-- Byzantine.Life ]+

Extension

2005-08-24T22:19:00.000+08:00

Haven't been posting much recently. I did not go out for the past week, just coming home early for dinner. Feels quite good to have more time to do my personal stuff. Julian passed me his set of the TV series, Lost - Season 1, and I have been watching them..

Went to SingPost for lunch today and Robert announced a change in plans. Instead of rolling off at the end of August, four of us including Wai Leng, Shun Hui and Phyllis will be staying on for another month in the current project. Well, it didn't really come to me as bad news considering that the location is near my place and transport allowance is provided for.

Valeron brought me to Ah Chiang's porridge near Tiong Bahru for dinner. Didn't know of such a nice place. The porridge is cooked the traditional way on the charcoal stove. Enjoyed.

Desaru

2005-08-21T23:15:00.000+08:00

Just back from my company's outing to Desaru. Had a wonderful time there with my colleagues. It felt great to meet up with the rest of the fun loving guys who have left the project.

We spent two days there playing cards, swimming, go-karting, banana boating, volley balling, barbecueing, watching soccer matches and chilling. Everyone was in a relaxed mood, probaby because all the projects are in low key.

Felt very tired after getting home.. But hey, today is Alan's birthday too!

Weiwen, Kenny, Alan and I met up at Grapevine to celebrate his birthday and got him an nice adidas gym bag as a gift. We made him drink alot, but he could hold his liquor well.

Had our usual prata and iced milo after that.

Recovery

2005-08-11T23:50:00.000+08:00

Took a break from work today to recover from my late nights.. Woke up at 11am and realised that my dad is on leave too! What a coincidence.

I had planned to go for a suntan after lunch. However, the sky started to turn cloudy and I decided on other plans. I wanted to catch the German movie Napola - Elite fur den Fuhrer (translated as Hitler's Elite) and was looking for someone who is interested.

Zhihua was on six hour break before his next lesson at 4pm, so he met me at Cathay Cineleisure for the 1.05pm show. It was quite rush for us, as it was a last minute decision.

This 2004 movie won four awards at the Film Festivals and opened in Singapore today only. It is a very good film, depicting about friendship initially but moved on to the cruel side of life faced by the two friends. It makes one think about after the show.

I accompanied Zhihua back to NUS and attended a lecture with him in LT 5. My new career councillor called me and I told him my concerns about my current project roll-off plans and to schedule a meetup.

Went back to Cineleisure again to meet Gabriel for dinner. He wanted to get some executive clothes for his first job tomorrow at Maybank.. I think they are quite hard up for people, coz they interviewed him and offered him the position on the same day!

We had drinks and chatted at Coffee Club Express.

Farewell

2005-08-10T23:59:00.000+08:00

Had a tiring day at work today due to last night's late night activities and supper. Went for dinner at Plaza Singapura with Eugene, who is leaving Singapore at the end of this month after his school vacation. We ate at MOS burger and then went for coffee at Starbucks..

I told him of my intentions to visit the US in December and he welcomed me to stay with him. He suggested driving me around from Detroit, where he resides, to Toronto, Ottawa, up to Quebec, southwards to New York and then back to Detroit and Chicago.

During the journey we will pass by the wonders of the world - the Niagra Falls and the Northern Light. I am looking forward to it, and he asked me to get more friends along. It will be the right time for snowboarding too!

We caught the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory after that. It was adapted from a book written by Roald Dahl that I loved during my childhood days. Brings back memories..

Happy 40th Birthday!

2005-08-09T23:48:00.000+08:00

Today is the National Day of Singapore! Went skating with Weiwen, Lindy, Jingying and Kailin. It was quite crowded at ECP and everyone was wearing the national colours.. red and white! A very different feeling.. people enjoying themselves, having picnic, barbecue, partying. We had snacks at JK Don after that.

I invited them to my office for the National Day Parade as it at was the top view of the Padang. Lindy and Weiwen came.. We had a good view of the fireworks at Marina Bay as well as the one directly in front of us. I think this is one of the best displays I have ever seen.. There are even smiley faces now in fireworks?! How advancd have they become..

We had dinner at The Soup Spoon and we went to Grapevine where Kenny met us for drinks. We had the usual prata and milo for supper after that and got home only at 3am.. Madness, still gotta work tomorrow morning.

Psychokinetic Silverware

2005-08-02T23:48:00.000+08:00

Everyone has the potential to be able to be telekinetic. There are different things that can have a sort of psychotropic affect on the brain.

