RSS Endeavour - Photo taken from Wikipedia

It was an impressive sight indeed, witnessing first-hand how a massive landing platform dock ship docks at the naval base. It took fully an hour for it to come astern to the dock and finally anchor itself to it using many thick, high-tensioned ropes.

Got to meet some of the sea soldiers at the base as well. Maybe I'll see William around some day as the guardroom was giving us a lot of procedural trouble.

Also had the opportunity to interact with those in our team during the lulls between arrival and boarding. Even the regulars from the dog unit were friendly on a chilly weekend night.

Had an inside view of the LPD, a chance that I think only Woon, who's in the Navy, will get. Lots of guys on the MDES scheme, and plenty of female officers as well - characteristic of a naval vessel.

Only just reached home from supper at Changi Village as well. I have no idea how the seemingly thousands of stalls selling the same thing survive in a single hawker centre. And boy are they all generous with the oil.. and flour.. and coconut milk. Spotted a bit of baboks as well.

I guess the whole night was an enriching eye opener indeed in many other ways too numerous, or sensitive, to be posted here.

Would not hesitate to go out with the same people again and again as well. Wonderful company. Street-smart and understanding as well, just the people we need now at a time of turmoil and change in my department as August arrives.

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Just to share a little anecdote I uncovered whilst browsing through Rich Brother, Rich Sister by Robert and Emi Kiyosaki at the PageOne outlet in Vivo this afternoon.

***

I will tell you a story that you can use on your journey. This story will assist you when life presents you your biggest tests of faith. This story will give your soul vision when times are darkest.

One day there was a man who stood on one side of Niagara Falls (Canada) with his bicycle. A small crowd gathered as he announced, �I will ride my bicycle across this steel cable stretched to the other side of the falls.�

Oohs and ahhs came from the crowd.

�How dangerous!� a young woman said.

�Please don�t risk your life,� pleaded another woman.

�You�re nuts,� said an older man. �You�re going to kill yourself.�

�I know I can do it,� said the man as he climbed on his bicycle.

Soon he was slowly peddling his way across the cable, dangling and swaying just a few feet over the raging falls. One slip and he would be gone forever. The crowd waited breathlessly as he reached the other side, turned his bicycle around, and peddled back.

As soon as he was back on land, the crowd rushed forward, many saying, �We knew you could do it. We had faith in you.�

�Should I do it again?� He asked with a big smile. �Sure,� replied the crowd. �We believe in you.�

�Okay,� Said the man. �Since you now believe in me, who wants to go with me?�

Suddenly the crowd went quiet. People started to squirm. In the midst of the silence, a few began to leave. Then from the middle of the crowd, a small voice said, "I�ll go with you.� The crowd gasped as a petite young girl stepped forward and volunteered to be his passenger. As the girl climbed into the bucket on the front of the bicycle, many people in the crowd grew angry.

�How dare you risk her life?� said one person.

�I�m calling the police,� said another.

Slowly, the man, the little girl, and the bicycle started out across the falls. The crowd was deathly silent. Everyone took a breath as they reached the other side, turned the bicycle around, and headed back. Once safely on dry land, the crowd let out a loud cheer as they congratulated the young girl for her courage.

�What gave you the courage?� asked a woman of the young girl.

�Weren�t you afraid?� asked another.

�No,� replied the young girl.

�Why not?� asked the woman.

�Because this man is my father,� said the little girl. �I don�t just believe in my father. I trust him with my life.�

Most people believe in God, but very few people trust in God. When times get tough, go beyond your belief in God, and trust in God.

We all know people who believe in God but do not trust in God. This may be why so many people will cling to boring jobs, low pay, bad people, dead marriages, or toxic environments. As I�ve said before, �People want to go to heaven, but they do not want to die.�

Many prefer to hang on to something familiar, rather than let go and let God take them to their next destination.

***

Time for reflecting.. On the things we are doing now, the things we should do and the things we had ought to do.

