Reconnecting with old friends

The past 2 days were spent meeting up with my long-lost friends ...well ok not exactly but people whom I have not seen for a long time. Thursday, I met up with my good friends from Delta Wing: Hazwan and Biqing. We ate at Far East and had milkshake @ MacDonald's, followed by the movie "The Wild" at Lido and finally apple crumble at Coffee Bean. We reminisced a bit about our days in Delta and in our respective postings. I didn't realise Hazwan had a few photos from Ex Lancer in Brunei and I managed to get them from his fotopage. It brought back memories of those days ....
Our accommodation for 1 whole wing/coy ...
where we had an amazing view of the greeneries of Brunei ...which was basically everywhere.
Me and my great buddy, Hazwan! Yes, I used to wear plastic spectacles ...
After returning from Ex Chillhermit, the 6D5N jungle survival. Had eaten mangoes for 6 days ...filled with maggots ...
A moment for us to slack around. Not too sure if the guy in the corner was me or weihan =p
And this was how we slept, really old school style ...Imagine one long room filled with double-deckers on both sides and a little aisle in between.
A favourite moment: Pigging out at the canteen!!!
The period of time was when I was most productive at eating. I think Darius, Yvonne, Weilin and PK remember me eating chicken rice for supper that Xmas eve ...Haha
Me eating again! Yes, there was a time when I loved eating the combat rations biscuits. It was sort of like a pasttime to munch those biscuits ...Yeeeks!

Then, I went back VJ last night for its Drama Night. Met up with Xiu Ying for dinner at Parkway before hurrying down to the school. The sky poured on us just as we were outside the gate, like it couldn't wait for a few more minutes. We had thought that the play was starting at 7, only to find out when we bought the tickets that it was starting at 730. We just walked around and marvel at the changes in the school. Both of us felt old there, seeing the JC students running around and there were this group of them who were running in the rain and came back doing some cheer. Was wondering why they were mad enough to go running in the rain and turns out they were celebrating somebody's birthday.(?) Yeah, the exuberance of youth as I told XY ...

Anyway, the play was great. Could see how much they have improved since we left. The reasons: 1) They have a classy name for themselves instead of plain old boring drama club: V Actors. 2) They have a programme blooklet filled with pictures and glossy pages. My time, it was at best a glossy hard-cover pamphlet. 3) A lot of people came down to watch. The lower part of the Performance Theatre was FULL. When I was the lead of Ideal Husband, I acted in LT AVA. Then, Midsummer Nights' Dream had a hard time selling the tix. GO figure. 4) The club chairman is a MALE. Don't think it would have been possible in my time, what with the 5 of us guys only. I was merely the treasurer ...haha

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the performance, especially the one they did for SYF, since I did the text for Literature in Sec 2 before. I seriously hope they can get a good result. They deserve it. And Dax Young acted in the other play as an effeminate guy. It was hilarious and he, IMO, was the best actor for that particular play. I also got to see my junior, Jing Yi and my CTC teacher Miss, opps Mdm Rajan. CT people, we should find a day to go down her house. My civics tutor Robert Yeo was there though, only managed a hi to him cuz he was busy.

Found out that Xiu Ying is going Canada for exchange. Was a bit shocked initially cuz I thought UK would be the best place to go for law exchange due to the similarities in the legal system. Turns out the opposite rather. Well, all the best to her and do meet up before we both leave yeah.

A mundane and routine life

This is a rather late post, considering how free I am and how often I am online. But first of all, I need to welcome Siying!!! Don't worry, you are still the only siying I know. Does it amuse you to see being verbally abused? And I must have seem to be a vulgar person to you in the past, judgin from ur posting, a claim to which I vehemently oppose to as I only became vulgar after I enlisted. Nonetheless, real nice to see you and we'll definitely meet up again during your hols. And your blog seems to be inactive and has ceased to exist.

Started some form of Maths revision with my notes and I realise to my horror how much I need to cover. Having not done any form of complicated maths questions has impeded my ability to perform mathematical operations that is expected of a double maths student. That is sad, real sad. I don't think I want to go Warwick cuz they make you take tests in various components of Maths in the first term and failure to get 80% in any componenet after retaking 5 times will result in them advising you to change course. I'll be damned ...

The past few days have been pretty routine: Wake up, breakfast, reading newspaper, lunch, online, getting ready to go for a jog, rain, abandoning plans for a jog, dinner, online, Jewel in The Palace ...

Well, things are starting to look up. I'll be meeting Hazwan and Biqing tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll get to meet the CT and S37 people soon after the girls finish their exams. And a whole lot more other people ......