:

These abilities are very natural. Not "freak" happenings or mutant manifestations unnatural to human development.

:

The energy we are dealing with here is tiny pockets or "quanta" of energies. The ability to bend spoons, levitate is happening at the other levels being only manifested as a physical event upon the space/time shell frame which we interpret as our reality.

Recently, I have been reading up a bit on Telekinesis or Psychokinesis. Very interesting.. You might be keen to read up from here and here.

Picked up a little on spoon bending.. When I am better, I can demonstrate it to you

Koon Yeow treated me to dinner just now at Heartland Mall's Thai Express. We had yellow and green curry, and prawn fritters for dinner, mango with glutinous rice and coconut for dessert. It was a very satisfying dinner.

After that, we walked around the shops nearby and ended up at the arcade inside SuperBowl. Played a few games of Silent Scope and Puzzle Fighter II.

Stealth

2005-07-31T23:59:00.000+08:00

Weekend has been revolving around the same clique of friends recently..

Alan was not feeling well as he was down with runny nose and cough but he still went to catch the movie, Stealth, with Weiwen and me at Century Square. The movie is about this high-tech fighter jet equipped with artificial intelligence. Come to think of it, such advances in technology is pretty dangerous and unreliable.. Especially if it goes haywire.

After the show we went to play pool at Pavilion again. Kenny arrived late and joined us.

Chilled out at Grapevine at night and played some card games and tricks.. Sheila attended to us and we all agree that she is gorgeous. Linus also came later in the night with his friends.

We went out for late night supper again at Yio Chu Kang. I had the same egg prata and teh cino..

Jess' Farewell

2005-07-29T11:44:00.000+08:00

Went to the main office at Raffles City Tower for Happy Hour function this evening. Most of my colleagues from the same project went too! We had buffet dinner, beer and drinks at eSpace and I played two games of chess with Daniel (Solutions) and Chopper (Products).

Robert, Phyllis, Hwee Ling and I left earlier to attend Jess' party at NUS Guild House in Suntec City. It was my first time there, the place does not look very big, but its facilities are pretty good.

Jess is our client from the Defence Finance Organisation and she is leaving the company to be the Minister of Home Affairs - to take care of her kids and household chores at home Worked with her on a few occasions in FI/CO issues and it was never boring with her around. Her laughter and jokes kept us entertained, while she guided us and worked with us, sharing her knowledge and experience.

We had a karaoke session with a few invited project members, from DFO, DSTA, MINDEF to SAP, Accenture. I was surprised that most of the English speaking folks like Fel, Eu Jin and Ket Hyun could sing mandarin songs so well!

After that, our group wanted to join the O&S team at Chijmes Hall for drinks.. But I decide to go home early.

Gone in 60 Seconds

2005-07-28T11:33:00.000+08:00

I lost my wallet today The wallet which Weilin bought for me from Frankfurt. It happened in a mere 1 min. Until now, I am still puzzled as to how I lost it.

Eu Jin drove us to Tampines Mall for lunch today. I don't have a habit of sitting on my wallet so I put it on my lap. When we arrived at the basement carpark, I got off the car and we took the escalator up. Upon reaching the next level, I realised my wallet was not with me. We went back to the car to look for it but it was nowhere

I am sure that I did not drop the wallet when I got off the car. Could I have dropped it blindly on the way from the carpark to the next level? Could it be a pickpocket who took it from my rear pocket? I have no answer to that either.

I was more worried about the lost of my NRIC and my wallet itself and I did not expect anyone who finds it to return it to me. I called up the various companies to have my cards terminated and replaced. But I did not make a police report.

When I got back to the office, a call came.. Someone found my wallet in the washroom! How lucky can I be? He got my mobile from my business card and told me to pick the wallet up from him at Tanjong Katong Complex.

I met Dave, a designer in his early 20s. I offered him a token which he refused. But I insisted. I was so thankful to him. Everything in the wallet was intact except for a photo and my US$90 + SG$40. I am just glad to have them back I hope the person who took the money will do something good with it.

Peter, the Associate Partner, talked to Phyllis, Wai Leng and me on a one-to-one basis. He remembered us as the second batch of management trainees that he recruited one year ago. He told me about the opportunities ahead for me, the pay adjustments for the upcoming FY and what he feels about us. It was a very good dialogue that I had with him, and I thought he is the best person to advise me on the possiblities and direction since this workforce had been set up by him.

