Out of Here

Went out with Xuguang and Mike yesterday.

Xuguang called me in the afternoon and told me that he would be meeting Mike at 2.30pm and asked if I wanted to tag along. I was sleeping at that point of time and didn't really respond to him. I replied in a blur tone and told him that I would join them afterwards, as soon as I had finished my beauty nap.
But the fucking weakness about me is that I am easily awakened by light noises and that the chances of me going back to sleep right away are extremely low.
Most of the time after being distracted from my sleep I would be closing my eyes and lying there hoping that I would be fast asleep again. It would probably take some time before my soul find it's way back into Dreamland.

I think that's the reason why even though whenever I am sleeping in the inner bunk of the duty room, the person who wakes up and open the door for the cleaner aunties is always me.
The two other persons sleeping nearer to the entrance would be like fucking deep in slumber and would remain motionless no matter how hard the aunties were banging on the door.
It would take them like 15 minutes or more to realise that there is somebody outside trying to get in.
That would be equivalent to a massive explosion going off and still sleeping for 30 seconds.
By the time they really woke up, I would have already opened the door myself and lying down back in bed.
There are actually times whereby I was so lazy and tired that I wanted so much to throw my shoe at one of them so as to wake him up.
Fucking sleeping nearest to the entrance still not making ownself useful.
But I would usually just pass the idea,
as I could open the side door and then head to the toilet on the way,
since my urine was being held back since 6 hours before.

After Xuguang had called me, I was lying on my bed and thinking whether to get up or not.
I wasn't going to continue sleeping anymore and thought that it might be better if I spend more time of my weekends outside rather than at home. I took my time and got dressed up. I left my house and decided to take an Express bus to Orchard since the weather was hot and the sun was bright. I boarded the bus when it reached after approximately 45 minutes.

'Waiting' used to be an annoying problem for me.
But not anymore since my Gameboy Advance is always brought along with me almost everywhere I go now. It is such a great companion that even if one is doing his/her private business in the toilet, the Gameboy would still be able to perform it's worth.
This shows that guys are of a better company than that of a gal's,
otherwise there would be a Gamegirl too.
Actually, I didn't own one all the while. Come to think of it, I really have to thank my girlfriend for giving me so much motivation in getting a Gameboy.
She is 99.99% late all the time and it's not easy to achieve her kind of standard even though one is trying hard to be late on purpose.
Out of like 100 times, she might be early once or twice,
but to count on her being early would be like counting on myself to be striking the million dollar toto.
It was then that I found out it's her natural born talent which I am referring to,
and that there wasn't any cure for this no matter how hard I tried to make Annabelle improve on her time management skills...
So I bought a Gameboy Advance in the end.

At least 'waiting' is no longer wasting time anymore.
It's more of a challenge to me in using time wisely and completing the games which I had installed.

I took the 518 Express bus to Far East Plaza and alighted.
I called Xuguang on the handphone hoping that they would be somewhere nearby. But it turned out that both Xuguang and Mike were at Paragon.
I walked my way there while munching on the Squid heads which I had bought at the Old Chang Kee branch outside Far East.
I reached Paragon and proceeded to the SIA junction on the 2nd floor after calling Xuguang another time. He and one of his friend, Moses, were waiting for Mike and his dad to collect the air tickets.

Taiwan sia.
Xuguang going overseas with friends.

While waiting for the tickets to be recieved, I was sitting down together with Xuguang and Moses, facing one of the TV just in front of me.
Both Xuguang and Moses were so excited with the trip and all, they had so much to talk about.
I was kind of left out so I might as well watch TV and ignore them for a while.
The debate was showing and it seems like wherever there is Channel News Asia,
there is bound to have a session going on.

I only have one thing to conclude from those excellent debaters.
They may be smart and good in their speeches,
but they probably still have to work hard on their nerdy appearances if whichever of them by any chance,
wants to get laid.

After getting the tickets,
we roamed Orchard aimlessly trying to pass some time, hoping that when night came,
there would be something more constructive for us to do.

Orchard was packed as usual.
There were people everywhere, and at every traffic light junction, large masses of people would be gathered at both sides waiting for the green man to light up.
Once lit, People would rush their ways forward at their own pace and against the others coming from the opposite direction.
Imagine them in shining armors, wielding swords and carrying protective shields.

