Archive for October, 2007
Status: Freaked Out
Wed, 24 October 2007 11:44 amA stranger came up to me and…
Mon, 22 October 2007 10:36 pmA strange thing happened as I was jogging home earlier this evening.
(Doh. The Goony Goonfather just came to look over my shoulder. He saw what I typed (above) and asked, “Hey! What strange thing happened?!”
“Don’t tell you,” I said cheekily.
“Did you fart and run faster?” he suggested.
…
“Siao lah!” I laughed despite myself.
“The propulsion created by the fart would make you run faster.” He illustrated by miming a fart-propelled run.
“Go away! Stop bothering me!” I made a face at him as he walked away making farting motions.)
SO! ANYWAY!
I didn’t fart.
Not while I was jogging, anyway.
I was on the finishing leg of my 6km jog. My usual route takes me through my estate, past an overhead bridge and through a park connector which winds through a HDB estate. And then back the way I came.
So, I was on the finishing leg, running on a pavement beside some blocks of HDB flats.
Fifty metres ahead, I noticed a well-dressed Chinese man in his mid to late 20s. He looked like he could be a teacher or a salesman, or just some random executive, on the way home from work.
I noticed him because he was looking at me as he walked towards me.
I focused on my run and kept to one side, not looking at him.
When we neared each other, he stopped me.
“Excuse me,” he said.
Sheesh. I had to stop to see what he wanted.
“Yes?” I looked at him expectantly.
“Is there a running track nearby?”
Oh, maybe someone new to the neighbourhood who wants to get some running done.
“No,” I said, “But there’s a park connector there.” I pointed back to where I had been jogging.
“I see,” the man said, smiling.
He spoke in a pleasantly modulated tone with clear, grammatically correct English. His eyes were focused on mine.
I got the feeling that he wasn’t really interested in running tracks.
You know how, when you give someone information, their eyeballs will shift as they process the information? Or they will at least look where you point?
Well, this man just kept his eyes focused on me and smiled the whole time.
Maybe it wasn’t enough information for him to chew on, I thought, so I continued, “The park connector is just across that overhead bridge over there.” I turned around to point carefully in the right direction.
When I turned back to him, he was still looking at me, and not at the place I was pointing at.
“I see,” he said again.
And he didn’t even make an effort to ask more about running tracks, which was all I was interested in talking to him about.
So, I smiled at him and started to jog away.
“You look really fit,” he said, still smiling.
Caught by surprise, I muttered a quick thank you, coupled with a bashful smile.
I had jogged about three metres away from him by this time.
He didn’t give up.
“Do you run every day?”
Five metres. I had to sort of jog backwards so I could face him to answer his question.
“Er, no. Only whenever I can.”
“That’s great,” he said. Still that unceasing evergreen smile.
Seven metres.
“See ya!” he said, waving.
Oh gosh.
I gave him a quick smile and jogged forward, never looking back.
So, what was up with that?
I don’t think he was trying to hit on me. I was in a baggy t-shirt and shorts, messy hair, no makeup, sweaty.
I looked worse than in this photo. Seriously. I had to touch up this photo a bit because I look like Sadako without makeup and I don’t want to scare my readers off.
The man was good-looking. But who cares? The way he tried to have a conversation with me was weird.
I mean, it’s probably not weird in friendlier, more liberal cultures. But it’s certainly weird in conservative Singapore where people are taught from young never to talk to strangers.
And who would try to start a conversation with a jogger? The fellow is jogging, for goodness’ sake. He has no time to stand there and have a conversation with you!
Some very weird people exist in this world. I suppose it makes the world more interesting. As long as they’re not into raping or mugging or murdering.
What do you think?
Fashion Diary #13: Truth Candy
Sun, 21 October 2007 2:46 pmDay 13
Name of outfit: Truth Candy
Self-Rating: 
Destination: A day out (lunch and movie at VivoCity, catch an evening play, hang out at friend’s place)
Notes: I was in a particular mood to dress up yesterday but I was so sick of wearing my favourite outfits over and over again. So I pulled out this old top/dress thingy I bought so long ago I can’t remember when.
