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My left calf is cramping like shit!!!

Sorry for the abrupt start of the post, but my left leg is really suffering greatly. Jogged too much today, 4 rounds around Circle Green isn't what I normally do. In addition, warm-ups have not really been my forte even since. When I'd gotten home, first thing I grab is Counter-Pain lotion, that thing has been my best friend for sports injuries, never fails me.

I got my first taste of being the wandering homeless today, the novelty is really, inspiring. Well, truth is, I got locked out of my own house after I came home from the jog. Forgot to bring the keys, actually, then my brother left for something else, leaving me out there in the harsh cold... But come to think of it, it's really kinda stupid.

Before the homeless started wandering, and after the jog. I'd managed to find Faris and some other friends at a BBQ outing. Good old friend, can't believe we'd not talk to each other for so long. He really seemed dejected over some matters. Can't help but think I've neglected him. Two guys had climbed up a sparsely-used overhead bridge, and began a man-to-man chat, things not fit for a female mind. However, that was when my left calf become one lump of tight, screaming muscles...

Well, never mind the cramp for now. The experience of being locked out of my own house would be staggeringly seething at first, but since I'd had some time before my family got home, might as well not waste it. And so, I embarked on a little stroll, one of my 'scouting' sessions which might've become too frequently engaged in recently, a short walk towards Admiralty Crescent Park. I also went to check out an empty field, and reminded myself of sweet memories.

Here's me standing in a black void on the ground which would be the field I was talking about. 2 years ago, I rendezvoused with my primary school buddies in a class reunion, the guys had a fun time playing soccer here, no team coordination lacking despite the long time apart from each other. While the girls sat under a nearby pavilion, chatted, and watched. Let me just tear myself away from nostalgia for a while...

OK, imagine this, you've just finished running, drenched with sweat, fatigue clawing at every tissue of your body. No bottle of water in hand, leaving you a very parched throat. Hair in a mess from all the pespiration, and no proper dinner taken yet. In theory, that would leave you with an oily face and hair, uncomfortably wet clothes, sunken eyes. Not to mention the CRAMPING CALF!

Alright, enough about the cramping calf. Now, the reason why I called myself the wandering homeless earlier on was because of the above reasons. I really did look like the wandering homeless. But back to the point of not wasting time, I'd scouted that residential area in the daytime before, so I'd just wanted to see what it looks like in the night. Hmm, very different indeed. So different, that the contrast itself sparked a poetic inspiration in my mind.

Fangs of the Night


Frosty winds scavenge across my cheeks,
Who knows what may stick out from dark corners and peek,
Numerous monsters and different freaks,
All waiting for your anticipated fear to leak.

Day turns to night,
Same places can conjure up horrible sights,
And I really want to know what's on my right.
Not thinking much with all these fright.

A dog only barks madly,
When it sees something we can't spot visually,
Dim lights may appear ghostly,
But not until the lights themselves go out completely.

A rustle in that bush may hide a spooky recluse,
"Come and get me",I silently mused.
But when a nearby electric circuit fuse,
You will know that your soul can be easily reduced.

The temperature drops steeply at this ungodly hour,
Every dismal shadow grins like a bloody flower,
Suddenly the air tastes acridly sour,
I have a feeling that tonight the time will pass considerably slower.


~The Pen may be mightier than the Sword, or in this case, Demons.
But what do you do when the shadows fade to an even darker shade than your ink?
Blood shall be William's new medium of writing.


I gotta admit, walking alone into rarely-frequented areas is creepy, especially at night. I scared myself on several occasions, that's what inspired this poem in the first place. Sigh, the irony, I don't even know why I took the danger of this anyway, for the thrill, I guess. Deserted void decks, foreign labour workers camouflaging behind almost every pillar and then moving suddenly and scaring me, things in motion at the corner of my eye, all are certainly very thrilling.

In fact, this poem had some funny origins as to how some of the lines came about. But I think I'll leave that for my GEMs blog, leave some for the younger un's, eh? Besides, Ms Maz will kill me, I've not touching that blog...when I'm actually supposed to.

Season of White Silk


A look out the morning window,
My hopes towards Santa starts to grow,
Outside the bands play the Christmas Cello,
Throughout the sky floats intense snow.

