A Birthday and Christmas Affair

Birthday and Christmas were never this joyous, it was a wondrous celebration!

A few days before birthday, paid my ex-lecturer and my friend at National University of Singapore a visit and do some catching up. They remembered my birthday is approaching and gave me a bouquet of Baby's Breath and blue roses for birthday, gee.



Celebrated my birthday at home with my family. Instead of potluck, we decided to have catered dinner. Food was great but it's the company that counts. My 2 little nephews brought much laughter and joy to the celebration, love them to bits.







Thanks everyone for the birthday greetings, I may not reply to each and every message but know that I appreciate it.

Now before I leave for camp, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone!

Classmates' Meetup @ Billy Bombers, Marina Square

Thanks to Noi for organizing this round of meetup for TB030 gang at Billy Bombers, Marina Square. Everyone has been busy, so the turnout was small, with Noi, Nadia and her beau, Sharon, Michell and Peter who joined us for coffee later.

Over dinner, we talked much, but the most interesting topic was on this someone amongst us who became a model. Gee, need I say who she is? After parting with Nadia and Noi at Marina Square, we strolled to Starbucks, Raffles City for extended catching-up session.

Speaking of Starbucks, I have been frequently it quite often these days after my days of 'staying out' from camp became history. Armed with my book (currently, The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom), I will spend hours there just to pass time by at night before heading back to camp.



The lot of us at Billy Bombers


The ladies


My lame attempt at being creative


Anyway, for my Hong Kong trip, I meant to blog about it soon after touching down from the airport while my mind is still fresh. But procrastination was a force to be reckoned with. The trip was definitely enjoyable, love the people, the weather and the company. I promise to blog more about my trip once I can afford the time, for now, it's time to pack my bag and head back to camp.

Some photos teaser for my Hong Kong trip, enjoy.



I love this, claypot rice!


Train to Disneyland

Procrastinated

I had dinner with an ex-lecturer and a fellow coursemate over at Jack's Place last week. I was tired having performed duty the night before, but it was all worthwhile. We touched on several topics, enough to cover our stay at the restaurant and our next chill out at Starbucks. In total, I had 2 cups of coffee. I am such a caffeine junkie.

If only I'm done with national service now, I won't have missed the opportunity to work at a local university gaining working experience. owell.

Also received my first early Christmas gift from my coursemate during dinner, as usual, every year.

All these procrastination, my Hong Kong trip itinerary is left undone, not even a draft of it. 6 days more to my trip and I am panicking. I barely manage to book the hotel, it was at the eleventh hour one of the rooms was available and did I grab this chance quick. Anyway, I will be lodging at Prudential Hotel, conveniently located above a MTR station.

Christmas mood is in the air again, I can smell it everywhere. *smile* It's the time of the year to be in Orchard Road and just do nothing but chill lazily at a coffee joint watching the world goes by. Did I say how much the decoration lightning cheers me up? awww.

It's 4am in the morning and I have a matriculation exercise at SMU to attend in the early afternoon. Hope I won't be late. *yawn*

Till the next update, later.

Cameron Highlands and Kuala Lumpur

Quite an eventful October, celebrated Michell's birthday and went for a short holiday up north - Malaysia with Ling and Ron.

Here's a group photo taken over at Michell's chalet,



Humph, regular faces seem to be disappearing from class outing. More participation please!

Next, was my Cameron Highlands and Kuala Lumpur trip with Ron and Ling. Cameron Highlands have such breathtaking view, it was simply amazing especially when you are standing at the top of the hill looking down at the tea plantations. Given the altitude, the air is cooling here and it gets pretty cold in the morning.



Over there, we joined a local tour that brought us around and we climbed slopes to explore the nature. It was all muddy, but I escaped dirt-free in my white jacket, pity my shoes though. :)



Not much of a experience at Equatorial Hotel in Cameron Highlands. We got an apartment instead of a hotel room. There's 2 showers and a living room. Nothing out of the ordinary. Simple and spacious, good enough for short stay.

After one night at Cameron Highlands, we travelled to Kuala Lumpur via coach. The coach was late for 2 hours, spoilt our plan to visit "Eye on Malaysia" in the afternoon.

We stayed in Capitol Hotel, located right in the centre of the shopping distract, Sungei Wang, Bejaya Time Square and Pavilion (must visit!).



