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After being disturbed by one of the wisdom tooth that has caused myself pretty much agony for a while. Today is the day where i would remove the root of the problem and other underlying pain that would come by my way in the near future.

It started off with a pain in the jaw which i though initially, where by i went to a Polyclinic and they referred me to the National Dental Centre. After one session of consultant, the dentists informed that it was due to the wisdom tooth problem, and it would be best if i could remove all 4 of them.

Since i’m currently serving my National Service, i would not have to pay a single cent for the whole surgery, which could easily amount up to 900bucks for a simple day surgery.

It’s interesting that for such a surgery, i even had to wear the patient’s robes. Somehow it feels weird as there are no buttons and its very easily exposed.

These are the remains of my 4 wisdom teeth. There’s the 2 big ones and the rest are the other 2 which are the debris of the other 2 teeth. Pretty disgusting to know about what they did to it to remove them.

But well, now it’s where the difficult part begins. No hot steamy food, no hard food for the time being. Until then, i have 8days of Hospitalization Leave to spend.

A well deserved break definitely!

Some rebates that you’ll get by donating blood.. A Free Trip To the Zoo on 14/6/08. I was thinking that it would be another boring treat, as there’s nothing really interesting in the zoo. Well, since it’s the World Blood Donor Day, might as well just go for it and make my little cousin all so hyped and excited about the trip. Seems that he’s a little deprived to be so excited about such thing, especially at his age of 12.

Alright then, seriously it has been like almost a decade since i last visited the zoo. I remembered my mum to frequent that place with me and my siblings when we were young. Apparently, we were the “Friends of the Zoo” then, so i guess we only had to pay one lump sum and visit the zoo unlimited times a year or so. It was all a matter of making things worthwhile i think.

According to what other said, there has been tremendous changes in the zoo. I shall witness it myself. Pretty impressive i must say, at the entrance. I kind of miss the “SINGAPORE ZOOLOGICAL GARDEN” old sign which was like the trademark of the zoo when i visited it aeons ago.

Somehow, i feel old. My energy level can’t be rivaled against a 12 year old kid. After walking around the zoo for like 4-5 hours, he’s still alive and kicking.

We spotted this tinny weeny snake on some leaf in the vicinity of the zoo not under captivity. It’s really small and cute. HAHAH, if u had a bottle, probably you could placed it inside and bring it home. Then you can proudly say..

” I’ve got a snake as my Pet”

I think the conception of tigers being ferocious animals is pretty deceiving in this context. They don’t seem to be even moving. Unless you tell me they are nocturnal animals and only exercise at night. But they are well fed, so why bother? If i’m the tiger, i would become demure and let the zookeeper feed me.  

This kangaroo’s smart. He purposely stand so close to the enclosure, posing and letting us take photo of him. What vain kangaroo it is.

Anyone remember that i once called my Chinese teacher this animal and got myself into deep trouble? The monkey that has a red mouth and red butt.

This one of my favourite animal, look at it’s posture. So elegant and demure.

There’s this quest around the zoo called the zoolympics, apparently it require the kids to move about the zoo and complete “missions” to win the game. Stuffs like crawling like a crocodile, eating leaves on a branch like a giraffe. I signed my cousin up for it and it seemed that he is pretty proud of himself that he made it onto the hall of fame for several stations. He himself forgetting that he a 12 year old kid pitting against other children of half his age. Shame Shame.. hahaha

However drastic the zoo has changed, they still haven’t revamped the playground. This playground and the ball pool has been around since god knows when. Ever since the first time i went to the zoo until now.

Doesn’t this animal look like the fierce snow leopard in the “Kungfu Panda” hahh.

For a free trip, it’s definitely worth it. Hah, but there were other reaps other than animals though. For me to know, for you to find out.

Maybe there’ll be better treats next time, remember to give blood and you shall be rewarded..

till then..

