Dream: Collector, Inventor, Pig

Dreams as they go don't make sense. I just thought that it's amusing to log them and read at a future date. Readers might want to skip this entry.

[Dream]
At a rich man's party
Henchmen reports items stolen

The collector explained in his room
He steals food, that are not to be eaten

Me, a nameless entity
In a densely packed, light factory area
Entered a shop, selling Smurfs-like models
Shop lit w warm light, had a small rounded interior with the store lady inside
Told her a mysterious collector coming, often paying high value for the best stuffs
We reviewed the list for a while

Me, a middle aged inventor on the run
Was in a double decker london bus, traveling along a beach road
Gal hero, known to self earlier was on the move with her German shepherd dog
Both had fast arcade like dashing speed, when navigating pedestrian crossings
Left the bus and joined her
Me, a middle aged inventor on the run from zombie apocolyse
What skills you have, she asked.
None, I said.  she don't have to know my computer skills
Join in, she said
Is that your best speed? I said as I matched hers

Me, an observer
3 laps later, view panned to show her behind the middle aged inventor
Inventor smiled knowing that he won because she was already tired to begin with
Gal looked pleased, gained approval of the man.

Me, a middle aged inventor on the run
Dog was in hyperactive mode, running round and round the carpark
Gal was pulling on his chain but no avail
I added my weight, but was pulled along too
Dog then crashed into covered stuffs in the middle, and got entangled with a massive cow
cow has a regular head, but a massive bull-sized body and no visible legs
Both cow and dog were frightened; the dog trapped closed to the cow, behind its head

Me, an observer
Gal approached cow and dog, trying to unlock the chain, agaitating the cow
Inventor sent his little pig, who snuggled against the cow, calming it
Dog was released, visibly tired
View panned to pig, now visibly big.  my thoughts drifted to how the inventor raised it as a farmer, to sell it to the market
Inventor holds the pig, rolls it into a few slices of ham in his hands.
I make things, he said, to be eaten.  He then bit off the ham
[/Dream]

Dream: 201402??

Had a dream where my supervisor was critiquing my codes.  I counter argued that mine is the most efficient method, and she agreed.  Then she gave me an advice that my stuffs lack polish, and others won't see my quality.

Woke up feeling happy.  How I wish to have a supervisor like that.

Dream: Evil dragon and time travel

Dreams as they go don't make sense. I just thought that it's amusing to log them and read at a future date. Readers might want to skip this entry.

[dream: act 1]
In long shop house area, much like Tanjong Pagar.  Waiting for someone.
[/dream: act 1]

[dream: act 2]
In unfamiliar shopping center.  Had an appointment with an NBA player at 12 noon.  It's 1.45 pm and he's very late.  Wanted to not wait for him, like what Lincoln would have done.
[/dream: act 2]

[dream: act 3]
Evil Chinese dragons(note1) attacking Chinese opera houses.  I was shown a map of a web of river valleys with settlements populating them, each having an opera house.  I have went backward in time, just before the second attack.
[/dream: act 3]






[dream: act 4]
An elderly man was collecting tax/license fee from the opera owners.  He commented that their ticket rates are very cheap.  I know instinctively that this was just before modernisation forced prices down and opera house out of business.  I got to know the price is $1.50.  I agreed, "Very cheap".
[/dream: act 4]

[dream: act 5]
In a small flat.  Younger versions of my parents-in-law are eating egg omelettes and pork cutlets.  Had a thought that if I could stop them from eating unhealthy food now, I could prevent their health problems later.  Saw an elderly woman to the right of me.
"Dua Ah Ma(note2)", I greeted her in Hokkien.
"What Dua Ah Ma?  There's no such thing", she replied in the same dialect.
Pointing to my mother-in-law, I said, "She's Ah Ma.  You're Dua Ah Ma.  I came from the future".
"What?  I don't know you".
Another voice spoke up.  In place of my father-in-law.  A younger version of my maternal grandmother sat there.  She was her plumb self as I remembered her then.  She said, "As he said before to me, once he speaks up, you'll recognise his voice".
That's right, I thought.  I told her that when I time traveled the last time(note3), but that event has not happened yet...
I asked, "How could you know?  It hasn't happened yet".
"I don't know".  She replied.  "I just do.".
[/dream: act 5]

Ah... I missed you.

