Barely a few weeks ago, my neighbour referred to me as "Uncle". Do I look that old?
We were in the lift. He was with his wife and his infant son in a pram. The little one was looking at me. He was cute (just like anyone else during his/her infant days) so I smiled at him (I don't only smile at cute people mind you, although I tend to give a bigger smile when I meet one). My neighbour started to engage in some baby-talk with his son which I thought was pretty entertaining, considering the usual 75 seconds of awkward silence I go through each time I take the lift with others.
I was amused up till the point when he said something like this to his son, "Why are you staring at Uncle ah? It is very rude to stare at Uncle like that you know?" And then he kept referring to me as Uncle for the rest of his baby-conversation. Of course I wasn't offended or anything. Nevertheless I decided to make some clarification. So I said smilingly to my neighbour, "Not Uncle la." Then he said, "Huh, really ah? Then Kor-kor ah?" "Er ... ya." Before the lift reached the 14th storey, he said, "Normally when you're 20 onwards, you can be called Uncle already." I wanted to reply, "I'll be 20 only next month, yet I don't wanna be called an Uncle even then." But I merely gave a chuckle and left the lift.
So, do I really look that old? I always thought I look younger than my peers. Or perhaps it was my little goatee which I've been trying to grow that made my neighbour perceive me as an adult.
It's only one month before I'm no longer called a teenager. But I wanna be forever young. Especially when I'm currently two years behind most of my peers in life.
Cherishing my remaining month of teenage life ...
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008
A day for fathers, and a deeply missed friend
Church was unusually quiet this morning. The majority of the congregation went for the church camp, so the service was a single Traditional one instead of Contemporary. No Praise 'n' Worship, only 4 hymns were sung during the entire service instead. I don't usually enjoy hymns but today I was reminded of my Awfully Good Friend during each hymn.
You told me you could appreciate hymns because your church sang quite a few hymns during its services. Today, I got to hear some hymns in church. The music wasn't as catchy as contemporary songs, but as you said before, the lyrics were as meaningful, if not more meaningful. Somehow they reminded me of you. I wonder how you're doing over there in Canada. And of course, I miss you alot. I hope you're doing fine.
I thank God for speaking to me through Reverend Ng Seng Chuan today.
Happy Fathers' Day, Abba Father!
You told me you could appreciate hymns because your church sang quite a few hymns during its services. Today, I got to hear some hymns in church. The music wasn't as catchy as contemporary songs, but as you said before, the lyrics were as meaningful, if not more meaningful. Somehow they reminded me of you. I wonder how you're doing over there in Canada. And of course, I miss you alot. I hope you're doing fine.
I thank God for speaking to me through Reverend Ng Seng Chuan today.
Happy Fathers' Day, Abba Father!
Saturday, June 7, 2008
The value of a smile
A smile costs nothing, but gives much.
It enriches those who receive,
without making poorer those who give.
It takes but a moment,
but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever.
None is so rich or mighty that he can get along without it,
and none is so poor but that he can be made rich by it.
A smile creates happiness in the home,
fosters good will in business,
and is the countersign of friendship.
It brings rest to the weary,
cheer to the discouraged,
sunshine to the sad,
and is nature's best antidote for trouble.
Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen,
for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away.
Some people are too tired to give you a smile.
Give them one of yours,
as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give.
- Anonymous
It's been a long time since you last smiled at me.
Would you do it again?
It enriches those who receive,
without making poorer those who give.
It takes but a moment,
but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever.
None is so rich or mighty that he can get along without it,
and none is so poor but that he can be made rich by it.
A smile creates happiness in the home,
fosters good will in business,
and is the countersign of friendship.
It brings rest to the weary,
cheer to the discouraged,
sunshine to the sad,
and is nature's best antidote for trouble.
Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen,
for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away.
Some people are too tired to give you a smile.
Give them one of yours,
as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give.
- Anonymous
It's been a long time since you last smiled at me.
Would you do it again?
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Stressful schooling
Finally after three bad hair weeks, I could get my haircut yesterday. So it's time for another entry. It feels good to own a civilian hairstyle again, although it's not a trendy one. I'm fine with it. This time, my hairstylist didn't comment on my physique at all (previously he said I grew fatter, remember?). Instead, he said my teeth looked very neat and tidy now. Yes, the implicit assumption in the statement he made is that my teeth had been untidy. Well, that's a fact 'cause my teeth was indeed in a mess before I had my braces on. So I wasn't upset this time. I shall faithfully embark on my monthly pilgrimmage to Far East Plaza from next month onwards to have my hair trimmed.
