seletar camp - freedom

the seletar camp trip this time brought a lot of surprises. he never have thot that the camp was actually much bigger than what he imagined it to be, for the few times he jogged there and the many times he played golf in the 9-hole public golf club. he crossed the bridge across the tpe, from jalan kayu, and hit the seletar westlink, then passed the seletar golf country club. as he wanted to turn to the dike on seletar reservoir going to yishun, he realized infront of him, the road led to some new place he never stepped feet on before. he continued on, without turning. found quite to his pleasant surprise, that this corner of singapore also had some home-made wooden jetty-like terminals, from a few fishermen's homes into the sea, for their fishing boats and a few privately-owned power boats. he met a few guys collecting mussles from the seaside and knocking out the concrete-like stuff sticking to the shells. he said to one guy, "are you collecting toa-tau's?" "no, its chai luan."

there's a bridge spanning across the small bay. he went up the bridge and crossed it over to the other side. it was a reclaimed land, characterised by the big stretch of cauarina trees planted as wind-breakers. he was heading into no man's land, no idea of where it would lead him to. it must be more than an hour now, still he did not see any familiar road names or landmarks that he could figure out where he's heading towards. he came to a big lokang-like river, with the end of it separated from the sea by the road that marathon man was stepping on. beside the river, he noticed a pathway cut into the big stretch of casuarina forest. he saw some people playing in the river, some distance away from him. he decided going for the pathway, instead of going ahead on the main road. he smelled the very faint scent of the casuarina trees... some kind of pine-tree smell, but so faint that the next minute, he wanted to take it in all, it evaded his nosy sense. he went down to the river, and the water was very clear. he could not figure out what river was it. he went deeper into the path, saw a van with a driver stopping beside a shack, he pointed to the front and asked, "is there a way out that direction?" "i don't know, i came from the other direction." pointing to where marathon man came from. he decided to moved on toward the unknown destination any way. and he was rewarded by the many birds, big and small, that made the bushes in the river bank their paradize, obvioulsy, quite a remote place for any normal guy to step feet on. and he saw the river turning into a sort of lake, opposite the place he stood, he saw some factories, smelling of oil processing. and ther's a flood-gate on the other side, joining another river.

amidst all the nature and man-made artifacts and creatures, he was totally captivated by two small yellow butterflies, frolicking in the air.... one going after the other, dotted in the air, high, then low, then parted, then came closer again, then set feet in the grass, then took to the air again.... after a couple of minutes, they finally flew apart. but for that brief couple of minutes, nature had shown marathon man what freedom was all about - it was all about, to do whatever you like, to whoever you like and in whichever way you like, wherever and whenever you like.... and the same freedom was available to all in the group.

and the freedom to intrude into some unknown space which befits marathon man the title of some sort of explorer, did lift his drooping and tiring spirit; since his handphone ran out of battery after his fren ah cheng called him 2 hours ago, he did not have any way to call for assistance if his feet give up on him, at this juncture.

but he found his way out anyway - back to where he started - the bridge that spanned across the small bay.

seletar camp has changed alot. they were tearing down old houses and put up new building and extend the seletar airport run to accomodate the aero-tech industry here. marathon man used to play golf in the 9-hole public seletar golf club here. he got his pc and handicapp cards here a few years ago. he met a lot of strangers in the golf course and he befren them one and all.... though he has not kept in touch with any of them, he specifically remembers one chap.....

ah huat, that's what he told marathon man his name was.

ah huat got this very funny sound when he laughed, something like a revebaration from a big tong. and he laughed a lot. obviosuly he's a happy man.

they played golf a few times. one time, their flight-mate, ah kong said, "my wife is pregnant, and her mood swing is really fantastic. one moment she feel very high, then the next cries like a baby..... how ah?"

marathon man, single himself, don't know what to advise. the flight mate ah seow, a father of 3, said, "don't worry lah.... mood swing due to hormone only. once delivery over, ok already."

"i heard there's something call post natal blue.... how if she continues her pre-natal into psot natal?"

"blue is the color of the bright sky..... should not be signifying anything melancholic." marathon man somehow blurted out something, though it sounded irrelavant.

"what? you must be drunk. blue is blue which is like blur, blur lah... like you cannot see anything clear.... sad, low mood, unhappy.... lonely.... " ah kong said.

the ah huat, who'hv been keeping quiet so far said, "your wife situation is temporary, whether pre or post natal blue. my wife is chronically feeling blue, her sickness is post marriage blue syndrome?"

"wow, how do you deal with it?" ah kong was curious, since ah huat didn't seem to be bothered by it.

"simple lah... when she's angry, i just tell myself that, to make her happy, i would have to let her feel that she's still single."

"how?"

"to act like a single myself..... go pubbing like nobody's business, go ktv's, go golfings.... just don't stay at home."