People make plans. It's something that people do so that they can look forward towards their goal in life. And sometimes.. it's to move on from the past. I'm someone with no plans. Many a times I try to maintain the status quo that I have now. You'll never know - changes can be nasty. So yeaa.. that's probably one of the reasons I'm afraid of in life I guess.

Very soon, I'll turn 22 and before I know it, I'll have already disrupted my national service and move on to the next phase in life - studying. Dammit. Time just flies by us without knowing. Somehow I clearly remembered myself in bus journeys to and fro between my house and school, hawking the school library tables to rest, having the choice to eat at whichever canteens and many more. Gah.

Now to think of it, life is so fragile like a ticking bomb waiting for that particular day of uncertainty to arrive. This life that we have could be just this. No after-life or some sort. Scary, don't you think? If I'm just a Mayfly insect that has just 24 hours to live, I'll probably freak out on what I should do. Maybe.. just maybe time moves relatively slower for them. Hmm..

So yes, I need start developing a game plan for myself so that I can achieve what I want in life. But first thing first, I really need to learn to step out there, flap my wings and just venture into the wilderness... Hope I don't get myself bruise too badly when trying!

Posted by Ruben at 3:41 PM | Permalink

Because of the excessive amount of time we have back in our watching towers, I really had a good chat with my fellow men about the company, platoon, politics, anything! One particular conversation was about family background, in which I totally understand. Well.. It's about the whole wealth thing. It's like whenever people ask me where I stay and which block, I will always reply it's near this or near that shopping mall because I really don't know how to say it. The moment I open my mouth and say the word landed property or terrace, they will say "wah, you're rich". I hate that sort of comment seriously, because I don't see myself as one. Perhaps I'm more well to do than most but certainly not rich. I've seen people back in secondary school who are way richer, who own fancy cars, who has a swimming in their house, who travels overseas like a short bus trip to Orchard.

To be considered rich or should I say from high-income family, that would mean your household must be in the top 20% of Singaporeans while middle-income would be 40%. Perhaps this is why I see my family belonging to the latter group, probably in the mid-top tier. My family spending is reasonable, given that we don' spend money on extravagant things like posh cars or go overseas frequently. And even if we do nowadays, it would be somewhere in Asia for a short trip. Expenses are simply too high for a big group of family like mine which has 8 people in the household.

In any case, it's not as if I was born living in a landed property and eat with a silver spoon. My parents started building the business from scratch, we lived in HDB then and pocket money for schooling was simply quite sad. And because of the whole starting up of business thing then, I was put into care with my relative and stayed with them until I was young enough to go to PAP kindergarten. I even used to share a room with my grandparents and younger brother before getting my own room. Well.. One thing for sure I agree that I'm fortunate enough to be where I am now, thanks to them living more comfortably than in the past. And that's the reason why I shouldn't put any more stresses on their finances, and just study local when I can. But it's four years! Geeze, oh my goodness.

Okay, okay. Enough of this oblivion side of me. Haha. Hope no one get offended in any way yah. Peace out!

Posted by Ruben at 12:18 PM | Permalink

I'll be damned. My new bed did not arrived as it was expected to be on Saturday. Heard from mum that it has been delayed till this week Friday. Oh wells, can't wait to start jumping on it like a kid. Haha. Totally need to go find a suitable shelf to put in my room. Somehow there's simply not enough place to put all my things! As a result, most are shelved one side in their boxes that they were in when I moved over in November.

Recently, I tried using the Snapfish by HP to develop some of my ROC photos. It allows you to upload and select photos to print and have them sent over to your house. Well.. I wouldn't say that the photo quality better than those "conventional" means where you bring your SD card to the photo-studio to have them developed, but it certainly removes the hassle of going all the way there just to do so. As for pricing wise, it's pretty okay given that it's 18cents per photo, excluding delivery charge. One thing I forgot was that I realised that I don't really have any free photo frame or album to put all these photos. Was thinking of getting a cork board and have it installed in front of my desk, so that I can simply pin some photos up and perhaps some notes on my goals/aims whatsoever. Idea idea. Hmmm..

All my favourite drama series are coming back this year! Woots. Fringe latest episode just came out yesterday, and I've been catching quite a number of Glee episodes. Quite like it, perhaps due to its music nature. Singapore should totally have show choir as a CCA, something that is refreshing - compared to those boring choir kids standing on the aisle. Catch an episode of Glee, and you'll know what I'm talking about. "V" is another good drama series, that has featured just 3-4 episodes so far and will be starting its premiere again in March. Pretty good remake of the old show, in which it's about aliens coming to Earth appearing to be friendly only wanting to contribute to the human society or is it? Watch it, and you'll know the master plan behind all their actions and how long they have actually been here on Earth.

Enough jibberish, and burning time on this blog. Toodles.

Posted by Ruben at 12:30 PM | Permalink

Oh yes, twenty10 has arrived without really knowing it. I'm still living in the past, sometimes occasionally saying the phrase "next year" when I'm actually referring to this year. It takes time to adjust I guess, similarly to when you are writing down the dates on your documents.

And in a month's time or so, I'm gonna be 22. The last time my age had the same figure in both digits was 11 years ago back when I was in primary school. Now look at where I am. Serving my national service, from simply a recruit to an admin specialist to a section commander. But I must say I have learnt quite a bit from all these experience, being more able to lead in a way and more confident in talking. One of the crucial thing that I've learnt is to know how to code-switch - like using more of Singlish/Hokkien to be able to speak the men's lingo back in camp and not doing so when outside alright. Haha.

