Some photos I took on Friday..



I don't think, save for Friday, that I would ever enter the gates of the 'money sucking' school for a long long time to come. No interest in driving right now; I have faith that with the numerous rail lines up in the coming years I see little reason why a car is necessary.



Surprising short walk between Raffles Place and Clarke Quay - Only about ten minutes or so. Haha. Weather was pretty nice.. (Not for those POP-ing that afternoon on Tekong though). Riverfront cafes were deserted.. They only come to life when darkness falls I fathom.



The most commonly associated image when one thinks of Singapore.. (:

Well, besides these places I also made a trip to Boon Lay (only to find out that Jurong SAFRA does not have an e-mart - SO DON'T GO THERE).. and Chevrons at Jurong East. The unnecessary detour to the former cost about 30 mins before I finally bought a pair of shoes using taxpayers' money

And lastly I did not know that the seven characters from Spongebob represented the seven deadly sins. Thank you to Facebook for enlightening me.. Other than that.. there are plenty of 'lol' groups that people seem to like joining.. Too bored ar. Go serve NS la :P

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Whoa, I'm at home on a MONDAYblogging. Given that I'd never spent a Monday morning at home for four months.. (: So its a rather sweet experience to have.. No Monday blues.. unlike those personnel who have to work today.

My sergeant's Facebook status - 'dun nid to book in is the best feeling tat u can ever experience'. So its not only us recruits that are overjoyed that we are out of that island.

Anyway, I just received the acknowledgement letter from NUS counting me amongst the 800 people (-.- so many..) who are privileged enough to attend the interview and written test. So yeah, now I have a bunch of forms to fill in and need to prepare for the test.

Crap, if by all means it is similar to the Med essay, then probably it will be a GP-esque question with a few sub questions about.. hm let me fathom a guess. Society? Politics? Fairness? Culture? Or even research like the Med one?

5th day of my leave already, and I'm left with only 6 more. Time really zooms by when you're enjoying your (brief) respite from your shackles. Maybe it's just the lull while your wardens are busy transferring you to whatever prison they have in mind judging by how notorious you were in Block 63 (for me), Ladang Prison.

And I'm proud to announce that I pay any extras for my phone bill this month as I did not exceed the allowances that are provided under the plan I'd subscribed to.

I'm so jubilant, over the moon at the cost savings I've amassed just by cutting down the duration of calls in camp by 15 minutes every other night.

Woah, and my silent mode on the phone really makes the phone silent man. And this time there's space in my memory to accommodate new stuff, unlike one unfortunate night around ten weeks ago.

Mm.. William was right about Vanilla Twilight being as nice/if not nicer than Fireflies. Both appeal to me alright.. So no preferences there (:
I may even buy Owl City's album if I uncover any more gems from it. Recommendation about other songs welcome too.



VANILLA TWILIGHT
Composed/Sung - Owl City (Adam Young)
Album - Ocean Eyes

The stars lean down to kiss you
And I lie awake and miss you
Pour me a heavy dose of atmosphere

'Cause I'll doze off safe and soundly
But I'll miss your arms around me
I'd send a postcard to you, dear
'Cause I wish you were here

I'll watch the night turn light-blue
But it's not the same without you
Because it takes two to whisper quietly

The silence isn't so bad
'Til I look at my hands and feel sad
'Cause the spaces between my fingers
Are right where yours fit perfectly

I'll find repose in new ways
Though I haven't slept in two days
'Cause cold nostalgia
Chills me to the bone

But drenched in vanilla twilight
I'll sit on the front porch all night
Waist-deep in thought because
When I think of you I don't feel so alone

I don't feel so alone, I don't feel so alone

As many times as I blink
I'll think of you tonight
I'll think of you tonight

When violet eyes get brighter
And heavy wings grow lighter
I'll taste the sky and feel alive again

And I'll forget the world that I knew
But I swear I won't forget you
Oh, if my voice could reach
Back through the past
I'd whisper in your ear
Oh darling, I wish you were here

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I feel that sometimes.. the hardest word to say is not 'sorry', no matter what Chicago or Westlife say.

For me, and some others, the word that trumps 'Sorry' is actually a very simple two letter word..

..It is the word NO

Is our conscience playing with us or what? Trying to make us reverse whatever decisions we had already made..

Especially when one gets rejected or comes out of a messy break.
What do you guys think?

Going to RWS-USS now. Whoots. Shall update more soon

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A COY cuiiiiii FANCY DRILL


This part was ok.. since its the march in


This one also.. on photo at least


Ok.. From then on super retarded alrd. Everyone, even the permstaff were laughing. Sure did a good job on entertaining them

No prizes for spotting me >.<

GRADUATION PARADE


Supposedly marching in straight after 24km.. Which everyone knows is not the truth.. Lol.


And.. Everything off..

From then on I do not have any photos alrd, since my parents couldn't spot me anyway. And in the end I put on the cap myself. Don't even have the honour of having an officer do it for me. Lol.

