My first day in Officer Cadet School

 While packing my cupboard, I found this essay that I had written while serving my National Service:

 

My First Day in Officer Cadet School

It was 19^th July 1979, the day I was called to serve the nation, to train to defend her. It was a day for me with mixed feelings – to be proud to serve perform my duty as a loyal citizen, but also fearful of the toughness that might inflict on me during training. Thoughts of what the days ahead of me flooded through my minds, some of which I had gathered from friends who were in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF).

I hurried down to the Central Manpower Base (CMB) and found many youths who were lining up. Each of their faces showed different expressions. We were then led into a room where we took an oath. I couldn’t remember what I said but on reciting the oath, I knew that I had to give my life to the nation. It reminded me of the important of an independent nation having her own citizen to defend her. After leaving that room, I was led to a side where an officer clipped a paper badge on my pocket. There, I knew I was posted to the Officer Cadet School (OCS). All I knew was that I will be going to train as an officer in the SAF, who would later call to lead men to be soldiers. Only thirty of us was selected to OCS that day.

We got up a truck and went directly to the General Equipment Base to collect all issued equipment. After this, our journey to SAFTI/OCS continued. When we stepped into the Singapore Arm Forces Training Institute (SAFTI) gate, I noticed the motto of SAFTI – TOWARDS EXCELLENCE. Straight away, I was reminded of excelling in all things. I wonder whether I could make it through in these nine and a half months. Excellency in the army is difficult especially when the discipline is high and moral low.

When we were in OCS, we were placed into various companies. It was lunch time, and I was told by an officer to have my lunch first before reporting to him. At the cook house, we had to queue up food according to platoons. I realized that eating was even restricted and had to be done in an orderly manner. After lunch, I had my hair cut. It doesn’t give me any surprise as I knew what sort of hair-cut I was going to have. I then went to see the Platoon Warrant Officer (PWO) who gave me my room number and issued me the necessary cleaning kits. I then hurriedly changed into Physical Training (PT) kit and joined the rest in their lesson. They were studying the various parts of a rifle. I was at a loss as I was new, but I kept silent. I knew some of the cadets in my platoon and manage to get help from them.  Thereafter, everything we did must be done in a hurry. Such was the life as a trainee in the SAF.

At night, we were told to queue up to collect our pay. I went into an instructor’s office and was immediately fired by the instructor for failing to greet him. I was shouted and scolded with all sort of words, with him showing his ‘pips’ on his shoulder. I answered him by telling him that I was new but he showed no interest at my naïve. It was my first time being shouted, verbally abused and threatened. Later, I was called into another instructor’s office for an interview. Here, again I failed to ask permission to be admitted into his room. He, however, knew that I was new and taught me how to ask permission for entry into instructor’s room. I was told to practice it. After this, he told that in OCS, we had to learn anything fast; great demands were expected of us. He then questioned me on my family background. When I told him that I had no sister (which he questioned me), he answered in a sarcastic manner. He ridicule me on why my parents didn’t like girls. In my heart, I felt what a silly question an officer can ask. Is it my parents the one who decide whether the child is to be a boy or girls? Who doesn’t like to have a family with brothers and sisters? However, I didn’t answer him. He then questioned me whether I like girls or not. I didn’t understand what he meant but I answered that having a girlfriend wouldn’t cause any harm. He then continued to ask me whether I had any. I answered, “No”. He then shouted a question at me, “Why not?”. It made me feel funny that why I should have a girlfriend at this stage – just after studies and transit into National Service; that I should have other commitments than to complete one phase of life after another. I felt like asking, “Why yes?” but I kept quiet. Things began to change when he asked me whether I was in Section 4. I told him that I was in Section 1, and the PWO had put me in the wrong room. Immediately I was fired to get lost.

I was kneeling at the front row, second from the left

In the barrack, I asked my room-mates what were some things that I needed to do. They helped me, but reluctantly.

Lying in bed, various thoughts flooded my mind. Firstly, it’s about the instructors. I admired them for their “pip”. They were able to strive through their cadet training to earn their ranks. Their training were tougher that ours, I presumed. But I also have negative thoughts on them. They seem to press us too hard and made a lot of demands. Next, my mind focus on what my life in the army would be. Will I be able to withstand that training? Will I be able to make through the course? Slowly as I tried to find answers to these questions, I dosed off

****

Alpha last session!

 As always, we had our prayer meeting half an hour earlier before we started the Alpha session. Usually, I come to church very early but waited at the Atrium instead of going into the Grace Chapel where we had our Alpha session.

