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2 weddings and a scooter funeral

Today must be an auspicious date for the Indians, I see many weddings going on. I even got invited by two friends.

I was supposed to meet Narima and go together with her on my scooter. It was more convenient for me as it would be easier for me to survey hotels later on my scooter.

But because of yesterday’s incident with the IU, I decided to bring it to the mechanic for a quick check. It couldnt have been damaged from the accident on tuesday. The wires must have been accidentally dismantled.

But after a check with the mechanic, the IU is actually damaged. And since the LTA offices doesnt open on saturday, I can only get a replacement on monday. I’d might as well leave the scooter in the workshop so that they can fix the dent on the side of the scooter at the same time.

Narima and I went to Junaidah’s wedding at Masjid Bencoolen. Junaidah was an ex colleague from West Spring and I saw many of my ex colleagues.

This was the first time I attended an indian-muslim style wedding. There was a dais where the couples would sit and pose while there were seats where the guests could sit to watch while the ceremony proceeded.

After the well wishes, Narima and I parted ways, and I really felt the pangs of missing my scooter. It would have taken me only 5 minutes to ride to the nearest train station, instead, I took 20 minutes to walk.

The MRT! All the memories flooding over as I stood precariously by the grip pole as humans came rushing in the cabin. How can I stand this for the next two weeks?

I brought mum and my sis to go to Hema’s wedding, which was held at night. Hers was a traditional Hindu wedding. With a priest chanting in sanskrit to bless the couple.

Mum seemed extremely keen on watching the ceremony. She went all the way in front of the stage and stood there for the entire hour or so. As she watched Hema going around the fire, exchanging garlands with her husband, and washing her parents feet.

The best of wishes to both of the happy couple 🙂 Hema and Chan, Junaidah and Anwar Ali 🙂

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Adventures in looking for suitable accommodations in Singapore

Juli accompanied me hotel hunting after work today and we went to different areas to survey for suitable accommodations. She said that it was not advisable to trust from the pictures from the brochures alone. It’s best to see it in person.

First off, we went to the Santa Grand Hotel in West Coast and though the location was far from the heartlands, it looked private and cosy. From the pictures, the rooms looked good. But unfortunately for us, there were no rooms available for viewing nor were there rooms in late December.

We then went to another hotel which was nearby. We asked for a viewing, and got to see one of their rooms. To me, the rooms were live-able but Juli didn’t liked it. I could see her point that it could be a little creepy with the bare walls and the room was rather dark.

We then went off to go to the northern side of Singapore. As I don’t frequent areas outside of West and Central Singapore so much, I wasn’t sure how to get to Serangoon on my scooter without the streetdirectory. We went around riding till my rear was sore and after the longest time, we found ourselves in the city area.

I found out that my IU didnt work just about I was to enter the gantry at the central business district area. Previously I didn’t insert my cash-card properly into the IU and I got fined. I had to swerve and quickly parked my scooter at a drop off point and wondered if I should just push the scooter back to the main road.

More and more cars arrived. They were all waiting for the time to turn to 7 pm, when the gantry stopped operating for the night. It was so funny to see how these cars queue up one by one and then zoom in just as the gantry stopped operating just to save maybe a dollar or two.

We continued on our journey and about 2 hours later, reached One Florence Close. I met Mr and Mrs Tan and their helper. They were really friendly and answered my questions.

“Can we see your rooms?”

“Aww sorry, we have guests in the room and we don’t have any to show you”

“Is your rooms suitable for a family?”

“Yes, you could even have 5 – 8 people in a room sleeping comfortably”

“What’s the oldest person that has stayed here?”

“Hmm .. We had a 70 year old couple from England”

And I saw their adorable, fluffy cats Romeo and Pepper. Gosh I could just eat them both.

The place was very home style, with visitors being able to cook in the kitchen and lounge on the sofa next to it. There is a computer we could use and a deck outside for a little al-fresco. I could see myself staying there as its very homely and inviting. The only one minor issue is that the communal toilet and showers are a tad cramped for me and Juli so I don’t think its suitable for Cart.

