Friendships

Kind of a fucked-up topic to be writing on this early in the morning, but I felt like it so... blah.

Nothing seems to be the way
That it used to
Everything seems shallow
God give me truth

This topic has been bugging me a bit recently. I've seen friendships come and go, some becoming stronger while others becoming weaker. I'm not referring to any particular incident, just that in this time that I've been in NS, I've suddenly got the chance to know a lot of different people. I've not only known more people, but also gotten the chance to know them better than any other period of my life. I think it's due to the fact that tackling bitter tasks makes people bind together stronger. There's guard duty, there's office duty, there was Brunei which left us stranded in a foreign place, there was Jeep Course which left me at the mercy of my instructor, and of course the other various exercises which required communication to people I don't usually talk to. Also, during this time, I also learnt to stay in touch with the people from my past, the people who grew up with me, and perhaps got to see me under a different set of circumstances.

At this juncture a couple of lyrics from Baz Luhrmann's Everybody's Free (one of Jie Yu's most quoted songs too!) comes to my mind.

Understand that friends come and go,
But for the precious few you should hold on.
Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography in lifestyle
Because the older you get,
The more you need the people you knew when you were young.
I remembered asking Si Hua and Sequeena this question - Would you rather have a small circle of friends whom you click fantastically well with, or have a large group of friends who aren't that close to you. It's my guess that most people would choose the former. It's based on the idea that with limited resources, would I rather spend it with those few people, or spread it out. It's a quality versus quantity question but it lost its potency when I realised that there's this area of overlap, that you can have a lot of friends and also stay close to those you click well with.

Recently I've also read somehwere that friendships are somewhat like investments. You put in time, money and effort to keep in contact with someone, but you don't know if you'd be getting back anything in return. As with every investment, the returns you get are varied because every person is different. All you can do is hope that everything works out in the end. Of course it'd be great that the person you value a lot thinks the same way about you, but I've learnt that interpersonal relationships are not that simple - you have no control over whether the feeling is mutual.

And then there was the article in Life! yesterday about having a lot of best friends. It made me realise that I still had a lot to learn, and that I've been very narrow-minded in the past. As the writer said that when we were young, we used to treat the term 'best friend' as an exclusive friendship. But as you grow older you realise that you need someone to support you when you're in different situations and you come to know people that can offer different forms of assistance, and that you'll need them all. Thus it is kind of dumb (I can hear my bias/opinionated-self talking) to stick with a clique and not put yourself out there and get to know more people.

My old friends (you know who you all are) will always have a place in my heart where no one can touch. Others may fade in and out of my life, but you're the people who keep me grounded, remind me of who I was before, stop me from doing evil, or cheer for me when I accomplish even the most simple of tasks in life.

As for me, I feel myself opening up more to the people around me... getting to know more people on a deeper level. I've always felt that it's tough to get to know people well, and I still stand by the fact that I don't entertain shallow friendships. I've also learnt to accept things which are out of my control. (I think I've also got to learn to stop being such a passive person and start asking people out.)

Come what may.
As we go on, we remember
All the times we had together
And as our lives change, come whatever
We will still be, friends forever
PS - I'm on off today, that's why I'm sitting at home typing in front of the computer. The weather looks pretty good, so I'm going to spend quality time with MYSELF and go to the pool for a tan, read a good book, listen to music and go for a swim. I've got duty on Saturday (BOLLOCKS!) so I won't be back till Sunday morning after booking in today. Enjoy your Saturdays while I protect the country. Bah!

Shopping is Shag Stuff

Okay, so I went shopping today again. The actual plan was to go for a swim in the morning with Wee Lee but the sky was filled with dark clouds. It looked as if it was going to rain the very moment I stepped out of my house. So we met at 12noon instead for lunch at KFC where I ate a three-piece chicken meal because I had a $5 voucher, before heading to Suntec City.

There are sales there like crazy. First there's this sports shop beside Tower Records and the prices real good. However, the only things left are in pretty extreme sizes of XL. I wanted to buy a backpack very badly, but I controlled myself and didn't buy anything today! Other things that caught my eye was a very cool skipping rope which was going for $10. The one that I have in bunk is a bit too short and I really wanted to enjoy jump rope along with my bunkmates without having to feel troubled over the length of the bloody rope. Anyway, Wee Lee was looking for his trackpants and tried on quite a couple before settling on one with red stripes at the side. A rather good bargain - it costs $29.90 I think. After that we walked around and saw that there was a Moving Out Sale at TS (last day today!) and another sale at the ground floor for Fila.

After that we made our way down to the Esplanade. I enjoy going to there to check out the latest art works on exhibition. It was rather interesting although I didn't quite understand it. Looks real pretty too. Haha! The accompanying write-up on it was about art-forms and I didn't really get what it meant either. We sat down on the sofa and looked at the moving strips that formed the picture till we were rested enough to get someone to take a photo of us.



