A Singaporean's Duty

Secret War Journal[6 March 2012]
As of writing this, it is now a Sunday, 18 March 2012. It is ironic that I wrote about other stuff during my days in an army bunk instead of army life. I guess it is time to move on to current affairs and spend less time on past events (but do not worry, I will still work on it)

For this post, I would be writing on my first day of my army life. Due to the need for secrecy, I doubt I can share much of what happened during my army life except during the period of time when it is opened to visitors (which would be my first day)

To not cause too much of a drastic change from civilian life to army life, the Singapore military allowed me to bring 5 family members with me to an island for my basic military training. As it is not the holiday season in Singapore yet, my parents and siblings would not be able to join me on that day. Instead, my cousin Yuki, Siew Yan and Wei Ting accompanied me to my overseas trip to witness the start of my army life. Yay! Nay, I am not that enthusiastic to embark on my army life (typical because we are used to civilian life)

To be frank, I was rather in a rush when I was packing my belongings, especially due to the fact that I was rushing to file in an application for a scholarship. Despite spending three days on purchasing items needed in army, I still did not manage to obtain all the items recommended by keller and marcus. I remember my father complaining that I was being last-minute again. Well, in my own defense, I spent three days on it! Hahas, okay, that was just me throwing tantrum. As a result, I had severe lack of sleep on my first day of my enlistment.

My companions kept commenting that my bag was smaller than other guys. Actually, they are all accompanying me to see my 'botak' face. Evil people! :< Joking. Hahas!

As it turns out, we missed the ferry to reach the island. Nope, it is not because we reached the ferry terminal late, we boarded the shuttle bus on time. When the ferry commenced boarding, siew yan all of sudden had a stomache and we missed the boarding time as a result. It was a rather hilarious sight, actually. I had already scanned my card for that particular ferry so when I ended up missing the ferry, there was a split second of chaos and confusion among the staff in the ferry terminal. Thankfully, they allowed us to board the next ferry though I was late by 1 hour ultimately (traditionally not a good thing to be late for army :p)
The voyage was okay, it has been such a long time since I was on a vessel traveling on water. There was not much scenery to see. Thus, we spent most of the time uploading pictures on Facebook and making a joke out of it.

Shortly after landing on the island, I separated from the rest of them. While they were being given a tour around the island, I was worried about the consequences of being late. I remembered pestering the commander to find out what would happen to me. He smiled and replied to me that all is well everytime and it turns out he was right. (Silly me. :p)

There was an oath-taking ceremony which admittedly made me queasy partly due to the fact that I did not ask for such a commitment.

The highlight of the day was undoubtedly the time when I was allowed to have lunch with them. It was my time tasting the food in the cookhouse and honestly, it did not really taste very nice but good enough to survive. Hahas! It was definitely nice to have Wei Ting peel an orange for me. XD (oops?)

Unfortunately, it is time for me to bide farewell to them and live as a soldier... T.T
--
In the future, I would tell you about the friends I made there, if I have the time, of course. :)

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"In modern war... you will die like a dog for no good reason." - Ernest Hemingway

Infocomm Closure

Secret War Journal[14 March 2012]
Hi people! I am sorry for the sudden hiatus from the last few weeks as I was sorta 'conscripted' into National Service in Singapore. In case you are not aware, all males in Singapore aged 16 and a half and older are required to serve in the Singapore Armed Forces for 2 years, followed by a few years on 'standby'.

Before I elaborate 'more', let me keep you up to date with what had happened since my hiatus.

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End of IDA Internship
As of posting, it is now 14 March 2012. My internship in IDA ended on 1st March 2012. Originally, I was supposed to end my internship on the last day of February but my mentors really require help on a project. As a result, we decided to extend my internship by one more day to the first of March so that I can officially hand over matters to a temporary staff named Mehul who would be helping my mentors until the completion of the project.
The last week of internship was, to me, both tiring and exciting closure to my first internship. For this week, Joan, Wen Rui, and I would be ending this week. Like me, Wen Rui had to extend her internship by one day. Hence, her internship ended with Joan on the last day of February. I would say my last week of internship was not as hectic as that of Wen Rui's but I would say it was a bit tight for me nevertheless. While Wen Rui stayed behind in the office to finish her work, I brought home the laptop to attempt to finish my assigned work. Unfortunately, I was still unable to finish it on Thursday, 1 March 2012. I remembered feeling dread when I was going to inform my mentors that I was unable to complete my task. However, what happened next was rather unexpected. I had always known that my mentors were nice people but I was actually half-expecting to be reprimanded for being inefficient and lack of time management. As you probably had known, my mentors were accepting of the fact that I was unable to complete.
I later found on that day when I asked my mentors for an evaluation of my performance during the internship that they felt that I was too efficient. While in a certain persepective, it is a good thing, being too efficient can lead to potential problems in a team. Furthermore, completing an assignment too fast gives an impression that is it is not done with thought. I know that I did but I agree that it would be difficult for others to believe. Thus, I was advised to spend more time double-checking when I finished to prevent negative impressions imposed upon me. I guess, my mentors are perhaps glad that I was unable to complete a task in time because it would seems that much effort was placed on it. Hahas! XD
--

