Am I dreaming...?

If this is a dream.... please don't wake me up....
Let me dream... let me dream....

Kissed by a rose...

Have you ever wanted something to happen so badly, that when it does happen, you can barely believe it happened? Well, guess I'm feeling like that right now. Today, or more precisely yesterday, is a day I'll hold in my memories forever.

I know this might come as a surprise to some, but me and Rong are a couple now. =) OK, maybe not officially together, but it's more or less almost there. =P We've been going out for quite a while now, from dinners to desserts to cycling to V Day, and we've reached a stage where we're ready to take it to the next level.

The 20th of Feb didn't start off too well. I had been on hospital duty the previous night, and I was just starting to feel feverish. Me and Rong had planned to go for our photo-taking expedition at Sentosa in the afternoon, so needless to say, I was pretty worried that I would not be in tip-top shape to go out with her. After gulping down litres of water throughout the day, as well as countless gargles of Listerine (to combat my throat infection), I felt well enough to continue with our plan.

Sentosa was alot more crowded than I thought. Hordes of tourists from China swarmed a flower display put up to commemorate Chinese New Year. The queues for the mono rail was, as far as I can remember, insanely long. But no matter, we still had a blast of a time taking pictures, travelling around Sentosa and exploring old abandoned houses. We hunted down peacocks with our cameras, almost risked getting our heads re decorated with bat droppings, and took some of the best pics of the 2 of us together at the Southern most tip of SEA! We look good together. =)

As the sky darknened, the mood and atmosphere only improved further. OK, I guess the new Musical Fountain show was much too cheesy and kiddy for me and Rong's liking, but at least the upgrades to the fountains were great. Laser light shows, pyros, 3D animation; it definitely gave the show a modern and cool touch. Now if only they would get rid of the irritating KiKi monkey and the stupid guy in a clown suit. After the show, we intended to head to the Merlion to shoot more pics, but alas, it was closed. We resorted to shooting some "arty-farty" pics near the fountain. Oh, did i mention we managed to catch a whole fireworks display from the food court? We had no idea where the fireworks were from or what they were for, but one thing was for sure. It was beauuutifuuul.

By then, it was already coming to 10pm, so after letting Rong have a spin in the car in the by now deserted car park, we headed to East Coast Park to enjoy the sea breeze and watch the stars.

I must admit that I had been wanting to 'fess up and tell Rong what I felt about her. V Day was a perfect opportunity, but I blew that chance. Throughout the whole outing at Sentosa, there were several times when I was contemplating whether to 'make a move' anot. In the end, I was too scared to do anything. But, somehow, by some miraclous twist of fate, I managed to sum up the courage needed to subtly tell her the truth.

She took it well. Very well. We spent a while talking about us, and I must say I am VERY honoured, flattered and encouraged by some of the things that she told me. It was a huge relief to just get everything out in the open, and say the stuff that I've been dying to say. I was pleasantly surprised when she told me that she was planning to follow her friend's advice and "make my life easier". Haha. Everything was just so magical and sweet at that moment, and that's when, by another miraclous twist of fate, I somehow leaned forward and kissed her. I find it hard to believe that for someone who's never been kissed, her kissing was spot on. =P Anyhow, everything was just so... magical. Lying there and savouring the moment together with her is a memory I'll never, ever let go. Oh gawd, why did the night have to end...??

I have to admit that I have been procrastinating this advance to the next level for a while now. I don't have any real reasons for doing so. Maybe I was scared of getting hurt again. Maybe I was scared that she didn't feel the same way. Maybe I just didn't have the balls to make the move. Maybe it was a combination of everything. But i was really touched last night when Rong told me that she understood that I wasn't ready, hence there was never any real pressure at all. That was really nice... =)

Oh gawd, i can't find the words to describe how beautiful the night was. I can't find the words to describe how I feel when i recall it. Everytime my memory runs through the events at East Coast, I practically drop whatever I'm doing and just sigh.... *sigh*

