To all my friends out there who got their pink ICs today...

ORD lo!!! Congratulations! It has been a long journey... Welcome back to the CIVILIAN world! =)

BRIGHTON BEACH here I come!

Woke up early this morning at 9am to make a trip down to a special beach in MElbourne with KerFern... Brighton Beach! Actually we were supposed to go there last week. But I overslept! (What's NEW?!)

Anyway, here are the pictures that we took... Enjoy! You will know why it's so special afterwards.... =)


@ Huntingdale train station. A Great Way to Fly? Ironic to see the Singapore Girl so far away from home...


Walking along the path from Brighton Beach Train station to the Beach

Destination reached! What's so SPECIAL about it? Same as East Coast Park What?! Patience my friends... Look on...

Putting our feet into the icy cold water...
Heavenly!









Coloured Tents...

A sign of things to come...

Look! Did you see it?! What? No?

I'll bring it closer then... Now, you saw it?! The little coloured huts la! (CHEY!) What you thinking about? Don't you think it gives the beach a special feel to it?....








Bask in the colours........




















Apologise if my face ruined the pictures...=P

Lifeguard post...

If you're wondering what the hell are these Aussies doing putting little huts on their beach, let me enlighten you...

The huts are for them to keep their surfboards and swimming suits and chairs and umbrellas and BBQ pits and boats and anything under the sun that they need to enjoy a good day out at the beach. Think each hut is privately owned by some rich fella. Anyway, good idea don't you think? Wonder if we could start this back home? Hmmm.... ECP with little huts? Hmmmm.....

Thirsty seagulls.....

Anyway... got to know about Brighton beach when I saw my friend's pictures... He had some good pics with his girlfriend... Initially thought that Brighton was some ulu place in England... Imagine my surprise when I saw it on the map after I reached MEl!

Hope to bring my little princess here 1 day.....

What a moment that will be......

One last picture ... Enjoy!

"HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY WEI WEI!"


Wei Wei bu yao pa,
Ni si hao wa wa...
Zi ji tie dao,
Zi ji pa...
Ni kan shan shang,
Wei ni kai man hong hua!
Ni si hao wa wa,
Yao zi ji tie dao,
Zi ji pa!

Stuff I wanted to Pick Up......................................

I just finished talking cock with the bunch of Singaporean friends that are doing medicine over here when 1 of them decided to enter a music room (they have rooms in the hostel for people to practise their musical talent) and commenced to conjure a little magic from the combination of his nimble fingers and the keys on the piano in the room... Was so attracted to the sweet sound of the musical notes that I stood rooted there... Just listening to him play was so soothing to the mind. Totally enchanting... Music therapy as some people call it?

Anyone, seeing the unbelievable talent that my pianist friend possessed reminded me of the many flings I had with new stuff that I wanted to try out and hopefully master during my time as a Sai Kang Warrior in the school of medics...

First and foremost, I wanted to master the art of playing a violin... Unfortunately, the timing of the violin lessons just kept clashing with my sunday football sessions. Guess which activity took priority in the end? haha... It's hard to push away your 1st love...

Next, I spent a fortune getting a place in the Comfort Driving School... Took and passed all the theory tests (both basic & advanced) before completing about 12 practical lessons. Was doing well until I got itchy fingers and decided to take up the challenge of going to OCS... Stopped all driving lessons after that. It's been >1 year since then. Guess all the money spent is all down the drain... Haiz...

Following that, my itchy brain cells encouraged me to pick up a new language... So away I went, buying teach-yourself books about the Vietnamese language and grammar books about Bahasa Melayu... Guess what happened in the end? Yup, they were safely tucked away in 1 corner of my bunk and now my room, gathering dusk and still in their prime untouched condition.