Went for dinner with Eugene, Winston and Kok Keong at Suntec City's Country Mana before we headed up the main office for coffee and pool.

DVD Pirate

2005-07-24T18:14:00.000+08:00

Got up at 1pm today.. Wanted to go skating today at ECP but it was raining.. I decided to cancel the appointment. Pack my room a bit and then started to surf the net for some information on how to duplicate DVDs.

Alan lent us some DVDs which I thought I won't have the time to watch anytime soon, so I thought the best way was to make a copy. After doing some research, I discovered that there is indeed a way to duplicate DVD9 discs onto the common DVD5 ones and also found out how to compress a DVD movie to VCD.. The best part is, it only takes like.. 20 minutes!

So I spent the whole afternoon on it. It's been a long time since I have been downloading useful software for these purposes.

Harvin sent me the link to a blog. The contents may be offensive to most. But the way this guy, Rockson, writes it, is quite funny. I am quite amazed by the amount of comments he gets.. 845! If you think you can handle vulgarities and obscenities, this is the link.

Slack

2005-07-23T23:59:00.000+08:00

I got up at 2pm after a late night yesterday. Decided to skip my Korean lessons and just slack at home.

I have about ten new DVD movies which I just bought, but did not have the time to watch.. So I decided not to go out today and catch a few titles. Watched Resident Evil: Apocalypse and Dodge Ball.

Started to get bored and there was no one at home so I decided to look for friends online to go out with. Fortunately, Kun Yong called me at the right time and we decide to have dinner and coffee together in the neighborhood..

Then went down to Tampines with Alan, Weiwen and Kenny since they did not mind playing pool. We stayed there till it the pool centre closed and went to Cheers supermart to get some food and liquor to Alan's place. It was way past midnight.. We cooked noodles, watched movies and had drinks at his place. He was a good host and his little Shitzu was very obedient and cute! Poor dog had to stay awake with us as we were too noisy. Only got home at 6am.

Crystal Jade Golden Palace

2005-07-22T23:59:00.000+08:00

Today I spent a lot on food and travel. Went to Crystal Jade Golden Palace at Paragon with Phyllis and Joanne for dinner. That place has opened for more than a year but I have not eaten there before. It looks very grand; the decor is very palatial and flattering. Andrew joined us and I introduced him to my colleagues. We had roasted Peking duck, steamed garoupa, claypot tofu with chicken and Hong Kong kalian with porridge.

Just before we left, I realized that Fiona Xie was having dinner with her friends and David Gan at a corner table. She did not seem to be the bubbly and childlike kind of person that I thought she would be. In fact, she was very composed and appeared mature. She is pretty!

We shopped around for a while in Takashimaya Shopping Centre before going to Meritus Mandarin Hotel for a drink at the Observation Lounge on the 38th storey. Our seat gave us a good view of the buildings around and outside of Orchard Road. Dennis joined us and we played some tricks and games. We ordered Tall M, Mount Faber, Bethany red wine and my favourite Mai Tai.

I was supposed to have supper with Weiwen but we had drinks at Grapevine first. Saw Linus there again.. We chatted and then went to the roti prata stall near grandma's house for cheese prata, dinosaur milo and teh cino. Got home only at 3am.. and here I am writing my blog..

Blackout! Scream!

2005-07-21T23:55:00.000+08:00

Robert gave us a treat at Magic Wok today. After that, Adrian, Lim Chew, Julian and Chin Hwee went to buy toto and 4D at Singapore Pools, in the hope of winning the $5 million draw. Good luck, guys!

Hanqiang showed Harvin and me a magic trick. It was pretty impressive but we saw through some parts. After he deliberately performed it many times slowly, we figured out how it was done

There was a power failure along the whole of Airport Road. Work ceased and we called it a day I went to Plaza Singapura with Harvin for dinner and we were so bored after that, we went to play Silent Scope and Photo Hunt at the arcade. Clara then came down to pass me some documents which a friend wanted. It was nice of her to remember my birthday..

Just checked my email.. My department workforce is organising a trip to Desaru for our Quarter 4 event! Woohoo~ How cool is that?
Q1 to Singapore Turf Club
Q2 to SAFRA Yishun Indoor Air Weapons Range
Q3 to WineBOS for Wine Appreciation Night
And now.. an event by the sea!

