May you find her and may happiness find you ...

It's been a few days since we've found out Mr Lee had passed on. He's been ever-present in Singapore and his presence will be sorely missed especially with this year being the celebration of 50 years of independence.

I have never truly been one for politics and National Day celebrations have for many years been more 'meh' than 'wow' - although the Pledge gets me everytime. Everytime. There's just something about it being said out loud and in such great numbers - a tingle down the spine is what it is. The other thing I look forward to on National Day? The sight of Lee Kuan Yew watching the parade. I won't get to see that anymore. We won't get that anymore. Life is sometimes ... one big irony. That the man who founded modern Singapore should miss its jubilee celebrations is in one word, cruel.

Like many others, I've been reading the articles about Mr Lee that have mushroomed on the Internet. What have I learnt about the man? I greatly admire his will, determination and passion to make Singapore a better place than it was since the 1950s.

I really don't care what the detractors are saying - because if they cannot see that Singapore has made gigantic strides since then, they have already decided they are going to argue regardless of the facts and you cannot win discussions against people who have already decided they are right. Remember they are looking for an argument not a discussion.

Ignore too the detractors who claim that Singapore sacrificed too much in our march from a Third World to a First World country - they dream of an utopia where everybody's dreams are powered by their country's success without nary an impingement upon their freedoms. That world does not exist so let us not waste time discussing that. I've never felt my freedoms being curtailed in Singapore, even when I was in National Service. Did I long to be free? Yes, I did. Did I feel as if my freedoms were being trampled on? No because I get that my two and a half years contributed in some miniscule way in keeping Singapore safe hence my loved ones stayed safe. Surely no one can be that dense that they cannot see that. I do get irritated that I have to keep declaring to Mindef whenever I travel. Can we change that so that I feel like a son of Singapore and not a criminal?

Can Singapore be better? Yes, it can and while I hesitate to put words into Mr Lee's mouth, I get the idea that he would be the first to agree. He did not strike me as someone keen to rest on his laurels, someone who would regard the job as done - he struck me as someone keen to ensure Singapore kept on moving towards another level.

The second thing I've learned about Mr Lee? That he was a loving husband, father and sibling. At the end of our lives, strip away all the titles you've garnered, all the honorifics you're gifted, all the praise you've received for a job well done and that is the measure of a man/woman. He loved and was loved and in my world that is all that matters.
 

As a young man in love

As a father of children

As a grandfather

The passing of his wife

Hopefully a poignant reunion

By the same logic, I've never understood how some people seem to place their movement up their office hierarchy above their family. I hope I was reading them wrongly. At the end of my life, if my students lauded me for making an impact on their lives, well and good but I know I won't be able to take it if my own children grew up with an absent father. That is not to say - and this conclusion has been frequently jumped to when I made this string of reasoning - that I would shortchange my students in their learning. At the end of the day, my students have parents and damn it, they have to play their parts too. I have digressed though so let us get back on point. My admiration stems from the fact that Mr Lee has done well on both fronts - his family and his Singapore.

What else do I admire? His pragmatic approach to life, for one. It was also why I could only shake my head and smile at the social media campaign to wear black for the state funeral being quickly followed by another exhorting the wearing of white. It was also with a wry smile that I shook off comments from residents around my school that the sports games in the field were too noisy and that girls were screaming during a period of national mourning. The same shake of the head greeted comments that couples were still proceeding and heavens forbid! smiling during phototaking and what-nots. If I were to hazard a guess based on what I've read, Mr Lee would have asked them to wear whatever made them comfortable, blessed my school to carry on because students are still learning and teaching them that the human spirit is a wonderful thing that is capable of grieving and laughing at the same time. Lastly, he would have urged the couple to carry on and have a good marriage because at the end of the day, Singapore is still dealing with a low birthrate and we could use another baby!

I pondered over all these and more as I wondered if I should pen down my thoughts. I knew I would ramble because there is so much to say about the man and many others have written more eloquently than I could hope to do, some, many in fact have brought tears to my eyes.

At the end of a 10 hour trek to Parliament House to pay my last respects, I arrived there no closer to writing that graceful eulogy I was hoping for. What do you write for a man who has given his all for his country? I could only pen down a few simple words for what I wished he could have.

