of games&fun

it' amazing how similar your friends' character are towards life and games, casual games like monopoly.
it's really amazing.

este being the competitive one - overly competitive. she always wanted to be the first for everything, and yes..everything. ilyas being always the one who would take a step back everytime and analyse how others are playing, manipulating others whenever there was an opportunity - to get fidah to sell her properties to him! khai, as usual backing out the entire competition altogether due to excessive pressure, hence she was the banker. fidah, the really slow and steady one, but at the same time never making it easy for anyone else - buying every single property that she lands on, hence making it almost impossible for anyone else to buy houses. fye! who obviously needs some luck on the dice. he's forever many steps back and i doubt he got any thing more than 7 when his dice was rolled, hence loosing advantage on the advancement of his game. i guess, luck wasn't on his side and it came as not of a surprise that he was the first to be declared bankrupt when he landed on my property! muahahaha. me? well, as usual, i do not really know what i want from the game, what houses to get, what property to buy..it just comes. when the feeling comes, then the buying do.

we had a good laugh, especially when someone blurted out that we played like we were malays - malays in monopoly.

we had fun. and i enjoyed it :)

everything in moderation
all the boredom is seriously, kiling me and i mean it, in literal sense.
i completely lost track of the day, date and even time! i'm at the moment living a life devoid of purpose - wait a minute, what kind of life is without purpose? yeah, exactly. welcome to my oh-so-boring life. you get the point. i feel like crap and it isn't fun.

i think i'm a workaholic. yes, i think i am. damn it.
i love my work, my job - well, not just the army but the entire idea of work - its never ending schedules, long "things to do" lists, late nights due to work related matters and that stressful environment. gosh, i miss them.

why can't i have a more gradual transition to this seriously-nothing-to-do period. damn. this truly suck. it was just 2 weeks ago, when my life kindda had a different form. 0530: wake up,0545: breakfast at the cookhouse which was like 7262416km away,0615: area cleaning, 0700: prepare for lesson, read notes and get all changed up, 0730: reporting of strength,0745: the start of the first lesson, 1000: canteen break! 1030: the start of the second lesson, 1130: break for lunch,1300: commencement of field training & practical, 1530: preparation for physical training and runs,1630: commencement of runs&pt, 1800: dinner, 1900: wash up, 2100: orders for next day's mission, 2130: preparation of orders, map planning, loading of stores,0015: prepare to sleep, while at the same time complain on how busy and tiring the entire day have been, 0030: officially and finally, sleeping. then, 0530: wake up...and it goes on and on..

now. wake up at god knows what time, 10,9,11,1300,1500??! breakfast? - probably too late and even if i do wake up early, i have to hunt for food and usually which is ironically rarely since i don't wake up early most of the time, there's not much of a choice except for : ellen degenerous, oprah,friends! or the repeat of ugly betty. those are my breakfast. then, for lunch, i have to walk like 540metres to lot1 shoppers mall. and yes, 540m - that's how bored i was, i even calculated the distance from my house to lot1 shoppers mall via google earth! the time is now 3pm? what will i be doing? hmmm, on my couch watching grey's anatomy, from one episode to the other, loosing track of time. and eventually, i will come to dinner. after dinner? more grey's anatomy! watching grey's anatomy was probably the best thing that happens everyday. bored. crap. suck.

that's my current state of life.
nonetheless, i know that in time to come - sometime in the next few years or months, i will begin to miss this so-called life, where there are NO tasks, NO tests/exams to study for, NO deadlines to meet, NO things to do list, and basically NOthing to worry about. Should i be appreciative and simply savour this moment? i dunno. but i think, for what's worth - its definitely a great break, while bearing in mind that always, everything in moderation is certainly the best. and this is definitely not moderation.

the struggle it takes to be human.

apprehensive.

the ceremony of the Elevens.
you know what, it's not fun. not fun at all! the past week has been, err..super duper boring. spending almost everyday bumming around the house, watching every single show on cable, sleeping, more sleeping and even more sleeping! it was definitely the worst week ever..
i was clearing up my stuff, and found my sec 2 literature book, the Giver. I used to dread reading that book in the past, hence i never really did well for my lit papers! but amazingly, due to extreme boredom, i decided to read that book once again to relive my 'not so glorifying literature days' back in dunearn..and my goodness, i was actually hooked! i completed the book in 2 days and i must say, it seems way more interesting than it used to be in the past and ironically, i enjoyed it. perhaps, that was the best thing that happened last week, besides being able to watch, david tutera's party planners on travel&living and grey's anatomy on dvd.