So passes the last day of my life on that bloody island. Last march together, and to have our PC ending it on a good note by reversing whatever he had said about our platoon during field camp. It'd not been an easy time for the commanders as well - our coy went through a lot of manpower changes, there were lots of problems and clash of egos, and so on. "Lots of things to suck up in the coy now" as our PS mentioned on FB two months ago after the old PCs ORD-ed.

Well, at least we survived, intact, as a company, as a platoon. Pushed each other on during 24km when it was so dark that even our PC fell into a ditch on the way; the moment when we sighted civilization again after 7 hours in the jungle; seeing the funnier side of (almost) all the commanders; completing the whole parade sequence even though those $&^$@$# abrasions hurt like nobody's business.. Those are really the things you remember for life, the moments that we take out from BMT.

At least we marched in the night, when the risk of heat exhaustion is low - though at times it was so dark amongst the trees that you can't even see the person in front of you - all you can do is to just follow the bright lightstick like a zombie. Or when you're fatigued, just close your eyes and walk blindly holding he fieldpack in front of you. And best of all it did not rain (unlike those who POP-ed today).

A good week of R&R awaits until we get our next posting next Fri. Then we shall see how.. Lol. Whether I will die or not for the rest of my term.

APACHE COY 01/10 END OF BATCH VIDEO



Sums it all up, and good to see Sgt Yishu being.. normal for once at the end After all, this was the guy who was still screwing people upside down up til the last moment when we picked up our stuff at the holding area before heading to the terminal for the last time.

Lastly..
CONGRATULATIONS, AND ALL THE BEST APACHE 01/10 (:

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No idea why, but I'm feeling very very restless the past two days =/

Today was a good day (:

Anyways, I made my way down to ION Orchard (only my third or fourth time there?) for an appointment. Since I was early, I attempted to shop for clothes.. a la someone who went on a spree at the exact same place the day before. Nevertheless, I failed.. Horribly. Indecisiveness.. Tsk. Maybe the ladies follow the mantra of 'shop first, think later' and just buy everything that they fancy while we guys do the exact opposite.

Gave up and made my way to Prologue on the 4th floor (Wah, I never knew ION has shops aboveground..) to browse through the cheap magazines on offer.. Now this' an activity I'm more suited for.. Not shopping

Lunch was over at Ginza Bairin (review by Alvin here); I had their special katsudon (Same as the pork except with a raw egg on top) while she ordered the chicken variant. Not sure about hers but mine tasted great!

Definitely worth a try if you're around in the area. Apparently the queue can get very long during mealtimes, so try to beat the crowd yea?

GINZA BAIRIN
2 Orchard Turn
B4-39/40/41/42
ION Orchard
Singapore 238801
Tel: +65 6509 8101
Operating Hours: 11:00 to 22:30

Today our lunch lasted for three whole hours.. LOL.
Caught up on a lot of stuff.. And things in the past seem all so insignificant now. Really appreciate the fact that we can chat and joke freely about all that'd happened and be frank with our feelings and thoughts at that point in time. Time to lay to rest all the ghosts of the past. Plot's worthy of a drama series man :P

Must catch up soon in the future whenever possible yea?
Well, I'm really blessed to have you as a friend after all's said and done
_____________________________________

AND how did Chelsea win.. via an offside goal? Ok, the Man U goal went in via Macheda's hand.. So I'm not complaining much. Poor poor performance by United overall..

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At least I managed to clock some mileage in the evening.. Won't feel that guilty for not hitting the track during this long weekend. Haha.

Second last week in camp and the mood's pretty light. No one has the mood to gan us any longer and possibly the only person not in POP mood was the CCI who taught BCCT. Can't really blame him when he's teaching something that everyone, even the commanders, find rather meaningless and retarded.

Drill competition was on Monday and I'm proud to announce that our drill squad, consisting of 80% non-UG people, with two days to prepare, with no practice on Sunday night unlike some other company, and made up of volunteers managed to do the school proud by getting 4th! Yeah, out of 4 companies -.-

Well, at least sY said we marched better than either Cougar or Falcon, and we lost only because of our bearing (so many people never shave.. ) and that our CSM told us it was not necessary to point the magazine forward while saluting on the march. And also our commands were given on the right foot for saluting while the others did the left. Oh, we had two substitutes on Monday morning itself as two of our guys were on Attend C.

Of course Dragon won hands down. Please get a CLT from NCC to teach everyone how to spin and throw rifles all over the place for fancy drill. Our fancy drill was like.. cuiiiiii - planned only on that morning itself no less.

No good news for PS JQ; not only did we get last, but it turns out that ALL the drill squads will have to perform their fancy drill during the Graduation Parade on the 8th.. So he had none of his wishes granted then..

