5/7/2013 K9 handlers gathering @ Rocku Yakiniku Japanese Charcoal Grill Restaurant
Participants:
1. Me!
2. Joseph
3. SK
4. Shi Hao
5. Yun Zhen
6. Edwin
After some 1 year 5 months (since Feb 2012), finally got a chance to meet up with the fellow K9 handlers. Thanks to YZ for organising this gathering.
The venue was inside Bugis+. Wasn't the first to reach but wasn't last too. Upon reaching, saw Edwin, YZ, Joseph and SK were sitting while queueing to enter the premise. Shi Hao reached a while later.
Had Japanese style charcoal BBQ for dinner ($30++ per pax). The place was somewhat decorated to look like a garage. In addition, to be fair, the live band was great, but they were too loud when singing, so loud until we need to shout or talk very loudly to get message across. All in all, ambience was definitely not bad.
餐廳還有免費攝影服務，這張從FB偷到的，ᄏᄏᄏ
For the food, it was ok, nothing much to complain about as it's BBQ. But this is the first time I've ever went to a BBQ without any BBQ residue smell on shirt. Kudos to the ventilation system or the charcoal. I believe the charcoals used were of higher quality ones, coz I don't see any significant smoke coming out. Really good.
開始烤肉咯！
This meetup had topics centred around graduation, jobs, graduation trip as some of us had already graduated. Looking for a job is definitely on top of the to-do list for us now. That aside, jokes, practically on any and every topic, made up most of the chat session which I really enjoyed. Haha!!!
After the dinner, Edwin left early while the rest of us continued some chats @ Toast Box. Thanks YZ for the teh treat! Talked mainly about ICT as I mentioned I got a low key ICT next week. Good for SK and Joseph as by next year they would have cleared 5 ICTs. 羨慕死我了. Would be same as them if I hadn't deferred it due to studies. While WL, Kenny they all went to 613. On the other hand, Edwin and YZ are in 26. 全部都好命啊…… Come to think of it, a bit sian lo.
6/7/2013 Impromptu dinner at 김대문
Participants:
1. Me!
2. Peng Guan
3. Wei Xian
4. Jia Xin
Ok, this was a very impromptu dinner decided at very last minute. The initial plan wasn't like that, but instead it was something like this:
I wanted to watch Despicable Me 2, so I asked JX along.
JX thought it's awkward for 2 guys to go out like that. So he wanted me to asked more people.
I turned to and asked HH but he said he not free (as he wanted to play mahjong whole day).
So in the end, I told JX the actual fact was that I don't want to stay at home on a nice and beautiful Saturday. Perhaps watching fireworks instead?
In the end, I pulled PG and WX out of their house and decided to have dinner at 김대문 lol~
Played some SGS games while waiting for JX to arrive. Good to see WX getting so interested in the game - next time can play together LOL. Was his first time visiting 김대문 and he was quite impressed with the stall - cheap but quality food! ^^ Felt rather relieved with my suggestion lol...
$5超大份的韓式拉麵
I had ramen ($5) this time round as I already satisfied myself with kimchi fried rice a few days ago. Hohoho... As usual, it was very fulfilling so we decided to take a stroll back to Orchard area. 此時PG被Orchard Central裡頭的Maccha House吸引住。
So, fine. We were ok with having a matcha drink to chill ourselves, so went in to take a seat. But walao, WX and PG kept changing seats until JX and me were quite paiseh leh! 可不可以決定後就不要再換了？
全都不同口味的抹茶
Maccha Latte with Brown Sugar Syrup 加了焦糖的抹茶
Ordered Maccha Latte with Brown Sugar Syrup ($6.40). Not cheap, but definitely cheaper than Starbucks's offering. Taste was so-so. I must admit I'm matcha overdosed these days. ~_~
So while listening to them talking about their ICT (happened during the weekdays) made me wondered why am I so sway to kena xxR... Following the previous day, they were talking about xxB. Life under B was so much better then. Some rants here, lol...
