1 more month to SG, and Brisbane's freaking cold!!!

Yeah it's true, its bloody cold here in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The sunshine state. It's really not suppose to be cold here but bloody hell, everyone is freezing our butts off. Hairul and I are still continuing with our no heater for as long as we hold out. I'm wearing a t-shirt, long sleeve t-shirt, jumper, track pants, two socks and my fingers are cold from typing. Well, then again, it is an experience to be overseas and enjoy (or suffer) the cold weather.

So one more month to my final return to Singapore. The darkside clouds the future. Or more like the economic downturn. Hahaha... I'm not too worried lah just so you guys know, I know God will take care of me, so yeah. And I'm coming back to the hotel industry, so exciting! I can't wait to be back in the hotel meeting people and making sure guests enjoy their stay in Singapore.

And exams are around the corner, 8 days from now, I will be a free man with no exams to study for. Hehehe... As usual, motivation is hard to come by so I hope it comes in time in order for me to do well for my subjects. Just another short post, no interesting stories that I've come across at the moment, but good things need to wait one.

*Oh, I think the fact that Blogging allows me to fulfill a part of me that wants to be a columnist, maybe someday when I can crap more interesting stuff on a daily basis, I might be able to do it! Cheers everyone and happy weekends!*

Defeat & the feeling of losing

Unfortunately, my team and I didn't come out tops, we were second. It was a close fight, too close, and on the line, you might as well say we lost by a coin toss. But there were many underlying factors then I'm not going to mention. In fact I'm going to write about the feeling of losing.

There are a number of ocassions when I felt this way, so here it goes:

1. During Secondary 3, my NCC Specialist Course, I wasn't the top 10 trainee, was 11th!
2. During Secondary 4, didn't get my Master Seargent Rank in NCC.
3. During my internship, I got 3/5 for my performance as an intern in the front office department.
4. During Basic Military Training, didn't get my platoon best though I worked my ass off.
5. During OCS, the fact that my commanders couldn't see past the wayang people.
6. During University, didn't win the Hotel Technology Competition Award.

However, as time passed by, I've overcome those disappointments with other accomplishments.

1. I became a NCC unit drill instructor, or Staff Seargent.
2. Though I was not a Master Seargent, I receive an outstanding commendation for my service NCC.
3. I was the Singapore Receptionist of the Year 2005.
4. I got a Gold for my IPPT in OCS.
5. I was well respected by my peers and they saw me as a leader very differently from my commanders.
6. Who knows? But based on the trends, it seems like something good is going to happen.

So yeah, I'm disappointed at the momemnt, but will be fine tomorrow! Just need to spend some time with my good friends Jack Daniels and Coca Cola. It's gonna be a great night...

Nervous, Nervous, but still managable, thanks be to God.

Hi everyone,

this will be a quick post. Tomorrow, Tuesday, 9th June 2009. I will be having a competition, it's the Holiday Inn Virtuoso Competition, an event created by the Holiday Inn, Brisbane and the University of Queensland. The top three teams of this course (subject) will be fighting for the first prize.

As most of you know, I'm not much of the achiever to want to be the first in anything or excel in school results. However, I've never wanted to win anything this badly before. So obviously I am really nervous cause alot is at stake. Pride. Actually, the only thing at stake is pride. Hahaha... Pride, seriously, I hate that word. Pride on oneself is the downfall of men. Another post for another time.

Anyway, I just prayed to God, and read the Bible, book of Job in particular. Gave me a clearer mind and ease my nervousness. Wish me luck everyone. Ciaoz!

Optimist Versus Pessimist, who are you?

"What do you think?"

Good day everyone, my apologies for taking so long to write a new posting on my blog. Had a huge ass assignment that was due on Tuesday and it took Anthony, Michelle and I a whole lot of sleepless nights to churn out a damn 18,000 word report. So it's Thursday night at 9.25pm and here I've sidetracked from doing a 1000 word case analysis assignment that is due tomorrow at 4pm. You must be wondering why I sidetracked. Well, its mainly because I just had an msn conversation with Michelle about Tuesday's assignment and tomorrow's one as well.

