Monday, 31st December 2012...

End of 2012, not the end of the world.

I would like to take some time to reflect on everything that has happened during the year.

The year started when I was still an intern in Ernst & Young. Gosh, it sounds so long ago. Nice working environment, nice colleagues, nice events, nice food etc during my stay there. Not to mention, I was really lucky to have 13 other course mates being posted into the same company as me. Have someone to go with for lunch, talk about work and discuss about SIP reports too.

Then internship ended and we went back to reality, studies. Well, only had one module left and that is the toughest module yet. Took my last exam and submitted my last project in poly. Goodbye poly, I have graduated.

Then there was the 1A06 gathering at my house on 26th February, the first time I invited my friends over for a steamboat gathering. It was definitely fun and I hope that something similar will happen again.

2 days later, I immediately went job hunting with Allen, Jerald and Wenbin. Recruit Express. Can't believe I still remember all these, even the dates. I typed everything without referring to anything. Everything just came out of my head. After a few days, or a few weeks which I cannot remember, I found a job as an analyst in Bank Mandiri. Spent the remaining of March resting and catching up with friends. Oh and I was addicted to the anime "Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo". Spent around a month catching all 148 episodes of the anime and all the live action series and the 3 movies.

March 20th to May 19th was one of the darkest period in 2012. Not saying that the job wasn't good. I learnt a lot from the job. Just that the human relationship there was really bad. Although everyone was good to me, there were arrows flying around everywhere. I was fighting everything all by myself so I know how to manage my own emotions and handle stuffs independently. A growing up phase.

May 23rd, graduation day. One of the memorable days in my life. We have grduated and we took away 3 years of knowledge, 3 years of skills, as well as 3 years of life skills which is very useful to us. One milestone reached.

For the remaining of May and the whole of June, I started watching running man. Spent almost 4 to 6 hours a day watching running man. Finished all 100 episodes before June ended. During that period, I became so obsessed that I eat, drink and breathe running man.

Then started job hunting. Found a job in Asia Capital Reinsurance. Initially, I did not want to work there. Wanted to find a job somewhere else. In the end, still decided to work there. Started work on July 5th and ended work on October 4th. During these 3 months, I enjoyed myself. I like the job scope, I like the human relationship there and I like the working environment. September 3rd was a very special day. It was her first day working there. Even though someone else guided her, I also tried my best to help her. Eventually, we started to have lunch together, OT together and leave office together. Sometimes, we are the last 2 to leave office. Eventually, we met early for breakfast. On my last day, she went with me to submit timesheet and had dinner together. Even though I stopped working there, I still went back to have breakfast or dinner with her. Sometimes I will drop by to meet her and ex-colleagues for lunch.

Spent the remaining of October resting. Cycled twice. Once with Joseph and Wilson. Once with her. Went to many places to eat with family. Seems like whenever I have a long break, I will be hooked on to a particular show. During October, I was addicted to a Japanese comedy called "Gaki no tsukai" It was pure comedy and it was gold. First time I laughed badly for every episode I watched.

Then I enlisted n October 30th. It was a completely different yet new experience for me. However, my section mates were awesome. Always reminded each other, even though it was minor stuff. My buddy was good too. Always helped me. Field camp, route marches, IPPT. You name it, he plays a part to help me. By the way, he was the company best when it comes to 2.4km running. A perfect trainer.

All in all, this was the year with major changes. Quite a fruitful year. 2013 will start with me passing out from BMT. Hope life will be smooth from there onwards.

Friday, December 28th 2012...

Last week of the year.

Last bookout.

Last week in Tekong.

So many lasts. POP next week. Although many people are looking forward to it, I am slightly now so looking forward to it because I will miss the life here in Tekong. My awesome section mates for one, my awesome platoon mates for 2, and the nice sergeants and officers here for three even though we always get punished.

I must admit, I am quite a lucky guy. Awesome secondary school mates, awesome poly mates, awesome section mates. All got along well. Even thought here may be friction sometimes, it only serve as a means to strengthen our bonds. For the past 8 weeks, I managed to survive mostly because of my buddies and section mates. Now, it is almost time to say goodbye and some of us already missed each other. Oh I think I sound gay lol.

Learnt one thing in army "I don't believe nothing can be solved without money!" Haha this is one the quotes our section used. Because there is a filthy rich kid in our section who would treat us generously. Fair enough haha.

Oh ya, not to mention the long bookout. 5 days! Have to enjoy this!

Tags replied: JerNgiap / AUDREY

JerNgiap: Haha yeah I am also stalking around too :)

AUDREY: The world is a wonderful place! Haha!

Monday, 24th December 2012...