Of course 豈能少了三國殺呢？We played few rounds before the shop closed. Yes, I was the winner for the day! LOL!
7/7/2013 Lazing at home
When realised nothing else I can do when I'm outside, it's time to stay at home.
Had to start preparing for ICT. As usual, planned to bring everything back for ICT. But one thing, the helmet cover went missing mysteriously! Have to buy a new one =.=
Discovered the boots seh-gor (生菇發霉)... spent 40 mins kiwi it until shining shining... 滿身大汗啊！Probably it's the last time it's appearing as super shining shining liao -> later will explain why.
8/7/2013 Lunch with ex-colleagues + Getting ready for ICT
Had a fulfilling lunch with ex-colleagues from IA company. Actually I was in hope to see what is the situation over at the company: whether I could join them as one big family. Glad that everybody is doing well.
Took bus 188 back to Jurong East instead of MRT as bus is more convenient and fast too! Went Chevrons to get whatever is missing for the ICT. Then after that after I got home realised the smart bike receiver sensor rosak =.=
那麼新的東西這麼快壞掉，啞口無言……
9-13/7/2013 2nd ICT
Time flies and it's time to go back for reservist. Had some thoughts about this experience.
1. Admin was so much better than first one which I'm happy. No wasting of time.
2. Communication could be improved though, but it's as good as I could see for my level.
3. The feeling of meeting up of bunk mates was good. Never lonely. Lots of laughter. And I could also see they are a bunch of awesome people - do things properly, move in group most of the time and helped me to carry stuff. For this I'm quite grateful to them. If not, I would have continued a rather bachelor's kinda lifestyle whilst my stay there.
Not I wanted to say this but I can't say the same for you. I don't know what's going on, is it your personality? Or illness? Or something else? I don't know. I did tried to talk to you more, but you don't seem to want to talk to people. Was discussing about you with Paul on the last day. You don't want to open yourself up meant that the rest is having difficulties to mingle with you. As such, they are ignoring you.
Could also see that you don't have much friends both in ICT and outside. You do own an iPhone, but yet no Whatsapp or other social media/IM apps? Technically there is no law saying die die must install these, but it roughly shows to the world how your social life is. Oh yeah, you do read manga, but you aren't discussing manga titles with the rest(?)
我已經是盡力而為了。嚴肅的事情我還是會公私分明，當然是不要看到你出stunt咯……
14/7/2013 PG's convocation and dinner @ Kim's Family Korean Restaurant
Participants:
1. Me
2. Peng Guan
3. Heng Hiang
4. Hui Ling
恭喜恭喜畢業咯！
曾經是Orion的一份子，六年半後又重逢
The only highlight of the day was at evening time when PG completed his convocation @ NUS!
首先要說聲一下：恭喜恭喜畢業了！
Nice of YC to buy me a few 太陽餅, they were delicious! Just the milky version of HK's 老婆餅. After the convocation, we took some pictures outside of the UCC hall, before we headed towards Starbucks @ YIH - HH wanted to claim a complementary drink.
The drink was so-so, some matcha + pudding + ice somemore. IMO, the pudding spoiled the overall taste.
Took bus to Bukit Timah and we had Korean cuisine for dinner. Ordered 자짱면 ($13) for myself and shared a serving of 떡볶이 and 파전. IOne thing about Kim's is that they offer up to 12 side dishes! So what was the taste verdict of these food?
韓國料理佐菜
炸醬麵！東方紅的比較好吃
雞/豬肉石鍋拌飯！還是覺得炸醬麵好吃！ᄒᄒᄒ
파전
떡볶이，這道沒什麼驚喜
For 자짱면, I would say I can't find other shops selling the Korean 자짱면 as commonly as kimchi. So I guess I would pass it, but the gravy was rather watery when it should be more firm and 'sticky'. The taste also not quite to the 東方紅's standard. So I still think the best 자짱면 in Singapore still lies with 東方紅.
