Iceland Day 3

Weather for northern lights were once again poor. Temperatures were freezing again. 

That's it for Reykjavik, it's now time to head on to Skalafell to experience the glaciers. 

We had planned to set off earlier today, but we could only start our journey at about noon. Not a good idea when you have to cover 500++km. 

Well, we had to make the most out of our journey here, so we plan for a few stops to look at some sights too.

First stop, Seljalandfoss, a nice waterfall where we could walk behind it. It's was a fantastic idea and very cool to see it from a different perspective, but it's super cold!

Next was another waterfall, Skogarfoss, this is a pretty one which you can really get up close. It's was just too cold and we just looked at it from afar. The splattering water from the falls makes it even colder! 

This makes almost a third of the journey and it was already getting late. But we had one more stop to make, Vik, to get more warm accessories. :)

This brand is quite affordable. 

As we continued our drive to Skalafell, the sky got dark and fog set in. It was not an easy drive for newbies to the country like us. Furthermore highway 1 here, is really nothing more than a 10m wide Tarmac for both directions, most of it at least. 

There are also many small bridges to cross which are only single laned, so u will have to give way if there's another vehicle approaching in the opposite direction. 

There are few street lamps here. Those only exists where there are towns or cluster of houses, majority of the road is just lined with reflectors. 

Large container trucks are quite common, but every time I had to pass one, it's unnerving. They bring along huge turbulence. Our car is 4WD, and quite sturdy, but still felt the jerks when they pass. This is our ride.

By the time we reached our accommodation, it's already late at night. 

Iceland Day 2

Start to day 2 was considerably better. We were able to embark on our golden circle tour. 

The golden circle tour is a basic 3 point tours that covers a few of the popular points of interests, gulfoss, geysir & thingvellir.

Gulfoss, also known and golden falls of fall of gold is one of the prettiest waterfall in Iceland. It's a 2 step waterfall cutting through the valley. I don't remember the name of the valley nor the source of the water. Haha!!

Geysir is supposedly the birthplace of the word itself. The roots of the naming of all geysers in the world. "Gey" refers to the term "gush". According to the guide, Icelanders were never very creative or romantic in their naming conventions. Thus this phenomenon which has water/steam gushing out, they named it geysir or in plain English terms, gusher!!

Thingvellir is a national park. What's peculiar is this is where the Eurasian tectonic plate meets the Atlantic plate. The 2 plates here are divergent therefore technically the place is going to get bigger and bigger. You actually dive down  into to the submerged rifts and touch both plates. But that's not for me. 

We are glad to be able to complete this day tour as it soon began to rain again. Once again the possibility of seeing the aurora washed out.

Iceland Day 1

Not the ideal day for sight seeing.

Snowing and heavy winds almost the entire day. Both day and night tours are cancelled due to weather. Good thing we get to join the next day for free. Fingers and toes all crossed, hoping for fine weather.

With our tours cancelled, we were able to sleep in till almost noon. Despite the weather, we decided to brave it and explore the area. It turned out to be a rather outrageous idea. Cos almost no one was walking ard but us. 

The winds were very strong, certain points we had to lean forward abt 45degrees to be able to walk ahead. Our first stop was a place which sells lobster soup. The perfect dish for the cold weather. Also on the menu was minke whale. We had a portion of that too. Whale tastes like lean beef!! Who would have guessed?

We were alrdy quite full but since our next stop was the best hotdog in town. We had to try one no matter what. Eating a hotdog in the swirling snow and howling wind is quite a mean feat. I have to say the hotdog looked simple but it was very good.

We took another perilous walk to the concert hall which was built out into the water. Wind were super strong. We are just glad to rush into the building for refuge. The building was really quite cool from the inside. 

Long stairs surround the sides and the ceilings are filled with mirrors at different angles. 

Our next leg was the craziest one. Considering the cold and the wind, we decided to walk along the coast to a monument to snap some photos. 

It's just a Viking-like vessel. It's freezing!!

I hope the weather on Tuesday would clear up.

Chelsea vs Tottenham

Watching the English Premier League live is such an awesome experience.

The scale of it feels pretty much like our national celebration. But this occurs almost every other week. Attendance yesterday was close to 50,000 at Stamford Bridge. The entire place and the roads are filled with fans in blue. There were a few thousand away fans, even though were a minority, their voices were never drown out.

Cheers, jeers were plenty. From the first minute to the last second, the chanting never ends. The taunting kept coming fast and furious. Even the young kids are involved in a supposedly adult kind of language and actions. Not very advisable, but such is the football culture. 

The excitement is heartstopping. Every time the ball approaches the goal on either end, we all rise in unison to make sure we do not miss the moment of scoring. Many times we end up with the 'awww's rather that the 'yeah's. You simply cannot keep still during the game. You'll stand and sit repeatedly for hundreds of times. It's actually a workout.

This match offered view a good return for the viewers. I don't support any particular team. I watch for the excitement and adrenaline of the action. There were 4 goals in this match. Unfortunately they all happened on the far end of my seat. My seats were actually quite great, close to the pitch.

Watching the game at home has the added advantage of a commentator. At the stadium you are your own commentator and you draw your own conclusions of every incident. That's a huge fun in itself. 

Stamford Bridge seems to be a rather small stadium. It feels very different when viewed on TV. The pitch seems much smaller in life. But the players look gigantic. It seems TV dramatises the view and the experience. But watching it live is just so much better. Totally felt like you are part of the action.

The only down side is the price. Tickets cost at least £50, which is pretty much the cost of a concert ticket in Singapore. I seriously wonder how they can afford watching it week in week out. 

It's a wonderful experience. Football fans out there, this is a must try. 

Exciting Times

Tonight marks the beginning of 

a few weeks which are going to be really exciting for me. In many ways, every one of these weeks could be potentially game changing for me.

I'm now on the way to Dubai. It's just for transit but this flight has been pretty cool so far. Emirates Airbus A380 is really spacious even for our economy seats. There's wifi onboard as well, not free though.

It's our first time going to London. Although it's just going to be a short stopover, it's going to be quite eventful. Going to meet up with my cousin, some friends. We are also going to catch Chelsea vs Tottenham at Stamford Bridge as well! First time watching a premier league match live.

Next will be about a week in Iceland hunting for the fabled northern lights or the aurora borealis. Would be nice if the weather holds out and the sun also does its part to pump up the light display! Also hope my humble Canon G15 is able to capture the sights in its beauty. 

This is really a much needed break. Especially for my dear wife. She has been working really hard recently as she's heavily involved in a major event in May. She is stressed with her work, but I know she's good at what she does. I hope she'll be able to enjoy herself these few days, relax and recharge.

Returning to Singapore after this trip should be interesting for me as well. We are awaiting the news for changes in our department. There could be good news and perhaps better news. Either way, it should help me make my short term future clearer and allow me to chart my path further down the road. Hopefully things would be good and great.

Shortly after returning home, I'll be serving the nation again. I've been called up once again to serve in my sky blue uniform. However this time it seems that I'll have a job scope for me. Perhaps this time round I would be able to contribute more meaningfully to operations. Hopefully this would kick start my purpose as an NSmen. 

Just as I thought my eventful ride would end there, last week I got the news that I would be able to join a Singapore delegation to Tokyo for an event. That is really an exciting chance for me to expose myself to transportation in Japan. First time trip to Tokyo as well. 

Woohoo!!!

Cohesion

This is a term used is in our military. I believe it's existence started less then a decade ago. I don't recall this term being used during my time as an active personnel. I believe we simply called it welfare event back then.

Today we had a cohesion event for 207 at AFM Officer's mess. A day where active and NSmen come together for some time. 

Initially I was somewhat concerned if I knew anyone at the event. I was relieved to walk into the mess and immediately saw familiar faces. There quite a few familiar faces, it almost brought me back to a decade ago when I was on service.

After some chatting around and catching up. I realised once again how completely I had tried to let go of this past. I saw that many of them who had left the service still retained contact with a few. This probably allowed them to get updated more with the ongoings in the service. On the other hand I had pretty not been in any active contact with anyone aside from reading updates in Facebook. 

Nonetheless it was good to see familiar faces and catch up. If only reservist periods could have such familiarity. Once again I would like to exclaim that the service have evolved so much that it's such a huge cultural shock for me.

Looking back at 2013, and forward into 2014

2013 has been an interesting year. 

