Getting old...

Went to teach at Ru Lan Primary today, facilitating Pri 4 and 5 students and man was I surprised at how times have changed. In Primary school during my time, it was still black boards and flying chalks and dusters, playing marbles and catching during break... Now, they're all using computers. They even set up blogs for their projects and it was not the basic board like mine, but blogs with different blogskin, tagboards, imeem... and to think i just learn these things like a few weeks ago and these primary 4 students are typing html codes to modify their blogs... I'm behind the times man...

And to make things worst, one of the kids pointed out, "Mr Jonathan! You have a white hair!" Arghhh!!... my worst nightmare... hahz.. I guess i just have to admit it.. I'm growing old... And now i guess its time to start learning how to grow old gracefully... lolz

Working life

Late for work after sending my "son" to school... Yes... Keith stayed another night and now it feels as if i have a 15 year old son... Have to wake him up from bed, send him to school, then rush off to work... THats how a working life feels i guess.
But last night was pretty fun, Andre and Yongchao came over and so we went grocery shopping and bought pasta to cook. Keith helped me out in the kitchen. Pretty fun.
When we were just about to eat, dad came back with that lady and my step brother... Gheez.. what a spoiler... fortunately i had Andre and Yongchao there who really lightened up the mood. After dinner, went to my room, played Tai-Dee for a while and discussed our travel plans, since going to japan together now seems not possible with Aaron, our other partner in crime, having school during December...

Straightening my life...

Yes! I'm finally gonna be straight again! Straight as in walking straight... what were you thinking about? Hahaz...
Yup... had a severe back injury some time in the beginning of the year which left me partially paralyzed on a wheel chair... When to a hospital and the stupid doctor only gave me a jab of pain killers and discharged me from the hospital... THe pain didn't go away, neither was i able to walk with my legs... Was so disappointed with western medicine...
So my mom brought me to see this Uncle who knew Tui-na, the chinese physiotherapy, and by his hands alone, he pushed my entire spine straight. Not at one short thou... took several months. But at least I could start walking after the first session with a slight slant. Hella painful process thou... Coz the spine has the entire central nervous system connected to it. Almost blacked out one session due to the sheer force and pain....
So he came to check my back again yesterday, and said it was almost back straight. Soon, i'll be normal again! Hahz...
Well after that, went out with Keith and Damian, ate at Swensons Yishun and they gave me an ice cream cone that was soft! The cone melted before the ice cream did! So upsetting.... Then went to watch Star dust! Hella good movie.
In totaly... spent almost a hundred dollars! Damn... I'm broke now... really broke... As Richard Kiyosaki will put it... I'm living the poor man's cycle... Gotta find a way to get rich! hahaz....

The Story behind my Birth...

Today was a busy day for me, rushing all over town... Went to PS to get my bank things settled, went back to the US fortress, and once again, the sky was dark and it was pouring... Gives you that image like in the movies, everytime u see the haunted castle, there's bound to be rain, thunder and lightning... yeah... thats what i got. Hahz. But.... I got my Passport and the visa!!! Hahaz.. was so happy to see the visa! Hahaz!Then went over to Cityhall, to open my trading account... Rushing here, rushing there... By the time it ended it was already 1600 hours before i got to have my lunch.

While driving back home, i decided to make a detour to a place.... a place that perhaps held significan't meaning to my life, but i have never been to before... I have passed this place many times, but just never took the time to stop by... And i felt perhaps, today was the day, since its gonna be another boring friday night after all. Hahz... THis place is the Church of Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary... This is the place that held a story behind my birth.... Legend has it that.... hahaz... okiez... wrong starting... Erm... Don't really know how to put it, but i just found it out recently also...

As you all know, i have 3 sisters... Well, after my 1st sister, my mom wanted a boy, so one day, she stopped by the statue of virgin mary at this specific place and prayed... And a few weeks later... I appeared in her womb... yupz... Thats the catholic story behind my birth... there's a buddhist one too... I shall save that.. hahz.

But this was not the only significance of the place. It was also the place where my parents first met each other, and also the place where my mother returned to after they separated. When my parents divorced, and my mom had to move out, she told me that for the first few months, she had frequent nightmares for she had never lived alone in her life before... And so she gradually started to go back to this place, sometimes even camping out in front of mother mary in the wee hours of the morning. It gave solace to her heart and peace to her mind...