For 떡볶이, I can't really taste much out of it. It was okay. HL was commenting that the 떡볶이 we had in Jeju was better than this. How in the world she still remember the taste after 1 month?!
For 파전, it was good! The one I had in Seoul was better as it was 'pan fried'. This was just use microwave and heat it up I guess. But still, it's not soggy, cold nor too thick. Good.
After the Kim's, we went a few shops down the street and arrived at Udders for desserts. Was quite crowded but luckily there were already vacanted seats for 4 of us. :)
Chatted for a while, most were regarding jobs, commitments, CPF, buying house(?) bla bla bla... before we went home. Time really changes the conversation topics among us.
15/7/2013 HL's + JX's convocation
Lent some support to HL and JX during their convocations. Especially JX, when he said nobody come to his convocation, I felt that I should at least go down and give some support lo as I'm quite free + live near.
For HL, her parents and brother turned up. But what's surprising and yet not so surprising was that Sebastian showed up too! That's coz he told HL he'll be in SG during night time (so no time to go convocation in afternoon). But what's no so surprising was that he could have planned this as surprise as they're a couple mah. LOL... Actually, none of my business...
As usual, HH was so free until he attended almost every convocation ceremony liao. =.= Wondering is he on a job hunt?
After everything, we went Food For Thoughts @ Dhoby Ghaut for dinner, together with ZX and PG. Dang, I didn't even know Cafe Cartel had closed down its Plaza Sing's branch. Thought their business there was rather good. The night time 50% offer did attract more people to come in and have some supper before they left for home bah. So I don't know what's the reason. Perhaps rent?
Also, FFT shifted from Queen Street to National Museum of Singapore. Was wondering why the move? Also due to rent? But National Museum of Singapore is not quite accessible leh. The old location was rather good!
So having said that, the first impression I got after I arrived at the restaurant was: OMG, how are you going to survive the business?
Literally the service crew just sitting/standing around, waiting for patrons. The restaurant was rather empty, a big contrast to what I saw or I would have expected. Tsk...
Shared a serving of Full Works ($18) with PG. Loved everything about this dish! A tad pity was that the scramble eggs could be further improved by enhacing the taste, much like what Australian Dairy @ HK would do.
Full works!這個真的飽到鬼醬……
The last activity was chilling at Starbucks @ The Cathay House. ZX suggested the MayBank offer and HH helped us to get the drink. I had hot green tea - real thick real nice! HH，你賺到很多杯了hor？很快又要到12杯了hor？Talked about having some passive income - doing some investments. Calculated before le, just by the salary of my job alone is not enough to live comfortably in SG. I don't mean living in condo though, but HDB with enough savings for the future.
17/7/2013 Super impromptu outing with CC and YD
Participants:
1. Me
2. Chee Chuan
3. Yi Da
This was planned on 16th night, quite last minute, was supposed to meet at JEM for a short meet-up session. But I got stunned by YD, last minute then inform us he got something to buy at Chevrons and pay something at Environmental Building @ Scotts Road. =.= Aiyoyo, next time should have told us before hand so that we could mentally prepare ourselves.
So everything got to change according to YD's schedule. After met up with CC, we walked to Chevrons to find YD there. LOL... He needed to buy almost everything for the mobilisation. Jin kor-lian~
Then we took bus 105 down to Orchard, YD wanted to pay for some rental fees to NEA for renting some venue for some event.
As CC was rushing for time to fetch YX at NUH, we took a cab to NUH then MRT home. LOL... In the meanwhile, I went to JEM to get the legendary Paris Baguette's royal pudding original flavour ($4). Not cheap oh... Tasted like 老伴豆花 though but had a stronger taste to it. The caramel(?) enhanced the overall flavour and it was really good.
Bought 6 boxes of pepero from Korea's Lotte. Why buy so many, because 2 for $1.70 is quite a steal. Somemore it's made in Korea add on to the novelty. LOL! This pepero is much nicer than the Japan
ese Pocky as the chocolate layer is thicker and there are almond flakes on top of it. Very nice snack.
