Well...I would really miss doing this....NOT!!! Hahaha 

Bye Bye Guys... 

Army life is finally coming to an end...So many things that I will miss doing. To me, army days were about...

Sleeping under a canopy of stars...

Using my SBO as a pillow...

Worrying if I would get confined the following weekend...

Spending lazy afternoons in bunk with endless cups of sweet instant coffee...

Fooling around in the company office.

Stealing a nap at the 800-series shelf in Master Mary's store...

Skiving in the lines store...
while pretending to be reeling lines.

Swimming in seas of lallangs on moonlit nights...
Clawing my way up cruel ridges and knolls...

Pretending to march to the cookhouse...

Reporting sick for blisters...
but enduring sprains and fevers.

Doing COS Cookhouse duty,
and thinking of ways to smoke the DOS and the DO
into letting me go off earlier.

Stuffing crap into my field pack,
and praying they would not activate us over the weekend.

Polishing boots and cleaning my rifle because there was nothing else to do.

Flying all over the world
and getting involved in other people's exercises.

Countless rounds of PT
all because of one man's obsession with physical fitness...

Sweating it out
on the hot, black asphalt of the Division Parade Square.

Playing DOTA at Bukit Timah Plaza during nights out
and having supper at Boon Tong Kee afterwards...
And who can forget the infamous LOT ONE?
A shopper's Purgatory, but a soldier's Paradise.

Imitating OC and CSM to much laughter from the other soldiers.

Sharing a Rover ride with Thai and Taiwanese soldiers...
all older than me.

Going for shooting at the Tekong and Mandai Range...
and having to clean up the stupid lane afterwards.

Setting up radios and rebros...
both the lifeblood and the bane of signallers...

Being deployed in lim Chu Kang, Ulu Sembawang and Pasir Laba...
where the mosquitoes and sandflies show no mercy.

a clandestine smoke break, under cover.

evil packs of combat rations...that even dogs and wild boars would reject.

Above all, army days were about taking yourself less seriously...about true friendship...about teamwork and brothehood.

My love affair with wine began when I was fifteen years old. I have always been enthralled by the mystique and romanticsm surrounding wine and wine-making processes. I am amazed by how the same grapes yield totally different products when exposed to small variations in climate and time....and of course, human actions! The way fruity, floral and mineral aromas blend to produce a bouquet is pure magic...Wine is such a complex and intriguing nectar...each mouthful brings new undertones and nuances that prove previous impressions wrong! Each region has its own wine tradition and culture...and it is simply mind-boggling to understand each and every one of them.

I have never had formal wine appreciation training. I gleaned most of my tasting practices from drinking with friends and reading wine books. My thirst for knowledge eventually brought me to Tommy Lam's The Champagne Room, adjacent to his Wine Amigo cellars near Somerset MRT station. I attended a tasting session conducted by Tommy one Saturday afternoon and left with an even greater thirst for wine knowledge.

We sampled Pinot Noir, Merlot, Muscat, Champagne and Chardonnay...What surprised me was the sharp contrast between two Chardonnays...One bottle was from Chile and the other from France. The Chilean Chardonnay had a woody and spicy bouquet that was worlds apart from the peachy and fresh bouquet of the French Chardonnay. We later learnt that Chilean wine is much more intense in flavour because the Chardonnay grapes absorb more sunlight than the French ones, thus building up sugars within the fruit itself! Fascinating!

The wine-tasting session was indeed an eye-opener.

Went for my first Latin Fiesta on Friday night...Really swept away by the Salseros...so envious of those who can groove confidently to the salsa beat. I guess my problem is stiffness...and if I can somehow learn how to loosen up a little, I'll be a better dancer. For lonely guys out there, salsa clubs are a great place to meet new gals...hot gals too, if I may add. However, you gotta be very confident of yourself, cos you are expected to lead! The gals are just following your motions, so it is important that you have a clear idea of how you are going to groove. The worst impression you are going to end up leaving a girl with is that she is dancing with Frankenstein ( after he has had a tequila liquid buffet!)

