Haven’t been here in months..

So just a quick one: I celebrated my 26th birthday last week in Pulau Tekong forested area during my annual in camp training.. Wasn’t the best one, but certainly very memorable as I was surrounded by my brothers in arms who know the truth about me & accept me regardless of it.. Thanks again, guys.. Love you all to bits..

Been in and out of a few relationships since my last post back in February, but I guess I’m in a stable one now.. So yeah; work wise, let’s just say I’ve given up on it. As for my part time studies, well, see how it goes..

Food review: Habibie Kitchen, Blk 2A Woodlands Centre

Quality of food served: 2.5/5
Food handling staff efficiency: 4/5

The rice was a bit dry due to lack of sauce, but the fish tasted nice. However, when it came to the drink side, my dad & I got pissed off. Apparently, the Indian staff in charge of drinks refused to take our orders, despite having already served drinks to other customers.

Quality of drinks, overall: 3/5
Drinks handling staff efficiency: 0/5

Overall score: 9.5/20 = FAIL!!!!

I’m definitely not coming back here until the drinks handling staff improve their service quality.

Racist bitch

SMB 1529 X, bus stop number 28291, time 1.15pm..

Details: My family and I had been waiting to board bus 178 towards Woodlands checkpoint. As my young niece was with us, we figured the driver would stop with the entrance in front of my niece so she could board first. Instead, she stopped right before a Chinese guy in front of us. The driver was obviously a foreign Chinese lady; I smell a racist here.

What a day

So, I woke up at 7am this morning only to realize that I hadn’t done my usual routine on my phone yet, which was to scan it using anti-virus software & complete the daily tasks on two of my games. That basically made the battery drop from 32% to below ten within an hour. (Again, I didn’t charge it overnight because it’s the weekend)

So, while charging it, I continued using the phone for a while before having breakfast with the family. Had an early afternoon shower to get ready for IPT at Maju Camp; left the house at about two, boarded the bus three minutes later and alighted at the bus stop in front of McD after the bridge. The long wait for bus 52’s arrival (almost a half hour, bloody hell!) made me take bus 188 by mistake; after it turned, I alighted that bus and rushed towards the stop I was planning to drop off at. Just in time, too, cause 52 was in sight.

Guess what!? A fucking Chin-animal of a slowpoke was at the steering wheel; a stop later, so many youths boarded it at one go but I didn’t bother figuring out why it was so. Instead, I just waited until the bus had neared the Maju Camp bus stop before alighting it. 2.5 hours later, and I’m limping on my left leg slightly out of camp. But that didn’t stop me from walking my usual pace in order to fight it.

At Jurong Point, I had my early dinner before buying an earpiece for my sister as well as an EXO cap for myself. Photo below:

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This, in addition to the EXO headphones and Chanyeol Memo Pad as well as the Overdose T-shirt which I already own. Yeah, I’m addicted to EXO like that, lol.

K bye

Perfect…

I know I’m in for a good day when I get the perfect start to it: first to board the bus & also the first to alight it upon reaching the bus terminal, outsmarting my “rivals” & blocking their way in the process.

To be frank, they’ve always treated this as some sort of psychological race to exit the bus first. I was initially played out by them, but after knowing their ‘strategy’, I came up with ways to neutralise them entirely. And it works like a charm every single time. Major psychological boost for me.

Additionally, I’ve always been habitually early since my primary school days though there was the rare occasion where I’d either be just in time or somewhat late. I usually blame the latter on bad traffic & questionable driving skills of the bus/train captains themselves. When that happens, I get really riled up as I’m the type of person who never wants to be late for absolutely anything.

Rain*3!

What a rainy afternoon it was; despite that, the team of contract workers I was supervising managed to complete their leak repair job within 2-3 hours. Their foreman, from what I’ve heard and seen for myself, is probably the best that Ley Choon has provided PUB & DTZ staff with. He’s cooperative, observant and hardworking; his men aren’t that bad, either.

Not to mention caring; he even asked if I wanted to go have my lunch while he & his crew were having theirs in the shade while waiting out the rain. I kindly declined, saying that as soon as our PUB guys had returned, I could go off and eat.

On the bright side, I could go search for my fast food restaurants to choose from and eat at. Hahaha!

That’s it.. Bye..

Who’s the smartest one of all?

Hahaha! Simple, yet meaningful.

Butterfly Mind

We sat at the dinner table the other night arguing about which one of us is smartest. I don’t remember who started it, but one of us asked, “Who do you think the smartest person in our family is?”

To which we all replied, “I am.” Of course.

Then our 9 year-old daughter said, “Actually, I think Dad’s the smartest.”

“Whaaat?” I said. Traitor.

She had the grace to squirm in her seat. “Why’s Dad the smartest?” I asked.

“Because he’s a scientist and a teacher.”

“So scientists are automatically smarter than everyone else?” I said. Where do we get these ideas? I remember thinking the same thing when I was young.

“Well,” she squirmed some more. “He’s also a teacher,” she said.

“Mom’s a teacher, too,” said our 11 year-old son. My hero. “She teaches people how to WordPress.”

Our daughter teased her older brother. “You need to…

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Schizophrenia in Damascus

Surprisingly contrasting.. Considering it’s two sides of the same country being described here

dianadarke

Nothing in Damascus was as expected. Convinced there would be food shortages, I had vowed to eat very little during my stay. Yet while the besieged suburbs are starving, the central food markets are overflowing.

The fruit stalls of Sharia al-Amin boast bananas from Somalia, the Bzouriye spice markets are buoyant with top-quality saffron from Iran and walnuts from Afghanistan. Lebanese wine and beer are freely available. Prices are higher than before, but still largely affordable for most people.

Sandwiched between the heavily-armed checkpoints, street stands selling thick hot Aleppan sakhlab, a sweet white drink, are everywhere.

Cafes and pastry shops are bursting with sticky delicacies, the famous Bakdash ice-cream parlour is buzzing with people as ever.

Bakdash ice cream parlour, October 2014
There are still spices in the Bzouriye market, just as in this photo from 2012

To judge from the carpets of cigarette butts on the pavements, smoking rates, always high, are higher than ever. In the main thoroughfare of Souq al-Hamidiya all the usual clothes and flamboyant underwear…

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We talked to our kids about souls

Beautiful and very meaningful open discussion with the kids.. Now that’s what I call parenting!

Butterfly Mind

Swinging Bridge at Babcock State Park, West Virginia, autumn on andreabadgley.com Swinging Bridge at Babcock State Park, West Virginia

“Hey Mom, are trees living things or living beings?”

Our nine year old son looked into the forest then up at me as we hiked side by side along a gurgling brook. His dad and sister walked a few steps ahead of us. Upstream was the Glade Creek Grist Mill in West Virginia, a rustic wooden building with a pitched roof. Today its wet planks were framed by yellowing autumn trees.

“I guess that depends on what you mean by living being,” I said. “I think of a being as — ” I tried to think of words that would be familiar to him. I failed. “As a sentient being — something that has a soul.” The path was littered in gold, red, and toast brown leaves, and I kicked at a drift with my leather hiking shoe.

“Personally, I think of trees…

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Weekday thing

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How Jurong East bus interchange looks like on a typical weekday morning, before 6am. Though I’m certain it’s a daily one, but I don’t work weekends.. So yeah, this is one of the many things that make Singapore unique, especially when at least half of their drivers are foreigners.. 😒😒😒