What do a fortune-teller, a kebab-seller and a runner have in common?

1. Was walking fast in Suntec City, when a middle-aged, well-dressed man with piercing eyes approached me and said something to me, which I didn’t hear ’cause I had my mp3 on. I figured he needed help with the direction to a place or something. So I turned it off and this is the conversation that ensued:

Me: Yes?

Man: Lucky lady, lucky lady.. (with an Indian accent)

Me: Sorry? !  (I almost laughed out loud)

Man: I’m a fortune-teller..

I cut him off right away. Suddenly the piercing eyes looked a little scary.

Me: Sorry, I’ve got to rush

Man: July will be a very good month for you inshallah..

Me: I really have to go..I’ve got this meeting..

I really was on my way to a meeting and had to be on time. At this point I was already few steps away from him, but he kept on following me.

Man: you’ll be very lucky bla bla bla, let me read your sign, bla bla bla…lucky lady

Me: I’m sorry I’ve REALLY got to go

Man: 2 men bla bla bla…(his voice started to fade away at this point)

I just walked a little faster and after a while he stopped following and walked away.

What on earth is a fortune-teller doing in Suntec City?

2. I was running recently. I did the distance that I usually do, same time, same pre-run routine that I’ve always done. The only difference is the venue. Usually I ran at the park, lots of trees. This particular time it was at the stadium because I had to, basically.

After the run, I was walking off the running track and cooling down for a few minutes. I headed to a vending machine which was at the back of the stadium, put my coins in and pressed the button. Nothing came out. Pressed a few other buttons and it seemed like the machine is spoiled or something.  I couldn’t get my coins back and they were the only ones that I’ve brought with me. At this point I was feeling light-headed, VERY light-headed. I hold on to the wall nearby, but it just felt worse. My body dropped to the floor and my vision seemed like it was fading away slowly. A few things was going on in my mind: What’s going on? What did I do wrong before the run? Should I get help? Am I dying? Oh God, it would be seriously embarrasing if somebody found my unconscious body here. Maybe I just need to drink something. I don’t even bring my handphone with me. My family doesn’t  know where I am.

In that half-conscious state, I thought I really just needed to drink. I tried to get up and immediately felt like I should sit down. I looked around, saw a chair and sat there for a few minutes or more, I couldn’t remember. After my vision became clear I looked around and saw a shop at the corner and the shop keeper lady. I walked over to her and told her the vending machine was spoilt and it took my coins. She asked me to bang and shake the vending machine. I walked back to the stupid machine, feeling thirsty, hot, weak and still somewhat light-headed. How hard can I shake the machine, right? I banged the machine a few times. It didn’t worked. I was thinking  of asking the shop-keeper lady to give me a drink for free, ’cause I was so freaking thirsty I didn’t even care.  Before I could think of other crazy thoughts, someone came to me after hearing my bangings on the machine. He helped me banged the machine and the coins came out eventually. So I took the coins and bought a bottled water from the shop-keeper lady. I drank it and felt better immediately afterwards.

So that was it. I just needed a drink. A case of dehydration. I drank plenty of water before the run, but lets face it, Singapore is so hot even at night.

3. Later on, I went out to the grocery store. and I saw there was this take-away Turkish kebab place. So I thought I needed to eat some meat especially after the whole almost-fainting episode. I’m not a big meat eater, I eat mostly fish.

So I ordered one chicken doner kebab. The kebab man seemed very cheerful and friendly. I mean, he was either singing or talking the whole time. I saw that his shop is open from 11am to 2am. I’m not kidding. He’s probably the hardest working singing Turkish man in Singapore.  Just as I was leaving the shop, he said, “See you next year!!!!!”