Income tax

Statement is in.. Payment has to be made.. gonna cherish this one cos from next year on, its gonna look quite different.. just thank God im not taxed 60%..

life in cold lake is coming along.. its summer so weather is nice and warm.. not too humid which is awesome.. feels actually abit like sg.. just more comfortable.. i really miss home.. really miss the food.. really miss my friends, family, mel, church..

but i really have to thank God for the opportunity.. its been an awesome experience.. probably thats why ppl emphasis how studying overseas has more pros than cons.. i think it probably all boils down to independence.. in that problems u face will have to be fixed by u and only u..

one thing i know definitely is that ive put on some weight.. thats ang mo for u man.. had breakfast at humptys and the food was so oily and salty! argh..
so we ended up cooking curry chicken just now for dinner.. awesome man.. miss changi villages' curry fishhead.. cheap and nice..

its raining now.. its not just rain.. its raining hail.. my poor car.. sigh..

cheers to all!
God Bless!
matt

pigs

why didnt they call it the pig flu but the swine flu?

grad in 3 weeks.. but the weather aint that good... hmm... hopefully I can finish in time with room to spare.. cant wait!!

time to go golfing again.. arms and hands aching from yesterday.. played my first 9 holes! haha.. gotta get my irons under control!
6 deg outside and we're still going. thats what i call passion..

cheers and God Bless!
matt

love yellowcard-keeper

beans spilled..

More pictures from the easter trip..

have no idea who they are.. but great fun.. haha

Town of Banff early in the morn aft it snowed overnight.. Nice!

Typical tourists.. haha

On the way to Banff..

Calgary tower with a glass floor.. I wasnt scared la.. :P

everyone is different.. no one disputes that.. so are we more similar or different from one another, discounting the physical side of things?

we all obviously share different values and mindsets to varying degrees.. but why is that so? arent we all brought up in the same education system, watch roughly the same tv shows and movies, listen to the same songs, subscribe to the same Singaporean mentaliy?

i have no answer to that.. all i know is that i strongly believe that how a child is brought up through the years greatly determines how he behaves and lives as an adult..

yes as we grow older, external influences will start to play an exponentially larger role in shaping our thinking and morals but at the end of the day, the cornerstone laid by our parents in our hearts and minds of whats right and wrong will indeed be that guiding compass as to which we'll rely on throughout our lives.. hopefully, life's experiences and lessons will add on positively, not negatively, to that guiding light as we transverse the ups and downs of adulthood and working life..

working life has not been, and will not be easy for me or anyone else.. there will be difficult decisions that will have to be made and hardships along the way..

something i feel i particularly lack and wish to improve on is in the realm of people management.. to my utter dismay, i am completely incapable of reading people's minds.. nor am i able to 'push' thoughts into their minds like in heroes.. haha..

thats life.. :D

God please give me wisdom..
Cheers and God Bless
Matt

p.s. cant get enough of Grapevine fires by DCFC..

Easter

It was a 4 day break for us over here in canada this past weekend.. a good break finally since jan.. had a send off for an instructor on fri and then headed off on what would turn out to be a great road trip.. was 6 hrs of travelling time to Calgary worth it? yes.. its just hard to describe the feeling that i had.. think what made me happy was the food and the big city atmosphere.. something that ive kinda missed for quite awhile since the US trip..

here are some sights from the trip.. remember, a trip to canada isnt complete without visiting the rockies..

so we spent a night in Calgary, Alberta.. we visited chinatown, had jap food, drove and toured around and then headed to one of the pubs to check it out.. had hoped for better but its all still good. sunday was packed.. Calgary tower in the morning followed by DIM SUM!! YUM! next it was some shopping at one of the newest shopping centres and then off to Banff!

a great drive.. Banff is awesome.. on par with places like Queenstown and Tahoe.. much to do, too little time as always.. went up the gondola and then drove to Lake Louise.. korean food that night was good good good.. visited one of the night clubs aft that which was interesting.. haha

Trusty Car brought us there and back.. a total of 1500km..

The view from the top of sulphur mountain overlooking Banff..

monday was all about the drive back to moose jaw.. 7 hrs in a car is no joke..
this trip kinda reminded me of my trip to the US with mel.. sigh.. cant wait to see u mel! :D

Cheers and God Bless!

Matt

so..

looking ahead not forgetting the times passed..

the view of Saskatchewan at FL350. u can actually start to see the curvature of the earth.. haha..

thank God.

