Well, this is Adelaide. Within one hour of being in the city I had heard a few people blasting their car horns at others. Within a few days I had been the victim of road rage; my sister was driving us back from shopping and changed lanes to pass someone turning across rush hour trafic, she indicated, and this moron also changed lanes two cars behind but felt that he had some sort of unique right to the road and drove up alongside use to scream abuse, then had to drop back because his lane was blocked by a bus, but then sped up to get along again and hurl more foul language.
Welcome to South Australia!
This is what it is like these days.
Adelaidians are bad drivers, bad parkers, bad pedestrians.
They are rude, obnoxious, arogant, inconsiderate, and selfish.
If anything, they are worse than when I left.
Four days and I have arrived at this realisation.
I am using my sisters laptop, which has an expired Microsoft Office, so I can't spell check this; I feel "arogant" is wrong, but 'arrogant' seems just as wrong. Tomorrow I will load a copy of my home and small office Office on it, it is multi-license so it will be legit; but with one copy on my laptop and one on Ivy's it will be the final instal I can do.
Di, Mum, and I went to the central market today and Mum had a ball. Seriously, she loved it. She said 'cos it was clean and varied, not like when she used to go there when I was a kid. I bought lots of cheeses, which are so much cheaper here than in SG, and so much wider choice. And I cooked dinner whilst Mum and Di watched a movie. My signature dish; large cup mushrooms, spoon of oil rolled around inside to help the mass of the body cook, then fill with bechumel sauce, then cheese, then bake. I used three cheeses, two below, one on each half, then moz on top 'cos it melts so well. Also steamed vegies and rolled in butter and a little salt and pepper, and marinated some tofu (disolve honey in hot water, then add herbs and gentle spices, then add soy sauce) and fried slowly to ensure crispness.
Sleeping on Di's lounge room floor (on a spare mattress, again, that feels wrong with both spellings) whilst Mum has the spare room.
Will visit Maggie and Shaiby on the way back to Mum's tomorrow morning. Then a week at Mum's. Di and Carmel will be going down there next week for a one-night stay and I will come back with them.
So why are Adelaide drivers so bad?
I would say because Adelaide police are not doing their job as they are too focussed on taking bribes to look the other way from sex-slave traders, supressing political dissent, selling stolen drugs, and murdering the occasional intellectual. This is my personal experience. I would also add raping young women; but to be honest I have only personally come across that in my circle of friends in Melbourne.
But this doesn't explain why Adelaidians are also bad pedestrians.
They do exactly the same sort of stuff on foot paths that they do on roads.
So it must be psychological, as in some sort of generalised social neurosis.
This was one of the things that I wanted to be leaving behind me for good, and it is sad to have to come back to it. I have been on the road in four other countries so far, and no matter how much honking there was, there wasn't anywhere near the same level of aggression.
I emailed some contacts in agencies and texted some contacts in my network yesterday morning. My phone then spent the rest of the day running hot with reply texts and incoming calls, bar one who responded by email.
How different is that from my experiences in SG?????
In SG I never got to see anyone except the receptionist.
Here I had the manager of accountancy and finance calling me from the largest agency in town and spending nearly an hour talking to me, and I had a near instant response from the manager of all contracting from one of the smaller agencies. They explained the scene, the changes since I was here last, what effect the financial crisis had on both permanent and contract placements, and the impact on rates. All wonderful information that no one in SG could be bothered talking to me about. One is going to compile a list of clients to target for me and start calling them; "Kai is back in town". Those were his words.
It will be fascinating to see what comes from this.
Although I suspect that I might have to drop back to the sixty to seventy dollars an hour range for the next year or so. But in another year I expect the market to be fully recovered and project work to be proceeding again and I will be able to utilise my personal network for consulting positions through my private company rather than though an agency. The benefit is a near doubling of the rate; but I have to keep the majority of it in the company and can not use it for personal expenses.
So, all in all, sad, but interesting.
Oh, yeah. Some post scripts.
The Tietzer's is still hurting; I am taking aspirin a few times a day to hold it in check, but it doesn't seem to be going away.
I did have some sort of weird cold in the end, lasted the weekend, lots of nose blowing, and lots of blood. I have never seen so much blood come out of my nose without some sort of impact event preceding. Now almost all gone.
And I spent another day with Little Kai.
So that tidies up any loose ends from the preceding few posts.
As I am going down to my mother's farm and it has no internet connection (or mobile phone coverage) I shall be out of touch. So there probably won't be another post for a week, a week and a half. Since no one reads this it is off no great concern. If you are reading this then I seriously ask if you do not have better things that you could be doing with your time?