Hmmm, obviously, it's bothering me that's why I'm writing a post (not always the case but often a reason to blog). Remember seeing the glass half full or half empty picture? Well, I know I am mostly a half full person, I have my half empty times, but mostly half full. I enjoy being a optimist because I think life is too damn tough to be feeling upset about anything. I have friends whom flock on both sides, and sometimes it can be quite difficult being an optimist around pessimists. It feels like the darkness is trying to consume the light, one could be a big large roaring fire when there are other fires around, but feel like a candle in the wind amongst the dark world which tries to dims you when you are alone.

"It's easier when there are more around"

Perhaps I'm feeling a little bit tired and upset about being a dim light at the moment. Like the small tea light that you put on the table and you switch off all the lights and it tries to survive. Yet the poetry in it is that one can't help but enjoy the small warmth and glow of the tea light. How does that tea light feel? Using up its wax (as fuel) and trying to stay as bright for as long as it can, until it dies out.

"Couldn't find a nice one, so I headed out to the balcony and took one"

Obviously at this juncture, I have fallen a little into my pessimist side and it sucks. A little bit "moody moody" as Xiaoying likes to put it. She will often just ask me to head to sleep so that I don't rub it off on others. Sometimes I wonder what I am in this world, what am I suppose to do. Get good grades, land a job with insane loads of money, get married, have a couple of children, drive a big car, own a really big house, have a dog, take care of my children, grow old, die.

"He is such a miser! But deep down we love him cause he has a heart of gold"

Gosh, that's not me as everyone knows. I have to say that I was never really born into a house where I had a silver spoon to my mouth and everything I wanted I get. Whatever I wanted, "I" had to go get on my own. I was comfortable and never really needed anything important, I was just contented with what life gave me. Perhaps because of that then, that it seems I am well off, that money is not important to me.

Wealth, finance and money. Seems I've drifted off a bit, perhaps a subject I can touch on at another time. To tell you the truth everyone, right now, I feel alone and sad, it seems that I am alone, no one to share my optimism and join my fire. I feel like the tea light alone, sitting there in the darkness. Is there a thing as being too big of an optimist is a bad thing? Is dreaming too big or being positive a bad thing?


A couple of months ago, a friend of my left work, and before she left, she told everyone she was going to do something big (you know who you are). Most of her friends, from what I heard, told her she was crazy and was thinking too big and that there was no way she will succeed. Spits. Ian spits. She's your friend, can't you guys give her some encouragement! (I am gonna be blast for this but what the hell). When she told me about her plans, I did thought she was crazy as well, but I told her, if she dared to dream, she would have my support. Optimism is white and Pessimism is black. Or is it the other way around?

"It may be those who do most, dream most." - Stephen Leacock

For my friends who are reading this, don't worry, Ian is just "emoing" now and will be fine tomorrow when he wakes up. Now I'm just taking the opportunity to write down stuff when I'm sad. To let you see another side of me. The dimming optimist perhaps. Kudos and God Bless.

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus

Hahaha, laughter and more laughter. Most of you should have either heard about this book or heard about the saying before. It's quite an old book, written about 17 years ago, which means I was only 7 years old (Primary 2). Below the heading of the cover of the book reads "A practical guide for improving communication and getting what you want in your relationships". Hopefully I do not get an email with regards to copyright infringement so I'll tactfully paraphrase what the book is trying to say in general and urge all of you, men and women, young and old, to purchase or borrow the book. It really gives one the insight of how one another thinks. Seriously, men and women, are from different planets. (I believe this book helps to make the world a better place).

