Dear Dreams – Page 214

The free old wheel chair

[Sunday, 06 August, 2006]

On my way home from the outing with Gilbert, my mum called me to go to her friend’s house to get a chair. It was already eleven plus and I was so exhausted from the late afternoon swim and shopping at IMM.

The old wheel chair was from her friend’s office and I had no idea why they did not want it anymore. Since there were a few of them, she asked around to give away. The condition was not bad and her husband took the effort to clean it up.

I carried the chair all by myself to my house. It was heavy and bulky but the effort was worth it. Finally I had a comfortable wheel chair which I could adjust the height to accommodate my legs, which I planned to buy one since so long ago.

Red arm chair

My last working day

[Tuesday, 08 August, 2006]

Finally it came my last working day. Things did not turn out as what I expected again.

Morning was HLS run, followed by breakfast, preparation at theatrette, lunch, clearing of credits in E-mart and then preparation for the National Day parade; there was simply no time to visit my friends and bid them farewell.

The big shots had a crap decision before the parade to change the rostrum. I was absent from the mishap the previous time and did not notice about the top of the new rostrum, which microphones could not be fitted. It was an unhappy parade again, partly due to my lack of knowledge about the labelling of the CDs.

It was a very rush day and I could not feel the relaxation of a clearing leave personnel; others would have been walking around to greet their friends and also signing the clearance forms. I only managed to tell 1Wo Twang, CPT Phua and Mdm Mila it was my last day.

Gilbert was the culprit

[Tuesday, 08 August, 2006]

After the HLS run, which was delayed somehow by the gym opening, we went to the canteen for breakfast. Gilbert did not want to go and instructed Siu Hang to buy food for him at the Spec Mess; however, it was closed.

During the long queue for the Wan Tan noodle, I called Gilbert on his phone but he did not pick it up. Since it was already nine plus and we were supposed to meet Shep at ten, I suggested messaging her to change the timing. Just as I was keying halfway, Kwang Han announced that he would do the messaging.

Just as we were almost done with eating, Gilbert called me to buy him roti john. We waited on and the auntie actually forgotten to do it for me. Suddenly, Gilbert messaged me that Shep was inside the office, roaming at people (Siu Hang and Anthony) who were eating the takeaway noodle.

We were shocked and Kwang Han checked his phone to realise he had a missed call from Shep. We quickly pieced up the information and realised nobody had actually messaged her. He thought I had messaged her and I mistook him that he was messaging her when he was contacting Gilbert.

Kwang Han rushed back and followed by Yuqing a while longer after finishing his drinks. Since Shep was still inside the office after I got back, I quickly took the roti john to the theatrette in case she would nag more. However, just as she was on her way up, Gilbert called me to bring it down instead of him coming up; and when I asked him for which stairs she was taking, he could not reply. Therefore, he made me run extra errands.

To conclude, Gilbert had wasted our time to call him, caused the miscommunication between us and Shep, made us wait for his food and made me run extra stairs for him.

My last second working day

[Monday, 07 August, 2006]

The whole day was all about settling the off and leave matter. Quek did his promise to help me get back all that I deserved. So, the day began with a little paper work.

On seeing that people who asked me to sign clearance together had already filled some of their entries, I tried to get cracking soon with Sem Chi since my last working day was coming soon. However, there was a call to request me to replace Kwang Han at the theatrette suddenly.

After Kwang Han got back from the talk with Shep, I went down to settle the PA system which my sister wanted to borrow again. They came soon this time and we did the issuing right in front of the training hub and I even sat down there cosily to finish up the voucher as all the big shots were having their lunch break in the midst of the course. That was quite cool.

I attended the briefing from HeyYou to realise that there was nothing important to me since I was leaving already. Shep instructed me to get ready the function room and asked me to get some lab technicians along in her name; she was quite concerned about me but she did not know they had been very helpful as friends all along.