As I stood in front of Mary, I understood what she meant... I felt like all my troubles were pushed out of the gate at that moment, and there was nothing else in between us, just mother and child.... There was tranquility in the moment. Its hard to describe the feeling... It just felt like.... felt like...felt like I've finally returned home.........

Crash

Yup... crashing... not refering to accidents, thou i almost had one a few days back, rather, the term used to represent staying over at another's place... Don't really know how staying over at a friends place got associated with the word "crash" But yah... was chatting with Keith online today and he was telling that he has been crashing at several friends house for the past few months... Kind of reminded me of how when i first came back to SIngapore, lost contact with all my friends, and my parent's marriage was falling apart... Just didn't want to stay home... and for like months, i crashed at Aaron's house... almost everyday.. hahaz... Pretty crazy... it became my second home... Thanks Aaron! hahz... Back in the days, before i left for the states, my house used to be the refuge place... Friends who ran away from their homes would come knocking at my door at 2am in the morning and they'd just stay over. Then those friends brought their home running friends and that was how i got to know new friends. HAhaz. Guess this is the Singapore's version of a vagrant lifestyle! Hahz... 流浪人! Used to do that in the states with friends as well, driving up from S. California to Oregon, Crashing for the night at friends houses along the way... Really miss those days! So yah... Keith said mayb one of these weekends he'll crash over... hahaz... he'll be the first in years to start that trend again... Think i better start packing my room then... it has several years worth of accumulated mess! hahaz

I'm going home!....

Halloween's Day... What a day it was...Went to the fortress again today... Another 2 hours wait... the rain was pouring hard, the skies were gloomy... I waited, and waited, and waited... I waited till i had to used the restroom, and it must be then that they call for me... the interview went fast... the results?.... I was APPROVED!!!! Hahaz... God Bless America, My Home, Sweet Home.... God Bless Amer... hahaz... As my friend Jian Kai puts it, i'm finally going back "home"... hahaz
Rushed to work after this, and during lunch break, Met up with Aaron for a quick lunch at Bugis and Dessert after. Though only a short 1 hour, it was good catch up time. Back to work, had to do some research on Warrants... some investment instrument... Hella did not understand a thing of it... Formulas here and there... That was the why i choose to be a literature major... guess i can't escape numbers.
I was supposed to work for only 1 week, but this is the second week that i am working... and just received a message, my boss requested that i stay another week... Oh well, I've nothing better to do anyway... After work... Rushed to Aranda resort to celebrate Denny's birthday. Got to meet up with alot of my soldiers from 3 SIR, and see how their lives have changed after completing their service. Stayed till about midnight before leaving.
Packed day... but that was not all... I got back home... there were monsters outside my house, the neighbours were actually celebrating Halloween! Hahz... pretty cool to see that in Singapore... As i stepped in, i heard a baby's voice and then saw a baby boy in the house... I was wondering who's baby it was all the while... Until i heard his name... Then I knew... THis boy is my step brother....

Series of Unfortunate Events...

Dang... almost got hit by a car yesterday... Today, i got electrocuted by my own printer! MY OWN PRINTER.... gheez... it hates me... hahaz... pretty crazy feel thou... my hands are still shaking now even though its been 15 mins since the electrocution.... Creates a slight problem with the locomotion of the body... Last week, by buddhist beads fell on the ground too... its an omen! A SIGN!!! Oh NO! the ENd of the World!!! hahaz... Oh well....
Was at work today, where i do research, create powerpoint lectures, facilitate in schools and mark exam papers all for a mere S$7 and hour! Cheap labour man... What a deal they've got... a Berkeley Graduate working at S$7 an hour.. hahz... so i wrote in my msn to my friend Rayson saying "Marking papers is so boring..." and his reply was "Keying codes in laptop is so sianzz..." Hahaz... both of us, once officers of the 3rd Singapore Infantry Regiment... now resigned to pathetic part time jobs... Oh wellz... that's life... hahaz... and i guess... each of us have our own difficulties in life... Own challenges to face... the papers or the codes! hahaz!
Tomorrow's my 2nd attempt at the huge fortress of the US embassy... Really... it looks like a castle from the outside... Impenetrable... Difficult to get in... yet so easily thrown out... Hopefully i'll get through this time... Wait for the news!
Pray for me!...

