Tragic Death Of Another Legend.

After a very busy and fruitful Saturday, I returned home to watch the live telecast of the funeral of singing legend Whitney Houston for more than three hours, from 2am till after 5am. With her death at a young age of 48 years, the world have lost yet another beautiful and unforgettable singing voice. The funeral service held at her home town Baptist Church which she attended in her growing up years in New Jersey was very touching as we hear the eulogies from her family, close friends and present Celebrity Greats. The story of her life was narrated and shown in three short video clips after the funeral service was over. The world mourns her tragic passing.

I have watched also the live telecasts of the funerals of other Legends such as Elvis Presley, Bruce Lee and recently, 'Pop' icon Michael Jackson and sadly all of them died suddenly, similarly and tragically through drug abuse at a young and early age. Their immense talents, achievements and each one of them endowed with special gifts to entertain and thrill us are gone forever leaving us with only treasured memories.

Ordinary and quiet workdays.

The past two days were very ordinary workdays for me, nothing much of any interest to report, no unusual happenings and business was quite slow. This weekend starting tomorrow will definitely be a turn-around and I know its going to be very busy when everyone take their weekend breaks for rest and recreational activities and I am eagerly looking forward to engaging my commuters who will be lively and in vibrant mood after having gone through unending, tiring and mundane working weekdays.

Meanwhile, life goes on and as the popular saying goes "No news is good news". My taxi this morning went for its monthly servicing and minor repairs, replacement of spare parts at the Company's motor workshop and its going to be very smooth driving usually after the overall checkups, its like driving a new vehicle at least for the next few days.

Recuperation Needed.

Sorry folks, I was overwhelmed with continuous activities for the past few days and also not driving very much at all let alone finding enough time to sit down and write. I was trying to put up a post earlier but simply could not after having lost proper concentration due to lack of rest. It is already past eight o'clock in the morning now and am feeling very tired and sleepy and have not even tried to read the morning papers yet. I guess I better go to bed now and have a proper rest to get revitalised a bit in order to recall past happenings and maybe try to write later in the afternoon or as soon as I wake up.

Repairs And Replacements Done.

Supposed to have blogged and put up two posts already but found difficulty as my browser just would not work until I called my daughter to help me out and all is right again. Its 11.00pm now and I think maybe I'll go drive a bit as I overslept after thinking I could catch some shut-eye whilst waiting for repairs to be done earlier in the evening.

Being a Friday night, there will still be many commuters in need of taxis everywhere and it would do me good to go earn some taxi rental money now and perhaps continue to write later.

'Marilyn Monroe' Re-incarnate!

'Marilyn Monroe' was one of my passengers whom I fetched last night! Fantastic! And yes, I had 'Marilyn Monroe' in my cab for a bit of distance too, from Resorts World Sentosa Taxi Stand to Lorong 1 in Geylang. Unbelievable, but true and I had three snapshots of her taken with my mobile seated in the back seat of my cab.

This is not the first time that I have fetched a Celebrity. The first one was none other than Fiona Xie who at that time was going to Caldecott Hill for her first interview to be an actress with Media Corp, and there were others like Kumar of 'Boom Boom Boom' fame and a rugby star from New Zealand called 'The Shadow'.

'Marilyn Monroe' is actually a beautiful and pleasant young lady who hails from Melbourne, Australia, and is presently working at Universal Studios in Sentosa as a 'lookalike' performer. We had such a wonderful and enjoyable chit chat and were nearly laughing throughout the whole journey. It was for me, a most unforgetable and memorable encounter as a cabbie.

Continuous And Endless Festivals.

It was the Thaipusam festival once again yesterday and it has never failed to fascinate me each time I watch the procession of Indians and other devotees walking, chanting and carrying kavadis, pots of different sizes and together with so many friends and relatives, young and old alongside or in groups starting their walks from the Indian temples along Serangoon Road to the Tank Road Indian temple near Clemenceau Road. I have always driven very slowly as I pass these processions getting excited watching their movements and absorbing their noisy activities.