I've always believed that communication is key to any bond; between friends, lovers, colleagues etc etc. And good communication is something that me and Rong have. I guess one of the reasons why I started getting close to her is simply because I can really talk to her. You meet alot of people whom you can talk to on a normal level. Some might listen for awhile, others might pretend, whilst some don't even try. Rong is a great listener, and talking to her is a real joy for me. I, myself, am quite a good listener, and I've come to realise that whilst I listen to alot of people, I don't really have anyone to listen to me. I guess that's why life became alot happier and less stressful during the time we started to get closer. I just couldn't wait to meet her and spend time with her, chatting bout life and stuff. It felt really good to just.... talk with her. =) Of course, it is a great joy to listen to her opinions as well. We share similar views on deep issues, and at e same time differ on others. It's.... gawd, i'm out of words. It's just a real pleasure to talk to her. And her smile.... *sigh*

Hence, it's due to this level of communcation with her that I feel really good bout this step that we have taken. I definitely don't want to rush things; I would rather take things as they come, and besides, things are great as they are now. I don't recall feeling so happy, so confident, so positive. Can't wait to meet up with her soon, and continue this chapter of our lives that we've started together! =)

That's all for now... a very happy EC signing off!

What I really meant to say...

Ay... been awhile since i last blogged. This week, has been a really eventful week. Once again, a brief run down of the highlights, bullet style.

• V Day! Well, to sum it up in a word, beautiful. I wish that night didn't have to end... Sounds cliched, but if I could freeze time, I would definitely have done so. But then again, maybe not. I'm looking forward to the future... :)
• Conflicts at work. OK, politics at work have gotten a tad more intense. Was pretty pissed at some of my colleagues during the week, but I've figured that there's no point getting mad. I'm not that badly affected, and whilst they are getting away scot free for now, I have faith that Karma will get their back, sooner or later. So, no frowns and moody behaviour from me. I've got much better things to focus on then them.
• Porn. Yup, porn is one of the highlights of the week. Before you start getting any wild ideas, it was because my colleagues seized a record amount of pornographic materials during one operation. A bunch of regulars had just returned from an exercise in Bombay, so they decided to take the opportunity to appreciate Indian made porn. A total of 20 over VCDs, 5 erotic story books, 4 karma sutra instruction books and 1 porn mag was seized. Remember the rumour about MPs getting to keep what they catch? Well, all I can say to that is "SCREW YOU!" Coz me and my colleague had to spend more than 2 hours doing up all the paperwork and documentation for all that crap that we seized. On top of that, we had to wrap and seal each piece of pornography for them to be locked up. Was I turned on you ask? More like turned OFF. Porn= extra work= waste of time! I had to seal the entire VCD collection of "Indian Fantasy", from disc 1 to disc 7. And worse was the stinky, rotting porn mag. Goodness knows how many hands had it passed through. GROSS!
• Constantine. Watched this really weird movie with Rong. Judging from the really cool trailers, I was expecting this to be some gothic action flick loaded with cool effects and a couple of scares. Instead, it turned out to be one of the most confusing and un focused films I have ever watched. It seems as though the director wanted to make an action film, a horror flick, a spoof, a comedy, and a deep and philosophical movie all at the same time. Whilst the movie was pretty involving at some parts, it left most viewers scratching their heads at the end of it. Not that it possessed any Matrix level of complexity in plot (dialogue was painfully in audible). The sudden ending of the movie was just so.... weird. The plot lacked direction and meaning. Rachel Weiss did her best to be as genuinely scared as possible, but as the story progressed, the lack of conformity in her character was obvious. She changed far too much from the start to the end of the film. But alright, the movie's plus points comes in Keanu Reeve's character. It was a nice blend of bitterness, sarcasm, black humour, action, and just plain "cool-ness". Some really funny parts too. All in all, I think I'll give it 5.5 out of 10. (Initially gave it a 7.5, but changed my mind, considering I gave Matrix and LOTR 9) For those of you haven't watched it, I'd say wait for the DVD to come out on rental.