God Bless

Cheers!

look up

2 tests over and done with.. 2 more to go in MJ.. this past week has been hectic to say the least..
didnt really do well for the tests but im happy with the passes..
flew to calgary the other day and i must say that it was a great experience.. flying to a busy international airport is awesome..
some pictures from the trip..

Flight planning for the flight.. Like a transport pilot.. haha

IF flying here was quite interesting.. thank God for my ticket!

Nav and form here i come!

Im off to bed..

Cheers and God Bless

Matt

24

Just caught another episode of 24.. Nice as always.. Caught the movie I love u Man over the weekend.. not bad.. Fired Up was better..

Anyway its been windy and overcast today. More like winter. But its officially spring now so im confused.

Anyway this is a graduation video done by one of the courses here.. you should watch.. they made the theme something like the 24 series.. the first aircraft which u'll see is the harvard II which is the prop.. we dont fly that cos we dont do phase 2 so all we fly is the hawk, the second one which is the JET..

Cheers and God Bless!

Matt

Start Go

What better way to mark the end of winter than a revamp of my lonely blog, although i highly suspect that no one bothers to read the rumblings of a guy living far away in a land not really considered hospitable in winter. But hey, its a change! The very first change in fact since the very beginning when i was still in JC during the first 3 months, enjoying life.

How fast the years have passed. It was just like yesterday that i was a little kid in the playground playing with sand, trying to make a stupid castle with whatever i had.. Bliss, not a care in the world. No economic crisis, no planning for the future, no forward thinking required whatsoever. Just that little sand castle was what i had to deal with.

Remember when we were still in school, our parents would tell us how much harder life would be once we started working? That i can confirm, is very true. Thats why no matter how hard sch may be, its still better than being out there in working class society. I would however like to state that this may not be true for everyone. Makes u wonder if u enjoyed sch enough. I think i enjoyed too much. haha..

No matter what life throws at you, be happy. Thank God.
Cheers and God Bless!
Matt
p.s. hope the new template and scheme is nice.. no requirement for awesome. haha

Spring

spring is here and all cheer! Finally i dont need to clothe up like a ball just to go to the gym.. yes!
caught the movie fired up last weekend.. its one funny show.. as what the poster says, its not a cheerleading movie.. haha O M G!

cant get enough of 24.. action packed all the way.. i like..

This is K-OS.. Love song.. well it actually isnt a love song as u'll see.. (hint: to the music industry) haha..

Cheers and God Bless!

Matt

Seasons

The buddies in Moose Jaw now..

On the drive to San Francisco with the sun setting behind us.. awesome drive..

The main shopping district in SFO

New year's in Vegas with thousands of others..

The thousands of others

The walk to the strip from our hotel

What i endured when i returned to canada.. Freaking COLD!! -40 plus that night with windchill

Forgot to mention the snow..

I honestly cannot wait for spring! it was postive 4 today which was awesome with all the sun and all that.. no more full winter kit! (hopefully)

Hope u like the photos.. group holiday anyone? haha..

Study and work hard u all!! :D

Cheers and God Bless

Matt

Push

Watched the movie Push over the weekend.. not bad man. something like heroes which i just realised was showing every monday at 8pm..cant believe.. missed so many episodes already.. anyway push is about humans who have powers trying to evade the company which wants to use them as test subjects.. so they try to elude and at the same time, trying desperately to get to something that will take the company down.. its ur usual plot.. obviously the good guys win.. but there were twists that made it nice.. so there were those who could 'push' meaning influencing ppl into doing things or movers who could use 'the force' to move objects and a whole lot more.. interesting cos i was deciding if i was given a choice which would i pick? Pusher la.. haha..

Wads the next movie thats coming out? Wanted to watch Pink Panther 2 for the last 2 weeks but the guys didnt want.. sigh...

Anyway was watching svc the other day regarding marriage.. its interesting to note the differences between the needs of the male and female in the relationship.. haha.. better copy down notes and study man.. hahah..

Anyway have been listening to alot of incubus lately.. although their latest album came out in 07 it still sounds fresh ah.. One of my fav songs is love hurts.. Listen to the lyrics!