After we said our goodbyes to the family, we headed to our last stop, which was hotel 81 Bugis. I managed to see a standard room. The beds were clean, I liked that they used a LCD screen for their TV. But the room were so tiny and were no windows so it felt so claustrophobic.

The bathroom! It’s tiny! It’s the size of two toilet stalls. Argh!! This is almost demoralising.

I need to do more scouring.

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My exams is over but …

Its not such a great day.

It was supposed to be my last paper today and just when the paper ends it started raining. Very VERY heavily.

Anxious to go home, I decided to ride in the rain anyways and soonafter, reached the carpark. While trying to manuever the scooter, somehow the rear wheel just slipped and I crashed down. It hurts really bad. I sprained my ankle and bruised my knees.

If it werent for the kind man who was nearby who helped me up, I think I would have been too shocked and traumatised to do anything.

I’m going to cry now.

My scooter has a huge dent in it and a lot of deep scratches.

It could have been worse. But I’m just really extremely extremely upset right now.

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Singapore Big Bike Fest 2006

Clark Quay was alive with the the roarings of motorcyles as it saw the ‘Singapore Big Bike Fest’ yesterday. There were so many bikes to see that it can be quite overwhelming.

After much contemplation, I finally decided to join the Vesporean Club October outing just to satisfy my curiosity on how it would be like.

I brought my brother, Nazry along. I thought he would be interested as he was currently trying to get his motorcycle license too.

We took the AYE highway to get to our destination. While we were riding along, there was a guy riding a green GT. He noticed us, gave us the thumb up. I flashed him the peace sign and he rode away in the traffic.

We reached Maxwell Food Centre and looked for the Vespa club members. It was hard to miss them. They were prominent, standing around an array of scooters in all shapes and colours. It was like a mini convention.

We walked up to the group and I said hello. One of the lady turned around from her conversation

Hi. You are?

I’m rinaz.

Oh rinaz! Hi! Glad that you can make it! I’m leonids. (points) This is beary, that is precious and this is un-sith. 

Would you like a tee shirt?

Hey, aren’t you the one I passed by on the AYE?

I looked around to see the different types of Vespa scooters. There were so many colourful display. There were some modified ones – Different paint-jobs, different cover seating …

I noticed a purple lx scooter with embellishments. A lady told me that it was said to be designed by Britney Spears. But how true it was, we both weren’t sure.

Another scooter that caught my eye was an et8 which had a flowery sticker. The lady tells me that it was a winning scooter sponsored by coke.

Soon after we were told about our itinerary and we got ready to move off together.

There we were, in two rows riding off on the roadside.

Nazry quipped:

This reminds me of a time long long time ago …

Huh? What are you talking about?

Sigh …

Oh, are you talking about your cycling days?

Yesssss …

We’re on a different convoy now 😉

It was so nice riding together. I’m sure that we were a lovely sight to see. Then I noticed a lady and was transfixed at her footwear. It was high heels! Never did I thought that I’d ever see a lady rider wearing heels in real life.

We reached Clark Quay and rode one by one through the display area letting everyone admire our beautiful procession.

We parked our scooters together in a row. There were so many different group of bikers parking together. (Nazry called them clans) The Honda Waves, the Hayabusas, The Harley Davidsons, The Ducatis and others.


Thank goodness the white shirts weren’t around!


I want this band-aid sticker!


Hayabusa


Interesting paint job, but not for me.


This isn’t for me either

And we entered the area. There were so many different motorcycles, it was mind boggling.





This was an interesting bike as we didn’t see the speedometer, or fuel or any display at all.

Many of these bikes had extremely powerful cc’s – This Ducati went to 992cc. (My GT was already a powerful machine at 198cc)


This Harley went to 1548 cc. I started to wonder why anyone would get such an extremely powerful machine for the Singaporean road since the maximum speed on the highway was 90 km/h – definitely it was more for the image than for practicalities.


And this Triumph Harley Davidson was 2200 ccs! That’s faster than a car! I was perplexed. Nazry on the other hand, was transfixed at how its engine vibrated showing off its power.