School's been real crazy for me. Very stressful. Last year, I obviously didn't pay (enough) attention during lessons, and I wasn't bothered when I didn't understand what I was studying. This year, as I pay much more attention in class, I panick because I realise how much there is to cover for A levels! Some of my classmates kept lamenting, "Life sucks." I had to agree. But after having led a little of an army life earlier this year, I told them, "Life as a student still sucks the least."
Okay, I need to make some amendments to my previous entry about my most and least favourite lessons. I had heard from my new classmates that PE lessons with Mr Daryl Ong would be just physical training and no playing of games at all. But it wasn't true. We got to play games. (My class is 07S19 and we have our PE lessons together with 07S14.) Mr Desmond Ng was on course so Mr Ong relieved him. It was our last lesson with Mr Ong last week so we took photos with him, with Fay Anne's camera I think. Anyway now my most favourite lessons are Maths and PE. Haha.
School's been real crazy for me. Very stressful. Last year, I obviously didn't pay (enough) attention during lessons, and I wasn't bothered when I didn't understand what I was studying. This year, as I pay much more attention in class, I panick because I realise how much there is to cover for A levels! Some of my classmates kept lamenting, "Life sucks." I had to agree. But after having led a little of an army life earlier this year, I told them, "Life as a student still sucks the least."
Okay, I need to make some amendments to my previous entry about my most and least favourite lessons. I had heard from my new classmates that PE lessons with Mr Daryl Ong would be just physical training and no playing of games at all. But it wasn't true. We got to play games. (My class is 07S19 and we have our PE lessons together with 07S14.) Mr Desmond Ng was on course so Mr Ong relieved him. It was our last lesson with Mr Ong last week so we took photos with him, with Fay Anne's camera I think. Anyway now my most favourite lessons are Maths and PE. Haha.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
The road less travelled
Basket. I can't have my hair cut yet. The hairstylist said it's still too short. If he said only that, I wouldn't feel that upset, but he went on to say that I've grown fatter! Have I really grown fatter? Or is it just my face? All thanks to the army la, for feeding me with so much food but giving me only endurance training rather than strength training. Some more now I'm out of the army and back to a civilian.
And can you believe this? I was on my way home on Friday, and TV Mobile was showing some news article entitled Labour of Love and depicting a pregnant man! Shucks, I have to suck in my tummy wherever I go from now onwards 'cause I don't wanna become a pregnant man.
Okay frustrations aside, I shall begin on the main point of this entry.
Most of my army friends have gone forward in their army life. Some are currently undergoing training in command school (Officer Cadet School or School of Infantry Specialists) while the others are posted to various camps a.k.a units all around the island. But I'm taking a different route. I have gone back to school. St. Andrew's Junior College has agreed to let me repeat my Year 2 and take my A level exams again this year (praise God!), and the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) has allowed me to disrupt my National Service until the end of this year.
I went back to school on Tuesday instead of Monday, because Mindef wasn't done with my disruption procedures yet. In the words of the manpower personnel at Pulau Tekong, I still belonged to the Singapore Armed Forces. Thus I still had to report to the Basic Military Training Centre together with a few other Privates to wait for permission for us to be officially released for studies.
It was an 8-hour wait inside a room, from 8 o'clock in the morning to 4 o'clock in the afternoon. It's pretty interesting how the 10 of us bonded together in less than a day. Among this section of disruptees, the majority hailed from Tampines JC (TPJC), while one came from Anderson JC and I, St. Andrew's JC (SAJC).
We were all from different companies (Broncho, Gryphon, Jaguar, Raven, etc.) during our Basic Military Training (BMT) phase, but we were all gathered in the room for only one purpose: to disrupt our NS and retake our A's.
I have to admit that the wait was dreadful initially, but the TPJC guys made it count. I was actually trying to kill time by reading my Time magazine (how cool is that!) and my Economics tuition notes, but after a few hours, the TPJC guys managed to open me up, metaphorically.
The first thing they asked me immediately after they heard I studied in SAJC was (as you have guessed), "So are there really a lot of pretty girls in your school?" My answer was, "Well, it has become a rumour, a myth. The numbers have experienced a tremendously sustained decrease over the years." Seriously, if you have heard people saying that there're many pretty girls in SAJC, that was a proven fact many years ago. Today, pretty girls are an endangered species currently facing extinction in SAJC.
Alright, I have elaborated too much on an issue that isn't very important. Let me go on to my first day back in school.