Alpha last run (today) turn-out

But today, I decided to just go inside Grace Chapel and wait, being the first to arrive other than Karen the church administer and Pastor Julia. Standing in front of the screen, I saw the display of "Welcome to ALPHA".  All the while my mind was just focusing on the words. Then, the prompting came - "I'm the ALPHA & OMEGA". Welcome to ALPHA is welcoming people to JESUS. So, that's what ALPHA is supposed to mean. ALPHA is Jesus, we bring people to JESUS.

Alpha Ministry servants

Today is our last session for this first run of the ALPHA ministry. We had a wonderful time and many new friendship are forged.

My team members, (Danny is second from the right)

This is my team members. Olia was down with COVID, while Gabriel had caught a flu and could not join us today. For my team, we are all believers and so our sharing are mostly testimonies and encounters with God. Praying that they will settle well with their new cells and for Danny, who just came from China last December and joined Riverlife Church is now serving as a Drummer in the Chinese congregation.

Agape!

My fourth COVID vaccination

 I got my 4th COVID vaccination in the morning today at a Pasir Ris GP clinic. As the family will be travelling oversea sometime this year, it will be safer for us with a vaccination.

The doctor, Dr Eugene Kang did the vaccination himself after talking to me. I thought it was to be done by a nurse. As there was only 1 doctor at that time, I have to wait for him to complete his work with a patient before they slot me in. As usual, clinics in Singapore are always crowded. So, I thought I need to wait for a long time. Thankfully, it was only a 10 minutes wait. 

My 3rd vaccination was in September 2021, >1 year ago. So, as what the doctor said, it is good to have another vaccination. (Ah-ha, have vaccination on my birthday!)

Right now, I do not feel any abnormality after the vaccination. My hand are also not painful. I will likely go for a jog tomorrow if there is not effect taking place.

Thank God!

Agape - God's love be with you! 

Running Activities in March 2023

 Busy running!

This is perhaps "the most run" month that I had ever achieved. Some days, I did not bring my phone to record to running mileage, so it could be more. Also, I have been doing many 12km runs during the days which wears me out and make me very tired daily. 

No wonder I ended up with many black toes on both legs. Some are still yet to recover, as you can see!

Black toes are like the rights of passage as one transit from one running level to the next higher level. I feel that I have been more consistent in running a bit faster. But my right knee joint seem to be slight painful and so I am scaling back.

Time to re-think my running plan and schedule for April 2023!

Blessings

How likely are you to be scammed?

 Today, The Strait Times published an article about people being scammed and the top 5 types of scamming methods

Scamming is a big industries and one should be aware and not fall prey to it. Know yourself, your areas of weakness for being preyed upon is important.

I am unlikely to fall prey to love scams, Job scams, China official Impersonation scams. These kind of scams, I just ignored. As for loan scams, I don't need to borrow money. My likely-hood of being scammed will be internet related scams, such as a false website links which ask you for personal details like credit card number or Bank number. This kind of scam is sometime hard to detect. The internet links and web-page can look very similar to the real one. Once, I was preyed upon and enter my credit card number. Then, about a month later, about 4 British pounds was deducted. I immediately informed my Bank and they blocked my card and issued me a new card. DBS bank was also gracious to refund me the money lost. Thankfully, this incident was a small transaction and taught me a great lesson of never to trust any website. But we still need to use internet transaction with credit card in these era of days. Now everyday or so, I would monitor my cards recent bills to make sure there not fraudulent transactions.

We live in the internet world where thieves take on a new form, no longer physical but through the devices like phone, computer and any digital mode of communications. 

Sometimes, I just long to go back to the simple life of yester-years.

Any experience of encountering scams?

Blessings

Back to Singapore Bible College Library

 After more than 2 years of hiatus, I went back to the Singapore Bible College (SBC) Library to look for some books. As my membership has expired, I need to renew it. Being an alumnus of SBC, I could make use of the facilities and resources available, and for enriching myself through reading and learning.

Singapore Bible College classroom, as seen from the Library

A few days ago, I was reflecting and asking God what I should focus on in 2023. I just simply asked for 2 words - one for myself and one for the church's cell group that I was in. The word that I received for myself is "suffering", which come quite unexpected. Maybe, God want me to prepare for something which has not being revealed to me yet. And so, I have started reading and studying on the Book of Job in the Bible.

Today at SBC Library, I decided to look for some reading and study material on the Book of Job. 

