how my wallet got stolen

Recently, my wallet got stolen and now, I am going to talk a little about it and how it affects me. Well where do I begin? Firstly, the time: it was the 8^th of June 20008 and I was in church helping to run a camp for the secondary two classes. At about 4 in the afternoon, there were these station games and I was put in charge of one of them. This one happened to be that kind of game where the participants have to run around the church and look for landmarks shown on paper. This meant that I had to run and walk with every one of the 8 groups that played this game through the whole church for about 1 and a half hours with no breaks in between. You can imagine how tired I was when it was all over by 6 o’clock, but you cannot imagine how much sweat I produced. I could actually see the sweat being forced out of my skin through my sweat glands, accumulating like little drops of rain on a window. The map commandants saw me fall asleep sitting down on the stage and they told me to go up and rest. I wanted to take a shower first but then I decided not to since the showers were all full. There were so many people that every shower had about 2 campers in front of it, waiting in line. So I decided to go down and get some dinner. After that at 8 o’clock, I decided to go upstairs to take a nap and get ready for my night duty to guard the place. When I woke up at 10, I found that my wallet, which I remembered putting on the table and which three other friends saw and picked up, was missing. Okay, maybe the fatigue is playing tricks on my semi conscious mind. I decided to give it a miss and to go down to begin my night shift.

Talking a shower in the now vacant and eerily quiet cubicles, I made my way to the hall and seated myself near the door. I had to ensure that no camper could leave the entire sleeping hall for about 4 hours, until the next shift would begin. From time to time, I would go back into the room on the third storey to check that my wallet was indeed under some newspapers or under someone’s sleeping bag. But out of the 3 times I went there from 11 pm to 3 in the morning, my wallet was nowhere to be seen. So I decided to continue looking again after sunrise when the entire room would be flooded by a consistent source of light. Morning came in a jiffy as the anxiety caused by my missing wallet made time go faster even when sleeping. At about 6 o’clock in the morning, I was not thinking straight and did not inform the camp commandant. Instead, I went and took pictures for the remainder of the camp, which was my responsibility as well. One of the main reasons why I failed t raise the alarm early was because I did not get enough sleep the other day and thus, I was not thinking rationally. After all the campers had left the campsite and after the final prayers and songs had been sung, I raised the alarm and got everyone startled at 1 PM.

A full sweep was conducted of the area and there were no traces of the wallet. There was only one way that the wallet could have gone missing: it was stolen by one of the campers while I was sleeping on Sunday. That night, I went straight to the police post at Ang Mo Kio to make a report. In the subsequent days, I had to call up the national library board and Transit Link to cancel my EZlink card and my library card. Yes this has been a very expensive lesson that anything can get stolen anywhere, even in Singapore. But luckily, God did answer one of my prayers on Sunday during morning mass. I told him “give me back my dog”, and now her vertigo is gone and she can eat properly again. Well, there are only two things to say after this experience: “The Lord works in mysterious ways”, and “praise The Lord”

that Frisbee Game that Came and Went

            Well where do I start? The Frisbee match I was talking about since last Wednesday finally happened on Sunday, 1st of June, at about 4: 42 Pm. Here is what happened according to my memory, which may be a trifle blurry thanks to some falls and collisions I sustained during the game.

