Finished reading Harry Potter!!!

YES!!! I've finished reading the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince today!! Wanted to do it yesterday but was dragged to play mahjong with my cousins. Ended up playing from about 3 to 8, I was the one who sat at the table the longest. Anyway, the storyline is getting darker in nature, really different from how it started. Can really feel that the book has matured as it goes on.

Made about $3 from yesterday's mahjong session=p. Hopefully that signifies good luck for the rest of the year ...

Just watched Superhost. Am very surprised to see my ex-OCS instructor doing so well. He was first in the judges' score segment and was second in popularity vote. Not bad I'll say. Well, wish him all the best. The prize for winning is damn good, so it will be a waste if he doesn't win. I do really have to eat my words for saying he will not last long in the competition. But I still really don't see him as a host yet ...maybe it's the syndrome of having seen him as an instructor, so I cannot envisage him as a host.

Off day tomorrow, meaning I can wake up late and do things at my own pace. The guys must be wondering how come the holidays have passed so fast ...Got my first driving lesson in a month tomorrow, hope my driving will not be rusty*fingers crossed*.

Some photos to show ...

Just saw these 2 photos on Ziyang's blog. ZY, you should have sent me you know ...

Lucky me huh? This was a gathering a long long time ago
Me and ZY at our last gathering at suntec

Was at Tiong Bahru and looking for my cousin's car when I suddenly bumped into one of my recruits. Both of us were like momentarily stunned to see each other, then I just shook his hand and wished him before walking off with my sis ...

First day of CNY ...just enjoying the good food. Well, see whether I have time to do some reading ...sis borrowed the latest harry potter book. Hmm ...

Gong Xi Fa Cai to all~

Gong Xi Fa Cai

An hour plus more to Chinese New Year. Like a few of my friends, we will not be celebrating CNY here for the next 3 years. So, gotta enjoy the good food this time round.

5 guys from my first batch of recruits came to visit me on Monday. They had finished a parade rehearsal at CNB and they popped by after it ended. Treated them to drinks and they treated me to lunch. It was quite a proud moment to see them all promoted to LCPs. Cannot believe that it has been almost a year since they enlisted. Great satisfaction to see the people I have trained for the navy.

This current batch of recruits I have has been performing rather badly. Been thinking of how to boost up the percentage score, especially in IPPT. Doesnt help that those who are close to passing are getting status that excuse them from IPPT. Never mind, I can always find a time to conduct IPPT for them. Not forgetting my partial failures.

I went swimming with them on their last lesson, which is a test. Have not swum for quite a long while and threading water alongside every detail was indeed tough. Well, that was my way of telling them I am doing it with them, so they better put in effort and do their best. Anyway, the result at the end was that the good ones get better while the lousier ones ...remain just as bad. I'll just have to make them go swimming early in the morning every day then.

Read Darius' posting about what he felt after watching the movie "The Long Weekend"(?). Anyway, I came across something that made me think about people's value. One of my ex-trainee's girlfriend got pregnant recently and the best part is both of them are younger than me. The girl is just slightly above the age of condent, so there you have it. I admire the guy's courage in accepting responsibility and for not wanting to destroy a precious life. Nonetheless, life will be a struggle financially and definitely things will change a lot once the baby is born. Anyway, spoke to a few of them and I get the sensing that it is a rather prevalent kind of mentality and this particular guy was probably careless or unlucky, I guess.

My camp had its officially opening ceremony yesterday and the Minister For Defence was here. It was reported in the Straits Times anyway. Coincidentally, it was exactly a year since I first reported to the new camp. Was having dinner when I saw a video presentation they were making. Saw certain footages which were pretty nostalgic and some of which I was involved in.

Oh yeah, got my promotion cert yesterday from my Commander, which will take effect on 1st Feb. Haha ...congrats to my fellow course mates who will be promoted with me too. It's been a long time coming ...

Hereby wishing all a Happy Chinese New Year. May all enjoy good fortune and good health.

Oh yeah, can the 1000th visitor to my blog pls leave a post on the tagboard? You can se the number at the bottom of the page.

ORD 8KM Route March ...Completed!

Completed my LAST ever route march yesterday. Can't believe it but it is true. Looking at starting to clear my leave soon ...haha. 23 days of leave if I'm not wrong. If everything goes as planned, I should be going to Bangkok in early march too. Hopefully won't be like last time again.

