Visit to Army Musuem... Memories of NS

Accompanied Ling to her company's Family Day at the Singapore Discovery Centre (SDC), this trousit attraction is still as unexciting when I visited some 10 years ago... Suggested to Ling that we make a visit to the Army Museum since we were there. Lucky we went there, must better then the SDC and I can share my army days memory with Ling.

Wat's this?

Satellite map of Singapore, so where's home?

Ling managed to point out our home... Smart Gal...

Standard Obstacle Course (SOC)... many army boys nightmare

Visiting the Army Museum was really fun and brings back fond memories of my time in National Service (NS). Especially those tiring days training under the hot sun or cold wet nights, but there's always your buddy and mates around to share the pain and torture.

NS is one of the most wonderful passage in life, it builts character and courage and brings out the best and also the worst in people... I've witness how people would try their best to overcome their fears and self-limitation, and also how others will do anything to get away from it. How some will stay behind and pull/push others through, and how some will leave others behind to achieve their own glory.

I still recall my Captain's gift to us (Sergeants) in a form of a short message which summarises as... a leader should burn the midnight oil no matter how tired or stressful he is, else he may one day look back in memory and recall the blood of his men in his hand cos he had failed to lead them well in battle...

During NS, I've also observed the 2 kinds of leader... One who leads by winning respect of his men and the other... who leads thru his rank... who will u follow during battle??? Army also taught me that they are no good or bad soldiers, there are only good or bad leaders..The soldiers are a reflection of the leader!!!

I guess guys who've been thru NS would have lots of memories on wat u've been thru... treasure them as I've treasured mine...

Ouch… that hurts!!!

Terrible pain… my old spinal injury has been giving me pain lately, especially when I get coughs or flu. This time round, it got worst…

After 2 days of bad cough, I felt pain on my lower back… decided to ignore it as it happens every time I fall sick. So I went back to work. When I reach office, the pain grew worst and I find myself limping. Then my colleagues told me that my body was leaning to one side… Bad!!!

Went to both Chinese & Western Doc for medication and finally to Polyclinic for referral to NUH. Dislike the thought of having to go through the process of waiting for consultation and medical scans… and hopefully no surgery is required!

Thoughts of my past hospital stay resurface during my visit to NUH, Granddad has been hospitalized. Seeing him lying in the bed looking so frail and helpless brought me all my memories… 9 years back…

I’ve told Ling before that after my operation, I long for someone to visit me… not only because I feel lonely, more so because I feel so helpless… can’t do even the simple things I usually take for granted. I recall that I couldn’t really move my hands to bring the food up to my mouth. Every action results in tremendous reaction of pain… and more pain… Even peeing requires nurses help to bring the urinal (I can’t move hor…) and must plan in advance (after the 1st night, I ask for the urinal first… cos they might not response in time… heheheh)

I couldn’t sleep due to both pain and hot weather… there was no available air-con ward and I couldn’t turn much in bed… cause me to sweat and my back starts to itch… lucky my friend told me to ask the nurse to give me morphine if the normal painkillers doesn’t help. Morphine really helps to numb the pain and at least I get a few hours of sleep.

Looking at Granddad, I can feel his pain… fortunate that he has been put on morphine and oxygen, which helps in breathing and pain reduction. Going under the knife is never fun (I use to think that staying in hospital was fun and cool too). I personally feel that our body is like a vacuum pack…. Once open, no matter how tiny the gap is… it’s never the same again even you seal it up…

Even though Granddad is still weak and in a daze, he still ask how’s my back… and reminded me to be careful… when we leave, he still remind us to drive carefully…

I hope that we’ll learn to respect and love our body; you never really appreciate how wonderful it functions as a whole until we lose the ability to do so… even though it might be temporary… I never knew that standing up or walking requires so much co-ordination till my operation, where I have to re-learn this basic movement.

So much for my babbling, really hope that my medical checkup will go smoothly and all my worries are uncalled for. I also hope my granddad to have a smooth and fast recovery from the ops.

