A Tale of a Technician (with no Ending)

[Original Post at my Blog | My Blog]

[Let me start by saying that this writing is tagged “serious” three times. This signifies it as the most thought-provoking piece (according to my so-so standard) that I've ever written in this blog to date.]


Prolog
If I'm allowed to make a satire about technicians (which I loosely use to refer to engineers and scientists), then perhaps one possibility is to depict them as extremely methodical people; those who uphold objectivity and impartiality above anything else.

[Before continuing, I offer my sincere apology should any engineer/scientist is offended by my remark! Trust me, I have not the slightest intention to offend any of you.]


A Stubborn Technician !
I know one technician who has his own prime example of absolute objectivity. His is about a certain finalist of a popular singing-and-showmanship competition, whom the technician thought to deserve to be crowned as a winner.

Why pick this as an example?

Because the technician thought that this finalist had top-notch vocal and showmanship skills, even though the finalist's personality may court controversies. The technician insisted that in a singing-and-showmanship competition, socio-religious-political aspects shouldn't be the decisive factors (assuming that the rules of the competition are still observed).

Inline with this principle, even though the technician disagrees with certain aspects of the finalist, still the technician deemed the finalist as the worthy winner solely based on his vocal and showmanship. And considering the technician's upbringing, his stance may be arguably controversial, not least within some of his own circles.



A not so Stubborn Technician ?
And yet, in this season of the same competition, the technician is consciously re-assessing his stubbornness of absolute objectivity. All because of one contestant who was cut yet the technician would like it not be the case.

Why does this worth a dedicated writing?

It's because the technician didn't base his preference on vocal and showmanship anymore! Not that the technician deemed the contestant to be a bad performer. No, far from that; the technician didn't catch the show on that particular week, so he's not in a position to judge anyway.

Instead, the technician wanted the contestant to do well because of the contestant's predicament unrelated to vocal and showmanship at all. A predicament where the technician is very fortunate to be blessed with countless opportunities for first-hand observations (and for a prolonged period of time, somewhat).

While the technician's experience is nothing compared to the said contestant's (i.e., it's like comparing an armed-chair critic to a man-in-the-field), the technician seemed to get a timely reminder that extreme impartiality and objectivity is not necessarily appropriate for every practical situation.


Epilog
“... will come back to haunt me.” — perhaps this phrase nicely describes the technician's dilemma (if it may be called so). What was believed as “right”, is being shaken by what had been denounced as “wrong”.

Sometime, unexplained bias is just unavoidable, at all...

Door to Door: an Unpleasant Experience

I've just recovered from a sickness; my brain hasn't been fully functional. So do excuse me if I looked/sounded a bit peking (e as in the, i as in king. It's a Pontianak Malay's word for crazy). Ah, yes! A rather long winding way to just say that I want to rant.

So, here's the situation. Normally, I'd take a bus to a particular destination, and the overall trip takes about 1 hour. Overall means walk to lift, go down and walk to bus stop (10 mins), wait for a bus (5-15 mins), time spent on a bus (30-35 mins), alight and walk to the destination (10 mins).

Yesterday I needed to arrive at the same destination before 10am. Since I was still in the recovery mood, I stepped out from my house at about 9:15am. “Ah, I'll be late if I take a bus” was what I thought. So, I duly decided to take a taxi, hoping to reach my destination before or exactly at 10am despite a higher expense. Which is a fair expectation, isn't? Afterall, taxies are supposed to be more mobile and deliver faster than busses.

Nope! Big no no! Not at all! No, no, and no! Have I said no?!?!?!?

First, I waited for a taxi at the entrance of my house complex. See, it took 5 mins to walk from the house's entrance to the lift, go down, and then walk to the entrance of the complex. After failing to get a taxi for about 10 mins, I took a 5-min walk to a taxi stand in a plaza and reached there at 9:30am. Yes, a plaza (BPP — Bukit Panjang Plaza). Actually it's very close to the bus stop I usually used, but still I decided to take a taxi in a (soon-to-be-proved) vain hope to arrive a.s.a.p.

The problem was, it took another 35 mins to finally board to a taxi (i.e. 10:05am). And this was after compulsively pressing the call button many many times. And mind you, there're other travelers waiting there as well. Of course, once boarding to the taxi, it took only 15 mins to reach my destination. The cost? SGD 8.8, nearly 7x the cost of taking a bus (SGD 1.29).

Now, I deliberately leave this till the end: I arrive at my destination at almost 10:30am. This was even later than had I decided to take a bus. Madness! How can it be?! Taxies are supposed to be superior in their delivery time, provided we're willing to pay! But how is it that the total, door-to-door time from my house's door to the destination's door (i.e. the meeting room) was the same?!?!? And yet, I still paid 7x of the cost of busses!!!!

Grrmph $%^#&@%&$@&(*&(#@$@@#

D-Day

I am feeling gado2 now: anxious, nervous, afraid, ... Why? Because it's now 22.5 hours before the d-day.

Anyway, it can't be worse than singing that sacred YNWA song or fighting against the wind like mad, can it?