Looks rather grand! We then left for home. I fell asleep on the train, and laid there like a log. When I opened my eyes, I almost rushed out thinking that the yellow building was Causeway Point when I was at Sembawang! Very silly of me.

Well, haven't talked about this week in camp yet, so I'll just mention the happenings in brief. The Franz Ferdinand CD made its debut, and everyone got a listen to it, and the impact was having a couple of people go - do, do ya, do ya, do ya wanna - out of nowhere. Hilarious stuff.

Also, Kenneth, Samuel (who made us wait for him again) and I went for minibus night driving. Listened to the A Lot Like Love soundtrack on the discman and I've to say that it sounds fantastic. After that Sam and I listened to FF and I started singing aloud and sort of disturbed Kenneth who was trying to sleep. Not that my singing was bad though! He said something like, "I'm trying to get 30 minutes of sleep and here you are singing, and not letting me sleep. Can't you let me sleep in peace?" And I said, "Hell no! Don't sleep la, listen to me sing!"

Of course, that led to him er, undoing both my bootlaces and taking out the ball thingy that held the bootlace tight. And then my specs as well. One ball lost its spring and I had to get down and use my hands to search all over the bloody minibus before finding it! It was kinda crazy, hilarious bickering, that left all of us in stitches in the end. LOVES IT.

On Friday, I went out with 6 other guys to Hanabi, which is beside Coronation Plaza. I shared a cab with Samuel and Bryan, and we had fun talking a lot of cock to the taxi driver! I then went to withdraw $30 bucks, only to find that I had a mere $3.69 left in my bank account! I was touched that they offered to lend me money and all but I didn't do so. I'll find my way out of the problem! We had Jap buffet and it tasted really good. It still isn't exactly worth 35 bucks, but to be in the company of a few good friends, sharing jokes and just de-stressing after the freaking long week in camp sure made it all worth it.

Just realised that I actually bought a blue M and a red S T-shirt from Topshop. I was surprised that it was Small, because I remember wanting to take M. Luckily it fits, although it's er... hmm, a bit tight? Haha! Damn, preparing for book in soon. I'll be having duty on Friday and booking in on Saturday morning. Arh!

Disney's Desperate Housewives

Shopping is Shiong Stuff

The three of us met up once again today for KLunch at Marina and also a lot of shopping. Plenty had happened since we last met. Anyway, Zhenhui came back from his trip to Thailand and he bought us identical shirts! When we're in a weird mood, we'll all go out wearing the same shirt, though it'd look pretty weird!

Sang a lot of songs there, and it was fantastic because it had been a long time since I went to KBox. There were two songs which I thought I sang well was Britney's Everytime (which I've sung aloud for the 20 billionth time already) and Wang Lee Hom's Ai De Jiu Shi Ni. We also became rather high when we started using ZH's digicam as a videocam and recorded some of our best and worst singing moments. I can't wait to go back there already!

Oh, and Shan Hu Hai's a killer. Attempting it is futile.

After that we went to shop around at Marina and went into places like BODS and Topshop. I saw something I liked but I'm super broke recently so decided not to buy it. Shuming was found a pair of shorts that she wanted but there wasn't her size.

We made our way to Far East Plaza and had chicken rice there and it sucked. The original stall had moved. Either that or we didn't manage to find it. We ended up going to another crap place there to have chicken rice. Shopped around at Far East where Zhenhui bought a handphone cover before heading for Topshop at Wisma. In the end I couldn't resist and bought two plain shirts for $25. It was at 20% discount if I bought 2! Oops.

My legs were killing me already (also from yesterday's faux-7km-closer-to-9km-run), but we made our way to Heeran and Shuming bought a pair of Havianas slippers from there. After that we could take it no longer and went to the Coffee Bean at Centrepoint to chill out.



Okay, so I went a bit mad with the camera but they aren't all taken by me!



And this is our collective purchases for the day. I wanted to buy a red singlet instead but the design wasn't this red - it was pretty faded, so I ended up buying two T-shirts instead. Yeah, I'm a bit obsessed.

We chatted about our lives (as usual), and it's nice to have that feeling to be able to confide troubles to friends who are willing to listen, give their points of view and even offer solutions. What would I do without them!



The place was almost closed at 1015PM and after Shuming went to the toilet, we took a couple of photos before heading home.

I know it's not very detailed, but I'm tired and it's late already! Blah!

Pic of the Week

This was taken when I went to Myanmar in 2004 for OCIP. Went to an orphange and taught a few simple and fun lessons, one of which being sand-art. The kids had a lot of fun, and this was one of the best works from that lesson.

