Trainspotting

Figure that the paper tomorrow will be a mishmash of questions from the variety of chapters taught in the many seminars. So well, I’ve done my best to study everything, and I’ve decided not to push too hard this time, seeing what happened before the A&A paper.

So I’ve chilled out the whole day now.

Let’s hope this random walk does me a favour.

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Cameo watch: 807R (31) appeared on 403 for the second day in a row! And 2 MkIIIs, 780H (2) and 631E (2) appeared on 354.

Daily rides: 3648M (359)

The day is in sight. When it all will come to an end.

The curtains will fall, for the final act is nearing its climax.

And a new play is coming to town.

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Cameo watch: 3640J (SP) has been doing rounds, ending up on Express 518 today. 429Z (76) and 279P (53) made appearances on 21 today.

Daily rides: 9528L (81), 429Z (21)

*means Monday Afternoon

The lights dim down
The people shuffle out
The doors close
How about a second bout?

–

The last line doesn’t really fit, but i needed a rhyme. A sudden feeling of melancholy just washed over me, inspiring this ‘thought-filled’ passage that’s about to follow.

Used to have sort of a curfew, in times of no mobile phones or pagers. “Boy ah! Be home by 11!” was the usual cry whenever I headed out closer to the end of the day. Money was scarce then, and well, no one had a car yet. And as I grew older, the allowed time also shifted later, until the mobiles came in and maturity set in.

I must confess, I ain’t exactly your typical night owl. 1am, and my eyelids get droopy. 3am, and I’m already ga-ga. I function best in the evening hours till early midnight. But well, with age comes coffee cravings and supper outings. Still, I try not to go beyond 3. Cos I’ll just waste the next day half awake, half asleep.

Halfway through ‘A Clockwork Orange’, and I must say that I’m really quite glad that I can walk home at 3 in the morning and not worry.

Helps that buses run throughout the night nowadays, and $3 will get me to either of two stops around the neighbourhood. I remember I got stranded at Eunos once, after my ‘O’ levels (long enough ago), and thank goodness for one of these night buses (SN30 I think, run by SMRT then – before they merged with TIBS), I managed to get home cos KR wouldn’t let me sleep in his living room even.

Guess I won’t be facing such problems so often anymore come July.  

Here’s to peaceful nights.

The din dies down
Its 4 o’clock
Traffic is light
Silently open the lock
Home at last
Head for the shower
Curl under the sheets
Restoring power

A new day breaks
Its no longer morn
“Wake up, wake up!”
Dammit, whose horn?!

Heheheh.

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Cameo watch: A day for the voiths, as 7433P (SP), 7436G (72) and 7441R (SP) were on 21, and 7446C (SP/2) was on 12. Weird 3-way swap again, as 3608D (6) was on 354, 3610X (SP/354) was on 359 and 1711B (32) was on 6.

Daily rides: 7408M (12), 7446C (12), 3631K (359)

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Wake up, eat something, go to the loo, shower, pack stuff, take bus out.

Reach place, study, eat lunch, study, get frustrated and fed up, study, eat dinner, go home.

Board the bus, curse at the stupid uncle/auntie who just cut the queue, curse at the fella who squeezes into the already narrow seat, wonder if there’s a chance of seeing ms eye candy anywhere.

Reach home, turn on the computer, chat chat chat, turn on the PS2, winning eleven, play play play, bathe late, hair wet, chat some more, then go to sleep.

Repeat above 14x. 

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Cameo watch: 2813J (168) turned out on 21 today, and 633A (31) was on 359 – couldn’t spot at first cos of similar 2D ads!

Breakdown: 7347E (12) broke down along East Coast Road, opposite Roxy Square.

Daily rides: 9489R (12), 7308T (12)

Well, I’m proud to say that I’m a product of the local school system. Albeit incomplete, but yes, I’m a part of it all right.

From K1 till today.

Well, I wasn’t exactly the model student, but in my formative years I did pretty well for a while, before I got dragged into the mire by the usual lot of boys’ toys. Football, Micro Machines, Nintendo, Sega, just some of the bit parts of my childhood.

Block catching, blah blah.

But still, I didn’t really go on a “slide”. Sure, I was no longer top dog, but well, remaining in the upper echelons of the school system isn’t doing too bad either, is it? I was never born to be a PSC scholar or whatever, neither was I born an athlete. I’m just plain, old, normal me.