After lunch, I finally got news from Gilbert that Quek had fulfilled his promise when I was clearing up the function room. I thought it was quite a simple task that I did not get any help from anyone. As time passed, I sent a message to Shep to remind her of our date and later on, she teased me in front of Yuqing, saying she had to rush over in case I got angry.

She had some specifications for us to determine our job scope for an upcoming event and she was as concerned as before that she wanted nobody to take advantage of our kindness in return for more workload.

We continued with some chats about how biased Protein was and the conversation burst with sorrow again. I saw the closeness to her and how she really appreciated each of our effort. She could be quite paranoid sometimes but she meant well for all her men.

I got back to office and hurried Gilberto to go and check out the off recommendation forms. However, there was borrowing of laptops and I ended up helping him instead. Then, he dragged on before Quek called to ask me to dig out some printers. Realising that Gilberto was not ready to set off, I tried to carry everything on my own and fortunately, Beng and Anthony rushed over to help me.

I got a few more clearance form’s entries signed. Then, I proceeded to collect the papers from Quek to see to my little cheerfulness as they were signed by 007. I hurried to get all the documentation done as I had to make sure I was available the whole day on Thursday before Vivi went to Malaysia for her performance.

There was some rushing here and there for the clearance forms again. In the end, I had a tiring time filling up the off pass booklet before Quek helped me to sign them. My leave forecast was handled over to Miss Chui to settle.

Actually, I wanted to pay some friends a visit before clearing leave but it seemed impossible when I was going to be busy for the next day. Fatigue besieged me but there was an energy to keep me going.

Sadly, I was still lacking the ORD mood when I left less than two days to clearing leave.

Out with Gilberto

[Sunday, 06 August, 2006]

In the afternoon, Gilberto suddenly messaged me and said he felt like floating in the water. I thought that was a good idea since the previous swimming outing was cancelled, we had not swam for quite long and that I needed to relax myself from all the problems.

I felt it was insane for her to go to her friend’s religion function just to return him a favour. She knew clearly how much I hated those places and previously how agitated I was due to them. Furthermore, she could have spent her time resting at home when she was so lack of sleep. In the end, she was even late for her Tzu Chi rehearsal.

I was too weird for anyone to understand me and I began to feel lousy about myself and my judgement.

I contacted a few people but everyone was not free; it was too last minute decision anyway. In the end, I still decided to go and since he asked me to choose the location, I chose Jurong East as the lazy pool was a great place to relax and “float” in or on the water. However, I could tell that he preferred Clementi more even though he made me decide the location and I went by his wish since I was fine with anything. He was as dragging as usual.

She called me when she was alone on the train and that was when I got to know she was late for the rehearsal. Another disappointment filled me but I was able to control myself, yet I used her “talk opposite” method to show her how irritating it could be. My brain was in a mess and I wanted so much to accompany her all the way down to Pasir Ris to ensure her safety but I could not even hold on longer to the phone as Gilberto told me he was leaving his house already.

Just when I was on the way to the MRT station, I recalled Gilberto had to take bus 165, which would definitely be a long journey but it was too late to go home and continue with the chat with her.

In the end, I arrived so much earlier than him and walked around the place to see how disgusting it was under renovation. I bought some buns to stop my hunger and he only arrived near five. I felt quite regretful to go since it was already so late and that we needed to book in the next day.

We proceeded on still and I was very disgusted to see the crowded pool with so many kids. I loved to play with kids but they were blocking the lanes and we had to swim zip-zap instead and I was hit a couple of times as their swimming goggles seemed to be coated opaquely. They also scared Gilberto many times.

There was a young couple there and the guy was clipping his knees by the sides of the girl to keep himself afloat and the height was just nice for him to rub his child-producing machine against her factory. Sometimes, he was just leaning to her closely. I was not against intimacy between couple but the pool was badly crowded and kids were all around; it was of a wrong time and place.

After finishing sixteen laps when my injured knees started to hurt even though I did not really use much strength on kicking most of the time, we got up and went to bath. The gullible Gilberto announced he could feast for three days after finishing the exercise.

