Not about work

It's so hard to put something up that doesn't revolve around work seeing that it takes up 9 hours of my day.

I have to mark a very special and probably very fleeting moment in Yahoo! Fantasy Football 2006-07:

And so it's come

It's my last week. At the beginning, I never thought I'd get this far, but it's been a fast and furious time here.

The various social abilities, such as talking to non-engineers, have come back to me. It was a painful journey undoing all that which Mechanical Engineering has done in the last 3 years with regards to my social skill set. I can safely say that the number of "What the hell are you talking about?" looks have dropped significantly.

This sense of loyalty is running so deep that I know when I start my job applications, a little part of me is going to twist in agony when I suck up to the other firms.

I still have so much shopping to do here though. You better book quickly, my dinner slots are filling up fast.

My most used word of the ten weeks here: pending. My favorite word of the ten weeks here: Friday.

It's been great, but I miss my dog.

Nombor yang salah, wei.

The following conversation was carried out in Chinese from her side and English on mine, but for the sake of my embarrassment regarding the level of my Mandarin, it will be reproduced, to the best of my ability, in English.

Woman: Ah mei, have you eaten?
Me: Hello?
Woman: Have you eaten?
Me: I'm sorry, who are you looking for?
Woman: I know your voice, I know it's you. Have you eaten?
Me: Hello?
Woman: Hello.
Me: I think you have the wrong number.
Woman: Oh very funny, I know it's you (lah)! Have you eaten or not?
Me: No, seriously, I'm not who you think I am and you have the wrong number. Goodbye.

Then the phone rings again.

Woman: Eh, I know who you are, I listen to your voice and I already know! Have you eaten?!
Me: I have no idea what you're talking about and who you want to talk to, but you have the wrong number.
Woman: Eh, don't play! I'm getting angry already! Have you eaten?
Me: What? Sorry? Huh?
Woman: I'm angry! Stop saying you're not you, I know who you are!
Me: ...
Woman: Have you eaten or not?

Then I hung up.

She gets 10 points for persistence and stubborness.

In no hurry

The tiny island of Singapore doesn't feel so tiny when you're trying to cross it on public transport. I have more transport rants. You have been warned.

1. Why does the person sitting next to me always nod off in my direction?! On a good day, it's usually the one on my right. On a bad day, I have two heads dodging in and out of my field of vision as I try to make myself as small as possible and avoid unnecessary human contact.
2. Public transport has made me shun human contact. The last thing you want at the end of a humid day is to have someone step on you, sleep on you, or back into you with the lurch of the halting vehicle. Now I wonder if the concious aversion has developed into an unconcious reflex. Weng might be in for a surprise this weekend.
   
3. Why are the seats so small?! True, 50 percent of the population might be size 4 and female, but what about the other non-Lilliputians.
4. The estimated times on the bus schedule regarding frequency can be converted using a complex mathematical formula with several variables, all to the power of a gazillion.
5. After six weeks, I have learned that the only way to avoid injuring everyone else around you during the rush hour ride is to keep your knees loose.
6. By the end of my six weeks, I would have spent at least 90 hours trying to get to places. That's almost four days of bussing and MRT-ing.
   

I'm going home this weekend! Yay!