End of the World

Today, i almost met the end of the world. It was a perfectly normal day, going to work, lunch with my colleague Royston and stopping by the guan yin temple at waterloo st to offer our respects... yet at night, while on the way to Nathaniel's house, i was doing a fast U-turn when suddenly this white car came dashing towards me. His headlights blinded my eyes during the turn and my mind went into a blank for a split second while my reflexes for some reason or other moved on its own and my car swerved to the side as it turned... By some grace.. i was spared... imagine what would have happened if it had come crashing through my side of the door at 100km/hr... Now i guess most of you will say... the fact is that it didn't happen... so thats it... yes... it didn't happen physically.. but mentally, the entire experience went through my mind... i mayb thinking too much as always.. hahz... but everything has a lesson that can be learnt, and from this... I learnt about the fragility of life... that you never know when the end of your world will come... It can be any other perfect day just like the morning that i had... Thus we must really treasure every single moment of our live... and treasure every single person we know... Life is too fragile to be taken lightly.... Accord with the conditions, and experience the flow.

The Road Not Taken...

Saturday night, everyone is out there clubbing & celebrating Halloween. I was tempted to go, tempted to ask if any of my friends were going... but then again, i thought twice and decided to stay home. It was a concious choice, so no complains... or maybe just a little... lolz. $20 per entry, plus the transport and all, well, it'll add up to my part time job's pay of 8 hours! 8 hours of toil ending in 3 hours of fun... I think i'd rather the money go into my bank account and then later into some investments. Suffer now and enjoy later, thats my motto! Besides, being vegetarian and not drinking, basically i'll not be enjoying the full course anyway. But yes... those are also my personal choice which i choose to stick with... I guess I have chosen to take "the road not taken," to take, "the one less travelled by..."

The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverge in a yellow wood,
And sorry i could not travel both
And be one traveler, long i stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
On, I kepth the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads onto way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence;
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost [1916]

Forgotten...

Its the Friday night before Halloween and the full moon hangs in the sky. Couples spend the night together admiring the moon, admiring each other, friends go to clubs and pubs to catch up with old friends, to meet up with new onez... And here i am... sitting in front of my computer, facing my facebook which keeps letting me face the words "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage..." there is no one online on my msn list of 200 over contacts... no one to talk to... Not the first time... definitely not the last... Once again, forgotten by the world... Oh wellz... life's like that...

Rejected...

Yah... i was rejected... but what were you thinking about? No... its not being rejcted by love... although i never really face up to those rejections... hahz...this one is bigger! I was rejected by the US Embassy!!! Boo hoo hoo... Sobz... yah... went for my visa application and was rejected after a long 2 hours wait... i only saw the person for 5 min and she said i was missing 1 document... so i have to make another appointment.. which is like 1 week away! My torture drags on... Rejected by the embassy... Dejected once again...

Treasure...

Received a msg out of the blue last night at about 1am from a friend, it goes like this: "Hey bro, sorry i couldn't make an effort to meet u... i will always remember the times we enjoyed together. Hope that your future will be bright as ever... and i just wanted to tell you it is an honour having you as a friend... Coz friends are hard to come by... And i truly treasure this friendship! Hope to see u around soon. All the best in life... Nights!"
It's funny coz i didn't really say i was leaving or what, so i asked him why the sudden emo msg, and his reply was "Don't noe la, just find that u are a good friend and just wanted to let you noe that you've taught me some lessons in life that i now started to think about... so thanks... then at the same time like very seldom spend time with each other anymore, scared u lonely..."
After this msg, it got me thinking, that sometimes, we get so busy in life, that we forget those around us... That sometimes a simple msg of hi once a while can keep old contacts going and even light up a person's life at that moment!
And that you do not need to have any reasons before you can tell another person that you treasure his/her friendship... Or to thank another person for any simple thing he/she has done, or just for being there... Coz you never know what might happen with each passing day...
Sometimes, its better not to hold back your thoughts, as the other person may not always understand what you're thinking. Dare to do what you wish to do, to say what you want to say... For once that chance is lost, you never know when it'll come back again... Follow your heart and treasure every single person and every single moment in your life...
To my friend, I am really honored by your message, and I just wanted to thank you for your msg and to let you know that i really treasure this friendship too. To thank you for being there all the times that I have been lonely... and for even having the thought that i might have been lonely even though i seldom say it out... And to thank you for all the times spent together and all the wonderful memories...
To all my close friends out there, just wanted to take this opportunity to tell u all that i really treasure your friendship, and every minute that we ever get to spend together. Love y'al!....

