S.P squarepants

My love for this blog

2011-11-21T07:57:00.001-08:00

Needless to say, i enjoyed writing in this blog. Time and space may have constrained my entries to less than one in a few months, but certainly the enjoyment lives on everytime i visit this blog , because:

1. This blog was created by my first batch of primary school tuition students. This year,they have just finished their Os. Wow... how time flies.

2. This blog was established during the times when i climbed / skated hard. The very existence of this blog was like a wonderful milestone for a boring man like me.

3. This blog saw me through the dark hours of preparing FYP as well as the final moments as a student before i embarked onto working life. Metamorphorsis told through this blog really...

4. Tight for time, i only continued blogging significant moments here. Well, this keeps me going on and the blog is used for stock taking from time to time.

being over zealous over things

2011-11-05T09:42:00.000-07:00

Maybe i already knew this all along, but something recently happened to me that made me realised the truth in this.

Have you ever encountered someone who wants to do something big and has lots of fire and drive for what he/she holds true? Those are people whom one would usually look up to.

But when you try to live out that similar aspiration in your own way, that same fella comes along and show you how it should really be done. That doesnt really give one the space to try things out and learn from it

Over zealous, i mean extreme zealous can downplay your teammates. That i will always remember.

Mixed blessings

2011-10-14T01:14:00.000-07:00

Recently, i got locked out from my own sim card. It was actually a consequence of my own 'evil' doing. Had a rough day that time at work and the last thing you would ever need is a phone that cant be reached from the outside world.

I was supposed to skate and then attend a bbq with a group of friends that evening(It was something pre arranged weeks ago). I guessed that the skating portion of the evening was called off due to bad weather, but i just thought i had to reach them to explain that i needed time to settle my sim card first before going to meet them for the bbq.

Heavy headed and drained, I drove in the persistent drizzle towards Parkway Parade shopping ( the nearest Hello! shop ) to get my sim card treated right after work. Believe me, the feeling of not being contactable was scary and dumb.

It didnt take much effort to navigate to the singtel shop in a seemingly empty PP shopping centre( in fact its a wonderful time to take a walk there. Not much human traffic then ).Right after the ordeal in hello! shop, i tried to make some contact by looking around for a public phone. Till today, i still cant forget the overwhelming sensation of assurance when i saw the PUBLIC PHONEBOOTH sign.

But what i saw beneath the sign wasnt that welcoming - it was a card phone booth.

I looked at the coin in my hand and this thought of having a phone card suddenly felt alientating. Where on earth do they sell phone cards these days?! Do they even sell it in the first place? Feeling lost and frustrated( plus fatigue from work ), i tried to convince myself that maybe i should have just gone home and sleep my woes away instead of dragging myself to meet my friends with a new sim card that wont work until half a day later.

It was at that very moment that i pondered over how i could survived on coins and card phones back in my early teen years. Appointments could still pull through ; somehow people back then could honour timings and locations to meet.

IF only my phone worked....I could have easily text-ed my friend and conveniently made my way home instead of wondering how or what to do in ECP before the bbq. No strings attached. Everything could be solved with an sms.

In the end, i still made my way to ECP. True enough, my skater friend was still in ecp waiting for me to turn up. The restlessness in his eyes( from waiting for me for 30min ) suddenly morphed into a smile of relief .

I felt better too. Something in me felt glad that i didnt "fly my friends the kite".

A new phase in life, at work

2011-06-15T08:46:00.000-07:00

Training as an OJT had finally came to a sweet end as i cleared my validation at first go. The days after 3rd of June 2011 felt lighter ; I guessed this was only natural after going through what i deem as the string of hurdles in life.

It started with my wife's pregnancy and my boy's birth late July last year. Then came nights of inadequate rest. I lost track of time back then; I had to fly off to thailand in August for my in camp training evaluation just a month after my boy was born. Following that, I started my radar training ( for my 2nd atc license ). Life in SAA was tough. It took me many weeks of doing things blindly that i suddenly saw light in what i was trained to do. The final challenge of this was the beginning of OJT in SATCC where the colleagues you used to work with will see you in a much different light.

The only consolation throughout the much dreaded training phase in the centre was that my off days are OFF ( i.e no need to be rostered for standby ) and i KNOW everyone in the centre ( as compared to the alienated sensation i had when i was training in an unfamiliar environment for my first rating ). With patience and lots of dedications from my mentor Lionel and Stanley, things were much more manageable during the ALMOST half a year of training. Words alone cant express my sincere gratitude towards the 2 of them ( and all the others in my watch ).

Looking back, i gave myself the ultimate credit for having pulled through 11 months worth of obstacles( from July 2010 to Jun 2011 ). I think i need to slow down abit for now, having regained some form of stability in life.

When i penned down the title of the blog, i had initially left out the COMMA sign between LIFE and AT. I believed that life IS life and work IS work. There had to be a very clear distinction no matter how much both terms could affect each other. Hopefully i can still achieve a work life balance by doing my work well and at the same time achieve good times spent with my family.

Moving on....

2011-04-14T21:02:00.000-07:00

Life so far has been mundane. The work aspect of it.

I guessed putting life to work sounds oxymoronic to many. Its either work or life ; Work= no life.

I am trying very hard to get through this period of monotony, while doing my best to inject life to work so that i dont feel that dreaded everytime i head to office. Hopefully, life will seep back into me when i get my 2nd rating.

And that is why during my rest days, i do my bid to keep a healthy mind by doing all those stuff i loved doing. It has never changed : Gaming ( street fighter ), climbing, skating and running.

Living my life day by day, these are the consolations to keep myself moving on.

Happy CNY everyone!

2011-02-10T18:47:00.000-08:00

Finally, the first post of 2011!

The month of dec 2010 had been an eventful one. At least i saw myself skating more than 5 times in a month. Pure slalom sessions to be exact.

Words cant really describe my feelings for graduating from the recent SAA course. I could only say that somewhat, the light hit me at the very last moment. Even the instructors were amazed at my improvement over the last...3 weeks of my course? With this, i hope not to disappoint anyone in the centre, especially when all of them are so dedicated to coaching and imparting knowledge, patiently and professionally.

At home, things seem to be changing; My boy is no longer the sedated and quiet infant that most came to know many months back. He has developed very good reflexes and portrays a very keen interest in his surroundings. He wants a hand in everything he hears and sees. What a challenge for his parents!

I am gonna set myself some resolutions for 2011 ( yes, i know i have been posting this "procastinating statement" on fb for the past 2 years on my wall ).

1. I hope to be more patient and be a forgiving father to my boy. No hitting and shouting at him unless realliy necessary( hmm... what's NECESSARY ???)

2. To be a good husband to my wife, be there for her when she needs me most.

3. To clear my radar rating. Be daring to commit and have an open mind while doing every session.

4. Personal health and fitness. Watch what i eat and reciprocrate with the necessary exercises. Will i get to climb more than 5 times this year? ( I last climbed in september with Abel; seems like he is my only hope ).

Alright, lets keep the resolution simple, just in case i lose sight of my targets easily.

HAPPY CNY to everyone who sees this!

Siang Ping

Getting tired and frustrated

2010-11-22T05:42:00.000-08:00

Got quite a headache from training recently.... Seems like i have been making all the catastrophic mistakes at the wrong times!

I am keeping my fingers crossed. Shall fight very hard to the very end. I wanna be saved from being safe!!!!!

Life of a daddy.

2010-10-21T08:15:00.001-07:00

I am a true blue procastinator.

It took me more than 3 mths to pen this down. While i appreciate all my peers' concern over my new phase in life as a daddy, i would like to save some trouble ( by telling the same stories over and over again ) and jot down the significant moments as a parent...

The horror stories that many like to share about the night shifts... is never an exaggeration! I could still remember the last night in hospital when baby Tim refused to settle down after his 2 hourly feed ; in particular the boy cried out so loud ( akin to screaming his lungs out ) that i started to fear for the worst when the boy gets home. Little did i know that it was barely the beginning.

The next few weeks of our new addtion was anything but easy. Our lives revolved around the boy , to the point that i suddenly found myself chasing after sleep whereever possible. It was also during this period that i lost interest in doing my usual hobbies, in a bid to share the burden of looking after the boy with my wife and mum ( doubling up as our dear confinement lady ).

What i found challenging as a father is the consistent need to pay close attention to my dearie's state of physical and emotional health. The funny about having a new born is that ALL THE ATTENTION from relatives seem to only fall upon the child( and no one else ).
I often prayed to God to give me the strength to be a good HUSBAND thereafter a food father.

Initially, the boy cries only for a few reasons :

1. Hungry
2. Soiled diapers
3. Feeling burpy / colic
4. Too cold (needs some warmth from swaddling )

There were times when i really lost my patience over the boy when he simply refuse to stop crying after all we could do ( rock the boy to bed, carry him around, feeding him and changing new diapers for him ). I would his cheeks real hard and even spank his naked butt when he was just 2 mths +++ old. Of course, those acts aggravated the boy's cries.

My wife, on the other hand, never resort to physical means to curb the boy's maniac behaviour( boy cries so loud that he shuts the world around him out ). I must say that my wife has a very loving and tender approach to our boy. Whenever my wife takes over the boy from my arms after i seem out of control, i would feel very guitly and miserable for hitting the boy at such a YOUNG age. My wife will then talk and sing to the boy , engaging him from time to time. These tactics worked most of the time!

I am now a firm believer that no matter how young your child is, your tender voice and loving gaze will create a special bond that will see you through those times when your child displays tantrum at night.

Days and weeks pass... slowly both me and felicia are finding our way back to our usual lifestyle( but it will never be the same again ).I felt that the boy is slowly having this character forged in him. He now laughs and makes those OOOH and AHHH sounds when we talk to him. Is that a good sign that the boy is also getting comfortable with us???

I guess my wife's attitude to parenting has a great impact upon me as a father. Over time, I am beginning to embrace my boy's presence as one that brings us bundles of happiness and joy.

It just seem like yesterday when baby tim was delivered( he was only 2.69kg and is only 33cm long ); Today, we brought our 7.2kg boy for his 2nd dose of immunisation jab. He turns 3 months and one day old as of now.

Looking back at all the no-absolute-sleep nights of tending to the boy, i felt that it was all worth it.

How the havoc began.

2010-08-03T19:39:00.000-07:00

It took me some discipline to even start this. So i must first congratulate myself here.

Everytime i log in to my own blog, i would remind myself how far i had come. Regardless of my achievements, i am proud to say that i have no regrets in all the things i've done up to now.

My boy was finally born on the 20th July.

Till then, i had full of apprehensions on how to be a good father, as well as being a supporting hubby for my wife who's been through so much physically, emotionally and psychologically.

Perhaps the only thing that both of us did not prepare mentally was the method of delivery. We had heard of many experiences how our lady peers had to be partially bed ridden due to recuperation from a cesac. With all the implications from an incision on the tummy, we only hoped for a natural birth.

Up to the due date (18th July ), our gynae reminded us that my wife's cervix showed no signs of dilation. We needed a dilation of 10cm in order for labour to proceed. So on the 19th July, gynae decided to induce natural labour by giving medication to my wife.

By 10pm that same evening, we were warded into Mt Alvernia; My wife was put under observation, in hope that anytime when dilation begins, labour can commence in the right environment.My wife was rather exhilarated when the cramps came in waves. But when gynae popped by on 12am midnight, there were no progress. All he could do, was to give another dose of the same medication. Throughout the night, my wife slept well. However, the intensity of the cramps started to die down...

Until next morning, we were sore to realise from the gynae's diagnosis that there were no progress. We finally advanced to the delivery suite where my wife was to be put on drip to further trigger the natural labour. With lack of food and water, i could see the fatigue building up in my wife. I was utterly helpless then. Time crawled literally. The CTG scan was anything but promising; When gynae visited us around 1230pm with the ill outcome, we made the painful decision to go for cesac. I felt the time stopping when my wife was put on GA and pushed into the operation theatre.

I was told to wait outside the theatre by this staff nurse. She looked kind of scrawny and had this chip munk look. She was with us right from the time we were in the delivery suite, administering to the blood test and drips. For her age, i think she displayed total attentiveness to my wife and i, which made her look more and more like a chip munk.

I last saw my timex watch at 1345pm; One of the male nurse saw me walking around restlessly, and offered me to wait at the lounge just beside the theatre. I sat down and went on a 'stoned' mode. The splatterings from the heavy downpour outside somewhat calmed my restlessness. I supposed the lack of absolute rest the night before had a part in this.

I dont remember if i sat more than 30min. All of a sudden, i heard the chip munk staff nurse calling out for Felicia's hubby. I stood up, only to be greeted by this little boy snuggling quietly, swaddled up neatly in this glass cradle the nurse was pushing.

"I thought i told you to wait outside the theatre right? Here's your boy....."

Come to think of it, it seemed like the chipmunk nurse was reprimanding me right in the lounge. But at that point in time, it didnt matter at all.

Timothy was finally born at 1333 hrs. With a weight of 2.69kg( debatable ) and a length of 50cm, my new born started to turn our lives up side down for the next few nights up till now, with his endless loads of shit and cries that shook the peace out of our sleeps.

This was how it all started.

I will watch your back.

2010-04-23T09:27:00.000-07:00

Yes, you will need people to watch your back, especially in the work that i do.

I often face quite alot of challenges describing to people what i actually do at work ( NOPE i do not hold ping pong bats at the airfield - those chaps are marshallers on ground ). I guess i have already given up trying in reality, so i shall be consistent on my own blog as well.

If i was ever asked what it takes to do my job well, i would say humility. Its real lives that my colleagues and i deal with day in day out. Pride and emotions will have to be the last thing on your mind when handling those jets which keep increasing in numbers day by day. The working environment can sometimes be quite unforgiving ; It can only be worse if you have emo colleagues who take it out on you for no rhyme or reason. Nonetheless, green horns like me have to bite the bullet and continue relentlessly to explore the vast and everchanging environment in my job.

Which is why it is very important to bear in mind the screw ups you ever made and keep reminding yourself not to repeat those errors when something similiar happens. Ever since i started working solo, there had been some cases when my own vigilance fail me. Thanks to most of my colleagues who always had this I-WILL-WATCH-YOUR-BACK spirit,providing navigation services to aircrafts has never been this pleasant.

To those who have been patient and tolerant to junior controllers like me, i would like to say a great thank you. Its the professionalism displayed at work that keeps us all looking forward to do our best to make the workplace a better one to live in.

Yes, i will definitely watch over you folks. My pleasure. Cheers.

Kena visited by unknowns

2010-04-20T21:23:00.000-07:00

Wow...Its been close to 2mths of no post. And i found many weeds hanging around in my blog.

Aint sure if doing an entry like this will negate all these bots from posting on my comment page.

For those who still bothered to even click on my blogspot, i do more regular updates on my facebook. Over there you can see more pictures. Yeah.

Expansions

2010-01-18T18:03:00.000-08:00

Moving into my 3rd year of working life, i noticed that alot of things around me are expanding.

Many of my friends, for example, exercised less and became horizontally enhanced. I realised too, that my tummy is becoming more and more 'outgoing'. In the next few minutes after finishing this, i swear that i will sweat to clean the house and hopefully squeeze at least an hour in the pool to get rid of my unwantedness.

Family life is never a boring one. Seen quite alot of expansions in the house. First came the PS3 set that i got in late 2008... then came the rock band set that my SCE gang mates so graciously offered as a house warm gift. Not long ago, my wife bought a standing piano and started her journey in leisure piano playing. Once in awhile i would try my hands on the keyboard, imagining myself as guang liang( playing the chinese song tong hua )... but the 'soothing' music that came from the sound box was merely a figment of my imagination. My less-than-one-month old maestro classical guitar is always there to offer me consolations after trying my luck to piece up music from the piano.

A few days back, my wife wanted me to learn song signing from the 'breaking bread' book. I gave it a shot and found myself drawn to the marvels of sign language...speaking of this art of signing, I've started learning it from my varsity days( during one of the camps with WSC )but i had never learnt it properly since then. All that i knew were bits and pieces of signing volcabulary that i picked up from the HI community in St Mary's( and of course , my wife ). I always awe when i see my wife doing signing during mass... something that kicks the boredom out of a restless guy like me.

So many opportunities to expand... learning sign language dilligently, trying to pick up what those keyboards on the piano meant, spending time on games...Once upon a time i thought i was good in slalom( and regular in climbing )

With these preoccupations in my mind, i wonder how comfortable i can get for the year 2010, especially when the little one is coming this July.

Resolutions ? Probably not to expand too much of any sorts. Just wanna do what i have yet to accomplish for the past 28 years of my life.

powergel bars, nipple tapes and tights.

2009-12-06T23:28:00.000-08:00

I completed my first full marathon on the 6th dec 2009.

My training regime? It all started out by doing frequent 5-8km runs around my neighborhood to build up the necessary stamina and basic muscle endurance. I had to make sure that my knees are properly conditioned over time to withstand the long distances ahead. I did this from late August( that was the time i signed up for the run ) to late September. On a few occasions, i joined my colleagues to do trail runs in Macritchie reservoir to spice up the training.

Outcome: Knees didnt hurt as much...By the last run of this regime my knees went back to its former glory in Army days!

I had to move away from my comfort zone of 8km runs. By early October i did about 4-5 times of 10km runs. All these while, i still joined my wife to run short distances of 3-6km around the neighborhood. Only towards the last week of October i started stretching my distances to about 12km. Did this twice before the end of October. It was also during this phase of my training that i realised how big my thighs were.. i had abrasions on my inner thighs and bled quite badly from nipple abrasions.

And so it was time for me to shop for nipple tapes and tights. I got myself this 3M adhesive transparent band aid that is water resistant. Very good and never failed me since then. Slipped onto my new Reebok black tights one morning and found no more abrasions on my groin area after the run. Shiok.

November came so sudden; i had to run at least beyond 15km to test out my knees and ankles. I spent some time to read up about replenishing electrolytes and body salt/ fluids. Bought a few packs of energy gel bars and slipped it into my tights' rear pockets / arm pouch for consumption during training. Because these gels had to be ingested with water, i had to carry my own 750ml Adidas bottle every time i ran. I remembered getting used to the 12-15km transition by first week of November and decided that it was time to push on the distance to a half marathon. That meant more power gel bars and mixing 100 plus with water to my Adidas bottle to increase electrolytes content.

By the end of November, i clocked 3 half marathons and roughly figured out my thresholds for joint pains. All these while i never had cramps.

************************************************************************************

Night before the run :3 sticks of bananas and lots of food that's sweet and high in carbo. Turned in around 11pm( i should have slept earlier !!!)

On the day itself : Woke up around 330am ... forced an energy bar( akin to a muesli bar ) and a mug of cereal into my stomach and drank lots of water before heading to take the coach from woodlands mrt to Esplanade. Plan was to release all my pee just before the run commences. I got myself a can of 100plus, with the intention of popping the can and dump its contents into my mouth JUST BEFORE the flag off. What WASN'T in the plan was the load of shit that i had to clear off my bowels just before the run.

First 10km
**********
Didnt feel the need to hydrate. Kept running ... felt that time inched by the minutes. I thought i needed less than 1 hour to clock 10km but at the 10km mark i realised that i took 1hr and 10min. OK, time to stop for a power gel makan and hydration. My ankles started to feel pain as expected, and i began pushing on to the next 11km.