a black&white affair
i was surfing the net for something interesting to do and i happen to come across a great idea! let's plan and throw a party! okaaay, crazy right. but no! i think it will be fun :) - black&white affair, winterwonderland and retro themes just to name a few. there are currently so many ideas at the back of my mind and i'm so excited. but then again, in reality, we all know how such a task is almost impossible to accomplish. nonetheless, i feel it's still a great idea!

cha!cha!cha!
beautyworld, the musical. i wanna go catch it! a local production that is widely recognised as one of Singapore's first and most successful, home grown musicals. having performed internationally on world renowned stages such as in Chicago & Japan, this production is definitely worth catching!

just received this photo, courtesy of the 62ndCSM course

from GREEN to PINK*

it definitely feels great to be back as a civilian once again, officially! the transition to civilian life was definitely easy, well..except the fact that i have been waking up spontaneously at 0545am sharply the past few days. but, i'm very sure that will die off very soon. hehs. so, NS has been great. i enjoyed every moment of it and yes, i am very thankful for all the exposure that i was given by my superior commanders and i'm very glad that i've tasted almost every part of the specialist's pie. moving on, to cope with my daily expenditures, which can be quite costly especially with the recent hike of cab fares by like 187862%, i've decided just like every other individual of my age to work and earn some money! hence, come this january, i will be working at pricewaterhouseCoopers. yes, it sounds pretty alien to me at first, until khairul told me to wiki that company. apparently, its one of the 4 big accounting firms, alongside with ernst&young, deloitte and kpmg (which btw, still does sound alien to me) that offer professional services to companies worldwide in terms of tax, assurance, accounting and consulting. rank no 58 in the list of Fortune's Magazine's 100 best companies to work for this year, it was a no wonder that khairul wanted to work there in the future. but seriously, prior to this i have no knowledge of that company at all.

the place, situated somewhere near rafflesplace is really cool and is somehow very scary. it's like a totally new world. i was quite shocked when i went there for an interview. and because of that shocking experience, i don't even dare wear my jeans and polo tee ever again to that place! nonetheless, the interview went well and to sum things up, my role in the company is simple: just be an assistant to the auditor. do what he tells me to do and i'll be fine, well..that was what the human resource manager told me and of course, she warned me of how devilish and demanding these people can be. i'm expected to work over time, if required! i am so looking forward to start work! the pay however is hmmm quite small, relative to relief teaching where you get to earn 73263562 times more. but it's okay, as long as it's for the experience to realise how not so much of a bed of roses the working life can be.

to fuzion, when can we meet up? my camera is dying to be filled with stupid, cranky, crazy and idiotic faces of you guys. can you hear that? it's calling out: camwhores!camwhores!camwhores! hahaha.

good day.
oh, *my pink ic laa.

ORD parade: great people from charlie coy, jinwei and charles. good luck for the job that both of you are doing!


the handful of NSFs in the csm course

i've yet to meet any of my fuzion friends lately. haha, probably one of the longest duration of not meeting up. but it's okay, since everyone have their own lives to attend to. i guess, this is all about the transition to adulthood where meeting up with old friends are just as difficult as getting to know new ones. as i began to realise this phenomenon happening, i guess it's all about being independent after all. i couldn't have imagine what would have happen to me if i was overly dependent on my close friends. i'm pretty sure life would be miserable.hahaha. yeap, but i think this space in time, would allow us to find out who actually we are by moving out from our own comfort zones, meeting with new people, having new set of friends and doing things that would simply remind us of what we had missed in the past for being so close to each other. at least in the next 10 yrs or so, looking back in retrospect about our youths, we wouldn't have regretted for having only a handful of great, close friends.

i'm appreciating my life now and i think it's great :)

the heart has its reasons, that reason knows nothing of.
ord loh!, well in 3 weeks :)

the people that mattered.

jalan raye with dunearnites

more photos to be uploaded. do be patient :)

commanders cohesion :)

the cycling team.

this is where we got lost. trying to orientate ourselves to the terrain

just beside the ketam quarry

having a picnic on the board walks at chek jawa. its on high tide, hence you can't see the corals!

ORD LOH!

