16/10/09

The last time I went to that place I nearly sweared off sushi for the rest of my life after relentlessly eating sushi for the better part of 3 hours. Thank goodness I didn't because sushi is really such a delicious food, even more than rice wrapped in egg okonomiyaki! And now, I take a peek out of my cave to be one step closer to watching Transformers (whoops now even more people know I haven't). Thanks for the company tonight and cookies! =)

14/10/09

Today my belly was filled with pride, amongst a lot of other things, being part of such an amazing bunch of people which belong to team Delta. It took a mustering of courage, teamwork and intestinal fortitude (not to mention a dose of insanity) for the 20 of us there to chalk up a $800 bill at Swensens. When we reached our neck level and the bill was just a paltry $570, it seemed the goal was too far away. But that we did and spectacularly. For such a feat, sacrifices had to be made. Staff were frazzled, belts were loosened and IPPT goals thrown out of the window for us to accomplish such a fantastic feat. We all deserve a vomit-inducing pat on the stomach.

Special thanks to Farhan Räikkönen who raced along at speeds exceeding 100km/h in heavy rain to get me to my driving lesson on time despite not having any wipers on the interior side of the windscreen. I owe you many many Maggi Gorengs (double packet, without vege, add hotdog).

10/10/09

Today's sermon on Daniel struck a chord with me. As my time in NS has reached a sweet lull that would most probably perpetuate till I reach my ORD, it came as a reminder as to how I comport myself during my service. It is then easy to believe, now that I am now able to perform my duties perfunctorily, that all is well when I am where God has positioned me. When we reach the end of the narrative bit of Daniel, it is so that things did go well as Daniel walked with God. However, his time in Babylon was anything but a walk. I used to think of Daniel as a sort of holy rebel, someone with the tenacity to give the finger to any policy which would displease God. If I had taken a closer read then I would have realised that Daniel would have had to be either (a) suicidal or (b) masochistic. He had to make tough decisions and asserted his allegiance to God when it would have been easier to just lie low and hope to weather things through.

What this means for me in the remaining months and even beyond is that I have a choice to continue to let inertia run its course or stand my ground and set a standard for God.

6/10/09

Yesterday's colour must have been green! Glad to see so many people turn up for the class dinner at Modesto's. Halfway, Pam took out something from her bag to give me that left me pammified.

Dictionary: pammified (ˈpăm.mə.faɪd)
adj
1. To stun or paralyze with terror; daze.
2. The resulting feeling from having a cyber pinkie-promise unexpectedly fulfilled by Pamela.
3. To be infatuated with watches from the brand Panerai whose model numbers start with PAM.

Since I far exceed the recommended age, altogether my own assumption, since the suffix '+' indicates no upper limit to the age, I got another unwitting model to pose with it like how they were designed to be from the beginning.

Following dinner naturally came supper - Brian's last as a free man at Chomps. Food was great as always and then he tried to reverse ingestion by going at 120km/h on normal roads.

We set off on what was my only trip to Pulau Tekong today. It did not look bad as I had always imagined it to be but now I know why the acronym POP means so much to those recruits. Brian got into one of the supposedly worst companies to be in so I hope all the best for him. After our Shangri-la buffet served in the cook house, it was time to say goodbye.

2LDK & Brulee

Chanced upon 2 feature-length films over the last couple of days.

2LDK was one of the most gory I've caught in a while. It showed that when switches are flipped and tensions run high, things can get really nasty, really fast. At some point the 2 girls knew there was no turning back and went the whole yard. At the ending when they drove the knives through each others' throats it felt more like they were killing themselves instead. Thanatos would be proud.

Brulee is one of those films where the unspoken said so much more. The twin's fragility and need for each other was endearing. Although the film went to its destination as expected, it was a beautiful journey.

Trust

Yoshio: Everyone has a past and a present. In order to understand that, people have to talk face to face and let their feelings crash into each other.
Chisato: Crash into each other, huh?
Yoshio: Even families can't understand things unless they're put into words. It's even more important if you're not blood-related.
Chisato: But facing another person means that you might hurt each other, or end up hating each other.
Yoshio: No, I think... pretending you understand someone else and not saying anything is a lot worse
Yoshio writes on the ground with a twig ィ(people) 言 (say things)
Yoshio: And that's what makes "trust".

2/7/09

Today was dinner with Elizabeth, Brian and Kiat. At first thought Elizabeth heard something about what Brian said during family camp which led to her organizing dinner today. Turns out that she did after all, but everyone was very open with the whole thing and even if there were things we didn't see eye to eye about, we were able to accept it at the very least. One thing I really hate it to disappoint people, and to see someone's efforts go to waste. Many times I take it for granted that things are the way they are just like that, oblivious to the obvious fact that it takes the effort and heart of many people to get it going. Then, it's equally painful to see that person put in effort and getting all disappointed at the end. There's no such thing as someone who runs on angel's dust and God's love solely, even the most perfect among us has trying times.

Our views on cell were pretty similar, except that she has responsibilities which she assumed toward the cell and its members and a hope for them to change. On the other hand, we just let things be, do not want to get our hands dirty and are pretty nonchalant about the whole cell group.

Almost wanted to skip the dinner because when I was at Brian's shop my chest felt like it was giving way. Probably due to yesterday's ride. Stronger before faster and further I guess!