Footnotes:
note1: In cultural history, Chinese dragons are forces of good, and not evil.
note2: A bad translation.  I was addressing my mother-in-law "Grandmother", and my grand mother-in-law as Great Grandmother".
note3: Dream self had this "memory" that he(myself) met his maternal grandmother in his time travels, and she was convinced of his identity.  However, that "event" is supposedly years after this one.
~

Dream: Porting

Dreams as they go don't make sense. I just thought that it's amusing to log them and read at a future date. Readers might want to skip this entry.

[dream: act 1]
In a kind of "place" where we're studying for "something". Present were my sec school classmates, uni classmates and ex colleagues and some current colleagues. After studying, we'll go back to our dorms via a series of branching doors.
[/dream: act 1]

[dream: act 3]
Vincent was angry that I got classmate X's help and scored 1st in mathematics. Told him that I had a history of roller coaster grades in mathematics. "It could have been anyone, like Yuna. I just needed help because I wasn't paying attention in class". Vincent was satisfied.
[/dream: act 3]

[dream: act 4]
Travel can be made via "porting", someone has to accept your transfer at a booth and once payment is made, you instantly appear at the booth. Payment is made via pre-paid cards. These cards card used for MMO subscriptions, porting and telephone phones. Just ported my baby over to the amusement park and told that I could now upgrade my card after having used $1000 in total. The upgraded card now offers porting at 1000kbps. We accepted.
Checked the card and found that we only have a few cents left. Guess no MMO for baby for a while...
[/dream: act 4]

[dream: act 5]
Walking back by the series of branching doors. Realised baby not with me so let the others go ahead. Found her 2 doors back. She grumbled at not checking for her and I put my arm around her shoulder, "Baby.."
[/dream: act 5]

[dream: act 6]
In american-style alley, with Demonic-dog howls...
[/dream: act 6]

Woke by alarm (demonic-dog howls). To wake baby and go for breakfast now.

Scary dream

Had a scary dream.  Was back with my army mates, carrying stores and washing ourselves at a common bath-pool.  Foo was worried that the water I fed him was dirty, but I pointed out that he was in it anyway.  Then we were told that we're going to have keep the stores we've drawn, cos we're NSMen.
Woke up with a shiver.  That was scary; I didn't want to keep those stores.

Dream on 10 Jan 2009

Had a series of unrelated dreams in the morning of 10 Jan 2009. One particular one was memorable because it woke me up at 7am.

[dream]
My maternal grandmother was alive and my dream self did not know she had passed away. She gave me a kiss. Then something happened and she had difficulty breathing and the extended family was gathered away her and giving her a kiss. I took my turn.

The crowd disappeared and I was alone with her. Told her I was going to marry ST. She in her kid like moment, gave me a kiss.

Scene suddenly switched and I was in some video game competition with 2 other teammates. A nagging thought was that I should return quickly.

Went back and I found.. -[scene deleted for private reasons]-. Mother walked in and casually told me she's dead. She also said the body doesn't matter anymore. Dream self gave a horrible wail.
[/dream]

Woke. Did my parents hear me? They were already up and awake in the kitchen. My face was dry.

This was a dream most grounded in reality and therefore saddening. 13 months. I guess late is better than never.

Dream: Chalets?

Dreams as they go don't make sense. I just thought that it's amusing to log them and read at a future date. Readers might want to skip this entry.

[dream: act 1]
At my dreamworld's Pasir Ris again. This version always had a very remote bus interchange that's always bustling with life and shop. Tonight, we had booked a chalet - a 2 storey apartment unit. What baffled me at the moment was how the swimming pool complex was smack in front of it's doorsteps. Talk about overcrowding!
My family was there and I explained this little quirk has always been this way. In a nod to modernisation, there's a Sakae Sushi restaurant opened in the swimming complex, facing our apartment unit.
[/dream: act 1]

dream2 fled my memory

[dream: act 3]
A family. A stray dog. A family that took in a stray dog. A little girl. A family that gave up the stray dog. The stray dog adopted by a shop owner. On a lease outside the shop. Walked too close. Growled at. Growled back.
In the same setting, I explored the area. Familiar. Streets joined at angles to each other. Little traffic. A lady with her 2 daughters had a makeshift stall in one of the alleys, selling Nonya goodies. Caught the fragrance of steamed cupcakes. Started browsing. Recalled food I had bought earlier and left to waste. "Oh Shit" and knocked over straws and a packet of food. A very wizened old lady said not to mind. Noticed for the first time and realised it's a family of 3 generations tending the stall. Looked at the food again and ordered the steamed cupcakes, explicitly requesting for coconut flesh and coconut sugar. The mother held only coconut sugar in her hands. Noted Otah and was tempted to buy. Thought of ST still sleeping, at this noon hour and intended this to be her breakfast.
[/dream: act 3]

Woke.
Ah Shit. Didn't deliver the food.
Dozed.

