Wow, it's been more than a month since I have blogged. The reason is that I have been really busy. The remedial training takes up plenty of time and exhausts my energy. Here's the first installment of the missing blog posts.

Mon 6 Jul

I went to school almost as usual today - almost, because I was dressed in army uniform. I was due to return to camp for a mobilization briefing. Fortunately, I have been moved to top up my colleague's unit, so he gave me a ride to Sungei Gedong camp. We spent a morning there, but were out by lunchtime. The same colleague gave me a ride back to Bedok where he stayed, and we had lunch there before I went home to change out of the uniform, and returned to spend time with Jadon.

In the evening, I went to takeaway some food from Kallang Barbecue at Bedok Central's hawker centre. I couldn't remember the quality of the food, because I think the last time I had eaten there should be when I was still a student of TJC. Some friends told me the food was good so I went to try the mixed grill. I didn't like it. Other than it being oily, which was to be expected, there was too much garlic in the gravy.

Tue 7 Jul

After my morning lessons, I went out with some colleagues to the Ming Kee down the road and had excellent roast pork, char siew and roasted duck for lunch. Nothing like a good meal to boost morale for work. In the afternoon, I happened to pass by Eastwood Terrace (can't quite remember the name of the small mall). I wanted to snack on a donut, and the person gave me one more donut, for free! Apparently, it was a one day promotion in celebration of the birthday of Donut Empire. I finished off with some ice cream from Ice Cream Gallery there, but I think I prefer Scoops at Parkway Parade still. Somehow I think the ice cream from Ice Cream Gallery tastes of too much milk.

Wed 8 Jul

During lunchtime, it was pouring. I suggested going somewhere where the carpark is sheltered and within the same building as wherever we were eating at. Once again, I ended up at Eastwood, but this time at the Hong Kong Street Family Restaurant. We feasted on some dishes and the staple san lo hor fun before heading back to school for our lessons.

Thu 9 Jul

It was a long day in school. In fact, I was buried in work till I had to just grab a quick lunch at the canteen. I did get a bite later from Good News Cafe so that I won't be hungry in the evening. After lessons were over and clearing some further work, I made my way down to Bedok camp for remedial training. Today's session was the first IPPT test, and a chance to end it there. I managed to clear all my static stations, but I couldn't pass the running. Somehow the fifth round is the one that I just couldn't keep the timing I set for myself. Ah well, now RT will be thrice a week. Sigh.

Fri 10 Jul

I went out with some colleagues to 216 market for lunch, and we did a delivery service for many colleagues. After my lessons were over, I made my way to my in-laws' place to spend time with Jadon. For dinner, my wife and I went to eat at Pilcolo, but didn't quite like the pasta. The taste is highly inconsistent, and most of the time it tastes mediocre for the price. The pudding dessert they had was not bad, but the taste had a peculair smell to it.

Sat 11 Jul

My wife and I woke up fairly early to clear some laundry, and we made our way to 216 market for breakfast. I didn't want to eat something too heavy, so I ordered kaya toast from one of the coffee stalls. The stall sells this Ye Ye Kaya, which had received some awards, so I had to give it a try. In all honesty, the toast is much better than Ya Kun's. The toast was very well done, and was of the right thickness. The butter was generous, but more importantly, the kaya was really, really fragrant and good.

We went to my in-laws' place to help take care of Jadon, and in the evening, we went back to 216 market again, and went to try the western food from a relatively new stall Blue Lagoon. I ordered carbonara, and my wife ordered chicken chop. When the food came, I was initially disapppointed because the carbonara looked bad. It looked like cheap spaghetti and the sauce looked like it was made from some Campbell soup stock or something. However, appearances were extremely deceiving, because the pasta tasted really good. It wasn't the most fantastic carbonara I have eaten, and I still don't like the fact that it wasn't served with a yolk on top, but for $4.50, the bacon was generously thrown in, and the taste of the sauce was good. The actual texture and taste of the spaghetti was also much better than it looked. My wif'e's chicken chop was delicious! The chicken was very well grilled. It was tender inside, and the skin was grilled to a nice crisp but not burnt at all. The fries were the wedge kind, like Mos Burger, which was what my wife liked. The salad that came with it was fresh and tasty, so this stall, despite a lack of awards, was a sleeper hit for me.

I think we ate too early, because at night when we were heading home, my wife complained of hunger. We ended up going to Elias Mall to have supper at Hi Sshou. Today, the manager was around, and he was a nice, friendly guy who came to chat with us. I had my usual char siew ramen, and I have always rated the ramen here second to Ministry of Food by virtue of creaminess. The good thing about Hi Sshou is that on weekends, it is opened till late in the night, so for me, it was a good (though a bit more expensive) supper hangout. Especially since we were the only customers at that time. Heh.

