A little virgin driving trip to JB

It took some dragging and domestic disturbance to wake me up again at 5.30am in the morning for breakfast with Missy before her morning shift. I am slightly burned out I guess. Its had been a long day of exploration at the Southern tip of Malaysia on Saturday plus catching up with Ricky and Sharon at their mini BBQ gathering in the evening. Apparently it turn out to be Sharon birthday and boy was the Seaview chalet an excellent location to hold the party!!! Check out the view from the front porch,

Sunset as viewed from Seaview Chalet

Garfield, Riccardo, Missy, Sharon and Ricky.

Breakfast as usual at our favorite "Hans - out", Omelet, Toast and Teh-Si. Dropped off precious cargo before 7 at NUH and headed off for my early morning run at Telok Blangah hill/Mount faber. I love morning run and observing the folks. Today I realized that I couldn't cover the usual distance I use to do... signs of ageing? hahaha. Today I saw a Malay Ah ma or I shall affectionally call her "Ma-Cik" joining the Chineses folks for a morning session of Tai Chi while Ah gong and grandson sat down round the corner to enjoy the morning air and scenery. I was like.....wow....Ma-cik, you are showing to all of us Singaporean that we don't need the minister or prime minister to keep reminding us year after year that racial and religious harmony are important. You shown us that we had positively crosses the divides in certain areas of life in Singapore to share our activities, practices and in this case Tai Chi Quan. Ma-cik was pretty good at it and the grand son was very very curious, getting in front of her and maybe asking her to teach him tai chi as well. It remind me of the Chineses joining the annual firewalk held by the Indian Temple and my old secondary school friend who joined all sorts of martial arts including Silat ( he did not become the next bruce lee but end up as a IT specialist punching keyboards).

Yesterday, Saturday... Missy and me decided to embark on a little oversea trip to our neighbouring Johore Bahru. Its my first time driving car into Malaysia and I guess its Missy first time joining someone who first time drive into Malaysia. Yikes! We lost our way real good the moment we exit the Malaysia side of the custom and had the unintended oppurtunity to explore some really Ulu roads. So much had change to their immigration check point that I hardly regonize the road and still assume that I got to do a U-turn to get to where I wanna go. Looks like their dream of building a winding causeway was dashed by our Gahmen and instead they built a winding road to the JB checkpoint. Giddy and thus lost our way. Technology saves the day, my mobile phone GPS help us find our way to Jalan Wong Ah Fok where City Square is located and its also the main road that leads to other nice places in JB.

The novice driver and his navigator.

City Square had already transformed into a "cater for Singaporean" shopping center. What you can find in Singapore can be found in City Square but not nessecery at a cheaper price. So do you research before doing your shopping here. Its inevitable, so many Singaporean enter JB nowadays, Johorian got to capitalize on the money making oppurtunity! If I were the boss of some shopping center in JB, I'll do the same. The power of currency, S$100 to RM$243.50. :)

After getting a bag at a great price at MANGO, we headed off for lunch...enjoyed losing our way on the Malaysia road again and eventually reaching Taman Sentosa where all the nice food are located. I think this is a favourite food hunt for Malaysian and Singaporean alike. Missy spotted Zhu Lin, a popular restaurant serving "Paper Wrap Chicken" - “子包鸡”. Its the corner, non-airconditon restaurant at the end of the row of shop house. There a rival restaurant beside it serving the same fare. Without further delay and more rumble of the tummy, we sat in and placed our lunch order, taken by a borded looking boy. "Paper Wrap Chicken" is a die die must try if you pop by Taman Sentosa (must pop by too!), I cannot describe in words how good the aroma and taste is but I simply give it a rating of 5/5. Its brewed with chinese herbs like red dates and "Kou chi zi". The chicken appear to be fresh and not frozen supermarket type. Must try! Next time we gonna try the Ba Kut Teh near by ... slurp.

Famous "Paper Wrap Chicken"

3 dish, 2 rice and 2 coconut for RM$39.90. Yatsui neh!!!