As per what the ancient Greek philosophers Heraclitus and Plato once mused, "Everything flows, nothing stands still." Nothing can change the past, yet we can still change the future.

Have a little faith - in yourself, your true friends, and God

Together we can all make things happen(:

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I guess Alvin sums it up well in his latest post大雨 (Heavy rain) when he mentioned

"常在新闻看到别的国家在淹水，也曾听过老一辈诉说新加坡以前也常淹水。却没想到当今的新加坡也会淹水，而且还淹到乌节路市区去。

国人怪政府，政府怪PUB，PUB怪天气。问题没有迅速解决的方法"

(The younger generation is used to hearing about floods in other countries in the news, and also about the massive deluges that used to swamp Singapore in the past from the elders instead of experiencing one for themselves. One never thought that modern Singapore will ever experience a flood; yet when it came, even glitzy Orchard Road, the premier shopping belt in the city-state, went under water.

The citizens heaped blame on the Gov't; the Gov't passed the buck to the PUB (Public Utilities Board) and ultimately the PUB resolved to attribute it all to 'acts of God'. No one seems rather interested in nipping the problem in the bud.)

My translation skills are not bad eh? I half suspect it's Rachel who's behind the post though. I'd never seen my cousin ever post in Chinese over the past few years his blog has been in existence.

So Orientation has begun for NUS students.. Finally. Then again I guess the weather's been wrecking havoc on all their plans in one way or another though. Thoroughly unlucky. Hopefully in two years time this sort of weather changes will still be an exception rather than the norm. Or at least rain/flood/anything during curriculum time la.

96 days to the start of A levels then. Whoa, that's ruddy fast. And its August once more. As I won't be touching the big 2-0 until next year, I can still count myself as relatively young even as time flies by us.

Alright, the rain has ceased and thus its about time I take the cue to leave the house and go out.. alone. That's what happens when past friends become mere acquaintances, or even strangers; others have events (on a sunny offshore island?) going on and the rest are pretty much stuck in camp. I guess there's always a price to pay in life. It's nigh impossible to bring back those halcyon days it seems.

And the cycle repeats for every person leaving school and either enrolling straight into Universities/enlisting into the armed forces.

Speaking of the latter.. I need to make a few passport sized photos for my warrant card instead of sticking with the pixelated print-out of a photo I engineered the previous night.

Lastly, I've listed my occupation as Regional Multi-Purpose Disciplinary Interface Customer Service Ambassador on Facebook. Pretty apt, no?

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Just when I was about to enjoy my half-day off on Friday in-lieu of the following day's NDP Preview, I was penned in along with the rest of the NDP people from our side to join the 48 men GOH over at MINDEF podium.

And thus my very first parade in the command was held there, welcoming the Vietnamese Navy Chief (who was about 50 mins late). Too bad I couldn't get to visit Aaron - I got his message only after I returned to camp. A case of so close yet so far then.

One last thing, the MINDEF building is so deep and so far up the hill that I think one will be able to keep fit if he commutes to and fro the site by foot from the entrance

So my half-day off got snowballed to next week. We've decided to take it on Thursday afternoon instead.

As a result, this is what my schedule next week looks like now (tentatively)

Mon - Off
Tues - Work
Wed - Work
Thurs - Half-day (in-lieu)
Fri - Off-in-lieu for all NDP personnel
Sat, Sun - Weekend
Mon - NDP 2010

Got to spare a thought for all my friends doing access control for YOG 2010 Opening and Closing Ceremonies over at the floating platform as well. Inhuman working hours (3pm to midnight) and frequent rehearsals. Hope they get their incentives and rewards as well (meaning, off). August is a busy month for all of us indeed.

Band outing next next Sat!
Boy was I glad when Cyn shifted it from the 30th of July to the 14th of thus month. Thanks so much (:

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Mal - You're waiting for a train; a train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you, but you can't be sure.