2200 cc! That’s crazy!

There was a loud roaring and vroom-ing that we went to investigate.



Babe-alicious babe on a bike.

It was the Harley Davidson convoy arriving and we went to see their procession. Harleys are possible a chick magnet, aren’t they? All of their pillions were females.

But the person standing next to me did tell me that there was a female Harley biker which I missed.

We left about two hours later. It was an interesting event with loads of cool looking motorcycles see. I still prefer my scooter though 🙂


Not mine, but I vote this the best looking Vespa, ever.

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Going to the arts house

Mr Chandran, my literature lecturer, approached me to do a photoshoot of a play that he was directing. It turned out to be a really interesting and facinating experience.

I was to be at the Arts house in the Old Parliament road. After riding on the road for about a month now, I had very little problem getting there as i was a little more used to the different roads (with a little help from Streetdirectory.com).

I reached the arts house in the late afternoon and was amazed at how beautiful the entire area was. this was strange to me because I often walked around the parliament road, but this was an area that I’ve never really spend much time at. There would always be nook and cranny that I’d miss.


A couple of my kids from my previous school at the Parliament House

I tried to find some place to park my scooter, and after riding around the area I couldnt find any. Not wanting to be fined by overzealous parking attendants, I went to seek help. I saw a couple of men in uniform. They were valets on the job.

Me : Excuse me! Hi! Do you know where I could park my scooter?

Men : Well, you can park it here (by the roadside) We’ll take care of it for you.

Me : Wow! Really? You are so kind. Thank you so much.

I approached the Arts house. It was gorgeous. It was like a palatial building with all the lights and old charm decorations. There were people lounging and sitting around artily on the seats outside. They were probably waiting for a play to start.

I went upstairs to one of the rooms where the actresses were putting on make up and trying out their costumes.

Hi everyone! I’m Marina. Nice to meet all of you


Diane (in white) helping to apply make up on a fellow actress

I noticed a familliar face. One of my classmate from night class, Diane was there and we talked excitedly.

Diane : What are you doing here? Are you acting too?

Me : Oh yes, I’m acting. I’m playing the part of the photographer. Heheheh.

I met this gentleman called Goon, the assistant director for the play and he tells me what type of shots he wanted.


Mr Chandran and Mr Goon, you cant miss him, he’s got a huge silver earring on his left ear

Goon : I want mood shots. These images will be used for the website.

Me : Will it be used for posters or brochures?

I was concerned about the dark lighting which will impair the images. Printed images needed a high resolution for it to look good.

Goon : It’ll only be for the website for now.

Me : Awesome. Thats great!

I saw them play-acting some parts and I found out that the title of the play was called ‘Horse Face’. The gist of the story was about a village of girls in India, trying to find a husband. A potential man arrives. The girls try to different ways to get him to notice them.

It was facinating looking at the girls. They were so pretty! Some of the girls looked fit to be a model. The costumes eccentuated their allure.

Mr Chandran and Goon were discussing director-y things with the girls and we wrapped up about an hour later and some final shots.

The play will be opening somewhere in October. How exciting! Come on and give support to the play, if you can 🙂


Look at me … Too cool for wind-blowers

Link to the event here

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How getting my helmet stolen makes me love auctions

My helmet got stolen recently. It made me extremely upset when I came down to see it missing.

I was at my friend, Narima’s place after a friend’s wedding. We spent the time talking, laughing and watching tv together. I noticed that it was getting a little too late, so I said my goodbyes and went off to the parking lot.

When I rode off, I realised that there was something missing. I wasn’t wearing my helmet. Where was it? I left it on the seat, now its gone! I freaked out.

Granted that it wasn’t very expensive. But the idea that someone would be so heartless enough to steal it was extremely upsetting to me.

A quick phone call to Narima soothed me a little.

But there wasn’t anything that I could do. A police report? My helmet was generic and did not have any special markings on it. Nothing much could be done anyways but to be more careful in the future.

