My Hour instead of Earth Hour

I went to Singapore Flyer to participate in an event dubbed as "Earth Hour Special" by the organisers. Hmm, frankly speaking, they kept the event like quite a "low profile" with no glamorous countdown to 28th March 2009 2030 hrs.

I will like to thank my friends who have gone and have spent their Saturdays nights with me (ks, kj, yc) enjoying the night air with the burning of candles. This year Earth Hour has gone a bigger scale as compared to 2008. Many buildings have switched off their lights for an hour. (but not the streetlights that we are having the event)

During the Earth Hour period, suddenly many childhood memories flood in my mind. The luminous flame burning the candle seem to mirror an image of myself in the past, playing with them on the roadside, while lighting the candles to put in the lanterns. Time seem to have slowed down for that particular night. Somehow, I feel more relaxed emotionally.

Yay, I have saved the electricity from playing my computer games from the laptop for like 3 hours plus 2 hours of travelling. Lol. Kinda lame!! What is important is that the idea of saving the unnecessary consumption of resources is practised. Lights that are not used should be switched off.

Different Feelings

How will you feel if you know that you spend a couple of days working on a report and maybe one of your friends spend only a couple of hours finishing the report?

How will you feel if you know someone is in distress and asks you for help?

How will you feel if that same someone eventually scores better than you when the results are out?

How will you feel if you have made a lot of careless mistakes in exams or at work?

How will you feel if you are standing on top of a tall building, looking at the scenary below?

How will you feel when you are browsing your childhood photos or photos with your friends that you have met along in your life?

Life is certainly simpler without any feelings.

Fantasy Amended Service 172

With the implementation of service 164, it duplicates 172 at Boon Lay and Jln Bahar. In addition, Pioneer MRT station has opened for about two weeks and hence, with the amendment of service 172, there is a link from Pioneer MRT station to Jurong West St 91, and 92. Besides, it also provides a link from Pioneer MRT to NTU and NIE. NTU and NIE staffs and students can now have another choice of taking 172 back to Choa Chu Kang interchange for transfer.

New Fantasy nService 164 and Withdrawn Fantasy Service 974 and 974A

Wtihdrawal of Service 974 and service 974A is due to the implementation of a new service 164. In my opinion, I think that a new service 164 from Boon Lay to Lim Chu Kang area will be better becuase it is nearer and hence more cost savings. People who are residing at East-West MRT stations can take a direct bus at Boon Lay to Lim Chu Kang areas with the implementation of service 164 instead of switching lines at Jurong East.

New Service 241 and Amended Service 242

The poster is obtained from SBS Transit official website.
New service 241 will be implemented and service 242 will be amended with effect from this Sunday 15th March 2009. This implementation is meant to complement with the opening of the new Pioneer MRT station in Jurong West.
One benefit of this implementation is that residents staying along Jurong West St 91 has a direct link to Pioneer MRT station and time is shortened to Boon Lay interchange since 241 is taking a more direct route as compared to 242.

In my opinion, though I think is not possible, I still prefer service 172 to be amended instead to ply Jurong West St 91, NTU, Jurong West St 63 and then continue on to Jalan Bahar than to implement a new service 241 and shorten 242 to loop at Jurong West St 71. In this case, residents have a direct bus service to CCK and to NTU plus there is a link from Boon Lay to Jurong West St 91.

Local Singer Huang Jin Lun is bus enthusiast.

The pictures are scanned by a fellow bus enthusiast and the article is from Lianhe Zaobao.
http://www.zaobao.com/fk/fk090311_501.shtml

Hmm actually, I don't know anything about Huang Jin Lun until he is mentioned in the SG Buses forum that he is a bus enthusiast. Reading the article has brought reminiscence of past memories into my mind for at least an instant about how I become interested into bus routes. However, I am still not as "passionate or extreme" as him. lol. I don't know whether I should use the word passionate or extreme as indicated in the previous sentence.

I have observed some factors based on this article about how bus fans are nurtured. One factor is still to the large number of people in Singapore taking public transport plus the accessibility of places by it which is also mentioned by the him in the article. Another factor is the frequency of the buses and trains are relatively higher as compared to other countries due to the high population density of the country Singapore.

I feel happy, jubilant that bus spotting, bus routes are mentioned in the newspaper article. It simply means that the hobby of spotting buses and proficiency of bus routes are becoming more "recognised" in nowadays society. Woo!!! This event will certainly keep the passion in my mind burning.

2nd half of the semester.

Mid terms are finally over for me. Some are good while some are bad. Some are due to carelessness while others are due to ignorance. I hope that I can learn the mistakes that I have made and not commit them in my final exams.

Layout of the blog.

Oh yea. In my opinion, this new layout is neater than the previous blog. The words are more prominent in this dark background with a bright colour. My fantasy and reality routes are more distinctly separated.

Transitlink Bus Guide 2009 is finally out.

10 years have passed already since I have read my first owned Transitlink Bus Guide which is dated in year 1999. It is this same guide that nurtures my interest/hobby.

The Transitlink Bus Guide this year looks different as compared to the editions of the previous years. It looks fatter now and the font are larger. The arrangement and the wordings are slightly altered. The pictures at the front cover and back cover looks almost the same as the 2008 one.

Flipping into the pages, I realise that the guide has included Pioneer and Joo Koon MRT stations. This is absolutely great despite the fact that the guide is dated at 1st January 2009. In the past, Transitlink was used to be the sole publisher of bus guides for SBS and TIBS bus services. However, there is a Mighty Minds Bus Service and Bus stop guide which is pretty comprehensive too. It complements with the Mighty Minds Street Directory and lists down all the bus services that plies at specific bus stops.

Each has their own pros and cons. Mighty Minds lists down shuttle bus services from one destination to another destination while Transitlink Guides lists down the operation timing of Transitlink Sales Offices and their locations and the prices of bus and train stamps. However, being sticking with Transitlink Bus Guide for so long, I am naturally more of a fan of its bus guide. Hehe.