19/7/2013 Thai dinner with PG and YC
Participants:
1. Me
2. Peng Guan
3. Yao Cong
TGIF!
I always love Fridays, especially I'm working! Because I don't have to wake up early next day. As such, I tend to go out or stay up late on Friday evenings.
Had an another impromptu dinner meet-up with the Jurong guys @ Jai Thai Dhoby xChange as PG suddenly had cravings for Thai food. Tsk...
Ordered a small serving of Fried Rice with Chicken Basil Leaf ($5). Not a lot, but it was awesomely spicy! Thumbs up for the shiokness!
Pandan chicken依然那麼好吃
Then for side dish, it was the famous Pandan Chicken ($2 each). One of the nicest fried chicken I had. It's not very the same with KFC where the skin is battered with flour before frying, but rather it's on its own league.
After dinner, went to Spinelli to redeem the free upsize offer. Mocha Spin ($5.60) but upgraded to L size. Nothing much to comment about the drink though. Chatted about NS(?!) while we enjoyed the ambience. Interesting to hear from someone who was from Guards unit. Those were the days...
But the night was still early. We next walked walked around, and walked to Millenia where we had 2nd round of chill session. Went into this a bit Taiwanese feel de desserts shop called 冰變 (兵變的諧音). Interesting name though. Haha...
冰變甜品，忘了是什麼名稱，下面那張芒果口味的還不賴喔
Can't remember what were the names of the desserts we ordered. But the mango one was really good!
20/7/2013 La Kopi with Bay and Choo
I don't usually blog about la kopi. But this one I guess I'd just blog about it lo. Since all others I got blog lo...
Actually most of the updates came from Choo. First of all, he quitted from NTU, which I thought it's a relieve for him bah. Still remember last time the poly people would really complain why universities allocate only 5% of the slots for diploma graduates. After that, they increase the proportion to 25%. However, allocate more vacancies, more people quit! It turns out that there are real reasons behind this.
I don't know the real reasons as I came from JC, but what I can observe is that usually poly people are likely to think that uni is almost similar to poly, but a bit harder. So they tend to bring poly mindset to uni and kena during examinations.
Coz the examination culture in uni is very drastically different from poly. I've heard from poly peeps that the exams in polys were really easy, either the same questions came out or the numbers were tweaked a bit. When you have practised enough doing the past year papers, usually during the real exam, nothing to be scared of.
However, the uni is a whole new level altogether. You'd be lucky if you take up modules which the exam questions do not evolve one. Lol... But I think 90% of the modules do not fall into this category...
...which means you will experience new questions or stunts from the professors! They make everybody panic as they didn't see such questions before one. What's more, the time given was just enough to do all questions with a bit of double checking. Not only poly people, even the JC people do feel the stress.
Then, uni requires constant revision to do well, unlike poly or A level where you still can do a last minute work and go into battle in the exam war. Just considering 'revision', a lot of people already cannot tahan liao.
The situation was that quite a few poly grads quitted school within one year, as they felt that they can't cope with the momentum.
Secondly, after he quitted school, he enrolled himself into some private uni studying tourism and some management thingy. All the best for him lo!
Thirdly, while he's waiting for school to start, he got to work for some money. Presently, he's involved in event planning works which means almost all weekends burnt. T.T
Next, talked about Dominic. Surprised that he don't really check FB. So next time fly to Australia want to find him how to contact him? In fact, this was what I observed as well: it seems that there are a lot of people who don't have an acct on FB one. 什麼階層人士都有份，大學生(還蠻令我咋舌的)、打工仔……A bit hard to socialise lor IMO.
Nonetheless, it was a good catch-up with the Woodlanders.