JKYH Top 10 (38)

01. Beep - Pussycat Dolls ft Will.I.Am (+1) 3

02. Whole Lotta History - Girls Aloud (+1) 5
03. All Time Love - Will Young (-2) 8
04. Meng Bu Luo - Sun Yan Zi (+4) 2
05. Lights and Sounds - Yellowcard (+1) 5
06. Red Dress - Sugababes (+3) 2
07. The Fallen - Franz Ferdinand (NEW)
08. Crash - Gwen Stefani (-1) 4
09. Stupid Girls - Pink (+1) 2
10. Sorry - Madonna (-6) 10

Thinking Back

I'm listening to N'Sync's Greatest Hits now, and it made me realise how quickly my youth has passed me by. The songs that I sang since I was a young teenager bring back memories when I listen to them now, when I'm on the way to hitting the big 2-0. I know it sounds very cliche but looking back at that phase in my life, I feel that I've lost a lot of my innocence and grown up a lot. Hard-earned maturity that comes from learning from my mistakes and those of others has made me the person I am today. To fight for my goals, do the best I can in whatever I do, challenge myself constantly, push myself to the limit... and learning to let go of things that aren't meant to be, to forgive and forget, to make a difference in the lives of others and at the same time find direction in my own.

Funny how a few pop songs can stir up so many thoughts in me.

There Was A Boy

There Was A Boy

There was a boy
Young, trusting and innocent
He thought he knew right from wrong
Until he experienced being wronged

There was a boy
Who had an instinct that something was wrong
But he did not quite know how to face it

There was a boy
Who knew he was out of place
With the oceans and seas
The flowers and trees
Yet he defied them and screamed,
"Why tell me now that I don't belong,
In this place where I was brought up and born?"

He was faced with repercussions he could not imagine
When all he had done was ask a question

The oceans churned with tremendous force
The earth shook with no signs of remorse
The sky flashed painfully when lightning struck relentlessly
Again and again and again and again.

Terror.

Terror filled the boy's eyes.
He was faced with repercussions he could not imagine
When all he had done was ask a question

He was reluctant to leave
But he had no other choice
He was faced with repercussions he could not imagine
When all he had done was ask a question

Then he realised answers didn't matter
His instinct had told him something was wrong
He had to leave it all behind
He was faced with repercussions he could not imagine
When all he had done was ask a question

There was a boy
Who looked for the calm after the storm
Who learnt that he could never escaped being wronged
Who knew that he should've trusted his gut
And left right from the fucking start

To this boy I say,
"You know that you've got to pay
For defying the heavens is your mistake
But bear with it
It'll soon be over
What doesn't kill you
Only makes you stronger."

There once was a boy
Young, trusting and innocent
Now his resolve was hardened
Those who crossed his path will not be pardoned

Accept the inevitable without question
And save yourself from suffering without reason

*

Life is unpredictable along with many of the things that come with it
Like friendships
Cherish them for the moment
Because you'll never know when they're gone
But even if they do
Put on a smile and move on
Some are for a season
Others are for a reason
And only time will tell...

Funan and a lot of Walking

Today I went with Mak to Funan the IT Mall because he wanted to get a new computer. Actually we were supposed to celebrate his birthday (15th) by eating at Seoul Garden.

Anyway, so we went to Funan and there were tonnes of things to look at! It was insane. I have officially fallen in love with the small cute speakers of Creative. They used to cost $69 but after searching that place upside down, there's a shop which is selling it for $45! I wanted to get my hands on it desperately but exercised a bit of self-control. Also, I haven't fixed my mp3 player, so it'd be pointless to buy speakers for it.



But doesn't the red one just look bloody brilliant? It'll go with my Zen Micro perfectly and the sound quality is fantastic too. It's got cuteness and power all packed into one. Right, I shall stop raving about them, but I've waited so damn long to get them and haven't found the perfect chance to do so!

Mak and I walked around looking for deals for the LG DVD-RW drives and for his CPU. He had his own specifications and eventually he found a shop that could tailor the computer to his needs and the price to his budget. I had problem finding my drive but it didn't really matter because I already bought one. My mother wanted this other one to function as a 'reader'. Anyway, after that we took a long walk to Bugis. I don't know why Mak has to walk so fast! On the way, I met Daniel and Terence who were having some noodles. Didn't stay to talk to them much because Mak was still rushing around in front of me as I struggled to keep up with him.

Seoul Garden was pretty good, other than the fact that it was expensive. Also, the waitress who served us at the counter to Jia Yuan that he was shuai and looked like the actor from I Not Stupid (and Mak wondered during the entire time we were having our lunch if it was Shawn or Joshua). He was delighted at the compliment and for the first half an hour or so, he couldn't stop smiling. And I had a feeling the waitress was sorta peeping at him and came to our rescue when he accidentally turned off the fire! The meal was rather enjoyable - I managed to get the things that I wanted to eat, which was basically plenty of chicken, a couple of prawns and er... more chicken.

