Sakura Buffet! :D

My ex-cell group had a dinner buffet @ Sakura @ Tampines SAFRA last saturday :) Let me try to re-call my cell members...They're Andrina Teo, Phoebe Sim, Kevin Ho, Johan Teo, Kirk Chew, Farrah Foo and Cheryl Chew...Yup that should be all :D Haha!

Our meeting time: 6.30pm...As usual, 50% of us were late...I was deliberately late because I know coming on time wouldn't change anything and it wouldn't be a gain but a loss to me...haha. So while waiting for Phoebe to come meet us from the west, we went for a game of pool :D

Johan & Myself :)

We had fun :) Especially Farrah I think since it was her first time playing pool...Haha. After teaching her the basic techniques, she was able to hit the white ball at the number ball she wants to hit...Haha. Not too bad :D LOLS!

& Kirk is quite a good pool player man...Just that he didn't pass on his skills to his sister...haha! LOLS :D

After an hour of pool, there were finally sufficient seats for us :D So off we went with our empty stomachs... :D

I was chionging all the food that I only bothered to take a picture of the first plate of food I took...Haha

After about 30mins of sinful, fatty, uncontrolled hungry indulgence came Phoebe who flew down from school far west...haha.

Their sushis really rock man...I especially love the ones with fresh scallop, unagi (eel) and the semi-cooked salmon with a really cheesy sauce :D

I think only the seafood sushis are worth the buffet...the rest are all very normal...with western cuisines and local foods like Chicken chop, Steak, Chicken wings, fries, fried rice, "shark's fin" soup, etc...

Here's a few photos of our enlarged tummies...HAHA!

Kevin, Phoebe & Farrah :D

Me & Johan :D With our unfinished dessert...Haha :D

Yup, we had a great time catching up and chatting and of course, gobbling down food together :D Haha.

Forgotten posts

Here are a few pictures that I forgot to upload and blog about! HAHA!

This one's way back in May 29th I think...I went out with Chor Seng & Guang Yao after food hunt! :D We went to eat @ Mr. Curry in Clarke Quay :D

Had a great time chatting and catching up with each other :D

Food hunt!

Finally, a long lost picture of my section during our Navex in Thailand!! :D

1st day in BMTC HQ

Today was cool :) I met my sea ferry section mates and of course the training section friends as well :) I now have 3 "men" under me...My 2IC Cpl (3sgt to be) Leslie Poh and my 2 ASAs LCP Shaari and LCP Wen Da :D

Opposite our desk is the training section with 3SG Mark Leong, CPL Farhan and 3SG Navin who OOCed 2 weeks before he was commissioned....Haha.

My office is fully airconditioned complete with 2 desktops WITHOUT INTERNET!!!

The guys there are really friendly and cool :D They chat and joke with me readily and they also taught me the stuff I'm supposed to know patiently.

And today, something cocked up and our boss scolded my 2IC & 2 Leopard company commanders for screwing up some "illegal" book-ins into Tekong. To my 2IC, he wasn't scolding yet...just making a point. Haha! Boy is he loud...His display of diaphragmatic contractions and expansions really make a good parade commander. HAHA! Shouting commands for parades should be his job man...LOLS! :D

After book out today I had dinner with Leslie & Mark @ Pasir Ris MRT's subway :D

We had a really cool chat about our colleagues, bosses and our lives. :D While chatting halfway with me they suddenly asked me "Jonavan, you're a Christian right?"
I was like "Yeah! How you know sia?"
"I knew it...can tell la...The whole day you never scold one vulgarity and you don't smoke and club..."
Haha.

This lil' observation by the two of them reminded me how people are watching and measuring us daily. What more Christians? Our every move, sentence and actions will speak volumes of how much our faith in Jesus actually changes us. Ignore the rank, ignore my appointment, they actually respect me for that. So I'm glad that I didn't bring Jesus shame today...Haha. Hopefully my testimony will be the stepping board for their "re-salvation"

Huh? Re-salvation? Yes...Leslie & Mark are backsliders. Both from charismatic, pentecostal churches. Leslie's a worship leader & guitarist like me and Mark is a drummer in his church last time. It really shocks me to see how people can serve in such prominent positions in ministry and still backslide. It really shows that ministry will only be a channel for God to change you if you allow Him to. Doesn't mean serving well on the outside means doing well on the inside.

It takes a good leader to spot that and be that friend and mentor to lead them back into a right relationship with God. Imagine a worship leader who's about to backslide still serving on stage? Whoa...I'm not shooting the church or my dear 2IC in any way...It just goes to show how oblivious and unaccountable we ministry leaders or leaders can sometimes be.

Yup, I hope my remaining 6-8 months spent with them before they ORD will impact their lives eternally; To open their eyes to see once again that the only truth and hope for this life's journey lies not in empty pursuit of worldly things, but in the gratifying quest of being who are made to be in Christ.