And today was my first training for the Iron Man challenge. Basically, this is a annual competitive event organised by my unit. Each company will have to send a team of 10 men. These men, dressed in FBO (full battle order consisting of long 4, combat boots, helmet, webbing and a 30kg field pack) will tackle a 5km+ course, and the first team through will be declared the winner. This is the basic run down of the course.

1. 1st km. Run from unit to first checkpoint. 6 men with field pack.

2. 2nd km. Carry constantina wire and iron pickets and proceed to next checkpoint.

3. 3rd km. Drop wire and pickets. Carry jerry cans with 5 litres of water each to next point.

4. 4th km. Drop cans. Set up out field tent in FBO, followed by inspection. Failure leads to deduction of points and time penalty.

5. 5th km. Run back to unit with one selected casualty. This means that 9 men will run back with 1 man as a casualty on a stretcher, hence the challenge is to carry him back and maintaining the pace.

Now, let me just say that I was only informed that I would be part of the Iron Man challenge yesterday. The rest of the team had already started training weeks ago, so it would be a grave understatement to say that I am ill-prepared in comparision to them. Furthermore, the other members in my teams are all good runners. That is one aspect of fitness which I am weak at. Although I can comfortably get a silver award for IPPT, running has always been my Achilles heel for as long as I can remember. You see, I used to have childhood asthma. While I no longer suffer from attacks and stuff, I still wheeze severely if i push myself too hard whilst running. This morning's training was a 5km run in FBO, with a modified field pack (an additional 2 litres of water added to the weight). Needless to say, I nearly died during the run. I was 2nd slowest in the pack, and I puked after I finished. Sigh... I don't know whether my superiors still want me to be part of the team. I hope they put me out, coz I'll definitely be a hinderance to their pace. Another training early tomorrow morning, so I guess I'd better rest early. Perhaps the only motivation I have right now is that the Iron Man training will definitely help to burn the calories I gained over the CNY period. Haha...

Well, that's all for now I guess. Until next time...

Take me out...!

Wow, the past couple of days have been fun. Steamboat dinners, KTV, clubbing, dancing, gigs, vodkas, driving, taiti, blackjack....

Went to Benedict's place on Wed night for the 1st steamboat dinner. His house is really darn nice; fully air conditioned, posh, cozy. The food was pretty good, then his father brought out a bottle of white wine and pretty much made the 5 of us finish the bottle. After dinner, the gang (me, Cheng, Shuh and Kieng) and some of Ben's army buddies piled into 2 cars and headed to the K Box at Marine Parade. Well, Shuh bailed out early. The rest of us stayed on and sang our throats sore till about 2 am. After sendin Ben and Kieng home, I arrived home an ultra tired man. Plonk, and I was asleep.

Thurs night, and this time the steamboat dinner was at Kieng's place. Again, me, Ben and Shuh were the guests. Food was good once again, and I did my best to finish up the food that was on the table. After makan, we contemplated on whether to watch Constantine or to go Rouge and catch the Electrico gig. After a helluva lot of procrastination, we finally settled for the latter. Rouge was fun. R&B was the order for the night. After a couple of vodkas, we headed to the dance floor and shook ourselves till the band got out on stage. (Kieng said I can dance! yay!) The Electrico gig was impressive; much more energetic than the last time I saw them at Zouk. My fav song of the night wasn't one of their originals. Instead, it was a cover of a Franz Ferdinand song called Take Me Out. Have to say they did it pretty darn well. Once the gig was over, Ben and Kieng helped themselves to a couple of flaming martinis before heading home. Once again, after sending all of them home, I arrived back at my home parking lot to discover that Ben left his phone in the car... Oh bother.... Anyhoo, hit the bed and slept like a baby.

Today was a pretty slack day. Went through alot of trouble and waiting to return Ben his phone, hence making me late for my appoinment at Simei. The treament was nice though; weird to be in the centre of attention again, but nice nonetheless. Supposed plans to meet up with some friends didn't work out, so I spent the rest of the day at home downloading more South Park. Eventually, the guilt of slacking got to me, so I spent a couple of hours in the gym. Good to have a workout after so long, but I'm still longing to head back to the gym in my camp and resume my REAL workout.