(DISCLAIMER TO ALL: THIS IS WHAT I FEEL AND THINK ABOUT WHAT THE BOOK HAS TOLD ME. DO NOT TAKE IT LITERALLY AND IT DOES NOT APPLY TO EVERYONE!!!!)

So... Where do I start? Well, just to be fair, I'll flip a coin, the side of the Aussie 50 cent coin is the face of Queen Elizabeth II, so heads for girls.... Flip!!! Heads (trust me on the honesty and authenticity). So girls, ladies and women, or basically Venusians, inhabitants of Venus. What are you like? Well, to summarise, Venusians are the species that feel the need to communicate and speak to each other, in order to love and be loved. A Venusian feels that communication is an avenue to express their love to others. To not speak to a Venusian or to communicate intimately means they you do not care or love them.


Martians on the other hand, or men, enjoy getting things done, making things right, being responsible and feels the need to make things right to show their respect and love. Martians do not like to be given instructions or suggestions they feel that they do not need. If they feel something is wrong or needs to be fixed, they will sort it out on their own and will ask for advice if they can't find a way to do it. Obviously, these theories are hard to comprehend, therefore, examples are used to make easier understanding.

SCENARIO 1: Ah Beng and Ah Lian (In the book its Tom and Jane, but lets do it the Singlish style) were driving to Ah Seng's house for a party. Ah Beng obviously lost his way when he was circling Choa Chu Kang for 20 minutes. Ah Lian, being a little annoyed and never read the book "Ta Por (Men) come from Mars, Cha Bor (Women) come from Lenus (Venus)", told Ah Beng, "Eh, call Ah Seng la, dunno how to go to his house just call la, paisei/malu (embarrass) for what?" Ah Beng kept quiet and continued to drive. They eventually reached Ah Seng's house, but Ah Beng Tiam Tiam (was quiet) throughout the party and remained silent even when they reach home.

To Ah Lian, this was what she meant, "Daling ah, I lub (love) you deep deep (very much) and can see you need some help, call your friend then we will get there faster (earlier), then you don't have to be angry about getting lost". To Ah Beng, this was what she said, "Tupid (stupid), you stay in Choa Chu Kang still can get lost, just call Ah Seng lah, good for nothing (useless)".

I can see light bulbs lighting up. Basically, gentlemen do not like unsolicited advice, or advice that they do not ask for. So ladies, hold your advice, it might be love on your part, but it's insult to them. Also, when gentlemen are upset (in this case Ah Beng was pissed), they keep quiet, going to what we call a "cave". Which I will cover a little later.


SCENARIO 2: Nurul just returned from work, and had a shitty day and saw her husband Afik. She sits Afik down to tell her about her day.
Nurul, "Sayang, today very tired, I got so much work to do and no time for myself."
Afik," Then quit your job la babe, I'm earning enough what, find something you like instead."
Nurul, "Aiya, I do like my job, just that they keep changing their minds last minute on little things."
Afik,"Then do what you can do lah, don't have to listen to them."
Nurul, "I did that already, sigh... alamak, forget to call macik (aunty) today, she not feeling well."
Afik, "Don't worry, she'll understand that you didn't call."
Nurul, "But I should, I am so close to her."
Afik, "Aiya you scared what, see lah, always so negative, no wonder you always so unhappy."
Nurul: "I am not always unhappy ok!? You just don't listen to me!"
Afik, "What you talking? I'm sitting next to you listening and answering you what..."
Nurul,"Sigh, forget it."

Grins. Remember how I explained then men, when showing love, likes to fix things and offer solutions? Women do not need it. They already know what is the solution they want. They just want to talk about it. They just need you to listen and console them, no need to say so much. Seriously, just hmms, ooo, uh huhs... and the best one and every man's finishing move when talking your lady needs to talk and consolation, "Come here darling, let me give you a hug, you have had such a hard day."