Dream: spa?

Dreams as they go don't make sense. I just thought that it's amusing to log them and read at a future date. Readers might want to skip this entry.

[dream]
With Butters, Ah Yam, GaGa.  Some misunderstanding; unhappiness.  Went to SPA?  Met some minor big shots, everyone pretty excited.  I'm still lost in my own world.

~skip scene
Playing game.  Got to choose 3 heroes; each confers a bonus.  I chose Spiderman for agility, Ironman for skill, Hulk for strength.  One game is to time a torpedo fight with a submarine as it surfaces.  Won.
[/dream]

Not my best recall.  This dream evaporated pretty fast as I didn't stop to recall it.

Dream: Virtual Reality Game Park

Dreams as they go don't make sense. I just thought that it's amusing to log them and read at a future date. Readers might want to skip this entry.

[dream]
Entered a spacious room. The entrance was lined with machines that required credits. Inserted a plastic currency note that came in denominations of 5 and 10. We were granted 1 hour.

A comrade was with me. An alien appeared. He shot at it close range. The creature pounded on him. He discharged his shotgun into its belly. The alien was shot up by the impact and the acidic blood splattered all over him. My comrade thrashed on the floor in agony.


I looked up at the bulkhead.
"Computer?"
I waited for a reply. There was none.
"Computer?"
A responding star-trek theme door bell chime replied me.
"Increase blood transfer to 25%"
"Acknowledged"

3m away from me, my comrade recovered and stood up. We were in a garden. We started jogging and the path took us in a clockwise direction. We avoided short red plants that had vines radiating out from the center, whipping blindly. Without knowing how, we knew that these plants are carnivourous. We came upon a swarm of snakes, short and fat like sea cucumbers. We couldn't dodge them so we waved 2 short twigs with leaves at them. Strangely, they exploded.
[/dream]



I came briefly conscious of my dream, "Weird"



[dream]
A group of was in pursuit of us. They caught up.

We were in a hall, sparse and undecorated except for about 8 tables, lined up in 2 rows. On each table, some items were in preparation. Our group now consisted of 6, a task force of some kind.

We were in a carpark, among cars that are vacant, discussing our plans. A woman approached us, insisting we help her.
"I got something to show you but I can't cause it's from the future"
"If you don't, then the timeline is going to get changed anyway", I retorted.
Acknowledging the logic, we walked over to her SUV where she produced a large encyclopedia. The book was a bounded copy and parts of the pages were falling out. At some parts, she stopped us from looking, "These contains weapons of my country (future)", she said. We stopped at a map of the country she wanted us to help. It was a map of Sweden.

We were in a room discussing our plans. There's a show at the airport and there's a flower fair in the town.
"I think it has to be a 2 days event", I said.

I was in a lab. Some of the bunsen burners were lighted but there was nothing cooking above it. I turned them off.



Back at the hall with 8 tables; I turned off all the bunsen burners for the various dishes that were cooking, without consulting my senior, declaring that the dishes were ready.
"Very good", said my teacher. "You have shown confidence"
[/dream]

Freedom Of Speech In Your Own Blog (And Blog Direction)

Freedom Of Speech In Your Own Blog? No, I don't believe it exists.

It's not a matter of whether we can be sued or prosecuted for what we say. It's not as simple as, "If you don't like her blog, then don't read it". It's the fact that blogs, despite the owner's intention, are not private.

"So and so is a liar", someone wrote about you in his blog. Can you say that by simply not visiting his blog, your name does not get smeared? Should not that person be called to stand by his wild accusations?

In a little Paintball politics, someone called my teammate a noob on his blog, as well as several other players he played with that day. I got disgusted about his elitist attitude and complained about noob-calling on my blog (see old link here). Next thing I know, I was labeled the "noob-with-a-blog". A few weeks, he attacked me again, "You're a noob - you'll be called a noob - get used to it. Don't bitch on you blog because people call you a noob."