Watching the world go by...

Went to the top of this small hill in Bukit Gombak last night with Jeffrey and just sat there in the darkness, chatting, listening to songs and watching the world go by... watching the lights of each house go off one by one as people go to bed, watching each train passing by, carrying lesser passengers as it goes deeper into the night, watching the staff getting ready to close the station and watching people return home after a long day at work... the noise and lights of the city gradually dying down to the stillness of the night... Sometimes in life, we just forget to enjoy this wonderful stillness... always rushing from one place to another, from one task to another... a constant mad race for time, a mad race for things to do to fill up our lives... Many times when i went out with friends, we're always looking for something new to do, asking each other "Erm... so what next?" and yet ending up doing the same old mundane stuff like watching movies, playing pool, walking around and then later feeling bored. Yet last night was one of those nights which i felt could go on forever and yet not feel bored... We were in fact doing nothing, just sitting there, yet that doing nothing becomes a something to fill us up. Funny isn't it... the human mind. Too bad it was a cloudy night... but one star was kind enough to shine its light. So we just sat there till almost 1am in the morning...

Anyway... that doing nothing inspired me to visit my sad sad blog which i seldom visit myself... so i doubt anyone else visits... been another 4 months since i wrote again... poor thing.. abandoned once again by its owner.. hahz. Hmmz.. so what has happened so far? If you're bored and have nothing better to do, then here's more reading for u. Finally walked down the street of ORD! Yay!!! Hahz.. and i saw this street in Perth called ORD! hahaz. How interesting... Finally an operationally ready service man... which means, i can keep my army equipment to collect dust until the next call up! Hahz. But it didn't come easy... i had to conduct an 8 day field camp before i was released... so i was busy, busy, busy and then suddenly... nothing... just nothing... and the days that immediately followed dragged long... like a spirit trapped in another dimension, listless, aimless, a spectre wandering within the 4 walls of my home... There was nothing to do... no where to go... i was dying a slow death of boredom... rotting away gradually... lost in the maelstrom of existence once again... hahaz

So i got a ticket and ran off to Australia... but instead of a holiday, i was made to work! hahaz... not so bad actually lah... was helping my uncle in his exhibition at the royal perth show,
promoting his new drink called beta jooce! A health drink that tastes good and is good for the body! Contains coral seagrass which is good for the skin and beta glucan which is a polysaccharide from.... oopz... hahz... see... i memorized the script well! hahz. ALso got to meet up with Kenneth Chang, a good friend of mine whom i have not met for 6 years! And met many other people whom i didn't know but knew me! Hahaz... surprising. All in all, it has been a great trip!

Watching the World go by...

Went to the top of this small hill in Bukit Gombak last night with Jeffrey and just sat there in the darkness, chatting, listening to songs and watching the world go by... watching the lights of each house go off one by one as people go to bed, watching each train passing by, carrying lesser passengers as it goes deeper into the night, watching the staff getting ready to close the station and watching people return home after a long day at work... the noise and lights of the city gradually dying down to the stillness of the night... Sometimes in life, we just forget to enjoy this wonderful stillness... always rushing from one place to another, from one task to another... a constant mad race for time, a mad race for things to do to fill up our lives... Many times when i went out with friends, we're always looking for something new to do, asking each other "Erm... so what next?" and yet ending up doing the same old mundane stuff like watching movies, playing pool, walking around and then later feeling bored. Yet last night was one of those nights which i felt could go on forever and yet not feel bored... We were in fact doing nothing, just sitting there, yet that doing nothing becomes a something to fill us up. Funny isn't it... the human mind. Too bad it was a cloudy night... but one star was kind enough to shine its light. So we just sat there till almost 1am in the morning...