Though I had a spare one, I still needed a helmet for my pillion, so I decided to go to Yahoo Auctions to scour for affordable helmets online. It has been a while since I last done any online auctioning. I remember that I had a blast of a time rummaging around for hidden treasures, then buying nice things and selling off of items.

After a few minutes of browsing, I found a relatively good and affordable one and bidded on it. After much anticipation, the rush of winning was there again. I saw the name of the top bidder – I won the bid!

The dealer suggested to do a meet up at the Caltex Petrol kiosk along Bukit Batok for the transaction. So we agreed to meet after my night class.

I usually filled up my scooter at the SPC Petrol Kiosk so I saw for the first time how it was at Caltex. It was impressively larger. In the cool night air, the place shone like a drive in movie theater. I saw men with suds, washing cars by hand and I went in the mart. There was a place where I could sit down, and have a cuppa. And I waited.

I didn’t have to wait too long, the dealer came soon-after. The transaction was done pretty speedily. I checked the condition of the helmet and handed him the money and we left.

Pretty easy.

I remember the things I used to get from Yahoo Auctions, things like the unused Fancl Facial Set, the Levi jeans, computer books which I used while studying computer science back then. All these would be more expensive if I bought it first hand.

Using that as a justifiable move, I could buy more items like a polarizer filter for my camera. It would be nice to take a nice, crisp blue sky instead of the grey shots that I keep getting. I wonder if I could get a suitable prime lens too.

And on that note, I could sell away some items too. Like the Estee Lauder perfume that I bought on impulse while attending their makeover session. I keep wondering why I bought it … I don’t even use perfume!


Anyone wants this?

Too bad I cant buy a new throat on Yahoo Auction

*cough cough cough*

A new throat would be nice.

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The wedding dinner

Ah! Its so nice to meet up with old friends again!

Sheedah invited me to her wedding. Sheedah was a friend and an ex colleague from the previous school that I was attached with. I spent about two years there and had very fond memories of the school.

I messaged Narima if she wanted to go with me. She affirmed, so I fetched her on my scooter, and together we went to the ceremony.

A dance for the bride and groom

It still tickles me when I think about us wearing baju kurong (traditional Malay wear) on two wheelers. Me in my orange gold dress and my wedges and Narima in her Kebaya must have attracted quite a few shocked motorists on the road. I imagined that they were thinking, “Crazy Women! Why on earth are they wearing fancy clothes like that on a scooter?”

When we reached there, I saw so many of my ex-colleagues. We looked at each other and started to talk animatedly, excited to see each other again. I missed them so!

We entered the grand hall and waited for the bride and groom. It was so lovely, the sound of the Malay drum beating in chorus, and adorable little girls strewing flower petals on the floor. Sheedah looked radiant and her husband, Suhaimi looked equally dashing.

The chandelier almost covered my face

One could see the love in their eyes as they smiled and glanced at each other. It was so lovey dovey. It made me feel like wanting to get married too.

While watching the emcee talk, I updated my friends on whats new in my life while they updated theirs. It seemed that there are quite a few changes in the school – quite a few staff has left or thinking of leaving. Some going for new pastures, like teaching in Hong Kong.

Peiyi : Hey! You look so nice!

Me : Not as nice as you 🙂 You look beautiful in that outfit and that hairstyle.

Peiyi : I thought you were coming with your boyboy?

Me : No, he’s coming in December, thats why I sms’ed you about Tea Chapter.

Sherry : It’s popular with tourists.

Xiaofang : Boyfriend?

Peiyi : Where is he from?

Sherry : What is he working as?

Peiyi : How did you guys met?

Me : Erm .. erm ..

I was really happy to be around these wonderful people.

Mr Loo, Me, Hasnah, Waheeda, Linda and Narima.

But the night ended too quickly and we had to say our goodbyes too soon. But what a lovely night. Being among good friends is one of the most priceless things one could have.

By the way, the post to be Marina’s husband is now open. You may apply here.

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Happy Teacher’s Day :)

I’m liking the new Blogger. I’ve finally have what I’ve always wanted to have – labels! Now I can categorize my posts and choose to read which category I want at one click.

