Conquering Airport!

Dear Diary,

It was difficult crawling out of bed at 5.45am this morning. Had slept only at 1.30am earlier that same morning. Yawn… nonetheless, I was very fortunate to have Dad giving me a car lift to Changi Airport Terminal 1 (T1). Stepping into the airport gave me a wake-up jolt. The people there did not behave as if it were early morning… in fact, the airport life is almost like an artificial dimension on its own, independent of the world outside it, haha… Spent time chatting with a fellow colleague at her pharmacy in Terminal 2 (T2) after I ate breakfast in T1. Reached early for that STAR training which basically was to teach us more about the airport and how we can learn more about good customer service. Had a short chat with the trainer before the day-long lesson began and realised that she is a fellow ex-VJC student, albeit 2 years my senior (ie. Class of 1995)! The moment I knew she shared the same heritage with me, I became more excited over what she would be teaching us later, haha… yeah… all the alumni spirit! ;-)

We listened to some lectures, played games and had many fun! I was unanimously selected as a leader of my team of 8 participants… okay, maybe it was the fact that I was out-of-place with my long-sleeved formal attire, haha… Well, I brought the team from strength-to-strength by drawing well, by organising and participating in a successful skit…. Last but not least, our team won the “Amazing Race” game where we hunted down all the locations in both T1 and T2 under 50 minutes. I guess I kinda tried my best to “break the ice” in the team and successfully injected camaraderie into the team. There was a funny incident when I approached a bunch of ladies at the information counter at T1 during our “Amazing Race” to ask for directions to find the Left Baggage Area. The information counter girl playfully told me that she forbid me to ask any question… I was like… huh? Haha… I still asked and got what I wanted! By the way, the second team came in more than 10 minutes after us! Yay! ;-) Still remember the last time I had such an “Amazing Race” game was when I was an orientation group leader (OGL) back in 2002. At that time, my team came in tops too! Haha… Sorry, guys just like to boast about such stuff, keke…

However, amongst the banter and activities, I was a little surprised when I saw a female cleaner at the staff canteen during lunch time. She came to clear my utensils after I completed eating my food. Looked familiar. Then I realised that when I was still a primary school student, my family used to frequent her “Chicken rice” stall in Bendemeer Road’s hawker centre after Sunday shopping at Orchard Road. She always gave us lots of rice and soup. Now, I kinda felt a little sad that she ended up without her stall and working as a cleaner. Sigh…

By the way… yesterday evening was amazing! Met up with a friend and we caught the movie “Dan in Real Life”. Oh man… Steve Carell’s character portrayed accurately how a guy reacts… although occasionally exaggerated in his trademark “pretending-not-to-be-hilarious-but-still-is” kinda expression, hahaha… Then we spent a long time chatting at the Esplanade and later had late take-away dinner along Singapore River and then back to drink some beverages at the Starbucks along One Fullerton building. It was an awesome evening with good weather, the breeze, the moonlight… I haven’t felt so relaxed for quite a long while… possibly as far back as the university days! I thought the al fresco table which we sat at Starbucks was actually just about the same spot I sat at one fine day during the university days. However, it was Bakerzin at that time. It is always good to meet up with a friend and chat like there is no tomorrow, haha…

Talking about tomorrow… I have plans to “raid” John Little at their Expo Lunar New Year sales! Expecting to spend hundreds of dollars for some new clothes. I am a guy and guys are serious shoppers. We come, we see and we conquer, hahaha… Goodnight!

God Bless,

Andrew