Monday, July 24, 2006
Well done August, well done!
I intend to head down to NUS today to buy the Prospectus from the Co-op (the book and stationary store in NUS), before I make my way to join others for dinner and a movie.
As usual the lazy donkey procrastinates, and leaves the house at 6:00pm instead of 5 as originally planned. Hence the trip to the post office to mail my brother's parcel to the US has to be cancelled. I call Mum, "I left the house late, I don't have time to mail the parcel..."
"Never mind, do it tomorrow."
So I travel to NUS.
Oh shitty shit shit! It's 6:45pm - 45 minutes to get to the Co-op, grab the books and dash down to Dhoby Ghaut.
In that desperation I forget when the Co-Op actually closes.
Well done.
So I get on 96 for the ride to the campus. I get off one stop earlier, thinking the next bus stop must be damn far from the Central Library, where the Co-op is located. No, the bus-stop is slightly - only a tweeny-weeny bit slightly - up front. A shorter walk and a less of a drudgery of a walk (because the walk from there leads downhill to my destination. So obviously at the stop where I get off I am going uphill...)
Well done.
Finally I'm here. The Co-op is closed! Damnit!
Suddenly it dawns on me that the Co-op closes at seven. It's now 7:10pm.
Feeling irritated with myself, I actually wander around in hope that the Co-op will suddenly open. And time is running out for me to meet the guys at Dhoby Ghaut!
I dash to the nearby Kent Ridge bus terminal to catch a bus to Harbourfront. On the journey I read "Exit Visa". It is so darn exciting that I hardly once glance up from it. And I nearly miss my stop at Harbourfront.
Well done.
I run to the station entrance - only to discover people wearing those orange luminous safety vests. The shutters are half-down, there is a piece of paper stuck onto the grille. The LED sign above, instead of showing the arrival times of trains, only reads, "Station Closed". The orange-clad staff are turning people away, pointing to some place to take a shuttle bus instead.
But I don't see any red-and-black SMRT buses, so I decide to hail a cab instead. Oops, Northeast Line is run by SBS Transit.
Well done.
The taxi ride to Paradiz Centre costs $10.00. Such a short journey - and that expensive!
Well done.
* * *
I wasn't exactly keen on Pirates of the Caribbean, and I hadn't watched the first one. I'm not really a sucker for action films. I've watched Superman and Batman and a bit of Harry Potter here and there (on television) but this genre doesn't excite me as much as spoofs (e.g. Spaceballs, Airplane and all the other stupidly lame stuff) or satires (eg Thank You for Smoking).
I think I am wrong. I pretty much enjoyed the show, for only two good reasons:
1. Johnn Depp. He plays this ah-kua (slightly sissy in local terms) pirate called Jack Sparrow who is apt to run into unforseen circumstances one after the other but manages to steer (pun unintended) out of trouble most of the time. Except the last bit, when he gets eaten by the Kraken. But he's such an interesting and eccentric character, and together with his equally weirdo and eccentric and crazy crew, it's a draw to watch the movie.
2. The sight of so many people sighting a Dead Man's Chest (again, pun unintended). Quote Lord of the Rings: "One chest to rule them all!" In fact it's the thing that's inside that everybody wants. So you see all these people fighting one another and you really wonder who ought to be attacked? In this case it's probably defensive fighting because it's "each to his own, I don't give a shit about what you want".
Then it takes a girl to stop all the fighting. And she has to pretend to get hit and faint so that so man will melt and play the hero, but none of the men bother about her. Talk about chivalry hahaha.
So much for a heart.
I think it's so ironic that they mention Singapore in the "Pirates of the Carribean", because there are pirates in the Straits of Malacca (real maritime pirates) and those who peddle illegal discs in the heartlands of Singapore.
* * *
It dawns on me that the Co-op closes at six during school holidays. We're in the middle of term break. That means it's closed from the moment I step foot out of my house.
Well done, August. Well done.