I realised that I accidentally wrote about some events happened on the last day of internship before talking about other notable events that occurred throughout the internship. I think one of the most memorable event that took place would be my first meal with my mentors. Unlike Johnston and Wen Rui, my mentors were often busy and do not have the opportunity to go to meals with me. I do not really mind as I understand that they are very busy. For most of my internship period, I had lunch with Johnston, Joan, Wen Rui, Chor Hiang, Gladys, Joycelyn and Sherilyn. However, on the second last day of my internship, my mentors decided to conduct a farewell lunch with me. It was also going to be a welcome lunch for Mehul. We settled on a nearby bar named Harry's just downstairs from our office. Our lunch was candid as we finally had the opportunity to dicuss issues not related to work for once. For example, it was only until that day that I realised that Ms Kiranjit is a vegetarian who also eats fish. I think that is rather interesting. Mehul is a vegetarian. He just graduated from SIM with a Mass Communication Degree. He used to be Meridian Junioor college too before he transferred to a polytechnic. On the other hand, Terence is like me, a non-vegetarian. :)
Terence and I ended up ordering the same dish, a dish with cereal-fried chicken with ham stuffing with greens. (My father later commented that I kept ordering chicken but hey! I like chicken! :p) As it turns out, I was fooled by the menu, (not sure if my mentor was too but...), I was served only two bite-sized cereal-fried chicken stuffed with ham and cheese in the middle. The rest of the plate were green in colour. Did I mention I hate vegetables? Alright, I cannot say the bar cheated me but I guess they took the menu literally. Finally, I found out that Ms Kiranjit, Mehul, and I are all left-handers. So cool! I mean, for the first time, out of a sample size of 4, there are 3 who are left-handers! That reminds me of the composition in my junior college class. :D
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Finally, my last assignment was to hand over my outstanding work for a particular project to Mehul. He is around two to three years older than me so I felt a bit strange when I was briefing him. This was the first time that I actually briefed someone muich older than me for official work and I think the most awkward moment then was when he asked, "can I borrow the pass from you, sir?". I remember being stunned for a moment. Thinking back now, I think it was a nice feeling. I am not sure it was just a natural polite question or out of respect, but I do not care. :p
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Mehul would be taking over my account until the end of March, I think? So do not be alarmed when I go online with my IDA account (I know Mr Yao was on the day of my A Levels results). Hahas.
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I would cover more about army (not much actually due to the Official Secrets Acts)
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"It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets." - Voltaire

A Levels Results

Secret War Journal[2 March 2012]

Today, I left home with a feeling of dread. My future is about to be sealed by a single sitting of a major examination. It is none other than the "A" Levels examinations, Singapore edition.

To calm ourselves, we arranged to meet at White Sands for lunch first and catch up with another since the last time we met. As I have a library book to return, I reached the shopping centre earlier than the agreed time. On my way to the library, I spotted familiar faces. One of them was Laura and we checked out at the Popular stationery store to buy files for Laura. Apparently, the stationery store there do not sell the files that Laura wants.

After some time browsing through books which I probably would not have the time to read, we met up with Cynthia. At their insistence, we are going to eat at McDonald's. I guess, girls Do win all arguments after all. Hahas!

As it turns out, Pei Shi, Debbie and Lai Yin were going to be very late. Being bored from waiting for Pei Shi to arrive, we decided to play a prank on her. We got Laura to sms her that we are at Popular when we were already in McDonald's. Well, technically, we did not lie as we were at Popular. As a result, Pei Shi went to the top floor to look for us to no avail, only to be told of our current location. Evil me, oops?
When Pei Shi (finally) found us, we had lunch as Debbie would only be joining us but not eating lunch with us. Lai Yin, on the other hand, only took a half-day off and would likely be late in collecting the results, much less join us for lunch. (Don't ask me why she did not take a whole day leave.)

The official release of the A Levels soon came and you could feel the tense atmosphere in the school. Some are numb, maybe confident of their results, some appear nervous, some just want to ignore the coming storm and just want to catch up with one another.

As we gather in the hall, there are periods where they are chattering and when there are complete silence. After what seemed like an eternity, the Principal came and announced that our school had done it again. Upon hearing that, the whole school cheered. However, as the Principal continued to show the statistics of our performance, I could not help but feel that we did not do well with only 50.7% of the cohort achieving more than 70 rank points, it means that about half of the cohort would have difficulty entering university. That is definitely not a good sign. I believe my class thought so too because everyone looked so gloomy.

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The Results
Without further ado, here are my results:

H1 General Paper - C
H2 Chemistry - A
H2 Economics - C
H2 Mathematics - A
H2 Physics - A
H1 Project Work - A
H1 Mother Tongue - D

Rank Points: 85

I guess that means I got to shake hands with the Principal after all. While it was a nice feeling to shake hands with the Principal, honestly I was not very satisfied with my results. Yes, I know people would think that I had already done very well and that I am unable to emphasize with people who did not do well. I know I did a decent job but I, too, have expectations for myself. While I had seen it coming for economics, I was hoping that my General Paper would do better. Of course, one part of me wasn't expecting myself to have such good results. Thus, I find myself in a dilemma in choosing which course to pursue and which scholarships to apply for.

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Decisions, decisions
I suppose I should go read up on what each courses offered by University entails. I blame myself for not allocating time to research on my future career. Lack of time is just an excuse, I suppose.

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"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody." - Bill Cosby

Smoke and Ashes

Secret War Journal[2 Match 2012]
So "A" Levels results had been released.