Dear Mr Lee,
May you find her and may happiness finds you.

 

Obtaining the Certificate of Clearance

As mentioned in yesterday's post, we headed down to obtain our Certificate of Clearance today.

We've driven past the complex many times and never noticed any public carpark nearby. In fact, we've often seen cars illegally parked along the road outside Cantonment Complex. The irony of that.

Anyway, we made the decision to park at Singapore General Hospital and walk over to Cantonment Complex. (or park in the other area I've marked out in red)

At the complex, you'll have to exchange your IDs for visitor passes before you're allowed into the complex proper. Once in, head for the bank of lifts and go on up to level 2. You can't miss it once you step out of the lifts.

First thoughts upon seeing the office? It was small and it was packed. I couldn't help wondering if the people there were all Singaporeans looking to leave our little red dot or if there was some other reason to obtain a CoC. The next inevitable question to pop into my mind was to wonder at their destination.

Grab a queue number and wait for it to be called. At this point, it is worth mentioning that if you had headed there without first filling out an application form, they have a stack of them there for your usage. If you had forgotten the passport photos that you were supposed to bring, there's a machine there that does it for $8 for 5 or 6 photos. Might I mention that that was a lot cheaper than the $15 I paid for my 6 photos, snapped on a small digital cam by a camera shop assistant.

We faced roughly a 30 minute wait before our number was called. There's no interview or anything like that. Simply submit your application. Pay the $55 per person and then it's back to waiting. This time for the fingerprint impressions.

If you're worried about getting black ink all over your digits, you can rest those fears because everything's gone digital. I was done with mine in a jiffy but J had some difficulty getting her fingerprint impressions done. She's one of those who can't use or should I say, has great difficulty getting the biometric sensors at the airport to recognize her fingerprints.

So there you go. In and out within an  hour. $55 poorer per person. Another 14 days of waiting.

Once we got home, we forwarded evidence that we were in the process of getting the CoC to the case officer and settled down again for the wait.

Update  24/3/15: Received email confirmation from case officer that the CoC need not undergo certification that it is a true copy and can be uploaded immediately once we've received it.

Contact! Case Officer assigned!

Well what do you know? Woke up today to find that a case officer had finally been assigned.

For the curious, application was made on 11 Jan (2015) and case officer assigned on 19 Mar. That's 68 days of waiting and thumb twiddling.

Once you've received the email from the case officer, you have 28 days to respond to his/her request for additional information. Failure to do so means they will proceed on whatever information they have on hand. Taking a guess here but I think that would mean a no-go for the applicant.

Anyway, mine was short of two items - Military Service Record and Police Clearance Certificate. We forgot to upload the military service record, which we will do so today. Wifey and I will be going down tomorrow to set our police clearance certificates in motion. By the way, you can only do so after the case officer has contacted you because in their email, there'll be a request form from them to the Singapore Police that they require the certificate of clearance.

Application for the Certificate of Clearance can only be done between 8.30am to 12pm, Mondays to Fridays, excluding public holidays. You know what that means - leave has to be taken to apply AND collect.

Applications are only accepted at the Police Cantonment Complex at New Bridge Road. A $55 fee will be exacted for each applicant. Expect a processing time of up to 10 working days.

Documents needed prior to heading down are;

• application form - link
• photocopy of applicant's valid passport (bring along original for verification!)
• 2 recent passport sized photos (3.5cm by 4.5cm, borderless with white background)
• photocopy of document from your case officer requesting for the certificate of clearance
• bring your fingers, all 10 of them! (fingerprint impressions will be taken for your CoC)

Will share more when the deed is done on the morrow.

North Eastern Riverine Loop

I learnt this from Wikipedia. Punggol, also spelt as Ponggol, means "hurling sticks at the branches of fruit trees to bring them down to the ground" in Malay. Who knew that one single Malay word could have that much meaning!

Anyway, Punggol used to be full of farmhouses engaging mostly in chicken, pig or fish farming with the odd bit of plantations thrown in for good measure. Those days are long gone with the last pig farm closed down since 1990. In their place, high-rise HDB flats have sprung up in the past 20 odd years. It is also literally packed with seafood eateries but we're not talking about that today.

So why talk about Punggol then?

