What makes the world go round?

Yeah, so what does, really?

The fact that its round, has led to me somehow, for some inexplicable reason, finding my way back at this blogspot, where I last left my footprints more than 2 years ago. I started this thing a good 5 yrs plus ago. Considered a pretty late start then, but better late then never, right?

Its awesome, really. Not the fact that I managed to dig my memory for my userid & password and log in, but the nostalgic memories of the period enveloping the inception of this particular blog.

And guess what, as the world is still going round as it has been for eons, the Journeyman is still chronicling away.....


....Peace. Out.

Earnings Rip-off Plan? (aka ERP)

Yup, that has got to be the real name of that well-known acronym when the gahmen first came up with it! Why can't they realise that the damn thing doesn't solve the root of the freakin problem!! Its getting absolutely sickening the amount of money that those stupid gantries drink up from your cashcards. Its been a long time since I tried the CTE during the morning period. It was the first time ever that I was able to cruise through without having to drop my speed below 60kmh even once on a weekday morning at 830am!

That pleasant surprise soon turned sour when I learned of the reason behind it. Usually a trip past the 2 gantries only hits me for $1.50 at most. This time it burnt $3.25 off me. Mind you, I'm only a 2-wheeler. The 4-wheelers suffer greater financial damage. There were rates like $5 and so on displayed on the digital display before the gantry. Paying these rates on a daily basis is such a massive heartpain. No wonder there were so few vehicles on the CTE....

So where did all these vehicles which usually run the CTE go to? Where else but the normal trunk roads! Those roads have to bear the bulk of the traffic diverted there by the ERP monster. And its not as if even those roads are spared from gantries. Nowadays, even normal trunk roads have gantries. Toa Payoh, Thomson, Bukit Timah, etc. If ERP is supposed to discourage people from using the roads during those timeframes, how else does the gahmen expect these people to get to work and go about their daily livelihoods? They can't possibly just sit tight at home, or all pack into a bus or MRT right?!

Jams on those roads are reaching crazy levels. Sigh, its not like the gahmen is going to think of more creative ways to solve problems besides sucking $$$ off us right? They suck all the $$$ from us and then declare a massive surplus in the coffers, then pretend to be such wonderful & caring politicians by giving us (in the form of rebates) back a fraction of what they sucked from us in the first place. Come on guys, come up with something more creative than that, will ya!

Ego

Its such a dangerous phenomenon, this thing called ego. It can be so damaging. Like a cancer.

Why do some persevere in exercising this cancer when they can see with their very own eyes the pain it causes and the damage it does to another's soul? Its a question without a logical answer. The longer it is sustained, much like a cancer, it one day has successfully eaten away at the soul until there is nothing left; quite a victorious villain that would be.

It hurts incredibly when the cancer breeds from your loved ones. Its amazing how this cancer can change a person so much. To an extent where some sort of ego-screen rises, through which you appear as an enemy instead of a loved one.

Signing off, painfully.

Rising from the dead......

I can't believe this is actually happening....but yeah..it is....

This blog just rose from the dead almost 2 yrs since it last saw any action.........
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....... and my oh my, how time flies. I'll be clearing the cyber-cobwebs in this old barn and start clocking some posts.

Its good to be back here. A channel to dissipate some of the emotions that overflow from the heart and into the mind.


P.S.: While I was resurrecting this, I did some snooping ard and realised Anil's blog hasn't seen any action since the last time I saw it too. His last post was a decent 2yrs plus ago. Krazi's blog doesn't even exist anymore! But knowing her, she just probably shifted it elsewhere or gave it another name. Gotta find it.......

I am e-nnoyed

Do you feel annoyed when someone doesn't respond to your sms? Like when you send them one asking if they can make it for some appointment/rendezvous, and they don't even bother to reply to indicate whether they can/can't make it? If he/she cldn't reply immediately, he/she cld at least do it after a few hrs or at the end of the day right?

Leaves me wondering if the %^&$#@ even got the sms in the first place, so I make a call to check the next day. The %^&$#@ apologises for the lack of a response, claiming to have been very busy; and the cycle resumes itself the next time I send an sms to the same person. Fed up, I decide that I'm not sending anymore smses to this %^&$#@. If I had the power to, I'd much rather take a real big e-stone and e-throw it at them thru some big attachment in some e-mail.........grrrrr.........

Never on a Saturday afternoon!

Remind me never ever to go into JB during the afternoon on a Saturday pls. For some bizarre reason, despite logic telling me that there might be a jam at the causeway, I was dumb enough to take the gamble, under the convenient assumption that the bulk of the traffic leaving S'pore would only come in from 4pm onwards.

Mr Smart Aleck got caught in a mother-of-all-woodlands-checkpoint-jams for a good one hour before he got his passport scanned. Thank heavens it was cloudy and the skys were grey, threatening to open up. If the sun had been out in full blast as it had been the past week, he wouldn't have looked very different from H*shan upon his return from JB.

