Yest, met up with Zp, Lynal, Jieyu and Stella for dinner.. The last time we met up with stella was actually 3-4yrs ago? Used to hang ard quite often.. but due to our different paths, we took on separate lifes and thus the little contact.. Glad to have met up again, it was a fun evening out, with lotsa laughter..

Went to Mahattan at PS for dinner. Shared the Fried Platter with Zp, and Lynal & Jieyu shared the lobster platter. Zomg.. How sinful... whole plate of seafood, shiok.. but fried one, doesnt' really turn me on that much.. prefer it fresh, or grilled, or lightly prepared instead.

Thereafter, we got the cravings for SAKE, and so, we went in search for it at Cuppage.. Got thru some recommendation from fren that this is one of the few that doesn't provide "extra" services in the pub.. So went there to try out their SAKE. Ordered a bottle of it, and some light snacks, the fish plate it came with, taste just like fish Baw Kwa lor..

And yes, they said that in traditional Jap restaurant, must definitely take photo with their classic men's mag. As the front cover would already suggest what's inside.. ( I didn't even flip open.. lolz. )

Soon after that, I went to send Ervin off at Changi Airport.. He's off to 1 yr of NOC at Silicon Valley.. all the best and have fun there.

Right after that, I went to join Jieyu, Zp, and stella at Arazoo lane, the prawn farm there for PRAWNING!! that's my first time prawning, and it was an interesting experience.. Need to have patience, luck, and a bit of skill, I managed to catch my first prawn after quite a bit of time.. lolz.. of cos happy lar.. though not a very big one but still happy.. The prawns had big pincers and when i tried to catch it with my bare hands, it decided to give me a lesson, and gave me a hard pinch.. darn it.. in total, for $30, we caught 18 big head prawns, and we BBQ it fresh, poking thru the satay stick into them while they are alive and kicking, and place them on the BBQ pit when they are still trying to grasp their last breathe.. Zomg.. it's so can ren, but so Uber FRESH. whee..

It's a nice place to hangout and chit chat with frens, while still fishing up something that you can eventually eat.. haha.. Definitely, I'll be heading back there again for more prawning next time. =)

I just simply can't decide which specialisation to go into. I've been thinking about this for a long long long time.. swaying from bio to biomed, to bio, to biomed.. playing ping pong. it just bounces back all the time... in a few hours time, the bidding will begin, and I'll have to decide which mods to take, cos it'll go towards completing my core requirements..

It's really a tough choice to make.. that's usually the case when what u feel and what u think doesn't coincide.

Remembering what Ganhdi said,
" Happiness is when what you feel, what you think and what you do is in harmony."

I can't achieve that now..

What I feel is to take Bio,
What I think is to take Bio med,
Half of my brain says Biomed opens up more opportunities,
Half of my brain says does it really matter than much..

Future to be decided in a few hours time..

Went to Tequila Blue, A mexican restaurant along Changi Village. Just wanted to eat something different from the normal cuisine.. The setting is a bit latin style, just that the door is wide open, a bit de too bright to go with..

We ordered Magarita and Daiquiri, both frozen cocktails.. light for a cocktail..

One of their Recommended dishes.. Colorada . Smooth, creamy, yummy.

Chicken Fajita.. Well propotion of veg and chicken within the wrap

Bdae gift from fang.. Thanks so much.. =) My first bdae gift of the yr actually. ( the rest hongbao)

well, it's just so fast.. Didn't realise that it's already 5 yrs. really lucky to have known you.. Cheers to our friendship..

After so many yrs, i finally face the fact that to be a sportsman, u need to be rich. Cos the apparels and equipments and diet u need to have doesn't come cheap. Now at the age of 23, I want to go into Triathlon, something which I've wanted for yrs, I realised I'm still stucked with the same old problem.. money..

To go into triathlon, it's expensive, firstly, swimming apparels, ard $80 for googles and trunks. Cycling, the tri bike itself is anywhere from $1500 onwards, that excludes the shoes, helmet, tri attire. and Running, running shoes itself.. This are the fix sunk cost that needs to go into it, before u can even start thinking abt joining the race. To reg for the race, e.g. OSIM tri, cost $120. For Half iron man, it's $350. Full Iron man it's $750. Just look at the cost.. How to take part or even train for it when u don't have the financial ability?

Looking back at myself, I've been struggling to come up with all the money I need to satisfy my desire and needs. Doing so for so many yrs is in fact a little tiring, cos the little bit of money that I earn, isnt' really enough in the first place. It has taught me to need to priortise and let go. Somethings are just not able to be achieve, u have to accept it..