Cheers!
God Bless
Matt

thanks

thanks to all who remembered my bday even tho im around 5000km away.. haha.. good thing was that i got to enjoy my birthday over 2 days.. one sg and one canadian.. so this year is the second year in a row that ive been away for CNY and my bday.. makes u miss all that u took for granted.. like all the food and friends, relatives.. feeling hungry now.. life has been alright to me, although i havent been able to get a single sortie in since 2 weeks ago due to weather.. its actually a great experience.. never did i know winter created so much havoc..

ive been eyeing some watches lately.. with however little intent to spend on those that i really want.. abit the expensive.. ive been wondering why ppl spend so much on this gadgets.. the 3rd watch shown abv is around 20k i think and the tag heuer one is only a concept.. does the value of a sophisticated automatic watch really increase thru the years? honestly, i dont know.. hence i may just get the hamilton watch.. or i may do the right thing and not spend on any watch.. save the money for the future(car or house).. cant believe how much i spend.. sigh..

interesting convo last night with the guys(seems one of them has done his research).. haha.. it seems a built to order HDB flat is around 280k.. not bad what.. i always thought it'll be like 500k.. plus if u're first timer, u can get rebate of 40k? interesting... however there are twice the number of applicants than flats available.. or just add a level in my house.. KIV..

i wanna go to prata house and eat...

i wanna go to UDMC and have seafood...

i wanna go to 85 for supper

i wanna go chompchomp for all the food

i miss sg food...

Think im hungry now.. Off to lunch..

Cheers

God Bless!

The otherside

Christmas has passed, the new year has been ushered in and im back at work.. I must add that the 2 weeks with mel passed a tad too fast.. if only the year away would pass that fast.. nonetheless it was an awesome trip.. a bit hectic but it was all good..

We started off in LA.. Disneyland, Universal studios, Sea World, San diego, Santa Monica, Palm springs, Hollywood and a couple of other places of interest.. LA was great, except for traffic and the airport which sucked quite abit.. i loved the shopping.. pre-christmas shopping is the BEST! shopped at the outlet stores at palm springs and after spending 1 day there, we realised that there was another section of shops that we missed out. sigh. We then made the days drive up to San Francisco along the coastal route 101 which brought us up north.. It was a great drive with lots of things to see and elephant seals too.. haha.. the smell of the fresh air was refreshing and something i miss now..

up in san francisco we toured the city, shopped in the main city centre where there were H&Ms almost everywhere and the Macy's shop looked great.. in the morning we visted fisherman's wharf and the golden gate bridge.. sfo gave u a feel good feeling.. that was what i felt and it was different from LA.. its the vibe ya.. haha..

Vegas was the next stop with all the casinos, lights and other stuff(services).. hahah.. really SIN CITY man.. we visited the red rock drive and hoover dam and did a day trip to the grand canyon.. it was spendid.. weather was great too!! so much better than -30..

then it was the end.. our journey in the states came to an end as i sent mel to the airport to board her plane back to SG.. that feeling really sucks.. something i know all too well.. first when i went to tamworth, then to Brunei, then to Perth and then to canada.. trust me, its not fun.. i really cant wait to be finally in sg..

so how long did i spend time with mel last year=4 weeks.. yes 1 month.. sad right? what can one do? on another note, i guess we are blessed too.. God has given us the opportunity to go on 3 trips so far.. NZ, Thailand and now US.. He has given us technology which has makes it easier to communicate.. Thank God for Skype! haha.. And most imptly, God has given us patience.. I remembered when i first went into the army on 7th Jan 06, ppl told me that maintaining a relationship would be difficult.. It lasted. Then i left for tamworth and they said many would break up. We lasted thru.. Then it was 9 months in pearce and it seemed like no one could keep a long dist relationship alive.. We endured thru.. and now, its 1 year in canada.. u can say im tired of being away from my gf, family, friends.. its obviously true.. but i know this journey has taught me things that i would never have learned or even experienced and with this i think obstacles can be overcome..

how have we made it work? i really dont know.. alot of effort and understanding i guess.. but i think it has to do with sacrifice.. at the end of the day, u will always need 2 hands to clap.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

I love u mel!

Cheers to all

God Bless

Air-con

The hawk.. The plane i fly here in canada..
My first solo on the hawk.. Shiok!

do u prefer the hot or cold climate? i like the cold.. but not the cold that i'm experiencing now.. who would like walking to work when its -20 outside? its even worse with a wind chill factored in.. haha.. but its not that bad la.. stay indoors..hha..

driving ard now is quite tricky with all that snow and ice on the roads.. thank god for traction control and all season tires.. just hope that the weather will clear up and i'll get to fly more.. these 2 weeks have been quite slow with all the weather and stuff..

anyway i cant wait.. 1 more week and i'll be on holiday in LA! cant wait for the rest, cant wait to see mel and i cant wait to tour.. its gonna be tight in terms of time but i thing everything will work out.. gonna drive quite a bit from tahoe to vegas.. passing thru area 51... ooooohhh... scary.. anyway good thing the USD is dropping now so hopefully it'll drop further.. then the trip will be cheaper! haha..

miss singapore tho.. but think the experiences of the past 2 yrs will make me appreciate sg much much more..

going off to study..

im off..

