After training today, I went to Mos Burger for breakfast with Junyang and Jasper, then to the Bishan Library to read papers and wait for Junda. Waited for quite a while till finally his math lesson ended. So he came to J8 and bought a snack and we went home.

Or so I thought. I ended up going to his house instead, since neither of us was in the mood to go home and study. Well his house is quite big, but then all semi-Ds are. So anyway he had a big TV to boot, but no cable. I really think it's a shame. His brother, primary 2, was reading pokemon manga. Which really is quite sad imo. So anyway I was feeling bored and so asked Junda what entertainment he had, ie dvds and the like. Well he had...

Pokemon vcds. More pokemon vcds. And many more episodes of pokemon. And looney toons. His brother decided to watch looney toons, and since i was on his sofa in his living room I tuned in as well. At least looney toons is better than pokemon. To me, at least.

And lo and behold, the series his brother picked happened to be the Road Runner one. And I immensely dislike Road Runner, cause it absolutely makes no sense, and is really wtf humor at its best. And also, as I watched on, it occurred to me that it promoted violence. Even more than what is shown in a normal episode of Justice League, if I recall right. You might scoff at this, but the methods used by Mr Coyote are pretty brutal, and the only reason parents don't object to the show is that it does not show the real consequences of such brutal methods. Grenades, dynamites and high ordinance is pretty much staple on the show. A charred and blackened Coyote is usually the aftermath. Now we all know that that is as pretty far from what reality entails. GTA violent? At least it shows you the consequences of what you do to a higher level of realism. Road runner misleads young minds into thinking that the worse you could out of an explosion is to turn black as coal.

I really pity the poor Coyote, cause all he's trying to do is to feast and this stupid jiao just cannot stop his highly obnoxious "beep, beep!" and get eaten. I always wish the road runner to be eaten every time I watch an episode, and I know I'm not alone in this. I wonder if he'll still do his "beep, beep!" in Coyote's stomach. That would be... comical.

And at least Justice League has a semblance of a plot, the same of which cannot be argued for Road Runner. It's just basically Mr Coyote looking for a meal, and a very speedy one at that. It's pretty much fast food you can't get your hands on.

You can find many such programs on National Geographic and Discovery, and at least that doesn't insult your intelligence. And sometimes you even get a bonus of feral mating.

So anyway the reason for this post isn't about the cartoon. It's about what we did after the cartoon. So after a few episodes of Road Runner I got fed up and asked his brother to change it to Bugs Bunny. It was pretty violent too, and the 2 episodes I watched ended with Mr Bugs and the villian(or hero for that matter) falling to their deaths, only the second episode had them live through the landing though it was from a sky high location. Then it ended with "Bet you didn't expect that!" Wowowee that's such a great twist. Seems to me the scriptwriters have some kind of weird fascination with death by falling, or maybe cause it's just damn easy to draw. Clouds and skies, shocked and unbelieving expressions, flapping bodies. Think it'll be better to have them blow the brains out of each other. Just paint it all red. But then the violence wouldn't be subtle at all. But I say that's better cause at least you don't cast insidious tendrils that worm their way through into a kid's mind and lay dormant till the day they explode and everyone suffers. Better let the violence be outright and the kids display it so that they may be corrected.

So morale of the story is Warner Bros is CUNNING! JIAN SHANG.

So after the 2 episodes of bugs bunny I had enough and we went up to Junda's room for me to take a look. So we stood at his balcony for around half an hour, enjoying the scenery and occasional breeze. After that we grew bored and decided to go play soccer and repair his bike. Unfortunately none of his neighbours were available, so we had to take a rain check on trouncing people at soccer. So we half cycled and half walked to the bike shop, which is opposite Ten Mile Junction. I went to check out Tech Wholesale in Ten Mile Junction while Junda was waiting for his turn. Their prices are pretty reasonable, and I think I'll buy my games there next time.

We ate at Ten Mile Junction. I had pork chop, it was decent. The fresh orange juice was cheap and good though.

After lunch I was thinking of going home but Junda persuaded me to go cycle. So he picked up his bike, which he spent $36 on for repairs, and we went to my house to get my bike. My bike is the old man's kind, figures since my old man bought it, and the best thing about it is it's foldable. The value of such a capability was not apparent to us until halfway through our ardous journey to Woodlands.

The Odyssey

I pumped up my bike and myself, and we left my house in search of a good cycling trail. I suggested a jogging trail behind pioneer JC. And since I suggested it I was unanimously the Expedition Leader. Such a great responsibility eh. Which basically meant I rode in front and Junda followed.

When we reached it, I was distraught. The bloody trail was uneven, and every inch along it seemed dotted with potholes. Had to ride between the uneven tar walkway and the grass, and even then the repsite from the jolts it gave my ass was minimal. So we cycled all the way, and had to carry our bikes along at one point to continue the expedition. We cycled straight all the way, till there was only a right to take to Kranji, and we took it. Cycle and cycle we did, through the industrial estate. The feeling of the wind brushing through my body was good. But the trade-off was the pain in the ass. Which was not good at all, needless to say.

Much of the cycling was up and down, and since our bikes didn't have suspension systems, our asses got a good whooping. I was telling Junda that if you didn't know how to stand(so that you wouldn't take a direct hit to your ass) your balls would be gone at one point of the journey. At which he replied "I didn't even stand." The candid remark had me chuckling for quite a while. I was standing quite a bit to avoid the hits, and my ass was already smarting, and here he was telling me he took it all like a man! Maybe it's our bikes.