Does inspire such the dawn moon sang,
Who have you thanked,
Who have you not?
Remember those that have let evil done you naught!

Dining room filled with food and presents,
Don't forget to give some to the peasants!
Even though the panoramic white silk is thrilling,
Soon after everyone get a good chilling.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
May the coming day dispel all your fears,
Fill your life with your loved dears,
Just enjoy the snow and up your party gear!


Mittens drenched in snowy slush,
William.


To all my endeared friends out there, I wish you and your family a pleasant Christmas!
To all my endeared classmates out there, I wish you luck in rushing out your homework! :D

Psychological

In the previous post, there was mention of how a patient could feel an unexplained attraction towards a doctor, and how I also felt that for a brief moment while overseas in Thailand. I also mentioned that I would try to explain that phenomenal condition. Even if you didn't read the previous post or have no interest in psychology whatsoever, no harm reading this up, it does give you some interesting insight into the human mind, how our deepest fantasies, desires, and hatred relate themselves through 'Transference'.


First, a little background.

Source: AllExperts.com
(Betty wrote at 2008-10-08 17:11:45)

"The phenomenon of patients falling in love with their caregivers is called Transference. Patients often mistake feelings of gratitude and relief with feelings of love."

Why the word 'Transference'? Remember that the root word for 'transference' is 'transfer', so apparently some sort of emotions were 'transferred'. In this case of a doctor-patient transference case, the feelings of gratitude were wrongly transferred in the form of love.

I'm saying all these also because I'm wondering if there's anyone out there who's felt the same thing. Which is just as well, because the source does state that:

"Apparently this is quite common. One usually hears about this in connection with patients and their psychologist/psychiatrist. However, professions where physical contact and professional touch are emphasized, such as chiropractic and physical therapy, one also sees the phenomenon."


All I've been babbling about till now may not make sense, but that's only because love only makes up a small segment of 'Transference'. The definition given earlier was something to the tune of "a feeling wrongly transferred to another being".

However, that's just my amateur derivation. If you want to do the long-time tradition, here's some info from Wikipedia:

-Transference was first recognised as an important psychological condition by Sigmund Freud.

-One definition given of 'Transference' is "a reproduction of emotions relating to repressed experiences, esp[ecially] of childhood, and the substitution of another person ... for the original object of the repressed impulses."

Sounds too complex? That's why I liked the definition given by The Source back in 2001 better, which describes it in layman terms.

"According to The Source published in June 2001, "During transference, people turn into a 'biological time machine.'" A nerve is struck when someone says or does something that reminds you of your past. This creates an "emotional time warp" that transfers your emotional past and your psychological needs into the present."


Relative Examples

Truth to be told, 'transference' is actually wildly common. When was the last time you laid judgment upon a person just because your mind feeds you something like, "I don't think we should trust this guy, his toothbrush-mustache makes him look like Hitler."?
Or, a more common example would be, "Oh, he looks like Zac Efron, isn't he cute?" (Personally, Hollywood actors are basically stigmatised in my mind, scandals and all...)

A stigma is attributed with transference too, in case you haven't realise.

Now on to the more interesting stories... We've heard our fair share of murders, I don't know about the rest of you, but murders that arise from psychological natures intrigues me the most. In fact, transference plays a huge role in the psychological blueprints of this type of murderers.

Wikipedia supplies one such example:
"as in the case of the serial killer Carroll Cole. While his father was away in World War II, Cole's mother engaged in several extramarital affairs, forcing Cole to watch. She later beat him to ensure that he would not alert his father. Cole would later come to murder many women whom he considered "loose," and those in general who reminded him of his mother."

Very, very carnal... But that's reality for you. A human mind can only tolerate that much...

If I were to come up with something which we can relate to, but on a smaller scale, that would be 'bullying'. Psychiatrists have done research and concluded that bullies can be classified into pure bullies, which are the confident aggressors, and the bully-victims, those that bully the weak only because they were trying to release the pent-up injustice they have suffered before.

Let's focus on the bully-victims, where we can apply a new theory of transference called AMT (Abusive Multiple Transference), this is the case where victims not only receive the negative emotional impact inflicted upon them, but also the power and dominance of their abusers.