Food was great, just don't look at the environment it was cooked in lest it spoils your appetite.



Next in the line is my Hong Kong end of this November. Need to do more research to make sure time is not wasted there. I have yet to book my hotel, gosh!

It's October!

It's October finally! 11 months more to life as a civilian! Actually, it would be shorter than I thought, I might have to disrupt my national service to meet the start of my first semester. So it might just be 9 months more. The remaining 2 months I will serve during school vacation.

My overseas trip is confirmed! Travelling to Hong Kong in the month of November with an army friend. It would be my first overseas trip without my family, not considering my past trips up north. I am just so looking forward, almost everyday I will stay glued to the computer researching on places to shop and tourist attractions. The fun already began even before the trip. :P

Until then, I will have to scrape whatver I have and save up for the shopping in Hong Kong.

Ciao!

Chickenpox-ed

It was a nasty 2 weeks at home. First, it was 2 days of high fever, 39 degree celsius. I was in a state of delirium, alternatively feeling hot and cold. Both visits to the doctors, I was given only painkiller for the fever. It did occur to me maybe it could be dengue until the characteristic chickenpox lesions appeared on the third day.

First few days I was really in depression, seeing my face bloated with lesions, but thanks to an individual, I was brought out from my misery. =)

I was given 2 weeks of medical leave and I rotted at home doing nothing but reading the news, watching english drama series and gaming. It is just so unproductive and I missed my range! The only productive thing I did is probably monitoring the stock market. Did quite a bit of research on blue chips before buying 2 lots of SingPost shares.

The news reported recently that borrowers owed National Library Board $5.4million in unpaid fines and charges. And this week I received a reminder slip requesting me to pay up for my $0.60 for a overdue loan incurred in 2003. Felt a little odd writing a cheque for $0.60 but no way am I going to the library on my precious weekend to make payment.



Attended Chan Hui's birthday chalet the day before. Nice to see the TB030 peeps! Next event is Michell's birthday celebration on 20th October. Everyone please mark this on your calendar!

Reporting back to work on Tuesday. Till then.

1 Year of NSF, yay!

Today marks the first anniversary of serving the nation. I still recall vividly the transpired events exactly one year ago on a Saturday. Time flies, it's already one year and things are very different from what I expected on my first day - 09/09/2007.

Right now, having a high fever at 39.0 degree celsius. Gee, I've never had a fever ever since my enlistment. Guess I slacked too much in camp.

Chan Hui's birthday celebration coming up next week, TB030 peeps, please turn up in full force alright?

Anniversary of another kind coming up next week. *grin* =)

Wake me up when September arrives.

September is approaching and there is a reason why I am looking forward to it. My completion of 1 year of national service! Someone told me once, after your 1st year, counting down to your ORD (Operational Ready Date) becomes more realistic.

Participated in today's Army Half Marathon. It was quite a satisfying bay run although running with a backpack was kind of a hassle. I didn't deposit my belongings at the counter because the queue was insane.

More runs coming up next week, my battalion out-camp run and RSAF annv run.

Till then. =)

Corrinne May's Beautiful Seed

Last week was perhaps one of the best weeks in my stay here. 1.5 days off as a post-audit celebration, National Day and lastly, ADOC (Air Defence and Operations Command) 1st Anniversary. All in all, I was only in camp on monday and wednesday morning.

My unit audit was finally over! For the past few weeks, I have been working past my working hours, setting things right unorthodoxly. Yeah, to see regulars tremble in the presence of the auditors is quite a sight to behold.

Attended Corrinne May's concert - Beautiful Seed, at NUS University Cultural Centre. Her new songs didn't really leave much of an impression, but the more you listen, the more it grows on you. She is just as appealing as before. :)

Anyway, while collecting my tickets for "Hostel: Part 2", a R21 movie, the counter staff asked for my identification. I was grinning at myself for that. =)

Promoted.

Working with people of your age but not of equal maturity can be a trying experience. A friendly request was met with a lengthy email filled with personal attacks and threats. I actually laughed when he wrote about his professionalism.

I might be new, but I am not one who gives up without a fight. Through this, I also realise the importance of positive relationship with your superiors, to put it blatantly, 关系 ('guanxi') in my line of work helps. I have 2 officers to silence my critic.

