TB030 Around-the-Island Car Tour (20-21 Jun 08)

Sorry for the late post, I know you guys are so gonna kill me. :)

Past few days have been hectic, rushing from school to camp on Monday, combat shoot on Wednesday, duty on Thursday and on a fine Saturday like this, I'm on duty again.

Digressing not any further, TB030 had a gathering last month and it was unlike the usual, we had a 'car tour' around the island this time!

Dinner was supposedly at La Viva Spanish Bar. Slow service and less-than-satisfying food made us decided to head to Clark Quay instead.


James, Yi Quan and Sharon



Ripped off - This miniature bowl of potato costs $12.


The gang was in full attendance when we met at The Coffee Connoisseur, Clark Quay. My chicken and mushroom sandwich was so much better than earlier meal at La Viva Spanish Bar.







From left to right - Alan, Michell, James, Sharon, Peter, Boss, Myself, Yi Quan


After Clark Quay, the real car tour begun. We ended up at Jalan Kayu in the morning eventually.


Pit stop



Jalan Kayu @ 4.00am

Final Combat Shoot

The day before, I went for my final combat shoot with a detail formed from my unit. It was planned so that my buddy and I will be participating together with our coursemates from other unit though we won't be in the same detail.

At the range, I reminisced the days we trained together. We suffered as trainees but we did have fun and that's what kept us going. However, things started going downhill when we were posted to our units. People let their emotions get the better of them, not seeing eye to eye at work and so much more.

But yesterday was the day when people let whatever conflicts they have off their minds and bond together. The mood was light and laughter aplenty.

At the end of our final combat shoot, I can't help but feel emotional about our inevitible parting. I will miss the slacking moments in Specialists' Mess, the time we had steamboat in bunk and the jokes we shared.

Me and my pre-army days blues.

Wisdom Teeth Extraction

For NSFs, one of the few surgeries fully paid for is wisdom tooth extraction. Without subsidies, a procedure like this costs up to $800 and that is only for one side of the jaw. Influenced by my peers and the amount I can save from not paying for it, I decided to go for it. Another factor was the medical leave. But hey, at least I scheduled it nearing my ORD date and when my understudies have already reported to unit. I am still a responsible soldier. *grins*

There are two ways to this, get it done by a SAF dentist or in government restructured hospitals. For reasons known to most NSFs, I choose the latter. Wisdom tooth extraction is hell, you don't want to make it worse.

On the faithful day itself, I checked myself in at National Dental Centre. In my surgical gown, after the local anesthetic injection took effect, the dentist started working on my lower jaw. After cutting my gum, a tool was used to saw my wisdom tooth, splitting it into half, for easy extraction. It was a harrowing experience having the tool vibrating against your skull.

The upper jaw was the worse. A cramp or so (I couldn't see) was used to clamp the upper wisdom tooth. The nurse held my head and the dentist yanked it out. Yes, yanked it out. I almost cried.

I was presented with my 'trophies' at the end of the operation. I was quite intrigued by how it actually looks and feels like.

I'm going through all these again when I go for extraction on the other side of my jaw. Oh well.

Grisly photos of my wisdom teeth below. Pictures not suitable for the faint-hearted. You have been warned.



Bloody and freshly extracted


After removing the flesh and washing it

Stuart Anderson's Black Angus Restaurant

I remember when I was still a child, my parents often brought me out for dinner at steakhouses. Since then, I had developed a liking for red meat and every now and then I crave for it.

Two weeks back, I celebrated an occasion at Stuart Anderson's Black Angus Restaurant located at Orchard Parade Hotel, Tanglin Road. I was glad I made a reservation a week back because it was pretty crowded on that day.

The ambience of the restaurant reminds me of Jack's Place albeit rather cosy.

As the restaurant's name suggests, they serve Angus beef. We ordered a rib-eye steak course each that consists of soup, salad and the steak. Service was fast, our steaks arrived before I could finish my soup and the usual photo-taking.

The steak was flavorful and I love the way it was done - slightly pink.

Sadly, I did not manage to try their Mud Pie, which was highly recommended by netizens. I am inclined to venture into medium-raw steak at my next steakhouse visit. Lawry's next.