            Well it was about 4 30 when I got to the playing field at Surin Park, near Kovan road. At the time, there was a great crowd of all the boys and girls playing the game. Red, white black and grey were just some of the colours present at the game that day. I counted about 4 Frisbees altogether, which showed that these people were prepared. At about 4 35, we started off with a little practice game to get warmed up for the actual event. I remind you that this is a game between two church youth groups. After about 15 minutes of playing and sweating, we got into the swing of things and it was all down hill from thereon. So we stopped when the rest of the players had arrived and started off with an opening prayer. Then we were split up into two teams, with members of the two competing groups on either side. I stayed in the spectator area to catch my breath and work on my jumping, which proved useful later. I was with some other friends who were going to play soon. We practiced with each other and then proceeded to sit down and watch the game as it was taking place. The match went on quite smoothly, with both sides substituting players regularly to keep the physical integrity of the team good. There was one reason I could not play this particular match and this was because there was bad blood between myself and one of the players in the opposing team. This could have been catastrophic for the rest of the payers if a fight did happen to break out, since this was supposed to be a church event. After awhile, the coach decided to take a risk and he let me play on the team. After about 15 minutes, nothing bad happened and I was substituted out for another player for me to catch my breath. Several more games passed as I rested on the groundsheet near the field. Finally the teams were split up again. This time there were 4 teams of about 6 to 7 each. I was in a team with all the good players and it sort of comforted me to a certain extent. Our first game was with this team made up of the faster players, so we had a tough time ahead of us. The boy I hated was on that team, and it really was hard playing as most of the time, he was trying to get the Frisbee away from me without going near me, which got in my way while I was running from zone to zone (I have already explained the rules in my previous post). I was running, until my lungs were burning, trying to get some space around myself to receive the Frisbee properly. After several rounds with almost no side scoring, we decided to change our tactics and started playing defensively, with short passes and slightly slower play. When someone on our side got the Frisbee, we would all run to the scoring half of the field to receive the Frisbee via Long passes (the only instance we executed long passes), and when the opposition was in possession of the Frisbee, we would run and block players from getting the opportunity to receive it. With this tactic, we managed to score two points. Towards the middle, when we grew tired, the opposition used the same tactic and managed to score one point. They managed to get one point but we were still leading in the end, with 4 to 1. The final bout was extremely difficult. The boy who I hated was told to run at me and block me from the Frisbee. He was also the fastest runner in the opposing team and was really fast on the field. So while the players were playing out in the open and trying to get the Frisbee across the field, I ran from end to end tiring out the boy who was supposed to be chasing me. He always kept ahead of me, which was just what I wanted. After about 3 rounds, when he got tired, he left the scoring zone wide open and a fellow teammate simply ran in and caught the Frisbee from another teammate. We won this particular game but still had several other games ahead of us. One by one we grew tired and failed to catch properly and throw accurately.

            After about 5 minutes of resting, our next game was against a team of slightly softer players. But still, they posed a challenge to us as two of their members were extremely good. When the game started, we had a tough time playing because of the sheer speed and aggressiveness of the opposing team. We managed to score some points here and there, with many good catches and intercepts on either side. But by this time, we had been exhausted and our lungs were pumping car battery fluid. We lost the game 2 to 3 and this would be the only loss of the entire game. Nobody was to blame, since it was all in fun and there was no individual trying to find fault with anyone. Honestly, I blamed myself because if I had drunken water before the match, it would have allowed me to correct those unforgivable misses. At the time, I got exhausted easily simply because I did not drink enough water in between games. At our next match, we were all eager to play and there was almost no sign of fatigue among the players at all. We did some short team bonding and then proceeded to get into position, ready to receive the Frisbee from the other end. Everything went quite smoothly once the disc went into play. We were quite well prepared and ran around getting space for ourselves. Our first point came less than 1 minute into the game when my friend caught the Frisbee in a very impressive dive. After that, we all ran back to our side of the field and shot the Frisbee to the other tea. Everyone split up to mark their own players. I was marking a boy slightly larger than myself and thus, I did not have a good chance at preventing his possession of the Frisbee. most of my other teammates were good in their own respective ways. There was this boy who had lightning fast reflexes, such that when he was marking someone with a Frisbee and that person threw it, he just stretched out his hand and caught it, bearing in mind that he was less than 1 meter from the boy and the Frisbee was at full velocity. The only girl on the team had the ability to catch every Frisbee within a 1-meter radius of her, regardless of velocity or trajectory. The rest of the team, three boys, was extremely fast and agile, being able to find open space and distract opposing team members. We managed to win this game, which was a good thing since the last game got everyone’s morale down.

            After drawing the next game (which was boring and will be spared from your eyes), we played one final game for the first place. We played against some of the best players from the other youth group, led by (ironically) our youth group’s leader, Roy. The game kicked off well, but since we had already een through about 4 games, our performance was not up to standard and by half time (2 and a half minutes), we were losing 2- nil. We desperately started using the same old tactic of short passes and relatively slow playing speed, since we dropped this tactic in the middle of the first match. It worked relatively well, although the Frisbee got intercepted some of the time. Just before the 4-minute mark, something extraordinary happened. My friend threw the Frisbee from one end of the field to the other and somehow, I jumped higher than usual and caught it with my right hand, much to the dismay and disbelief of the opposing team and the spectators respectively. Someone even commented that this was much unlike the kind of effort I put into the weekly training sessions. This was our only point for the remaining duration of the match. After this, it was all over and even though we only got second place, we were happy since it had been a close fight for first place. And that was all I remember about the game, I also remember that I was feeling somewhat dizzy during the closing of the entire match, due to some falls I sustained.