Tuesday, June 23
Saturday, June 20
Here I Stand
Well, here I am; back in Australia. My first morning, it is cold, but not wet; I will have to down copious amounts of vitamin C to stave off catching a cold or flu.
I spent most of yesterday with little Kai, who looks adorable. And this weekend I shall write emails to all of my contacts letting them know that I am back, and I shall see what ensues. Tuesday I will go down to mum's for a week.
But for now I am going to sleep again.
I spent most of yesterday with little Kai, who looks adorable. And this weekend I shall write emails to all of my contacts letting them know that I am back, and I shall see what ensues. Tuesday I will go down to mum's for a week.
But for now I am going to sleep again.
Thursday, June 18
Pain and Pain
Today is my last day here. My flight leaves just before midnight. The flat is empty except for the mattress I am sitting on and my suitcase, packed, in the next room. I don't want to go so much that it hurts, but what can I do?
I also hurt from the Tietzer's; I ran out of aspirin and started using nurefen (spelling?) but it is nowhere near as good. I have just come back from getting more aspirin as well as some anti-inflammatory the chemist said was stronger - I have taken it but don't feel that it is as good as aspirin, so in an another hour or so I will take the aspirin anyhow. It is Bayer, not as good as dispirin in my experience, but they don't have the good stuff here. Also found a net caf to print out my flight and hotel bookings.
Nothing much else to say; I hurt, and I hurt.
I also hurt from the Tietzer's; I ran out of aspirin and started using nurefen (spelling?) but it is nowhere near as good. I have just come back from getting more aspirin as well as some anti-inflammatory the chemist said was stronger - I have taken it but don't feel that it is as good as aspirin, so in an another hour or so I will take the aspirin anyhow. It is Bayer, not as good as dispirin in my experience, but they don't have the good stuff here. Also found a net caf to print out my flight and hotel bookings.
Nothing much else to say; I hurt, and I hurt.
Monday, June 15
Differences
The plan for today was to visit the Air Force Museum.
This involved bussing to Kallang MRT, then train to Eunos, then 194 to the museum.
Thence to discover that it is not open on Mondays.
I should have realised that would happen; I recall that the army museum is not open on Mondays, so it kind of figures. So I caught the 190 to Toa Payoh; this is a train/bus interchange.
What a major difference to the previous disaster of a bus station! This one made sense, the bus points had two routes each, not three, and they had coloured arrows tiled on the floor, red and yellow, so you knew exactly where lines went. Also the lines folded back, so the ends were near the starts and easy to get to as there was nobody queued up. This bus terminal was a joy to transit through.
Then into the city to find something to eat. Since everybody blogs about dining out; I ate at the Asian Civ Museum restaurant, Chino something or other, their selection of vegetarian was small, i.e. one; greek salad focaccia, this was so-so, too much aubergine and capsicum - these need to be peeled before being served! The drink, a 'sunset' was nice, for desert the chocolate brownie; the brownie was a bit dull but okay when drowned in cream and choc sauce, the ice cream was beautiful though. All for $40; a bit steep, huh?
Then a walk around Canning Hill; love that park.
But all in all, a day wasted, when I have so few left here.
This involved bussing to Kallang MRT, then train to Eunos, then 194 to the museum.
Thence to discover that it is not open on Mondays.
I should have realised that would happen; I recall that the army museum is not open on Mondays, so it kind of figures. So I caught the 190 to Toa Payoh; this is a train/bus interchange.
What a major difference to the previous disaster of a bus station! This one made sense, the bus points had two routes each, not three, and they had coloured arrows tiled on the floor, red and yellow, so you knew exactly where lines went. Also the lines folded back, so the ends were near the starts and easy to get to as there was nobody queued up. This bus terminal was a joy to transit through.
Then into the city to find something to eat. Since everybody blogs about dining out; I ate at the Asian Civ Museum restaurant, Chino something or other, their selection of vegetarian was small, i.e. one; greek salad focaccia, this was so-so, too much aubergine and capsicum - these need to be peeled before being served! The drink, a 'sunset' was nice, for desert the chocolate brownie; the brownie was a bit dull but okay when drowned in cream and choc sauce, the ice cream was beautiful though. All for $40; a bit steep, huh?
Then a walk around Canning Hill; love that park.
But all in all, a day wasted, when I have so few left here.
Hostility
God, Blogger.com can piss me off sometimes!
It keeps claiming that my cookies are turned off and takes me to some other page when I log in (by "keeps..." I don't mean always, just enough to piss me off). I have discovered that if I hit my shortcut to my blog again then I am still signed in and can then hit 'new post'. Just a mindless nuisance. My cookies are NOT turned off, and once I checked this page it sent me to and followed the instructions only to discover that all of my settings were as it was requesting ANYHOW.
Singapore can be very user hostile at times.
