k r i s a n d r o

I have been hit by the flu bug since last Thursday and I am on the way to recovery except the need to blow out the phlegm through my nose every now and then. With the rise of H1N1 cases in Singapore, there was a slight worry from KuKuNehNeh (KKNN) and myself thinking that we may have fallen prey to the epidemic considering that KKNN had the flu before me and she was at Butter Factory a week shy of the supposed outbreak.

I did feel lousy but my temperature was at a measly 35.9 – 36.1°C throughout the period and that was pretty reassuring even though I did read that a large number of H1N1 patients didn’t experience fever.

KuKuNehNeh and I stayed apart for 2 days since the onset of my flu but she longed to see me and missed me to no end (Hey it’s my blog, I say what I want to say. :p) and so I decided to travel to Ang Mo Kio to let her have a dose of her bf.

With flu, a slight cough and a running nose that is out of my control, the best thing I can think of to be socially responsible is to purchase face masks and wear one for the 1 hr trip down from Jurong West.

Boy! Was it an interesting experience.

Besides the obvious lack of comfort of wearing a 3-ply mask in the disgusting, sweltering heat of Singapore, I had to sniff constantly to prevent drowning myself in my own mucus in the covered mask considering it makes no sense for me to remove the mask and blow my nose in the train cabin right?

The social aspect of wearing a mask was astounding. Despite the fact that most Singaporeans are aware of the H1N1 and it’s spread, not one human being I see on the street is wearing a mask except me. It might be just my mind but I swear people give me 2nd looks upon realizing that I am wearing a mask. I get the feeling that they are probably deducing that I am a carrier or I am extremely afraid of catching the virus.

Upon entering the train at the busy Jurong East MRT platform, I was lucky enough to get a seat and guess what? NOBODY sat to the adjacent seats on my left and right. Do bear in mind that the rest of the seats in my cabin were soon filled up and as far as I can see, so were the seats in the other two cabins adjacent to mine. There are people standing all around as the train moved from station to station and still nobody took the empty seats beside me!

I was practically smirking at situation, half amused at the elbow space I got and half amused at the reactions of the passengers around me. It was only until 4 stations later that a brave (or oblivious) man came in and sat beside me.

Very scary meh?

This happened quite some time ago and I was reminded again of it when a group of friends were talking about the weird encounters with people.

A couple of months ago, Me and KKNN boarded the train at City Hall and stood pretty cramped near the train doors like any other day in the grossly overcrowded trains in Singapore during peak hours. We started to hear this guy speaking in mandarin about 2 – 3 feet away saying,

“Go away! Go away! All of you!” (in Mandarin)

He was pretty audible in the cabin and initial assessment was that he is speaking through a hands free set on the mobile but he was obviously a mentally unstable person as he repeated the line above a few times while swinging pretty roughly on the vertical pole in front of him.

“Go away! Go away! All of you!” (in Mandarin)

Odds are getting low that he is even talking to ghosts or the likes and I gently shuffled my feet and pushed KKNN to the side so that I get in between Mr. GoAway and KKNN. This position probably favoured KKNN in ways more than her safety as she can now unabashedly stare at Mr. GoAway just by looking straight over my shoulders.

There was this couple locked in tight embrace on the opposite door where we were at and Mr. GoAway started saying,

“Go back home lar! Go back home to fuck! Stand here and hug for what? Go home and insert it in!” (in Mandarin)

Despite all logical reasons to keep a straight face at this point in time, I couldn’t help but give a contorted face of controlled laughter like one would get if you stood in front of your CEO who had his zipper hang open.

After making loud comments about other passengers in the train including things like “Si Ang Mor!” (Stupid Caucasian), he turned to look at me and exclaimed loudly,

“Lecherous spectacles!” (in Mandarin)

I was wearing this pair of specs that day you see…

 

Half expecting him to step over and saw my head off like the accident last year, Mr. GoAway decided to take another look at me and said,

“Go Bioskin lar! So many scars on your face.” (in Mandarin)

Note that at this point in time, the cabin’s ambient volume is quite low as most people were intently watching/listening Mr. GoAway’s every move. He then uttered the next line…

“But my skin is worse than yours.” (in Mandarin)

Despite Mr. Go Away’s criticism towards my imperfections, he seemed to be quite aware of his as well. Wahahahahahahaa!!!

He left a few stations before our stop and I couldn’t help but wonder at what goes through his mind as he was in that train. On further thought, I realized that it’s not about his difference in thinking from the normal person but it was more the fact that he lost his ability to filter his thoughts and whatever he thinks about; he just says it out without holding back.

If all my thoughts are not filtered, I would probably sound super crazy on the trains.

I was waiting at City Hall MRT station one evening, waiting for KuKuNehNeh to knock off from work. I took a seat at one of the benches facing the glass doors of the NS line (towards Jurong East) and was busy surfing away on my Nokia N95. Whenever I hear the glass and train doors open from the EW line on the other side of the platform, it’s normal to expect to hear a huge splatter of sounds from passengers who would walk briskly towards the opposite platform where I was, to catch the train heading northwards.

Usually, my face will be buried in my phone’s screen but right after I hear the train doors open from the EW Line, a pair of legs made itself very distinctively different from the rest of the footsteps. I heard footsteps of someone in heels, sprinting towards where I was sitting and I looked up in time to see a woman, probably in her late 30s dashing across the corner and towards the first glass door of the platform. She then stood right in front of the doors with her face just merely inches away from the glass.

You would probably think like I did, that the train was probably reaching but no. I looked up at the terminal and the next train will only be arriving in 5 mins. There the woman was, standing with feet wide apart with her arms crossed in front of the doors and close enough to stick her tongue out to reach the surface of the glass, looking as though she’ll stab anyone with her heels who dares to try entering the train cabin before her.

Did I mention that the train was only arriving FIVE MINUTES LATER?

 

People-watching during such moments are priceless. I wish I can record pictures and videos with my eyes sometimes.

I am serving my first In-Camp Training (ICT) this week as an National Serviceman (NSman) and it’s been a wealth of emotions and feelings leading up to Monday and the completion of the first day in the camp.

1 year and 3 months have passed since I left the Air Force as a regular and the stressed job of being an Air Traffic Controller. The memories of the 4 and a half years spent in the service still lingers in the recesses of my brain (whatever is left of it).

I need approximately 2 hours to travel via public transport from my home to my squadron in the east and I wanted to rest early. I tried to sleep from 12 midnight and could only doze off into a semi-conscious state at around 3am because I stressed myself out from thinking of all the situations in difficult controlling situations.

Besides the insane amount of travelling time, another big complaint I have is that I cannot bring any gadgets like my laptop, psp or my Nokia N95 into camp and that means ZERO entertainment for 4 hrs of travelling everyday and not being able to take any nap in the train ride as well. Wearing the Air Force uniform with officer epulettes and sleeping on the train is akin to shouting out loud,

“HEY!!!! I AM AN OFFICER! I AM TAKING A NAP! WHY DON’T YOU ALL TAKE A PICTURE OF ME SLEEPING AND POST A PIC TO STOMP???”

 

So, for the 1st time in a decade or more, I went to the library to borrow books to help me pass time in the train. BOOKS! I know people STILL read books but to me, that’s such a retro form of entertainment.

BOOKS! *rolls eyes*