Reason why this blog is written so poorly is coz I'm damn tired now... Gym tired me out, seriously. Well, I'm gonna hit e sheets soon. Tomorrow will be a day of final recceing and preparation... Hope everything goes well.

K, gd nite y'all.

Hohoho! Back home!

Well well well, who would have thought that my family would be back home so soon eh? Booking into that hotel was a big mistake. Sure, the rooms were nice, the beds were cosy, the buffets were good, but by GAWD were we bored out of our wits! What's there to see and do at Changi? To tell ya the truth, quite a number of things. Go down to Changi beach and enjoy the sea breeze. Go up to the old abandoned Changi Hospital and disturb spooks. Go down to Changi Village and have roti prata. Go down to Changi Village and disturb tranny hookers. But hell, this isn't stuff that you do with your parents!! All we did there, other than rotting in the hotel room and eating fatty CNY snacks whilst watching some depressing movie on Star Movies, was to take the most boring walk near Changi Beach! That's the problem with me; i can't really get along well with my parents OUTSIDE the house. 'Coz when they take a walk, they just WALK. They don't even TALK! I just followed them, trying my best to look entertained, but by gawd i wanted to ram my head against the breakwater. In the end, the boredom got the better of my father, and he decided to check out at noon. And to think that he wanted to stay till Friday afternoon! Yikes!

I was so bored I actually watched some Andy Lau movie last night in the hotel room on Ch8! And I spent like 30 mins trying to figure out how the shower in the bathroom worked (although i must admit, it was a very nice shower once it was sorted). But perhaps the best 'boredom' indicator ever was the fact that I was asleep by 10 plus! I just felt so bored after my shower, I laid in the ultra comfy bed, and bam! I was asleep. I was messaging Rong around that time, and I don't even remember how our conversation ended! Benedict messaged me something around that time too, and I can't remember if i replied! And best of all, Shuh just told me this morning that she called me last night, and that I picked up and muttered some gibberish to her before hanging up! I don't remember all THAT! Wow, how the body works without the mind... Fascinating.

Anyhow, it's the first day of CNY. No visiting rounds, no ang bao, no guests in the house, nothing. Not that I mind at all. Hell no, I'm glad! The problem now is finding something to do with all this spare time. I can't call anyone out coz everyone is busy witht their own visiting. Even some of my Malay friends are busy! Ay... Staying at home is a dangerous thing, coz of all the tempting goodies that are practically lying ALL OVER the place! So far, I've managed to refrain myself from stuffing myself silly with pineapple tarts and prawn rolls, but I don't know how much longer I can control my pudgy fingers... It's.....takin over me....!!!

Onto other things. I've recently gotten hooked onto South Park! Yup, the ultra vulgar, violent, silly and funny as holy hell cartoon that's banned in Singapore! After *ahem* d/ing their Lord of the Rings spoof, I just couldn't get enough! It's so funny!

My favourite episode as of now is called "Do the handicapped goto hell"? Basically, it ridicules and questions the "system" of Christianity. I'm sure most of us are familiar with the term; "Embrace Jesus in your life, or prepare to burn for eternity in hell!" I've always firmly believed that religion is just an artifact of society; a form of control that was created to "scare" believers into conforming with society. Hence all the threats of Hell and Satan and what have you. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the creators of South Park share the same views as I do! Of course, being the talented jokers that they are, they managed to put their beliefs and ideas into an insanely hilarious episode. The title of the episode evolves around a character called Timmy, who is a handicapped 4th grader bound to a wheelchair. Timmy has another weird disability; he's unable to say anything OTHER than his own name! So you can imagine him replying to any question by shouting TIMMY, or scolding another guy by yelling TIM TI..TIMMY!