By that I define it as the opposite of user friendly, just in case you needed to be told that. I went to the zoo yesterday; someone gave me a free ticket and a little brochure. The brochure said that I could take the metro to Ang Mo Kio and then a 138 bus; so I take the metro (MRT for those who need to be told) to Ang Mo Kio and then walk out to the bus stop and, you guessed it - there is no 138. So I walk around trying to figure this out, give up, go back into the train station, which is raised so I can see down from the platform, and what do I see? A 138! Driving into a bus depot ACROSS THE ROAD under a multi-storey carpark. They didn't think to say in the zoo brochure that "you can catch the 138 FROM ACROSS THE ROAD", no, they just said catch it from the station.
But I was in the station then, so the next on the brochures list was to take the train to Woodlands and from there catch a 926. Taking the train to Woodlands was easy enough; finding the bus interchange at Woodlands was a major military undertaking! First come out of train station and see sign "buses this way", follow, keep heading in the direction, end up outside with no buses. Go back, notice a sign saying buses that way THAT IS SIDEWAYS TO THE WAY YOU ARE WALKING FROM THE FIRST SIGN!!!!! Head in this new direction, end up at a precipice, can see buses below but don't wish to jump 40 metres down to get to them. Head back, notice SIGN SIDEWAYS TO THE DIRECTION YOU ARE TRAVELLING FROM THE SECOND SIGN saying buses down there.
(You see? It would all work if you were walking backwards from where you want to be to where you start from.)
So now we are at the buses and finding the 926 stand is not hard. Figuring out which of the three lines is for the 926 is not possible unless you have a Chinese brain though. Three lines go this way, then they break, and then three lines go back again - BUT THEY ARE NOT CONNECTED TO THE FIRST THREE LINES!!!! So I just wait to the side, and wait and wait and wait and wait...
The sign says that the 926 only operates on Sundays and yesterday was a Sunday. HOWEVER it would also appear that the 926 does not, in fact, operate on Sundays either. I give up and head up to find a taxi. The taxi stand is a long walk and it is hidden to one side of the complex. There are no taxis. I sit down to wait. Then I notice a little button on a pillar saying "press to summon taxi", I press, a taxi arrives in less than two minutes. I could have been waiting for hours before seeing this little notice though.
When it is time to come back I go to the bus stop at the zoo and what is the first bus to come along? A 927!!! Notice that, it was NOT a 926. And back at Woodlands bus interchange the 926 queue and the 927 queue are not next to each other, they are not even in sight of each other.
So many little things that would be so easy to do properly.
But which Singapore insists on doing arse-end first.
We have a saying in English about 'Chinese puzzles'; something that you cannot solve unless you can think Chinese-style. Sometimes Singapore seems to be one big Chinese puzzle to me.
I guess now you know why so many white guys here get Chinese girlfriends.
Without one you are just lost.
It keeps claiming that my cookies are turned off and takes me to some other page when I log in (by "keeps..." I don't mean always, just enough to piss me off). I have discovered that if I hit my shortcut to my blog again then I am still signed in and can then hit 'new post'. Just a mindless nuisance. My cookies are NOT turned off, and once I checked this page it sent me to and followed the instructions only to discover that all of my settings were as it was requesting ANYHOW.
Singapore can be very user hostile at times.
By that I define it as the opposite of user friendly, just in case you needed to be told that. I went to the zoo yesterday; someone gave me a free ticket and a little brochure. The brochure said that I could take the metro to Ang Mo Kio and then a 138 bus; so I take the metro (MRT for those who need to be told) to Ang Mo Kio and then walk out to the bus stop and, you guessed it - there is no 138. So I walk around trying to figure this out, give up, go back into the train station, which is raised so I can see down from the platform, and what do I see? A 138! Driving into a bus depot ACROSS THE ROAD under a multi-storey carpark. They didn't think to say in the zoo brochure that "you can catch the 138 FROM ACROSS THE ROAD", no, they just said catch it from the station.
But I was in the station then, so the next on the brochures list was to take the train to Woodlands and from there catch a 926. Taking the train to Woodlands was easy enough; finding the bus interchange at Woodlands was a major military undertaking! First come out of train station and see sign "buses this way", follow, keep heading in the direction, end up outside with no buses. Go back, notice a sign saying buses that way THAT IS SIDEWAYS TO THE WAY YOU ARE WALKING FROM THE FIRST SIGN!!!!! Head in this new direction, end up at a precipice, can see buses below but don't wish to jump 40 metres down to get to them. Head back, notice SIGN SIDEWAYS TO THE DIRECTION YOU ARE TRAVELLING FROM THE SECOND SIGN saying buses down there.
(You see? It would all work if you were walking backwards from where you want to be to where you start from.)
