Q-ing up at Taxi stands

I hope in reading this, nobody gets offended. I'm writing this in general and not against any individual who may be included in my photos. (Because I have seen some 'nobody' getting spiky before!) So don't take this too seriously please - this is all just for laughs!

There is a very strange phenomenon at the Bugis Junction taxi stand. Most times, people just can't queue up properly at the taxi stand - despite railings and arrows were laid out to guide them how to queue for taxi, people have chosen to ignore and form their own queue outside of the taxi stand.

This is what I mean:

Long queue forming -- Bugis Junction taxi stand

But the actual taxi "stand" is empty!!

First off, how did this happen?

This may seem stupid. Well, I guess it's really the 2nd to 3rd groups of people that can decide how the queue will turn out to be. I have drawn up a some diagrams to illustrate this.

First group - not an issue yet - people naturally walk up to the very edge, so can accept that.

Second group is most likely going to set the tone, but if the third group is not "smart" enough to try to stir back to the right path, then it's going to cause a situation as below:

And it's only natural that the rest follow suit - for fear of others not acknowledging them in queue:

This can cause serious clogging issues on the pathway if the queue gets too long! So far, I've only seen this happen at Bugis Junction's taxi stand. Probably it's the design of the taxi stand that is too counter-intuitive for most people to queue up properly.

Just a fun observation :p

"Chiong Arh!" - The MRT Crowd

bonus update:
Found this video on YouTube: Hitler complains about the ERP and MRT. LOL

-----
Since young, from when I hopped on my first MRT train in Singapore, I have been taught to "Stand BEHIND the YELLOW line." And SMRT is very conscious and idiot-friendly with this issue, that they constantly broadcast the same safety messages (Please stand behind the yellow line.) in 4 different languages regularly.

You would think that this is the common sense, at least a common practice for one's own personal safety. But on my way home from Jurong to AMK yesterday, I realized that that wasn't actually so. In fact, quite commonly MISinterpreted as I witnessed people stepping FORWARD (pass the yellow line) right when they saw the train arriving. And even though the train was slowing down already, it was still moving at quite a high speed. And you know the Jurong East train station is those open kind, ie. no glass doors separating the tracks and the platform like the ones in most downtown (underground) areas. I was shocked and worried at the same time for those people whose face/body were almost literally against the moving train.

The "yellow line" is there for an obvious reason: it's to keep a safe distance between you and the tracks, in case you lose your grounds and fall off the platform etc. WARNING: It does not mean the line of pawning others in getting a seat first.

Chiong ah! is the spirit of the MRT ninjas. Very simple, MRT ninjas just don't like to lose out. They like to be the first of everything, such as
1) Getting into the MRT station 1st: they want to scan their ezlink card first
2) Boarding the train 1st: they don't mind standing until the train comes as long as they get to stand right in front of where the train doors will be - who cares about those yellow arrows on the floor, they even want to beat the people alighting from the train!
3) Getting a seat 1st: provided that the train wasn't too packed already and achieving #2 greatly increases their chances of achieving #3 as well
4) Alighting the train 1st: don't be afraid to scream "excuse me!" and experience a little pushing, or you might not make it through to the door!
5) Arrive at the next boarding platform 1st: interchanges are usually the biggest challenges of all for MRT ninjas as they need to overcome the boarding crowd plus the escalator crowd before they can reach the opposite platform for transit (#4 becomes extremely impt here)
6) Exiting the station 1st: again, whoever scans their ezlink card first wins!

-----
Tip for MRT ninjas:
Do you know that in basketball there is a technique to getting the best rebounding position? Well it is actually a very important skill for the MRT ninjas during transits. Often times, due to the time your current train arrives at the station, there might have been a small crowd gathered along the opposite platform. But don't worry! Keep yourself calm, as soon as you get to the other side, don't panic, just stop slightly before and next to the 1st in line...

Now You're 1st!! :D

Start Go Green on Earth Day

For Earth, every day is Earth Day.

Hit on Google's homepage today and thought "Ooh what's the special occasion today?" It's Earth Day! So I started to tweet a bit about Earth Day. Found some go green/eco websites and tips. Followed few new "green" tweeples. And sad to realize, Singapore is still a quiet city in this aspect.

Some Singaporeans simply do not possess the mindset to go green. And this is reinforced by @AngMoGirl's experience today where she witnessed rejection when a lady asked to have her lunch packed in her own to-go (takeaway) box. Kudos to the lady who brought her own lunch box! Been away from Singapore for few years, I really thought the BYOBD (Bring Your Own Bag Day) was a good change and a good start. I do see shoppers who bring their own shopping bags to NTUC, but seriously not many. And I could imagine a group of those who did not bring their own bags whine about the 10cents they are "forced" to pay for each plastic bags. And reading @AngryAngMo's blog, "Anti-Bring Your Own Bag Day" as one of the top 10 worst consumer behaviors is just not surprising after all.

