Trouble on the Tracks

It was Monday. Basketball training was just over. I stood over the overhead bridge looking out onto the distant expressway, looking out for my bus. Depending on which bus came first, I would take it.

I saw a double deckered bus approaching. That looked like 196. I made a run for it. I reached the staircase and judged the distance of the bus once again. Hang on...that wasn't 196, it was 198! I turned around and ran in the opposite direction to where I came from and went down the stairs to the other bus stop. I made it.

It wasn't long before I reached the MRT station. I walked briskly towards the entrance. It seemed that crowds have gathered at the barrier. I went through it, and a tall man announced to another man, "The East-West Line has been delayed."

I went up the escalator and was met with more crowds of people. There were on average 4 people every square metre. With my schoolbag, I had little space for moving around. I peeked through the bodies of annoyed commuters and saw an MRT train with closed doors, rolling along the tracks as fast as a 3 year old walked, stopping every few seconds. The do-not-board sign was on the television, and the platform became more crammed by the seconds. At first, I considered going to take the bus home, which would take considerably longer, but in this condition, the contrary. However, I wondered if I could exit the barrier at the same station I have entered, and another worry I had is that what if the train came just after I left the station? So I decided to wait.

5 minutes later, the train finally rolled out of the station and after another 1 minute, a next train rolled in just as slowly and after some impatient waiting, the doors finally opened. People rushed into the doors. I tried to step slowly avoiding any pushing a shoves, but as I neared the doors, a violent forward thrust squished me against the doors. It was only with the help of a group of kind Indian adults I managed to get safely into the train.

The train was as packed as the rice they serve for meals on planes. At least 6 people surrounded me, and an overall pressure of at least 10 Pascals was applied on me. I was locked in an awkward position with my hand twisting to grab the handle by a three passengers because they had no choice for they were also being locked by others.

The train moved at 20 km/h. A usual 1 minute trip to commonwealth took 5. As it moved, I wondered if I could survive this up to the 21st stop. However, the train stopped at commonwealth and was in a standstill for another 5 minutes. I could take it no longer and alighted the train.

I rushed down to the bus stop, hoping I would not miss the 196-it does not come very often and it was very late, 7:20pm to be exact. I thought about whether I was in the correct direction as I strode down the stairs just in case though I knew I was. I reached the bus stop, and finished thinking also. My thinking proved me wrong. I was in the wrong direction so I climbed back up the stairs and jogged to the bus stop on the other side. This shows that intuition is not always correct thought it seems so at times.

I bought a drink and 196 soon came. It was a 1 hour 15 minute trip to bedok. I looked at the MRT train up in the station. It was still not moving until I boarded the bus.

I watched television and the scenery on the bus and my father fetched me from bedok. At bedok, trains were coming every minute most probably due to the accumulation of trains along the line. It was 9:30pm when I reached home. A 3 hour journey.

A single train breakdown. Affecting the entire 45.4 km line. I have experience a similar incident of an obstruction on the tracks at tampines-A shuttle service to tanah merah was thus given. If Singapore was so environmentally friendly that most people took public transport, the situation would have been a lot worse. Stations would have been more crowded and more people affected. Government keeps on encouraging people to take public transport, but wheres the needed improvement. Of course, it is good with expansion of lines, but at the same time, "capillary" tracks should also be built in case of any accident along lines, not just a two way line. And I am not talking about MRT depots and interchanges a dozen kilometres away. How would that help letting other trains overtaking the failed one?

Singapore's railway system sure has a lot of room for improvement.

