Svc 858 finally extended to Sembawang

Yay. Service 858 is extended to Sembawang and also to the new Khoo Teck Phuat Hospital in Yishun with effect from yesterday 28th March 2010. The route that is used for extension is the same as my fantasy route 969. Yay. Hurray.

Earth Hour 2010

Woah. Finally a new entry after about a month of slacking. Today is a day when many thoughts just flooded my mind. I went for a seminar that is co-organised by the National Environment Agency and North East Community Development Council with regards to the Action, Care for the Environment (ACE) plan. Before the participants start to brainstorm their plans, the Earth Hour video was shown. That is the same video that makes me feel rather touched when I have watched it one year ago.

Last year, I went to the Earth Hour at the Singapore Flyer. Everything is off and my friends and I were holding candles admiring the light. This year is a bit different. I went to the Earth Hour organised in NUS. It was totally cool as the night scenary from level 6 University Hall is magnificant. However, I think that the scenary at level 7 Miltary Medicine Institute which is a walk away is more beautiful since the tall pencil like Centrennial Tower and the SIA building can be seen very clearly.

Somehow, I notice that somehow bright lights conceal the inner beauty of the environment. Even if all the lights are off, I believe that I can still see the outline of the buildings. Earth Hour to me is more of allocating an hour for me to refelct my actions that I have done this year. As usual, I am graatful to be alive and kicking and also grateful that my parents and siblings are also alive too. During the hour of switch off, many memories of the past are switched on. The memories of doing homework and playing catching in primary schools, the starting of mugging process and CCAs in secondary schools, the rampant usage of the word "stress" in JC's time are replaying vividly before me.

In my entire life, I spend 4 years to learn how to talk, 1 year to learn how to walk, 20 years of studying and still counting. During these years, I don't know how I develop an interest in buses. I suspect it is the hands action that I have made since primary school but I am unsure of how I pick up that. To many people, the hand actions have no meaning but to me, somehow, a vivid picture of me driving that particular bus going from places to places appear before me. However, I certainly know that I begin to associate number plates to certain models which is a reason why I develop an interest for number pattern as well.
So, I also don't know how I join grassroots. Perhaps it is just fated.

Anyway, there is accompanying music during the hour of darkness while the ambience is great. My wish for this year is I hope that I can bring my parents to a place where they can enjoy and have fun.

2010 CNY

This year Chinese New Year is unique and yet mundane for me. It is unique because it coincides with Valentine Day and it is mundane because I don't get to visit relatives from my father's side again. Ya. It is a long story as to why I don't get to visit relatives which is supposed to be part of the CNY's long long tradition. I don't understand why my parents don't let me take a bus during the CNY period if they are saying that the car has no space to acommodate my younger brother and I.

2010 is a year when I witness or know many people around me getting attached, or boys having one sided crushes to girls that they admire. Sometimes I do wonder when is my turn. This thought somehow perishes when I saw the topic in Singapore Bus Forums about a question whether girls likes people who are obsessed with buses. Even though there are no girls that directly reply to this topic expressing their opinions, by witnessing how boys or rather males woo girls, these are the typical qualities of males that females are fond of based on my observations. Please correct me if my statements here are false.
Females at my age or in early 20s like males to be moderately dashing, have a good family background, devoted to them, financially independent not now but at least in the future to support them and have a sense of humour.

Okay speaking of myself. I actually yearn to get a girlfriend but I am confused if the ones that I have a good impression on is due to their presentable looks. In addition, the yearning of having a girlfriend will result to an internal conflict of my belief of saving money. I am more used to eating foods from the hawker's centre instead of eating in a restaurant. This is partly due to my poor appreciation of good quality foods. Knowing myself best and coupled with my wierd hobby of getting obsessed with bus routes, it is best to stay single and enjoy the freedom of being single. I have since told myself that for me, beauty is a form of art that can be seen but never to be bought.
However, one thing that I am quite sure of is my devotion to bus routes have never changed. Besides, when I went for an event entitled "MAD About SIngapore Buses" by National Library Board, I saw two girls that seemed to like buses a lot in terms of having a good understanding of different bus models.

Fantasy Route Amendment to services 36, 97, 133

Services 36, 97, 133 will be amended in a fantasy way to stop at the bus stop besides The Singapore Flyer with effect from 26th January 2010. This is to provide more accessibility to The Singapore Flyer.

Month of December

The last month of the year 2009 is over. We have stepped on into the year of 2010, a year filled with events in many different walks of life.

