Kevin Low

假期虽忙，今日还是答应了母亲，与她上巴刹去买菜，吃早点。新加坡所谓的早点，是炒米粉，炒面，这一类食品，而非‘点心’。今天特地到中笆鲁巴刹 – 本来这‘ba’, 是头上一个‘山’，下边添个‘合’；翻了词典，发现真有此字，但电脑上却没有，没办法，只好用了同音的‘笆’字。我们主要到那儿去是为了买菜，但听娘说那儿卖的虾面不错，便也就到那儿去尝尝。确实不错。

中笆鲁巴刹其实正在翻新，我们所去的，是暂时搭建的巴刹。虽说是暂时搭建的，设备还是非常完善，决不缺桌少椅的。卖衣的那儿还有试衣室呢！唯一缺的，大概就是空间吧。那儿的摊位，都挤得要命，但这也好，摊主们都在聊天，完全不把‘竞争’放在眼里。

像娘如此管闲之人，认识的人还真多，走不到两步就在跟人到招呼，聊个一二。那些婆嫂，见到我，必对娘说这三句，“这你儿子呀？长得还真高呀。现在读哪儿？”另外添的还有，“怎今天有空陪妈妈到巴刹来？”对于现代‘疼爱孩子’的新加坡父母，巴刹有如是什么禁地，孩子们有空该在家温书，怎么到巴刹来学买菜 – 准是没前途！他们就是以这种眼光看着我。

好了，买菜。

Charles’ theory doesn’t only apply to lifeforms or whatever mutant creatures that might really exist in the very world we live in, it also apply in almost every single part of life. Evolution is something like improvement, but most importantly, it is a change. Supposedly positive one but not necessarily so.

For those who didn’t notice that things does evolve, let me make a simple analogy here. I was originally thinking about food, but I decided that it would be interesting to talk about Air-conditioners. I remember when I was young, Aircons wasn’t really cool, so on advertisements, the different companies will compete at the coolness level. They will try to outperform each other in the aspect of making better cooling system. From ammonia to whatever gas they use, they simply try to make the air that flows out of the machine be at the most suitable low temperature. And soon, the companies came to an equilibrium.

So they started another war. Some dumb company started off saying that their Aircons makes less noise than others. So they forgot about ammonia or freons and turned to the fans. They tuned the blades, switched the axis and twist the plates, did whatever they can in their advertisements to make sure that the consumers were convinced that they make the quiest Aircons. Alright, they now have Aircons that makes no sound at all other than the little ‘beep’ when you turn them on or switched the temperatures. But that wasn’t enough.

Another lame company came along, I think its name starts with a ‘D’, or maybe it was a ‘S’. Whatever it is called, they start telling their customers that their Aircons clean their air. Okay, now it is a battle of purity. Other companies dropped their blades, and heavy machinaries and went into making filters. There was sponge, PVC or whatever synthetic form of trap, that were trapping the dust in the air that is unfortunately sucked into the Aircon. Well, they also managed to make Aircons that spew air, which are almost perfectly clean.

Sorry that the story is so long, even I am bored by it. Now comes along some company that starts with ‘F’, who says their Aircon produces some catechins or whatever and negative ions or don’t know what, which are healthy to the human bodies. Things have been evolving all the time, don’t expect things to be the same as last time. And it is this, that forces us to change and adapt to the environment and surroundings.

My marks for this term evolved, but not my position. Is that a good news? I think not. But my friends told me that is already good because it also mean I am not getting worse. There is this friend of mine obtained a better score than the previous term but dropped by 9 positions. And that is how ridiculous the system is. Too bad, things are evolving into a crazy stage. Even the supposedly best hasn’t make it.

The world is getting scarier. First, holidays are coming. Holidays are not time for relaxation. They are periods of time when we go wild and work madly at home instead of being ‘lectured’ at school. In school, the ‘talk only’ ability becomes powerful especially when everyone assumes that having school would mean lots of commitment and responsibility, so people do not come and bother you. Simply say you are busy when people ask for your favour and the very fact that you reply would be greatly appreciated – no explanation needed (there are tonnes of it anyway).

But holidays are dreadful: You can’t say you have got lessons, or school. Initially, the school gives you a little homework, such as informing your parents about upcoming events and things to organise that comes after the holidays (they assume you have the holidays to plan everything). Next, your teachers give you work – tonnes of worksheet; so much and so heavy that they can squeeze out every single inch of adipose tissue in Bingyuan, and every single molecule of lipid out of Fat Brother. I even have problems bringing them home, if not for the fact that there aren’t many textbooks to carry around. Well, when teacher finishes with their assigning of work, your project and whatever mentors come and nag. They say you are still trailing behind the other mentees, then comment that the project is incomplete or whatever. But take note: They DO guide you with the work, expecting very much in return (in the form of excellence in the project or research quality).