            This is the end of my blog post. Once again the Frisbee is the greatest piece of plastic so far. I encourage you guys reading this to start playing Ultimate Frisbee and see for yourselves the kind of fun (or pain) that the Frisbee can bring you. Until next week, bye!

ULTIMATE FRISBEE

Now the Frisbee is one of the most inventive uses for the material plastic. Seriously, whoever thought of crafting a piece of plastic into a round, sleek, streamlined piece of fun? I am Simon, hello. I just LOVE Frisbee games. But there is one Frisbee game that really distinguishes the disc from an ordinary slab of plastic. ULTIMATE FRISBEE. Ultimate Frisbee is something like captains ball, but with a Frisbee in place of the ball. The rules remain the same. You cannot go more than 2 steps f you are in possession of the Frisbee, you may not come into a 1 meter radius of any player with the Frisbee, you can score a point if you are in one of the end zones on the playing field. In each game there is only 1 Frisbee in the air at any time. If your team has possession of the Frisbee and falls to the ground or gets intercepted by an opposing member, it becomes the other teams’.

I first started playing it about 3 months ago. it was in church, and one of my friends told me that our youth ministry had just challenged another, ministry to a game of ultimate Frisbee. The minute that was said, an entire training schedule was laid down in less than an hour. We underwent rigorous training near the Kovan region on Wednesdays, Fridays and the weekends. It’s amazing how these people take the game so seriously. I went in three months ago as an inexperienced player. I could not throw very straight or catch well. But by the end of the first week, my system grew much fitter and I found that I could now run faster and jump higher to intercept any Frisbees. I learnt to catch and throw, much better and even learnt how to pick members of the team to block. After  weeks, I finally developed the ability to CURVE my Frisbee in mid air and make it hit the target from bout 10 meters away. Eventually, I developed a reputation for being the one who always runs around the field distracting opposing players and bumping into the ground.

Then in the middle of the second week, members of the opposing team came down to the park for a friendly training match with us. We were amazed by their talent and their sheer speed and agility, and I was so amazed that I doubled my training regime. Now I ran for about 20 Km every week, did at least 80 sit ups everyday, worked out my muscles with a pair of dumbbells every sleepless night, and punched at the wall. Soon, I was carved out of wood, and I could easily knock out most of my friends and acquaintances with single punches. The training does not stop, though. In the past few days, I have even had to triple my training regime. I got spurred on by the fact that one of the boys I hated was playing in the opposition. This made the pain and the muscle cramps go away. It made every single punch, every single roundhouse kick in the air move across space with deathly speed and strength. I got so motivated, I even did pushups every hour at home. Then, I listened to Metal music to get into the mood before every training session. Everyone on the team was trying his or her best. Some of them could run and jump with great speed. Some could control the velocity and spin of their Frisbee throws. I got so enthusiastic that recently, I busted my right elbow and now have to wear an elbow guard every time I did sit-up’s or did shadow boxing.

By the end of the second month, we had already gotten a team of our best payers together, each with their own strengths, weaknesses and substitute players. Our first real game against the opposing ministry will be this Sunday, 4 30 PM at Surin Park, Kovan Road. Injuries have happened along the way. For example, I had a torrential nosebleed and some twisted ligaments along the way. Some of the rest had vertigo attacks (these are the real ones where they have rapid eye movement and they have spasms in their facial muscles) and sprained joints. Please do try this game. Its really fun and you can really boost your cardio’ with it. Once again, I am simon lew. ULTIMATE FRISBEE  WARRIOR!

yet another event i covered last week! the NP Financial Literacy Games 2008

I did it again! Last Saturday, a group of friends and I went down to the ancient civilizations museum in Singapore to cover an event held by Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s Business studies School. Very briefly, here is what happened on that day.

