Triple Nemeses in Life

I have triple nemeses in life, they are (1) Smokers with cigarettes, (2) Smelly toilets, particularly those my brother has been in and, (3) The TIBS bus 970.

(1) Today I walked past a smoker outside Braddell Station and didn't see him in time to hold my breath. I breathed in what must have been 1/3 a lungful of nasty cigarette smoke air. 3 hours later, I was left wondering if I was suffering from a creeping asthma attack or an anxiety one because I COULD NOT BREATHE. I spent the rest of the day vaguely coughing, feeling warm like I was getting a headache and walking about unsteadily because my cells were not getting enough oxygen. The only upside is I managed to leave work 30 minutes early and beat the crowd.

I sincerely hope when Jesus (or whatever deity you believe in) comes back to Earth, all the damn smokers get turned into the Smoker zombies from L4D and they explode into a mass of noxious gas when someone shoots them.

(2) My brother cannot aim. He pees all over the place. It smells bad. I live with this everyday and it gets to me everyday. He also pours away all my soap. I am going to lock the toilet one of these days. Today when I got back tired, and walked just to the top of the stairs, I got hit with a wall of extremely smelly dried pee. It is probably one of the worst smells on Earth.

(3) On Friday I waited 30 minutes for an extremely crowded 970. I was frothing at the mouth (and probably 100% hysterical in my mind) by the time the damn thing arrived. My hatred of 970 started when I started working in 2007 in the Central Business District because it's the only way to reach my house from either there directly, or through an MRT-bus transfer because my house is too far away from the MRT station to walk.

It's not just the same sometimes too that 970 is tardy, but no, it comes stuffed to it's white-and-orange brim with people. I've stood squished next to the bus doors before once, after waiting 30 minutes for it. That was in 2007. I've never forgotten that day because it was singularly the worst bus ride of my life. Even travelling 10 hours on a non airconditioned bus from Kathmandu to Pokhara in the 30 degree+ summer heat was better than that, scratching itchy skin from bed bugs, some unknown stingy bug that trailed infected holes all over my calves and random leeches was better than that.

Today however, just as the train was between Redhill and Queenstown station, I spotted my nemesis waiting at a traffic light! I was just about to get off at Queenstown, one stop earlier than my usual so I could be guaranteed a seat, when I saw it. This allowed me to decide to get off at Commonwealth and wait 2-3 minutes for the bus instead. I thought of the saying, "keep your friends close, and you enemies closer".

When I was on the bus however, I realised that if I had waited to the take the next MRT train, I would have missed the bus for another 30 minutes. And that, on a separate tangent, is how I get anxiety attacks. Perhaps I should change it to quadruple nemeses - the last one being myself.