BenLow's blog

In an ultra good mood now. Ops off on monday and tuesday, then leave on thursday and friday. And the day I was back at camp I was enjoying my new anime in the manning office and soccer in the afternoon. Talk about slack. Speaking about new anime... I've now done with all FMP episodes. A special mention goes to FMP Fumoffu: its one of the most hilarious I've ever seen. So now my newest anime would be Blood+, another vampire story (sort of). I seem to like that a lot, after all I enjoyed Trinity Blood, Hellsing etc. Darren... That inconsiderate dude passed me his feverless flu. Kept on coming to my room over the past few days purposely coughing in my face. Coughing, sneezing, running (my nose) and hiccuping have been taking turns tormenting me. Not that I mind actually... It would've been better without, but I heal fast anyways. Well thanks to all those who gave me a birthday shout out for today. Kinda made me guilty cos I haven't been birthday shouting for a long long ti...

Yup I'm finally done with it, that means all the privileges start coming back. I can go up to bunk early, buy stuff from the vending machine, use MP3s and what not already. Its been a tough experience, but after the whole thing you'll feel an enormous sense of achievement. Especially when the OC of the company finally pins the unit badge on your shirt, marking your operational readiness. Ok I'm now quite attached to my new unit, which is 8 Signal Battalion if you don't know. Its a pretty new battalion, so you can't find much about it online. Can't tell you anything else about it I'm afraid. But the people there are really nice, and the battalion is run like a professional organisation IMO. Which means there's none of the infantry style of getting into big trouble and getting many many extra. Whats more the higher ups want the best for their soldiers and take real good care of them. I'm in Alpha Company, and my platoon is called the GS Tac Platoon. Ca...

To the SYC peoples: Hope you guys had fun on your trip! As most of you guys know I've been posted to my new "unit" which is the signal institute aka Stagmont camp. Life's been good, very good. Haven't gotten into trouble, have made great friends quickly, and gotten used to the culture and food there. Well you guys are probably curious about the camp and stuff, but I'm not allowed to divulge anything, even details about people in my bunk, my living conditions etc. Seems like everyones a bit jittery because of MSK. One thing I can say is that what I'm learning has a lot to do with maths, physics and communications. *** My godpa is going off to Dubai to work... Although I don't see him much, I think my bond with him is still pretty much strong. So the next time I'll see him is CNY. No more family gatherings at his place for some time I guess... I think the most fun times with the relatives at my mom's side was spent with him and his family. Well g...

Aite so its gonna be over in about 4 days. I think its tough going off. Although we don't really like the monotony of the life in tekong, or the tekan sessions, or even the time taken to travel there I guess we'll all miss the place a bit, yeah? Was on the train with Wai Lun and Yan Han, two of my section buddies. I could feel the sadness in the air. Not just A level sadness (for them), but also some of the leaving our friends behind kind of sadness. Well the trip to the Singapore Discovery Centre was, in short, a waste. I enjoyed it, yes. But I felt it was pointless. Felt that I could've done something better within that time frame. Oh well, nothing I can do about that now. *** Army Highlights 1. 24km route march Had it in good weather, unlike the school 2 people. The first 12km was more challenging because of the uneven, rocky terrain, as well as the heat of the day. It was the night march (2nd 24km) that I enjoyed much more. More songs being sung, some encouragement goin...

Ok I'm back from Pulau Ubin, and I think all those who attended can say that it was a really great experience not only fun wise but also spiritually. Happenings around the camp will be covered in the next post! *** For now... Aussie time! Day 0 ~ At the airport... Woot how exciting! Airbus 380. Here we go... Day 1 ~ Sydney... At the airport, taking a look at the surroundings, and checking out the temperature. Oddly, it was cold. Although right now Australia is supposed to be going through summer. Hopped on the bus... Time for a city tour! Onto our first destination, MacQuaries Point. This is where the wife of one of the leaders of Australia sat a long time ago. Ok I admit I wasn't paying attention to the tour guide. Its a place overlooking the river and the city. Sydney Opera house. A pretty magnificent sight. Its getting old, but its splendor beats the Esplanade any day. Bridge! I remember in one of the Amazing Races a road block was supposed to be there or something like tha...

Happy birthday mom! Hope you liked the Ajisen dinner we went for. And thanks Gerald for buying that cheese cake for my mom. She liked it a lot. I think she's gonna make lots more yummy stuff for you to eat in future. *** YE Well, I'm 18 now... So went clubbing to just get the general feel of things. Some of you guys may have gasped... But I assure you that I didn't drink, and I just went to see something new! I'll never go again though, its not my cup of tea. So some of of us went down to the Butter Factory, which is quite a small club. Me, Rach, Gerald, Paul and his gf. Nothing much to do there except see people dance (well they at least try to) and look at all the strobe lights whirling around and stuff like that. Jon and Eugene joined us later after booking out of camp for the nat day holidays. The thing that surprised me was that there was a small region in Singapore just dedicated to clubs. All the hoo-hah about Singapore being a conservative society isn't tota...

Wow... Its a special day today, a day to remember all the friends that have been so dear to me. That, to me is what the true essence of a birthday celebration is. Thank you, my friends. This may sound mushy but... I love you all from the depths of my heart! =) Before the birthday reflections, a bit of random stuff that happened before today. *** Family Well, after a long long long long long time, I've finally had a pool session with my bros, and Nat who came over whilst our parents were having cell at my house. Went down to the Billard room to play for awhile, then went to babysit the other kids that came over. Results: Me 4 Daryl 0 Me 1 Darren 0 Me 1 Nat 0 6 match winning streak wooo... After that went to the playground with the young kids of my parent's cell members. Clement, Vanessa and JJ (godbro). Played catching with them, and tried my best not to catch any of them. It was kinda difficult heh. Went back to the house and let them play clubpenguin on my comp. *** YE Sunday ...

