I went for Tim's Body Pump class today.  I really like his class because Tim is young, very handsome and energetic.  It is important to me that the instructor is good looking or have a certain charisma.  Collin is not good looking but he is charismatic in his ways.  Wai Han is sweet and pleasant looking.  Probably that's why I don't go to Christina's class.  She is not nice looking and not "woman" enough.  I digressed.  I was very delighted with today's class because Tim played two of my current favourite songs.  "Tatto" by Jordin Sparks and "Hurt" by Christiana Aguilera.  I can repeatedly listen to these songs without getting sick.

Seems that things were going pretty well for 2008.  I've on track with my reading.  Currently my 4th book by my favourite FT journalist Lucy Kellaway.  I had wanted to read "Sense and Nonsense in the Office" for the longest time.  I also have "Who ate my Blueberry" (also by Lucy Kellaway) in the office.

Was away at Club Med Bintan over the weekend.  I had wanted to say, I nearly died of an allergy first night I was there.  Possibly due to reaction from something that I ate.  Either the escargots or goat cheese.  My eyes were bloodshot and puffy.  I can't breathe through my nose due to inflammation of the sinus and high level of mucous going up there.  My heart rate was 90 bpm probably due to anxiety and I find breathing (and talking for the matter) a laboured chore.  I was at the doctor's room for at least 1 hour before I got better and left to my room to rest.  There marked my memory for my first Club Med holiday.

Yesterday my manager declared the bonus we were going to get.  I wasn't really expecting any because I foresee our looming sales for current year.  But to my surprise, I am getting another 2 months!  So with the payout in December plus AWS, I've got something close to 4 months.  I was astonished and very happy.  I've worked for almost 4 years and have never received any bonus before so this is such a joy!

My laptop battery is going flat so I shall stop here.

Recently, there's been lots of activity going on at Facebook.

Many of my primary school friends are founded in the facebook.  It all started when Diane and Doris joined the Beng Wan Primary Alumni and found Anthony Han - our sauve head prefect.  Anyway, others caught up, so we had Suhaila, Huiyun, Aili, etc all participating in the the message board.

I don't have much collections of my primary school days.  Some of the memories of the 6 years:

1.  squatting by the drain and brushing teeth after recess.  We were issued with water mug and toothbrush which we have to bring to school daily,
2. subscribing to milk orders.  we only paid 30 or 40 cents for the chocolate milk. intially there were other flavours like banana and strawberry, but ultimately only chocolate was available because that was the most popular order,
3.  we took a special exam to test our aptitude in english and maths.  (later I realised it was to see if we qualify for the gifted education program),
4.  I joined the school choir and we sang at the victoria theatre.  I was one of the five who was selected to lead the combine school choir into the grand finale,
5.  the first time I went to NUS was when I took part in the quiz for the chinese language program that quizzed or aptitude in chinese.
6.  I won the first prize in the chinese calligraphy competition for the upper primary category,
7.  our team got a special recognition prize for our social studies project where we commented on the MRT system which the Phase I was launched
8.  I held the hand of a girl I secretly admired in the class performance which I acted as Hansel and she was Gretel.
9.  My best friend in primary school was a transferred student from Townsville Primary School.  His name is Zhuo Hanhe.  He used to stay at 23 St. Michael's Road.  (We now lost touch)
10. I used to collect a lot of stickers and I even partnership with a girl called Angela,
11.  I scored highest for a maths quiz, but was not given a prize because I was absent the day the test paper was returned.  When I pointed the error to the teacher and realised I scored the highest, I demanded for a prize,
12.  I once kicked a classmate near his groin, in a fit of anger.  His parents complained to the teacher and I got a very stern warning,
13.  my form teacher didn't want me in the class when a famous author came to observe the class.  My classmate spoke up for me and I was allowed to stay in class,
14.  we were given loads of other school's exam papers to do, so much so that we each specialised in our strong subject and copied the answers from the rest,
15.  when choosing secondary school, my form teacher discouraged us from choosing the better schools because she thinks most of us can't even pass the PSLE.  I scored 1 A* and 3A and top my class.