After that we went shopping and saw Daniel Ong (I strongly believe that I didn't see wrongly) and someone I think should've been Jamie. Oh heck, I couldn't really recognise her. We squashed ourselves through the crazily humid and crowded Bugis street and I saw plenty of CDs (going for an outrageous price of 7 dollars!) and a few nice shirts here and there. However, I overcame my urge to buy things and managed to walk through the entire stretch without taking out my money. We went to the temple but it was freaking crowded as well so we just paid our respects from the outside. We made our way back to Bugis Junction and contionued shopping around there. I went into Adidas and Mak said that he liked all the stuff in there. Actually I was already trying to gauge what stuff he was interested in when we were walking through Bugis, but I couldn't tell. In the end I got this horizontally blue-white stripped polo tee. He was bored when I was making my purchase so he stood outside, leaving me free ask for assistance from the salesgirl. I stupidly asked if she could remove the price tag when there was none because she took out a new shirt for me instead of taking the one on display. Good stuff.

After that we went to the National Library. I remembered that we were close but I had no idea where it was. It only took a bit of walking for us to get there, wasn't too lost.

The place is fantastic. The design looks cutting-edge. I've only seen it from the outside before and this time I could afford the luxury of time to entire the place to view it for myself. The outrageously tall ceilings and crystal clear windows gave a good view of the buildings outside, especially from the admin office which occupies the highest level.



The elevator was half-made of glass too. We saw a lot of precious Chinese literary objects and visited all the places we could. The Black Hole had yet to open while we were there and then there were restricted areas which we coulnd't enter. After that we managed to find a place full of greenery and had a great view.



And that would be the Intercontinnental hotel. It does look like a gorgeous place to stay. Also, the balcony like place was covered with a lot of greenery and even had a wooden stage set-up.



Looking at the sight was a relaxing experience. It's a great idea to have it there so that people who were stressed from studying or just needed some quiet time away from the books could bask in the terrific ambience of the faux natural envirenment. I returned two of my library books there but didn't manage to borrow any. Hmmm.



The two of us took a couple of photos using the timer. I realised that I had forgotten to switch the quality of the camera to that of a higher one and thus some of the photos turned out blur or grainy.

We passed by Gramaphone and that was when I couldn't resist my urge to buy something for myself. I got the album that I'd been discussing with my bunkmates about buying.



I just became a fan after hearing Colin perform This Boy, and then taking a listen to the rest of the songs, and after realising that a good few of them were on constant rotation on the airwaves, I just had to buy it. So there. (20 dollars! Argh!!!)

We then made our way back to Funan the IT Mall. It was insane because the shops started closing even though we were there way before their closing time. I got my DVD drive and 50 DVD-R discs while Mak got his CPU, which was freaking heavy. I was just telling him that it was worth its 'weight' in gold (ie the amount he paid for it). We ended up taking a cab. Before I alighted I told him that there were 4 bags of stuff he had to bring because he was sitting at the front and I was at the back. Anyway, that was when I told him the Adidas shirt was for him. Haha, not too bad a surprise eh!

I've finished listening to the Franz Ferdinand CD about 4 times and I must say it's growing on me. I liked the front half much better than the second half at first, but the tunes have started to hook me so much that I couldn't bear to change the disc even though it's on repeat for so long. I've got to say that my favourite off the album is still This Boy, followed by Walk Away and then Do You Want To and The Fallen. That's like the first 4 tracks. I'm sure I'll start liking the rest of the tracks even more once I've got the chance to listen to the CD again!

Oh man, booking in in 8 hours. Boo... hope to come online again soon!

IPPT Silver - Finally!

It's been a short, 4-day week in camp, yet I couldn't wait to book out. It felt horribly long. Argh! I can't imagine how I'm going to survive the 6-day week starting tomorrow, when I'll be booking in for standby. Gosh.

On Wednesday we had IPPT and I finally managed to get a silver. I think I improved my running a little bit. In fact, I think the entire platoon did much better this week than the last. I suppose I do need to exercise more. During jeep course all I've been doing is eating and sleeping. Not exactly just that but you get the idea. Lazing around. What stopped me from getting silver last week was the bloody SBJ, which by some luck and visualising that I could actually hit silver this week, I managed to do it. So did quite a lot of other people, so after IPPT, all of us were rather happy and satisfied at our results.