Time is tight, right now. I would try to clear my remaining outstanding posts but give me time.

I need time to clear my head. I need some time alone. I need to scream. I want to be myself again.

Will write about the results in a day's time. No worries.

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"A faith is a necessity to a man. Woe to him who believes in nothing." - Victor Hugo

Lackof

Secret War Journal[20 February 2012]
I am not really sure what is wrong with me.

You see, the problem with me was that I always had trouble finding motivation to proceeding with the second phase of projects. I finding that an irritating flaw of mine. Yes, for work I can follow through but for personal projects, I really find myself grabbing invisible threads just to continue on my timeline for the project. It's exasperating.

Maybe one day, someone could provide me with a solution...

Isn't it strange?

My whole purpose all along was to have my friends make more friends, then I can retire and disappear.

Why? Why am I finding so much difficulty with achieving it?

Had I grown too attached? Is that not itself a weakness?

Conclusion? I spent too much time with humans.

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"A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him." - David Brinkley

Talisman

Secret War Journal[18 February 2012]

It has been a long time since someone prepared this for me. Thank you and for your concern. I really appreciated it. :)

Valentine's cum Teachers' Seminar 2012

Secret War Journal[14 February 2012]
I am just returned home from a hectic day! :D

Before I begin anything on what had happened today, let me first wish you all a

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Unfortunately, my plan to give out chocolate wafers which I bought a month ago was not very successful because everyone, including me, was busy.

Don't worry! I plan to still give out tomorrow, I hope. XD
--
Meanwhile, I would like to special these people who giving me a Valentine's gift. Thank you! =)

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IDA Infocomm Club Teachers' Seminar 2012
Today I helped out at an IDA event called the Infocomm Club Teachers' Seminar 2012.

I am not a key member of the event though, just helping out with ushering, registration and collection of forms at the event of the event.
--
To me, the more interesting thing that happened during the event would be during the ushering.
I guess this is partly due to the fact that this is the first time I am helping out at events as an usher. Unlike Johnston and Joan, being Student councillors in junior college, I had no idea what to expect for this role.

Thankfully, the teachers who were attending this event were friendly and I actually had fun doing that role. For some reasons, doing this role remains me of the MPS sessions that I had been helping out. It made me wonder if I would this week's session because I would be going over to Siew Yan's house for steamboat instead.

Hmm, let's no sidetrack. :)
--
After my usher role, I went over to help out at the registration booth. I had a nice chat with Zaliyah. :)
I guess this was perhaps my most challenging part, feeling helpless in addressing some of the teacher's queries. I suppose it is my fault for not being aware of the technical aspects of the Infocomm Club. XD

My secondary school decided, at the last moment, to not attend. Frankly, I was not expecting much, since most of my juniors during my school days had mostly graduated and my teachers-in-charge then had since left the school. I was still expecting to re-connect with my CCA though. Pity.
--
Personally, one of the coolest feature of this seminar would be the talk by AutoDesk. I never thought they AutoDesk would actually give a talk in Singapore! Okay, I knew AutoDesk were committed to talking with customers but wohoo! Hahas!

Like I was saying to Joan, it made me feel like setting up a Infocomm Club all of sudden. :P

In addition, I really appreciate how IDA makes the effort to come up with findings and what's in store for all of us for this year. I think it is a feature that sets the CCA apart from other CCAs, (okay, not including NCC).

Unfortunately, I did not have the time to actually attend the talks and presentations for the event. Oh well...
--
Today, some of my fellow interns were telling me that they were considering working in IDA. Hey, how awesome is that? :D

Jpop and Anime Songs

Secret War Journal[January - February 2012]
It has been some time since I posted MVs on my Journal. I guess it is time!

Recently, youtube has been crafting playlists out for me when I'm listening to music while working. In case you did not know there such a feature, go Browse -> Music -> Play Mix. :)

Unsurprisingly, my playlists were composed mainly of instrumentals, OSTs, jpop and anime songs. I am not really sure why but I guess I frequently listen to the songs there. :p

Here are some of my favourites in the playlists (not including instrumentals):

Chinese New Year

Secret War Journal[23 January 2012]

Ah, so Chinese New Year had arrived.

Though I had fun during the Chinese New Year, I cannot help but notice that the Chinese New Year spirit in Singapore has died down relatively, compared to previous years. Am I the only person to feel that?

If I am not, I wonder why this is so. Is it due to the economic uncertainty? Or is it due to the shorter duration of holidays?

No matter, what I like most about Chinese New Year would be the reunion dinner. Sometimes, I guess, we just need a reason to meet up together as a family. It is the one time of the year where the whole extended family get to meet up, apart from my grandmother's birthday.

I think we have a lot of stuff to catch up too, young and old. Sadly, I was unable to taste Grandmother's delicious mee sua again. Leroy, leroy, Grandmother is too old to cook already. Dang, selfish me. Hahas.

Another major change was that gambling during Chinese New Year toned down considerably this year. I think that is one factor that cause the dampened festive spirit this year. O.o
--
I wonder how is the red packet collection from everyone else? As my own tradition, I am not opening them until Chinese New Year comes to a close! ;)

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Credits for photo: My cousin who took and decorated them. :)

Board and Kites

Secret War Journal[21 January 2012]

Morning rites

Today, I went to pay respects to my grandfather and my mother. So much had happened since the last time I came to see them. It has been only a month since; I had so much to say, so much to tell. Yet, when I came before them, I feel as though I have not enough time. Wanting to make good use of my time there, I was almost at a loss of word. I feel so useless then. Why can’t I say what I want to say in that short time?

