People watch

Target 1 – Boy, 9 (in my opinion) Name: Ong Soon Hwa, Block 569, Hougang St 51, #05-87
Venue : Dinner at a Buddhist celebration event. Ard 2100Hrs. Saturday

I decided to select this boy as part of this assignment basically because he actually reminded me of my first few times attending this kind of stuff. He was dressed in a green collar t-shirt which was tucked in jeans. He was seated at the table directly across me in between his grandma (in my opinion) and a man whom I can’t confirm his relation, as there was no communication whatsoever between the man and the boy. The boy was fairly quiet and well-behaved for his age and would kill his boredom by observing the things around him and asking his grandma questions (in my opinion). He also bent down a few times, I have no idea why but I’m gonna guess he’s gonna need to buy new shoes really soon. His expression was almost pretty consistent except when the shark fin came, where he became very animated and pointed at the shark fin smiling and stuff. I also noticed that he was always the last to finish eating. After about 5 dishes, he took out his nintendo DS to play in between and that’s it.

Target 2 – Elderly Female, 69 (in my opinion)

Name: Mu Sam Moi
Blk 122 b Sengkang Eastway #09-23
Venue: MRT NEL 1547Hrs. Monday

This target was chosen because she was the only one with something else in the cabin I was in and honestly I was lazy to move. She was with her grandson (in my opinion) on their way to Kovan. The funny thing was that she was sitting but the grandson wasn’t sitting even though there was an empty seat beside her. She was dressed in a pink blouse with flowers and purple pants.  She wore a pendant necklace, a ring and a gold bracelet. There was not much communication going on between her and the grandson. For most of the ride, she was observing everything around her – people walking by or making noises – but she did close her eyes to rest for a brief moment. She also stared at the sign displaying the upcoming destination for quite a while and scratches her knee discreetly. That’s about it.

Pictures

Zoomed in picture of the boy

Picture of the boy

Picture of the lady. Sorry for the blur tho, hand didn’t want to cooperate

 

Reflection

There was a conference last Monday in the convention centre. It was called “A Woman’s Worth” and it basically discussed the issue of gender inequality worldwide, using foreign maids and foreign brides as the main example. It is an event organised by NP students and AWARE open to the IS students and even members of the public.  I’m not going to go into the details of it because this is a reflection, not a descriptive essay. Therefore, I would be adding my opinions and feedback into this piece of writing.

We were told that we should be in our seats by 9 and when I reached there at about 850, I was surprised to see a whole bunch of people crowding outside the conference hall. I’m not really a fan of standing in crowds so I made by myself comfortable by standing in a cosy corner. When we were “ushered” in, it was pretty cool as it really felt like a really big event, kinda like a concert. I mean the set was nice, the atmosphere was enthusiastic and there were even three cameras providing coverage.

However, the enthusiastic atmosphere only managed to last for the first two speakers and I guess the majority of the audience lasted that long because the interesting choice of cast in the short docu-drama shown. And as much as I would like to deny, I was in the majority who lost interest after two speakers. The problem for me is seeing the seats getting emptier and emptier and the whispers becoming louder and louder. Honestly, I don’t blame the speakers because it really wasn’t “Shakespeare” boring. The thing is, I can bet that more than half of the audience was forced to be there against their will and them walking out halfway throughout the conference totally ruin the atmosphere.

However, I got to say that the last part of the conference where news radio 93.8 takes over and recorded a “show” really got me back into the mood. I have always been a radio fan myself and my dream was actually to be a radio DJ instead. But I shall leave that story to the next reflection.

Story Creation

“Hey, you want to have some fun?” Issac asks while nudging his friend. The guy beside Issac nods his heads immediately, as if having been deprived of fun for his whole childhood and waited for further information. Issac smirks and bangs the head on the guy’s using his own head! Like nothing has happened, Issac lets out a sharp laughter and shrugs his shoulders as if to convey the message that he’s fine and that he has a really thick skull. Agonised by this, Issac’s friend retaliates using a headbutt of his own.

Meanwhile, Ai Choo lowers down her phone from her ears and glares at the two imbeciles sitting right across her. She finishes her lychee and spits the seed into the red plastic bag on her lap. Her telephone conversation with her boyfriend has been disrupted and Ai Choo does not like it when she gets disturbed.

“Hey! Can you two quieten down, I’m trying to talk here,” Ai Choo screams out pointing to Issac and his pal. Issac jerks up a little, looks to his friend, and raises an eyebrow. Ai Choo continues to talks on her cell as she keeps her eyes locked on Issac. Scratching his head, Issac swallows a mouthful of saliva and murmurs, “We didn’t do anything wrong, you’re the one who’s eating on the bus.”

“What? She’s eating what?” Issac’s friend speaks out loud. Issac’s face turns pale as the words flow out of his friend’s mouth. He gives his friend a stare and fishes out his handphone from his pocket and begins to punch the keypad with his fingers. Issac’s head is facing his phone and nowhere else and as a safety precaution, he even tries to held his breath for as long as he could.

“What did you say? Do you have a problem with me eating here?” A loud voice gushes into Issac’s ears. Issac continues his act while the voice gets louder and louder. “What right do you have to interfere?”

Issac’s friend begins to tremble as the voice goes on and on. Suddenly, his pants starts to vibrate and he proceeds to retrieve his phone from his pocket discreetly. The phone indicates a text message which reads,” Hey, we’re alighting at the next stop.”