We went to Mac and he ordered six-piece nuggets with two ice-cream cones and he reported that the Indian girl teased him so much in Chinese. Then, we took bus 105 to IMM and shopped in Giant for his mineral water, queuing up for so long as the customers in front were making a big fuss.

Next was the search for ATM machine and visit to the Burger King restaurant. As he had the coupon, we took up the one with three sets of meals but the price of two. However, he insisted in waiting for a shorter queue before joining in the fun. In the end, we waited for quite a long while. The task to finish off the dinner was tedious and extremely time-consuming as well.

After that, we finally went to Daiso. I was glad that the items there had amazed him but he was quite clear of the necessarily to buy them. I wanted to get a mat to lay in the living room at night when the room was freezing, but he advised me not to. In the end when he saw my determination to get one and supported me but we realised the material and workmanship was not good enough.

In the end, we walked out of the shop without buying anything even though we had spent an hour or more there. We waited very long for the shuttle bus and he took a cab home immediately while I waited for the seven minutes’ train.

We could be lame

[Friday, 04 August, 2006]

Being disregarded, disgusted and indirectly humiliated by Protein, people who were aware of the situation sighed in despair. There was no sight of smile.

When flares were bottomed up for too long, sometimes it did convert into a form of hyperactiveness. Other than pinning Kengster down on the ground, tickling him and taking away his camp pass to force him into signing the clearance forms, there was a joint lame fun with Gilberto.

Just as I was about to sign the book-in/out book for the previous day, I realised the entry had been closed with only around five signatures. Due to the natural of the job scopes, many people often could not get to sign it early in the morning in order to boost the efficiency of work. However, most of us did make up by filling in at the end of the day.

It was obviously Blackie’s doing to close the entry for his handwriting and last entry before the red line to disallow anyone else to fill in. As a matter of fact, he was not a saint and often wrote his own entry late even though he worked in that office. Whereas this afternoon, his name was not found again and Gilberto had this brilliant idea to tear him down.

We helped others to write down their names and quickly closed the entry for the day. Thanks to Gorilla and Kengster for helping out to look for the red pens. And then the next moment we started to wait for Blackie’s black face…

He would eventually realise it.

The bicycle needed maintenance

[Thursday, 03 August, 2006]

Although my knees condition had more or less improved a little, I still felt as weak as ever.

Being exhausted at the MMI Physiotherapy centre with the gym in the afternoon, yet I took up the challenge of cycling to meet her again that night. Because it was the traditional month of the good brothers coming out from hell, I saw a need to escort her. Besides, I might not be able to do it anymore once her tutor’s sprained leg turned better and the tuition place changed to her house.

It was not something great because all guys held the responsibilities to not only ensure their girls’ safety but to also eliminate any insecurity feeling they could have. There was too little that I could give, except my truest and determined effort to protect her both physically and mentally.

I only remembered to bring an umbrella along for her in case it would rain and totally forgotten about bringing a small towel to wipe off my sweat. The biggest problem was the bicycle, which was already producing noises since I last cycled but I did not get my elder brother to solve the problem, probably by spraying some oil to remove the rust.

The travelling time was longer than usual when I was strengthless to paddle. The friction somewhere at the centre of the wheels made it harder of course and the sound was embarrassing me whenever I passed by the bus-stops.

It was no doubt a satisfactory trip to see her hiding her smiles.

That night, for as long as more than half a year or probably more, I applied muscle rub cream on my legs for the first time. Though it was enough to cease some of the pains, my incapability dropped my position in the next day’s HLS run.

The miscommunication for parade timing

[Thursday, 03 August, 2006]

We woke up early and had illegal breakfast before starting into work.

It was as early as 0645h, we had started setting up the PA system for the parade square. Three of us, inclusive of Yuqing and Kwang Han, did everything without any hesitation or plan since it was already fingertip job.

