My altis - my sanctuary

Going home without my dear altis today is such a chore! See right... i've been sooo pampered recently. Usually when i don't drive, i have my dear Huiliang to accompany me home. Somehow, he's got some kinda huge buffering capacity such that i don't pay much attention to the surroundings. The ride home's usually pleasant cos he's around. heh...

And when i drive, i'm always SITTING comfortably in FLORAL-SMELLING cool air. There's always my favourite radio station or NICE MP3's playing in the background which i can sing along or tap my toes to. Even if i get stuck in a jam or have to deal with lousy drivers on the roads, it's not too bad cos i'm enclosed in my own happy space.

During my horrible ride on the mrt today, i had an assault on all my senses... well, all except "taste". Of which, i think the most potent is definitely hearing and smell.

Hearing
Why do ppl have to talk on their handphones at the top of their voices in the mrt? To my left were 2 Chinese nationals talking in 2 different dialects, to my right were a Thai and another Bangladeshi and right opposite me another Chinese national speaking in Mandarin. I am serious!! All 5 of them were literally shouting into their phones... the one opposite me even switched on the loudspeaker so we can all hear his fren as well. How nice of him... afraid that we'll miss out on parts of their conversation...

I was secretly wishing in my mind that the hp of the lady sitting next to me will go outta battery or signal. I must've wished really hard, cos halfway she did go "Hello? hello?" Just as i was smiling in my mind "YES!", she quickly dialed again and continued her conversation at higher amplitude, probably exclaiming how her line got cut off. At the end of my ride, my threshold for irritation was definitely reached and i also developed a tension headache.

No wonder those earplug-style earphones are selling so well. Thanks to all these inconsiderate ppl generating so much noise! Darn! i must remember my mp3 player when i take the mrt alone next time.

Smell
My sense of smell is very astute. I can smell a speck of coriander or a whiff of cigarette breath/smoke from afar. However, in the mrt, i wish my olfactory nerves are not so powerful or my cribiform plate would have an valve or door which i can close at will.

ok.. i must learn how these smelly ppl manage to block off their own sense of smell. I mean if u are smelly, u should be the first person to smell urself and realize it right? and any person with common sense will do something abt it right? like spray some deodorant if u have body odour, shower first before leaving the gym, use widely accepted scents and not something pungent, etc. How can anyone live life knowing that everyone thinks u're smelly?

Touch
Nope... don't worry i wasn't groped or anything. It's just that this lady next to me can't stop flicking her long hair and it kept tickling me. I tried my best to inch away from her but that only meant that i was nearer to Miss Loudspeaker on my left.

Sight
Able-bodied ppl not giving up seats... ppl sitting on the floor and blocking the way... ppl not giving way to alighting passengers. I can see ugliness in my society almost constantly. I've given up commenting on this already.

Either my tolerance threshold has lowered or the standards have dropped. It's probably a mixture of both. I can also foresee that both can only get worse from now on... meaning i'll continue to enjoy my comfort zone and develop lower and lower threshold for such nonsense. The standards of our society can only get worse as well since the perpetuators don't seem to see it as a problem.

I hope I dun have to endure another mrt ordeal anytime soon.