Haiz... Don't know why I'm so fickle-minded? 1 moment hot, 1 moment cold... What if I had not gone to OCS? Would I have mastered all these skills? Hmmm, God knows? I wonder if it's still possible to fulfill all these desires that I once had.... Whether it's possible that someday, somehow, I can play a proper song on a violin. (stop laughing people! Miracles DO happen...) How I wished I had continue piano lessons when I was in primary school.... (I kept oversleeping when it was time for lessons until my teacher had to call my mum up to call me to wake up and go for lessons... Guess my fingers are 2 short and chubby to master the piano) Whether it's possible that I can someday drive my little princess to anywhere she dreams of going? Whether it's possible that someday somehow I can converse fluently in Vietnamese with my little princess's parents? Or speak in Bahasa Melayu with the Mee Rebus Auntie? (Sedap sia!)

Well... God knows! Hopefully He's saying... That's a positive over...

(Better get down to some serious work Chern! Stop day-dreaming!)



when can I learn to read these notes?

The Boy & His Little Princess.... Continued....


And so without noticing it, the college examinations ended as soon as it had started. With the burden of his studies behind him, the boy began to plan for his holidays before he enlisted to serve his nation. The boy wanted to have as much fun as he could have before the sufferings in the army began.

He was to find more than he had set out for...

With the bi-annual Regional games being held in the capital of the little princess's country - the Land of Pho, the boy conjured up a brilliant idea - he would include a stop-over at the little princess's country to have a little bit of fun. A little bit of pure innocent fun.

At the same time, the boy would have an opportunity to catch a glimpse of the Regional games.

The boy's holiday programme started off Down Under where he went travelling with a group of secondary school friends.

Next stop - the Land of Pho. With the company of his good buddy, ED, the boy boarded the plane.

The boy stayed over at the little princess's house. It was killing two birds with 1 stone. The boy could save some money and experience the local way of life as well.
The trip started off on a good note. The boy felt good upon seeing his little princess. It had been a long time since they met. The little princess having returned to her kingdom with the end of the examinations.

The little princess was an excellent host. She allowed the boy and ED the luxury of staying in her room while she moved into her parents' room. The little princess helped her parents with the cooking and the food was excellent. The boy's stomach was given a royal treatment.

As the days passed, the boy grew more and more attracted to his little princess... The magic in her began to glow. She seemed so much more bubbly, carefree and attractive in her homeland... The boy felt a certain sense of attachment towards his little princess. It was unexplainable...

Midway through the boy's stay in the Land of Pho, the little princess decided to make a trip to the capital to visit one of her friends who stayed there. The journey to the capital lasted a few good hours... Along the way, the boy and his little princess made use of the opportunity to have a good talk among themselves.

The 2 of them enjoyed the conversation that they had. But more was yet to come.

After a long day in the capital, the trio of the boy, his little princess and ED tiredly made their way back to the little princess's province. The trip back proved to be a heart-to-heart encounter between the boy and his little princess.

They exchanged childhood stories, thoughts and emotions that they developed in the short span of their lives and the dreams that they hoped to achieve in the long future ahead... The 2 spoke freely, oblivious to the presence of the driver and ED, who was snoring away at the front seat. There was a certain magical feeling in the air. The boy's heart pumped hard, harder than usual. What was this that the boy was experiencing? It came without warning, without any planning, without any intentions... There was no logical, rational explanation to it...

It was in the thick midst of this close encounter that cleared the longsightedness that the boy long had.
'Why hadn't I notice this wonderful little girl before? Is she the one who would fit into the pair of glass slippers? Does she have the key to unlock the door to my heart?' The boy wondered out loud in his mind.

The boy had found his little princess at long last.

GROCERY SHOPPING

(my arsenal of groceries)

A new part of my life in this foreign land is grocery shopping. Back home, there was no need for this as mum used to take care of my needs in this area. Even if I needed anything when I went hungry or ran out of toothpaste, the nearest Cheers or 7-11 stall would be just a bicycle ride away.

There is no such convenience over here. Although there is a COLES supermarket (like our good old NTUC) that is open 24/7, it is like a 30min walk away. And the idea of walking for 30min in the whee hours of the night in the freezing cold and then lugging all the groceries back for another good 30min with the likelihood of being mugged or stabbed by some drunk idiots (there has been a recent spat of fatal stabbing incidents in Melbourne. 11 cases in the past week!) isn't very tempting.