Another great thing about coming to JB will be the car snow wash over here! For RM$8, pampered your car with a snow wash, very very detailed and clean vacuum and good quality rim cleaning and tire waxing. Will definately not miss it...the car wash market is so big here that you literally find it anywhere and we found one operating out of a private house. The guys did a really good wash to a sparkle especially the dirty rims. The best part was the interior vacuum, months of neglect and laziness leave things pretty hairy and furry on the fabric seats, with the strong vacuum... its felt renewed and refreshed. Like the American way, I paid them RM$8 + an extra RM$2 tips. Hope that make an impression to them and they go the extra miles to clean my car on the next visit.

Its an F1 pit stop ....for cleaning only.

Last stop its Holiday Plaza, great place to hunt for "friendly" movie and games. We got "Quarantine", the movie Missy always wanted to share with me. There is also this car decal shop at the back end of Holiday Plaza selling nice car decals and they do custom make designs as well. We got something to put a little color to my black lancer...

We pledge our allegiance, To the flag, Of the Republic Of Singapore.

I kinda screw up the decal application though... there is some mis-alignment "Ben and Jerry" font style but you know...life isn't always perfect...we got to accept the imperfection and embrace the good we can find within.

Today I choose to take MC, do my assignment and reflection.

I hope this will not become a ritualistic habit for me, seeing the MO, taking MC just to get more rest at home. Its been a long night yesterday after my Math lesson and I wish that Missy was crashing the classes with me :). It was through some casual conversation with Royd, Justin and this one other guy that I realized that we had numerous assignment deadline falling on the same week. Needless to say, it sparked my engine to 5th gear when I got home to start working on those assignment. Ended up sleeping at 2am and waking up late. I have to "excuse" myself to see a doctor as a result making up "excuse" that I am picking up medication for my old injury. Sighed...felt slightly guilty when my shift IC told me to go ahead and take it easy. After learning that the Empire flying program are light today and we got enough manpower for any contingency, I requested from the doctor a 1 day MC to rest at home. I'll be honest, I need a rest and knowing that the section will be in good hands without me around...I went ahead to excuse myself of work today. Was prescripted with more pain killers from Doc, enough for the next two weeks. I hate to say this but those old injury are working on me again, wish I got a new ankle.

Well, this give me lots of time and space today to yet again do my school assignment, do some life reflection and strangely with time, I suddenly got to catch up with lots of people today. Spotted Miss Wan reporting sick as well and chatted with her about how the rest of our batch boys/girls are doing so far. R and YY are married and got two kids, Xiao Bai early release from the force, Elijah still been holy, how our mindset 6 years ago and now are so much different. Than I met Jie Jie online while doing my assignment...catch up abit on life and relationship issues. While backing up my school work before lunch, I spotted a letter I wrote a year ago to my Peace Prairie Detachment Engineering Officer Cpt Commando when me and a couple of honest guys got into a minor incident blown out of proportion due to over sensitivity of the management. It however brings back good memory of my working experiences overseas. I send this letter to one of the honest guy - Dave- over the internet to share with him.

Today I learn about tax avoidance through my assignment of financial planning that is so damn unrelated to my part time studies of Aerospace Engineering. Interesting to learn that in an effort to boost our population, the government had intitated very lucrative child tax relief to encourage more babies from couple. My point is... you may have the money to have more kids but do you have time for them? Tragedy of modern society is we got less time for each other. So tax relief aside, we do have to examine our time management in this era where 8-5 jobs are not a norm. Next thing will be really important to adults who are going for educational upgrades. We part time students are allowed to claim tax relief for the money spend for our courses up to a maximum of $3500 per year. This is something to take note of, its an encouragement by our government for working adult to pursuit continuous education throughout their working life. When we stop learning, we stop living.

