Sweet sweet golf.

Golf they say is addictive and I found myself practising swings in the lift just now.
Sweet because the fruits of practice gives you a crisp sounding golf swing and high flying far ball.
And you stand there with the club suspended behind and above your shoulder, staring far away, admiring how well you've done it.
But it sucks when you realised the price is quiteful physically painful the next day.

My god-ma told me to get golf equipment from my dad and I asked my mum if dad's equipment's still around. And dang, I forgot he was a left-handed golfer. Maybe I'll ask him later if he has some right-handed clubs, hopefully.

They were quite a lot of uncles at the Toa Payoh driving range today and they really hit well and admirably with ease.

What if...

Rooftops have meaningful life quotes and SOS hotlines written on erected boards.

Motorbikes have ejection seats so that in the event of a horrific crash or imminent crash, the rider can launch skyward and go airborne ? Then slowly parachuting down.

Cars have parachute launchers at the rear so that when desperate emergency measures (super hard jam braking and hand-braking) are applied, the parachute launches out to give drag ?
It could be more than 1 parachute and installed at strategic spots.

Air-gliding is legalised and promoted in Singapore. Travelling's much more simpler and fun!

--------------------------
Suggestions aside.

While staring at the moss growth outside my bunk, it reminded me that my green army towel looks quite similar to it. The grand aggregation of broccoli-like bumps does look like the terry towel's stitchwork. Now that's called a tactical towel.

Violence.

Right from my window I'm now hearing piercing screams of a woman and a helpless soft sob of a child transmitted from the opp. block.
It just softened.

Shit.

Now I hear slapping sounds (presumably from a newspaper to flesh impact), each slap accompanied by an agonised mother's cry. I presume it's a mother.

I think she's more hardcore than my mum man.
My mum just threatens, cane and finish.
This lady really can scream loudly.

Shit.

The boy's really wailing now.
I heard *PIAK PIAK* (lady scream), followed by a helpless sobbing plea, " OK!!!!!! OK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ".

Nabeh, I listen to her screamings I also scared out of shit.
Is it really necessary to be so violent ?

Vertical Marathon : Closed?!

Ya know in today's Urban it mentioned, " But that's not stopping 750 people (so far) from signing up to do it on Nov 6. That's the day of the Vertical Marathon 2005............ "
Nicholas talked about this weeks back, so I really forced myself to detour my return home route a bit just to sign up.

The attendents directly me to the Concierge and I waited for my turn to be answered. She replied with a contradiction of expressions, a frustrated-despair-stone look contrasted with the nice expected tone. " Oh, I'm sorry, it's closed 2 weeks ago. ".

Did she get me correctly ? I hope she didn't cos I really wanna try runniing it out.

Urban implied that registration is still open and she said it's closed. I find it hard to believe what she said still. =\

Runs.

My gastrointestinal tract is somewhat like a incorrectly fixed steam engine or pressurized cooker.
I kept having the runs yesterday and hoped I wouldn't avalanche on my bed at night. After ingestion of food and drinks, I'd bletchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Then ease off some pressure below.

Recovering.

I am going to eat lesser now.
No, not dieting. I can't even do that.

I'm convinced that my gastrointestinal tract is very weak and prone to bloating and flatulence.
Hopefully with medication and strict diet it'll improve.

And the prospects are exciting.

For once, I may gain some mass.
For once, my hair may grow thicker.
And I won't look like a third world vietnamese soldier in long 4. Haha.

Adam's back!

I really missed this adorable god-brother of mine.
20 days away in Paris and finally back again.
20 days away and he came back surprising us again and again.

Deep inside the arrival hall near the belt, he finally emerged from the customs and walked, waddled like his usual self. He looked more like a boy than a toddler, taller and more independent.
We predicted that he'll ignore us for a while cos we've been separated for quite a while.
Soon after exiting the glass door, he clung unto his mum's shoulder, back facing the front while giving a weak shy smile on his cute face.

In the cab, he saw a bridge and yelled, " Guo Qiao Le! ".
Stunning, very stunning for one who mumbled and spoke only in English back then.
A magical 20 days. He's fluent too!

Sri Lanka.