An interactive Study Guide on Job - Charles Swindoll

 I particularly like Study Guides written by Charles Swindoll or Gordon Fee. Their writings, books, and study guides are usually reader-orientated kind of writing. 

I also borrowed another book - Application Commentary on the Book of Proverbs. I am journaling my reflections on Proverbs - and also hopefully to compile it  as "A proverb a day, refresh the Soul always!". This thought was conceived in 2019 which I have penned some reflections. Today, as I was packing my bags, I found the notebook with some writings. It encourages me to read them and so, I shall continue to journal on. Hopefully, by the end of the year, I should have put in much work and learning!

Let's press on in 2023 to be strong in tough and difficult times (like Job) and wise in living our lives.

Agape!

Year 2022 Reflection

A few things happened to me this year and off my head, I like to pen it down here as a closing for the year 2022:

1. Alpha facilitating/leading

I have been involving in Alpha since 2019 mostly as helper or co-leader. But this year, I am made a group leader. By leading, I not only have to prepare discussion questions; keep up the discussions in a Whatsapp group; provide encouragement to the participants and listens to their needs. I give a new Bible to a new believer as he shared that he did not own a Bible. Also, one participant in my group got baptized and as none of my group members wanted to attend her baptism ceremony, I have to lead by example and to give her the support by being there. Alpha leadership is mostly pastoral, caring and being a genuine friend to everyone. It is very different from being a helper, which is mostly just “being-there” sort of role. To be a leader, is to do everything for the group. This is how I felt then. Looking back (after everything is over), I learn to give my all in service and not to be petty of the cost and pain. I made some friends by being with them through my care and guidance for their spiritual growth.

2. COVID-19 Positive

2022 started still in the midst of a COVID-19 pandemic. And, this year I took my third jab in March. In July, I was at a big gathering of a Baptism Service and that was when I caught the virus when the Antigen Rapid Test (ART) for COVID showed positive. Funny thing was that I didn’t suspect of getting COVID even though I was having a bit of soft throat and running nose. I took the test after my wife suggested it. Thank God, there was no fever or serious fatigue whatsoever and I just confined myself to the study room for 7 days which the ART eventually showed negative! But, it was a good experience to feel what it is like for me to have COVID virus. It will be different for others depending on their health and fitness lever to combat the virus, I guess.

3. Lost of cards

This is the first time that I ever lost my Credit Card and Passion Card. Thankfully, I realized the lost immediately and make the call to the card providers to cancel them, without incurring any stolen money. The credit card replacement was fast and easy, thanks to the superb customer service of DBS (Development Bank of Singapore). To get a replacement, I went to Tampines Bus Interchange and got my new card in less than 10 minutes with a penalty charge of $16. The lesson I learnt here is to be focus and not to be distracted when I am doing anything, which led to my misplace of the wallet containing the 2 cards.

4. Running the Half Marathon

In December 2022, Standard Chartered re-open their Singapore Marathon and even though it was raining in the morning, the run kick off after an hour of delay. It felt good to once again able to participate in the run. I didn’t train well for it but thankfully, I still complete the whole run. 21km is quite a good distance for me. For the full marathon of 42km, I usually have to walk for the last 10km. Hence, I will continue to just participate in the half marathon in the coming years. This time, I am more determine to do better and to be stronger in my finishing.

There are other more things that shape my life this year - God answering my prayers; reading and learning from the Book of Jeremiah & Ezekiel; learning how to invest and trade the stock market correctly. 2022 is also a good year where I put save more money in the Singapore Saving Bonds as the interest rate gets better. Hopefully, all these effort will help me grow wisely both spiritually and financially as well.

See you all in 2023 .... where I will share some of the resolution I want to make changes.

God Blessing be with you!

Car Engine Stalled

 Just when I was almost reaching my house this moring, the car-engine's sign appeared on my dashboard and the car seemed to loose power! Arrhh!!.

I was wondering what has happened? So, I drove around for a while to decide what to do. Stop, switched off the engine. Wait for a while and then started the engine again. Nope, there was some fault. As the car repair shop is next to the petrol kiosk which is opposite my house, I decided to drive there and ask the mechanic.

I left my car with the mechanic and went home, after giving him my phone number. I tried to check on youtube and google to see what is happening and whether anything serious has taken place. 

Hours later, the mechanic called and told me that the spark coils and spark plugs have damaged.

