Today is the day where my parents are flying off for their intended break/holiday with grans. They would be away for 5 days & back early thursday morning. With that, its only sis & me in the house, duh! Not to mention, having to do house chores & stuffs… grrr especially looking after dad’s plant collection! huhuh, well at least I have his car all to myself now… hehehe. Cousin Gordon, accompanied with his mum arrived at our house in their “boggie van” to give us & particularly the luggage a lift to the airport. Good thing they have a van though, so its like a large space for even 8 people seated comfortably even with gran’s 3 giant luggage cases at the back!

We all chilled out @ a kopitiam cafe in the airport, (contray to Starbucks to suit Granny’s taste) after checking the bulk luggage in at the departure counter. We had a hearty talk, coupled with either the standard coffee, tea & timsum before its time to start departure. (Partly because mum couldn’t get enough of duty free goods, she just have to get in the departures early to shop!)

Executive business granny on the mobile…	Excited Mum & Dad.	Off to the departures!

Now if only granny know how to use Skype, then our international calling costs would definately be so much lower!

Cous Gordon’s family invited us to dinner at their house thereafter where hung out for the rest of the day. Re-knowned is his mum’s fabulous cooking which I’ve always missed & loved since primary school. & she had a 6 course meal to prove it! With that, got to know that Gordon actualy re-signed from his previous job at Microsoft, as he felt the job offered no career advancement opportunities & is looking into the customer/public relations industry for his next job.

The Funny thing is that though this is a holiday short trip my parents are having, this sudden sub-led of “freedom” is kinda interesting. Though independent living is not new to me, considering that I actually did easily spend like 5-6 days to even weeks in a row away from home when I was in the army. This felt different though, kinda unreal.

Update: Just got an sms update from mum that they’ve arrived at their destination safety. Wish them all the best in enjoyment & safety in their trip!

Geoff’s back in Melbourne now, on a flight last tuesday. But I didn’t actually found time to update (because of tests & such) on the gathering last Saturday:

Its the time of the year again when my old classmate Geoffery come through thousands of kilometers back to Singapore to meet up & catch up on time as old JC classmates. The old 5 muskeeteers of St Andrews. The day started with an invitation, the usual gang, Shup, Yingxian, Zongjie & me to Geoff’s pad in celebration of his niece’s 1st month birthday. & everyone’s invited. A mini buffet was held at the corridoor together with lots of fast food (which I could never consume due to my sorethroat & cough) . We ended up booking tickets for Harry Potter through Geoff’s home only to find out how slow & disorganised Golden Village online bookings can be if we were to add additional seats at the last minute. With that saw a change in plans & a cancellation of the resevation at merchant court (our intened place for dinner). Which is too a good thing as it was expensive anyway! In place was the movie & dinner at Marina Square Swensens thereafter.

& man! did Marina Square change alot. But any old timer to the place will instinctively know that its actually still built on the old floor layout, with some minor touch ups, openings & coverings here & there, & did I mention the air-conditioning is like super-new? & brrrr cold too? We had a good chat, not only at dinner but amazingly at the end of everything when we even found a nice camping spot to talk on standing for like 30mins or so before calling it a day due to “last buses” (it was late anyway!). Till then through next year, we will meet again.

Located near Zion road is where the Boys Brigade (BB) HQ is. The class pretty much spend the whole friday afternoon there. Part of the CIP hours programme thingie, most of our time packing boxes clothing, toiletries, foodstuff & toys collected/donated into the Sharity Gift Box 2005 onto pallets going out to various homes such as the Singapore Christian home, Centre for exceptional Children & the Hougang Care Centre. All for a good course of course! We even got 5 CIP hours in return, with very good working altitude in the remarks! whee! Good thing the place is also near my home, so I very much know the best eating places around the vincity for lunch & breaks. Good thing we were there to help out today as they were really shorthanded on manpower & volunteers to cope with the Christmas donation & giving efforts, guess will be dropping by again to help in fortnight or so.

With that, here are some eye candy!

Packed stuff	A salty situation	Thats 4 pallets for the day!

If you would wish to contribute & helpout for a good course for the Sharity Gift box/warehouse this december before christmas, feel free to check out the Singapore Boy Brigade website for details or call 6737 0377. The BB HQ address is 105 Ganges Avenue, Singapore 169695.