I got myself a Personal Assistant, in the form of an ex-recruit who got himself medically downgraded after he passed out. I called him my PS(personal slave)~ Less you think I am torturing him, I am actually saving him from a worse predicament. He was helping out with some manual work elsewhere before I pulled him over to my side cuz I needed some help with some tasks. Now that I have finished what I wanted to do, he is basically following me wherever I go, helping me to carry my stuffs(eg water bottle).

CNY coming in a weeks' time. This year will be a little low-key for me. Anyway, can't wait for the week to be over cuz it will mean my promotion is near. Tomorrow will mark the 1st anniversary of my commissioning. Wow, a year has passed ...Someone saw the photo which was taken when I just got posted in and then asked me," What happened?" Probably cynicism and losing faith in people, that's what happened.

Anyway, looking forward to CNY. Pity those chinatown vendors though, the rain's absolutely killing business. Come to think of it, I have never gone down there during CNY before. Well, at least I got geri to thank for being able to see the lighting there this year=)

A week come and gone ...

Another week has passed yet again ...getting closer to CNY ...and Feb ...and POP ...and ORD ...

Was secretary for my division meeting and I am pretty amazed at myself. 2 days to complete the minutes ...not bad huh? Guess doing it the second time round makes things easier.

Some recruits from this batch are currently giving lots of problems. I always sympathise for those who put in effort but get the shorter end of the stick. It's an oxymoron but those who take part in training are always those who get punished a lot cuz they take part in training. One of those ironies in life ...Got to see how things can be changed for the better.

Been looking at this website: www.totaldefence.com.sg There's this TD rally thing that sounds quite fun. It's somewhat like amazing race kind of thing where 4 to 5 people form one group and go to 5 different locations to perform 5 different challenges. Needs a car and a driver though. Sounds like fun ...

Finally decided what to do for my birthday. It's actually quite stupid having to think through so many things (schedules, what to do etc ...) Had to clash with geri's which mean I can't attend hers. Feb gonna be lots of ppl's birthday so I foresee my weekends to be burnt ...and my wallet too.

Speaking of which, going to start looking for work to do ...earn some money after I ORD. Have to start learning how to live without free food and the monthly allowance I have been so used to for more than 2 years.

My sympathies to ZY, his ORD may be extended due to a course. Hey, maybe we can ORD together?=p Oh yeah, I just remembered. If you have read yesterday's newspaper, you will see this article about this SAF officer who earned top honoursat Sandhurst. He was my platoon mate in OCS. Got a msg early in the morning from Hazwan about it but only got to read it late in the afternoon. He got the best overseas cadet award which is akin to getting the sword of honour. Ironic is he prob would not have gotten SOH in Spore~ But I must say it is a tremendous achievement, what more to be on the FRONT PAGE. Man, how many of us get to be on the front page at all?

Anyway, to end off, my aunt passed me this photo last night which she managed to "dig" out from her house: me, sis and cousins many years ago=p

Rain, rain, go away ...

Man, THE RAIN!!! What a dreary few days it has been. My theory is that the monsoon season is slowly moving forward, due to global warming and who knows, the weather we know now may change drastically in time to come. Agree? Ok, quite a lot of cock sense here but oh well...

Celebrated Marcus' birthday at Wheelock Place's Fish & Cole. Supposed to go NYDC but Marcus himself wanted to go Fish & Cole. A pretty dumb move cuz we knew that we could embarrass the birthday boy there according to Darius' past experience. Anyway, he got off lucky and he didnt have to stand on the chair holding a sparkler. Weilin helped us get a cake for him from Sweets Secrets. Had a feast there, with 5 of us sharing 2 seafood platter for 2. Thank god ZH drove me there or else I would not have liked to go there under the unrelenting rain.

Proceeded to one of our fave activity- KTVing, though prob they were singing and I just went along to enjoy the atmosphere. Had to go off early cuz needed to book in.

Visited ZH @ SGH last night with june, geri, von and weilin cuz he had an op for his torn ligament. Saw his girlfriend whom we recognised as an ex-CT junior. To think von thought was his sister=p Anyway, I rushed down without eating my dinner only to be "tortured" by the sight of him eating his fish soup. We finally left at around 9 where we headed down to Tiong Bahru Market for my dinner-cum-supper. Weilin didnt join us cuz she had to return to her hostel on time. Had a real sumptous meal there.

