Rant on bus 0 lalalas
Annoyed at buses going to-from NUS. Last night went to watch a free jazz trio performance (piano, bass, and drums) - fell asleep through half of it due to lack of sleep and due to jazz music's lack of adrenaline-inducing beats unlike say, Korean percussion drums.
But best part is after the performance ended. I was waiting for #96 bus to get to an MRT station to get back home. 2 minutes passed, a completely full bus passed by. 15 more minutes, another completely full bus. Another 15 minutes, 3rd full bus. It was 9 something pm when the performance ended so I didn't realize it was that hard to get a bus at this freaking non-peak hour. So tried to walk to the MRT seeing that it was 4 stops away or so, not too bad what, ~30 minutes of walk ma. Guess what, got lost but later thought I saw road signs pointing to the correct direction that I need to go (because I roughly know the location but not the precise directions). So I walked on like a MFSH and somehow they don't have walking spaces beside the roads. I have no choice but to walk on the sidewalk that is not parallel to roads. When I get out, !@*&^$$# already on a different road. Luckily there was a bus stop nearby. Even then I waited for 20-30 minutes for one bus to turn up (there were 3 buses going to my destination, talking about efficiency). The rest was business as usual, 40-50 minutes of commuting.
Although I admit I am partly to be blamed for not knowing how to walk to the MRT, I am of the opinion that if you can't get a bus after waiting for 40 minutes in your World's Top University at 9 p.m. that is pretty screwed up (almost as screwed up as those Malaysian buses last time I was there). Anyway the latest strategy to improve commuting experience is to introduce a more accurate predicting system. Let's apply this to my case. The system detects the bus is full, so from saying "Arriving" it displays "15 minutes". Then after 5 minutes aiyo another bus also full wor, so from say "10 minutes" it becomes "25 minutes". So what am I supposed to do with that information? Call a cab and pay $5 for what you usually get for $0.69? Continue waiting? What if the bus is your only way to get there and you keep getting all these full buses for the next 30 minutes? Judge for yourself how useful the perfect prediction system is.
Then this morning, I only managed to get into the 3rd bus after about 30 minutes of wait (on a good day, it takes 10-15 minutes to complete the whole journey). If this is Malaysia, I won't be surprised. But this is Singapore wor, developed country wor. Another interesting thing that my colleague pointed out was that during university vacation period and now that school reopened, the bus frequency is still the same whereas passenger volume has increased by maybe four- or five-folds. In UBC, in the same case, there would be more bus services available and frequency will be increased. I guess it's not that flexible here.
Paise la. Another one of my rant and rave session. Recently commuting and lack of sleep has taken its toll on my temper. But very tired dy right now, so going back to sleep...
Stressed? Break some stuff! 0 lalalas
Taken from twincities.com
"Spanish hotel lets guests smash stress
By HAROLD HECKLE
Article Launched: 07/03/2007 06:01:41 PM CDT
MADRID, Spain—A few lucky people in need of a break from their stress got a chance at some unconventional therapy. A Spanish hotel chain planning renovations at one of its Madrid locations offered 30 "highly stressed out people"—selected by a team of psychologists—the chance to take up sledge hammers and battering rams and smash through its rooms Tuesday.
Rampage they did.
Wearing protective dust masks, goggles, white overalls, helmets and gloves, the amateur demolition crew swung hammers into television sets and bedroom walls and tossed beds and desks like hard-partying rock stars.
The NH Alcala hotel, part of a chain of 335 hotels on three continents, said it decided to forgo hiring professional demolition companies and let selected customers start its facelift as a way to generate some headline-making publicity.
"Who hasn't dreamed, in the middle of a stress attack, of breaking everything around them?" NH hotels said in a statement.
Psychologist Laura Garcia Agustin explained, "After a few blows comes exhaustion and with it the release of pain-relieving endorphins which make us feel much better."
Those picked for the stress-relieving smash-up will be invited back to admire the hotel's new interior in September, the chain said. "
My, my, isn't that just sweet? But wouldn't playing Postal 2 be better???
Brilliant lame joke 0 lalalas
I got this one from one of my church members during the GIG:
A man was trapped in a cell with only a table inside it. But he escaped. How?
The answer was:
He rubbed his arm so that it became sore (/saw) , then he used the sore to cut the table into halves. Two halves make a whole (/hole). He jumped out through the whole and cried until his voice became hoarse (/horse). Then he jumped onto the hoarse and escaped.
The moral of the story:
Becoming a doctor is very pressurizing.
THIS FEW DAYS Part 1 0 lalalas
Ridzuan Condo's (the place I'm living now) parking lot roughed up by the storm
Destruction caused by the storm near Inti Subang Jaya
This few days have been crazy. For a few days I've been sleeping v. late, as for how late you can imagine by yourselves. The day before yesterday a HUGE freak storm broke out in Subang Jaya. Large tree branches, and even huge trees fell (the big trees in Taylor's are still standing strong hehe!). Even the Inti Subang Jaya large signboard was broken by the storm (Is it some kind of judgment from heaven a.k.a Divine Retribution...I wonder).
The combination of rain, wind, and thunder was very violent. To say the truth I was a bit excited, because it's like watching a disaster movie. The power supply in Taylor's library was cut off once in a while (strangely, the 1st and 2nd floor of the library was not affected). Then I could hear people screaming while the storm was raging. Perhaps it's because the sound of thunder was about 100++ dBs. Anyway, it's crazy. This is the first rain I saw that really fits the description of "qing pen da yu". It's as if an infinite amount of people were pouring an infinite buckets of water from above.
A lot of things were destroyed. The transportation sector was affected: Roads were blocked by fallen trees, some flash floods, and the KTM connection between Setia Jaya to Port Klang was cut off due to disruptions of electricity supply. Of course, LRTs and monorails were not affected (or else how would KL people survive?). I kind of think that this is a small scale of God's punishment on human who've sinned again and again unrepentantly and without any remorse (Recall the flood in the Bible that destroyed the whole world, before which God instructed Noah to build the ark).