Christmas eve!

2 more weeks to POP!

6 more working days to POP!

14 more minutes to Christmas!

You see, by looking at all the statistics, it shows how fast time passed. It is the end of the year already and it does not seem like a year had passed. Not sure why, but time seems to pass faster as we aged.

Anyway, put the army stuff aside. I know my BMT life quite xiong but I am used to it le. Which is good in a way so that if I get into a not so xiong unit, I will definitely cherish it. Saturday was the first time in BMT I overslept. Was supposed to wake up at 3.30am. Had it not been my buddy waking me up to go toilet, I will have overslept even more. Wait, he went back to sleep after returning from toilet. Checked the time and it was 4.30am. Overslept by an hour yet I was still the first to woke up. Ironic isn't it?

On a side note, I have never felt so comfortable being alone with a girl before. So maybe this is the special feeling everyone is talking about? Feels quite good and happy whenever I am with her :)

Sunday, 28th October 2012...

My very last post before I enlist.

Packed all the things which I am going to bring for NS> However, as it turns out, there was only 1 bag, and it was lighter than my secondary school bag. Wonder if I missed anything out. Have to thank all the "Gossip Peeps" for all the suggestions and encouragement. Greatly appreciated.

Bought a non-camera phone. Not sure whether are camera phones allowed so it is better to play safe.

Going to shave tomorrow. Going to be bald for the very first time before I enlist. Hopefully, everything will just turn up fine.

Tags replied: AUDREY / CLK / JerNgiap

AUDREY: Going to keep it a secret for the time being :) By the way, keep it low profile, do not want too many people to know yet until the appropriate time :D Btw, how come you suddenly have the feel to come to my blog? Haha.

CLK: Yo bro, was still shocked to see you. Wonder if I will see you again tomorrow as it is a Sunday. Haha the last Sunday before enlistment.

JerNgiap: Yup! Seeing all of you blogging made my fingers itchy too. But it will be dead once I enlist again lol.

Saturday, 27th October 2012...

Bought all the necessary stuff for NS. Gonna change to a non-camera phone soon. Luckily, 3G function will still be in use but I doubt I will have time to use it anyway. Even if I have the time, will most probably switch 3G off as I want to save the battery for calls and messages. More important.

Less than 3 days to enlistment. Well, the nervous level has certainly dropped a lot since a few weeks ago and my excitement has exceeded the nervousness. Hope this is the right feeling when I enlist. Going to start packing tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Thursday, 25th October 2012...

Met her for dinner. As usual, went to pick her up at Suntec before heading down to Orchard 313 for dinner in a Japanese restaurant. Food was very nice, and it was her recommendation so that's all I can say.

Walked and shopped after that from 313 all the way to Far East Plaza. What more can I say?

Wednesday, 24th October 2012...

Went back to Suntec to meet some of my former colleagues for lunch. Met up with one of my previous colleague, who has stopped working there before the two of us met the rest who just left for lunch. She was there as well. In total, there were 7 of us. Forgot the name of the restaurant but it has the word "olive" in it and it is located in the basement of Marina Square.

They wanted to test and see whether my memory was still as good as I was during work so I was responsible to take the order of everyone and order at the counter without using any materials. Success and 100% correct.

Had a fun and enjoyable lunch. Chatted about work, school NS etc. After lunch, the previous temp and I sent the rest back to Suntec Tower 4 to work before I went home with the previous temp, who happened to stay in Anchorvale. Went home with him many times and this will probably the final time. Hope that is not the case as we are still planning for an outing with the rest of my former colleagues.

Sunday, 21st October 2012...

Was at Kovan today. While ordering some food in the food centre, someone called me. Such a familiar voice but I did not see anyone who I am familiar with when I looked into the direction of the voice. Ahh, Luck Koon. Almost could not recognised him because of his "missing" hair. As usual, we had a mini conversation before I brought him to the store which sells "Ba Chor Mee" as he was craving for that. Went back to say goodbye to him before I left. Glad to see him before enlistment (a topic we briefly talked about during our mini conversation).

Saturday, 20th October 2012...

It is not very often that I will post about what I did on a Saturday. However, this Saturday is very, and I mean very different.

Had arranged to meet her for a cycling trip in Pasir Ris park on that very day. She was way too early as she reached like half an hour before our agreed time. Wow.

Luckily for us, the weather that day was perfect for cycling. It was sunny, yet windy at the same time. Can't ask for any better. Over at Sengkang, it was sunny, windy but at the same time, drizzling as well. Glad that was not the case over in Pasir Ris Park.
Cycled around Pasir Ris Park as wekk as the park connector to Tampines and Bedok Reservoir and chatted during our mini breaks.