At about 6 30 AM last Saturday, the alarm woke me up by ringing in my ears, only to be put on snooze for 6 more times. I finally woke up at 7 and rushed to get all my things ready- my camera, Bob, my external flash unit and some of my spare batteries. These were prepared and put at the door by myself while I drank my milk with one hand and wore my socks with the other. By 7 15 I was out of the house like a shooting star, racing to the Yio Chu Kang MRT station. Onboard the MRT train, the world passed by in a blur until it entered the subterranean sections of the circuit. From yio Chu kang, to Orchard, to City Hall, all I saw outside the window were shades of black and brown cement. Finally, I left the train and proceeded to the surface to meet my friends from the Ngee Ann Polytechnic Photography Club. I met Adrian and two others, Nithya and Ernest, and took out my camera in anticipation. On the way to the museum, the sound of the latest Indiana Jones movie trailer was almost unbearable as it was playing on television screens everywhere in the CBD. After reaching the place at 7 45, we were informed of our duties, what we were to cover, and split up into two teams of two. Apparently, 23 secondary schools were present at the Ancient Civilizations Museum, inside the Ngee Ann Auditorium located near the basement level. After a quick briefing by the organizer and after taking some snapshots of the room and it’s ambience, we were told to vacate the place and to split by 8 30. The fun was beginning.

I was paired with Ernest and we took one of the secondary schools. Apparently, this event was a financial literacy game, something like a mini amazing race. The teams had to race across the CBD and solve puzzles and questions, and we had to photograph them doing it. The sky was completely cloudless and the air was hot and humid. Every time I pressed my eye to the viewfinder of my camera, I felt aches in my elbows and my throat was constantly dry. After about 1 hour or so, we had to change school and follow a totally different set of students to a whole new place. It was a fun and exciting experience to me. Ernest wasn’t really having the time of life, since he often trailed away from the group and took pictures of the urban environment in all its futuristic chic. I didn’t blame him, since it was a LITTLE boring following a class around all day in the hot sun. However, the urge to stick to my task outweighed the urge to “go renegade”. Finally, the groups all converged at this MRT entrance for a short breather and a water break. I sat down to massage my middle and ring fingers, while Ernest went off to take some more shots of the city and lose the boredom. After about 10 minutes, we had to leave with yet another class. This time, we went along the Singapore River near one of the bank headquarters. While the students were solving their little puzzles, I was busy taking shots of them and finding ways to get candid shots of the more secretive ones. Several times I tried and most times I managed to get shots of them. After this third class (by this time, Ernest had already grown as tired as me), it was already about 12 30 in the afternoon and time to go back to the museum.

When we all got back together inside the museum for lunch outside the Ngee Ann Auditorium, I met up with Adrian and Nithya and we all viewed each other’s shots and commented on their finer characteristics. While eating lunch, I went to take pictures of some of the schools indulging in the same dish: Nasi Lemak. By 1 30, we hurried into the auditorium to shoot the closing ceremony for the event and the prize winners as well. One by one, the schools went up to receive their prizes. My camera captures all of them, from the top team to the consolation prize winners to the participation prize winners. By the end of the entire event, I was completely wasted and very tired. We said our goodbyes to the organizers and the participating schools, had some causual conversations with some of them, packed our equipment and left for the lobby. There, we downloaded all the pictures from all 4 of our cameras and put them into Adrian’s Macbook. We critiqued each other’s photos and made important observations. By this time it was 2 15 and I had to leave for church. We said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.

I enjoyed covering this event thoroughly. I also enjoyed taking pictures of total strangers and meeting new people. This really taught me some lessons about having the courage to step, or to shoot pictures, outside my comfort zone. Also, it was a very good use of my time and a great way to make friends and earn CCA points. Until next time, until I cover another event for Ngee Ann polytechnic, see you!

“FRESH” Freshman Dance Party, 9th May 2008

            I will not talk about things that happened to me years ago in this blog post. I will, instead, talk about the recent “Fresh” Freshman Dance Party that took place just last Friday, on the 9^th of May 2008. Before I begin, I would like you to know that the human eye is a brilliant object. It helps us see the world in all its splendour and colour. But the eye of the photographer sees much more- because his eye is not a round object in his head. Moreover, it is a device that he holds to his face and captures memories with. I was photographer for the event, along with three of my good friends from the photography club. Truly, we were treated to the greatest show on earth that evening for a few brief hours.

            It all began with myself wanting to do something for the polytechnic. I decided to make good use of the upcoming event to contribute by taking pictures. I drafted an email to the events manager of the club. While doing so, however, I decided that my three close friends in the club would also like some of the action. I sent an email to the events manager on behalf of the three of us and a few days later, we were chosen (I am smiling). I could not sleep for the nights leading up to the party as the excitement kept my eyelids open. The thought of covering the event was like caffeine being pumped directly into the blood vessel running down my neck.