I realized now, I was trying to say three sentences at the same time. My mind still could not sustain three threads of thoughts for such a long time.

Such a fool I was.

"Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out." - Anton Chekhov

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Broken strings

I guess I had no time to mop around over my inability to say what I wanted. I just have to hope they are hearing my thoughts whenever it is directed at them, no matter where I am.

I have a tight schedule today but I didn’t tell people that. (Now you know. Aren’t it a bit late for that? Haha)

I went to the temple with my family, I left alone. Next destination – Sengkang Community Centre.

--

I received news that for today’s event, Johnston and Keller would not be able to join us. I can understand, Chinese New Year is round the corner, preparations had to be made. Nevertheless, I feel bad to call upon Meldon to organize such nature of outing when there are so few of us who can make it. After all, I am partly, if not mainly, responsible for the existence of the outing.

The original plan was to play kites and board games the whole day. I would be joining them in the afternoon but I had thought with 4 players, it would be enough to entertain each other until I arrive. But with 2 backing out, playing kite seems rather meaningless and it is difficult to play challenging games with only 2 players. You would need a minimum of three players.

By the time I arrived, I sensed that they were a bit exhausted though they commented that I look exhausted too (Tired from life or work, I wonder). Despite that, we managed to play a good round of Settlers, Munchkins and Monopoly Deal. At the end of the day, what’s important is that we had fun. :)

I guess, after all this, it was the way it was meant to be. It is better this way too; it is more comfortable talking Japanese-related stuff with them than any other people. It did help to put at ease, talking about such cheerful things. :)

In a blink of an eye, it was evening already. As we were about to leave, it started to rain. We decided to wait for the rain to subside by playing a few more rounds of board games, only to be rewarded with a heavy shower.

Since Meldon had pressing matters, he is volunteering :), we decided to run in the rain to reach the train station. I think we really had quite a bit fun doing that. Personally, it reminds me of my primary school days. Such innocence we had then. Hahas!

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CNY Goodies!

Seeing them off at the train station, it is now time for the next thing I decided to attend to. It is time to pay a visit to my cousin’s house. My aunt had prepared goodies for Chinese New Year for my family! Thank you!

I feel bad that I am visiting my aunt’s house because she prepared something, is this world really about such matters? Is it?

I had a nice chat with my cousins and caught up with drama series that were currently being aired. Hahas! It had been such a long time since I last watched television. :)

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Before heading home, I stopped by Cynthia’s house to settle some matters. It didn’t take long, I welcomed myself back home after that.

MOE Bursary Merit Award Ceremony 2012

Secret War Journal[15 January 2012]
Today is a good day. At least, it should be. :)

I am once again an recipient of the MOE Bursary Award Ceremony! I am so happy!

I wanted to upload pictures taken that day but apparently no one uploaded them yet. So I'm afraid there's nothing else to post except for the good news. :P

Starcraft 2 En Masse

Secret War Journal[14 January 2012]

I realized ever since the end of “A” level, I had been going out to play LAN with many of my friends.

Well, on the bright side, I had been playing Starcraft 2 with my friends. Starcraft 2 hones the mind and the mind games involved is really refreshing for me. Well, I cannot see that for everyone else though. Hahas!
--
So what is the link of the introduction to what we are discussing today?

I have to admit, I just played LAN today again. Opps?

For today’s round, we have Johnston, Trevor, Nigel and two other friends (sorry, I’m not sure how to spell your names)

We played a total of 4 matches. Each match was a team battle, 3 vs 3. After each match, we would shuffle the team players for more diversity and balance. :)

I would say this is the first time I managed to play a very serious Starcraft 2 games with friends. I really enjoyed the experience. :)

Hope we play again in the near future! Ciaos!

10S101 Class Chalet 2012

Secret War Journal[8 January 2012][Long post]

Actually, I am not sure if this is the last one but it sure felt it was the last one. O.o

The Original Plan

I guess there is no harm to tell you what I had planned at first. Pei Shi’s and Debbie’s birthday presents were way overdue since last year.

But! Before you jump into conclusions, we had bought the presents. We just needed an opportunity to pass to them with all the stakeholders present, to be fair.

Actually, we just wanted to witness their reaction when they open the presents. :p

With the class chalet, the opportunity presented itself, well sort of. Since Laura’s birthday recently came too, Pei Shi was planning to pass Laura’s present before the Class Chalet. Covertly, we were planning to pass to Debbie and Pei Shi their presents then too.

---

Or so we thought,

Lai Yin was… I guess not used to such stuff. So the plan failed. We had only a few minutes to concoct another plan which I would leave the details for later. Hahas! :)

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What actually happened…?

Then came another setback, this one rather hilarious too. :p

Laura overslept. Pei Shi must be pissed because that was the whole point of the meet-up – to pass her birthday presents. Hahas!

For a moment, I thought her phone died because her phone was unavailable and she was not aware of the gathering point. Thankfully (ironic as it sounds), she was sleeping and did not turn on her phone.

Since we thought we are going to be the latest for the Class Chalet, we told Laura to meet up somewhere nearer to the Class Chalet.

--

While we head towards the new meeting point, let me spend some time to describe to you the wrapper for Laura’s birthday present.