It’s almost 6 months that i have been under the Enlistment Act serving my “term”. Well, now i have truly tasted what it feels like, when other people say that serving NS is just another 2years that you waste your time, doing things that are not your cup of tea.

Hearing this obviously is not good news. Well, i’ve got posting which apparently ain’t to my liking. I got posted to the charge office in alpha division though. Which i will be expecting to meet loads of criminals everyday, doing escort duties and such.

Hopefully i will get to experience more and learn more stuffs until i ORD which is like not very soon.

Currently attending the PIC course, which will end on Monday. Well, to a certain extent i like attending course is that it’s super slack and all we have to do is sit and listen, though it can be boring at times.

For the past one month, I have been opscon-ed. Shan’t elaborate so much, but my job is pretty much to prevent MSk from fleeing, since he’s so much on the run now.

What i can say after a month would be that division life and training command life is vastly different. What we learnt in theory might not come in handy when dealing in real life situations. More practical skills and tactics should then be applied to prevent the situation/issue to aggravate. Many of such things we do not actually learn during lessons, it’s more of realizing and learning on the way when we actually deal with it.

Man on ground is indeed the one that does the most work, sad to say though.

I realised i haven’t posted any of me in Police Uniform though being in the force for almost half a year.

Here are some, and the others taken at my point where i was stationed for 1 month.

I must special mention this dog. His name is Johnny. We believed that he was abandoned by his owner, as it is able to interact very well with human beings, esp POs. Hence it will follow us during our rovings, making us look like K9 unit somehow. It helps “guard” our post by sitting and sleeping in front of it though. Pretty lazy i must say, but its really obedient.

Some sunset view..

Well, if based on these pictures you can decipher where my post is.. Good for you then.

The next phase of police life is going to start, gear up and get ready to give it all..!

2nd December, the day many runners are awaiting for. The biggest event of the year, Singapore Standard Chartered Marathon.

I’m proud that i managed to finish the run, though the timing was scary. But nonetheless, I FINISHED IT. I thought i almost died in the course of it.

So much for not training hard enough for it. I only took my training up to 21km, and had not really run since alevels started and holidays was too exciting and busy for me to run.

One of the stupidest thing i did which i regretted deeply was to tie my shoelace too tightly. This resulted in the blisters appearance at the 10km mark, and i had to bear with the pain for another 15km until i finally took the marathon in the form of a walkathon.

Now that my whole lower body, the thighs especially, is in great sore now, also on my shoulder. My mobility level is almost zero. So if you are asking me out these few days, do expect a disabled person by your side.

But at least.. I finished my first marathon, i got my finisher’s medal and tee shirt.  The joy and triumph when crossing the finishing line, which makes all the effort and pain and sweat worthwhile.

The next time i join, i swear i would train hard for it. If not i shall downgrade myself to a easier course. Hah!

Spending my last few days in Bintan was one of the most enjoyable times of this year, it was truly pure relaxing and fun, with the accompany of  my fellow ah bangs.

I’m quite glad that the whole trip finally pulled of successfully, it proves that i am quite a great planner actually Though i was rather afraid that there might be some coordination problems with the accommodations and logistics, but it all turned out well and smooth.

Day 1

We took the earliest ferry to Bintan, hoping to maximize the amount of time we can have there.

The moment we reached there, there’s no time to waste. Its banana boat time! There were decent tanning decks around, despite the low cost resort we were staying.

When Mr Sun decides to shun off a little, we went off to our next activity, Kayaking. Now i finally understand why kayakers have such nice arm shape. Its really tiring even after a short distance of rowing.

We had doubles kayak, me and DW, while CS and JH. The fitness level is quite imba of the 2 teams. Unfortunately, me and DW’s boat capsized within like minutes. The waves was just bringing themselves onto the shore, and its difficult for us beginners especially to get the ball rolling. But it was not until too soon that we got the hang of it and managed to row to and fro the coast.

Sadly, all of us were in the waters, so no pictures taken.