11km-21km
*********
Every 2km mark came unusually long for me. Though i still don't feel the lethargy and fatigue, i somewhat lost my time sense. It all didnt seem right as compared to the distance-timing feel that i acquired during my 2mth plus of training. I was afraid that i couldnt do it smoothly since i was rather thrown off by my actual feel during the run itself. This 11km stretch started from Fort road all the way till somewhere beyond the Changi Sea sport area. It felt very very long and dreadful(i mean, at the end of this stretch i would only be at the half way mark ). I kept finding a few distinctive ladies as my pacers( it was easier to pace myself with girls because there werent much relative to the number of guys at the pace i was running ). By the time i saw the 21st Km mark, i didnt feel good at all. I thought my legs were almost reaching its threshold and i thought its finally time to stop and walk for awhile. I stopped by the side, drank like a mad horse and started doing more intensive stretching to my limbs... Took out my socks to massage my toes and started rotating my ankles.
After eating my 2nd packet of energy gel(one packet per 10km for me)i began to feel so much better , to the extent that my confidence slowly slipped back into me. I bumped into David from my reservist unit and we chatted about how dreadful the run was.
It was less than a minute that David decided to stop for some stretching because he was quite fearful of cramps along the way....I picked up my pace and left him behind, reminding myself not to push my muscles too hard. I never experienced cramps during my training( after all i didn't hit anything beyond 23km back then ) and had almost forgotten how deadly it could be if i should over strain my muscles

21km-30km
*********
Pain finally set in... This leg of the run saw me stopping the most for drinks and lots of stretching to the calves and thighs. Kept reminding myself not to fall pray of extreme contractions and slowed my pace even more to endure the whole thing. Soon i started talking myself into enduring the pain and persevere to Ford Road...I was longing to see that 30km mark banner at the end of it.
The only distasteful encounter during this journey was the energy gel collection. Everyone could only have ONE packet of gel!!!!Cheapskate! I was actually hoping to eat 2 more packets on the 30th and 36th Km mark to replenish my body. Come to think of it, i should have taken one packet, slip it into my tights' rear pocket and run back for another one back then. Tmd.

30km-40km
*********
It must have been the trick of the mind. I felt this boost in my pace after clearing the 30th km banner. It was 3hrs and 45min on my Timex wrist watch and i thought i could clear this whole shit below 5 hours... I bumped into my ATC colleague and told him that i need to 'finish my last 10km in burst mode'... HOW WRONG I WAS!!!!! In fact, this was the longest 10km i've ever ran in my life. I started to stop at EVERY DRINK STATION and never fail to walk for about 1-2min before pushing off.. somewhat it became a trend that i kept running till i see the next drink station. At least i didn't walk unnecessarily. When i reached the 37th Km mark banner near the old kallang gas work junction, i busted 4hours and 30min. Reality set in and i knew i couldn't finish it below 5. I muttered to myself that it was never my intention to put timing as part of my first marathon experience. With that i trudged on...

Final 1km
*********
All of a sudden i was in 2.4km running mode. I was in large strides along the Padang all the way till the finishing line. My timex wrist watch said 5hrs and 21min. Damn that's like close to an hour to finish that 37th to 42nd km distance!!!!

Finally, my cramps came subtly, and was gone by the time i rested on the grass patch by the war memorial.

At that point in time,I looked at my finisher shirt and marvelled for one fact: I had no knee pains and almost did this run with zero cramps!

It was my very first marathon, and i knew it wont be the last. I enjoyed this whole process of discovering how the mind is indeed stronger than the body.

Do you like ants?

2009-11-20T04:21:00.002-08:00

Of late, i noticed the presence of small ants everytime i try to sweep my house. Most of the time i would find a few roaming on the floor surrounding the sofa. Must be the new indoor money plant, i thought. But on closer inspection, i don't see any ant nest nor any dead moths/ flies lying by the corner of the living room.

Among the pile of dust that i swept up this morning, i saw at least 5-6 ants scurrying for their lives. I swept the whole pile up into the dust pan and emptied it into the bin. As i continue to sweep, some of these ants managed their way up to the handles of the dust pan, and that's when i feel the itch from crawling ants on my forearms.

Because of this daily phenomenon, i have developed a new hobby: Ant squeezing.

2 days back, i was sitting in an office completing an accident report for my car in woodlands road. For some strange reasons, there were small ants roaming around the desks as well. So i conveniently squeezed them and started flicking their dead bodies around... for a good 10 seconds i started killing 2-3 fleeing ants on the table, only to realise that the lady sitting opposite my desk has been watching my massacre with a very queer look. I quickly switched my attention back to the papers, subconsciously finding myself fighting hard NOT to care about the ants which were still alive and kicking....

That's how good i am killing ants. Cos my house seems very sweet.

Good suit and good time.

2009-11-19T20:58:00.000-08:00

November came fast and furious.

I am finally baptised into the Catholic Family. Having followed my wife to church since 2006, my motivation to be there evolved; Initially only wanted to get to know about my wife's belief, my focus turned to wanting to know more about my purpose in life...

I took a bold step to attend RCIA for almost the whole of 2009. I must say that the lesson was done well, to an extent that it triggered me to find out more about the Faith. 3 weeks before my baptism, one of the RCIA facilitators requested me to be one of the lectors for the Baptism mass. Gosh!!! Of course i cannot resist such an honourable request. For those who know me, i have stage fright by nature. What's more i never had the experience to stand near the altar during mass. But thank God, my reading was audible and sounded confident. Many of my RCIA mates came up to me and pat my shoulder for affirmation after my reading was done.

Just 3 days after my baptism, i went down to assist my colleague Tommy for his wedding. To be frank, i like being involved in wedding activities, seeing how fun things can be during the gate crashing session. Thank goodness, the band of sisters were very merciful and kind( if only mine was as nice as them one year back hahahaha ). It was my first time helping out as a brother( guys of my age dont get married so soon )and it was refreshing to see the whole ritual from tea ceremony to getting ready at the hotel. Certainly brings back fond memories of rushing around, looking for people to settle guest seating in panic mode, ensuring things were done right at the right time. I was very fortunate this time round to be involved as the Mandarin Emcee( if only my sec and JC chinese teachers were around; they would have been very proud of me!!! ). Being in my 650SGD suit certainly adds confidence in me. Truly enjoyed myself when i was tasked to back up Tommy's singing as a stage guitarist( peanut playing skills but heck, i was thrilled to play for him ! )

Coming up next for the rest of Nov and Dec : House blessing, standard chartered Marathon( that means waking up early to train during my off days ).

Good suit, good time. Thank God.

SUIT yourself!!!!

2009-10-31T19:47:00.001-07:00

When i was in the midst of preparing my wedding celebration in May 2008, it never occurred to me that i need to tailor my own suit for my big day....

I bet most couples out there want to look their best on their big day. However, 2008 was a very critical year( i was doing my Air Traffic Control training and i only earned PEANUTs back then.... ); Knowing that my wedding package includes the use of their suits was really a God sent; I wont want to spend time and effort just to hunt, try out, ponder and worry about my own suit. At the back of my mind, this ' suit ' issue got chuck behind. I got through the wedding ceremony happily and forgot about this woe( at least, for the past 10 good months of my married life. )

When i was arrowed to be the Emcee for my colleague's wedding one month back, i knew that it was just a matter of time before i have to hunt for it.

What an irony , i thought. I am obliged to make a suit ( for someone else's wedding now hahahahaha ).

I chanced upon this PERSONALITY MENSHOP tailoring boutique yesterday.... as i was served by the shop owner, i realised that i have no single idea how i wanted my suit to be done. In the end my wife and i sat down and browsed through magazines featuring classic and latest designs of suits. Took us almost an hour and a half before i finally chose something comfortable.

I parted 650 bucks for my suit. I hope not to be disappointed by the worksmanship.

September's gone.

2009-10-02T01:26:00.000-07:00

Yeah....September was gone... without a post from me...

Was i really that busy?

I signed up for standard chartered run 2009... doing the 42km distance. It is going to be my first ever marathon. Previously the longest distance i ever ran was 21km( army days.. 2002 ). That was quite a bad experience.

I remembered perpetually overtaking people during the first 15km of my run. Then at the 15th km mark, i realised i need to pee badly. I sneaked in sweat among the bushes and let go of my bladder. The sudden lost of body heat resulted in a 20-25min lower limb cramp. It was my worst feel for a run like this.

The table was hence turned from the 15th km mark all the way till the end of the run. I saw people running ahead of me. Jason Ho( my camp mate in 20sa )nudged me from behind when he discovered me walking. In his very low and mellow tone, " Hey speng, come on man, dun walk... even ladies are over taking you now..."

Now that my morale hit all time low, things got worst...i kena nipple abrasions from wearing loose cotton singlet and developed toe cramps as i inched my way towards the finishing line.

I only hope to finish this coming 42km run in good shape.

I have been dutifully running in Macritchie Reservior at least once every 2weeks, apart from my normal 6-7km run( once every 2 days ). Running trail is definitely an agenda i look forward to. The longest distance i've clocked so far was around 12km there. Another 64 days to the actual run, and i must beef up my mileage in 2 weeks time. Need to start running at least 10km to replace my 6-7km regime.

A few weeks back, i had a good mini chat with PH( this slalom enthusiast cum pro i got to know since late 2006 )... realized how badly i want to slalom again but i guess i could no longer join the younger ones for their frequent Friday night sessions that easily. Just practicing my skills alone can prove to be a challenge....

Seems like life still feels packed for a married 28 year old, except its packed with different agenda now. At hand i have 4 weddings to attend..one on the 4th Oct, another on the 18th Nov( was asked to be the MC cum wedding singer for that one gosh!!! ), 4th December( for my slalom mate benjamin ) and 27th December.

In a few weeks time i would be going for my Cathecument Retreat, a final rite before going into the Catholic Faith. Since the beginning of this year, i have been faithfully attending Thursday night RCIA lessons to know more about my wife's Faith. What i have to do now, is to think of a Christian name and choose my God Father... would THOMAS be a good name?

Random entry of a boring man

2009-08-05T18:34:00.000-07:00

Guessed this one is really random...

I am playful by nature. When i was young, i remembered sneaking into my parents' room one afternoon( my mom was asleep that time ), searching for some paper to throw down from my 13th storey home in Geylang Bahru. I cant recall exactly the damage done, but i think i released a quarter of a rim of blank printing paper( piece by piece ), just to see it swing left and right as it suffers the effect of gravity.

I have this deep fascination about mobile cranes... It often reminded me of giraffes with overwhelming strength. Whenever one crane pulls up at the carpark beneath my house, i would easily spend about 20-30min just to see the crane operations 'action front'(an artillery lingo). I could imagine myself controlling one of these big things back then.

When i was in Primary 4, video games were a hit, followed by brick games. I wasnt exactly a fan of the latter though. My aunts couldnt brush me off from my persistent want to get a game console and finally gave in. We finally had a new addition into the family - 'Good BOY'( i cant remember how many bits the ram were but its lower than SEGA ). I got drawn into Good BOY and soon found myself playing more and more games.... until Street Fighter was released in summer of 92. My request came again and this time, it saw an upgrade from Good BOY( by then it was starting to get cranky from all the hours of playing contra and super mario )to SUPER FAMICOM . I got sucked into the game and even bought sticker albums featuring the characters explaining their profile in terms of background and skill sets...

In 1993, my friend introduced me to bowling. It was after PSLE and i could recall my very first visit to a bowling alley( SUPER BOWL in hougang central ). To be frank, up to today, bowling and me just couldnt click and i suck big time on this game. But being in the alley that faithful day exposed me to video game arcade. It was then i realised how skilful other players can be, doing combos on joysticks. There were so many variations of Street Fighter, so much so that i started visiting more of these places....

I guessed this is me. Never academically inclined, never created for the engineering world, but am glad to find myself doing what i do now - Air Traffic Control. Somehow i think my childhood attributes and my past times have some influence over this job that i chose.

The cow for the calculator

2009-07-26T07:31:00.000-07:00

I have once heard of this very interesting story about this man( it IS A TRUE STORY and i know this guy )named SAMY( not his real name though )

Samy was born in a rural village in India. Like most village boys, he attends lessons in a village school. One day, Samy's teacher told his parents that Samy was a very smart student and that they should enrol him to a bigger city school where his potentials could be better realized.

Samy eventually studied in a city school.He was a very hardworking student and excelled academically, just as his ex teacher from village school predicted. During one of his math modules, calculators were a requirement. Samy had no calculator and wrote to his parents, hoping that his parents would provide him one. This request in Singapore context could be easily brushed off with a "OK, son i will give you the money for it, go buy it tomorrow" or something like that. But Samy's parents were poor and they couldnt afford a calculator at all. However,Samy's father was determined to see his son through his education at all cost....

The very next day, Samy's father sold one cow( his father had 2 cows under his name )for cash.

Decades later, Samy is now holding a senior position in his company, all thanks to this fatherly act of sacrifice and Samy's teacher who said the right thing at the moment in time.

Probably this is one real episode to remind all teachers out there that words spoken at the appropriate moment could change lives.

Irritated by a cockroach

2009-07-07T02:18:00.000-07:00

I was doing control work during my noon shift today when i was disturbed by a cockroach...

Not only was it a disgusting sight, it made deliberate attempts to distract me and made me feel sick and frustrated. I cant confront the insect and have decided to appear nonchalant to its perpetual sneak attacks.

I cant understand why some living beings have to behave like that. Simply no EQ and i hate such beings for trying to make others inferior and low.

St Paul the Musical

2009-06-28T03:12:00.000-07:00

My wife's cousin in law jio-ed us for an evening of musical in NUS UCC( University Cultural Centre ) last Friday. I had nothing on and conveniently agreed to the invite to watch Paul the musical with my wife.

I had heard about the Parish of St Mary promoting this play during Sunday Masses but i never thought of getting the tickets back then. On my way down to UCC that evening i thought that i would get more acquainted with the biblical aspect of the play. Simple as that.

I never realized that i was about to get more than what i expected out of this musical..

While waiting for my wife's cousins to turn up with our tickets, i bumped into Nadia, a girl whom i worked with as an assistant teacher in Julia Gabriel back in 2006. Alright, the world is small; its been close to 3 years since i met anyone from JG.

Nadia: Hey PING( my nick in JG ) how come you are here?

Me: Erm... nothing to do, and since i managed to get the tickets on a subsidized rate, might as well just...

Nadia: Hey you know? Pix is acting in the musical???

Me: Huh...?

Nadia: He's playing as Paul...

That's how our short 1minute catch up went. I ended up feeling so silly and embarassed. Pix was also my fellow colleague in JG. We worked together quite closely , me as the assistant teacher mainly involved in music playing while Pix was the teacher doing most of the educating. Having partnered Pix for more than a semester in the school, i found him to be a very articulating person, with a very keen interest in drama and arts.

I quickly flipped through the programme booklet( it was on sale for 5 bucks...i didnt buy it initially; one of the Friars Fr John Wong gave his to us ) and was so surprised to see that familiar boyish image appearing as the main cast of the musical.

After the first segment of the musical, my wife and i decided to shift to a higher spot from our current position to have a better view of the stage. Towards the end of the final segment of the show, i was stunned to see my JC principal; Stunned because she actually came up to me and wore a smile, trying her best to remember my name

SML: Erm Chiam Peng is it?

Me: Siang Ping Siang Ping...Long time no see Ma'am ... i'm surprised that you could still remember me!!!!

SML: I remembered giving you a 2nd chance

She meant to say that she offered me a 2nd chance to do my A levels again back in 2000. That's like 9 years ago...

I must have been a very talk-about character back in my school back then... aiyoh =X

Asteroid-ed

2009-06-17T23:56:00.000-07:00

I was happily cruising on CTE towards SLE ( was on lane 1 ) in my new car.

It was a very sunny afternoon. Comfortably seated in air conditioned enviroment, my sight set out to the red hyundai getz that was easily more than 6 car lengths ahead of me. I was complemented by my aunts who were making their maiden ride in my car towards my uncle's. I was probably in a 'stoning' mode, trying hard not to participate in my aunts' small talks and gossips about their work life.

All of a sudden, a pebble like objected appeared out of nowhere, dashing towards my windscreen. Before i could make out what it really was, it left my windscreen with a snapping sound.

I guessed i was really 'lucky' that noon, to earn a 2mm kiss mark on the lower portion of the windscreen of my LESS THAN A MONTH OLD CAR( and i guessed it would burn a hole in my pocket as well ).

Have to make a trip down to the service center for this. Oh well....

A long 12 day stretch after

2009-06-14T06:58:00.000-07:00

I cant wait to share my Europe Honeymoon photos. Really.

Sometimes there are happenings in your life that you wished didnt happen. Such was the case for my wife and i. As soon as we touched down Singapore, we set a goal to vet through the photos we took from the trip and have the nicer ones developed for everyone to envy.

Grandma-in-law( PO PO ) was diagnosed with lung cancer somewhere in mid May and her condition was rather bleak. I remembered on the day when we finally reached home and sunk into bed, she called my wife and mentioned something really out of this world. It was then i realised that she was mildy senile and wasnt the PO PO i used to know.... PO PO came into my life the moment my wife and i got together in 1999. While i am not a relative of PO PO by blood, i could easily tell that my wife shares a very unique relationship with her, one that is more than just a grandma-granddaughter bond. Every time when i send my wife( gf back then )home, PO PO would find all opportunity to ask about me, my health, my studies and how my dad is doing. Though i never knew how to speak Hakkah, it never stopped her from wanting to know more about me. This was still the case even when i finally married my wife in December 2008.

The Sunday that followed, my wife visited PO PO. I guessed my wife must be really worried and at the back of my mind, i sensed that she feared for the worst. I wasnt around because of my shift. Again, PO PO started asking things that didnt exist. That late evening when my wife finally had the chance to share encounter with me, i became petrified.

My wife made it a point to go down the following Tuesday to stay over at her Mum's( PO PO stays there too ). I dutifully had the clothings packed for my wife and i planned to fetch her there after work. I remembered it was around 535pm that i left my house, already starving since my early lunch, thinking what i wanted to eat. The moment i reached my wife's work place, i called her and ask about plans for dinner. She sounded rather jittery on the line but somehow i didnt think much.

A few minutes later, i saw my wife walking out of her office lobby, signing to me that PO PO passed on...Immediately my mind was in a blank and i only knew that we must rush home.

The next 4 days that followed was the longest in my life. We sat through Grandma's wake and bade farewell to her on the last day in Mandai Crematorium. Something i will never forget was that faithful night when my wife and i stayed up for the night to watch over the wake. The stories that my wife shared was something that made me realised how dearly she missed PO PO.

Today, we ( my wife and i, plus her parents, uncles, aunts and cousins ) said our last prayers to Grandma as her urn was carefully placed in the niche in St Francis of Assisi. I felt a sense of relief that this 4 long day of sadness and dreadfulness finally came to an end.

Rest in peace PO PO. May you be happy with all the Saints and Angels in Heaven. We love you.

Lanky long hands and legs

2009-05-11T04:45:00.000-07:00

Watch out for Dhalsim's combo at 6:38... Basically he went on beast mode.

Its yesterday once more....

2009-04-24T08:35:00.000-07:00

I went to meet the best financial planner in the world today. I hurrayed the moment i got into the bus; for a good 12min or so i was spared from the sizzling ambient heat of the summer( hmmm i thought there's no seasons in singapore ). At that juncture i suddenly realised that the world's getting so much hotter these days. I never recount days of complaining about the searing temperature nor feel sick about sweating my guts out; Well i did grumbled back then, but certainly its not as bad as now... After settling some financial planning updates and reviewing more policies from the best financial planner, i headed home in the same fashion

Something is different this time round ; seeing the familiar stretch from Causeway point to my parents' place going by.. all these seem to hit a raw nerve in me. I havent been moving around the woodlands estate as much as i used to when i was on my skates in late 06

Those days were simply marvelous. I was so crazy into freestyle slalom that i initiated meet ups with fellow freestyle skaters( many of them are now doing it competitively ), filling every corner of our neighbourhood with laughter, exchanging pointers and stories that one would tell in a campfire. I played slalom so frequently i realised that i was getting better and better. To add on to that, people were eagerly learning tricks from me... Well it feels very good to be so involved into the sport...

... Until now. I hold a full time job, having an estate legally under my name ( erm, its actually a long term borrowing from HDB to be frank ) and happily married to a gal i so fondly love since the days in 1999. Life now is really a challenge, having to fight with the dusts at home, doing laundry,cleaning up the toilet, trying to cook dinner ( i think i'm getting into the hang of preparing meals for myself )and clearing up the dishes in the kitchen sink. Everytime i finished a particular household chore,I would kowtowed to my mum from the bottom of my heart, having to endure what i am going through now, six fold( my dad, my 3 brothers, my sister and me).

