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Appreciation to all my friends and relatives

Dear all,

I would like to use this space to thank all my friends, relatives and colleagues for all the concern and support you guys have given me during the first weeks of my dad's demise. I was really very touched during the whole duration of my dad's wake + funeral as I had never expected that so many of you guys would come over to my place to give me some words and pats of comfort. 

1. Catholic High pals, especially Andrew who came down all the way to TTSH to help me and my family when my dad was first warded
2. Army buddies, especially Zhixuan who came in the pouring rain and TEAM BRAVO 
3. NUS year 1-year 4 gang
4. NUS CAC '06 gp 2 fellow councillors
5. NUS BHID fellow volunteers
6. ST Aerospace colleagues, especially all the e/e people + lunch kakis

Thanks so much, once again. And if anyone is worried about me and my family, I'm fine, and my mum and bro are also taking it well. 

"Life goes on" , as my dad would say. The rainbow over the whole of Singapore just a few days after my dad left for heaven is probably the best testament for the quote. Haha

Best Regards,

Bernard

Tribute to my beloved "PA"

My dad passed away in the late afternoon of 21^st Feb 2009 (Sat). It’s been a hard weekend for me, my mum and my brother. My dad had suffered a mild stroke a few years back, but he had already recovered, and was as healthy as he could be.

On that fateful 20 Feb afternoon, he was as usual, alone at home. By the time my mum came home at about 8pm, she found my dad lying on the bed with vomit all over the bed. Apparently, he suffered a stroke, which we suspected caused by a knock on his head. Wafferine that my dad was taking had made him vulnerable to any knocks and falls.

My mum and brother called him up and he managed to open his eyes, but could not already speak. It was my misfortune that I was out that time, as my beloved dad could not get to see me one last time. By the time I reached the hospital, my dad was unconscious, in coma. The doctor told us to be prepared, as there was massive bleeding in the left side of his brain.

I was glad that the ordeal was all over for my dad in 2 days. The night I see him with a feeding tube through his nasal passage and breathing hard through an oxygen mask was very disheartening. Even if my dad had recovered, he would be bed-ridden, which I believe would be hard to take for my dad himself and my mum.

That’s why I am really grateful to the lord that he had brought my dad to a much better home, where he can provide my dad with whatever he wants and needs.

My dad is the most respectable person in my heart. No matter what me and my bro do, he’ll support us wholeheartedly. My dad’s also highly intelligent, not everyone in his time can go Raffles Institute one, ok? An avid reader, he was also well-informed of current situations, and would feed me and my family with the latest information around.

In his 57 years of life, yes, he did some mistakes, but well, who doesn’t. At least his life experience taught me and my bro to be more frugal, thrifty, not to spend money as though it’s water. Being a reserved person, he does not really show many emotions, but I know he loves us, even till now. Like when he got a lobang for laptops, he specially bought one each for me and my bro. Like whenever me and my bro were at home, he would walk out all the way to the coffeeshop to get lunch/dinner for us.

Not only was he great to my family, but also great to his friends. Even though we were not really well-off, I was told by his friends he lent them money during their times of need. Well, that’s my dad for you, putting others ahead of himself.

Pa, I’ll be strong. “Be strong” is easier said than done. Looking back at your wedding photos, or any of your old photos, I would have a sudden urge to cry. But I promise I’ll do it only in private.

Pa, rest well in heaven, and bless us k. We love you, and I know you love us too. 

JB Food Feast cum Shopping Spree

It has been some time since I've stepped into JB. I had some left over ringgit from my previous trip to KL 6-7 years ago, and was looking for some opportunity to finish spending those. The chance could not come any better when my Malaysian (now Singapore PR) colleague, TT, offered to drive me and a few colleagues around JB to eat and shop. Especially when there is this Malaysian Savings Sale now on. So, a total of 4 of us got together for this specially guided 'tour' into JB - just nice to fit TT's car.

In the morning, by the time we got to the Malaysian Customs, it was already 1030, and the crowd was overwhelming. I did not really expected such a crowd as I thought it was still quite early on a SATURDAY morning. Anyway, we managed to clear the customs and meet TT over at the JB petrol kiosk at the designated time, 11am, and headed off to our first makan destination for lunch - a CHICKEN RICE place at Johor Jaya.

With an empty stomach, we arrived at this coffee shop, whose chicken rice stall is said to be famous for it's chicken sweet black sauce. Actually, the chilli sauce is also very nice, different from those in Singapore. We ordered half a roasted chicken and half a steamed chicken, and devoured it.  Yup, damn good we devoured it man. And in all, the chicken feast cost us RM31. CHEAP!

Next up, ROJAK. Apparently, I have many colleagues who really love rojak. Whenever we go out of the company for lunch, and if there is a rojak stall, we will most likely order a plate to share. I did not know it's such a popular food. Back to JB. The rojak stall that TT brought us to, was very cool. Out of place, it was situated at a side of a small road, leading into some residential terrace places. If I was alone, I would not have even looked at the stall. It was just not-so-Singapore. Ha. But I got to say, the rojak is good. We got biggest portion to share, and it cost us just RM5.00. And the food was like spilling out of the box lor. What is different is that this rojak has chempadek, green mango, water apple minus the tau-pok, as compared to those found in Singapore. Shiok!