Managed two readings this week.  First is "Falling Leaves" by Adeline Yen Mah, and "Goh Keng Swee: A Portrait" by Tan Siok Sun.  The first book is a memoir of the author who recounted her childhood in which she was very discriminated against her other siblings because shortly after her birth, her mother passes away.  She suffered ill-fates under her cruel step mother who later had a strong influence against her father following the death of her grandma.  She rise to all the challenges she faced in her life (including surviving a divorce) and became a successful doctor, practising in US and subsequently happily married.  It is a very inspiring read, especially as a first for the year because it gives me a renewed sense of motivation.  The second, which I was delighted to find a copy in the Pasir Ris library was something I had wanted to buy.  I have always been fascinated with the founding fathers of Singapore, and Goh Keng Swee is one of them.  I wish there was a biography of Ngiam Tong Dow as I very much have an admiration of him... and his analytical views in very diversified range of issues.

Also went on a mobilisation briefing this morning at Kranji Camp III were my unit is.  The mobilisation sound serious and I'm again irking the thought of it because if it is a full mobilisation, it may take the whole weekend.  Good for the regular or NS soldiers, if done on a weekend, they probably get 2 days off but civilian like us is gonna burn the whole weekend for nothing and mind you, it is a CNY first weekend.... where many visitings are not complete.  So unlucky.  Plus I need to get ready the personal equipment which includes poncho, entrenching tools, first-aid dressing, groundsheet, etc... I don't even have it!!  Thought I de-kitted when I ORD.  And I don't even know where my ID tag is....

On the work front, my hectic schedule will come to a halt because I just completed the LP4 build.  Next, will be buying off all the repeat toolings, and clearing the mess on my desk.  Our team will also be going on a Club Med holiday next month which I will be looking forward to it.

Ugh!  I'm call back by my unit for a mobilisation briefing this coming Saturday, Kranji Camp at 9.30am.

I was really annoyed because this week supposed to be a non-working Saturday, however now I have to turn up in camp.  I loathe wearing the army no. 4 because they were really tight fitting as they were meant for me less 15kg.  My weight when I ORD.

Another waking up early Saturday.  Damn sian.

I realize the best part of love is the thinnest lace
And it don't count for much but I'm not letting go
I believe there's still much to believe in

So lift your eyes if you feel you can
Reach for a star and I'll show you a plan
I figured it out
What I needed was someone to show me

You know you can't fool me
I've been loving you too long
It started so easy
You want to carry on

Chorus:
Lost in love and I don't know much
Was I thinking about
Fell out of touch
But I'm back on my feet
Eager to be what you wanted

So lift your eyes if you feel you can
Reach for a star and I'll show you a plan
I figured it out
What I needed was someone to show me

You know you can't fool me
I've been loving you too long
It started so easy
You want to carry on

Chorus

You know you can't fool me
I've been loving you too long
It started so easy
You want to carry on

Chorus

Now I'm lost, lost in love, lost in love, lost in love
Now I'm lost, lost in love, lost in love, lost in love
Lost in love, lost in love, lost in love
Lost in love, lost in love, lost in love 

Lost in Love, Air Supply.

Felt really blessed lately with people showering me with all sorts of gifts.  Some are simple pleasures, like Peck buying my favourite almond cookies from Macau.  Cynthia told me that he actually went to the wrong shop and bought lots of cookies already, but insisted buying the correct brand for me.  :-)  Melvin who went to Malacca brought back 马蹄酥 for me.  You see, I was really touched because after all these years, he still remember that it is my favourite.  So I was pleasantly delighted with his thought.  Xianglong came back from Vietnam and got me the most unique gift - two packs of vietnamese coffee and the traditional vietnam coffee filter.  I absolutely loved Vietnamese coffee - it reminds me of the good old day back in campus where we will take break at the Viet cafe just outside the school library.