It was rather dark thus the grainy pictures. Enjoy anyway.


The steak accompanied with baked potato, fried onion side dish, greens and red wine sauce


Pink center, medium done

Cafe Cartel, National Service, Grado.

A week back, I patronized Cafe Cartel with my friend. The quality of food seems to have dropped quite a bit since my last visit. The St. Louis Pork Ribs I ordered had a stench which made it rather unpalatable while my friend's Pasta Carbonara was stiff and dry.

Food aside, I notice half of the crews were foreigners. Economical labour, yes. Quality service? I doubt so.





One of my friends who completed his national service just two days ago had stated his job hunt and borrowed a tie for his job interview next week. For me, it's 3 more months to go except that it's back to school for me. I'd probably miss the allowance that comes in so faithfully the 10th of each month.

My understudies will be reporting to camp this week. It's good news for it brings me closer to the reality that I will be finishing my national service soon.

Going off to enjoy my new Grado Lab Prestige Series headphones. My first bold step into the audiophile community. :)

J.CO Donuts

Before I start, I like to express my deepest and sincerest condolences to the victims of Myanmar and China natural disasters. For now, I can only hope no matter how dim the chances are, there are still survivors and bodies buried deep in the rubble can be recovered and accounted for.

Last Saturday, headed over to J.CO Donuts and Coffee with my army friend for my donuts fix. Along the way, we passed the much-hyped Donut Factory. The queue was lined only by a handful of people which was quite a contrast when it first started up with queue snaking up to the music store.

Back to J.Co Donuts, we ordered half a dozen of assorted donuts. The cafe was partitioned in such a way that you order donuts and beverages at different sections of the cafe. So after buying the donuts, my friend went to place order for the coffees. We didn't realize that for each coffee purchased there is a free donuts. Splitting up the initial donuts ordered, we ended up with 4 donuts each. *roll eyes*

We definitely had an overload of sugar and carbohydrates. Pictures of our sinful donuts indulgence,

Next Book: Harry Potter and The Deadly Hallows

I haven't been able to read at my normal pace. There often distraction like computer and other reading materials like magazines.

After two months, I done reading The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford. The book is intriguing and thought-provoking and after reading it, it makes me look things at a different light. It deserve a second reading and I definitely revisit it again after finishing my next book.

I have been eyeing Harry Potter and The Deadly Hallows for quite some time but always held back from buying it. I finally bought it last week with a 30% discount from Borders. I peeled off the pricing labels and I am astonished at how the price drops. The top price label was $19.95 over a label of $42.95 and lastly a label of $53.40. A 36.7% drop in price! I guess that's the price you have to pay to read it early.

Back to camp again. Till then.

Disruption from National Service

My national service liability will be fulfilled on 8th Sep (ORD) this year. To meet the start of my school term on 18 Aug, I will have to disrupt my national service for 3 weeks. My application for disruption had been prepared and endorsed, short of submission.

It is ridiculous to serve my remaining time during school vacation. Imagine your peers enjoying their vacation but I have to don my green camouflage uniform and return to camp idling my time pointlessly. There isn't any serious work for me since knowing I will be back for a short 3 weeks, no tasks will be assigned to me.

Discussing this with my superior, he agreed with me and my proposal to use my leave and off-in-lieu to cover the 3 weeks between the start of my first term and my ORD. Theoretically, based on directive and such, this is not possible. But an understanding superior does wonder. :)

Yes, I am still considering between Singapore Management University and National University of Singapore. I am seriously looking at different aspects of the two especially the exemptions offered. I would prefer the holistic education offered by SMU. Oh well.

My eventful March and April

It was a busy and eventful March and April for me. Gave me pretty of opportunities to be excused from work in camp. :)

I am officially a student of Singapore Management University. After my pre-matriculation examination at Raffles Hospital, headed down to SMU for submission and collect my student card and the letter to be submitted for my disruption from national service.

One of the benefits of matriculating early is, you get to enjoy free usage of their gym and rooftop swimming pool without paying school fees upfront. I have yet to use it, but probably give it a try soon.

