I Am Sensitive

I Am Sensitive

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Convenience and Campaigns

Dear Diary,

I went to British Council this morning to get my certificates certified. I need to post them to University of London soon for my application. It is so easy with the existence of the internet. You do not have to be there to do anything relevant to it. Everything can be done online with a click of the mouse and informations can be gathered easily without the hassle of being at the place. We have live in an era where convenience is right in our homes and I seriously cannot imagine lives without the internet. Imagine if the internet doesn’t exist, I have to make long distance phone calls to the university and I am sure I will be talking for more than thirty minutes just to enquire on the application procedures. How lucky we are to be living life this easy but then again I wonder if it will make us become too dependent on convenience that we might just feel handicapped without it.

I was too sleepy to get up this morning until mum had to call out my name out loud. I was just too sleepy. I couldn’t open my eyes. After I had woken up, I went back sleeping in a split second and fell into a deep sleep. I even managed to dream a little. That showed how sleepy I was. The thing is Diary, I never had afternoon nap. My only sleeping time is during the night and if I had missed a few hours of sleep, I will never be able to get it back unless I go to bed early the night after. I often feel a pounding headache nowadays. Sometimes it was so painful that I had to hold my head with both my palms and shut my eyes tight hoping that the pain would go away. I don’t know what causes the pain and I really do not want to know.

We took the train and got down at Orchard MRT. It is the nearest station but still we had to walk quite a distance and we walked quite hurriedly because we didn’t want to be there during their lunch time. If we did, we had to wait until 2pm and that would be too long because mum has to be at work by 2pm. British Council is about two kilometers from Orchard MRT station and we walked about one and a half until mum began to feel tired. It was a lucky thing that there are shopping centres along the way and I asked mum to sit at Mcdonalds while I carried on walking to British Council. It was hot and I was feeling like I was climbing one of the mountains I had climbed. It was good walking like that; brisk walking always gives me the thrill. I like to sweat because everytime I sweat I feel healthy.

Mum waited for me while I went to run my own errands. I got there and told the receptionist of my intention and she asked me to have a seat while waiting for the person to come and meet me. I sat and enjoyed the cool and fresh air conditioned while I can. I felt my sweat dissolving a little. I waited for about five minutes until a lanky and sweet lady appeared infront of me with a rubber stamp, a pen and a piece of paper in her hand. She smiled at me and sat right beside me. She’s sweet, I said to myself. I was sure she was younger than I am but I bet people will think otherwise. Not that I am being vain but she was in an office attire and I was in my bermudas, singlet and flip flop. I look so much like a university undergraduate. I looked at her doing her job and she seemed attractive. I have always had a soft spot for women in office attires especially the one with powers. They just make me weak at the knees.

It didn’t take long for her to certify my certificates. She just needed to compare the photocopied certificates with the original ones and made sure that they are identical. She stamped every one of them and signed her name with her designation there. She is the programmed executive of British Council. I got her name too. If only she had to leave her contact number as well, that would really give me the opportunity. Oh Diary, I was just kidding. I am merely entertaining the imaginative side of me.

After I had made my payment, I walked back to where mum was. We walked back to Orchard MRT station and I noticed dustbins everywhere. There is one dustbin every 20 meters on the sidewalk giving no reasons why people should litter. This is the thing about Singapore. Growing up here, I know the things to do and the things not to do. When the government decides to implement a new rule, Singaporeans would better take heed and oblige. It’s just the way things are over here. When the government decides to have a ‘No Litter’ campaign, they really want us not to litter by providing us with the convenience of throwing our litter everywhere and anywhere. Dustbins can be found everywhere and I remember when I was in primary school, we were told not to litter until I have this fear of littering. To educate someone, you have to start from an early age. In my six years of primary education, my teachers never failed to teach and educate us about certain campaigns that the government was having at those times. I never remember a year that went by without any campaigns. There would always some campaigns going on. I remember the ‘Speak Mandarin’ campaign, ‘Courtesy’ campaign, ‘Don’t Litter’ campaign, ‘Speak English’ campaign, ‘Yellow Ribbon’ campaign, ‘Cleanliness’ campaign and so many other campaigns that I couldn’t remember.

Oh diary…I’d love to write some more but I have to get some sleep….i will talk to you some other time ok..I love you Diary.

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