Why? You might ask. Well, it is very… unique. :p

The wrapper is made of paper (duh?!) and it is brown in color. Nothing special yet? Well, that’s the point! It is a simple paper bag, think take-away paper bags in Burger King. Hahas, a novel idea I tell you (in a certain accent)!

--

We met Laura on a bus stop where a shuttle bus would bring us to our destination. Upon meeting her, we passed her our present for her. Unfortunately, she did not wish to open her present in our presence. Thus, I was not able to witness her reactions to the presents we bought for her.

The journey on the Shuttle Bus was a blur for me because I sort of fell asleep on the bus, being tired these days. Hahas.

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So it begins…

Oh does it? I would think that at this point of time, after much beating about the bushes, as a reader, you would be wondering if I was just trying to be funny and just sprouting random nonsense just to delay the climax of the day.

Well, sorry to disappoint (or amuse) you but all these events really occurred on that day. Such is life. :)

Arriving at the chalet, we expected ourselves to be one of the latest group to arrive. Much to most of our surprise, there was only… Bryan.

Yep, only Bryan. That is because he was tasked to check into the place at the designated time. Guess that made him the earliest to arrive, by default.

That is…interesting. Nevertheless, it provided me some time to explore the place somewhat undisturbed due to the lack of people in the vicinity. (*insert evil laughter*)

Oh, did I mention that the moment we arrived at that place, it started to rain? Queer, isn’t it?

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False start? No more,

Alright, I would stop torturing you (and myself from the excessive typing) by letting the pictures do the talking from this point! :)

Starting the BBQ!

Pei Shi and me doing a silly face (can't believe Debbie caught this on camera but I think it's hilarious!)

So I got bored and went to take some pictures with Timothy. Say cheese!

I have no idea why this picture is so small!!! >.<

--
Ah, so the group pictures had come streaming in, enjoy! (And all our candid pictures too...)

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At around 9:30, it was getting late for some of us as we all had work tomorrow.

Laura's father was nice to bring us to a populated area for the rest of us to flag a taxi. Thank you! :)
It took some time but we managed to flag a taxi and I guess everyone was already tired from the Chalet and needed a rest for a packed tomorrow. :)

Me? I had a rather candid conversation with the taxi driver. I think he found it awkward to talk to me in front of my other friends as he talked a while before going silent when the rest boarded the taxi. Nevertheless, I gained some insight from him through our short conversation. Hahas!

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"As you walk down the fairway of life you must smell the roses, for you only get to play one round." - Ben Hogan

Let's Talk NTU 2012

Secret War Journal[7 January 2012]

“A” Levels results are coming soon, I am getting nervous. This coming Monday would be the release of “O” Levels results. Somehow, that made me worries about my “A” Levels results. Hahas!

Well, I guess it is soon time for reality to kick in and start thinking about the future!

One of the few talks I managed to find time to attend was the session conducted by Nanyang Technological University (NTU) named “Let’s Talk NTU 2012”.

How I knew about such an event? NTU sent us a letter to all of us to raise awareness as well as the flood of emails by Brightspark to inform us of such an event. It was quite irritating later on because all the contents are essentially the same thing but I guess the organizers were worried that no one would attend their talks.

For today’s event, I would be attending the talk with Debbie, Cynthia, Laura, and Pei Shi.

I guess it is without doubt after the talks and the word-of-mouth that NTU is excellent in the Business and Accountancy Degree. The direct honors program is also another plus for the Nanyang Business School. (Note that all courses in NTU offer this program too) Hmm, perhaps I would enroll in that school should I decide to undertake a business degree. Hahas!

Apart from meeting many friends during the events and understanding the various courses a little better, there is nothing much to note for the talk.

But dang, I am still undecided on which course I should gun for! (if I score well, that is) Any ideas?

P.S: There is another exact same talk on the 28 Jan 2012. Feel free to see for yourself then!

Intern Union -- IDA

Secret War Journal[3 January 2012 - 6 January 2012]
Another week has passed! I hope this is a short post because I have a lot of things to write about, hahas!

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New Interns

As mentioned earlier, Wen Rui and Johnston had officially started work as Intern here from this week onwards. :)

This brings the total number of Meridian Junior College Students working as Intern to 4. With that many of us around in there (relatively), we could form our own student union in there! Hahas!

I am just worried that our mentors would think we are distracting each other. Let's hope not. I would like to think with more of us around, we could help each other in terms of moral support and improving each other's skills.

Helping each other in specific work may be more difficult, given the sensitive nature of our work. (Especially mine?) But I still believe there are ways to improve each other's work without needing to disclose too much information. (After all, I live with secrets everyday and I still get things in done in the real world.)
--
Wen Rui seems to be the busiest among us right now. However, I believe I would be much more busy than her in the near future once my side shift into high gear. :)

Johnston's first week seems similar to Joan's and mine. In addition, his mentor seems as friendly as mine. Wohoo! We must be lucky. :)

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MPS

Meanwhile, on the eastern side of Singapore, I am back training as a case-writer!

This week, there are more volunteers than ever!  I am not sure it was due to one week break than everyone had but wow, the room was filled with volunteers! Voluntarism in Singapore is indeed rising, for this particular activity anyways. Hahas!

It is a really much more enriching an experience than typing, I feel that I get to know how's the sentiment like on the ground and the various issues that people experience.

