Where's my weekend?

Image via savagechickens.com

Every time when you start a brand new week, you'd often wish it just fast forwards to the weekend. And when it does get to the  weekend, it'd be over before you know it and this whole cycle starts over again and again. It's as though we're by instinct, wired to just keep on looking ahead and to the days when you would be able to kick back and not care about what time you have to wake up. what time you have to eat, what time you have to take a shower, what time you have to get back to bed, or whether you have to meet any deadlines. The whole day would be yours to kill. Yours. To. Kill.

But when those precious two days come by, you'd end up trying to find some "me" time the whole time. And when Monday finally comes around, you'd probably have to end up trying to make up something interesting to tell the others about what you've been up to over the weekend.

Image via toothpastefordinner.com

Ok, back to work.

Train is coming!

"Train is coming!"
"Train is coming!!"
"Train is comiinnnngggg!!!"
(pause)
"Please start queueing!"
"Love your ride!"
(ding dong)

I couldn't believe my ears when I heard this being played over the speakers in the train station. I didn't really know how to react.. Although I did hear one guy loudly exclaiming "WAH! MRT now got play song one ah?!",  much to his colleague's amusement.

That was a about a week ago.

Now, I'm more or less used to it- listening to the Dim Sum Dollies trio singing the jingle every time a train pulls into the station. It's catchy, easy to remember, and straight to the point. Since they already have one which announces when the train is coming, I wonder if they'll also have another jingle which announces when the doors are closing. I've already got a set of lyrics in mind, which should be sung in the same way as the current one for maximum effect :)

"Doors are closing!"
"Doors are closing!!"
"Doors are closiiinnnggg!!!"
(pause)
"Don't rush in!"
"Catch the next train!"
(ding dong)

Perhaps the MRT stations could use a bit livening up. So far, the only things that come to mind when someone mentions "MRT" have always been the following: crowds, rush hour, ez-link card top up, and of course, the trains. Now, I can add another one to the list : The "Train is coming!" jingle.

Hmm, what'd happen if there's going to be two trains coming into the station simultaneously? Will they play the jingle twice in a row? Once every 4 or 5 mins is alright, since you'd already have boarded the train, but twice in consecutive succession? Luckily, I haven't experienced that. Yet.

If you thought this jingle was all, well there's more actually.

It turns out the jingle's part of a whole 2 minute song as part of the "Love Your Ride" campaign. I kind of enjoyed this more though.

School so far...

The week hasn't even ended yet, but gosh I feel tired already. Here's a look at my timetable.

5 day week. 

The long hour and a half spent on train plus bus rides to school, implies that I'll have to wake up even earlier to have my breakfast (or atleast eat something decent  before going for classes). The online site where the notes and course documents are to downloaded and printed for lessons, was painfully tedious to navigate the first few times. Now, I just trying to get used to this routine - check the site,  back up stuff I've done and file up my writings so that there isn't a big messy pile to sift through. And speaking of backing up stuff, there's a whole lot of stuff I have yet to install on my netbook. It doesn't have any standard writing software (notepad and wordpad does not count),  no other applications like Gimp or Photoshop, and it's running on an outdated service pack. Oh, and the typed fonts look so small, I have to resort to the ctrl + function every other time. Plus, I need to find the charger cables. I swear I've no idea when they decided to just grow legs and run off.

So far, it's been manageable. If there's one thing I've learnt about train rides, it's this -always board the very first compartment of the train. If only I could actually count  the number of times I had to end up missing the train because there wasn't enough space to board...
Oh, and the bus service to school gets crowded pretty fast. I've ended up getting stuck quite often in some obscure corner of the bus, unable to get down at my stop. I can always get down at the next stop, but I'm running late, then this will not do me any good.

I really wish the train rides were faster though. All that time spent waiting on the train and the bus before I get home ends up making me feel even more exhausted.

Oh great, it's now 1A.M.
And there's going to be a lecture double-feature for tomorrow.

For now,
sleep beckons.

Caution: Roadworks up ahead

I took the Noth-South train line and got off at Potong Pasir MRT yesterday instead of my usual stop, because I just had to avoid the afternoon rush of passengers and the overcrowded trains. Besides, I thought I could make do with a little walking anyway back home. I realised that there was so much of renovation and more construction work going on in that area, stretching all the way back to my neighbourhood.

This was what greeted me after I got to the surface from the underbelly of the rail network.

Note the extent of the massive jam of vehicles.

Work in progress.

The elusive YOG bus.
Ongoing construction work on the overhead flyover. 

A close-up of a pair of workers on the overhead flyover.

Restricted access under the flyover.

The tamil translation directly above the sign bears some minor errors.
Not so sure about the other language translations though

Self-explanatory.

More signboards to redirect pedestrian traffic.
Take note of the smaller signboard advising cyclists to push their bicycles.

This one goes to Toa Payoh.

Congestion under the flyover.

More barriers. More traffic. 

Oh, what's this?

Wonder what this building will be used for once it's completed...

Hmm...

Walking all the way to the other end.

The worst congestion almost always happens along this whole stretch.

One of the flats near Bendemeer Road.

Almost home.

Time to continue climbing up the stairs of the overhead bridge.

View from the top of the bridge, facing  Bendemeer Road.
The flag in the distance looks nice :)

Didn't realise this was still up in the neighbourhood.
Might as well take a shot.