The Road to 40 Day 258/365: Efficient Routines

I’ve wanted to do something physical since the start of the year, but I haven’t really gotten into it just yet.

I’ve been exploring some hawker stalls to eat though, which has been fun. These adventures remind me that Singapore isn’t always expensive if you know where to go.

This morning, I decided to cook some congee. Che still isn’t 100% and I keep trying to find food that could help her recover from her cough. We tried to turn on our air purifier in the room, so hopefully, that helps her get better too.

It was a long prep, because I know she wants the rice to pop well to enjoy the congee. I used chicken thighs instead of breast, as she likes that part better.

Vino got up really early, but when he does, he watches TV to pass the time. He got a little too comfortable and took his time so we were on the verge of being late for school.

When I went back home, I noticed that the bus timing board was turned off. For the past few days, there have been super long waiting times for buses, but they suddenly appeared. It’s very un-Singapore in terms of efficiency, so it made sense that they noticed something was off.

So when I was about to pick up Vino, I trusted in the system despite being literally blind to the bus timings. I know for a fact that around 2:18pm, the bus that I need to ride will pass by our stop. Like clockwork, it did.

For the next bus, I had multiple routes, but I just went with what arrived first. I still got to Vino on time. We did the same thing going back home, and we were back within 45 minutes.

That’s the beauty of Singapore efficiency. If you have already formed habits, you will get a sense of the timings of these buses. Their public transport system is so efficient, there’s really little to no desire to own a car.

Since we were early, I decided to play basketball again. I’ve been away from playing since November, I think, and I haven’t done physical activities yet for the year. With the bus tracking app down, I decided to take a cab so that I’ll reach the court by 4pm.

To my surprise, there were already more than 20 people present. A game was going on, and even if all 10 guys sit out the next game, there are still 10 people ahead of me.

It took an hour before I could actually play. When I did, I was way off. I couldn’t find my shot, my rhythym that I’ve built up while playing by myself, and I couldn’t even score on an easy putback. I ran because I knew I was going to play just one game.

By the end of it, we lost by two possessions, but it’s still good. I had a lot of fun playing with the guys again.

I went home to do an interview with a friend. I’m starting this book, and I need resource people. I went into the interview with a genuine curiosity about the topic and went by feels. I’ll figure out later how I’ll put it into words that would be seamless in how I wrote the first parts.

We had delivery food for dinner because between playing basketball and the interview, I didn’t really have time to cook. It’s 4Fingers though, so everyone’s happy and Vino still has some left over for lunch tomorrow.

Che was looking out for BTS tickets. I was supposed to help, but she settled with me opening my other laptop for her to do it herself. She and Kathreen secured tickets, but they got different dates. They went back on queue hoping to get same day tickets, but they weren’t able to get it.

As they were going on their second try, I was getting Vino to sleep. While he struggled a bit to find his place, I was happy to know that my arm remains part of his comfort position.

Che went to the room after their failed second try and we tried to finish the last two episodes of Taxi Driver. She fell asleep before 12 midnight, so I decided to put on a different show for our background noise.

Singapore’s Land Transportation Authority has promised they would work on the bus timings in the coming days – a testament to their efficiency and commitment to routines. I could only hope that I would have the same commitment in continuing to do my physical activities.