朽木百哉のブォグ

I had awoken in amidst of what looks like a post-battle scene of someone who is studying on the final strand of life at the end of a frailing twine.

The awakening was early, but by the time I had made my way to catch a link up transport to the examination hall, the climate had reached a temperature where I could feel beads of perspiration trickling down my back and right down to my calf.  Certainly an unpleasant warm up for the morning but fortunately I had spare change to minimise fumicating battlebox.

Entering the exam hall was a pretty calm experience.  However, the 6th battle did not turn out as successful as it should be despite the intensified, over the night revision.  This time, I had not felt disappointed.  However, it was an unspeakable, sickening feeling that I have to do this all over.  Hard-invested hours had now all turned fruitless.  It was a thin line between glory and shame which I just fell on the grim side of the verdict.

Nevertheless, the day still has to go on whether I liked it or not.

No doubt there was only about half a day left, it hadn't been the least an ease mentally.  Anyhow, the day was completed and I could finally say a goodbye to the desk for the evening before returning for a half day work tomorrow.

The best company I had for the evening; my beloved angel!

A slumber for about 4 hours; I got up a little earlier than planned as I did not want to miss the timing to meet the rest later.

Office is closed today in respect of King's friend who had passed on and we will be attending the last service in the morning.  A sudden departure over a span of almost 3 weeks since that bad fall incident near office and he had since slipped into coma.

I'm not here to deliver a eulogy, but no doubt not being close to this old gentleman, I could sense that he is a nice person at heart and both King and Queen have ultimate respect for him.  I still recall the time that he had given me a pack of nutmegs which has yet to be consumed, but ever since the news broke out about his departure, every morning when I have my breakfast before making way to battlebox, it reminds me of him.  The sight of the vacant chair in front of me without the usual heavy tapping of walking stick before hearing his husky voice for several weeks is still quite a sudden that he is no longer around.

Just about an hour more before meeting up the rest.  The revision will continue after paying the last respect to this old gentleman.

The night has come again after another round of reading has commenced for the past couple of hours.

It has not been an easy feat considering that it was a speedy day in office.  For that, I needed a sweat out which probably had some contribution to a considerable depletion of the fuel cell for this mugging session.

I've come to the final series of The Matrix movie across my feet while having the well-seasoned books to keep company for this evening.  Looks like it'll be some time before I retire for the night.

I'm back on the long-awaited journey.

This time, I've taken a different route instead of the usual, 5.84km mundane run around the reservoir treading on granite-tar, and tar-granite route.

It was a little difficult to plot out my route initially, but I had decided to use an exploration or what many calls, the journalistic approach to finding my route.

Took the straight route to hit Kaki Bukit and found that I've already done 5+km by the time I finish winding around those area; not too conducive to run; hence I decided to head towards Comfort Driving Centre, make a U-turn and then take the route that links Eunos to Bedok Town.  The most challenging curve past Opera Estate had been one of the most challenging terrains that I had done for quite sometime.

Cleared that, hit left towards Bedok Reservoir and ran along the 700+m route that brought me back home.

All in all, it was a good run except for the inaccuracy on my Runkeeper.

Frying session in the afternoon by King and Queen.  While the questioning was on, I had decided not to further "defend" myself as there's is a very obvious sign that the instructions were not given to us to do "A".  Now it's either the projectile recochet and hit us, or the "gun" has a reverse-engineered barrel that fires back at us.

Certainly an unpleasant time that was disrupting in the afternoon while I had so many things that I had to tidy up.  This is what I call "noise" that disrupts my clearance of work.

I had only managed to leave battlebox after sunset - once again, I am greeted by streetlights while I made my way back to dropzone.

A full run should help me unwind later.

Saw myself taking a train, those of other countries that goes across plains and vast distances. I was with Krishant, one of my men in my NS unit and we looked through a "portal" which showed that he was at some old places.  I sort of teased him asking if this was for real, or did he just take this shot off some old streets around the island.

Next scene showed some guests coming to my place.  As it was quite a big group, I didn't not really take not of who these people are.  Someone later told me if you notice someone was here, and this person told me that LKY had also arrived.  In my mind, the scene of guests coming in rewinded and then I noticed he was among all of them.

Quckly, I offered a seat to him at the couch in our humble, yet now looking bigger living room.  There was a switchscene later which showed us being ushered into a Presidential Suite that was majestically huge.  Set in a cream theme, premier furnishings, sky high ceilings with a spick and span finish made it such a sight.

7:17am.  I must have dozed off really deep last night.

The afternoon had been spent looking at endless lists of names, numbers and having to match them manually.  Being manual, one has to spend more time to get it sorted out and I could hear comments about why it is taking so long.