Anyway... that doing nothing inspired me to visit my sad sad blog which i seldom visit myself... so i doubt anyone else visits... been another 4 months since i wrote again... poor thing.. abandoned once again by its owner.. hahz. Hmmz.. so what has happened so far? If you're bored and have nothing better to do, then here's more reading for u. Finally walked down the street of ORD! Yay!!! Hahz.. and i saw this street in Perth called ORD! hahaz. How interesting Finally an operationally ready service man... which means, i can keep my army equipment to collect dust until the next call up! Hahz. But it didn't come easy... i had to conduct an 8 day field camp before i was releases... so it was busy, busy, busy and then suddenly... nothing... just nothing... and the days that immediately followed dragged long... like a spirit trapped in another dimension, listless, aimless, a spectre wandering within the 4 walls of my home... There was nothing to do... no where to go... i was dying a slow death of boredom... rotting away gradually... lost in the maelstrom of existence once again... hahaz

So i got a ticket and ran off to Australia... but instead of a holiday, i was made to work! hahaz... not so bad actually lah... was helping my uncle in his exhibition at the royal perth show,
promoting his new drink called beta jooce! A health drink that tastes good and is good for the body! Contains coral seagrass which is good for the skin and beta glucan which is a polysaccharide from.... oopz... hahz... see... i memorized the script well! hahz. ALso got to meet up with Kenneth Chang, a good friend of mine whom i have not met for 6 years! And met many other people whom i didn't know but knew me! Hahaz... surprising. All in all, it has been a great trip!

Warriors...

Went to look at swords with Vince today. It was a clearance sale, but they didn't have excalibur, the sword i was looking for. The next closest one, the sword in lord of the rings, was already sold out... sighz... the store owner actually asked me to settle for some fantasy sword... but it was too dramatic... chinese ancient sword, good weight, but nahz... i was looking for the english claymore style... there was a spear too, good feel to hold it... ended up settling with an english twin sword set but for $40 and was given an short imperial sword that was already rusty and the shop wanted to throw... told them i'll polish it myself... old... but when held in the hands, the weight felt good. $10 and i could have gotten the longer version of it, regretted not doing that... nevertheless, its free anyway.. hahaz. Vince ended up buying a gun instead... coz the samurai swords they have there were not as impressive...

Talked to my taiwanese bro Mark when i got back. THe 2 of us are like crazy over swords... so now i have my officer's sword, 2 english swords and 1 chinese imperial sword... while he has a staff, a chinese broad sword, and 2 samurai swords...hahaz... When we were living in the states, we used to get up in the mornings and spar with our wooden katanas... getting bruises everywhere... Currently he's studying western medicine and soon i think i'm gonna study eastern medicine... Almost went into the whole 接拜兄弟 thingy as well... hahaz... crazy... it'll be interesting to know if we ever could what past life history we had.. hahaz - 武俠!hahaz.

Had a course outing yesterday, went to Zouk... crazy.. hahaz... my first time going there... it was for some Stuff gadgets magazine's anniversary, and John, our fellow officer was chosen to go up to perform... it was just hilarious and he made a joke out of the whole thing... but after the thing, it was not so crowded, so we made our way to phuture and went crazy there so much so that Cpt ting said he'll never see me the same way again...hahaz. Then went for supper till like 3am before heading home.. Sometimes, its just good to go let loose abit..hahaz

Kena key appointment for one of the mission last week... 2IC for attack and OC for defence... Took 1st guards as their ex. 2IC and OC... all i can say is one word "zai!" They're movement were fast and furious and the runner gave extremely dedicated attention to the 2IC and OC.. All in all, it had been a really good learning session... but really... shag out man... had less than 10 min of sleep in the entire 48 hours...

Today started pretty slow... practically rotting at home... but later went out with alvin lee to have japanese food at Taka for afternoon tea! Service was not really good... but the food was good! Then met up with my dad's japanese customer for a while, then met up with Weiye... hahaz... Ended up being pretty happening.... Then on the way home, we went to buy the new Singapore drink - "Anything?" and "Whatever?" Hahahz.... so innovative... and we were like taking pictures with the drinks in the car at the petrol station and the uncle was staring at us as if we were sua ku (mountain tortoise)... hahaz.Also stopped by Yishun Safra to recce the place... beautiful pool! and we sat in the toy car and "tong" (inserted) 50 cents and it started moving! hahaz... i was surprise it didn't break down with us 2 big guys squeezing on a kid's game.... hahaz... FUn day man! hahaz

Graduated from CTC yesterday! After one month of intense planning, finally it end... but the ending was sad as we would see all our fellow officers leave to go back to their individual duties... After getting our certs. we hung out at the mess till about 7pm plus before we left. Was sending Vince home when he asked if i had watched spiderman 3, i said no, so he accompanied me to watch it even thou he had watched it once already. So nice of him... hahz.. but it did felt weird going into a theater of kids wearing our green uniforms... hahz. Pretty good show! better than 1 and 2 i think... show ended at 2330 and i finally got home past mid night.