Walked around Ehub and saw Pei Juan. Smiled and greeted her and she was probably the first person to see me and her together. Not sure whether did she see me and her though.

Went to Changi Airport after that for lunch. Had Popeye and watched Tom and Jerry in Popeye together. Haha. After that, window shopping around Terminals 1, 2 and 3 before I send her to her station, which is pretty far away, which is good as we can chat.

Recently, I have been keeping my updates and what I am doing in a low profile manner. Hence, not many people know what is going on with me these few weeks. Well, only my blog will detail it but I think I may be weird as I did not tell anyone about it. Hence, this blog is basically like a dead city, with me sharing and updating to basically no one, well maybe except one or two. Will anyone see this in the near future? Maybe in a few months time but I doubt so within these few weeks.

Anyway, less than 10 days to enlistment!!!

Thursday, 18th October 2012...

Went to Suntec to meet her for breakfast. I made it a habit to at least have breakfast with her once a week. Well, at least before I enlist.

Met her for dinner again. Feels good to meet her twice. Went Orchard to have Mos Burger for dinner. Was quite full. We walked from one end of Orchard to another and had quite some fun.

Well, I think short post is easier to read, understand and write about. Hence, there will be lesser and lesser long posts from me unless it is something interesting that needs to be detailed. Anyway, is there even anyone who will see all these? Maybe just one I think...

Friday, 12th October 2012...

Went to Suntec to meet her for breakfast at 8.15am. Had McDonalds. Loitered around Marina Square, Millenia Walk and Raffles Link. Went to TS Video to browse through some films. Went to Times Bookstore to read. An interesting book that I read was "How to pass your IPPT". Couldn't be more appropriate at this time. Met her for lunch at 12.30pm. Saw some of my ex-colleagues. Hid from them. Lol. Had Burger King for lunch with the new temp staff joining too. Went home after that.

At around 9pm, I went cycling with Joseph and Wilson. I took out my bike and rode 2 minutes to the ground level of Wilson's house and waited for him there. When he came down, he left his bike with me and went up to change his shoes. Joseph joined us not long after buying his drink from Prime Supermarket. So we cycled for close to 4 hours. Places we passed by include: Sengkang, Punggol, Hougang, Kovan, Jalan Kayu and Yio Chu Kang. We passed by several familiar places like Zhen Hua's house, Desmond Lim's house (wanted to call him and sort of "prank" him), Pei Hwa Secondary etc. Had fun. Let the pictures do the talking.

Some nice view from Punggol Promenade.

From left (Wilson's bike, my bike and Joseph's bike)

At around 12.30am, we sent Joseph to his home at Anchorvale. After that, I sent Wilson home and rode for another 2 minutes on my bike home. Reached home at 12.45am. Butt ache for the 3 of us for cycling so long. Luckily we did not cycle to Tampines, Pasir Ris or even Marina Bay as suggested during the first hour.

Thursday, 11th October 2012...

Met up with poly mates for dinner today. Went to Breko at Holland Village. New environment. Just like the previous day, I was the only one who has not enlisted... Listened to their stories instead and learn from them.

Short posts are better. Too lazy to post every single detail.

By the way, my headache continued today.

Wednesday, 10th October 2012...

Went out with Peepnions yesterday. Had a wonderful session with Joseph, Nizar and Zhen Hua. Sticky and her friend joined in mid-way. Could really feel he tensed up muscles after the session. They all played real well as the three of them just had their passing out parade recently. Wonder will my stamina be as good as them in the future? Really hope so.

Went home to bathe before meeting up with them again. Went to the Seoul Garden at Cineleisure and had dinner there. Wilson and Jia Ying joined us for the dinner. Went to a few Ice-Cream stores after that but none of them is halal certified. Finally, at around 9pm+, we settled down at Haagen-Dazs where we ordered a Fondue for all 7 of us. Jia Ying's treat.

Went home after that. Wilson, Joseph, Jia Ying and I shared a cab home. Of course, we shared the bill without Jia Ying to thank her for the treat. The 3 of us dropped off at Anchorvale CC where we had our supper in the McDonalds there.

Afterwards, Joseph went a separate way home while Wilson and I walked home together, since we lived so near.

Had a headache but it was fun. But the pain was unbearable at around midnight. Insomnia sets in these few days. Had been only able to fall asleep at around 3am as I was lying on my bed for hours without a successful attempt of falling asleep.

Monday, 8th October 2012...