It was a luxury waking up 30 minutes later than reveille time in the army. To keep fit during our civilian months ahead, my new-found friend, Private Dinie (one of the TPJC guys) suggested doing 5BX (5 Basic Exercises) and jogging every morning before eating breakfast and going to school, to reminisce a little of our army life. I thought it was good so I implemented the idea, except the 5BX part due to time constraint.
To cut the story short, honestly I felt awkward seeing so many unfamiliar faces in school. And those few familiar ones had some kind of a surprised look on them when they spotted me. My new class is a small one, with only about 10 members, before the few of us repeatees supplied reinforcements. I realised we repeatees and our new classmates are facing a generation gap. We're from the 80s while they're from the 90s. Cool. As for the teachers, all of them have never taught me before, except Mr Yoong, 'cause he seems to always take the H1 History classes every year.
Unlike last year, my most favourite and least favourite lessons have taken a drastic switch. I used to love Physical Education (PE) most and Mathematics least. Now it's the other way round. I shan't say anything about PE but for Maths, it was my first tutorial lesson that I attended on Friday (I missed the one on Monday) and it was the first time in my life I felt the classroom was hot (if you know what that means). Haha.
Pity there are only two Maths tutorial lessons in a week (the other three are lectures). Hai. And there are three Physics tutorial lessons of which two are 3-period lessons. How I wish Physics and Maths can swop time slots. Haha. Nevermind, tomorrow there's Maths tutorial lesson so I can enjoy the heat again. Yay.
On a seious note, to be frank, repeating this Year 2 is tougher than I had expected. On Tuesday when I attended the first lesson of the day (Maths lecture), I was totally lost. It was the same for Physics tutorial lesson which followed. Only History lecture was slightly better. Thank God it was a short day on Tuesday, otherwise I would've gone bonkers on my first day itself.
Like what I smsed Neale, the grass always seems greener on the other side. Last year before my A's, I couldn't wait to be enlisted into the army because I wanted to use my brawn more than my brain (which was ironically true: you don't need any brains in there). But during my BMT days, I'd rather rack my brains studying. And now that I'm back to school, the whole cycle seems to start again. Well, like what Neale said in his reply, it's better to munch away at / enjoy the grass with no eye for the fence! I shall learn to do just that.
When I repeated my Secondary Three back in Catholic High, I knew I was one year behind my peers and only one year ahead of my younger sister who's two years younger than me. Instead of taking my O level exams two years before she took hers, I took mine just one year before hers. I actually imagined this: What if I were to repeat a year again in JC? We would be taking our A's together. And so my thoughts became reality, a cool but very sad reality.
I shall not go any further and take up even more time on this. I have other more pressing issues to settle. I'm living on extra borrowed time.
And can you believe this? I was on my way home on Friday, and TV Mobile was showing some news article entitled Labour of Love and depicting a pregnant man! Shucks, I have to suck in my tummy wherever I go from now onwards 'cause I don't wanna become a pregnant man.
Okay frustrations aside, I shall begin on the main point of this entry.
Most of my army friends have gone forward in their army life. Some are currently undergoing training in command school (Officer Cadet School or School of Infantry Specialists) while the others are posted to various camps a.k.a units all around the island. But I'm taking a different route. I have gone back to school. St. Andrew's Junior College has agreed to let me repeat my Year 2 and take my A level exams again this year (praise God!), and the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) has allowed me to disrupt my National Service until the end of this year.
I went back to school on Tuesday instead of Monday, because Mindef wasn't done with my disruption procedures yet. In the words of the manpower personnel at Pulau Tekong, I still belonged to the Singapore Armed Forces. Thus I still had to report to the Basic Military Training Centre together with a few other Privates to wait for permission for us to be officially released for studies.
It was an 8-hour wait inside a room, from 8 o'clock in the morning to 4 o'clock in the afternoon. It's pretty interesting how the 10 of us bonded together in less than a day. Among this section of disruptees, the majority hailed from Tampines JC (TPJC), while one came from Anderson JC and I, St. Andrew's JC (SAJC).
We were all from different companies (Broncho, Gryphon, Jaguar, Raven, etc.) during our Basic Military Training (BMT) phase, but we were all gathered in the room for only one purpose: to disrupt our NS and retake our A's.
I have to admit that the wait was dreadful initially, but the TPJC guys made it count. I was actually trying to kill time by reading my Time magazine (how cool is that!) and my Economics tuition notes, but after a few hours, the TPJC guys managed to open me up, metaphorically.