Am I gonna be whacked by him whenever he feels like it?

Good thing is, this second attack finally won me some support from friends who thought that I was overreacting the first time round. It's a victory of sorts.

Just because we ignore a problem doesn't mean it's gonna go away. Blogs, password protected or not, are public domain. You can just make irresponsible statements if you feel like it. Do you know that there's actually a blog from a neighboring country saying that Singaporeans are so kia-si that if she walks across our streets without checking, cars would actually screech to a stop. That's a dangerous attitude to pass around.

In short, no. We're not US president candidates.
~

This blog started out as a means to log my dreams and games. It spun out of control after I added events of my social life into it. As such, some articles are not safe for public consumption. To counter this, I now manage a personal blog and a games blog. The next direction for my personal blog will be - no complaints about work. A goal I'll strive for.
~

Dream: Interviewee

Dreams as they go don't make sense. I just thought that it's amusing to log them and read at a future date. Readers might want to skip this entry.

[dream]
Me, Shijie were standing around when a little girl walked through the door. She approached the secretary who asked her to wait a while. She's the kind of age where you'll plait her hair and send her to pre-school. She stood there, innocently, waiting for the person she was supposed to meet.
We check her appointment card for who she was supposed to meet.
JW: Who's XB?
SJ: Me lor.

[furiously thinking] Don't we have a new guy, already? Don't tell me he's going to leave soon?

[another girl enters]

JW: Shijie, what's going on?
SJ: I don't know.
[/dream]

Dream of Santorini

Dreams as they go don't make sense. I just thought that it's amusing to log them and read at a future date. Readers might want to skip this entry.

[Dream]
Family came to visit me at Santorini for the weekend. Brought them out. "See the caldera? Nice, isn't it? Look at the streets. Note the stones are different from Paros and Mkyonnos."
Went into toy shop. Picked up a Veritech fighter box, tore open the black bag inside, saw a VF-1s and tiny figurines of Zentradi officer pod and UN Spacy's Mac II, which I already have. "Hey Melvin, you want a VF-1S?" "Yes, I want", replied Melvin. Wow, these days they stick the little models into Lego bricks instead of seperate items. Huh? These days I see are not for sale? Item turned out to be Jabba the hutt vs Stormtrooper on speederbike. The type is on the box. "Oops, you still want it? I can purchase it to complete my collection, no problem." "No, no, I can still get it." "You sure?"
Took a look around, rest of family is gone. "Oh no, stay here while I go look for them." Ran around a large modern train station, could find them. Came to town. Entered narrow streets. Entered a shop which turned out to be a massage shop. Boss(?) and Fauzi where there, having massages. Lied on a bed, which turns out to be the most expensive one at 28 dollars. Attendant started giving a massage by applying oils. When the massage for the other two guys have been completed, the massager's went to the center of the shop, which is laid out like a gym and took part in a popularity contest. Of them, who is the best massager? My guy won are came back to me. He seemed to have lost interest or lost track. Either way, he concluded my massage, leaving me unsatisfied.
Got off from bed, the coins in my pocket have spilled out. Segregated different denominations and put them back. Remembered that the rest of the family could not be found that they couldn't get into my hotel room as I'm the only one with a key. Phones won't work as there is no reception there.
Went to cashier to pay. The bill came out to be 40.05 Euros - because of herbs. Was unhappy due to lack of transparency but paid up. Gave them 40 Euros and a dollar coin. "Hey, what's this?", the cashier demanded. Took a closer look. SBP.. "Oh, Scottish Pound. Sorry, I took out all my foreign currency with me". Found the correct coin and paid them.
On way out, came across LHS and Fauzi. LHS uncharacteristically used his elbow to rub my shoulder, which only feels mildly ticklish.
[/Dream]

Scottish Pound is not SBP. It is used domestically and has the same value as GBP. Great Britain Pound is GBP.

Dream: I got to stop him!

[post has been back-dated]

Dreams as they go don't make sense. I just thought that it's amusing to log them and read at a future date. Readers might want to skip this entry.

[Dream]
Pat: Adrian(randomly assigned name) is saying we're taking up 1 month to do the changes!
Me: How could this be? I thought he's a nice guy!

[in another room]
Adrian: How could they take so long to do these changes?

Me: I got to stop him.

[in another room, person was replaced]
Ben (randomly assigned name): How could they take so long to do these changes?

Me: ???
[/Dream]

Political dream? Wow...