It would be like a war in medieval times.

Moses left to accompany his gal and the 3 of us had Long John for dinner before heading down to Spinelli's for some coffee.
We went to catch 'Night Watch' at Cineleisure and I left halfway during the movie.
Annabelle had finished work early and I didn't want her to wait,
so I left the cinema in a hurry while trying to call her and meet up together.

We watched 'Initial D' back in my house and slept after that.
Annabelle is supposed to go for school this morning but unfortunately,
she is still sleeping.
Yes.
As of now, I am typing all these and she is still soundly asleep.

I feel so much like travelling out of Singapore too.
I will in the future, with my friends and no relatives around.
I would want to go somewhere much farther than the usual places like Australia or even Taiwan.

Maybe like...
Somewhere in outer space.

Keeping the Victory

How far would one go?
In order to win.
For honour and glory or just mainly for the title.

People evolve when playing carrom,
especially when it's a competition one is talking about.
They become into something which they are not.
It's like I don't even know them anymore.
Someone whom I have never related to at all.

The league goes on and it is nearly coming to an end.
But Dr jeremy had came up with new championship cups so there would still be official games to play.
In other words,
the obsessed guy is just finding new excuses to play carrom more seriously.

During the league, I played with many people.
I played about 14 games and had a balanced score of 7 wins and 7 losses.

It's more about luck if you ask me.
And of course, abit of accuracy and tactics.
But the chances of winning increases tenfold when the opponent's seeds are kept.
Not everyone is good in backstrokes especially when the carrom board and striker seed are not smooth enough.
The key to winning here would be to keep as many seeds as you can,
regardless of whether intentionally or not.
Usually one wouldn't keep a seed purposely as it is considered to be 'cheating' or playing 'unfair'.
So people would actually pretend to hit their own seeds first by some means and then hopefully getting the same result of keeping the opponent's seed.

'Sorry ah.'
'Accidentally hit your one then keep liao.'
But what goes on inside the mind would be like...
'Alright! that would keep you busy for awhile.'

I once talked to Elias about the unfair conditions.
He told me that whatever it is,
the game is fair.
There aren't rules saying that the seeds cannot be kept.
If one is keeping the seeds then the other player can do the same too,
and it comes down to whoever with the better skill of backstrokes win.

It sounds logical to me.
But obviously almost everyone here sucks at backstroke.
Even the better ones don't even have a 100% accuracy of just touching the seed.
If there are 2 persons playing against each other with all of their own seeds being kept,
and relying entirely on backstrokes,
I would say that the guy with very good luck and moderate accuracy would win even if his opponent is the best player in our company.
It's kind of sad but that's how carrom is over here.

If one is talking about true professionals with a set of smooth board and new seeds,
then it's totally a different story to begin with.

Ultimately, whether the game is fair or not,
it's still up to individuals.

Elias also told me that he is fair.
I told him that it's simply outrageous for him to say that.
What he needs to do is,
look at himself in the mirror before he calls himself that.

So black already still can say himself fair.

Cutting Edge

Went to cut my hair on Wednesday evening after I reached home from work.

It was time for me to get a haircut.
It was getting long and thick like that of a cauliflower.
Every now and then people would come up and tell me that my hair is exceeding it's limit.
I would probably be mistaken as a Hip Hop kind of guy for keeping a huge microphone on top of my head.
Afro, to be exact.
Personally, I prefer dreadlocks.
It's just too cool to be having so much unkempt hair tied up together and attracting houseflies all over the head.
At least one won't feel lonely even if all his friends and relatives have abandoned him because of a smell they couldn't handle.




I made an appointment with the barber,
after several times when I went to the place and found out that it was already closed.
So that she would know that I was coming and she would wait specially for me,
even if I were to go down after Midnight.
I reached there around 7pm and she was still attending to another customer.
She told me to take a seat first in the meantime while trying to finish up and then putting the other lady on hold.
I sat down, took one of the comics to read and waited for my turn to come. I was reading 'Lao Fu Zi', the funny comic which is well known by youngsters and it's able to make one laugh just by looking at the pictures alone, without having to read the texts at all.

