A Good Samaritan

The weekend flew by quickly and its the start of the week once again. Before I start my work., its good to reflect what have gone by and what to do next.

Last weekend, we went shopping in Orchard. Q (Ivy's sister) guided us the wrong way. We followed as we have not been to town for a long time. As we made a detour to "salvage" the situation, we saw a lady grasping for air by the side of the staircase. We asked if they needed help and they declined initially.

Later, we assisted them to carry the lady out of the underpass to look for a cab to get her to the hospital. Apparently, she had an asthma attack and did not have her medication with her. I ran 2 streets to Far East Shopping Centre to get a cab over. If you are wondering why we did not call an ambulance, we are not sure why too. In any case, some passerby called the ambulance while I was away but my cab arrived faster than the ambulance.

The other good samaritan also tried to stop vehicles on the road by putting her body in the line but no cars stopped. Next time if you are driving and someone asked for help, you should at least slow down and see what happen and offer help if need be.

I hope the lady was sent to the hospital on time to get her treatment. Wishing her all the best.

Birthday Treat

Its been quite an eventful birthday this year.

I had 3 birthday cakes, one huge birthday present from Ivy (thanks :]) and a "blasting" weekend.

We started with 3 rounds of mahjong (the typical no $$ type). Riding on my birthday luck, I literally blasted T, Q and Ivy off with my scintillating display of mahjong skills, winning when it mattered most and more importantly, the winnings are more significant (more "fans"). The luck seems to follow me throughout the weekend.

I think the 3 of them would have started considering playing without me next time if they can find a more consistent and readily available "leg". Until then, I think they would still need to bear with me for a while more until T leaves for UQ for his further studies next month.

Public Transportation

SMRT recently announced the proposed increase in the number of trains in service during peak hours. It could go up by 700 trains per week.

I am skeptical behind this idea as the trains are moving along a single rail and there is a limit on the number of trains on the rail between stations. My recent experience seems to confirm that this could lead to a deterioration of riding experience by commuters.

There has been an increase in the number of trains stopping in between 2 stations and abrupt braking. Some of this breaking is continuous (start-stop kind) and could easily make commuters fall.

I reckon that a more feasible solution is to have alternate paths and transportation choices to solve the current crunch in public transportation. The government is not helping by encouraging more people to use public transport, directly and indirectly. With the increase in ERP gantry charges, number of gantries as well as the ever increasing oil price, more people are going to switch to public transport to cut cost.

Is there any way we can do this more effectively?

Coincidence

Its been a while since my last blog entry.

Yesterday, we have a corporate planning exercise at the Legends, Fort Canning Hill. Coincidentally, there is a press briefing (i think) by mediacorp where artistes like Zoe Tay, Tay Ping Hui, Cynthia Koh were present.

Zoe and I looked at each other for a split second when I walked past her. Its been 10 years since I last "met" Zoe when I took a photo with her at Takashimaya during one of my JC class outing. This time though, I did not approach her for a photo, partly because I don't see the need to and also that I am rushing for time to prepare for my presentation.

I wonder if I will see her again 10 years later. =)

Carelessness

Before I can blog on my latest toy, i.e. my phantom 200, I met with a minor accident.

It was a normal Saturday afternoon. Ivy and I were supposed to go for our Japanese lessons. Unfortunately, this was a make-up lesson for the one we missed on Wed as I was totally held up at work.

As I was approaching SLE from Lentor Road, I realised that my speed was above the limit as I approach the bend. It did not help with the pool of sand at the side of the road which further affected my braking ability.

Damages to me and Ivy as follows:

My injuries

Ivy's hand

Its all my judgemental error that resulted in this accident. Over-confidence might have been another factor. If you look from another angle, it might have been good to have this "minor" accident to remind me the fragility of life and risk involved. It also gives us enough time to heal completely before our wedding shots later this year.

Next thing to do is to find a way to dispose of this latest toy and get a second hand car probably.

Thank goodness that I am still alive to blog this after standing/lying along SLE for a while. Also kudos to the people who stopped by to help. Thanks once again.

Looking forward in 2008

I have wanted to start a new blog for 2008 but havent got time to get it done. Jan has been crazy to start with work and other commitments.

Need to put all those procrastination out of my life. A glimpse of what I hope to achieve by end 2008:

1) Take Japanese Lesson & JLPT4
2) Take and pass CFA Level I
3) Run a half marathon under 2 hours
4) Workout at the gym twice a week at least
5) Get a PDA phone
6) Get a PSP
7) Practice my photography skills and migrate to a DSLR
8) Take my advance open water diving certification
9) Achieve 10% ROI for all kinds of investments

Let's visit this list in 1 years' time and see how I fare.