Interesting people on the bus

Travelling everyday by bus back and forth around the same time gives me opportunity to observe some interesting characters.
First was this little boy around 5 - 6yrs sitting in front of me. Quite an excitable child who seemed to be getting rather bored with the long journey. Mother sitting next to him wasnt paying too much attention either and was more interested in her phone. After a while of pretending to drive the bus and looking out the window, he decides to try something cheeky - slowly uses his foot to prod my shoe. I thought this was an accident and didnt look up. Couple of minutes later he repeated the same thing. This time I looked up and found him looking inquiringly at me and then turning away as if nothing happened. More repeat performances now with him hiding his face in his oblivious mother's arm whenever I would look up. I personally was rather amused by this behaviour, however when relating this to a friend she was rather shocked and said she would have probably been very annoyed. Guess that mother should be wary of what her son does in public.
Next is the story of a young girl (13- 15) travelling with her friends who I see quite often on my homeward journey. Nothing remarkable about her daily behaviour but one particular evening she caught sight of a cadet about her age sitting next to me. Clearly she was rather enamoured as she tried very hard to get him to notice her. She would keep adjusting her blouse and tucking her hair behind her ears and such while giving little peeks from the corner of her eye. She would also loose balance a lot and give high laughs or say funny things to her friend in a rather louder voice. Unfortunately for her the young man was too engrossed in his book. My friends comment to this incident "Why is it that these teenage girls never get noticed by the guys they want to but manage to attact a lot of creeps instead?" How true.
Finally the story of a father and his ~4 year old daughter who travell by the same bus everyday. That is one devoted father and an absolute daddys girl if you ever saw one. The little girl is quite charming and says cute intelligent things and talks a lot with her father throughout the journey - and when ever she says anything particularly intelligent he would look up at the rest of the passengers nearby and smile proudly. They would also play little games like rock paper scissors and noticing that she had an affinity for scissors and didnt like to loose much he would pick paper most of the time. The girl could be a little snooty too. Once another father and daughter (going to the same school) duo got in and sat next to them. This new girl was much younger and was apt to point and things wonderingly and talk to herself rather than anyone in particular. Our regular one looks at her in surprize at first gives her a condecending stare and then buries her head in her fathers arm on the other side and giggles.

Oh those loans...and other stuff

I remember 4 year ago taking a whole bunch of loans and being realy happy when everything got paid for at the beginning of the sem. And now they have come back to haunt me. This month each week we would get letters congradulating us and then hinting darkly at the fact that now its time for us to pay them back. Should seriously ask someone who is knowlegeable in these areas to find out how much to pay! I mean obviously there is a minimum and all that but how do you juggle the interest and the savings and the taxes. We all conveniently managed to forget the CPF (provident fund) contributions and all. I know thats a sort of savings too...but when it gets duducted off your salary and chucked somewhere not to be taken out for a loooong time it feels like its gone for good.