Of Conversations & Reflections...

Conversation 1
Character A: Why doesn't you car have a bodykit?

Choco: ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Character A: Why didn't you squeeze your agent for more freebies?

Choco: ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Character A: Why didn't you ask for a multi-disc changer?

Choco: ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Character A: Why is your cash rebate so little?

Choco: ... ... ... ... ... ... ...


Maybe it's because I don't know how to bargain...

Maybe it's because I don't need all those useless stuff, even though it makes us feel good knowing that we managed to make the life of another person worse off...

Maybe it's because I know what I want...

Maybe it's because I don't know what I want...

Maybe it's because I just don't care...

Maybe it's because I don't want to be like the rest...

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Conversation 2
Character B: Why don't you leave your Ville and find a better Ville elsewhere?

Choco: ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Character B: The early bird catches it's worm, you know? The earlier you leave your Ville, the better...

Choco: ... ... ... ... ... ... ...


Maybe it's because I feel that there's still work to be done in my Ville...

Maybe it's because I still have much to learn in this little Ville of mine...

Maybe it's because I like my Ville...

Maybe it's because I know what I want...

Maybe it's because I don't know what I want...

Maybe it's because I just don't care...

Maybe it's because I don't want to be like the rest...

But the main reason is because... I'M NOT A BIRD!

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Reflections
I've been driving for the past 6 days... Steep learning curve for me... But at least I'm still alive, and other road users are still alive too... A few nasty glares, a few unfriendly horns... but by and large, I've become more confident on the roads...

On one of the few journeys that I had to make on the expressways, I realised that even though the traffic may be very heavy, as long as all the cars are moving and are traveling in the same direction and no drivers changes lanes or make exits, I could still travel in a fairly fast speed...

I realised that life is as such as well... In order to get what we want in our own respective lives, as long as we are not too different from the rest, follow the crowd, be like the rest, do what's expected of you, follow tradition, follow usual practices, follow usual conventions, follow even though you may not know where you are heading, the life of many many people can in fact be very easy and smooth sailing...

The Galactic Chief announced yesterday that we must allow more variation in teaching our young Padewans... We must allow them to persue their passion... We must allow them to be developed in their strengths... We need not conform and follow old rules which dictates over every and any individual...

It's time to be different... It's time to be different from others... It'll soon be alright to do things differently as long as our objectives are met...

Our "expressways" may soon turn chaotic because we may be seeing drivers heading in all directions... Directions that these drivers want to go...

But despite the chaos, people may soon get more fulfilment... Fulfilment from being able to go where they want...

But are we ready for such mindset change? Tradition, culture, societal perceptions, societal acceptance, are all extremely powerful forces... Choco will melt and boil and evaporate against such forces... As long as such forces (regardless of how long they've been held true) are still in places, resistance may be futile...

How do we change the perceptions from these forces? The guardians of such forces will protect their peaceful sanctuary till they vanish from all the planes of the galaxy... We might need half a generation more to fully embrace the notion of being different...

But alas, is life all about understanding how civilisation functions? Is life all about meeting expectations? Is life all about racing till the end of time?

What about love and passion and living life to the fullest? How about less judgement, and more embracing of life?

Such are questions that the latest Galactic Master Scheme released yesterday may not address... For that matter, such are questions that any Master Schemes (be it divine or mortal) do not address, unless we understand what we are living for...

Live life... Love life...

Swift My Way Home (^-^)

And so it is...

My Red Swift Pod has finally arrived...

Went all the way to Bukit Batok Crescent to collect it at 10.15 am... and when Agent S drove me into the car park, I saw my RSP waiting there for me...

Routine checks, passing of keys, signing of documents, etc, and off I went... to an "Auto-R-Us" nearby... CH came to see my RSP too, and we went shopping at Auto-R-Us...

Didn't buy much, other than car shampoo, a set of cheapo sports pedals and a waterproof tray for my mini boot... Accessories are in abundance but keep cool I shall, for not deep is my wallet...