This is the first year in my life as a married man. Married life so far has been kind to us. We do not need to worry about household expenses or chores yet. We were well taken care off this entire year. I'm deeply thankful that we only need to bother about our own stuff in my small room. It's a small little training before assuming greater responsibilities. Being married also means that much of this post would be about us rather than me. :)

I'm glad that mum have been doing well with her condition. She is very strong minded and just pulls herself through the treatment and the after effects of radiation. It's not easy during our weekly dinner to find a place that suits her current palate, but I'm always glad when it does. Just want her to be able to enjoy the simple stuff. :)

This year, we have travelled long and far. Greece and Turkey for our honeymoon was a once in a lifetime experience. I've always been somewhat a fan of Greek mythology, and being able to immerse in the stories told by our guide, that was awesome! Being able to enjoy our honeymoon at Santorini was a dreamy experience. The entire place just oozes romantic vibes, our honeymoon suite was also ridiculously huge. Not forgetting the luxurious sea-facing jacuzzi. :)

Turkey opened us to the Ottoman Empire. Cappadocia would definitely be the highlight of this leg. We were fortunate to have a great pilot who gave us a breathtaking flight over the valley. We also visited the underground cities in cappadocia, showing us a different lifestyle in times of conflict. It's hard to imagine the difficulties living underground. At the same time, it's cool to see the contraptions that make life easier. Istanbul on the other hand is more luxurious, and about beautiful mosques and shopping. We are lucky that we left the city before riots broke out exactly where we were shopping at. :)

Sydney in May was also a first time experience for us. We took a very relaxed pace for this trip and it was indeed relaxing. Strolls in Sydney, buying groceries and doing our own cooking. Walking around the bay, lazing around. Blue mountains was our highlight for this trip. We loved our cosy holiday house, which came with a fire place. It was one of the best feelings to cook our dinner and enjoy the warmth of the fire place in the cold weather. We managed to roast marshmallows too! :)

Work has pretty much taken a back seat in this year. Going on long vacations for honeymoon and Sydney have given me an enjoyable break from work. While I got promoted this year, it was somewhat less meaningful when a whole bunch of others were promoted along with me as a result of a review in company policy. While I am happy for the many others who were promoted, I can't help but wonder whether my additional years in service have gone unrecognised. 

In the later half of the year, I was transferred to take care of a different geographical area. Different areas provides different challenges. I was used to handling matters coming at me thick and fast. Now it's a different ball game, I'm given the opportunity to go in depth to every case. I'm thankful for the opportunities to exercise my engineering judgment. I'm also given the chance to create traffic schemes from scratch. This is a great way to understand our workflow's intricacies and improve the work we are doing. :)

In this new year, there will be many more challenges, new experiences to savour and new places to visit.

In 2014, 

new flat in Sengkang,

more overseas holidays,

work on furthering my studies,

weight n fitness management,

Most important of all...

Stay Calm & Be Happy

About Time

I have not blogged about a movie for quite some time. Now I'm going to write about one I've just watched recently.

ABOUT TIME

This was supposed to be pretty much a love story which involves a time traveller. I kind of expected the story to be a bit like "The time traveller's wife" an unfortunate but sweet story of a time traveler and his wife. This story is slightly different. But before I start on the movie proper, I think it's an interesting point to note that both these 2 movies had the same lead actress, Rachel McAdams. Coincidental? Or does she have a knack for playing the role of a time traveler's wife?

"About time" begins somewhat like the "40yr old virgin" where the lead guy somehow can't get the girl. So in this comedic romance manner the first half of the movie was all about him coming to terms with his ability which only manifest after coming of age. There several scenes which tugs on my heart strings and really made an impression.

Second part of the movie is about life. I would say the gist of it is "life goes on even for time travellers. So live your life. Appreciate everything as it happens, and living once is enough." 

It's also about relations in a family. Between parents and kids, brother and sister. It's really positive and inspiring.

I also like the fact that the movie made a good attempt to simplify time travel. And does not try to explain too much about all

the space-time-continuum mambo jambo.

My recommendation is this:

Watch the movie and enjoy the urge to want to time travel. At the same time learn to appreciate all the little good things around you. 

Wedding Day Videos

It's almost a year since 12 12 12.

Here I am finally posting my wedding day videos.

Highlights for the morning


Long video of morning events.


Long video of evening events

Sky Blue Shepherd No More

After my last stint back in sky blue, I'm back again after just 3 months. I have been conditioning my mind and telling myself its great to be back in. I'll be able to do controlling again, something that I once wanted to do as a career. 

Somehow things just don't always turn out as you expect them to. Receiving no news about my medical review in July was apparently not good news. 

My first day back was spent trying to track down my report. And when we finally did, the news I've gotten is simply a bubble buster. 

"Fit but not recommended for direct control duties"

I'm struggling now trying to describe how that felt. Once again, it's been so long since I felt like this. Perhaps it's easier to describe what happened before. 

I was once an enthusiastic young officer serving his 2yrs of compulsory national service. During this period, I have gotten myself trained with the skills for air traffic control. Now I know my personality belongs to the group who likes to do things we are good at. 

Hence the natural thing for me to do back then was to apply to become a regular in the force. Most procedures quickly fell into place. My superiors were also glad with my decision and I even managed to secure a scholarship along with the contract. I start to feel awesome with my decision.

Drama came when I was required to go through the standard medical checkup. Questions started arising about my physical health. In a nutshell, an honest tick in the "headache" column of a health survey a few years back had done me a very bad deal.  

The questions raises got the medical board kicking up a fuss and not willing to clear my case. I had to go for several expensive checks to ascertain my condition. End of the day, all checks showed favourable results but the fear of making a wrong decision caused the medical board to reject my application for regular service. Despite the fact that while serving in national service, I'm doing the exact same thing as a regular.

I tried to appeal my case and it went all the way up to the chief of the medical board but to no avail. 

With that decision fixed, I had resign to my fate that regular service is not something meant to be for me. There goes a steady job, salary, paid degree, early marriage plans, career progression. 

Losing all that possibility was really hard to take. Especially for a young officer, who had the aspirations for an exciting future in the force. I got into some form of depression after that. i began to lose interest and felt that fate is out to get me. 

It took me a few years to forget about that episode and working all over again. I've moved on since then and found something I like to do and which I'm good at.

This episode now seems all too familiar. I had bored the hope that I could do some controlling again. Unfortunately it's not meant to be again.

This time it would be different. I have less at stake. Good to have but without it, I'll trod on.

Honeymoons - Part 1

I've been married for more than eight months. We have already been on a few trips. Yet I've never had the time to reflect on these journeys. I've had short periods of breaks but there's always something else more important which has to be done.

After the big day, we went for a short trip to Thailand. The objective of this trip was really simple. We were crazy busy for the past few months, it was time to just let go and relax. Aside from our usual destination, Bangkok, we decided to experience Hua Hin as well. Hua Hin is the summer getaway location  for the royal family for ages.

Our itineraries there are quite simple too. Eat, shop, relax. We stayed at our usual hotel chain, Amari. Amari Watergate had been the hotel we stayed in Bangkok for almost every trip in the past few years. Service has always been friendly and welcoming, we also had our room upgraded to a suite because it was our honeymoon. We also made a trip to Chinatown to splurge on some Chinese delicacies. Thanks to lower cost of living and a strong exchange rate, we could eat quite lavishly. To top off every evening, we would go for Thai massage at Healthland Spa. It's a place with good service, nice environment, service staff speaks reasonably good english and most of all, the price is great!

Hua Hin is much more laid back when compared to Bangkok. Once again we stayed with Amari. This hotel is a new development at Hua Hin. Therefore we had everything spanking new in addition to the usually great Amari service. Hua Hin is not a place which excites but it gives you all the peace and quiet you need to detach from the real world. That was precisely what we did those few days.

THAILAND PHOTOS

This trip to Thailand was just a prelude to our main honeymoon trip. It's a much needed rest ever since getting busy for our wedding.

The main course for our honeymoon is Greece and Turkey in May. Aside from deciding on the location and the dates, my dear wife had settled the itinerary singlehandedly to the minute details. I'm really grateful that she did it all because I was so overwhelmed with work.

We started off our journey in Greece at Athens. It's not a direct journey there. We first landed in Istanbul and took another flight to Athens. The first impression Athens gave us was a dilapidated city. Everything was closed and shops and shutters were all sprayed with graffiti. It was only when we checked in that we were told that it's actually a week long holiday for the orthodox Easter.

On one hand we were glad to be there on a joyous occasion, but it also meant that almost all the shops and attractions were closed for the period. That forced us to adjust our itinerary and we could only visit few sites and do window shopping. The biggest let down was not being able to visit the Acropolis of Athens. While not being able to visit the Acropolis, we are able to enjoy a fantastic view of it every day directly from our room. The night view is quite spectacular too. In fact all that made us want to visit Acropolis even more.

