State of the Public Transport

Have you ever dreaded taking public transport? Dreamt about owning your own car? How about a personal chauffer? Or more remotely, wished they somehow had perfected the transporter beam?

There are some among us who can afford but just won't find it economical to drive around. Then there are those who cannot afford buying a tyre without stressing out their budgets. The minority who can afford but chose not to for reasons other than economics, i.e. environmental, personal, etc.

One way or another, most of us are stuck with cramming up like sardines in public transport. I will narrate why I loathe the self-proclaimed "World-class" public transport. Come rush hour, you would be lucky enough to be able to step into either the train or bus. Sometimes it can be so crammed that you'd end up with your face in someone else's back, and still the people just keep cramming in!

Then there's the drivers with sh*t for brains, travelling at snail pace, picking up "phantom" passengers from deserted stops and stopping at green lights. I mean, where the heck do these people come from? Next are the other commuters that ruin your ride. The inconsiderate (or illiterate?) idiots who can't seem to get the idea the world doesn't revolve around them. I mean, is it that hard to stand aside for disembarking passengers? Can't understand why the escalators are jammed up? Chances are there's an idiot happily standing on the right/express lane. I mean come on! Even the less educated "ah-mahs" in HK can do better than you! And I haven't even got to those who "magically" fall asleep or become blind when an old lady or a pregnant one comes on board...

Just the other day on my way home, a man boarded a few stops after me and then occupied the seat beside mine. Then it hit me, right in the face. The stench of the dreaded Athlete's feet.... I was like "Whooooooooff.....!!!!! WTF!!!!". Are these people even aware of it? I guess they must take pleasure in conducting such chemical warfare on fellow commuters. By the time I disembarked, I felt like a Holocaust survivor....

Note to self, have a face mask ready in bag at all times.

Any bad personal experiences? Share them.

Minor ramblings on a sleepless night

It's one of those nights plagued with insomnia and so here I am to summarise some thoughts of the events that have come to pass.

First up, there's the coup and counter-coup within a local organisation that has drama written all over it. Amidst all the big hoo-ha over the incident, I find it mildly amusing that a small organisation with a membership of 3000 (effectively less than that have voting rights) claiming to represent a 3-million size population. Sounds arrogant and elitist to me.

Now if we go deeper into this cesspool, we get to the mudslinging of claims and counter-claims (whoopee). Apparantly, it began with an issue with the "direction" (ahem ahem) the organistion has been gearing towards but in the end it mutated into an issue with secularism and "civil movement". It's all a farce and a damn big joke if you asked me. It is of no surprise to me that, after the counter-coup parties claimed "victory" in the name of "tolerance", a certain group organised a "support" event shortly after. If there was to be a "victory" parade, it's very subtle indeed.

On the flip side, after a roller-coaster season (the up has been good but the occassional down was too sttep for my liking), I can finally heave a sigh of relief as the championship has been sewn up. Making it even better was denying the arch-rival any further attempts to churn up their nonsense. Sure you've beaten us twice but what has that got you? I guess it's finally time for me to do the gloating huh? But don't worry, I'll hold it off for just another few more days before I finally let it rip. Having been at the recieving end of some rather unsavoury comments posted up in FB, I'll be civil enough so as not to drop to your level. Revenge is a dish best served cold indeed.

Finally, been busy working and working. Job and hobby. Yes yes, I know I spend too much free time either on my hobby or on the internet. I got hooked on a certain anime too, even though it's one year late but hey, at least I don't get the chance to splurge on related merchandise anymore. Lately, I think I'm displaying more and more of the otaku trait. i.e. buying/wearing anime related clothing, hanging toys on my bag, unveiling that gigantic framed wedding poster of my favourite character.... (yes yes, I'm not running from the fact that I'm still single and unwanted)

One last note. Here's a song found within that anime. I think I know a few people who will probably loathe this song if they knew what it is about. ;)

http://www.esnips.com/doc/0414489c-b97c-4b67-9a07-017d5667da64/01---Misoji-Misaki

The writer is still not able to sleep. That pile of comics in the corner is starting to look very tempting....

I need a break but not like this!

Ever had one of those days where you did something against your better judgement and end up being a big loser? Yesterday for me was one of those days. I went to work despite harbouring an awesome headache.

Before you jumped to conclusions, this had nothing to do with the fact that it was a Monday, nor was it psychological. The pressure inside my head was really something and if not for the pills I popped, I could barely be standing up by mid-day. Now I'm not about to be endorsing any commercial products here but those pills were a life-saver.

For most of the day, I tried taking it easy with a persistent pain at the back of my head. Fueled entirely by caffeine and paracetamol. Knock off time couldn't have come any earlier as I withstood the torturous journey home on public transport. Again, instead of heading to see a physician, I decided to sleep it off. It didn't help as the headache persisted this morning. I took my first sick leave for the year after soldiering on for many similar occasions earlier on. So here I am, sleeping off the day at home without any signs of improvement as the pain continues to linger in the head but I must get back to work soon....

The writer doubts the situation will improve come morning and wishes to clarify that he is NOT a workaholic. Really.

Ode to my Mother

I know you can no longer hear what I have to say, nor read what I write but I still will write this anyway. Ever since that dark drizzling night I have always felt the deep regrets of not having said what I needed to say.

The others are bound to start labelling me as mummy's boy but I know otherwise. What do they know about the loss of someone who has been a constant pillar of strength and support? How many of them have lost someone dearest to them, forever?

I hope you have gone in peace, free from the torture and burden of leaving us behind. All of us are more or less grown up by now and living fairly independent lives. We know we have caused you much grief throughout our lives and we hope you forgive us. I personally know I had not been up to your expectations since going from the top of the class to middle of the class mediocrity, culminating in the extreme disappointment of that certain period during secondary school.

Since that day, I had picked myself up and started climbing again. Although I could never climb to the level most parents would have wanted their kids, it was the way which I chose to go and I know you have always been supportive of that. I have always been grateful for your presence during the depressing periods I had to endure throughout my polytechnic and army years. It may not be much but having you and father pin on my epaulets was one of the proudest and happiest moments of my life. Close to that would be having our family photo taken during my graduation. In these two milestones of my life, I hope I had redeemed myself somewhat and done you proud.

Although I often accuse you of favouritism towards my younger siblings, I know you take the effort for me too. I will never forget how, when I mentioned about the torturous smell of curry making us hungry during our long march exercise in near starvation conditions, you proceeded to cook curry for me when I booked out that weekend. It was heavenly.

The moment I saw you lying in the ICU, I broke down abruptly. I had never realised how much you meant to me till then but we all know that it's usually too little too late. When you finally left, it was a crushing blow to all of us, most of all for dad. It hurts to see him retain his composure for our sake, it hurts even more to see the parting tears in your eyes and having all these words bottled up inside with no longer any avenues for them to be heard.

You have never celebrated Mother's day because you don't believe in such a day but "Happy Mother's Day" nontheless. It is with deep regrets that I have never done much for you but I want you to know that I have always loved you. To the Greatest Mother of all. One who have given us so much.

The writer wishes all mums a Happy Mother's Day.