How I Spent My Time When I Was Not Slacking At Home...
On Wednesday, I went for the Faculty of Science Induction Session and learned that I can do a double degree. Should I?...
Well actually besides that, I didn't learn anything much because the professor only talked about the courses in general and I can only blame myself for not asking the questions that I..ought to ask. But the refreshments (my lunch haha) and meeting some of my old friends made up for that. :) I got to meet Sherlyn, befriend her companion Priya, saw Weili, Wee Teng and Xiao Hui from afar (I'm anti-social; moreover, I was with Hong Juan who totally didn't know them so it wasn't nice to talk then) and also did the same for some other AC people. Met Yi Shan too. She got a stylish haircut!! Haha...
After that, I was supposed to meet Anna, Karina and Haotian for dessert at Holland V's NYDC at 1500, but the induction session ended at 1100 plus and even after eating my lunch it was only 1200 plus so I had a lot of free time to spare. Thus I walked from NUS to the bus-stop outside AC and read my book, occasionally taking breaks from it by studying for my FTT. Or should I say evaluation? Since I have to pass that first.:p
Halfway through my book, a woman who seemed to be in her sixties came down to sit beside me and asked to borrow my pen. She wanted to use it to fill in this lottery form for the numbers she intended to buy because she said she forgets the numbers easily. I thought that was it; the end of our conversation, but shockingly, she started to pour out her life story to me in her best form of English even though she had asked to borrow my pen in Chinese tinged with Cantonese. Seems that she has had a very sad life. By “sad”, I mean “depressing”, “ gloomy”, “miserable”, “heartbreaking”, “distressing”, etc…sorry I seem to be spouting words from a thesaurus – okay back to the point. She said her sister died when she was very young and to make matters worse, she had an evil stepmother (Cinderella? No there’s no “happily ever after” for this) who did not allow her to go to school. Later, after she got married, she had a daughter and her cousin also gave her her daughter to adopt for reasons that she did not mention. Now, her daughter is 50+ years old (turns out that the woman is 74! She doesn’t look her age) and unmarried, as well as weird. To me, anyway. She ignores her mother and tries to keep out of her way, as well as gives her a miserly household allowance every month. Her mother complained that she spends more on church stuff than on her own mother. She also teared while talking about how other families enjoy their annual gatherings around the dinner table on Chinese New Year but for her, she weeps silently in her room because her daughter refuses to eat the food she cooks and would rather throw it away. Don’t know why though. The daughter her cousin gave her is married and doesn’t bother much about her. She has tried to die before and has been asking the Lord to take her away but to no avail. She also lamented on how outsiders who learn about her situation take pity on her and treat her even better than her own daughters. (Doesn’t her daughter give people a very bad impression of us Christians? Whatever happened to “Honour your father and mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you. Deuteronomy 5:16a”?!) I’m not very sure of the religion of this woman, but it seems that she is a Christian who has lost most of her faith in God. She told me she has been praying and praying, yet the relationship between her and her daughter has remained stagnant for so long. Then she said that she has stopped going to church for years because of this – that God is not answering her prayers.
Our conversation ended when her bus came. However, my thoughts about this didn’t end there (how could they?). I think God has spoken to me through this woman about my life. I also felt bad about not encouraging her to have faith and be patient. I had wanted to, but she was talking and I didn’t want to interrupt her. And, okay, I admit this – I was not brave enough to.
Anyway, ironically enough, the woman said she bought lottery to win money and said that God does let her win sometimes so that she would have enough money to spend since her daughters do not give her much. That is why I was rather confused about where she stands in her religion.
Throughout the rest of my free time, I tried to read. Then, I left at 1345 to meet Anna at the bus stop outside Buona Vista MRT station because I didn’t know how to get to the NYDC in Holland V (to think I’m admitting this…).