For fans of Jewel in the Palace, here's a link for you. ZY sent to me and it's quite funny. It's basically a parody of the song in Chinese. Enjoy:

Jewel In The Palace

Magical Fundoshi

Ok, I can see a flurry of activities on my tagboard. Must be a testament of the popularity of my blog huh?=p Anyway, all I can deduce from the various postings is this: Officers are not big f***s but since clarence is a good officer, he is a big f***. Pls feel free to comment;)However, pls don't go and round up the officers you hate and shoot them at the live range.

Went to watch The Magic Fundoshi with Ziyang today. Was a last-minute arrangement cuz his interest was piqued by what he saw on Arts Central. And who better to ask than me, the ex-Drama Club member who was once a lead actor in a school production though he doesn't think he acted very well. Anyway, it was a hilarious play that had certain raunchy parts. Well, not exactly raunchy but rather, certain sexually explicit scenes. We had dinner at Bugis Junction, then had a drink at Coffee Bean.

Thanks Xinghai for your advice. Will work hard to maintain what's left of my fitness level. Just got a notice for my IPPT. Anyway, I won't be taking IPPT for the next few years since I will be disrupting for overseas studies. Think I may end up at the defence squandrons since my letter came from Naval Pers, which means I probably will end up under the Navy somehow. Good or bad??? I hope it's a good sign.

I need a purpose in my life now

Met up with Darius and Zhen Hao today. Was going to meet Darius for lunch since we were the 2 not working full-time and I arranged to go down to Fullerton to buy this chocolate cake that was on offer but was sold-out by the time we went down. Then our dear teacher called me to meet up for lunch before I left my house so both of us went down to Tampines to wait for him. We ended up walking the whole of TM and Century Square and back to TM before our dear Mr Chng arrived cuz he had to go home and change and he left his wallet in the staff room.

Had lunch at Ajisen Ramen which was a first time for me. For a change, ZH was the one kena suaned and he sort of treated the 2 poor souls, of course me being the poorest. *sad face* Then, we shared ice-cream at Haagan Daaz. It's high time I start exercising and minding my diet. Outside food is really bad for health cuz of all the oil and what-nots. And I have been extremely lazy. Was supposed to go for my afternoon runs the last 2 days which came to naught cuz I ended up taking my afternoon naps. Xinghai, you should teach me how to wake up early and go running every morning.

I must admit I am rather aimless right now. I should be starting my maths revision, something which I have been harping upon for ages but have not gotten down to doing. Seeing the maths book in Darius' bag today just made me feel more guilty=(. I;m not blaming you, Darius, after all it's your dad who offered to buy you the books. *grinz* I should aim to get my First Class Honours ...*dreamy face* ...And there are a lot of people whom I'll like to meet up before I go overseas. Should start making a list now and plan when to meet them.

First up, I need to find something to do that is meaningful and purposeful for the time being.

Jobless yet again ...And aimless too~

Yeay!!! Finally finished the roadshow yesterday. It was a culmination of 3 days of crash courses on the latest in mobile technology and the various plans starhub offers and ended with my legs feeling sore. REAL SORE! Stood there from 9am all the way till 8 like that. And those of us standing outside at the open house practically didnt get much of a break, unlike those inside the registration who even had time to go for lunch break. Unbelievable. Well, hundred over bucks for the work, that will last me for a couple of meals.

The experience made me realise a few things: 1) I'm really not suited for the marketing kind of job. It doesn't suit me. Especially the part about dealing with difficult customers. To hell with them man. 2) My Chinese is really not bad. Almost all the temp staff had difficulty dealing with certain customers who wanted to speak in Mandarin. and I was the one who ended up dealing with them and I must say I think I did a pretty good job. A lady from China who I explained the things to even complimented me on my Mandarin. That has to be like a first time. But I still can't say certain things like Blackberry in Chinese. It's waaaay beyond me.

Looks like I'm encountering obstacles with the temp job that I may get. Seems like the boss really wants me but they face difficulties cuz interns are preferred cuz they earn a meagre allowance and do not have to process the paperwork, unlike for temp staff like me. Well, hopefully I hear some good news soon or else I'll be stuck in a rut for a long time to come=( Anyway ZY, not like I'm going to earn big bucks there yeah, so pls dun hope for a treat anytime soon=p

Well, Daniel I hope you had the patience to read my posting till here. Well, to each his own. To make it more wordy for you, perhaps I should translate my postings into chinese characters for you. I'll bet ya you'll immediately fall asleep once u read my blog.

The Money is trickling in ...

I was talking about how slack it was for me last week. How wrong am I going to be ...