It is no longer easy to say that i am balancing it well. Maybe i havent been able to do it at all.. I had minor taskings awaiting for me to accomplish, many of them are house related....

In the midst of procrastination this evening, i rushed out for a quick slalom session after preparing fish and chips for my wife ( its Friday so no meat related food for meals!). I must say that i could no longer train( i would like to think of it as training, as you would know why soon )as hard as i did last time. Today's slalom session was barely an hour and a quarter maybe. As i tried to maneuver around the cones, those nostalgic moments at Blk 711 hardcourt from 6pm to 10pm overwhelmed me...There were times after my ATC trainee days when i headed there with my skates to look for some personal space of my own. Not only did i gain solitude, i managed to keep in mind the moves i want to learn so as to build up my trick ability profile. More tricks means more fun, and more tricks will last you longer into the sport...

Today was a very cold start... It made me realise that the past few months of slalom sessions were random and aimless; I was there for the sake of being there. No doubt that i was slaloming with pros from the team, i could no longer connect to the transitions and had difficulty performing stunts i once thought was bread and butter.

I left the court feeling this sense of austerity. As i wheezed through the veins of the neighborhood, penetrating void decks and doing tight corners around concrete bends, this particular song from The Carpenters filled my head.

Its Yesterday Once More

A tiring stretch

2009-04-14T20:52:00.000-07:00

Past few days of my work life was tiring. It was almost a 6-day stretch of waking up early( and clocking around 6 hours of sleep everyday ). I used to be able to take such kind of life but of late i guessed i hadnt been working out my body. I am a staunch believer of a balanced work-and-play person. If i realised i hadnt been skating/running/climbing for sometime, my mind would automatically switch into a lethargic mode.

In the midst of all these tiring days, i made some small achievements. Got 2 bedside tables from ikea and had some advancement in preparing dinner( KUDOS to my wife who was patient enough to tolerate my ignorance in preparing meals ). Simple achievements of an easily contented person.

This morning i put on my asics kayano 15 and went running. Wasnt glad to see a lapse of one min( didnt run for a week i think ) as compared to my best timings clocked from a 4 round jog in my neighbourhood. I wanted so much to crouch onto the floor upon reaching my finishing point but my ego kept me standing. My whole body was punishing me hard today- A result of not keeping up to my runnig schedule..

But who cares, wearing the new shoe certainly adds to the kicks!

Shall be running again on friday morning. This time i must at least maintain today's timing; most importantly i must be able to maintain this timing with ease as compared to today.

Will be heading down to wan's wedding ceremony this sat noon . That means i had to change my sat noon duties into a morning one; End result - Have to report for work on friday noon, coming back at 1150pm or so, sleep for 6hours and then head out to work on sat.

Another tiring stretch to come!!!!!

sick at home

2009-04-01T19:55:00.001-07:00

I was able to write the previous blog entry because i was sick stricken at home, down with throat infection. It left me shivering with cold under the effects of high fever 2 nights back. Thank goodness my temperature subsided and i head down to attend army seminar yesterday.

I planned for a run this morning, thinking that i could have recovered 90% from my ailment 3 days back. Last night i felt this coughy sensation down my throat; It was then i realized that my throat problems have evolved from a sore one to a coughy one. I started lying on the bed before 1130pm, and i last remembered the hand phone clock showing 1215am. I was tossing around the bed, clearing my throat from the irritations within for almost 1/2 an hour before i finally turned in.....

This morning 's feel was anything but fantastic. I wasn't tired but somewhat the cough made me want to sink deeper into slumber.... I no longer felt that i was on form to run( damn i had postpone my running plans for almost 5 days or maybe longer...)

One and a half weeks ago, grizzly bear asked if i wanted to get new running shoes( he must have seen my worn-and-torn asics GT shoe during the christmas makan last year )... He boasted about asics new kayano 15 shoe . Told me that he could get it at a hefty discount.

I've tried that shoe, and now awaiting it to arrive. Cant wait to put it on so that i can have proper training for my IPPT and stand chart marathon 2009!!!!

Happy birthday Siang Ping

2009-03-30T23:22:00.001-07:00

This month has been a real pleasant one... received alot of wellwishes during my birthday, on sms and on facebook. Never has such kind of greetings been so important, especially after my married life..

Looking back a year ago, my birthday wish/ resolution was met : A house, a stable career and a wonderful wife!

Baby plans wont hit our TO-DO list for the year 2009. It's already filled with our honey moon trip in mid may. The month of February was spent on securing air ticket for Paris. From now till May, its all about reading up for our honey moon trip. The plan is to hit Paris and roam the streets for 3 days, travel via rail eastwards to bern( capital of switzerland), spend about 6 days in total in central switzerland, thereafter crossing the borders via rail again to milan(italy). The last 6 days will be spent touring iconic places, including venice, florence and finally rome. I cant wait to utilise my newly acquired 18mm-200mm Canon EF lenses( courtesy of my wife hee hee ) and snap down all the iconic places of interest!!!!!

We were also quite busy with car hunting early this month. From the day i started training for my ATC job in Changi village( surviving on peanut pay as a trainee ), i vowed to get my hands on my OWN CAR the moment i receive my lump sum payment from passing the ATC assessment checks. Travelling to changi village via public transport has an impact on my every day life. Lost quite alot of quality sleep time. If you have no idea what i'm talking, see THIS

Hence, my wife and i spent some time checking out cars. The car budgeting was planned in such a manner that we could still afford a car, and YET enjoy our current life dining out and enjoy shopping / go for holidays and such..

1. My ideal car at present was actually a small SUV. Small=less expensive and SUV= sporty and young. That's my initial demands in a car. Then i realised how impractical it would be after sitting in a terios / rush. The interior wasnt roomy as compared to my dad's nissan latio

2. We straightaway thought of jazz/ fit. It has impressive roomy interiors for a 1.3L, complimented with soothing features on the dashboard and boasts a modern exterior for any hatchback in the market. The response on the brakes and accelerator was much better compared to my dad's nissan latio. The only factor ( both my wife and i debated over this for awhile ) was the cost. Super steep for a 1.3L hatch back.

3. So we lowered our expectations and went to check out vios. I must say that this is a car that's quite value for money. But during test driving i notice the rev to be quite noisy and frankly, the cabin spacing was anything but impressive. All along since the day i saw vios running on the road, i thought the exterior was quite unsightly.

Then, my dear friend Xiao Ming smsed me one fine day to try out this car from Kia. I had no idea about the profile of this car he was mentioning. I was surprised that he actually bought it ON THE VERY DAY HE TEST DROVE it ( i supposed it was his only test drive). 3 weeks later, another friend Patrix told me that he bought the car also ( he followed xiao ming to test drive it ).

This got me curious, and i read up about this car. Went test driving twice on it and finally settled on sliver kia cerato forte 1.6SX .

There are a thousand and one things i wanna achieve right now. I promised my wife to take her on a crash course on SINGAPORE HIGHWAY code( she passed in late 2004 but she seldom drove ). Cant wait for May to come so that i can fufil and materialise my honeymoon plans. I am also waiting for my car to arrive in late june ( had to wait due to overwhelming responses ).

Thank you folks for your well wishes...i will continue to live my life to the fullest!!!!

No water in my own house

2009-03-17T00:46:00.000-07:00

I came to realise how inconvenient it is WITHOUT WATER AT HOME....

I got this notification pasted on the lift lobby mentioning about some upgrading works on the water pipings situated on the roof access DUE TODAY 17TH MARCH a few days back....

My usual routines of a 8am run, followed by some basic housework cleaning the floor and sunning the laundry were all ruined. Because the piping works will commence at 9am, all the way till 5pm, i run the risk of being stranded at home, sweaty.

What's worsd, is that the HDB contractors warned residents of dirty water discharging from the water piping works, and REMINDED the folks staying at the top floor to shut their windows and avoid hanging laundry .

So that means i will not only be stranded in stinkiness but also suffer the heat....

End result: I bathed with a pail that i dutifully filled up at 8am, and couldnt wash my plates from my breakfast makan. My plans to rest at home was screwed and i sought refuge at my aunt's place, giving tuition...

What a tired day...

Siang Ping,
Signing off in the radar centre, working on noon shift.

updating in progress....

2009-01-15T02:36:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!!!! Happy new year to you all!

I am in the midst of updating my blog( there has been really a big back log for this)... here's some quick preview to my family action plan for 2009( some already in progress )

1. Continue on my housing touch ups. Prolly this will include my basin, bathroom fixtures and moving all my belongings from my parents' to my own house

2. Travel to western/ central Europe for my honeymoon. I think this is something my wife has been really reminding me for the past few nights at home . hahahaha....

3. Purchase a car ( most probably after my honeymoon trip ). Need to re-evaluate my finances from my post honey moon trip in order to execute my plans.. heh.

Well, of course i will still continue to pursue my hobbies that never fail to excite me in life. Will commit time to them!

An Advanced Chinese New year to all of you!

This blog is still around....

2008-12-14T01:10:00.000-08:00

Great...

Finally i have time to pen this down!!!

For some of you who wondered if i was still alive on this blog, A BIG SORRY to you first and foremost.

Alot of things happened in my life for the past 2 mths so far. Milestones i meant.

1. I finally went solo for my air traffic control work. Pay got incremented( SIGNIFICANTLY ) and i'm quite comfortable with my new pay as it is.

2. I spent my days after my OJT validation on my marriage, preparing card invitations, keeping track of guest listings, making sure that we had the items required for our church wedding and banquet lunch celebration. I couldnt have pulled through with the help of my wife Felicia and my buddies who came down for helpers' brief/ Church rehearsals....

3. I went through reservist with 284sa. Clocked the most ridiculous 2.4KM run of 11.12min.A clear indication of my lack of running from all the busy preparation for training at work , as well as for marriage. The only consolation ( in fact something to cheer about ) is that my battery won the BEST BATTERY competition for 2 consecutive years... I began to believe that my fellow men had grown up over the years, behaving more sensible during ICTs... working with them now is a breeze!!!!!

4. I moved into my new flat in Woodlands Drive 75. It comes with the basic necessities EXCEPT broad band and entertainment system. ( This blog was penned during my break from work ). I guessed i will start to do alot of house keeping and stock up nice items to beautify my house. i should be able to surf net once the broadband fellas pay a visit to my humble house in a few days time....

5. I got to marry the gal of my dreams. Thank you Felicia for sticking with me through thick and thin. I promise i will love you and HONOUR you for the rest of my life. For those who made time to come to our big day, i just want to say that i am SUPER DUPA touched ......

In the midst of my deep thoughts, i have yet to achieve some goals i set out previously in my previous blog entries for 2008:

1. Boulder/ rock climb - i think i only mounted the wall like less than 4 times.

2. Running - lousy timing for 2008 ippt.... i must run even more regularly. Planned to sign up Spore biathlon...

3. Slalom - i forgot hw to execute my heel wheeling...that's hw rusty i am... sigh...

That is all for now... Oh yes i have posted alot of photos on my facebook for my wedding. Do chk them out!!!!!

Number one hurdle cleared!!!!

2008-10-25T02:56:00.000-07:00

Yeah... my number one hurdle finally conquered!

Now i am a rated controller... And i'm very thankful for all the support that friends and family have given me throughout this tiring training period.

I 'buang'(FALL or FAILING in Malay )my first rating attempt on the 11th of september 2008.. and had to struggle with more training and mental stigma since then.

My 2nd attempt was to be on the 22nd October. I still remembered waking up with a rough throat that morning and got drenched by the horrendous weather by the time i logged in for work.

I am just too glad that my OJT life has come to an end on the 23rd October 958pm Local Time.

My life victories ( if there were really any )in my 27 years on earth never came easy, but i guessed the most meaningful part of my life is that i kept telling myself that i would not stop trying till the fat lady sings.

Shall keep this post short. I have alot of wedding errands to run.. my mind is free now!!!!

Milo the Jack Russell

2008-09-23T21:31:00.001-07:00

This guy IS A LITTLE DEVIL in disguise.

I'm talking about milo, the jack russell... Not 'Mc Grady' who was busy playing games

I think all dogs know how to play sympathy games with their owners

Milo starts his trek up and down the bed

and then he goes into the kitchen looking for food.

This milo was such an idiot. He suddenly attacked my right arm, scratching it ( as though there was gold within the skins of my forearm ). I later found out that this horny animal mistook my arm as a female counter part and started lashing out its manhood, trying to display its animal instincts. Of course i never let that thing touch me. I tried slapping its butt hard, but seemingly this was a wrong move; The dog became more rampant... and so i 'siam'( hokkien for dodged )my forearm in reaction to its pelvic thrusts ( anyway, do dogs have pelvics , or is that area called pelvic for dogs?)

After a good 15min of thrusts....

The dog got shagged out liao. What a useless dog...

The game that led me back to video gaming

2008-09-23T20:49:00.000-07:00

My love for gaming started way loooooooooongggggggggg back..... I remembered holding this casio LED game console with the title WESTERN BAR in it ( yes, one game console is preprogrammed with only ONE game inside, no such thing as cartridges ).

In Western bar, a bartender would roll out dishes and bottles of beer.You, the cowboy character had to shoot them before they hit the floor. If you PAJIAO ( hokkien for parallex error ), the cowboy would cry and lose his “life”....

That was easily 23 years ago...Although now that I think about it, in both cases the plates broke anyway, WHAT THE HELL was he crying about?

At that time i never had a WESTERN BAR myself, and always relied on my friends to lend me their handheld just to savour the few minutes of playing the game. In school, if you want to be recognised, you just have to hold onto it and make sure you play it in places where there's crowd. SEEN AND BE SEEN... YEAH!!!!

Then came Nintendo's SUPER MARIO brothers. Till today, i think there's easily 100+ variations of games under that name. That wasnt in my favourites list though. I had to play that game just to keep track of my primary school mates' lunch topic.

I started sleeping little when i found out about this game, Delta Force. Later i learnt that the proper title to this game was Contra. The secret ( which didnt become one in a matter of weeks after the launch of the game ) was this : UP UP DOWN DOWN LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT A-B - SELECT - START... I chased this game from its first, to its second, and finally its SUPER FAMICOM series ( i presumed it was the 3rd )...

Until i learnt about street fighter. How can i not know about this game? Its easily THE GAME starting from 1992. When my kind aunt bought me a FAMICOM with that game, i suddenly have many good friends who would come to my house and challenge me in the game. Hell, who cares if they were just acquaintances? I only wanted to increase my database of fighting patterns, and the only way to do it, is to observe how other players play , and finally to fight them with my own set of counter moves.

Somewhere in secondary school, my involvement in uniform group grew, and slowly i parted with my gaming life. Once in awhile, I would enter the arcades to sample the newer series of street fighter i.e the Zero Series... Towards the end of my secondary school life, i realised that i needed a powerful game console to play that game. In the market then was SEGA SATURN and PLAY STATION.

Ashley suddenly became my good friend in JC. He borrowed me his play station, and then the routine began all over again. I started trashing computer opponents, relishing the frustration kept within me accumulated by all the short comings in my JC life. I was not only active in gaming now, but also equally spending alot of time doing CCAs and went out more with lady friends. I supposed that's growing up for a guy.. HAHA...

Army put a stop to all my life... for a good 2.5 years... and when uni began for me, i had no time to even think of video gaming. My passion turned to physical activities. In year one i took up bouldering, and went trekking with NTU ODAC very often. Friends were made, bonds were forged.

Years passed... One day, during my OFF shift period from work, i walked into bugis arcade, and felt obliged to lay my hands on an old friend whom i was afraid would deny my existence. Putting in the 50cent token into the STREET FIGHTER machine was somewhat a breathtaking moment....

Thank goodness, my fingers found their way back to combos. The feeling....Its akin to bumping into your primary school friend... Since then, i was more regular in the arcades, trashing and being trashed by other people. I supposed that's life. You wont win forever; There will be someone out there who's so much better than you.

In my previous post, i talked about getting a new game console for my new house. This game was the ultimate reason.

Isnt the graphics superb?????

XBox 360 or Playstation 3?

2008-09-23T07:45:00.000-07:00

I have no idea which one's better, but i reckoned that i need opinions from peeps who are more conversant with the video gaming lifestyle.

Must start getting feedback from my fellow blog followers... So which one is better?

Feel free to tag / comment... lets dont consider the price as a comparison factor.

Thank you YOU =)

A new addition to the #16-68 FAMILY

2008-09-17T10:10:00.000-07:00

Choosing mattress is actually the most headache process of furniture hunting....

I grew up in a humble 3 room flat, shared by my parents, my 4 other siblings and 2 aunts. Can you imagine how we managed to squeeze into this kind of floor area? Anyway, it was made possible with TILAMS( malay for thin small mattresses ). The boys would all form up 3 tilams joined side by side and sleep together

I remember sleeping in such kind of conditions until i was like 15 years old, when dad finally got a new flat in WOODLANDS in 1995. Even so, i still remained bedded on normal THICKER tilams ( but at least we have bed frames for our mattresses ). I spent my sleeping moments on this kind of condition ( Dad had many mouths to feed at that time, and only Eldest bro was working ), all the way until now.

It has been easily like 20 odd years of "humble sleeping", and i must say that i really couldnt get used to latest bedding technologies.

A few months before, BEDDING AND MATTRESS was just a way you get your sorry body to lie down and sleep for a better day...

LATEX layering, Memory Foam, Pocket patented springs and plush wool/ geese feather layering...These are technical jargons that easily stupefied me for the past few weeks of shopping in Furniture mall, IMM, Trade Hub, Eunos Kaki Bukit and even Sungei Kadut. The initial first few days of trying beds felt indifferent, because it seemed like EVERY bed worthy of a place in the boutique could send me off dreamin.... My dearie was almost quite frustrated because everytime when she tried to seek my opinion on beds, the only comments i could give was: OK THIS IS HARD, or THIS IS TOO SOFT...Opps!

After some vigorous mattress trials in sungei kadut and Furniture Mall, beach road, i started to have a better appreciation of the various designs out there in the market. We finally got a VERY VERY VERY GOOD DEAL from SLUMBERLAND-> The SLUMBERLAND ROYAL EXCELSIOR QUEEN bed!!!!

Here are the details. I will try to explain what each feature does.

1. Its a 12 inch bed. Very thich woh, just like the thick thick french toast you crave for with a cuppa and morning sun

2. The surface of the mattress is 100% cotton. It adds to this plush feel , and cotton generally lowers down body temperature ( try imagining wearing cotton tee vs those dry fit tee when you are really sweating in the hot sun and you will understand my analogy )

3. Above the mattress is layered with a section (about 2 inch i reckon) of natural latex. Natural latex is a kind of material that possesses natural ability to ward off evil stuff like your dust mites and germs.

4. The bulk of the mattress is cushioned by pocketed springs. This particular combination of pocketed springs WITH latex layer ensures that
a) Your latex layer allows your body contours to go in sync with the mattress
b) The pocketed spring is there so that as you flip from side to side, you have a equal and opposite feel to your motion, and the mattress actually helps your body to " gradually " sink into a particular pose in comfort

5. Most importantly, this bed is quite sturdy i.e when your partner flips like a dolphin on your left or right, you can still get maximum undisturbed sleep. Very stable!!!!

To add to the seemingly good features of this particular bed,

1. It comes free with very nice bed frames, and 2 normal pillows with a mattress protector

2. Instead of the shelf price of 2.5k, we got it for $1998!!!! No delivery charges some more!!!!

3. 15 year warranty!!!!

Sorry, this time i dont have pictures of this bed. Anyway, images of beds cant tell you much on its comfort.

Yeah another item on our furniture list CHECKED!!!!!

LIFE SUCKS

2008-09-14T18:47:00.000-07:00

One down... and more to come

2008-08-31T20:20:00.000-07:00

This was one of the most fruitful comex ever....

This year's comex started on the 28th August, a Thursday. I didnt spare any chance to lose any good deals, so i went down on a friday noon during my SPLIT SHIFT break to check things out with dearie. Our aim was to get a good bargain for an LCD TV.

