the list that matters

last weekend i went for break-fast at changi airport.

i love it there. they have lots of restaurants that charge you the same as they do in the city. the best thing is, you don't have to compete with the mad city rush.

even in the unlikely event that you do, the crowds are much more fun. i mean, people in the verge of holiday surely are in way better mood than say, people that has just left work with their blackberry firmly within their grips, right?

plus, it's just 5 minutes away from my house.

after meal, i stopped by at watson. while making payment for the gatsby hair wax that i wanted, i saw this great big book on the counter. it's a kind like the monster book of monster in harry potter, except it doesn't bite, and also no teeth or chains for that matter.

ok it was just a big book. it says 'chewing gum purchaser' on the front in big capital letters. surely enough, there were 2 boxes of chewing gums beside it. dumstrucked, i asked the cashier lady,

'what's this book?'

and she replied, 'list of people that bought the chewing gums'.

ok that was a stupid question, but oh my god it's what i think it was. curious, i picked up the book, and sure enough there was this long list of handwritten names.

ok so the singapore government has relaxed the rule a little bit. apparently now they no longer banned chewing gums in this country, but you must record your name if you buy any.

how crazy is that? i expect later if they found a piece of eaten chewing gums sticked on the mrt rail, they would summon the whole list for interrogation or something.

don't say i didn't warn you.

anyway, it's 2 more days to thursday when i will take the bus back to kl. at last the time is near. i decided not to drive back this time because...

1) i'd rather sleep on the bus than driving through the surely congested roads. if you've seen the news, it's safer to be on the big bus in this festive rush than in those little tiny cars.

2) cheaper. you won't believe how much the blood-sucking tolls are charging you to get to kl and then later to get back to singapore these days. they might as well point a gun at you and demand all your money.

i've already got most of the things prepared and ready to go. i went to this orphanage in east coast road last saturday to make my religious tax almsgiving for the relief of the poor which is compulsory this month. to my suprise, they gave me a box of cookies in exchange for the 5 dollars that i paid.

i mean, we should be the one giving or donating things to them right? not the other way round. i felt bad, but it's rude to reject a gift anyway so i accepted. maybe they got a lot of those cookies donated to them or something until they just had to give it away. yeah that must be it.

i've also bought the indonesian monica lapis legit cakes from geylang serai, which i brought back every year before. i've got a packet of nicely wrapped freshly made malacca dodol ordered from my friend, and i've also bought this new watch for my little brother from suntec city.

one thing left is to buy some toys for my dear 1-year old nephew. by the way, his mother, or my younger brother's wife, is already 3 months pregnant with their second child. my sister told me few days ago.

great.

what a perfect timing. i can almost hear those old folks in my grandpa's hometown greeting me when i visit them this festive season,'see your younger brother is going for his second child, when is your turn to get married?'

damn those M word again. you'd think in this time of lots of unrest in different parts of the world, they would get their minds to something of more importance.

like those burmese civilians protest against their cruel military junta which we so need to help, or random gunshot killing yet again in america which should make us think again of destructive media effect, or even darfur rebel group clash with government in sudan that we need to get the world attention to, and all they can think of is marriage?

i mean, wake up and smell the coffee people. i'm almost outta lifelines here.


..ed