Just as i have expected, the feeling of ord-ing is supeerrb! finally, its gonna be my turn to shout: ORD LOH! I didnt really go to camp the entire of last week, officially. Now that i'm undergoing the CCC- nah, its not the commandos conversion course, but rather CIVILIAN conversion course..i have the luxury of experiencing a specialist greatest dream which is to have.. NO men, NO Csm, NO bunk and NO duties!

thanks to the clearing of offs and leaves, the commanders group decided to go for some adventurous trip to ubin, well to experience nature again but this time in berms and t-shirts. it was fun though i thought it was kindda of dangerous and physically demanding. an activity equivalent to our 12km route march! Mansfield and Tee had their fair share of wounds after falling from their bikes for a total of five times! next time, we have to bring the first aid box along. We explored the entire island beginning with chek jawa on the eastern shore. Sadly, we came at the wrong time, it was on high tide..hence no corals or beautiful sea creatures could be seen :( nonetheless, we had a lot of fun especially on the western biking trail which had a warning sign that said: this cycling route is not for first-timers. but we went anyway. at the end of it all, we were pretty shagged out that we slept on bus 2 that brought us all the way to bugis junction from changi village, where we caught a lame-ass show: balls of fury.

ops order brief: the battalion mission..terrain, enemy course of action, intent..

the very helpful information board. showing us all the roads. but can you spot the problem?

all tracks in the jungle ARE THE SAME!

ONE of the more interesting bike trails

the warning

ahh!finally, a place to get cold drinks!

some of the injuries

pitt stop at chammar hut, where we we overlooking malaysia

eid Mubarak! :)

selamat hari raya, to all my muslim friends. lol. hyper-high mood now. i was just reading my previous post, and my goodness i thought it was freaking random and 'emo' laa. anyway, hari raya was celebrated with much joy this year, especially when my first day of raya lasted for more than anybody else..(only my relatives, este and her sis knew about this!) its damn embarrasing. but it was still fun. interesting to have an unconventional raya this yr.

my dad had to fly off to New York for some work trip on the fifth day of raya and i bet he's enjoying all the business class treatment now. damn envious. but life here still have to go on :) because my dad is leaving, he decided to bring along his laptop with him. and that laptop happens to be the ONLY medium for me to work on my magazine.

if not for suhaila, i would have a lot of problems finishing my work. thanks a gazzilion! Okay laa, my thanks also extends to my other friends and cousins who offered me their lap tops. thank YOU :)

my ord magazine, otherwise known as the photo journal is almost ready after much difficulties. finally, i can think about something else. Oh, also met up with the fellow commanders to celebrate tee's birthday at this place. talked a lot of shit and stuff and met with some of the aslc people..and gerald was there too. apparently, he has surpassed all of our expectations of him becoming a pilot. now that he has survived the course that has the highest rate of attrition, he's on his way to captain-hood, well maybe still a long way..but yeah eventually he will be a captain whom i have to salute! very excited for next monday's swim and run as well as tuesday's cycling trip with the commanders to pulau ubin. finally doing something to improve my fitness so that i can survive the csm course come the begining of next month.

jalan raya for dunearn and acsians will be next weekend. and it would definitely be interesting because it has been eons since i last converse with them. looking forward to it too :)

is this how it should be?
as everything is slowly coming to an end with ramadhan ending officially today, ops bacinet standing down next tuesday, ord in no time, 12th mono photo magazine finally almost completion and bla bla bla, i'm quite surprised at how my feelings are right now. By right, this was supposed to be my happiest period of the year. However, by left..it's not happening so. firstly, my hari raya prep truly suck big time - i'm so not in the mood for the festive celebration. the feeling is just not there. and to make it worse, i think i'm falling sick. yes. what the crap. and my mum's obsession with the house cleanliness can at times be rather irritating. but its okay, she does it every year. i dont understand why she must make herself freaking busy this period of the year, just chill and relax ah.

heck.i cant go on. i have a lot to blog about but i'm just not in the mood.
bad day, i supposed. ironically.

this blog is almost dead! thanks to my busy schedules.

anyhow, the past week has been hectic with preparations for the NS40 commemorative dinner interaction with the minister, collecting photos for the ord magazine as well as sorting out company line management issues especially when my csm had to answer to a higher calling at sispec as a company warrant officer. as hectic as it may be, i still managed to squeeze some time for my probably almost forgotten friends, otherwise known as the fuzion. so yeap, managed to break fast together with them at hjh maimunah's restaurant while at the same time celebrate ilyas's twenteen birthday with a cute little brownie cheesecake from one of the bakeries at taka. after the long dinner, we decided to take a stroll down geylang serai to experience, well..the spirit of hari raya but it turned out really nasty. firstly, the crowd made it almost impossible to walk in between the stalls and to make it worse, the weather was freaking humid and warm. being very 'garang' people, we decided to seek salvage at the nearest coffee house - the coffeebean@s'pore post to chill out. nonetheless, it was fuuunn! though i hope that we could have more of such gatherings, i doubt it will happen..well, at least for the next few months :(

professional camwhores! fidah, myself, ilyas, este, khai and fye!

