Mm. Just the right time to be writing things once more I suppose. But what shall I talk about today?
The thing about writing a personal blog such as this one under the kinds of NDA requirements that I have with regards to my job means that I can't really talk about the things that happen to me during the 12+ hours that I spend at my workplace, not unless I want the proverbial fine-toothed comb to be run over my posts each time I hit the ``publish'' button. As noted, this can be a substantial amount of time we are talking about here, and thus my posts tend to gravitate towards things that I do outside of work, which can be reduced to probably just a couple of paragraphs or so.
Thankfully, I don't run a blog that is so popular that I have to worry about readership rates and things like that. So at the very least, I have some level of freedom in what I want to talk about here and how I go about doing it, while, of course, observing some prudence in judiciously applying self-censorship to keep the hound dogs at bay.
But of course, what I have said so far is mostly drivel. Now for some fun stuff.
I injured my leg recently from being too gung-ho in the warm-up round for my 10km in 30+week campaign. On the one hand, the chiropractor (or was it the osteopath?) said it was just my bashing of my muscles without proper warm-up before running, but on the other hand, I have that nagging suspicion that a hairline fracture involving the fibula is at work, but lacking any X-rays and first hand information on how a hairline fracture feels like, I can't say more. Actually, on the topic of hairline fracture, I think I had suffered one before a long time ago when I was in secondary school, when I was still rather naive about the world and was being rather altruistic, but that's another story for another time.
Right, injured leg. Because of that, it was annoying to keep standing on it, and so I decided to not take the public transport home. That meant that I had to wait till at least 8pm before I could hail a cab, because of all the extra surcharges from using taxis during the peak period (I believe it is a surcharge of about 15% on top of the meter fare, which is just plain nasty when you need to commute from one end of the island to the next). And so I stayed back in office to clear up some stuff for tomorrow and counted down the time.
Again I think I'm saying a little too much without getting to the main point.
So I managed to get a cab, and told the driver my home address so that he can take me there. And, you know, being a cab driver and all, we had a conversation of sorts.
``Got a route you want to take?'' He asked.
``Not really. Pick any one that works for you. As long as I get back home, I'm fine,'' I replied.
``Eh, you should know the route better what. Just give me a route lah, not all drivers know how to get to the places that the customer want leh.''
``Well... start from Farrer Road then go via Upper Serangoon?''
``Okay.''
And then the conversation drifted towards claiming for cab fare.
``Wah, so late then you go home. Can claim right?'' He asked
``Should be, but I'm too lazy,'' I replied, a little tired from the day's work.
``Wah lau, you are crazy. Most people will want to claim when they leave past 8pm already.''
``Yeah, but I don't usually do this; only once in a long time. It's not that big a deal... just need to eat less for the next few days since I need to lose some weight after all.''
``Ooo ngia borh, you need to lose weight? Can claim don't want to claim? Sure or not... very rich is it?''
``Not really. Just find that the paperwork for claiming is just too much effort for something that I do only once in a long long while. Seriously, I need to lose some weight after all.''
``Man, people like you, extinct already!''
And of course the conversation went on and on for the thirty odd minutes ride back home. At one point though, he started talking about girls.
``So, you're not married right?''
``Nah... not married.''
``Then got girlfriend already?''
``Nope.''
``Wah! Singapore has so many more girls than guys, and you cannot find a girlfriend, a bit malu right?''
``Nah... it's their loss if they can't see me for who I am.''
``Wah lau, your kind really extinct man. You're what, thirty plus years old?''
``Huh? No way... I'm not even twenty-six yet!''
``Orh, no wonder. Your parents haven't nagged at you?''
``These kinds of things, they should know better. What's yours will be yours, what's not yours will never be yours even if you try to force the issue.''
``Seriously, your kind extinct liao...''
And that was the more interesting excerpts from the ride. I know that I mentioned something about cab driver conversations before, but I've not really caught up on that for quite a while as seen by the dates, and so here it is: a more interesting conversation.
Maybe that's why sometimes I'd rather take the cab than take the public transport...
7 comments:
dinosaur.
PS: I would say the same thing if I'm hit by the same kind of question regarding girlfriend and related topics.
We all go extinct sometime.
Yeah, we will all go extinct at one point or another, but I suppose he was referring to the behaviour and thought pattern more than anything else.
Besides, it is not the first time that someone told me that I was thinking along more quaint lines, so it's not as though it were something completely new to me.
But yeah.
The taxi driver is really bored and he detected that whatever he said, you were willing to respond and not take offence. And because he is bored enough to say anything, you should seriously take his rubbish with a big pinch of salt. That's all I can tell you as a friend who thinks the taxi driver's words and questions were rubbish. Grrr.
To that end, one does not need to avoid taking cabs to steer clear of rubbish from taxi drivers' mouths, one just has to learn how to make them disinterested to ask. Mumbling, silence, it's all easier than relatives at CNY since you don't need to answer to him/her. Or to steer the conversation with control. If you're full of energy, though, I've seen a different technique being employed where the customer talks alot of rubbish and staving the driver of opportunities to ask or spout rubbish.
It's not all rubbish, really. I suppose he has a point though---I have a rather strange perspective on things. He might not agree with me, but that doesn't mean that he is completely wrong.
*shrugs*
Consider that it takes all sorts, --not just some sorts-- to make up the world. It doesn't matter if you are a minority type. What matters is that it is the way *you* like it best.
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