Lastly, I will like to talk about "the Cave". It is a Martian thing but Venusians are greatly affected by it. As mentioned before, Venusians need to talk, Martians on the other hand need to understand that Venusians NEED to talk to feel loved. However, there are times in our lives that men need time alone to reflect. These times can include sorting out a problem or even the need to sort out his feelings. Sorting out a problem is easy because it is usually short term, like stress from work. Sorting out his feelings can take a longer time, reason because men are usually independent beings, to love a Venusian, he gives his feelings and intimacy to her, making him DEPENDENT to her. Martians are uncomfortable with that feeling, and therefore require time to sort it out. That's why women get stressed out when their men are so attentive in the beginning and suddenly seem like they lose interest.

Most of the time, men are just going to their caves to get a hold of themselves. Venusians, afraid of losing their Martians, will try to look for the Martians in the cave. This causes the Martian to runaway and go deeper. The moral of this point is to give Martians their space and give them time to come out of their caves. When a Martian is in the cave, do something else, like shopping, hanging out with friends, go to the gym etc. A Martian will enjoy this time alone and appreciate you for that. But Martians do note that you can't stay in the cave too long. Your Venusians need your attention as well.

With this I end it by quoting a few lines in the book. "Men feel motivated when needed, Women feel motivated when cherished". Go figure. :)

If Ian can cook, so can you.

For those of you who do not know by now, I love to cook! I do it for interest, love and a form of therapy when I am upset. Special thanks to my mum and sis for they spurred my cooking interest with the good foods that they have cooked and introduced to me (I, like many of you, use to only want to eat Macdonalds for breakfast, lunch and dinner). Special thanks also to my two chefs in Temasek Polytechnic, Chef Jasmine and Chef Eileen. And last but not least, Fang Tai! It's the lady that cooks on TV at 4pm in the afternoons during "Huang Jing Lian Hua", she made everything look so easy, with her "shao xu" (little bit) of this and that. And suddenly I realise that all the people that inspire my culinary passion are women. And they say that the best chefs are men.

"That's my Sis on the left, and my Mum carrying Granddaughter Izzy"

Today I'm just gonna put up to recipes, one rather simple and the other a little bit troublesome to make.






Smoked Salmon on Cold Cucumber Salad.

Ingredients:
100g Smoked Salmon
1 Medium Size Cucumber
1 Tablespoon of Mayonnaise
Salt and Pepper to taste

Steps:
Using a vegetable shredder, shred cucumber into 1 inch shreds and mix it with mayonnaise and season with salt and pepper.
Put a tablespoon of cucumber salad onto a Chinese soup spoon, roll a slice of smoked salmon into a shape of a rose and place it on top the salad.
Serve cold.

Seafood Chowder (I used Fish and Mussels for this dish) - Taken from Women's Weekly cookbooks.

Ingredients:

600g boneless white fish fillets
300g mussels
50g butter
1 small leek (200g), sliced thinly
1 trimmed celery stick (75g), chopped finely
100g bacon, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon plain flour
3 cups of milk
3 medium potatoes (500g), cut into 1.5cm cubes
1 cup dry white wine
300ml cream
½ cup coarsely chopped flat leaf parsley
Dinner rolls to serve

Steps:

lace white fillets in a pot fill with water, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered. About 5 minutes later, after the fish is cooked through, remove from pot and leave aside to cool.

Heat up a pot filled with water and bring it to a boil, and put mussels in. After 3 minutes and the mussels start to open up, drain the pot and leave mussels aside. Once cooled, remove mussels from their shells (unless you like to serve it with the shell on).

Heat up large pan or soup pot, melt butter and cook garlic and leek till the leeks soften. Add bacon and celery thereafter till bacon is brown and crisp.

Add wine, bring to boil, cook, stirring occasionally until wine has been reduced to a third. Add flour, stirring for about a minute and add the potato and milk, simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes or until potato is tender.

Stir in cream and add fish (break them up to 1.5 cm pieces as well) and mussels and cook till heated through and season with salt and pepper. Garnish with parsley and served with baked dinner rolls.

