Eat, Drink, and be Merry; For Tomorrow We Die.
Yikes, time does really fly. In another 6 - 7 hours time i'll be booking into camp, lugging my heavy load of equipment all the way into the heart of Nee Soon. This ends my 10 days of off so generously given to us by our Encik Munir. And well, to be honest, this 10 days off didn't really help much in terms of resting or such. I think i'm too addicted to my games, and i haven't really sat down to think about anything else other than Roman Legion tactics for my Rome Total War...
Well, in a short span of 5 days i celebrated 2 very important events, Christmas and New Year. (For history fraks out there, Christmas was originally a pagan festival, the Solar Soltice, but it was changed into a Christian festival by the Byzantium Emperors to reflect the growing aceeptance of Christianity in the Roman Empire.) Spent time with friends and family alike during this festive season, but it was different this year. This year i did not stay over anyone's place for the festive seasons. Nope, i went home and slept on my comfy bed every night for the 10 days of off. I guess this has gotta do with age more or less - when you grow older, you tend to long for your own bed more than anything else. Home has become precious; it's comforting to come home and see your parents, talk to them, and say good morning the first thing in the morning.
I give thanks for such mercies.
Today i met up with 2 friends whom i haven't met in a long time. Met them up for lunch and coffee (My goodness, i spent 10 bucks on Thai food, and 6 bucks on coffee!) Usually i wouldn't dare to spurge on meaningless things, especially espensive food that would be processed into something green and smelly (make a guess what...). But alas, i did it all in the name of fellowship. Well, it was good to meet up with good old friends; friends whom i have served along side all the way back in Hope Of God back in 1998, and to reminisce about the good old, more innocent days.
And oh!!! How could i ever forget about yesterday's steamboat feast?! M.A.D. (my cell in church) had a impromptu gathering of the warriors at the Kremlin (Shaun's House), armed with 110 bucks worth of food and drinks, and 2 heavy tepenyaki hot plates, and not to forget the dozens of packed food from the church banquet we had earlier on in the day - all these food combined, we could literally feed an entire army. And we were NS guys, so we were an Army technically. =P The preparation was a nightmare, but we ventured into the uncertainty with guidance from Chef. Ivan, who attended a 3 month "cooking survival course" in Japan. Armed with cleavers, knives of all assortment, we (Jachin, Shaun, Ivan, and Me) began to terrorize all the meat we had - chopping, bashing, marinating, and took some pretty interesting photos along the way (which will be soon up when i got the time). And i learnt a very important truth - fellowship can be as simple as preparing food together, yet having so much fun and laughter at the same time. Life's pleasure's can be as simple as this. Once again we prove the unshakable belief that guys can cook, wonderfully if i might add. Sadly you won't really see much of the other gender doing such things, as we lamented in the kitchen.
And as we presented the many dishes of food to the table, the rest of the guys came, and began our feasting with a simple word of prayer. And ha, one interesting to mention, as Gerald Ho came, he announced to us that he was on a meat fast. Wait, what did he just say? A meat fast.
WHAT?!
We've got so much food, i doubt we could finish it all, and Gerald Ho's on a meat fast?! Oh well, though i must say that it was fun torturing him by cooking all the teriyaki and black pepper chicken infront of him. heehee. He had to resort to cooking fanciful dishes like fried mushroom, egg mushroom, omlette mushroom etc (notice the one common ingredient in all his dishes). What a hobbit! =) And of coz there was the usually suaning of James Judas Vinay Iscariot for his "traitorous" behaviour in joining another cell group (but amidst all the poking fun, he's really doing a good job in helping out with BREAD.) I promised him that one day i'll get him 30 silver chocolates. Heehee. Yeah, it was sure fun hanging out with the guys.
Sigh. It's over. The food and the fun.
Now it's back to camp. Back to the "tough and realistic training"
Well, in a short span of 5 days i celebrated 2 very important events, Christmas and New Year. (For history fraks out there, Christmas was originally a pagan festival, the Solar Soltice, but it was changed into a Christian festival by the Byzantium Emperors to reflect the growing aceeptance of Christianity in the Roman Empire.) Spent time with friends and family alike during this festive season, but it was different this year. This year i did not stay over anyone's place for the festive seasons. Nope, i went home and slept on my comfy bed every night for the 10 days of off. I guess this has gotta do with age more or less - when you grow older, you tend to long for your own bed more than anything else. Home has become precious; it's comforting to come home and see your parents, talk to them, and say good morning the first thing in the morning.
I give thanks for such mercies.
Today i met up with 2 friends whom i haven't met in a long time. Met them up for lunch and coffee (My goodness, i spent 10 bucks on Thai food, and 6 bucks on coffee!) Usually i wouldn't dare to spurge on meaningless things, especially espensive food that would be processed into something green and smelly (make a guess what...). But alas, i did it all in the name of fellowship. Well, it was good to meet up with good old friends; friends whom i have served along side all the way back in Hope Of God back in 1998, and to reminisce about the good old, more innocent days.
And oh!!! How could i ever forget about yesterday's steamboat feast?! M.A.D. (my cell in church) had a impromptu gathering of the warriors at the Kremlin (Shaun's House), armed with 110 bucks worth of food and drinks, and 2 heavy tepenyaki hot plates, and not to forget the dozens of packed food from the church banquet we had earlier on in the day - all these food combined, we could literally feed an entire army. And we were NS guys, so we were an Army technically. =P The preparation was a nightmare, but we ventured into the uncertainty with guidance from Chef. Ivan, who attended a 3 month "cooking survival course" in Japan. Armed with cleavers, knives of all assortment, we (Jachin, Shaun, Ivan, and Me) began to terrorize all the meat we had - chopping, bashing, marinating, and took some pretty interesting photos along the way (which will be soon up when i got the time). And i learnt a very important truth - fellowship can be as simple as preparing food together, yet having so much fun and laughter at the same time. Life's pleasure's can be as simple as this. Once again we prove the unshakable belief that guys can cook, wonderfully if i might add. Sadly you won't really see much of the other gender doing such things, as we lamented in the kitchen.
And as we presented the many dishes of food to the table, the rest of the guys came, and began our feasting with a simple word of prayer. And ha, one interesting to mention, as Gerald Ho came, he announced to us that he was on a meat fast. Wait, what did he just say? A meat fast.
WHAT?!
We've got so much food, i doubt we could finish it all, and Gerald Ho's on a meat fast?! Oh well, though i must say that it was fun torturing him by cooking all the teriyaki and black pepper chicken infront of him. heehee. He had to resort to cooking fanciful dishes like fried mushroom, egg mushroom, omlette mushroom etc (notice the one common ingredient in all his dishes). What a hobbit! =) And of coz there was the usually suaning of James Judas Vinay Iscariot for his "traitorous" behaviour in joining another cell group (but amidst all the poking fun, he's really doing a good job in helping out with BREAD.) I promised him that one day i'll get him 30 silver chocolates. Heehee. Yeah, it was sure fun hanging out with the guys.
Sigh. It's over. The food and the fun.
Now it's back to camp. Back to the "tough and realistic training"
posted by DoMiniC at 1/02/2006 10:43:00 PM
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