Unriddle

I guess everyone knew this was coming.

Farewell

We moved out the day before yesterday.
Our neighbours wished us all the best and we bade farewell.
"See you again somewhere."
Yes, we'll see you again somewhere.

And good neighbours for eight years we were, we couldn't help but feel unwilling to part.
I remember the times we stayed over at each others' house just for the thrill of it, although we were pretty much separated by a mere pillar.
I remember the shows we roleplayed along the corridors for the cleaners and anyone who would bother to look.
I remember the Sundays we went out together for family bonding activities.
So naturally, we weren't ready to part. My ten-year-old neighbour cried.
After all, we were neighbours for eight years.

We'll see them again somewhere, I hope.
On the bright side, one of them is studying at Hwa Chong Junior College.

Alright.
So we moved into a 5-room flat just a few blocks away from our previous home.
Walk out of the elevator and you'd see our mahogany painted door fitted with a silver-beige gate. 
Ironically, our neighbour is the housing agent who sold us the flat.

She greeted us with a smile of pearly white and welcomed us to "visit any time" and promised to impart some of her cooking skills to my mum. That was a really warm greeting.
She has two sons, one of whose birthday coincidentally fall in the month of June and the other saw the light of the world in 1996.

I foresee a strong relationship in the making.
I just hope I can part gracefully, for the second time, when we move out next year.

Second Chance

Have you done something wrong before?
Or perhaps you did it correctly, but it did not appear as such.
And even in this, there are various reasons why it didn't happen like how it was supposed to.
But you don't have to bother explaining, because no one will bother to listen.

But ultimately, I'm sure we all regret our doing.
Yet, how far can 'I'm sorry' go to get others' forgiveness?

You might be entrusted to organise a large-scale event.
Foiling the event will just yield you nothing but the loss of trust.
Without trust, you'll be fighting to survive.

People go with the flow. Once you're out, you're out.
It's all about capabilities and talents these days.

If you don't meet it, that's it.
No one bothers about what you say; What you say bothers no one.
After all, this is a competitive world.
This is the real world. A world so real.
It's reality, and reality is always cruel.

Sometimes in life, we are given chances.
There's a first chance, but there will always be a last chance.
And your first chance might very well be your last.

So have you done something wrong before?
I'm sure we all have.
To human is to err.

But will there always be a second chance?

Shortcut

I participated in an East Zone Science Carnival yesterday at Victoria Junior College, along with Jarrett, Cong Yang, Gary and Hua Ying. It was a one-way trip from school. We had lots of fun with the activities, especially the 15 minutes "star-gazing" in an inflated astronomy laboratory model. Hua Ying commented that it was awesome. (:

We could leave as soon as we completed the activities of the day.
We finished them at about 4.30pm.
It was a one-way trip from school, so we had to return home ourselves.
Since the nearest MRT station was Bedok, it was pretty far away from my home in Woodlands.
In a few stops, we reached Kembangan.
This made me recall the trip home last year during the Ramadhan sabbatical course.

Along with Jarrett and Wei Heng, we went to the Street Bazaar at night as part of our sabbatical programme.
It was a one-way trip from school, so we had to return home ourselves.
Since the nearest MRT station was Kembangan, it was pretty far away from my home in Woodlands.
I had to take all the way to City Hall and transfer to the North-South line, or take all the way to Jurong East and transfer there. The whole trip took at least one and a half hour.

The whole trip took me only forty-five minutes yesterday.
I stopped at Paya Lebar and transferred to the Circle Line, reaching at Bishan and taking the North-South trip back home.

This is how great the Circle Line affects our lives.
By giving us an alternate and quicker route to our destination.
And so I told Jarrett on the way back, "Isn't urbanisation great?"

First Timer

"Wei Jie, Yue Jun and I signed up as a team of three for a competition  organised by Nanyang Polytechnic named 'iCode', which challenges us to  code an iPhone web app. The competition is confined within the secondary  school circuit."

This was quoted from Yihan's blog.
Today is the official launch of the [i.code] Competition.
There was a mini ceremony at Nanyang Polytechnic at about 2.45pm.
That was when they would release the theme of our application for this year so we can start working on it until the judging date sometime in November.

Nanyang Polytechnic is situated in Yio Chu Kang and it would take us approximately 45 minutes to reach there by bus and train transfers from the school campus. This meant that we would have little time to eat, considering the few minutes taken up by the teacher of the last period and the need to reach there earlier to register.

And hence, Yihan's mother, Mrs Khoo, SMTP teacher in Hwa Chong Institution, offered to give us a ride there. Wei Jie had important EP3 stuff to handle, so he could not make it. That leaves Yihan and I.

Honestly, I have never met Mrs Khoo before.
Yihan's one of my best friends and I am aiming for SMTP next year, so I wanted to give her as best an impression as possible. I've asked Yihan. He hasn't talked about me yet, so I'm currently a clean sheet with no stains.
So I asked Joel, since he was in her Sabbatical Course in Term 2. He shrugged and said that she looked strict and whose face show no expression - rarely smiles. Asked me to be mentally prepared.

I prepared a speech. A three-word speech. "Hi Mrs Khoo." Just like that.
Then I got on the car and added a few extra words, "Thanks for the ride."
"Ya, sure." With a smile on her face.
That pretty much broke the ice.
Throughout the journey, she remained friendly.
Offered me a pancake (which I politely declined) and taught me how to go back home. I appreciated it.

I was greatly relieved. Still, I maintained my formality at the end of the ride. "Mrs Khoo, thanks alot."
Then Yihan pouted a sentence: "So formal." Mrs Khoo gave a gentle laugh.

Maybe I shouldn't trust Joel too much.
When you're a first timer, things might not turn out as expected.
But in fact, things turned out great.

The crow

An 80 year old man was sitting on the sofa in his house along with his 45 years old highly educated son.
Suddenly a crow perched on their window.
The Father asked his Son, "What is this?"
The Son replied "It is a crow".

After a few minutes, the Father asked his Son the 2nd time, "What is this?"
The Son said "Father, I have just now told you "It's a crow".
After a little while, the old Father again asked his Son the 3rd time, What is this?"
At this time some expression of irritation was felt in the Son's tone when he said to his Father with a rebuff. "It's a crow, a crow."
A little after, the Father again asked his Son the 4th time, "What is this?"
This time the Son shouted at his Father, "Why do you keep asking me the same question again and again, although I have told you so many times 'IT IS A CROW'. Are you not able to understand this?"

A little later the Father went to his room and came back with an old tattered diary, which he had maintained since his Son was born. On opening a page, he asked his Son to read that page. When the son read it, the following words were written in the diary:

"Today my little son aged three was sitting with me on the sofa, when a crow was sitting on the window My Son asked me 23 times what it was, and I replied to him all 23 times that it was a Crow. I hugged him lovingly each time he asked me the same question again and again for 23 times. I did not at all feel irritated I rather felt affection for my innocent child".

While the little child asked him 23 times "What is this", the Father had felt no irritation in replying to the same question all 23 times and when today the Father asked his Son the same question just 4 times, the Son felt irritated and annoyed.

(This story has the same theme as The Basket.)

Two anchors, four reporters and zero credibility

We are not the 9.30 news. We tried asking for that slot, but they said 'no'. We are so exclusive that we only come up once a week. Believing us is like believing crocodiles make good pets. Contrary to popular belief, any similarities to actual people or events are purely coincidental.