and she sings

hmmm realise i haven't been replying tags for some time so yar...shall go a little further today. feeling good!

::Tag Service::
christine : really? (hahax am i inviting attention or what...) hahax like what the la...why you mentioned 'some other girl' instead of jiali? oops! hahax...kiddin lar deep inside we know we're just great friends right? :)
jim : woah it's so hard getting you lar...hahax not tt i'm saying that you're hard to get but ya it's just hard! aniwaes yep must have one soon, or else when the pro term approaches the end we'll be really busy, so yep...lucks again brother! shall talk to you some other time...really need to catch up...
kyo : totally...hope you'll be more free after you get outta sungei gedong! take care bro...really need to catch up with you too...and the rest of the gang as well! but seeing you so jolly during your graduation just makes me happy too!
ruth : no we so don't lar! we look good! right? (can't you see i'm in self delusion here...hahax) and you're welcome!
christine : and yep we did have a really fun meet right? if you can pls send us the photos...really want them badly :) hahax i'm always guai (so no shame lar...) take care partner, hope the oil's gone!
esther : thanks! yep i will our tresurer! or shall i call you the finance manager...whatever, but take care back there in the states!
SAm : yes sir! hahax provided if i even come to armor, which i desperately want to avoid the you know what week...jiayou back at your unit! thanks for the EAM!

yep tt's all for now...now i really need to study demo hahax...but before that just a short poem i koped from someone's blog which somehow i felt reflected my life at some point of time...those who listened to F.I.R might know where some part of the inspiration came from...yep...

the silver sparrow
singing its lonely sorrow
the harvest moon
and he sings

a faraway love
too far to run, too high to fly
a painful solo
and he sings

the overcast sky
fades her light into darkness
he loses hope
and he sings

blinded by darkness
he pierces himself with the longest thorn
out of sheer desperation
and he sings

his sweetest song
shames the hummingbird and the cockatoo
and the sky clears
and he sings

the harvest moon reappears
as beautiful as ever
he busks in her glory
and he sings

the last song is sung
left crucified by the thorn
he takes his last breath
and she sings

seaweed and seaweed biscuits

ahhh another week has just passed by just like that! but i must say that this week has been quite a new experience, although slack but still it's great!

monday was the rehearsal parade for ETI commander COC (change of command), from COL ng kin yee to LTC lim koon pah (but hahax some of us were saying if you say his name in double quick time, it sounds like LTC linkin park...) and apparently some staff sergeant (i tink it's the wing sergeant major (WSM) of STW) took the cadet training wing (CTW) and specialist training wing (STW) together. apparently the standards were different so yar my wing's WSM was correcting the STW trainees while the STW WSM was correcting the CTW cadets, which was quite crap and a lil childish but nonetheless it was pretty funny! den to our surprise my OC was the parade commander for this COC, which means that if we screw it up he'll screw us, and it also means that if he screws it up he'll vent his anger and screw us as well, so hahax the chances that we get screwed were apparently pretty high hahax.

okie so anyway, of course there were a lot of repetitive parts like doing the same arms drill for about 30+ times i tink, and den usually after a session of 40mins we might have about 30-60mins break, which was quite shiok as we could concuss (erm army term of taking a nap hahax...) for that period of time. tink i slept about 10hrs tt day hahax, which was pretty good. so the rehearsals went on from morning till nite, and the OC didn't touch us cuz he was having a sore throat and yep doing his preparations as well. so the real day (tuesday) came and the two contingents for the parade was doing pretty well, and sadly to say our 'poor' OC screwed up 3 commands which caused some confusion in both contingents...and most probably he's going to be screwed by the RSM (regimental sergeant major who was the parade sergeant major). last time during BMT the parade commander screwed up 2 commands and got 14 extras, god knows how many my OC will get, especially in front of 2 high ranking commanders...o wells hope he gets lesser or our weekends will be spent with him...

the next day we had lectures and also preparation of demo stores for friday demo live firing, and while some people had their nights off because they won the 1st and 3rd place for the mid course gathering (oh the photos are at the other column under memories : ETI Mid Course Gathering 2006 @ Imagestation) the rest back at wing line finally got a wing turnout and ya was pretty xiong, checking our everything and den doing fieldpack in, fieldpack out over and over again. but anyway i was pretty okie with that because i tink we've become somewhat experienced in this so yar it's nuthin to be worried abt. then the OC was telling us about the japanese occupation and about the torments that they put us thru...was kinda sick and ya, somewhat spurred us on to fight for our country. actually the OC isn't that bad, he does things for a really good reason and putting us thru the test so that at the end we'll be proficient platoon commanders fighting for our country.