I kept going down every day all the way until 810pm, sunday, when the deal was finally sealed.

I kept the bargaining and thought process out in this blog entry. I will let you see if this is a good deal:

1. SAMSUNG LCD!!!!
2. BUNDLES include a free home theatre system, 300 buck robinson voucher
3. 0% interest instalment plan, for 24mths, FIRST MONTH instalment WAIVED using DBS credit card
4. 5 year extended warranty
5. 40" HD.

We got the poison at 1999bucks.

A good outing on a WORKING day

2008-08-27T08:09:00.000-07:00

Not so convenient to say why we were all out on a friday. I mean, we were supposed to be working....

A testament of our good times. Chit chatting over a cuppa and makaning some burnt bread

This is his reason. To justify the absence of a captain.

The parade commander lost count of how much money he has so far. By the way, we were talking about buying car and all the nitty gritty stuff on housing and marriage preparations.

This guy is a very important character in my life so far. He was telling us what to look out for when buying cars. OK lah basically this man is my financial planner. The best in the world( He didn't force me to say this btw ).

Meet ups with friends have been quite challenging, especially when i'm now in the midst of getting good deals on mattresses, coffee tables, tv console, dining table, washing machine bla bla bla bla bla.. hahaha. That's why i can spend time posting entries of such on my blog. No friends, no life. Simple as that.

My photos from the photoshoot aint ready yet. Projected to selected them maybe by first week of september. Just last week,i finally finished all the paper work for my new flat. Probably going to collect the keys earliest Mid september. By the time i complete the house with the necessary paint work and basic furniture, i shall LIST DOWN MY WISH LIST on this blog ...so that you folks who are reading this will KNOW WHAT TO DO...HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH....

These few days have been real unfit, especially when all the time i have during my OFF days goes to tuition and furniture hunting. I ran 10k Bay run with the parade commander just last sunday, and went straight to do shift work in the radar centre. Ended up exhausted and tired, couldnt really concentrate on my taskings. Not a good idea to run before work. Dear asked if i wanna go New Balance Real Run with her on the 19th October( its a sunday ). And damn, it has to fall on the first day of my shift cycle!!!!

PHOTOSHOOT ( PRELUDE)

2008-08-16T09:41:00.000-07:00

This is the groom waiting....

And this is the bride...

Stay tuned for the photos!

A worked up Friday

2008-08-08T10:15:00.000-07:00

One session with a particular instructor was all that's needed to make me feel down. Well, my job doesnt actually allow ANY kind of mistake, minor or catastrophic....

There is this particular instructor whom i think doesnt think highly of my controlling skills. To be frank, i dun actually feel comfortable when i'm with him in particular.

Of late,i think i am performing better and better, to the point that i felt ready for solo work, until what happened this afternoon, when i made a very silly and ku ku mistake, and it has to be spotted by him!!!! wth!!!! I kept telling myself that i wanna prove to this bugger that i am worthy of doing what's required of my job.

I need to keep my mind strong and stay focused. The coming few months will demand alot out of me.

Thank goodness, i wore my skates after work to vent my frustrations... in fact, today i finally managed to do a controlled heel wheeling... WHEE!!!! For a lowly ambitioned yet easily satisfied man, its more than enough to perk me up for the rest of the evening. I'm now stretched , feeling sore YET ALIVE cos i really sweat out my thigh and calf muscles to achieve the feat on one heel wheel. HOSEI AH!!!!

My first Encounter with DSLR

2008-08-06T09:59:00.000-07:00

To be exact, my very first view of the world via my DSLR lens was in St Mary Of the Angels. Its this church i go once( sun ) every month ( because of timing issues with my shift system ). What can i say about taking pictures with it... there's this 'trigger happy' sensation the moment the shutter goes SNAP!!!!

Dearie got the camera for 1.5k from the previous comex in suntec city. She had been wanting a DSLR since her first US trip in may 2006.

ok...almost forgot abt the first encounter...

This is brenda. She just got married in May this year. I was there to help out with her church wedding. She is one of the very kind hearted lady who attends mass with the Hearing Impaired( H.Is ).. needless to say, her signing power is 8/10.

This is June. She is even more formidable than Brenda. Let's just say that i cant remember anything that she CANT SIGN. But then again, sign language is sometimes a very subjective thing. Sometimes you can take short cuts and still get the meaning through, so long as the concept is there.

Short cuts help especially for conversational signing with the local H.Is. I've learnt that from all my mass sessions since late 2006. I was real intrigued by sign language and how it made communication so different for me after i attended Camp Outreach 2006 ( COR 2006 - a camp organised for the local H.Is by NTU WSC ).... I started enrolling into basic religious sign language this year. Every time after work i will rush down to the church and take lessons.

This indian boy...ERM... i dunno his name. Just accidentally snapped his annoyed look after brenda brushed against his backside...

Indian boy: Dont think you know how to sign means you can touch my backside!

Ok, i know this indian man... He is Kenny, one of the more 'vocal' H.Is who could sign and mouth out quite accurately his intentions... He wasnt born with impairment, so he could still attempt to 'say'( but in actual fact i dun think he can even hear anything now ) as he signs... very helpful when he signs to a person like me who has limited signing volcabulary!

A few days later, i brought along my (feels like mine when its actually felicia's) DSLR to NTU to check out the freshmen of foot 05....

Here's a typical scene of a bunch of nuts in self entertain mode. I was like that once with my 9th Comm NTU odac peeps...

Kuah and Monkey Tong, grown up from their 9th Comm days... sworn to make their mark by the age of 28.

Monkey: @$%$^%%^$@#%!#@ how izit ever possible to be as rich as that foreign banker by the age of 28??????

Ah ben and yingli

And so, this post marks the beginning of a journey of a world viewed through my DSLR.

260708 through My eyes

2008-07-29T20:52:00.000-07:00

Hello folks, this is me with my new DSLR, Canon EOS 450D. I barely knew how to use it.

But i guess i need to give it a shot.

Here we are, attending Parade Commander's ROM solemnisation in Rasa Sentosa. As usual, i love to indulge in my deep thoughts, pondering over what other people MIGHT BE pondering....

Amber : Wah i better check out the SCE guys... dunno whether they shortchanged my hubby onot....

Ian : Where is my reception? How long do i have to wait?

Come, let me clear the yellow thing beside your eye...( amber must be real tired!!! )

Zaki: Awww so sweeet! When will my turn be?

We better write our name big big so that patrick noes we gave him 1K

Lizard: Hello boys! I am lizard NO MORE!!! cos i have a human lady friend.. Song bo????

And as the solemnisation begins...

Patrick: When the lorry comes...you really cannot SIAM....

Patrick: Shucks i dun really get the terms and conditions....

Damn, its really confusing... what should i do?

Should i tell amber that i dun know what's going on?

Heck!!! LOVE WILL KEEP US ALIVE!!!!!

Patrick : Shiok man.. this taste better than the vietnam mango shake i drank last year...

And as the crowd claps and cheers in happiness....

Patrick : GENTLEMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for norminating me as your GRC leader....

And so, another guy's singlehood is gone, just like that... 2 weeks ago, it was Wan's. I think the next one should be me lah.

SCE GANG FOREVER!!!!!

Automobile

2008-07-29T02:00:00.000-07:00

Though mentally drained, I was quite excited to drive up from Changi Village to meet my fiance (in KAP area) after work.

I was cruising along PIE, in search of a UPPER BUKIT TIMAH exit that would eventually bring me to my destination. Somewhere during the journey, probably 20min after leaving my work place, i found myself moving along with the rest of the traffic. Some folks driving real fast beyond speed limit, some taking their time on the 3rd lane. My auto driving mode kicked in, and frankly, my mind was blank.

I had to breathe slightly harder for oxygen to kickstart my brains again so that i can drive safely. While doing so, this very nice BMW (i couldnt make out which series it was ) stole my attention on the right.

Almost instantaneously, i started wondering if i would get a car soon. All those hours wasted on public transport sometimes make me dread of going to work. Its like wasting your life away if you really had nothing better to do on the bus. Losing time robbed me of alot of possibilities and opportunities. Could have gone exercising after my work, IF i COULD COME HOME EARLIER from work everyday. Could have met my gf for dinner, IF I had my dad's car that day. I swore there were many things i could do with a car......

The BMW vanished into the horizons of PIE ( TUAS ). All of a sudden, i realised i had already passed Toh Guah exit.

Through my heavy and weary eyes, I had lost sight of the entrance i was struggling to look out for. More time wasted in the end just to re route to meet my dear. =x

Pieces of my life

2008-07-22T09:23:00.000-07:00

I went to this year's FOOT SP night.. Had decided to go after my shiftwork because i really missed the feeling of this ODAC spirit....

I have already graduated close to one year since my convocation. I did not attend this year's foot ( and neither have i attended last year's ), but juz popping by to experience the birth of a new batch of ODAC peeps during SP night somewhat creates this sensation of ODAC renewal in me.

I had worked with some of the best peeps in NTU ODAC history.

I did not bother with the captions and descriptions of these pictures. To me, it all meant good memories in NTU ODAC.

3 wise men

2008-07-17T22:59:00.000-07:00

Today i have the honour of presenting to you 3 wise men( not in order of merit ): Kelvin Kuah , benjamin lee and Eng Siang Ping ( Farmer the shark cartilage pill )

* the words in red are comments...

Benjamin - says:
haha sp is going back too?

We were thinking if we wanna go back on friday to chk out FOOT 08 in NTU. I happen to be on OFF when this conversation happened

Farmer the shark cartilage pill says:
yuppos

Kelvin says:
yup

Farmer the shark cartilage pill says:
haha
Farmer the shark cartilage pill says:
nothing to do at home!

Kelvin says:
and SS

SS stands for siewsze

Benjamin - says:
SS also so free?

Farmer the shark cartilage pill says:
except to clear my fish tank, skate, chapteh and read up on DSLR
Farmer the shark cartilage pill says:
SS after work lah

I meant to tell benjamin that siewsze had to work, and will only drop by NTU after work

Benjamin - says:
hmm
Benjamin - says:
i will be with yingli

Yingli is benjamin's gf

Kelvin says:
u got fish tank?

Kelvin has no idea that i rear fishes all these while, apparently

Farmer the shark cartilage pill says:
of course lah
Farmer the shark cartilage pill says:
small one
Benjamin - says:
haha yea he has

Farmer the shark cartilage pill says:
not very big

Benjamin - says:
you have fish pond

kelvin kuah is a rich boy, having just bought a BMW coupe, he owns a pond at home. What is inside i also dunno...

Farmer the shark cartilage pill says:
not like you lah kelvin

Benjamin - says:
hahaha

Kelvin says:
wat fish u have inside

Benjamin - says:
think his fish also smaller hahaha

At this moment, my ego is punctured.... boo...

Farmer the shark cartilage pill says:
used to have MANY fish

Kelvin says:
my fishes have been dying off

Benjamin - says:
different magnitude

Rich man big pond, poor boy small tank. So naturally the fishes must be bigger than mine

Farmer the shark cartilage pill says:
then one by one they report to heaven

most of my fishes didnt survive long... booo

Kelvin says:
today i saw one up side down

he meant his fish. One passed away this morning. Sad

Benjamin - says:
sad la
Farmer the shark cartilage pill says:
only left a female and male fighting fish

After all that's gone. I have one male and female left...

Kelvin says:
haha, same same

Farmer the shark cartilage pill says:
which is good enuf

Benjamin - says:
grow more plants
Benjamin - says:
earth needs more plants

Kelvin says:
my goldfish can form an army in heaven

Farmer the shark cartilage pill says:

.......

Yutiao and Butterfly Cakes

2008-07-14T19:17:00.000-07:00

I thought i was serving my in camp. Dont know if its the last few or not. I was walking on this stretch of road leading to the barracks, and remembered seeing young faces doing their morning runs.... I felt awkward because there wasnt any familiar faces i knew.

Somewhat it daunt upon me that i was heading towards Catholic Junior College. I wanted so much to return to my bunk. Odd enough, i found myself standing on the 3rd level of CJC block which overlooked the dull grass quadrangle.

I felt sticky from the long walk. So decided to go for a shower. Again there wasnt anyone familiar when i entered the showers.

Apparently drowsy, i headed to this HDB apartment to sleep. Wasnt sure how long i slept until my bladder woke me up. I recalled drinking lots of bubble tea and pink dolphin on my way back from previous night's skating session. Sugar overdose, i thought... as i unwillingly parted the bed and headed for the loo...

I undid my zippers and lashed out my hose. But there was something wrong... i was pissing orange crush into this top loading washing machine in the apartment! I didnt stop at it surprisingly because the state of my bladder overwhelmed me. Somewhat similiar to a flood hahaa....

"Maybe its alright", i said to myslf... until i realised that the washing machine started to spin....and i thought i saw clothings floating,emerging from the little whirlpool...someone had deposited clothings inside the machine! Alamak...

I left the house feeling lost. This time round i was in Geylang Bahru, trying to search for some food for my hunger. Naturally i headed to the market, where anyone can get almost any kind of local hawkerfare at a price that wont pinch your wallets. I wasnt actually looking for any particular food. But i was stunned when this entire column of stall were selling chinese 'butterfly' cakes and youtiao ( fried fritters ). It was quite a scene because i never recounted so many of these stalls being around.

I subconsciously ended my hunt for the food, puzzled. I saw this huge ferris wheel that many adults were on.... but the funny thing was, they were just suspended by twines( those white strings )and nothing else!

At this moment, i turned around and saw Kelvin Kuah. He appeared disturbed and told whoever within his vocal range to stop riding. I was busy helping some of those who were already trapped on the ferris wheel to tighen their twine seats using all my knowledge on rope work.

I suddenly woke up. The time was 830am on my K770I alarm.

Gunners' Gathering

2008-07-01T10:26:00.000-07:00

Here i am again, posting another entry about weddings... Keep it short. Today i am going to feature some good old fellas from charlie battery, 284 singapore artillery. As yaki puts it, "Somehow, its like we havent ORD from 20SA yah...."

( taken with lokman's LG phone )
Hmm... we have ( top row ) bernard, zheng rong, francis
and (bottom row )ah jun, yaki, datuk lokman, goat and james

Oh yah, the groom is not in the picture. Just in case you are wondering.

( taken with goat's K770I phone)

A close up shot of zheng rong, ah jun and yaki.

Last cycle break was xiuhui's wedding. Today is ah guan's. The next one i'm gonna attend is qiuzhang's wedding, 4 days from this blog entry post.

Wedding Spree 2008

2008-06-28T20:02:00.000-07:00

In a span of 6 months since the beginning of 2008, i had been to at least 4 wedding banquets and 2 church weddings. People around my age seem eager to tie the knot.

To be frank, attending wedding dinners suddenly became a chore. Probably i had been attending dinners one after another within short spans of time and the only thing that kept me going, was to see my friends happily celebrating their big day. You cant really expect much out of the food and service from wedding banquet these days....

I was at my JC friend, Xiuhui's wedding dinner last night. I was abit hesitant to invite my girlfriend, thinking that she wont know anyone. Well anyway i still did....So we headed down to Grand Plaza Park Hotel with lots of question mark on our heads, wondering if we could even see anyone we know. Fyi, Xiuhui wasnt in the same class as me during JC and we did not really have a common pool of friends.

Dearie nudged me when we were like a few steps away from the reception counter, asking me for the name of the groom...cos she actually recognise the groom as her Computer Engineering Batch mate from NTU!!! So it became quite a coincidental reunion for her and the groom as they shook hands. I felt rather stupefied as they started chatting...

Then as she advanced in further, she recognised more and more people from her current ( soon to be ex ) company. The groom happen to be in the same company as her... I scratched my head and wondered IF my gf was the one inviting me along for HER friend's wedding.

The good meal and service in Grand Plaza Park Hotel was the only reason that prompted me to write this blog. Found the servings very tasty and special.( i dunno if its because i was rather starved from my day skating workout in ecp ). Serving was prompt and the staffs were very very helpful and courteous. The souvenir offered was rather unique!!!

Its a plastic ball, the size of your palm, with cartoon image of a newly wed, filled with shower gel in the inside! Now that's something different from the choco pieces / keychains / mini notepads bla bla bla....

This was one wedding dinner that left both me and dearie panicking for our big day. How would it be like?

Kyle is the man....

2008-06-28T00:23:00.000-07:00

I had a good ride on Kyle's Honda stream to ECP on a Saturday morning. Today at the rink there were some old time skaters i once knew:

1.Alex, a close to 50 YEAR old skater, someone whom i started speed slalom with way back in 2006.

2.Jason, one of the neighbourhood skating class guys (whom i bumped into during my evening admiralty slalom sessions).

3.Graham, one of the pioneers in slalom skating. Toned down alot apparently and did leisure skating + chit chat most of the time at the rink.

4.Uncle Tay, easily 60 odd... still riding on his speed skate, cruising with no difficulty from ECP -> CHANGI VILLAGE -> ECP. That's what i call a hardcore skater.

5.Anne Chua, one of the frequent ECP speed skater. She just complained about some misalignment of her spine that caused the slightest discomfort even when she skates...

6.Zhirong of course. And the long lost lanky "best newbie" tianlong. Was quite glad to see that fella. He mentioned that my TOSS was done almost like that in the trick video. Thanks man, glad to be praised!!!!

I spent my friday evening at Jelutong Court skating with the Micro Team peeps. Along came this few slalom enthusiast ( lets hope i get the names right ): Gaston, 'Water', Lydia ( the lady on powerhouse GYRO frame )and Chijun... most of them are around 17? or maybe still secondary school students.

Sometimes, its truly glad to hang around at the rink. I had no problem meeting up friends i once knew. It is akin to this feeling of returning home. I cant help but feel that i am really into this slalom hobby ( though i am not very good at it )

My name is Joe

2008-06-24T19:08:00.001-07:00

Have you ever heard of this lymeric "my name is Joe"?

It goes like this :

"HI, my name is Joe!!!! And i Woooorkkked in a butter factory I got a House, a car and a family ...."

I wrote this entry because i pretty much wanted to be like Joe ( except the part on working in a butter factory. Joe doesnt run and skate either. ). The good news is that i finally clinched a premium resale HDB with my dear dear on the 23rd of June 2008.

The days ahead for the year 2008 will be a very challenging one. The air traffic management stuff decided to revamp the way we control aircrafts and there's going to be another major change coming up on the 2nd July. Well, to a trainee like me, this means RE-Orientating to the controlling methodology and that translates to MORE time needed for my OJT and hence i am further from my license and my LUMP SUM PAYMENT!!!

Fortunately i have been getting good remarks from the senior controllers who say that i'm picking up things fast and the only skill i lack now is traffic management and priority of work. I shall work on those !

But i guessed i will take quite a long time to be like Joe. Lets do a quick check :

House? Technically acquired but i think i wont be ready for house warming till next year CNY. I estimate the keys to be mine by early october; Dearie and i have decided to go with the bare minimum for 2008 i.e we will get the basic furnitures, do a total paint job and get some cleaning accessories for the house. Any further interior designing will have to wait. Probably after our church wedding and banquet in December.

Car? It is not even stated as an item in my current budgeting list!!!! But lets just say that i'm quite contended with Terios or a Rush.

Family? Ok going to start liao.

I WANT TO BE A JOE!!!!!!!!!!

The Gates of Hell

2008-06-23T01:57:00.001-07:00

To be frank, i look forward to get out of work every single day - FROM THE MOMENT i start doing my first controlling session of my shift.

Gate timings are an essential. If you serve the army, one thing you wont forget, is the back gate timings. If not, you have to detour within premises just to get to the front gate, and end up going home late.

In the radar centre, things are pretty much the same as per army. I will never miss a second so that i can be one of the first few to witness the opening of the 'gates of hell'.

Speaking of which, i suddenly recalled this clip which me and my pal AH JIANG made in our varsity days.

This is Ah Jiang on my left

This is his master piece( with my voice in it )

A young boy's day

2008-06-20T09:43:00.000-07:00

After my tuition in the afternoon, i headed down to City Hall to meet Untung and Ruyan, the up and coming CGL for FOOT 2008. I was there to share with them my experiences as CGL during 2006 and gave some tips and advices whenever they shared their concerns.

