HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY ALEX~!!!
HOPE YOU HAVE MANY GOOD YEARS AHEAD~!!!

This is our photo at the party! Us and the birthday boy and the birthday boy's girl...

Today is Charmaine's Best Friend, ALEX's 21st birthday! But the party was held one day before the actual date, & we almost missed it, thinking it was the following day! =P Thank goodness, ALEX needed to borrow Charmaine's tumbler, and in the process, reminded her that the party was later that evening! Hehe...

This is Alex's Bday Cake... This is Alex cutting the cake... and this is Alex after having his face smashed into the cake... (Culprit => Charmaine)

So, the Party was held at one of the condominiums at Bishan. I thought the place looked really cool, especially the ground floor apartments because of their extra garden/backyard space they have. But I never really went inside any of the apartments for a view because it was a BBQ party next to the swimming pool... The only tour we had around the area was when we excused ourselves to the public toilet in the midst of the whole BBQ. We walked around the area, fantasizing that we were staying there & were taking an after-dinner stroll, like a married couple. HAHAHA

This is the Couple's more unglamorous shot... Qui Ling & Alex

Anyway, ALEX's girlfriend, Qiu Ling (dunno why I keep remembering her name as Qiu MEI? Too many Chinese drama series, perhaps?), was really nice, being a great host, taking charge of the barbecuing & always delivering the freshly cooked food to Charmaine & I, seated comfortably at our table. Just to clarify, I wasn't being lazy! I just didn't want to move around too much as I was down with the flu bug. Moving around too much will just burn me out fast... So in a way, we were being "served" like the King & Queen". =P

And, may I add... The catering by "EATZ CATERING" was good! Especially the mee siam! Definitely the best mee siam I had by the catering standard. Yum yum! =)

Anyway, looking at ALEX's Canoe Polo Teammates & juniors in the party crowd, I started to miss my ex-Dragonboat Teammates especially those from the same batch as me (the 18 Arhats!)... Some of them are still having their exams for the last semester before they graduate! ALL THE BEST FOR YOUR PAPERS!!!

Let's have another gathering soon! Xiao Long Bao or anything... =)

Happy 21st Bday, ALEX~!!!

Random Tots... I hate these Black Sheep! You're from OCS? Then, please act like one!

I went to Bishan Gym after work, today for my workout. It's a nice feeling to sweat it all out, build up that manly, toned, muscular body I so sought after (hehe =p) and de-stress, all at the same time! And all these for an inexpensive price of S$2.50/-

"Be a Real Man, Get a Six-Pack~!!!"
Leslie! Where is my six-pack!?

Anyway, I was doing my weights workout half-way when I noticed this new guy that was standing beside me. This guy was dressed head-to-toe in OCS clothings, which was why he caught my eye (to all those people out there wondering why I'm noticing other guys...). OCS white shorts and a maroon OCS long sleeve pullover sweater. I've never seen this maroon OCS pullover sweater, which must mean he belongs to my junior batch.

My first thought was "Wah, this guy's scared that people don't know he's an Officer ah?" Personally I have issues with young people who like to wear this kind of outfit out of their army camps. My perception is that these guys are show-offs... who like to show off that they are from OCS, PTI, Guards or Commando etc. I mean I'm also proud that I'm from OCS, that I suffered through months of hardship & training to get commissioned as an Officer of the Singapore Armed Forces, but I don't put on airs or purposely show that I am from OCS in front of people... I prefer to keep this pride within me.

So when I saw this guy all dressed up in OCS, I felt abit put off but I reminded myself that I shouldn't judge people too much on their first impression. =) Having said (thought) that, I went about continuing with the rest of my workout.

Not long after, as I was doing my weights, I noticed the OCS guy again. He was trying to move one of the benches from the back to the front, facing the full-length mirror. Right in the bench's way were some weights lying on the floor. The way he does it was to use his feet to kick the weights away, making some grunting noise while doing so... Next he gave the bench a good push from behind before holding up the other side so that you can now push the bench on its wheels. After he pushed it in front of the mirrors, he fixed the bench into its sitting position, making sure that the locking mechanism hit against the metal of the bench "Cling, clang, cling, clang" before it locked in the correct position. After that was all the cursing & swearing that came out from his mouth, when he noticed that the seat was shaky. He dropped the weights onto the ground, fiddling with the bench, making a lot of noise, trying to fix the seat... Finally he decided to complain to the person-in-charge in his commanding tone, sort of demanding that he reflects this to the higher management.

Ultimately, the whole process where he kicks the weight out of the way, drags the bench, fixing it into the sitting position, making a lot of unneeded noise... That really turned me off.

It also got me thinking to myself. Is this what that is happening to the young Officer Cadets these days? So inconsiderate, so stuck-up, so oblivious to the other users in the gym... dropping weights, blabbering vulgarities in public. The standard & public image they set for themselves when they tell (show) people that they are from OCS...

It's these black sheep that give all of us, Officers a bad name. No wonder most of our Men don't look up to us, thinking of us as "NATO's" (No Action, Talk Only), putting up that rank for show only. Time for some self-reflection, man...

RELEASE THE "CRACKER"...

Movie: Clash of the Titans (I give it 4 out of 5 popcorns)
Weather: Drizzling in the night (just the way I like it)
Company: Charmaine (just the way I like it)

Just went to catch "Clash of the Titans" in 2D, with my favourite lady, Charmaine~!

