2010 annual report

Hi all! To whoever still bothers to read this pathetic space that only update once a week.

It’s the last day of the year and so, here’s an annual end of the year ‘reflection’ again! Ok, it’s more of a summary of what happened this year, as usual. I had the idea of uploading photos to mark certain significant events, but I’m too lazy to do so and I’m kinda in a rush to get out of the house. So, here it goes, a quick one I hope.

I kick started the year with an outrageous trip to Bintan, aka the Scam Island. The nasi goreng was ultimate hilarious. I really enjoyed the trip. Just a bunch of guys, childish, yet matured enough to take care of themselves, and their brothers in arms. Somehow, i hope i can go on another trip with them. We might have changed a significant lot by the end of this year, but i think the core, the character of the person will never change. If he is funny, he is funny. If he is a leader, he will always be one. And 4 of those who went are deemed leaders of this country. These are the people i can trust my life with.

And after enough fooling around in scam island, i resided in another island for 9 weeks. The island of pulau tekong. It was tough, tougher than i thought, but i survived it and was elated during the Passing out Parade. Honoured to be in the drill squad, which came in 2nd, and as such, was in the front row of the parade. It wasn’t grand, but i guess it’s enough to mark this significant milestone of my life. Loved my section, and i’m sure my section loved me. They thought so highly of me, and i think they are the ones who got me a ticket to a ride of my lifetime. And so, i was posted to Officer Cadet School after the pop. I was all geared up and ready for the tough infantry training, the jungle confidence course in brunei, the unlimted route marches, the crazy field camps and tough mental challenges to go through. I was posted to an unusual Wing. Sierra. There were a billion regulars, mostly air force and navy sign ons. And i was kinda out of place. The 3 weeks there was quite ok, just getting used to life in Safti. However, i was tempted to sign on. I thought hard about my future during those 3 weeks, after the a level results were released. There was sort of a plan. But i consulted my parents and they said, ‘wait, don’t be hasty.’ I guess those were the wisest words i heard for a long time. I was young and naive, easily influenced, and didn’t know i was playing with probably my whole life. So i thought, yea, ok i shall listen. We’ll wait. And i waited.

On the last day in Sierra, i received the news that i was going to Air Wing. The plane has come to save my soul from torture. I was jumping for joy and telling the whole world the news. I was one lucky idiot out of how many others to be able to go to Ground Based Air Defence. And so i served my service term of 7 weeks in Air Wing OCS. I met a 26 year old uncle who talked sense and gave me precious advice. He ‘s a Mechanical Engineering grad of NTU and told me about his life, his decisions, his WRONG decisions, his regrets and mistakes. He didn’t want me to make the same mistakes and we spent one whole night talking. I probably grew 3 years older after the session. He left the Wing early since he was a non combatant and required 2 weeks less training. So i lived alone in my room for 2 weeks, settling unconventional stuff like getting a Social Night date and figuring out what to wear that won’t get me confined. The 7 weeks was bad enough with politics and stuff, i didn’t want any more crap. I realised I had so few female friends to ask and even had to turn to my motherly ‘sister’ for help. That was how desperate i was when the date drew near. And so, that s how i met a saviour in xunqi to help me out. The build up to the event was kinda hectic, but i guess everything paid off. It was expensive, but somehow worth it. Part of officership training is handling this kind of events, knowing what to do, and of course, having fun ultimately. And perhaps, it’s training to grow up, be a gentleman, and make more female friends before i start seeing guys as attractive. Social Night was a significant day of 2010.

After the 7 weeks in Safti, i left for Air Force Training Command in Paya Lebar. I can’t disclose much about training, but all i can say is that it’s tough in some ways, relax in others. 26 weeks. It wasn’t easy. But yet i pulled through again. Yes, without my knees giving way or me doing stupid things. It was a rather smooth sailing 6 months. I made a bunch of great buddies, who i believe, will be of definite help to me in future. As they call us – the scholar batch. All except me of course. The RSAF Combined Graduation Ceremony went all well, i received the sword all officers receive, got my wings to signify the Air Warfare Officer vocation, wore the No.2 ‘suit’ for the fine dining. And after all that training, i’m back in Safti, rehearsing for the finale. The commissioning parade on 15 January 2011.

That was about the entire NS life i had so far.

In between, i started to learn driving, manual, and will be taking the test on 1st March 2011. I also decided to diversify my qualifications and signed up for ACCA, of which night lessons begin next week so that i can fully utilize my time now. I guess this should be the path i’m taking afterall. Yup, it was a great year of ups and downs (as always) and this is the year i learnt the most life skills. Skills like living independently, which i m kinda loving it, social skills, time management (which still needs brushing up), DECISIVENESS which improved a lot and perhaps brotherhood..

This is the stage where i grow up, choose my path, pave it, and work towards it. I shall end this post with what i dreamt last night. It’s significant i guess, the last dream of 2010. And it woke me up at 4am, and i couldn’t sleep anymore. The details are kinda difficult to type out, but i think i can draw one conclusion from it. I think i’ve decided i should know someone better.