Look at me Sleep - Snowy

Before we got a dog, I always thought that they sleep by laying on their side. Little did I know that they too have various sleeping posture... this is Snowy's Fav!

smiling... sweet dreams

Top view

side view

Car Maintenance

We went for our first car servicing on Sat (15 Mar 08) at Kah Motor (Leng Kee). Reached at 9am and was surprised that others were much more early than us. Registered for servicing and was served by a sales rep for servicing. The first thing he did was to inspect the external body for any damage and proceed to cover the driver's seat with a cover (prevent any damage to the seat when they drive it for servicing).



The whole servicing took around 6 hours to complete, from 9 plus to 2 plus in the afternoon. How did we utilise the 6 hours... We went for breakfast (minced pork noodles and fishball soup) at Brickland Food Centre (behind Ikea) and later I suggested that we go to Ikea for a 2nd breakfast (french toast with sauage plus Earl Grey tea). Walk around IKea and bought a few items. As we were paying for our purchase at the cashier, I saw one of my Poly friends (one year my junior in my orientation group). She's now an Assistant Manager at Ikea and she's in-charged of the customer service at the cashier.



As we had a few more hours to spend, we went to Anchor Point for shopping. Times Bookstore was having a storewide sale and we bought 2 books, a small puppy softtoy (loks like coco) and sign up for a 2-year membership. With the membership, we were entitled for an extra 5% discount on top on the current 20% discount.



With 2 books in-hand, a photography book for me and a book on handling dog for Ling, we ordered tea and eggs (for ling)... enjoyed the air-con and music while we read... in between, went to the shops to browse around... Ling said there was a shop selling Hello Kitty car accessories... and after our drinks she brought me there for a look, bought a seat belt cushion for Ling so that the seat belt rests comfortably on her.



What do we do now... went to Quenesway Shopping Centre for a walk... usually we only shop in the 1st floor where all the shoe shops are, so we decided to window shop at the 2nd and 3rd floor. Was getting bored when i receievd a call from the sales rep that our Jazz is ready.



We hurried down to Kah Motor in the blistering afteroon sun to enter the cooling lobby of Kah Motor. Total damage was $400 plus... why so ex... 100 plus for servicing, 40 for hydrogen gas for the tires, and 300 for Kah Motor body protection. Was happy that the car was washed before returning to us. Later we realised (when completing the feedback form) that car cleaniness after servicing is a must at Kah Motor.



16 Mar 2008, we also did our part in keeping the interior clean... we had dog fur to clear after Snowy's joy ride. Didn't wash the car as Kah Motor took care of that yesterday. We vacuum the interior and wipe the car seats. Almost forgot, Kah Motor charged $1plus to top up the wiper reservoir... Took 2 photos with my Nokia N82 to share.

looking good even with all doors open...

another shoot...

New "Jazz" of Our Life

How it started... while looking thru the ST "Classified" section on cars, we decided that it's a good time to pursue one of our dream asset (should be a liability lar...), a car. We've thought of this for few times, but usually ended up with just browsing thru the web without taking further action.


For some reason, we went beyond the web search... A few cars in mind for our purchase, Honda City, Mitsubishi Lancer and Mazda 2. As we explored the various car showrooms, 2 more were added... Honda Jazz and Nissan Latio. Fuel efficiency and customer service became the top 2 deciding factors.



My 2nd Bro was driving a Jazz and I was also satisfied with his sales agent at Kah Motor, so naturally we went back to the same agent. He was very professional and friendly throughout the sales. In addition, he was very prompt in replying my numerous sms queries on the car package. As for fuel efficiency, the Jazz with a 1.4l DSI engine is considered an efficient car. Feedback from my Bro was also good.


After much deliberation and financial calculation, we decided to purchase our first car... Honda Jazz in a fresh coat of shining "Vivid Blue Pearl". We waited for more than a month for it to arrive and I didn't take many photos of it when we went to collect it ...

Parked at Changi Beach Car Park during our first outing

We soon found out that there were plenty of Jazz in the same carpark, colourful lot too; blue, red, black, missing white and yellow though... Got a new Honda Fit too, with the new curves. This morning was a surprise find... 3 blue Jazz in a row, took a picture to proof it. My secondary school friend who's staying in the same block and floor was the owner of the middle Jazz.

3 of a kind... cool