I guess this quote, taken from the latest blockbuster ( ) hit 'Inception' is pretty poignant..

Eleven months ago, when I first decided to uproot from my Blogger account and migrate over to NuTang, I had wanted this blog to remain relatively private, its existence only revealed to a few trusted friends.

Maybe this had worked out far too well. Currently, the stats tell me that my blog readership languishes to the extent of only one unique visitor per day (on average). And more often than not, I'm assuming it is always the same person(s) that doggedly supports my writing week after week. And that's even after I finally revealed this blog to the world via a post on my blogspot near Christmas. Perhaps that four-month gap killed off any hopes that my friends will ever find me blogging ever again. A blessing in disguise? So it seemed then.

Anyways, I want to say a big thank you to my solitary supporter(s) who have propped up this page especially now when the whole notion of blogging is unfortunately being superseded by social networking platforms amongst all our contemporaries. It just ain't that cutting edge to write weary-deary posts anymore when one can just post brief statuses and still keep in touch with the people they know - and also perhaps being increasingly well versed in paraphrasing each update to 140 characters or less?

Back to the top - What does 'Inception' got to do with 'solitude'? To those who have already seen the film, you would agree with me that Cobb was living a gutted, guilty, lonely life fleeing from his past - All because of a path he chose that sparked off a series of changes in his wife Mal that culminated tragically with her death.

Similarly, I feel that I'm at a crossroads once again. A lot of choices to make that could potentially impinge on my future. Something that has always been at the back of my mind since the start of the year. It's as if my train, my so-called 'arbiter' - never came.
...

I had not made my choice that's why.
Like how the train could only arrive in Cobb and Mal's world if the subject dreamed it as such within her subconscious.

And that's what's so agonising about it all.

To sum it up - The personification of solitude ->
(That's one of the reasons why NuTang IMHO triumphs over other blog hosts)

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Isn't it ironic that I actually update more often when I was obliged to stay in at the workplace for the whole work week?

Anyways, Mondays are off-days for we people involved in the parade rehearsals all the way til the 9th of August. And thus I can safely say that my 5 day work week starts on Tuesday and ends on Saturday, one day later than the typical employee.

Today I just had lunch with an example of a typical employee over at the business and financial hub of our city. We tried out Sam's at OneRafflesPlace which, simply put it, is a bistro offering hawker fare at twice the price and half the quantity (typical of similar establishments in that area).

Following which, we sauntered over to Eskimo Cafe & Dessert Bar, a tiny outlet specialising in bubble tea which was still jam-packed with customers despite it being a quarter past two, the typical cut-off timing for lunch. I had a Super Bubble Milk Tea while she had a Mini Bubble Milk Tea.

The difference? The size of the pearls.

The verdict? Like what I was told, one cup of bubble tea from Eskimo's will "turn one away from Sweettalk and other neighbourhood dessert shops forever". She has a point there. Little wonder why the working professionals in that area all flock to it to satisfy their cravings.

And the best thing was, it did not rain at all even though the sky was undeniably overcast for pretty much the whole day. An inaudible sigh of relief could almost be heard from the temp. worker when we finally arrived back at the office.

Near Chevron House, a team from Coca-Cola was giving out free cans of 'Heaven & Earth's Iced Passionfruit Tea', a personal favourite for quite some time since it was launched earlier in the year. (Besides, the Coca-Cola webpage is quite entertaining and refreshing..) Free things being the particular favourite of Singaporeans, the cans (which were chilled to boot) were snapped up at an alarming rate. Eager as well when it comes to freebies (Note - my collection McDonald's Coke glasses is still not complete) I myself took two cans home.

Walked past the scene of Saturday's rehearsal on my way to Raffles City where I explored the new extension over to Esplanade MRT Station. The finds there include Paper Market, a gift shop selling rather exotic art and crafts as well as stationeries. I bought a small pocket book with a French cover for use in the course of my work. It'll be a log of sorts.