ATHENS PHOTOS

After Athens we embarked on a few days of guided tour to immerse ourselves into the mythical Greek history. Majority of our group were Caucasians, we are the only Chinese in the group. There's another Indian lady and her partner and that's all for Asians in a group of over twenty.


Our guide was this plump guy called amelios, he was very knowledgeable an organizes his commentary very well. He brought us through a journey through time and space. We were very grateful to have him as our guide. He drew a very complete picture of greek history from the mythology to mycenaean to roman times. A short 4 days 3 nights tour took us to several of the notable historical sites.

Notably, we passed by this place known as Corinth Canal. It's designed and constructed by the same team who did the Suez Canal. In fact, it was this project that brought that team to prominence and got them the Suez Canal job. It's basically a very narrow and deep waterway carved through the rocks. It's quite an awesome sight.

Epidaurus was the first site we visited, the highlight there was this amphitheatre which was very well preserved. The acoustics effects are still intact and the guide could show us how well a single voice is projected across to every single audience.

The second day we visited Olympia, the birthplace of the ancient Olympics. The place was pretty much ruined and empty, but thanks to the guide. He painted a lively picture of how athletes who are pretty much tribute (similar to the hunger games) in those days lived, competed and fought at Olympia. Olympia itself was pretty much a tribute to Zeus.

The next day we were at Delphi, a place with loads of cats. I also liked the place because of it's richness in mythology. It is the sanctuary of the Sun God Apollo, and it was the place where Apollo's most treasured oracles had lived. Many had visited Delphi just to have their futures told. The landscape around Delphi itself already provides somewhat a mystical feel to the place. It's a city perched on the slope and overseeing beautiful scenery. There's also this super cool aqueduct, which leads all the way back to Athens. It's still operational and works purely on gravity.

The final day was meant to be the best part of this tour, but unfortunately, we had a change of guide. And this new guide was LOUSY! On one hand it was really irritating because she had to give the commentary in English and in French, which meant she had limited time to give information. On the other hand, she was totally not interested. Her method of giving commentary is just striking off a checklist. There's no storyline and no link. Just piecemeal and jumbled information. Quite disappointed that because of her, we did not learn much about Meteora and Thermopiles.

Based on my own research, Meteora was a secluded place in the mountains where monks practiced a monastic form on christianity. Their church are all built on steep cliffs and they are all marvels on engineering and most of them are very inaccessible when they were built.

Thermopiles was simpler to understand. It was the site where the famous 300 Spartans had fought the Persians. Yup, there's place where Gerard Butler's 300 made famous.

On this tour we saw our first oranges on trees, figs on trees and most important of all. We had our first taste of Moussaka. Moussaka is something like a shepherd's pie with egg plant, it's very very nice!!!

4D3N PHOTOS

Our next leg of our journey in Greece is pretty much the go to destination in Greece, Santorini. Santorini is a remains of a volcanic crater. The volcano is only dormant though, not extinct yet. Vast majority of the buildings on the island are painted white. Only a small portion is painted with blue. Postcards around the world tend to only capture the white and blue parts. Talk about misrepresentation.

Nonetheless, being there instantly makes you feel more romantic somehow. We booked a suite there and most of their hotels there comes with a jacuzzi or some sort. Being on honeymoon usually gives you some perks. Our hotel upgraded us to a honeymoon suite, which is basically a HUGE room with a HUGE jacuzzi on our balcony. The wind on the island is always strong and it's very cold when the sun is down, but that's also the best time to soak in the jacuzzi. It was a luxury that would remain in our minds for a long long time.

Santorini is not a big island so we rented a car and drove around. I really liked the car we had, it's a smart car. It's basically a tiny little 2 seater by Mercedes. I think Singapore should really bring in these cars.

SANTORINI PHOTOS

Our last leg in Greece is the island of Rhodes. This is where the Colossus of Rhodes once stood. The Colossus was one of the wonders of the ancient world. What I liked most about the place was actually our hotel. It was filled with cats! We had a very friendly and welcoming host as well. We were basically living within the walls of the old castle. The old castle was a stronghold where the christian crusaders held off attacks from the turkish forces.

We also took a short cruise around the city. The highlight of the cruise was actually a segment of highspeed travelling. That part came very suddenly and kind of caught us off guard. Exhilarating!  

RHODES PHOTOS

OTHER GREECE PHOTOS

In the next part, we'll move on to the Turkey and more recently our trip to Australia.

Limits tested

I would say I'm pretty tolerant and quite patient when it comes to dealing with people. The least I can say is that I'm way more tolerant than I was few yrs ago. I would probably have made lots of noise and kick up a big fuss had I not controlled myself.

Dear sales people out there, if you are not eloquent. Then jolly well brush up on your product knowledge. It's not enough to know what's in the product but not know what it does. If u hard sell me with no content, u get on my nerves.

I was shopping at guardian for glucosamine and I let my guard down. I allowed myself to get so pissed off that really felt like going berserk. I'm not talking just berserk. I'm talking wolverine-berserker-barrage-style berserk. This auntie who was restocking her products started to try to introduce her brand to me. I'll summarise her pitch a few main points.

1. Her brand is good because hundreds of customers tell her so everyday when she's restocking

2. Her products are always out of stock cos ppl buy in bulk

3. Hers has shark cartilage and some green mussel extract. Her "customers" tell her it's good.

4. Hers works in 5 days, after that no need to take so much.

Here's the winner

4. Her bottles say "dietary supplement" majority of other brands don't say that. And that implies that other brands are actually bad for your stomach and will eventually lead to heart attack. 

My conclusion which I did not share with her is as follows,

You poor sad auntie. For more than 20 years u have been trying to sell a single product without knowing its properties. You only rely on phantom word of mouth to pressure shoppers to make rash decisions to meet ur sales quota. You have missed a precious chance for me to share with you what you are actually selling. I could have given you a little more general knowledge to enrich your starved mind. For that, I pity your potential customers an the "hundreds" of lost sheep that tell u everyday that your product is amazing. But then I realise, I don't have to worry. You are just a restocker who knows nuts.

And I have now learnt another lesson after this article. Some ppl are just not worth it.

Back in Sky Blue

Almost 10 yrs since I last donned the sky blue uniform. The familiar place I used to worked once upon a time has changed drastically. 

On the outside, it's still the ugly camo green paint over the building. Inside is where it's no longer familiar. Gone were the dark rooms with freezing cold air cons. It's now bright with multiple projections. 

People have moved, places changed. Procedures revamped and I'm obsolete. 

When getting my new set of uniform, even the badge that once symbolises the skills which I'm trained in has changed. I struggled whether to get the new badge to wear. Perhaps it's fate telling me what to do when I found that the new badge is not available. I should not wear this new badge cos it means nothing to me.

It been so long ago, I've forgotten why and how I left the service. But now I'm reminded. Will it be a new beginning or will it be a new nightmare?

Role Models

In the course of leadership training session. This topic was discussed.

The typical impression of a role model is one who possesses qualities we admire and would like to emulate.

Some people have role models who have significantly impact and guided their lives. Others have role models that changed their course in life.

For me, I constantly have individuals appearing in my life showing how not to live, how not to behave. I fear making the same mistakes made by these people.that probably has also infused in me the fear of making mistakes.

While I constantly tell myself that mistakes which are not deadly are fine. Learn from the mistake of others and our own. I often fall into the trap of the constant fear of mistakes.

I am not perfect. I see and I learn. We need to recognise and appreciate the rights and the wrongs.

When will I be a soldier again?

Since I left National Service 8yrs ago. I've not been back nor been in touch with what I used to do during my service days. So much so I assume I was forgotten, and I would spend my years without ever being called up for reservist duties.

But I was wrong. I was remembered.

I received a call from the airbase checking if I have completed my studies and whether I'm available for reservist duties.

I'm excited and kinda scared cos its been so long. I need to get new uniforms as my old ones no longer fit. I'm out of shape. And I have no idea how my duties i used to do have evolved over the years.

A long time ago I had made the choice to want to serve the country on a regular basis. Even though that ultimately did not materialise, I'm now still serving the country. Just in another way.

Ah Boys to Men 2

This sequel is not as lame as the first instalment but packed much more laughs. Really entertaining.

Enjoyed the movie thoroughly. It brought back loads of memories. Somehow the setup of the section in the movie resembles my bmt mates so much. Similar wayang characters, siao on characters, super keng characters, and ppl like me. Do well enough to get noticed but not too prominent to hog the attention. Able to talk to people above, below and around.

