Now for the Recovery.

Finally I am back in Singapore. From the lack of updates, I guess most people would've guessed that I made it to Perth.

Miracles do happen. On Monday afternoon, we received a call that someone has seen 2 empty seats on the midnight flight to Perth and very quickly booked 2 of us on the seats before its taken. (Thanks to the blessed soul who must have been constantly refreshing the computer screen.)

And the remaining 2 of our friends managed to get 2 allocations at the last minute on the midnight flight !

So we all made it to Perth, just in time for KOP's funeral.

I will leave out the personal details, but I will say that KOP should be happy with all the funeral arrangements that D and family has so patiently worked out.

He is in the place that he so gladly called home.

Came back on Friday night and Saturday morning was the service in Singapore. All went smoothly.

*~*~*~*~*

Thanks also to all online friends. Your words of encouragements have been seen by D and she is touched.

I think KOP would also want everyone to remember his voyage, his ordeals, and his words of wisdom. And finally, never give up on your dreams.

Updates...

A few close friends and myself have been camping at Changi Airport days and nights since Friday evening, desperately trying to get onto flights into Perth that were, since weeks ago, been fully booked.

And as we sit through our stand-by lists at the ticket counter flight after flight, it became more apparent that all flights into Australia were way overbooked. (In airline terms, overbooked = more people holding confirmed tickets than actual seats.)

For 3 times a day since Friday mid-night, we have been telling staff after staff, officer after officer, about us trying to get onto flights into Perth, to see KOP for the last time.

For the last 7 flights, we have not had any success, and everytime it seems the list is growing longer.

2 more flights to go in order to make it in time to his funeral. We are hoping to get at least some of us there.

It seems to be the best that we can do at such times, after exhausting all direct and indirect flights/trains/cars/helicopter/hot-air ballon routes. It is extremely tiring for us as we are no longer teenagers staying overnight at airport for fun. But we just have to it for KOP.

I am afraid I will not be at liberty to reveal too much personal information about him, as he has always wanted to keep his privacy and identity closely guarded, especially online.

For those who had personal contacts with him via the blogosphere, you will be one of the very rare few people he felt comfortable to meet up with, or to open up to.

I have to respect his wishes, and I have no choice but to remove ange bern's comment on my previous blog about when the service in Singapore will be.

No doubt, relatives and friends would already have been informed. I hope everyone else will respect KOP's wish to keep his cyber and real lives apart and clearly delineated, whatever you put about him on your blogs.

I would probably not know much about the details of his passing, except after meeting up with D and making sure she is alright. Talking to her about such things over the phone at this time seems very inappropriate.

In the mean time, all of you can keep him in your heart and remember him in your own ways. I am sure KOP will know about it, wherever he is.

KOP will always be remembered.

Bad News... and a Tribute to a Friend

Monday (17th July 2006), I received news in the afternoon that one of my very good friend, KOP, has passed away suddenly, in Australia.

His housemates has found him on Monday morning.

No news yet of any causes for now, as it is too soon for any conclusions, I guess.

His funeral will be in Perth on 25th July 2006. This is according to his wishes of remaining in Australia.

His family has gotten flights over, but a few of us close friends are still trying all means to secure tickets.

*~*~*~*~*

I was at a loss, total loss for a while.

All that came to my mind were flash backs of our crazy uni days in NTU, road trips in Malaysia, road trips in Australia, and days of getting drunk at home. Not forgetting our intellectual discussions on life, finances, philosophies, work and the world in general.

I started calling all of our mutual friends, those that I have numbers of. It was hard to repeat it over and over again. Each time I do that, it brings me new experience, new flash backs.

Here is a friend, who seemingly have nothing going smoothly his way while he was in Singapore. Experiencing retrenchments one after another (through no fault of his. Just too many mergers and acquisitions and down-sizing).

Here is a friend, who has the intelligence to see through almost every plot and every system there is, and able to find loopholes. However, his intelligence was not tuned towards academic results.

Here is a friend, who has similar thoughts and analysis of many things as I, but he has always managed to put thoughts into actions faster than I do. (And perhaps, like he always said, we have just found evidence in each other to reinforce our beliefs.)

Here is a friend, who has been a great inspiration to me, but I guess he never knew it, because I never actually told him so.

Here is a friend, who has overcome many many obstacles in his life, that I secretly envy his courage and strength, never sure whether I would be able to take the same kind of blows as he did.

Here is a friend, who finally got out of the crippling system and has tried his best to establish a new life for himself and D.

Here is a friend, who had to live 1 year alone without D, and seems to have put everything in place for D's arrival early next year.

Here is a friend, who finally seemed to be so much happier, so much more free time, so much more to look forward to, and so much more going his way.

Here is a friend, who introduced me to Babylon 5, Futurama, and having fun with flames in liquor bottles that we have just emptied, and other interesting things in life.

Now, just when I was about to tease him to fulfil one of our ancient never-got-around-it task - to pay money for someone to tell us that we are stupid (take the Mensa IQ test), I will never know what his score will be.

Now, just when his encouragement and taunts has removed my procrastination, I will no longer be able to fulfil my dream of living in Australia, together.

I have suddenly lost one of the rare few guiding lights that I have in my life.

