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date/time Monday, January 29, 2007,11:08 PM
Oh the Dreadful Feeling of Suspense...
Spinning: Love is No Big Truth - Kings of Convenience
When Results Day for any major examination in Singapore approaches, rumours ALWAYS fly about. Some are as ludicrous as - get this - receiving a certain letter inviting you to sign up for a certain course means you have failed your 'O' Levels badly. Myth, of course, as I have found out. It caused a great deal of worry, and I was so gullible that I would dash to the mailbox every morning, leafing through the wad of envelopes and praying that there wasn't any letter addressed to me. Most of the rumours turned out to be untrue, of course, as most rumours always turn out to be.
So then I have every reason to pooh-pooh every rumour regarding the 'A' Levels that manages to reach my ears. But I worry, and I always think, "What if?" Of course I'm not going to fall for the old "receive a letter and you're doomed" rumour. I just hope, and pray, that the results will only be released AFTER the Chinese New Year period. For a very simple reason, of course. Most of my friends would know I come from an extended family which evaluates a young person based on his/her academic success. Typical. It happens almost everywhere here.
So if the results are going to be released before CNY, and the nosy relatives get wind of it, imagine the barrage of torturous questions that I will be obliged to answer. Sure, there is the part about asking because they care; some genuinely do and I know who they are, but for others, I know bad news is merely fodder for their toxic gossip, letting them speculate and blind-guess why and how it happened. I just have to sit down, and listen very carefully to what they always talk about when they think no one's listening in. Everyone seems to love a twisted fairytale now. Give them a happy ending and they dismiss it as boring. Give them a warped conclusion, and they jump at it like eager beavers. Semi-hyperbolic, but you get the idea.
If I was the sort who stayed at home all day for CNY, I wouldn't give a damn. Thing is, I go visiting every New Year, which means I'd have to talk to people whom I don't really feel like talking to, about things I don't want to mention. Not even the red packets can make up for this. You would point out, hey, what if it's good news? I still wouldn't want to talk about it. What for? It'll only give them a chance to compare my poor cousins/nieces/nephews to the preconceived idea of a brilliant student. I had a taste of that. I didn't like it at all.
So to keep things simple, those results had better come in after CNY. Time to start crossing both my fingers and toes.
When I signed on to work in the service industry, I still had a little hope in me left that what I had read a year ago in the Straits Times wasn't true. Quoting an article from The Straits Times in June 21 2006, "SINGAPORE was placed a dismal 30 out of 35 cities in a Reader's Digest courtesy test, showing it still has a long way to go - even after more than a quarter century of courtesy campaigns." Working for real in the service industry has just cemented that finding for me.
In a span of three weeks, I got told to "go to hell", "jump into the lake", and various other damnations you can think of. I perfectly accept these without complaints if I had, in some way, been rude or abrasive whilst serving these people. But as far as I can remember, I remembered my Ps and Qs, and didn't really make major mistakes. But the thing is, these very people who curse me are those who are disillusioned or pissed at the fact that they were not getting what they want (because they simply CANNOT get it and they are stubbornly insisting on it), and for some reason, cannot remain civil whilst talking to me. The first time round, I was shocked by the lack of civility of these people talking to me. Pretty shaken, I didn't know how to react at all. A few damnations later, I was getting number and number to these unfounded insults. Perhaps you can say it isn't anger we're talking about now; more like bitterness against the unreasonable.
Then there are those who speak condescendingly; speaking down instead of speaking to. Yeah, seriously? Is there a need for that? Sure, I'm plebian. I'm content at that. I'd rather be humbly plebian than hoity-toity patrician.
But I still continue to work in this position, because as frustrating as it can get at times, there are the rewarding moments. Get lucky, and you get an unbelievably understanding person whom everybody's clamouring to serve. All is not lost, because in these 3 weeks I have had people treating me as an equal, and making me feel that I have indeed helped them. That feeling is rewarding. And anyway, this job allows me to interact with people. So ugly (metaphorically) or not, I still have to put up with it if I want to learn something.