Went down to some shophouse at Chinatown for my job "training" on Thursday afternoon. Basically, it was a briefing for the roadshow on Wednesday. This company is sort of an events company and they are doing this roadshow for Starhub on Wednesday that are targetting the Directors and GMs of SMEs. After going through 2 hours of overall briefing, we were then assigned specific jobs and guess what? I got to do registration. Meaning, I will be sitting there and helping the customers fill up their forms. I'm supposed to go study the plans that Starhub provides before my training on Monday morning at Cuppage where the Starhub centre is. And I'm proud to announce that I have earned $21 for the briefing on Thursday. $21!!! I wonder how many meals that will cover.-_-

I also just found out that in all likelihood, I have secured a temp job at OCBC Bank. Not sure when I'm starting but should be in the coming week. Submitted my resume to my mom's friend and I suppose my impressive list of achievements left an indelible mark on them.=) Anyway, I hope to find out more soon and to have fun and learn stuff. Finally, I'm earning some money! Do hope that the rate they offer will be good.

Went down for the supposed BMT barbeque which turned out to be more of an instructors' gathering. Met up with Jun Huang, Chang Hong and Hong Sheng and I was late. Well, we trooped down to Bedok Jetty where they were. Turned out that there was one guy there when we reached at six-something. There was a tent set up and the food was catered. The BBQ pits were also catered for, and the pit was empty. AT SIX-SOMETHING!!! I was half-expecting to see a whole bunch of people already there with the fire set up and cooking food, ready for me to eat. So, the four of us, or rather 3 of them set up the fire, since I'm quite clueless about it. Then, we started cooking and eating. DJ and Weixin joined us in time to start eating. Turned out it was organised by 2 OOCs and they brought along their friends and the rest of the batch didn't turn out. Nonetheless, the 6 of us had our own fun and we just spent our time eating and chatting. Heard that the total bill came to about $700. I never liked to organise a bbq anyway but the amount of money for convenience is indeed staggering.

Looks like slacking time is over. Xing Hai, you are right, I should not complain cuz when you start getting busy, you wanna have more free time on your hand. Irony?

Leading a slacking civilian life

Today is like 2nd day of civilian life and I have not achieved much. I think I am just taking the time to relax, slack and sleep a lot. I was quite amazed really to find myself waking up naturally before 9. But my afternoons are usually quite sleepy.

My last day in camp was spent going around saying my goodbyes. No heartwrenching moments really, just a closure to what I have done around, though I'm sure there are people who will miss me=p. Anyway, I went to the mess for a last gathering of sorts with my officers and a fellow OC and we were joined by my TC's instructors too.

Thereafter, I joined my BMT platoon mates for an ORD celebration. There were 21 of us there, which to be honest is a great achievement and there were many whom I have not seen for a long time. I didn't even recognise the guy sitting next to me and I was just trying to run through the faces I remembered but to no avail. Really all thanks to Qian Hao who organised it. He also reminded me of how I have not really made the effort to keep in touch with my friends from Anderson, a view to which I readily agree. It was really coincidental that my path crossed that of his and fanglong's after 2 years in BMT. I know that the rest of them still keep in touch and are a pretty tight bunch. Oh well~ Anyway, to my navy regulars, my friend fang long is a naval officer, so keep a look out for him in case he becomes your officer.

Been watching lots of TV lately and besides the usual Survivors and Amazing Races, I've been hooked on Da Chang Jin and Grey's Anatomy. While the former is the craze now, I have to say that Grey's Anatomy is a hidden gem. It gives the whole drama in a hospital setting a new outlook. I used to watch ER years ago for some time and GA is really different. I'll highly recommend it.

Got a call to inform me that there is a bbq on Friday by my previous batch. Think I should be going, even though I will be at AMK that day. Hope it will be fun. And I may be committing myself to a roadshow next week. We shall see ...

ORD Loh!!!

Have fallen sick=( Woke up on Friday morning to some slight sore throat and began drinking lots of water. Didn't work. It worsen and I think I fell victim to the flu bug. Went to the polyclinic for my last free outpatient treatment.

Headed to SMU for an interview on Thursday. Met with a series of coincidences. First, I was at the SMU's administration block and was trying to decide where to turn and was going off in the wrong direction when I heard a familiar voice. It was yvonne who was hopelessly late for her class=p. Well, to be fair, if it wasn't for the fact that she was quite late, I wouldn't have met her and I would have gotten lost and late. So, thanks a lot yvonne! She led me the right way to the business block and she went off for her class. Then I was trying to figure out where to go when I met my next gui ren: Wen Fang. How coincidental is it to meet 2 of my friends within the space of a few minutes? And she led me to the interview room when she saw the signs. Many thanks to both of them=)

Tomorrow will be a milestone of my life: ORD! It's been 2 years and 4 months coming. The irony is that my cousin just enlisted on Friday. It's like the cycle of life ...well, I definitely do not want to be in his shoes now=p

Here are some photos from my last batch which I managed to burn into my collection of CDs:

POP dinner
@ Sakura Parkway
Men of 3/05 BMT
Me and DJ "knocking them down" *evil grinz*
Officers of 3/05- Me, Jun Huang, Wei Xin and DJ
Instructors of 3/05 BMT

Finding a job ...