I have finally got news about my leave; and prior to the green light given, I was called in by King and he gave his bit of his mind that "even planning trips must be approved before you even book it".  I foresee that this will still go on even after I clear that paper they wanted me to do so.  As much as I try my part to explain, it had fallen to deaf ears.

I had shared with a couple of people whom I regard close about this matter.  There were comments that leave is my entitlement, which, I feel very strong and firm about it, and will not budge if my rights are breached.  I didn't want further complications, so just had to be humble to get my leave approved, and off this house rule preach so that my plans can be in place without unnecessary disruptions.

Departure from battlebox was late after hearing such irrelevant remarks as I had to go back to seeing that stream of numbers, names and pages till it was past my "limits" for staying in that shirt and tie costume if one may call it.  Made my way out of that place at the sign when the light starts dropping fast.  Fortunately, the traffic had been smooth despite being a little congested while on my way back.

Having my stomach filled was the first thing that I did after stepping into the house.

Come to think of it, applying leave to the extent that I have to be called in to listen to some music makes me think that if everyone working under King and Queen are what, slaves?  Taking leave here certainly feels like a pathetic activity to look forward to.  Does my absence can have such a great impact on the daily work?  I can't help co-relating this scenario back with that bottom-feeder post that I had tolerated for 3 years back then where a leave application 8 months before, accomodating to their "house rule" on a non-peak day can be rejected for some blatant reasons.  As much as one tries to strive, when one is under an ineffective leader, it's a sign that staying at such a  place can no longer continue.

Putting up with involuntary relinguishment rights to annual leave is the last thing that I will tolerate.  I guess it's a good time to be more observant on things beyond the horizon once again.

The endless cough and sneeze seemed to have ended after dinner with dearie.  An extra spicy ban mian completed with some gingered-vinegar on the fried dumplings.

Looks like the evening will be more peaceful on my respitory system and I can sleep in peace tonight.

The unpredictable multiple spells of rain kept the running regime at bay, hence most activities have to be kept indoor, but at least that got me in exchange the better of my health and allows me to recover well at home.

No doubt being at home most of the time, it's still good company with dearie and the day had been well spent to wrap up the ending of the week.

A dose of ginger tea made by dearie's mum helped warm my lungs which made the evening easier to pass despite further mucus spells.  At this point of time, I can no longer clear my nose to discharge those mucus as the massive discharge had caused abrasion at my nostrils.  All the "western medication" had not been effective despite the faithful consumption.

All I hope now is that the nose gets better, so that I can get on with life, and also my running regime more effectively.

 I wasn't expecting call from any unknown source today, but this caller gave the ring and then hung up after awhile.

Done a 5 hour eye-shut before commencing my Recovery Run after a 1 week spell of nasal slime, endless sneezing and mega chill.

Decided to take a modified route entry into Bedok Reservoir.  Today seemed to pretty populated at the Reservoir as schools are having some running events around the park.  Multiple groups of students took their run past me and saw a few teachers with timers at certain spots around the park.  Guess it could be some assessment that they have to undergo.

Apart from the surge of phelgm and mucus discharge, all was well.  Since this is meant as a conditioning phase after my recovery, I decided not to hit too far to go past my maximum at 18km so far.  With my metabolism, it seemed a better choice to get the right foods in that will last me for my long distance runs.

Took a little turn to find out what's at the other end of park connector that goes behind Aquarius and unfortunately, it does not go further as it was the end of the park connector.  The only way go link up to other parks was to take the route opposite where I had covered, but for today, I shan't go there yet.  A friendly dog greeted me while I was exiting the park connector which linked me back to the Entrance Run road that was about 900m from the carpark to the traffic light just beside the water facility.

Did a good 10km within nominal timing in my books.

Called me during the lunch hour.  Might be another telemarketer but so far, have not found any sources of anyone contacted at this number.

It's another evening; though I'm feeling better after yet another dose of medication, I had better stay up a little longer else the hyper-rest pattern will cause me to stay awake for yet another hour or so in the wee hours of the night and having to put up with the endless caterwauls.

Most of the mucus have been purged out and that's good news.  At the recovery rate, it looks like I do not have to tap on forbidden resources.  At least the medication isn't taking effect on me so I could keep my mind concentrated while penning down today's happenings.

Queen had given me clearance to leave earlier as I had been putting up with an endless sniff at battlebox today.  That somewhat attracted some small talks that Queen dotes on me (to me it actually doesn't matter); more importantly, I get more done and at most, leave when the time is up.