You should volunteer too! ;)

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"Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it." - Henry David Thoreau

2011: For Friends

Secret War Journal[2011][Long Post]

Ah, the last days of 2011 approaches.

What does it mean? It means that it is time to bid our good-byes.

This year, I decided that I shall call it the Year of Friendship.

Indeed, my friends. This year is dedicated to all who I deem as friends. There aren’t many, I know but know that each of you count. Numbers mean nothing to me.

After all, there is no point in claiming many as friends when you know at the back of your head that they are plotting your downfall.

Why this year, you may ask.

This year had been hella tough year. Family was not of much help (as usual). Of course, tolerating certain people also did not help much but I am glad that you people were there for me.

Some days when the days are cloudy and dark, you provide light to show me the way.

Some days when the days are bursting with tears, you provide shelter from its pounding droplets.

Some days when the days are beaming with sunlight, you would be there to bask in it.

In short, thank you for being there for me. :)

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"A friendship can weather most things and thrive in thin soil; but it needs a little mulch of letters and phone calls and small, silly presents every so often - just to save it from drying out completely." - Pam Brown

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Of special mention are the following people:

1.      Johnston

Thank you, my best friend. For being there, when I feel down. For being there, when I feel sick and tired of humanity. For being there, when I feel that there is no point in staying in this place. For being there, when I am at a loss of what to do next.

Thank you for making the effort to re-connect me to the world when I lost touch to the outside world.

2.      Emelia

Your cheerful self reminded me of my past, in a good way. I am happy that despite having fewer opportunities to meet up in person, we were still able to keep in contact via new media. :) Your efforts in making those cards and greetings did not go unnoticed. Thank you! ;)

3.      Marcus and Keller

Thank you both for setting aside time to go out with me for varying reasons. I do acknowledge that it takes some effort and patience to allocate a portion of your free time to go out. Unfortunately, you two sometimes became targets of wicked tongue when we meet because I am often in a foul mood this year. I’m sorry and can only hope for your understanding. I really appreciate how the both of you tolerated shit from me and kept our friendship alive. Thank you.

Keller and I should remain in contact either via Facebook or via mobile. :)

4.      Qi Xiang and Meldon

My bubbly friend, Qi Xiang who had, perhaps ironically, made the best group of friends during his two year in Junior College between Keller, him and I. Sometimes, I envy his life though most of the time I wonder why (often ending up in much hilarious results)

Meldon, Qi Xiang and I actually have some common interests which I believe had ensured hours of talking (which may had distracted our studies slightly this year)

Still, it was fun talking to them and I really enjoyed the conversations a lot. Not to mention, the laughter coming from those. ;)

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I’m not really sure why but somehow I felt that staying in touch with everyone could start to prove to be difficult. Here’s my analysis on who I would likely to stay in touch after this year: (maybe you would notice a trend…)

Primary School Friends:

Johnston – I’m sure we would remain in contact after all these ordeals. :)

Emelia – Similarly, I doubt we will lose contact. :)

Marcus – Based on past experience, I believe Marcus will also take effort to stay in contact. :)

Jia Xin – Staying in touch with her may prove to be difficult in the coming years since there is little opportunity to meet up. However, I like how we are open to the idea of planning meet-ups. ;)

?? ??? – Highly unlikely to meet you again. Sigh. Promises are just too powerful.

Secondary School Friends:

Keller – I have faith that he would take the effort to stay in touch but who knows what may happen in the future? Worse case scenarios, there’s always Facebook :S

Qi Xiang – Meeting up with him always had been hard. Hahas! At least we still can contact each other via Facebook (unless Facebook goes into a downturn, oh no!)

Cynthia – Kind of surprised hearing her coming with a plan to meet up with the rest of the group which I guess warrants her name being placed here. Not bad, much improvement on her part. :p We shall see how much she is determined to get it going. It is not going to be easy, but I think she needs the experience.

Siew Yan – She and I discussed about possible meetups in the future. I’m not really sure it was light talk but I’m pretty serious with what I said – Obviously one would prioritise old friends over bunk-mates during the NS period because the opportunity to meet bunk-mates is so much higher during that period anyways. In my opinion, the real challenge, for me, comes after my national service. I think there could be a potential for a conflict of interests then.

Lai Yin – I guess she will make the effort? Strangely enough, her schedule and mine seems to clash a lot. I guess we have differing definitions of free time and work. *Shrug*

Junior College Mates:

Shereen – Ah, my god-daughter of mine. I trust that her constant worry that we lose contact after National Service would be cause enough for us to stay in contact. She is always afraid I would forget her after NS. Hahas, silly girl.

--

"Never have a companion that casts you in the shade." - Baltasar Gracian

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And also other things...

2011 was surprising an eventful year. Time to review my wishlist for 2011,
score: 5/8.
Details here.

Dang, not as well as I had hoped for. Still, I guess it can't be helped.

After all, some matters are really not up to me to decide.

Weekends in 2011 were pretty much devoted to housework and judging by how things go, it would be the same for the next year too. Shucks.

Don't get me wrong, doing housework is okay. Demanding people to do housework EVERY DAY borders on insanity.

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Of falsehoods

I decided to pretty much cease writing about my broken family except for really generic stuff that everyone else writes about. The rationale behind is that I realised that those posts are getting quite a number of people worried about me. That is unfortunately not what I want.