Went to The Balcony after shopping that day...Totally unimpressed by the joint. My friend and I were shuffled to an obscure corner that smelt of deep-fried animal flesh and carbon monoxide. The raucous traffic from the streets was VERY audible from our cramped alfresco spot. Worst, the bloody waiter placed us under an industrial-strength fan, which was whirring at the volume of a chainsaw...Mysteriously, the fan was emitting some kind of water vapour unto the patrons below (i.e. us). The Maitre'D had a condescending air around him...He had a smile that was oilier than an oil slick and regarded us as we might regard seacucumbers or amoebas...Rui wanted to slap the waiter's face with credit cards...just to prove that we were not, as the waiter thought, "people with low purchasing power". Just as we were about to order our cocktails, the irritating waiter requested to check our ICs (probably because of me lah.)! I am already used to these kind of actions, because everyone at every bar I go wants to check my IC...but Rui blew his top.

We left in a huff. I was thinking, "wtf did he not check the ics of the other patrons? Why only us?" The waiter probably thought that I was some kid and wanted to jit seow (disturb) a bit...Anyway, I was appalled not because he wanted to check, but because he had a damn condescending look on his face...even the disgusting mole-like thing in his nostril was looking at me with an air of conceit...gross....

Anyway, I vowed not to return. So what if they have one-for-one during Happy Hours? By the way, if you read the words next to the asterisk, this promotion only begins in November hor...

After spending most of Monday crunching numbers, I decided to give myself a really good rest on Tuesday.

Unfortunately, more work came pouring in and I was forced to delay my fun until late afternoon.

More and more cashbooks and general ledgers....avalanches of bank statements with dubious origins...tides upon tides of bills, cheque butts and serial numbers...all waiting to be pieced into a coherent jigsaw puzzle of accounting spreadsheets....Amendments to be made at the last minute...Mistakes that have not been clearly indicated. There was also a heap of confusion between the terms "brought forward" and "carried over", leading to countless instances of double accounting!!! And of course, the Herculean task of error tracing....

YES....April...Income Tax season....When every accountant (together with his/her overworked staff and underpaid son/daughter) is rushing to submit tax returns, invoices and naptimes. T.S. Elliot had a point when he quipped,

"April is the cruellest month,

breeding lilacs out of the dead land,

mixing memory with desire,

stirring dull roots with spring rain."

I had to settle the wine course details asap. De Rui and I went to meet Tommy Lam at Wine Amigo...Tommy turned out to be a walrus with a pony-tail.... with a deep, booming baritone and a lumbering amble in his movements. However, there was an air of confidence and stability in his gait. This guy is allegedly one of the best "Noses" in the Singaporean F&B industry...Check out his credentials:

• Wine MBA, Bordeaux Ecole de Management
• Member - Academy of Food and Wine Service, UK
• Society of Wine Educators, USA
• Commandarie de Bordeaux.
• International Wine and Food Society
• Chaine des Rotisseurs.
• Food NewsGazine - Wine consultant and columnist

Wah, very "UP", right? I think the course is going to be great....I have much to learn this Saturday.

Let me tell you a dirty little secret *pervy smirks* When I am feeling naughty I lock myself in my room and role-play. I pretend that I am a hot Latin Salsero:) I think that I am Jitterbugs Swingapore Salsa 1 Class' most dedicated( a.k.a seow on) student....I actually practise when I am alone...At home, of course. And behind closed doors.

Salsa has really changed my life...I love the dancing, but I am still uncomfortable having to be so close and intimate with unfamiliar women. Cheap perfume puts me off...and I don't like it when my dance partner is taller than me...and many of the women in my class are.

Went to Union Bar last night for their Salsa Night.. A knock-out event with an authentic Afro-Caribbean Salsa band....Great vibes, young and energetic crowd...On Salsa night, all salseros get free entry and one free drink...so it is a great place to groove or chill, if you are on a shoe string budget. Just present your membership card. Mine went into the washing machine...so it was kinda torn and smudged when I gave it to the guy at the bar.

I roped in Sam and Jon from my salsa class to come along. Sam works in Goldman Sachs and Jon in ABN...but they are really down-to-earth and unpretentious people...and they are fun to hang out with. Sam claimed that he was just going to watch and soak in the vibes...little did he know that Fate was being very kind to him that night...

At nine, the event kicked off...I paid for a locker and proceeded to look for a partner. There were two cute girls just standing there waiting to be picked up. One of them was a knock-out. The other was kinda cute in a girl-next-door kind of way. I went with the cute one and Sam with the beauty queen.