So, sometimes thing happened when you least expected. As I prayed about this, "Why this must happened to me?" Well, be thankful that it happened just when you reach the mechanic and get it fixed for you. Imagine, the car stalled at the expressway! Then, more problems of finding the car agent and calling the tow truck to bring the car to the mechanic. 

And so, I am thankful, the car is fixed within a few hours and not much of a hassle. Although it is painful to pay for the repair.

This is part of life. Bad things can happen anytime. Be thankful and be grateful for any help that come with it.

Agape 

Macritchie Treetop Walk

Surprisingly, even when I arrived at the Windsor Nature Park @ about 1pm today, there were many people going to Macritchie trail. Perhaps, people came in the afternoon because it was raining during the morning. The trail was muddy and slippery.

OK, Windsor Nature Park is connected to the Macritchie Reservoir and nearer to the Macritchie Treetop. I park my car at the Venus Drive Carpark. So, the distance from Windsor Nature Park to the Macritchie Treetop is shorter, about 2.4km.

After parking, the entrance to the park showed 2 maps, (1) the whole central water catchment, and (2) Windsor Nature Park, which is a portion of the whole water catchment area (which include Macritchie Reservoir and leading to the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve).

After walking along the trail, I came across a huge monitor lizard. It definitely longer than 3 feet!

Thankfully, the lizard walked away as we were looking at it instead of coming toward us. Saw some monkeys and cocks along the way. These are common animals in any Nature Parks in Singapore.

As I walk along, the trail was quite muddy due to the morning rain. Some parts were then piled with rocks. Certain areas were renovated with wooden planks and slits for better walking. The trail also branch out to a road at certain area. That was where I saw some monkey coming out of the foliage to look for food. Also, be prepared to climb up and down stairs which can be very steep and long at certain part of the trail. About 500m towards the Treetop, I came to a very steep road and decided to run up.

Finally, I reached the treetop. The path is very narrow and it was converted into a one-direction route. The suspension bridge is quite short. I googled and found that it is about 250m long. It give a good bird-eye view of the water catchment area.

At the exit, it is more steps of up and down. The distance back to the car park is 3.7km!

The return route is a different one-way back for about 2km. Thereafter, it merge to the on-coming route. I reached the entrance of the Windsor Nature Park @2.30pm. Still, there were a few groups of people just making their way into the Macritchie Trial, even though the park is supposed to closed at 5pm!. It took me about one and a half hour just to brisk walk a round-trip with some jogging in-between. Wonder how these late-arrival can complete the trial before the park closed?

As I reached my car, my whole T-shirt was wet. I then drove home with wearing any shirt!

PS: In future hiking, remember to bring extra T-shirt.

Bye!

Christmas Block Party @ Tampines Block 492H

 We had our first Christmas Block Party with the residents in Tampines Block 492E & 492F today! The turn-out was very good and the responses from the residents were excellent.

Pastor David and me helping up in the arrangement before the party

I went there early to help in the packing of the goodies to be given as gift for all attendances. 

It was raining quite heavy even before the event started. Pastor David somehow managed to find a mop and started cleaning the floor! A true servant-leader in action!

Dances, songs, food, and also the Christmas Story were dramatize to help the residents know the true meaning of Christmas. The children had their fair shares of games and every participant took back presents of soft toys.

Children playing games

Presenting the Christmas Story

We had 2 rounds of lucky draws. The first round of lucky draws consist of 20 prizes with some simple gifts of basics necessity like tooth-pastes, washing items, etc.

MP, Mr Baey (in white)

I was standing on the left helping to give out the prizes

The second round of lucky prizes were better. The 3rd to 5th prizes were rice cookers. The 2nd prize was a LG auto-robotic vacuum cleaner. And the 1st prize was a 50 inches Panasonic smart TV! 

I told the wrong thing to Pastor Thomas who was announcing the prizes, that the first prize was donated by the Member of Parliament (MP), Mr Baey. But before Ps Thomas announced that, he clarified with Mr Baey. It happened because, Moses, the coordinator when asking me to help out in giving the lucky draw prizes, said that "The MP, Mr Baey is giving the lucky draws". I mistook him in saying that Mr Baey is donating the prize. What Moses meant was that Mr Baey is coming to draw out the winning ticket numbers for the lucky draws! Thankfully, the mistake was napped in the butt before it was made.

2 things need to be mindful of such events - (1) the rain and wind actually cause some disruption to the games and places. The floor was totally wet. Also, the wind affected the games as we were playing with balloons. (2) There was not enough chairs and most of the volunteers like us had to stand for the 3 to 4 hours.