I have not blogged for about a month as I have been doing a temporary part time job last December. Hmm. It is temporary cashier job in Cold Storage at Kovan. It is a brand new experience, with new challenges which lie ahead. It is a clever combination of clear minded, being more outspoken and polite and endurance over a long period of time standing and also good memory skills.

During my first week, I was on OJT (on job training) mode. I help to pack the groceries that customers bought while my cashier scanned and keyed in the codes into the system. I was totally fascinated at the way they memorised the different codes of fruits and vegetables. In addition, there were only few moments to think of the codes. Cashiers are expected to serve the customers in a swift manner, with accuracy in providing the appropiate payment for them as that seems professional. During my first week, I try my very best to write down the codes of various vegetables and fruits into my small note book, using my laptop to print a table, sorted in alphabetic order of the name. Even apples can have different varieties, one which looks very much like red pepper, dark red in colour while the other is lighter red with some yellow patches (Fuji Apple). In addition to red apples, there are also green ones. Pears are also troublesome as they are very different kinds of them. There are English pears and the chinese pears. So, there are many different combinations of codes to remember. In addition, these codes may vary from time to time because of the various sources from time to time. For example, in this week, the cabbage may come from Beijing and the code is this with this price, and in another week, the cabbage may come from Korea and the price and code is different.

Memorising the code is one challenge while facing the pressure of long queue is another. In Christmas eve and New Year eve, customers keep coming to my counter so I was scanning and working non stop from 0900 hrs all the way to 2100 hrs. This is a very good experience, working non stop, saying Good Morning, Hi, Good Afternoon, Good Evening till my throat becomes sore.

Besides long queue and working non stop, there were also many admin matters for cashiers. Before we start our job as cashiers and signing on our counters, we will have to count our money to be put into our "float" so that we are able to give the change to customers. This is okay to me. After the cashiers sign off the counter, they will have to print out all the card sales and count all the cash that they have. This means tabulating and consolidating all the vouchers, allocating a standard amount out to be put into the "float" for the next cashier and counting the rest of the money as the sales. This is not an easy job as it involves a lot of procedures to be adhere to. Any wrong step will result to a mismatch of actual money collected and theoretical money keyed into the system. Upon doing this, a declaration will be made to identify the difference between the two sources. If the actual money falls short of the theoretical difference, the cashiers will have to make up the difference for above $5.
Hence, cashiers have to be clear minded in counting the change even though they face the pressure of long queue as not to be shortchanged.

THerefore, I give my respects to cashiers who have worked for very long as it is not an easy job.

Exams over

Exams is finally over. This sem is pretty fast. I will like to say a big thank you for my laptop. It may sound wierd, thanking a laptop in my blog but it has been a very useful tool for work and play. A balance of work and play has made my day. A method for not sleeping in lecture is to indulge in facebook games where I can only play for a short time. One example is country story. Once my stamina is used up, i cannot play the game anymore and I will have to listen to the lecture.

Libraries are great places of obtaining infiormation. I somehow gain enlightenment after each trip to the library. Learning seems to be quite fun when you find the information that you need.

So, what now after everything is over? Perhaps its time that time slows down a little. I don't have to rush for tutorials and lectures anymore.

Time just passes. My emotions start to calm down. Logic has started to prevail in my mind as I gradually let go.

This sem to me a semester where I adopt the approach of seeking the answers to my endless questions or doubts in my mind. I will visit the library about once a week to clear my doubts pertaining to the assignment questions.

The laptop is also another tool that drives me the desire to pump in more knowledge into my brain. Things just cannot get into my brain if I just read the lecture notes. For me, I have to do something the hard way, like writing the summary for the entrie module. The laptop enables me to do that, with the goal of saving lots of paper. In addition, it makes my work a lot more neater. Just my biochemistry module alone, I have about 100 pages already.

Another advantage of laptop learning is that I can download lecture notes right away if I have forgotten about it. Without laptop learning, I will have to print the lecture notes one day before. If the lecturer has just posted the lecture notes on that day of the lecture, I will have nothing to refer to.

One last advantage of laptop learning is that past information can be archived. One can store a lot of things in the computer rather than keeping tons of paper at home which is more "space consuming." With the click of the mouse, the information that I have studied from past modules can be accessed quickly without the hassle of finding it since the computer has the search function.

So, thanks to my laptop which is always with me and pushes me to study. Though it is a non living thing, it is an essential tool for me, a mould that can shape my future and my perspective towards life.

