31 Jul
Please Turn Off That TV And Walkman Phone
Due to an on-going major project that I am the Account Manager for, I usually leave the office between 7 and 7.30pm each evening.
My office is in Tanjong Pagar (central Singapore) while I stay in Taman Jurong (western Singapore). To get home, I take a 30-minute ride on the Underground (the Mass Rapid Transit or MRT for short) then catch the feeder bus number 98 — a 45-minute journey in total.
By the time I board the feeder bus, it’s already past 8pm, and that’s when my stomach starts growling for food.
So it certainly doesn’t help that David Rocco is always, without fail, shown on the mobile TV sets on the bus, whipping up delicious Italian dishes!
I have a penchant for Italian food, in particular anything that has pasta in it, with lots of cheese, especially mozarella and parmesan.
It doesn’t take much for you to now deduce that this just throws my stomach acids into hyper-active mode, turning me into a ravenous can-eat-a-horse-now lunatic by the time I reach home!
Which makes me believe that there’s some conspiracy against me and my stomach by the bus company.
On the odd day when Rocco isn’t featured or, better yet, the mobile TV sets aren’t on, I will most likely be accompanied by students whose parents know no bounds in splurging on luxury goods for their children in the form of the new-fangled Walkman phones.
You know, those that you can either listen to the music stored in the phone through the earphones or share them with everyone else in the vicinity, whether they appreciate the music or not.
And I always seem to meet those who love sharing.
I am not begrudging their sharing nature, for indeed their parents have taught them well to share, but at least play something that doesn’t wreck havoc with whatever hope I had for some peace and quiet on the bus after a long day at work, eh?
So far, I’ve heard Rihanna’s “Umbrella” ad nauseum (very popular on rainy evenings like earlier) along with other hip-hop junk and even Hokkien (a Chinese dialect) songs.
How about some nice opera in the form of “Nessun Dorma” or some soothing classical music?
Or how about turning off the TVs and Walkman phones, and leave a poor man in some quiet solitude on a 10-minute bus ride?
Please?
Photo by Ian Fuller.
Tags: David Rocco, Food, Italian, Life, Mass Rapid Transit, Mobile Phone, Music, Nessun Dorma, Pavarotti, Public Transport, Singapore Bus Service, Television, Walkman
Posted by Layna Tan on 31.07.07 at 0:37
Oh i also have some experience with the sharing Walkman phone
some people really like to share indeed, but for whatever reason, i always get disturbed no matter how cool the song are or how popular are they currently. I really feel a breach of privacy?
Posted by Sicarii on 31.07.07 at 0:37
They are truly irritating, aren’t they? This is one of those times I wished some people do not share, lol!
Thank you for visiting my blog, Layna. :-)
Posted by ET on 31.07.07 at 0:37
Torture for the man… lol. I think sometimes I would want just a little bit of peace after an entire day of noisy mess, only to end up in the bus with mobile tv babbling away.
Posted by Sicarii on 31.07.07 at 0:37
Exactly, ET!
It’s not as if we aren’t already bombarded by all sorts of unwanted noise and having advertisements in our faces throughout the day!
I don’t think it’s that much to ask for a little peace and quiet sometimes… but I am just too polite, lol!
Besides, I don’t think I can beat off burly secondary school kids… sad but true.
Posted by moby on 31.07.07 at 0:37
Invest in a personal music player and good quality earphones with noise-cancelling capabilities and put on whatever music you fancy. You’ll be sleeping like a baby! Pure bliss ….
Posted by Sicarii on 31.07.07 at 0:37
I would, Moby, but usually I prefer to just enjoy the silence. There’s already so much noise daily, I don’t need more.
Besides, there’s nothing much I’d like listening to on most days. Popular music is crap nowadays, and there are some songs that I only know the rest of once the first stanza is sung which makes it a little non-interesting from there.
Posted by Jase on 31.07.07 at 0:37
this is when you know you’re getting old….. =p
Posted by conancat on 31.07.07 at 0:37
lol, i guess there aren’t many out there who appreciated Puccini and his Turandot that adapts this vulgar compulsive sharing nature… and yeah i hate food ads especially when i’m hungry! makes me drool even more!!
Posted by Sicarii on 31.07.07 at 0:37
@Jase:
Pfft!
@Conancat:
Opera would have been so much better, really! I know for a fact that listening to “Nessun Dorma” does something to the tear ducts of tons of people, lol! Imagine a bus-load of teary people, now that’s a picture!
Thank you for visiting my blog, mate.
Posted by Quick Question: What's Worse Than... on 31.07.07 at 0:37
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