It was on that day that I was feeling happy and all that they told me I had to go for night SUV driving. It's a known fact that I feel fear strike my heart whenever I hear that I need to drive. I'm nervous about driving. The worst thing was that nights off was going to be early, in fact, 1530, and I had to be back in camp by 1800. I was kind of demoralised at not booking out with the rest of them, and furthermore by the fact that I was going to drive. However, in the end Zhicong and Kenneth also had to stay back for the training, along with me and Samuel. To think I was still being 'cocky' and told Samuel that I'd buy stuff for him from outside because he had to stay back for standby. We had katsu mee from the canteen, which fab as usual. Anyway, the night driving was a mere 30 minutes (and that burnt my 6 hours of freedom) and I gained confidence of driving from then.

The next day I had SUV assessment. I thought I drove okay, although there were a few mistakes here and there I was nowhere close to killing anybody or crashing into the curb. Well, maybe because for half the time we were at quiet, long stretches of road. Okay. I did something shitty by turning to left to Jalan Kayu instead of right to camp. The assessor said switch off the LEFT signal and turn right. Me, being slightly nervous and tired at my second round of driving already only heard the word LEFT, and so I went to the wrong direction and ended up being LOST for awhile, sweating in desperation in the air-con SUV before the assessor decided to direct me back to camp.

That day I also went to the ops room for the first time and Terence slept over there. Arh, it's going to be my turn soon I think!

And believe it or not, I had familiarisation training for Minibus the very next day. I was no longer nervous about getting into a vehicle any more, although I wouldn't say that my driving has improved tremendously or anything like that, it's just that I don't fear it that much already. Had a good chat with Samuel about platoon stuff etc. etc. and Kenneth about celebrities and all. Had a good lunch at the canteen there and quite enjoyed myself hanging out there talking cock. When we went back, we realised that the company was booking out rather late and stoned together with them for an additional 2 hours. That includes playing Chinese chess (and losing) to Daniel and witnessing Jeff and Bryan fight over the CD-player, much to the amusement of our bunk. That's a good thing. But I suppose it was due to us all becoming insane. I don't understand why we couldn't book out early if there wasn't anything to already.

Right, that's about it for this week, hopefully I'll get a good nights off this coming Wednesday!

Pic of the Week

Taken last week after Company Cohesion at Jurong Pool. That's (almost) all of showing our $5 KFC voucher. Mmm... It's been a long while since I had KFC. Good stuff!

JKYH Top 10 (37)

01. All Time Love - Will Young (2) 7

02. Beep - Pussycat Dolls ft Will.I.Am (+5) 2
03. Whole Lotta History - Girls Aloud (-1) 4
04. Sorry - Madonna (-1) 9
05. Shan Hu Hai - Jay Chou ft Lara (-1) 4
06. Lights and Sounds - Yellowcard (-1) 4
07. Crash - Gwen Stefani (+1) 3
08. Meng Bu Luo - Sun Yan Zi (NEW)
09. Red Dress - Sugababes (NEW)
10. Stupid Girls - Pink (NEW)

Jurong Pool

This will have to be a quick entry because I'm tired after a day of activity. I need to go celebrate my brother's birthday and I just have to pack to book in to camp tomorrow.

Today I went for a haircut, before meeting Ivan. We made our way down to Jurong Pool and reached there at 145PM. As usual, we were told to reach there early when the pool only opened at 230PM! We sat there like a bunch of idiots... Oops. When it finally opened, we just walked through the freaking gates like some VIP and got changed and ready to enter the pool.



The photo's a bit blur. BOO. I don't believe the greatness of my camera can result in such photos being taken. Anyway, we had a hell of a time enjoying ourselves at that place. I've been there quite a few times already so the novelty factor was at a minimum, but I really enjoyed myself with my platoon mates. I realised that it's crazy that I see people like Terence all the time after I book out (Friday to NYJC, yesterday NVM, today) but I don't get tired of being around them at all. I went for the two top slides which were rather fun and also the wave pool, but I didn't get to experience the waves! We all spent a lot of time at the Lazy River instead. I got assaulted quite badly (okay, call it revenge) by Samuel. He tricked me into giving up my float and then did some unmentionable stuff. So now there're scratches and blue-blacks on my chest. Use your imagination. Well, we did try to "drown" him prior to that, forcing him under the waterfall and splashing water continuously at him! Oh man, that fella is so going to get it from me tomorrow!!!



After the whole thing, our platoon took a photo together. Essentially, Bravo still feels like it has 4 platoons. I just WISH that the original platoon 4 people had taken this photo with us, because they belong to us as this new platoon. Sigh. It'll be quite some time before we'll gel seamlessly together. Hope that day comes soon dammit.

Ooh, my brother's friends flooding my house one by one already... I've got to hurry this shizzle and go sing the b'day song with them!

After that I went off with a 5 of my platoonmates to go celebrate Ivan's birthday at Fish & Co at Jurong Point. I was supposed to be back to celebrate my brother's birthday with my family but they decided to go for the Sakae buffet without me! Outrageous.