Whenever I whip out my Sri Lanka book, the same question would come from everyone who sees it, " Eh? You going Sri Lanka ah ? ".

Not really, but if there are people willing to go with me, why not ? Maybe as a volunteer man. Heh.

Just before I return this book to NLB, I thought I'd just share some 'Practical Tips' in this book.

Tipping

As a general rule, tipping is not expected unless you feel a service has been special, although chauffeur guides(but not trishaw drivers) expect one. Hotel and restaurants add a 10% service charge as well as govt tax to the bill........

Touts

Touts frequent all main towns but are most prevalent around temples, train and bus sttions, tourist sites and outside hotels. Their friendly over-helpfulness is designed to make you feel obliged to part with your money. They may come up with a convincing act, such as "the student" who is supporting a sick mother and three siblings (sounds like the malaysian woman I saw claiming to have thyroid and a poor background). Many trishaw drivers meeting tourist tains at Kandy station are the worst touts, as they go to inordinate lengths to herd you into a hotel or guest house where they can claim a fee (I kena in Beijing before!). The only way to deal with touts is with a very firm "No!"................................

Begging

Begging is a way of life in Asia (?!), and while some cases are genuine there are others who seek to take advantage.
Tourists are easily categorised as having a surfeit of cash, so you can expect to attract a fair share of beggars. Do remember, however, that genuine beggars love to receive food of any sort since they can eat it on the spot - without having to share it with the racketeer who usually takes most of his earnings (bastards). Begging rackets exist mainly in Colombo, so you might consider carrying a bag of oranges to hand to beggars instead of cash, if you object to giving money.

Toilets

Toilets in up-market hotels and restaurants in tourist spots are of Western style. In less visited areas, expect to squat eastern style, with water provided in place of toilet paper (so carry some with you if you prefer to use it).
Public toilets should only be used in dire emergencies.


I'm gonna miss Singapore when I get there.

With reference to touting, my mum and I were lucky to have met 2 Chinese nationals who are utterly street-smart. First we got cheated to take this economical ride to Great Wall and we shared it with them.

Instead, we were brought to shitty places that aren't really made to be tourist-friendly. Add to that, we were brought to a 'good restaurant' for lunch and we paid for crap. Then we were brought to another place that we thought was an ancient building. Upon entry, it was a moderately furnished gem store. They looked kinda crap to me anyway.
So we all got back into the cab and we talked about this whole scamming. One guy was familiar with the cabbie's scam tactics and so when the latter excitedly came back and asked, " Hey! How was your meal ? Were the stones good ? How much did you buy ? ".

The guy quoted double the amount spent and off the cabbie went. To have a toilet break so he says. Haha.

Basically the cabbie was in cahoots with these store operators, driving ignorant customers to god-knows mountainous areas and when they get hungry, a money-sucking oasis' just around the corner.

So say, for example we spent $380RMB, if the restaurant's honest enough, he gets x% of the $380. But the sly one said $600, naturally he needed a toilet break just to get things ironed out. =)

Gas...

Only one guy I know shares my woe.
He does it all the time with me. We enjoy doing it.
We can really burp long and loud these days.

Spot us in the squash court, chances are we're taking turns to burp with 5 minutes or so.
*raaaarhhhhhhh*

My digestive system's not doing well these days. In the morning, it was like having cramps or somethin' with the pain radiating from beneath the heart. Shit colour's not very normal looking either. It's olive brown by the way, with speckles of spinach green.

It got worse today. Both gantries are giving out emissions!
I kinda pictured this : In the stomach, stuff gets churned; the pyloric sphincter's a lil' faulty thus allowing gas from small intestine to backflow into stomach. Stomach gets inflated, I burp.
In the later regions of the small intestines, I can really feel the rumblings, which leads me to think that it's filled with bubbles-->inflation-->boooooooooooop.

Decap Fly 010 (Large)

Decap Fly 010 (Large)
Originally uploaded by SM Huang.

This fly looked perfectly alive when I first spotted it in the furniture box. Instead of taking off, it gave the impression of' hypothermia' and I decided it'd be a nice shoot. It's really rare to shoot a fly up close. It's kinda sad its head got detached.

A pity its proboscis' missing.