After leaving Auto-R-Us, I went on a mini scavenger hunt of roads (cos' I'm never familiar with roads names that starts with mountains)...

And so it is, whatever complimentary fuel that came with my RSP were soon used up... Went to inject a full tank, and drove around for another 50 km or so, just to get the kick of it...

Hmmmm... I realise driving around is kinda fun... Especially when I'm alone, with the music blasted loudly (I think I might have burst the poor paper cone speakers... time to hunt around for ICE)... It's kinda therapeutic...

If only fuel price were lower, I would make it a new mini past-time, driving around quiet roads... But alas, Katrina came at a wrong time and foiled my plans... Shall shelf that thought when fuel prices drop further (if ever)...

Anyway, I think that the above pictures were horribly taken... Next thing to do will be finding a secluded spot and take brochure-like photos of my RSP... Will have to jio my uni/photography/car buddy, CH, for a photo shoot soon... He's got a new Honda Jazz recently as well...

Okie, the number plate is there for all to see... Go do some four-digit charity this weekend... If the number strikes, don't forget to call me out for a drink...

She's Coming Out of the Dark...

My Kitchen's finally showing signs that she's coming out of the dark today...

For so long now, I've trampled over her when she's in a mess... But now that she's recovering, and for that matter, in the miraculous hands of her Creator, she's going to evolve and metamorphosise to become even more beautiful than she was before, I'm beginning to feel that I'll have no more role in this anymore...

The Kitchen has never been my territory... and now that she's coming around, I feel like I shall take a back seat and let who she deserves more to own her...

We've not asked her if she likes this metamorphosis or not... but relatives and friends and neighbours who visit has nothing but praises about how nice and grand it will be and so on...

So perhaps she will be happy... that she's got a facelift... a facelift into something that I can hardly recognise...

She doesn't have a choice over how she'll look on the outside... But I know that deep down, she's the same old Kitchen...

Sheares Bridge Run

Made myself wake up at an unearthly time of 0550 hrs this morning... For the SAFRA Sheares Bridge Run... Meeting six other Masters at City Hall MRT Station at 0630 hrs...

Very reluctantly, pealed myself out of bed... Reached AMK MRT at 0618 hrs... Train cabins were surprisingly packed for a Sunday morning... On closer look, there were quite a few in running gear and some army boys... So we were all heading for the same thing...

We got to find out that the run was actually 6.9 km, instead of the 6 km which we were made to believe when we signed up... Grhhh...

Anyway, I intended to just take it slow and easy and not push myself too hard for the run... so I started off just jogging slowly, letting those who were more hurried for time to overtake me...

It's been a while since I ran such a distance... Almost 4 months, I think... But I guess slow and steady helped me last the entire run...

The last 900m really reminded me of the last lap for the SOC (Standard Obstacle Course)... Almost there, but never reaching there kind of feeling... Once I turned into the road beside the Padang, I tried to open up my strides and I did overtake some Army boys who are much younger and supposedly fitter than me... But 900m was no joke... I slowed down again after reaching the last 600 m mark... Finishing point was still not quite there...

BUT... I'm 'Most Spontaneous' Master, remember? I have the ability to rise to the occasion... With about 200 m left to go, I somehow managed to summon untapped energy within me, and did a sprint towards the i-gantry... I was overtaking the rest like a hot blade cutting through butter...

I reached the end point at 0840 hrs... Flag off was shortly after 0800 hrs... hmmmm, I used to take slightly over 30 mins for 6 km... But hey, I've aged alright... Just pick any guy my age with similar work habits and I'm quite confident I can beat them flat...

I was the 2nd to return among the 7 Masters today... All Masters returned safe and sound and still able to walk properly... After collecting our well-deserved goodie bag (consisting some wonderfully useless stuff which were stuffed in there by the sponsors just for the sake of advertising) and a nameless certificate, we headed to Techno Geek City for a little washup and breakfast...