That’s it, folks. I don’t really like to set resolutions, so i shall keep it that way. Come what may, 2011!!

a mini holiday

well, i had a pretty good break i guess. it aint the best but i somehow made full use of the 2 day leave and the stay out. family chalet at aranda was not bad overall. the chalet wasnt good as i thought. it s quite old actually and has the ... chalet smell. the musky smell. anyway i went prawning in hope of putting my newly acquired skills to good use and to bring some more food to the dinner table, ok bbq pit in this case. but i failed miserably. i caught NONE. at 6pm in the evening, where the owner only releases 20kg of prawns in total two times a day, it s quite an expected outcome. which brings me to a point in business. it s really quite smart, but unethical to me. things like buffet, and prawning, or even those machines with psps, ipods amd handphones danglin at the arcades. it s a sure win. they get to control the medium. for buffets, just slow the serving process, take forever to serve and throw in the time limit, no matter how big the stomach is, it cant be filled. prawning, just have rods dipped in an empty pond! and the machines, it s programmed such that no one ever wins.

ok anyway, back to the chalet, had a fulfilling bbq without prawns, and we went for late night bowling till 1am. slept for a while before booking in. skip the boring parts. ok went back to the chalet after book out and had a simple dinner at the food court. played some mahjong before hitting the sacks earlier. went back to aftc for the last time to move our stuff to safti once more. i ll miss the place. it has been a brilliant 6 months spent at paya lebar. life was good. i m one lucky fella to be posted there for training, and to have spent it with great people and inspiring leaders.

safti. sweet old safti. memories rushed back the moment we hit the gates. i m sure i ll be black by the end of 3 weeks. evident by some sun burn after just one drill session. it s quite fun though. booked out early and met lois for movie at jp since it s her territory. i would say it s worth the money. quite a good movie.

driving today, and i mastered the highest level of the art of solitude by strolling down town all by myself. just walked and walked around orchard, mingling within the crowds, observing the changes, soaking the christmas atmosphere and just people watched. of course it would have been nice to have friends there, but i just didnt know who to ask. and so, i just had dinner and went back. it s not that sad as it seems. it s just a phase of life, where you just think.. and that s all you can do.

sword for life, wings to fly.

and we spent the entire week preparing for this. the graduation ceromony.

it was apparently quite a big event, considering the number of HEADS who actually bothered to attend. i was pretty amused. yep anyway i have to admit everything went very well and the organisation was really good. i received my sword at last! not to forget, the wings too! after the 26 weeks of training, it finally ended with this to mark it. but somehow i didnt really feel that ecstatic. it s like, oh ok, yea it s here. perhaps the build up to this wasnt that intense. we had so much freedom, so much time out, and even stay out. i guess this just shows how much these things are compared to time spent with my family and friends. however, i could see how proud my parents were when i received the sword. they must be thinking, yea this fella finally got something right after getting everything else wrong for 19 years. hahah. anyways, after the ceromony was fine dining which was labelled 'uncomfortable dining' by the guy sitting beside me. i m fine with fine dining. i m fine as long as the food is nice. and damn, it was great. soup was creamy, appetiser appetising, bread free flow, tenderloin brilliantly tender and pan fried. even the spirit was well mixed, ok minus the pot wine, everything was great. after the formal stuff, there was some sabo game which i shallnt disclose anything here.

sat morning was cage! played pretty well and that s all that matters since my main dudes were mostly missing. it s so difficult to organise when everyone s schedule clashes. lunch at koufu leisure park and then went for lesson and home. sun, i finally cleared up my army stuff. and played mahjong which i technically won $120, but the new rule was to divide by 10. so, i won 12 bucks. great. squeezed in time to watch despicable me on mio. yep it was quite good, but kinda like ratatouile. too similar plot.

today, i m at home thanks to the need to clear leave. and i dedicated my entire day to family. which was kinda weird. because, i ended up going to karaoke with them. hahaha. and it s not teo heng or kbox. it s civil service club! tried to get teo heng but no space, tried kbox but too ex. the club was pathetic, but cheap! $7 per hour for a room that can hold 10 people. just that it s like some nightclub type except that it s all the uncles and aunties trying to practise for Golden Hour (is that the ch8 programme?) or is it golden years. ah whatever. it s quite hilarious. teo heng s still cheaper though, since they stupidly forced us to order $3 cokes and $5 fruits. went for dinner at some tim sum place around farrer park. quite fulfilling. ok i guess thats it. MORE family time tml, at the chalet. till then, tata!

packed like sardines

it was non stop action since book out. but i guess it s called making full use of time.

booked out and went for driving which i m quite pleased with the progress. rushed down immediately to city hall to have dinner at the garlic restaurant once again to celebrate pam s birthday. stayed till quite late and as usual had to run for the last bus.

recharged till late morning to settle some admin stuff which failed. now i gotta do it again. anyway, met huihui for a rather impromptu lunch, which was rather awesome. indulgence once in a long while. sushi tei rocks socks.

flew back home to drop my stuff, got changed, and flew back down to town, vivo to meet up with the guys for zoukout10. it wasnt THAT good. as an early bird, we went in quite early to queue for free drinks (for singtel users only) and got just a liiiiiilllllllllll tipsy. but we realised it was too early. and before the real thing started we were all totally sober. yep that was basically what happened. because nothing happens when you aint high. ok at least that s for me. 8 cups wasnt enough. and we didnt open the bottle that one guy brought.