华文课之趣事

一两个礼拜前，tzy 问了我一道他不懂得华文题目。 虽自己不是很肯定， 但在我印象中答案就是“衰老多时的骗子”。 因此我就这么跟他说， 还提醒她我的答案不一定是对的。但是，当我和朋友讨论后，我觉得答案不对-“沉寂多时的骗自” 这答案好像比较恰当，所以把自己的答案给改了，却忘了通知tzy。

两天前，老师把那份作业还给我们。我得到了满分。老师和我们讲答案。 当她讲到“骗子题目” 时，tzy 大声地向老师告状， 说我是个骗子，告诉他错的答案。我向他解释我并不是有意的，但他好像没听到。等到老师告诉他是他向我请教的，更何况不应该抄答案，他默默无声。可是，让我感到有点儿内疚就是有不少人那题也因为我而错。

后来，当老师在计分时，懂我拿到满分， 低声说道：“他一定气急了。。。” 就在霎那间， tzy 也听到我的分数，高声嚷道：“骗子！！！” 他那语音令人啼笑皆非-虽然可怜他被我害了，但当时的他的表达方式实在很好笑。全班都捧腹大笑，只有他在那儿气呼呼的。

还有一件事，和之前所提到的无关。两位同学，一男一女，两人之间和老师之间的谈话。

女：瞄准前面，把纸球给丢了

男：接住了。 “老师！从后面飞过来的！” 给老师看之上的图画与草稿

老师: 别乱说话，专心听课!

男：丢回去。

女：又丢回来“我在瞄垃圾桶！”

男：看了看 “这哪有什么垃圾桶！” 又丢了回去，被老师看到

老师： “嘿，别扔来扔去！”

男: “是她先扔的！”

老师：“你一向来都顽皮，才怪！”

女：又瞄准了，丢向可是前方的角落。

男：“拉圾桶就在你后面！”

女：转过头来 “原来如此！”

接着，两人因为课堂上吵而被老师骂。

第一次出国-第二级

在台北某个角落某个时候拍的某个风景

第二天起床，我感到非常舒适。床子挺硬的，枕头软绵绵的， 这种地方我最喜欢睡了。 可惜，我爸爸并不这么觉得。

梳洗完毕，我们和姑姑到附近的素食餐馆合吃早饭与午饭。

这里的食物比我学校的所谓“素食”好得几千万倍。吃完后，爸爸带我到远近驰名的故宫博物院。 那里收藏于展览着65万件物品，大多数来自中国大陆。其中最出名和漂亮的就是“翠玉白菜”


以下是从'wikipedia' 取出的解释：

翠玉白菜，是在清朝時期雕刻的一個玉器，
現藏於台北國立故宮博物院。關於翠玉白
菜的文獻很少，只知道這件玉器原本置於
北京紫禁城的永和宮，是光緒帝愛新覺羅
載湉之妃—瑾妃的嫁妝。玉器的雕刻一體
成形，以翠玉自然的色澤刻飾出綠色的菜
葉與白色的葉柄；白菜的造型象徵女子清
清白白，而菜葉上還塑有兩隻昆蟲，一隻
是螽斯、一隻是蝗蟲，都是象徵多子多孫
之意。翠玉白菜與清院本清明上河圖、肉
形石等等書畫、玉器是故宮博物院內最知
名的國寶級展品之一；故宮許多自製的紀
念品都是以翠玉白菜為主題。

故宫博物院实在很大。走了四个小时，我们才走完了第一个展览厅的四分之一。外面下着大雨，里头开着大冷气，不冷才怪呢！

受不了了，我们到外头拍了些照片。

回到饭店已经是五点多了。我们到餐馆吃了一碗热腾腾的拉面，然后去姑姑家。

就这样，在台北有过了一天。

A Series of Unfortunate Events - How I arrived fashionably late for German lesson

It was 3:50pm. Everyone was clearing up the biology lab after a long practical lesson which could not exactly be described as interesting. I too, was drawing some diagrams on my worksheet and helping wherever I could.

It turned 4. It marked the end of biology lesson. It marked our release. It marked the start of a race against time.

Well, not exactly-in fact I was taking a little too much of my time walking towards the bus stop. My german lesson starts at 4:30 and based on the time now, by the time I reach my centre, I would be late even if I ran. Thus, I took my time.