In the episode, the 4th graders are psychoed by some fanatical priest (who's a closet gay and pedophile) into being a proper Christian. Therefore, they have to undergo all the baptism and etc etc. However, in order to be accepted by Jesus, they first have to confess all their sins to the priest. So how on earth is little Timmy going to confess his sins if all he can say is own name? This question stumps a nun, the priest, and goes all the way up to the Pope, who in the cartoon is depicted by some stinking old geezer who can't hear a gun shot fired next to his head, and replies to EVERY question by yelling "HAH????" and by fiddling with his lips with his fingers. Mean, yes, but just plain hilarious. And get this. Satan in the episode, is a gay who lives with his boyfriend Chris in a condo built in Hell. Saddam Hussien is his ex boyfriend who attempts to reconcile with Satan by killing Chris in, well, Hell.

South Park rules! Me out for now.... Cya'll soon

Packing up for CNY...

Well, i guess my dream sort of came true. I won't be forced to visit my extended family this year. Yes, I won't be getting any ang baos, but I don't really care. I'd rather have a penniless CNY than have to put on my mask and smile at 'relatives' who think you're a black sheep and say things behind ur back.

But, there's a catch. For some bizarre reason, my parents decided to book 2 rooms at some hotel at Changi till Friday afternoon. Hence, the inevitable question. What am I gonna do there? Swim? Gym? I can do all these in the comfort of my own estate. Ay... I can't see the point of me going. I'd really rather not go. But still, the rooms have been booked, and the money has been spent, so I don't have a choice.

Ay, but I still wanna rant. =p I'm gonna be so freakin bored there man... My only sources of entertainment will be my MP3 player and guitar. I left my book in camp, so I can't read it there. I don't watch TV, so being a couch potato isn't an option. My parents told me to bring one friend along, since the 2 rooms are meant for 4 people. But who am I gonna ask? Everyone's busy with their own visiting and stuff. Ay... I'd so rather much stay at home. *ah... ain't I soundin like a spoiled brat?* Guess I'm much more homely than I thought I was.

Well, maybe if there's a nice coffee house there, I can invite a couple of friends down for drinks. Or if there's a badminton court, then maybe I can invite some folks down to have a game or 2. Wait, I only have a squash racket! Argh...

It's been awhile since I've had such a "plan-less" week. As of now, my only appointment this week will be visting Benedict's place on Thurs. Ay... not good, not good.

Well, i guess that's all. Gonna have to leave soon. Oh, V day's comin! Less than a week! Prayin prayin prayin prayin..... and prayin prayin prayin. =P

K, see y'all soon.

Ay......

Time flies when you're havin such a good time...
But still, what a night. =)

Triathlon high!

Had my company cohesion day on Wednesday. Basically, it was a day-long event at East Coast. Spent the morning doing sai gang (a.k.a free labour) by moving stores, buying ice, setting up water points whilst the guys from the other platoon played soccer.

Before lunch, everyone was lamenting about the stupid triathlon that was to be held in the afternoon. This was supposed to be a relaxing COHESION event! A chalet, with a nice bbq and stuff. Which idiot decided to include a freakin triathlon into the schedule? Me and my colleagues were bitching non stop about the whole thing, and added to the amount of crap work that was thrown to us, it was a pretty miserable morning.

Alright, but I have to admit, that in the end, the triathlon was ALOT more enjoyable than I thought. In fact, it was the bloody highlight of the whole day for me! All of the participants were seperated into 6 teams of 8 men at random. That meant that we were all in teams of relatively unfamiliar faces. (cohesion, yes?) Luckily for me, I socialise alot with the rest of my company, so I knew almost all the guys in my team.

Since the last team to finish would have to do all the cooking for the bbq, my team leader (officer from another platoon) was determined to complete the race in 2nd last place AT LEAST. Each team would have to complete a cycling and kayaking route, before regrouping together to run the last 2 km+ back to the chalet.

Problem was, some of my team members didn't know how to cycle *gasp*, whilst others didn't know how to kayak! That put us at a serious disadvantage. Hence, we had to adopt a slightly different strategy. Guys who knew how to kayak would complete the kayaking route twice, whilst the same applied to the guys who knew how to cycle. In other words, members would only focus on one task (kayaking or cycling) before starting the run.