So now we are at the buses and finding the 926 stand is not hard. Figuring out which of the three lines is for the 926 is not possible unless you have a Chinese brain though. Three lines go this way, then they break, and then three lines go back again - BUT THEY ARE NOT CONNECTED TO THE FIRST THREE LINES!!!! So I just wait to the side, and wait and wait and wait and wait...
The sign says that the 926 only operates on Sundays and yesterday was a Sunday. HOWEVER it would also appear that the 926 does not, in fact, operate on Sundays either. I give up and head up to find a taxi. The taxi stand is a long walk and it is hidden to one side of the complex. There are no taxis. I sit down to wait. Then I notice a little button on a pillar saying "press to summon taxi", I press, a taxi arrives in less than two minutes. I could have been waiting for hours before seeing this little notice though.
When it is time to come back I go to the bus stop at the zoo and what is the first bus to come along? A 927!!! Notice that, it was NOT a 926. And back at Woodlands bus interchange the 926 queue and the 927 queue are not next to each other, they are not even in sight of each other.
So many little things that would be so easy to do properly.
But which Singapore insists on doing arse-end first.
We have a saying in English about 'Chinese puzzles'; something that you cannot solve unless you can think Chinese-style. Sometimes Singapore seems to be one big Chinese puzzle to me.
I guess now you know why so many white guys here get Chinese girlfriends.
Without one you are just lost.
Monday, June 8
Tsetse Attack!
No, not really, not tsetse flies; tietze.
Interestingly tsetses have existed mostly unchanged for over 30,000,000 years, but they are not the subject of this post. No, I forgot in my last post to mention that I have had a tietze attack. I suffer from Tietze's Syndrome, it is an inflammation of the cartilage where it joins to the ribs. It can strike either the front, where the ribs join in the centre of the chest, or the back, where they join to the spine, or the lower middle of the chest where the floating ribs end and lengths of cartilage then continue to the central join.
So this here cartilage join get inflamed and hurts. To be specific, they hurt when they move, such as getting up or down, or lying on them, or breathing if it is really bad. I have had a pain in my lower right chest for a couple of weeks but it didn't click since I haven't had an attack for over a year. But when it started to get bad it was obvious what it was, so up I got to have a mid-night snack then a couple of aspirin. Breakfast was followed by a couple of aspirin, and lunch was followed by a couple of aspirin. Aspirin, you see, is a very strong anti-inflammatory, brutal, but strong. And now it is mostly gone.
What causes it? Google it and you will get twenty different answers. It is a 'syndrome', which means no-one knows what causes it, just what the symptoms are. I tend to agree with the virus theory; I think it is like warts. Apparently the wart virus lives in all of us, but usually the body's defences keep it down, every now and then for unknown reasons you get a little outbreak of the virus on your skin and a wart appears. I find that milk thistle works really well, also I have had success with hypnosis - any hypnotic routine that includes a cleansing visualisation will clear up any warts that I might have. So I think that this tietze thing is a virus that once it is in you it can never be gotten rid of, only 'managed'. And I manage it by hitting it hard with aspirin whenever I become aware of an inflammation.
I had my first attack when I was in my mid thirties, but I have never had it so severe since because now I recognise it. So this one took a while for me to notice, but sometimes the inflammations go down on their own, so it is not until it hurts to an inconvenient degree, such as hurting when I lie on my side, that I know a) that it is tietze, and b) that I have to hit it with aspirin.
Remember to always eat before taking aspirin; otherwise it does bad things to your stomach lining.
Interestingly tsetses have existed mostly unchanged for over 30,000,000 years, but they are not the subject of this post. No, I forgot in my last post to mention that I have had a tietze attack. I suffer from Tietze's Syndrome, it is an inflammation of the cartilage where it joins to the ribs. It can strike either the front, where the ribs join in the centre of the chest, or the back, where they join to the spine, or the lower middle of the chest where the floating ribs end and lengths of cartilage then continue to the central join.
So this here cartilage join get inflamed and hurts. To be specific, they hurt when they move, such as getting up or down, or lying on them, or breathing if it is really bad. I have had a pain in my lower right chest for a couple of weeks but it didn't click since I haven't had an attack for over a year. But when it started to get bad it was obvious what it was, so up I got to have a mid-night snack then a couple of aspirin. Breakfast was followed by a couple of aspirin, and lunch was followed by a couple of aspirin. Aspirin, you see, is a very strong anti-inflammatory, brutal, but strong. And now it is mostly gone.