As I reached the 196 bus stop, I saw Joelle waiting for her bus to her third language centre too. (Un)fortunately, her centre was at ghim moh, unlike mine, at bishan. She could reach there on time, with assistance of luck.

After a while, it seems that the bus 196 was not coming. Should I take the risk and take the 198 at the other side of the road instead? Perhaps not, 196 might come anytime now.

Months passed, and besides the occasional and frustrating appearance of 198 on the other side of the road, no bus was in sight. Having seen 198 pass twice just like that, I made up my mind and decided to cross the overhead bridge and look out for buses, whichever came first, 196 or 198, I would take it.

I reached the top. I turned my head. I saw a single decked 196 waiting at the bus stop I had been at, passengers loading up slowly. I then realised that it just arrived as my back was faced. climbing the stairs of the overhead bridge. I turned and chased with a heavy bag holding me back. After 2 years, I managed it and boarded the bus panting and laughing at myself. Have you ever experienced that? Laughing and panting at the same time-a painful experience.

20 minutes have passed, and I just got onto the bus.

We reached the MRT station. Joelle still had a chance of getting to her class on time. I had none. Cheryl, Kat and Yan did not need to worry at all; they did not have any lessons.

I boarded the train and after decades, I finally reached my interchange stop. I checked the board-3 minutes to the next train. Thus, I passed my time as I turned around and observed the MRT route map just behind me.

Just as I got bored of staring at a network of green, red and purple lines, I turned around, I saw the MRT doors closing. Guess what, I was so engrossed in a map that I did not realise my train come. One of my weaknesses; I like looking at maps. Sometimes, when I have nothing to do, I just go to google maps to pass my time off.

4:45pm. This time, I did not dare turn my back anymore. I boarded the next train and finally arrived at Bishan.

I reached the bus interchange. I was really late. Bus 53 came. Being too lazy to walk 200 metres, I made a dash for it. Not knowing that my bag was not zipped properly, my graphing calculator fell out and hit the ground with considerable impact. The good thing is that I could hear it ten metres away due to the noise it made. The bad thing was the impact, but it was not damaged, which is a good thing. Once again, when I boarded the bus, I was panting, fortunately not laughing this time.

I knocked, opened the door, entered the class late by 45 minutes. That's a record! But the teacher did not care. He never does.

Moral of the story: Look behind once in a while, we might have missed something.

Singapore Amazing Machine Competition

What is the Singapore Amazing Machine Competetion (SAMC) all about? Basically, its a competition for people with too much time to make a machine that goes through a really complicated process to do a simple thing, like squeezing a tube of toothpaste.

Last Friday, my school was supposed to attend it. Simply, it was a total waste of time.

I packed my own lunch, took 198 to science centre and waited for my friend Joelle at the bus stop while eating my lunch. Followed by assembling at the concourse of the science centre, and waited again for half an hour. Then, we entered the hall, looked around, took a seat, and waited again.

An hour later, the emcee announced, "Please switch off all of your beeping devices, our programme is going to start shortly."

Another hour later, the emcee announced, "Please switch off all of your beeping devices, our programme is going to start shortly."

Fortunately cmc brought some preserved guavas to pass the time. We ate and played a guessing game while waiting. (They did not say no eating in the hall)

Guests arrived, made speeches and sat down. One of them mentioned that by doing complicated things to do something simple, we learn to do the other way round. I disagree. Many people do complicated things to do a simple thing but never learn their lesson. I can't think of an example at the moment, but I know its true.

Prize presentation next. Our school did not win a single prize but they still asked us to attend, probably because we were one of the sponsers for the competition, so they had to make it look grand.

That was all. We had some light refreshments and then dismissal. Went home with Joelle and Dion, a year one student at 4pm. What an interesting day at science centre.

Time spent travelling: 3 hours
Time spent waiting: 3 hours
Time spent on the programme: 30 minutes