Friday

Last friday was an emotionally-filled day for me. In the morning, it was the testing session for our own fabricated aluminium beam. I have high hopes on the beam that my group members and I have fabricated because based on the facts that we have learnt from Statics ans Mechanics of Materials, the tensile failure will be rather high. In addition, we have taken into account the transverse shear force acting between the reaction force and the loading force.
Anyway, the testing of aluminium beam starts and the result falls short of our expectations by about half. We will grateful that we did not put a flat aluminium strip on top of the I beam as can be seen from other groups, the strip buckles and causes additional tension to the beam. However, our beam has a premature failure due to insufficient rivets clamping the web. In addition, this project involves prizes with the top 4 getting $200. Knowing the results from the previous groups, I think our group is almost one or two places in there.
Sadness start to overwhelm me. It reminds me of the previous bus fan amazing race that I have participated a year ago when there are prizes in the top three and our group is number 4. When I think of that, I feel even more down.
The key is to let go.

Just some updates

Uh oh. I am starting to neglect my blog. 3 weeks since I have last blogged. So, I am preoccupied with mostly academic stuffs and updates from Dota and runescape. In addition, I went on a library spree, visiting libraries at least twice a week. Why? Yah. Why?
Libraries are great places to obtain information and most importantly, it is free.
I couldn't decipher what the lecture notes and so I decided that going on a trip to library would do me some good since it is kinda of stifling to study for long hours at home or school.
I like to travel around in buses as the libraries that I usually go to are Jurong, Woodlands and Tampines.
Furthermore, it feels very satisfying to be able to find the information that I need to solve some problems. For example, I have an assignment problem that is due some days ahead. I know that assignment problem is taken from a book at a library. Therefore, though the book does not have the complete solution to that specific question, it does show an example which is a similar question of how it is done. From there, I think that I learn even better. At times, certain mathematics concepts or facts are hard to present and examples may be a better way to let students understand better.

So, what have been changed? For my life, not really much but for others, it has changed drastically, either for the better or for the worst. It is about adaptation. After one year in university life, I have learnt to adapt somehow. Learning can be rather self-driven and I am fortunate enough that there are libraries in Singapore to allow me to get "free" information.
Phew!! Adaptation is another skill that I will need to learn.

Mid sem

How time flies. This comes with a feeling that the blog is neglected. Hmm. I haven't had the time to catch up with updates in the public transport as my attention is focused on catching up with tutorials and projects. The projects in this semester is pretty interesting where one is a fabrication of our own aluminium beam, where a competition of the strongest aluminium beam will be declared as the winner and another project about urban planning.
The mid term break is timely for me to catch up what is lost, to revise things that I have not learnt during lectures, to enjoy what I have not for the past month. So, this is the last day of the recess week and hopefully, things get more interesting along the way.

A paperless sem

A new sem, a new study method of mine that totally relies on my laptop. It has become a tool for work and play at the same time. Thus, for this semester, I have decided to abort the idea of printing lecture notes but bring laptop instead to all elctures and tutorials. Papers will be printed only for lab reports and things that need to be submitted. I don't know if I can adapt to this new study method but till now, it is so far so good.

A tribute to my favourite bus service on National Day 2009

There are many different things or events that make us love Singapore. Just a few days ago, there was an article that an author expressing his/her thoughts about bus service 67 from Tampines to Choa Chu Kang. This provides me an impetus for me to write a blog entry about my favourite bus service.

During the National Day, questions like what makes me love Singapore often pop up in my mind. Upon thinking hard, I realise that it is more of the native bus routes that makes me love Singapore.

147 Hougang to Clementi
Route information: An average of 35 fare stages in total.
Types of buses deployed currently: Mainly comprises of Volvo B9TLS, and Volvo Olympian 3-Axle and 4 Scania K230UB Batch 2 Euro IV and occasional cameos.

Journey Time from Hougang to Clementi: Roughly about 2 hrs.
I really admire the bus drivers that drive this service because they have to tahan 2 hrs of work per trip.

Some prominent landmarks that it pass by: Hougang, Serangoon, Bendemeer, Little India, Clarke Quay, Chinatown, Bukit Merah, Buona Vista, Clementi.

