I miss hospital life, to some extent. There were two comments/questions that everyone kept throwing at me. “You are 16 right, so your o levels how?”, and “Stay in hospital for so long, you can write a little diary/blog already.” Dots… Typical remarks.
On my part, I asked the nurses a lot of questions too, and the most common question that constantly hung at the tip of my tongue was “Can I have the urinal?” followed by a sheepish smile. Lying supine and urinating in that small bottle was a really interesting experience and like what the nurses and doctors said, I went through a lot of other stuff that would make a nice little story, however, I dunno where to start, so I shall fast forward all the way to October 21, Wednesday, where I am currently enjoying, or trying to, my second day out of hospital.

I was so bored I decided to take a walk around the neighbourhood… I must emphasise it was a very very very slow walk and a necessary part of my physiotherapy (just in case ppl start coercing me to go back to school).. Apparently your mood/state of mind is commensurate with the pace at which you walk. As I enjoyed my slow leisurely walk, I was particularly sensitive towards the slow heartbeat of my neighbourhood. Felt a strong wave of nostalgia for my childhood wash over me.

Actually, my original intention was to get out of house, buy a waffle and get back home following the exact same route I took to go to the shop. Then I saw some old man started flirting with the shopkeeper. Under normal circumstances I probably would have dismissed the scene with a tinge of distaste… The shopkeeper’s humongous, and the old man seems a bit like a perv… halfway through flirting with the shopkeeper he actually stared at two young Indian girls (about ten years old), complimenting them for having nice big eyes and looking exactly the same IN CHINESE. The Indian girls stared back in silence, probably thinking that guy was some weirdo creep.

Other than staring down the Indian girls, the guy also flirted with the shopkeeper in a very interesting way—by talking about the different types of vegetables.

我从早上四点做工到现在。。。
哦，可怜你了。。
一直在切菜，你知道吗，菜有很多种啊，小白菜，青菜(?)，。。。。（I forgot the rest）”
哈哈， 我只知道boiled vegetable!
真的啊！下一次，我帮你买这些菜，让你试试看。
不用啦，要花这么多钱。。。
没关系，我一次买，买一大篮的！保证下次会回来送你们菜。。。

That was a small extract, I didn’t really stay the shop long enough to here the rest, but it set me thinking about the difference between “high flying” city executives and “commoners” (sorry direct translation from lao bai xing). If some hotshot used vegetables to introduce himself to a girl you would probably think he’s a vegetable himself… HDB neighbourhoods are like the countryside of Singapore, peaceful, laid back and more homely. Just watched Sweet Home Alabama last night, so I decided to be a Reese Witherspoon and walk around the neighbourhood reminiscing…

I wonder what others do during their childhoods. For me, I explored the boundaries of my neighbourhood with my bicycle, played basketball and soccer with neighbourhood friends. Nearly every landscape in my neighbourhood enshrines a memorable moment that’s close to my heart.

The fire hydrant outside Alvin’s house, just before bartley mrt station which marked one edge of my boundaries. I used to cycle along the long winding pedestrian paths till I reached those fire extinguishers, upon which my fiery enthusiasm was abruptly extinguished, because that was the outer limit of the world which my parents allowed me to roam.

There was also this steep slope connecting the elevated basketball to the pedestrian path below. I used to stand up and pedal down the slope (for maximum speed), feel the familiar jot of exhilaration as my bike rolled over a small curb, and let my momentum carry me all the way to the end of the pavement, at which I would stop, and gather myself, for an even greater challenge. I would stare at the steep, rugged and narrow strip of grassy slope bounded by stairs on one side, and a large lonkang on the other side, and lose myself in my usual train of thoughts…If I lose my balance, I will fall into the dirty longkang and break my neck…better not ride down the slope…but if I don’t try this slope, I’m going to be so bored…I’m not such a loser, I’m good enough, probably the best biker in town, never really fell off a bike before…anyway why think about stopping, the faster I pedal the easier it will be to clear the slope…
The first time I pedalled down the slope, my heart was pounding, my brain was in a jumbled mess of incoherent thoughts, I didn’t really know whether I would fall down, but I didn’t really care, all I was certain off was the compulsion that gripped me so tightly it seemed I was on a one way street. Needless to say, it was a success, otherwise I wouldn’t be here writing… And like a drug, I kept doing it afterwards…
There’s also the Mama shop, where forking out 20 cents to buy a cheezio snack seemed like the biggest luxury of my life because I didn’t have pocket money at that time, we used a “cashcard” to buy stuff in school…

And a whole lot of other memories. Don’t have the time to write about them, got other exciting stuff in the present to do… and I realised my writing has deproved a lot.. I cant write properly now.. I hope to get a bike this holidays and go around my neighbourhood snapping pictures, so I can wrap up my childhood life nicely before moving on to JC… Anyway I cant do sports, I cant go overseas, I’m really… limited… now.

One day I shall write about hospital.

Bye.

Oh and drink fish essence instead of chickens essence…


Medical Benfit
Thai traditional medicine used the snakehead mullet as drug sine ancient. Quality of ancient medicine was remarked that
• Fresh meat has sweet taste and can match wit all elements.
• Exposed meat has sweet and lards taste, nourish, against exhaust, fever and gasp etc.
• Gall has bitter taste, cure inflamed eye and scar.
• Exposed tail has cool and stench taste, cure the internal heat.
• Scale is insipid and stench, make pressure whegive birth.