how to deal with an accident 101

I've decided to do up an entry on the Do's and Don't's of what to do when you get into an accident.  If you, like me pre-January 2013, have no idea what actually elapses if you have the misfortune of getting into an accident, this could be helpful.

So here we go.

BANG! Accident. Oh shit. Shock and horror, maybe you start crying. Take a second or two to calm yourself. Get out of your car ASAP and make sure nobody's hurt and nothing is on fire, and that no fuel is leaking (if any of this is the case call the police right away). Check on the other driver and make sure they're okay, help them out of their car if they need it.

If you are causing a major traffic obstruction, try and safely move your cars off the road. People watching accidents tend to cause more accidents. Call the police and make a report. They may or may not send a car down.

Okay, you're both safe and it wasn't your fault. Or it was. Or it was both of you at fault. SAY NOTHING ABOUT IT. Do not utter a word. Don't even say sorry (even if it's your fault). If the other party is a hysterical lunatic DON'T be tempted to say sorry to defuse the situation like I did (I need to harden up).

Pen and paper, phone whatever, exchange the following details;
Name
Address
Phone number
License number
Registration number
Insurance details (basically the company name is enough)

Take lots of photos of everything. The accident site, ALL the damage to the cars, as thoroughly as you can. Remember exactly where it happened if you can, because you will need to indicate this on paper and over the phone to your insurance company.

Lastly, call your insurance company and tell them what happened, every last detail if you can (how long you were waiting at an intersection, road signs, speed limits etc). They'll usually ask you all the relevant questions and guide you along with the process.

And done! The excess will have to be paid and depending on your insurance policy and who's fault it was the outcomes are different in terms of your excess. Your fault/both at fault? Excess not refunded, and be grumpy for a few weeks. Not your fault? Smile, get your excess back and your shiny fixed car back. 

crazy things

So I've been working my new job for about a week now, and it's been great. The animals so far have been absolutely adorable and the work is relatively easy going save for the driving.

Basically I pet sit. When people go on holidays, they call up the agency I work for, and I may get assigned to it if it's west-side. I get their details, get to know them (so far they've all been lovely) and off I go. I've been ridden with I think the worst flu bug possible (it's lasted all weekend and it makes my entire face hurt :( ) which has made the driving a bit of a task but hopefully i'll get better soon. Next week i'll be faced with 9am-5pm days with morning and evening jobs which will absolutely swamp me. I thought I'd catch up on study this weekend but this flu has had me doing the absolute bare minimum. Of life. It's upsetting because I was really getting into the swing of studying but what to do.

What do you do when the Sudafed no longer works? I hate taking any sort of medication but this bug has really been something else.

Back to my job. I usually look up addresses prior to leaving and remember the route there as I don't have a sat nav and I think it's much quicker this way and I just like to look at maps and navigate old school. So this one particular job I got was about a 15 minute drive from mine and I looked it up on Google maps, to find this while looking for a shortcut;

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

But really, how long did he (or she) have to wait for that to show up on on satellite view? Madness. 

I really enjoy reading about Singapore politics nowadays, ever since the exciting 2011 General Election. We're living in exciting times, things perhaps may change now as people are actually standing up to voice their dissatisfaction. Despite being of voting age I have never voted, and probably had my name struck off the registry which doesn't bother me and yet it does, I feel like a bit of an outsider and now all I can do is merely observe.

The Singapore government has warmly embraced hundreds of thousands of foreigners, some highly skilled and some working basic hospitality jobs, allowing them to lead cushy lives and providing them with nearly on-par benefits with us, the native Singapore citizens. I have not worked a tax-paying, CPF-contributing job (had to love being a tutor back in the day) but as long as my dad is a tax-paying Singapore citizen surely I am not a complete outsider. I've only been in Australia nearly 4 years and I love Singapore as the place I grew up in, but all this civil tension is going to boil over sometime and get messy. The government has cited various reasons for herding in foreigners by the masses, and when it backfires they provide weak excuses, insult and threaten Singaporeans and yet keep hammering away at their terrible policies, haha perhaps in an attempt not to lose face? To avoid an I-told-you-so?

So here I am, just over a year from graduation and having to make a pretty big life changing decision soon as to where I am going to be for the next few years. Maybe this is just my opinion, but the veterinary profession is rather politically and economically isolated. Maybe I could go back home and save myself the trouble of moving elsewhere, but I wonder if that is the right decision. Educated Singaporeans are packing up shop to start anew elsewhere, seeking a better life and I have yet to hear anyone who's made the move complain about anything really apart from getting used to paying larger taxes. Surely this is sending some sort of message to the ruling party? How will you one day afford to import highly-skilled labour once the population has been saturated with foreign blue-collar workers? How far will you underpay them? How will you afford to keep the rich Singaporeans rich when there is no local middle class to exploit after you've run your cheaply paid foreigners into the ground?

Ahh... So I wonder what the future of Singapore will be like. Will the government heed and finally listen to the people as a democratically appointed government should? Or will they press on with stupid policies only to buffer them with exponentially stupider, stifling and less accountable policies?