So, to have less people getting concerned over such matters, I decided to stop writing about such matters in this journal. Originally, I just write those to calm myself down. I am someone who needs to write some stuff to organise my thoughts else those thoughts would run amok in my brain. (which could make me quite insane at times)

While at one hand I'm saddened by the fact that I had to resort to this on this journal, I guess I would get used to it. After all, I put on a false front everyday.
--

"A half truth, like half a brick, is always more forcible as an argument than a whole one. It carries better." - Stephen Leacock

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Changes for the coming spring,

I decided to abolish some formatting styles for my entries for 2012.

Instead of the usual cyan background header in my entries, I should now adapt a simpler larger font size with bold for my headers (with Georgia), like these in this entry.
I guess most reader would probably exclaim, "Thank goodness, I thought this day would never arrive!"
But I still wish to justify my rationale for using the cyan background for my headers initially. It was to provide for a high level of contrast for easier reading. Of course, at times, that made it look out of place in the entire journal, the harmony of colour seemed broken at some point of time.
Thus, I decided to restore the harmony at the cost of its contrast. Of course, if any of you have a better suggestion, please do tell me and I would consider them.

Another writing technique I am planning to change could be using Microsoft Office Word to write out my entries from now instead of the native engine available online. I believe Office Word would provide me with more options for formatting and more room for creativity. Of course, this means that the underlying code could potentially become more complicated. (But I guess it is not your problem, to speak of hahas!)

For this post, I used Office Word. I would like to say I really enjoyed typing there, as if typing here is not already a joy! Hahas!

Another advantage in using Office Word would be that I could type my entries even when internet is not available. I am not always at places where there is internet, unfortunately, and that had hindered my efforts to write my entries throughout this year.
Of course, there is also an issue of privacy when I am typing the entries. After all, I am not very comfortable with typing my entries in the presence of people, in general.

What about changing the design of this journal, you say?
Hahas! Sorry, I have no plans to change the current just yet. Let's just say my mood when I decided to use this design is still aligned with how I feel like now. :)

Okay, how about removing that irritating cover post that had been there for months? Sorry again, there was a reason in placing it there as it is. Until there are more reasons to remove than leaving it there, it will remain.

One, I do not want certain people to know this journal is updated and well. Second, it is easier to track who is reading my journal and what post they were reading via the URLs visited.
For some inconvenience, I think the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages thus far. So, no not a chance.

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With Love, Leroy

There were, of course, many things that I wished I did not do. Nevertheless, this year was also a year where I felt there was some progress in my long-term goals.

• I am nearer to completing one of my promises.
• I felt the presence of my old self, like finally.
• I met my grandaunt, another recollection of my past.

One day, I will return to my old life and leave this pathetic life that I live now. I am working towards it, watch me.
--
With 2011 coming to a close, I realised there were also quite a number of misses, namely:

1. The inability to stay in contact with some people
2. Unable to find time to meet up with cousins during weekends which puts me in a bad mood some days because I miss them :(
3. The inability to spend time with myself and re-connect to my own world
4. The inability to have the time to pursue my goals
5. The inability to express myself due to physical constraints

I still sleep with much sorrow each day. This cannot last. Let's hope it ends this year.
What is this sadness that weighs me down? It is of loss. It is of denial. I feel so cold, where is the warmth in this world?
--

"A man who trusts nobody is apt to be the kind of man nobody trusts." - Harold MacMillan

IDA -- It begins

Secret War Journal[December 2011]
Yep, I had officially started my internship! Wohoo!

Unfortunately, I cannot discuss much details of my work publicly because of certain sensitive information. While I can't disclose to you information about my work, I would share with you events that happened during this period of time, that are non-work related of course. :)
--
This post would be mostly introducing my job and it's environment. :)

So where do I work? I work in a cool building situated in Mapletree Business City. The security there is pretty advanced AKA cool. :)

I am not sure about the security about the other buildings but my workplace should be one of the coolest! =D

I'm on the 9th floor! Find me if you have access to that floor! :)

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My Colleagues

I would try to introduce most of the people I met during my internship. Of course, my period of internship is short so I am unable to give much comment on them. (I am after all, more concerned of my weaknesses. :P)

1. Joan, fellow MJC-ian. She is sitting opposite my workstation. She is from another team though we are both in the same division. :)
2. Joycelyn (I hope I spelled your name correctly), a polytechnic graduate, probably leaving on 9 January. She often joins Joan and I for lunch for the past few weeks.
3. Xiao Zhou, MJC Junior. He completed his internship on 23 December.
4. Terence, my mentor. He's a great guy who wants me to learn as much as I can during my internship. Preliminary, I believe I would enjoy learning from him. :)
5. Kiranjit, also my mentor. She is very efficient and I think it would be great to learn from her. ;)
6. Jenny, she is very quick in thinking. I feel inferior at how fast I can think of critical questions on the sport. Wow.
7. Sophia, sort of Joan's mentor as well. She's a nice lady and I foresee working with her for some of my projects. :)
8. Melvin, it is fun to have him in meetings but I think he's really busy now too.
9. Johnston, my best friend. Joining us next year.
10. Others who I really have no idea how to spell as of now. Sorry.

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A Visit

Before I end off this post, (yes I know it is really short but I am running out of time. ): I would like to share a particular event about a visit by Yan Mae, our friend.

