Monday, March 09, 2009

Procrastination and boredom

I am bored.

Have tons of self-assigned work to be done, but am procrastinating on them. Strangely enough, I know that once I get started, the workaholic in me will probably keep the "engine going" until the work is done. Maybe that's why I have not started yet. Don't feel rested enough since catching some bugs a fortnight ago. Thus I am bumming around for now.

So what did I do on this day-off?

Woke up from interrupted sleep around 4+am, surf the net for about 1 hour. Checked about Vitamin B12 nutritional intake for the 2nd time in a week... just numbing the brain over my Vit B12 concerns. Loved the cute characters running about the screen on the Malaysian Milo website. The Singapore Milo website was rather bland and uninformative in contrast. Went back to sleep.

Woke up again around 9:20am to the smell and noise of fumigation. Guess it's the rain induced dengue-season again. Jumped up from bed, closed all the windows. Half-dazed, the brain debated the pros and cons of going back to sleep versus staying awake to seal the rubbish chute as advised by the Town Council notification. While the brain was in the talks, the body went on auto-pilot mode, took out the masking tape, put on a face mask, and went about sealing the rubbish chute :-P Washed my hands and face. Went back to sleep.

Next thing I know it's after 12noon! Woke up, switched on my computer to get information to reply a friend's sms query. Brushed my teeth and washed my face. While the brain listed out the merits of a shower (yup, I was so physically tired the night before that I went to bed without showering), the body plonked itself in-front of the computer, started surfing the internet and checking and replying emails.

At 2+pm, the stomach grumbled. Settled the hungry stomach with a thick cup of Milo (made-in-Singapore, yeah!), with brewer's yeast for added nutrition. Mixed the Milo with water and half a can of Redbull leftover from yesterday. Bought the Redbull to evaluate it as a potential Vit B12 quick-fix. Don't think it'll work out for me. Cannot imagine drinking the syrupy sweet solution that tastes like children's cherry-flavoured cough medication. In fact, added it to my Milo, to camouflage the Redbull's nauseating sweetness. Waste not, ya?

Continued with surfing the internet. Read the news of another 2 cases of falls, after the 2 recent cases of NTU student deaths within the same week (see this and this). One was a man who suddenly stopped buying his regular $1 "rice + 1-vegetable" meal and fell to his death a few days later. Another was a girl who fell through a gap in the railings along the 4th storey HDB lift-landing to hit the ground-floor concrete. She survived and was hospitalized for multiple fractures. The Town Council was quick to offer to pay all her medical expenses. However, one wonders who will foot the bill if there is any long-term medical and/or functional complication(s)?

Around 4+pm, finally got sick of my smelly body and got around to a top-to-toe clean-up. When it was done, decide to get some minimal tasks done, to placate the Parent (see Transactional Analysis). Filled up a lucky draw coupon to be sent (hope I get lucky), updated my clinical attachment record (a.k.a. "Learning Guide"), checked out my visa statement and prepared for payment, arranged for a gathering with family the next fortnight, and updated my pocket diary. Having covered my guilt trip, went back to mindless surfing again.

Finally got off my ass around 8:25pm to address my sudden craving for the vegetarian-chicken rice from a foodcourt nearby. A pleasant surprise to find the chicken rice on promotion, 50 cents off its usual $3.50 price. Unfortunately, it was sold out.

Strolled around the pasar malam for food instead. Bought "cup corn" (short for steamed corn in a cup), steamed chickpeas, "tea-leaves eggs" (hard-boiled eggs steamed in Chinese-style spiced herbal tea). In line with my personal "support fellow Singapore citizens" policy, I chose to buy from the stall whose owners looked and sounded like true-blue Singaporean locals. Offered 2 tea-leaves eggs to a cupboard-collecting elderly couple, but the lady turned it down. Respect their dignity for their recycling work. Guess they have each other's companionship and "enough".

Went home. Surf the net again. Once again concluded that Singapore is just not geared for the long-term well-being of its citizens. Surfed again to the Australian immigration website and dreamt about migrating to Australia. Calculated that I would be in the best position to emigrate in 3 years time.

Lastly, jotted down my thoughts here before I call it a day. Woah! It took me 2 hours and 15 mins to jot down this long-winded entry. A new way to kill time!

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