Back from my 21km historical Army Half Marathon. Did rather well and managed to complete it within 2 hours.

My only complaint (Other than that of aching bones and muscles) is that of the goodie bag collection. I'd enquired with some of the Army participants the procedure for collecting the goodie bags, and was told all I had to do was to present my number tag to collect my goodie bag. However, after queueing for more than twenty minutes, a senior official started calling out that those without goodie bag coupons could not redeem the goodie bags, and I was eighth in the queue by then! Perhaps he should honour their word and give goodie bags to those who were in the queue at that point of time, but disallow newcomers from getting the goodie bags without presenting the coupons. This was not to be, and he sharply turned away three NSFs in front of me, rather rudely, I'd say.

Firstly, there were no signs at the booth or officials informing those in the queue of the proper procedures.

Secondly, They were setting double standards by allowing some in the queue to obtain goodie bags without using the coupons while depriving those who had queued for more than twenty minutes from getting at least a fair treatment. Heck, even Tiger Balm massages were going for free! Point to note for organisers next year: Get the goodie bag issue sorted out!

The AHM provided an opportunity to meet up with long lost mates, such as Heng Wei, Wei Liang, Yong Huat, Sattiish and Wei Xiang.

Went to Yishun SAFRA in the afternoon with Zi Rong, Loren and Darryl for some bowling. The taxi driver who took us there was also from 42 SAR, but that was many years ago.

Dinner was at Europa, a simple affair of Chef's salad, Nasi Goering and Durian Cake. Yummy...

Booked in yesterday at 1900 hours to sleep at 2000 hrs. Breakfast was crossoint, bread, bananas and snow pears. With soya bean milk. At 0330 hrs. Not so much of a 'liquid, high carbo breakfast' that was promised to us. Bus left at 0415. An air conditioned coach at that. Not too bad...

Will be booking in tommorrow for Duty.

Legs are still aching from yesterday's run at East Coast Park. 16 km this time round. Surprisingly managed to clock 1:23:41 despite slowing down after merely 5km.

Our Platoon Cohesion day went on well even though there were minor glitches resulting in a no-show for several company line medics who were unable to turn up for the event at the very last moment due to other commitments. We went to Sakae Sushi at Wheelock Place after booking out at a rather late 1300 hrs. Chong Han joined us for the feast towards the end. Heard he's pretty much enjoying himself at MMI.

Need to prepare myself mentally and physically for next sunday's 21km Army Half-Marathon, so I guess I'll be staying at home for the rest of the weekend...

Will hear more from me next weekend, especially complaints of aching bones and sore muscles...

Cheers.

Okay, after two weeks of absence, I've finally found time to blog in the past fortnight's events:

Saw Loren, Zi Rong and Jian Ming at COMEX on Saturday night, as well as Kah Sin, Wei Ann, Yao Shun and Wei Zhang.

Met up with Loren, Zi Rong and Jian Ming for bowling at Safra Tampines on Sunday, but ended up LAN gaming with JM while the rest went for a game of pool. Point to note: There's a sauna and jacuzzi there.

On 010904, I was at Kranji Camp for my dental filling. It was basically a reunion of old friend, for I met up with Ming Hui, Beng Leong and Wei Xiang. Pasir Laba's Medical Centre is amazingly modern, and is comparable to most government hospitals today. Being early, we trotted off to the canteen, where I tried their signature wan ton noodles and Iced Milo.

A familiar voice called out my name, and turning around, I saw Fish... Um, Lieutenant Fish, that is... He's now at 21 SA. We were soon joined by Ulric, who's in the training and planning wing (Artillery).

030904 to 070904 Army Open House. Was more like Armour Open House though, since my brigade organised the whole event, and my unit was responsible for a third of all exhibits. Thousands of mosquitoes feasted upon us as we covered the Live Firing at Area A (The Safari Ride).

070904 Army Family Day. We were allowed to take a walk around the exhibits. Went to SAFTI MI with Sgt Melvin to view the static displays. Saw Yuan Ern there, in Civis. He said it was his day off...

Intended to try out the Light Strike Vehicle Joyride, but due to time constraints, did not manage to go for it.

Also met a certain Eric from the same Junior College as me. S08. What a small world we reside in. Speaking of which, I also saw one of the guards fellas the following night at CCK's Lot 1. With his girldfriend. I supposed they were on off the following two days.

5 Day work week has been implemented! However, this just means that for the regulars, they no longer need to cook up an excuse for not being present on a Saturday morning. For us NSFs, it means shorter work hours. Where I was once working till 9pm, I can now look forward to 6pm work days, since the directives dictate that we should work from 8 to 6 on all days except Friday (Till 5.30pm).

AHM updates:
Run @ Gedong (Towards Scouts Camp) 080904
10km - 51:15min

Run @ East Coast 110904
14km - 1:19:35

Tried the dinner buffet @ Hotel Negara on 100904 and Hotel Phoenix on 110904. The former was more restricted in variety, but proved itself well with its smooth Laksa and sushi. The latter performed well in the Prawns (which my dad claimed were 'very fresh') and Tempura (Including Soft Shelled Crabs) departments, though the signature prata dish was not as good as I'd anticipated. Oh, and the durian cake was rich and creamy, full of fleshy durains! Yumm....

On off today.