Oh well, as you can see, I got time here in Aussie to do stuff like that so yeah, I'll put up my recipe for Jiao Zi (Dumplings) someday, once I sort out how to make the skin. Well for those of you who think you can't cook, can always try, my first attempts, are most of the time, unsuccessful. So try and try again, and you might find some fun and joy in it.

A Story of Humilty

Ah Bang (Hairul) and I were on the way back from the Gold Coast on Sunday and were talking about upbringing. We realised that each of our parents did a good job in bringing us up. They were responsible and provided to us to what we needed. Hairul was from NPCC and I was from NCC (Air) back in secondary school, and discussed that being in a uniform group has mould our characters to what it is today. So let me tell you a little bit about my character development over my teenage life. (Oh I read the blog once through, its long, get a cup of tea or something).

Let us start by turning the clock back to 1998, almost 11 years ago, when I entered Northview Secondary School at the age of 13. In an unfamiliar environment, starting out anew and getting to know new people was rather scary. Believe it or not, I was one of the quiet ones, I kind of dread to meet new people, confidence and friendliness only built up during secondary school. Anyway, Ms Fong, my form teacher then, decided to appoint me as the class chairperson (you guys must be wondering, is he bluffing about being quiet?), and I was like, just because I'm the tallest and biggest/fattest guy in the class means I should be a chairperson? Well, I couldn't say no because I am the type that doesn't like to voice out then. This chairperson thing got my leadership and confidence thing going, I started to learn about responsibility and discipline.

"A numerously commented picture of my secondary school class"

Then came the first Saturday of school. We were all required to go to school on Saturday for CCA (Co-cirricular Activities) open house day, where all the different CCAs, sports club, musical groups, uniform groups came together and try to get us cute secondary one freshies to join them. It was compulsory for everyone to have at least one. I remembered my former CO presenting National Cadet Corps (NCC) (Air), CPT Muhammad, a fierce and scary man. He did a rather good presentation with pictures and things to do in the NCC for the next four years of my life. I thought, hmmm, not bad, but I was reluctant.

I signed up for basketball, cause I loved it in Primary school and it was a without a doubt kind of thing (I stopped going after one session cause I didn't like the coach). It was nearing the end of the CCA openhouse day and as I walked past the NCC booth, 3SG Rina (I think that's her name) gave me a huge smile and said "Come! Join NCC." Now that I thought about it, those three words got me to put my name in the box.

As I stepped into class on Monday, there were 10 people in my class who signed up for NCC! From then on, every Saturday morning was committed to NCC training. We also had to attend camps every year as we got older. The older we got, the longer the duration of the camps became. Fast foward two years later, and now we're in Secondary 3. By the middle of the year, I was a specialist (2nd Seargent/2SG) and very proud and happy to be one. Too proud I guess. Will elaborate later.

At the end of the year, the unit's officers chose five cadets from my cohort to attend the Unit Drill Instructor course. I was one of the five and indeed very happy to attend the course. Eventually we completed the course and we're all promoted to the rank of Staff Seargent/SSG. I definitely remembered who are the other four people that I attended the course with of course, Jason Khoo, Masturah, Zaid and last but not least, my bro Md Ali.

Fast foward again to the following year, Secondary 4. The officers of Northview Air Unit would have by then 2 to 3 months to decide who would become the Unit Seargent Major and the assistant. Both would have been promoted to the rank of Master Seargent. I didn't become one, whether unfortunately or fortunately, depending on one's view. I was utterly disappointed but of course I was extremely happy that Ali became the USM and Masturah was the ASM. But yeah, I had to admit, that it would have been difficult then to decide from the five of us because I believed that if not me, Zaid and Jason would have done an excellent job as well.