i thought this picture reminded me a lot of the last supper shot!

happy birthday ilyas! here we see ilyas posing for that million dollar AC smile :)

all taken on the over head bridge at geylang serai

i also went to meet up with my fellow ac trumpeters at holland village's swensens just to catch up on things. everyone was there except for boris and johnathan as they were on holidays overseas. and i have to give a big thank you to daryl who treated us ice-cream for his birthday! happy twenty-one birthday daryl! :)

a reunion! j2,j3,j4 and j5 batch

today was finally the day where i got to meet the other 10 aspiring and promising NSFs(or so that was how they introduced us) who are going to engage the prime minister for the NS40 dinner. It was cool and fun! especially when you put people who are eloquent and vocal in expressing their views from all sorts of vocation together in an area. we simply connect! it was cool because we share this common idea that despite our view on how things may not be as ideal or as smooth sailing as we thought NS would be, we seek pleasure in experiencing the finer things that the organisation could offer. to a great extent, we felt that NS has been a rewarding, if not an enriching experience. i finally do not feel that i'm all alone in this whole positive-NS-experience shit. cool! :)

looking forward for thursday : NS40 commemoration dinner!

rambles.
okay. this is seriously not the feeling that i expected after atec. things are very much still the same. and it just gets worst! why can't we be like other batches, where they could ORD in peace, without having to go through ops bacinet and all those time-consuming courses. 3 months to ORD : half of sept going for POI courses, while the other half is dedicated to teaching the men what we have learnt, 1 month of ops duty at exxonmobile in october and another month for much suffering at ASTW for CSM course. what the hell. life couldn't have been any easier for me.

i still have 10days of leave to clear and i'm really curious how they are going to schedule them for me. screw them lar. everything is just lip service. promise here and promise there..i'll see about that..don't worry, i will sort it out. if you can't, just say so.

but whatever it is, i'm gonna carry out my own personal operation : OPs orange pegasus.
profile of ops: to do whatever it takes to get my driving license!
the DDAYHHOUR is by the end of this year.

heck laa. i'm in a lalala mood.
ramble.ramble.ramble.

damn envious of gerald!flying off to aussie, earning big bucks, an officer to be, great prospects and blaa laa la. why? heck la. mat. make the best of the situation while you still can :)

alan and i, all set and ready to go!

army daze:junglehat funso..say it with me: ORD LOH! my days in 1GDS are numbered, finally.

atec is officially over.great news! results of the battalion will be out next thursday :) in a nutshell, i have truly enjoyed the entire exercise though i suffered tremendously during the first mission with all that load (which still does cause strains and aches to my shoulders till this very day!) and the long distance of marching. but overall, i thought it was an interesting exercise. everyone was on their toes giving their best and to sum things up, i was glad to be part of this mono, and battalion that comprises a great mix of individuals and leaders. here are some of the pics.


the command group

at the declaration of exercise cut(endex!)

with CSM and PC

recce of objective at a high feature in limchukang with alan,andy and cpt paul

on the whole, i have truly enjoyed myself

ATEC IS FINALLY HERE!

alright..been pretty busy lately due to the preparations for atec stage 2, hence the social vacation. anyway, here's the letter that i wrote to the company in the hope that they will be more motivated than ever(not that they are not..) to give their best in the coming days.

Hi guys!
Don’t worry, I’m still fighting atec! It’s just that after reading Luke’s letter to the company, I feel inspired to write something for the company to give my five cents worth of what I think atec is all about for all of us. I wanted to express this vocally to everyone but I supposed most of you wouldn’t be very keen in listening as resting time seems more appealing than anything else. Whatever it is, I hope this note would spur and motivate you guys to give your best for the coming atec :)

Atec to me is of course a chance for us to show those dudes up there of our worth, so that they know people down here are working their ass off each day.hehs.but ultimately, I feel that it is all about the celebration of our journey thus far. Being total strangers right from the start, we are now working together for a common cause. It wasn’t easy especially with our differing backgrounds. But nonetheless, we have overcome all possible barriers and we have come this far as friends and comrades in arms. Browsing through your photos that have been compiled since your PTP days for the battalion video presentation have truly moved me. It made me realize how much all of us have transformed since our botak, chao recruit days. I don’t have to be in first year to find out if your initial days were memorable, the photos had spoken for itself.

