the reason why i'm here is because we were at singapore general hospital (hereforth known as sgh) in the accidents and emergency room (a&e) yesterday till about 11pm so i decided to stay over. jia ling was walking down a stationary escalator yesterday and landed wrongly on the half step, so she hurt her ankle and rode an ambulance to the hospital. i'm secretly disappointed that i didn't get to go on the ambulance with her, because they would only allow one to accompany, and there was me and another friend callie, so we decided to do it the adult way and take the public transport to sgh instead. (it's a sad day when you can't use tantrums to get your way anymore.)
yesterday was easily one of the most eventful days that i've had in singapore to date. it started off like any other day.
no actually it did not. i started the day by dressing up for an indian wedding. jia ling's colleague's daughter was getting married and since we were close like that, i decided to go give her my best blessings. chose something to wear, asked namrita if it was appropriate, apparently it was not, changed into something else, and set off to meet jia ling. the wedding was held in a hall in an indian temple nearby farrer park mrt station. sitting a little too far away from the stage, i couldn't really see much except the elaborate decorations of the setup and the golden finery adorned by the bride. the bride was beautiful. the groom was cute in a bashful way. at the end of the ceremony which i couldn't see much of, we made a line and went onstage and blessed the bride and the groom by scattering yellow rice on their heads.
and then we had a buffet lunch of vegetarian indian food, and left with door gifts prettily wrapped. we haven't unwrapped ours yet so i don't know what's inside.
after that, jia ling and i went to clarke quay to meet her friends irene and callie. reason being, callie and i were going to tag along with jia ling for her weekly dragonboat rowing exercise. i know, random right? jia ling, my partner-in-crime for doing random things in singapore (such as taking the mrt to barely-inhabited punggol to take pictures of lalang) entertains herself in curious ways, and because i also have a penchant for spontaneity and randomness, she invites me along sometimes.
so we went to kallang river to get some serious workout. oh and if you're wondering i did not go into the water with my dress and heels. did have some leftover makeup on my face but since there wasn't much to begin with that wasn't a problem. went into a toilet and came out two inches shorter in beachwear.
the dragonboat team we joined was the british team but there were also many other nationalities in the team (commonwealth yo). since many of the members were actually in putrajaya for a race (home T_T), there were only two boats that went into the water. jia ling went on the other boat with the experienced ones, while me and callie stayed on the newbie boat. along the river we saw teams of other countries, the germans who rowed how i imagined germans would row (like germans) and the irish team which was sponsored by a pub, among others.
i'm still waiting for my waist or arms to hurt. if my arms hurt, it would mean that my boat-rowing posture was wrong. since you're supposed to twist your waist and use the strength of the body instead of the arm. great for losing love handles, it seems, but after every row there is a huge barrel of beer waiting to cancel the workout out! but since half the team was gone for the putrajaya race yesterday, there was no beer T_T bollocks.
speaking of canceling, we had an entirely stupid game on the boat called tug of war, where half of the boat would sit facing the other half, and row furiously to see which direction was stronger. completely waste of energy but the stupidity of the game kept me very much amused and i put in all of my energy to it. because, let's face it, most games are stupid and energy-wasting anyway. chasing, hitting, kicking, protecting an inanimate thing called "a ball" - multiple cases in point. it's not like a bridge construction where you actually have a bridge after hard labour. the dragonboat tug of war is just like a representation of all the games out there. useless but tremendous fun!
after the dragonboat rowing we went to bugis, to pass something to jia ling's friend and to have steamboat. only part of the plan came true. after jia ling stumbled unceremoniously down the escalator and our failure to get the mall staff to send us to the nearest hospital (the bastards), we ended up waiting a fair bit for the paramedics to arrive and bundle her off to sgh. the ambulance costs sgd80 to hail, by the way. missed opportunity T_T
so callie and i reached sgh and went into a&e to find jia ling. had our temperatures screened because of the h1n1 scare. then there she was, forlornly huddled under a blanket on a wheelchair waiting at the x-ray dept.
we were in the a&e from about 8:30pm to 11pm. here's an interesting fact for you - sgh, or sgh within the proximity of a&e anyway, does not have a single working food outlet after 8:30pm. what the staff themselves do is to order mcdonalds if they get really hungry. this makes no economic sense in any way. or maybe the hospital's profiteering from Cheers, a convenience store, in the neighbouring block, where everybody (who does not order mcdonalds) ends up in, for dinner.
we had a picnic of sorts in a&e, eating nachos and cheese, microwaved pizza and instant noodles all bought from Cheers. and being asian and biologically wired to take pictures at any circumstance however dire, we found ourselves taking group self portraits with the food. also involuntary was the peace sign. it's almost a reflex - camera lens = peace sign. that's how we work it yo.
jia ling was diagnosed to have an unobvious fracture in her ankle and had to get a pair of crutches. i think she must have forked out about SGD250-300. some of which can be claimed from insurance. the good news is she has got a six-day mc to get out of work. the bad news? she's a teacher and it's school holidays now. irony is such a kick in the crotch sometimes.
anyway i'm typing this while she's sleeping beside me. later i will be doing some shopping for her, as she will be pretty much incapacitated for the following few days. luckily she's staying in a master bedroom (attached bathroom) and has an electric kettle in her room. if i am confined within my room i will probably rot in a pool of my own excrement. i will end this post on that disturbing mental image because i'm sleepy now.