I didn’t like it after I bought it so I’ve never actually worn it out before. (I have tons of these “shopping rejects”.)
I guess I found that it didn’t look too bad paired with my assorted black and white things. It’s not an outfit I feel extremely comfortable in — I feel weird in leggings — but it’s different, so that works for me.
MRT yellow lines make Singaporeans look stupid
Fri, 19 October 2007 8:48 pmI’ve always felt that the yellow markings seen in MRT stations are an embarrassment to our country.
That the authorities need to draw bright yellow lines and arrows to teach us exactly where to stand and where to walk is an insult to our intelligence.
We do not need any lines, yellow, green or purple, dammit, because Singaporeans don’t give a freaking damn about them.
Your arrows don’t scare us.
We will stand exactly where we please, thank you very much.
So, here’s a little story to illustrate why we don’t need the markings:
One day, Little QY goes to take the MRT. It’s peak hour, so she stands behind a yellow marking to “queue up”.
Along comes OL (Office Lady). OL stands beside Little QY.
“WTF!” thinks Little QY to herself. (This compulsion to swear instantly robs her of her innocence so that she has to drop the “Little” from her name.)
Daaaamn.
“Stupid, uncultured OL,” mutters QY under her breath. “Wear so nice but got no manners lah. You’re supposed to stand behind the yellow line, not on it.
“As if standing on the line will fool anyone. And why must you stand right in front of my face?!”
Luckily, OL is as deaf as she is ill-mannered, so she doesn’t hear.
QY briefly considers going to stand right in front of OL to get her own back, but then she decides that she’s above such petty games.
After all, does it matter whether you’re the 10th or 11th person to get on the train?
By this time, many an RP (Random Person) has started to gather around the platform.
Shortly after, the train arrives from a distance away.
Some people shuffle anticipatively, some continue to stare blankly ahead, some take a step forward.
OL takes many steps forward as the train looms nearer and nearer.
A few RPs follow suit.
“WTF is wrong with you people?!” QY wants to shout out. “You want to stand there, then stand there from the start lah!! Why go through the farce of pretending to stand behind (or on) the marking in the first place? Siao lah, you people!”
She doesn’t, of course, yell those words out, because she doesn’t want to find herself accidentally pushed onto the tracks with a train pulling in at top speed.
By the time the train gets to a complete stop, the doorway area is crowded with inconsiderate morons trying to get on the train, sneakily avoiding eye contact with people inside the train trying their darnedest to get out.
End of story.
And now, the moral:
Isn’t it painfully obvious that the yellow lines and arrows in MRT stations do not work? People don’t even know how to use them.
As far as I can see, there are only two things that the markings and arrows accomplish:
- Make Singaporeans look stupid for needing markings to tell them where to stand.
- Make Singaporeans look stupid for appearing not to know how to use the markings.
So, get rid of them already. They’re such an eyesore. Just leave the original yellow line to stop people from standing too close to the edge of the platform and getting their noses sliced off by incoming trains.
Oh, and whenever I’m in the train trying to get out, I wish I were a bowling ball.
Striiiiiiike!
Hunks and babes of Slingers
Thu, 18 October 2007 8:50 pmI saw hunks and babes last night.
In the most unlikely of places you could ever find me.
I was at a pro-basketball match at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Yep. I, who yawn at the sports section in the papers and develop an allergic reaction every time someone surfs to a sports channel on TV, watched a live basketball match.
To me, sports is meant to be played, not watched, so I could never be a sports groupie, if there’s such a term.
But I was one last night. A basketball groupie, that is.
It’s all Nicholas’ fault. He invited me to an NBL game to watch home team Singapore Slingers slug it out with the fiersome Melbourne Tigers.
I accepted his invitation because I’ve never watched a live basketball match and, as much as I feel that sports spectating is a stupid activity, I believe that it’s important to try different things in life whenever you get the chance to.
As a matter of fact, I have attended one Aussie Rules (Australian football) game in Melbourne and one baseball game in California. Both were surprisingly enjoyable. So, I guess it’s just as well I have a basketball game to add to my collection.