Cheers and God Bless!

Colddddd

It is getting cold.. No doubt.. think its starting to snow outside.. think thats the leading edge of the front coming our way.. Ate some oreo blizzard ice cream just now tho.. haha! ordered a small cup expecting the kind u get in orchard road. Was pleasantly surprised that it was much larger than that.. jialat.. there goes my diet.. there goes all the hardwork i put in the other day.. sigh.. well guess the extra meat would come in handy during the winter survival course and when i go ice fishing.. insulation man! must put it to good use.. well how is life in canada? well it isnt that bad.. bought meself a pair of ice skates and gonna skate once a week.. aim=do not fall down. but i tink kex and i are getting better each week.. next would be to learn ice hockey.. but i dont expect to play that much.. dont wanna get crushed by the ang mos. very rough sport. the only thing i find really nice abt the sport are the fights.. haha funny..

miss sg tho.. especially the food.. miss fooood...

miss mel.. miss my darling(civic).. hahah! miss family.. miss church.. miss friends...

but actually im kinda used to it already.. 1 month in air grading, 3 weeks in brunei, 10 months in pearch and now a yr here.. long time man.. enough said..

anyway heres a song which mel would know, one that ive loved since a yr plus back..

so thats all for today.. Cant wait for dec! !

Cheers and God Bless!!

Its been

a long time since i last blogged.. nothing much has changed actually.. highlights are few.. except for the snow that fell during the thanksgiving weekend.. that was nice.. and cold.. cold... its not actually that fun once it keeps snowing.. but the snowman was cool..

anyway its mel's birthday today and i wanna wish u and big happy birthday darling!! hope u liked the gift.. haha.. took me quite a long time to figure out what was the best.. haha.. not even sure if it looks as nice in real life compared to the picture they provided.. haha.. anyway went to the Swarovski website to compare and they have pretty nice stuff there too ya.. haha.. dont really know so much abt crystals unfortunately.. diamonds better rite? haha..

anyway its gonna be another 1 and a half months to the end of the year.. which also means the 20th of dec is closer.. cant wait for the trip!

walking to work in the morning is tough especially when its in the minus temp side.. no joke.. experience to believe, especially the wind.. the thing is winter hasnt even started yet!! arh!! cold!! thats all for today from the heartland of canada.. where temps are gonna drop to -30 in abt a months time.. where ppl drive huge SUVs ard.. lugging all the stuff ard for i have no idea what..

a random post.. partly due to the randomness of whats going on in my mind..

cheers!!

God Bless!

A new week

Honestly, im really proud of singapore! was watching the qualifying and actual race live on the canadian sports channel over here. the singapore name is being promoted and hopefully when i tell ppl where im from next time, they wont ask if its in indonesia or china or wherever.. haha.. was thinking if i should bring a map with me so that i can just point it out.. visuals were great with the backdrop and stuff.. just sad i couldnt be there.. had hoped so much that i wouldve made it.. nvm theres always next year.. i will be there! (i hope)

so this week has been alright.. only one event last week so it was quite ok.. this coming week should see me start actually flying the hawk.. its gonna be big challenge to fly the thing not only becos its much faster than my previous aircraft, but there are so many procedures here.. but i hope to be able to get up to speed..

anyway the weather here is getting colder.. gonna buy my winter clothing soon.. need to get those thick ones.. apart from that, nothing much la.. im spending quite a bit here mostly due to food... sigh.. expenses here are high man.. roughly 30 bucks a day on food.. think i need to plan how to save.. cant save as much as wad i would like.. must save more!! haha..

im off.. life here is quite boring.. would really appreciate if they could have a hawker centre here.. missing sg food..
cheers!
God Bless!

I is.....

life is going on.. car died on me.. haha! battery problem... cant wait for dec break! USA! hopefully everything will go by plan..

do u know how to count down from 5? watch the video and test urself and see if u get it right.

God Bless!

Cheers!