Dreaming on a full bladder

Dreams as they go don't make sense. I just thought that it's amusing to log them and read at a future date. Readers might want to skip this entry.

[Dream]
I was playing Settlers and I simply couldn't get my resources. Mdm Foo(n0) remarked, "You'll be getting a surprise later". "What??" "You'll be getting a surprise later", she repeated. "Why couldn't you just tell me?", I pressed.
My bank account got additional money and I was puzzled. Was it refunds? A bonus or a mistake?
I had a full bladder so I went to the toilet in my house(n1). Soon later, the ceiling started leaking water. I stayed well clear of the milky coloured liquid.
I was joined by Kelvin(n2). The toilet faded away, no longer one being one, became the room with the leaky ceiling. One part of the wall opened up to a room(n3) that was central to the house, all walls knocked down and with the sky for a roof. "It's weird to have a courtyard in the middle of the house", I said. We stood there admiring the grass strewn room for a while.
We went to the balcony to enjoy the view. A rain had started up. I was joined by two camp mates, one of them being Morgan(n4).
The house fell away. The CO's jeep came towards us. "Why are you all here?", he demanded. "We came for the toilet", we said. "Then why are you all wet?", he asked. "Because the rain started after we came", we replied.
We scattered and make ourselves scarce from our CO. The toilet faded into a wooden shack. I went to the mini bus to look for the working clothes I had left there. Someone "diam"-ed the company and I had to stop a while. My working pants was gone and together with it, my wallet. "Maybe you should try looking in the rover", suggested Kelvin. "Rover?", I questioned myself in my head. Nevertheless, I went over and found both items there. The wallet however, was laid open and the contents were thrown across the car park, laid out as though in a trail.
Fuming, I started picking up my items when someone sounded the horn at me. It was Gnel(n5) in an open white Porsche(n6). "Get in", she said and opened the left door for me. She then shifted to the driver seat on the right. "You very cute leh", I commented as I got in. "Can you be more mature?", she scolded. "Sorry..."
Kelvin popped up from no where and handed me a note. "This is sort of an apology from him", he said. In red ink, the note said, "This is in revenge for how you treated Jiaxiang(n7) in camp. You gave Xueyi(n8) twice the amount of rice". I laughed, "Yah, the girls were eating too little so I gave them twice the amount". I felt a little betrayed by the mysterious thief. Kelvin was laughing himself silly. "In the excitement, he blogged about it and betrayed himself", he explained. It was Jiaxiang(n9)...

[/Dream]
n0 - colleague
n1 - recurring dream house
n2 - colleague
n3 - part of recurring dream house
n4 - camp mate
n5 - colleague
n6 - I know nuts about cars. I just "knew" it was a Porsche in the dream
n7 - mistake in dream. He should be Xue(2) jing(4)
n8 - mistake in dream. She should be Xue(3) ling(2)
n9 - Xue(2) jing(4)

Xmas dream

Dreams as they go don't make sense. I just thought that it's amusing to log them and read at a future date. Readers might want to skip this entry.

[continued dream]
-setting
2 group of young women were standing close but apart. Group A had an arrogant leader, surrounded by 5 cronies. Group B had a plain looking gal on crutches, with 3 friends. Only 3 of them talked, let's called them Tarragon, Mate Best and Lucid Ride. Lucid Ride had unequal bones(??) and recently fitted herself with prosthetic limbs so that she would be able to look and appear normal. This has been what Tarragon had tormented her for most of their relationship.

-act1:
Lucid Ride: But I want to be your best maid!
Tarragon: Well, I already have Mate Best here [smirks]
Mate Best: Yeah, I'll be a good best maid.
Lucid Ride: All you had to do was that to say that I'm your "sister", then my gown would be $300 cheaper
Tarragon: Well, then I won't do that
Lucid Ride: I'll get the gown [exits, her friends giving silent support]
Tarragon: Are you sure you can walk on that? [cronies laughed]

-act2:
We(??) are in a car. felt like my mother was driving, with brother and Lucid Ride in the car. somehow we were watching "zhen qing" - a Hong Kong serial, with the car windows acting as screens. They appeared to be filming in Singapore then one scene shifted to some place very familiar. A low single storey building with thatched roof. Trees and a circuitous path inside the compound. A long row of 2 storey classroom. A tall 3 storey building which was not accurate but yet I do recognise it. Followed by another 2 storey building. A large pond and a Chinese style building as a backdrop. More trees... "What the hell?...", I exclaimed in surprise., "When was this taken??". Lucid Ride replied, "Maybe they took the footage long ago and superimposed it as a background for their filming". I was stunned. Such dedication, filming a scenery that you might use in the far future. I closed an eye and used a finger to test for the blue screen effect, it was true. "But the canteen was not 3 stories tall!", I complained. "It was", replied my brother. I didn't believe it but watched in silence as the characters walked in a scene that had vanished. Our car drove by the quiet streets of Cassia Crescent, without any of the low houses. A silent dark field as our companion.