Witnessed an extremely rare scene today. Was in the bank and two guys pushed a guy into the bank and said that the guy had pickpocket something. What turned out to be a calm scene immediately turned into disaster when the guy suddenly struggled to get free and rushed for the door to escape. Luckily, there were enough people to finally pin the man down. First time seeing this and was quite shocked. People were discussing about this in the bank. Luckily there were many kind souls who helped in the arrest.

So I went for dinner with her again. We had lots to chat about and she was the first female to have that much things to chat and share with me. Extremely lucky to know her and I hope we can get to know more of each other in time to come. I am very grateful to get that job the past 3 months and to know such a wonderful person. :)

Thursday, 4th October 2012...

Last day of work, had a proper send off. I really loved that place and do not feel like leaving. Well, life goes on.

1st dinner with her :)

Wednesday, 3rd October 2012...

Last day of work tomorrow. Mixed feelings. Don't really feel like leaving the job. Oh well... Hmm, to shoot or not to shoot the question?

Monday, 1st October 2012...

Hmm, it's October already. 75% of 2012 is in the past. Can anyone please tell me how in the world does time passed so fast? It passed especially fast when one is working. In just less than a month, I will be bald, and dragging myself to Tekong. After seeing most of my friends and relatives enlisting one after another, it will finally be my turn. My feelings? Mixed. Will miss the live outside as well as the people. However, a new phase of live means new challenges. Ending work this week, this Thursday, to be exact. Frankly speaking, this is one of the jobs which I enjoyed the most and the job which I cannot bear to leave. I will not mind coming back again. The people, the environment, the welfare. Ah there is too much goodness to be said. Looking back in the past, I have realised how much I had accomplished. Results wise, average. Job wise, I have worked in 3 different offices, with all 3 job scopes completely different. One is on tax, one is on financial analysis and one is on reinsurance. If I said that I did not learn anything, I got to be kidding. Everyone makes resolutions. I have a resolution that has been empty for quite a while and if I am able to realise it before I enlist, boy oh boy how happy will I get? I just hope everything will run smoothly. Ok, not sure will anyone see my posts. If you do, great. And if no one sees this, I can rant as much as I want. However, what is there to rant about? I am quite happy with my life right now. Only positive stuffs :) Tekong, I will see you in 29 days time!

Sunday, 1st April 2012...

It's April fools day!!! Know what that means? It means a quarter of 2012 has passed. Time passed really fast. Received the graduation package and transcript already...

Ever since I started working, I have adopted a good habit. I used my laptop for less than an hour as compared to 3 to 4 hours a day in the past month or so. Good habit? The bad thing is that I am too lazy to use my laptop this week which explains why this is the only post this week.

Work was good. Started to adapt to it. It was not that bad as I though it would be during the first day of work. Be it internship or work, I was always bombarded with many information and procedures on the very first day. Once I get used to it, everything just works fine.

Lesser family time spent together. Dinner is always with my family the entire week. As for lunch, lunched out with my colleagues the entire week. They were really good to me, which is a plus. Lots of treats, will have to treat them back sometime in the future.

Just went to the temple to visit my deceased grandmother. Close to 10 years soon. It is when you lose someone... will you cherish that someone.

Don't know why the weekends always zoom really fast. It's like less than a day. Weekdays? Passed as slowly as it can. Luckily, I have the motivation from both my friends and family to move on. Whatsapp!!! My form of entertainment everyday. I am really glad that I am in that conversation because it is what I really look forward to when I am on the train every morning.

Ever believe in coincidences? Met Audrey at Outram Park station twice when I knock off this week. What happens after that? I saw Li Juan both of the times. I even met several people on the train both in the morning and evening. Lol seems like a true stalker.

Work starts tomorrow! Note to self: Work hard and look forward to Good Friday. Long weekend! Must enjoy that. As for tomorrow, I will be looking forward to watching Wrestlemania 28 after work tomorrow. This is one of the most stacked cards in recent years as it has the most hype. From best in the world vs best in the world to end of an era match to once in a lifetime match. With Brock Lesnar reportedly signing a 1 year contract starting from April Fools day, it will be good to see him back. Will watch the 4 hour extravaganza tomorrow night.