A lapse of 3 weeks, the promotion order is finally in.

Father's Day dinner at Mooi Chin Restaurant

I'm burnt to a crisp after 4 days of parade rehearsals. It's finally over for me but not for my other course mates involved in SAF Day Parade. Gee, I thought it would be great if one day off can be granted for the effort we given in.

Had an early Father's Day celebration on Friday with my family at Mooi Chin Restaurant. The Hainanese fare they served is great and authentic. My parents have nothing but praises. We moved away from the usual order of Hainanese chicken, in fact, Singapore's Hainanese chicken is far from the real stuff.

Run, swim, parade.

Yet another 'life in unit' post. Gee.

Last friday I had DAG LIFE run at East Coast Park, it was a 5km run with participants from units under Divisional Air Defence Group.
I haven't been running such distance since my training days in School of Infantry Specialists (SISPEC), but I hold up pretty well. Had breakfast with ex-coursemates and later headed for a swim. Exercising has this 'feels good' effect on me, gee.

Attended James' commissioning parade on Saturday with Ivan, ha, reminds me of my passing out parade back in Tekong, albeit less glamour. Ran into a couple of friends, ex-coursemates from SISPEC, secondary school friends, and poly friends. Abel and Eng Kee were there too. I still remember we were so crazy back then, ha. Took a few photos with sir, 2LT James.

Next week will be the start of BOS (Battalion Orderly Sergeant) duty, gonna see most of my saturdays or sundays 'burnt' staying in camp, idling (No kidding).

emotionally weak

I'm leading a monotonous life in camp. I like a desk-bound job, but not in the army context. People here do not have good work ethics and I have a feeling I will be corrupted in the long run. I am going to plan out a schedule to keep myself fit, a 2.4km run twice every week and sweating it out in the unit's gym on every wednesday, our unit's sports and games day.

James commissioning this week, will be at SAFTI to grace his commissioning parade. Sir, permission to take picture with you? :)

Vocation : Operations Specialist, Air Defender

Trainee's life is finally over. I am posted to camp as operations specialist, but in my opinion, I am just a overrated admin specialist during peacetime. I am posted to a different unit from all of my friends so it gets kinda bored. But my friends' unit is just a road across, so if I am desperately bored, I will just cross over and seek company if not I will just head to Northpoint and window shop or chill at Coffee Bean, after all, everyday is night's out for my unit until 2359 hours.

My bunk is beyond livable condition, floor layered with dirt and stains and closet still contain items from the last occupant. Will be spring cleaning with my buddy this week. Brought my own pillow (the one left behind is stained with sweat and god knows what) and will be bringing in hifi set and other misc stuff. If you think Im worse, my friends brought their personal TV.

To celebrate the end of my trainee's life, pampered myself with a new phone, Nokia E61.


Photo courtesy of infoSync

Air Force School, moving on.

After 3 months of training in Air Force School, it's time to move on. I will be graduating on tuesday and moving to my new camp the next day. On graduation day, I will be the emcee for the ceremony. It's a long story, but I was the backup emcee, then the secondary emcee, finally the main emcee.

I was told in-confidence about my posting during my end-of-course interview. It's not official yet, but I will be serving staff tour as operations specialist.

Will update more once I have more information, till then. =)

Technorati Tags: national service

A series of fortunate events

Summary exercise is finally history!

It wasn't that terrible after all, especially when I am the platoon sergeant for the exercise. To say the least, a series of fortunate events (which I am not suppose to disclose), led to a toned down 2 days 1 night summary exercise at the comfort of my camp instead of outfield.

Another week more, I will be passing out from the school and be posted to Chong Pang camp for the rest of my NSF period. Don't really know what to expect of unit life as for the past 8 months I only been through training schools.

Celebrated Mother's Day with my family at Zui Fairprice Live Seafood Restaurant. Food was great, though a tad salty. One of the highlights was the coffee pork ribs. Tender and not overwhelmingly seasoned with coffee, absolutely delicious. :)

TB030 Gathering at Sushi-Tei

Last week's field camp was a terrible experience. I endured an endless spree of deployments and ceasefires for 2 days and 1 night with only 1 hour of sleep. Everyone's a walking zombie after the exercise.