Nostalgia is something I trust all Singaporean guys will feel when they watch this movie. Throughout the show i was going, "I did this too", "they really used to do that". Missed those days.

Like the end message very much too.
"After NS, not everyone will remain in contact and most may have to go their separate ways. But what's important is that at one stage in life we were once mates and could survive without one another."

Theories from Jellies

All I wanted was to buy the round jellies to try. But I allowed myself to be coerced into buying $50 of jellies.

I have 2 theories why I would allow myself to spend this money.

1. I'm feeling rich at that moment in time and I really have that money in my wallet.

2. I've been overly demanding towards in my course of work, especially to consultants or contractors. So this is kind of a way of getting some balance?

Hahaha.

Thinking through the matter again. It's probably just me feeling rich at that point in time. I don't need that balance. I enjoy being demanding. Muahahaha!!!

Yvonne's Creative

This is going to be a long post about a not so good bridal studio in Singapore.

I've started writing this since I completed photo selection and layout. We still intend to get our actual dresses in one piece therefore we decided not to post until after our actual day.

It started off with us walking through the Tanjong Pager strip looking for a studio for our actual day gown and package. We dropped in a few and the sales person at Yvonne's Creative seemed to catch our interest and attention the best. Why? She was really upfront and confident in her sales and her company. Basically the sales pitch could be summarised with the following

"You will get anything you want and we'll make sure you are happy about it. If you are not, you call me and I'll get it sorted out for you."

That seemed pretty good in terms of commitment.

Before we decided to sign the package, we went online to view some forum reviews about the place. The reviews basically says the designers are very reluctant to make and changes and they always insist their design is best. We thought that sounded like the total opposite of what the sales person told us. It's probably the pride of the designer, cos the designs we saw in store were really quite nice.

So we decided to trust the sales person this time and signed on anyway. The interesting fact here is that soon after we signed on, the sales person got married in a flash and apparently was already pregnant. We have not seen her ever since. As the process went on, we realised the forums are telling the truth. The dress was quite nice in shape and form, but overall is still looks plain, not eye catching enough.

We asked the designer who is also the boss to add more details to enhance the design. Her defence was simply, this is the fashionable look now and it's meant to have this classic look. We ignored her, we wanted it to look nice the way we want it. We had to bug and whine about it several times before she relented. The improvements had to take a few times before it was acceptable to us. It's very tiring to argue abt design. VERY!!

We had to endure through similar processes for evening gown as well. Doubly tired.

Besides the gown, the bridal package also included a photoshoot and album. The photoshoot itself was fine. The photographer is not bad. After experiencing the service of the bridal packages in Taiwan, local studios really pale in comparison. Any way our complaint for this stage is actually during the photo editing part. The touch up artist basically pissed me off from the start.

Firstly, unfriendly attitude. Not sure if he was having a bad day, but he definitely was making my day pretty ugly.

Secondly, when I ask  him to edit the photo in a certain way, he seemed to be unable to make the edit. To cover his lack of capability, he simply said, "we dont do such edits here."

Finally, the last straw, when I told him the photo can be edited with certain functions. He once again said "we dont do such things here", but this time he added "I won't do it, you can do it yourself if you want".

After that, I refused to go through the photos with him anymore. I told him to just copy the softcopy versions to me and I'll arrange for another session after I have gone through the photos myself.

My final conclusion for anyone who may intend to use this bridal studio. If you really like to have their gowns for your wedding. Be prepared to fight them in their decisions. They are a pain and a waste of time.

Difference btwn Sales and Rental

Car sales tells u everything good abt the car. They will tell you how the car will complement u and make u better in every way.

Car rental tells u everything bad about the car and how important it is for u to be able to manage the flaws and not create anymore.

Haha.. Feelings I get while waiting for my bridal car to be wrapped and tied.

Final Countdown!!

It's the final lap and there are still things left to be done.

So tired at work, but work and life will go on. Bite on it.

Happy things Today

1. Boss not around and monkeys rule the office
2. Ate rice for lunch!!
3. Completed local photoshoot photo selection n layout

3 things that made me smile today

1. MCST part is settled for the renovation. Works can start on 16th.
2. Managed to do 2 pull-ups. My limit for the past few years was 1. 
3. I bought oyster sauce for my cooking!

Happy stuff

It's countdown time. exactly a month before the big day. The checklist just seems to get longer by the day.

Ridiculous amount of work in office doesn't exactly help.

But this post is about happy stuff. Gonna accumulate happy stuff from till the big day. Not sure why, but it seems like something fun to do.

So here goes

1. I woke up not feeling angry and crappy.

2. Nice guy directed me to this parking lot so that I can take over the spot. He gave me his coupons as well. Free parking!!

3. No sudden shit at work happening today! I even managed to be relatively nice to a consultant I scolded recently.

The day is approaching

12 12 12. That is the day that everything will change or will it?

At least what's happening now is we are doing so many things in preparation for that 1 big day.

It's going to be the single most important day of our lives thus far. So many things has been done. So many things are underway. So many more things to be done. And the checklist seems to get longer.

I know as time goes by, items will get checked off the list eventually. JIAYOU!!

My wallet has been scammed!!

Within a short duration of 3 weeks, 3 of my more frequently used cards were compromised.

Firstly, my DBS card got 3 transactions from iTunes which I did not authorise. I could pick out that anomaly instant when I browsed through my transaction history simply cos my iTunes was not linked to this card. I made a report to the bank and went down to the branch the next day to get my replacement card.

Yesterday I checked my UOB bill and found another iTunes entry. This time smaller amount but still not my account linked card. So I called UOB as well and cancelled the card.

Just 30mins ago, Citibank called and told me that my card was used at blizzard online store but was unsuccessful. WTH!!! Nevertheless the card was still cancelled and I'll have to wait for a new card.

Seriously, who the F*** is stalking me and stealing my details. Aside from my Citibank card, the rest are not used for any form of online transaction. Therefore I am simply dumbfounded.

On the bright side I get all new cards in my wallet. :p

Embarking on another milestone towards marriage

In a few hours, I'll be on my flight to Taipei. It's going to be a week long trip and the main objective is to get our photoshoot done. Choosing Taiwan was an attempt to be different an also an excuse for a getaway.

I've been so bogged down with work recently that my life basically revolves ard work. Work life balance is a myth for me currently.

Only because I had to leave for a week I managed to get that extra push to clear all my backlog. So much have been cleared and delegated last night.

So tired now.

I dreamt again

Had another dream this morning.

I was on a quest. A quest to look for my beloved fiancee. I had no idea why I was on this quest nor did I know where I was. I was at this place which looked alot like Clarke Quay. Colonial era shop houses lines the streets and it's also like an enormous Bugis junction cos the entire place was enclosed.

I got an sms from dear telling me she waiting for me at Kbox. I was feeling like 'okay, Kbox. where's the Kbox here?' I was still feeling ok as the place now feels semi-familiar and I start moving around to search for the Kbox. I remember passing by this huge candy empire shop, did not go in, but somehow its presence there left a mark in my dream.

After wandering around up and down a few escalators and through a few hallways, I ended up at this location. It was where I'm supposed to find the kbox, but it's not. It's a casino, or maye more like a jackpot place. I changed some tokens. I could clearly recall I exchange a dollar for 5 tokens (so cheap rite?!). I came to this machine and put in my first token, I don't remember what I betted on but I won. I won $3 worth of tokens on my first spin! (WOOHOO?!)

At that moment I got another sms from dear asking me where am I. So I left the casino with my tiny windfall and continue my search for the elusive Kbox.

The next thing I could recall was not being able to find the location. I ended up at a cafe and started up my laptop. I guess I would be trying to google for Kbox. a group of ppl started to gather around me and sat down next to me.

"Why are you taking so long?" they said. They looked kindda familiar so I presume they were sent by dear to look for me or help me? Anyway they prove me somewhat right when they went on say "we can give you a clue but you'll have to finish that"

And the waiter appeared with a huge block of steak, 1kg maybe. I think I was expressionless and went on with the challenge. I finished it somehow and was done with it. The guy next to me just told me, the clue is under my laptop.

I flipped it over and found a post-it...

I can't recall what it says as this is when I woke up.. another one of those frustrating dreams where u have no final answer!! arrgghh...

Nightmare of Bukit Timah Rd

Had a really vivid nightmare this morning.

I was travelling in a double decker bus. I was seated on the upper deck of the bus with my dear.

The bus was travelling along Bukit Timah Rd toward Rochor. I was somewhere around the stretch near HSO. The traffic was very heavy, in fact the roads were congested. I was looking out of the window and there were works going on at the HDB flat near Tekka Market. Not sure what work was is but there some some machine going up the elevator shaft.

