The One that got away.

Tue, 18 Aug 2009
2 min read
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The One, in this case, being my 1000th Facebook friend.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I was officially a rockstar for a while because I added my 1000th friend on Facebook earlier today.

lolcats funny cat pictures

However, I checked back eight hours later and discovered, to my chagrin, that I only have 999 friends now! Someone either de-friended me or de-activated their Facebook account! But which friend was it?

I used to be able to tell because I have secretly been using this application called Unfriend Finder that told me where all my missing friends went. Sadly, the application seems to have been put out of service, for reasons that also remain unknown.

So I guess we will never learn the truth about The One and where The One went. Unless, of course, I chance upon the profile of this person and am unable to view it. Then we will know.

In other news, someone earnestly pointed out that not all my friends are real friends, or even people I’ve met. But I figure they make up for the friends who don’t have Facebook accounts.

Also, for all my children i.e. students, you are welcome to add me on Facebook as a friend. But I will put you on Limited Profile until you graduate from school, not because I am a freak, but for professional reasons that I can explain if you ask me in person.

I currently do that for all the Saint Gabriel’s kids whom I taught earlier this year, and whom, BTW, I still remember and have not forgotten. Guys: please study hard and come to SAJC and we can hang out again.

P.S. for the sake of parity, you can put me on Limited Profile too, if you decide to add me 🙂 Alternatively, you can join my fan page.

The land that time forgot.

Tue, 11 Aug 2009
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I’ve been plagued by a spate of carelessness/clumsiness recently – first it was misplacing my bike keys; most recently, I dropped my watch and broke the glass portion covering its face.

It’s probably fatigue but I’ve also had a lot of things on my mind recently, and I know I’m not as sharp/alert when I have too many thoughts to think about and not enough time to sleep off the weariness of the day.

In any case, I had to make my way down to the service centre at Tannery Lane to repair the watch. This was quite interesting for me and I must digress a little in order that I tell this story.

Since setting up shop at Potong Pasir, I’ve always considered the area and its surrounds to be akin to the land that time forgot – it’s 2009 but the precinct has retained its 1980s-esque quiet, sleepy-town feel.

This is much unlike the hustling, bustling HDB estates of nearby Serangoon and Hougang, where I live, and I’m actually quite envious of this luxury afforded to Potong Pasir-ians (?).

I say luxury because I acknowledge the trade-off that upgrading brings: you get lifts on every floor, but there’s a lot of noise and people and unnecessary things that come with it.

Anyway, if Potong Pasir and its surrounds is the land that time forgot, then the watch service centre was utterly Jurassic.

While waiting for my watch to be repaired, I found a catalogue for Color Club watches, along with a brochure that lauded Crystal Time (the service centre) as the cutting edge retailer of the 1990s with its recent venture into marketing high-top shoes with zippers all the way to the ankle.

Seriously.

Well, I wish I had stolen the brochure and the catalogue so that I could scan them in and upload the pics to share the awesomeness of the moment with everybody but I don’t think it would’ve been nice to have kept their history for myself.

Nevertheless, I thought it was a rather quaint experience, if I may say so myself, much like discovering how my sister’s significant other still plays arcade games in Indonesia. Yes, those thingamajigs where you hold a stick in your left hand and punch some buttons with your right hand for a token’s worth of happiness.