In any case, if people want GEMS, then I think it's only fair to reciprocate with appropriate behaviour. All that is required of us is to be civil and respectful to a fellow human being. Is it that hard to accomplish?
And I cannot believe I am saying this, but it's true. I miss school like heck. Minus the examinations and homework of course (but even that was more bearable!). School was a safe haven. The worst sort of trouble you can get into - provided you're not the sort who messes around too much, of course - was a sharp rebuke by a teacher, or meet the parents. Even then, it was a protected environment. When you screw up at work, you really screw up. There's no one to cover for you, no one to say, "It's all right, I'll take it from here."
Interesting, really. I just hope I'm thick skinned enough to hold out till I have learned as much as I ought to.
Spinning: Know How - Kings of Convenience feat. Feist
You know how the end of the year is so greatly celebrated? I never understood why and am still pretty clueless about why people get so excited about the end of the year. Why? Is it because they had a bad year and can't wait for it to finish off? Or because optimists all around can't wait to spread the good word about next year?
I had a good 2006. I loved it. Despite it being the year in which I took one of those soul-sucking state examinations. I met people who were fun to be around with, and who basically made the rigorous academic year a more bearable one. I stayed in contact with my old friends and they continue to amuse and amaze me till this very day. So, I decided to end this year with a bang. Both Christmas and New Year's Eve, my family, friends and I made graaaaand plans.
Baubles are Fun.
We had TWO Christmas celebrations, one on the eve and one on the actual day, complete with 2 turkeys, pork ribs, sushi and 2 bottles (more, actually. But shared amongst many. I'm not alcoholic!) of wine. We obviously over-ordered and had to live on Turkey the remaining week. Presents basically overflowed at the base of my puny Christmas Tree and everyone went home happy. Haha. That's the whole point, isn't it? The year's Christmas certainly beat the preceding one, which was, er - for lack of a better word - sucky. Just so you know, it was spent at Orchard Road. I'm never going back there. Even those pretty lights don't tempt me.
It was great. And I know I've always been complaining about how Chase, my younger dog, is such a bitch at times (not just literally). But I'll have to admit I am growing fonder of her everyday - especially when she's tired. :)
Chase had enough of Christmas.
And so the very last day of 2006 was spent in Marina Bay. Getting to it was tough. Tolerating the crowd was worse. You've got to have a lot of patience with people, so if you're the kind who needs people to keep out of that 10 metre radius around you, forget squeezing in with the crowd. You're practically kissing the neck of the poor guy in front of you.
So we did get to a good spot eventually; somewhere around the Merlion, facing the Esplanade. Except that a 100 other people were standing in front of us. Oh, and apparently, the aerosol foam sprays that caused a hullabaloo last year aren't banned yet. Or if they are, they're being sold illegally. Obviously, some people are really livid at the fact that Singapore lacks the 4 seasons, so they saw a need to shower us with fake, acrid snow. Bad idea, actually. If the foam was actually not harmful, it would've been fine; you know, create a little atmosphere, and pretend we're really prancing around in real snow. But I did mention it was AEROSOL spray. You know, the kinds which are causing the Ozone Layer to deplete? It doesn't just harm the Earth, by the way. I've found that it's really nasty for the throat and eyes as well. It irritates your throat, makes it burn a little, and there you go - coughfest all around. My only consolation was that they didn't spray it directly into the face like last year in Orchard. They sprayed it into the air.
So, I did take some photos... but I was so excited, I was trembling. Which explains the really bad quality of the photos. Sorry!
OK, so my photographs make the fireworks look like random flashes of light. To make up for it, I've posted the video on YouTube. A picture paints a thousand words but when it comes to fireworks, the video paints the entire story. There was some loss of colour and quality when I uploaded it, so if you want the original, approach me.
My personal favourites were those which looked like furballs, and those which exploded in a golden spray of fire. Amazing stuff (right around 51 seconds into the video). Guess the enthralling sight makes up for the insufferable crowd and the foam-touting morons.
Told you I made GRAAAAAAND plans. By my standards, anyway.