Recently, with my sleepy eyes, walking out of my room, mum asked me where I'm going, I told her I'm going to earn money. She said so tired liao, still have to go arh, can change time? I replied, no choice.. cannot change, cos of reservist.. only on weekend. Cannot cancel liao.. She said, Haiz.. u make me feel guilty, haven't give u pocket money for so many yrs liao..

Well, it's something I've learnt to cope with, and I guess that's the least I could have done over the past few yrs. But definitely, I've given up lotsa things that my peers have. I've often asked myself, if I was given the opportunity and money to shine, where would I be now? that's a tough question to ans, but at least I would have hope to have been given the chance.

Looking back at the reservist period, I've met up with so many of my men, from all sorts of life, it makes me realise how much better i'm already in. There are somethings that we can't change, and we'll have to live with it. I've already gone past so much of it.. It's just a yr more before I begin my working life.. Much more challenges awaites me.. And I wonder what's up for me...

finally finished my 2 weeks of ICT. High key de. Packed like crazy, full of exercises and training. The fatigue part came in more on the 2nd week during the 3d2n field camp. First part of it was more on the platoon mission, which i was supposed to supervise and give comments, so there wasn't much time to rest. Then comes the 2nd part on deployment, where it's my show, cos i'm the 2IC, so practically i didn't had much time to rest thru out. With minimal rest, I still managed to survive.. plus the fresh ration that my 2 runners prepare for me every meal, it just makes it easier to push on, cos the morale is higher.

Anyway, this ICT made me learn quite a bit of things, not just on the company, the commanders, also on myself. I learnt a lot on the capability of the company, and how much I can expect. For the commanders, it's the first time i see them in action in the field, cos seriously, in the field and admin, it's a different ball game altogether. I have much more respect for some of them, after watching how they handle things.

Personally, i feel I was a little soft and quiet throughout this ICT, I don't really talk much to the men, but when i need to get things done, I will make sure it happens. Capacity wise, i never doubt myself, but I've got a feeling that some of them may doubt me, cos i never really show it to them. It's more abt how to get things done eventually. I learnt quite a bit abt myself, in the sense I know more on my strength, and what I should be more particular with. Life is all abt tapping on the strength and working on the weakness isn't it..

The 2 fav phrases of the whole 2 weeks would be this..
" I don't know how to read from street directory one.. I can only read map, Operational man should read map, not street directory, I'm a jungle man, not a city cat like you "

" you are not allowed to out ration the food cos it has soup plus indentment changes will take 3 working days"

Finally, The biggest learning point is this.. Just ask this yourself
" Is today better than yesterday?"

If it is.. you've not wasted one day of your life..

had an unusual bdae celebration this yr, due to the nice timing of the reservist. Had a dinner with dear on the night before oon 7th, at mellben seafood. The crab beehoon was nice, one of the nicest I've eaten so far.. The soup was thick and oozing out with the sweetness from the crab. Yum yum!!

Big big pincers..

Deep fried tofu.. with Playboy Chicken..

And hor.. Ervin and samuel bought me a Mango Cake to help me celebrate. Like how nice.. that was a pleasant surprise. when would u expect a cake to appear in the middle of night 12 midnight in Camp. Thanks bros for the effort. really appreciate it. anyway, it was a 1kg cake, and we cut into 4 quarters. 3 of us each took a quarter, and that left us with a quarter. Thereafter, we decided to play games to settle the last quarter.. and how "lucky" I was to lose both time. well done lar.. in the end, i ate half of the cake.. -.-

On wed night, 08/07 went home to makan with family.. A simple dinner at home and had a mini celebration with Rive Gauche cake. The cheese cake was really good, cheesy, yet not ni. highly recommend Rive gauche cakes..

On thurs, 09/07 went to dear's commencement. Rushed from combat shoot down to university cultural centre. Got irritated by the inefficiency of the men and regulars conducting the range so much so that they could tell that I was very serious and anxious. In the end, couldn't make it down in time to watch her collect the scroll. Oh well. Bo bian.. at least managed to get to take some photos..

Congrats to all my pharm frens for graduating. So many of u grad tgt.. take photo tgt.. hah.. nice.

just 4 hrs later i'll be booking in, and I'm still here... Just finished watching Wimbedon final featuring R.Federer VS A.Roddick . Very interesting match, which went all the way into the 5th set, with federer winning 15-13 in the final set. History is been written, 15 Grand slam Titles for Federer, marked down as the world greatest player of all time, surpassing Pete. Sampras. Impressive.. Considering last yr was the worst yr he had for yrs, losing 3 grand slams to Rafal Nadal. This is what separates the Champion from the rest.. Bouncing back even stronger.. Something which we should all try to learn...

anyway... I'm disappointed with what was said recently.. No time to really write it down liao.. I'll pen it down when I'm back from my 2 weeks of Reservist. 060709 - 170709.

I will survive..