Reservist No. 2

I'm going back for reservist tomorrow! Still pretty unsure of what to expect even though this is my second one in two years. All I know is that I'll be marching.

And marching.






And marching.

That's what happens when your unit is participating in the annual SAF Day. Having participated in it during my NSF days, this is one activity I'm really not looking forward to. I'm just hoping to get more book outs.

Packed my stuff already, but I can't stop stressing over whether I've left out anything...

I'll be back!
(After three weeks...)




Query of the day: Why am I not one of those who do not get called back for reservist?

Bad day...

I had a bad day...

First, I had a big quarrel with a friend over a minor issue. Another arguement that got out of hand. What can I do to avoid all these?? Sigh...

In my frustrations, I somehow managed to lose my wallet. It was not until around 15 minutes later that I discovered the lost. Unsurprisingly, I was not able to retrieve it. Having already booked movie tickets for the evening, I ended up missing one hour of the show while making the police report.

Reaching home, I realised that I had omitted my SAF 11B from the police report of my lost possessions. Which means that I would have to make another trip down to the police station tomorrow...

Reaching home, I somehow managed to get into another quarrel with that same person, which was totally not my fault! Once again, it's another small issue which got out of hand...

Arghh!!! This is so frustrating!!

I hate to quarrel. Especially unnecessary ones. And I hate losing my wallet. Sooooo troublesome... Maybe I'm not fated to own a good wallet. My longest-lasting wallet stayed with me for 5 years and it only costs AUD$3. All those that cost more seem to have a tendency to get lost after less than a year.

Oh man...

What a frustrating day!

comGateway deserves 5 stars for their service . . . not!

Online shopping can be easy, convenient, and cheap.

It can also be very frustrating.

Frustrating when the order takes much longer to arrive than promised. Frustrating when the courier service does not inform you of the time they are delivering such that if there is no one around during delivery, you have to wait longer to get your goods. Frustrating when the company managing your order decides to impose silly charges on your order.

I placed a few orders with the ST701 spree service during the end of April and early May. Sad to say, I've been very disappointed with the service. On one occasion, I had placed orders for three items separately under the same spree box. I did not expect any complications since by virtue of the system, they would know the orders are placed by the same person, and it was the SAME box. Imagine my unpleasant surprise when I received emails for separate charges for the three items! Apparently, as the orders are separate, they were treated as orders by different people and hence, packaged as such. An email to the company in charge, comGateway, confirmed the matter. What a dumb decision! Why would I want to package my orders separately and pay extra charges for that? The company did not email me to check if I would like to have the items packaged separately, and there was also no mention of them providing such 'nice' packaging service on their website. It's the equivalent of a restaurant providing one napkin for each course of a three course meal and charging you for each napkin, without telling you they will do so, and without checking if you would like to have this service.

It did not help that I was already unhappy with the ridiculous amount of time they took to deliver my orders. According to the website, 7 to 11 business days is all they require to deliver your goods. My foot! Out of three sprees I participated in, their fastest delivery took 19 business days. My order under my first spree has not reached my over 25 business days! Although they stated on their website that the delivery time is not guaranteed, I still find it unbelievable that they can be so far off their target. Furthermore, after my email enquiry, I was promised my first order (the one above which is still missing after business days, and according to them, was initially misplaced) would reach by the end of LAST week. Well, I'm still waiting.

I've never had such a memorable shopping experience.

A step back in time

I seemed to have taken a step back in time. That familiar layout, familiar metal toilet door... It felt just like my old house...

I've been studying at a friend's house this week. Stepping into his house brought a flash of nostalgia as I surveyed the layout of the house. It is almost exactly the same as my previous house, where I had such fond memories of my childhood. My fears... My joys... Throughout my formative years, till I was 14, that house had been a part of every little step I took.

I did not experience any major life-changing events there, but its precisely the simplicity of my life while I was there that made that place so particularly memorable. Or perhaps it was more due to the the time rather than place. It was a time of innocence, of carefreeness. A time when everything was so plain and simple. A time when friends are friends and mean what they say. A time when I did not have to worry about people misinterpreting what I mean.

Everything was so plain and simple.

Broadway Beng 3

I went for the third season of Broadway Beng yesterday. (Hmmm... Sometimes I wonder if I'm serious about my studies, with my spending time on online shopping, taking time off my revision to watch a play... Haha!)

I was impressed with Sebastian Tan's vocal prowess. Whether it's English songs or Hokkien numbers, he handled them with panache. He also has 3 capable female assistants, and I was particularly impressed with this British one, who was fluent in Hokkien and especially funny in an 'Ang Mo Gao' (literally red-haired monkey, but actually referring to Caucasians) segment about Ah Meng the orangutan.

The main theme was about the cross-cultural influences in Singapore, where East meets West. Hot topics such as ministerial pay, rising rice prices and the influx of foreigners in Singapore were discussed. One of my favourite joke was a reference to Mas Selamat, and how we would not have to fear if he were in the auditorium as there were no intermission and he would not be able to go to toilet. Haha!

Overall however, I was not very satisfied with the play. Some parts were not very cohesive as he 'jumped' from one issue to another abruptly. There were also some segment which were not quite linked to the theme. Quite a number of jokes were also too lame for my liking.

I will be interested to watch his next reinstallment though, as I believe he can do better. (Zed felt that Broadway Beng 2 is better) I shall keep a look-out for it.

Online shopping is so addictive!

I joined the ST701 spree service (www.st701.c0m) recently and have been either shopping or browsing almost everyday since. It's so addictive and I wake up eager to check if my boxes have been closed, whether there are new discounts available. And it's amazing how low the prices can go sometimes, compared to those in retail in local brick-and-mortar establishments.

There's this other site which has also became part of my daily routine - www.zuunbo.com. Started by three local university students, it's got a good concept whereby new items are launched at 12am everyday, where they will be available till 11:59pm the next day, whilst stocks last. I have yet to purchase anything from that site though, because although they have very good deals ($100 Zara vouchers at $75, anyone?), nothing has caught my eyes so far. Well... I'm sure I will find something I like one day, otherwise, saving the money is not a bad alternative!

What have I done?!?

The previous incident is still very much in our minds. Yesterday I managed to achieve an unwanted double. :-(

It's worse this time round because I caused a rift between my friend and one of his best friend. It's hard for wounds to heal when the issue of trust is involved. My delay in relaying the problem to him also resulted in his unwitting aggravation of the issue...

For the first time in my life, I really feel like a jinx / devil-reincarnate.

This shall be the last time.

It must be.

It will be.