Apart from the Thaipusam festivities, we also witness at the same time the "Chap Goh Meh" activities which is to end the long Chinese New Year celebrations, and not forgetting also, today's funeral activities of one of Singapore's founding fathers, Dr. Toh Chin Chye, former DPM who passed away five days ago and will be cremated at Mandai Crematorium this morning.

We live in a multi racial society and all sorts of activities occur so very frequently and seems endless, so much so, making time pass us by even more swiftly and before one knows it, another year would have exited.

Driving around daily, together with these hive of activities, with people from all walks of life, the young and the old, the good, the bad and the ugly, makes for a very stimulating and interesting working day.  

Slowing Down The 'Tempo'.

Carried away by fatigue and refusing to accept one's limitations, is probably the only reason why I was not able to begin writing blogs and taking such a long time to start one. Sleep and plentiful of rest is what I need to recuperate from being lethargic and getting lazy.

It is also true that after going through the hectic and fast paced final weeks of last year and the start of a new one including the Chinese new year celebrations and now the colourful Chingay attractions have really brought on unsuspecting tiredness. Relentless hard working days and enjoyment has taken its toll.

I have to slow down the speedy momentum of my lifestyle for the time being and recognise the needs to stay healthy and relaxed. As it is, presently having so many unhealthy bodily ailments and still dreaming, thinking that they are only imaginations and continuing to get on in life as if it was the same as yesteryears can be a bad dream.

Time truly flies and I have to start work soon.

Lethargy.

Just like yesterday, when I thought I was going to write a post, my head suddenly went 'blank'. There were many things to write about but all thoughts became muddled up and I just could not start. It is one of those days that I find difficulty in trying to put up a post. I have been sitting in front of my desktop for the past one hour and still unable to begin writing.

Sometimes, I think the timing is not right, maybe the mind is refusing to work for now or maybe a lack of energy on my part. Anyway, there is not much time left for me to write and put up a post as I need to get ready and prepare to leave home and start working, so I guess my next blog will have to wait till later or after my day's work.

"Re-union Dates".

Chinese New Year Eve's dinner is one when family members gather together from wherever they may be to be re-united once again with loved ones over a grand and sumptious dinner, very similar to the Christmas Eve re-union date.

However, there is also a very different kind of re-union gathering, with drinks and dinner also supplied as well and this type of 're-unions' can happen anytime of the year, very sudden, emotional, shocking and it is not on a particular date. It is usually a surprise announcement and a sad call and is another whereby you try your utmost to attend to give respect to someone who has passed on.

This second type of 're-union' gathering is slightly different. It is compulsory that family members must attend including some very close relatives and friends, colleagues, business associates or anyone who knew the deceased. It is like an 'Open House' sort of gathering, one which no one looks forward to.

Last night, I went to my late cousin brother's wake, he was a year older than me. It was unexpected and sudden after having suffered from septic ulcer, he passed away last Sunday. Like both types of 're-union', I get to meet up with relatives and friends whom I have lost contact with for long periods of time, sometimes as long as tens of years. There is the atmosphere of mixed sadness and joy in wakes, unlike the happy, look forward types of fixed date re-unions.

A Hard Day's Work.

Yesterday was a very busy workday for me and by the time I finished work, I had done around 255km which is quite a lot just driving for about six and a half hours. Most of the trips were to far away remote areas such as to ST Marine at the end of Tuas Road which I went twice and the rest were to Lim Chu Kang Road and Kian Teck Road, foreign workers living Quarters. 

Most of my passengers were Chinese and Indian foreign workers with the exception of only three locals. It was a quiet day for me as most of the foreign workers usually three in a group spoke among themselves in their native languages. The only exception was a Primary six schoolgirl who had just finished her maths and science tuition classes at United Square and going home to Teban Gardens accompanied by her maid. We chatted a bit and she told me she will be sitting for her Grade 7 piano exams this year and also about her swimming lessons.Well behaved and spoke like an adult and this was the most pleasant and enjoyable trip I had for the whole day.