Received our company shirt as well.. I have no comments about it. Though sY was like admiring it over his own coy shirt.. which.. is hm. =P

Had Recruits Evening later in the day, and I spent half of it catching up with sY, Jontan and hy outside the hall. SAF MDC put up a slew of wonderful performances, although they tend to think that we are guys with raging hormones locked up in an island devoid of any ladies -.-

Tuesday dawned, and we had our final BCCT lesson which was basically a summary. OC EveningAfternoon followed after lunch and our platoon just cheated and sang a few songs. Platoon 3 and 4's skits were hilarious though, especially how they niaoed Yishu tekan-ing Plt 3 and our PC when he keeps interrupting the CDO to give his SOC briefing.. and how he skips 5BX run by making us squeeze then spread three times in a row. And how PS KL always bang so loudly during sedia for first parade. Best thing was Plt 4.. That guy imitated our OC.. but demoted him to 2LT from LTA. And LTA Justin wanted to indent nightsnack for him on Thursday (aka confine him)

Final SOC after partaking in some snacks indented by the commanders, and I did SOC 5 - which means I've never done a full SOC while in BMT. Acheivement eh.. Hamsin from Section 1 clocked 4:04 for the 600m grading.. Crazy man..

Games Day was held on Wednesday morning and our company lost every single game. Lol. We only won one game, and even that was because our commanders were super good at throwing grenades, since one of them was from softball last time haha. Graduation Parade rehearsal followed.. and it was cut short due to the intermittent rain.. (: At night our singing session got extended because all the commanders were trying to get one another to teach us the infantry song. >.<

Another rehearsal was due the next morning and we did the run-through three times until lunch.. And it was very tiring alright.. Marching in and out, everything on and off, under the hot noon sun. Rushed back to company line to pack all my stuff in my locker into the field pack for last bookout and also to send arms, forfeiting my lunch in the meantime. Went down to form up with a super heavy pack as well as a black sling bag in front as I simply had too much things to bring home.. =/ NE presentation at the Main Audi followed and after watching ours and Dragon's skits (theirs abit preachy.. quite irritating =/ so ours still better (: ) we rushed to the ferry terminal for our last bookout!

Yup, the lucky few of us who improved alot for IPPT got to leave at 1530 hrs that day, compared to 1830 hrs for the rest. So.. happy ~~

And then I did nothing worth noting down today. Hais.
Really want to go out, walk around town, chitchat with people, get new clothes, meet up with friends and so on. Too bad nothing was planned for today =/

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Located at Rochester Park in a renovated and chic pre-war black and white colonial bungalow, Goodwood Park Hotel's Min Jiang@One-North has been bringing in locals and expatriates alike to savour what its extensive menu has to offer. And boy did the menu not disappoint. I can safely say that it is one of the best Chinese restaurants in Singapore taste, variety and presentation wise. (:

Must-trys include Chef Goh's Appetizer platter (comprising crispy diced chicken marinated in Chinese Wine tossed with Wasabi dressing, wok-tossed lobster medallion coated in spicy egg yolk crumbs, crispy eel coated with vinegar sauce and sesame seeds, and pan-fried scallops in Tientsin Pear and topped with XO sauce) and its authentic wood-fired Beijing Duck, which is served along with the meat - and that's the main difference presentation-wise between it and other restaurants, which serve only the skin.

These two outsidestanding dishes alone are actually enough to satisfy the palate for a table of three, without the need for any accompanying dishes. The Beijing duck alone has eight condiments, sauce and around twenty paper-thin crepes to go along with the meat and skin. Heavenly indeed.. Especially with the special 20% discount for the duck


The whole dish is edible.. except for one patch of wax..


Heavenly roasted duck with sides

There are still many many more outstanding dishes that we'd yet to try though. Will definitely make our way there again to enjoy the rest of the menu.

And before I forget, it is a perfect spot for a romantic dinner, given its rustic surroundings and the experience of dining under the stars outside the restaurant. Just the right place for any ad-hoc dinners and dates

MIN JIANG AT ONE-NORTH
5 Rochester Park
Tel: +65 6774 0122

Lunch: 11 am � 2.30pm
Dim Sum: 3pm � 5pm (Sat � Sun, PH)
Dinner: 6pm � 10.30pm

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to THIS..



And we'll all be able to catch up once again, after so so long.
Thanks Jontay for mooting this idea (he'd been rather obssessed with this place ever since construction started.. lol!) and well, I seriously hope that he gets enough positive responses to make this trip come to fruition (:

Not going to be cheap, especially the entrance fee for the theme park - then again, its Universal Studios we're talking about here.. Not Escape Theme Park with its $7 promotional prices some years back.

11 more days left on Tekong for us, and I'm getting quite nervous for Drill Competition tmr. Although PS hoped for us to get third ('got face and no need perform on 8th after 24km march') out of four companies I still want to do well and maybe, just maybe, be able to perform on the day itself in front of all our parents and friends. ((:

Thus second is good enough . Not asking for too much right, hahaha.

Booking in at 1830 hrs (^$^&$%#@). Think all the companies in our cluster going in about the same time. Gonna be a short week though because of Good Friday.

Rehearsals, rehearsals and our last SOC. What else will be planned for this week? Hm..

Take care people..
Wonder who reads my blog nowadays.. =/
Hopefully I did not turn anyone away..

Photo credit - cisco_pics on Flickr

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