Redemption

Sometimes, I jump to conclusion too quickly. Most times I do things without understanding the consequences that follow. I never cease to look things at surface level, and I guess I'm just the type of shallow guy who doesn't pay much attention to details...

Trudging around S15 level 3 late last night (no. early this morning.) at 3am, trying to embed some knowledge on 'Embedded Systems' into my long 'closed-shop' brain, I got around to do some late 'business' in the toilet.

On finishing my business, I noticed that the guy in the other cubicle was either very discreet about his business (he made no noise at all) or that he didn't exist. Peeking through the silt at the side, I could only make out colors of the cubicle wall, thus proving the latter.

So I thought to myself that it must have been some prank made by a stressed SoCian (he must have thought himself pretty smart-ass in locking the door from the outside, I smart-assly thought.)

Being the perpetual dweller in S15, I felt some civic obligations to undo that prank and yup, I unlocked the door, before going back to 'Embedded Systems' (which still refused permanent citizenship in my brain till now).

It felt like bad karma boomeranging in consecutively when I woke up the next morning to find that someone had used that toilet without flushing, and it stunk worse than my Tevas left unwashed for 5 consecutive decades. Feeling pissed off again (I do get pissed off easily during exam times), I went for the flush button, ignoring whatever unknown liquified organic compounds on it. And then I know why the door was locked. The flush wasn't working. It was dead stuck, like your favourite bottle of pasta sauce will always be when you needed it. Mama sai.

Thinking to myself ('Frank, Frank, what have you done?' ['Am I the toilet's keeper?']), I scooted out of the toilet for better air, feeling all guilty about opening that cursed door the night before (no. This early morning.)

And I can almost hear God in the background, analoging this to how I've always been rebellious against the circumstances He put me into, without understanding the reasons why they were made so. It was always 'And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His Purpose- Romans 8:38'- but in my shortsightedness, I have always felt shortchanged. But this time round, I've come to see the consequences of my smart-ass actions, and I didn't feel too good about it.

What to do? There must be something I can do to make up for my idiotic actions, to redeem myself. God always leave an escape clause for His people what.... With this thought, I went up to level 5's toilet (for a quick poo, and to dismantle the water closet there, to understand how it works.) I have to fix it.

Hmm, not too complicated. So this.. presses this... and *flush*. Ahh... Wakaremas-ta. But what can be wrong with the water closet downstairs? *Dabble a bit more to understand how it works*

Finally, armed with the all-power-imbuing technical knowledge of the most-skilled plumber in Singapore, I went downstairs to level 3's toilet in full bravado, but not without taking a deep breath.

Ignoring the sight of a supper gone wrong (think milk and lactose-intolerence) and holding my breath, I took off the cover and examined the situation. Why is there no water in there????

Having breath-time to panic for 3 seconds only, I found the water valve to be shut. Under silent cursings, I turned it back. And the water gushes into the water closet. Fine. But why was the flush stuck? Flush the damn mess manually first, Frank... *flush flush flush*

Fiddling with the mechanism that connects the button to the water lever (I dunno the techy plumby terms) I found the displaced component, which only God knows why it was displaced in the first place. Putting it back into place and covering back the water closet, I tested it. *flush flush flush flush ok I'm wasting water*. So it works. I felt better. =)

Moral of the story:
Things happen with reasons behind them. Only change them when you have examined the reasons to be full bollocks. Don't be too smart-ass about things and look at them at face-value. And if everything goes wrong, there's still time to make things right. And don't mess with God too much, lest he puts you through sucky life situations to prove His point. And it's always good to have plumbing knowledge, but on the worth to actually spend time on learning this 7 days before your first exam paper.... it's debatable.