For some personal reason, I applied for admission to National University of Singapore. I was called up for interview and was required to write a personal statement. I spent quite a bit of effort writing the earlier admission essay and it was a writer's block thinking how to draft the personal statement, not making it seems a replicate of my admission essay.

The interview was conducted by 3 professors and the course manager (I think). The first question goes, "Brandon, please tell me about yourself in one minute". I did a verbal diarrhoea, spouting whatever I can think of while trying not to appear nervous. After the interview, met up with Ms. Ng for catching up.

I was offered a place in NUS but I probably go with SMU, I think. My parents want me to reconsider. Damn, I'm so confused right now.

Met up with my ex-colleagues from IRAS last Saturday. The last time I met them was the last day of work in 2003? ha. They did meet up regularly without me because of my commitments back in polytechnic and national service.

A brief introduction to them, they were 'A' level students back then and I was waiting for my polytechnic term to start. Anyway, the 3 girls are doing pretty well, one is a cell researcher in A*STAR, one working in the regulatory field in government sector and the other a credit officer in a local bank.

We met at Boat Quay. I was late as usual, I rushed from camp after finishing up some work. We had dinner at a board games cafe - Pitstop Cafe. It was whole lotsa' fun playing all the weird board games, Tickets to Ride, Taboo, etc. Ha.

Gonna 'book-in' to camp now. Hopefully, next month won't be performing any duty if thing goes my way. Received the outstanding serviceman of the month. :)

Nokia E61i

Two months back, I was devastated at the lost of my Nokia E61. It has all that I wanted, to name a few, QWERTY keypad, third-party applications to enhance its functions and seamless integration with my Macintosh.

Now, I present to you, Nokia E61i in titanium black livery,



It seems this phone is near its end of line (read: EOL). Nokia E series sure has a short lifespan.

I pretty sure this phone will last a long time until my next upgrade.

NSMen Matriculation Exercise

Took time off from camp to attend SMU NSMen Matriculation Exercise today. The matriculation was rather quick, the whole process took 10 minutes or so. It was conducted in a series of lecture halls and I say the lecture halls are an intimidating sight. Unlike the normal polytechnic lecture hall, it is compact in size for the seminar feel, what SMU is famed for.

Paid the confirmation fee (read: ripoff), confirmed my particulars, collected my account particulars, signed some disclaimer and acknowledgment form, took my photo for student card and voilà, to the exit I went.

Anyway, NSMen is a wrong term to use, serviceman who are still serving the 2 years national service liability is called NSF. Only after the 2 years (read: ORD) the serviceman is an NSMan.

A graduand who was serving his time in my unit from disruption told me students from my faculty are encouraged to do a second major. Gosh, I doubt I can survive coping with just one major. But two?!

After the exercise, visited my ex-colleagues. It was nice chatting with everyone, especially with my superior. Something is coming up and they need someone to help out over the weekends. I didn't exactly agree. I'll see how it goes.

First login into my SMU email account,



667 emails. *roll eyes* I doubt I receive that much emails in a year for my main account.

That's all for today. Later.

A jumbled update

Writer's block sets in midway through this post and I ended up lost in thought over what to write. Gee, so a jumbled update for now.

Together with my ex-colleagues from PMO, we visited one of our colleagues who suffered from stage 3 lung cancer. I am not exactly good with comforting words, I have been pondering on how best I can console, before the visit. We tried not to touch on the subject, but I can see she is handling it quite well and her will to survive is indomitable. She is currently undergoing chemotherapy and seems to be recovering well.

Something to muse over. There are certain things that should not have occurred, but it did anyhow. An intention made known not reciprocated in kind should not be pushed any further, lest all that remains is lost. Gee, all this cryptic talk.

Singapore Management University's last matriculation for NSFs this Wednesday. Frankly speaking, national service has drained so much from me that I am not sure whether I can handle the academic pressure I will be facing when semester starts. It doesn't help when you hear people telling you the life there is, attend classes at 0830hrs, leave for home at 2230hrs. Even during FYP days back in TP, I don't even attend classes that early! Gosh.