STOP IT WITH THE QUESTIONS ARUNA. Okay. I'm just mind-mapping outcomes. Interestingly enough, I googled 'working in singapore' to find this;


Contact Singapore is an 'alliance' of the Ministry of Manpower.

Next, I googled;



I am probably taking it out of context. But it's just funny how they are on both ends of the spectrum. Amazing.

Haha, I wonder when the kiss-assery will stop and when Singapore will emerge as the badass nation that it truly is. 

dear universe,

I would really like a job.
I would really like a job.
I would really like a job.
I would really like a job.
I would really like a job.
I would really like a job.
I would really like a job.
I would really like a job.
I would really like a job.
I would really like a job.
I would really like a job so I can scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef at the end of the year. And also so I can afford miscellaneous other things like online shopping and red hair dye. And beer.

Thanks,
Aruna

location update : In Schwingapore

So much for blogging loads on holiday! It's not been a week since exams ended but I feel like i'm failing myself already. But this time I really have been feeling absolutely shite since the end of exams party.

In short, massive hangover on Saturday somehow spilled over into Sunday, then Monday, and now Tuesday. I've been feeling nauseated all day since the hangover and my gastrointestinal tract has been disagreeing with me completely. Imagine being on a 7 hour flight feeling that way! Not fun. Which sucks because there's all this food I want to eat. I treated myself to chicken fried rice (which was soooooooo god damn good i'm hungry again just thinking of it) but paid for it today.... Bad times. But i've found ways to enjoy the things i've missed. Like Yakult. And my grandma's home made yoghurt on plain rice (mmmm). And porridges of various flavours from Simpang Bedok.

But what I REALLY WANT is a god damn McSpicy.

Also the heat has not helped but it's nice to shave my legs again, wearing dresses and shorts. Seemed like a lifetime away back in Melbourne, rugging up for all those weeks studying. Thermals (top+bottom), slacks, uggs, and about 4 layered tops under a jumper. NO MORE OF THAT FOR 3 WEEKS!

Today I had my first diving theory lesson and it was really good. Straight forward stuff all taught in videos. Don't think I could bother studying a book after the last few weeks. It got me looking forward to the hands-on practical stuff and especially the dive trip next week. Felt a bit awkward alone, and the ill-nausea-tummy-bleh-feeling made me a very anti-social person but hopefully i'll feel better soon.

Anyway, the flight over was delayed by almost 2 hours because someone tried to flush something ridiculous down one of the upper deck toilets which didn't get fixed in the end but it didn't bother me too much. So I found a power point, set up my laptop and watched a couple of episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm while waiting. That show has kept me sane throughout 9 exams.

So as I was watching, this scene popped up... And I struggled so bad to maintain composure sitting on the floor.



Larry David is fucking hilarious.

One hour of sleep.

Last night I only managed one hour. The past week has seen me waking up, coughing till I start to gag for about 20 minutes, then struggle to get back to sleep with an itchy throat just begging for more coughing. It's been a painful week of it. Plus taking about two hours to fall asleep in the first place. Oh and chuck three exams into the picture.  I just hope to god that I pass them all.

Moving out to Werribee has come underway nicely.  Thankfully we have settled on a house despite some minor disagreements. Finding the perfect house isn't always easy when everyone has their own ideas. But we finally came together on one, with just a little bit of persuasion. It's a wonderful house, spacious and clean. Old but not dated, and well maintained.

I'm just really looking forward to more space. That house had a million storage cupboards. This apartment can no longer fit everything I own. Every cupboard is full, my wardrobe is bursting. It's scary how much stuff I've come to own in just three years. And who would've thought at all how quick time would fly.

Only two more years of vet to go?? What... I never thought I'd ever reach this point. Or rather at the start it felt like a million miles away. I'm glad not to have had to sit any supps... well not yet. Even some of the smartest cookies in the above years have sat supps. So I suppose to get this far without one is pretty damn good in my books. Let's keep the good times going for another 4 sets of exams shall we? :D

I never got to mention that Yigang made his fabulous appearance some time in October. I feel bad for not having more time. It was good he had other friends here to hang with while I was being a busy bee. So glad we got to spend one solid weekend together :)

So it's my last few weeks in the city. In this lovely apartment I've called home for 3 years. I've grown so attached to this place. It's gonna be so hard to let go. There's just.. nowhere else that can compare. Where else can you walk to eat a 5 dollar pizza, pub/bar hop within a 300m radius, eat awesome Asian food at 5am and arrive  home in a happy stupor in 5 minutes? Ahhh... I've done it a disservice this semester by not living it up like I used to. 

Oh well. Guess I'm preparing for what life will be like in the next year. But with CAR. So life won't be all bad.

HOLY FUCKIN SHIT

Seriously crasy tings. The hailstones were half the size of my fist at first and was hammering my roof. The hailstones got smaller progressively and then it started monsoon raining so bad I couldn't see the CBD buildings from my balcony. And I live just next to these buildings.

Apparently Southern Cross was evacuated cos the roof broke and Village Cinema at Crown had a leaky roof. Everywhere's gonna be flooded now.. Jesus I can't imagine the magnitude of damage everywhere else now. I'm thanking god now for keeping my home intact.

Gonna watch the news now.