Day 141 - Loop

Today, while not being the best day ever, was admittedly an excellent proxy to my notion of an ideal day.

I woke up at seven, ate my favorite breakfast at boarding (loh mai kai and chasau biscuits), drank coffee, and headed straight to Punggol. Having reached there early, I took the LRT for fun and went one whole loop to witness "Punggol New Town". The first few stops of the LRT were quite dramatic -- the relatively undeveloped area looked nothing like Singapore. It had the classic rustic feel of an old town in a Final Fantasy game, its LRT stations reminding me of the trains that exist in my childhood game. However, the other half had a Woodland feel. As I learned later, the area used to be a forested haven -- now it is laden with HDB flats higher than Toa Payoh and Bishan's. As I see Woodlands, I can vividly imagine the more untouched part of Punggol being urbanized -- giving the New Town a factory line feel. And I'm afraid that Bukit Brown might suffer from the inescapable doom; it's just the question of when.

Frankly speaking, does anyone care? To be precise, anyone in Singapore? Not having anywhere pristine, authentic, untouched, and instead live in efficient and mass-produced environment. Not criticizing them though, as I admire practical people as well who does not really complain about their surroundings but instead choose to live on. This issue was part of the cause I went to Punggol in the first place; the bigger cause was my teacher's wishes :D Anyway, I have to admit, I learned a lot. Apart from shaking hands and learning how to smoke your way through a DPM, I also learned how to be shameless (basically, just convince yourself that you got nothing to lose, so nothing would stop you then), and also got to connect with some NParks people (they say he's the big shot.. I don't know) and the waterway people. Most importantly, I learned 'how to speak their lingo' -- a lesson in aligning interests -- leading me to three volunteering opportunities, a few name cards, and a resource sent through e-mail.

Enough narrative about what I learned -- I also had fun as I ate a sugar free ice cream. Yeah the ice cream tasted a bit bland but an ice cream is still an ice cream :D caught up with a few old friends -- glad to know they are doing well :) and spammed milo at the milo truck! Heheh felt bad but the milo was delish :D

Anyway, I rushed back to school to attend an Interact meeting and an Interact camp dry run. Pray, tell me that I did not get wet :D and I walked blindfolded from the 7th floor to the Gryphon Square :D Another important highlight would be the videos we watched for pre-poverty banquet game. It strikes me, once again, that I am very lucky, that I am very blessed. Even the beneficiaries I am working for now are admittedly blessed enough. The tale of a guy still continuing to live as a freelance graphic designer (he moved his mouse with his feet and typed with a pencil on his mouth) and the tale of the visually handicapped still having the courage to live -- while people with faculties intact get stressed and undergo suicide. Exposed to the sufferings of the world, I am reminded of equanimity: Suffering is inevitable as long as there is life. After taking a calm approach, you actually realize that you can MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Even a SMALL one. This is again, why I do community service. Making people's life slightly happier, one person at a time,with these two hands and a smile. Go Interact Club! (:

Well, the hidden room at the back of blue room was quite fun, as we terrified a few girls by leaving them in a pitch darkness and delivering a "special surprise" but what was more fun was the truth or dare session we played as we go out for dinner :D (oh, the shoot, shag, and marry was kinda awkward, but the dare played with the random chio girls hanging out at J8 was quite fun :D) Anyway, about one third of us stayed past 10pm.. leading to an intimate sharing session ;)

Finally, I told a good friend of mine whom I trusted that I don't like her anymore. But I told him her name and that I used to like her (this is disputable, but still). I guess the courage to talk of those kind of things really solidifies the fact that I gotten over her (or never actually fell for her).

Ultimate lesson learned: You have nothing to lose -- nothing to be afraid of. You don't need to be scared, the world is more forgiving than you think. Do it, just learn from it, let it out of your system, and move on from there. Let nothing, and nothing hold you back.

Truly Indonesia's Finest,

PS: Sorry for rambling -- am racing against the clock to bathe and to sleep. And today's events strengthened the hunch I had back then -- that suprisingly good things pop up my way, without even a slight effort or planning on my part. Hmm. Let's take a look further..