So like a dutiful househusband, I make my weekly grocery shopping trips to anyone of the shopping areas that are within walking distance of my hostel during the weekends. (or hall of residence as they term it here). The public transport fees here is quite expensive. ($2.40 for a Met Card that is valid for 2hours = to an EZ link card but it's only valid for 2hrs. So if you exceed the timing, you have to get another 1. A Met Card that is valid for a day would cost around $4+) So if I wanted to take my own sweet time to shop around, there is a danger that I might need to get another 2hr MetCard. That's = $4.80 for transport fees = 01 X good meal = not a very good idea! So what to do? Walk lor! Lucky SAF provided me with lots of training in walking. No distance seems too far to cover and no weight seems too heavy to bear. (though the shopping bags can be quite a pain in the ass at times)

Anyway, the variety of groceries available here are extremely extensive. You can get all the Asian groceries from the Asian grocery shops opened by the entrepreneurial Hong Kongers who probably migrated here for a better living. (and looking at the long snaking queues in the stall, they seemed to be doing quite well) Indo Mee, Oyster sauce, Xiao Bai Cai, Chicken Rice Chilli, Melon seeds or Gua ji, Yeo's Packet Drink, Curry Sauce... And the list goes on. The range of stuff there never ceases to amaze me. There are so many options available that you don't know what to get . In the end, I always end up with nothing! You want to have everything but you can't cause it will just tear your budget up. Just can't make up my mind... So what to do?
Head down to the COLES supermarket behind lor! And get my weekly dosage of cereals and milk and fruit juice and biscuits and baked beans and campbell soup... (trying to be healthy and thrifty at the same time)

The choosing and buying of stuff is the fun part. The tough part is the journey back to hostel. Endure! Endure! Endure! That's where the tough training in SAF comes into play. 24km route marches with FBO really help you to last the distance back! Just that you can't break into an army song to take your mind off the physical torture. (Siao ah?!) It's ironic how often we link stuff in army to our normal civilian lives now. When you were in the service, you spent so much time thinking of getting out; Thinking of all the things you could be doing in a CV attire. But when you finally get out of the service, you just can't stop reminiscing about the times you had in SAF. Well, guess humans are wierd creatures...

So much for army talk... Today was a short day for most of the Singaporeans over here. We finished school at 1pm! Woo Hoo! How slack is that?! So the group of us decided to do our shopping early on a friday. Walked to a place called Clayton Shopping Centre where the Asian Grocery Shop is. Takes about 30min.

Then a few brave souls decided to make the long walk back.

Glad I survived... =)

Take a look at the stuff I got!


Miso Soup! More soup! and Wholemeal biscuits!

Fruits galore! Apples and Bananas!

Nestum Cereals! Snacks! Peanuts from Thailand! LOVED this back home...

Mc Lucky FC

Well, what can I say about this little, cosy, chapalang football team that was created out of the blue by a bunch of innocent Marist brothers who just wanted to play football.

The first question that comes to everyone must be - How the hell did the name come about? Hmmm, actually that's a very good question. Just that I don't really have a good answer to that question. The origins of the name of this team is somewhat dubious. The founders of the team were frantically trying to organise themselves for what would be their first forray into competitve football.

One of the founding brothers, a certain Andy Kong who rose to fame for his ability to dribble the ball to the far corners of the pitch (in a Diouf-like style) to gain a corner kick as well as his knack of scoring goals from his heroic slides, discovered that a football competition was to be held in Sentosa. Andy had an easy time convincing the rest of the Marist brothers to sign up for the competition. So on 1 sunny sunday, the whole gin gang met at world trade centre to sign up for the competition.

The Marist Brothers thought that they had everything they needed. But wait a minute, they did not actually have a name for their team. So the brothers made their way to the nearest McDonalds where they started to engage in an animated discussion. Many names were thrown into the ring. I really cannot remember what the hell those names were now. They were that crappy. Not to say that the final name wasn't crappy. Just that it was the least crappy of the lot.