The food prices there are exorbitantly high. Its all in Sing Dollars and a meal can easily go up to SGD20.

Luckily, we got our rations ready beforehand. We brought lots of cup noodles, biscuits, chips and even mineral waters. Being the typical Singaporean, we will not let ourselves be slaughtered at such places, spending money on unnecessary commodities.

Rain started pouring and we have not much choice but to stay indoors. We were all tired after the kayaking hence the visiting of the zee monster was inevitable.

We visited Pasar Oleh-oleh in the evening, it was probably the only place we managed to find cheaper food. Actually, what was cheapest there was… BEER. Check out the price.

There wasn’t much to shop there also, while waiting for the arrival of the coach, we spent most of our time in one particular store, while up and down to waste time. Also on the store which sells mind games.

Day 2

Looking at the prices for water sports, it seems that kayaking was the cheapest and worth the money. So we decided to go for another shot of it. This time, me and DW took single kayak. While JH volunteered to be our photographer.

Single is definitely more tiring, but it requires lesser coordination.

In the afternoon, after our cup noodles lunch, we headed down to the beautiful Nirwana Resort Hotel. It was the higher class version of our resort. Since it was under the same organisation, we are able to use their facilities.

We were there swimming, Jacuzzi-ing, playing sun tanning.. The number of sun tanning beds there is scary. Its all over the resort.

Back to reality, this is our resorts at Beach Club, which has great budget rates.

We spent the night playing cards, spamming the chips and biscuits and other food stuffs we brought for dinner. Check Jiahao out after he drank “Bintang” which is their local beer. He started going like a drunk dog and started his acronym fever.

Something like instead of saying ‘Orange Juice’ he says  ‘OJ’.

Day 3

Knowing that we wouldn’t be eating for the rest of the day, we spammed the breakfast at the resort. Ordering as much as we could, since its charges is inclusive of our room rates.

We got our room checked out and headed to the beautiful Nirwana Resort Hotel for more fun and activities. There was this huge chessboard there, check out the position that i am standing at.

I’m the KING!

And we started messing around with the chess pieces.

The last few stuffs we did was archery and rifle shooting, not very encouraging due to the super strong wind, which teo describes it as more powerful then Mitsubishi Speed 4.

True enough, the wind speed there was really very strong regardless of the timing. Especially now the monsoon season, where it is directly blowing down from the South China Sea.

The 3 days was truly well spent, with the company of fellow brudders.

Actually most of the time, we were just lying on the tanning bed enjoying the breeze and the sun. Something which is not achievable on Main island. To escape from the urban life and slack, real slack without worries.

It would be long till the next one while we spend our time the next 2 years serving the nations.

Play hard.. 11 more days!

The title’s self explanatory.

This’s year band dinner was a total different experience from the previous ones i have had years ago. Well, probably of the venue, its not a hotel, its at some restaurant. I can’t really remember the name though.

The food’s quite bad i should say, maybe it’s my taste. It’s either too salty or too sweet and the variety for the buffet is like not even 10 course. So.. i more of less stuffed myself with fruits. I finished almost half a watermelon and another half of a honeydew.

Fruits buffet.

Such dinners are mostly about enjoying and taking pictures, so i shall cut the crap and post photos.

Here goes….

Mrs Tan, the most motherly figure in the band. She’s pregnant with another baby, very responsive to the government’s effort to increase birth rates.

The handsome boy clement, whom dressed so like a waitress i can’t help it but asked him to clear my plates. But he’s funny in it anyway which somehow spiced up the whole event. Especially in the limbo event.

This is just so candid. Pris just pop out of nowhere and it so fits the picture of laughing at Wei Jie’s Bird Nest hair.

My 2 legend band mates for 6 years.

More spastic photos, in appreciation of the flowers yuqing made.

So what group you think this is? The biggest party in NYJC Band.

Some post dinner activities, drinking. But it so doesn’t feel like it when there’s limited budget and time.

