An entry written on a midsummer's night.

Today's walk around town with dearie was like no other. And nope, I am not talking about spending on extravangaza-ic food or shopping like shopaholics, it's really pretty much just me, her, a nice afternoon, and where the other people in town were non-existent.

If I could make it happen in a movie, it would have been all the other town-goers frozen in the background while dearie and me were walking admist the oblivious crowd, just in our own world, either my arms over her shoulders, or waist, or sometimes neck, and sometimes head... well, and of course sometimes the classic hand-holding.. =)

Had planned to spend the day together because dearie would be working tomorrow and Sunday, while my next week would be pretty much spent back in reservist camp. So ya. I suggested going town(although we probably went there a million times) because of the free parking at Grange Road after 5pm. As a town-goer, I am definitely a smart one. Heh.

As I was waiting for a carpark lot since it was fully occupied, out comes "Ahmad" - (coupon summon officers in white and navy blue - male version, female as "Fatimah"), as we usually refer to.. lurking around the carpark, trying to spot any car with invalid coupons or parking illegally. After a while, he even came to talk to us, telling us that we should go elsewhere to park our car since parking there is free after 5pm and no one would probably leave. That was such a no-brainer speech he made. Luckily for me, I am SUPER patient when I am not rushing to anywhere.(Trust me, I have waited for as long as one hour at that carpark before) So, just about two minutes after he left, a car left its lot and I happily parked in. Hahaha.

On a related note, gosh, these coupon officers are really damn irritating. I wonder why people still take up such jobs. I have seen a group of "Fatimahs" loitering in a multi-storey carpark. If I could, I would have charge them for illegal gathering, lol. But ya. Some of them are really quite sneaky. So drivers beware!

Other than that, my day was close to perfect, although the thought about how next week's gonna be like still rang from time to time. But well, dearie's company made me forget all these somehow. =) We didn't shop much today though I bought this really nice sweater-material V-neck shirt and a Ken Hirai's latest album "Ken's Bar II" CD which I absolutely adore(though I still prefer the first one actually). Actually, dearie forbade me to buy the CD because I bought the shirt and did not have much money left, but she tried to surprise me by getting the CD for me without me knowing as she knows I wanted it so much. Thanks dearie.

She's always like my financial planner, telling me how I should handle my cash flow. But of course, I haven't been doing well in this aspect. That brings me back to one of my new year's resolution about saving up. Looking at my current situation, I think I am no where near man. However, I still have around half a year to go, so hopefully can see my account grow! That brings me to yet another point, that I should find a full-time job with a steady income.

Back to today, we headed to West Coast at night. One of our favourite places to chill out, to just hang around, enjoy each other's company while looking out to the sea at night. She told me she likes confiding in me, and I really enjoy listening to her too.

It is the tranquility of the place that attracts us. Just dearie, me, and the midsummer night wind... =)

Fact #132 about guys... and...

This issue includes...
+ gossips/deep talk session w friend
+ brief review about Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince movie(warning: spoilers included).
+some un-"friend"-ly rants..

We hate to pack!

You can relate the statement to anything that comes to your mind... but I guess it is a stereotypical fact that guys hate to pack, especially when you are talking about packing the bags for school, or back to camp. =.= Ok, sorry girls, but that's quite a fact.

The reason why I am talking about this at all is because I am currently at a lost what to pack for ICT next week. First ICT, and I haven't got a clue. Don't even know if it's staying in or not. Guess I have to start digging all those stuff that have been put away for a year plus these two days!

*****

So anyway, met up with Simon today for some catching up. We booked tickets to watch Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It was the first day of screening today and we were one of the first to watch the movie!

Before watching, I was so excited about it. I even smsed this to Simon before we met:

"Cool. Awesome. Fantabulous! Aren't you excited? Get your magic wand ready!"

Ok, I wasn't challenging him to any duel that involves magic wands and spells and potions, but ya, you get the idea. I was actually super duper excited although I wasn't a big fan of the Harry Potter franchise. I didn't make it past the first book while reading it although I did agree it had an intriguing plot with each episode and that the characters were very iconic, and was a very imaginative fantasy franchise... Until...

I watched this latest addition of the Harry Potter series and I thought I shouldn't have even mentioned magic wands in the first place!