Personally, I'm not such a big fan of the recent 3D craze... and definitely not a fan of paying that extra $3 bucks for those 3D spectacles... To me, the film itself in 2D was just as great, if not better as many people warned me about catching it in 3D, coz it sucks!

Well, I've always liked the Greek mythology since I was a small kid. Stories about the Titans the first beings on Earth... how they were overthrown by the Olympians, Zeus, Poseidon and Hades... Stories about Hercules and his twelve famous labors for King Eurystheus as well as the Stories of Jason and the Argonauts. These were stories I used to read from borrowed story books from the National Library... Therefore, as you can see, the movie was a flash-back of my childhood fantasy =p

Plus the company was wonderful~! Having tonnes of fun & laughter with my girlfriend. Buying a magazine of her Korean boy band superstar idol together with her other eye candy, Wu Zun. Smuggling outside food into the cinema like we always do... Joking around, talking rubbish along the way after the movie on the way home.

All in all, I couldn't have asked for a better way to end this day. =)

Life's joys are in the small things.
All the best for tomorrow!

Visiting those who have passed on...

Sometimes it's good to take a moment to remember those who have passed on...

It was the long weekend just back around the corner... with it being Good Friday & the Chinese "清明节". My family & I took this opportunity to visit two important persons in my life - my grand-mum & my dad.

First, my grand-mum on Thursday with my Mom & most of her family. Since the year she passed away in 2006, I've never been to where her ashes were kept. I mean I was at her funeral wake & went through with her cremation too. But it was the following day when my aunties & uncles went to collect her ashes after the cremation & sent her to her final resting place at some temple, that I was not with her. I guess I must have gone back to school because in my memory, I remembered that my grand-mum passed away during my one of my one-week school term breaks, thus I had the whole week to attend her wake, but had to go back to classes the following Monday.

That being said, this was the first time I went down to visit her. Before that, I always had something on & couldn't make it with the rest of my relatives.

And having see her tablet with her picture, it truly brought back memories as I whispered to her picture, "Ah Ma, 阿汉来看你了." Of course, I'm not going to be that dramatic as those people you see on TV, breaking out into tears & yelling what-not nonsense. I'm just not like that. We spent some time there, gathering as a family & chit chatting, when I found out that my grand-mum's mother was the head of a then cigarette-selling syndicate! Makes me idolize her even more! When it was time to take our leave, I took a final look at her picture before saying good bye. We went off to a nearby coffee shop to have our breakfast & that was the end of it... =P

Next was visiting my dad @ the Garden of Remembrance on Saturday. It was sort of an impromptu visit. Suddenly while I was at home, a call from my brother & sister-in-law came, telling me, "Wanna go visit your dad? Prepare yourself, we coming to pick you up in around 15 minutes time." So just like that, I was picked up, followed by my Mom @ Takashimaya. And we were on our way to Lim Chu Kang, The Garden of Remembrance.

We spent some time tidying up my dad's tablet & changing the flowers for new ones... before we went off to Jurong Point for dinner @ some Japanese restaurant, where I gave everyone a treat...

"Left, your left, your left right!~"

MY VERY 1st RESERVICE IN-CAMP TRAINING~!
(22th MARCH 2010 - 01st APRIL 2010)

No pictures... cuz no camera phones allowed in camp. =p

It's been a long, long time since I last updated my blog... =p (Forgive me, my dearest readers, especially the most loyal of them all - my girlfriend, Charmaine!). *It's been so long that I almost forgot my user name & password~ hehe

Anyway, the very fact that all of you are reading this post means I'm back from my very 1st ICT in one piece (which means In-Camp Training for those ladies whom don't know the army terms).

The fun fact behind my ICT, was that I sorta "volunteered" for it. The same goes for Amos as well, whom was in the same ICT as me... We basically didn't received our SAF100 because our records state that we were still studying. And by some twist of fate, we had our CO called us up to "encourage" us to attend the ICT... and we only received our letter of notification one week before the In-Camp started on 22nd March.

But first of all, I must say although many of the people whom I met in the camp are not always so "happy & enthusiastic" about stepping into that green uniform which they last donned some 5 years ago, it was certainly a most pleasant experience for me. To be able to take a break from that air-conditioned office & step into the sun, the natural out-field. To be able to give it a good sweating-out & catch up with a few familiar faces I've not seen since the good old BMTC days in Pulau Tekong.

On the first day of the In-processing, I was late... very late. Adding on top of that, my hair was basically not acceptable due to the residual effects for dyeing my hair some months back. Somehow, in the course of heading to the barbers to have my hair dyed back to black, I ended up having a hair cut as well. It turned out to be a disaster! I looked like a @*!%. The first thing I did when I got out for my 1st nights out, it was a straight trip to the hairstylist for a PROPER haircut!

The rest of the training days, basically had me perspiring & cursing at the hot weather. The first few days brought back those sweet (smelly) memories from my Officer Cadet days, when we would wear the same uniform days in a row when we know the exercises in the next few days are gonna be "xiong!" - basically meaning that your uniform is just gonna get dirty (if not dirtier) or that you're just gonna perspire profusely in it... Well, we had technical handling for the first day, live range for next entire day, & some combat obstacle course followed by shell scape digging the next day! You can only imagine how smelly our uniform is gonna get! HAhaha...

Beside those enduring training moments, I really enjoyed those heart-lightening chats with my Men & fellow Commanders, where we just joke around, get to know more about each other & what they do outside in their civilian lives.

These are the days that I will remember till our next ICT which will take place in January 2011~!!! That's gonna be like real fast...