Kevin bought me Clinique's stuff for me, which includes the exfoliating body scrub which has discontinued in Singapore.  They sell only the Men's version which I don't quite fancy.  He also got me a classic notebook but it is so nice and expensive I don't think I would use it. Rachel got me an Owell's heartbeat monitor watch!  I had wanted one but thought that it is quite a waste of money owning one, but now I got it as a gift.  I hope with this, I will be very motivated to work out more!  Will try it when I go for a run later. :-p Carol got me an Oakley T-shirt but because it doesn't fit me, so I gave it to Aik Hong.  Speaking of which, Aik Hong also surprised me with a Christmas present - a desktop message display which poke fun at management.  I adore it.  [E.g. I Love Targets - especially it is on the manager's back!]  I cracked up just reading them.  I also got a Calvin Klein Eternity for men fragrance minature from Roy and Ian.  What a delight!

I think it is not what the gifts are that matters actually.  It is the thoughts that went into it.  I have a certain group of friend, who will celebrate one another birthday.  And what we give as "present" is actually a red-packet with each person contributing $20.  That is quite thoughtless.  That is why I never participate in this, so instead I buy the birthday person that particular lunch, which usually cost more than $20.  I also quite dislike the idea of buying vouchers - its the most convenient gift but also quite thoughtless.  It is worse than buying mugs or photo-frames as gifts. (Aik Hong will probably appreciate this joke, anyway)  With the only exception that for baby's first month, the most practical gift is NTUC vouchers!

I think I have too much philosophy about receiving and buying gifts.  While I was waiting for Peck at Compass Point the other day, and I saw those Christmas figurines going at $5, I wondered who buy these as gifts - then I realised the good old days when we were broke as students, we probably got these things as presents for our friends.  But that time, even something like this will mean a lot to me.

I still have a long and unfulfilled wish list for my birthday, so for those who wish to indulge me.  iPod Touch or 8GB Black iPod Nano, Nitendo DS or Sony PSP, a Laptop (please ask for spec), or IKEA shopping vouchers enough to make-over my room.

Well, you see - that's the price for not having to think and getting me what I want you see.

I'm not sure the current taxi woes, caused by an increase in taxi fare is more detrimental to the taxi drivers or to passengers who use them.   For someone who uses the taxi so regularly, I felt being slapped with a high tariff.  As the ride I take are rather long distanced, a ride that would have otherwise cost me $12 now becomes $17.  Personally, I have tried to avoid taking cab as much as I can.  I am back to the good old days of taking a MRT and make a transfer to a bus when going to work.

I have surveyed most of the taxi drivers.  Almost 100% reported that they saw a decline in earnings despite the fare increase.  Most people tried to avoid the peak period especially (just as I did) because of the peak hour surchage - 35% is almost as good as taking a mid-night ride.  Actually, one can observed during a train ride because there seem to be more people standing at the platform waiting for the MRT as compared to the past.  However, the waiting time for each train seems to be have increased.  Our public transportation service needs to be improved markedly.

However, a taxi operator seems to have another take about the situation as it claims that their drivers income have "in fact, gone up."  An average driver would have brought back about $270 per month.  I am very surprised.  How possibly could it have been if fuel charges have been increasing, and passenger demand dropped?  I would have wanted that "increment".  The simple fact for proclaiming this is so that they can justify another round of taxi rental increase.  I questioned the way how data is collected, or how it was analysed that derived this conclusion.

Seems that for now, it is a lose-lose situation for us.  Taxi drivers taking back less income due to a drop in passenger activity.  Passengers also loses because they have to now fork out more for each ride.  Unaffected is the taxi operator because they continue to receieve rent no matter that the outcome is.

The direction moving forward is seeing taxi less as a mode of public transportation.  The focus is on the train and bus services.  However, their lack-lustre performance leaves much to be desired.  Along with the woes of long waiting time that results in full or packed trains or buses is something I personally cannot quite agree with.  This afterall is a number game because average cost per passenger (to the operator) is lower with a longer waiting time.  However, to achieve a world-class public transport service standard - we need to see improve waiting time, especially during the non-peak hours.  Waiting 12 minutes for a ride is simply too long.