Next post is post 300! *** Family Went to watch Harry Potter on friday with my parents at Jurong Point. The movie was fine... If I didn't read the book before I think I would have been less excited about the movie. One major problem was that the final action sequences didn't do justice to the book. There was a lot more happening, and the final action sequence only lasted 15 mins. That part was disappointing. Well, can't wait for the last book! Those who want to borrow from me (yes, I've pre-ordered), please let me know. So far the borrowing list is as such: Daryl/Darren *** My mom went off to Batam the day after the movie (yesterday morning), leaving the rest of us guys at home. Dad did most of the housework such as washing cups, folding clothes etc. He is quite the perfectionist haha. And of course, we ate out. Just one day in and I'm kinda missing the home cooked food. Instead we had KFC in the afternoon, and Ajisen in the evening. Good, filling meals, but noth...

3 posts to 400! *** Family Today I had to do something I never did before: sneak into my own house heh. My parents were out, and Daryl was supposedly at home. I went to the front door and rang the bell a couple of times, but it turns out that Daryl was asleep. Its a good thing I live on the ground floor. So I climbed the fence surrounding the patio and infiltrated my own house. The sliding doors were shut, but thankfully, not locked, and I made it in without anybody seeing me. (I hope.) Wanted to strangle him but seeing that he was so peacefully asleep, I spared him. He is quite adorable when asleep. Lesson: Always bring a key. Or make sure your brother sleeps early at night. *** S03H Results: BCCDD While I'm kinda glad I finally upped my econs grade from E to C, the rest of the grades dropped haha. Well, if I said the papers were super mega bomb hard, I'd be lying. But its true that they weren't easy. GP Maintained it at a B. Can't seem to break the A barrier, and it s...

4 posts to 300! *** Random Ok so while the house has been renovated, I've been up to some thing that most people would probably not do nowadays cos of the presence of an alternative source of entertainment: the comm. But I sat down for a couple of hours... Just to do these: RJGE ex-exco should find this one familiar! It was the present that the ex-ex-exco gave us when they left. Beautiful isn't it? The Sec 3s helped out a bit for this one. Thanks heh. Next one will be a 1000 piece toughie. Oh a joke I heard from Vivek: BenLow: Woo I took 1 year to finish this puzzle! Good right? Vivek: Eh this puzzle only have 50 pieces, and you take 1 year to finish? BenLow: Yeah 1 year. Thats quite good what. Vivek: Huh??? BenLow: Look at the box. It says 2-3 years. I do in 1 year already very fast what. Errrr.... *** Family Renov Pics! My messy desk during the renovations. And covered in cling wrap. The guitars in their protective covering. I got a bed extension. Sofa bed got shifted ...

Lots of things to talk about... But the house is too noisy, the rooms are too dusty, there are a lot more things to do, I'm busy, and I'm lazy. Ok so a short summary should suffice. Happenings in chronological order: 1. Piano Results Merit. 83/100. Good. 2. Bros are back Distractions! But yay they're safe. 3. Schedule change Bye to PSing, bye to gymming. Hello to more mugging and youtubing instead. One day behind for maths practise. Shouldn't be a problem though. 4. Planetshakers Awesome. Nice rainbow. Great worship. People usually go for the experience of large scale band worship. I choose to go for God. Some things I disagree with in the sermon. Prosperity gospel? Not telling new believers the whole picture of what to expect? Isn't suffering one of the parts to Christianity? Lots more reflecting to do about this one. Supper. His song is still in my heart. 5. Worship meeting Songs are more than lyrics and music. They are a combination of a person's heart, soul ...

Kinda happy cos I've been following my schedule and been on task (most of it). Some things to gripe about include my laziness = not going to gym most of the time, and instead replacing it with home done exercises. (Push ups, inclined push ups, sit ups, crunches, stretching etc etc) And the time I spend on PS tends to exceed the expected 2hrs. Other than that, everything's going along great. I should really take some time off to meet some of my friends though. Feeling a bit socially deprived. Planetshakers!!! *** Family Renovations are almost underway... Just a few preparations here and there, shifting furniture and packing my bro's belongings to do before we welcome the contractors in to do the work. The hall's super messy now, and looks like I've got a couple of additions to my room heh. Wondering where I can go to study once it begins next week. Maybe the reading room at the clubhouse? JE library? BB library? We'll see. Twins are coming back tomorrow 6pm, flig...

8 posts to 300! *** Family The house seems awfully quiet now. Getting very fidgety and uncomfortable probably because I'm not very used to there being no noise at all. Typically there'll be sounds of some random MMORPG coming from somewhere in the house, the sounds of an electric guitar, even the sounds of quarrelling. But now its completely silent. The reason: my bros are on mission trip. Good experience for them. Quite a few benefits for me as well. I spent 3 hrs mugging without any disturbances just today, and after this I'm quite confident of going on for another 3 hrs. But I gotta say... I miss em heh. Just isn't the same without them around. Went to see them off. Quite a couple of YE people came down as well. Marcus, JS, Sandra, Felice, Esther and Gerald. Great to see that. Supporting your friend for missions is really good. Pics of Thursday: From left to right: Daryl and Darren (my bros), JS and Marcus. The mission peoples! Bethea, Aunty Lai Mui, Aunty Audrey...