People come and go but for what is left in this company are the better if not the best ones. Being the smallest company around (though sometimes I wonder if we’re the smallest functioning company in the SAF), it’s a wonder how we could still pull through the major exercises such as voyager,greyhawk,seahawk and lancer successfully. Hence, it speaks volumes of the strength and the quality of the men here in our company. CSM asked me last Friday while OC was giving his terrain familiarization brief to all the commanders if I think we will all do good for the coming atec. I told him straight in the face that I think we won’t do good for atec because I simply know we will all do GREAT for it! That is how much faith I have for this company to perform excellently or this coming exercise. We are as great as we want it to be! Of course it will not be an easy task but as the cliché saying goes: as the going gets tough, the tough gets going!

To the section comds, I can’t believe that we have come to this point of our lives here in 1gds. Remember those horrible moments in GCC when Gawain had to carry his cupboard while running around this very parade square that we fall in every morning for first parade.Haha! Those moments are classic!

When I passed out from sispec,just like most of us maybe with the exception of Hao Wei who is “SIAO ON”, I never imagined myself being in an active unit leading a section of 6 men(although now I’m only technically leading 3 men!), training with them for major exercises, staying up late to complete the terrain doctrine, kena screwed by you know who because of our lacking in pride for the things that we do, signing extras and a lot of other things. But like they say, you can never know what you’re capable of doing until you have no other choice. However, life here has been a bittersweet experience. We may have our tough days but we also have days that were enjoyable. It has been fun and interesting. Those will be moments that I will cherish when I leave this battalion. Like I have said this before, lets work together, motivating each other when times are difficult (which I believe would be so in the next few days) and finish this well on a high note. Let this atec be a celebration of our friendship and how much we have transformed for the better over the months here in bravo :)

To the regulars(Andy,Eric,Anthony,OC,CSM,PCs and PSs), I have come to feel very fortunate to be working hand in hand with you guys who have been very patient in tolerating our nonsense, listening to our grievances, for imparting with us with invaluable skills and knowledge in things that we never get to learn in sispec – how to survive well in unit. You guys have been generous in sharing your experiences with us, for without them I’m pretty sure our lives here wouldn’t have been this enriching. You guys have not just been a great mentor but a friend to all of us. Kudos! You have all earned my respect for your dedication :)

To platoon 6, let’s show the umpires one more time what we’re capable of doing. We may be the smallest in strength but we’re definitely not the weakest. To my section, I thank you guys,especially safiee, my 2ic for being very patient with my expectations and making my life easier than it could have been. (can someone please translate this to zhou lin) Let’s push on and work our ass off one more time. Chee Loong, please make sure that you can provide suppressive fire for all of us, especially PC. Let’s not allow PC to die once again at the objective! Haha.

In conclusion, bravo let us all give our best for what is worth. I believe we can do it and I know WE CAN. Bravo Hoo-Ha? HOO-HA!

“I gotta run! Deepan, lets do the sand Model!”

2SG Matin

all the offs are now OVER!

endless march.tactical night walk.12km prep march.sop discussions! ahh.NO!

I'M so gonna dread the training in preparation for atec stage2. i dont wanna fight atec :( boos. the thought of it simply sucks. but whatever it is, i will be freakin happy on the 31st august. ahaha! the end of the much anticipated atec. hehs.

i just don't understand why is everyone so serious in a casual shot! take the chill pills man! :)

on the side note, i think the past week has been not too bad :) celebrated my bro's and cousin's birthday, meeting up with este&ilyas for our first inaugural supper, went to sentosa for games with the other commanders and yes, to top everything else, my favourite - guard duty. wth.

birthday boys! the one in white - my bro (top) and the one in red - my most inquisitive&naughty cousin (below)

hanging out with ilyas and este has always been fun. especially when we discuss about things in general. its funny how your friends can formulate very crazy theories about some things that i shall not discuss here :) hehs. oh yes, we met khairul and shaun who were there at al-ameen for SMU's orientation activity. they're freakin enthusiastic laa! wearin their orientation tees and all. wonder how i'll be like next yr.

this was taken at 2330hrs. our first inaugural supper trip. what's up with ilyas's expression??

hmmm..what were you guys thinking? nonetheless, i felt like a lamp post! freakin extra. its like as though the picture could have survived with me being cropped up. hehs.