The Slingers management hosted us in a corporate box, which put us nearer to the action and allowed us to ogle the hunks and babes more effectively.
When I stepped into the stadium, the two teams were warming up on the court. I wanted to support the Melbourne Tigers because the members looked taller and more aggressive. And they also happened to be leading this seaon’s NBL Championship with no losses to date. And also because I used to study at Melbourne, so I feel a kind of affinity for that place.
But I decided that it’s better to be patriotic and support the Singapore team, never mind that they’re currently placed second to last in the league and that there are, in fact, only two actual Singaporeans on the team.
Well, and it’s only polite to support the team which management is hosting you in a $25,000 corporate box.
So, I quickly found myself a favourite Slinger to root for.
Number one Rod Grizzard has a funky hairdo and a cool goatee and he’s like a little over 2m tall. Gosh.
(His profile picture from the Slingers’ website.)
I know nuts about basketball, but I liked the way he kept plucking the ball right out of the enemy’s grasp and robbing them of the chance to score. He was also, of course, one of the top scorers for the night.
Having a favourite made it very easy to enjoy the game.
There were tons of breaks during the game, which was when the Slinger Girls got to show off their stuff.
Haha. They look like they’re about to strip their tops off.
Whenever the game was in progress, they sat or stood by the side, ocassionally yelling cheers.
I didn’t quite get the level of energy I expected from them, though. I had the impression that they were just doing a job and weren’t really into the game or the basketballers.
But what’s nice was the audience participation. They fished this bloke randomly out of the audience to shoot some hoops.
He was given a few tries at different distances from the hoop. He got two in and I think he won $60 or $80. Cool!
After half time, the girls changed into cuter outfits and did more dancey stuff.
The Tigers suffered a casualty early in the game.
But that didn’t stop them from winning.
I think most people expected the Tigers to win, anyway, since they hadn’t lost a single match this season, and the Slingers are a pretty new team and still getting their feet wet in the NBL.
But it was a really close match. In the last quarter, the Slingers managed to close up the gap quite substantially and actually looked like they had a chance to win.
Too bad they didn’t.
The final score was Slingers 96 to Tigers 105. The Slingers put up a really good fight!! Yay for the Singapore team which consists of only two Singaporeans, neither of whom played last night’s game! *lol*
After the match, the Slingers hung around at the court for autographs and photographs.
Grizzard was mobbed by kids!
So I took pictures with some of the other basketballers. I mean, they were pretty cool, too. Just that I can only have one favourite, you understand.
They’re really tall. I look so short beside them. And I was wearing my super chunky platform boots.
Boots that, incidentally, got me banned from the court halfway through my groupie activities.
“Excuse me, miss. Your shoes are a little hard and might damage the court, so would you mind stepping out and not walking on the court?”
What the heow lah. Morons. My boots are light lor.
Anyway, I stuck around the sides and brooded until Nicholas, bless him, brought Grizzard over to take a group photo.
Whee!
Second last photo. Me with Daphnemaia and Princess Sabrina!
On the whole, it was enjoyable. I actually wouldn’t mind catching another match. And maybe even hanging out with the Slingers at Brewerkz afterwards.
The Slingers hang out at Brewerkz Indoor Stadium after each home match and fans are invited to kinda hang out with them there. I don’t know what it’s like since I had to rush home after the game last night, but I’m sure it’ll be pretty cool.
The NBL Championship is on till February of next year and there will be 10 more matches played in Singapore, at the Indoor Stadium.
Tickets are available through Sistic if you’re interested.
Go, Slingers! I hope they win more games and stop staying at the bottom of the ladder! I could see they gave their best shot last night so I think they deserve to get a better result!
See lah. Stupid Nicholas made a basketball groupie out of me.
(This photo was taken by Precious. I stole it from her Facebook photo album. Hehe!)
Oh yeah, check out themediaslut for great photos of the match and of the bloggers who attended the match!
Sorry, my photos CMI one. Haha.