The new Esplanade Xchange is now open and links Raffles City with Marina Square. Looking for a new magazine to while my Saturdays away while on reserve I headed over to Times to browse through their collection. Eventually one hour plus later (after reading the last parts of Alex Rutherford's 'Empire of the Moghul - Brothers at War') I settled on FORTUNE magazine's Top 500 bumper edition which set me back by about twenty bucks. I'm going to discover in the coming week whether it was money well spent.

It can also be seen that I'm not a sucker for shopping trips that deal with fashion apparels and the like. The only thing I know was that there was a flash flood over at Orchard Road yet again.

Adverse weather we Singaporeans have been subjected to recently - Heavy rainfall concentrating in a few areas instead of blanketing the whole island evenly. The Public Utilities Board once boasted of floods as a 'once in fifty years' rarity. Now 'thrice in seven weeks' should be the more accurate descriptor.

Anyway, there's a new Red Mango store at the Xchange.. I had a taste of their yoghurt over at *scape the other week, and boy was it great. This concept of over-the-counter yoghurt was even documented by Forbes in 2008. So it has finally come to Singapore after all the hoo-hah in the States and in Korea.


The buy-one-get-one-free promotion at Red Mango *scape (ended end June I think). Just the right thing for a hot hot day and a weight-conscious dude (:

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Edit (14th July, 12:02am) - This was on the news on Monday.. A must-watch indeed. Don't you agree with my two ex-tutors (who have since left HC ) on FB?

Ms Lin - hahahahahahah she actually could say it with a straight face!!
Mr R. - ya ya!!! that was my EXACT sentiment too! i wonder if she actually believed it. she can't be THAT blur.... right??

___________________________________________

Via Channel Newsasia -

Hwa Chong Institution started school two hours later for World Cup finale
By Alvina Soh | Posted: 12 July 2010 1638 hrs

SINGAPORE: Hwa Chong Institution students were able to catch both the World Cup finals and some sleep by coming to school two hours later than usual on Monday.

The idea was suggested by its student council following an online survey in which 95 per cent of students voted in favour of starting school later.

The student council proposed starting school at 9am by doing away the daily flag raising ceremony and morning reading session.

The proposal was approved. And on Monday students were able to catch some sleep after the Spain-Holland match, which ended at 4.30am, before heading to school.

Although most students were in favour of starting classes later, there were others who felt it was inconvenient because school will end later as a result.

One student, Timothy Yap, said: "It was a feasible proposal because after all students have to get up so early in the morning and they have to stay until 2.30am to watch the World Cup. They won't be able to focus on the curriculum and their lessons either."

Russell Corr, a teacher at Hwa Chong Institution, said: "I could come into work an hour later and that was great. With Spain winning as well, I'm very very happy this morning."

This arrangement of starting lessons later than usual only applied to those in the high school.

Those in college started school as usual as the students wanted to focus more on their upcoming tests instead of the World Cup finals.

Just a few things to point out in this report.

Firstly, do they mean that only the High School council took the initiative to sound out the response from students? What happened to our College council? Presumably either too engrossed in preparing for Promos (that are like two months away..) or they aren't a huge fan of twenty two men chasing a lightweight ball that changes trajectory unpredictably.

Or maybe they aren't too fond of the exploits of certain Octopuses and Parakeets.

Next, the match did not end at 0430hrs as reported. I caught the match and the live coverage only culminated with wild Spanish celebrations at 0530hrs, just the time I would usually get out of bed on a typical schooling weekday.

Lastly, the closing two paragraphs (probably the official school stand that was conveyed to the media) left lots of people rather stunned in utter disbelief. How plausible is it that ALL students are that hardworking (especially when the block tests had just ended not too long ago). The top brass' really living in their own perfect world it seems.

