| Friday, 28 December 2007 |
| i loathe red light cameras |
Today was a day where everything on the road went wrong! The number of times I felt like killing myself by driving directly into traffic, gosh, it was horrible. I am still very frustrated at my stupidity and impulsiveness.
Anyway, what happened was that I was on my way to Holland Village from school to meet up with Alex and Geraldine when I went past this traffic junction at Buona Vista, it was already Amber when I approached it so I decided to accelerate and beat the light, but unfortunately the light turned red when half my car crossed the junction. It was then that I chose to look up and saw, to my horror, a sign that said 'RED LIGHT CAMERA'.
At that very moment, it felt as if someone had just told me that I was infected with melioidosis causing Burkholderia Pseudomallei. Its not the worst thing that can happen to you, but its certainly an awful feeling. So I was so furious with myself that I just had to go back to the scene of the crime to see if I had really beat the red light camera, because I did not notice a single camera or any flash then. So I did a U turn, drove all the way back to NUS, U-turned onto AYE and did the same route over again.
What I noticed was that the junction that had the sign was actually BEFORE the cameras (which were located at the next junction!) - which meant that the sign serves as a warning for people wanting to beat the red light for the next junction. This meant that I did not do anything wrong and that I did not get caught by the camera and did not just incur a $300 fine and 6 demerit points. (I think and hope that I am RIGHT.)
Feeling slightly better that I may have been saved by a miracle (and solemnly swearing that I will never try to beat a red light again!) I went ahead to Holland Village. Unfortunately, parking there was horrendous - it was impossible to find any parking there at around 7.
So I drove out of the public carpark and decided to go park at the carpark of Holland Village shopping centre. Unfortunately, the carpark was full and there was a queue for it, so I joined the queue, only that my car was in the yellow box of a traffic junction.
After a long wait, I realised that I was never going to get a lot there any time soon, plus I was already running late for the stipulated meeting time, so I decided to go and park at the multi-story carpark opposite Holland Village.
I decided to wait for the light to turn red because I needed to filter out of the yellow box, and considering the amount of traffic then, it was probably only safe to do it when the light was red.
So I did that, filtered out when the light was red, and because I most certainly could not stay in the yellow box of a junction, I went straight, effectively beating a red light. It was at this moment, that I noticed for a second gut wrenching, heart breaking time, that there were CAMERAS at the junction as well.
However, I did not notice any flash or any indication that the cameras were functional. Nonetheless, for the second time in a short duration of twenty minutes, I felt like I wanted to kill myself all over again.
The idea that I might have to pay a total of $600 dollars in fines and have my license REVOKEDs after just a month of earning it, felt like someone telling me that I've most likely been infected with HIV (after some needle stick injury!). Right now, I feel like I'm just waiting for the results of the Western Blot HIV confirmation test, and its a horrible torture to be stuck in this state of limbo. Boo-hoo.
It was a miracle that I was able to find the heart to meet the two of them after that. But I'm glad I did. We went to have dinner at NYDC and then desserts at the 2AM dessert bar located at some ulu corner of Holland Village - its a place that many of our other classmates have been to before, and since Geraldine surprised us all with a request to go out to have some desserts and wine, we decided to visit that place and try out the cuisine there.
Of course, only Geraldine ordered dessert wine (I am a DRIVER and Alex claims he is allergic to alcohol!) but the three of us ordered desserts as well. Alex's Tiramisu was fantastic, Ger's Mudslide was weird, and my Blackberry was... abstract. Still, the desserts there were good, and if you don't mind the rather hefty price, the place is still a good place to go relax and chill with a couple of friends or so.
Very soon, we started spewing nonsense again. Talked about lots of stuff, the usual nonsensical crap, my usual nonsense (Is He? Is She? ISABELLA!), Alex's usual cryptic-ness, Ger's usual rubbish and also serious stuff, like the state of our relationships, marriage, children, etc etc.
It was enjoyable, lots of laughs, because I insisted that Ger's becoming an alcoholic and was drunk, she kept insisting that she was not, but got very high; Alex acting as if he was able to judge the level of drunkness that she is in, and she insisting that Alex and I were more drunk that she was because we were both so nonsensical.
I've got to admit, I was high, but not on alcohol, but rather due to the pine leaves that I was smelling, because my dish had a couple of pine leaves given to us and you were supposed to smell it to give you a different taste or something. ANYWAY, it was abstract, and although I didn't really get it, I HAD to act as though I understood it.
After that, I offered to send both of them home. What's up with me and sending people home? I remember the first lesson that Kailiang taught me after I got my license was always to learn to say NO. So far, I've never said 'no' to anyone, but then neither does Kailiang. But oh what the heck, I might have my license revoked so really, I shouldn't care about that right now. Grrrrrr.
P.S: I just read Geraldine's blog and she calls me and Alex her GIRLFRIENDS, to quote her exact words, 'they're like this bunch of great girlfriends that most girls have, that I don't.' Although I most certainly RESENT that label, it is no doubt true. I would much prefer the term 'listening ear' though. But anyway, that's what die-hard friends are for. I know they would do the same thing for me, so really, its the least we could do for her.
I should stop now.Labels: driving, food, friends, madness |
posted by voldemort33 @ 23:59  |
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