A Different Kind of 12-hour Shift

Many who know of my working schedule would know that i pull several 12-hour shifts in a week. Sometimes my precious snoozing time could be cut down to 4 hours for any work days. Several Saturdays ago, me and some of my other 12-hour shift colleagues decided to pull a different kind of 12-hour shift together, the kind that is definitely more fun and bonding.

12 pm

The day started at 12 pm on Saturday. Me and my boss #1 & boss #2 ( the three of us who live in Singapore despite two of us being Malaysians) met up in Singapore and crossed the causeway. Thank God this was before Mas Selamat escaped, so there was no fuss in crossing the checkpoints. In fact, it was such a breeze we only spent 30 minutes to get from Marsiling to City Square in JB.

1.30 pm

After a brief coffee break, our Malaysian colleague finally reached City Square and whisked us off in his new car to his new home... haha... Spent some time looking around his house, his guava and apple tree, and also playing with his son. Look at this little tot running around in our shoes!

Doesn't his house look nice?

2.30 pm

Finally it was time for lunch! Another of our colleague joined us at this point. This place was highly recommended by them. We had the famous abalone beehoon in this place which has grown from a shack to a 3-shop business in Aminah.

4 pm

What's a trip to JB without shopping? We visited the largest shopping mall in JB, Tebrau City. We spent about 20 minutes just to look for a parking space!

Shopping here felt a little different. The people here dressed more simply, the crowd not as kiasu and the shop attendants are not as 'atas' as those in Singapore, which made me feel at home, really. Another colleague met us here, making up the total number of people shopping together to 7 (plus one toddler). Even though 7 seems like a big number of people to be shopping together, it was surprisingly easy, considering everyone was enjoying just looking at stuff. We managed to squeeze in ANOTHER coffee break in Lavender ( a famous bakery chain in Johor).

7 pm

We all drove in 3 separate cars to Danga Bay, a seaside entertainment hub with theme parks, pasar malam and live performances. Actually, the journey from Tebrau City to Danga Bay was pretty eye-opening cos one of my colleagues was telling me about the virtues of one-night-stands... haha... We started with a slow walk and a tram ride to see the outline of the place. We also tried some of the rides in the park and completed the evening with a nice dinner of Malaysian hawker fare.

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12 am

Reached my home in Singapore. Now, this is a 12-hour shift i wouldn't mind pulling once in a while.