Since I was one of the few guys who was confident of kayaking, I had to forfeit the cycling route for the sake of others. *damn* My kayak partner was a good friend of mine from the station platoon. He was quick to admit that he wasn't comfortable with either cycling or kayaking, but to quote his exact words, "You just kayak!! I'll do whatever you do man!!" The perfect follower. =P

After a pointless speech by my OC (officer in command), the red flag was waved, and the race was underway! I made a mad sprint to the beach, and lo and behold; for the first time in my life, I actually arrived FIRST in a competitive running event! Well, to some degree anyway. However, that speed came at a price. You see, in order to reach the beach, we had to run through a beach bar. As I sprinted through, I went a little too close to the corner of the bar top. WHAM! My hipbone just barely clipped the metal corner. I didn't feel the IMMENSE pain until I reached the kayaks, and I most definitely didn't expect to see blood trickling down my side and leaving little red dots on my white singlet. Ouch...

4 guys including me from my team were to kayak, so I helped my officer and his buddy into the kayak. However, due to some complications (and foul play by the other teams), my team's kayak was the last to leave the beach! Still, we didn't need to worry. As I looked out over the sea, I saw most of the kayaks just going haywire over the water. In a nutshell, they were going everywhere EXCEPT straight! Hilarious... You won't believe the adrenaline rush I felt when I saw my team members reach back to shore first when they left last! Outstanding! A quick change of life jackets, oars, and off we went. Me and my buddy set off for the seas...

I'm guessing that most of my opponents had little or no experience kayaking or canoeing, 'coz the leading margin we had over the second placed team was freaking HUGE! Still, despite the comfortable lead, I pushed as hard as I could. I was yelling to my buddy behind me, "LEFT LEFT LEFT! RESUME STRAIGHT! GO GO GO! HARDER! LET'S OVERTAKE THOSE BASTARDS! GOGOGO!!" Bwahaha.... I was a maniac out at sea man. We were so quick we lapped many of our opponents. Despite all the sea water blinding me and my buddy, we kept our kayak on course all the way. No surprise that we finished the kayak race with a near-5 min lead over our next opponent.

We rushed back to the running route where we were supposed to rendevous with our cycling counterparts. They were in 2nd place, but the last pair had yet to return. Whilst waiting, we enjoyed the sights of TPJCians running their Road Run along the path. Coincidence that the event was held on the same day. I even had time to chat with my old Geog teacher Sahlan. Yup, he's still as gay as ever, right down to his 80s shades.

Our cycling pair returned! Once we reported back to the time control officer, we started our 2km run back to the chalet. It was funny, running through the immense crowds of TPJC students. Alot of them were staring at us as though we were mad men. But I must admit, it must be weird to see 8 guys, some in singlets, some in soccer jerseys, some in sandals, and even slippers, sprinting through the sea of TPJC green.

There was one very weak runner in my team, so my officer ran together with him to motivate him. I helped my buddy out by carring his shoe bag, whilst my other colleague led the run back. Running 2km + in SANDALS is no joke man. I can't imagine how some guys managed to run in slippers. Furthermore, the pressure began to mount once I saw the 2nd placed team running not too far behind us. We still had a lead, but me being Mr Paranoid, I was so afraid of losing the win that I just kept pushing. I finished the run in 2nd place and waited for the rest of my team to reach the finish line. I should't have worried; the last runner in my team still finished miles ahead of our opponents last man.

Man, I still remember how high I felt then. Jumping around, high fiving my team, laughing, shouting. By then, it was already 4 plus. The weather was just nice; windy, cool, and just the right amount of sun. My team of victors even had to time to dunk ourselves into the sea whilst waiting for the rest to arrive. Yes, and no doubt, none of us did any cooking in the evening. =)

Well, the rest of the day was pretty uneventful, other than some cycling later in the evening. All in all, I had a good time, but only thanks to the triathlon. Who would have thought something so tough would be so enjoyable? But of course, I'm sure I wouldn't be saying that if I had finished last. Haha

Well, it's late. Time to sleep... Until next time, ciao.

Ying and Yang

"R u ying?" was the sms i received yesterday afternoon from an unfamiliar number.
My prompt reply; "No i'm yang"

I'm so mean.