thursday was STW graduation where they had a mini ceremony and yep got to meet a couple of friends back there...justin, brandon, johnathan, samuel and shiwei! yayness...it's been ages since i've seen them lar, other than the time at engineers healthy lifestyle day...and they seemed really jolly while we were running our 9km which was totally tiring. woah fortunately i had a partner running with me (yuansong) and we were pushing each other along for it...thanks again! anyway looking at their graduation dinner makes me look forward to commissioning ball...hahax everyone will look exceptionally handsome and beautiful! hope you accept my invitation! :)

friday was demo live firing...a rather scary day where some instructors turn rather fierce and everyone's on a high, because it might sound scary but it's fun! feeling the shockwaves pass thru you and feeling the power, you know you're in control hahax! sadly i didn't get to fire anything that day, but the upcoming week i will be firing something BIG! hahax...either the ADM or PLC i heard, both which are heavy but cost about 8k a piece or even more! yayness! hope my assistant doesn't mind!

and saturday...of course we were out on friday and yep sat morning was fun tho i was a lil sick...hmmm next time we should go book a court ya? hahax badminton was really fun although it was under a block with no proper court...and ya hopefully there's still a next time! just really enjoyed myself listening to your sis's playing and yep i wouldn't mind teaching once a week! i'm starting to forget everything hahax. somehow i think you'll be visiting this space more often soon! den at night was meeting the maldives people (maeyue jiali ruth christine melvin richard) at orchard. seriously orchard mrt has so many vultures lar...can't believe it, the average time that you'll be pestered by one of those charity and salespeople is about 2-3mins if you're staying stationary. anyway yep really haven't seen you guys for a long time, especially maeyue because she's mostly not there for our outings but yep it was great to see her! okie lar was great to see everyone else okie? hahax...somehow me and meltu felt tt we've lost some of our vibe liao, feels like we're getting older when we see the girls being so hyper. but in the end we settled for cafe cartel at cineleisure.

okay what comes to mind when you first think of u-zap? you know that waist belt that vibrates to supposedly lose your tummy fat...hahax den ruth was saying the provision shop aunty was using it and asking for payment hahax! den it went on to imaging the aunty was on i-gallop (sheets tt's just not right hahax) and we sorta concluded that it seems rather dirty...hahax just chatting about anything was funny...and somehow some lady brought food from another store and sat beside us (tink she didn't pay and in the end some matts came and tried to talk some sense into her) and after getting pestered by those guys she walked into the toilet with the noodle bowl and apparently she didn't come out even after we left. hahax jiali was so worried, but was rather unusual tho...and everyone was pretty high (except poor richard...hahax a little slow yesterday but i'm sure he was concentrating at our seafood platter which was nice but makes you feel like oil) and laughing...you can hear the variation in pitch with maeyue of course being the highest while the guys being the lowest...got a stomachache at the end lar! anyway it's been 1 year and 7 months since the beginning of our journey, and till now we're still as strong as ever! our friendship is still burning strong and the spirit is still deep inside all of us! time might have seperated us physically but definitely not spiritually! love you guys so much!

okie that's about it...booking in at 9pm sadly, cuz there's a man u match and also NDP rally going on at the same time...haiz jiayou man u! also i'm now a proud member of the "Just Wine" club so yep, anyone who's interested in wine or who appreciates wine can come and join me ya? shall be gone now to study for demo...jiayou people!

saving fish from drowning

hmmm i just read this extract from a book of the same title, "Saving Fish From Drowning" by Amy Tan. somehow i just really respect how she writes this book, in a sense that in a third person's view of a story, being physically but not spiritually dead, it seems as though she has really been past that period (which is...not possible, or humanely imaginable) but ya.

aniwaes people in myanmar, buddhist myanmar-ians, or whatever you call them, also follow the religion strictly. one of their teachings is "thou shall not kill", and it applies to fish as well. so in order for them to get their fish without killing the fish with their own intent, they think that by pulling the fish up from the water, they are saving the fish from drowning. (because usually anything that goes into the water is in the stage of drowning, in their minds at least, and i mean anything, even fish) most, or should i say all the time, the fish never recover.

hahax tt's just wrong isn't it?

then something more that was written in the later part struck me hard. "Invading countries, having them suffer collateral damage, as we call it. Killing them as an unfortunate consequence of helping them." i guess the world works somewhat on the same principle as well. pretty sad actually, now that you look at it, you're actually killing what you're actually protecting, or seen from the outer world as what you're protecting. like war. like corrupted politics. and many other things...cullings...for what? is it for the "greater good?" or is it for self gain, and is it worth it? can you live with the moral consequences?

okay hahax i guess let's stop at that thought for now before i go into something more...yep

anyway happy birthday singapore again! or should i say belated...hmmm but ya it's been a rather short week with the mid course gathering (making NDP eve a half day, and so effectively we've only 3 days for the past week!), national day (couldn't see my instructor back in OCS tho, even tho he's prominent hahax), and yep the singapore fireworks fest! today was rather eventful actually! hmmm ya today went to changi airport T2 to pass ruth her present! tsk tsk as supposed to pass it to her last week but ya she was sick...so there's no way she wouldn't get it this time! hahax thanks jiali...if not for you i guess this wouldn't have been possible, and ya no worries okie? you two (or should i say three...hahax your friend as well) must jiayou for you prelims, and no matter what we'll be there supporting you guys. seeing you guys mug so hard...is kinda scary but now we know how determined you are, so you'll definitely achieve your goal! love you so much!