And there at the top right corner is Guo Rui, bottom is our birthday boy Ivan, and staring hungrily at his samba fish is Jeffrey!



That's me and Kenneth sharing all that food and YC with his fish and chips!

It was a pretty good meal. I shared the Seafood Platter for 2 with Kenneth and it tasted bloody good. I know I said that I didn't want to eat anymore seafood but hey, if it's good, I'll give it a try. And I put my trust in the right person because he's the one who settled everything, and I just whacked the fries, the prawns, the calamari, the mussels... It was hell expensive but still worth every single cent.

Okay, I'll stop here then. It'll be another week of life in camp. Argh!

Vertical Marathon

I know there're a couple of people who think I must've been insane to pay $14 to climb 43 storeys worth of stairs but it turned out to be a fantastic way to spend the Sunday!

Anyway, I started the entire "adventure" last night when I went to meet Jie Yu at Marina. It was the first time I went there to shop. The last time I visited the place was with my parents' for their anniversary. I was amazed by the fact that there was a wide variety of clothes on sale (when I'm trying very hard to curb my spending. Did I mention that I bought Sun Yan Zi's DVD yesterday as well? Oops.). Also, I had the chance to witness, the first time in my life, a catwalk session.



I happened to be standing at a very lousy position. Second storey and the models were all walking AWAY from me ie I was standing behind the stage. It was kind of interesting to take see such things and then put yourself in the model's (very high-heeled) shoes. The confidence in every step, with a wickedly sexy stare to match and not waver when countless flashes from the bulbs of cameras go off in your face...



... and not blink. It's a glamorous job, but it sure has its difficulties! I was enthralled by the very tall people who walked the walk in designer clothes and all but Jie Yu was bored by it all because he has already attended quite a few before. The novelty factor has worn off for him! We contemplated having dinner at Carls' Junior or Fins the seafood restaurant. In the end we went to Fins because the queue at Carls' Junior was OUTRAGEOUS. I've never ever seen a fast food restaurant in such demand. The food at Fins was good, but their service was outstanding. The atmosphere of the place was also wonderful. Anyway, I got tired of the taste of Fish and Chips after a few mouthfuls, so I don't think I'll be patronising another seafood restaurant (including Fish & Co) for a very long time to come.

The only purchase that was made during this extensive window shopping trip was when Jie Yu bought a new wallet. It wasn't high up on his shopping list, but he bought it nonetheless. He found too many people in his camp 'copying' him and using cardholders as a wallet. His new wallet is quite a steal. It looks like it costs a bomb when it actually didn't! A very good buy.

After that I took the train to Serangoon MRT station to wait for Terence and Daniel whom I thought were on their way back from PS. However, it turned out that they were already at Terence's house and the bad thing is I reached there early and Terence came late to fetch me. Haha... It wasn't that bad, other than the fact that I was kind of sleepy and just sat on the floor, leaned on the wall and shut my eyes to rest. Recently I've been sleeping a lot in public places. Boo. To top it all off, Sern Hong said that he'd be coming late. So to avoid Terence making another trip out to fetch him, we waited 40 freaking minutes at the bus stop for him.



So we couldn't help doing silly things like photo-taking. He unveiled his new camera which was bloody good. He bought it at the IT fair yesterday. Too bad I haven't gotten any photographr from him! We gave Sern Hong a good talking to when he arrived late, but luckily he came up with a lame joke or two to save his ass. After climbing over a gate (SOC!) we managed to reach his house, and it was a very cosy place. I enjoyed myself the few hours that I was there. With Namie Amuro in the background, we chatted, took turns to shower, took more photographs before attempting to sleep together on one bed. It turns out that a queen size bed cannot fit the 4 of us. Well, I'll treat it as experimenting for our up-and-coming Thailand trip! I ended up sleeping on the spare mattress while Terence went to his sister's room when Sern Hong started snoring!

We woke up at 530AM, after only 5 hours or less of sleep. There was a rather mad rush to do our hair, put on our contacts (I'm exaggerating a bit. It's starting to sound like the changing room of America's Next Top Model or something.) and having breakfast. Terence's father drove us to Suntec where we arrived at 630AM. The organisers were already there and we decided to take a photo with the huge National Vertical Marathon backdrop on stage.



We were very awake despite the lack of sleep (which came back to haunt us much later in the day). It we queued up quite early to get our details and it turned out that the bunch of us were going to face the battle together! We did a bit of warm up before going to the holding area at 745AM. There was a bit of hype as we were the first group to enter and there was a mini-opening ceremony.



This is us, fresh before the marathon.