As the machine went to the top of the building and started to come down. There were things flying out of the shaft. I was thinking rivets but they were probably nuts and bolts. Basically they had to be stuff which held the shaft to the building because at the next moment, the top half of the shaft began to buckle.

The shaft started bending downwards. At about a 45 degree angle, the shaft snapped and plummet onto the road below. Cars were smashed, horns went off. There was a crater where the broken shaft landed. Everything below it was simply flatten. Somehow it felt like we're the only one in the bus seeing this. Everyone else seemed oblivious to what just happened.

Then the scary part started. The portion of road where the shaft landed began to sink in entirely. The whole road collapsed. All the cars just disappeared from the surface as the road sank. We were 2 junctions away from the site. We did not feel any jerks or vibration, the road ahead just sank. The sinking moved towards our direction. It seemed to be determined to bring us down along with it. Somehow it stopped at the junction ahead of us. The rest of the people in the bus started to realised there was something wrong.

Dear and I ran down the steps of the double decker to the door of the bus and told the driver to let us out. The driver was a pain. He simply repeated that he was not given any instructions, everyone MUST stay in the bus. I believe I whacked the dumbass driver and opened the door myself. We got out of the bus and there was people all around us behaving frantically.

The last thing I remember before waking up was me shouting at everyone "Don't run!! Don't make any large movements!! Move slow away into the side roads."

Next thing I know I was sweating in my sofa. WTH.. Really...

Talking to a Potato

Talking to a potato is a skill that requires extreme patience. Today I've managed to control myself for 2.5hrs, wasting my precious time talking to a potato.

Characteristics of a potato

1. Tries to speak fast
2. Tends to stammer
3. Tends to talk in loops. ie self-repeating cassette
4. Unable to answer simple questions
5. Unable to communicate ideas across
6. Unable to understand simple points even after rephrasing it a dozen times, oh I tried Chinese too!!
7. Strongly resembles talking to a wall.

My personal recommendations, asks few and very simple questions. Don't expect full solutions, figure out alternatives first.

To prevent permanent brain trauma, avoid having conversations longer than 1hr.

Don't JUST Hang in There

Yesterday I woke up feeling tired and droopy.

Today I woke up feeling okay.

I hope tomorrow I'll wake up feeling stronger. I don't want to just hang in there, I want to break through.

There are endless things to do and bottomless to-dos to clear, but i'll have to start somewhere. Logically, I should start with what's important. But it's so hard to find what's important within a mountain of tasks to clear. So I end up clearing what's simpler to boost my own morale first. Then try to double up my speed and just clear everything.

It's just not possible, I can only do what I can now. For those I could not do today, I try to get to them tomorrow, but one thing for sure, I'll leave none unanswered.

Don't hesitate. Just do it!! 












千里之行，始于足下。
一分耕耘，一分收获。
努力不懈，永不言败！
守得云开，见月明。。。 加油！！

My Dream future of Land Transport

Currently, Singapore's roads are often congested by vehicles with single person occupying the car. There's a lot of wasted road capacity due to the number of 3/4 empty cars. My dream for the future of land transport is the development of modular vehicles. 

Modular vehicles will be made of detachable pods consisting of driver pods, passenger pods, storage pods and so on. The combination of required pods can be customised based on usage and change easily so that road space can be effectively used. 

For example, a family of 4 drives a 4 part pod out of their house in the morning. The father will commandeer the driver pod, the other members can each occupy a passenger pod. Each pod is connected to another, perhaps magnetically or even simply physically latched on. 

The combined vehicle will first travel to school to drop off the elder child. This passenger pod can be let off and stored at the school, the pod can also double as the kid's personal storage space. Next to the childcare centre to drop off the youngest child and his pod. Followed by the wife at her workplace along with her pod. Eventually when the father drives to his workplace, he will only have to drive his single pod. 

The wife's pod can also be a driver pod, which allows her to pick up the kids after school. It's basically 2 or more cars at the size of one saloon car now. 

There will also be much more flexibility in terms of usage and much higher fuel efficiency. Making the cars single occupancy reduces the size of the vehicle and opens up possibility to alternative power sources. I can only imagine the efficiency of our roads in this dream on mine. 

Perseverance is TOUGH!!

There's so much to do, so little me and time to go around.

Need to do faster, think faster, grow another pair of hands and brains. I need to clone myself!!

Everything I managed to clear some stuff new ones just seem to piled up even more.

I need to hang on till reinforcements reach.

Prioritise

Key word here is in the title.

Feeling overly tired recently cos there's a lack of priorities.

Gotta remind myself of the following in the coming weeks as things are getting more hectic very soon.

1. First things first
2. Important things firsts
3. Urgent things can often wait
4. 6pm is time to go home. Coming earlier is fine.

Let's see how things work out. :)

I cant help feeling like this

TIRED!!!

Going home already.. :/

On transit train now to KLIA LCCT. We stood outside the train just now like dum dums, cos the train doors were closed. Train was abt to leave in a min. Then this other passenger came and pressed a button on the door and it opened!!

You can't imagine how "smart" that made us felt....

Got free wireless on the train too. Also noticed that trains here have emergency ventilation panels. Why don't we have that?!?!

Had a relaxing time here, simply cos we were tourists. It seems the pace if life here in KL is just as hectic as SG, if not more. The place is flooded with expats as well.

Touch Down @ KLIA LCCT

It's my first time to KLIA, only now I know they have a budget terminal too. And it's name is actually worst than our budget terminal. LCCT, stands for Low Cost Carrier Terminal!! Super LC!!!

But they do have much more stuff here than our budget terminal.

Oh btw, there's Old Town here but the price is not cheap.. So sad. Shldn't it be half of sg price at least??

2012

It's a new year.

It's going to be an exciting one. There will be so much on my to-do list.

First off, I have a daily schedule to follow with regards to exercising. I seriously hope to follow it as closely as I can. If I can pull this off, I'll be the old me in record time. To pull this off, I'll need huge support from me beloved. There's no way and no point for me to do this by myself.

And that first task is my foundation step to achieve the next following

Ippt
Photoshoot
Wedding

12/12/12 will be the biggest date on my calendar, it's so exciting!! It's so scary as well.

This time last year, I was planning for my proposal. This time we're planning for the final leg of journey before entering a new phase. Most things still seem to be order, i hope it all turns out as planned and as arranged.

*FINGERS CROSSED***

New hair - old me

I've been fashioning my new short hair the past week. People have been asking why cut. My answer so far has more or less been just wanting a change in hairstyle.

In retrospect it's probably more of wanting to be the old me. This was my hairdo for many years in the past. This was also Wat I had when I was most physically active. I want to be active again...

Win-Win Situation

I was at the mixed vegetable rice stall yesterday during lunch. There's this guy ahead of me ordering. At first I felt he was quite rude rude and impatient to the auntie serving us.

But when paying for the food, the guy gave the auntie a $10 bill and asked her to keep the $1 change. It's quite surprising to see a Chinese person with that gesture. Anyway, the auntie immediately had a wide smile on her face.

At the same time the guy asked for chopsticks and since the cutlery were closer to me than any of them, I instinctively grabbed two pairs and passed it to the guy. Smiles and "thank you"s went around.

Auntie acknowledged my assistance and started talking to me. She said it had been some time since I visited her stall. I'll be super surprised if she really recognises me. I just nodded anyway.

In the end my food servings for that meal was slightly more generous than usual.

A true Win-Win for all. Heh

Day 2 of Walk n Jog

Covered 5 km from home to Waterloo St in slightly under an hr. Quite relaxing pace. Which means doing this in the morning daily is definitely within means.

It is a Start!! :)

Did not manage to leave house on time, but did manage to get 3km on my mileage and reach office on time.

Better luck (i mean decision making) next week!!

An Awesome Plan Not To Be

The plan was to be up at 5.30, leave by 6. Take a jog or walk to office. Take a shower, start work before 8.

I was up by 5.30, but I gave in to the zzzz monster. I was up again at 6, but the monster won again.

This must not continue. I'm blogging this to serve as my reminder that this will be the last time the monster wins.

Home Ridden

I had do much on my to-do list for the week, but I had to be sick? I chose to stay home instead of going to office. I could if I wanted to, but I'll be coughing everyone's ears off like what I did to myself on Sunday night. I was waking myself up every hour. It was more irritating than uncomfortable.

Went to the doc's and got myself some meds. Doc said he wun be giving antibiotics cos he wants to give my body some time to foggy back on its own. I totally agree that Shld be the way. But I know now that meant more time was needed. That explained my 2nd day at home.