Talking about FOOT alone brings me back to 2003. Never regretted joining an orientation camp. I cant imagine the people and the memories that i will miss out if i had plunged into UNI without any CCA. (To me, no CCA in UNI is like drinking my fav cold milo without adding sweetener)

I wasnt alone with them; I had my new pet with me -> One majestic cream( with streaks of neon intercepting its lateral lines ) siamese fighting fish and 2 ordinary female fighting fish. Now they are swimming happily in my tank ( i hope... )

Dearie had planned for a dinner with her fellow colleagues at Clarke Quay. And so i found myself heading towards Jelutong Court, Sembawang to join the guys from Micro. Before the boys and gals were in the team, we frequented Admiralty Court to skate our Friday evenings away. I think sometime in mid July last year they started to plant the micro flag in sembawang and from then till recent, i was the only poor rookie skating on my own ( sometimes i have the companionship of my brother ).

It was my virgin visit there. And the ground there is superb to do tricks! Finally got some live preview of a proper TOSS demonstrated by the slalom king pins(best in SINGAPORE AND SOME SAY JB ). Wont wanna miss the opportunity to try out MY version and the pros shared their advices and pointers. Skating with these young bunch of people is certainly a very humbling yet enriching experience.

It feels like i'm a young little boy today.

Ok, maybe not that young, say about 20?

A good way to pamper yourself with fishes

2008-06-08T08:36:00.000-07:00

For the past few shifts doing ATC work, i had been experiencing some uncontrollably itch on my calves and shin. Maybe its the interior of my sleeping bag or maybe my jeans need some cleaning; when it starts to itch it really sends my nails sinking into the skins, leaving them sore and reddish after a real 2-3min scratch.

I never had any intentions to do anything about it over the weekend when dearie told me about his colleague's unique skin therapy encounter to cure problems related to dead skin - Doctor Fish...

Though tired from yesterday's invitation to friend's church wedding in the noon and another friend's wedding banquet dinner, i thought of doing something special with my dearie and we found ourselves scouting around in Chinatown( where the doctor fish is reputed to be ). Dearie smsed,asking her colleague for help as we tried to search for People's Park complex level 2.

Ok, cut the story short, here we are :

Its this shop called O.P Healing in People's Park Complex ( Not Centre ), level 2, near the shoe shop area. ( The whole level 2 has the smell of liniment and medicated oil scent, dont say i never warn you woh... )

Here is the poster.

Yup, 13 bucks for half an hour. Considered quite cheap because other places in msia( dunno abt spore though ) charge about 38rm for 1/2 hr.(i only got to know about this relative comparision as i'm doing more research on this for blogging purposes)

Thank goodness, the whole therapy process was made easy cos i wore berms. What a coincidence though...

"Please come in!!! Rinse your feet first hoh", says the lady attendant

Before us, there was another elder lady who was already having her limbs submerged into the tank filled with approx 300 plus Dr Fish ( each having the size akin to the length of your INDEX FINGER OMG !!! ). She was trying hard to battle the itch coming from the soles... apparently she was struggling to refrain from giggling.

I suddenly felt this deflated sensation. As i edged my way carefully around the walking platform of the tank, i saw hope burning in the eyes of those hungry fishes. I didnt have to understand fish psychology to deduce what the fishes were thinking.

Dearie making the bold move...

And then i found myself in it too...

The moment my limbs lay motionless , it meant feasting time for the fishes. Every bite from the fish feels pricky at first. It made me giggle uncontrollably. In less than 2 min, we found ourselves laughing away

I suddenly recalled the days in langkawi when i experienced my first painful fish bite while snorkelling in the coral reefs. Those that i experienced today were thankfully not as painful as those bites in the msian waters.

Took us a good 10 min to settle down. This pricly sensation soon turned into numbness.

" NO sweat ah!", says dearie

I decided to sink my entire shin down to see if the fishes would actually detect those scratch zones i have been mercilessly attacking for the past few days...

It was like this initially..

... TO THIS!

Almost instantaneously after this picture was taken, i looked over to the elderly lady's progress with the fishes. She had little fishes nibbling on her limbs. Oh well... sorry ah auntie i steal your business.

The fishes were indeed sinking their little jaws onto those itchy scratchy areas on my shin. Good job soldiers!

I dried my shin 1/2 an hour later and found tiny red spots on those strategic itchy spots i mentioned earlier on.

Hopefully its a sign that new skin will grow from rejuvenation.

My students

2008-05-27T06:19:00.000-07:00

One year back, while doing my fyp project, i thought probably i would become a P.E teacher ( or any other profession ) so that i can break away from being an engineer. The silly thing was, i chose engineering in the first place.

By some funny reason back then, i was rejected after an interview in MOE headquarters. All along i always believed i had the cut to be a teacher, because i feel i always have this relentless will to impart and share in a slow and patient manner.

Oh well, at least i could still explore my so called talents - GIVING TUITION.

Junjie and Weiling ( the creators of this blog ) completed PSLE last year. I was glad to find out from their parents that they were doing good. Junjie was the top 10 in his class in Maris Stella during continual assessments while Weiling found a new passion to substitute her skipping rope - volley ball. Somewhat, i feel this sense of achievement at this juncture.

Despite my tight schedule on shifts, I have not given up on this mentoring role. I still have 3 more boys under my charge.

One of them ,Gerald, is a math prodigy in the making, doing his PSLE this year. The 2nd eldest boy, Ryan(P4), is a complete opposite of Gerald, always trying to skive and often put the blame on his school teachers whenever i accuse him of not knowing some fundamentals and basics in the textbook. The 3rd boy, Timothy(P2)is a fine mix of his 2 elder brothers.

A few days back, i flashed out my new hp and Timothy's eyes gleamed in curiosity.

Timo, "NEW PHONE!!!"

Goat, "Yes, smart boy...."

Timo," My mother also buy new phone. Some 'soul' phone. How come everyone is buying new phone?"

Goat, "Ermz... I wont change phone that easily. My previous phone spoiled and gave up on me you see..."

Timo," So nice one... my mother has a new phone, Gerald has a phone, I think ryan will get a phone in one year's time. Mommee told me that i can only have phone when i'm primary six. "

At this stage, my mind spun into space. I could remember those days when i had to plead with my dad that i was ready to support my very own pager. I was 16 years old then. Look at what technology has in store for our Gen Y folks!!!

Goat," SO, will you want an expensive phone like your mum's?"

Timo," NO! That is way too expensive. But i think there are phones that cost 28 dollars out somewhere...."

Goat, "Oh, so you saying that 28 dollars is ok for a phone? " ( at this juncture i marvelled at how cheap handphones can be )

Timo, "No, that's also very expensive. Maybe if there's a phone that cost 5 bucks, i want!!!"

I smiled at Timothy's responses. Those werent what i expected from a typical 8 year old these days.

This boy's a sensible one.

Survival of the fittest

2008-05-22T10:44:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, working in shifts takes its toll on your body.

For my case, its abit of that, plus the very fact that my work place is beside old changi hospital. This makes buying food very very inconvenient. The front gate is located such that you will need to exchange some perspiration for some good food in Changi Village( just like some army camps where you literally had to do DETOUR around for 800m for a direct distance of 100m )

All thanks to that, i have to plan my timing strategically for meals. If i had to start work at 1pm, i had to leave the house by 1045am in woodlands, take an express bus 969 ( not really so 'express'; bus had to plough thru the veins of yishun town first ), so that hopefully ( if there's no jam in TPE ) i can reach tampines interchange by 1155pm and have my 10min lunch at the nearest food court.

After that i am under the mercy of this bus number 19, that comes once every 10-15min. This bus journey will take up another 20-35min ( if there is NO JAM in loyang avenue), before leaving me stranded at the foot of my work place ( the radar centre is located at the top of Biggin Hill ). Time check now will be about 1245pm.

I will then do a mini trek up, leaving me in beads of perspiration by the time i embrace the entrance.

Good workout some may say, but coincidentally, my 1155pm lunch would have been digested from that long 35min bus ride on 19 and the mini trek up.

So by 230pm, my gastronomic senses would start to spring alive yelling for food. Being a trainee in live traffic environment, i cant plug in and out my headset anytime for a snack because i need to maximise my training curve per controlling session ( about 1.5 to 2 hrs )

Working from 1-8pm means that i would have sat roughly for 3 such sessions, leaving me fighting my own war with my stomach as i try to squeeze brain juice on numbers and spatial awareness. Working in a 15deg environment worsens it.

When my digital watch beeps 745pm, i finally earn my right to go home. Everything repeats itself as per day travelling, except that the last bus out from loyang to tampines comes around 815pm.

This means that i CANT HAVE MY DINNER in changi village at all. No time!!!!!

Now comes the final struggle. I reach tampines interchange around 845pm ( provided smooth traffic in loyang ) to join the queue for 969 home. If i'm unlucky, i would have to stand for 30min ,hungry and weary, until i reach home at 930pm.

And the best part is, my next day would start at 8am in the morning, so i try to eat sparingly and consciously, not wanted to suffer indigestion by sleepng early with a full stomach.

Funny part to all these phenomenon is: HOW COME my flabby tummy is still there?

I think i was a clown in my previous life

2008-05-15T02:40:00.000-07:00

I get the kicks when i do slalom. Especially with people looking at me.

Here's the inspiration of the day. Guo Fang, Chinese National, in a Korean Competition held last year.

"Cycling" my guts out

2008-05-14T01:54:00.000-07:00

My OJT( On the Job Training ) so far wasnt really a smooth one. But i felt i got used to the life there. On the whole, the lao jiao ( old bird in hokkien ) controllers are accomdating to me and Mr Chen ( Herman )'s adaptation to live traffic. I wonder hw long their tolerance can last. Hopefully both of us in the same watch can learn the trades of the work systematically and from there pick up speed in our controlling techniques. (We want our license and LUMP SUM payback!!!!!)

Controlling aircrafts to many sound very noble. Actually it really is. But i wont say its very difficult, because like most things i do e.g chapteh, slalom, so long as you start systematically on it, soon you will find it more than just an occupation.

Unlike many of my engineer/auditor counterparts ( i am not including teachers here because they work 24/7 ), i am running on shifts.

Basically, my shift system is such :

Its 2 days of work and 2 days of rest. First day of work starts from 1pm to 8pm; 2nd day of work is queer and weird -> Its called the split shift i.e its made up of an 8am to 1pm shift and then 8pm ( same day ) to 8am the next day( i get to catch about 3 hours average of rest within this grave yard shift timing though )

Subjecting to this sort of timing makes the days and weeks go by REAL fast. Thank goodness i managed to clinch my bridal package and banquet venue by the time i completed my non radar practical course.

So what do i do during my free time now?

1. During my rest time on the split shift day i.e 1pm to 8pm, me and Mr Chen ( Herman )would head down to the SAA gym and chapteh - run- swim - abs work out.

2. Since the beginning of my OJT i havent really have chance to do slalom during my rest days but i hope i can do so ( after finishing this entry )

3. Manage time to meet up with friends, most of whom are much much richer than me.

Monkey Tong ( Left ) who manages his shoe craze often, spending about 450SGD( on average ) on a pair of his limited edition shoes.

9th Comm, NTU ODAC. We had 9 peeps turning up. Not bad already, considering that our full strength in the comm last time was 14.

hung the harness

2008-04-29T18:46:00.001-07:00

It was almost 1.5 years since my harness was left hanging on my wardrobe. I thought i should shoot myself for neglecting this friend of mine who shared times of sorrows and joy during my varsity years. I remembered myself saying sorry to it as i packed it into my 11year old nike black haversack.

Today ( 29th April 2008 ) was the first time i mounted the wall. The consolation from all my negligence was the very fact that i could still loop a figure of 8 for the climber and do belaying properly for my pal.

Both of us really looked forward to this climb. And i never regretted coming for this climb. It brought me back to those days of b***hing by the wall, gossiping and happilly yekking our woes and stresses from school work. The only difference, is that we now have difficulty clearing rainbow circuits, very unlike those days when rainbow circuits were primarily used for our initial warm ups.

Though it left me typing this entry with soreness on my shoulderblades and lats, i should feel glad that both me and quanwei could still commit to this.

We are climbing this sat morning. Anyone joining us?

vegetables in Indonesia

2008-04-27T07:45:00.000-07:00

To begin the story, let me present to you 2 vegetables in bintan, indonesia, imported from Singapore:

Vegetable number 1

Vegetable number 2

Story began with these 2 vegetables meeting up in bedok central for Mac Breakfast on a Friday Morning. They did not really know the public transport way to tanah merah interchange ( if anyone actually know about shuttle service do let me know via tagboard please ) and hence ended up hiring cabbie into the ferry terminal. From the looks of it you either drive in or you take cab there. Its quite ulu and its along the CHANGI runway stretch of road.

One thing good to know for wkend getaway couples to bintan, is that you should stock up your beer cans at the terminal DFS. Its those 3 for 6 plus SGD bucks kind of pricing ( heineken and Carlsberg ). Oh, and you dont have to change any ruppiah, because the vegetables later found out that the dominating currency for this Indonesia island is SGD.

Well, this goes to show that we sporeans dont really have the choice for entertainment and sight seeing avenues, and would still spend at cinemas and places like bintan.

One amazing feature on the bintan ferry , was this crisp clear provision of TV mobile transmission. I saw this trailer clip of
Nim's Island on their big LCD tv
, and one of the characters in this trailer caught both the vegetable's attention. It looked like this ( screenshot of trailer )

And when the 2 vegs reached Nirwana Resort( paid 296SGD to holidaybagus for a night stay in Nirwana resort, inclusive of free breakfast, ferry rides round trip and also transport from ferry terminal to the resort itself), they ended up mimicking the reptile

The vegies hadnt plan much in advance what to do, afterall they just wanna slack and enjoy the beach life there.

This is what i call a classical shot of a beach tree

This is what i see when i lie on the hammock....

As to when all these hammock shots were taken, i seriously had no idea, and it had to be the inside job of veg number 2.

So when it was veg number 2's turn to slack, i took revenge

Somewhat, lying on the hammock made us hungry. The calming sea breeze did not tranquilize the gastronomical sensation lurking in our tummies since we alighted from the ferry transport. We had to eat.

Nothing there was cheap seriously, and as i'm typing this, i cant help but feel that this trip brought me into perspective about escalating cost of living in Singapore.

See this plate of food here? Its the restaurant's local favourite dish. I had no idea what it was called ( and i smiled because i was so glad seeing the food being served ).

This is what veg number 2 ate.

All in all, we paid a shocking price of 45.2SGD. So "wow" right?

This was my look when i finally figured out mentally from looking at the menu the cost of the meal

As we journeyed into the late noon, strolling around brainstorming what we could do for to pass time, we somewhat figured out that in bintan, a meal for 2 wont be satisfying unless you were willing to part with the BLUE YUSOFF ISHAK SGD note. There were of course island activities like paintball and All Terrain Vehicle and some confidence course( i bet you have to trade in multiple blue notes for these ), but having graduated from NTU with an NTU ODAC background, those gimmicks didnt work on me. ( You dont see Ms Veg Number 2 look so nua nua, she can be quite an adventurous seeker ). The only consolation was that the resort had very good facilities, enough for lovey dovey peeps to chill the late night out over 2 cans of beer , some oreo love letters and ruffles bbq chips.

Before dinner, we saw this huge SNAKE AND LADDER board game, and veg number 2 happily toss the humongous dice to appease her long lost childhood days

"Huat ah!!!" says veg number 2

We came across the alluring swimming pool that overlooked the sea. If you go to Nirwana, you must take a dip in this!

We wanted to catch the shuttle bus( 12 SGD for 2 pax ) out of resort to pasar OLE OLE, a local market selling handicrafts and souvenir, and decided to leave the swimming part out from our evening itinerary. This pasar Ole Ole sounds like a cheap place to get filling and tasty local delicacies, but we were quite disappointed to see a run down version of CHOP-VEGETABLE-HEAD syndicate as we alighted from the shuttle bus. Not wanting to waste time, we both decided to take a walk and have dinner there.

Just to highlight the disparity in pricing, a wooden handicraft of a statue which is priced at 2SGD, could be as expensive as 15 SGD over there. The vendors claimed proudly that those items were made in bali and its hand crafted. Some items were indeed unique, but i couldnt even convince myself to buy their reasoning, let alone buying the item itself.

The vegetables however did manage to settle for a good steamboat dinner consisting of adequate portions of crab, GONG GONG ( sea snails ), tau kee and dong fen, diced carrots and button mushrooms, slices of beef, chicken, fish, prawns, an egg, some slices of sea weed plus many other usual ingredients at the price of 36SGD nett.

We had everything dumped into Tom Yam soup base. Bagus man!!!! I didn't have the attention span to take much pictures because both the vegs took time to bitch about the day and the high cost of living on bintan island.

Veg number 2 felt good after the dinner, and decided to let out the creativity in her in taking photographs in the hotel room. She insisted on posing for shots like these :

baring our feet shot 1

baring our feet shot 2.

She just liked this idea of showing our feet to the lens. What an inspiring concept.

The night just passed like that (we really did drink 2 cans of beer, had some oreo love letters and finished one whole pack of ruffles bbq chips ) and we woke up the next morning with full of hopes. Because we hadnt visited the pool by the seaside!!! So off we went for a quick dip in the jacuzzi and the main pool, BECAUSE WE DIDNT WANT TO MISS OUT THE BUFFET BREAKFAST included in our 296SGD package

"Justice is finally served", veg number one exclaimed

Veg number 2 with her serving.

An indeed hearty meal it was, so good that it made the ALREADY burpy veg number one Burp even more. He kept burping even after reaching the room.

veg number 2 intoxicated by number 1's burpings.

We had quite some time to spare after checking out the rooms. So under veg number 2's instructions, we found ourselves back to this big board game area, where i was forced to pose with the pawns in the gigantic chess set

veg number 2 standing proud amongst the medieval icons

We had almost 4 hours to spare while waiting for the ferry transport to bring us to the bintan ferry terminal. To kill time,both of us tried working on a sudoku puzzle that literally left us PUZZLED(For the past month training in SAA simulator, i have been secretly doing underground training on sudoku puzzles found in TODAY newspapers. Having cleared the 5 PLUS rating puzzles, i thought nothing more of number games). This particular puzzle that left us stupefied and USELESS was a level one ( out of five ) puzzle found inside this advance sudoku book veg number 2 bought during her AMERICA-JAPAN trip last November.

Then, we took a short walk along this animal enclosure and bird sanctuary within the resort. We both got amused when we saw a parrot eating using its claws,in a way humans do by eating with their hands

We both decided to take the earlier transport to the ferry terminal and bade farewell to the resort.

We realised we hadnt had lunch after all these attempts to kill time. The gastric juices didnt manifest all thanks to the F.R.E.E huge buffet breakfast servings until we were loitering aimlessly at the bintan ferry terminal for close to an hour. I thought of grabbing a light meal and carry on solving the sudoku puzzle, with an intention to seek vengeance back in singapore later by feasting my guts out on Bedok Central hawkerfare using only one red YUSOFF ISHAK note with veg number 2.

To our dismay, we spent close to 12 bucks on this:

This is one snacking experience both of us would never forget

Flight Level Coordinated was 250 FT at Lusmo

2008-04-17T07:20:00.000-07:00

Thank goodness, for those who are reading this,i wanna tell you all that i passed my practical course. It's like half the battle won for my one year training with CAAS

Come to think of it, i wasnt satisfied with my performance.

Right from the start, I found myself slow in reacting to instructors' inject of new and weird scenarios that command split second judgement and decisive actions.

Just 2 weeks before the assessment, i somewhat thought that i had gotten the momentum of things. People in ATC call it SEEING the LIGHT. For that past 2 weeks, my sub conscience had worked out a way in seeing and resolving air traffic. I told myself that i had finally conquered this bad habit of hastiness and had grasped the technique of traffic analysis. I thought i was ready for assessment until i went through a super rough session during my final assessment yesterday.