Anyway, soon I'll return back to studies by the end of next year. I'll have to start brushing my mathematics and chemistry in order to excel in the fearsome-and-all-too-competitive NUS. Somehow somewhat I'm actually still thinking of heading overseas to study instead, to make an escape. I supposed I can live in solitary there, now that I'm fairly more independent. I'll see about this I guess. Meanwhile, wish me all the best in doing my preparations!

And it's time for some tech-talk, can't wait for Nexus One to arrive in Singapore - it's actually the first built-for-Google phone by HTC. In terms of specifications and functionality, I would say it is fairly competitive against iPhone. And here comes the Apple rumour in which they say that they might be releasing an Apple Tablet computer, pretty much similar to iPod touch just way bigger in size. Hmm... By the way, if you noticed, I have updated the links on the side as well to make it look less cluttered and unorganised. Really don't get why people just like to change their blog urls - simply cumbersome for people on the other end to update. Zzz.

Entertainment wise. We've got quite a number of big names coming down this early year. Boyslikegirls. Paramore. Muse. Kings of Convenience. Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The Killers. Backstreet Boys. What more can you ask just early this year? Whew. I just hope Lady Gaga would come down to Singapore, together with the ultra-funky band Alphabeat like what they are doing now in Europe. Too bad they drop Singapore from this Monster Ball Tour, unlike the previous year's Fame Ball Tour. Bleh. Meanwhile, enjoy the latest music video "Hole In My Heart" by Alphabeat.

Posted by Ruben at 3:10 AM | Permalink

I need something I can dance to,
On and on, spin my world, like a record now
On and on, give me something I can dance to
Something I can count on, on and on,
Spin my world, like a record now,
On and on, I need something I can dance to

And every night I play, it let me,
Can you hear me now DJ,
Just let the music play, just let me
Just let the muic play, let the music play

I could be dancing,
I could be dancing all night,
If you'd play,
I would be dancing,
I would be doing alright,
If you'd play

I need something I can turn to,
Now and then, take me out, out now,
On and on, I need something I can turn to,
Something I can count in,
Day and night, on and on, like a record now,
Out now, I need something I can dance to

And every night I play, it let me,
Can you hear me now DJ,
Just let the music play, just let me
Just let the music play, let the music play

I could be dancing,
I could be dancing all night,
If you'd play,
I would be dancing,
I would be doing alright,
If you'd play

If you'd play,
If you'd play

I could be dancing,
I could be dancing all night,
If you'd play,
I would be dancing,
I would be doing alright (alright),
If you'd, you'd, you'd, you'd play

If you'd play (if you'd play)

I would be dancing,
I would be doing alright (alright),
If you'd play (DJ),

Just let the music play, let the music play,
Just let the music play, all night, alright,
Just let the music play, let the music play,
All night, let the music play,
All night, just let the music play,
Let the music play, alright,
Just let the music play (DJ)

Posted by Ruben at 1:22 AM | Permalink

Let me do a little update on this dying blog of mine. Yes, I've moved over to Loyang area officially. But most of my things are still left in the boxes that they were kept in till today. Just too darn lazy to unpack every single thing. Well.. Just bought a new bed that will be heading my room in 1-2 weeks time. Need to start packing up for the new year!

Taiwan has been a rather fulfilling trip this time. It wasn't as originally planned - like admin just shake leg and relax. Due to last minute changes, I was thrown into a section commander role for a particular section throughout the exercise. Rusty I may be, but it's still fun yah. R&R was fun too, unlike in Thailand where we stay in the Saiyok camp. To think of it, I didn't even sleep over at the room allocated to me. Party all night at Lava in Taipei then went straight to the ops room for duty in the morning. Whew! So yes, that was Taiwan exercise.

And this year Christmas, we really had a lot of presents under that decade old Christmas tree of mine - I'm even taller than that Christmas tree now! Haha. But all the presents were sooo darn practical that I don't even want to mention it here. Sheeze. What to do, so many relatives over my new home this time. So sort of like a house warming party cum Christmas celebration. Haha. As for Boxing Day, it was a whole day with friends for karaoke at the standard Ten Dollars Club - and nope, I still don't really sing. Haha. After that, it was dinner makan with another group of friends at Ma Maison in Central - the Sizzling Hamburger Steak is good but isn't fantastic that you can see the light in the food haven. Caught "Sherlock Holmes" at Eng Wah Suntec after that - a move that I would definitely say worth watching. Still didn't catch my "New Moon" and "Avatar" till date. Blah. Looks like alternative means would be the way to go now.

2010 here I come!

Posted by Ruben at 8:04 PM | Permalink

I hate moving from places to places. My company is shifting to another block in the same camp, while back home I'm moving over to Loyang area. So much packing and moving has to be done for goodness sake. I doubt I even have time to unpack my stuff when I shift over next week on the 25th of November, given that I'll be heading to the airport for Taiwan at night on the 26th. Furnishing of my room will be the same. Had asked my mum to choose the same colour for the interior painting. Just like the way it is now.

Back in camp, I'll need to settle what to be moved over and what to throw away from the existing office. On top of these, I still need to do some ROC preparations! Goosh. This can totally KO me already. Headache. Hopefully, by the time I'm back in Singapore on the 13th December, my house would be ready for Christmas celebration. *crossfingers* The only thing I like about the new home would be that.. well.. I'm now just a little bit closer to Changi Airport! Haha. This means I'll reach home pretty early yeaa.. Lol.

Posted by Ruben at 5:41 PM | Permalink