Sun 12 Jul

My wife and I had a hearty Burger King breakfast, but we didn't expect that our church kids wanted BK for lunch after service, so we went there again. After the cell group, I made my way down to Bedok Camp for remedial training once more. The only nice thing about RT is that I always manage to make friends, which seriously helps to make it less painful and torturous.

Mon 13 Jul

I had porridge for breakfast in the morning, and for lunch, I went with some colleagues to Bedok Central to eat my staple curry noodles. After lessons were over, I made my way down to Eunos for driving. I was early, so I went to buy a drink at the coffee shop and waited.

And waited.

I called my instructor but no one picked up. I waited a good 45 minutes, and made several phone calls to him, to no avail. I know the man to be punctual, but he was fairly old, and I was worried for his safety. In the end, I dropped him a message and asked about his health, and told him I left after waiting close to an hour. In the evening, he called me back, and apparently, he missed out my lesson in his records, and his student was having a driving test at the time.

So I was worried for nothing. Haha.

Tue 14 Jul

It was a typical day, only busier. My colleagues and I found time to go to 216 market to have lunch (yep, it's our favourite haunt right now), and in the evening, I went to remedial training again. In case you don't understand why I haven't been blogging, this is the scenario. On days when I have RT, I end at almost 9, sometimes a bit earlier. By the time I leave the camp, it's almost always 9 pm, and I wouldn't have had dinner yet. By the time I finish dinner and wait for bus number 14, which always takes forever (i.e. at least 15 minutes) to come, I will reach my in-laws' place around ten or later. I take a shower, and since my wife will be watching the 10 pm show on Channel U, I will watch with her till 11 pm, and help wash up the milk bottles before leaving. By the time we get home, it's around 11.30 pm at least. After resting a while and due to the physical exhaustion, I wouldn't have the energy to blog. Or watch anime or play XBox 360. Sigh. So guys, please pass your IPPT.

Wed 15 Jul

Today was a terrible day. Other than the usual lessons, my level head called for a meeting, which dragged through our lunch period. In the end, I only had ten minutes left for lunch, and even the instant noodles that I was preparing didn't have enough time to soften, so I was practically chewing rubber for lunch.

In the evening, I escorted my wife to the doctor because she was not feeling well. Although she suspected that her fever was due to an infection in the tooth or gum, the doctor gave her two days of MC anyway.

Thu 16 Jul

After having a car, it feels very different to take public transport. Speed wasn't a big factor nor was the waiting time. But at my speed of walking from place to place, I perspired a lot. It was again a long day in school. I went out with my colleagues to 216 market, and I introduced them to Blue Lagoon. I decided to try their sirloin steak, and to my surprise, the cook asked for the level of done-ness that I wanted, which was rare for a hawker stall.

The most amazing thing was that the steak was prepared to the right level of medium rare that I asked for! Even many restaurants either get it too rare or overcooked, but he got it perfect. I was wondering if the guy might have worked at some restaurant originally. Hmm.

In the evening, it was RT as usual, and nowadays I'm a patron of the hawker centre off Bedok Camp thrice a week. Sigh.

Fri 17 Jul

A typical busy day, and some of us made time to go to have lunch at 216 market. This market is our current favourite because there are many choices for good food, and it was very near to the school, so we could be there and back in under an hour usually. Our timetables have been reshuffled to the point that we no longer have such a long lunchtime that we could comfortably go to Old Airport Road as before.

Sat 18 Jul

We spent the earlier part of the day at White Sands, eating at Manhattan Fish Market, which still served pretty good food, and doing some shopping. I wanted to buy a cheap sports watch with a stopwatch function, so we saw a sale at City Chain. I bought a watch for myself and an Everlast watch for my wife since she saw something nice.

Sun 19 Jul

It was another day at church and cell group, and RT in the afternoon. Again, my wife was hungry at night, so we went out to have supper, but this time at McDonald's. Hmm...I think I'm not losing that much fat due to supper even with that much intense exercise that often.

Mon 20 Jul

I had been boycotting Seng Ban Choon stall in the hawker centre opposite school for quite a while, but today, unfortunately, all my usual breakfast stalls were closed. So once again, I went to antagonize him (and be antagonized by his black face) by asking him for chopsticks. I seriously don't understand what his problem is. Who in the world sells takeaway food without providing utensils? And gives the customers attitude when they ask for chopsticks/fork/spoon?

In the afternoon, I went to get a haircut, and spent the rest of the day with Jadon. My Mondays are suddenly more free for a while because my instructor's schedule was so packed that he couldn't fit me in for driving. I don't quite believe it, but anyway, I didn't want so many lessons either since it is, after all, an additional cost.