After about 10 to 15 mins or so,
the other lady customer was being led to another chair and the steaming machine was then used on her. The amount of heat given out from the machine is enough to cook her hair or even the whole head.
Like steamed buns like that.
The smoke coming out is confusing too.
One would never know whether the machine is malfunctioning or not.
Smoke coming out from it is a natural process,
but when the machine is being handled improperly or is frequently overheated,
smoke would probably appear too.
I guess the only way to find out whether the machine needs maintenance or not is when an explosion occurs and somebody's head is being blasted into minced meat.

I placed the comic book back and told the barber that I wanted the usual haircut.
The short and thin type, with a slope behind.
Any shorter and it would be like botak.
She took out a electric shaver and started to go by the sides and the back.

Before I knew what was happening, I was dozing off like as though my neck has no support.

My head was dropping down and I had to force myself to be awake.
I was like giving a quick nod every minute while trying to keep still.
The barber was holding onto my head whenever it tilted. She also asked me why I was so tired and I replied her saying that it should be because of work. I had to give her a reason if not she might think that it's her boring conversation between us which was the cause.
I tried very hard to remain conscious but failed.
Throughout the whole process I was struggling with my senses.
Luckily it turned out to be pretty fine,
with no difference from the other times when I had my haircut there.

I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if anything went wrong.
I might have a draft of the world map on my head if the barber shaved continuously without supporting me in position and leaving patches of uneven hair all over.

Know Your Role

Another carrom competition carries on.

Kong and Victor have emerged as champions from the previous one and also have yet to claim their prize money of $22.50 each.
A new competition was being held again yesterday, but it was a single's match instead of a double's. Many people, including myself were anticipating for an event like this to come. There wasn't any prize money mentioned but it didn't matter because everyone knew that it was the pride and honour that's important.
Times are bad.
Economic isn't getting much better so the only money that our carrom federation could offer had already belonged to Kong and Victor,
which is also still in debt.
Everyone would get the chance to play with each other and only the true sportsman could outdo the rest.
He would be known as the chosen one.

Who could it be?

Could it be Kong the pirate?
The reason why Kong is being labeled as a pirate is because he carries around a mini sword, like those of a pirate cutlass. Before being a pirate, he used to be a blacksmith. He made many weapons, from a broad sword to a pair of bow and arrow.
He could easily be the world's most wanted man,
if all his weapons weren't made from styrofoam and lots of masking tape.
However, he was later on caught by Mdm Ng and was warned not to continue his trade. He kept the remaining weapons and became a reowned pirate after that.
He would usually carry his cutlass while playing carrom and shouting
'Walk the plank!' occasionally.
Being the champion from the previous competition, he managed to win 3 matches consecutively yesterday...
Even without holding on to his beloved cutlass and saying his usual taunts.

Could it be Elias?
Elias is a rather accurate shooter.
His accuracy pretty much depends on his form.
He would be one of the sharpest player if so.
Without it, he sucks like an amateur and loses like a jackass.
He likes to talk nonsense but when he's playing carrom at an event like this, he is serious without expressions.
He might smile abit or so, but one couldn't really notice since the lighting in the mess room isn't good and that he's slightly less blacker than charcoal.

Could it be Victor?
Slow and steady wins the race.
Victor is one guy who is calm throughout the whole match. Even if he is behind his opponent by a number of seeds, he will still be keeping up his morale and confidence.
Eventually he would win the match by catching up and scoring the last seed.
This is an example of what actually happened yesterday when I played with him.
Victor is not his full name.
It's Victorious.

The above 3 mentioned are from the Lab station alone.
Seems like there's alot of good blood in that place.

Too bad there's a 'Burden' being the IC there.
Being an old man as he is,
he's a fucking pain in the ass for practically everyone, especially the Lab station itself.
Tham is the most fucking burden I can think of in our whole company, aside from Alien King Isaac Wong.
To be fucking useless is still not enough for him.
He has to be a burden to everyone else by creating unnecessary problems for them.

How can anyone be such a nuisance in life?

It's already a bother for such an useless person to be around.
Not having to lend a helping hand in work is already bad enough. But to further create problems for people is just a fucking selfish act which should not be tolerated.

To be truthful and specific as much as possible,
Tham has already upgraded himself from being a Burden to one of maximum level.

A Hindrance.