-act3
Lucid Ride and me were in a hotel room. She was upset that Tarragon did not want to acknowledge that she's one of her "sisters" so that she could get a discount off her gown. "I can sponsor you, $300", I offered. "Thanks, but I won't accept that". "Then you can pay me in instalments. 2 months, 10 cents per day", I said (apparently my dream self did not pass his Mathematics...). No reply. Brother was smoking on the bed. "Hey careful", I exclaimed, brushing away the ash. I turned back to her, "Come on, $300 only". "Don't be disgusting", she snapped.
[/continued dream]

"Continued dream" means that I have dreamt this character before. However, I wasn't inside the story then.

[Inaccuracies]
We don't have a car anymore. Much less one with futuristic features.
You can't test for the blue screen effect the way I did.
Cassia Crescent is now built up.
My brother doesn't smoke.

[Blog update]
Note that there's a "label" below this post? This is a new feature to sub categorise our posts. So click on Dreams and.. you can guess what happens =D

Dream: catching up

[Dream state]
Handphone rings.
Me: "Hello? This is JW. How may I help you?"
Caller: "This is Mr Siu. How may you help me??"
Me: "Err.. I'm kind of a helpdesk"
[Ponders]
"Oh! You're Siusian aren't you?"
[Wondering why he told the wrong surname]
Mr Ling: "Yes. My handphone number is xxxx-xxxx"
Me: Oh ok, thanks.
Mr Ling: "I've left my job and is now a team lead. I'm happy to see that you're doing well.
Me: Er ok, thanks.
[/Dream state]

I woke up feeling touched, mixed with a little guilt. He is my character reference and I have not seen him for 4 years.

-3H1U

Dreams and work

So what now? Am I taking turns to dream of friends? This time its Morgan, Bryan, daughter of Jing Tian Yi Yi promoting him, Adeline, Edmen - starting from an old recurring building in my dreams, along orchard road. Me and the guys were exploring the building, me joking with Adeline on what she owed me and Edmen asking when I want to start jogging?

Work has settled down into less of a mad run through the office and into a "sit at my desk and crack my head". I have been stuck at a problem for 7 days, which I could have solved faster if my boss allowed me to use a particular method. In the end, after all that frustration and running into dead ends, I picked my original idea and thrown in some safeguards. Lesson learnt? Don't share your thoughts with your boss, just get the job done? Cos in the end, no one asked me how I miraculously solved it in a single day, after getting stuck for so long and consulting a dozen people.
But now as a result of this delay, I'm in deadline trouble. The consultant and I discovered that the program cannot send out SAP mails correctly as the user account I'm using could not receive them and I was oblivious to it. Will boss be understanding that on Monday, 1 day past my deadline and I tell her there still problems? Wanna place your bets?

A new years dream

As dreams goes, this is utterly nonsense. Reading this will hardly gain you any insight to the creature who goes under the guise of Joran, Midgard, James and Mitra. Determine for yourself if your time can be better spent elsewhere.

20060101, sun, 0805 hrs

[Dream]

We were brought through a manhole into an academy where we would have "passed out of mortals' eyes". Later, we understood we were captured by aliens and placed here. New arrivals like us would arrive and the earliest batch would graduate, with no more than ten batches at one time. "To keep our experience low!", I declared angrily after realising it. I got to know 3 friends in this place: a girl and 2 guys. The girl was of average height, pleasant personality and looks. The first guy was short and slightly fleshier than me. I got the feeling we're good friends. The last guy was tall and lanky. He was the quiet type and keeps to himself. All four of us were in the same gang, united by this oppression we felt among us. The others formed their own groups. The academy was ran by humans, we saw no aliens at all. At one time, we found the office of Lim Tong Hai, brother of Lim Tong Hai, ex national soccer player [this sounds silly now]. We walked out of the entrance of the academy and saw a triangular based "pillar" listing the names of the management, with Lim Tong Hai on it. [The academy is "underground". It’s not dark and receives the same sunlight. It’s like a huge world upon itself].