I took a step back from the pace of work and studies for this 10 mins of blogging. I'm thinking, why will I wanna stay back in the Empire? For one, its the job security and steady income especially right now when I am doing part time studies and with more commitment in other areas of life.... money is important although its not everything in life. For a second thought I stay because of the nice people I had work with along the years and build a good rapport with. Some of them are mentors to me for a moment or a period of time like Encik "Max" who straighten my discipline out because I was too damn playful in oversea detachment but who also give a good lisening ears and instill in me the value of "Leave no man behind". Nice people like shift IC who might know that I am really "kenging" an MC to rest (for that I apologize) but close 1 eye for today. The juniors who show me how much enthusiam and energy I had lost over the years. Cpt B for sharing his comics with me and many many other people along the 6 years of service. If not for the organization, I think I'm staying because I believe we have honest and down to earth people in the Empire to work with. Even the "Bastards" we met throughout the course of life in the Empire do teaches us a few things in life too, lets not forget about this people as well.

My focus now is on knowledge gaining through my part time studies and focus on teaching and transfering whatever brain juice I got to the juniors of my section. Whether I gonna leave or stay at the end of ten years, I hope this focus will lend me strength and stamina to endure through this sometime rather chaotic enviroment of the Empire. For now I shall stop, had my lunch, catch up on some afternoon nap and clear another round of school assignments. Meeting Missy tonight for late late dinner :)

Qantas Aviation Maintenance log book

Thank you to Encik "Lew Lian" for sending me this really hilarious extraction from (alleged real) the aircraft maintenance log book. I think people like us who work in the aviation maintenance business can really relate to it and laugh out loud (lol). Its true, sometime the "snag" reported and written down by the pilots can seriously lack of details and accuracy resulting in misinterpretation. However we can't make it into a laughing matter in words because whoever is on shift that moment can expect to go home late.

-------------------------------------------------------------
After every flight, Qantas pilots fill out a form, called a 'Gripe Sheet'
which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics
correct the problems; document their repairs on the form, and then
pilots review the Gripe Sheets before the next flight.

Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humour. Here are
some actual maintenance complaints submitted by Qantas' pilots (marked
with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance engineers.

By the way, Qantas is the only major airline that has never, ever, had an accident.

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level..

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That's what friction locks are for.

P: IFF inoperative in OFF mode.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you're right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny....... ..... (I love this one!)
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right! , and be serious.

P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

And the best one for last...

P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget
pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget.
-------------------------------------------------------------

Helicopter Crash Landing Procedures

From a pilot pre-flight brief to aircrew,

"I will inform you all if we are crash landing. Upon crash land, stay in the aircraft and listen to the instruction of the flight engineer. When there is a fire on board after crash landing, evacuate immediately otherwise wait for the instruction of the flight engineer. Evacuate and rendezvous at 3, 6, 9 or 12 o'clock position 50 ft from the rotor disc. We will move clockwise and account for all man and if anyone is missing, we will head back to the aircraft to look for him."

So much for work today :)

Watched "UP" with Missy. Some scene almost move me to tears. Its a great Pixar animation I'll recommend to all of you. Missy surprised me....she went all the way to AMK Hub to get the ticket first so I won't have to rush home, shower, change and head down together to catch the 7.20pm showtime. Its been a long time I had Laksa...finally, thanks to her initiative, we got time to "ta pao" back home to makan. Mmmm..... smell of Peach... :P

Arrow in the work place

Spotted this excellent hand drawn art work of life in the 'Empire" while visiting another department within my base. Its all about the different kind of people in the "Empire". I am still looking for the artist to give him credit for it so if you know who he/she is, please let me know. I hope I'm not infringing his copyright or patent by putting his work on my blog. This artwork strike a chord with all of us who are working for the "Empire". The term "Arrow" in Singapore context means "delegation" but more often than not the person on the receiving end of the "Arrow" are unwilling victims. When a Supervisor delegate a job to his subordinate, its call "Arrowing Job". However, arrowing can also happen within people of the same ranking or seniority for example when your peer decided to dump a task by convincing the boss you are "very capable" of handling it. In the end you unwilling got the job thus you are been "Arrowed" and your peer had avoided or "siam" the "Arrow" from your boss.