¶ 7/24/2006 11:55:00 pm I intend to head down to NUS today to buy the Prospectus from the Co-op (the book and stationary store in NUS), before I make my way to join others for dinner and a movie.
As usual the lazy donkey procrastinates, and leaves the house at 6:00pm instead of 5 as originally planned. Hence the trip to the post office to mail my brother's parcel to the US has to be cancelled. I call Mum, "I left the house late, I don't have time to mail the parcel..."
"Never mind, do it tomorrow."
So I travel to NUS.
Oh shitty shit shit! It's 6:45pm - 45 minutes to get to the Co-op, grab the books and dash down to Dhoby Ghaut.
In that desperation I forget when the Co-Op actually closes.
Well done.
So I get on 96 for the ride to the campus. I get off one stop earlier, thinking the next bus stop must be damn far from the Central Library, where the Co-op is located. No, the bus-stop is slightly - only a tweeny-weeny bit slightly - up front. A shorter walk and a less of a drudgery of a walk (because the walk from there leads downhill to my destination. So obviously at the stop where I get off I am going uphill...)
Well done.
Finally I'm here. The Co-op is closed! Damnit!
Suddenly it dawns on me that the Co-op closes at seven. It's now 7:10pm.
Feeling irritated with myself, I actually wander around in hope that the Co-op will suddenly open. And time is running out for me to meet the guys at Dhoby Ghaut!
I dash to the nearby Kent Ridge bus terminal to catch a bus to Harbourfront. On the journey I read "Exit Visa". It is so darn exciting that I hardly once glance up from it. And I nearly miss my stop at Harbourfront.
Well done.
I run to the station entrance - only to discover people wearing those orange luminous safety vests. The shutters are half-down, there is a piece of paper stuck onto the grille. The LED sign above, instead of showing the arrival times of trains, only reads, "Station Closed". The orange-clad staff are turning people away, pointing to some place to take a shuttle bus instead.
But I don't see any red-and-black SMRT buses, so I decide to hail a cab instead. Oops, Northeast Line is run by SBS Transit.
Well done.
The taxi ride to Paradiz Centre costs $10.00. Such a short journey - and that expensive!
Well done.
* * *
I wasn't exactly keen on Pirates of the Caribbean, and I hadn't watched the first one. I'm not really a sucker for action films. I've watched Superman and Batman and a bit of Harry Potter here and there (on television) but this genre doesn't excite me as much as spoofs (e.g. Spaceballs, Airplane and all the other stupidly lame stuff) or satires (eg Thank You for Smoking).
I think I am wrong. I pretty much enjoyed the show, for only two good reasons:
1. Johnn Depp. He plays this ah-kua (slightly sissy in local terms) pirate called Jack Sparrow who is apt to run into unforseen circumstances one after the other but manages to steer (pun unintended) out of trouble most of the time. Except the last bit, when he gets eaten by the Kraken. But he's such an interesting and eccentric character, and together with his equally weirdo and eccentric and crazy crew, it's a draw to watch the movie.
2. The sight of so many people sighting a Dead Man's Chest (again, pun unintended). Quote Lord of the Rings: "One chest to rule them all!" In fact it's the thing that's inside that everybody wants. So you see all these people fighting one another and you really wonder who ought to be attacked? In this case it's probably defensive fighting because it's "each to his own, I don't give a shit about what you want".
Then it takes a girl to stop all the fighting. And she has to pretend to get hit and faint so that so man will melt and play the hero, but none of the men bother about her. Talk about chivalry hahaha.
So much for a heart.
I think it's so ironic that they mention Singapore in the "Pirates of the Carribean", because there are pirates in the Straits of Malacca (real maritime pirates) and those who peddle illegal discs in the heartlands of Singapore.
* * *
It dawns on me that the Co-op closes at six during school holidays. We're in the middle of term break. That means it's closed from the moment I step foot out of my house.
Well done, August. Well done.
