it was so hot yesterday with the electricity down that we had to eat in the relative cool of the corridor. my little ikea table, two chairs, and our lunch. the things we do out of desperation...
in our quest for air-conditioned comfort, we decided to go walk around IMM. i brought my zen neeon along for some commuting music but shock shock horror horror! that good for nothing gadget hung on me! the screen is frozen, i can't turn it off and nothing i press will change the display or make it play any music. this thing is only two weeks old man. so stupid. and i can only march into creative hq on wednesday, my free day. !@#$.
anyway. so we finally got to IMM after having a hard time finding the free shuttle bus that takes us there. that place is pretty darn cool! lots of stuff to see and buy. i managed to restrain myself at Daiso (everything's $2 and so cute!) and
only bought two porcelain decorative "toys" for the hamsters and a bamboo mat for lazing at the beach.
after spending an eternity at Daiso, we moved on to GIANT. they had lovely faux leather padded square cushions-stools for just $7.90! and then when we got to the market section, we saw a shark on display with some fish. i wonder how long the shark's been there; it looked like it'd been dead for some time. it's not just everyday that you get to see a dead shark at the supermarket so that probably explains why there was a crowd of kaypohs looking and poking at the shark.
there was a hell lot of cheap and yummy ready-cooked food at GIANT so we thought we'd buy our dinner there. we got this set of pizza, whole chicken, and 2 sticks of finger food for $10. good deal right? but then we got back and found that the lady had forgotten to give us our pizza and we hadn't checked. after all, she'd asked us what kind of pizza we wanted and she'd packed everything for us so we thought everything was a-ok. !@#$.
that wasn't the worst of it. the most upsetting thing happened when we were waiting for the shuttle bus back to clementi. there was a massive queue and when the bus finally came, the people in front of us went up the bus orderly. after a while, two people from the back of the snaking queue actually ran up the bus from the back entrance. there was a slight pause as everyone absorbed that fact. i was absolutely flabbergasted and told tom, "that's it. people are going to follow their example." and they proved me right. i couldn't believe what i was seeing. more and more people behind us just went straight up the bus from the second entrance. whatever happened to fairness and morality?
i got really riled up and tom had to calm me down and stop me from giving a public lecture on the bus. it's not very fair, is it, if everyone has been waiting patiently and orderly for the bus and you just barge your way in as if it's your god-given right to do so. these people were so far back in the queue that they should have been on the next bus. instead, their inconsiderate and selfish actions allowed them to get a seat, when they wouldn't even have made it on that bus. in the process, they deprived the people in front of them of a place on the bus. where's the incentive then, to be a civic-minded member of society? isn't society supposed to be organised on unspoken, unwritten rules of conduct that are based on social awareness and the greater good? plus, these were adults demonstrating a lack of civic and moral mindedness to the many children who were present. is it right to continue to propagate such values to the younger generation?
and as if clamouring to get onto the bus weren't bad enough, these people couldn't wait to get off the bus either. i don't get it. if everyone's getting off the bus, and someone's in front of you, the natural (and right) thing to do would be to wait for your turn to alight. this woman actually said "'SCUSE" and expected me to give way to her. i was already super pissed from witnessing the queue-jumping so i didn't rein in my temper. i gave her a curt, "we're getting off the bus too", as if that wasn't already plain enough, and stood firm.
what a horribly unpleasant experience. it almost makes me ashamed to be singaporean.
ying @ 10:21 AM