What causes it? Google it and you will get twenty different answers. It is a 'syndrome', which means no-one knows what causes it, just what the symptoms are. I tend to agree with the virus theory; I think it is like warts. Apparently the wart virus lives in all of us, but usually the body's defences keep it down, every now and then for unknown reasons you get a little outbreak of the virus on your skin and a wart appears. I find that milk thistle works really well, also I have had success with hypnosis - any hypnotic routine that includes a cleansing visualisation will clear up any warts that I might have. So I think that this tietze thing is a virus that once it is in you it can never be gotten rid of, only 'managed'. And I manage it by hitting it hard with aspirin whenever I become aware of an inflammation.
I had my first attack when I was in my mid thirties, but I have never had it so severe since because now I recognise it. So this one took a while for me to notice, but sometimes the inflammations go down on their own, so it is not until it hurts to an inconvenient degree, such as hurting when I lie on my side, that I know a) that it is tietze, and b) that I have to hit it with aspirin.
Remember to always eat before taking aspirin; otherwise it does bad things to your stomach lining.
Parcel Post
Heh heh, there should be some actual bearing of that title with something in this post if I remember to write it.
So, busy few days. My agent friend Ivy has found new tenants for this flat, so I get my bond back. I used the diplomatic clause to cut out at the six month point, which lets me give one month notice or pay that months rent in lieu. Chose latter, and was going to forfeit the bond for that. But now will get it back, also Ivy has sold my furniture so get a couple of hundred for that as well.
Have to sort out what accounts hold what money before I book flights and hotel back there. Everyone has offered to pick me up from the airport, but the city council provides a free shuttle mini-bus to the CBD and drops you off in front of your hotel. I will probably book a room in the Chiffley on South Tce as it's quite cheap. Stay a few days to sort stuff out, then mum wants me to visit her for a week. Might take Radar down as well, then we can both help Noel with any stuff on the farm and we can network my two computers and play into the night. Then back to the Chifley (one 'f' or two?) until I get a new contract and some cash in the bank.
I am planning then on taking a studio apartment in the city centre so I can walk to work and don't have to maintain a car. So my dog stays with my ex (cos he is happy with her and I don't want to keep disorienting him by taking him back) and my car stays with my mum. But for the price that a modest apartment in SG would set me back I can have a HUGE two level apartment with its own roof garden in Adelaide. So maybe I will...
Anyhow, I have managed to collect rather a lot of books in my short stay here; they fill a large storage box. So will need to send them, some software, some clothes, maybe a few oddments, back by courier. Have looked at SingPost, DHL, and FedEx; looked at a few others, but these three are the ones that survived the first elimination. FedEx seems to be cheaper and offer more options. I just want to send one box, maybe 25 kilos, by surface - it doesn't have to be express by air, the time is not important, it can take a week or a month, I don't care, but do you think anybody's website offers these options? No, it is all air express for hundreds of dollars. Still, since FedEx has passed the first hurdle I will go to one of their offices and ask. Best for DHL or SingPost seems to be over three hundred, best from FedEx seems to be less than two hundred.
I will be SO GLAD to be out of this HDB. Not that it is any worse than the non-HDB apartment that I was in before, but that was not a 'condo'. But it will be nice to be somewhere clean and quiet, and by that I mean the city, the suburb, the estate, the general environs. I am sure that there are plenty of such places in Singers, just that I haven't lived in one yet.
It will take a while to get used to working again I guess. I took seven months off work a few years ago and moved back into work afterwards quite easily, so maybe it will be okay (by a "few years ago" I mean the time between the two breaks was more than two but less than three). In fact, given how much I earn (in Australia that is, having established that I can not survive on what Singapore offers) I can easily take six months off every other year. So maybe I will just go back and do a couple of contracts then go live in Hong Kong for six months. Then back to Oz to work for a year or two before trying an extended holiday in Seoul. I could get used to such a life style for a while. There are parts of it that won't work for me; I really want to be out of Australia on a permanent basis since I think that Western culture and society is going down the gurgler, and I really want to be in some sort of permanent relationship that leads to children. But we have to settle for the best that we can, and maybe experiencing the world this way is the best that I can hope for?
So, busy few days. My agent friend Ivy has found new tenants for this flat, so I get my bond back. I used the diplomatic clause to cut out at the six month point, which lets me give one month notice or pay that months rent in lieu. Chose latter, and was going to forfeit the bond for that. But now will get it back, also Ivy has sold my furniture so get a couple of hundred for that as well.
Have to sort out what accounts hold what money before I book flights and hotel back there. Everyone has offered to pick me up from the airport, but the city council provides a free shuttle mini-bus to the CBD and drops you off in front of your hotel. I will probably book a room in the Chiffley on South Tce as it's quite cheap. Stay a few days to sort stuff out, then mum wants me to visit her for a week. Might take Radar down as well, then we can both help Noel with any stuff on the farm and we can network my two computers and play into the night. Then back to the Chifley (one 'f' or two?) until I get a new contract and some cash in the bank.