The worse is not over, a 4 days 3 nights field camp coming this week.

Turn up for last week's class gathering at Sushi-Tei was great. After dinner, we chilled at Pacific Coffee Company, reminds me of the good ol' days back in polytechnic. Something worth mentioning, now we have a few teachers amongst us in TB030. :)

Here are some photos we took from the gathering.

Dinner at Sushi-Tei


Chill' out at Pacific Coffee Company, Vivo

The month of May is going to be packed, celebrating Mother's Day, Passing Out Ceremony (yah, not a trainee anymore!), catching Phantom of the Opera and lastly, the IT fair at the end of the month. Quite looking forward to the upcoming events. :)

A serene Sunday ..

Today is one of those days where I can sit in front of my desk, free of worries, going through mundane tasks. For the past few weeks, I have been reading up my trainee's manual like a bible, preparing for the almost weekly tests and finally, the final exam last week.

So settling down comfortably, I started clearing my mailbox. It's quite interesting looking through the email conversations I had, email exchanges between members of various project groups I had in Polytechnic, querying worryingly on my National Education graduation requirement which I did not met and much more issues that are part and parcel of tertiary life.

In that afternoon, I cleared 50 over emails.

Eve of Labour Day will be attending a mini gathering organised by Yi Quan at Vivocity's Sushi-Tei. Looking forward to seeing everyone there. :)

Technorati Tags: Tertiary life

AFS Mid-course updates

Approaching the 5th week of my weapon phase training in AFS, learnt much and frankly speaking, I quite like the place I'm in now. Sadly, another 4 weeks more of training, I will be posted to my unit.

I was tempted and decided to sign up for M1 Broadband yesterday. The installation on my Powerbook is fuss-free, within minutes, the internet is up and running. I would not have signed up if the wireless internet in my camp isn't down for upgrading indefinitely. Having your laptop with internet connectivity is the best thing in life for NSFs like me. :)

Went for Yao Sheng's 21st birthday last week, nice catching up with people from my course, especially the TB030 gang. Here's photo 'stolen' from Sharon's blog. :)

A glimpse into my training schedule

I have completed my 2 weeks of basic flight training and next week is where all the real training starts in my weapon training phase. awww.

For the 2 weeks, this is how each day was spent,

0600 Hr - Reveille + Exercise
0630 Hr - Breakfast
0700 Hr - First Parade
0800 Hr - Lesson
1130 Hr - Lunch
1300 Hr - Lesson
1745 Hr - Self training at gym (5km run)
1830 Hr - Dinner
1900 Hr - TV / Study
2200 Hr - Lights off

Quite a luxury compared to before. :)

Moving to other aspect of my life, I have been reading up quite a bit on investment and was close to purchasing treasury bill when the stock market plunged. With the lowered yield interest in treasury bill, decided to park my fund in Standard Chartered's saving account while waiting for the stock market to recover. Also, I was offered Excel Banking, which I took up readily.

Graduation attire for Temasek Polytechnic graduates

An interesting piece of news I came across on the internet. For the first time in polytechnic history, Temasek Polytechnic's graduates will be donning graduation attire this year.

Michell, let's us know how's the graduation attire, okie? :)

Start of Training in Air Force School

Airman Orientation Programme would probably be the best thing in my life at Air Force School. 8-5 schedule, tea breaks in the morning and afternoon, chatting with new faces and learning the history of RSAF (Republic of Singapore Air Force).

Starting my training today and would be staying-in for the next 3 months (probably for the rest of national service). Home is just a few bus stops away, yet so far.

Interesting fact I discover, boozes are cheap in camps, $1.50 for a can of duty-free Tiger beer. Woah, 100% cheaper than the market price. Give the man a Tiger!

Don't worry, I am a social drinker, in fact, social would be an overstatement. :)

Bye Army, Hi Air Force.

I didn't know it is possible, but I did it. I completed the gruelling 28km road march (Comparative Figure: the travelling distance from Serangoon to Boon Lay is 29km) and earned my chevrons, proudly I would say.

After a motivational speech by the wing's commanding officer, 5 companies set off at 10pm and completed the march at 6am the next morning. After completing, I realized the march is more than just completing your course and moving on, it is proving your worth as a SISPEC trainee.