Been with the "Empire" for 6 years and I obviously had my fair shares of arrows. I have always been able to grab the arrow before it hurts me but recently the arrow are getting numerous. Thus I have no choice but to reassign the arrow to my capable junior. Its call effective delegation or in derogatory term, effective arrowing. Its unavoidable, with 2 hands and 1 brain, there is a limit to operation capacity for an individual. 2 people can get a job done twice as fast as compared to having one man doing it. In the end, everyone in the empire just wanna get the job done well and safely to head home on the dot and to spend time with family, friends and love ones.

Mild Coffee Addiction

On a fine Monday afternoon, the day after National Day, I left NUH for Orchard after dropping off Missy for afternoon shift. Pretty disappointed that the blood bank was not open and I could not do my part for the welfare of needy patients.

Met up with my of "Da Jies" who are all coincidentally working at Orchard's Guardian and Watson for lunch. Its been a while since we catch up and I'm glad things are going well for them all especially Chris who is going through some tough family time right now.

A few hours to go before Sis got back to Singapore from Batam and I will be picking her up at Harborfront. Suddenly got the urge to drink coffee...



I sat down at Coffee Club located at level 3 Takashimaya together with a nice stranger. It was the weekday holiday and with the crowd around, I was not able to get a nice window seat facing the main out door atrium of Taka. I was reading and she was busy with Suduko. I ordered an Ethiopian Blend Black Coffee without sugar ( I don't drink black coffee with sugar by the way), and it comes with this little chocolate biscuit. I wonder why this biscuit often comes with my cup of coffee?

Found nothing on the internet about this little biscuit but I gonna ask the staff at Coffee Club the next time I visit. I guess to better enjoy the aroma of black coffee, its good to take a chew onto something sweet before indulging the tongue on the bitter taste of black coffee. The taste is what attracted me each morning to a cup of Nescafe. And its starting to become a nasty ritual I call a mild coffee addiction. It take just a cup of coffee each morning to start a journey of caffeine addiction. Caffeine releases Adrenaline but having adrenaline when there is nothing to fight or flight can make the body run low of this important chemical at the wrong time. This make a person crave for another cup to induce the adrenaline back again and another and another.

Its like drug addiciton if not kept in check. Other side effect shared to me by Missy is the risk of heart complication. However, the packaging on my Nescafe Gold specifically mention that Coffee contain anti-toxidant! ...hmm ...a marketing gimmick or a fact? Well, its a fact though according to sources on the internet. So Coffee is good but can be bad if not moderated.

I'll stick to 1 cup per day than. Keeps me perky. :) By the way, recently been ga ga over Lady Ga Ga...

"Can't read my, Can't read my, No He can't read my poker face" - A poker face is something you put on when play card game. If you got a winning card, feign weakness to lure bets, if you got a weak card, feign strength to scare your opponent away. You need a poker face to do that.

The little island call home. Why will I stay?

Here I stand on a little island named after a lion and many call it the Lion City when historically there is no lion on the island before the Mandai Zoological Garden opens on 27th June 1973. How this young prince saw the lion was still a mystery. Many many years later, a certain Englishman of the sea got lost in the sea and landed on this little island by accident. He later went on to make this little island a free port between merchant ship of the East and West. His name went on to be prominent today in a popular hotel and shopping center. We might had been born in China, India, Europe, Malaysia, Indonesia or any where else if Raffles and his crew met with a ship wreck or had ended somewhere else in South East Asia. If I could still remember my text book, it was the year 1819 where the fate of a tiny fishing island was changed forever.