I am planning then on taking a studio apartment in the city centre so I can walk to work and don't have to maintain a car. So my dog stays with my ex (cos he is happy with her and I don't want to keep disorienting him by taking him back) and my car stays with my mum. But for the price that a modest apartment in SG would set me back I can have a HUGE two level apartment with its own roof garden in Adelaide. So maybe I will...
Anyhow, I have managed to collect rather a lot of books in my short stay here; they fill a large storage box. So will need to send them, some software, some clothes, maybe a few oddments, back by courier. Have looked at SingPost, DHL, and FedEx; looked at a few others, but these three are the ones that survived the first elimination. FedEx seems to be cheaper and offer more options. I just want to send one box, maybe 25 kilos, by surface - it doesn't have to be express by air, the time is not important, it can take a week or a month, I don't care, but do you think anybody's website offers these options? No, it is all air express for hundreds of dollars. Still, since FedEx has passed the first hurdle I will go to one of their offices and ask. Best for DHL or SingPost seems to be over three hundred, best from FedEx seems to be less than two hundred.
I will be SO GLAD to be out of this HDB. Not that it is any worse than the non-HDB apartment that I was in before, but that was not a 'condo'. But it will be nice to be somewhere clean and quiet, and by that I mean the city, the suburb, the estate, the general environs. I am sure that there are plenty of such places in Singers, just that I haven't lived in one yet.
It will take a while to get used to working again I guess. I took seven months off work a few years ago and moved back into work afterwards quite easily, so maybe it will be okay (by a "few years ago" I mean the time between the two breaks was more than two but less than three). In fact, given how much I earn (in Australia that is, having established that I can not survive on what Singapore offers) I can easily take six months off every other year. So maybe I will just go back and do a couple of contracts then go live in Hong Kong for six months. Then back to Oz to work for a year or two before trying an extended holiday in Seoul. I could get used to such a life style for a while. There are parts of it that won't work for me; I really want to be out of Australia on a permanent basis since I think that Western culture and society is going down the gurgler, and I really want to be in some sort of permanent relationship that leads to children. But we have to settle for the best that we can, and maybe experiencing the world this way is the best that I can hope for?
Thursday, June 4
Response Time Zero
You have probably figured out by now that my post titles are usually just words to fill the space. Why does each blog posting have to have a title?
Anyhow, to an issue that has been mentioned here a few times over the last couple of months. I have thought about this, and think that maybe they did not ride in on my socks and shoes from a park bench at East Coast Park. Maybe yes, maybe no. Just want to put this as an option, but am thinking now that is perhaps more likely that they simply are coming from the mob of [deleted] in the flat next door. They were most numerous at the foot of my bed, which is closest to the door, and more numerous in the cushions of my computer chair, which is closer to the front door than the bedroom. Anyhow, some interesting tips from web-searching; double-sided tape around the legs of beds (and other clothing holding furnitures) and move bed a bit away from wall so doesn't touch, and spray with "V-Safe" which can get from NTUC. Normally I would not shop somewhere owned by communists, but Baygon wasn't working to perfection. (Yes, "communists", well now you know how right-wing I am, don't you?)
I am in the process of dismantling this apartment. Yes, part of that was to spray everything yet again. But more also just to attempt the dual task of cleaning up and preparing for travel. So already about half of my manchester has been thrown. I am guessing that close to half of my clothes will be thrown out as well, and I have started to sort shirts accordingly. I have also thrown out some stuff that came with me from Oz, and am defining what I got here goes with me and what goes down the chute. Ivy is coming over tomorrow with her kids, principally to play Monopoly 'cos I have a chocolate monopoly game that my sis got me for xmas and needs to be used before I go back. But she will also be collecting my HP laptop and my printer (do you need to be told that it is a Canon? I only said "HP" to differentiate the two laptops; the Asus is going back to Oz with me). The landlady appears to be buying the furniture (such as it is) and the fridge, microwave, electric oven, kettles, etc., etc., etc., the money side of that transaction is irrelevant to me. And I will be sending some clothes and a heap of books and PC games back by courier.
The is some stuff going around in my head that I want to write, but for two things:
1) I am still trying to sort it out, and
2) my bum is sore from sitting on this (now cushionless) chair for too long.
I will see if I post again later today.