I was already change and prepared to go to work after much painful dragging and forcing myself to get ready. When I was about to get out of the house I realised I was not ready. My entire body was telling me "no" and so I went to extend my mc.

I think I'm feeling much better now. Not sure if I'm ready to face the heaps of work that will be welcoming me jn the morning but I'll do what I can.

Take the first step to a shift in Paradigm

After a 3 days course on 7 habits of highly effective people. I'm telling myself and getting myself to get into a positive change. Over the next few weeks, I'll be getting into a changed mode. I'll be training myself to think differently from the very foundation.

Paradigm shift will be the aim on the 7 weeks.

Physically it's time to make use of my Vibram Shoes
Mentally it's time for more self-discipline
Socially it's time to really listen to the people who mattered
Spiritually it's time to clearly define my personal missions and long term goals

Be Warned!! Change in on the horizon!! :)

Interesting Conversation

Me: You may never find the right chance. You have to create them yourself.

Dear: Go ahead sign off..

Me: Har?

Dear: You just made a quote, sign off..

Me: You may never find the right chance. You have to create them yourself. -Lim Peh, 2011-

Good Day @ Paintball

Had been playing paintball for slightly more than a year. And today I felt like I'm finally getting better. Took a while but yes I think I'm improving. Still quite amateurish, but i'm getting there. It's really quite something for someone with more airforce radio-telephony background than any "chiong-sua" experience.

I think I got like 5 "kills" today. That's like average 1 per game and managed to stay alive more often than not!! Woohoo! hahahaa.

iPhone Newbie

Been spending the past day getting used to my new iPhone 4S. Manually keying my 300 contacts to the new phone. Finding a few apps to download. Getting used to iTunes.

Just tried out Siri, seems likes it works but it's kindda laggy. And I do feel weird talking to the phone, when the phone takes a while to answer.

6hrs to my first IPhone

Due to the demise of my samsung ultra touch, i'm going to convert to an Iphone user pretty soon. it's kindda exciting. hahaa.

My Samsung Ultra Touch S8300

My Ultra Touch has just passed away. Yesterday it showed symptoms of failing. The touch screen became half dead. And today, it went fully dead. It's a sign!!

Hello IPhone! :P

Old and Fragile

You know you are getting older when a day of IPT + a day of volleyball gets you slumping in bed the entire day. And I still can't feel my legs!! :(

Bye Gong Gong & Po Po

About a week ago, I was told my grandfather was admitted to the hospital. He years of smoking in his early life has finally done him in. 


However it still does not change the fact how drastically his health deteriorated from when I met him just a few weeks back. I brought mooncake back for him and also my maternal grandparents. It was the first time I bought mooncake for my grandparents with money I've earned. That was a moment which I felt really proud of myself. 


Looking back now, I suddenly realized how much older everyone around me has become. Suddenly, I'm no longer the kid I was 10yrs back. We are so gradually thrown into new surroundings and adapt to them. That's growing up, but we won't notice it. There's simply no time to take a break and have a good look around us. 


Now grandfather has passed, and I'm at the funeral for the night again. There's time for me to quietly look around me. Look at those relatives I have. Look at all things that have happened in the past. There's no definitely right or wrong in all those past actions and the stories I've been told. It's all a matter of perspective. What's right to one can be very wrong to another. We have to learn to accept our differences. Not condone them, but accept that we are all different. And from a different pair of eyes, the world is a very different place and everyone also appears different to each individual.


I'm fortunate to have spent some part of my life living with him and my grandmother. And now, I want to write down some of the memories I have of them. So that 1 day, I may look back at it again if I forget. 


To me, my grandmother was plump old lady who likes to hug me whenever I arrive or leave for my Yishun home. She cooks and is also a full-time couch potato. She likes to watch TV, sometimes it does seem she doesn't really get the storyline but at least the shows were entertaining back then. Remember those days when SBC was actually entertaining rather than propagating? 


She usually sits at the 3-seat sofa in front of the TV, she would have a pillow behind her back so that she could lean back onto the arm rest and watch TV. She would very often watch TV until she fell asleep. Sometimes I feel she's needs the TV to get asleep. 


She's always concerned about is having enough food, food is always plenty when we are there. During CNY, there's always Shark's Fin Soup. Come to think about it, it's been 10 yrs since I last had it from her. I miss the table full of food during CNY. 


Those were the days when MRT had just begun, she had fears about taking the train, it just seemed too alien for her and she didn't want to walk to the stations. I remember she would sometimes come stay with me at the Yishun house during holidays, she would take a cab. Costed less than $10 to get from Commonwealth to Yishun then. 


Grandfather was a quiet man, thin guy. He doesn't talk much, grandma usually does most of the talking it seems. He was a cook at a hotel, I don't really remember if I've ate anything which he has cooked cos the chef at home is usually grandma. He's a tough man healthy most of his life, smoking and alcohol seems to be his simple pleasures after work. He doesn't talk much and my memories of him are little. I do remember that he always sits in the single seater chair next to the alter, facing the TV.

He seems to like shopping at cold storage, I remember he once brought me to Queenstown, which was pretty much like the town centre back then. We ate something there, can't remember what, but I do remember he bought some frozen fried stuff back. Most probably fish fingers or scallops. Those were among my favourites.

Hearing some of the old stories some of my uncles talk about their time with grandma and grandpa gave me new insights and new perspectives into their personalities. My memories of them are bits and pieces, we see things at face value, not really knowing why they did certain things in particular ways. These stories for others make the image of them as a person, slightly more complete.

In his final days I visited him at the hospital quite often. I was there the night before he left, I felt proud to be the grandson who could still communicate with him in hainanese but it was difficult to find the right thing to say. Each night before I left I told him, "I'm getting married next year, you need to get well because I want you to be at my wedding."  The 1st night I went, he could not respond, I was not even sure if he could see me. On the last night, his eyes were bright and wide and I was very sure he could see me clearly. He responded to us and nodded when I told him he needs to get better to attend my wedding.

I was happy when I left that night, but sadly he left the next morning. I knew he tried to stay.

Midway Oct 2011

2 weeks into October and i'm feeling swarmed. Work is there as always. Somehow there's so many other things on my mind I just cant focus.

No matter how much we can multi-task. We can still only focus at 1 task at one time.

When September Ends

There's this song in the CD which is playing all the time in my car which has this line "when september ends". I seriously can't remember the title suddenly. But that's not important.

It time to look back at the past 30 days and ponder what had been done, what had not and what will be up next!!

F1 is over, I had a fun experience being involved. Perhaps more than I should be, but I always enjoyed being more involved in whatever I get involved in. There were some cockups and I've found a description for JOC (Joint Olways Cockup). Many would agree with me on that.

Much of the month had been spending doing last time preparation and amendments to the plan for F1. In the end, you may wonder why bother cos it will not fail. It will just happen and be over. Well, if we did not scamper around with our tiny modifications and improvements here and there. It may be over for good. Not trying to get big headed, but i think it's true.

Just as I thought there would be time for me to relax after F1, realization came that I'm still being bogged down by daily work. I would like to share with everyone that the daily work load here is HEAVY!! The only way you can clear everything is to give haphazard answers and do a half-F*** job. I try not to do that, which is why my home is now my 2nd home. :P

IPT has begun, had my 1st session on Wednesday. Super lethargic, can't feel my shins for the past 2 days. Let IPT be the beginning of my wonderous task of losing 35kg by June 2012. So lunch khakis, please watch my diet. Friday supper buddies, let's just drink tea. Hahahaa.

Hello October!!!

Fleeting August

I don't want this post to be another one of my "time passes so quickly" posts, but I can't help it!!!

Too little time too much stuff to do. I'm getting myself entangled in a quicksand of work. I need a long break, like weeks long. Unfortunately I can't afford it, cos gotta save up the leave for next year!!

Highlights of August.

1. I stayed late in office for several nights during 7th month, felt nothing, saw nothing.

2. Very disappointed TCB did not win PE.

3. Pre-F1 preparation 90% done.

4. Got a good lesson on expectations of grassroots. They are a very unique breed.

5. Settled on Wedding Bands!!

6. Found a not bad massage near my place

7. Weekends are getting filled with activities!! Paintball/Badminton/Volleyball!!

End July

More than a month have past once again.

Time just seems so insufficient when I start working. I've been working for more than a year it seems. I still feel i'm quite new to the job. There's still passion in me to improve the things around. I still feel there's contribution to be made, efforts to be put in.

It's been so busy the past few weeks, I've probably lack time breathing. Somehow I feel it's just going to get even busier. Prioritizing is really something I need to do more.