Geri's parents send me home and we had a little discussion on how we are celebrating our birthdays and trying not to clash with one another's. *headache* I havent really decided what to do as yet and who to ask. Really, this type of thing is a pain in the ass cuz the main thing is to enjoy yourself and not think so hard about all these things.

Anyway, here's the picture we took yesterday. Everyone was making fun of how I, the OC, was "serving" him:

Busy weekdays, Busy weekends

Going to be a short post. Will be out tomorrow and won't be free to go online.

Some of my friends are like going to clear leave soon, while I still have so much work to do. Haven't even thought of how I am going to clear my leave yet. 23 days of leave ...so much more to do. Life is certainly unfair. I should be undergoing my CCC(Civilian Conversion Course) and not slogging like hell but I am.

What am I going to do after ORD? Probably going to try for relief teaching. Money's good and can get some working experience. I need money, especially since I am going to have a loss of income.

Chinese New Year is coming too and I have not gotten my clothes yet. My mom has started to bug me about it already. To be honest, I had kind of forgotten about it. Have a sportslink voucher that is expiring this month. Maybe should go there get some t-shirt.

Turned down 2 invitations from 2 previous batches to go to Sentosa cuz I am meeting to celebrate Marcus' birthday. Next time guys=)

Gotta meet some of my friends who are going back to their studies overseas. Do arrange to meet up soon.

Once reach CNY, I will be clearing some leave and some good things will happen=) ...at least for me!

Time for me to start planning for the year. Things like what to start buying, to start studying, to start preparing to go overseas.

Ok, my thoughts are not flowing, as can be reflected from my post. Certain stuffs lingering in my mind but cant seem to jot it down. Do it some other day den. Ciao~

Boxing Day Gathering @ Ben's Place

Finally got Shen Zhi to send me the photos from our gathering at Benedict's place:

The prezzies for gift exchange ...My present is the little pouch next to the purple plastic bag

Back row: Sz Wha, Shen Zhi, Weilin and Daphne
Front row: Ben, Ziyang and Me

NY's Eve Celebration

The food ...
And the table ...And we are ready to eat!
Celebrating with the Birthday Boy

KTV on Xmas Eve

Me, sis and cousins
The 5 of us
X'mas tree outside Raffles City

Chalet Pics

Ok, didnt take many pics, so only have these 2 pics which we took on the 2nd morning at the beach:

I was the one who took the photo ...accurate huh?

Happy 2006!

Ok, that's a long post below. Now, I resume my normal one ..

Went Ben's house on Boxing Day for our gift exchange. Met up with Sz Wha early to go buy Ziyang's belated birthday present. Good thing we knew where we wanted to go to look for his present prior. In the end, got a shirt for him(cuz apparently he mentioned he wanted a shirt for CNY) and a pencil case(My brilliant idea=p cuz starting school this year). Then, we headed down to Costa Sands to collect back Yvonne's charger cuz she left it there.(Von, u r going to owe me a lot ...) Then, had lunch at White Sands with Sz Wha whilst wating for the rest to come. Ziyang and Ben joined us as we ate cuz the rest were late as I predicted. Anyway, Daphne came along and we went down to Ben's house.

Shen Zhi arrived and then we just sat around and talked. Ben's mother took out plates after plates of food for us. Made me and sz wha kinda regretted eating lunch. We then proceeded to the mahjong table where we "sparred" with Ben for the first time. He only learnt it while in Australia. Cant blame him ...being in a mmilitary academy that is so ulu, it is one of the only recreational activities. We were suitably impressed by his grasp of the game, probably honed by the constant practice. Fortunately for them, we didnt play money or else I would have made a killing ...Haha ...

Had our gift exchange. Sz Wha bought a pouch for me with a small box of Rochers. She thought of buying it cuz I always go out with 2 things: Handphone and wallet. So she thought of buying it for me to put them in. My mom helped me buy some aromatherapy candles and I gave it to Weilin. Daph, Sz Wha, Weilin, ZY and I went down to Bedok Block 85 market for dinner. Ate the bak chor mee, stingray, bbq chicken wings and fried carrot cake *salivating* ...

Took bus home with weilin and we alighted at Tanah Merah MRT. To my horror, I saw 3 of my recruits sitting there waiting. It was like 8pm and they were supposed to report by 9:15pm. They were there since 7 plus and I kinda admonished them for coming so early. They were afraid of getting confinement for being late. Oh man ...but more than an hour early ...