I shall post the rest of the pictures that i own in my gallery soon.

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The Bintan’s trip finally finalized and we are really embarking on it on the 28th. So, if i happen to have internet access there, u probably can see me online. If not you will see me back here in 3 days time.

Finally I’ve managed to get my own domain for my usage purpose. Thanks to Joshua for reccomending this cheap and good host to me, and helping me get things set up. Now, i have my own email and space for backups. Though its still long before i can fully utilise this marvellous tool. There’s thousand and one things i can do with this.

�Back to the topic…

The mid autumn season is round the corner again. The relation of mid-autumn always produces a couple of pop-ups in our mind,

• Mooncakes
• Pomelo
• Lantern and candles
• Sparkles
• Fire

It’s definitely a must to have all these to make the annual mid-autumn a complete one.

Mooncakes sure come in many shapes, sizes, flavours etc. It all part of the marketing strategy to attract customers to consume. Some even come with gold on top, which apparently is something that my family is unable to digest.

�My mum went to learn and successfully managed to produce some snowskin mooncakes. Most importantly, she put Macadenia Nuts, which gave the mooncake an extra crunch.

The reason why mooncakes have been piling up at my house is because everyone’s bringing them home. Contributors to the mooncakes include my aunt, me, my mum, my mum’s friend.

�The especially exquisite ones are those from breadtalk, though i haven’t tried the taste. they even had a theme for their mooncakes this year; which is something related to space and planets.

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Other than mooncakes, there were more important things that we have to do; carry lanterns and play with fire.

�I remembered last year during mid-autumn, i spent time with my brothers at Bishan Park 1 till late midnight. It was a rather interesting experience, because none of us brought lantern.

• John made his own version of “kong ming” lantern.
• Lester was busying spraying deoderant at fires to make flame thrower.
• ChengSong was busy burning ants.
• The rest were just busy drinking, burning newspaper and candles.

Our activity added to the already terrible PSI level then, due to the Indonesia Forest Fires.

�This year its slightly different, the same activity, but now with my family.

You can’t spot my brother anywhere in the picture? That’s because he’s busy with his camp fire.

Those broken lantern, boxes of sparkles and dead leaves are items for his project.

Sparkles were fun, especially when u don’t bring them actually. These are taken using the N73, so pardon for the poor photo quality.

Some more pictures, we’ve managed to get the Tom and Jerry Lantern, and the red lantern earns its place to the brightest lantern of the day.

Also to my dear father who’s right now still in the seas, playing mahjong probably. Happy mid-autumn festival.

There are quite a number to activities packed up in the week ahead, not forgetting the getting back of prelims results. It’s time to get contained by notes and works soon.

Till then,

Happy Mid-autumn Festival.

Didn’t had time to update on the interesting Wednesday i had yesterday. Was fortunate enough to attend the ROM of my cousin, which apparently all the little kids in the household couldn’t make it because it was a school day.

The ROM took place in the Chinese Restaurant “Peony Jade” at Clarke Quay.

There was a 10 course set lunch held there. Could comment that the decors and the arrangement of the place was rather class, adding to the point that its beside the Singapore River which makes the event even more memorable.

The exchange of rings, and the registry of the marriage.

Some family group photos.

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Didn’t had much chance to take pictures of the food. Some were pretty good, some were just alright.

The above kueh is the traditional Hainanese “Yi Bua” which is a Hainanese kueh that is eaten during occasional seasons. It is made with glutinous rice which contains coconut wrapped around with a piece of coconut leave.Commendably, it wasn’t a dish prepared by the restaurant. It’s something that my mum prepared/ordered just for the occasion.

Some photos with my mum and my cousin, to rise up to the occasion. It’s seldom that we’re so formal.

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Tomorrow’s the last day of the preliminaries,
Physics Paper 1 it shall be.
till then

blissful marriage to the couple &
a series of holidays!