Nice Weather

2005-07-19T23:40:00.000+08:00

Rainy day today.. It felt so nice staying in my comfortable office with a hot coffee.

We went to Automobile Mart for lunch. It's been a long time since we last went there, when Desmond and Stephen were still around. The food court has changed a lot since, with more variety of food.

It was coincidental that Jeremy joined DSTA and ended up at my project site. We had not chatted much though, as he was in the midst of a training session.

Left slightly later today to clear up some work after the long weekend break. Dennis picked me up at my home and we headed to Grapevine with Guocheng and his friend Bob from Denmark. Bob is a very interesting guy and seems to have gotten used to Asian culture pretty fast, considering he is only in Singapore for a week. This lucky guy is paid 2000 euros/month by the Danish government because of his unemployment!

Anyway, when we arrived, I was surprised to see Marvin and Yuhan there too, and Linus. We kept to our own clique.. Many secrets of Bob were revealed, and he told us about his hometown as well. Found out that Guocheng is working in Computer Associates.

We went for supper at Punggol Nasi Lemak and then back home.

Romasanta - The Werewolf Hunt

2005-07-17T23:57:00.000+08:00

Phyllis and Shawn treated me to dim sum at The Paramount restaurant in Paramount Hotel. It is by Tung Lok Group. Vinson, Hwee Ling and Gladys were supposed to come too, but they had stomach upset due to supper the previous night together. Hope they recover soon.

We ordered lots of variety and surprisingly, we were able to finish all of them Compared to the Teahouse @ China Square, the food here is nicer. The gang got me G2000 vouchers and Phyllis got me a notebook from Prints. Thanks! Well, Phyllis claimed that she wrote me a diary of love notes, but when I got home, there was nothing inside?

Went home to take a nap as I was too tired from the previous night's events. Woke up late and went shopping with Kenny and Weiwen at Orchard. Got myself a casual long sleeve shirt and a pair of shades from Topman. That's about it.

We went for movies at Lido.. Mans, have not been there for a while and the theatre is so poorly maintained! Popcorn was everywhere on the floor and on some the seats. Torn seats. Guess I will stay away from Lido from now. Romasanta - The Werewolf Hunt won a couple of awards in Montreal and Spain, but it did not really impress us.

Quarter Century Day

2005-07-16T23:59:00.000+08:00

Today's my birthday Had lunch with my family at Petals The Shatec Resturant located at The Treasury. First time there, although I heard of the place. Well, the food is quite good and so is the service. We had set lunch comprising soup, appetizer, main, tea/coffee, dessert. After we were done, we had to do a so-called grading/feedback about the students' performance.

Lunch ended late.. I was late for my Korean class, so I entered only during the break. Standen was not able to make it and I sat alone.. Lesson today was more interactive, we started talking to one another.. But I still do not know my course mates' names though

Thought that the weather was getting better, I went down to East Coast Park with Weiwen and Alan to skate as planned. Jason was there earlier too. It started to drizzle a little but that did not spoil our mood, we skated for two hours. The weather was cooling but the path was a little slippery.

We had dinner and then went to the Pavilion where Kenny joined us for pool. They got me a gift - Nike Push-Up Grips. We played till 1am and then to S11 for supper. On the way home, we were stopped by the police at the road block.. All's fine, we got home safe and sound, but shagged out.

Half Day Leave

2005-07-14T23:49:00.000+08:00

Had lunch with Harvin and Anna at Toa Payoh Central. We went there partly also because of the SunPage Roadshow at HDB Hub. We wanted to sign up for the Budget Mobile Call service which Lim Chew recommended.

This service benefits those who have mobile plans with free incoming calls.. It charges only $0.0590 per min instead of $0.2100 per min (M1) and $0.1575 per min (StarHub/SingTel). For those interested, you can get the details from here.

I was on half a day's leave, so I got home to take a nap first before meeting Koon Yeow for dinner at Chong Pang market. Crapped a lot.. We walked around Northpoint Shopping Centre and I got myself a Billabong visor.

After KY left, Steven met me at Swenson's for a drink and desserts. We chatted till midnight.

Dinner at Grapevine

2005-07-11T23:43:00.000+08:00

Had a long day at work today and it was nice of Phyllis to wait for me. When we left, the car park was pitch dark already. I met Renfred for dinner at Grapevine cafe. Talked about his plans, about his reasons for leaving Team Singapore.