24/7/2013 Dinner @ Bangkok Jam
Participants:
1. Me
2. Chee Chuan
3. Yi Da
4. Ying Xian
It's no secret that YX and CC are a couple now. Haha... 有時候交往的另一半或許就在你身邊罷了，只是你沒察覺到……
After such a horrid outing last Wednesday, got to do a make-up one and hence we met together for a dinner. 算正式聚會嗎？
As such, we met each other at JEM's Bangkok Jam for a simple dinner. Ordered Chilli Fried Rice ($11) with 2 side dishes: Glass Noodle Salad with Seafood ($10) and Fried Chicken Wings with Fish Sauce Marinade ($9.50), complete with Thai Milk Tea (4.80)
One impression on Bangkok Jam: overrated!
Why?
Firstly, I think the dish are not worth that pricing seen on menu. Why again? Take a look at the side dish, they don't look like they are worth 10 buck dishes. The glass noodles had some seafood, but consisted of sotongs slices, prawns and even crab stick meat! Glass noodles also not ex in first place. So why $10?
For the chicken wing side dish, I also felt it's overrated and don't command the $10 feel. The chicken like skinny skinny one, not much meat. Was a bit disappiointed when this dish was served. T.T
One thing that can save the day was the Thai Milk Tea. 味道好重喔！I highly recommend this one, it's marvelous!
Fried rice was ok, not spicy de. But $11 I would have expected something more - perhaps more exotic or bigger serving. Nonetheless, I was quite full from the meal.
路過NTUC就買了這個只有日本才有的抹茶Kit Kat ($6.10)
泰式飲料
Glass Noodle Salad with Seafood ($10)，味道普普通通
Fried Chicken Wings with Fish Sauce Marinade ($9.50)，這個肉少到又貴～
Thai Olive Fried Rice ($11)
Chilli Fried Rice ($11)，不辣的
Pad Thai ($11.90)，我覺得外面吃可以有一樣味道，但價錢便宜很多
Prawns with Spaghetti in Coconut Base ($11.90)，很大份！
We went to window shop around. Saw this spectacle stall selling specs without any lense or lenses without 度數 one at cheap prices. Yi Da wanted to buy those Korean styles but held back his purchase in the end. Don't know why, but those big-sized specs look better on him lo.
After some window shopping, we went to sip some coffe at Toast Box. Talked about work stuff and suddenly we were on the topic of 靈異事件. I guess YD was interested in this, so 3 of us shared our stories out. I think it was quite scary after hearing from CC and YX. To be honest, I thought YX quite brave liao. If I were her, I would be too scared. T.T From the start till the end, YD was quite attentive to the stories. 都起雞皮疙瘩了說……
25/7/2013 Wolverine + dinner with PG
It's interesting to base the story on WW2 in Japan - seldom movies do that, unless it's a historical film.
The movie was okay, compared to various critics saying the movie didn't live up to the standard. Probably I didn't have any prior knowledge about X-men series bah. Storyline is predictable - good guy wins.
Got confused by Marvel's stories liao =.=
About Alex, quite a chatty guy from NUS mech eng, holidaying and finding jobs for the past close to 3 months, but didn't know he's still a private?! After listen to all loads of his NS stories, I just felt that mine one was so much better, 不能比的. LOL...
Suddenly PG wanted to meet up. Sway... Victor's Kitchen was closed on that day. No choice but to look for other eatery place liao. I suggested why not go Shine Korea which was nearby...
To my horror or to my fortunate in a way, the instant 자장면 selling for $9! I bought the exact same thing for probably less than $4. That's how expensive imported niche stuff are in SG. *shake head*
At one corner, the stacks of banana milk caught PG surprise - 30 cents (instead of $1.20) per pack. It turned out that these banana milk has some dents on the packaging due to poor handling and the expiry date is nearing. So I swept 5 packs at one go. ^^
Dinner @ Bugis. Simple meal - nasi lemak ($2.20), nothing spectacular. Went well with banana milk. Haa~
26/7/2013 Dinner at Commonwealth Crescent
It's PG again - wanted to meet up dinner. OMG, have been going out for past few days. Getting a bit sick of it liao. Haha...
This time round: Commonwealth Crescent.
After meeting with WX and PG, we walked to the exact venue where Coocci comtemporary Japanese food stall is. It is managed by a couple not old looking. Applaud their 創業精神 when they could be typical office workers and enjoying the luxury of air-con.
