September September… Do I love September

Life moves on. Every time we turn back and look, a couple of day (or weeks!) has passed. In-between the rather tense pre PSLE atmosphere at home, the high octane pace in the system testing ongoing in the office, and the mundaneness of the blink-and-you-miss-it weekends predominantly occupied by GENUS and XPOSE, Q3 of 2024 is almost over. This always reminds me of the saying, "the days goes slowly, the weeks fly by". Yet, September 2024 is a month that is turning out to be quite special. All because of the numbers of get-togethers with old time friends happening almost all at once. Starting with the usual (monthly) Hoi Hoi lunch group of 3. We revisited Jing Hua restaurant at Neil Road for our favourite dumplings (yummy!) and shared updates on what's been going on with our lives in the past weeks. Listening to some of the challenges faced by XF and TY dealing with their kids, I was reminded of how fortunate we are to have Kai and En. Sure, we had our share of difficult moments, but at the end of the day, nothing is more important than their well-being and health. Every time this group gets together for a meal and starts gossiping, we have the feeling that time is too short! The next one should be a dinner... then we'd have more time to really talk.

Yi Ting was back in Singapore for her annual "homecoming" trip, so this bunch took the opportunity to have a relaxing time at the Acid Bar. It was truly nice being with a group of friends whom literally grew up and matured together as working adults in the warm crucible we know as NT@OGS.

The NT gathering wasn't the only one involving long-time old friends... Some months ago, I bumped into Kang Wei (my senior from Genus days) in Tanjong Pagar area during lunch time. We then arranged to meet up for lunch - and we did. It was a good lunch where we reminisced those good old days and shared familiar memories from those CFA-laden days in NUS. We then agreed that we should do a lunch with Hon Kit and Yen Ping as well, and thus a Sept date was set! This happened on 21 Sept at Peach Gardens Heeren. We had a really enjoyable dim sum lunch (the 50% discount helped!), sharing updates from our lives in the recent years - including our jobs, family/kids, our holiday trips and upcoming plans. Looking forward to the next one... maybe in a year's time? haha.

Speaking of makan gathering, we also did a birthday dinner celebration for OWLS at our favourite Thai restaurant Esarn at Pasir Panjang. It was a pity Kai wasn't able to join us as he was with his friends at karaoke!

New Era （重新出发）

I happen to stumble upon my own blog after 14 years... 

No, really. 

It was a purely by chance that the word "blogger" was searched in Google, and I'd wondered if my old blog was still somehow "alive" somwehere. And viola! Goes to show that nothing we put on the internet is ever gone - for better or for worse. 

Reading entries written by the young(er) me really puts an interesting perspective to how LIFE has changed in the last 14/15 years of my life. 

Most interestingly, I wondered why I had (seemingly) abruptly stopped writing in November 2010, with Jing Kai almost turning 3. 

Could it be the stress of taking care of a difficult 3 year old boy at that time? 

Could it be the stress of a new job (note: I had just joined Northern Trust in 2009 back then, and it was about a year and a half into my then-new job)... 

Could it be something to do with Genus, Guitaresque or Xpose guitar ensemble? 

Or maybe it was just boredom? Who knows... But reading the past entries was like having a time machine that teleported me back to a time where I had just become a father, and Xpose guitar ensemble was in its infancy (after breaking out from GENUS). 

Also, a certain person was back then still considered a friend... that's a story for another day. 

Well, fast forward to 2024. I am now the proud daddy of 2 young teenagers - 

It is absolutely unbelievable how fast time flies by, but seeing they grow up (plus of course, feeling the early morning aches on my knees, thighs, hips, neck and almost every part of my body) always serves as an excellent reminder of that fact. 

Many things have changed over the past 14 years, that's for sure. But fortunately some things haven't changed :)