back from hibernation

so it has been that i have been hibernating for close to 4 months now.. haiz.. so many things have happened since then.. first things first, ORD is now an approaching reality rather than a distant dream! 113 days more to go... lalala... civilian life, here i come!

It's a new year now! Got quite a bit of new year's resolutions, but also got to keep them! This year is quite important for me as it's the year I leave army and enter uni. Need to find a job also, to fill in the time and make some money to finance my driving lessons (i just registered yesterday)... Think school starts in August so i have 3 months of break between ORD and then to go earn some $$. Will need around $2k for the whole driving course.

The next thing is university! i realised that like many other JC NSFs, we've forgot most of the stuffs that we learnt in JC! So this is one thing that we need to learn back. I've signed up for an e-PREP course, from NTU, that is meant to prepare those with a JC / Poly background for university engineering. Hope it comes in useful. First of all i need to learn to use the blackboard interface though of course..

With that, comes CCA as well! I will probably continue to be involved in St John for the next two years at best, until my 'successors' are more or less comfortable with their roles and I become somewhat redundant. Not sure if NUS will recognise St John as an external CCA though, probably not, but some other CCAs i am considering include Christian Fellowship, Red Cross Chapter and probably some sport like badminton.. heh.. will have to start planning for the next stage of my life..

today

today was kind of a long day for me... in the morning, it was army open house, so i went to SAFTI MI for it.. actually i got kind of delayed, so i took a cab to boon lay to meet my friends.. urgh.

the Commandos had a 'shooting game', basically they gave us a chance to handle a REAL GUN (MP-5) with paint bullets to shoot down cardboard targets while negotiating an obstacle course. but i was a bit too eager, and opened a small cut on my hand while at it..

after the whole thing i went to just walk around.. bumped into two old friends from secondary school days, frederick and bowan, both 3SGs :O i also got a 'souvenir', a 2 PDF 'iron-on' formation sign... guess in the days of the temasek green uniforms, this was what would be used.. but no longer.. actually No.1 uniform still uses formation signs, maybe i'll check out emart to see if got a not.. haha

2nd half of the day was my 2nd usher duty, which included traffic marshal duty and later on duty in the hall. Well this was my first time doing both these duties and nonetheless it was a good learning experience... and not to mention made quite a few new friends.. sis jasmine, serene (and the other sister forgot what's her name :P), clark, margaret..

went back quite late, tired but happy..

Flag Day... counting $$$

yesterday was St John Flag Day... so today was the counting of the collections... i went down to HQ in the morning to meet up with my cadets who were helping out in the counting. saw quite a few ppl who i know, like chen yie who was at the table next to mine =) but we were all busy so din talk much.... steve who was kinda running around when i saw him... anyway this yr my Corps' total collection is an improvement from last year's. =)

after that i went for lunch with some of the other officers and cadets.. at golden mile food centre.. quite a wide selection of dishes there so it's worth going down once or twice to get a good bite, and at competitive prices too... not to mention the top floor where there are not just army goods, but camping equipment and even streetwear at competitive prices too. that's where i'll go to if i need any such things next time =)

went back to rest after that... cos am still nursing my asthma... got to take care..

my first day on the job

woo.. had my first day of ushering.. it was an eye-opener... and i realise that there are still a lot of things that i need to learn...

Reached church at 2pm, upon which i had my support duty... which is to prepare all the bulletins for distribution during service... it's quite an eye-opener seeing all the various inserts being put together.. some more in a definite sequence... such that the final product really looks so professionally done... it's only now when i actually see what goes on behind the scenes that i know how important this seemingly simple job is. And it's fun, doing while also chatting with my fellow ushers.. got to know a few new ppl today.. Pearlie, Enoch then also got my ex-CG members, Lingqiang and Karen.. i know i'll get to know more ppl along the way...

after that, there was one of the ICs (i later realised that she's our section IC, Sis Florence) briefed us on what we need to do.. that really helped quite a bit... after that we brought down all the bulletins... and went to do 'traffic' duty... actually that meant standing in front of the doors to stop the members from coming in before we open up the hall...

all in all, a real eye-opener into what goes on behind the scenes in a church service. i'm looking forward to my next duty.

peace out

I'm in usher!