At the end of that very year, the graduating cadets would then have the opportunity to join the Cadet Lieutenant (CLT) Course. And it's usually reserved for the higher ranking cadets and usually they will only send two cadets per unit, I was very worried that I could not attend the course. Because at that time, there was Ali and Richard, who was my senior MSG and because he was in sec 5, graduated with my cohort. So I thought of an idea. I decided to work my ass off for my Sec 4 Prelims so that I can get a good score and my officers will consider requesting for a third cadet to attend the course. Not exactly the right motivation to do well for your O levels and prelims, but it worked eh!?

So yeah I did bloody well (I think), and I got a letter in my mailbox one day in November, informing me that I will be attending the 42nd CLT Course. I jumped and cried and laughed. My gosh, I got it! Unfortunately however, Richard didn't attend a course, for what reasons, I am not aware of at the moment. Eventually I attended the course with Ali and we became Air CLTs. At that time, there were already about 8 CLTs in Northview, so Ali and I understood that and volunteered to be CLTs in a new unit at Zhenghua Secondary School.

"Singapore Youth Festival Opening Ceremony 2004"

Ok, I know it's a long post, so you can go have a toilet break, grab another can of beer or go puff a cigarette. But we have come to the main point of the story here, the HIGHLIGHT. The reason why I wrote this post. In a Zhenghua camp (I bet Ali, you are laughing reading at this cause you know what I am going to talk about) probably in 2003, after the cadets have went to bed, I decided to ask Ali the burning question I had in my heart for many years. I asked, "Bro, I wonder why I didn't make it to being a Master Seargent..." And I think, after years of wanting to tell me, he thought the moment was right.

"Bro, the main reason why you didn't become a Master Seargent, was because you were too arrogant/cocky/proud." Ali said. (not sure of the exact words but its close to that). Too proud. I swore I was stunned when I heard that. To me, I thought I was normal you know. So I said, why didn't you tell me earlier? Why wait two years later? He told me that he couldn't find the heart to tell me and that I might end up being angry with him. Nonsense I thought, then again, sometimes, we are afraid to tell our close friends about their flaws, we are afraid that they might be angry with us.

That evening taught me two lessons. Firstly, that I was arrogant piece of crap of a person. I cried by the way, in front of Ali, asking him why didn't he told me earlier. Reflecting from it, I think the effect wouldn't have been as powerful and I might not have understood if I was told anytime earlier. I guess God felt it was time to let me know, so through Ali, got me to be a better person. From that day on, I kept my words, thoughts and actions in check. I would try not to speak too much cause I realise I tend to talk about myself a lot, so I try to ask more about others. And I stopped talking about how good I was as a person or how sucessful I have become unless if it was for a joke or to prove a point of course (Ya right).

About a year later, I was with Mdm Raps (Mama NCC) and Mr Latiff (Papa NCC) in the HOD room during one of the Northview Camps. And I decided to ask them why didn't become a Master Seargent, they looked at each quietly. But I felt bad putting them on the spot, so I offered them my answer, the answer which Ali gave me. And then they smiled at me. Probably in a relief that at last I knew and they didn't had to break it to me (Thanks Ali) kind of feeling.

Ok a little bit of bragging now, but just to prove a point. Ever since then, I've managed to achieve more and understand people better. Today I know I am lucky and blessed for the things I have today and people I know. So yeah, that is my little bit of success and shall stop bragging bout myself.

The first lesson was mainly for myself. The second lesson though is for everyone. Have a close friend that has a really bad point and it is preventing him or her to enjoy life better, to miss opportunities or make the people around them feel awkward? Well my suggestion is, break it out to them gently when you can't take it anymore or to be patient and wait for them to ask, what's wrong with me? They might be upset at first, but if they get what you mean, they will change and forever be in your debt.

"Ali is at the top left hand corner, don't have a proper picture of

him and me cause it's back home and the film type!"

Of all the lessons NCC could have taught me, leadership, discipline, honour, etc. The biggest lesson was humility. Thanks Ali, I'm forever in your debt. God Bless.