Darius, THANK YOU! Happy? Anyway, I was replying to the tagboard messages, so of course would have left you out cuz u congratulated me on msn ma? I did that so that I don't have to reply so many tagboard messages. And I also got thank you for your well-wishes before the test in the previous entry already.

Met up with my BMT buddy Wilson for lunch today. It's been a good 2 years that I last saw him. 2 YEARS!!! It was effectively the day of our BMT POP that I last saw him. Spoke to him a few times thereafter but the past year I did not really contact him. So, I thought it was high time to meet up with him, at least before we ORD. We had lunch at Han's @ Far East Plaza, and we basically talked. Talked about what we have been doing, reminisced about our BMT days. Things like the horrendous punishment after Sit Test, how good our section was ...

Still trying hard to find a job ...and Warwick is still not replying to me. So how? I need money!!!

Anyone got any any job lobangs?

Thanks to the many well-wishes and congratulations from my friends: Jeremy, Heng Hai, Wei Lin, Ziyang, Wilson, PK, Khet, Xiu Ying, Tee Yuan, and Yvonne. Well, HH and Khet, good luck for your tests! Hope to see ya with ur license too=) Weilin, hopefully I can strike lottery too ...but the money will go towards financing my lifestyle in UK ...hahahaha. So ZY, I can still accompany you on the MRT home. Wilson, thanks for the offer though I'm not sure whether I have the confidence yet. Still, I don't mind if u intend to send me home from camp, then I'd probably won't mind doing so. And yes PK, I'll never forget your birthday from now onwards! As for Xiu Ying, thanks a lot! Hope to meet up after your exams. For those wondering why I'm referred to as ideal husband, well that's cuz we were both leads in a drama production of Oscar Wilde's Ideal Husband in JC1 and I was the titular role. Teeyuan, how are you doing in 195? Well, if u can get me a car, I don't mind driving around in it. And von, I'm so glad you understand my predicament since we're both in the same shoes yeah? Hehe

I relished the opportunity to just bum around and not doing anything for 2 days last week. I should have gone school-hunting but I was plain lazy. Went back camp on Friday and managed to finish up certain things. Coincidentally, there was another Happy Hour and so the officers trooped off to the wardroom again. The senior commanders were really happy to see junior officers like us there cuz apparently the junior fellows nowadays don't like to go for such events anymore. Which makes me think about certain behaviours I have observed in people. Some people may enjoy doing certain things on a personal level but asking them to partake the same type of activity at the organisational level, they refused to. Anyway, we go there to have a good time and have free food at the same time. Why not?

Now, into my last week of service, I am finally saying goodbye to a lifestyle for the last 2 years plus. Many of the guys probably have nothing good to say about their experiences and I don't blame them. If you get a shitty job and find no meaning and purpose in what you do, that will be a natural reaction. I must say I have been rather fortunate in the sense that I find meaning in what I do. True, there were times when I felt that the pressure was really great and stressed myself up over work. There were many a times whereby I had awkward moments with my own instructors, due to my forthright and caustic behaviour. Well, not that I wanted to be like that but I realise that I needed to toughen my stance in order to make things happen. Some of the things that were handed over to me were in disarray, especially the logistical issues which was in particularly bad shape. To be honest, I was pissed off at the mess that was left behind but that doesn't help solve matters does it? Well, most of the problems have been solved and I can only hope that I do not leave any mess for my understudy to inherit. In whatever case, I know for a fact that he will not have to deal with the mess I have had to deal with.

As for the trainees, well I supposed I'm pretty well-known for displaying a tough, unsmiling exterior when they are under my charge. But beneath that tough exterior is really just someone who tries his best to stretch their potential, to help them achieve things they never thought they can achieve, to change them for the better and to care for them to the best of his ability. There were times when I prob didnt employ the right method of dealing with certain matters but I believe that I have done the right things most of the time. Nonetheless, I appreciate the camaraderie and friendships formed, the many small talks I had with some of you at night, the jokes and sacarsms we shared, the highs and lows we experienced together and the many little things that were done for me.

I may have sounded bitter and yet sentimental but I think it's rather honest. Nowadays, I am not hesitant at all to say it out if I am not happy with certain things, a far cry to how I was like during my schooling days. Have to change my mindset a little now though ...haha

Well, now it's time to go look intensively for a job. Seems like many of you have gotten yourself a job somehow. Thanks ZY for helping to recommend me for the night teaching job. Hopefully, I can land myself some permanent relief teaching slot. Damn, I'm gonna be jobless in a weeks' time. Like ZY's MSN nick, any sugar mamas? =p