Friday, June 11, 2004

i think flag day shld be listed down as one of the 10 biggest torture of a student's life (others will include mid-yr exams, 2.4km PE runs, extra lessons during holidays, etc.)

anyways so i had to wake up 6am on a holiday morning to rush all the way to Bishan, only to find out my flag day venue is at Ang Mo Kio. Not that it makes much of a difference lah, since both places are equally farrr from my home.

so on this early week day morning, i had absolutely no enthusiasm to ask for money yet. while i was stoning, a malay man came up to me. he was in his late 40s i guess, wearing a dirty yellow shirt and long pants. he's shorter than me, thin, and his skin was sallow. his hair was like a mop, messy, uncombed and tangled. and he started shouting at me, and i mean really raise his voice. the fact that he looked every bit like a typical homeless man didn't make matters any better. i was scared, so i just listened to him. he stood so close to me, he was almost shouting into my ear. i saw his crooked, yellow, and rotted teeth, and with every word he shouted i could smell his breath - it reeked of alcohol and who-knows-what.

"YOU STUPID! GOT MONEY WHY DON'T EAT? I TELL YOU THEY (he points to my tin can) BLUFF YOU ONLY! DON'T GIVE MONEY! GOT MONEY YOU EAT, DON'T GIVE!" At this point i was really jaw-droppingly shocked and scared. this madman was practically screaming at me, who knows what he'd do next? what if he whips out a knife and demands i hand over the flagday tin can? in my mind i was hoping somebody(preferably a guy) wld come and rescue me, maybe do sth like push off the madman and ask me if i'm alright. but from the corner of my eyes i cld see ppl walking past and givin me "the look", but none stopped to help me while the madman verbally assaulted me.

"LOOK! I HAVE MONEY, BUT I DON'T GIVE! YOU STUPID! WHY DON'T EAT MONEY?! YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I SAY? DON'T GIVE! THEY BLUFF U! EAT MONEY!" i was tryin hard to escape this situation, so to play along, i pointed him to the nearest Cheers station and told him if he wanted to eat, he can go there. okay this response is totally off-key, but in the face of adversity, ppl get desperate mah. anyways, here the situation gets weirder. the madman was still shouting, but he said: "I GIVE YOU THIS! YOU KEEP AND EAT! DON'T GIVE THEM, UNDERSTAND?". then he gave me a dollar coin and forced me to put in my pocket. and then he walked away. finally.

i was stupefied. all i could do was watch him shuffle away and pray he doesn't come back. i was still in shock a few minutes later. my goodness i could've been injured, but no one came to my rescue, or at least find out why this malay man was shouting at me.

this incident just showed me that most of the time in this world, you are on ur own, baby.

writing at 10:33 PM

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