Today our little island is more than an island itself. Its a metropolis, an land area of zero natural resources but filled with industries, commercial building, residential estate, recreation buildings, shopping center in every neighbourhood, roads and tracks snaking all around the island. Soon, we will have more parks, more canal transform into natural rivers (man made), a race track, casino, and the Asia largest underwater Aquarium when the casino are completed on Sentosa. How in the world we survived this 44 years with nothing to provide the world trade in the beginning (no oil, no gold, no coal, no metal) is still one great achievement. I tell my Ang Mo friend in US that we only got people, their skills, talents and attitude to sell...thats all. Thats how we survived today.

However, ask the question that in the event that we are invaded by some foreign nation.... the many respond we all heard around us is that most will get the first ticket out of the country, most will say we will never last more than a week, most of us had enjoyed the fruit of Singapore achievement but will never think its worth cultivating new seeds after eating the fruit. Its not worth it, with the cost of living going up, stressful lifestyle of pursuit and a mono party government as many like to talk bout it in the kopitiam. Take the money and migrate to Australia or Canada. Maybe Thailand be a good choice or if rich enough, stay in Europe.

Reflecting on all this negativity sometime makes me question myself. Besides been in the military with obligation to serve and defend, what the hell will I want to defend at all? A little rock of concrete jungle? Soon I realize that this country is grown and build by people, no natural resource to start with and if I gonna hang on to it till the last breath of its life, it will be for the people too specifically for family, friends, close colleagues (brother in arms) and the mentors I had throughout my lifetime. If not for all this people, I don't think I got any emotional attachment to this country at all let alone stay and defend it in times of conflict.

Been staying in the States for 2 years plus and I admit its a wonderful place to live in with the 4 seasons. At the end of it, you can't felt a sense of emptiness or void inside. The experience oversea can be artificial sometime when you know you are just a tourist there. To be honest, I just miss all the good food in Singapore that two years I was away. We had almost all kinds of food from all race and religion compacted into our little island, than we had fusion of all this variety and simply just had good food to boost about to my foreign friends.

The National Day spirt in our neighborhood had been getting colder and colder each year. This year, our family is the only few unit one hanging the flag out and the block opposite is even more jialat, only 1 unit hang the flag out. Maybe many of us are getting frustrated or losing faith. However if all of us stop believing in our country for its capacity to progress and be a better place for everyone, I believe what an analyst said might come true...

"No nation in history, without natural resources, are able to survive for a century"

For me, we naturally had human resources since I am natural born Singaporean :). Its the only resources we got to make things happen on this little island other than making more babies. To me, the little island is called home and I will stay as long as my people and all my favourite food are around. Happy 44th Birthday Singapore (and to those born on this day).

ICE system

Imagine getting into an accident,bloody, unconsious and all you got on you is a wallet with your identity card. The paramedic arrived on scene and provided you with first aid before rushing you back to the nearest Hospital Accident and Emergency department. At the hospital the doctors and nurse tried desperately to revive you and also stop the bleeding. Blood pressure running low and soon you go into shock. Off you are push into the surgery room. They have no idea of your existing medical condition (drug allergy and stuff) and they can't get you to talk. Two things will happen from here... either you survive or you see the pearly gate (or hell fire for some). There is however one problem regardless of living or dying, who should the hospital staff contact? You can' talk and you can't move or you are already dead. Nothing in you wallet except cash, cards and photos of your love ones. There is however your mobile phone.

Throw a stone out in a crowd and you are bound to hit someone who carries a mobile phone. From the tech savy kids to the ah gong and ah ma around the world, almost everyone got a mobile phone. Recent international publicity had bring our attention to the word ICE which stand for "In Case Of Emergency". This idea allow first responder such as paramedic, hospital, firefighters and the police to identify victim and contact next of kin. I think its a good idea for everyones good. All you got to do is to add a few contacts to your mobile phone address book in the following format "ICE-"type your next of kin name here". For example ICE-Dad, ICE-Mum, ICE-Sis or ICE-ICE-Baby. You should create a few "ICE" contact in case anyone is uncontactable.