Anyhow, to an issue that has been mentioned here a few times over the last couple of months. I have thought about this, and think that maybe they did not ride in on my socks and shoes from a park bench at East Coast Park. Maybe yes, maybe no. Just want to put this as an option, but am thinking now that is perhaps more likely that they simply are coming from the mob of [deleted] in the flat next door. They were most numerous at the foot of my bed, which is closest to the door, and more numerous in the cushions of my computer chair, which is closer to the front door than the bedroom. Anyhow, some interesting tips from web-searching; double-sided tape around the legs of beds (and other clothing holding furnitures) and move bed a bit away from wall so doesn't touch, and spray with "V-Safe" which can get from NTUC. Normally I would not shop somewhere owned by communists, but Baygon wasn't working to perfection. (Yes, "communists", well now you know how right-wing I am, don't you?)
I am in the process of dismantling this apartment. Yes, part of that was to spray everything yet again. But more also just to attempt the dual task of cleaning up and preparing for travel. So already about half of my manchester has been thrown. I am guessing that close to half of my clothes will be thrown out as well, and I have started to sort shirts accordingly. I have also thrown out some stuff that came with me from Oz, and am defining what I got here goes with me and what goes down the chute. Ivy is coming over tomorrow with her kids, principally to play Monopoly 'cos I have a chocolate monopoly game that my sis got me for xmas and needs to be used before I go back. But she will also be collecting my HP laptop and my printer (do you need to be told that it is a Canon? I only said "HP" to differentiate the two laptops; the Asus is going back to Oz with me). The landlady appears to be buying the furniture (such as it is) and the fridge, microwave, electric oven, kettles, etc., etc., etc., the money side of that transaction is irrelevant to me. And I will be sending some clothes and a heap of books and PC games back by courier.
The is some stuff going around in my head that I want to write, but for two things:
1) I am still trying to sort it out, and
2) my bum is sore from sitting on this (now cushionless) chair for too long.
I will see if I post again later today.
Monday, June 1
Yyeeeehcckkk!
This got me so mad that I had to blog it straight away!
But having turned on my laptop (balanced precariously on a pillow on the bed in the guest room...) I had to first clear out my email, so now I have calmed down a bit.
When I sat down to post ads for this flat at a couple more sites I noticed that I was scratching the back of my right upper thigh a lot. So I stood up and checked it, new bites, lots of them! So I turned my pyjamas inside out but nothing there, and I have checked my bed and bedroom to pieces so I didn't feel like doing that again. This called for some lateral thinking!
It happened yesterday or the day before as well I thought. But I haven't been anywhere, and it is the back of my right leg both times, weird. Unless, maybe it is where I was sitting all day? So I look at the cushion on the seat by my laptop. Nothing. So I look at the cushion under that one (two cushions 'cos I've been sitting there all day sometimes), I turn it over... BUGS!
In one corner, a mass of them, and different from the last type of bug.
So where did these come from?
There is no way that you can convince me that I happened to sit somewhere that had bugs on the seat and they rode home on my shorts in the last couple of days. I haven't been anywhere for the last few days, I most definitely haven't been down to the beach. No, the only explanation that I can think of is the mass of [deleted due to SG's delicate racial harmony laws :)] next door above the $2 shop ("buy one, free one"). Especially as my computer desk was so close to the front door. So I cleaned out the entrance hall and sprayed around the doors, both the front and the one to the dentists (also in the entrance hall).
Lesson learned: do not live in an HDB! If you are going to migrate to Singers then make sure that you rent an apartment in a clean condo, in a clean street, in a clean suburb.
Anyhow, both cushions got sprayed then into a garbage bag and tied tightly then down the garbage shoot (egads! maybe that's where...). And now my laptop is balanced precariously on a pillow as I sit cross-legged on the guest bed.
I am definitely not sad to be leaving this.
But having turned on my laptop (balanced precariously on a pillow on the bed in the guest room...) I had to first clear out my email, so now I have calmed down a bit.
When I sat down to post ads for this flat at a couple more sites I noticed that I was scratching the back of my right upper thigh a lot. So I stood up and checked it, new bites, lots of them! So I turned my pyjamas inside out but nothing there, and I have checked my bed and bedroom to pieces so I didn't feel like doing that again. This called for some lateral thinking!
It happened yesterday or the day before as well I thought. But I haven't been anywhere, and it is the back of my right leg both times, weird. Unless, maybe it is where I was sitting all day? So I look at the cushion on the seat by my laptop. Nothing. So I look at the cushion under that one (two cushions 'cos I've been sitting there all day sometimes), I turn it over... BUGS!
In one corner, a mass of them, and different from the last type of bug.
So where did these come from?
There is no way that you can convince me that I happened to sit somewhere that had bugs on the seat and they rode home on my shorts in the last couple of days. I haven't been anywhere for the last few days, I most definitely haven't been down to the beach. No, the only explanation that I can think of is the mass of [deleted due to SG's delicate racial harmony laws :)] next door above the $2 shop ("buy one, free one"). Especially as my computer desk was so close to the front door. So I cleaned out the entrance hall and sprayed around the doors, both the front and the one to the dentists (also in the entrance hall).