There’s also the ‘widget’ feature which I like, once I’ve adjusted it, it will stay the same, no matter what template I change to. But now that Blogger has upgraded from CSS to XML, I believe alot of blog-skins will cease to work. Fortunately for this blog, it has a very simple design. 🙂

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I had a lovely day on Thursday which was the eve of Teachers’s day. I still went to work even though I had another day to rest – I was concerned as there wasnt anyone manning the pictures and the video for the school. I was feeling better anyways.


I watched the school concert put up by the school students – some were dancing, some formed a band, there was even one who did beat-boxing.

I felt well enough to attend the teacher’s day lunch. I asked Sophia, the admin manager, where the place was

Sophia : Its at River View Hotel

Me : Err .. Where’s that?

SOphia : Do you know where Havelock Road is?

Me : No … Where’s that?

Sophia : Its near Zouk (a night club)

Me : I dont go clubbing

In the end we consulted streetdirectory and read the directions from there but just to be double sure, I asked some of the staff who were driving if I could follow their car.

V : I’m not sure if that’s a good idea

Me : Why not?

V : I’ll be driving quite fast

Me : Just say that you dont want me to follow you

V : Its not that, I’m not sure if you can keep up

In the end, I said nevermind. It was obvious that he did not want me to follow his car so I proceeded to go to the journey by myself. Should be easy. Ayer Rajah Expressway leading to the Central Expressway, turn right and then ride along Havelock road.

I rode along Ayer Rajah Expressway, and then exited the Central Expressway as I was supposed to but I couldnt recognize any landmarks. What made it worse was that it started to rain heavily. Raindrops started to fall on me like tiny spikes. I never realised how painful it was to ride in the rain.


The Tanjong Pagar Railway

I stopped by the Tanjong Pagar Railway to consult my streetdirectory book and after getting the directions proceeded on my journey again.

Cold, soaking wet and miserable, I finally found the right road but I still couldnt find the hotel. It was so annoying.

Only when I left that I finally found the building. Printed on the high rise hotel in red words, River View Hotel. I could almost hear the angels sing.


The beautiful Kat

So stressed out I was, I signed up for the karaoke competition on a whim. And guess what? Me and my partner won first in the duet category!

Hee Hee hee!

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The grand old lady

Guess where I was last night.

I did a quick revision.

In the toilet.

I know its an odd place to study, but at least it was peaceful and conducive enough for me to complete a whole chapter on economics.

Mum asked me to give her a ride to the Kallang Stadium where she will be taking her examination for the Basic Exercise Certification. She aims to be a certified fitness instructor so this examination will be the one of the hurdles for her.

Travelling from here to home would take at least an hour and a half. Since the examination lasts for an hour, I decided to wait for her.

So I had to park my scooter. I tried to find a motorcycle parking lot around the stadium. Its a very large area, the car park itself was about the size of a soccer field.

But I couldnt find any motorcycle lot and I really didnt want to do an illegal parking and get fined again, so I decided to park the scooter at a car lot. After tearing up a coupon, I entered the stadium.


Sunset by the stadium by Justin

Aptly nicknamed as ‘the grand old lady’, it was a grand stadium. It was large and rather spectacular. I watched the caretakers tending to the stadium field, some dragging in large water hoses while others water the grass of the field.


National Day celebrations by Elfonse

The stadium has hosted many different events here such as the National day celebrations, football leagues and other events. And I remember the last time when I went here with the school that I was formerly attached with, to give support to the military band performance.


Singapore Youth Festival 2004

So many memories here.

Which makes it a little sad for me to hear that this stadium will be torn down come next year.

It was nice and quiet so I sat facing the stadium to do a little studying. But as the sun set, it got increasingly difficult to see and I went to the nearest lighted area. The gym was for members only and I wasnt allowed in the office. The only well lighted area that I could go to was the ladies.

Engrossed with the book, time passed by quickly and mum was already done with her examination. I saw the throngs of people coming out the theaterette. Many of them has an anguished look to them. It must have been a difficult paper.

