A Singaporean In Australia

For almost a week, I had my shower setting tuned to the maximum right. You almost find this out before my wife did but last weekend the cat was out of the bag when little Albany needed the toilet and I let her in after she drummed continuously on the bathroom door yelping.

"Why are you taking cold shower?" The wife asked. Tucky asked the same thing when I told him that during our raids in Guildwars 2. To be exact, the fact thing he said was, "Crazy." Due to budget constraints in the earlier days and perhaps habitual preference in the later, Tucky's family never had warm water in their shower for a single day. That may not be unheard of in Singapore but it is certainly unusual these days. Thus, it is understandable in from Tucky's point of view, for me to take cold showers when I have the option not to.

Am I so hard up that I have to cut down on gas and shower time? For the time being, I better be specific lest the Perth people here start giving me even more freebies on top of the free chili, fruits and meals I received on regular basis. It is kind of embarrassing, but at the same time, harder to turn down kind people who made the effort to offer. For example, a neighbour turning up at the door with rice dumplings he made himself. What should I do? Ask him to return home with them? I better start buying newer cars and stop wearing the same clothes with holes and walk around the place. It doesn't help our case leaving our smashed rear quarter-glass on the burgled Stargazer for more than 2 weeks without repairing it. Anyway, let's clarify this for good, I didn't do this to save some money.

Autumn cold may be nowhere as biting as Winter but getting under the shower without heating can be challenging for someone who loves warm - hot - long showers even in Summer time. As opposed to Tucky, I was the kid with hot water showers all my life, except for my days in NS. In fact, the NS experience reassures me I won't fall sick from cold showers. Albeit water temperature in Singapore on its coldest night will never feel as icy as water on an Autumn Perth night and that it will feel a lot more uncomfortable, the principles remain the same. There is no tricks in trying out a cold shower. I am someone who doesn't believe in a gradual adjustment. That's why I never buy into the bullshit whenever a smoker tells me he is quitting smoking by reducing the number of cigarettes he smokes a day. That is as good as telling me, he'll move to Batam first before moving to Australia. When it comes to such transitions, it is everything or nothing. I hope you migrating punks bear this in mind and never forget it. 

So I stood there right under the shower head naked. The air temperature was enough to make me shiver slightly. I placed my hand on the knob and turned it all the way to the coldest setting paused and closed my eyes. Then I pulled the triggered. How I danced. I quivered and struggle to catch my breath. I did that even on my 5th day when Albany was sitting on the toilet bowl watching his prancing father through the shower glass in amusement. Then she smiled and said, "Muddy puddles." I laughed through my misery and suddenly it felt like liberation. 

When Jen and I were schoolmates in the university, she used to use a quote on me often. It went, "Do what you think you cannot do and you'll realise who you are." I'd retort, "A stupid fool," much to her annoyance. Unfortunately the wife was the wiser one than the smart mouth. In truth, each time when we make ourselves look at fear in the face so hard that it pierces, we gain the strength and courage to take the next thing that comes along. Thus, doing a thing that we fear every day is not entirely an act of stupidity. I couldn't pick a better time than to do this in late Autumn, as Winter is looming. They used to call me all sorts of names. Weird, oddball, someone even called me autistic when I was in the army. But then again, a little bit of craziness took me to where I am and gave me what I am having. I can't be more grateful for that. If the flames of passion are stroked by heat, then bites of insanity must be formed by the cold.

The feeling after an icy-cold shower may be actually worth the ordeal on its own. It has to be experienced, not described as it is difficult to do so. There I stood all bare after the cold shower, shivering in my fully wrapped in a towel otherwise if I had gone hot, totally unaffected by the effects of the chilling air on my bare skin.. The feeling of invincibility.