To round off lunch, TT brough us to eat 6-TASTE SOUP, or something like cheng teng, for dessert. Actually it really is dessert, but probably has more ingredients - 6 to be exact. Quail's egg, jelly, winter melon, some round round white balls, and  ... Sorry, just bothered eating and did not really notice what's in it. For RM1.60 per bowl, it's worth it. Can probably only get such cheap dessert in school canteens.

After the 1st makan session, we headed JUSCO to do some shopping. The shopping centre is said to be the biggest in JB, and it is BIG. Looks like Vivocity though, but the prices there are maybe half of that of the shops in Vivo. Especially with the sale on. And guess what. We saw power rangers. Cool!!! Haha

Walking around for about 3 hours, we then headed for more food. This time, CHENDOL for tea. Once again, I'm amazed how TT managed to get to know this stall even existed. It just appeared from out of nowhere, just beside some road. Gee. But again, the chendol is cheap and good. Cost RM1.20 per bowl.

We then headed to Danga Bay to take a look at the must-see-for-tourist place, to walk off the food in our tummy before heading for seafood. I must say, Danga Bay is exactly the Downtown East of Singapore, with a pasar malam, games stalls and adventure rides for all. 

SEAFOOD dinner is at some kelong area, where one has to drive on some trails past some forested area. I think only Malaysians know that place man, or those Singaporeans who go there frequently. I think if some taxi driver had driven me there, I might have thought he wanted to... Ha. 

We ordered chilli crabs, calamari,, oat prawns, la-la and sambal kangkong, and we did not have to wait long. Great service man. Just when we were hungry for seafood. Perhaps if there is another time, I must try the other types of seafood. Apparently, it was the best among the few seafood restaurants in that area, and too bad, we have not enough people to order more varities. Haha. Seafood was fresh, but I dun particularly like the calamari and the chilli crab sauce. Overall, the food was ok. And for all that we ordered, the whole meal cost only RM121. Cheap! Maybe comparable to Batam.

Because it was still early, TT brought us to some treetop place, called TREETOP, to chill out - to eat ICE KACANG. Haha. The ambience was damn nice and there was this angklung player who played along karaoke songs - Chinese, English and what have you got. Sometimes, I do think musically-inclined people are damn zai. 

After listening to some Beyond and Grasshoppers' songs, it was time to head home. What a fruitful day. Ok ok, I have the most shopping bags among those who went......

Thank TT for the tour!!!

ST Eng Tree Planting Day

It's been some time since I've updated my blog. For the past 2 weeks, I have been trying out forex trading after work, so there's simply no time to update the blog. Just in case anyone is curious, i don't think I won any prize in the ST photo competion. However, I did won a $15 Borders voucher in a photo competition organized by NLB. By the way, it is still open for entries at www.pl.com.sg.

Back to the theme, last saturday was ST Eng Tree Planting Day in Go Green month, where the company was looking to set 2 records: 

1 - most number of people planting trees at the same time 

2 - most number of trees planted at a same location at a time (2008 trees to be exact)

The targeted place was Admiralty Park, just behind Republic Polytechnic, and the school was the place where everyone involved gathered for breakfast and a speech before moving out to the designated tree planting site. Apparently, besides gunning for the records, the event was also a fund-raising event (i think). There were some money raised for every tree planted. Thus, waking up at 6plus on a saturday morning was quite worthwhile afterall.

Holes were dug, so it was not that difficult. All we did were putting the small tree in place and covering the hole with soil. Voila! And for all my effort and time, I helped to plant 2 trees. Haha. Not a lot, but hey, I contributed.

Shortlisted Photo Entries

Making use of the Hari Raya public hoiliday, I took on a trip to the Singapore Botanic Garden to get some inspirations for my photo competition. While there were some flowers which I rarely see them around, most of the flowers and plants in the Botanic Garden were ubiquituous. I guess one cannot expect much from a tropical country like Singapore. Or probably I had too high expectations of getting good flora shots.

Nonetheless, I felt it was one good trip to embrace nature and escape from the fast-paced, stressed work environment. Taking about 2 hours to cover the entire Botanic Gardens, from the Tanglin Core to the Bukit Timah Core, I managed to get some photos, which I thought were not as good as what I already had taken before. Shucks. I NEED INSPIRATION!!!

After sieving through the photos in my hard-disk, I have shortlisted the following 3 photos, which i thought were the best among my collection. Ha. Well, do feel free to comment, if there's actually people reading this. Oh, and the star-shaped flower is one that I have never seen before, and I thought it looks cute.

   

Addition: 3 more pictures for consideration

 

Photography Competition

The company is holding a photography competition for all employees, with the theme "I LOVE LIVING PLANTS". The main gist of this is to capture the beauty of flowers, plants and trees in their natural environment.

