Since Mas Selamat escaped out the tiny toilet window from the detention center, he's caused a lot pain and exhaustion to people coming and going out of the island at the checkpoint.. me being one of them. So much so that i've been taking the bus in and out more and more nowadays. Especially on fridays.

Last Friday started out pretty decent. I got out of bed on time. I guess that was when the decency stopped. I had asked my mom to drive me and my brother to the JB checkpoint. We got there fine. Mom drove off.. we went thru the checkpoint pretty quick. but when we got out the other side. the que for the bus was non-existent. Now, you'll be thinking "no que.. great!". WRONG! no que, yeah.. but there was probably 2-3 hundred people there squishing each other to get on the bus. At which point my mind went, "crap."

As the bus approaches, we starting gravitating towards it. There was so many people crowding there that you really didn't have to lift your feet to move. It's like being on a conveyor belt. You're just pushed towards the door of the bus with no effort on your part. But mind the sweaty arms of the men and the oily hair of the women standing in front of you.. and behind you.. and to your sides.. if i didn't know better there might just be one below me too. i couldn't see my feet so i wouldn't know. yeah.. glamour. I got on the bus but my brother had to get on the one behind mine.

Bus started to move.. went across the causeway.. i got off went thru customs.. and now.. back to square one queing for the bus to Kranji. hell part 2.

So here i was in this sea of sweat (literally). Fighting and shoving my way onto the 170 bus. Yeah.. i was so close I could touch the doors. I was almost in. My brother had catched up and was right behind me. We were gonna make it. We were.. when suddenly out of the corner of my eye, on my right, I saw an SMRT bus emerging from behind a private bus. The sun behind it. It glowed freshness. Clean. Suddenly i felt like I was watching the parting of the red sea. Or the planting of the first flag on Everest. I turned to my left to look at the que for the SMRT bus. 3 guys and an old lady. So calm and relaxed as they watched us fighting like rats on Happy Cheese Day. I turned to my brother, tapped him on the shoulder and said let's go. We fought our way out of the death mob and smiled as we made our way to the other que. As the SMR bus stopped in front of us. I had a grin so big, I could've took the top of my head off of my neck. AAhhhh.. the sweet life. The doors open and i could feel the clean odorless breeze of the bus's airconditioning. So many empty seats, we were spoilt for choice. I reach for my wallet. Lifted it up to the EZLink machine. Tapped it so softly.. so gently on it's surface. BEEP! it's that the sweetest sound you had ever heard?

As i strolled over to an empty seat at the back of the bus.. A thought suddenly invaded my mind. "Shit! this bus doesn't go to Kranji! It ges the other way to Woodlands!" AAARRRGGHHHHH!!!! I looked back at the crazy mob killing themselves trying to get on the 170 bus. It was as if unanimously, they've decided to turn their heads over at me and mock me with the very same grin i had when i was making my away from them. Quietly but apparent in their faces laughing away at me.

"crap."