Just got a call today... I'll be joining Usher ministry, Section 4, Team C and will start duty tomorrow! I'm sure it will be great when I start to serve in the ministry =) am sure quite excited about it =)

BirthdayAlarm

Hmz, i just signed up for BirthdayAlarm.com... do add in your birthdates =)

Hi

I am creating a birthday calendar for myself. Can you please click on
the link below and enter your birthday for me. Don't worry it is quick,
and you don't have to enter your year of birth:-).

http://www.BirthdayAlarm.com/dob/20709852a358550426b970

Thanks
Matthew

army....

and now for an update on my army life..

long time since i last posted something regarding that here. Thanks to RADM Teo for the 2 months cut in service! i've got around 9 months to go before i enter the next phase of my life. Amazing that it seemed not long ago when i first lost my pink ic, my hair and with it my freedom. back then, it seemed to be a real long way to go. but now, i am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel..

I'm kind of grateful for my unit and my posting, and for all that has happened these past 18 months in NS. Through it, i picked up a lot of skills and principles and all that will put me in good stead when i go out into the society next time. True, there were mistakes that i made, but i promise to learn from them and not make the same mistakes in future.

peace. out.

random thots..

What is love?

The answer from the user's manual for us, the Bible

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." 1 corinthians 13:4-7

Not too long ago I resolved not to get into any relationships until i figure out for myself exactly what an ideal relationship should be all about.. Well for someone who got his fingers burnt a few years ago.. U can't blame me for being overly cautious.. But I don't want to get myself carried away cos i have a crush on gal A or infatuated with gal B and in the end get my heart broken when her true colours got shown or when the relationship simply didn't work out due to personality differences or whatever. Cos that was how my first (and to date only) relationship started, and that was how it ended.

Like my mother once told me, "The right woman will make you; The wrong woman will break you." Very true..

If I say I like gal A, what do i mean? Crush? Infatuation? How about if i say to my partner "I love you"? These 3 words are the most powerful words a human being can say to another. They can change the destiny of both parties concerned, or if not, more often than not, the person on the receiving end. These are definitions that I am still searching for the answer..

In the long run, like all of us, i would want to find the right woman and settle down in a God-honoring and fulfilling relationship with her. But before I can do that, I will have to first KNOW what its really meant to be in a relationship.. what its really meant to be married.

Love and marriage is definitely more than the warm fuzzy feeling you get when in the presence of your loved one.. I must say. it is DEFINITELY MORE than that.

after my breakup with G.. i was fearful of relationships to a certain extent. A relationship can end in either of 2 ways.. 1, they marry and 'till death do us part' which is the ideal ending for a relationship... 'lived happily ever after' ending... 2, they break up.. can range from a puppy love relationship ending or a divorce after years of unhappy marriage.. sadly, unfortunately, majority of relationships fall into that category... that stems from a flawed understanding of what relationship is about..

peace. out.

Photos from the Amazing Race...

Some photos from the Amazing Race at Sentosa...


Guess who's that in the background? 

 
Ditto as above


Collect ration time. The guy looks like me, but it's not me. I wasn't wearing that shirt.


ACJC Ppl faced with their Fear Factor...


o man did she get arrowed to eat those things?


YUCKS!


And here's the main photo.. i was cheerleading.. but they din take me cos i think the photographer was standing next to me..


from another angle..


most of the ACJC ppl...


the KEY photo.. this was shown as part of the weekend connection video... haha my first reaction when i saw that was "tat mi! tat mi!"


All right gentlemen, well done, let's take a well deserved break...


As again i am hidden by someone or something... i never really appear in any of these photos


this is the JC cluster cheering


and this is they trying to learn the cheer jocelin was teaching.

SYF opening ceremony 2004

Btw i was also involved in the SYF 2004 Opening Ceremony held on 3 Jul 04 as Contingent Commander for the St John Ambulance contingent.One of the rehearsals, which explains the empty spectator stands.
This was my partner, Liew Shanzhi from Zone 10. His first time in safari on that day. Anyway, he's also from the same corps as one of my friends in st john.

I think his tour of duty in SYF had also been a period of transformation for him, really inducting him into the Officer-hood, as i learned that this was one of his first projects after commissioning as an officer.



overall we had a good time at the parade... i can say this is the pinnacle of my 'career' with st john as this is what i've always wanted to do for a very long time. if i ever get the chance to do NDP i'll jump at it too =)