It turns out that both were Koreans and in their early-twenties...Both had never really tried salsa, so Sam and I tried our best to lead (with our low standards)...The four of us laughed alot and fumbled alot and had alot of fun...the funniest thing was, at the end of everything, my new friend asked me if what I was dancing was Salsa! I was a world apart from the zai pros on the dance floor.

We asked the girls to join us for a drink...turns out there was another one! Three guys and three girls...What a nice ratio. Jon was quite action mama before he came into Union..but once he came, he basically rooted himself to the dance stool...sipping and sipping and sipping...

After a great night, we got set to leave...Sam was still talking and talking to his new friend...and he kept on asking us to "give (him) five more minutes ok?" His five minutes were VERY VERY LONG...

Definitely a POSED PHOTO! 

After Kayaking...I am feeling a little bit queasy....I get seasick quite easily lor! 

At the Beach Bar!  

The Sun, The Sea and Me! Pity I can't photoshop away my yucksie beach shorts!Haha 

"不要去找那种不三不四的 char bor hor! " ~ Mummy

Ok guys! I'm back! Back from the sunny beaches of Bintan...with a beautiful honey-hued tan and free from salacious scandals with women of ill-repute...I wonder why Mummy gave me this kind of "good" advice. I think she confused Bintan with Batam. Haha.

Anyway, the trip was wonderful...Great beaches, excellent company and fine weather...What more could a guy on holiday ask for? The vacation gave me an opportunity to unwind and to take stock of life...It was a much-needed break for me to consider my future options (eg."Should I eat Roti John or chicken curry for lunch? Or maybe I should try both? And in what proportion? ")

I really enjoyed the lazy, langorous afternoons spent soaking up the warm and peachy sun...and being coaxed to sleep by the gentle sea breeze. The salty-sweet smell of the playful waves lapping at my curled toes still lingers fondly in my mind. Sticking my tongue out, I could taste the sweetness of nature. Not a sound could be heard, save for the pure and resonant singing of the waves as they met the shore. The sand on the pristine beaches was as fine and soft as a young child's dream...It was so beautiful, it seemed surreal. Mmmm....I like!

My friends and I stayed at the Cempaka Villas, which oozed oodles of quaint, rustic charm. Our estate was an image of idyllic bliss. Luckily, it was not the holiday season yet, so there were no irritating hordes of kiasu Singaporean tourists! Everything was just so quiet and perfect. It was a pity that our villa did not have an indoor swimming pool...but at least we had a cute little buggy all to ourselves! Oh, and cable TV too.

But screw the cable la! I mean, there are so many other fun things to do.

We went kayaking, swimming, played beach volleyball and just hung out at the beach...I found the time to build some sand castles and pick sea shells....We even got an aromatherapy massage by the beach! (Haha, but the masseur 出手太重 and somehow managed to knead out one of my toenails while massaging my toes!)

At night, we went for drinks at the Neeyala, a beach bar...The Long Island Tea was really, really strong...but it still went down very well. Rayner's Route 101 was horrid though, it reeked of almonds...just like cyanide! Hahaha. The restaurants at the Resort served yucksy food...flat, boring and lacking soul...the mango pudding was a tapioca cake that was supposed to be drizzled with a mango sauce created from artificial flavourings! Yucks! The roast leg of lamb with mustard sauce looked and tasted like a stale Christmas log cake. The tiramisu was a goey, incoherent mess...low quality Mascaporne cheese was used, which made the mess taste unnaturally sharp. Worse, the grilled vegetables had started to turn watery, the result of seating too long on a bed of (*gasp!*) shaved ice! Hullo?! Grilled vegetables have to be served WARM!

Anyway, the food and drinks there are really expensive ( 5 bucks for a bottle of Coke?!) So we did our own cooking too. Duane made marvellous chicken steaks and panfried Sutchi fillets...Delicious Penne pasta too! Duane is a really conscientious cook...I think he would make the perfect housemate. Rayner's experiment with Angel Hair pasta turned out quite lumpy, but I give him an A* for effort. I was the De Facto Sommelier, and tried to make sure that the Merlots that I had brought over was a fitting compliment to Duane's gorgeous cooking.

All said, it was a great holiday. Words cannot describe the happiness that I felt when we were having fun together...It's kinda sad that we will be going our separate ways soon...But at least I have great memories of our time in Bintan:)