HeyYou appeared out of nowhere and asked why we started working so early because he had told Quek that we only needed to set it up after 0800h; there was bounced to be a communication breakdown again. Although it was obviously a waste of effort to stay overnight there and wake up so early, we were cool about it.

After analysing, I guessed the problem started with HeyYou telling Yuqing to set it up by 0745h and then there was a change of timing. Since I was the first one to inform Quek of the parade, he told HeyYou that he knew about it, and HeyYou did not tell him the new timing and assumed we knew it already.

Since Yuqing was the one who was told of the timing earlier and he did not speak up, I chose to keep quiet as well when HeyYou repeatedly said we were too early; nevertheless he was fine with it and I supposed he was glad that things seemed to work well.

Shep talked to us as well and it was never too good when the topic was too emotional. We all shared the same sentiment about the unfairness of the place and she sounded so despair as well.

We were told that the parade would begin at around 1000h instead. As everyone had left, I insisted to stay around to look after the system. Suddenly there was a call to inform me that it would begin shortly in around ten minutes’ time. Thus, the organisers ought to be grateful that we started early. Still, I did not like the suddenness.

Things went by as usual. After keeping everything, I went to search for Quek but he was missing in action again. I spent around forty minutes waiting for Chiang and Pang from 2SIG to come over to loan the sound system, and after which, continued to search for Quek in vain.

I was totally demoralised for the off issue not settled. I had to get back my off for I deserved them so much but the upper level was being too biased.

I set off for physiotherapy after lunch. There was no smile throughout the journey and the stay there. Luckily for Kenneth that everything was done swiftly and I could leave to rest earlier.

The VIP on course and the stay in office

[Wednesday, 02 August, 2006]

Tea breaks for the higher authority were always much better than usual ones. This time, there were pastry with ice-creams inside, which we would describe them as “melt in your mouth and not in your hand”. On the other hand, I did not welcome them since there were always extra workloads before and during their arrival.

At first, I was quite disgusted about the last minute work, including the change of contents to the course, but was waken up by Captain Justine days later. Suddenly, I felt a need to look at things at a wider range.

The day ended well. It had been long since I last had dinner in the cookhouse. I got to chat on phone with Vivi and eventually held this first ever mass MSN group chat.

The night was quite boring as everyone knocked out early. I did not sleep inside the office for the weird smell and instead, went to one of the labs to rest on the carpet floor. It was however still hard and the different ambience with the sound of air-conditioners and perhaps, rats, were unbearable.

I woke up in the middle of night and had problem dozing off again. It was quite freaky to go to the toilet alone especially in the lunar seventh month.

Congratulate for the cohesion event

[Friday, 04 August, 2006]

Congratulate for the success of the cohesion event for the two departments.

Thank for inviting my department people over even though obviously we had major events running at the lecture block and most of us could not make it.

Thank for allowing Jason to participle in the pool game such that he could have the chance to crown in the game; thank for putting up with his probably unwilling and effortless stay.

However, I would not appreciate it for the meal because my indented free lunch at the cookhouse was cancelled without my knowledge or approval.

We do appreciate the indirect feedbacks that we are slackers because we are mainly only issuing and collecting equipments, taking care of all the forty plus rooms equipped with expensive items, climbing up and down regularly, starting work as early as six in the morning (for parades) and ending as late as ten plus, shifting furniture among rooms despite having injuries, interacting with people from other units especially when they book the theatrette, controlling all the lighting and sound for the speakers, commander or Chief, putting up with nuisance from old freaks with higher rank and getting scolded for nothing; as compared to people who sit in front of the computers to play game more than half of the working hours, we are just useless bums.

Lastly, I am grateful for the sudden call for projector that I had to bring over and the crowd that had stopped me from doing anything when they were not as experienced as me, though no instruction was given. I shall be glad to be able to serve the hardworking people anyway.

Since the attendance does not prove my department have more important and tedious roles of work, we shall strongly reflect on our job scopes and feel ashamed of ourselves that we will be showing less smiles in future.