I came out of the simulation assessment feeling frustrated yet clueless as to why i cant climb aircraft to the fuel efficent level. Fellow colleagues who were the pseudopilots comment about my bad session. As a result i was asked to do another session for RE-evaluation.

Deep down in my heart, my final fears were realised; Maybe my career path could crumple after this 2nd chance....

Today, our instructors gave us the outcome of the final assessment. No one failed the practical course. A cause for joy, many would say. But to me i wasnt the least bit happy, because i thought i could show consistency in my performance to the last stretch of the course.

Its times like this that i feel lousy and little, because i couldnt impress myself after weeks and weeks of self learning and study for my ATC course. There's just so much you can do when it comes to impressing others, and i never bothered about that.

My greatest ultimate enemy is myself, and until the day i defeated him, i wont feel good and in control about my work and life.

Having said that, i told myself never to screw around with air traffic any more and focus fully on the final leg of my ATC journey.

Basic Millitary Training

2008-04-04T18:38:00.000-07:00

Pretty much like it i would say, except that it lasted only 5 days.

I had to report to work from 230pm to 10pm every day for the past 5 days. So last Sunday i finally had a good taste of a 8+++ hr rest. Woke up on Monday feeling so fresh that things around me seem to move very very slow. There was this very faint yet consistent fragrance coming from the crisp dry laundry from the kitchen area. The sun was so tempting that i decided to load all the essentials into my Osprey bag and drove down for a quick 20 lap dip in Woodlands pool. After the swim and lunch ( at home ) i made my way to work, and thank goodness we ended our simulation slots by 945pm that night.

So this little routine on Monday carried on all the way. I slept, woke up feeling shiok, swam, lunch, work, came home, slept, woke up feeling energetic... bla bla bla.

As i am finishing this paragraph now, i cant help but wonder when i last slept for more than 8 hrs everyday for almost a week.

I can really feel the difference folks. Sleep is VERY VERY VERY IMPORTANT.

One step closer to marriage

2008-03-31T09:30:00.000-07:00

Had been going for Marriage Preparation Course since the 21st of January this year. For those who arent aware, the MPC certification is a prerequisite for marriage with a catholic in fufilment of the sacrament of Holy Matrimony.

The course came to a conclusion last Sunday 31st March. Got quite alot of tips and advices from the experienced BEEN-THERE-THRU-THAT couple ( the presenting couples ), steven and evelyn who was kind and patient with our woes and concerns as married couples-to-be. In total, we went down SJI 2 times for the opening and closing ceremony, and 4 other times for home sharing sessions.

My group mates were camera shy, so there's only 2 photos taken, on the final day itself.

This is Evelyn and her Husband Steven, our presenting couple who has been accomodating to our silly questions .

Even after this MPC, I couldn't really say if i'm excited or am i apprehensive on my role as a good husband, but i will do my best to provide for Felicia and my boys and gals in future.

Big words from a little man. Haha.

The Goat turns 27 on Easter Sunday

2008-03-31T08:31:00.000-07:00

I had a real surprise treat on my birthday on the 23rd. For the past few weeks i hadnt had a good chance to attend mass. Going to mass has a very different meaning for me, because

1. I am a non catholic, and i want to learn more about my darling's Faith.

2. I am there to hone my sign language skills. Having graduated from basic sign language course on the 17th, i yearn to put my sign knowledge to the test, signing hymms and verses as well as communicating with the hearing impaired.

Jun ( one of the senior interpretors ) nudged us to stay behind for some potluck because it was also Easter Sunday. Since i didnt have much plans for my own birthday, i joined the folks to the Friar's common area for some snacking. But i was really surprised when one of the HI peeps got a cake on her hand for me.

Brother Rowland, my sign language guru who saw me through 10 monday nights of basic sign class, blessing me for my birthday.

I pray for Felicia to be with me till the end of time.

Finally, a birthday without Taupok ( but i really missed my taupok gang )

The gang that made it possible

Right after this surprise party, some of us, including Father John Wong headed down for Angela's house warming. Then came the 2nd surprise : It was also Angela's birthday! SO again, i had the honour of cutting the cake again with Angela and her little nephew

Thank you folks for the wonderful Sunday!

Muddle Head

2008-03-28T18:37:00.000-07:00

I cant really tell how i fare in the eyes of the instructors.

I sat for my interim assessment for my non radar ATC course. There were 7 of us, and i thought maybe i was one of the weaker ones. Probably yes, probably not. During daily simulation sessions i tend to commit tantamount silly mistakes that i could have avoided if i take a 2nd look at details. Being hasty is some habit i always have for the past 27 years of my life.

I wont feel bad if a session was out of my control. The instructors are forever there to pile up traffic to test the individual's threshold and breaking point. Bearing this in mind i challenge myself against the aircrafts, relying heavily on my spatial awareness and memory . Initially perturbed by instructors' not-so-pleasant comments after a heavy session, now i got used to it. Just have to learn to get up fast the moment you fall hard on the ground.

To me, letting myself down is the worst thing, because the guilt of not fulfilling my own expectation lurks around even after i leave the hot seat. By this i meant to imply how opinionated i look at things, losing patience easily for the details around that might have changed how i see the whole picture if i had noticed it.

I guessed i was lucky to survive the interim assessment ( or so i thought ). And i will live to fight another day.

Wish List

2008-03-20T09:40:00.000-07:00

I feel that i am in a sorry state to produce this blog. Hahaha

Wish list for my birthday

1. Get my ATC license by september.
2. Get a nice house from the bi-monthly HDB flats in april.
3. A nice watch
4. A meet up with my old bird friends.

Yah that will be enough

Feathers in the air

2008-03-17T08:12:00.000-07:00

And yes, the pear still exist!

I sat down in front of my book-paper-accessory cluttered desk ( it has everything except food and clothing )checking mail on my laptop.
A few hours earlier i watched this all time favourite nuclear explosion incident during my HUMAN FACTOR WORKSHOP - The Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor Explosion. My table somewhat resemble that. Piles of envelopes stood adjacent to shelves of university textbooks ( yup i need a thorough clean up ). Complementing those items were inches of dust. I bet they harbor the most formidable germ empires of all time.

My attention suddenly got drawn to my stomach. I shook my sore head in disbelief. Literally, my tummy felt like its expecting a baby 3months into pregnancy. I have no idea how it got so horizontally challenged, but i decided that something had to be done.

I am one person who detests gym. That kind of regime reminds me of a laboratory rat being made to run non stop in a ferris wheel-like mechanism. If i tried hard not to think that way, the next synonymous vision in my head would be this lonely goldfish swimming within the concaves of its pathetic midget gold fish bowl.

I could never comprehend why some people can subject themselves to this sort of public attention. Yup, I am referring to those folks running in their favourite nike/ adidas apparent, flexing every inch of muscle, running in deep concentration, trying hard not to lose their composure over fatigue.

For me, it is my good old nalgene bottle, my humble secondary sports attire ( they are limited edition btw ) and a trustworthy chapteh to see me through. After my sign language course which ended at 9pm, i decided to spend some time to deal with my tummy....I sweated a great deal, repetitively sending the chapteh cutting through the staleness of the multi purpose hall on a blue blue Monday night.

Running in my head was nothing but keeping the featherly object to my limbs. Maintaining the trajectory not beyond my eye level, I tossed it from left to right, juggled it from right to left, hooked it up using my ankles every now and then, in an attempt to bring it back into this rhythmic muscle memory ritual until the chapteh decided to take control over itself.

Sessions like this made me detach myself from the working world which i happily retired after 5pm every weekday. This sense of therapeutic-ness sank all the uptightness and lethargy that i accumulated over time since i last exercised.

Today, i effortlessly clocked 44 hits on the featherly toy before i lost my concentration to this skimpily cladded lady who strolled past me. What the hell right?

Time to head for a good sleep. Good night everybody~!

The Pear in the Water

2008-03-15T07:48:00.000-07:00

I had a fast-and-furious YET fruitful Friday. 5 of us stayed behind after our ATS HUMAN FACTOR WORKSHOP to clock simulation time. Frankly, a session in the simulator after 2 days of break ( we halted simulator training since tuesday to accomodate 5 days of Human Factor Workshop )brought the 5 of us back into perspective.

If any of us hadnt learn how to see traffic during this impromptu session, i would say it got us back into non complacency. 5 of us took close to 4hours 15mins; by the time we bade each other farewell in the pitch dark SAA carpark, the illumination contrasted the digits 920pm on my timex watch.
Thank goodness Daddy agreed to let me drive out the Latio. I rev the car at 110km/hr and in 30 min i was back in level b2 of MSCP. My head was constantly working out a relaxation regime for saturday morning. No i cant go ECP because i had MPC in clementi in the afternoon. I didnt really want to jog because i dun wanna wake up THAT early.

Ok, i would settle for a swim in Woodlands on Saturday Morning. Before i slept, i said my Prayers to God asking for good weather...

True enough, the glare from the white edifices opposite my room broke my sleep. 8hours of rest, and i wake up on a Sunny Saturday!!!! My dried lips( thanks to all the dry air conditioning environment ) bent into a smile and in no time i slipped into my super trunks ( some cheap SAF swimming trunks that works well for me ), grabbed my toiletries pouch and my goggle case along with me.

Everything was smooth, from parking the car to changing up......... But when i saw the pool, there were plentiful submariners learning swimming. I cant count well, but i bet with my last dollar that there were easily 40 children at different parts of the chlorinated pool...

As if that wasnt bad enough, i stumbled upon my worst fear.

I realized i only had an empty goggle case with me. The sight of emptiness sent milliamps of ku ku electrons into my neurons. I must have left the goggles to dry up after the previous swim.

Ok, i told myself, i had already made my way here and i would continue the swim, no matter what.

Then came another chapter of horror after i entered the pool....

I stared at this part of my body below my chest,submerged by the waters. It looked like a huge pear.

After 50min of swim, i decided to spare my eyes from the chlorine attack, and brought the pear back home, feeling disgusted.

One time for All Time

2008-03-09T08:13:00.000-07:00

I got this real rude shock when i got tagged by my secondary school mate on this

This is one picture that i could really connect with. Never mind that its from 1997.

Anyway, just noticed that the trend back then was all but spiky. So different from now.

And the way my friend scanned this picture made all of us contenders for roles in the channel 5 documentary MISSING. Gosh looking at this picture makes me wonder where the rest of the fellas were.

The postulated fate of the escapist

2008-03-05T07:12:00.000-08:00

Over a hearty post lunch chit chat in the simulator, a few of us trainees and our instructors were complaining about how costly it is just to survive on an inch in Singapore.

Owing to the nature of this topic, we couldnt really progress it further with our instructors( no constructiveness in complaining ), and some wise guy among us carefully shifted the attention to this character , someone of great influence to the northerly folks in Marsiling and Woodlands - Mas Selamat. For those who were near kranji mrt for the past 4 days, you could vouch for that statement.

Just last saturday night i was told by my MPC facilitator to make last minute plans to travel to another place( in holy innocents secondary ) for MPC session the following sunday morning because the original venue ( St Joseph Institution) was out-of-bounds to the public.

If this Mas Selamat was really smart enough, he wont even think of staying a few km from where he found freedom on the 27th Feb. If you were to ask me, i would disregard the option of waiting for ants to crawl into my pants among sparse vegetation, gambling my time with the SOC peeps searching hi and low for me.

Or probably this guy werent as smart. Maybe emotions got over him - the fact that he made it out all by himself ( i'm really assuming here from the news and reports ).

He might have braved his guts across the thorny vegetation ( was it called mimosa? ), surviving on his pure instinct of survival yet in the end succumb to elements of no food, unfavorable tropical climate and most importanly lack of insulation ( it had been days of isolated showers )

Maybe this Mas Selamat already had reached his physical limits and is now part of some fertilisation process of those trees you conveniently whiz through as you drive along BKE/SLE.

Till the day someone can prove this, we will continue to see the jams and traffic pile ups in Northerly Singapore.

Trimming my GOAT furs off

2008-03-03T07:05:00.000-08:00

It has been awhile since i trim my goat fur ( updating on my life )

Maybe i can start like this:

My Mondays - Attending Religious Sign Language class....
My dear Parade Commander would probably understand why i want to take this course up. It started 6 weeks back and there's a couple more Monday evening sessions to clock before i have some form of sign language knowledge to fall back on when crapping with the HI( Hearing Impaired ) church goers

My Tuesdays and Thursdays - Sports day, Tuesday i swim with fiancee and Thursday i run with her. What to do, we both want to look in shape for our wedding day.

My Fridays - Tuition in the evening. After my ACE kids left me for secondary education, i have 3 more boys to juggle.

My Weekends - One of the mornings will be spent attending Marriage Preparation Course. Its 6 weeks in duration and i have clocked 3 weeks with my dearie so far. The course provides insights on knowing your wife/ husband better, managing expectations and family planning according to Catholic Faith

My work - Every day i feel like a Hindu God.(Imaging me with many arms, looking burnt)
Since the beginning of my practical training, there has never been a day when i feel this yearn-to-escape sensation when i'm stationed at the hot seat. After every practical session managing traffic, my head burns like a joss stick, devoured of life and energy. I have yet to see the 'LIGHT' ( as what experienced controllers would call it ), and i spend up to 1-2 hours every day reading up on my mistakes on practical sessions and materials for next day's training.

My slalom skates?

I'm working hard on some tricks, provided that time really allows.

Boys to Men

2008-02-24T06:51:00.000-08:00

Over dinner on a saturday evening, the best financial planner was asking if my hanyu pinyin name was XIANG JUN. I shook my head and cursed my secondary school RED CROSS mates in my mind for ever coming up with this SHENXIANGJUN nick for me ( for those who have been pondering, this shenxiangjun@hotmail.com email address has nothing got to do with my name. )

I had to convince the best financial planner that my real name was otherwise. Carefully dishing out my NRIC card to him, i found him gaping in disbelief on something else on my NRIC card. Almost intuitively, he told me to create this post, with the intention of sharing his horror findings. I decline to comment, of course.

Humble beginning, Primary one, 1988

This is my NRIC photo, taken when i was 12 i.e in 1993

This one shows a 18 year old goat i.e in 1998

This was taken when i got my license i.e 2004 June

Hope you guys aint shocked.

stranded

2008-01-13T07:23:00.000-08:00

I was rushing to meet the best financial planner in the world. It was like 130pm after my 4hr sunday tuition in kallang area

I boarded the train in lavender. Had to squeeze in with the crowd that's waiting to have their share of fun in town. I had to stand so straight, because if i slouch slightly it would seem that i'm going to French this Malay elder right in front of me.

Train made its way to bugis, and when the distinctive squeaking sound from tracks hit me, i thought i saw a handful of folks trying to inch their way out. There was no way they could get out of the train at bugis unless i excuse myself out momentarily...

All of a sudden, when the doors pulled opened, i couldnt even start my intention because there was this 'rural looking' lady and her country bumpkin a**hole villager friends charging their way into us. For a good 3 second i played Bollywood between the conflicting traffic. Even before the folks in the train could barely walk out, those a**hole villager freaks got SO CLOSE TO ME that i thought i could smell the dryness of her mouth ( @!#$@#%#~$@!#$! )

Before i know it, i was out of this unpleasant fix.

Only to realise that i was not inside of the train after the DOORS CLOSING CHIME.

Now it was my turn to smell the dryness of my own mouth, as i gape in disbelief.

Thank you YOU country bumpkins. I really hope you all werent Singaporeans.

Good Meal , Good gathering

2008-01-09T06:33:00.000-08:00

It has been close to 5 weeks of "seperation"; the 7 non radar boys were splitted into 4 'watches' to serve their pre course( practical course) attachment. What happened during these 5 weeks was simple : basically observing work, shadowing the operational controllers, analyse the things we need to know before our practical course starts. We had to follow the shift system...so for those who bothered to even bother, i was on shift system for the past 1.5 months, and hence i apparently disappeared.

Today ( Wednesday ):

Finally, i resumed back to office hours. Was so glad to meet the 6 other guys, especially Jason and Naj who were in the blind watch ( i.e when i work they go on OFF and when i go on OFF they work ). Naj looked more like a billy goat because of his thick goatie and i had this funny reaction of stroking my own chin when i saw him... hmm....

We started eating breakfast in DYNAMIC INDIAN RESTAURANT... its a north indian eatery along changi village. Today was a milestone in my life because i had AH POM for breakfast... Had wanted to have that for the past few mornings after night shift but at the times when i visit them previously , ah pom couldnt be served on time.

It tasted like pancakes; I ordered a butter ah pom i.e there's butter inside the core of the ah pom. It comes with coconut milk and coconut orange sugar grains... Taste simply superb!!! I think the last time i tasted pancakes was during my ODAC trekking mornings when everyone 's breakfast menu has pancakes as their mandatory item..

We had an extended lunch in Tampines mall ( Gosh i so wished that my instructor is not reading this ). Close to 2 hours spent in macs, trying to convince myself to indulge in transfat french fries while savouring the new Prosperity burger.

Certainly felt good to dine in together with my non radar course mates...

Leg freeze

2008-01-06T00:43:00.000-08:00

Eagle Ranch Resort, Port Dickson, 26TH to 28TH December 2007

2008-01-03T18:40:00.000-08:00

Sophia once asked me to document this trip down, since apparently none of the odac people i asked knew exactly the way to go Port Dickson.

From Singapore:

1.Take bus 170 from kranji MRT station towards Johor Causeway. Upon clearance through JB customs, board the same bus again towards Larkin( Johor bus interchange ).
2.Look for buses that go to Serembun Terminal. Serembun is located between Malacca and KL. So it would take approximately 4 hours plus to get there.
3.At Serembun terminal, board the bus that says Port Dickson Terminal on it( Will cost approximately 3RM per pax, its a town bus ). Locals usually call it P.D if you have to enquire the locals about it. This trip will take about 1hour.

Both me and Dearie did not go by that way. The idea of finding a bus in Larkin to Serembun did not cross our busy minds and Dearie opt for a VIP coach with Gunung Raya ( GR for short ). We parted 79SGD per pax for a 2way ride to KL. Expensive right? But its worth the cost as you will see next.... The main idea was to go KL -> Bus to Serembun -> Port Dickson -> Cab to our resort

26th December
-------------

Both me and dearie were ready at Boon Lay Shopping centre's GR branch by 730pm. Bus was to leave at 8am, and it took the 2nd link. It was a quiet tuesday morning over at Spore/ JB customs, so by 830am we cleared both. Traffic was smooth until we exited the North South Highway for KL. By the time we reached Puduraya Bus terminal, my watch says 130pm. I wasn't sure if serembun / P.D had places where we could get chilled beer or snacks so we decided to get some of these once we place money for tickets to Serembun.

It was quite a challenge; We couldnt really find bus ticket counters that will bring us to Serembun in Puduraya. We later found out from the locals there that the bus leaving KL to Serembun is parked somewhere facing the Pasar Seni LRT.

1.For those who are keen, there are lines of buses parked by the side of the road ( Don't expect to see ticket counters ; it is a common sight for bus operators to stand outside their buses, holding on available tickets shouting the destination they are heading to) UNDER THE PASAR SENI LRT tracks ( just less than 100m away from Pasar Seni LRT ).It is a 4.70RM ride and would take about 1hour.

It is easy to navigate from Puduraya Bus terminal to Pasar Seni Lrt.

We were both lucky to find it fast. By now its close to 230pm and the next bus to Serembun leaves at 230pm. No time to waste....Subsequently we reached Serembun terminal and had no problem finding the P.D bus. It was another one hour bus ride before we finally reached P.D terminal.

There are shops selling snacks and beer ( fortunately ) in P.D town. After a good bite of north indian cuisine, we took a cab to our final destination Eagle Ranch Resort. See. Ok, the cab ride covered about close to 21km of distance, and both of us paid 20RM for it.

By the time we reached that place it was close to 5pm. Though almost 12 hours was spent travelling, Dearie and I had lots of fun catching up and crapping with each other during the bus ride. Sometimes i wondered if crapping is contagious, because when i started knowing Dear back in 1996 , she was a real serious and uptight looking Cresent Red Cross Cadet.