Had learnt that she had commented how "pityful" I looked while dragging my bag as I left the building - I must have caught their sight just at the right time while I was finding a vacant "transformation room" - there seemed to be a habitual occupancy of the Gents' at the timing I had left battlebox these 2 days.  Well...those comments didn't mean much to me as my purpose was to get work done and get back to my own space after those hours.

For some reasons, the building had been extremely chilly lately; judging from the chill, the temperature seemed to hover around 21 degrees or so.  Anyhow, since it's not the right time for me to resume the running journey, the best alternative to upkeep the fitness activity would be my trust Iron Sessions.  This time's was done pretty smoothly despite having the irritation of drippy mucus while I regulate my breathing.

Just a couple of weeks more before my trip to HCMC and I can't afford to be in any bad shape of health.  A good rest tonight, looking forward to a sunshine grade of health tomorrow.

It was the same call centre environment again; with the same set up that I had saw last time; revamped partitions with each team labelled at the corner partition.

This time, I had entered as a pizza deliveryman as I was there for a mission instead of working there.  Going past the new place, I saw many new and unfamiliar faces but after hitting the washing area and turning left, I finally saw some familiar faces like Alex, auntie Lilian etc.  I was there to get some "leave forms" as I had applied and got my leave approved (this is at another occasion where I was planted there as an employee).

Switchscene; I saw myself on a Bus 72 which was driving through Old Tampines Road which was lined with many temples.  It was around 10:40PM at night on my watch, the bus clock but the sky looked nothing less than an afternoon where it was bright all around.  This was a journey that I was preparing to make my way back to camp after a nights off and was supposed to give a fellow NSMen, Hiresh a lift back (he was from another company in my unit) but had not been able to reach him.  I had called Ben but he hung my line.

For some reasons, I tried reaching Songjie but was also unable to reach him.

After passing a few temples, I had arrived at this place where there were some major renovations going on, and the projects were soon unveiled.  Some of the buildings were shaped like a giant pole which at most could only accommodate one unit at each level and there were discussions on how to improve the architecture.  In my mind, it was to include a "bracket"at each corner and link by pathways to the centre unit.  These "bracketed units" could be movable but that would disrupt the furniture settings in each unit at the corners.

All temples here look very futuristic; LED light illuminated, modern architectures and everything was so different.  I entered one of them with celebrities like Michelle Chia and a few others.  Fortunately I had my dSLR with me and started snapping the interior which was simply breathtaking just to see them.  1st fire at aperture 1/200 and I can't see much.  When I had fired the 2nd shot, eyes had opened. 

7:32am.  Time to get ready to for mainstream.

A number of a weird format called me.  Might be another scam call.  Not answering it.

A little more done this week as I wanted to make sure that the place I come back to rest every evening will be something clean, comfortable and welcoming.  Dearie had been helpful in wanting to help me with moving of the cabinets in my room, but I rather that she concentrates on her revision.  Afterall, these manual chores are something which are done by men (that's why we're made to be physically stronger).

The whole process of the massive move and clean was about 3 hours - definitely great satisfaction before moving out for dinner.

A trail on the new route near dearie's place had been quite a good experience; certainly encouraging to see so many people running at the parks, close to the green lushery built just beside a wide canal (fortunately well maintained hence there was no stench).

I had went past Kampung Buangkok and exited past an old zinc-plated warehouse just along Gerald Drive.  Hitting right, I made my way towards CTE where the park connector ended and decided to do a U-turn from there.  Sun by this hour had started to pick up and I am already running toward the sunrays.  As the minutes went by, it got more blazing hot and I decided to take an early exit so that I do not have to cross the road to be disrupted by the traffic.

It was at the 3+km distance had my Runkeeper failed to track the distance correctly.  Oh well, I'll finish my run away.

The total distance did today should be not less than 12km in less than an hour.  Seems like an improvement.

Today marks the end of the "vacation at work" where King and Queen will be back the following week.

Quite a disturbing response I got when I was trying to be helpful to answer an email.  Between the people around me, I call this writer, "anjing gila"as I could read from his response that he was being emotional instead of objective.

No matter.

Weather fortunately wasn't that bad so dearie and I had the good old prawn noodle near my mum's place before settling the weekly chores.

Alright, the final day of a full week without much disturbance and I could tidy things all up just as the office was about to close.  I call this the last "full day of liberation" while still working.  Another 1/2 day to go tomorrow.

The upcoming trip has been much prepared so I should be pretty ready to move on when that day comes.  What is left is just some little tidying up.

One of those evenings where I decided to chill out over some drinks but instead, I had headed back home for a soul-breaking pump before having dinner.  It's been a week where I had hit the bed only after 12am hence I should call it an early night this evening.