but the music at the retro arena was not bad. at least recognisable. other than that, not my cup of tea. it was like l4d fighting zombies, getting swallowed in the crowd. so we left after finding one another AFTER getting separated in the crowd. walked all the way out to vivocity and took a cab home.

slept till 2pm and watched a mio movie before packing up and visit ngee ann poly to help my dad with some of his work. and a nice rewarding dinner at sizzler toa payoh hub. it was damn worth it. salad bar buffet. i m never going to jack s after the sizzler session.

yep so that s about it. booked in and that concluded a great weekend.

social creatures

the freedom we have now is unbelievable. and it s just a preview of what is to come. now i understand the rationale of having the tough training, the picky system to choose the right people to take up these roles. there will be no more cats to chase the rats. the rats are trusted to do the right thing all the time. to have the discipline that was instilled and carry on upholding it.

the distinct line between trainees and instructors have been fading at an astonishing rapid rate. somehow, we are more like friends than colleagues. the transition is difficult for me, but i guess i ll have to pick up some skills to deal with that. i aint no natural.

we had late night sarpino s pizza on thursday, a crazy kampung fight, an early bookout for prata breakfast outside our 'beloved' nee soon, and a hell of a time at bottle tree park yet again. this time it wasnt prawns, it was WAR. paint war! haha it was fun, but PAINtFUL. i sustained some battle scars being a hero who charged to the frontline of exchanging fire. the paintball may be small, but it caused some serious bruising. there was blood too. but i guess it was all worth it in the spirit of fun and competiveness.

next up was LAN, just outside our future 'beloved' chong pang. it was amazingly fun, considering i m no LAN fella. it has been a long time since i touched l4d2. and it felt good to be actually one of the better ones at it that day.

after 2 hours, it was food yet again! xiao long bao buffet at crystal jade holland village once more. the good stuff came too slow! i was almost filled by the steamboat by the time our full orders came. but it was a good meal nonetheless. the end of course cohesion was a success overall.

as i was heading home at tampines interchange, i was stopped by one of those surveyors with a pen and stack of papers. being in a good mood and had lots of time to waste, i decided to listen to what she had to say. somehow, the statement made by the famous tangs plaza underpass busker struck me. he said something like this "i hope singaporeans will slow down their pace and listen." of course he was referring to his music, but i thought yea, maybe i should just slow down and see what this people want. i totally understand the sucky feeling of having millions of people zoom past you while you are trying to your job. (FLAG DAY)

so anyway, she was introducing some savings scheme for students and NSFs to save 3% of their monthly income, instead of the usual 0.01% interest when thrown into the bank. she said she would earn $0.50 if i filled the particulars form, and $1 if i followed her to her booth to collect some brochures. ok, so i being a nice soul that day, decided to help out. instead, another guy appeared at the so called 'booth' which was just an empty mcdonald s table and started to display the usual salesman behaviour - build rapport by talking about similar experiences like NS and uni, then display some professional knowledge and persuasive skills.

after trying to retort their scheme by pointing out that 3% is too little, and i could get way higher interests with my assets by other means of investment, he came up with some lame counter that i can put in lesser money with them. then i rebutted with 'what s the point in putting in so little to collect probably just $20 after 1 whole year which i might spend in a single meal??'

their jaws just dropped.

apparently, i wasnt that stupid as i looked. i asked them twice about their company but they kept shunning telling more about it.

but i didnt have enough just yet. i shot back at them with a last question. why are they targeting students and NSFs despite knowing their disposable income is so little? some hardly have $10 to save, and the amount of effort to get the large number of kids to make up for one rich working adult who can contribute so much more is tremendous.

the guy who claims he was from NBS said with an unconvincing smile that the company s aim is to help the target group. i ended the conversation with,"dun kid me, i study economics too, and i know that all commercial companies have the primary objective of making profits." and i stood up, offered a handshake and walked off. the feeling was awesomeeee.

it was obvious that they cant convince the working adults to put their money with this minnow company who might be just starting up and now they are targeting adolescents who can be easily conned into signing 25 year contracts and freezing their assets when they could be used for a better return.

from that moment, i realised the immense importance of education and financial literacy, which i guess might well be my route in future.

yesterday. driving, which went very smoothly. i m pleased with my learning pace. fighting out on the main roads was thrilling but i m glad i managed well.

headed down to 15 minutes Cafe at Lasalle College for dinner with ying, reub, shawn, tong, jer, his gf and friend. it was supposed to be a celebration for his birthday coming up next week. the place was nice but a lil too cold. jackston joined later and met up with ivan for another session of INTENSE l4d2. once again, i returned to become the noob of the group, but didnt play that badly. improving! great time spent, but ended at 1plus only to catch the night owl for an hour s ride home alone.

men - social creatures. how would i thrive without these people around me? really appreciate the company of these wonderful people in my life. even though some people simply love teasing me for apparently no reason at all. hahah. good try dudes, but nope, not true. :)