History of service 147 according to sgwiki.com:
Originally, it was plied between Jurong East Interchange and Potong Pasir Terminal. It is then merged with the then service 83 and extended to Upper Serangoon Terminal in 1993. It is amended to ply Waterloo Street, Middle Road, and Selegie Road (on the direction towards Upper Serangoon) and Jalan Besar, Bencoolen Street, and Bras Basah Road on the other (towards Jurong East).
Previously, it plies Victoria Street and Lavender Street (on the direction towards Upper Serangoon) and Lavender Street and North Bridge Road on the other (on the direction towards Jurong East).
In 1993, alternate trips terminated at Clementi MRT station and then it is shortened to Clementi MRT station during the 1993 Bus Rationalisation Exercise followed by an extension of the then service 105.
Between 1993 to 1998, service 147 is shifted to ply from Hougang to Clementi following the closure of Upper Serangoon Terminal.
It is amended to ply Prinsep Street in 1999.
Later on, in June 2003, following the presence of the new North-East Line, there were requests from members of the public to retain the service 147's present route when news of the 2003 bus rationalisation exercise is released. Service 147M is also introduced as a Nite Owl service during the 2000s but was withdrawn shortly after. The route is originally plied as a one-directional route as its day time counterpart from Bencoolen Street to Clementi Interchange.

I have not gone into bus spotting in the 1990s until I am around 14 years old when I identify bus serial numbers with their types. For me, I have benefited from this service and I am been taking this service as long as I can remember (since 5 years old). Previously, my grandma's hse is at Bendemeer and my parents and I usually take the then services 103 and 147 every Sundays. As my grandma's hse is just in front of the bus stop, I had a panoramic view of Bendemeer Road. I believe that my affinity with service 147 starts from here. 147 can be said as my primary drive towards my hobby of bus route lover.
As the years go by, in 1990s, some of my relatives move to Bukit Merah and Queensway area, and I begin to utilize more of this service. In 2000 to 2009, as I have grown up and begin to go town more often, 147 is the way to go from my hse to Bugis, City Hall, Chinatown, and Dhoby Ghaut. Thus, the bond grows. In last semester of my schooling, 147 becomes my daily service as I have utilized it to reach my school at Clementi. My bond with it grows stronger.
In the 1990s, one can see many non-airconditioned buses moving around the whole of Singapore. However, just within two decades, they have started to phase out. For SMRT, these buses have either been scrapped or converted to aircon buses. For SBS Transit, majority of the non-air-conditioned buses are the ones that ply the Jurong Industrial Services and some selected trunk services and they are mainly double decker buses. Thus, bus deployments for service 147 have come a long way. Non-air-conditioned buses used to ply on service 147 when I was six years old as far as I can remember. Then, between 1993 and 1998, air-conditioned buses started to come in. By 1999, it had become a full air-conditioned bus service.
Initially, when I was in my secondary school days, majority of the buses deployed were Volvo Olympian 3-Axles Batches 1 and 2 and some Leyland Olympian 3-Axle and Volvo B10M Mark II and III, Striders and DM3500.
As Singapore ventures towards a journey of becoming a more disabled-friendly nation in the 21st century, this service has undergone major revamp towards its bus deployments. Now, around of half of its deployed buses are wheelchair-accessible buses (mostly Volvo B9TL) (WAB) as 147 is the 2nd bus service in Singapore to be declared as Wheelchair Accessible Bus service.
About its journey, I can say that in all my journeys in 147, there are numerous interesting incidents. Many of the elderly utilize this bus service from Hougang or Serangoon to Bencoolen Street. Many of our fellow Indians have used this service to go to Little India. In most of my bus journeys in 147, there are always kind people that give up their seats to the people in need. At many incidents when the buses are packed to the entrance door, people move in as much as they can and even the stairs are filled to let others have a chance of boarding this service even though it can be dangerous.
So to conclude, Singapore has gone a long way of attaining 44 years of independence and myself have gone a long way too. I believe that many people have their own areas or things in Singapore that they love. 147 too has gone a long way but the journey has not ceased.
To end, I just add the wonderful pictures taken by fellow bus fans.

So that's it

That's it, my last day of work has ended yesterday 31st of July 2009 in Chiyoda Integre, a Japanese company which I have worked for 2 months. I was quite frustrated in my 2nd last day due to some "external" environmental" reasons. Nevertheless, though my last day was rush, there was a tinge of sadness in my heart.

In my opinion, this part time job is more fulfilling than the previous one, which is about the same as what I am doing now.However, I learn about packing, counting involving greatly on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. You have to have a calculator always on standby when retrieving and packing goods. Due to numerous faults, wrongdoings or carelessness, I have learnt to be very careful and prudent and also remind my fellow colleagues and packers to be extra careful.

I have learnt about coordination, to priorise things that need to be done. With helpful colleagues around to share the load, things are in better control.

Of course, there are things that I need to improve on. I need to have a better control of my emotions when I am under stress.

Anyway, it is left with only a couple of days before school reopens. I have to be mentally prepared for it with a more seemingly difficult modules.

A month after....