Guys, it is not easy to say that holidays are coming and everything can be ‘taken easy’. If those homework, project and research, plus responsibility for organising whatever isn’t enough, there’s more. Work attachments. I have one, quite nice actually – since I have never been on such thing for all my life, so this is the first time. This one lasts for 5 days – 12 hours of work each day; to film stuff and record details. Yes, sounds simple, but think about doing that for 12 hours, in a day, for 5 consecutive days. Oh yah, and I still got to go back to school – for English Lessons. Okay, that’s all. I have about 25 days of holidays (got ta exclude days like the attachment when I cannot do anything at all). Yeah. That’s life. Too bad. I am not Mib, can’t go US, can’t go out with a bunch of friends and slack, can’t really make a point to blog in the holidays.

Last Friday, when The Economist is supposed to arrive, it didn’t. Okay, I admit I was slacking and didn’t really touched the previous issue on ‘Axis of Evil’, but they should be delivering the magazine on time. I gave them 2 days and finally, I sent a ‘comment’ to them through the net to inform them that my issue hasn’t arrive, yesterday.

They responded almost immediately to this ‘comment’ by sending the issue to my home by hand today. I am pleasantly surprised by such world class services that this company offers. Guys, if you ever subscribe anything academic, I would recommend The Economist, because I believe the content isn’t where a magazine company cant stop at. They have managed to extend beyond just content and provide the service that we need.

This isn’t the first time, and I doubt it will be the last. Yes. The bus which I take to school and back home broke down again. It is not important how many thimes it broke down in total if it doesn’t concern me, but I have encountered such incidents thrice already. This is ridiculous.

I was about to board the bus when the driver told me, “Boy, don’t board, something is wrong with the bus – overheating,” I was like,”Okay. Hey, there is smoke billowing from the back of the bus!” The bus driver quickly got down, went to the back of the bus and lifted the lid of the engine. True enough, it was extremely smoky and the air smells like it has just received a huge dose of tar. He got everyone off the bus and told them to take another bus.

I would probably have captured a snap of the smoky bus if not for the fact that I don’t usually bring my camera to school. Too bad for people who have never experienced this. And also for people like me who have experience too much of such misfortune. Service 186 is a very special SBS bus and it is not a day I took to come to such conclusion. It is a period of more than 3 and a half years. Here are some features of Bus 186, which other SBS buses probably do not possess.

Not fully air-conditioned, and the number of air-conditioned 186 buses is definitely a one digit number that is less than 5. For non-Singaporeans, ‘non-fully air-conditioned’ doesn’t mean the first half of the bus has air-conditioners but not the back; it means that there are buses of this service number with air-conditioners and those without.

Lousy drivers; they have drivers who speed past bus stops without bothering if there are people thinking about boarding the bus. There are also a huge group who stops by at every single bus stop on the route, regardless if there are people in the bus stop, or whether anyone is about to alight.

It breaks down at a higher frequency than any other service numbers. I have no explanation for this, and it is simply my deduction, but I thought that it is amazing for such buses to break down so many times when the old buses (such as those of the City Shuttle Service), do not really break down at all.

Long distance, yet the first bus is extremely late. The first bus leaves Shenton Way Interchange at 6.00am – I am not sure if the driver sometimes slack or whatever, but anyway, it is damn late, considering the fact that the first of the same bus moving in the opposite direction starts at 5.30am. I wonder why they have different timing for the different direction. Anyway, it goes from Shenton Way all the way to remote places like St. Michael, or whatever.

Worst, they want to raise the bus fees! With such world-class bus services, one can expect anything out of the world to happen – whether it is overheating of the engine, lack of power in the battery box, or something wrong with the accelerator, 186 simply has to cause me trouble. In fact, its waiting time is already irking me. 8-13 minutes of waiting for peak hours and 15-19 minutes of waiting for off-peak. In this era when time is everything – when I didn’t actually think blogging about this is productive but I still did – how can I be spending so much time at the bus stop? World-class. Yeah, right!

Yes, I benefit from the service. If not for the existence of this bus, I would have to walk a few extra hundred metres to reach the bus stop with another bus that happens to cross the road of a particular bus that reaches my school directly. In case you don’t know what I am talking about, I actually mean that in any case, I still have to change bus and so the bus company is already squeezing me dry with me having to pay almost double the fare. Well, it is true that i purchase the concession stamp but that doesn’t mean they can do anything to try squeeze everyone else dry.

I thought it would be nice to get to know a bus driver, especially those driving me to and fro school. Unfortunately, SBS probably changes their driving schedule as fast as they refill their bus fuel tanks – I see a different face sitting on the drivers’ seat everytime I board the bus to go to school, even when the timing is exactly the same. The big problem is that while the driver is different, the bus is forever that SBS1834E (not reliable because the plate is rather weather-worn; I couldn’t see it properly), which is old, jerky, spoil-more-than-twice-but-somehow-managed-to-recover, smelly, dirty, not waterproof (so I am extremely unlucky on rainy days), has rusty railing to hold on to and finally, the windows have to be opened yourself (the big problem here is that the window is old and rusty, thus, the friction between the plastic window and the railing is tremedous, making loads of squeaky sounds when you open it). And if you are real unlucky, you might not even be able to push open the window!

I don’t like the idea of owning a car, nor taking a bus – especially when you are in a country like Singapore. Forget it, I think people like me have long migrated somewhere else. I am beginning (actually it is more of continuing) to wonder why I am still here. Okay, maybe it isn’t that bad. It is not as if Mib is enjoying himself.