One day, Yan Mae visited us during lunch time as she happened to be nearby.

During our conversations, I realised Yan Mae was also helping out at the Meet-the-PAP sessions and is actually a member of Young PAP. She is helping out at in Bedok while I'm helping out at the Pasir Ris. She was interested to helping out at Pasir Ris instead.
I encourage her to, since the place is nearer to her place of residence but we also need to take into consideration the consequences of changing wards. After all, it is not very nice to just pack up and help out at another place (sorry for being a sentimental guy). But I guess in the long run, it would be easier for her to help out at Pasir Ris instead. :)

Yan Mae, being Yan Mae, still teased me the moment we met. Tsk tsk. Nevertheless, I was sure we all had a great time when she visited us, not many would bother to visit us when we are working. It really takes some effort and I appreciate it. Thank you. :)

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"Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence." - George Washington

Christmas 2011

Secret War Journal[25 December 2011]

Hohoho! Merry Christmas!
Tis the season of giving!

Yep, I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas Eve parties! Today is Christmas, do enjoy yourselves as well! :)


--
I put off my current typing of my three posts for this impromptu post. Don't worry, I'm working hard on those three posts! Hope I can publish them all soon! Ciaos! =)

P.S.: I just finished one! Two more to go! Wohoo!

Korean BBQ

Secret War Journal[10 December 2011]
Ah, what better to celebrate the end of examinations but with a nice and tasty meal?

Yep, and that's what happened. :)

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Joining us for this outing would be organiser Cynthia with fellow 4D-ians, Eunice, Jie Sheng, Siew Yan, and Wei Ting.
Clarissa joined us after the meal. :)

But before joining them for dinner however, I met up with Meldon to conduct some trading. Then again, this is not really a trade because both items are technically mine. Hahas.

It was a rather smooth transaction since we were rather clear on what we are doing.

---

Fast forward and we have all gathered at City Square mall, going towards the restaurant Korean BBQ. :)

In case any of you are wondering why we chose to go so far to enjoy a meal of Korean BBQ, it is because Cynthia's sister is working there so well.... we could pay her a visit in the mean time too. :p

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Food! Sorry, I meant 음식!

Check out their menu! Okay, you can't really since you're not there physically.

All right, I would try to describe to you verbally (if the picture above hadn't already). Hahas.
Frankly, I do not frequent korean restaurants very often. (Which many already knew, apparently, hahas)

Thus, personally, I was rather confused when I was presented the menu on its navigation. I know it is a korean restaurant and all and so it would write their menu in korean but really, it did not help me a lot since I read the Korean words before reading the english translations. (A big mistake, I admit but hey, everyone reads top-to-down, left-to-right. -,-)

By the time I recover, I figured it would be so much more efficient if we just communicate with the restaurant staff serving us instead of reading off the menu.

So in the end, I hardly touch the menu throughout the menu, not very useful in my opinion. Maybe it would be more useful for korean-fanatics but for causal diners like me, just order your food the posh way, from the staff. ;)

We ordered two hotpots and here we go!

Feeling hungry already? Go down there yourself and savour the food! :P

And we went home after the meal. ^^

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Just joking! :)

For those who were sharp that I forementioned that Clarissa joined us the meal and cried foul. Good job! :)
How could we head home straight away the moment she arrived? That wouldn't had made sense. :P

See? Even Jie Sheng couldn't believe that we went home straight after our dinner. :D
--
So what did we do? Window Shopping and spam group photos! :p

Yep! Christmas is nearing! Bought your christmas presents yet? :)
--
Alright! It is getting late, it's 11pm+ now! Time to sleep! :)

Not immediately hahas! Tsk tsk, Eunice's tired already, time to go!

P.S.: Eunice wasn't really tired, she was just pranked by us. Hahas! Evil us.

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Credits: Bao Lin, Siew Yan and Wei Ting for the pictures. More photos at Facebook, if you can find me (that is). :p

All in a week's work.

Secret War Journal[6 December 2011]
Ah, it had been such a long time since I last posted. Some would had thought this Journal was discarded while I moved on to some other places.

Well, readers, you would be glad to know that this Journal is still being maintained and well. :)


I apologise for the lack of update for the past few days since the end of A levels but I was sorta busy finishing all my unfininshed drafts. I'm happy to say I had published them all though some entries I had to cut real short due to time constraints. (An increasing number of people had been complaining that this Journal was getting forgotten so I had to rush, no? :)

Alright! Ladies and Gentlemen, back to the intent of this post! =)

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This marks the beginning of my busy weeks for my Post-A Levels vacation. First up, I went to Johnston's house today! :)

Unlike the past few visits to his house, I was noticeably later than usual. This was mainly due to me sleeping late last night and not being able to sleep well. (Yes, I also believe I should not had done so.)

Nevertheless, I played quite a large number of games today! :)

Upon reaching their house, we played monopoly since Emelia had been dying to play with us since the end of our major examinations.

Long story short, Johnston pwned all of us by being the only player who owned a complete set. Hahas!
--
We also played a few rounds of Cluedo!

I reckon today was the closest to the official rules I had ever played for Cluedo. One day I would play to the official rules, it would be really fun, not to mention more challenging. :)
--
We also played Monopoly Deal!

--
And finally, we finished the whole of Halo 3 Campaign! At last, I am updated with the Halo Lore. Hahas!

As a whole, I had a lot of fun at their house. =D