An Endless Stream of Consciousness

FAREWELL ONCE AGAIN T.O.

The time has come again for me to leave the beautuful city of toronto. Too short it seems, the week has been. And though we have done quite a lot of things in such a short span of time, I still can't quite get enough of this place I love.

And so I say again, thank you and good bye Toronto. And to all my beloved friends here, till we meet again...

Christmas in Toronto

So here i am back in Toronto again, something I did not even foresee just 2 weeks back. I guess u could say it is one of the more impulsive things i did, but yet i feel a certain sense of satisfaction this time around. A sense of happiness and relief. I do not really know why, but Toronto has always had a special place in my heart. And i guess it always will. Having spent a huge part of my life here, it was a really welcome sight to see all the familiar streets and places again. And not least of all, the ppl! It was as if I never left T.O. at all.


My old grp of frens from T.O., same as ever :)

Talking to some of my old pals at last night's X'mas dinner, i felt as though I had been in a dream for the past year and a half, as though all that I have gone through during that time hadn't happened at all. Of course I know it is not a dream though.. and it better not be! After all the crap i had gone through in the army.. hiakz. and above all, meeting my dear Cathy along the way. But what i meant was Toronto feels just right. I seriously hope that when I return to my unit next week for ATEC i will not curse and swear at all this irony.


A night view of T.O. from Jamie's window...

anyways, i intend to fully utilise the week that i spend here. in fact we already have a plan all drawn out for every day of the week. sounds a bit rigid i know. but i think with the time constraint limits us to the amt of stuff we would really like to do. Will keep all u guys posted over the next few days...



Me and Cathy @ Eaton's Centre during today's Boxing Day Sale...

59/05 OCC COMMISSIONING PARADE


Finally, after 9 months of tough and rigorous training, I am commissioned as an officer of the SAF! And the feeling can be rivalled by no other... with pro term over 3 weeks ago, the past few weeks had been all about drills and rehearsals over and over again. On parade day (which was yesterday) the 5 most important ppl (mom, dad, sis, gf, bro-in-law) in my life came and that was all that matters. Nothing beats tossing your peak cap up into the evening sky.

Nothing beats marching out onto the parade as newly commissioned officers. Well, maybe some things do. But still, there are very little things in life that provide such an euphoric or defining feeling as each moment out on the parade square. There is nothing much i can say for now. Except "Congrats to my fellow 59/05 OCC course mates... we have done ourselves proud!"

My dearest Cathy & Me on the Parade square...

A view of the 59/05 Commissioning Parade from the stands...

I have received my posting this week...

2LT John Yeong
Battalion Signal Officer
3 Guards Battalion

Really dunno how i should react. To put it simply it is the posting that most of my friends wanted to avoid. First of all, because it is a BSO appt. Secondly, it's Guards. Yes Guards, the underpaid commandos of our country. For all the things that my pals say (i.e. good luck buddy, it's gonna be tough... make more space on ur sleeve for the Guards badge after your guards conversion... you will have ATEC next year... you will be so busy planning for NDP etc...) i choose to hope that things won't turn out as bad as they say. or am i just too stubborn to accept reality? god help me.

On a more serious note, I was in a car accident last nite. Ok. It's more like i was driving in my mom's car and our car collided with this mini lorry that was trying to speed through the corner of a junction. On first sight it looked quite bad, but later on we discovered that our car came out the worse of the two, with one headlight half coming out and the left fender being scraped and dented whilst the lorry had barely a few paint marks coming out. The driver and his gf were really weird and i have a very strong suspicion they were trying to rip us off when they demanded compensation of $300.

I was lucky that my dear Cathy was with me. Her dad told us over the phone not to be cheated and to let him have a look. And he being an expert when it comes to fixing cars (he works in the moto industry), there was no second thought. We stood firm with our bargain (either make a police report, or he can have his vehicle sent to Cat's dad's warehouse for free fixing and repairs. Or even if he wanted compensation we wanted a firm quotation from a neutral. I guess last nite made me realize new things about my dear that i never saw before. She was smarter than i was, and not willing to be taken advantage of even though we admit that we were in the wrong.

In the end, the driver realizing we weren't just 2 dumb youngsters to be picked on, decided to settle it amicably and i really have to praise god that in the end he helped us resolve this issue peacefully. Not a cent was paid and the guy even requested that we do not make a report on this. Feels fishy really. He was so scared at the mention of making a police report. But i didn't wanna go on questioning in the end. Thank god everyone is safe. to my surprise my parents didn't even scold me. They just told me it's all a learning experience. And yes, i guess we are all still learning--especially me, the novice... :P