So we came to a point where the road ended up in a T junction. We could turn left, to Kranji and Woodlands, or right, back to safe old Choa Chu Kang and Bukit Panjang. I told Junda that the liberty of choice was his. But of course it wasn't. He was inclined to take the right but I persuaded him to the left. It didn't take much persuading, for everyone loves a good adventure!

Decision having been made, we continued our Tour De Singapore. Many a times, our trek had us cycling right next to a road. And the trail was around 1.5m or less across, with the road to one side and the grass + drains to the other. The road was full of trucks, as this was the Kranji area and it was industrial estate land all around. It was exhilarating, to say the least. One false move and SPLAT! We would probably be in the Void before we landed. And we and Junda came close a few times. It's the stuff of adrenaline junkies man.

So on and on we endured, till we came to some bus stop. where the walkway just ended. And there was only grass. And it was slightly uphill. I was displeased. So I started shouting. To no one in particular, but at least it was amusing. There was no one around to hear us, since there was not a single building in sight, only roads with many trucks.

It was surely a sign for us to turn back. But NO! We were close. Junda checked the bus list of stops, and found out that Kranji MRT was only 3 bus stops away. We were not to be denied! We were close to the quarry, and there would be no stopping us. Though I don't know why the hell our destination was to Kranji MRT, cause reaching the MRT would serve no purpose as bikes are disallowed in the MRT. Mine, on the other hand, being foldable, would probably be allowed. A fact which I made Junda understand thoroughly before we got on our way. I sat down at the bus stop and started jesting that maybe I should just fold my bike and part our ways there(since bikes aren't allowed on the bus)

"Ok that's where my leadership role ends and we part ways, buh-bye" or some variation of that I kept repeating to him lol.

But obviously I didn't due to the inherent goodness in me. I couldn't leave him to die here out in the wilderness. So we pushed our bikes till we finally found a route, and then we rode to Kranji MRT. At which point I repeated the joke. We reached the MRT at around 7. Junda went to some provision shop at the MRT and the shopkeeper asked him where he cycled from. He said Bukit Panjang and another shopkeeper who overheard the conversation was taken aback. Hehe.

After a short break, we decided to head back. The day was coming to an end, and night was falling soon. A point which I kept repeating to Junda to spur him on. Kept irritating him by telling him the demons were coming out soon and we better not tarry or be caught haha.

So since we had enough of the adrenalin rushing from our previous path, we decided to change our route. Instead of heading the way back, we took a left from the Kranji MRT.

Big mistake. We ended up cycling beside the turf club, and at one point we passed some container office which motorists were buying tickets from or something like that. So I thought, uh oh, are we heading to yalam land? So I ordered Junda to ask. And ask he did, and the information he acquired was heartening indeed. Our pathway to home was straight ahead. We were on the right course. Or at least the villian would have us believed. Junda asked the person whether we could cycle on the expressway, since that was where the person at the container office was directing us towards. The person said yes. So we sped on, thinking our journey would be at its end soon.

we cycled around 15 mins to half an hour, till we reached the branch in the highway the person directed us to. We had to climb some stairs and cycle quite a bit. To our dismay, we found out that the only way to cycle would be along the highway. And there was quite a high divider between the walkway, which was boarded off and prevented our further progress.

--------------------------------
Highway
----------------------------------
---------------------------Divider
Blocked l Angry us\\\\\\ =======
l---------------------------

(\\\\ is the stairs we just climbed, carrying our bikes on the way up)


We were really quite angry at having been conned. Night was here, and the danger just increased. Of course, we could have cycled along the highway. But we had to get our bikes across the divider, and it wasn't going to be easy with high speed vechicles along the way. And Junda said it was illegal to cycle along the highway. So we took the craven's way. Back where we came from.

Fast foward to the crucial junction where we had made the bloody left and jacked ourselves, the time was 7.30. We were estimating our ETA to civilisation which was actually Ten Mile Junction. I wasn't too optimistic and said we'll take 2 hours. Junda said 1. We both underestimated ourselves. We reached Ten Mile at around 8.15-8.30. We took a different route, but we still had to navigate the tight-rope style walkways. And in diminished visibility too. +10 Night Vision exp. And not too mention the unbearable jolts of pain in the ass due to the curb we were on going up and down.

Nearing civilisation, there was somebody walking at the bus stop, oblivious to my speeding bike. I slowed down and hovered behind him. I had no bell, and didn't want to be rude. And Junda caught up, and ringed his bell at the guy. The guy jumped out of the way and apologised. Like really hopped. It was hilarious. The bell was a new investment from the afternoon, and I say it's worth every penny of the $4.90 that was paid just for that moment alone. I turned around and thanked Junda.

So we went back to the bike shop cause Junda's mountain bike was making some noise that he wasn't happy with. Well the shop person said that it couldn't be fixed unless he opened up the whole bike to check. Which of course put Junda off his quest for revenge. And the person ended with a classik don't be worried about slight noises it won't be a big problem. Which basically was asking Junda to not be paranoid.

We got a drink at Ten Mile, and basically sat there for half an hour trying to catch our breath and recover our sore asses. I was covered in a sheen of sweat, but the thrill of having the wind working its way through your body... Ahh the feeling is really very enjoyable.

It's amazing what a pair of legs and a bike can bring you. I think everybody should try it some time or another. Set one day aside, just to bike and see where it brings you. A death defying experience awaits! Of course you have to be prepared to ride back the way you came, unless you have a foldable bike hurhur...

Labels: The Odyssey