery floors like people on roller skates. Then we ate dinner like kings at some Tandoor shop, having 2 different curries, naan, beer, rice, tom yam goong, lime soda and rice. At 7.30pm, we met our tour-guide guy to go see the illegal tiger show. It involved women putting stuff in their pussies and pulling them out. And then reality struck. When we entered the place, the women there were all aunties, and had lots of overhanging flesh. The kind of which would prevent any form of sexual arousement. For 20 years. Their pussies were kinda like Doraemon pockets, pulling out stuff ranging from razor blades and ping pong balls to coloured ribbons. As well as using them orifices to smoke, paint and shoot darts. With pussies like that, who needs hands. It was close to 1000baht down the drain to see aunties and their pussies. And they didn't even look interested.
And that was just day 1. The next day, we first went to visit the famous Erawan shrine to see the 4 faced buddha, then the 32m tall Buddha made of Italian gold mosaic. I bought at bottle of holy water, which was later to be confiscated at the airport due to liquid bans. Then we went to the National Stadium area and I bought some 5 jerseys which cost me close to 2000 baht. We took tuk-tuks around the polluted city, many whom tried to rip us off(which of course we didn't take). Transport costs are amazingly cheap in Singapore terms and it might not cost us much, but why should tourists pay more? At night, we went for the mambo caberet show to watch trannies, which are a favourite of James. It once again cost us almost 1000baht because them ah guas ripped us off in the photo taking. Show itself was much more interesting though. Close to 400 baht wasted and money was running low.
The 3rd day was more of walking around to the weekend market at Chatuchak. It was very interesting and I loved the pets section, where little puppies, kittens, squirrels and various other critters were all screaming for your attention. I wish I could bring the whole section home. After that we went to the Jim Thompson Museum, which was at his house down the alley, next to the canal. This was probably the most interesting place we went to. Jim Thompson was the pioneer of tie silk, making it world famous. He was from America but settled down in Thailand after WW2. His house was very interesting, with 2 entrances, from the road and the canal. He also modified the traditional Thai house, which had 6 seperate buildings, joining them together with a corridor so it was easier to get around. He had a divination lot from a fortune teller telling him to be careful at the age of 61 and true enough, in 1967, at the age of 61, he mysteriously disappeared from the face of the earth for reasons unknown to anyone. I would recommend this to anyone visiting Bangkok, and not the above 2 shows. In the evening, there was relaxing tradition Thai massage, which was so relaxing I might have fallen asleep. Ups of the ups. At night, we chionged all the street food. Fried chicken, roti prata, fried other stuff, grilled prawns, grilled random meat on steak. It was the last night and any possible stomach upsets were put aside.
And then, after what seemed so long in the land of smiles, cheap shopping, lawless transport, rip-off tuk-tuk drivers, poor hotels and heavy air pollution, the last day arrived. We went to Panthip Plaza to get electronic items and pirated dvds. And then the time came for us to go to the airport and take and aeroplane back to the land of no chewing gum, heavy fines, high taxes and CPF contributions. At least the air is cleaner.
justin.
PS. There is so much to say and I cannot put it in a coherent manner. This is all just a slip shod put together memory for myself to remember something.
it's times like these.
Life is like a game of football. Actually, I don' have anything to say about life. It's more about football. Sometimes, football makes you feel like ripping of your own balls. This is one of the times. When your team plays decent football and get undone by fluke goals. What can you do but suck your thumb? Times like these are loyalty testers. I think I pass the test with flying colours. Must be since I'm feeling like shit now.
justin.
a miscalculation some point in time.
I am not departing for Thailand tomorrow, as I thought I was. Instead, I will be travelling towards our not-as-North-as-Thailand neighbours. Oh wait, miscalculation. I AM departing for Thailand tomorrow. Instead, I am departing for that huge link of words I mentioned later today since it's past 12 already. Technicalities are so inconvenient.
justin.
Think you retire old?
As Singapore is raising everything from the number of floors of a building, to public transport fares, to CPF contributions, to the retirement age. Yes, people in Singapore have to work until age 65, and then get their CPF, taxed. Why? I will never know, since CPF was our own money anyway. But before anyone mistakes this as a rant against our beloved home country, let me make my point. It is GOOD. It is WONDERFUL compared to what other people have to face. 65 is a young age to retire.
Why? Take for example Mr Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Yes. Him again. He would be some 79 years old were he alive today. And he's still working. "After his death?" some might ask. Well, yes. He's a merchandise seller today. Look at the number of products with his face on it today. And the thing is that being dead, he's not being paid a single cent. And he will probably work for many years to come. In fact, we should all look to him as the model Singaporean, working all the way until after death, for free. Think we have a hard time? Good men work forever.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Ernesto "Che" Guevara
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa20th Century Revolutionary/21st Century T-shirt Seller
justin.
no sun on sunday.
I woke up at 3pm on Sunday, expecting my butt to be burnt by the afternoon sun. But I realised I was expecting too much. First of all, my room has no windows. Secondly, the day was decidedly stormy(not in the angry sense). Therefore, when I saw 3 o'clock on the clock, I was wondering if it was 3am or 3pm. Then I realised it couldn't be 3am because I slept at 4.30am the previous day. So 3pm it was, when I got out of bed and did the daily grooming stuff and then went to cancel the booking of the bbq pit due to the wet weather. After that, seeing as there was nothing to do yet, I went around the house moping and complaining to myself about there being nothing to do. These days, to do things, you need money. What I did later proves it.
What I did later was to meet Ah Bia, Turkey, You Liang and Raynard at Great World City. We were getting ready to buy food to cook at my house for Ronald, James(y-ah-m-s) and Jerold Tan's pre-enlistment party, otherwise known as an excuse to just hang out at someones house with alot of food and loud talking. Thing is, both Ronald and Jerold were not free to come, which is why I called the pre-enlistment thing an excuse. So we went to cold storage and bought whatever food was desired, as well as a 5l Heineken keg, which I am sure Ronald would have loved. James, of course, came at the perfect time. Right after we finished buying everything. We then went to my house, sat around waiting for the rain to stop(it didn't) before deciding to just hold this thing inside my house. Then Boris came with his pasta and we started the thing. Cue merry making and loud noises and making fun of each other and everything that is normal when many people come together.
So anyway, there was plenty of food left over because we bought too much. As well as perhaps a little more than 4l of the 5l keg since we, like all real men, chose to drink lime cordial and beer out of tiny paper cups. The keg is still residing in my fridge, waiting for the next guest to come so that I can serve them fresh draught beer out of the keg. However, as all good times come to an end, the thing ended. By that time, there was no sun. Besides, it was already Monday.
justin.
the grand collapse.
Of my overseas plans that is. From the grand Europe backpacking, to England, to Thailand and now, mere Pulau Tekong. And not by choice. My, my, my.
justin.