This is especially true for a bully-victim, once bullied in the past, he feels the power and the ability to hurt in being a bully. Which would later lead him to seek out more victims in order to satisfy his own misfired psychological system. Although it sounds cruel and sickly, I do empathise with such victims, fated to be a receiver of abuse, doomed to repeat it all over again.


Now, this may sound like a psychology lesson, but the fact is that many of us can benefit from a little knowledge about human nature so that we can be a little less of the 'human scum' we are sometimes. ^_~
To tell you the truth, I see psychology as more of empathy rather than academics.

Not really wanting to attend today's class trip (No offence intended), but dragged myself there at the tugging of many friends. Not that today was that unfruitful, just felt that I could have been doing better things.

Lots of joking around with the guys, sliding my bike's rear wheel all over the place and hopping on the bike up path curbs. Tonnes of fun had been enjoyed, but somehow it doesn't feel right. Not enough people attending, I suppose.

Rushed headlong for the bicycle rental shop almost the moment we got there, and embarked on our day's ass-wrenching experience. Even now as I'm typing out this post, my bottom feels nothing but... excruciating pain. The previous NYAA Camp which consisted of up to 6 hours of non-stop cycling had already let me have a taste of what it was going to be like, but I when ahead anyway. Couldn't bear to disappoint my friends.

Phil, Jared, and Frederick had lunch at Burger King, while I cycled away to Area F for my own lunch. Don't mind me, guys, I just needed some alone time.

Under the reason of concern, Jared noted that I looked rather haggard compared to the last time he saw me. A nice conversation starter... but I guess he's right. I'll like to thank him for being a listening ear, by the way.

"Reality is the curse of the sane."

(Do forgive me for this extremely late post, but there were a lot of photos to upload and I was getting lazy. Blogger's sluggish uploading widget never fails to get on my nerves as well.)


Right, I do have to admit that this overseas trip to Bangkok was not all fun and games, maybe a little bit more on the side of bile and pile? But I'll get to that later, let's check out the plane.

If you do remember a previous post, something about my fascination with planes did pop up. Here's the plane I took to Thailand in the middle of its refueling and inspection process. Cathay Pacific ftw.


We went as a tour group, and over here at a hotel lobby, the tour guide helped my family and I snap a picture. This hotel wasn't the one which I bunked in, it's another couple's who are also in the same tour group, which brings to mind why we even took this picture here at all.

Speaking of my own accommodation, the first thing I noticed about my hotel room was the breathtaking view it provided. To me, at least.

Big, wide windows overlooking a busy city, just right beside the bed.

And when you look down, spectacular glimmering blue.


The first night. We look at Singapore's roads, sigh and say, "How congested." But look at this, it's hellish Armageddon for the drivers. The beautiful lights belonging to nightlife does help to lessen the eyesore.

Another reason why it was so congested could be because that day was the Thai Emperor's birthday, the 5th of December. Cool, first day I arrive and I'm greeted by celebrations.

Night life is bustling in Bangkok. A considerable amount of roadside diners on the left.


Skilled, bro. Now go serve up those... what, squid? Chicken?

The next day we went for a boat ride at one of the rivers... Shit, I forgot to take note of the river name. But anyway, Bangkok has 2 floating markets, this is one of them. However, this one is relatively quiet compared to the latter. Throughout this whole boat ride, I only managed to see 2 sampans. A floating market and only 2 sampans... The other one is the more well-known one, but it is also the one which we did not have to fortune to visit as it was too far away from the city centre.

Just in case you're wondering, Google brings up the other one which I didn't visit:


One thing you should know about Thailand, they have a freaking huge amount of temples, and you think of overkill... They're a largely Buddhist community, and almost everywhere I go it's temples, temples, and... ok, let's be fair, sometimes they just erect a small shrine.



During the 1998 Asian Financial Crisis, Thailand was hit hard. You might find it hard to believe, but the building under construction on the right has been left in that state for quite a few years already. See the contrast?


A while back, there were news reports of Bangkok possibly being flooded in a few more decades' time. I could see how that could happen.