Come, let me show you the nice place that we checked in....

This is the kampung house resort. It was supposed to overlook a pond but when we were there, the pond was dried up. Made me confused since it was like a north east monsoon season

Horseshoe behind the door replaces the normal dull looking hooks for hanging clothings

Wadrobe with extra blanket and pillow cases and hangars. Shiok

Finally settled down after a day of travelling!

It was close to dinner time. We didnt want to spoil our stomach because we wanted to booze and snack our night away together, so dinner was to be a light one

The interior of the bar, the Rodeo Style

I cant smile after a day of travelling, so here's to appease the camera and the camera lady

My precious... hahahah

After dinner our stomach was unfortunately quite full. So i took out my chapteh to kick abit and sparred table tennis with dearie. Not a very spectacular place for youngsters but good enough for a couple yearning for an urban getaway.

Then comes the snacking session....

Dearie got some twisties-flavoured Japanese snack and both of us drank before we head for a good night's rest...

The next day started real fresh. We had quite alot of agenda's for this day.

starting the day with some simple breakfast fare

After breakfast, we went and walked around the vicinity of the resort and took more pictures...

This is the bandwagon resort. I felt like part of an acrobat trooper...

Here's one funny sign by the post along the resort walkway. I think eagle ranch is quite popular for corporate events maybe say team building.

I swear this is one ideal ride of my life. So cool just to take a picture beside it. I think this is the REAL P*SSY Magnet borat would be looking for.

Big horse shoes are all around. Its their signature

The bridge.....

...that led us to a nice walking path....

... to our kampung house.

Apart from the bandwagon resorts, there's also another variety ( smaller )called the tepee house

Our next highlight of the day was to try riding on horses. By lunchtime both of us were already lurking by the stable.

Each of us tried 2 rounds of horse riding on this NOT-SO-BIG field. Of course there's no speed but its just for the experience. Our horse for the day is a racing horse reject ( opps ~!) named STAR.

"I love you STAR. Next time i come i buy you greener grass", says the goat

Right after the horse rides we went to the bar area to try and challenge each other on dart throwing. Let me show you who is a better one.

Both of us taking up positions.....

This is the outcome :

The goat

Dearie

Feeling sore, my worthy opponent vow to trash me in the next dart game we played. It was quite threatening so i deviated from the dart board and pacified my lady to go eat lunch. After that we went to go kart ( no pictures because we were busy trying to outrun each other. But guess what? i won again. ) Dearie claimed that her legs werent long enough to reach for the brake and acceleration pads so half the time she had to lie real down.... Maybe that's a loser's excuse HAHAHAHA~!

By late noon we decided that there's not much to be done. So i took up the chapteh and made merry with it.

I think from all the trashing and kicking, the feathers on the chapteh kept falling out... i suddenly got an idea when i saw this huge turkey...

Maybe i can go and catch this bugger and then pluck the feathers out of this Christmas feast icon. But too many people so i kept the idea in my head.

By evening we were quite drained out. Dinner was at the western cowboy styled bar with some steady showers pouring against the glass windows. Both of us had the luxury of watching some European Cup Rugby over a projector screen with our dinner. Actually i thought this rugby game really looks like a game of taupok. Everyone's evading from the ball, and whoever unlucky holds the ball would be taupoked... HAHAHAHAHAH...

It was booze time again at night. With the rain, we could only drink our sorrows away.

Both me and dearie left Eagle Ranch Resort on the 28th morning after breakfast. We ended our short getaway in KL and shopped for some berms, topshop tops and window shopped in Pavilion, a shopping complex bigger than Times Square and comparable to our Singapore's Takashimaya... if you guys have the time you have to check out the merchandise and boutiques available.. Bus back to Singapore from KL was to leave at 1030pm, and both of us had a great time watching some HK Jackie Chan show till we reached Singapore Customs at 2am.

Great trip...

The Idiotic Behaviour ( with a capital I )

2008-01-03T07:36:00.000-08:00

Brother Eng and me wanted to redeem our freedom on a thursday evening. With our nimble movements and our rockered wheels, we bade our parents farewell and wheezed through the corridors, heading for the lift.

We both saw 3 chinese nationals ( or so i thought )via the short glass panels of the lift doors by the time the lift came to a halt at the ground level.

Before the lift doors opened, my brains were working out a way to squeeze through these 3 ladies without physical contact( i guessed that's what's on my brother's mind ). But i supposed those 3 ladies out there werent prepared to see people skating out of the lift.

They were happily laughing away in their strong PRC accent as the doors gave way...I comfortably pushed my wheels forward, leaning my weight to the right heel so i could turn right as i advance...All went well for a split second until one of them ( standing nearest to me ) suddenly charge in my direction... Yes.. C.H.A.R.G.E...

Thankfully my turning was faster than her C.H.A.R.G.I.N.G. I couldnt comprehend her reactions and it really doesnt make much sense. At first it seem that she was afraid that i would hug her or something.Maybe at the speed i rush out on my skates she probably think i'm a molester..But it doesnt make sense to dive in the arms of a molester right? I wanted so much to curse at her; My brother did something more high end to evade her I.D.I.O.T.I.C reactions because he was behind me and was almost close to impact.

Thank goodness, my powerhouse skating moves saved me...

A few hours after the Eng Brother skating sessions, brother Eng decided to head down to admiralty to get some drinks. I headed home first of course, and 15min later, brother Eng came back with a story LIKE THIS( not the exact words ):

BROTHER ENG: "Just NOW hoh, i skated home on the pedestrian walk. I saw this couple who's like a good 50metres away from me. The gal noticed me and moved quite slowly EVEN though i was already closing up to their walking pace. The guy was probably puzzled upon seeing his gf's reaction. Then he started cautioning her as I inched forward and forward ( i was trying to give time for the lady to move to one side ). You know what happen next? This guy kept saying "watch out....watch out... WATCH OUT..." and when i was like less than 1 metre away, this guy literally shouted 'W.A.T.C.H O.U.T!!!'. "

I shook my head as i registered the ill fated scenario of brother Eng ( the slalom pro ).Probably if i were there,i will really want to trip the couple over and fart off as i speed away from their line of sight.Maybe i'll compliment it with a spit of saliva on that guy.

I think the general public need to stop stereotype skating as a reckless sport( people only fall and crash in ECP) and get acquainted to it like cycling or jogging..

Skating can only be deemed reckless to people who are not educated about the sport.

5-10 anazazi

2007-12-21T18:28:00.000-08:00

While searching for my running shoe on Thursday Morning, my 5-10 anazazi rock shoe fell out from the shoe bag, greeting me with an unwelcoming sense of guilt. Almost instantaneously i glanced at my slalom skates( its by the shoe rack anyway ), my forearms and my flabby tummy. I didnt really figure out the exact connection for my reactions.

I muttered to myself that one of my new year resolutions is to pick up bouldering all over again. What i've so passionately practiced during the years of 2003-2005 remained as beautiful memories when i started putting cones at the void deck in early 2006.

Enjoy.

From the same guy

Charlie Battery Commander

2007-12-14T07:35:00.000-08:00

Now i truly understood what it meant when soldiers can actually look forward to reservist.... Though i may not be doing my operational Air traffic controller job yet, it is a good break away from my monotonous trainee life. I am one who doesnt like the green, yet i love to see familiar faces donning green, some whom cant fit into their uniforms and SBOs anymore.

I began to feel the effects of ageing this in-camp. Not because i choose to think i am, but those impish mischievous gunners whom i used to serve were a much mature lot.( note: the officers serve the men in my unit hahah )

I remembered Julian for being forever an a**hole, trying to test my patience in taking MC; I tot Hamster and Fitman would conjure up against me and my bsm, but i was so wrong. Even our dear aussie jockey returned a grown up man.

Seeing those guys for the past 5 days really hit me with mixed feelings. There were times during 20sa( 5 years ago )which i wished i could take a rifle and gun some of these "indian chiefs".

But right now i'm so glad to see many of them taking time off to serve.

I guessed this in camp gave me an opportunity to exercise some ownership over these boys. That wasnt the case 5 years back. When i first stood on the grounds of Amoy Quee Camp, i felt completely naked, not knowing how to handle my future gunners. Sometimes being an officer was so hard. I was afraid, not because of my technical competency, but was apprehensive over my capability to deal with those 'hokkien' soldiers.

When i out-processed today, i cant help but feel glad that i did what i chose to do 5 years back. Leading those boys certainly require alot of attention and heart, even till today. Some how i'm blessed with very cooperative specialist and fellow officers to work with.

Being a battery commander is nothing about being an individual siao onz garang officer .... It is anything BUT that.

Training to be soldiers....

2007-12-09T09:19:00.000-08:00

Being so deprived of a good morning skate under the sun, both me and Christine made our way to ECP. Weather was afterall kind to us, despite the occasional showers for the past week.

We were happily chatting. Christine was kind of proud, lamenting every now and then that she wasn't falling. But i guess lucky has limited credit. Nearing the edge of a slope i saw a family of skaters on the other side, so i cautioned Christine while i initiated the gradient, in hope of getting attention of the fellas down there. I was soon experiencing the speed, sea breeze whizzing past my oily face, and all of a sudden i heard a YELP followed by a thud behind me.

I knew Christine had fallen, and i cornered to make a turn back to where she fell. By the time i got to her, blots of blood exploded from within the grazed portion of her butt ( Opps! ). As the red liquid oozed, i saw Christine biting her own teeth, eyes winching in excruciating pain.

Lousiness sipped into me.. there's nothing i could do... Felt like i was the cause of the fall. Maybe if i hadn't sped forward, she could have had some form of confidence in my presence.

Times like this make me weak. No, maybe weak is the wrong word. My emotions will get stirred up every time i see a loved one or a friend got injured or hurt because of something i did . A month back my Dearie couldnt negotiate the slope down the KPE entrance and bruised her face upon impact with the side concrete slabs( same situation, i skated in front of her to assure that the slope was conquerable ). That time, lousiness saw me weak and naked. I really hate it man...

A few hours later i would be putting on my No. 4 to report for reservist. I'm kind of lost touch with green, especially when the last in camp training was close to 1.5 years back. No body wants to return for reservist, especially when it meant giving up your daily routine of money making / enjoyment for 5 to 14 days of regimentation and lack of sleep in the wilderness / training area. Ask any of my men, and the only thing that keeps them going on is the thought of meeting up with fellow soldiers who started out serving their NSF days together.

I am not a role model of what an officer should be.... I curse, swear, do short cuts and sometimes set inappropriate examples to my fellow soldiers. All i can say is that i commit to responsibilities that ensure my men wont get into trouble. I wont die for my country , that's for sure.

The only thing that keeps me focused on in camp is the very thought of protecting my loved ones. Spare me the "DUTY HONOUR COUNTRY". Give me my 68 men and i will do my best to get every single soul out safe and alive, be it training or the real crunch......

Probably its my friends and loved ones that kept me going on strong in life.

That's quite some thoughts before in camp. Need to catch sleep. See you all folks out there while i fire fight shit for the next 5 days!

Deal!

2007-12-05T09:40:00.000-08:00

Finally...

The hockey skates deal is off... for $150...

Presenting the buyer before the deal. Got to blanja her to make her happy.

Meeting the Goondoo has never been this 'happening'... it felt like the days back in 2005 when we had to meet up to discuss plans for PUMPFEST, except that this time, the topic revolves around gossips and rumours and bitchings. Feels good to rant out over a cup of teh tarik and a piece of cheese prata AND egg prata. Thanks for the supper meet up goondoo~!

After supper i drove the buyer back to her residence in blk 296 yishun ave XXX... Got her to try out the skates . Just look at how happy goondoo is...

"Fit to a T!" says goondoo who had problems searching for the right skate because she had broad feet.

I parted my dear goondoo with a faint smile ( because its almost 1am in the morning ), feeling so light headed and happy as i drove my way home under the hypnotic influence of the light drizzle.

The F1 race

2007-12-03T07:05:00.000-08:00

I decided to send an sms to one of my rather old time varsity mate in NTU to find out how she was. When asked what i had been up to, i happily keyed 'skating' as my reply. To that, she casually commented that i was forever skating....

All of a sudden, those words weigh upon me. Indeed, i really spend quite alot of time on the spot. I wont waste time typing my passion for it.

Have i been neglecting my friends?

I do not have a definite answer, but once in a while when i am on a long journey back from work, i often ponder about my friends' whereabouts, what they were doing, the difficulties they were facing etc etc. After a long day at work, asking friends out really requires alot of effort. There were quite a few times when i casually turn my friends down for meet ups just because i felt i needed rest or some time on my own. Personal breathing space has never been that valuable until i set my foot upon work.

But i supposed everyone will be busy. They have their own 'F1 race' to complete. We might have started out from the same starting line, but in everyone of us, there exist an ending point which differs from the rest... You think you are poor and you want financial freedom, so you work very hard for it and commit your personal time into it. You think you want to learn more about generating residual income, so you concentrate your efforts in reading up and enriching your knowledge towards the ways to do so.... You felt shortchanged previously so you wanted to challenge the convention to stand out from the rest.... There are just so many agendas....

On a happy note, I choose to believe that in this harsh and fast race that every one is so overwhelmed with, there will always exist a pit stop, providing some form of assurance to the F1 racers out there.... True friends are like pit stops that stood by your journey unconditionally, be it rain or shine, ever ready to lend a spanner for that loose nut on your rim.

My dear friends out there, sorry if i were too busy to be there as your pit stop crew. Just call me and i will be there in future =)

Of Slippers in KTV, Youtiao in Selegie and Cone tricks in Ecp

2007-12-02T07:29:00.000-08:00

I wore my faded OCS polo tee( bad mistake, because the translucence of the tee made my tummy more obvious ) and salomon pants to supper with fakie, the parade commander and fakie's brother on friday night.
Fakie had chicken pox, but i wasnt that disturbed because i was hit by pox 11 years back. Could still remember days of not bathing and the stench... yucks...

I was surprised that fakie looked the same. Her brother, though never hit by pox, was brave enough to hang around with the germ carrier. The 3 of us tucked in first before parade commander came. We shared our fare bit of our good and trying times during the work week. Boredom set in real fast as soon as i munched the last bit of curry mutton, and fakie suddenly insisted that we should try HALO bar for ktv session . Haha..hanging around with fakie sometimes meant that we would all end up doing something on impulse.

Halo bar was located in Ngee Ann poly. Fakie's bro H assumed the vehicle commander, navigating the car from AL AHZAR towards the polytechnic. I felt so down dressed when we reached Halo bar. Apart from the pox germ carrier who wore shirt and jeans, the remaining 3 guys were cladded in slippers and shorts, you know, the typical supper attire. But i supposed no one there care, and we had our fair share of fun singing the irritating 'beautiful', complimented by H's "HELLLLLL-llo HELLLL-llo~!!!!!" gangsterism mic test and yours truly mimicking the vocals of a lady korean singer in the song 'mystical' sang by jackie chan... That was Friday for me.

Saturday began by meeting the great terrors. It was close to 3 weeks since i last tutored them, and was glad to see them again. I taught them as if they were really my children, and that's why i am so committed when it comes to tuition sessions with these 3 boys.

Haiz...speaking like this makes me feel so outdated and old...

I was glad to have Christine for a saturday late night movie mate. She went to cut her hair in the late noon , which implied that i have to go get the tickets first. I was home by 3pm and the movie show time we wanted to catch was 940pm. Played a 1 hr good game of chinese chess with Zhou Gong before i left for Cathay Building to buy the tickets in advance. Boy this Cathay building changed so much... the last time i was there was like close to 11 years ago. Those days there were only KFC and Orange Julius. Its a total contrast man. Like a mini Orchard Rd there.

Christine made me wait for about an hour or so...i found a seat outside the building and sat down alone.. suddenly feeling the lousiness in me. I set my sight beyond the crowd of moving youngsters, staring into the shimmering glittering lightworks that lined up the streets from Orchard Rd all the way down to City hall. The acidic juice in my stomach didnt help either. I thought i was gonna suffocate and die as a 2nd hand smoker. Christine came just in time, which explains why i am still able to type this entry..haha...

Dinner and dessert was good( we had ours in Selegie ), but the show wasnt really fantastic. We watched '30 days of nights' ( how i wished Dearie was around, because she's a sucker for gore and vampires ). To summarize, i thought they should have made '5 days of Nights' instead of 30. There were some scenes that were quite drama, and it left both of us giggling... so off. After the show, both of us headed down for some light indie music in timbre, somewhere near the old national library. We were contended with an Apple Vodka and a mug of beer, and left the place for the night rider bus stop...Its the 1st consecutive saturday night that i took a night rider home...

I woke up by 10am Sunday Morning. Munched the triangular shaped tuna-cheese-peanut butter-ham-luncheon meat sandwich Dad so fondly prepared for me without fail every morning since i started work. I dusted my bed after packing up for my afternoon skating trip and went into a state of slumber before heading out for the ECP Sun. Its so glaring today, as compared to the last 2 noons. Perfect for a mini SCE gang outing.

Poor fakie wasnt able to make it. She didnt really feel well.

I'm looking forward for the next saturday night movie session with Christine ( Mad Detective this time )and a good Sunday rest before my in camp which will start on the 10th... BOOOOO~!!!!!!!!!!

Singapore National Freestyle Competition 24th Nov 2007

2007-11-27T07:28:00.000-08:00

Handsome right?

翔子( xiang2 zi3 in hanyu pinyin )

2007-11-25T21:22:00.000-08:00

As mentioned, i fowled up my cone trick routine while executing my toe toe traversing trick ( technically known as 'toe toe special ')

The picture on left shows my entrance and the right shows the catastrophe as i exited the cones. Oh well...

After the competition, i joined the boys to feast in ECP chalet. Team Micro had booked some chalets as accommodation for the foreign judges from Korea and China. Most of the boys headed home, except for me, Felicia, ZhiZhong and Andy, still gaming for a few more sliding sessions in the rink. I guessed they were still having the competition HIGH in them.

What we did not expect next was guest appearance 翔子( A member of Team Micro China ). I supposed you wont know him, so let me introduce to you here :

He was also down for the competition judging, and we had not expected his presence at the rink. Seeing him accelerate before sliding is a magical moment, so overwhelming that it would easily make any singapore skater wonder what they actually did with their skates. You can see how fierce he slides in the clip so i dont bother with the elaboration.

Here's a picture of us at the rink

Those young fellas in white and me are locals 翔子is the guy in black tee standing beside me. Best. The other black tee guy was his sidekick.

Felicia insisted on going Night Rider, because apparently the 3 young fellas were still reminiscing about how the competition went and all the 'bitchings' what not. Non of them wanted to go home early on a Saturday night. I stood for awhile pondering when i last skated at the rink after 10pm. So the 4 of us whizzed on the smooth green surface enjoying, occasionally stealing glances from by standers. Happy times really flies and soon the time on my Timex showed 1245am Sunday.

Yes, that mean we had to make our way from ECP to the Night Rider Bus stop ( the nearest one being Suntec City ). The guys dont seem to translate the actual distance into their heads... Oh well.

In less than 5min we got our stuff into our bags, and off we were, somewhat feeling the visual difficulty under dim lightings. Thank goodness we eventually pulled through the distance, fuelled by the sheer thrill of having the chance to skate a long distance together.

This night skate felt somewhat different from my past night cycling experiences with my university mates. Skating with these 3 peeps really make me feel so light and care free, chattering nonsense and bulls*** as if i were also a young boy. We got lost a few times in Kallang Stadium Area( we ended up on the other side of the Shears Bridge Hahaha )

Featuring Good Old Goat with Singapore Number 8 slider Andy

Thank goodness and in God's Grace, we found our way to the bus stop facing Funan Shopping Centre. Though with half eyes closed, we still managed some energy to hop onto NR2( Sembawang )with some drinks we got from 7-11.

Letting it go

2007-11-25T08:44:00.000-08:00

Yup, i'm letting this new toy go. SGD300

Featuring Powerslide's Nexus Inline Hockey Skate.