I don't know what are the best ways to promote green living. It's really up to the person whether they want to do things the better way. But I thought it's not a bad idea to sell money-saving together with energy-saving or the 3Rs - reducing, reusing, and recycling. Especially in Singapore, where I believe most people are more money-minded than eco-minded. I recall receiving a handy booklet in my mailbox couple months back. The booklet contained many tips and guidelines to everyday live, such as save money, look for jobs etc (basically the govt's effort to help its people ease off recession). One of the tips is on air-conditioners: Set temp to 25° for optimal usage and save $X/month (I need to check on the actual number) for every degree you increase! Budgets are tight these days, so these are great tips to follow and really save on money. What's more, it saves energy at the same time!

I think companies should also encourage eco-living in their workplaces. If it's made a "rule" in office, maybe people will start taking similar measures when they are at home (vice versa). There is a corner in my office right by the door, like a small waiting/reception area, whereby most of the time it's empty. But we never fail to switch on the lights in that corner. Whenever I'm the first few to reach the office, I would deliberately leave those lights out. But strangely the next person who comes in will switch it on. I still don't know why, perhaps to light up our big logo hanging by that wall? And I just saw lights in the conference room were left on for the morning. (Sue beat me to switching them off tho :p)

Eco-living is actually beneficial both ways. Helps the Earth, and helps us save some bucks. So why not do it everyday? For one, I reuse plastic bottles that I fill up with water at work. Use the back side of unwanted printed paper for notes. Even in the toilets, I always see the rubbish bin overflowing with crumpled paper towels at the end of the day. Paper towels literally used up every day before 5pm. It's there for our convenience, but we shouldn't abuse it. Dried your hands with a paper towel? Why not bring it back to your office to wipe your desk? Or tear a piece into two so you can save the other half for later. It's all so easy to do, we just need to put our mind at it!

Useful links:

• Earth Day | TreeHugger
• 8 Easy Ways to Start Being Green | Earth911
• Go Green Family Guide | Earth911
• Green Your Shopping | Earth911
  
• Got 5 Minutes? Do One of These 5 Green Acts | Planet Green
• The Social Media & Web Guide to Going Green | Mashable
• Go Green: Energy-cutting apps for your PC | CNET

P.S. Blizzard should implement an Earth Day festival in-game. :)

Is this the 'kiasu' mindset?

Just went for lunch and ate my usual economy rice (经济饭 or 菜饭 - basically just rice, sometimes fried noodles or fried beehoon at your choice, and 2-3 dishes which you pick from a set of 15-20). Potatoes and veggies are my faves! Only $2.50 for 3 dishes, swap in a meat occasionally for just 30cents more!

12-12:45pm was usually the peak time (most dishes clear out after 1:30pm). So today I ordered this plain potato with minced meat in gravy dish. There wasn't much left, so I thought the auntie would just give me half of it or all that's left. Well she didn't give me half. She didn't give me all either. She gave me almost-all-minus-2-pieces-of-potato, literally! And the way she done it was quite deliberate. Such a strange mentality, I thought. It's quite unlikely that someone else will order that dish just for that 2 pieces of potato. So for what purpose would that 2 pieces of potato serve in that big and rather empty plate?

I could only come up with these explanations:
1) She seriously thought someone might want to order that 2 pieces of potato (she put the plate back in place).
2) She wants to snack on it later.
3) Giving me the remaining 2 pieces will cause the value of my order to exceed $2.50. Therefore, she feels she cannot give me more than what I pay for.

It's not that I want to pick on something so minor, not as if I care if I got 2 more pieces of potato. (I don't even count when I eat!) But I just can't wonder why such mentality exists, which is the fundamental problem at hand. Put it in a bigger issue and scale, it could become worse. What would a world be when people start thinking why should I pay $2 each for recycling bags when others can get 'unlimited' plastic bags for free?

P.S: If you are wondering what happened to the chicken rice stall at my workplace, I really don't know. It's just gone all of a sudden for 2 months now.

EP hard to get.

I finally got my employment pass sometime last week (April fools to be exact). Almost didn't make it for the day because I did not bring my edu cert (photocopy/original) with me. Luckily I had them in email archived, and (thank gawd) the printing shops these days offer comprehensive services that allowed me to retrieve documents from my own email for print. When I was back an hour later to collect my pass, I saw something so ironic.. a man on the ledge atop MOM.

