Noobified!

This must be one of the more bizarre experiences of my life, which happened just half an hour or so ago.

I was on the train, getting back after a half day at work. Really vehemently angry because, yes true I'd screwed up a form (left out the address field in a visa application for my boss - multiple addresses after all, and do military camps have street names?), but no I didn't believe I deserved the earful I got from my superior at work. After all, it was her job, and if I wasn't around she'd be stuck doing it. So much for gratitude. Shucks I feel more and more like Marvin.

So anyway, I was on the east-bound train holding on to the handholds overhead and resting my head on my hand, sick of life, etc. At Bugis this old ah-ma type lady (~70s at least) asked me if I wanted to sit down, whether I was tired - in Hokkien. She looked really concerned and all that. I sheepishly refused (of course right, everyone staring at me in uniform), said it was ok (in Chinese).

And she started talking to me! Asked me if army was tiring ("zo peng jin cham ah?"), was it tekong, talking about all her sons' and grandsons' experiences - I think, because my Hokkien is horrible and she was talking kinda softly. It could have been the price of veg or her Malay neighbours, for all I know, but she was going on and on non-stop; I could barely figure out what she was going on about. It was damn tragic, but damn funny.

At first I tried to keep up but it was completely impossible to understand her. Round about Kallang I tried telling her I couldn't understand Hokkien (yeah, I memorised that one sentence in case it ever came in useful "wa bueh hiao tia hokkien weh") - but all she did was laugh and carry on! And there I was pathetically nodding at her saying "oh uh mm" at various strategic points in the conversation. There was this gal about my age (yes ZH, she was cute) sitting next to her who, by the looks of it, couldn't understand it either, laughing at me (the bitch), but got drawn into the convo round about Paya Lebar too.

So all the way from Bugis to Tanah Merah (the girl got off at Bedok) we were basically being talked at by this ah-ma, and faking comprehension, while more and more people were looking at us and wondering wtf was going on. It would've been hilarious if it wasn't me. As for the woman she really looked damn happy that she had someone to regale with stories and anecdotes. I contemplated getting off at Kallang or putting my earphones back in, but it would've been so rude, and so wrong. So just tahan lah.

And at the end of the train ride I wasn't pissed any more, somehow. Just even more convinced that life's a total mystery.