In a way it is.

Some people have no idea how fortunate we Singaporeans are in terms of transportation. We have buses, MRTs, cabs. Sure, sometimes these services get cocked up, but at the end of the day they'll always be there to bring you place to place wherever and whenever.

In my years of living here, I've experienced all kinds of things on these transports. I became fascinated with MRT lines, I got amazed with the views and journeys on long bus rides. And the one from childhood: taxi drivers' stories.

My mom took me out on taxis a lot. To and fro all kinds of places. I've met so many kinds of taxi drivers, and the best one from my childhood was this Chinese one who talked about how much he respected Malays. He was the one who taught me to pronounce Elias the Malay way.

All my life I've listened to their stories, about history in the country and recent news, but I'd never met any taxi driver who listened to mine. Last week I overslept, and because of that, I had to take a cab to school. It was an Indian man, who winded/wound [not sure of the past tense of 'wind down'] his windows to ask where I wanted to go, and only taking me in when I told him to Ngee Ann Poly.

The first question he asked me when I was seated was what course I'm in. Of course, the most dreaded question in my poly life. I straightout told him I was in Engineering, thinking that he was gonna be wow and such amaze and shit. And yep. He was. He said, "Wow, a girl in Engineering!"

But after that, he asked me if it was really my interest at all. I said no. He told me he knew it, and that he knew how it must feel like. He didn't have any interest in Engineering either, but he coped with that shit just for his diploma; because that's when you can really go for whatever you want.

"I wanted to be in Media, but my O Level results were not good enough for that.", I told him, and he said, "No, darling, it doesn't yet matter what you want. Now, since you are in Engineering, you cherish your spot in this course and study hard to get your diploma."

"With a diploma, a huge part of the battle has been won. After that you can go for your Media, no problem", he said. "And it's better if you have a diploma, so you don't have to depend on men when you're married! If the man wants to divorce you, so be it!, you can depend on yourself for money because you can find work on your own!"

He told me as long as there's passion, you'll be able to do anything.

But for now, since this is what I'm in, I've just got to study harder than I've ever loved my passion.

You may think it's nothing much. But to me, it means more than you imagine. It's something I should have known from the very start. Something I should have drilled into my head along the way of the past half a year or so. And the way he said it, made it seem like this is my battle in life.