I'm sorry but he didn't look like he was going to jump off. Judging the way he positioned himself, rather than sitting with 2 legs hanging outside, he sat there as if he was sitting on a see-saw. I mean if you're really determined that it's the end of your world, you would probably be facing towards the outside of the building (there 2 legs hanging). And most likely won't stay in the same spot, where down below a huge air-bed has been prepared for you. My guess is that he probably got very depressed all of a sudden, perhaps denied a work permit, and wanted the "authority's" attention to the self-claimed difficult life he had.

Crowds were gathered below across the street. But I wonder who was really concerned with that man's life than just standing there to find out if he jumped in the end.

First time I see this with my own eyes. There wasn't any major publishing in the media, so I guess he really did not jump after all. :p

"excuse me,"

it means to gtfo of my way. not standstill and stare as if i had spoken a foreign language.

long kang fishing @bottle tree park

Ehh... I'm not totally sure whether this is a good or bad idea, but activities like "long kang" fishing can seem to be quite brutal and unethical when it involves young children.

I went to Bottle Tree Park @Yishun with my niece today. First time there. $10 (child) for a small plastic tank and a net, fish you catch = fish you bring home. Initially, I thought it's nice to let the kids experience getting wet and catching fish in a pond. But then I saw the quality of the kids nowadays. Tsk tsk tsk.

When I was helping my niece in the pond, I already realized a couple of dead fishies in the water. It was then I saw what took their lives.


This boy was trying to catch some fish with his plastic tank lid in the pond. Fishies are small and agile, so they escape fast. But there was this poor little fish who could not escape quick enough. I thought it was dead already as I didn't see it moving. But in between the funny boy's drastic attempts to scoop that fish up, I caught glimpses of flapping movement from the fish! It's alive with only one fin left! And this funny boy just kept swish-swooshing his lid in the water, hitting the poor fish at the same time. Can you imagine the force its little body is taking from this giant kid!?

More fishy-killing in action.. :p



It's actually okay if they don't know as they are still young. Worse thing is, even parents don't bother to correct/guide their kids to do the right thing.

I often see kids at aquariums or pet shops knocking and hitting the glass windows, their parents standing aside. At times, I wish they have these glass containers on their heads and everyone would be knocking on their walls, so at least they would know what it feels like to be one of those animals that they are torturing, if not a 100 times worse. It's very ironic sometimes because some people, as much as being civilized and educated, can't seem to read signs that say "Please do not disturb the animals" or "Please do not knock on the glass windows" etc. It's like: "Hello~ Your kids may not know how to read, but I hope you do. So please tell your kids to stop banging like nubcakes!!"

Then there's this most ridiculous fat boy that I've ever met. He dared to place his fat fishy hands on my back, as he was making an effort to waddle to his mother. Quite smart of him to use me as a stepping stone! At least the father, who was looking after him, could say something such as "excuse me" or "sorry", if I was blocking his son's way. Not even a chinese word (they sounded china-ese). But no. As if I am obliged to do that. On the contrary, I would think that their son was held too honorable to have been there in the presence of my aura. (Or my "death knight's aura" which I can imagine wx saying.) Just look at him. I can't imagine what's a poor fish like under his fatty limbs. (Notice that he was featured in both my "fishy-killing" action photos. Hehe, I was trying to capture him stomping his feet in the water. :p)


A funny girl to end my trip. She was literally rolling in the pond. All wet and soaked in fishy water. Head to toes. :)


-----
Fishies we caught!!


But when we got home, one of the fishies was already dying.. :(


Just like the fish I saw earlier with a broken fin. It could hardly move, so it just lays at the bottom of the tank. Occasionally, when other fishies come to nudge it and "bite" it, it would make a huge effort to swim a little, but had to stop and lay down again. We separated the fish from the others before we went out. Gave it some food, but I guess he didn't have the strength to struggle to the surface, and so it died by the time we were back. Poor fish. I was reminded of my ah-ho, who died an even more tragic death. Sigh.

People and Humans.

• peo·ple
  human beings making up a group or assembly or linked by a common interest


• How do you tell that a woman is angry? Sudden display of intentional cold-heartedness and cruelty.


• What makes an angry woman angrier? Everything.


• Tip: You must more cruel than her.


• What makes a human human? Selfish and greed.


• Are you seriously different from anyone and everyone? No, because I am human. You are too.


• How do you differentiate between an angry woman and a jealous woman? You can't.


• How many non blood-related persons can one love? Just one.


• Between people and humans, which is your pick? Humans, because it sounds wiser.


• What actually makes an angry woman angry? Jealousy.

dotdotdot

Ever felt awkward when you are talking to someone, who tries to joke around.. acting friendly and humorous, yet you don't really share his/her level of humor but you are forced to respond positively to everything that person said? It's like: "Ha-ha-ha. So now what?" It happens real quick.

I just saw three people talking in the office and I wonder if they realized how awkward they had been. Or maybe they just don't think their jokes were lame.

. . .