LIDO & IMAX

Lido has just completed it's renovation. The whole place went under a huge facelift, but unfortunately the new design simply does not appeal to me. Gone are all the Mac, KFC, Pastamania, LJS, Subway. In their place is a shick white wall laden with Samsung TVs as posters and a box office 3 times it's original size. Now Lido is just a cinema, it's no longer a place to hangout. That was really really sad, considering all the closing speech i've heard on the final day that they are a management who treasures tradition and will want to preserve as much as they can. I think they lost the focus.

HOWEVER

IMAX 3D is a revelation, even Pirates of the Caribbean looked awesome under those screens. It was an overwhelming experience. The screen was humongous and the 3D effects are all "jumping at you" type. This movie experience is really $$ worth spending. It was really an "immerse in the movie" experience. Try it and you'll love it. Choose seats wisely, middle seats will be awesome side seats will make you feel a little distant from the fun, but not much less awed.

Conclusion: LIDO, come for IMAX because there's nothing else left worth coming for. :P

Life after Life

Major changes in my life and the life in Singapore.

I'm engaged and the opposition now controls a GRC! And people who are giving feedback are getting even more aggressive and unreasonable. The authority doesn't owe you a living, you know!!?? And yes we pay just as much taxes as you do. We are not your servants!!

Work is getting more hectic and more cramped, 24hrs is no longer enough for a day.

Loads of work and quite a few projects on hand. I don't feel totally overloaded, but I can't focus for long without getting distracted by something else. Just look at how long it took me to blog about all that I've just said and about to say. hahaa.

Will be needing more breaks, but all the more I cannot afford more breaks.. Conflicting irony. WTH!

The painstakingly long project to convert attach to engaged (Egomaniac Me)

Planning began as early as Dec 2010. It took me a long time to run through my mind what are the processes, who to get involve, where to do it, when to do it, how to do it. It's basically a one man operation to begin with, which ended up as the biggest affair conjured in all my 29 years.

Feb 2011, I started roping in her clique and slowly her sisters get involved as well, then I got her colleagues to be in cahoots with me as well. For a good 3 months, she was living under a huge cover-up which was largely unknown to her. Being able to be the mastermind behind this operation really showed me how much i've known her over the years. Every single little reaction of hers was within calculation in the end. I'm sinisterly glad how good i am at that.

Getting in touch with various cinema providers and blazing through my mind for the movie to play and the meaning behind everything was a gargantuan task. There had to be a meaning behind every detail, from the the movie title, to the proposal clip, to the background music even the certification date on the proposal ring. One would think that ridiculous amount of planning had to go into this. Yes, alot of planning went in, but not everything was planned, many things just simply fell into place. I had to have quite a bit of faith and luck. Fate and chance had a large part to play in many parts. In the end I believe fate has decided we are meant to be together, so don't even think about otherwise. Muahahaa.

12 May 2011, Cineleisure Orchard. There was a movie titled "Surprise" to be shown. Under the disguise of a surprise movie screening, that was how this project was to be executed. In order to camouflage the familiar faces from her, there had to be many others who had to play the part of the smoke screen. Thanks to the help of many of my colleagues, the place was well filled and the setup up to the moment was fantastic.

Honestly, it's painfully difficult to be so exciting about the whole thing for so long and yet withhold all that excitement when I see her everyday. The final moments were the toughest, many times I smiled sheepishly at her. She was always expecting something, but i've already laid a decoy long ago so that she would suspect something else. Although she said she expected a proposal at the end, I don't think so. :P

Thanks to the help of everyone involved, my entire plan was able to play out as well as it did. Although it was not perfect, but I believe the imperfections in the pursuit of perfections will leave just as deep an impression in her, myself and everyone else who has turned up to share this wonderful moment with us.

THANK YOU ALL!!

GE 2011

This year is the first General Election where most Singaporeans are given the opportunity to vote for the party which we feel should be forming the government. For the first time in our 40 odd year history did the opposition parties seriously rise up to give a challenge to the ruling party.

I'm not sure if I've been so indoctrinated by the policies as i grew up or i simply have a very very neutral mind to tell that some opposition candidates are plain jokers. Not to say that I support all the new candidates from the ruling party, there are a few who do not seem to be the best fit for the job.

But I do understand one thing, the flaw in democracy is democracy itself. It makes the assumption that the citizens know best and will choose for the best outcome. The truth is, all the citizens know the end goal, they want a good life, good everything. But not everyone know how to get to the end goal and the government has to be the one leading the citizens in this pursuit.

More difficult here is a "good life and a good everything else" may vary from one to the other. If only we can gather everyone with the same goals and put them in one country. That would make the job of all governments in this world have a much easier time. The down side, peace within countries, but like chaos among countries.

Anyway, back to GE. Results this year is also a turning point in our political history. And from my layman understanding of the results. This is what I see.

Generally Singaporeans are now more educated, voters especially. Before this election, there is a sense that the country is run in a "everything the government says is right" way. Because the government is always right, no one said otherwise until this year, there had been so much opposition voices coming forward. So much so that it brings out all the little unhappiness everyone has about the government and amplifies them. I'm skeptical that singaporeans hate the ruling  party as much as the results shows. But some opposition party did do well to really amplify all those tiny unhappiness and amplify them so big that they mattered.

All in all I still think the government had done a wonderful job bringing us to where we are, and perhaps this change is something we need to bring us even further into the future. Nothing is perfect, development of a government/country especially, don't expect this small in the political scene to make everything perfect miraculously.

*being a civil servant or public servant will never be what it used to be*

Mind Overloaded - Off-loading Time

I've not updated my blog in quite along while. and there has been so many things in my mind which I've been wanting to share. So in order not to have a super long post, which sometimes makes reading tough. I'll be posting a series of short posts to try to cover everything I wanted to share.

What type of person is susceptible to what type of stress?

Why does a person becomes stressed? Or why do I feel stressed?

Well, stressed up is a feeling i get when something matters to me. Stressed up abt work, abt each project, abt each consultation and every feedback I get. I get the feeling from the moment I get a job to until the final instant that the job is closed. Why so stressed? Cos it's my job, to feel stressed about it is to have ownership to it. But sometimes, just too many people asking too many thing at one go, just doesn't help. I'm not avoiding the issue, I just need a refreshed and opened mind to restart the whole thought process.

Well, I get stressed easily, cos there are many things happening other than just work. And nowadays work seems to be getting the bulk of the attention. Several other things like personal life and volleyball have taken a back seat. It's time to balance everything again.

Not to mention election. Although I've already made my decision on it, it's still stressful.

Like I said before, if it matters, it stresses you up. The only way to be stress-free is to not care.

Here i am thinking abt this and that. Jamming my head with this and that.

I learnt another lesson from my storybook again. (Terry Goodkind - The Sword of Truth Series) You can care about everything, one just have to decide when to care about which one. It's a good read, i'm only 2/3 thru the whole series of 12 books. Lots of life lessons to be learnt from this book.

1 year of working

It's probably an irony to be staying home on the day that marks my 1st year into working life. I've been kept awake the entire night!! Not sure why, probably just stressed and pressure. I was in my favourite sleeping position and yet I couldn't fall asleep. And when I think I've fallen asleep (I was no longer aware of my surroundings) I started having a nightmare of sorts. I realised my surroundings when my aircon went off at 6am as it does everyday. It's just super disturbing and irritating. Like I have not slept at all.

It gave me a terrible headache when it's time to go to work. I washed up and ironed my clothes, I was ready to change. I decided otherwise, I just had an indication that my brain is totally going to be switched off today. So I took the day off and rested the day away.

And I'm feeling much better now, still kindda traumatised by the dream though. :P

How not to start a week

Felt giddy on Saturday, skipped paintball :(
Blocked nose and headache on Sunday, screwed up volleyball :(
All the above plus cough on Monday, messed up work schedule :(

Slightly better on Tuesday, managed to survive half alive. :)

Please let Wednesday be better!! :)

The Beginning of a Long Weekend

For the first time I enter a weekend with more than 100 emails still unread in my inbox. uurrggghhh!! That's just besides the point.

Long weekend is here, lots of things to do over the weekend. Watched SOURCE CODE just now. It's a good movie with an interesting plot. It's somewhat like matrix, inception but yet another totally different concept of its own. Nice. Good Watch.

Competitive Volleyball

Have not played at such an intensity for a long long time. My whole body is now aching like hell. I missed the days which I played with a regular team of players week in week out. I wonder if I still have it in me to sustain high intensity training.

Shortest Work Week EVER!!!

I'm so looking forward to this week. Monday to Wednesday on course. Thursday back at work. Friday is GOOD FRIDAY!! Muahahaa!!!