Lesson learned: do not live in an HDB! If you are going to migrate to Singers then make sure that you rent an apartment in a clean condo, in a clean street, in a clean suburb.
Anyhow, both cushions got sprayed then into a garbage bag and tied tightly then down the garbage shoot (egads! maybe that's where...). And now my laptop is balanced precariously on a pillow as I sit cross-legged on the guest bed.
I am definitely not sad to be leaving this.
Slow Train
I had this feeling I hadn't blogged for a long time, and was kind of feeling "who cares?" and "why bother ever posting again" sort of stuff, but last post was only a few days ago after all. How weird.
On Friday Ivy showed me the easy way to Jahore Bahru. That is, without the improvised floatation device...
It was kind of interesting, but nothing to see except shops, and they all looked the same as in SG. As Ivy kept pointing out (she is Malaysian) it is less clean, but then, in my view Singers isn't that clean, certainly not finding it so living with the natives.
Have advertised my little flat on a couple of rental sites, and Ivy will place an ad in the paper. If we can get a tenant to take over before I leave then the land lady will not charge me the one month notice period. No hassle, but we'll try and see how we go. But now I will have to keep the place clean in case of viewers-at-short-notice. Two things; one, I hate having to keep a rented house clean for an extended period for the agent to show off, and two, keeping an HDB clean is near impossible - turn your back and all sorts of crap flies in under the door, dust, fluff, critters. Still, we'll see how we go.
And I am bored shitless.
Kind of compounds the effect of eating any curry. Mind you I have been staying off the local food recently, and my tummy is much happier for it.
Must be some strange time, but all my 'favourite' blogs have been boring for some time. Mr Wang is reciting poetry, Sheylara is kind of boring me - she is not a 'real' gamer girl, more of a console chick, and Xiaxue was only writing once every other week. Well, at least Wendy came back with a vengeance; her new look blog is quite sweet, you know, pink and girly sort of stuff, but isn't that what we expect from her? And why we like her. Well, Mr Wang doesn't, but people that write poetry that has no rhythm and no rhyme can't really criticise others. Each to their own I suppose. I don't mind it if it doesn't rhyme, so long as it has some sort of metric cycle, alliteration, something you know? Still, even that beats pictures of bicycles or marathon runners stopping for a drink.
I am looking forward to being able to LAN with friends. I am hoping that I will be working again not too long after I get back, and earning decent money again. I will try to be smarter and wiser with it this time. I am not looking forward to so much that will be there though. One way or another, I want out. I just want it to be with a comfortable income. The ability to lead a comfortable life, such as I am used to.
We shall see.
On Friday Ivy showed me the easy way to Jahore Bahru. That is, without the improvised floatation device...
It was kind of interesting, but nothing to see except shops, and they all looked the same as in SG. As Ivy kept pointing out (she is Malaysian) it is less clean, but then, in my view Singers isn't that clean, certainly not finding it so living with the natives.
Have advertised my little flat on a couple of rental sites, and Ivy will place an ad in the paper. If we can get a tenant to take over before I leave then the land lady will not charge me the one month notice period. No hassle, but we'll try and see how we go. But now I will have to keep the place clean in case of viewers-at-short-notice. Two things; one, I hate having to keep a rented house clean for an extended period for the agent to show off, and two, keeping an HDB clean is near impossible - turn your back and all sorts of crap flies in under the door, dust, fluff, critters. Still, we'll see how we go.
And I am bored shitless.
Kind of compounds the effect of eating any curry. Mind you I have been staying off the local food recently, and my tummy is much happier for it.
Must be some strange time, but all my 'favourite' blogs have been boring for some time. Mr Wang is reciting poetry, Sheylara is kind of boring me - she is not a 'real' gamer girl, more of a console chick, and Xiaxue was only writing once every other week. Well, at least Wendy came back with a vengeance; her new look blog is quite sweet, you know, pink and girly sort of stuff, but isn't that what we expect from her? And why we like her. Well, Mr Wang doesn't, but people that write poetry that has no rhythm and no rhyme can't really criticise others. Each to their own I suppose. I don't mind it if it doesn't rhyme, so long as it has some sort of metric cycle, alliteration, something you know? Still, even that beats pictures of bicycles or marathon runners stopping for a drink.
I am looking forward to being able to LAN with friends. I am hoping that I will be working again not too long after I get back, and earning decent money again. I will try to be smarter and wiser with it this time. I am not looking forward to so much that will be there though. One way or another, I want out. I just want it to be with a comfortable income. The ability to lead a comfortable life, such as I am used to.
We shall see.
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