I have been bringing the family to various parks (East Coast, West Coast, Pasir Ris) for cycling and while I was trawling the web for new cycling trails, I chanced upon the North Eastern Riverine Loop. That's quite a mouthful ain't it?

As you can see from the pictures below (was indecisive, couldn't decide which was better so both pics made it into this post), it's a wonderful loop around the Punggol Estate, with many options for each family to tailor to their preferences.

From the NParks website

From the WeLovePunggol website

We were intrigued and today we cycled part of the trail, from Punggol Jetty to Lorong Halus Wetlands. We wanted to cycle over to Coney Island but the gates were sealed. The weather was a killer today, scorching hot but the trail was great. Long, quiet stretches of cycling without the crowds of East Coast Park, without the ships dominating West Coast Park and better cycling tracks than Pasir Ris Park. We spent a total of 2 hours plus there and we only covered 15% of the trail. I honestly can't wait to get back and explore more of the area!

Ah, I almost forgot. If you're into the beach lifestyle though, this cycling trail is not for you. Despite the trail bordering waterways along its whole loop, I had yet to see a single stretch of sandy beach and I doubt I would even if I had completed the loop.

It was that deserted ... maybe it had to do with it being a weekday, albeit a school holiday weekday. One more thing, it'll be so much nice in a few years when the trees are grown and providing shade.

Maybe the fact that it was noon was also a factor ...

Sunrise Bridge

Supposed to dismount and push your bikes over the bridge

Picture taken from the Lorong Halus Wetlands side

Cna you get this at West Coast Park? No, I didn't think so.

If you have children with you, it'd be worth mentioning too that there's a playground at Punggol Point Park and several more around the Punggol Waterway Park. Not too sure where else you can find bicycle kiosks but there's one near the seafood eateries at Punggol Point Park.

All in all, I think the residents of Punggol are really blessed with a wonderful cycling trail. Would that be enough to make up for the lack of shopping, hawker centres and other basic amenities? I can't answer for you but personally, shopping centres can be found everywhere, a cycling loop bordering so much nature is not easy to find in Singapore.

Heh, as for not talking about food? Well, I can't resist. On our way back we passed by the House of Seafood (near Point Walk) and as they were still open for lunch, we ordered up one black pepper and one chilli crab and some hot plate venison for the children. The damage was decent around $80+ and the food was delicious. The restaurants there close by 2 pm or thereabouts so get there early if eating is your aim. House of Seafood let us in at 2 pm, took our order and we left the place by 3ish. You just have to get your order in before 2 pm.

Happy cycling!

Cooking Daddy - Air-fried Chicken drumsticks

Was feeling a little peckish the other night so I popped by the supermarket and bought a packet of chicken drumsticks. If I remember correctly, they cost about $2.13.

Note: if you want tastier drumsticks marinate them longer. This was done without prep time. What can I say? I was hungry. Bought the drumsticks and went into action straight away.

1. Patted the drumsticks dry with some paper towels
2. Threw on some Tuscan seasoning (was trying to finish it else I would have done without)
3. Coated the drums in garlic power, cayenne pepper and rosemary
4. Little sprinkles of salt
5. Threw them into the airfryer at 200°C for 12 minutes.
6. Flipped them around for another 12 minutes.

Ingredients

All dressed up

Yummy, crispy drumsticks

If I wanted to improve this, I would have removed the baking sheet. The juices from the drums collected on the sheet and I felt they contributed to making the bottom section, less crispy. Definitely preferred how it turned out without the baking sheet on my previous attempts. Still yummy though!

If you love this dish, check out Air-fried Salmon or Air-fried Luncheon Meat!

Bad Friday

Something really bad happened on Friday. Really bad.

It's times like these that I wish time travel were a reality - then I can go back in time right before the mistake was made and stop the whole chain of events, in the process saving everyone a whole lot of heartache and pain.

Sadly, time travel doesn't exist so where does that leave me?

I'll have to learn to live with the consequences of my actions - easier said than done because I am very aware that there are ripples of consequences and that I am not the only one paying the bill.

You know what's the worst thing about hindsight?

It's a very unforgiving voice to have beside you after the deed is done.

It never lets up and maybe it shouldn't

I deserve this in its entirety.

I am sorry.

Truly sorry.