Coincidentally, as we chatted, Linus our army mate, came! What a small world.. He stays in Hougang area too, and a regular at this place. We played a game of pool and from him, we found out that Catherine, a waitress there, is the daughter of Party World KTV's boss. Pretty babe, she's only 17! We chatted.. She's quite a matured girl for her age.

Commencement 2005

2005-07-10T23:33:00.000+08:00

What an erratic weather today.. Had initially wanted to go skating at ECP with Weiwen and Kenny and tennis with Geok Chuan today but the weather foiled the plans. Plan B - I arranged with Eugene to go down to NUS for the School of Computing convocation ceremony.

Congratulations to the Class of 2005! When we arrived, Andrew was having a live interview.. It was followed by Tong Choon's and Xiao Yan's.. Met a lot of friends and juniors - Royston, Derek, Chee Hoe, Hui Fang, Chun Seng, Tommy, Steffan, Meijun..

Shortly after, the ceremony started. It was a nostalgic moment as I watched the proceedings taking place in the University Cultural Centre. Reminded me of myself collecting the certificate from the Dean last year. How time flies, it's already one year since I graduated!

Alex happened to sit beside me in the auditorium too, and only as we chatted did I realize that we are actually working in the same company! Very coincidental..

We had a buffet reception where Winston, Andrew and Mark met us at Dome and we took some photos. Also saw my FYP mates Zheng Yu and Keng Onn.

Eugene, Andrew, Meijun and I went to Clementi hawker centre for dinner where we indulged ourselves in Tim Sum, Satay and Chwee Kueh. Meijun went home to rest after a tiring day as an usher while the rest of us went to Orchard. Andrew got himself a new Puma jacket and we had a few games of pool before heading home.

Busy Day of Events

2005-07-09T23:38:00.000+08:00

Today I had make up for my Hangul lesson, so it started from 1pm. After it ended at 4.30pm, Standen and I decided to head to Cozy Canopy to have some snacks. We watched Meet the Parents.

Jennifer called and we had an impromptu dinner together at Suntec City's Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao. Walked around Suntec City and to Carrefour.. I had an appointment with Jason Lim, my ex-campmate, for a drink, so Jennifer went shopping.

Re-joined Jennifer, and I introduced Standen to Kun Yong and her. We had wanted to join Steven and his colleagues at Clementi K Box, also on the pretext of celebrating his birthday today.. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, we went down to Partybox to meet Stanley and Hanqiang instead. It was also my first time seeing Vicky.

Sangs a few songs and left.. Wanted to meet up with Phyllis and Sam, but felt too tired

A Ride in the Beetle

2005-07-08T22:55:00.000+08:00

It was a boring day today.. Ronnie was attached out to Pasir Ris Camp for a few months, Kunyong, Hanqiang and most of the people went down to the launch of ES Army implementation phase at Mowbray Camp. The whole project site was so quiet, I had only Adrian and Harvin to chat with. Samuel brought me out for a spin in his Volkswagen beetle which he just bought. The vehicle was very well maintained by the previous owner.. A good price he paid for it.

Today is also Meijun's 21st birthday.. Happy Birthday, gal!

Gathering

2005-07-06T22:32:00.000+08:00

Had a fruitful day at work today. Time passed by very fast and the day's over. We wanted to visit Jiun, our senior manager, at her house as she just gave birth to a healthy baby girl!

We had a casual team dinner at Adam Road market before we proceeded to her place at Upper Bukit Timah. As we drove around, the surroundings brought back memories of my wonderful time in Pegasus Project at SingTel Academy.

Quite surprised that Shawn and Hwee Ling, who are now in SIA project, turned up.. Lay Leng came too! It was great to see them again. We were warmly received by Jiun, and everyone's impression of the house was "it is very big!" Her two kids entertained us and are very cute.

We left after finishing the apple strudel and pastries

My Secret Garden

2005-07-04T23:56:00.000+08:00

I started having cough over the weekends. Looks like the medicine prescribed by the doctor wasn't effective enough.. My aunt gave me her secret recipe which she claimed "will cure your cough!" I'll share it with you guys - Peel four to five small onions and slow boil them in a glass of water. Beat a fresh egg into this and drink.

Gross? Yes, I drank that.. Does it really work? Try it when you have cough and find out yourself!

Went to My Secret Garden today for a drink with Weilin and Mingwei. We shared a Hawaiian pizza and a slice of cookies and cream cheese cake. The food there is good, but a little expensive. They are well known for their homemade tiramisu cake too.. We took the opportunity to celebrate for Weilin her birthday!