When our detail started to conquer the endless flight of stairs, I must say that I got tired out rather quickly and it was really intense. After 10 storeys I was panting like mad. I knew I was making progress because I didn't STOP, but I kept looking at which storey I was at. No, I actually looked out for the number of every storey, and willing myself to reach the end. It's of course much less torturous than AHM, but when I reached the end, a wave of relief washed over me. It's indescribable. When I saw the rest of them already there, they looked pretty tired out too! However, nothing could stop us from smiling for the camera (which I ran up the stairs with).



We took a hell lot of photos, and I think the organisers were pretty scared of us. We waited a while for Terence to come up and continued our photo whoring in various poses and of course with the number 43 which was on the lift of that storey. Our photo was taken by the organisers so we might get to catch it once they put it up on their website. Cool stuff. We were all crazy and delirious as we took the lift down to the very first storey...



... that we felt the need to commemerate the moment by taking another photo with the lift which showed that we were at the 1st storey. Insane. We waited for a few more the people who turned up a bit later and thus went for the marathon later. It was cool just sitting around and relishing the moment of satisfaction we all felt at having completed it. Daniel was nice enough to help us fill up our certificate which we got with the goody bag with our names. The last 39SCE personnel came in at about 10AM and we managed to take a group photo.



There were like, 4 or more cameras so it was a long while of posing before the all the cameras had their chance to shoot at us! Have to thank the very nice NTU people who helped us take the photos! The guy in the middle is our OC, Cpt Tong. It does strike me as weird when you've got the highest in command, then there's us, who ain't commanders, but there aren't any of those in between the chain (of command). Hmmm.

We went to have breakfast at Carls' Jr (thank goodness I didn't eat it for dinner last night) and it tasted good. The burger was humungous and I could hardly finish the entire thing! I changed into my Vertical Marathon shirt. After that we wanted to go look at the IT fair, but it hadn't opened yet! We then went to this place which was having a sale. I saw an A&F shirt that looked alright (and saw someone wearing it outside, and it looked good) but I couldn't bare to spend any more money already!

We were tired and sleepy and gave up on walking around. In the end we threw ourselves on the floor just outside the 6th storey, where I was supposed to get my new DVD drive. I don't know why, but my mother wants me to buy it. There wasn't much shopping going on when we entered. In fact, we barely got to look at anything much. It was just a process where we got squished around with people (I don't understand why the fuck people bring little kids into these things), trying desperately not to trip over others' shoes etc. However Sern Hong bought some massage chair for his father for $400++ and I got my drive for $79. We were rather big spenders in that sense. After that we went downstairs to take a look at the Creative booth, which was gigantic, just as I expected. I wanted to get the very cute mini-speakers to attach them to my mp3, then remembered that my Zen Micro has seen much better days and I proabably should be saving up my money to bring it for repair real soon. We then went to see Nintendo, where there was a game called Brain-age or something! There were some simple maths questions and you had to challenge yourself to answer them as quickly as possible. The nice salesgirls offered us one to play around with and before long, Terence and Daniel got hooked to the thing and tried to beat each others' timing for completion of those 20 or so questions. If they could finish it in 10 seconds, they'd be eligible to enter a competition to win a Nintendo or something. But in the end we just went off (after quite a few tries). Ooh, and they got interviewed as well.

After that Daniel and Sern Hong went to the ATM to settle some money issues while Terence and I collapsed on the floor. Upon finishing their transaction, Terence and Daniel left for home while Sern Hong and I had lunch at this Chinese restaurant located at the food court place. I liked my Dumpling noodle a lot because there was this faint taste of sweetness... It makes me feel poetic! Like in the midst of the plainness of the soup there're some taste. Like in life, we should learn to appreciate the small and normal things.

Am I making sense?

Anyway, after that he left and I took a walk around Suntec once again, this time dragging my bag and my new drive and the goodie bag from the Vertical Marathon. Exhausted and basically just drifting mindlessly from shop to shop. I did see a few choice products at... that CD shop. All of a sudden I can't remember its name. Err... Tower Records! Yeah. But they were expensive. Time passed quickly and before long it was 330PM! Okay, but when I went out to the Vertical Marathon stage again I was rather surprised to see that another band was performing, so I took the chance to visit the toilet before coming out again to witness the band performing their last song.

The sun was bloody hot. Boo. I was standing at where the staircase ended, coming up from the basement. By luck, some people would exit from there and a gush of cold air would rush up to greet me. For that little bit of comfort, I'm grateful! Anyway, I saw Colin listening to his mp3 player and sipping on this red drink, and it was with much anticipation when I saw King Kong Jane take the stage and do their sound check. I wore my (spoilt) sunglasses because they sun was really... woah.

They kicked off with Beautiful Love which left me in awe of his voice. Seriously. To put it simply, I like the sound of his voice. Arhm, apparently so do the SI judges because he got through the first round!