Chicken Roulade ($5), 愛上那個肉肉的東西，呵呵
Tori Nanban ($6)，賣相不錯hor？
Had Chicken Roulade in noodle soup ($5). The roulade was really really good. Thought the noodles were those wanton mee style, but in reality they were mee sua. Nice too! I love mee sua!
Then we continued our dinner with an ice-cream dessert at Island Creamery @ King's Albert Park. Aigoo...玩三國殺玩到忘記下車，你們很行！ 黑糯米口味獨具特別，依然能吸引住我……蘋果派有一點點新鮮感，味道是ok的……Nutella就有一點點，嗯……還可以改進啦！
27/7/2013 Shi Hao 'wedding' dinner cum K9 gathering
As promised, we, as the 原班人馬, turned up for Shi Hao's 'wedding' dinner. Was quite surprised that he married and got a son so fast! 有些東西是會超出你的預算之中的。當然，還是替SH高興的。
YZ had his sister's convocation to attend so would be late...
Supposed to meet Edwin at Raffles Place MRT but the good news was that he got his family car and could fetch me down to Fullerton Hotel. Thanks Edwin. Chatted about recent happenings to us, glad that Edwin found a job...
In fact, we two were the first among K9 handlers to arrive. Wrote some greeting words before entering the hallroom. *HD over the receiptionist's complment that my words look beautiful, hahah!* 我覺得漢字真的很美，所以都會花心思把它寫美美的。
Subsequently Joseph and SK arrived. Talked about 最近風靡全球的Minion Rush. 被問起怎麼拿到高分，原來Joseph確實有花錢去買coins的。難怪進展那麼神速的說～之後他說會到澳洲度個短假，想到我都想出國去台灣玩的說……
Lots of laughter began after that. SK really knows how to 炒氣氛. I really enjoyed each and every single gathering with this bunch of people. Really made my day! :D
The dishes were quite delicious. The best part of it is that in local culture, the diners no need to spend effort to distribute the dishes among them - everything had been taken care of by the waiter/waitress. And after every dish, the plate got changed to a new one.
TBH, I'm not very particular whether diners should self-service with distributing the food. I can do it myself because I know how much I want to eat. But of course, 一分錢一分貨, if this is the case, then I should expect it to be cheaper than the 服務周到的餐館.
In fact this is my first time attending such event in Singapore. 25年都沒在新加坡喝喜酒，不懂算achievement unlocked嗎？哈哈……也不稀奇，新加坡擺桌不便宜，通常都是請最多兩名（都是夫妻）來出席宴會，而且都是爸媽去的，自然而然自己就沒有機會去咯……
The dinner was a lot downsized and downgraded from a full-blown wedding dinner. No video/photo presentation, no parents around, no cutting of cakes, no opening of champange, a lot of no's...
老實說，我不懂YZ在想什麼，有工不做，只想去玩？考慮到自己目前的‘困境’，自然就覺得說現在是工挑你，不是你挑工。所以有工作機會到來，就要抓緊不放手了。當然他有他的原因和自由，我無權過問。
On the way home, me and Edwin were talking about future. 對他而言，26/27歲結婚不算早，絕對是適婚年齡。然而我們每天都在rat race裡面，盲目追求文憑的成就、盲目追求金錢/物資上的享受，或許會忽略人生基本的另一面——愛情。人人現在都在談女朋友，有女友的就談談她，沒女友的就談理想對象，這些其實都是人生必經之路。但是如果不是26/27歲結婚，30多歲才結婚ok嗎？是不是很老？這個我沒辦法做實驗找答案。時間，它就是不等人的。
因為畢業了，因為工作了，生活上的某些習慣真的要改了。以前還能整日都出門，現在只能約定在下班後去吃晚餐，不然就是週末。都能在以上幾個outing看得出。
談到未來，我自己也沒什麼去想。沒工怎麼想啊？！都沒有錢，什麼都免談！
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