Although the closing date of the competition is 21st October, I have already been going around looking for nice flowers and plants for some inspiration. All I managed to get, were pictures of common flowers seen near my neighbourhood. Ha. I am thinking of going to the botanical gardens one day to take some better pictures, when I am more free. Also, I think my insistence of taking the pictures with my handy and trusty Sony Ericsson 770i probably affected the quality of the pictures I took. Ha, as if. Well, like I told my colleague, if I ever manage to get some prize with my 770i, it will be some great achievement. 

My belief: If you are good, you are good no matter whatever tools you use..

The few better pictures I took:

NIKE Human Race - 31.08.2008

Months ago, I saw a friend's profile on facebook, jio-ing people to go run the NIKE human race with him. Dunno what got into me, but I went to check out what the human race was, and was kind of attracted to it.

Probably because it was some run for charity, and I thought since it was a for a good cause, why not. Maybe it was also because i'm still below 25 on 31.08.08, and paying just 25+ instead of 49+ for the run, was another pulling factor. Last but not least, i thought it could act as a motivation for me to start some running, to condition myself for the run, and also for my IPPT when the window reopens for me.

Once i set my mind into joining the run, I went around asking people to join me. I cannot possibly run myself right? Like a bit cannot-make-it. Luckily, I have a few kind-hearted friends, who wanted to do their bit to charity too - Yk, Ralf and Ben. I did not know until much later that 2 of my female colleagues were joining the run too. Cool!

For the past few months, I have been training for the run, together with Ralf along the Bishan-Braddel canal and Bishan Park. I was glad that I signed up the run, as it really motivated me to go jogging probably twice a week after dragging myself back from office. So for people who want to keep fit, I suggest that they go sign up for some run, and use it as some form of motivation to go exercise. Besides being able to keep fit, completing the whole event also gives you some sense of achievement.

On the 31.08.08 day itself, it was a real squeeze at the start. Heard that some 10,000 people joined the race in Singapore, and I thought it was overcrowded. Actually, this race is held over 25 cities on the very same day. But I did not really expect so many people to be so enthusiastic about running. A point aside, when I wanted to sign up for StanChart 10km, some 30,000 people had already signed up. Faint.

Back to the run. I started running with YK only, as I had lost the other guys in the sea of red (official tee was red). The first 2km was a breeze for us, as most of the time, we were kind of walking. Now I know, to have a good run, must be kiasu a bit, come earlier to be near the starting point, so u can block others and not the other way round. Mua Ha Ha.

The whole 10km journey was quite scenic, getting views of the Singapore Flyer, Esplanade, Singapore River + lanterns along it, as well as the whole stretch of Boat Quay + Clarke Quay. Ya, because I am really getting old, my slow pace enabled me to enjoy the view en-route. Probably other runners dun think the same way as I do. And like what I mentioned earlier, completing the 10km without stopping, really damn shiok, especially for someone like me, who has poor stamina.

Perhaps, 10km is the maximum I can go. Any distance more than that, I think I'll need CPR at the end. Heh.

BHID Volunteers Outing - Yishun Safra

After last Saturday's visit to the Bishan Home, the NUS CSC BHID volunteers had a bonding session. Initially, some of the volunteers actually wanted to go to Sentosa for the outing. However, due to time and attendance constraint, we decided to go somewhere nearer, and some place which was more budget-friendly. After some discussion along the walkway between Bishan MRT and Junction8 for a whole 20 odd minutes, we decided on going to Yishun Safra to play bowling.

It was my 1st time to Yishun Safra, and I thought the facilities there, especially the swimming pools and slides were very nice. This made me even more determined to get my Safra membership, so I can go swim there or Toa Payoh Safra for free. Weekend movies for 8 bucks + discounts for bowling sessions, not bad eh.

Alas, when we reached the bowling alley, there was some bowling competition going on, and the next available timing for public to bowl was one and a half hours later. @#$%. To think I travel all the way from Bishan to Yishun, and no bowling to play. And to top it off, it was raining cats and dogs. No umbrella somemore. Luckily, Yishun Safra is not all about bowling. Ha. We headed for the pool room, and got a pool table to play. It was all thanks to some brave and thick-skinned gal to ask a pool playing Safra member to sign us in as guests. Thanks to the helpful guy as well.

And all 11 of us finally settled down on this corner with 1 pool table. Most of us were beginners, so our skills and techniques were like... ya.. This was like my 2nd or 3rd time playing pool, so I kind of suck at potting the balls. But well, this was all about team-bonding and having fun! Guess we can have more of such things after future visits.

The volunteers and their various striking postures. Not bad for beginners, I must say.

After the pool session, we went to the game arcade to play some games before heading back home - for soccer. WOOT!!! It's the start of the Barclay Premier League as well. How could Manchester United not win Newcastle? And with Chelsea thumping Portsmouth 4-0, it's looking bad.