            On the morning of the day of party, my camera (his name is Bob) and I were ready. After a hearty breakfast, which I wolfed down with great gusto, I packed my bags and left for school. My feet hit the floor to the beat of my favourite “melodic metal” song as I strode in through the school gates for my 1:00 PM lesson. “This is it”, I told myself. “You can pull this off without even trying, go for it”. 4 hours of studio production class ended in a jiffy, since the excitement was like a mind-altering drug that did strange things to my time perception. After leaving the studio, I went for a quick dinner and then went to meet up with my other friends who were covering the event as well. I met one of them, Jeremy, at 5:30 PM, with just half an hour left to the beginning of our shoot.

            We arrived at the convention centre at 5:41 and got ready by about 5:56. Jeremy managed to produce a set of extra batteries for my camera’s external flash module, which had faulty batteries. After his kind gift, he had to leave for a secondary school alumni event and so I covered for him. For 10 minutes, I followed my orders and the ambience of the relatively silent auditorium, lit by purple floodlights and larger white ones. The only sounds in the auditorium at the time were from the rigging Crew, the electronic buzzing of their equipment and the band that was tuning its equipment in preparation for the party.  My camera captured all of this for 10 minutes until my other friends, Jason and Adrian, arrived at the scene. We greeted each other friendlily and started snapping away. I walked outside to the lobby to meet some of my fiends from Mass Communications. They were all dressed up for the event and looked like completely different people I took their pictures, much to their delight, and walked over to snap groups of people. For the 30 minutes I was stationed in the lobby, I would go over to the buffet spread and pop a donut into my mouth. Do not be alarmed! They were finger food donuts, but still, I guess that if one could occupy the exact volume of your mouth, you would have reason to be alarmed. So 25 minutes and 5 donuts later, I went back into the auditorium to get ready for the endless swarm of freshmen that were rushing into the room. There was much shouting and wolf whistling, mostly from me since I hadn’t found an outlet to vent my excitement all week.

             When the auditorium was filled at around 7:00 PM, the 2 hosts came out and opened the party, after which they introduced the first act. Immediately, the doors to the auditorium opened and the Barracudas (Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s percussion troupe) came in with a coordinated and well-synchronised drumming number. I was there, and so was my camera. As my friends stationed themselves near the stage and as I snapped the Barracudas from the middle of the auditorium, we knew that the party was just beginning. After the Barracudas came onstage and did a finale that rocked the entire cohort of freshmen present, members of Radio Heatwave (Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s own radio station) and Singapore’s 98.7FM came in and conducted a quiz session. While snapping the winners, I was told that the prizes were MacDonald’s coupons. Next up, two members of the local band Ivy’s Vendetta came onstage with their guitars to play a couple of songs. The first one was an acoustic and really got everyone into the mood of the party. The second one was a song that the lead singer dedicated to Myanmar, his home country, and to the Myanmar nationals in the auditorium. It was a slow, soulful song that gradually went faster and emotional. Some of the audience cried and waved their hands in the air as the song drew to its climax and finale. Thunderous applause.

             As the two members of that band left the stage, the two hosts went onto the stage and introduced the next band. Now this was the band that everyone was excited about, such that when the hosts were about to say its name, everyone beat them to it: Caracal. As the 5 members went onstage, the audience was shouting and screaming wildly, chanting the band’s name (the name of a desert mammal) over and over. When the three guitarists, the drummer and the lead singer finally got onto the stage, they requested for everyone to stand up and even threw some donuts, wrapped in paper bags, into the crowd. Then, they started playing their music. The genre was Indie-rock and they really tore the entire room down with their songs, so to speak. I managed to get some great shots of the band members in action, bathed in the multicoloured disco lights and the artificial smoke from machines near the stage. I particularly enjoyed the last song, since the lead singer started dancing onstage and shaking his head from side to side as music flooded the room. After some incredibly loud applause, Caracal went off and left the hosts to conduct the first lucky draw. The winners got some vouchers and hampers.