Forward

Havent updated my blog in awhile.. Life is coming along.. Started flying my simulators but i wont start flying the actual thing till maybe next month.. the hawk is a great aircraft.. the only thing i dont understand is why its landing gear is a button.. haha.. interesting..

kex and i finally got our car last week.. an oldsmobile alero coupe.. not bad.. 2.4 ltr.. old but alright.. haha.. bought for 5k so thats a good price.. the tv in my room has 50 channels.. still, there are times when i just cant find anything nice to watch! but i must add that the advertisements are damn funny.. haha.. some are really creative, some lame but all good.. beginning to watch CSI more now since they come back to back.. haha..

think the mood now in north america is not the best.. all the economic turmoil and stuff.. wages in sg in decline in real terms in respect to inflation.. hopefully sg will be spared to a certain extent.. really hoping that inflation would slacken off now that commodities have decreased in price.. good news is that oil prices have dropped.. $91 plus.. haha.. all along it wasnt the supply issue that was driving prices up abv $100.. now its getting corrected.. stupid oil brokers.. anyway short post.. need sleep.. its noon in sg now and 2130 here.. makes u appreciate life back in sg and all that u miss.. i miss u mel! :D

see ya.. God Bless

Cheers!

Gonna leave u with a wonderful song by Johnny Cash titled 'Hurt' (dont worry.. im not hurt or anything.. its just a great song and video abt his life! haha)

Home and off again

pics from mall of america during our stopover in the city of minneapolis, usa... the largest shopping centre or mall as they call it in the WORLD! made vivocity look like century square.. haha

wah matt, nice body ah?

bubba gump! real thing.. didnt eat there tho cos couldnt find tom hanks inside..

Jonny rocket. Burger with onion rings.. yum.....

'wah piang so big ah? in the middle still got theme park!'

this was one big place man.. not only were there alot of shops but there were 4, yes 4 large departmental stores(like isetan or metro). the need for so many? big is best la.. haha took 4 hrs to walk the 3 magnitudinous, cyclopean, (big la) floors.. walk meaning only go inside like 4 shops and walking past the rest.. tiring.. plus another 2 hrs watching a movie which, wait ah, which cost, u are gonna be shocked, costing 5 dollars!!! which means 7 dollars in sg.. wah. watching a movie never felt so good.. haha.. honestly thats the only thing i know abt the city.. it has a large mall.. thruout the whole stopover i was fighting jet lag man.. 24hr plus journey.. no joke.. sit down=sleep in the airport.. sleep until ppl stare.. 'how come this guy sit up straight also can sleep until like that..' haha!!

well all i can say abt the 2 weeks back in sg is that it was the best.. it was short, definately but i can safely say that i made the most out of it.. meeting up with everyone again finally after a long 10 months is a really really very good feeling.. haha.. that is what home feels like. surrounded by ur closest pals and just enjoy their company.. maybe the good thing abt having a short 2 weeks would be that every single minute will be fully utilised.. like how it was.. back usually ard 2-3 am and up again in the morning.. tiring yes.. but fulfilling and fun to meet the different ppl, definately.. wanted to talk more but sometimes i had work the next day.. sigh.. wad to do ya.. haha.. but it was great meeting u guys back home man and now im off for a year!! haha.. till then u guys must take care and update the blogs! and when i get back (hopefully i wont look any fatter but thinner) it'll happen all over again but this time i'll have more time..(i hope) anyway all the photos that i took back in sg is on facebook..

seeing mel (the love of my life) finally was ***(cannot describe the feeling).. hahaha.. dear i wanna thank u for all that u've done for me all this while, be it when i was away or when i was back for the 2 weeks.. its difficult and will be more difficult now becos of the time diff but we can do it k? i love u! haha!! hope you like your advanced birthday present! haha.. so er this present valid for how many more of ur bdays ah?? 3 yrs?? hahah.. kidding la.. anyway sorry u couldnt really study as much as u would've like when i was back with all the stuff going on.. but now u can! u can do it!! haha.. driving to ntu from home brought back so many memories man.. ahha..

honestly i miss sg quite badly.. the ppl and the place.. being in a foreign land for most of the yr teaches u to treasure.. sg is SO SO different from the ang mo countries that ive visited.. they're slower paced.. less stuff to do, or actully nothing much to do.. good thing would be that i'll be able to concentrate on my flying, which id have to do considering the stakes are now.. harder, faster jet and much more stuff.. ground sch will be starting next week so i'll start to learn the systems and checks and all that and also their procedures.. hope everything will be good and manageable...

anyway im in a city called moose jaw.. dont ask me why its called that. close to a city called regina in a province which has a very long and hard to spell name called saskatchewan.. with that im off.. take care and work/study hard!! for those in army, just tahan and make the most out of it.. remember the good and forget the bad.. it'll make ur life more enjoyable.. haha..

take care and see u soon!!

God Bless

cheers