Realized that many friends are born in May and July. The July babies are:
Alan [02 Jul]
Rong Kun [05 Jul]
Meijun [08 Jul]
Weilin [09 Jul]
Steven [09 Jul]
Qing Yong [09 Jul]
Matthew [09 Jul]
Ivan [11 Jul]
Ronnie [16 Jul]
Wanling [17 Jul]
Joe Han [18 Jul]
Jason [30 Jul]

Hangul Lesson

2005-07-02T23:47:00.000+08:00

I was cleaning up my room and did not realize I was late for my first Korean lesson! Called Standen and he too just left home.. So we decided to share cab there instead, as he stays very near me. Big mistake! The National Day Parade rehearsal was ongoing and many roads were closed. There was a jam along North Bridge Road Finally, when we reached the training centre, the receptionist was aware of the road closure and jam, and told us that many people were late too. So they decided to extend next week's class by an hour. Phew! How nice of them.

The whole class of 18 students was all girls, except for two other guys, Standen and me. Our course instructor is Lisa Kim, a very patient and motivating teacher. She gave the both of us a quick private session during the break so that we can catch up with the rest. We introduced ourselves to the rest and then embarked on learning the basic vowels and consonants, reading some simple verbs and writing. The lesson was interesting, but I need to put in more effort. I have always been poor in the language department.

Met up with Joe Han after lesson, and we walked around Raffles City and dined at Marina Square. Managed to take some shots of the parade rehearsal..

Watched Initial D at Marina Square and the show was pretty good. But the fans may not be happy to hear what I am going to say next.. Jay Chou really can't act! One thing I observed in the show - there are both left hand drive cars (the Mercedes that Natsuki sat in) as well as right hand drive ones (Takumi's Toyota AE86). In my opinion, girls may find this show a bit boring except for the lookers while guys will be quite excited over the competition scenes. There are no babes in the movie but there's one sitting beside me

After the show, I went to Braun Buffel in Suntec City to collect my complimentary birthday gift, a pair of crystal wine glasses. Saw an interesting advertisement by Raoul on my way back..

Dripping

2005-06-30T23:52:00.000+08:00

Woke up this morning feeling unwell. Had runny nose and sore throat since yesterday afternoon accompanied by a slight headache this morning. I went to the doctor and got a medical excuse from work. Had breakfast with my nephew and then took my medication. Did some office related work from home while downloading songs.

Jason showed me an interesting site.

Experience the thrill, anxiety and suspense of meeting a new friend in a dark & cozy cinema! You know absolutely nothing about your date.... your heart is pounding in excitement, your palms sweaty with anxiety, your head spinning in a whirlwind of motions.... you're waiting minute after anxious minute for the movie to end so you can turn to introduce yourself and finally see your date face to face.

This is from a local dating website gomoviedate.com. Well, guys will have to pay for the membership, tickets and administrative charges whereas females get a lifetime of free movies!

Took a nap in the afternoon and then met Renfred for dinner at Bugis.

Back to Work

2005-06-28T23:31:00.000+08:00

Had a challenging day at work today after missing out for a week. Two of my reports have been completed and accepted, another two more to go! I had to take care of some issues that came back again, because the previous owner was being left out of the e-mails and thus no one took care of it. I had to take it up

Lunch seemed so far, and my stomach was already growling at 11am. I joined Hanqiang, Ronnie and CPT Patrick for lunch at Temasek Polytechnic Business School canteen and Mensa block for pool after that.

With so many tasks on hand, I wondered if I could leave early for my dinner appointment. Anyway I still left at 6.15pm and had dinner with Xiaoshi, Dennis and Andrew at this German restaurant along Siglap. Werner's Oven it is called. If you love pork and sausage, and subscribe to high salt levels, you will love this place too. The menu comprises of many delicious German flavors that simply tempts you to try them all. Despite certain foodstuffs not inline with our taste buds, what we ordered was truly not disappointing.

We had pork knuckles (knusperiege schweinehaxe), grilled sausages (bratwurst), smoked pork loin (kassler), pork steaks (jagerschnitzel), pickled cabbage (sauerkraut), mashed potatoes and brezel. The food is indeed good, authentic, and reasonably priced. The place, although not very nicely decorated, is cosy.