I thinks the residents enjoyed the food and presentations. Also, the goodies bag and prizes are something that benefit them. Above all, we hope that they could understand the message of Christmas and bring blessings to their lives and loved-ones.

All the volunteers & organizers

Merry & Blessed Christmas 2022!

Agape

Half Marathon 2022 Timing

My pacing for the first 15km was quite good. I managed to maintain at a <7min/km pace throughout. It was the last 6km that I slowed down a bit. My ending was weak and that showed that I did not train enough for endurance and strength.

Among my age group >60 years old, I was ranked 51 out of 196. For a total of 9090 runners for the Half Marathon, I was ranked 3468. I need to work harder for next year!

Managed to look at some of the photos during the run, taken by the organizer:

Just leaving the starting line. I was at the front-center of the camera!  (The guy carrying a sling bag). Hmm...

We were half way through, still dark.

Coming to the end, past the Singapore flyer! (Brighter now! :)

This is at the finishing line. The one at the left of the photo was me!

This is my certificate for the Half Marathon 2022! Just to keep it here so that I can compare it with next year 2023 run and see any improvement.

Bye!

Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore 2022

 After 2 years of COVID-19, the Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore 2022 is back today!

It started with a rain pour before 5am. Thankfully, I was standing inside the sheltered Pen-D. Most of the runners were drenched. 

So the run was push back half an hour but was still drizzling. The run was good and I managed to complete the run without really walking, except when drinking.

A few lessons I learnt from this SCMS 2022 which hopefully will help me to prepare better for future runs:

1. Training run to be longer than 20Km

During my training run, I did the longest and only 20km run 2 weeks ago. So, the preparation was not adequate. Unlike previous years of full Marathon runs, I ran many >26km run. So, it is important to do more 20+km run next years. Also, I should build up strength and speed for shorter run like 12km and 15km.

2. Prepare for wet weather

I carried a small bag today which contain my wallet, phone, a pair of socks and some plastic bags. Unfortunately, it rain today and the bag was not really water-proof. Hence, the sock, which was supposed for me to change into after the run was slightly damped! On hind-sight, I should have put the socks in the plastic bag. The most important part of the body after a run is always the feet, to keep them dry. That's why I brought along a clean pair of socks. But, I couldn't use it.

3. Good Organizing by the Ironman Pte Ltd

The whole run was quite well planned. At the end, they provided very adequate food - bananas, breakfast, icy 100-plus ice-shave;  iso-tonic drinks, health drinks, extra towels and even phot-taking. Today, I brought along a towel, which was unnecessary. Previous SCMS run were not so well supplied. Also, the starting and ending points were at the same locations and baggage collection were there also. This made it very convenient for runners; unlike previous runs which started at Orchard Road but end at the Singapore Padang. Back then, I had to take the MRT from City Hall back to Orchard Road to get my car after the run.

So, I might sign up again for the 2023 run again as the organizing of the SCMS is very good.

No More Wisdom-T

 Gone to the dentist today. And that wisdom tooth was 32 years late to be removed!

Back then, it was surgery. The dentist had to cut through my gum and hack out that wisdom tooth. Bleeding was for days. And so, I did not go back and get the rest of the wisdom teeth removed. 

After such a long time, the adjacent tooth next to the upper right wisdom tooth has a small cavity and dentist suggested that the wisdom tooth be removed. This time it was different. Within 15 minutes - 2 injection and 1 plier was all the dentist needed to get the job done.

And the bill was S$220. With my Merdeka Generation card, I just need to pay S$146, a discount of  33.6% saving. Sometimes, being older is cheaper and easier to get things done.

The bleeding has not stopped yet, after 6 hours. But there's no pain.

Praying that tomorrow, all will be back to normal.

Agape

Done a new Silver Passion Card!

 Surprisingly, I got my refund from Transit Link for my refund of the lost of my Silver Passion Card!

They refunded me on the last day of the month of August! It showed $89.63, which meant that whoever have picked up the card did not use it. As it was more than $80, I could get back my money as was told by the customer reception through the phone.

On Friday, 2nd September 2022, I went to Tampines Bust Exchange to do a new Silver Passion Card.

It was easy and fast which took only 5 minutes for the processing and I got the new card.

I thought I need to come back and collect in a couple of days, but they could do it there and then. Also, all the details are in their account. The only setback was that they could not transfer the money in my EZ link card to my Silver Passion Card.

Thankful. 

--