-Brand new.

-Hi-Low wheel set up ( i.e 72-72-80-80)

-Can modify to a banana set up for slalom ( using configuration of 72-76-80-76 ). Weird configuration because of its hi low frame structure.

-Short frame, about 231mm i think. See the picture below; I place my slalom skates with it for visual comparison :

Here are some more pictures upclose

Anyone keen can approach me for viewing. I will come down to let you try on the skates.

Personal Hurdle Number 2 ( After Math )

2007-11-25T02:50:00.000-08:00

I finally made it back from the competition in one piece.

There was basically 10 competitors in this year's National Freestyle Slalom Competition. The reason why i included the title of the competition is that the results would actually make its way into the international WSSA ranking. Dont get me wrong; i'm not trying to say i did very well this time. In fact I got the 6th Position among 10 competitors.

I'm extremely delighted getting this 6th position because:

1. In a run of 1min and 30 second, i did not manage to showcase all my routines on the cones. I ran out of time and had to go into a forced ending. Ha ha i did not actually include the time factor in my training since i thought i was just going for the experience that's all.

2. In one of my routines, my legs suddenly became jellified and gave way to pressure and heat. I had to exit those cones with basic moves after failed attempts to retain my control over my toe tricks.

3. Out of 10 competitors, 3 of the competitors were from the professional team, leaving the real competing down to 7. Among these 7 we had 3 international skaters from india who barely started out slalom( i wouldn't considered them ready for this competition since there was one of them who just started playing cone tricks like a few months back - nonetheless i respect their courage for taking part );So effectively in my realm the dogfight was down to 4 competitors, of which one of them was a champ in last year's slalom mania competition and the other a hardcore skater who seemingly spends most of his weekends in ECP rink. And so its down to 2...hahaha...I was really surprised i could beat the other fella who represented skatesports, because for that skate sport boy's run he did not lose control and seemingly did well in all his tricks.

( So you see, clinching 6th position was indeed a great boost somewhat )

4. I won myself a pair of inline hockey skates ( correct sizing somemore ) from lucky draw. Ha what luck i got!( i'm thinking of selling it at 300 bucks any takers ??? )

I only have myself to thank because i managed to persuade myself to try it out.

Probably this is one of the few occasions when i actually confronted my fear at the expense of my ego. The competition injected a certain level of humbleness in me, making me want to do more, not just in cone tricks but life in general.

Personal Hurdle Number 2

2007-11-23T06:18:00.000-08:00

I've decided to give the competition a shot... after lying domain for quite some time.
I remembered the times when i was almost immobilised on skates because of my ankle operation.

I shall not press too much on myself. Afterall, i am giving shirley support for this competition. I think its one of those ways i can really get involved in spreading the sport, as well as getting myself more involved in committing to more demanding tricks.

If i were to nominate a personal objective, it would be to do my very best, given the unfavorable circumstances of lack of training plus the hot sun. Guess i really have to move on from this point.

The power of tongues

2007-11-14T02:29:00.000-08:00

I felt rather helpless today.

Just a few hours during lunch, i was having a simple casual conversation with some of my coursemates. Somehow the topic drifted to my fiancee. My friend asked what her main diet in US was i think. So without any thoughts i replied sausages. I could still remember my short conversation with my dearie a few days back on MSN, when she posted a few pictures of packets of big sausages that she got from Walmart ( this real big hyper mart in USA ).

I got pretty pissed actually when this friend of mine actually could link sausage with male genitals, and happily tried to joke about it and my fiancee( implied ) in a lewd way ( in what way i shall spare the readers of this blog, because i dont really feel comfortable when people try to joke like this about my kin )

I am fine with people calling me all sorts of weird names, because i am also like that, giving people weird nicknames. Doesn't matter if you call me monster, ugly boy or some porn shit. I've gotten used to such things.Its just some ways people around you try to lighten up things. That i understood. But how would you feel if i start making lewd or any jokes about your spouse / parents?

I had to pretend not to feel affected. But deep down in my heart i feel rather disguisted at the way some people can actually make jokes about people whom they never knew.

Jokes are fun. You can laugh it off and make your day ( maybe others as well in this context ).

But make sure no one is being undermined at the expense of your jokes.

Where was i when i was 16?

2007-11-09T20:06:00.000-08:00

A fruitful Friday passed by just like that. Time flies when you are really enjoying every single moment of it.

720pm, Friday : I whizzed past the steel doors of the passenger lift that ran through the spines of Admiralty MSCP. Was quite surprised to see Clarence, one of the team Micro boys,because i have not seen him in action since late September. As soon as he stopped his routine, i greeted him.

He smiled at me as if he was equally excited to see me. It did not take me long to realize that he had just cleared his Os and was happily dancing on 8 wheels.

"Hey man, finished Os liao right? "

"Yah, sibei shoik ah. Yay!!!!!"

It daunted upon me as the words of this 16 year old sank into my head. What was i doing after my Os? Where was i enjoying my free time after the major exams?

In that split second, my mind fell into a trance.............

Red Cross House, this building behind the present park mall, felt like my 2nd home 10 years back;I was a very "uniform grouped" person, who loves to assume this instructor role and share with others what i have learned in the First Aid Duty Department. Every weekends during my upper secondary school days were spent attending courses on footdrill, leadership and first aid duty management. Semester breaks meant camps, first aid duties, red cross committee meetings and MORE CAMPS! I was from an all boys school, and combined school activities were quite a motivation for hormone raging teens like me....

Looking back, i thanked my uniformed group cca commitment in making me who i am today: a very vocal and outgoing person who does not hesitate to voice out his personal fears and share with others what he knows.

As i stood on the smooth cemented floors of the MSCP, watching clarence demonstrating his slalom kungfu, i cant help but wonder what kind of a person i would be if i had chosen to commit to some form of discipline 10 years back.

Probably i felt insecure in that sense, not having some 'specialty' sport that i can claim with pride that i can do very well in.

Ok, maybe that's why i am penning this blog entry in the first place.

A mobile running tap

2007-11-08T19:02:00.000-08:00

I had a mobile running tap.

Last Friday, i came home feeling spineless and wobbly. I was sneezing my way into the house as i slowly settled down and took my shower. A few hours before, i was shopping for winter clothings with dearie ( she's leaving for US for work for a month! argh!!! )and i had been sneezing after leaving that shop. Maybe it was the dust from the merinos and wool and cashmere... ....

Ever since that night i have been sneezing for as long as i'm awake, all the way until tuesday. Every sneeze shook the nerves within my skull i tell you... super bad. Thank goodness i managed to recover to do this post, but was equally sadden to learn that one of my course mates had kena STD (SPENG - TRANSMITTED - DISEASE). I felt sorry for him and offered him a packet of tissue on wednesday.

Right now ( Friday ) i'm home, enjoying the off day which rolled over from Hari Raya 2 weeks back. And so i will begin my 2nd part of my course mates pictures. No particular topic in mind.

I used this picture as my desktop background in the aviation academy. Guess what happens next....

Basically i am honoured to have an ardent fan in my class. And again i was equally sorry to have spread the STD to this boy. HAHAHAHA.

3 weeks ago there was some interclass ( i almost wanted to use the word 'inter-COURSE' ) games session following the hari raya celebration. We took part in some real ku ku games. Here are some pictures...

Can you see what i was kicking?

Holding hands with the 'koon sin' of the class

October ended with a slightly happy note, having realised that i have cleared 12 modules worth of test and 2 more coming. Theory course is coming to an end, and it will mark the beginning of a month of operational attachment in the radar centre.

God, please help me tide over this one month of radar centre shift work.

Bang Bang!

2007-11-03T07:22:00.000-07:00

Here are some october shots of my coursemates. Well its not like we have time to take pictures and all. These photos below were taken a few days before my fellow international coursemates from brunei left after their 8wk stay with us.

Even though i braved the odds of university life, it is always difficult to keep awake THE WHOLE day sitting down and listening to lecturers talk.

Each of these little cans represents the sweets intake for one week. ( Your task is to guess how many weeks passed since i started the course. Winners can claim one of these 'eclipse' minty tablets from me. Taste like toothpaste though heh heh )

I stumbled upon a billard pro in my class. How did i know? Ok we dont have a billard table in the aviation academy BUT sometimes during our free time we do head down to Changi Airport Recreation Club for a few games of billard and KTV. I learnt a thing or two from this pro who started out cheating pple of money from billard table since his poly days.

Just check out his goatie. That's what i called a true blue hustler.

During breaks we turn the classroom into gambling dens

Sometimes during class WE ALSO continue...away from the eyes of the lecturer that is.

If there's a gambling den THEN there must be a bookie or loanshark of sorts

And this loanshark only operates when there's life music

Sometimes the loanshark insist more music....

Again i had the honour to steal some tricks on strings from this guitar pro who started out his jamming life since his poly days. There is NOTHING that i request for THAT HE CANT play.

The gambling den requires some form of wireless communication with the outside world. I volunteered my laptop as a point of contact with the outside bookies / loanshark. Sometimes i get abit of pressure from the lady loanshark in the class

When i could not make the mark, the loansharks in my class send me to Terminal 3 to do coolie work

They also gave weird punishments to my fellow colleague who failed to collect money. This guy was made to stay still with a 1. 5 litre bottle on his head while the rest will torture him anyway they want

Ok, this one is a slightly more prestigious form of punishment done in the changi control tower. GETTING READY to be slapped on his fat butts that is.

So far that's it. More to come.

inspiration

2007-10-30T10:30:00.000-07:00

Kallang Paya Lebar Expressway Skate

2007-10-26T19:59:00.000-07:00

I still skate very often. Spent most of my free time doing cone tricks. Either at the void decks, the double court or the Multi Story Carpark during weekday evenings.

It would be hard to convince me to go recreational over the weekends in east coast park. The journey would be long, i would have to drive and you would subject yourself to the 50-50 chance of ISOLATED SHOWERS( that's what the meteorological officers in the aviation industry would say )

However, i responded to a calling to recre skate on a sunday morning of 21st October. No worries on weather( because it is a tunnel skate ), and its once-in-a-life-time-chance opportunity. Together i got my fiancee , edmund ( one of the woodlands skater doing speed skating )and my brother down. We had the luxury of traveling dry through the heavy showers along the journey, all thanks to dad's car, which saw us through from woodlands-> boonlay-> kampongjava rd(LTA HQ).

Most of the people in the inlinekaki forum were there. They had every reason to be there. They were speed skaters and they were avid fans of such events that allow them to parade speed skating to the public.

Those were just the early birds' pile of skates. We congregated to board the shutter bus which brought us to the entrance of the tunnel expressway. By the time we 'debus', there was already some crowd and a fun fair area before the tunnel.

To enter the tunnel, you have to walk / run / skate down a ramp that's about 15 degrees in gradient i think. The number seem small but on wheels it could kill. Quite a few of the newbie speed skaters suffered deep long gashing abrasions on their shins.

My dearie, though gutsy enough to take on the ramp, did not run away from the fate of falling. Thank goodness she had her helmets on( usually we dont wear helmets, but this one's a public skate event. ). She was smart enough to steer herself to the side of the ramp when her legs turned wobbly. During the whole mishap i was behind her, witnessing the fall, filled with helplessness. In the end she broke the impact against the side with her right wrist, in the midst her helmet rammed against the wall. The outcome : A slightly bruised right cheek, a slightly bruised wrist,a graze on her left shin and a bit of shock running into her. When i managed to get hold of her, her eyes welled up in tears. BUT she claimed she wasnt gonna cry; SHE SIMPLY FELT STUNNED.

That's where we skated from.

Some pictures that i took with her minutes after she fell

Dearie decided to take a rest at the first leg of the entrance , trauma still consuming her mind. Staying with her was my brother who wasnt really keen to explore the depths of the tunnel. I joined the caden of speed skate fellas to do the next 4 km. Folks on bigger wheels were a faster lot, and i soon found myself skating alone again( yeah, because on most occasions on any other days i did not have much friends who want to skate with me. Dunno why.)

When the runners and brisk walkers began infiltrating the tunnel, we were back at the starting point where Dearie was. After reassuring her that the skate was a DO-ABLE one, we both held hands and ventured into the tunnel, where booths selling snacks and game carts lined up along as we skate through. There were also posters explaining the construction of the tunnel from day one till today

Civil Engineers, guess which part of the tunnel this lady is facing.

Titanic, the KPE TUNNEL version ( I LOVE YOU HUNNY! )

Eyes feeling sore, with tummy growling from NO breakfast, we parted the tunnel goodbye at 1130am. Our hunger finally brought us to al azhar opposite beauty world, where my dearie , bro and i settled our acidic juices with a few plates of prata and mutton murtabak, complimented with cups of ice teh and fruit juice.

Driving home,i asked myself if i should try out speed skating on top of my cone trick discipline.

Nostalgic weakling

2007-10-08T03:35:00.000-07:00

I didn't know why i just cant contain my feelings well.

I recalled giving Weiling her first tuition when she was Pr4, back in june 2005. Just a few weeks after that, my aunt attached another tuition 'lobang', Junjie in my care. Together, we trudged our way through endless brain tormenting sessions( yes, me inclusive, because the primary school syllabus is horrendous now ), sharing our fair bit of lame and silly jokes over cups of bubble tea. Once in awhile i would organise some free movie screening on my laptop for my aces, complimented with pizza ( yeah its on the house, from my own pocket )and tons of laughter. To top it up, i even brought them on an outing to vivocity ( and watched Ben Stiller's NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM )when the complex had barely started operating its business in late july last year.

It hadnt been easy for me for the past 2 years. Many a times i rushed down from NTU so that i can make it on the eves of their papers, just to make sure they were equipped with what they had to know. I must say that there were moments when i asked myself why i had taken up tuition and make myself suffer.

Tagged along with these gruelling tuition moments were pain-staking memories of varsity life. Sometimes, the tuition allowance and time sacrificing equation doesnt balance.Lethargy became 2nd nature; i kicked into a state of "semi-consciousness" easily during lessons and lectures, and often had to make alot of arrangements to prioritize tuition sessions over ODAC and my time with my loved ones. Simply put, tuition intruded deep into my privacy and personal life. It was always part of my consideration when deciding to go for a date or for a meet up with friends. Sometimes i would ponder hard about my life as i sank into the synthetic leather seats of bus 179 after a tiring 630pm lesson, rushing to meet my aces for another tuition session. There were days when i had lessons on friday evenings up to 930pm and i had to rush for tuition the next morning from my hall to Lavender. Just the travelling alone to-and-fro during weekdays could kill, especially when you are talking about a 9am tuition session and you knew you had to be back in school for lecture at 230pm the same day. I remembered having to excuse myself from FOOT 05 and 06 so as to clock my weekly time with the children.

Thank goodness, i pulled through everything. I smiled good bye to my aces after a simple lunch on a sunday one day ago. I couldn't say if i was actually relieved from all the obligations or was i feeling this sense of detachment from something i had struggled very hard to cling onto for the past 3 years.

Somewhere around the corner of my eye was this tinge of sourness and moist.

Demoralized

2007-10-05T05:45:00.000-07:00

So far, training in aviation academy has been merciful on my mental health. Friends have been helpful in all aspects. Some of them were from the air force, having prior experience handling aircraft seperation in Singapore Airspace. If all goes well, i think i should have no problem till the end of my theory course. I will worry about the practical course later on.

Apart from spending time with my fiancee, the next best thing i could afford after a LONG-TRAVELLING-LACK-OF-SLEEP work day is a good session of slalom / running.

I tried running the perimeters of the field beside woodlands avenue 12 two nights ago. I was surprised that i could still finish the usual course, though the timing was kind of disturbing. Was glad to run cos if you never take time to run, you will fall into a viscious cycle of procastination and soon you will lose all your cardiovascular strength on the tracks.

I went slalom with brother last night, and was pretty disguisted at the amount of absolute progression that i made relative to my brother. Put it simply, i couldnt do much smooth transition runs comfortably and my toe heel tricks werent promising. I did not know why i got so perturbed over last night's skating session.

Maybe i had subconsciously developed the tendency to compare too much with my brother. At present, i think i'm pretty caught up with the amount of progression he made since he started slipping on his slalom skates back in February 06 (i started skating in december 05 ). All i could remind myself from last night's skating session, was to sharpen those techniques that i could already do and perfect those toe heel tricks that i always dreamt of doing since DUNNO WHEN.

Haha... a little ordinary being's entry of his typical day

The Thing

2007-09-24T05:05:00.000-07:00

Ah Huat served as a range warden during his NS days.

Every evening was spent 'jaga-ing' the 25m small arms shooting range. These are places that's easily forgotten by many, NOT just civilians out there but soldiers alike.

One late noon when the range was finally not in operation, Ah Huat had decided to respond to the call of Mama Nature. He felt in control of the situation, because at that point in time, there wasn't anyone around.

Usually, the male range toilet would be relatively unsightly, with soiled marks around the bowls and wet tissue balls littering the path from the entrance into the cubicles.Ah Huat had a tough morning managing the range, and so decided to reward himself by walking like a king into the ladies.

Some cheap and readily available luxury, he murmured to himself as he headed comfortably into one of the cubicles and shut the world out.

The detox sensation was awesome. It felt like some sort of contained explosion. The load was lethal, but the job was chop chop. Everything ended the moment it barely started. Ah Huat was sure he had the nonsense fully excreted. His a** felt clear of obstruction.

Ah Huat decided to end the whole ritual. He parted the last piece of tissue needed to clear his a** and reached out to the toilet lever in half squat position.

Ah Huat wasn't prepared for what that was to happen....

PART OF HIS SOLID WASTE launch itself from the pool of excretion as the waters from the water cistern whirlpooled into the hole. It contained so much power, that IT made its way out of the water suction and landed pretty neat by his leg. Ah Huat fell into a 5 second state of ultimate shock.

NEVER IN HIS LIFE DID HE SAW HIS OWN SH*T WALK OUT ON HIM.....

Ah Huat's lower body remained motionless, mind struggling desperately to figure out the logic of what he just saw. All of a sudden he felt weak and vulnerable.

Eyes still transfixed onto IT, he finally figured out the whole evil force propelling this SH*T

Ah Huat swallowed the tastelessness of his saliva and cursed. That Thing lay motionlessly throughout the whole discharging ritual.

It scared the SH*T out of him. Literally.

Deprived sleep

2007-09-20T04:43:00.000-07:00

Deprived sleep is like this:

You wake up at 550am, feeling the fiery sulphuric sensation in your blood shot eyes. Then you try to stumble for the snoozing button on your handphone.

You yawn easily as you stood in front of your bathroom mirror; Your chest vibrates reluctantly with each yawn. Even after you wash up, you felt that nothing makes sense apart from sleep.

You slip into your working attire in a mechanical fashion. Once in awhile you notice the tranquility of the darkness. Then you realise that both your parents are asleep. You wont recall hearing the morning chirps of the early rising birds because the time now reads 620am.

When you finally board bus 969, you wondered if fellow commuters on the bus would notice the dark eyebags that sag below your blurry field of vision. You found a seat and snug your sorry body under the blasting air condition.

When you force your eyes to greet reality again, 45min of journey from woodlands to tampines interchange via TPE had just passed. You started mumbling to yourself as you subconsciously make your way to bus booth with a number 19 on it.

And then there was this morning queue, made up of working class heroes of all ages , all heading towards changi cargo.

You breathe very hard as you climbed up the bus, tapping the ezlink card, at the same time remembering that just 50min ago, you had boarded the bus from one end of the island at 640am. You repeated the find-the-seat procedure again. As soon as you sit down, you sank into dreamland.

Once in a while you open your eyes to check your position along the way....

Ok i think i should sleep now.

Not the value combo one from long john silvers

2007-09-09T09:22:00.001-07:00

This clip is interesting. Could be my source of training aid for the next few nights to come.

The Goat's Sweat.

2007-09-08T09:56:00.000-07:00

Seeing this clip reminds me of my sweaty state after a good game of sports.

Darn it..i watched it 4 times and never failed to burst out laughing.