Okay, the next song was my favourite performance, also partly because it was my favourite song from that set. Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out. I love how disconnected the verse sounds from the chorus. I loved the fact that the band was terrific in building up that atmosphere and anticipation from the verse to the chorus. The music just before "I say don't you know..." gave me the chills. Fucking brilliant. As good, or better than the real thing, and the feeling of hearing it live... ROCKS.

The next song was Retreat, which I wasn't familiar with, but I took a look around and saw...



... the two kids in red dancing vigorously to the song while waiting for the taxi with their parents. Now how cool is that? And so since I took out my camera I decided to get a few shots of Colin and the band.



I was impressed with the use of the mic-stand in the first song, and then thrown aside to give the singer more movemnt during the subsequent songs. And when he just reached out for a drink in between two of the songs, made him seem like a seasoned pro! I wonder if any of them were nervous at all. The last time I remembered seeing someone drink on stage was Mariah singing for Live 8! Haha! After that was a decent rendition of She Will Be Loved, followed by the stomping hit that is Are You Gonna Be My Girl. I liked how the chorus was spoken more than sung, giving the rather overplayed song a fresh perspective. It's cool how Colin was so full of energy on stage, so I bunched up the photos above and made this:



I was amazed at how I loved the last song even though I've never heard it before in my life! And I think I've been converted to a Franz Ferdinand fan! I couldn't get "I want a car / I want a car (yeah) / I want a car / I want a car (yeah)" out of my head as I packed up and was just about to leave.



All in all, an outstanding performance, that I was glad I waited for. I really wanted to stay around to listen to the next set but I'd already been at Suntec for close to 9 hours, and was super shagged. The escalator connecting Suntec to Citylink broke down and it took me 10 minutes to cross the bloody overhead bridge. The train to Woodlands was so crowded that I took to Marina, and fell asleep on a train.

A great way to round up this very long adventure!

PS: There'll be no siggy now that there's an error in the thing. Just got to do without it! Ooh, this is probably the longest entry yet. Took me an entire hour to write, not counting the time I took to get the photos together!

This Week in Army

Kicked off Monday with Guard Duty. I went in early to have dinner because I heard that there wasn't going to be dinner for the guards, only to have Samuel tell me that we were supposed to have dinner at the cookhouse! Damn, could've saved some money. Anyway, when we went to the guardhouse, there was this pair of guards who said that they had something on the next day and needed more rest and they filled in Prowler 3. I was next in the line and since the Guard Com motioned for me to fill up the form, I went straight for Prowler 2, which left the last 2 guys the Prowler 1 slot ie one more round of duty than the rest of us.

We sat around, slacked and watched television. I think I fell asleep for a brief moment too. Anyway, after that Samuel and I went on our prowl. A very slow one at that because we were aiming to miss the next parade at 10PM. It was very relaxing because of the speed, or rather the lack of speed, at which we were walking that I maintained much of my dryness. Surprisingly we had a lot to talk about which was fantastic. I haven't got someone to talk so much to about entertainment, since I don't know when! Also talked about other random stuff like family, friends and school, and not forgetting Lost and Desperate Housewives, both of which I had not had the chance to watch. In addition to that he also watched The OC, which was my favourite show when I was in J2. He also shared his appreciation of the soundtrack, which I thought was fab too. On our second prowl after that we talked more about music, with him guessing my favourite artiste (that'll be Spears) in one guess and I took more than 30 minutes to guess one of the acts that he digged although I knew what I was looking for. A UK band, B-grade, etc. Oh yeah, and other random mentions of music acts like Atomic Kitten, All Saints, Girls Aloud, Franz Ferdinand and Eminem.

In between the two prowls we watched The Academy Awards which was generally a bore, saved by our own witty random remarks made about the presentation, but it was still a very good way to pass the time. Our Nasi Lemak (he had 2!) came at 12AM. Bloody hell. Luckily I still had an appetite for it! On the whole I had a rather enjoyable guard duty.

Another thing that happened this week was IPPT. I would like to say that I SUCKED big time at running. My timing is now closer to the 11minute mark, a timing that I haven't seen since 3 years ago! I think my personal goal would be to run under 10 but by my standards now, there's no way that I could reach that. My SBJ was also sucky. It's great to have passed it, but I really really should've gotten silver - I need that hundred bucks! Sigh.

Oh yeah, other than that, my SUV driving caused me a lot of trouble but I don't want to dwell into that. Also Wee Peng decided to not change his duty with me, and thus making me trouble Ivan to do an exchange with me. I'm quite pissed with the fact that he didn't have a valid reason not to help me and caused me all the stress of finding someone to help me out. I have a valid reason - I'm going for the Vertical Marathon tomorrow! So why can't he help me? Repulsed!

E-Tab is coming soon! ORD loh! :P