Happy Birthday Xiang!
Finally some time to update after two weeks. On Saturday, 6th November 2004, I booked out around 12.30pm and fetched Li Xiang to Marina Square, the start of a busy stretch of days I'll recap here.
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The Cellular
On Saturday I picked up Li Xiang and headed to Marina Square for The Cellular. Luckily traffic around the Suntec City circle was light, so I negotiated it easily; rounding circles isn't even in the driving test any more.
Ladder 49
On Saturday I slept until 1pm, then went to Funan to pre-order Half-Life 2: Collector's Edition at $129 while my brother got the standard at $69.90. We had a late lunch at Swensen's; the mixed grill is nice.
Half-Life 2 Gone Gold
Half-Life 2 has finally gone gold after almost three years of waiting, with a planned release of 16th November 2004. The standard edition is S$69.90 and the collector's edition S$139. I'm going to pre-order mine tomorrow.
Driving After 4 Months
On Saturday I trimmed my hair at Everton Park, then drove my mom's new car home after four months away from the wheel. I met Johnson, Jackey and Li Xiang for dinner to mark Johnson's first book.
Life In Provost
On Saturday I woke at 6am and reached Pasir Ris Park by 7.20am for the Provost Unit's 5km Life Run. The cloudy weather was cool for running; without our 78 SOP trainees, turnout would have been thin.
End Of Block Leave
On Friday I had lunch with my family at a Chinese restaurant in King's Hotel. The service was terrible, ignored for 20 minutes with no utensils or orders taken, and only three dishes were any good.
Resident Evil: Apocalypse
I met Li Xiang at Great World City for Resident Evil: Apocalypse, a two-hour film far more action-packed than the first but with a simpler storyline. I still prefer the original Resident Evil; this one ends on a cliffhanger.
My Cousin Enlisted Into Pegasus
On Tuesday I had lunch with my mom and brother at HarbourFront. We tried Noodle Hut, a Shanghainese place; the fried la mian and guo tie were nice, the xiao long bao less so.
Half-Life 2 Packages
Gabe Newell says the Half-Life 2 offers are finalised, with the Steam bundles going on sale next week. Buyers via Steam get the final Counter-Strike: Source immediately, alongside Half-Life 2 and the other games in the Steam offer.
Shit Job
I reached Tekong at 8.30pm and walked to my company line. Up in my bunk, all our food and my liquid shoe polish were gone. Luckily a friend brought cup noodles; only 12 of my platoon turned up.
Familiar Faces
On Saturday I visited my grandfather and auntie in Toa Payoh, months since I last did; I miss them. We had kway chap for dinner, cheap and good at $7.80 for four.
End Of BMT
On Thursday I had my Pass Out Parade, and everything went smoothly, with human traffic far better regulated than on parents' visiting day. Afterwards all of us from Pegasus formed a huge circle around our OC and 2IC.
The Terminal
On Saturday I booked out my earliest yet, reaching Singapore by 8.30am. After breakfast at Hans with my parents, I met Li Xiang for The Terminal at GV Marina, a good film based on a true story.
Live Range
I booked out last night. I was meant to book out again tonight, but the schedule changed: Live Grenade Throwing moved to Sunday, so I book in later at 8.15pm. A very short weekend, under 24 hours.
Garfield
On Saturday I reached Singapore around 12.30pm. I wanted The Bourne Supremacy but couldn't make it, so I had the Depot Road laksa with my family at Alexandra Village. I was so thirsty I drank four different drinks.
Alien vs Predator
On graduation day Thursday I went back to school for breakfast at FC6; it felt weird being the only one in uniform, until more NS guys turned up. Lunch was wanton mee and seafood soup.
SP Graduation Ceremony 2004
My platoon commander must have been in a good mood. My graduation ceremony starts tomorrow at 2pm, but he let us book out today at 8pm and back tomorrow at 8.30pm, more than a full day off.
Catwoman
On Saturday I reached Singapore around 12.15pm. My mom finally tracked down the Depot Road laksa, now at Alexandra Village Hawker Centre, stall 01-75, so I had my favourite for lunch. My mom also bought a Toyota Vios.
Happy 39th Birthday Singapore
Happy 39th Birthday, Singapore! On Friday I booked out at 8pm and had dinner with my parents at Changi Village, the famous nasi lemak. Back home I uploaded the site to the new server, hitting some SQL problems.
New Server
Since 1st August 2004, this site was down for migration to our new server, an Intel Pentium 4 2.4GHz housed at the Pacific Internet data centre. I finally uploaded everything yesterday, so it should all be up and running now.
Brotherhood
On Saturday I booked out early at 9.30am to beat the parents' visiting crowd. I had the famous minced pork noodle with my parents, then met Li Xiang for lunch at Ngee Ann City's MOS Burger.