In primary school, just before graduation, it was common for everyone to have an autograph book (or several).  What was written tend to be unimaginative, mostly corny and rather uncreative.  Those written by teachers tend to have more of profound wisdom, something which is more meaningful (though equally unimginative, etc) but usually those are the words you treasure the most.  They never disappoint too.  I liked one who wrote, "A smile costs nothing but gives much.  So keep on smiling".  I am not sure if he actually thinks I am a smiley dude.  Well, I might be but I admit I was equally naughty as well.

Besides the regular "Roses are red, Violet are blue..." and "I have a pen, my pen is blue, I have a friend, my friend is you", the one that really strikes a chord till today is written by a friend Li Hui'e, "Make new friends, but keep the old.  One is Silver, the other is Gold". Quite ironically, most people do not keep their old friends; although I have friends who still are friends with even their kindergarten friends; I wouldn't have recognise them!  I have few primary school friends that I do keep in touch though, but we were not close.  Some years ago, we even have quite regular gatherings but somehow the we didn't keep the enthusiam going.  Perhaps we have already move on with another phase with our lives - some married with family, some with their girlfriends/boyfriends, or priorities with their "new" friends.

Most of my closer friends today are from the university, friends whom I meet more regularly - for movies, for a meal together or over a cup of coffee.  It is because by that age, we were more mature and already more selective with making friends, or is it we have a sense of connectedness being pioneers in a upstart university, or it is because they are just the "recent" friends which we have not conveniently "disposed" until we find new one again?  Call me a skeptic! (but isn't that what a college education is all about?)

Looking back, some of my closer friends are from different phase of my life.  My most enduring friendship is with someone whom I met when I was in VJC.  I was there for a mere 3 months, and we wasn't even from the same class!  Never have a great buddy in poly or army but a bunch of great friends from college.  Then also, one who is my ex-colleague when I was working in China.

I never got around to hang out with Hui'e.  She went to St. Nicholas after primary school.  My best friend then went to Monfort Secondary (if I don't remember wrongly).  We never really got in touch somehow after Secondary 2.  My last google result showed he went to UWA, and was for an interim period a member of the alumni body.

Whether old or new friends, I think it didn't mattered much.  I guess as time pass, friends that you keep by your side are friends who mattered and friends you treasured.  And true to this mantra "Make new friends, but keep the old.  One is Silver, the other is Gold" - whether silver or gold, they are equally precious metals alike.

With each new year, I will set new resolutions for myself.  Setting new resolutions is good because it lends you a goal or purpose and sense of direction for moving the year forward.  There is renewed energy from these purposes and let me have new (or renewed) motivation to get ahead.

Last year, I set 5 resolutions.  I achieved 2.  For one, I managed to read an average of 1 book per month and I made concious effort to achieve that in the beginning of the year.  Second, I managed to advance to up my level in Step Aerobics.  I achieved the latter without having much deliberate effort as it was something I truly enjoyed doing.  3 unresolved resolutions - losing weight to my desirable (achievable) level, getting a driver's license and playing tennis more professionally.  I will keep these in my 2008 resolution.

I have 2 additions to Resolution 2008.  1.  to blog more fervently, and 2. to be happy.  It is hard to quantify how much to blog or how intense the blog's content will be considered fervent, but definitely more than the past year.  Part of the reason to set this resolution is because I felt that progressively, my writing skill seem to has deteriorate over the years and I seem less expressive (vocally) and less analytical.  I hope writing helps to improve on these skills.  I feel that this is quite an achievable goal for myself.

My second resolution - to be happy will be a much tougher to achieve. I decided to go for it because I feel that nothing beats being happy.  So what if I cannot fulfill any of my resolutions and still be a "no-license-fat-arse who can't play tennis" as long as I stay happy?  I must be happy with my choices and not have regrets.  I set this resolution also because I need to release a "ghost" within me.  I need to move on from a relationship melodrama.

There are other goals to fulfill, the minor resolutions put in writing as well.  They are on the first page of my 2008 diary, very precisely quantified, if you want to sneak a peek.

Happy New Year!