Matches:

--Dark Match--

1) Triple Threat Tag Team Match for the WWE Tag Team Championship
Primo & Epico (With Rosa Mendes) (C) vs Justin Gabriel & Tyson Kidd vs The Usos (Jimmy Uso & Jey Uso)

--Undercard Matches--

2) Divas Tag Team Match
Kelly Kelly & Maria Menounos vs Beth Phoenix (C) & Eve

3) 12 Men Tag Team Match (The General Manager of the victorious team will get to run both Raw and Smackdown)

Team Teddy- Santino Marella (Captian), R-Truth, Kofi Kingston, Zack Ryder, The Great Khali & Booker T (with Smackdown General Manager Theodore Long, Aksana, Nicki Bella and flag bearer Hornswoggle)

VS

Team Johnny- David Otunga (Captain), Mark Henry, Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, The Miz & Drew McIntyre (Replaces an injured Christian) (with Raw General Manager John Laurinaitis, Brie Bella and flag bearer Vickie Guerrero)

4) Singles Match
Randy Orton vs Kane

5) Singles Match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
Cody Rhodes (C) vs The Big Show

--Main Event Matches--

6) Singles Match for the World Heavyweight Championship
Daniel Bryan (C) (with AJ Lee) vs Sheamus

7) Singles Match for the WWE Championship Match (Best in the World vs Best in the World)
CM Punk (C) vs Chris Jericho

8) Hell in a Cell Match with Shawn Michaels as the Special Guest Referee (The End of an Era Match)
Triple H vs The Undertaker

9) Once in a Lifetime Match
The Rock vs John Cena

Sunday, 25th March 2012...

Family day!!! One of those rare days where the entire family of 5 went out, not only went out but went out to cycle together. By the way, this is the very 1st time the whole family went out to cycle together.

Left in the morning, at around 10 plus. Reached Pasir Ris park at around 11.30am. Went to rent bicycles immediately. Took 2 double seater and a single seat bicycles, just enough for the 5 of us. However, my mum was afraid of cycling as she had not cycled for more than a decade, much less cycling on a double seater. Hence, we traded one of the double seaters to 2 single bicycles, still just nice for the 5 of us. My brother, my sister and I were noobs in cycling.

After a few minutes of trying, I gained momentum and cycled well. Same for my mum after she overcame her fear of cycling. She still cycled well.The 3 of us taught my siblings how to cycle. I took the double seater with my sister. Changed bicycles here and there so everyone had enough opportunities to cycle on both types of bicycles.

My brother was a fast learner and learnt in in just an hour. Not bad, at least he was better than me lol. This was my 8th cycling trip. Only learnt how to cycle during my 3rd trip. Slow learner? That's what my friends called me "Cycling like a pussy". Haha.

Took some nice pictures with some nice postures. Got 1 photo which I personally liked, the one with the Wushu pose. Will upload them next time. Lazy eh?

Went for lunch at McDonalds. Downtown East was full so we settled down at the outlet in Elias Mall. Went home after that. Dad cooked noodles and kuay tiao at night. Nice. Enjoyable day before I commenced work and it was the beginning of a new week.

Friday, 23rd March 2012...

End of the work week. To be honest, this is quite a stressful yet challenging job. I really learnt alot from it. Lots of financial analysis knowledge needed by the way. International Finance knowledge will also be useful.

Work aside, after work, rushed down to Pei Hwa Secondary School. Ah how I miss those days. Went there for my brother's PTM. Saw only a few teachers which I know. As for the rest, strangers. So many new staff. Saw See Swee. He was talking To Mr Ho, our A/E Maths teacher for Secondary 4. To think that he is the vice principal now. Cool.

So many students playing outside the class while waiting for their turn. My brother was number 22. They must have waited for a long time because I only reached when the number was passed 10. Of course, my sister and I went back to visit our former "4E1" classroom since we used the same classroom during our final year. Explored around too, especially the haunted places? Lol.

Then my dad saw his friend, who happened to have a son in the same class as my brother. He got number 30+. Haha it will be an even longer wait. They started chit-chatting. Talk and talk and talk about their work in the past. Then they mentioned about Liying's dad. Then continued their conversation. Then they started talking about Liying. My dad's friend said he had a son in the same class as Liying. Hmm I happened to be in the same class as Liying too. Then he asked whats my name. I said Ming Xuan. He said "Oh Ming Xuan! My son always mentioned about you. Haha to think that he work for your dad, who is my former colleague. You know Joseph?" I replied "Joseph? Which one?" Lol didnt know why I give that reply. Partly because Mr Joseph Chua was in one of the classroom and I thought he meant Chua.

Ok so coincidences actually do happen. 3 fathers who worked together had their children in the same class and they don't even know it.

After that, had tze char opposite and went home to rest. Weekends finally!

Monday, 19th March 2012...

Second post in less than 24 hours. First day of work starts tomorrow. First time I am all alone working without any friends or family members. Take it as a new experience then and learn from it. Jiayou to myself.

Monday, 19th March 2012...

My, my my...

It has been a year since I last blogged. So many things have happened. More importantly, a lot of things have changed. I have unofficially graduated from Temasek Polytechnic.

Well, I guess I will come back and update more often, especially on the more exciting and interesting events.