            After that lucky draw was over, DJ Jeremy Boon from Club Zouk started playing some of his techno music. The room was bathed in smoke and purple lights. There was so much smoke that my camera looked like a human head in my hands. It was that blurry. I could only see about 3 steps in front of myself for a few seconds. It had a terrible smell, so terrible that the minute I walked out of the auditorium, the air was just too fresh for me to handle and I started choking on every breath I took. Also, the donuts were missing (eyes widen)! After a few breaths, I went back into the room to resume taking photos. My friends were all crowding around the DJ, taking pictures of him up on the stage since we had clearance. I looked around and saw many people dancing and chatting in the partial darkness that engulfed the room. It was like watching a torch slowly burning, lit by the flame of youth. Sure, it’s not much to talk about, but it really captures your imagination and attention.  Getting bored of snapping pictures, I went around with the friends to see what we could do in the room, while the loud music from the DJ’s machine was playing. We saw this circle that had been formed and people dancing inside it. There were, at most, 2 people inside it at any one tie. The three of us saw an opportunity for some fun. Immediately after the boy who was break dancing had left, we ran into the centre of the circle, stood back shoulder to shoulder, clicked on our cameras and blinded everyone with the resulting flash. Then everyone ran at us and we were engulfed by a crowd of dancing people. As we jumped up and down, we made sure to keep a constant supply of camera flash to preserve the effect. After doing this twice, we got bored and tired. It was time to pack p, even thought the DJ hadn’t even finished and even though the party hadn’t been closed properly yet.

           Heading out to the lobby of the convention centre, we walked towards the bag holding area while chocking on the fresh air around us. After some rest and group photos, we decided to go back to the (now empty and adequately lit) auditorium. Inside, we could see the rigging crew packing all the floodlights and amplifiers up. We managed to get some great shots of the place and the hosts who had brought the party to a close while we were resting. I even managed to get both of them to pose for me. In the end, it was already about 10:30 PM and we decided to go our separate ways. So I bid farewell to them and left the convention centre for the bus stop.

                 The freshman dance party was very fun. Dancing with people you did ‘t know, eating donuts every 5 minutes, taking pictures of complete strangers. Shooting for the photography club was fun. Thanks to my other set of eyes, I went where not many of the freshmen had access to and I saw what people partying had not seen. It felt great making a contribution to the club and indirectly, to the school. I sure hope that all you freshmen reading this will consider joining in the parties the school has organised for you. Also, if any of my three other friends (Adrian, Jason and Jeremy) are reading this, then this is your story. These are the contributions you’ve made to your Alma Mater.

coincidence and the future.

            Yes as all of you know, and for those of you guys who don’t know, my name is Simon Lew. I am a friend of coincidence. Coincidences do happen very often when I am around. For example, when there was this NP classmate’s birthday, we celebrated it with a birthday cake and some candles. I looked closely at the cake and I found that the cake was the same one, which I had during my primary 4 and 5 class parties. Including my good friend’s birthday party in the year 2006.

            Also, my birthday falls on the 12^th of December, which would be the twelfth day of the twelfth month. Also, if you square 12, you’d get 144, well there’s not much of a coincidence there, haha.

            Once in 2005, I was sitting on a bus and a pigeon hit the window right beside me. It then fell to the floor- lifeless. This continued about 5 or 6 times on separate occasions until people finally understood that I was a symbol of bad luck. That was not entirely true. It was just a weird coincidence.

            My old secondary school index number was 14. If you say it in Cantonese, it has a double meaning. It means, “sure die”. Not bad luck, just another coincidence.

            Another thing about me is that I have had numerous close brushes with death. The earliest close encounter I can remember would be in 1993, when I nearly plunged to my death down a waterfall somewhere in Cleveland, USA. That was an extremely close shave. And one that I can still remember.

Another time, I was almost squished in between two taxis while in church, 2001. I inched my way through the two cars and the microsecond I got through, the one on my left drove into the one on my right, pushing it half a meter forward.

            But the closest I had ever been to death would be in the year 2008, when this cyclist nearly smashed his entire mountain bicycle into my back. I was walking down the road to home after church when I passed the lamp post which tells me that home is only a few clicks away. A few seconds after I passed the lamp post, I heard this huge sound of broken plastic and twisted metal. I turned and saw this Mountain bike on the ground in a mangled heap and the cyclist a few feet away, trying to get up. It occurred to me that if I had stayed there, I would have been crushed and physically traumatized. Now, when I think about the physiotherapy and the medical bills I could have taken, I get shocked.

There are good coincidences and there are bad coincidences. Luckily, I’ve only had few of the latter.  So far.