The wait in the jam is not just about the 60 mins spent straddled on the bike and crawling at abt 1km/hr. There are the annoying "mosquito" msian bikes to put up with who, convinced that if they squeeze their front wheel into any available nook and cranny between other bikes, believe they can reach their destination much much faster than if they just followed the queues. You have to endure the idiots forcing their way forward for every cm, revving their engines each time as if they were starting off a 100m speed-sprint. The bugger behind would follow you so close, there wldn't even be enough space to slip a piece of paper between your rear tyre and his front tyre. If you're even 1 sec late in moving along the queue to follow the bike in front of you, some idiot would have squeezed his front wheel into that gap by then to cut in front of you, and in the process satisfy himself that he just cut his wait in the jam by a decent half an hour at least (can you just abt smell the overdose of sarcasm there?). You don't even need to be a chain-smoker to die of lung cancer. Inhale as much carbon monoxide exhaust as I did from the ill-maintained "mosquito" bikes as I did today just once a week, and you're not likely to be around to even smell your pension.

After all this, do you wonder why this smart aleck still puts himself thru all that trouble to go into JB once a week? Sigh.......the freakin fuel prices...thats why. I spend abt half as much as I wld per mth if I were to pump up at S'porean fuel stations. Anyway, all this nonsense only happens when you get caught in a bad jam. If you pick a good time, like I usually do (apart from today's cock-up), its smooth sailing and the wait in line can be as little 5 mins.

Never on a Saturday afternoon.......... *makes a mental note for the upteenth time*

Revival

ah.......who would have thought that this blog will actually rise from the dead to see some new posts? Most certainly not myself, but then again, here we are. A good 4 mths plus its been. I wonder how long this latest revival will last............

Say hi to the all-new Int'l Ref

When I heard about the varsity's motorcycling klub's proposed trip to Malacca, it seemed like the perfect company for my road trip. It was a small group, the budgeted costs were very affordable, and due to the relatively inexperienced nature of the group, they were more inclined to do more exploring than rubber-burning. Didn't seem like there were any big egos which needed to feed on the landspeed record. Furthermore, finally there was a group where I could hope for some decent conversation in Ch 5 instead of the usual Ch 8 banter I'd have to put up with at SBF/SRF outings. So I thought I was all set for the trip. But then surfaced a dilemma.

Along came the Asiapac Floorball Competition. Of coz it comes along every year but the issue is, this will be the first time I'm actually gonna be involved in it. I've already had the honour of representing my country as a player, but this is a new step for me. Making my debut as a referee in international floorball will be another feather in my hat which I wouldn't want to pass up. Dec 1st to 4th is as long as the competition will last, and the trip begins on the 4th. Would be too much of a rush if I were to commit to the trip as well.

Anyway, looks like even the chap up there doesn't want the trip to go on without me...hahahha...yep, its been called off. I just found out today that suddenly pretty much almost everyone had something on and with too few people, the trip was not worth going on with. So let me get this refereeing feather firmly on my hat first, and then we'll look at bringing my road trip back to life.

Time travel

I was sifting through some old junk in some boxes stowed under my bed today. It was an activity destined to throw me spiralling back into time in phases. I travelled back to my college days in Wales when I stumbled upon a diary I kept while I was there. It was amusing to read my primitive manual blogging in my diary about the daily events, idiots in college, Cuban havana cigars, Scandinavian & Latin drinking parties, the crushes I had, sporting exploits with Bridgend Hockey Club and the college, etc. I started missing my friends from college. Awesome time I had there, with an awesome bunch of friends. Well, all good things come to an end, and at the end of the 2 years, I lost all my friends to geography, as we each made our way back to our own little corner in some obscure part of the globe. Geez....I miss college days...at least I've got my 10th yr reunion to look forward to in a couple of years' time. It'll be a blast seeing how each fellow has changed over the years....and whether any of the fire in each of them has mellowed.

That wasn't all that I found.......I also found my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles colouring book and sticker book from my primary school days :)

What a nice day

I'm a fan of the most famous cat on Earth, and as usual, he never fails to crack me up. I was astonished when I saw this strip though coz just the day before I saw it, I shared his EXACT sentiments. Hahaha! Maybe great minds do think alike afterall :P

Servicing

I just gave Ayesha her 5000km servicing a couple of hours ago. The following were changed:

- engine oil (3L)
- spark plugs (4)
- air filter
- oil filter

All was done within 40 mins, by the loving hands of yours truly. I think Ayesha is ready for the M'sian trip. I rode around for awhile to run-in the oil after the servicing. After 8 yrs, she still feels like a virgin after each servicing. With fresh plugs, oil, filters, and a recently washed carburetor, and running on Shell VPower fuel, the ride was absolutely shiok!