Anyway, names after names came and went. But none received a unanimous agreement from the brothers. Out of the blue, a certain smart Alec, affected by scenes of people munching on their delicious Mc Chicken, Big Mc, Mc Nuggets, and god-knows-wat Mcs and slurping on their Mc FLurry, threw out an extremely dubious and absolutely crappy name - Mc Lucky Football Club.

And surprise surprise, no one had any violent objections to the bloody dubious name. Perhaps everyone was just exhausted by the discussion and wanted to get it over and done with.

Mc was added to the name just because the Marist Brothers happened to be in a bloody MacDonalds restaurant. And Lucky was added in to add an element of luck to the team. Since the Marist Brothers were not really blessed with Ronaldo-like skills or Steven Gerrad-like tenacity, they reckon that a little bit of luck wouldn't do any harm. The smart Alec was pleased with himself.

And so it happened. Our captain- the legendary Ong Wei De put pen to paper- Mc Lucky Football Club.

A chapalang team was born.

The Boy and His Little Princess

this is the story of the boy who met his little princess and fell in love with her pair of big sparkling eyes...

It all started in college where the boy was studying to find his place in the adult world. It was there that he met his little princess who had been sent by her country to explore the boundaries of this vast earth. This was not a love-at-first-sight story. The boy was distracted by other members of the opposite gender. He was ignorant of the magic within the little princess who stood right in front of him.

Through out the 2 years in college, the boy searched in vain for his beloved one. One after another, the girls came and left. No one seemed to be able to fit into the pair of glass shoes that the boy had in his mind. The boy was disheartened. Where is the girl who had the key to unlock his heart?

The little princess observed as the boy rode to fame on a string of fortunate events. She had feelings for the boy. She cherished the friendship with the boy. But she was unsure. Would this friendship develop into something deeper?

Days flew by as the fast pace of life in college consumed all who were in it. Soon, the end of college years was nearing for both the boy and his little princess.

The little princess felt funny.

She liked the boy in a special way. It was an innocent kind of liking.

And so it BEGINs..............

hmmm... this is wierd... never ever thought of starting a blog myself. never even had the habit of keeping a diary before. So this is completely foreign territory for me...


guess I just have too much free time on my own now... No groups of friends to hang out with... No ngo hiang to keep me company... No family members to get together with... Life just seems so empty and aimless now...

Perhaps I can try to organise my thoughts and share it with my love ones? At least it sounds better than surfing the internet, not knowing which website to go to and having to revisit friendster for the god-knows-how-manyth time in 1 day...

Hmmm... Let me stop and assess what I am missing now....

No more timetable to follow the whole day through. No instructor to bark orders down your throat. No men coming to you because of some issue. No OC shooting arrows in your direction. No buddy giving you a call to jio you out for fun...

A lot of things have been removed from my life. I guess I still need some time to adjust to this foreign land far far away from home......

Now... Let me see what I have to do...

A lot of new friends to get to know = A lot of socialising to be done... (But somehow I'm just sick & tired of going through the socialising motions. I guess I'm more than happy with my current group of friends back home. I feel like these people will become my lifelong friends...) A lot of new habits to pick up, eg: picking up books again; picking up the ability to speak without adding any hokkien expletives into a sentence; picking up the ability to speak without ending my sentence with a la or a lor; picking up the ability to speak up during lessons for the sake of speaking up; picking up the ability to tune my ears to the funny Aussie accent that is now ubiquitous; picking up the habit of doing my own laundry; picking up the habit of NOT ordering every other thing in the menu...

Hmmm... That looks like a looooong list of stuff to accomplish... Am I up to the task?
God knows....

Only time will tell... So many aspirations... So many hopes to fulfill... So many expectations to live up to... So many stigmas to live with... So many hurdles to overcome...

Guess that's life... Just suck it up... Grind your teeth and....
SMILE =)

Yup! Boy are you glad to be ALIVE?

Nope...? Hah! I thought so too....