Kong and I once talked about how this kind of people would end up when they die.
I mean like,
all of them deserve to die straight away but we were discussing more about after death issues.
It would then be a question of whether Heaven of Hell they would go.
Probably they're people who are useless and losers in life, but they still have a decent heart afterall so they might have the chance of going into Heaven. They could be walking towards the gates of Heaven happily and thinking of how well they would dwell in such a place.

Chances are...
There would be a change of events in stored for them when they came close to Heaven.

The scouts on the high grounds would go like...
'BURDENS SPOTTED!!!'
'SOUND THE ALARMS!!!'
'CLOSE THE GATES!!!'

An entire battalion of army would rush their way with giant spears and standing guard behind the closed gates.
Hundreds of archers would be aligned on the towers so as to backup the troops.

'DO NOT LET THE BURDENS THROUGH AT ALL COSTS!!!!!'
The commander would shout his lungs out to all of his soldiers and making sure that his message was clear.

Meanwhile, the scouts would deliver some more news saying that it was actually Tham and Isaac. They were both holding hands with each other and slowly backing off when they saw what was happening. They realised that they were not welcomed at all and had no choice but to turn back and proceed straight to Hell.
Everyone in Heaven roared with victory and then celebrated their hearts out by indulging in feasts with their family and friends.

But then again for the Burdens,
The gates of Hell might do the same thing and they would be left somewhere in the edge of the galaxy filled with unwanted Burdens.

Who else could the winner of the carrom competition be?

Could it be Dr Jeremy?
Dr Jeremy is one cartoon guy.
He is also one of the nicest Medical Officer around. He can be rather sharp but also blur at the same time. He is quite agitated when playing carrom and can be seen patting his leg whenever he misses his shots. It's like giving a banana to an Orangutan and it would say thanks by patting it's leg.
He likes to praise his opponent too.
His opponent can be a very lousy player. Someone who keeps missing his shots and never scoring at all. But once he scores one seed, just one miserable seed...
Dr Jeremy will say...
'Wa... Top Form.'
'This guy Top Form liao.'

Could it be Dr Lim Chan Meng?
Dr Lim is the most accurate player among all the Medical Officers.
The only flaw about him is that,
he talks to himself.
He can be heard mumbling to himself whenever his opponent is about to shoot.
'Eh.. Don't touch my seed leh..'
'Ah.. dui le...da na ge.. bu yao da wo de..'
Sometimes I wonder if he would mumble like this when he's lying on his bed and trying to overcome his nightmare after a long day of carrom rounds.

Could it be Dr Lee Chu Muk?
I don't think Dr Lee was taking part in the competition but he sure left an impression on me when he played during the previous competition together with Dr Chia.
Our carrom board is supported by a small stool-like table and everyone would be sitting cross legged on the ground.
It is only Dr Lee, whose sitting position is the most unique that made him the most sexy Medical Officer ever in the history of Cmpb.
The way he sits is like this...



As if applying moisturizer to his pair of seductive legs or resting at the seaside like a beautiful mermaid waiting for her prince charming to come.

Could it be Alien King Aka Isaac Wong?
A fucking Burden who is well disliked by everyone.
The only reason why he is playing is because he can be a free frag for those who finds themselves less worthy. Anyone can just thrash the hell out of him blindfolded so as to boost back his morale and confidence.
He can't aim for fuck's sake but he might just win the competition if his pores behind his back start to pop out and poison everyone else.
His thick sausage lips are also completely hideous and scare the shit out of people, thus making them less motivated in winning the game.
His face looks like this,
if he goes unshaved for a few weeks.




Or could it be Master Huang?
The Huang Feihong from Serangoon and not from China.
Even though he did not participate in the competition but I am very sure that he would win if he does.
Note that the label is not manually typed and that Huang Feihong do exists.
The reason why people call him Master is that he is highly skilled in martial arts and that he's a teacher of many. What people do not know is that 'Master' is actually his English name.



It's not only a term.
It's a name.
Huang Feihong, Master.

The winner could also be anyone...
Aaron, John, Li Soon, Joshua and many others.
Everyone stands a chance.
But I think the one who is the most likely to win would be none other than...

Myself.
Who have already lost two rounds yesterday.
But not anymore!