***updates***

Its my first visit to Mindef today and this place is filled with officers! For the first time the number of officers out numbered the wose ranks. Its a really neat, clean and quiet place unlike the chaotics and noisy air base I'm in. Come to think of it, its the first time I step into a Ministry building. Met my UniSIM course mate, John, who is working there, its the first time I met him in Uniform. I didn't realize he is already a MWO! I thought he was a MSG because he look pretty young.

Did my round of project presentation together with SL. He is calm and speaks well in front of the crabs and bars. As for me, I think I am losing my edge a bit in public speaking. Its time for the new generation to take over :). Public speaking is all about practice and breaking the fear of people looking at you.I agree too that no matter how good or articulated you are as a speaker, planning is still required especially getting to know the audience before hand. Sometime what you said and understand might not be what others are able to comprehend. I realize the great teacher or speaker put themselves in the listener shoes of thoughts and understanding while the not so good ones are as good as a radio broadcast.

National Day round the corner and its a long weekend for all of us! Yeah! I shall write an article about a little piece of rock on the world map named after a lion and a hill . Why will people defend it? Stay tune.

Early Sunday Morning - A day of a week worth of blog.

Sunday, a day when everyone catch up on all the lost sleep from the weekday work and the Saturday night fever. Its unusual for me to wake up at 5am though but I had already hatch the plan for the day. A day is only 24 hours, too little time too much to do, why waste a good Sunday morning in bed?

Its still dark, I'm already at Missy place to pick her up. Today we had super early breakfast at our favorite breakfast place, Han's Cafe & Cake House along upper Thomson Road. Its serene... just a few cars on the road along the way. Peaceful, Tranquil and so quiet I can hear stomach rumbling sound. Its on Missy treat today, my job is to eat eat and eat. Burp...

Remind me of the song "Breakfast At Tiffany"

The traffic was super smooth at 6.20am. I could count all the vehicle I encounter along the way with both hands. We reached NUH earlier than expected, dropped off precious cargo, good bye by the lips and I headed off on AYE to Telok Blangah Hill park for my morning run. Its been a long while since a last did my run at the Southern Ridge where Telok Blangah Hill, Mount Faber and Kent Ridge Park connects to each other by beautiful bridges. Those were the days before my first Marathon when I faithfully did training run here every Sunday. Nowadays my left ankle kept working on me and I had actually stopped running for a few months. The Southern Ridge is still as beautiful and peaceful as before with great view of our Cityscape from Henderson Wave.

44 years of nation building are found within this picture. Its dawn...

The early morning sunrise and coolness attracted all our old folks for jog and brisk walk. Surprisingly, besides the group of grey anatomy, I hardly see any folks of my generation or younger hanging around. Looks like we Generation XY and Generation Y people like to sleep late and wake up late. Sadly its probably us in Gen XY and Gen Y that enjoyed late night hang out and creative destruction of public properties.

The Henderson Wave cost tax payer millions of dollars in construction and it takes tax payer a few dollars of trash and tissue paper in creative destruction. It looks like a nice rose or something to dig the nose with.

I'm sure its just a small group of us that had poor concern for our environment and country land. Maybe I am too optimistic :P. It doesn't take much more than a few meter of walk to the nearest trash bin, I'm sure if the old folks could go for a morning walk, grown-up man and women like us could do much better. No "french letter" found though. Lets not spoil the beauty my friends.

Today I realized the sun move pretty fast at dawn.

Its been a while I blogged and update on life that had passes by. Had just completed 2 weeks of SEP (Specialist Enhancement Program). Learn more things about SAF role not only in Deterrence and Defence but also in other areas like Peace Keeping, Disaster Relief, Counter Terrorism...blar blar blar. In fact I can confidently said that in any national events, be it the good or the bad, the SAF will always have the capability support or lead. SAF can "bao ka liao", hokkien for "Do Everything". Hey, not that I got brain wash or something but been a helicopter grease monkey in the past, my perspective of SAF was through a bubble tea straw. This 2 weeks had been an eye opener. Especially like the mix and interation session with our counterpart from the Army, Navy and Military Police. I came to the conclusion that the Army guys keep things simple, think simple and are the loud and outspoken people among us, just like their tanks, artillery and guns. The Air Force guys are pretty sophiscated but complicated just like our aircraft and choppers. The Navy guys are really really quiet throughout the last 2 days tri service course, so quiet I almost forgot they are with us! Just like a stealth frigate quietly sailing past us, stealthy. Ladies and gentleman, I met really inspiring people from all the military services who had lots of motivation and knowledge in them to keep us all safe.