TCM meridian test today... never study... diez! used the last half and hour before the test cramming up info at TCC.... took the test... and surprisingly, got top in the class... hahaz... well... guessed i was not alone in being last minute...hahaz

Went dinner with mom and sisters in the evening, early celebration of mother's day... coz my mom had to work the next day.... been so long since we last saw her... nice to have such a reunion again. So once again, Happy Mother's Day mom!

Went Central Mall today with my family for lunch... dang, there were about 10 japanese restaurants there... realli felt like being in japan, or japan town in the states... miss japan man... hahz... after that, went swimming with Aaron, Yong chao and Andre. This group of brothers, got to know them when i was back at my secondary school helping out in translating for the Japanese exchange students from Kitago. Know what... they're like 5 years younger than me! Damn.... i feel old... and to make things worst... i found a strand of white hair on my head today!!! Argh.... 老了... 老了... Well, went to serangoon garden for dinner after that and Haarto for desserts... they have really really good ice cream there! So we just chilled there and the chairs were so comfortable that nobody wanted to go home.. hahaz... really love those moments... when everyone just didn't want to leave... Anyway, didn't bring my brick camera.... so no pictures... too bad... but yahz, here's an old photo of my young brothers...

Okiez, guess my blogsite needs more decoration and life... but don't really have anything at this moment to add... so i guess this post will contain some random stuff... But yah, so here are some pictures...

So this Alvin Lee, the friend i mentioned in my earlier post, the source of my inspiration to visit my sad and lonely blog which have been abandoned for the past 3 years...hahz... pretty cool blog he has there, lots of pictures and commentaries... hahz...Well, we're part of a bigger group which i just usually call the lee, lin, sam, nat group for lack of a better name... Maybe we should give ourself a group name huhz... But yah, our friendship has been ongoing since secondary school where we would often go out and do lame stuff like going to play tennis with all the equipments looking like pros only to find out at the court that no one knows how to play... and then making random videos with my "brick" camera...hahaz... And Nathaniel, our superstar friend, well, have known him since primary school... a good 14 years.. dang.. pretty crazy...

Was looking at another friend's blog and found a message i wrote for her before i left the states... didn't know i could be so philosophical... hahaz... --- http://tavenue.blogspot.com/2005_10_01_archive.html

Wind, Water, Fire and Earth.... pretty cool..hahaz... okiez... i'm praising myself here.. =P... alritez... think this should be enough decoration for the day... will try to be back to give more... yupz... try.... perhaps 1 year later ^^

Wow... its been what, 1 year since i last come to my own blog... see... said i'm never good at keeping up with such things... 3 posts in 4 years... not bad huhz.. hahaz. Well, but with inspiration from my good friend Alvin Lee, after seeing his blog, i thought of visiting my own blog and realized how pathetic it is... so i decided to add some life to it...

Steps to take, first i think i'd have to get a better camera... currently i'm using what my friends refer to as the "brick," a digital camera dating back to 2000... antique...

Hmmz... so what has happened over the past few years? well... graduated from university, joined the army, completed the officer training and commissioned as a 2nd Lieutanant, posted to a battalion as Coy 2IC, and now undergoing an advance officer course. Yupz... guess that sumz it up... nothing much happened really...

Went to my Battalion's anniversary after my course today and it was good to see everyone again after being away for more than a month. It also happened to be the ORD function for my men, the special group of people who i trained and have trained with over the past 6 months. Seeing them all going their own ways now was a bitter sweet moment. Happy that they are taking their next steps in life, yet sad that everyone is parting and going their own ways. As hugs and words of gratitude were exchanged, it made me think back on what i have done over the past 6 months, all i can say is not too bad for a start, but i guess whether i had done well or not will be left to my men to decide. However, the touching moments have once again strengthened my reasons on why i endured through the arduous trainings to become an officer. It is to be part of the change in others, to be part of the process of their metamorphosis.

So to my men, congratulations on your ORD! and thanks for all the memories and love!