People watch, by Simon Lew

Subject 1

Physical Aspects

Sex: Male

Age: from appearance, i would say in his early 30s

Height: about 190 +

Race: Chinese

Occupation: businessman

Appearance: slightly tanned skin. very short hair neatly combed. smartly dressed in a long sleeve shirt and a tie.

Details

Scene: on SBS bus number 86, opposite Ang Mo Kio MRT station

Time: 4th May 2008, around 9 PM+

Actions

this man was talking with another woman on the bus, about one meter from my seat. i assume that she is his girlfriend because of their proximity and the comfort zones which they displayed. when the bus stopped opposite the Ang Mo Kio MRT, this young boy, about 18 years of age, got on the bus and sat close to the man and the woman. immediately, the man tightened his grip on the woman’s arm and moved his arm in such a way that it formed an imaginary barrier between her and the younger man.

Assumptions

the man was obviously threatened by the younger guy’s presence. he was also, consciously or subconsciously, forming a barrier between the woman and that guy. he obviously felt threatened by the guy’s appearance and his short distance from the woman. yes i would feel afraid and cautious if something like that happened. i also assume that the woman is the man’s girlfriend because he made several physical contact gestures towards her during the bus ride.

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Subject 1

Physical Aspects

Sex: Male

Age: around 50+

Height: the man was sitting down

Race: chinese

Occupation: Not Sure

Appearance: dressed in a collared shirt and short pants

Details

Scene: On bus 74 near Hougang avenue 8

Time: 6th May, around 3 :02 PM+

Actions

This Man entered the bus and went to the upper level where i was sitting. he went to a seat and sat down. he then took out his handphone and started punching in keys. at one point on the bus, a person in front of him got off the bus. he got up, went over to that previously occupied seat, hit it several times with an open palm and got seated. this happened about 4 more times in the next few minutes. after about 10 minutes, and 2 minutes after he changed seat again, he started making these kissing sounds which annoyed me greatly. he made those sounds once every 20 seconds and it seemed like very long intervals on the bus. finally, i got so irritated that i went to the lower leel of the bus to wait for my sop, which was already in sight at the time.

Assumptions

the man probably suffered from obsessive compulsive disorder, or a form of mild autism. he was very repetitive with his actions and walked in a rather secretive manner, such that he didn’t want to let anyone see what he was doing. he kept on repeating all his actions, such as changing seats, whackng them before sitting down and making those kissing noises. i would have told him to stop if i could relive that moment in time.

5 50-word short stories

It was a fine day as john started his new job as a grocer and his job was strictly for extra pocket money. He had a promising future ahead of him- a place in the local university, a job offer from the army in advance, and even a new love.

No one ever went into the house up on the hill. It had remained intact and lonely for the past 10 years: untouched by human hands or Mother Nature. Then, not too long ago, someone had to come and put the monstrous foundation to sleep- by demolishing it, of course.

Sam quietly opened the door and sneaked out, carrying a bag of clothes and some cash he found on the table. He was running away from home, and he vowed never to come back again. After he closed the door and walked down the lonely street, his fate was sealed.

As the orchestra’s music died down, the composer clutched his heart and fell to the floor. It was a sad day as the music world lost a great innovator of the art. He was laid to rest under the foundations of the concert hall, and people remembered his name forever.

It had not rained over the lonely desert for decades. Until one day, rain started pouring out of the sky. At that instant, plants started to bloom, shrubbery became visible and the desert showed signs of life all around. It was no longer a lonely place, but a lively one.

what i’m doing right now

Well right now i’m sitting in a chair typing this post of course, but I’m trying to be aware of the changes taking place inside my body. for instance, my eyes are burning everytime i close them due to lack of sleep. i just burped and theres an aftertaste of coke and French fries that i consumed in the late afternoon. now I’m running my fingers through my hair, looking at my fingerprints, which are obscured by dandruff, oil and some other small things called comedones (blackheads). now I’m just admiring my scars on my knuckles from a Frisbee game, and thinking about how i am going to try harder the next time, so as to prevent these injuries. my mind shifts to the thoughts of my Frisbee teammates and how they might not seem to be thinking about the game until they find themselves inside it. Then, it will make a transition from something utterly insignificant to the only thing on our minds. scratching my sideburns now, no dandruff there. my fingernails seem to be growing nicely, in terms of shape and speed. a friend just called me around 8:08. Coincidence. i have to go and eat dinner now, i think i will write later. this blog is all for school. but school isn’t everything. it’s the only thing.

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