A month after my last post, I am still working part time in that Japanese company. Hmm. There are some changes though within this month. Many part timers have come and left within days. My fellow colleague has also left so I have to take over his responsbilities. My back has also been aching, a sign of excessive hours at work.
Time passes by very quickly at the workplace as I am rushing to retrieve goods, attend urgent shipment cases, helping the packers pack some goods and ensuring that the correct goods are printed with the correct labels. After about a month, I become adapted to the working hours although there was once I overslept on a service 858 bus and reached Changi Airport in the night.
School is starting soon as the atmosphere of bidding modules is arriving. Next week is my last week of work. It will be a lie to say that I will not miss the packers and my supervisor but when you got to go, you got to go. Runescape is still my game during my leisure time.

Just some updates

It has been a while since I have updated my blog. For these two weeks, I have been working in a Japanese company. The job scope is similar to what I have done previously as a warehouse assistant, picking and transporting goods. When I entered for my first day, I have heard that the warehouse computer system had only started just the day before. So, there were things that were needed to clear up.
The working hours are normal 5 day working hours but my colleague and I have been working overtime for these two weeks daily. As a result, it is very tiring till a point that sleep becomes a pleasure to me. Time simply just pass by when we are working.

One more month to school reopen.

Fantasy Route Extension of servic 146

Service 146 will be rerouted to go to Sengkang Interchange to reduce duplication with service 147.

New Extended service 284M

Servic 284M will be introduced with effect from 29th June 2009. The purpose of this amendment is to bring a closer link for residents residing at Clementi Ave 4 to NTUC Fairprice at Clementi Ave 3 which is quite a distance from Clementi Interchange. It operates during the off peak hours during weekdays and the whole day for Saturdays and Sundays and public holidays.

Experience of going to the market

I have gone to the wet market with my mum several times when I was young. However, yesterday was my first time going to the wet market alone to help my mum buy some groceries as she was down with a fever.
In my opinion, it is similar to playing in runescape, in terms of getting the items that I need from the shops. However, the problem is that I don't know exactly where to get the items if not the guidance from my mother.
Next, it was my first time that I cooked a simple corn soup. I have much difficulty cutting the corn. Somehow, I am really bad at using the knife. After twisting, pressing and bending here and there, I realise that cutting is a form of technique that needs to be trained and gained through experience. Perhaps, I should get more involved in cooking.

Back to runescape

After the exams are over, suddenly time seems to have slowed down a lot. I no longer have to spend 3 hours daily travelling to my school from now till August. The economy in my opinion, is still gloomy although there is news recently that Asian markets are started to get "heated up". I am still "jobless". Hehe. To make time move a bit faster, I have decided to play Runescape which I have not played for nearly 4 years already.

The word "Runescape" has led me to reminisce my secondary school days when it was my younger brother who had started playing first. After that, I continued from there and for a period, I feel really bored towards the game and have stopped playing ever since. Once in a while, I will visit its website to see if there are any eye-catching updates.

Runescape has certainly advanced throughout the years. Its graphics has been enhanced tremendously and numerous features have been added to ensure a fair gaming experience for everybody. In its infant stages, or in the period when my brother had just created a runescape account, the walls of a house for example is just a white patch while the ground is a green coloured patch. The facial features of a typical character looks similar to one another in such a way that one cannot tell whether it is a he or a she. After a couple of years, runescape had improved the graphics by adding more finer details to the ground and the virtual buildings in the game itself.

After the period of 4 years that I have not played, runescape has changed its trading system to make trading processes fair and square. A grand exchange system is introduced that acts like a massive virtual market. Instead of typing texts to indicate the person's interest to buy or sell wares, utilising grand exchange is certainly a more efficient way to acquire what we want at a price that we desire. However, in my opinion, due to the new grand exchange system being introduced, the "personalised" trading system or p2p trading has been imposed a maximum net asset transfer. P2P trading cannot exceed the maximum net asset transfer of 5000 runescape coins.

Meanwhile, I am still updating myself about the runescape new features while time is passing by.

Fantasy Route Amendment of service 43

At last, I have found some inspiration to amend service 43 betwen Punggol and Upper East Coast. Service 43 is introduced in around year 2005 or 2006. In my opinion, this service seems to be a combination of service 156 between Sengkang to Yio Chu Kang Rd and 76 from Yio Chu Kang Rd to Marine Parade. After about 3 - 4 years since it was introduced, the demand is heavy in peak hours since it can be light in off peak.

With the fantasy route amendment of service 43 passing by Marine Terrace and Marine Crescent, residents residing there can have a direct link from Marine Terrace and Marine Crescent to Paya Lebar and north-eastern areas.