Typical life story for every child. Go to school. Do your homework, study for your exam. Pass, or fail. It’s all by the book. It’s all planned nicely. Structured. You only make your first choice at 16. By then, you’re so conditioned, if you’re like me, you’d just remain in your comfort zone and not venture out.

A few years in the service of the nation’ll harden you up, expose you to some of the realities of life.

If you’re lucky like me, you go on into university. There everything goes back to normal, again the books, the lessons. But kudos to the university system. It’s really evolving.

I see promise.

To the future generation: Make sure you take the opportunities we have been creating for you.

Learn to fly, where we once learned to run.

–

A pleasant surprise was in store during lunchtime today. Actually spotted and spoke to ms eye candy. Heh.

–

Cameo watch: 1x unidentified B9TL was on 8, and 7408M (SP/12) was on 21! First time B9TL cameo from BN for 21? Oh, and a Dennis Dart (42) was on 29. Funny to see that short short bus running around on a normal trunk service.

Daily rides: 2628C (81), 2822H (81)

So i spent 4 very intense days trying to study and understand the damn syllabus. 5 in fact. Drove myself almost into the ground attempting it.

And today I left the examination hall none the better. I might as well have not studied at all.

Screw you exams, I’m going home.

–

Side note: Last paper’s next monday. Cram jam again! Anyone interested to go thru the paper on Fri can msg me.

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Cameo watch: Today seems to be a day for Walter Alexander PS cameos. There was at least one cameo per marque, with the Mercedes-Benz O405 87B (410) on 21, the Volvo B10M MkII 1773Y (9) on 222, and the Scania N113CRB 3640J (SP) on 9. Of course there were more cameo Scanias, but the most surprising one was 3711M or 3719S on 109. Probably a first!

Daily Rides: 87B (21), 3640J (9), 9528L (81)

Can’t remember if its from “Angels and Demons” or “The Da Vinci Code”. One of the Dan Brown books lah.

“Palindromic” Behaviour? Hurhurhur.

Spouting nonsense one evening before the next paper. My usual practice lah.

Leave a comment if you see it.

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No daily rides today. Cooped at home!

All the performances today.

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Cameo watch: 1726J (81) on 69! 1710D (58) on 15! It’s saturday.

Daily rides: 9573E (81), 2750G (81)

First time in my life I’ve worked so damn hard on a single subject’s revision. Never in my life have I studied so hard for such a long long time. Yup, not even for the O or A levels.

This had better be worth it.

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Cameo watch: An unidentified MkIII appeared on 81 today, been a while since it happened.

Daily rides: 2619D (81), 9491H (21)

Same place today, same ol’ activity, and today it was just three of us. And as usual, grumpy ol’ me has shitloads to complain about.

1. This sec skool kid about 4 seats away decided that he couldn’t do without some music. So he plugged himself into his handphone, and the rest of us had to bear with residual heavy metal.

Remarkably, the little bugger FELL ASLEEP.

2. Beside him was a guy who klonked into me with his bag while trying to squeeze between me and the pillar. Very intelligent right? Later on, after the kid left, bag guy’s friend came up to join him, and well, apparently the library is a good place for discussing exam questions and notes.

Some excerpts:

“Cost of Goods Sold”
“that one ah, oh, its like that.”
“I’ll send you a soft copy lor, then you can modify…”

Ah tee got so irritated she was ready to fling something over at the bugger. Good for him that he left earlier rather than later.

3. Bus stop 76191. Waiting for 81 to arrive. So it came, after they left on 28. I was standing near where I figured the bus would stop, and there was this uncle who thought he was very smart, and stood at the middle of the bus stop.

So the bus came, and inched forward. So did the uncle.

Till he was squeezed between the door and me, treading on my toes at the same time.

F–K YOU LAH. YOU BOARD FIRST THE BUS WILL LEAVE IMMEDIATELY IS IT?!

No wonder we’re a first world nation with third world citizens.

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Cameo watch: 2721R (SP) appeared on 293 today, as did 1774U (66). So for today, all of SBST’s Volvo SDs made an appearance on the service.

Daily rides: 2621X (81), 2628C (81)