Pink Panther

It's so wonderful to hear people tell me that I am growing.

It's either 'you look fit', 'you've got a nice build with broad shoulders', 'are you in the army?', or something long these lines.
Now, I don't mean to brag or anything. As a matter of fact, that's the last thing I wanna do right now. To brag.

What I wanna say is that I have this thinking before swimming or working out each time. What I'd tell myself each time is that 'every bit counts'. Every training session or every exercising session will add up to the eventual result. It just takes time and patience (haha, for the person who told me 'patience' to me just recently, I find it funny how this relates to what you told me. LoL!). A very simple example of this illustration is the some-what common saying, "every drop of water counts".

It's very true. When it comes down to muscle building, playing an instrument, revising a subject, or something as simple as building a Great Wall of China - every little bit counts. It's all about looking at things as a big picture. A painter needs every little detail from the smallest of colour paint to make a portrait grand and spectacular. Great effort has to be put in to those smallest details to make a portrait very beautiful. Not so much the large portions of the picture. Which is why putting in effort into the most difficult 'training' sessions are the most crucial. It will play a big part of the overall picture at the end of the story.

And this is the kind of mindset I have whenever I embark on my journey to learn or gain new things.

Since coming to Singapore, I've started doing so many new things and because I have, I am very determined to make sure I make it to the very end. But I am not saying that it is easy. Actually, it's quite the opposite. It is so frikkin' hard at times. So hard in fact I start questioning my decision to start in the first place. But usually, that is never enough to topple me over from completing the 'session'. I am usually determined to finish the work because I know it will benefit me at the end.

Which is why I was so happy to hear that people could notice the sudden growth in my build. It really encourages me to pursue even more and reach the goal I had set for myself. I really do hope that once I go into the Police Academy, I will be able to maintain this growth. If not in the pool, then hopefully in the Home Academy Gym. Hopefully.

Anyway, with all this talk about body building aside, I'll retell a conversation that happened while I was catching a ride with a church friend during a ride back to a MRT station last Friday night.

The scene was set such that he was at the driver seat, I was at the front, with the wife and several kids (being his kid and two nieces) behind. The kids were screaming/singing away at a CD he had put into his car MP3.
Anyway, while we were going back, I had a friendly conversation with the guy in front. Now, I find that you can strike up a very interesting conversation with any Singaporean male by asking them whether they did their NS or not. And after they say 'Of course!', I begin talking to them by firing some other questions like, 'What did you do in the army?', 'Do you still do re-service?' etc. just to keep the conversation going.
Well, I was talking with this guy, and we talked about some really interesting stuff. He told me how he did his BMT for 3 months like any usual army recruit, but later got posted to play for the Singapore NS Rugby team; as his NS for Singapore. And judging from his large 'round' build, I'd say he was telling the truth. I don't think I would be able to take him down. At least I don't think so.

But just to cut a long conversation short, what I thought was the highlight of the conversation was when I asked him this.

Boaz: So did you study overseas?
Man: No. I didn't.
Boaz: Oh? So you were in Singapore during most of your life? (I was gonna say 'So you were in Singapore for all your life?' but I dunno, it might have sounded harsh at the time=S)
Man: Yeah.
Boaz: Wow, because I can't really hear that Singaporean accent from you. You know, the singlish I usually hear from most Singaporeans. Are you sure you didn't go overseas?
Man: ha ha, well, I think it's because I'm talking to you. You've got that accent, so I have to do it as well.
Boaz: hahahahahahaha!!!
[Everyone starts laughing]

Wife: You should hear his Chinese!
Man: *Starts to mumble very broken chinese*
Boaz: hahahahahahaha!!!

I mean I knew people do that. I know that people will alter their accent or slang just to cater for some foreigner, and I do find it funny because when I hear my relatives do it, I can so easily tell that they are just faking it. I won't name names because there are more relatives reading my blog than I'd like to count. (If you are my relative, and you think you know all the relatives that read my blog, try again. Personally, I'd rather not know how many of my relatives read my blog, but I know that there are quite a few.) hehehe

But what was so significant about this incident was that this was the first time someone altered their accent/slang for me! I mean, I was all honoured and everything that my accent still hasn't changed (and I hope it doesn't), but it's strange. It's never happened before so I kinda found it quite funny that someone would do that for me. lol

Strangely though, it's made me think that I am somewhat 'a foreigner' in this homeland of mine. Why, just the other week while I was taking a cab to church, the taxi driver talked to me in Chinese when I sat down and not long after, he asked me if I was from some other country. I told him that I was Singaporean and I had returned to do my NS. He then admitted that my Chinese was 'funny'. Not the humorous 'haha' funny, but the 'huh? I don't understand your Chinese well' funny.

I guess this isn't too good for me because I should be learning my 'roots' that is the Chinese within me along with the dialect that comes with it. But then again, I'm not too sure if any of what I just said made any sense so I really have to learn to correct my grammar in English first!

The funny thing about my Chinese as it is, is that sometimes, I can hear myself going out of tune, or I can't get that certain tune with that Chinese character and I know it's wrong. It's just that I just can't seem to hit that certain tune which can be embarrassing when you're talking with a hawker stall lady and she's just looking at you strangely.

In case I didn't mention this in my blog before, there will be a lot of Malays in the PA. So this means, not only will the commands be in Malay, but also there will be a lot of Malay words flying all over the place which will probably mean I will be picking up some of them for my own personal use. =D

Also! I only have just over a week of freedom left! I will be going in on the 10th of April at 8:30am. The 'introduction' for the first day will go for 4 hours and then straight after that, I will be confined for 10 days. During that time, you guys can cry and weep passionately for me. Afterwards, when I come out, we can all rejoice and cheer in acknowledgement that Boaz is free once again. Then, we will all go out for some delicious mouth watering grilled fish. Yum! And when the bill comes, anyone is free to foot the bill for me. Yes, I don't know what I did to deserve such generosity.

Anyhow, I'll just leave you guys with these two pictures of my auntie's dog, Spunky. He was sleeping one very innocent day till I came along with my camera. ;)

If you still don't see why I took the picture for, it was because he was sleeping in a very funny position. I came out of the shower that afternoon and I was so surprised to see him sleeping like this; with his back legs pushing up against the wall. lol, funny dog.