Farewell Dinner (NS) 060707

Guess I'm not the only one leaving.. My friend, weatherman Eugene Fu from my battalion is also going to Australia to study as well. He's headed for UNSW in Sydney - Yes, THE uni which Asia Campus in Singapore was shut down due to poor enrolment and colossal losses. But that does NOT mean that UNSW is not a good educational institute !

What you see on top is Eugene and I, shamelessly flaunting our 'Farewell Gifts'. Well, its actually a picture of our 35th BTACC Commissioning batch. I'm nt authorised to tell you what BTACC stands for, if I tell you, I'll have to kill you... with cheese. Just know that we are all Army Lieutenants who had recently just become 'operationally ready' together.

Dinner was at Swissotel *wow* Merchant Court *chey* but it was pretty good! Ellenborough Market (where's that?) is the name of the buffet restaurant. It's an International buffet (hardly though), focussing mostly on local food, mainly chinese food. However, they do provide fresh sashimi, raw oysters, scallops and cooked octopus. One thing I really loved about this place is their DESSERTS section. They feature their speciality Durian Pengkat (Durian mousse) and lots of local delights. They also had a 5-tiered chocolate fondue fountain which was really sinful. Not a bad place to bring your ang-moh (caucasian) friends to sample the local flavour.

The whole dinner event was a very successful one. Many thanks out to Kuah Weehian for organising the event, and the rest for both the farewell gift and simply 'being present'. It's just too bad that my NS buddy, LTA Ray Tay (the only one who *gasp* *signed-on) could not make it as he was overseas.. As usual, we left out one person.. you know who you are.. Mike. Oops, did I think that out aloud.. with cheese?

*sign on - these 2 words when used together in Singapore, means to voluntarily enter the regular force of a given Uniformed group, usually the Singapore Armed Forces. E.g. Hey, so how? Have you found a job yet? Not yet? Then you better sign on man!
After dinner, most of them left.. the only 'stayers' are Collin (pink..as usual), Joel(black), Weehian(red). Xiaoping joined us after dinner. From Clarke Quay, we headed down to Prinsep St. to Mind Cafe. A really niche cafe whereby board and card game lovers frequently gather and frolic happily while sitting in a circle.
Game of the day: I'm the Boss!
Rules are simple. Find investors, seal the deal and make money. Player with most money at the end of the game wins. We stayed there till.. nearly 2am, before we finally could bear to part..(mainly because we got the 2 hr package so we couldnt leave until our time was up).

We had a really great time. At the end of the day.. I was feeling.. suprisingly sad. It was like, I didnt realise that after this 1.5 yrs together, the bond I've forged with these guys have become so strong! Not one who is good at farewells, I simply shook their hands and bid them a quiet good bye. See you guys in June 08!

Farewell Chalet 030707

To say farewell and good riddance to Rachel (girl in blue.. who happens to be in every pic) and I. Loudest Ten member, Zhen Kiat and her friends master-minded this little farewell gathering for us. It also happened to be Jacintha's (another Loudest member) birthday as well.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had practically invited the whole class, including our optometry lecturers: Vivien (left), Jiajia aka Kimberly(right) and Monica (Behind Viv).

The food was pretty good, we even had stingray, crayfish and prawns! It's only then when I realised that I have lost touch with everyone in my 2 years of NS...

One big disappointment: Of the guys, all of whom I regard as my brothers, only three turned up. From Left to right: Me, Jason, Teck Soon and Samuel and Mr Tranny *gasps!*. According to Sam, the rest already *flew away by aeroplane to Melbourne to await me there.

*Pang Puay Kee - Literally translates to Releasing Aeroplanes: It simply means Not Showing Up or No-Show at the last min for an appointment. The explanation for this phrase still eludes me to date.


All in all we had great fun! About 4 of my female classmates had quit their jobs as optometrists to join SIA as flight attendants; 'Cabin Crew', they call themselves.

3 of my friends have just graduated from B. Optom in UK, Cardiff University. Another 2 are leaving for there this year too.

One of my classmates, Beilei, had just set a new benchmark: she just got engaged (in the Singaporean Context, getting engaged means u have either registered your marriage with ROM or have already applied for a HDB Flat and now face a deadline of 2years to ROM) and is planning for her wedding in October this year. Sadly, I'll be in Melbourne by then. More weddings coming up in the next couple of years!
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Lastly, I would like to introduce to you a very special and noisy group of girls known in the Underworld as dum-dum-daaaaa : The LOUDEST TEN (see pic below).

The Loudest Ten was formed when 5 girls from my class and 5 from the other found out that they had a lot in common and thus.. merged into a heaping, ear drum shattering, mass of.. cosmic proportions (think BIG BANG). The term, Loudest Ten was coined by one of my lecturers to describe them. Later on, the Loudest recruited our senior, Lay Lay who gave them 'maternal care' during our overseas community eyecare program in rural Thailand, making it a grand total of 11, though the suffix Ten stuck.

am doing inside, you ask. I became honoury member when I became attached to my girlfriend, who is a member of this group.

It was nice seeing everyone again. I'll like to thank everyone present that day for making our farewell a night to remember! It's time to pop that champagne!

Vesak Day 310507

Dad's Birthday Celebration @ Cafe Oliv 030607

Dad's B'day Celebration at a place of his choosing. Read about this newly opened chic cafe on the papers. Barely 2 weeks into opening and it had achieved much acclaim. Surged in popularity ever since a write-up was done about it and featured in the Straits Times Life!. We ordered their signature dishes like Salted Egg Soft Shell Crab and Lamb Shank.




Fig 1. Cafe Oliv Appetizer Platter


The Cafe Oliv appetizer platter was really good too, served in a unique 3-tiered platter. Also got the All-Time favorite Seafood Pasta in Thai Cream Sauce. Everything was DELICIOUS! Dad kept comparing this cafe to what he feels was the somewhat Inferior Garden Slug, a recommendation which I had made.





Fig 2. Seafood Pasta in Thai Cream Sauce
(with a Happy Mum in the background)
He feels that this place is cheaper and better... Better.. Yes.. but the price range was about the same (not that the Garden Slug wasn't good too though). Rather enjoyable dinner =)

Fig3. Clockwise from Top: Lambshank, Pork Ribs,
Beer-Battered Fish 'n' Chips, Seafood Pasta in MIddle.

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