Tue 21 Jul

I spent the usual day in school, and stayed behind to finish a ton of work until it was time for remedial training once again. RT is getting more and more wearying. After that, I went for dinner with some RT fellow sufferers. I tried the ayam penyet at the hawker centre from the stall Saimah, and it was not bad, but wasn't as fantastic as my friend raved about. The good things out of the RT, I guess, were that I did get slimmer, and made some new friends. One guy in particular had a really peculiar background, and it was fascinating to converse with him. Other than that, I was trying to find out from them more about the current life in university and private sector job market, and what it was like in the universities so that I have a better picture, and I can provide more accurate advice to my current students on their future course and career choices.

Wed 22 Jul

I had a light breakfast in school and a light brunch from the Good News Cafe in school. However, I think the management has a problem. Now, my wife, being pregnant, has certain specific food requests. Hers is not so intense to be called a craving, but sometimes she wants certain things to eat. Good News Cafe offers baked potatoes on the menu, but the tuna baked potato doesn't come with butter while my wife wants butter with the tuna. So I asked the manager if I could add butter to the baked potato. I was turned down! The lady said that the taste does not go together. While I appreciate the good intentions, still, I would have thought it is the customer's perogative to choose. So I insisted, and said that I would pay for the butter. She still declined. I told her that my wife is pregnant, and she specifically requests for the butter. Her response was, non-verbatim, "You have butter at home what. You can eat that." And still would not add the butter! Whatever happened to 'the customer is always right'? My offer of paying 50 cents for that little dollop of butter was good profit to them, in fact. I don't know whether to call the manageress principled, or inflexible. Either way, I don't like the fact that I can't customize my order.

My wife, when she heard this, decided to boycott the establishment altogether. Her response, if she was the one talking to the manageress would have been, "I also have potato and an oven at home. Then buy from you for what?"

For lunch, we coughed up enough time to make a quick trip to Old Airport Road, and had the delicious sliced fish noodles, some dessert and a nice honey lemon drink before heading back to school.

Thu 23 Jul

We decided to have something different for breakfast today, and tried the lor mee from opposite school. It was nowhere near the quality of that at Old Airport Road, but it was decent enough. We needed some variation in the breakfast choices. My colleagues and I were all too busy to drive out to eat, so we went opposite school to grab a quick bite for lunch, and in the evening, I went for RT as usual.

Fri 24 Jul

I had school as usual, and in the afternoon, I went down to City Hall area for my dental appointment. Apparently, my dentist had broken partnership with the original establishment White on Whites, and now has downsized his clinic to half the size and calls it Chris Dental. I was having a toothache for a week because my dentist went on leave, but thankfully, despite not having visited the dentist for more than a year, I only had one cavity. And I know it is certainly not due to good dental hygiene. Heh.

After I was done with the filling, I headed off to Raffles Shopping Centre, then Citilink, then Marina Square for some window shopping. Or so I thought. When I reached Club Marc, I realized that they were still having the $15 promotion! I went in to try a lot more clothes, but in the end, only settled for a pair of three-quarts and a pair of light gray work pants. Passing by G2000, I spotted a sale, and the short-sleeved shirts were going for $23. I bought one, as well as a polo-tee. Then when I passed by Domanchi, my sharp eyes noticed this sign that says "2 for $39"! Usually Domanchi shirts do not come cheap, so I went in to check the clothes. Surprisingly there were still two nice shirts that were my size! I think the bigger sizes were sold out apparently.

Yay! Time to slowly change my wardrobe. Bwahaha!

Sat 25 Jul

I also spent money on clothes today, but not on myself. My wife wanted more maternity clothes, so we went to Suntec and Marina Square. We ended up buying stuff from Spring Maternity and Perfect Mum, and I paid for the one at Perfect Mum as a gift for my wife. In case I do not have time to go buy a gift for her birthday. I was looking for a new pair of black shoes, since the one from Club Marc has the 'tongue' from the right shoe drop off. Ah well, 15 bucks only.

I ended up buying a nice pair of shoes from Hush Puppies, but it needed seasoning because it was a little tight at the toes. We ended up in Crocs because I wanted to replace my old pair of Crocs slippers whose threading was already totally worn off at the heel. My wife spotted something nice, so I bought her a pair on top of my own.

For dinner we headed to Ministry of Food. Today's quality was good, and comparable to the Bugis branch, which we always regarded to have better quality control. The dessert was generous in portion, so dinner was delicious!

Sun 27 Jul

We decided to try something different for a change, so we headed down to Elias Mall to buy breakfast, and munched along the way to service. We had service and cell group as usual, and headed for my in-laws' place to spend time with Jadon. In the afternoon, I went for RT, but made it back in time for dinner.