Masters disbanded at 1015 hrs... returning to their respective Motherships to recover quickly to get themselves ready for the start of a brand new final term tomorrow... Not a very nice thought... But haiz.... life goes on...

Tiles Up

Update on the metamorphosis of my kitchen...

Tiles on one side of the wall are up... Electrical wirings are ripped out of their housing and are dangling precariously down from the edges of the walls... There's also a water pipe hanging diagonally across the kitchen overhead... Quite a sight...

I've gone into hibernation in my room the past few days, but next week, my room will be in upheavel too... The electrical guys will be invading my only room of tranquility to run the wires to install more power points in my room (to support my growing gadgets such as audio amplifier, guitar amplifier, TV, DVD player, SCV cable box, camera drybox, laptop, numerous chargers, aircon)...

I found out to my horror that on two of the days next week, we'll have no power! They were kind enough to connect a light bulb in each of the rooms to assure and remind us that we need not set fire in the house to keep warm and have light...

I always know that modern people have already become slaves to technology... But I don't need to be reminded of that! I NEED electricity!!!

I think I shall just remain in Simpleville to enjoy the aircon and utilise the power for as late as I can on the days that are going to be powerless at home... Well, at least as late as the two gracious and kind Guradians of the Ville allow me to...

Not an easy week ahead... not easy indeed... Grhhhhhh

Swift Arrival (^-^)

And so it is...

Agent S called me today, informing me that my Red Swift Pod should be ready for collection next Saturday!

Earlier than I expected... but I'm not complaining...

A whole range of poison is awaiting to tempt me... Solar film, amplifier, component speakers, bodykits, sports pedals...

Everything in its time... everything in its time...

And so it is... my movement and arrival time should become 'swifter'... Or perhaps, because I no longer will cause anymore delays to my fellow Jedis' movements, it is THEIR arrivals which would become 'swifter'... kekekek...

I think I can hear lots of sighs of relieve from my fellow Jedis... ;p

Metamorphosis Too...

Metamorphosis seems like a favourite catch-word recently... The Dictionary.com defines it as:

1. A transformation, as by magic or sorcery.
2. A marked change in appearance, character, condition, or function.
3. Biology. A change in the form and often habits of an animal during normal development after the embryonic stage. Metamorphosis includes, in insects, the transformation of a maggot into an adult fly and a caterpillar into a butterfly and, in amphibians, the changing of a tadpole into a frog.
4. Pathology. A usually degenerative change in the structure of a particular body tissue.

My kitchen is currently undergoing metamorphosis when I returned home today...


It's a transformation which brought about much inconvenience to all of us at home... Most specifically, my parents... They worked themselves tired the last few days taping cardboards and protective layerings on the living room floor, bedroom doors etc to prevent damage to be done when the workers bring in all the sand, cement, hacking equipment etc to tear the kitchen down, and finally, intall brand new cabinets and washing sink etc in the next 3 weeks...

I'm most ashamed to admit that I've no part to play in all these...

I've no idea how the new kitchen would look like... I've been keeping myself busy at work, and I return home late almost everyday... And I know I should be the last person at home to complain about the inconvenience...

I'm looking forward to the completion of the new kitchen... I wonder what kind of metamorphosis it'll go through...

You Can Bank On Them...

Today marks the start of COE bidding for this month... I'll know by Wednesday night if my car dealer is successful in their bidding...

In anticipation of the mega major cash outflow that'll follow, Master Choco obediently went to the Uh-Oh-Bank to close his fixed deposit accounts and transfer those cash to the People-Owned-Savings-Bank...

Scene in Uh-Oh-Bank
Choco : I'd like to close four of my fixed deposit accounts...

Female Bank-Officer : Four!?! Oh... can I have your IC please?

Choco : I'm sorry, I only brought my Driving License along. Is that alright?

Female Bank-Officer : Driving License? I need your IC... Because I need to see your address!