And now we are inadvertently reinforcing the public's perception that we are an 'elite, uncaring school' filled to the brim with bookworms who have absolutely no life - as compared to the stylish hunks and babes over at Bishan who not only get to work hard, but play hard as well.

Let me think of any reason why College did not enjoy the two hour reprieve that the High School side was granted.

Lessons start at 0800hrs instead of 0900hrs over at the College side. This brings about a huge problem as everyone will miss the first hour of lessons, which have to be made up for in the rest of the week. And given the importance HC places on Monday timetables (usually when a public holiday falls on a Monday the whole timetable is transplanted onto another day, usually Thursday as it is the shortest day for many of us). Well, maybe the administrative nightmares that such a sudden transition will cause weighed heavily on their minds.

Then again they could just shift everything back by an hour and everything will be alright.

So is this a case of double standards? Everyone eagerly awaits the school's response to the frenzied backlash this gaffe has provoked online on both blogs and social-networking sites.

In closing, I really emphatise with my juniors who have to drag themselves to school after staying up to catch the final. Undeniably, this World Cup has captured the public's imagination especially with all the upsets, the exploits of a swashbuckling German squad and the revelations concerning both the German Paul and 'Uniquely Singapore'-an Mani.

As I stayed up late last night, I can't help but feel thankful for the off-in-lieu I was granted in recognition of my involvement in Saturday's show. It was worth it after all, a once-in-four-years experience savouring the sights and sounds of the greatest sporting spectacle on Planet Earth - in the comfort of my own home with a chilled beer on standby. No doubt life seemed good at least for that three hours.

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Its the 12th of July.

I woke up feeling a wee bit uneasy..

Something just seems to be wrong..

Then I remembered..

The 2010 World Cup had ended last night/this morning and I definitely caught the action live, as evidenced from my Twitter feed on the left.

Must be the disorientating effects of a mini-hangover.
__________________________________________________

MONDAY - Half day off in lieu for the rehearsal on Saturday. My parents mentioned that this year's one was very very disappointing. I believe the fact that it was only CR3 is to blame. And the tank barrel almost hit one of our guys when saluting on the road.

Reported back to work for overnight shift duty. Yawns. Thankfully we know the GC and FOS. All our guys. Lol. Orientation drills have been postponed til further notice. Good riddance.

TUESDAY - Sleep, area cleaning, sleep, lunch, sleep, sleep, sleep, dismissal.

WEDNESDAY - 4.8km run in the morning, followed by a briefing for Sat's CR4/NE1. In the afternoon we were surprised by our PC when we were turned out for real work. First time on the job.. and we took down three white bar personnel.

THURSDAY - While we were having lessons in the morning, the biggest sergeant-major of all visit our workplace and 'STOMP-ed' all those sleeping during office hours. We were worst hit, as the other departments had activities involving everyone - thus the mood was pretty gloomy for the rest of the day.

One more in the afternoon. Took us about 3.5 hours there and back. Long expedition. Fruitful for some of my friends. I'm still looking to strike gold after two attempts.

FRIDAY - The more senior guys in our department had to stay-in as the fallout from the furore continued. Clocked another 4.8 in the morning before preparing for stand-by bed. A brief reminder on Sat at 2pm before we were let off for the day. Half day off you see..

SATURDAY - Same old, same old. KFC AGAIN for meals >.< And we only stood down nearing 11pm (though the whole thing had concluded more or less two hours earlier) due to Aaron's bosses' (the three and two stars) reluctance to leave the compound. Anyways, a sneak preview for NDP.. Look out for our very own SPDS performance and also note the significance of 2010.. on the twenty-four hour clock.

Primary 5 kids sure can make a lot of noise. And I saw Denise Keller on the way to my post. Not that I know who she was.. Someone had to point it out to me before I even realised.

And that's all.. I will be involved in every single NE show along with the preview and the actual as a reserve from next week onwards. My current post will be filled by men serving their NSmen obligations, i.e. reservists.

So that's all :D

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