Time for a break

Stayed till super late today, cos i'll be on leave tml and on cse from mon to wed next week. Have so much stuff to clear. I can't believe the amount of issues I had to respond to after dealing with the urgent issue. Then again, after that urgent issue, I just kept getting 1 urgent after another. Not to forget meetings after meetings. Seriously!!   I think there's something wrong with our workflow. Nothing much I can do abt it, not at this stage at least.

I'm so happy there's someone waiting for me with dinner when I work late. Thank you! :)

April's Fool??

While many ppl are happily collecting their bumper bonuses, there are few lucky ones like me who have only to look in envy at the bulge of others' wallets. oh well, facts of life, you don't always get rewarded for what you have worked for. here's a another fact, you can't stop trying harder either.

The next few months is going to be a trial for myself. Taking up the numerous tasks and projects. I'm testing myself, stretching my time. Will I be able to pull them all off? Or will I end up burnt at both ends, only time will tell. I just hope i'll get better with each task and wiser with each hurdle.

Simple goals, arduous journey...

Multitude March

Ever since coming back from Hanoi, March had been pretty eventful. Ups and downs, disappointments and hope. It's this kind of time when it seems nothing seems to be going well, yet it seems there's hope that things will take a turn for the better. Lot's of new things happening around me too.

Got my first bunch of credit cards. Citibank. It's so easy to get them, instant issuance at vivocity branch. Quite cool actually, and I got 3 cards at one go. Aside from the M1 card which I know I'm going to use it to pay bills, I'm still confused when to use the rewards card and when to use the dividend card. Anyone with advice?

I got a new TO this week. There had been quite a few staff who came in after me, but this time I feel like I've been in TM for a while. Perhaps cos he'll be working with me, and suddenly I feel like a senior. Hahaha. Not really sure who to distribute the workload around in future. For now, its me and my buddy going through almost everything together, but 3 guys going thru the same thing together seems redundant. That means i'll need to find a new way to redistribute the workload once his honeymoon period is over.

I believe we had a roadkill today while doing our site check. It was an unfortunate incident involving a very reckless animal. I wanted to go back to take a look, but my buddy avoid the route. I just hope this is not a bad omen, the last time I saw a road kill, I flunk my O'lvls.

Sapa Twist & DBS vs UOB

After spending 8 hours on the train, I've arrived at Sapa. It's nice and cool, the weather is just wonderful.Totally reminds me of the weather back in yellowstone. Cold, foggy, snow-like raindrops. The hotel i'm staying at also reminds me of the hotels in yellowstone. Very wooden but not as classy.

An unfortunate event occur today during the first part of my hike into the native villages. My wallet was stolen, the side pocket where I kept my wallet was open when I was trying to get money to pay for lunch. I was really annoyed with myself then. However I tried to convince myself that it was probably left at the hotel and there was still chance of finding it. Nope!! no such luck, it was not there and the wallet was gone. Luckily this was my holiday wallet, only 2 card and some money inside. Good thing I still have some spare USD to spend, so things were not too bad.

What I really want to comment about was the difference in service level for DBS and UOB. So yah those were the 2 cards that went missing along with the wallet.

First I called DBS, after verifying my IC number, the  service person agreed that the card would be suspended immediately. When she asked me if I wanted to be given a replacement, I said yes. It was a new card, just issued not long ago. She went on to ask several other questions to verify my identity, most of which I couldnt remember at hand. She asked for things like if my account was a salary payable acc, wat were the details of my last transaction, acc no. and even i had any giro arrangements for this acc. But WTH!! I just lost my card, I want a replacement sent to my home address, how much security do you need for that?? The bank records have my address, i'm not going to tell them to send to some 3rd party location.. simply duhzZ.. I told the person I was overseas so I did not have access to all tha tinformation she needs. So I had to solve the situation myself by telling her that i'll call DBS again when I get back to Sg to get a replacement card. The best part was that checked with her if any transaction was made in the past few hrs. She told me she could not reveal anything. she still doesnt believe that i'm who I am! wth!!

In contrast, UOB had much better customer service and verification were so much easier. Just full IC number, credit limit, and when I answered my limit slightly off, she followed abt asking my current employer, which i answered correctly. That was it and they suspended the card and asked me if I needed a card couriered to where I am. How nice? They even informed me that my card has been unused in the past 24hrs so that i could have a piece of mind. The level of service is so very different.

I'm so disappointed with our local homegrown DBS. It's time to relook into useless and pointless procedures.  Thanks to the customer service of DBS, I have struck off 1 bank from my choice of credit card banks to look at for my application.

Still in Hanoi

I'm still here in Hanoi. I'm enjoying it. I'm staying in a hotel with impeccable service. They are so proactive, i felt scared. It's too much for a singaporean. The westerners simply loved it. The amazing thing is that they seem to provide the same level of service even though we are asians who are often known for not being able to reciprocate the same sort gratefulness the westerners are able to provide.

Hanoi is fast-paced, yet there's a zen feeling about it. You can feel that sense when you cross the roads here. Traffic lights basically have no meaning for the people and the motorists here. no one cares cos no one needs them. people cross wherever they want and whenever they want. Here's the zen magic, the pedestrians never ever turn to look at the traffic, and the vehicles will always seem to weave around the pedestrian without even losing a beat. How amazing is that? You will not know the feeling until you try it. There is order in chaos. I have not see any accident between the vehicle and the pedestrian over the past few days and the roads are super super packed.

The food here is great. Lots of veges, lots of mint and basil in everything. That's probably the reason why I don't see any rounded bodies around me. Probably also the fact that the average annual wage is 7-800USD. I'm sure there's also an elite rich class here. It's just that i'm not in the right city to see them, not that I care to see them. The pho (noodles) and the banh xeo (rice paper wraps) are some of the stuff that we liked here. Yummy Yummy.. Food is quite cheap here, but I believe it's still inflated due to the tourist attraction.

Loads of places have internet access, and i'm typing on a hotel provided IBM thinkpad right now!! Another fantastic service from the hotel. hahaa. But somehow, facebook is being blocked here. No way I could load the page. interesting.

I'll be off to another part of Vietnam tml evening. Sapa valley, a place where we are going to meet up with the local tribes and probably live among them for a while. Looking forward to it. :)

Not Enough Rest

It's been a month since my last post. There's been so many instances that I wanted to blog about something so many times there are things happening that i wanna just record down before I forget about it. But you know what? I'm always so tired when I get home, I fall asleep soon after I turn on the com. And I've also forgotten about what I wanted to blog abt.

Few hours ago, I was thinking abt something, I wanted to blog abt it. But by now, it's out of my mind already!!!

Amnesia + Parkinsons + Dementia + Alzheimer

Aargghh!! WTH!!

2011 - A New Beginning

It's been 2 weeks into the new year and things are happening at quite a fast pace. I have experienced for the first time the change in work pace at the turn of the year. Immediately as the holidays ends my inbox gets filled in a pace pumped with steroids. It's quite scary actually, i was getting used to the 2nd gear speed of daily work for the past few months. Suddenly things are happening so much faster.

Luckily I have this knack of getting used to new things/environment quite easily. I think I'm quite up to speed already, but the thing is my schedule is simply packed. Having enrichment courses going on at the same time doesn't really help the situation. Those days while i'm gone, I can only hope that people realize i'm not around and relent a little in their bombardment. Alas, it doesn't work that way.

New year, new experiences. I've have several things on my agenda which i'm trying to push for. I hope I can achieve them and make some good improvements in my area. I'll have to be determine to follow through with what i've started and make progress. I just hope i'm not killing myself by juggling the multiple locations i'm trying to handle. Time to psycho myself. All is WELL!! hahaa

Tried a new dim sum restaurant friday night at location where I used to have my sichuan food. Operated by the same chain, the taste of the sichuan food has changed slightly. I wonder if I could get them to do it the way they used to if I requested. Anyway, the dim sum was not bad. It's a breath of fresh air from the usual place we always hangout on friday nights. The menu had many interesting items as well. Most exciting of all was Durian Muah Chee. The durian was really rich, the skin was relatively thin, so it basically bursts in your mouth. Quite shiok.

Also tried paintball for the first time today. It really felt good pulling the trigger and seeing the pellets fly. But as a first timer, there are many lessons I learnt today. Painful lessons. It was an exhilarating experience. time passes very fast in the few games that we played. The location has pretty good facilities and the equipment were quite well maintained. Definitely would be something I would return for. Down side is simply the price. It's not a cheap past time.

Open mind, Open heart, the year will be good ahead. :)