The latest installment was a big disappointment. Totally lack of action or if you would call it, those Hogwarts-zy magic wand-y duels and battles. A BIG lack of it. What engulfed this movie was the whole thing about potions. Success potions, poison potions, and argh, love potions, for goodness sake. I thought it was worse than the Philosopher's Stone, if not for its improved cinematic effects, which again, is attributed to improved technology. It in fact lacked the depth, and thrill, and action.

After the movie, Simon was like saying it could be a prelude to a BIGGER, BETTER, ACTION-FILLED last installment which I kind of agreed, but as a movie itself, I don't think it did justice to the previous installments. Somehow I felt like being cheated by the whole hype of the Harry Potter series and actually, it was a clever franchise idea, because you just had to continue watching the rest in the series after watching the previous ones, right?

Ok, I have to admit that it was watchable, albeit a far cry from the previous installment. But ya, overall, I was quite disappointed with the movie experience. And I couldn't believe that I was holding on to my 'bursting' bladder just to make sure I did not miss out on any of the action. And then it turned out that answering nature's call then seemed a MUCH wiser choice.

*Grumbles*

And hence, I decide that I should only watch the last installment if the ticket is free!!!

*****

Enough of that ranting. I actually enjoyed the day eating and chatting with Simon. Don't know why but we seemed to have loads to talk about each time. Haha. We ate at Xing Wang near Marina Square for lunch and also had soup at The Stock Pot at the Esplanade, to which I think that it is trying too hard to duplicate and replace my favourite The Soup Spoon Restaurant. How dare it! I had a bowl of pumpkin and sweet potato with coconut milk soup but I simply thought the standard was way lower than any soup at Soup Spoon's!

So ya, I was talking to Simon about how I think people do change. Of course was talking about people that I know. Was expressing my discontentment at some in particular but well, I guess it's hard to change someone. Simply can't understand why some people don't like to admit that they are in the wrong, why some others just simply can't see the bigger picture? *shakes head*

But well, it's hard to change someone or force them to see the light when they refuse to step out of the shadows, isn't it?

Getting tired already. Both figuratively and literally.

And hence, it's bed time for now.

Back for more rantings next time. Oh well.


*Waves magic wand*
*POOOOOOOOOF* And disappears.

Six more days to seeing green again...

And wearing green again... need I say more?!

Yes. Going back for reservist. And if you girls don't know what it's called here, they term it ICT(In-camp training). That acronym does sound professional, isn't it? But hey, there was once, just 3 years plus ago, I thought POP(passing out parade) sounds good. And then there is ORD.

Talk to any man in green(I mean NS guys, duh) still serving NS and check out their expression when you mention the acronym ORD. Have any friend in army now? Test their reaction. Better still, measure their pulse rate when you mention the 3 magical alphabets.

For guys who have completed your NS, you can add 3 more alphabets behind, ORD LOH! But be warned that you might get beaten up ah. Hahaha.

Speaking from experience, when I first saw the words "ORD LOH! Oct '98" carved on the cement walls of a run-down classroom during our field camp, can you imagine how much emotions went through me then? I was only like a few weeks into serving the country. Of course, I felt very emotional.

I guess, it was a point of change in my life back then when I was still very much struggling with my inner thoughts and "echoes" that seemed to wander every now and then. Yes, serving NS has been a rather emotional rollercoaster ride for me.

And now, 6 days later, I'll be back to see my former camp mates. People whom I have laughed and experienced all the mud and toil in during those outfield training sessions.

I hate the packing part. But there is a new acronym I am so looking forward to now.

ROD!!!

Eh... and before I forget...

MooooRRRrree SGD too!

Hahahaha.

Laughing out loud without the hiccups. Possible?

After few days of "torture", I am glad to say that my lil toothy (well it's a big one actually) is feeling better! Phew. Definitely not giving me any more pangs of sharp pain. Those few days of hard-to-sleep nights due to that toothy really had me in pain. I hope it gets better and recover in days to come so I can continue to laugh as wide as I want. Oops. By the way, I have been singing despite the aches that I experienced.

Last Saturday, went jamming with peng and TT at this jamming studio at Paradiz Centre. Haven't been in a jamming studio for so long! Yeah. So the whole experience was pretty cool. Ya know, with close friends around. No one is gonna mock or make harsh comments on your mistakes. No pressure. So we were playing and singing songs like "Ain't No Sunshine", "High and Dry", "Killing Me Softly", etc. I like most of the tunes.

And of course, due to my lack of jamming experience, while on the keyboards, I was only playing the chords. Nothing big on the improvisations yet. Yeah. No colourful chord patterns or fantastic playing. Just simple chord playing mixed with lush vocals. HAHA. Gosh. Did I use the word "lush"?! Ok. Not a bad experience at all.

