Kittens

Yesterday, when I was waiting to clear the stuff from the funeral at Teck Whye, Ah Jian (knowing my love for animals), told me that he spotted a litter of kittens nearby. I hurriedly hopped over and take a look. The kittens are truly guilty of killing me with their innocence. When I held BabyGray in my hands donned in half-finger gloves, she snuggled towards my bare-skinned wrist to feel my bodily warmth.

I almost decided to bring them back. But I could not get past the hurdle of the thought that I might we be separating them from their mother forever. Though I know that they'll probably leave their mother(or the other way round) in due course, but at least they get to spend a few days of kinship, suckling from their mummy.

How can this post be completed without Nini-the-Cat.

ยากให้อยู่ด้วยไหม

In the past 10 days

. My birthday only reminds me of a cruel 4 letter acronym - IPPT or individual physical proficiency test. Or is it the opposite? Every year, as my birthday drew near, my stress level would increase. I would be thinking of ways to sneak pass my IPPT. This year is a bad year for IPPT. Martian took another 2 weeks of medical leave after her month long leave, which leaves me with all the work at the office. I became increasingly worried that I could not pass my 2.4km run without training. Fortunately, I did.

.. Shuyan stinged me a chat on MSN a couple of days ago. The first since 3 years has passed. Thought the contents of the chat were nothing intimate, it was enough to stir a mini storm in my almost pacified memory. 

The bigger the pond, the further the ripples will travel. 

The deeper the emotions, ... ...

... I wanted to get Rose, Daisy and Apple, and Nini-the-Cat some goodies yesterday for, I have dedicated my birthday to them. But I had to help with work because of a short of manpower for the work yesterday. Nonetheless, I am certain I will get them some good stuff these few days.

.... I picked up my degree certificate at RELC a few days ago.

..... 劍 invited me to follow him back to China next year. I am contemplating.

...... I had a bad dinner at ThaiExpress 2 days ago. But I made it up with a good one yesterday at See Hoi (101).

....... I got a bad haircut at Jantzen, courtesy of Johnson. Seamonkey got one average haircut and a bad hairwash, courtesy of Fanny and BuiBui. Fanny was not as bad as Johnson. Could not blame the hairdresser, Ann was just too good.

Thanks to Geok Cheng, Bang, Tiko, Wanping, Gohzi & Emilia for yours wishes.

The Wait

My last sleep lasted for 12 hours. Yesterday, I retreated to my bed at 20 00 hrs and hibernated till 8 am this morning. I would not say the sleep was satisfying for I woke up with a heavy headache this morning.

The story behind my long sleep is as follows:

Ah Xiang was due to arrive on the 12th 05 00 hrs. I decided to receive him at the airport for fear anything might go wrong with his clearance at the checkpoint. In view of that, I decided to stay back in the office for the night.

Having taken too much tea, I believe, during the day, I find myself having problems getting to sleep. I eventually fell asleep, or at least half-asleep, at around 12 30 hrs. I was then shaken awake by a series of noise which consist of trolley pushing and tables dragging. I went through the possibility of a thief, before actually checking it out myself. It was Jian.

Someone had ordered logistic for a funeral and I really cannot blame the dead for needing the service at that unearthly hours. For some reasons, Jian was not the usual half-dead. He was energetic when I saw him and he smilingly ask why I had not gone home. I told him that I would be fetching Xiang from the airport later, which I believe boosted his morale for the rest of the day.

I tried to get back to sleep again. The tea power was still winning and I finally gave up and went for a quick wash up at 03 00 hrs. I drove the truck peacefully along ECP, listening to Yes933 on the radio. When I reached the airport, I got a shock of my life! It was only 03 45hrs. I checked the arrival schedule. Oh, MU543 will be landing 15 minutes earlier than scheduled. I then walk the entire terminal one round before settling down at Mac Donalds for a Big Breakfast.

I finished my breakfast at 04 30 hrs and went to Gate 41 to await the arrival of a capable worker. There was a vagrant (it seems) making the bench his bed. When he took off his shoes, a terrible pong fills the localised atmosphere, within which I was. I nearly fainted. He went on to scratch his lower privates, which was quite an obscene sight.

04 50 hrs - MU 543 Landed ... Wait

05 00 hrs - Flight attendants exited ... Wait

05 30 hrs - First few luggage were born ... Wait

05 45 hrs - Bulk of the passengers got their luggage and left ... Wait

It was not until 06 20 that Xiang was spotted. Throughout the wait, I imagined the tragedy that I could have missed him and he had gone to the MRT or taxi stand. 

I was lucky though, there were many foreign workers agents who have not met their charge even after I left. A remarkable one was Mr and Mrs Pink. A couple who wore pink tops. Mr Pink was restless, then irritated, and finally infuriated by the wait. Poor him.

Apple

Apple really made me ROFL. Last week, I saw a stain on her head and kindly offered to wash. Fair enough, she was co-operative throughout. I then went out to make some delivery and when I came back. I thought a new dog had come because I do not recognise that pooch. Apple had camo'ed on.

On another incident, Apple saw a bone on the floor, but could not reach it(luckily). But it happened that Or-or the bird saw it too. Or-or flew down from the ceiling frame and chow down on the leftover bone. Apple barked at Or-or, to the oblivion of the latter.

Apple's best friend has to be Nini the cat. And Nini has no fear being close to Apple and drinking from her dish. It's probably due to the similar colour of their coat, or they are just made for each other. Who says there are natural enemy? (exception: me and the mosquitos/flies/red ants)

Singapore Laziest A$$

I gave the acronym SLA a long thought before deciding that it stands for Singapore's Laziest Ass. I had exercised restrain with the last word, thought I could be more specific with the region extending it with the 'h' word. A few days ago, I went to Revenue House to apply for a license to hold a funeral. Absurd. If the SLA do not grant it, the dead would not even have a place for a wake. But this is Singapore for you.

The highlight of the visit is that I am the only person in the queue, or rather, I am the queue itself. From the picture, you could see that I pressed for the ticket at 15:05 hrs. But I hope I did not mislead you with the date/time marking of my camera, for I did not get served until 15:50 hrs. While I was there, the air-conditioner was at full blast, the five counters were labelled (1)Reception (2)Service (3)Service (4) Document Lodging (5)Document Lodging. Counter 1 was occupied by a mudman who has no interest for anything else other than checking email, surfing the net and sucking up to a caucasian customer. Counter 2 was occupied by another mudman who has the same interest as mudman 1. Counters 3 and 4 are empty, and behind Counter 5 was a lady who seemed eternally busy with stapling, binding and flipping through papers after serving the only customer I had seen that day.

When it was finally my turn, my transaction finished within 5 minutes, within which I got vacuumed of $43.80. I handed the document to the 'mail counter' and left. Efficient, as the government so boasted. But what about the waiting time? 15 minutes? 50 minutes? 傻傻分不清楚。