Choco : Ermm... But my Driving License has my NRIC no... do you think you can check my particulars from your computers?

Female Bank-Officer : But you want to close accounts. So I need your IC...

Choco : So is there any way out? I have accounts with your bank... you just probably need my NRIC no. right?

Female Bank-Officer : Let me make a call first...
(She called someone.. mumbled in Mandrin, presumably to her superior to seek clearance... Once she hung up her phone, she proceeded to clatter her keyboard and started to process my request of closing my FD accounts, without uttering a word to me.)

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My gosh... my life savings are deposited in your bank and this is how I was treated... Given that I've decided to withdraw a hefty sum out of the bank (just so that I can pay off my car downpayment), doesn't mean that I'm ending my banking relationship with Uh-Oh-Bank right?


Scene in People-Owned-Savings-Bank
Mega long queue on a Monday afternoon... Master Choco was sweating profusely due to long walk from Uh-Oh-Bank to current location... Perhaps carrying his life-saving in the form of a cheaque in his wallet freaked him out a bit too... Master Choco is an ultra unsophisticated and uncultured man who's greatest single purchase thus far in his not-so-young life is his camera... Quite a pathetic thought, so let's just move on...

So Master Choco joined the long queue and halfway through the line, an old Ah Mah joined the queue behind him,,, Master Choco, trying to behave in a socially acceptable manner, placed himself a body apart from a female customer in front of him... But who's to know that the old Ah Mah quietly but surely, side-stepped Master Choco and slipped herself nonchalently into this one body width gap, right in front of Master Choco!!!!

What the heck?!?!?! It's like daylight robbery! Master Choco felt like his right was taken away right under his nose!

He had two options: (i) tell the old Ah Mah politely that she has jumped queue, (ii) make a fuss of it and tell her off (cos' she was trying to do the same to the customer in front of her again)

But experience has taught Master Choco that either options will end up the same... That Master Choco will be seen as the ungentlemenly and ungracious idiot who kicked a fuss with an old lady...

Thus Master Choco took the third option... suffer in silence...

But on hindsight, Master Choco suddenly realised something... He has jumped the queue on someone as well... He has also tried to take away what's 'supposed' to 'belong' to someone else... He's like the old Ah Mah, robbed someone of their rights...

What goes around, comes around... Perhaps the old Ah Mah was there to give Master Choco a life lesson: Never get in the way of old women. It's futile to kick a fuss with them because they'll have their way anyway... Just take a step back and swollow the bitter medicine... Usually, they mean well...

Master Choco is hoping that he's interpreting it all correctly... ??!?!?!?

Most Spontaneous?

Master Chocoindryice has been voted "Most Spontaneous" by the Simpleville Padewan population...

However, Master Choco is in doubt whether the padewans understood the meaning of 'spontaneous'...

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According to the dictionary, SPONTANEOUS means:
1) Happening or arising without apparent external cause; self-generated.
2) Arising from a natural inclination or impulse and not from external incitement or constraint.
3) Unconstrained and unstudied in manner or behavior.
4) Growing without cultivation or human labor.

Hmmm... something's telling Master Choco that the padewans are trying to signal to him that he is 'UNPREDICTABLE'... Better not mess with Choco because, like a scorpion sting, he'll attack on impulse in an unconstrained and uncultured manner... Muahahahahah...

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Master Choco managed to interrogate a young Padewan by the name of Nituba-Comilletite and asked her in what ways were Master Choco 'spontaneous'...

She replied: "Because Master Choco always seems to be able to rise to the occassion in many of the things that he does, even when given short time to prepare..."

Hmmm... PLAM (prepare little, achieve more) perhaps? Muahahahahah

Balancing Point = Breaking Point

Very cool video...

Reminds us of how much of life is all about BALANCING... Before all that is beautiful and wonderful collaspes into ruins...

How temporal all things are... How thin the breaking point is...
http://www.compfused.com/directlink/864/