Life doesn't seem to be very fair to him. He led a hard life, taking everything that life has thrown him. Worked his way to get what he wanted, and just when things are finally turning out for the better, he is no longer able to enjoy the fruits of his labour.

I really hope KOP managed to get a taste of absinthe as he so desired, one year ago. (See blog comments section)

I also hope that he has managed to find Kolo Mee in Perth (See blog comments section)

May his soul rest in peace.

Good News, for a change...

I passed by IPPT today ! And will be getting $100 incentive.
At least some monetary rewards. Probably will take it again in a few weeks time, so that I can skip IPPT again for the next 2 years (almost).

I failed my IPPT again...

After a few days of jogging, I took the IPPT again yesterday.

Failed 2.4km run by 19 seconds.

Damn ! I have another 2 weeks to pass it ! Erg ! More training.
Otherwise, the irritating RT is going to make me sad, real sad.
Never had RT before, don't intend to give in to it !

My Encounter with Public Transport, After 2 Years.

Ok. I do not consider taxi as a 'public transport', though legally it is.
I am referring to the MRT and LRT that many not-so-well-to-do people use.

So I had decided to leave my car at the service centre overnight (as told in my previous blog entry.) Time to go home like most Singaporeans.

I had 2 choices to go home :

(1) I can take a bus from the bus-stop in front of my office, and change another bus to reach home, or

(2) I can take MRT and then the LRT back home.

I chose the 2nd option.

First, I walked from my office to the MRT with my colleague. (Complaining about our boss, as usual.) It's a 10 minutes walk.

Reached the MRT station with loads of people, took the escalator up. Found the right platform. Waited for train to arrive.

3 mintues later, one arrived. I can see people having some difficulty squeezing off the train. I squeezed in after most have boarded, and I am left standing near the doorway, while a few more people squeezed into the train behind me.

Now, under any other situations, I am sure I can charge the lady for molesting me and pressing against my behind. But I think this is normal for peak-hour train ride, so I kept quiet.

And I have nothing to hold on to. As the train moves, I have to depend on my well-trained acrobatic balancing skills to deflect all the forces from the train AND other passengers tryng to make me a siamese-twin with the hairy guy in front of me.

I was cautiously fishing out my mobile phone from my belt when an SMS arrived. I did not want to be misunderstood as trying to get fresh with the hairy guy.

As I looked around while the train traveled 3 stations, I could hear 2 guys chatting about their work. Another guy was standing behind me leaning against a glass and reading the newspaper.

Another lady was seated and reading papers as well.

I then remembered a colleague of mine who once told me how he (being tall) was used as a newspaper support for a guy reading papers.

Then I reached the station to change to the LRT. Squeezing out and walking with a big group of people down and up stairs to reach the LRT platform. I am already perspiring.

(I then remembered how I gained weight the couple of months immediately after I bought my car.)

Then the LRT came. At first, people were standing around sparsely, probably leaving some space for passengers to alight. But when the train arrived, everyone squeezed forward, forcing the alighting passengers to have to fight their way out of the train, lest they get pushed back and be brought back to their originating station. Hahaha. It seems funny now, but I am sure they weren't laughing then. I wasn't too.

After people alighted, I squeezed forward trying to find a space in. Suddenly, the door started closing. I stopped. The door opened again, and a few more desparate passengers squeezed in before the door shuts again.

When the door was closed, the whole carriage looked like a can of sardines. with the people flattened against the doors.

The next train arrived, I rushed in and found a seat. By now, I am desparate to go home. In comes everyone else and the carriage was jammed full of people.

I think back to the time that I was stuck in my car in the traffic jam. I was comfortably seated listening to the radio and probably eating some snacks. I wished I had taken the time, trouble and money to pick up the car, even if it were just for the night.

I reached home 45 minutes later. Not too bad considering my usual drive home takes about 25 minutes at the evening peak hour. But I was reminded, yet again, why I am a willing hostage to the expensive car price, the COE, the ERP, the rising petrol prices and the expensive parking.

40K Servicing

Sent my car a little earlier for its 40K servicing yesterday.

Emphasized on my complaint on the noisy suspension. Test drove around the area with the head mechanic. He can hear all the creaking and clapping noises.

Complaint about the occassionally leaking air-con in the front passenger legroom space.
And told them to do a wheel alignment for me.

By the end of yesterday, they called to say most are done, but after changing some parts of the suspension, they still hear noise and thus can't complete it. Asked me whether I need the car back or can I leave it there another day.

I don't want the hassle of picking it up and sending it in again, so I told them to keep another day, but make sure it can be solved the following day.

So I went home via public transport (and I shall blog about my experience in the next entry).

Today, I got it back, and wow. I turned off the radio, and turned the air-con at the lowest so that I have minimal cabin noise. Wow. They finally solved the issue, and my ride is as quiet as when it was newly delivered.

When I got home, these are some of the used items they have returned to me (other parts are obviously disposed, like used engine oil, oil filter, suspension parts, etc) :



Driving my car is a joy again !

And you think shoot bird very addictive

Damn !

http://www.aeonity.com/ab/games/shooters/defend-your-base.php

Cool....

I thought it was cool actually. I couldn't imagine what it would look like before I saw the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YD9uhmP5Oo