When we finally met up with Karina and Haotian, I learned that they had also invited the rest of our class girls, but most of them had something on and Tanya didn’t reply, so it was just the four of us. We had a nice time though. I had fun “fighting” with Haotian after so long. I miss that…
After our dessert, we walked around Holland V. Karina left at about 1700 plus so the rest of us decided to head home too. Anna guided us out of Holland V and I left the two of them to talk privately about SOMETHING when my bus arrived. ;)
The next day, I was supposed to go and climb Bukit Timah Hill with Bridgette and Anna. There was no direct bus there from my house so I took 156 to the bus stop after Third Avenue and walked down Bukit Timah Road and Upper Bukit Timah Road to Bukit Timah Shopping Centre to meet them in a bid to save money. I like to walk to anyway =)
For people who do not like maps, I guess they will not be interested in this. Did you know that the road named Bukit Timah Road is only for one direction? If you head in the opposite direction with the traffic, which means if you climb over the green fence-boundary (or, to do it legally, climb the overhead bridge to cross the road or use pedestrian crossings), you will be in Dunearn Road. Sorry, this sounds stupid to people who already know, but you’ve gotta pardon the blur me. I never knew this until yesterday!! Walking really enables you to learn more. I learn things every time I walk home from somewhere. Or vice-versa. The feeling I got whenever I passed by places featured in my street directory can only be described as a mixture of pride, a sense of achievement, a thrill of discovery and a hint of sadness. (I felt quite sad for the shops that were so quiet and almost devoid of human presence. How do these businesses survive for so long?)
Due to the long journey I had to walk, I was half and hour late for our appointmemt. HALF AN HOUR!! I have never been so late for an appointment before!! I had better not do this again or, if I want to, I should set off earlier next time. :p
We didn’t do what we originally planned to do in the end because it looked like it was about to rain. So we decided to walk to Bukit Batok Nature Park. On our way there though, we saw the repaired playground, so we stopped there instead. Change of plans again haha…after spending some time there, it started to drizzle, so we took a bus to KAP’s MacDonald’s to have lunch. We ended up spending most of our afternoon there – approximately three hours - eating and talking about…SOMETHING. ;) (KAP never fails to remind me of my days in JC.) Then, we got tired of sitting there so we walked around in the Cold Storage downstairs. (Weird. I used to hate supermarkets but now I like them. I must be turning into an auntie already :p)
Bridgette had a driving lesson at 2100 plus and had planned to go home before that, so we decided to part ways at 1600 something. Anna had offered to walk with me to her house to take 156 because it’s nearer to where we were, but I decided against it because I wanted to…okay, save money. (And since when did I become like that? Ever since we had to pay adult transport fares!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Moreover, it was great to be able to find my way back. (because I walked back to the Third Ave bus stop. Just that that is not the name of that bus stop because it is on Dunearn Road. It’s called the bus stop after Jalan Naga Sari) On my long peregrination, I met with some obstacles. The rain, which got progressively heavier (though it did become lighter in the end), was one. Puddles along my path were another. (I stepped into so many of them!) Narrow paths that were partially blocked by tree branches and brought pedestrians in close proximity to the road were the third. The fourth were yet more puddles that were on the road. Some vehicles that passed by me while I was walking unwittingly splashed dirty rainwater on me. It wasn’t so bad though – they were splashed onto my legs and not body.
The journey was not that torturous but was tough to the extent that I found myself thanking God to no end when I finally reached my bus stop. I was three-quarters wet by then and so was my bag. Haha.
Wow. I realized that my post is really long this time. Sorry to those who don’t like so many words. Haha.
Your Dominant Intelligence is Musical Intelligence |
 Every part of your life has a beat, and you're often tapping your fingers or toes. You enjoy sounds of all types, but you also find sound can distract you at the wrong time. You are probably a gifted musician of some sort - even if you haven't realized it. Also a music lover, you tend to appreciate artists of all kinds. You would make a great musician, disc jockey, singer, or composer. |
Really? Hah.
Post a Comment