That evening, after packing up my stuff, my platoon gathered and waited eagerly for our posting. Names were called and a mixture of disappointment and joy could be seen from the crowd. To put it plainly, the disappointed ones are those posted to Advance Section Leader Course which for the rest of their national service, they remain in the infantry. I was one of the few lucky ones to be posted to Air Force to be trained as a specialist.

Right now I am undergoing Airman Orientation Programme, a 8am-5pm week long programme to 'tune' our army mindset. The Air Force School is unlike army camps, mess is opened to all ranks, modern 4-man bunks (privacy assured), swimming pool, gym, running track and library. The best part is, it's 5 days week in the Air Force, we 'book' out on friday instead of the Army's saturday.

Did I mention we get to wear Air Force No.3 uniform? I'm just glad to be out of the Army. :)

农历新年快乐！

Before I begin, let me wish everyone 农历新年快乐！

Basic Section Leader Course (BSLC) ending this week and I waiting eagerly for the weekend to approach. Already sewn my Corporal rank. :)

Much to say, but have to report back to camp in an hour time. Till then!

Ending, almost.

I can finally take a breather. Exercise Wanderer and Exercise Grandslam concluded last week and what's left on the training schedule are mostly lectures, few intensive physical training and the 28km graduation route march.

Some experience to share. Being a Section Assault Weapon (SAW) gunner has its pros and cons during the exercises. Given my small physique, It's cumbersome lugging this bulky weapon, especially when bashing through thick vegetation. But back at our temporary base, the SAW gunners had the privilege of defending the apexes, while the rest had to help out with the miscellaneous tasks. Quite a different experience compared to recruits' field camp.

I shall endure the coming 2 weeks before Chinese New Year. :)

End of BSLC: 3 more weeks

A lot has happened since my last entry. It has been a hectic schedule in camp for the past 2 weeks, was appointed Leader Section Commander, went through 2 exercises (Gypsy 1 and 2) and 2 field camps (skipped one due to shin injury).

Next week, tomorrow to be exact, will be going through Exercise Wanderer and Exercise Grand Slam. Will be back in Singapore on Thursday, hopefully.

The 2 exercises mentioned are the finale of my Basic Section Leader Course training, thereafter, it will be another 3 weeks more to the end of my course. I'm really looking forward to it.

Chinese New Year is just around the corner and likewise I'm looking forward to it too. Definitely going down to Chinatown at my next book-out.

To friends applying to local universities, admissions to NUS and NTU open next week (1 - 21 February 2007). Good luck!

AC's 21st Birthday Celebration / TB030 Meetup

Together with the TB030 people, namely, Sharon, Michell, 'Boss', James and Yao Sheng, we attended AC's 21st birthday celebration over at his place. After our last meet-up 8 months ago, it was nice meeting everyone again. We reminisced about our polytechnic life and we guys shared our life in camp serving national service.

After 3 weeks of gruesome training in SISPEC, I'm trying to take things in stride after realizing self-denial is not going to help. I just hope the next 7 weeks will be a breeze.

A New Year - Reflections and Resolutions

The beginning of a new year is often a time of reflection, for us to pause our hectic schedule and take stock of our actions over the past year, and form new resolutions for self-improvement.

I have never cultivate the habit of penning down my reflections but I shall attempt to do so starting from this new year onwards. This shall be my first resolution.

Academically, I have achieved what I aspired for, completing my tertiary education, getting good grades and a university placement to further my studies.

Enlistment for National Service is a step out of adolescence for me. I learn to appreciate every little single thing that I never pay attention to. Training is tough, especially now in School of Infantry Specialists, but the thought of loved ones and encouragement from buddies I made at Basic Military Training kept me going.

The last part of my reflection is something I hope I would never have to pen down or for it to happen. My miniature schnauzer of 13 years old, Rory, passed away on 1st December 2006. It happened when I was in camp and I didn't have the chance to be there with him. The house seems a little quiet and lifeless now without him around.

I will always remember the good memories I had with Rory.

Moving ahead, I intend to keep my resolutions for this year sweet and simple. Here goes,

1. To be more organised


2. To be more optimistic about National Service and try to enjoy it


3. To be thrifty


4. To spend more quality time with my family

Lastly, something to look forward to this year, another nephew to play with. :)