After that, we went to Gelare cafe for cake, waffle with ice cream and celebrated a belated birthday for Andrew

Suntan and Movie Marathon

2005-06-27T23:07:00.000+08:00

Took leave from work today initially to rest. But I woke up late again and arranged lunch with Standen since he stays near to me. He suggested swimming after that so we had a light lunch at Burger King beside Heartland Mall and then off to the pool. On the way, we saw thick smoke coming from behind some HDB estates. Perhaps some industrial buildings along Defu Lane caught fire.

I wanted to tan instead so I accompanied him to swim a while before tanning at the deck chair. My stamina has dropped a lot since I last swam.. The weather was good for a while before it started turning cloudy as we were about to leave. Since both of us had nothing to do after that, I suggested going to Cozy Canopy to slack and relax. This cafe at Stamford House just opened about 2 months ago and for $10 each, you can stay there to chill with free flow of drinks and snacks, free wireless surfing, play cards and board games, read comics and magazines, and watch free movies!

It is a very new place so there were not many people. Chatted with the young boss, Jamie, and found that it has always been her dream to set up such a cafe and share her passion for comics and movies. It is quite a bold attempt considering the location is not very ideal and there is no publicity yet. Looking at the number of customers who went there, which I could possibly count with one hand, I must say I wonder how long she can sustain. But well, who knows when the new SMU opens.

We stayed there from 4pm till 10pm for a movie marathon of Bicentennial Man, National Treasure and Wimbledon. I drank the root beer float, camomile tea, hot chocolate and Prince of Wales tea with some snacks. We had set dinner there, and the food is pretty good. So is the service.

Sadly, tomorrow I have to go back to work.

Skating at ECP

2005-06-26T23:08:00.000+08:00

I woke up at noon today and found no one at home, which means I have to settle my own lunch. Jason sms-ed me asking if I would like to join him for skating at ECP. Seeing that the sky is getting a bit gloomy, we decided to meet later..

I put all the washed uniforms back into the cupboard and browsed through the mails that were received throughout the week when I am in reservist. Suddenly, I felt lazy and started thinking back over the week's ICT and how much I enjoyed it. I guess the Army really makes one feel lazy..

Cleaned my wheels and skates and took a bath before meeting Jason at my bus station. Then his cousin Jackson also happened to alight there and heading to ECP too, with his friend for cycling.

When we reached ECP, Marie was already there. Jason and I took a bite at Mac's while waiting for Karen and Agnes to arrive. We skated to the end of Fort Road and over there, taught them the A-Frame Turn, T-Stop, Mohawk Transition and A-Frame Spin Stop. Marie picked up the skills very fast, but Jason put in more effort to correct the technique. He is a determined learner and fell a few times, hurt himself.

Met Oh along the way and talked to him for a while before I left with the gang for dinner at Marine Parade Promenade hawker centre.

End of ICT

2005-06-24T23:42:00.000+08:00

Just got back from ICT. It was a memorable experience, although a short one. Caught up with a lot of friends and mixed around, mostly talked about work and the NSF days. The main focus of this ICT is range and we were the second batch of reservists to try out the new Combat Shoot.

Basically it is now harder to get marksmanship because the new range is a detail effort of 6 firers' combined result (total 180 rounds fired day and night). Each firer of the detail will adopt the foxhole with support position and fire a total of 15 rounds. The first magazine of 5 rounds will be used on targets which have a fixed sequence (Left, Right, Right, Left + Right). The next 2 magazines of 5 rounds each will be used on targets which will appear randomly and may appear in another firer's lane. So crossfire is pretty common. Besides, the transition from second magazine to third magazine depends on the firer's reaction time to change magazine after the 10th target as no command will be given to unload. IA drills become more important as no time can be lost. All the targets are either Figure 11s or Figure 12s, there are no more TT1s, TT2s, Figure 15s etc. and there is no run down for both day and night ATP.

Hope to recover from my lethargy on Sat and Sun.

sadas

2005-06-19T03:03:00.000+08:00

dasda

2005-06-19T02:14:00.000+08:00

test

2005-05-19T19:07:00.000+08:00

test backdate may

2005-04-30T14:09:00.000+08:00

Testing Blockquote

wah how you know i don't blog for myself?
so far i've only got like... 30 only. Since putting it up like, two months ago!
OK sorry. and yeah so i grew fangs.

Wait. It is?

jjjj

2005-04-19T19:11:00.000+08:00

test archive april

edwe

2005-03-21T00:10:00.000+08:00

ewqewqewqe