And then, the tour group went straight to - you guessed it, a temple. It's a good tourist attraction, with staggering architectural structures.


Our tour guide figured a family photo here would be too good a chance to be passed up, so there you go.


See what I meant by architectural wonders? No, no sarcasm here, just fascination on my part. After all, this was built in A.D 1400. Next up, the climb.


I wonder if people of the past then had longer legs than we did, the flight of stairs leading to the peak of this tower was 3 or 4 times the height of a normal step.


My mother... a native Thai yet never had the chance to try out the nation's traditional costume. They offered a costume renting service there, and so off we went on a photo-taking spree.

Do I exude a uncomfortable-and-wanna-get-the-hell-outta-here body language? I hope not.


The next picture may look a bit carnal, I apologise, but I just thought you might be interested in seeing something not often seen in Singapore.


The usage and maintainence of this device is self-explanatory, no user manual required.
What I'm getting at is, c'mon, no piping?


We went to a sparkling stop at our next venue. Bangkok's Gemstone Exhibition. A little bit of background... Thailand does have their own mining caves, in fact, ancient royal jewelery of Siam are often saturated with rubies and other gemstones like emerald, but mostly rubies. That's because the country has a lot of ruby mines. That, plus some of silver and gold. For many gemstone collectors, Thailand does have a reputation for valuable gems.

Now for the photos, I risked my life to get these, and I mean it somewhat literally. No one inside is supposed to take photos, security reasons. Moreover, they've got a guard at the entrance holding a gigantic automatic rifle. But now that I come to think of it, one big exhibition crammed full of valuables and only one guard? They'd better have more, because one guard is really...underestimating the situation.





Even then, the pictures are still blurred, couldn't wait long enough for the focus to kick in. If I were to stand there with the camera held up high waiting for the damn focus, I'd be a sitting duck for rifle target practice. Well anyway, you can see the glass casings. Those contain the highly-coveted gems.



Up on the agenda comes Bangkok's Cultural Centre. Yes, they do pay attention to National Education as well.

At the entrance we see a miniature floating market (Great, more sampans.) whose purpose was to give visitors a simulation of the real thing.


Inside we got to see some of the traditional arts of pottery.



And here is the making of flower accessories by three Thai girls. Did anyone say CBA? I thought so. (High-fives for the I.T club guys.)

I'm not sure what to call this. But it's chiseling of some sort to carve out appealing patterns on cups and other crockery.


Not forgetting, Thailand's sacred animal. What a heartwarming mother and child photo. The elephants you see here are ferrying around tourists for a small fee, and these elephants will be participating in this little show you see here...


That's two elephants dancing in the background. Yup, dancing.



Located right beside a busy intersection, this is the Four-Faced Buddha which receives many visitors a day. Known to be the bringer of wealth, I even saw a man who got traditional dancers and musicians to the site for a thank-you ritual. Probably struck it rich after praying here, I guess. Hm, might as well upload the photo:

That's the procession on the left side. See the man in white kneeling down? That's the rich fellow, I think. I mean, such a celebration does have to cost quite a bit of dough.



The next day, we were engrossed with rollercoasters, thrill rides, and the likes. Yup, a theme park.




As seen in the background, 'Dream World'. Not really the dream place for me though, I'll get to that soon.

Ok, I took 2 rollercoasters, one of which none of my family members wanted to go onto, they chickened out. A 4D Theatre, got my hair messed up by the wind simulation. A few thrill rides, lotsa G forces swinging around. There was my favourite, Go Karts. Sigh, can't believe that me, a true blue auto enthusiast, is trying out Go Karts for the first time.

Alright... this bucket spins at terrifying speeds to turn its riders' stomachs into spin dryers. That's me in the bucket, the one looking backwards, while my Mum fires the camera. Poor people at the front... Camera flash baby!


This was the batch of Go Kart racers before me. Now, the reason why I said I regretted only trying out Go Karts so late in my life was because... goddamnit, this thing is exhilarating! Words are not enough to describe it.
Extra bonus, managed to snatch a 1st place out of 8 racers.


After the pedal to the metal, we went for a show. Not just any show, Dream World has its own Hollywood Live Theatre.