and yep after that was back to manhattan fish market once more (during my first time visit i tink i didn't try their flaming combo which is awesome) to celebrate my mum's b'dae. happy b'dae mum! or soon...hmmm but anyway the food there was gud, at least for yisin zhiyeu and i...totally awesome. the rice tastes so gud! hahax! and yep it sure was smoking hot! reminds me of my first there...gud ambience didn't i say? and ya somehow it makes me think of you again! hahax the coming days will be quite new for you, but just slowly get used to it like you always do, you've done this so many times before so no worries kays? :)

after that was for the finale of fireworks fest 2006! yayness! hahax i've been watching it year after year and yep this year was....hmm how should i put it...okie but not as gud as expected. just a comparison chart over here...(okie blogger is nt allowing me to post up photos so yep please wait yar? i know abt my promise hahax...) so yar...i remembe the squeezing and squashing, commotion and everything last year, so yar this year's lots better...mm! i so wanna book a hotel room there next year but i'm most probably participating in it so ya no point...*sighs* but it's gud this year!

hmmm if you're lucky the pics will be up by tmr...if not next week! sheets...but ya today was just great...and badminton wif my cousins tmr! yayness! :) hahax take care everyone!

long long time!

firstly...happy birthday stead! hahax hope you had a wonderful birthday, and hope the call was worth the wait! i miss you so much lar :) wishing you all the best in the following year and continue to touch others lives like you always do!

it's like how long since i blogged? sheets i'm gettin lazy...or maybe just tired i tink. it's been rather rushed for all of us and am also planning for a mid course gathering (so soon already? yays!) which i'm actually doing just a tiny winy part, but ya still a part hahax! it's been actually quite fun, especially the recce part...it's been rather crazy hahax!

okie i'm not making any sense am i? *breathes in* phew...naah all i can say it's been rather busy. we've been rushing from place to place, trying to keep awake with whatever we have during lectures and everything...it's been a mad dash actually. lessons after lessons, outfields after outfields, but i'm getting the hang of it i guess! sometimes however, conflicts will inevitably arise and thus it's been rather...i dunno how to put it but it's just quite sad sometimes that people don't follow instructions and somehow our discipline has slackened. i'm hoping for better really, but at this rather that we're going...it's going to be hard. shall try to keep my fingers crossed and keep my optimism at the same time! aniwaes the OC is one weird person...he just gave us a 7 minutes (for benefit of all, it's the engineers timing for a turnout, meaning you have to fall in with your long no.4, your SBO and fieldpack, with everything laid out and sui-sui for inspection by this guy called the OC...hahax i can hear the song playing in my head again!) directly after dinner, but it was a 7 minutes civillian attire! and we got a nights out suddenly which i dunno why but it gave us time to finish some unfinished business like the AOP. 5 hours. weird. and he changed our plan into a rather fun and interesting one, which we thought otherwise of him. because we originally planned a pretty rigid one for the mid course gathering, but he sorta softened it and made it rather fun (not to mention cheeky...tsk tsk). still, even though he has been nice to us, we shouldn't let our guard down in case of a real 7 minutes...ahhh...

aniwaes i guess i did something new this week! other than army stuff, mostly homework, i've been spending time with my family mostly, which is good but still, really miss my friends outside as well. i haven't been meeting with classmates, OCS buddies, BMT buddies and also the maldivians. it's been rather hard, especially the limited time that we have every week (after you minus of the time taken to do homework which is like...6+ hrs?). hahax i managed to meet up with jiali the past sat...was supposed to meet up with the others but almost everyone's not free, and the belated b'dae girl was sick (tomyam...hahax) so in the end we ate dinner with ourselves. still, it was pretty fun...did quite a lot of catching up and ya, times have changed, and we're now in different worlds but still, our friendship and spirit has never changed! den at nite was the absolut mahjong (you guys...dun say i didn't warn you about not drinking it without mixing...hahax the aircon can't save you) which in the end landed us up in front of the com playing an ancient game LF2! hahax...can't believe it, but these meets really boost up my spirit and also allow me to catch up. it's like out maybe 30+ meet for the past 2 years, and we've shifted from place to place. night sentry mahjong at jiajia's house, then chalet surprise and of course the good ol home mahjong...the three of us have still been together pia-ing mahjong throughout the night with our instant noodles, red wine and tv remote...sometimes maybe even playing game of life or even scrabble (drunken scrabble hahax...) so yep our bonds will never change! of course i love my parents a lot as well...they've been supporting me and giving me encouragement constantly. in a sense my life feels complete...and i'm trying to cherish that feeling.

okie den...shall be ending soon...really lucky i'm booking in on monday, no matter how early that book in timing may be but still, one more night at home! whee! okie i promise to publish some pictures next time...which might come in another 2 days so watch this space!

you two are so alike, in speech and in choice...it's just a miracle i got to know both of you:)