Was busy with range last week. It's my ORD range though I did not get to do my ORD shoot ...oh well. Had a tiring 2-day but everything went on quite smoothly. Went back and got the guys to clean arms. The instructors had McDonald's for dinner. Everyone rushed to book out and in the end waited for the bus. Those guys must be damn happy to have 2 long weekends in a row.

Spent NY's eve celebrating Darius' birthday ...as usual=p. Went to his house for steamboat and we met early to go NTUC at Hougang Mall to shop for the food. Yvonne and PK were damn late cuz they were shopping for his present. Got a wallet for him and also bought a cake. We played some bridge and den proceeded to cut his cake. Had mango cake for the second time~ ...hopefully i slowly get over my aversion to mangoes ...We finally went back home straight after countdown. Anyway, happy birthday, Darius!

Finally, Happy New Year to all!!! Hope 2006 will be a great year for you and I wish all good health and to stay happy~

2005 in retrospect

Well, as indicated before, I thought it will be a good time to just reflect a little on the past year and what I have done:

The month of January was basically all about the Commissioning Parade. It was day after day of parade rehearsals peppered with certain activities like the PT Challenge which my team somehow or rather managed to win(got a voucher frim SportsLink which I have yet to use) and the Platoon Assault Course which ended rather controversially. As my PC told us, we know we are the best and that's the most important. Commissioning Parade will definitely rank as one of THE most proud moment of my life. Personally, it showed me what I am capable of. Not many people would have even thought that I could make it to OCS and there was a period of time in the middle of the course where I had a lot of problems and did feel like giving it up. Thank god, I persevered and overcame some of the struggles that I had.

Was posted to IMOS thereafter where i switched my green beret for Navy no. 3 and navy blue beret. An instructional role was what I had requested for and I had wanted to go back Tekong. So, I can say that this is a much better posting than what I had wanted. Officially said bye-bye to my teenage years and entered the soon-to-be-adult club(ie 20 yrs old).

Took my first batch in on the 23rd Feb. A very small batch of them and I was their only PC. 27 passed out in May ...cant remember the exact date though=(.All of them are now in their own units and I hear from a few of them every now and then. Learnt a lot from taking them and I have to say of all the batches I took, I was most hands-on with them. Perhaps the energy and novelty of a newbie kept me going then.

My second batch came in on 1st June. This was my big batch of 80+ people. I finally became a Platoon Commander with a platoon under me within the context of a company. This was also the batch with a lot of regulars. Was lucky that I got the better platoon=). But I always see them all as one whole batch under me. Still remember how the report sick always formed up the 3rd platoon. They POPed on 10th Aug. This was the only batch that I went out with. Went to Sentosa with them twice when I myself had not been to that place in ages. Still see some of them around though everyone has been streamed and going about doing their own training.

In between, I started my driving lessons. It was probably the only thing that I managed to start off. Had great visions of myself doing a lot of things after commissioning: continue taking French lessons, go for courses ...And I started to tutor my cousin for her PSLE. To be frank though, I didnt have so much time as I thought I would have. Work in camp was hectic enough already and I spend a lot of time in camp anyway. Friends were saying I could have booked out every day to give tuition and earn more money but I just want to do my job well.

My 3rd batch came in merely 2 weeks after, making it the shortest break ever. Tried pushing back the enlistment date to no avail. I don't want to state what happened cuz I know people read about it here. Anyway, 25th Aug was the enlistment and I held the appointment of Course Commander, which to me was rather weird. It's kinda like a mixture of being a PC and OC. They found my blog and I suppose it gave them a lot of pleasure by making fun of me thereafter ...They passed out on 16th Nov and all of them are still around in JRC.

Another major happening was my aunt's death. Was in camp on Saturday morning when I received the message and went down to the hospital after booking out. Was at her bedside when she passed away. I think fate played a part cuz I was supposed to go Bangkok for a holiday on that day but my friend was hospitalised. Probably the greater forces didnt want me to leave Spore during this time.

My current batch just came in on the 8th Dec. My last batch and I am the OC. Being OC is different but I will talk about that much later ...

Failed my driving test too. But I will not be put down by all your jibes=p.

Ok, so it's mostly about what I do in NS but hey, that's my life right now k?