Le Quotidien

Life has taken a slight twist recently after I started driving in my new baby - the Suzuki SX4. Commuting has become so much easier! Despite the higher expenses incurred from parking and the ERP, driving still beats waiting hopelessly or impatiently for the taxis during peak hours, or the human congestion in the buses and the MRT. Afterall, travelling by public transport is not that economical these days.



Places that are more accesible now:
1. Work (without having to squeeze in the crowded NEL during the morning peak hours);
2. Gym (without having to lug my gym stuff around);
3. Site (without having to lug my obsolete, heavyweight work laptop around);
4. Out-of-the-way dining, chilling places;
5. Quiet nature parks and sanctuaries;
6. Late night clubbing spots (without having to worry about paying the hefty taxi fare home);

Two friends, we were just trying to have some fun by going on this 3-week holiday to Hawai'i, San Francisco, Tokyo and Bangkok, yet each of us came back with a slew of illnesses and injuries that still see no end.

Me:
(1) It probably started with the heatiness that came from the jetlag, and spending too much time sun-tanning on the Waikiki beaches, there were sorethroat and dry lips;
(2) Then my wretched ankle had to act up again, after the fateful twist at Berkeley; (still suffering from it)
(3) The heatiness evolved into a bad, persistent cough;
(4) My thumb got jammed by some stupid airport luggage trolley.

Kevin:
(1) Same as (1) above;
(2) A slew of diarrhoea events, caused by lactose intolerance;
(3) A fall in the toilet at California gym, causing a swollen bump on the right cheek;
(4) Ultimately, an outbreak of chicken pox, thanks to the exposure from P. (still suffering from it)

What more is coming?! Sigh....
 

I'm legally 28 years old now, the final two years before my 30s. Before this day came, I had all those thoughts about how being 28 should be.... 

The french guy in Tanguy stayed with his parents until 28 years old before his parents decided it's time he finds his own apartment and moves out. At that time, I thought I would use 28 as the benchmark age to move out. This issue is not moving! Because it just doesn't make economic sense, and I really ought to save up for my post-DSTA plans.

Being 28 also means that I should be taking more responsibilities in the family. The folks at home are getting old, and before I know it, there may be some chores which I should take on, or some household bills which I should foot. Just this afternoon, mum decided to fix up the new shoe racks that she bought from IKEA, but instead of asking me (the son of 28 years old) to fix it, she asked SJ to do it. Ok, I accept that he's more inclined to technical work, but still, she could have asked me to help. I hope she's not intimidated by me, or showing favouritism towards me.

So, at 28, should I be more adult-like now? This ex-colleague, YP is two days younger than me and she's delivering her first baby and becoming a mother in another 10 days! How should I think or behave like a 28-year-old?

1. Being in love or in a relationship is such a privilege, let alone marriage or lifelong companionship. While going home on the subway yesterday, I started noticing whether other people in the train are wearing wedding rings. Surprisingly...not many! Well, unless people choose not to wear their wedding rings, there are actually not many married people around. Just as portrayed in "Sex and the City", how easy is it for anyone to find someone interesting to you and mutually interested by you to be your boyfriend/girlfriend and eventually your partner? The two 20-something, average-looking women who sat opposite me, talking to each other, were fine examples. One had unstyled long hair, and the other wore auntie-clothes, really average and both un-ringed. I wonder if they have boyfriends, or are even in love? Do they yearn to be in a relationship, and be married at some point in their lives?
 
2. Singaporeans (or most of us) are rude and crude. Taking the subway in the morning peak hours feels like waging a war with other commuters, trying to get ahead of one another while taking the escalator or boarding the train. Why do we exhibit such behaviours? Is that a natural human instinct, or has the resource-scarce society made us so?

3. One colleague who asked questions at a meeting got agitated when another presumptious colleague tried to pre-empt her questions and interrupted to say that she didn't have to know the answers. She fought back sarcastically, and some awkwardness ensued for a while. At that moment, while I admired her courage, I figured I probably would never do such a thing to sour the working relationship. But where should one draw the line? Will I ever do that one day, knowing that I'm right or have the right?