The first thing they asked me immediately after they heard I studied in SAJC was (as you have guessed), "So are there really a lot of pretty girls in your school?" My answer was, "Well, it has become a rumour, a myth. The numbers have experienced a tremendously sustained decrease over the years." Seriously, if you have heard people saying that there're many pretty girls in SAJC, that was a proven fact many years ago. Today, pretty girls are an endangered species currently facing extinction in SAJC.
Alright, I have elaborated too much on an issue that isn't very important. Let me go on to my first day back in school.
It was a luxury waking up 30 minutes later than reveille time in the army. To keep fit during our civilian months ahead, my new-found friend, Private Dinie (one of the TPJC guys) suggested doing 5BX (5 Basic Exercises) and jogging every morning before eating breakfast and going to school, to reminisce a little of our army life. I thought it was good so I implemented the idea, except the 5BX part due to time constraint.
To cut the story short, honestly I felt awkward seeing so many unfamiliar faces in school. And those few familiar ones had some kind of a surprised look on them when they spotted me. My new class is a small one, with only about 10 members, before the few of us repeatees supplied reinforcements. I realised we repeatees and our new classmates are facing a generation gap. We're from the 80s while they're from the 90s. Cool. As for the teachers, all of them have never taught me before, except Mr Yoong, 'cause he seems to always take the H1 History classes every year.
Unlike last year, my most favourite and least favourite lessons have taken a drastic switch. I used to love Physical Education (PE) most and Mathematics least. Now it's the other way round. I shan't say anything about PE but for Maths, it was my first tutorial lesson that I attended on Friday (I missed the one on Monday) and it was the first time in my life I felt the classroom was hot (if you know what that means). Haha.
Pity there are only two Maths tutorial lessons in a week (the other three are lectures). Hai. And there are three Physics tutorial lessons of which two are 3-period lessons. How I wish Physics and Maths can swop time slots. Haha. Nevermind, tomorrow there's Maths tutorial lesson so I can enjoy the heat again. Yay.
On a seious note, to be frank, repeating this Year 2 is tougher than I had expected. On Tuesday when I attended the first lesson of the day (Maths lecture), I was totally lost. It was the same for Physics tutorial lesson which followed. Only History lecture was slightly better. Thank God it was a short day on Tuesday, otherwise I would've gone bonkers on my first day itself.
Like what I smsed Neale, the grass always seems greener on the other side. Last year before my A's, I couldn't wait to be enlisted into the army because I wanted to use my brawn more than my brain (which was ironically true: you don't need any brains in there). But during my BMT days, I'd rather rack my brains studying. And now that I'm back to school, the whole cycle seems to start again. Well, like what Neale said in his reply, it's better to munch away at / enjoy the grass with no eye for the fence! I shall learn to do just that.
When I repeated my Secondary Three back in Catholic High, I knew I was one year behind my peers and only one year ahead of my younger sister who's two years younger than me. Instead of taking my O level exams two years before she took hers, I took mine just one year before hers. I actually imagined this: What if I were to repeat a year again in JC? We would be taking our A's together. And so my thoughts became reality, a cool but very sad reality.
I shall not go any further and take up even more time on this. I have other more pressing issues to settle. I'm living on extra borrowed time.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
7 H's
Many people are pursuing the 5 or 6 C's but i am pursuing my 7 H's. i want to be a holy, happy, humble, hardworking, hot and handsome hunk. Haha. But i'm now instead just a hopeless, hirsute and hideous hypocrite. i pray that things will change for the better this year. i doubt God will grant me all my H's, maybe only the first four.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
My BMT photos on Pulau Tekong
Me with the signal set
Sitest Details Kilo with Captains (NS) Mohd Reza and M S Ong
Jaguar Company Platoon 3
With 3SG Redzahudin
Envelope, on my field pack, containing touching letters from my family during field camp
Friday, March 14, 2008
A message for someone
Dear Resident of my Heart, I hope you read this.
I may not be living in your heart now but you still reside in mine. I have given this some thought over the last few days and I've decided to go on waiting. I'm prepared to wait even longer. I may stop waiting halfway and my patience may run out but I don't know when that day will come. We have so much time ahead of us. But don't forget I'm waiting for you. It is Time I'm giving you. Waiting is my gift for you.
i will trust and obey
I may not be living in your heart now but you still reside in mine. I have given this some thought over the last few days and I've decided to go on waiting. I'm prepared to wait even longer. I may stop waiting halfway and my patience may run out but I don't know when that day will come. We have so much time ahead of us. But don't forget I'm waiting for you. It is Time I'm giving you. Waiting is my gift for you.
i will trust and obey
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