Everything I’ve done are usually pre-planned with certain amount of confidence that I can handle. Aidan’s arrival proves to be the first challenge for me, in that it’s out of my usual planning regime. I think I have enough tricks up my sleeves to tackle him, but at times, I’m proven wrong. I had left aside some savings for a child when I started working, it seems more than enough yet somewhat rough calculation forward, it might not be that enough for him. And of course, some other future worries.

But for now, we’ll handle whatever comes as time passes and I’m sure we’ll ride through them

Today we brought him out to Nex. He’s  just a bit fidgeting but generally quiet. He seems very curious of the new world outside of his Hougang home and was nice to leave me and Alice alone whilst we are having a cup of tea at Spinelli (and Alice still managed to get a hair cut finally)

Happy New Year! In a blink of an eye, 2011 has arrived and very soon, our newborn that you had painstakenly blessed us with, will be arriving

You must have been busy “visiting” your believers all over the world over the past couple of week, so I’m not sure if you’ve noticed that I’ve left a voicemail for you to grant me my birthday wishes for the year. I admit, I’m a little greedy. Instead of 1, I prayed for 2 wishes

I know I had not been a good follower all these while, and any email sent to you would probably end up in the junk mail section (together with the millions of junk mail we all received each day) which I know you will read when there is really time on your hand. However, I can understand fully too with the bulk of urgent mails received each day, it can be kind of hard to do it on a consistent basis

Thanks for listening to me recently on some of the updates in my life and placed some small unexpected pleasant surprises in my life. I hope that these frequent surprises would pop up more often in the days to come, especially in the area of my work. As you know, last year ended off with a little rough towards the end and I was really in need of that little short break in the last week of the year

Finally, please don’t think of me as greedy for asking for more favours even though I’ve promised to ask for only 2 favours. I have a few good friends who have started the year seemingly in a rougher road than me so please bless them with more wisdom and faith in whatever their future paths maybe. In particularly to 2 of them: HMZ and DL.

The former, being her health and relationship with the family. She already had it tough in her life journey and without that optimism in life, I really can’t believe such a girl would exist in the world with so much things stacked against her every other day. Despite all these, she still showed immense care and concerns to people around her, always placing others interest before hers (of course, this part doesn’t apply when the health condition acts up, which can be a tough time for me as though it’s handling a spoilt child)

As for the latter, she had a new job and a new work environment which I felt she is happy about. However, she went through a second heartbreak which i initially thought would finally worked out for her. Nonetheless, please bless her with an understanding and mature partner, whom she can blissfully rely on. It can be a lonely world out there at times and more than often, when I’m not with my wife, i felt that void in my life.

Well, thanks for listening so far and for everything that you have done for us. As I start my first ever cruise trip tomorrow, please help ensure Little A would not give Mum A a tough time by somersaulting every other minute. And also not to have a drop too much inside, or else he will have the recurring hiccups again. I know how hard it is on the diaphragm whenever the hiccup doesn’t stop for extended period of time

Till my next post, have a good year ahead!

Regards, Gene

P/S: I also need a little boost in terms of mending the ties with those who for unknown reasons have some 心病 with me…

Actually, things had been a whirlwind the last 3 months. With work to deal with, there’s still the workload of a soon-to-be Dad, to research on some materials and also to complete my StandChart Marathon after a 3 years hiatus.

First up, the Standchart Marathon on 5th Dec. That’s at the start line…

This will probably be my last year doing the 42km race due to the problem of my ankle this time round. The pain was really unbearable at some point that I had to take breaks to massage the ankle. Despite all these, I guess NS training on fast-march did helped me to overtake most of the other runners

At the point of cursing and swearing, this came up…. just before I fast-march under the sun, without shelter for another 1 hr

And finally, the end product, thanks to a friend…

5th December happens to be also the eve of my first year Wedding Anniversary. We decided to have a staycation over at the Marina Mandarin (our wedding venue), with a breathtaking view of the MBS.

As for the little rascal, he is very well still. Just that he is responding well to a particular classical music of Mozart and sometimes the tune of Angry Birds (If you are not sure what that is, go to the iPhone Apps Store and check it out) =P … Weird liking for him..

In case you can’t figure out what’s he doing, he is rubbing his eyes

Don’t get me wrong. I still love my job. It’s just that sometimes when u are so consumed by the rigours and demands of work, you place it in the Urgent & Important category of your life and you just forgotten that life is not just about work only.

“Someone” (yes Denise, I am talking about you ok!) wrote on her blog that because of her retail working hours, many friends had to coincide their lunch hours just to meet up with her at odd hours. I was one of the “victims”. But if I were to leave this planet, I’m sure she would be glad I took the effort to meet up with her at least at that last minute and hear her out, plus letting her know that we are on the SAME boat

But still, I had not been able to meet some other people. Trust me, I did not forget you all. Just that I’ve been needing more time for myself to recover mentally and physically and whatever little time left, I had to prioritise for different people.

Anyway, 2 more months to the end of 2010 and 1 more month to my first wedding anniversary plus Standchart Marathon, I guess I’ll have a great mixed of family, physical and working lifestyle to look forward to.

Major changes are coming for me and I need to search for some answers as to how I want to move ahead in my life. Some have been answered while others are almost there. As the year is coming to an end, I think everything will just be clearer by Christmas

On a side note, I was watching some videos last night on my Tokyo trip pertaining to Disneyland. It was almost a year ago that I went there and it’s the first country and place that constantly beacons me to go back and I’m really keen to go back there next year, probably just me and the wife. The cheeky “rabbit” boy gotta wait I guess, though his air ticket would probably be just 10% of my ticket cost

Of course not forgetting that baby boy/girl had the most intense exercising experience in the pool ever since he/she appeared in our life. It’s a miracle that he/she is behaving so well during this trip. The next aim is to fit in a few more trips in the next 1 year where possible

But well, what done is done. My take is never to lie if people ask about it but if you know something, respect the privacy from the source when it’s obvious not many people know about it still. I think it takes wisdom to be sensitive to other people and many individuals simply lacked that these days *hmph*

…Not the blur soldier but the commander who is stressed by the trainees blurness…

… and have to make sure they pass their IPPT…

.. and teach them simple stuff.. (and now even reservist, I am still teaching them every year when we are back!!!)

and how did recruits feel tired when BMT is like school days camping life nowadays???

4KM route march? hmm.. how come when i start with 24km and then SISPEC 48km??!!!

Something I always enjoy doing myself but stress when supervising the bobo shooters…

This i dread… especially when i have only 4 hrs of sleep in total for a 3 days outfield mission

How I wish we have paintball now for Reservist now…

I think the idea of the a letter from their loved ones is a good idea, especially with the younger generations. Of course, this was unheard of in our time. Like some people had commented, OCS and SISPEC life will be 10x worse shit that what is shown. Still don’t know how I survive through SISPEC in the past…

Like the song says, recruit throw once, we commanders have to endure 50 throws. I take great pride everytime I see how commanders lead by examples and expose ourself for the sake of our men. The camaraderie amongst my reservists sergeants are even much stronger than our NSF days..

SITEST to qualify for Command Schools

The much dreaded SOC

That’s what we do over and over and over again…

Then of course, the long awaited book out day each week. However, seems like the girls just never understand and make some effort to understand what their boyfriend goes through, which is often the cause of low morale in some recruits when they are back in camp

The never easy IPPT…

And what was formerly known as CO Night..

Both other casino require the hotel occupants to pass through part of the casino in order to check in. Talk about purposely luring the occupants to gamble unconsciously sia!!

Only Singapore govt had the power to insist that the casino be separated from the hotel dileberately