A Girl : Things that I studied didnt come out and the things I didnt studied came up!

A Lady : The instructor emphasized on the wrong topics

A Girl : Do you know that 10 people retook this examination?

A Lady : Oh dear! This is so disheartening!

Mum popped out eventually and I asked her how she felt. She gave a brave smile and said, “It was scary, but God bless, I’ll be fine”.

We headed to where I parked my scooter and I noticed a white slip stuck to my scooter. Another fine! I was fined for ‘parking at an area not designated for it’

Honestly!

What is wrong with these people? Where on earth am I supposed to park when there are no lots for it?

It was really getting under my nerves. Mum saw how worked out I was that she decided to bring me to the ‘Meet the People’ session where I can air my griveances to the constituency minister.

As much as I enjoy riding, sometimes I feel that it can bring out the worst in me. I have a very short temper and get frustrated easily.

Is this normal?

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Asknlearn staff meetup

I had a company meeting yesterday. Since the location was further on to the Eastern part of Singapore, I travelled for the first time on my scooter to the ECP expressway.

On the highway, I passed by the heart of the city and saw the tall skyscrapers of the CBD area. And as I passed by the Nicoll highway, I was enthralled by the enchanting sight of the tall buildings by the river leading to the sea.

Beautiful. Just beautiful.

Which makes it quite amazing that just about two years ago, this same place, made the entire nation in a moment of trepidation as they listen to the news of the Nicoll Highway collapse incident.

It was a long ride to the boss’s house. With no form of entertainment for me except for to look at the crazy motorists on the road zig-zagging without prior signalling and to curse and shout at the taxis suddenly cutting in my way.

At length, I reached the Boss’s place and met and mingled the other educators and staff there. There was Dzul and Deanna, both of whom I met while during our orientation days last year.

My previous supervisor, Mei Yun, me and Deanna

It was the typical motivational speech, company vision, new things that will come for the future and what nots. Some people might be cynical about these motivational speeches. Granted that I include one of them sometimes, but at the same time though, I felt quite blessed that I was with Asknlearn after all that I’ve been through with the previous companies that I have worked with.

Our game team posing next to the ‘spiderweb’ that we broke

Working life understandably does have its problem but at least I can ask them for help whenever I feel that I couldnt cope with something. The best environment is where everyone feels they belong and look out for each other.

I was supposed to meet up with my friends Vai and Juli in Orchard. After getting lost around the roads for a few minutes and screaming, “Where am I? Where am I?” I finally managed to stumble into the city area and then got myself stuck behind a procession of taxis and cars then magically finding myself entering a carpark behind a shopping center complex.

I can feel the eyes of other motorcyclists as they see me park my scooter. I was the only female rider there in the already full parking area.

I swooshed out my hair like a shampoo commercial and sashayed out of the parking lot.

Anyway, I met up with Vai first and updated each other on what’s new in our lives.

Me : How did the birthday event go?

Vai : It was great! Thank you for helping out in the powerpoint slides. It was spectacular. Her entire family loved it.

Me : Not a problem 🙂

Some while after, Juli turned up and the playful catfight began.

Vai : Ah, someone went shopping I see. No wonder you are late.

Juli : Excuse me! This is for school. We are having a dinner function at a community center!

Vai : Community center? That’s such a cheap place. I had mine at a hotel!

Juli : What hotel? Hotel 81 is it? (Hotel 81 is a budget hotel)

We went to lido to watch this movie called pretty persuasion which I throughly enjoyed. It was a satirical dark comedy with spectacular dialogues and perfect characters which a rather shocking ending.

The night ended much too quickly though with Juli needing to leave to get ready for her marathon the next day.

Juli : And you, Vai, I’ll see you there at 6.30 am

Vai : But I’m sick! Who knows if tomorrow I would die!

Juli : I don’t care! If you can still stand up and walk right now, you can still run for tomorrow.

Vai : Why doesn’t Marina go for it?

Juli : That’s because she never signed up for it not like SOME people who sign up for things but never turns up at the last minute.

Vai : You women are always ganging up on me.

I have the funniest friends.