Later, our group would sit outside this manager/director's office as it was out of the way and part of a small sheltered building with railings covering the front face, leaving an opening for the doorway. We would sit and discuss the oppression and the fate that will await us. It felt that if we graduate, we would really "pass out of mortals' eyes" - dead. I have grown to wear a black robe over my clothes, with a hood that I can pull snugly over to hide my face, leaving a generous space around the eyes and the nose. We understood that we were monitored around this place and when my gal companion pointed out this building had camera too. I stood up, saw camera lens behind a panel of glass display cases and waved "hi" to it, without my hood, which I had taken off during conversation. I wasn't afraid of exposing myself but later felt stupid for my action as it could expose my companions.

Soon, we were graduating and we were buying stationeries. We were in one shop and I overheard the lady boss insisting that she would not lower prices, no matter what. I looked up and saw what they were talking about. A few series of CCNA books, 2 of them had books 1-6. The 3rd series had books 1-18. The price tag was in pounds, which I assumed that lady boss bought it high at a time and couldn't dispose of them now. I also thought she could be convinced to sell off an entire set for a discount. I thought my brother might like them.

We went into another shop [a parallel of the photo-shop across my street, in Ajunied] where now we're helping a guy shop for his farewell cards. I went to the back shelves where I found the snoopy cards I bought for $5+, selling for $1 here. Alan [real ex-colleague] and 2 friends were with me shopping.

Of my gang, the two guys had suddenly taken sick and were in the sick bay. The tall lanky guy looked like almost gone. When I went to my other friend's ward, our lady friend was there already, crying. I touched his neck with the back of my hands and felt it to be hot. They are not recovering and I felt the powers wanted it that way. I got angry. I entered a room where the others among my batch were muttering angrily. They planned to vote for the medical officer to be dead instead of one of us [A kind of tribal council thing, where the outcast would have a dubious fate - possibly death. We can vote on this at the end of each term].

I went back to the mess hall where the others were feasting. My lady friend admitted she's a bit sick too, which she was sure the sickness was passed on by a guy in a shop, before we were brought here [insert flashback of store coughing]. I replied that I don't often fall sick, but suffer the effects heavily if I do. I took some chicken wings and joined the others at the long table. Later, I sat at the other corner, where Weishei [real ex-colleague] was there. An older colleague tempted me to see something. "Now?", I asked, for I was reluctant to leave my chicken wings.

I followed him and went to a shop and found "toys" [code wheels that have 2 rings. The outside ring is fixed with numbers 0-9 spaced out along the rim. The inside wheel has matching numbers and a small cut out square window that reveals a different number. It’s for true random number generation. Gee. I didn't know I loved maths so much]. I was rather impressed. Then he wanted to bring me to his shop [it was possibly at this point, I became "chosen" as the graduate and "exiled" into the surface where I "pass out of mortals' eyes"]. We passed an open public space [much like Toa Payoh's before they added fountains] where he asked me to wait. I did a little tap dance. The guy returned and I was brought to see a prop that was made to resemble a mini stage. It started playing images upon its centre and kids gather to watch. It showed how a better true number generation can work, with a clown cartoon figure highlighting the number with a magnifying class as the process goes on. It was a video projected onto the screen from below and I was amazed that it can be viewed at any angle. It’s made possible by a concave metallic surface [All these true number generation and all viewable angle discoveries are crap, to my now 0930hr woken state - it’s not possible].

I was left along after that and I made my way to a 'station' where I know I can take an elevator "down". There was a guy and girl attendant and I was made to understand that I could not return. However, the guy talked to me and enlightened me enough that I took off my robe, followed by the grey flannel jacket inside. Immediately, something felt right and I understood the invisibility spell towards mortal that have been laid onto me by the jacket was broken. I put back on my personal black one, then the robe. I asked to take the elevator "down" but the girl said, "It can only go up, not down". "Then what's the down button for?", I pointed out. Just that, a tall pretty lady walked past us and step into it casually. I looked back at the station girl. "Oh ok, you can go down". I joined the lady in the elevator and said "Thank you, thank you!" to the station guy and girl.

-end, 1000 hrs