1 Army guy caught my attention. He is not born in Singapore and thus when he joined the Army, he could not join the toughest unit he aspired to be, the Commando. This is due to what he mention as his IC restrictions. In the end he joined the infantry and worked up all the way to a Sniper, a role as special and as tough as the Commando. Another Army guy I met talks about his life after National Service in the Commando unit, he was working as a driver for a few years but eventually went back and joined as an Army regular, back to the Commando unit again. He said he found back his roots and values within the unit and now aspired to parachute for NDP parade. Not to left out the Navy was SSG Fun. His name sound Fun but he got this serious look in him that don't spell Fun at all. Asked why he joined the navy back than, he said he wanna do his part to defend the country, asked him why he is still in the navy now, he remain status quo of defending the country. SSG Fun will be joining the Helicopter world as a SeaHawk Air crew next year. This are ordinary Singaporean with simple goals that makes them great character in my heart. I hope one day, I can write a page of biography for each great character I met.

RIP - Reading In Progress about Rest In Peace topics.

Friday evening, I had a pleasant surprise. Missy got me two books from Kinokuniya. Never heard about the author though but I recall getting a interesting SMS few days ago from my "Spy" asking if I happen to have Mitch Albom books on my shelf. Never knew it turn out to be a spying operation on me instead. I love autobiography and books that teaches bout life. I cannot say enough thank you to Missy for the gift.

Met my "Old Man" on Saturday evening for dinner. "Old Man" got admitted to hospital again without informing me but he is fine now. Looking at his face, I see that age and years of smoking is already catching up on him. His health, I suppose, can only deteoriate from now on. Its a matter of whether its gonna be fast or slow and it all depends on him to take care of it now. In me, I hope he starts taking care of himself because all his life, he had been caring for people around him unconditionally especially all his worker at Keppel FELS where he had worked for 30 plus years. Why not take the money you got now and go for holiday break? In Japan, Korea, China or maybe Europe!?!?!? My greatest fear is for him to leave one day without reaping the reward of his unwavering help of the people around him and the redemption of years away from his family. Things are starting to play out like a emotional sad movie where the hero dies in the end, it remind me of the movie Godfather when Vito Corleone died all alone in the chair outside his house with a dog on his lap. After dinner, "Oldman" and me went to LOT1 to buy some animal documentary DVD for him. Ha ha...god is helping me I guess, immedaiately spotted a 4 DVD set from BBC that feature Sharks, Wolf, Bear and something else doing hunting and killing. "Old man" like this kinda of documentary and I always wanted to get it for him. I felt so puzzled that he don't even know that they do sell documentary out in the shops. Good to know I got him something he liked.

Man....its tough to be stuck in the middle feeling so hopeless in this situation. What happen in the past became a emotional responsibility of the latter generation. The final straw came when "Old Man" said "When my kids are young, my colleague always asked me where I am going to bring my kids to during the holiday? I always wanted to bring my kids to the zoo but I can't," I rememberd those words he said forever. I fought hard to hold the tears as we both walked back to my black lancer to get his bag, don't wanna appear weak infront of him. "Old man" going to walk back home instead declining my offer to drive him back. Gave him a little pat on the back assuring him that whatever happened in the past, his family are still with him. I drove off to School with sored eyes. "Old man" teaches some life lesson that is hard to pen down in words.

After some sleepy moments studying in school till closing time, I went to pick Missy off from work. She is off early than usual. I love picking her from work :)