Jia You Jonavan! :)

Divine Intervention

Oh those were the days where we had to chiong-sua in FBO + matador, dig shellscrape & fire trenches in SBO, scream "Section, ADVANCE!!!" at the top of your lungs, volunteer each other to collect re-sup for rations and jerry cans, shag yourself out trying to pass SOC and screw yourself up when caught trying to chao-keng.

I'll definitely miss those days...but I'll definitely not wanna re-live those days. I'll also not be living the rest of my NSF life shouting and disciplining recruits and trying to please my CSM & OC for nights out...My new post says that I won't even need my IBA (Integrated Body Armour), helmet, PT kit, field pack and my 10 pack items any longer!! All I need is my smart no.4 :)

My new post is...Tekong's Transport Indenter or something like that. Basically I'm an ADMIN SPEC!! :) WHOO HOO!!! I'll be organising the ferry timings and bus timings from Pasir Ris to SFT to TFT and back. :D

The question is, how did I manage to kio that position when I'm already posted to School 4?? It all started like this...

We all just came back from lunch and were seated sleazily in the lecture theatre waiting for our next lesson when we were given another 30mins break. So...everyone simply laid their heads on the table and slept. Me? I was feeling kinda garang at that time so I decided to exit the lecture theatre and do pull-ups just outside it. That was when I saw a HQ spec with his assistant walking into our lecture theatre wanting to call out his shortlisted candidates for that coveted post.

3SG Aidross (HQ BMTC recruiter) upon seeing the lecture theatre full of sleeping specs and w/o a commander on site decided to wait for the course commander to come back before he went in to call out the privileged, shortlisted few for interview. (I am NOT one of the shortlisted specs)

That was when I initiated a conversation with him...which eventually led to me being his colleague :D Haha...He told me that he already spoken to most of the shortlisted specs and have crossed out most of their names except 3SG Jason Ooi...So we both will be interviewed by 3SG Aidross boss - a retired SAF major. So we booked out for our interview at SFT. So off we went...knowing that Jason and myself have a 50-50 chance of getting this coveted post :D

Upon seeing his boss I simply smiled and talked with him. After speaking a while, I cracked a joke which really tickled his friend and his funny bone...Haha...Mr. Boss was saying how difficult it is to choose between the two of us...So I said "Why not you get the two of us to close our eyes and turn around and then you come and tap the one your prefer. So the one not tapped don't get the post lor...HAHA!" Mr. Boss and his friend burst into laughter...Whew, thank God my joke worked. Haha! Being myself almost always works :)

So after that, Mr. Boss told the 2 of us to go one side while he and 3SG Aidross and another spec discuss who should get the post. So, I chatted with Jason till they returned with another set of questions...and my conversation with Jason went on nervously...Haha!

Finally, they came back with the answer. They didn't want to tell us on the spot actually, but we insisted. And guess what?? I GOT THE JOB!! :D

Mr. Boss then walked over and told us why he chose me..."We need a guy that is good at talking, writing and basically have good PR and one that knows how to keep smiling even when you have to deal with difficult people" With that he pointed at my still-grinning face...HAHA! Thank God he appreciates me being a very smilely person...not many people in the SAF appreciates that. And the two specs who were with him also recommended me :) So yeah!

Jason was really emo, so I shook his hand and tried to console him but to no avail...haha.

Before the interview I was telling God "I can't decide which posting I one...to influence lives as a sec-com or to have a slack post and devote my time to doing other more productive things...So God, You choose. I'll give this post a shot and if I don't get it, then I'll take it as You want me in coy line."

So yup, here I am thanking God for this coveted position. Haha!

AND, I was contemplating getting an Atten C today because I had a very bad diarrhea again this morning. Whew! Thank God I didn't. And thank God I didn't decide to go to sleep like the rest but instead, went out to do pull-ups. Thank God for orchestrating all these man! Hallelujah!

To God be the Glory! :)

Netting some interesting stuff

Came across 2 interesting photos while browsing people's blogs, profiles and webpages...

What a cool depiction of such a true fact

This one's rather amusing...LOLS.

And I came across ANOTHER series of Christianity VS Atheism with Alister McGrath and Richard Dawkins as the protagonists respectively.

I'll once again do research on this series and see what I can learn from both parties...

I'm just waiting for Richard Dawkins to "spar" with Ravi Zacharias man...Ravi Zacharias is one of my favourite apologists...He's really sharp, frank, funny and he illustrates his pointers really well with real-life stories and witty analogies. His writings are really uber "cheem" (For every paragraph he pens, I must check the dictionary at least once due to his usage of really descriptive and strong vocabulary) man...much worse than how he talks. Haha!

For those interested in his words of wisdom, try this series "The Existence of God" by Ravi Zacharias...if you've digested all 6 parts, you'll definitely denounce atheism.