PTP/BMT Wishlist

Secret War Journal[March - July 2012]
Alright, here goes nothing!

1. Survive
2. Pass IPPT w/ Silver / Gold
3. Get into Command School
4. Get sufficient sleep

Sounds simple but it is a lot harder than it looks! Gah!

---

"He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice." - Albert Einstein

Sakae Sushi Teppanyaki

Secret War Journal[7 April 2012]


Had a wonderful dinner at Sakae Sushi Teppanyaki after LAN with Marcus, Johnston and Trevor before going for arcade! :)

Hunger Games

Secret War Journal[31 April 2012]

Recently, Marcus and I just went to watch the highly anticipated Hunger Games in the cinemas.

There were many critical reviews on this movie, some good, some bad. Most felt the acting and the delivery was good while others felt that the movie deviated from the original story plot and much was lost in the film. In my opinion, I agree that in certain scenes, the delivery of the emotions and expressions were well done. While I never read the book, giving the story the benefit of doubt, I am pretty sure the romance did not build so quickly as in the film. Thus, I feel that the pace for the development of the romance between the main characters set by the director was too fast to be natural and realistic. While yes, it is a fictional story, it should be realistic to a certain extent, no?

In addition, I also feel that the action scenes in the film was also quite rushed. The motion were a blur (I guess we can call it motion blur here.) and I cannot really see what is happening in that chaos. That is not a good thing though I probably understand it was a form of censorship to downplay the level of brutality displayed in the film. Perhaps, it may not also be the focus of the film, as determined by the director.

Nevertheless, I hazard a guess that most fans would just watch the film to find out just how the film had deviated from the plot in the book, for better or worse. One wonders how the sequel firm would be like now...

Release my soul

Secret War Journal[26 March 2012]

*
Oh Take a look in the mirror you look so sad
It's so cold like that winter market we used to go
I don't cry anymore but I feel so hurt

**
So I don't need you to close to me
You don't hear me so you said
I don't know why thing have changed since yesterday

***
This could be love again
All I need is you
Come back, I'm waiting, anytime
The heavy rains come
Still I miss days with you
I can't look into your face
Oh feeling blue and looking back again
Please come back to me

Repeat * ** ***

To stay with you always
You're the world to me, and dream on
Take my sword again for you
How do you feel, so fine
You're the world to me, and dream on
You stole my heart so long ago
Oh I release my soul
So you feel my song

First Book Out

Secret War Journal[23 March 2012]
Ah, fresh air! It really feels good to be in the mainland after many weeks at a resort island. Hahas, strangely enough, the first thing I did was to get a new pair of spectacles. I was kind of glad that one of the optical shops was able to manufacture a pair of spectacles despite the majority of the shops informing that they could only prepare the spectacles earliest by Monday evening. However, due to the superb customer service at Capitol Opticals, they were willing to go the extra mile to make my spectacles by Sunday afternoon. For that, I am really grateful.

New pair of Spectacles,... some of the few models allowed for army...

---

Catch your wave

After helping with my family with some house chores, I met up with Bao Lin, Cynthia, Jie Sheng, Siew Yan, and Wei Ting for some catching up. I had not met them for so many days, I wonder how everyone had been faring since. We planned to meet at Tampines MRT station. Apparently, I was the last person to arrive. Oops? I guess the most important person always arrives last! XD

When was the last time I actually set foot on this restaurant? I really couldn't remember! Hahas, but we sure ate quite fast there, the serving there must had been quite small. :p It was kinda nice to see everyone are still living a carefree life. It sorta makes quite envious really. :S
(Don't worry, Siew Yan, my body is quite screwed too. :P)

Originally, I planned to buy some stuff for next book-in today but I guess I was too caught up with returning to my former civilian life and just have fun with friends. I even managed to play a game of pinpall after many years since I last played arcade seriously. Ah, childhood! :)

At one point, they concluded that I should get something to cover my shaven head. I personally think I would look weird in those hats and whatnot (I have my eyes on a certain type though but it just does not fit the dress code here, sadly... and definitely not with my shaven head!) though they have a point, I should get something to cover my head. I look weird with a bald head too! >.<

---

"In my dreams I hear again the crash of guns, the rattle of musketry, the strange, mournful mutter of the battlefield." - Douglas MacArthur

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. :)

---

"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.

---

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
--
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
--
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.
--
I would cover more about army (not much actually due to the Official Secrets Acts)
--
"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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

"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.

---

"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.

---

"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! =)

---

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! ;)

---

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

---

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!

---

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. :)

---

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! :)

---

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.

---

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!!! >.<

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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.)
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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