Had a great afternoon and evening dining at Xing Wang Cafe @ PS too. I ordered fish slice mui fan for the first time and it was super delicious! Loved the pork floss as the topping. Yummy. Haha. Had to take "soft" food cos toothy wasn't feeling good yet. But I did enjoy my dinner.

Of course, what followed was a trail of cam-whoring sessions all the way to the Toast Box at Jurong Point, where we took numerous pics! Yet to get those pics from TT yet. But yeah, you get the idea. Three close friends, smiling and posing incessantly and unabashedly at the camera. There were some pretty shots. Would probably post them up some day.

After that, went to the void deck area at peng's place. So we did some singing and harmonizing and I suggested using some creativity as we did some recordings. You can check out the new videos on my facebook. Tagged by TT. =)

Well, that night ended on quite a disgraceful note when peng drove us back. His family car was literally infested with cockroaches! Tiny ones running around in the car. Haha. You should have checked out TT's expression on that man. Damn hilarious. But ya peng, your driving skill also getting rusty la. Tsk. Practise more dude!

On another note, gotta report for reservist in a week's time. Wah. Been dreading it, or rather, wanting it to be over as soon as possible so I could get on with my life, as I mentioned again. Don't get me wrong. I really look forward to meeting my camp mates. Missed them so much man. It's been a while. Haven't met them for a long time, except for a few casual conversations on the phone.

But yeah, even through that, I realised that people do change. I heard stories of what the rest were doing. Those NS days were indeed a common ground for us to shed all differences and work as team mates, good comrades. But after ORD, different stories began pouring in. As appalling some might sound, well, that's just life to some people, ain't it? As my sergeant major used to reiterate...

"Things happen... but life still goes on..."

Now, who could refute that saying? It's true. Happy or sad, a day passes. Worried or relaxed, a day passes. So how would you choose to pass your day?

On another unrelated note, I'm currently taking a break from my job since Daphne's away in Taiwan. Think I'm going to start preparing for the stuff needed next week for reservist too. Besides, gotta collect my books tomorrow for my new semester.

Gosh. It's ironic how I yearned so much to break free back in those NS days. Right now, too much freedom seemed to make me rather ill-disciplined. Am I really taking all these for granted?

Whatever it is, looking forward to the end of reservist this year. I know it's only 4 days, so stop grumbling!!! LOL.

Ok whatever. Gotta end this now.

argh. bad toothy. =[

Watched Ice Age 3 today with dearie. Super funny and super lame. Haha. Really hilarious I must say. One of the best animation franchise!

Nearly hit over a cyclist just now. That cyclist was obviously "blind" cos he turned right, right in front of my car when I was going straight. Gosh. Somebody needs to put a stop to such road "hazards". Next time, ride on the bicycle path at East Coast la. Damn it.

Sigh. Been 4 days or so after the dental consultation, and my tooth still hurts. Now I have to worry whether it would recover in time. I definitely don't want it to be extracted or worse still, haf the nerve point taken out. WAH!!!

I feel like screaming.

Because my tooth hurts. Quite badly. Recently. :(

Just visited a dentist 2 days ago and gosh, had 4 fillings!!! Yeah, my gums weren't in good condition. Since those primary school days actually. And I couldn't believe it. I haven't been snacking much or eating any candies. Well, but I have probably drank quite a good deal of bubble tea and have indulged in desserts, ice creams, etc.

NO WONDER...

And now, I am suffering in "silence"... When he showed me my tooth in the mirror, I was shocked to see a big hole! As if it was gnawed on by some mysterious bacteria. Yucks. Or perhaps it looked as if I bit on some hard food particle and a big chunk got broken. In any way, he said he could try to fill it first.. And that he said I gotta try endure for 2-3 weeks, and if everything's fine, I wouldn't need to go for "Root Canal" treatment which involves having to extract the nerves under that tooth! >.< IF...

And reservist session coming in 2 weeks' time. And I still need to dig out all those stuff to prepare.. Though only 4 days, I really made it like a big matter.. hahaha. I seriously need to slap myself.

And by the way, I don't think I'm working as diligently recently. Been exploring on more career opportunities along the way too. And waiting for that first cheque! I believe it should be soon!

Seriously, these "hiccups" MUST go away so I could fully concentrate on what I wanna do.

Oh well.