A counter-terrorism act. Pretty cool, explosions were real. And realistic environments. Did I mention the fighting?

Couldn't resist the sight of another rollercoaster after the show so...



Here I am in queue waiting for my turn, as I watch fear quickly register on the many riders' faces.


I had lunch at a buffet restaurant at Dream World... Again, it wasn't exactly dream-like. Because, food-poisoning followed afterwards...

That night's dinner buffet was still buffet. But I was more looking forward to this because it's not everytime I get to have dinner whilst being 83 storeys up in the sky.


Baiyoke Sky Hotel, tallest building in Thailand, a total of 85 storeys.

This photo was taken at the very top, the hotel's very own rotating observatory.

Again, our tour guide-cum-photographer...


Dazzling, isn't it? Under the shroud of the evening mist, the city emits a mysterious calling.


Right, over here we were enjoying our meal. I think, around this time my stomach was already churning.

Given the price of that night's buffet dinner, to actually pour it all away into the toilet via my mouth later on wasn't exactly what I had in mind. But vomited I did. Vomited a total of 3 times in one night. That's a first. One in Baiyoke Sky Hotel's toilet, another in the hospital, and the third time on the... ugh, the third time in public. Everyone has their uglier sides come out one way or another, purposely or not. Had diarrhea for the following 2 days, must've lost quite a bit of weight there...


Alright, nothing much happened for the next few days before I returned because the tour had finished and the remaining days were mostly left for shopping. Just a little bit of trivia here and there.


Went to Bangkok's Chinatown for a little quick look of our own.
A narrow street already filled with roadside stalls, one might think that this place is too small for people to walk through...

And whoa-la! Out comes a pick-up truck! Good ol' traffic conveniences.

Refreshments in a Chinese restaurant after tiresome walking and shopping.


Decided to have bird nest since the ones in Singapore would most likely blast our pockets to hell and beyond.


Caught this traffic offender who drives Thailand's traditional taxis on camera while on my way back to the hotel. See the clamp on the front wheel? And all these unfolds while a disgruntled taxi driver stands on the right...



While on a daily night hunt for food, I passed a bridge stretching over a canal. Yup, that's a boat you see on the canal. Just so you know, some people there use the canal boats as a form of transport to get home after work. Despite the stink of the water, people still queue up to ride the boats because it is their quickest and cheapest way home.


High-class cuisine the day before, and roadside delicacies the day after. Look people, the chef's secrets are for all to see!


That's about it, this dinner was the last one I had before leaving for home again.

This photo was taken at Suvarnabhumi International Airport while waiting for my flight.


I've played my share, bought a fair share of clothes and other stuff, vomited my share as well. One thing I like about going over to other countries... The acquiring of cultural knowledge belonging to different people living in conditions swaying away from our own. Sure, the hygiene there is far from perfect, but the people there are nice. Now, Mister Edward may tell you in mundane repetition that the word 'nice' cannot be used as it is too shallow a word. But that's what I can say about the City of Smiles, the people there are really nice. I can't even remembered the number of times we rescued by kind Thais who pulled us out of several obstacles. There was even one lady who offered help on her own will when she saw us standing at the MRT Route Map, staring at the board in confusion.

As I've hoped I'd shown in this post, the different social practices I saw in their country. For instance, their shopping, their roads and transport, or even their geographical data.

"I do have to admit that this overseas trip was not all fun and games"... Yea, I really hope I won't have to puke like that ever again, it was horrible, intense jeopardy of my digestive health... 3 times of vomiting in one night, will was the only thing that kept me from buckling in the streets.

Which brings me... While I was lying on the hospital bed that night, I had 2 injections, both administered by a somewhat decent-looking female doctor. Was it because I felt that she was my saviour and thus was an angelic being in my mind's eye, or was it something else? She wasn't hands-on beautiful, but decent-looking. For that moment, I felt that she looked perfect, really like an angel...

Not that I should pay too much mind to it, that time I was drifting in and out of consciousness, perhaps some wires in my head came loose or something. Besides, I've read in psychology books before about how patients could fall in love with their doctors, but also about how these things are often just short-term. Let me do some more revision and research and I'll get back to you on the next post...