From today onwards, you may wish to address me by my new name: Oliver Ren De Lo - because the initials spell out the mode I am now in.

I have dutifully served my beloved country for exactly 1 yr 10mths now, which is now the full NSF service time for the new 3G fighting fit solider. But for the old generation PES C grunt which I am, that means 6 more months.

6 more months is kind of a strange length of time. From one angle, it seems & feels like just around the corner, but then when you actually think about it, it is one whole half of a year more. As a result of this strange concoction of time, a mixture of present enjoyment of NS & future anticipation has welled up in me – and it feels great!

Most of my contemporaries would be and are complaining about serving 4 – 6 months more than the batch after us, but for me, it is 6 months more of sheer enjoyment, and for once I am not being sarcastic. I mean seriously, I am really having a friggin’ good time protecting the nation in my particular vocation. (which of course I can’t describe as it is a national secret)

In all honesty, if someone were to ask me which I enjoyed more - JC or NS, I would have to say both were enjoyable in their own way. See JC was like a roller coaster; intense, fast paced and turbulent with all its ups & downs. However, NS is more like a merry-go-round; relaxing, stress-free, stable. Both rides are amazing, though very different in feel, and each with its own special experience.

So as this Merry-go-round goes round for its final turn, time becomes more & more precious. Never again for the next 40+ years will I have this much time to spend however I want, unless of course I strike the hong pao toto and have an early retirement or I marry Kiera Knightly and live off her. Since the likelihood of either event happening is about as high as Liverpool winning the Champions league this season, I better start planning the last 6 months of my holiday, oops I mean service.

To be a little more serious for a change, the one thing I would really like to take away from these 2 ½ yrs would be a godly character. NS is a great place to learn to serve and befriend as Jesus did, and gaining Christ-like character would mean a lot more to me than a Pink IC. To attain it, I would like to add a few useful habits into my daily living; waking at 7 to spend a few quiet moments with the One I want to be like & reading the Word of God before I sleep. Another helpful thing I would do is to set my phone (my new phone! hehe) alarm to ring at certain intervals during the day to keep me focused on the Christian walk.

Hopefully, with excellence in striving & overcoming, these few simple plans would get me there before I say the most coveted word in the SAF.

If I were to make a decision on who gets an Oscars for the best movie of 2006, it would be a really silly thing to do. Simply because I can only remember watching about 3 movies this year and this year is only 2 months old. Oh but what the heck…

And the nominees for best movie: (since I can only remember these 3 shows, they are all in the running)

1) I not stupid 2
2) Fearless
3) Casanova

Although I watched Number (1) in a real crap of a cinema – some strange place in beach road which was as easy to find as a 6 A1 student from ACS (Barker), it was really one of the better local shows I’ve seen – except for Army Daze of cause (yea right). However it would be really going against the grain for me to vote a show half spoken in a language I don’t understand as my all time favorite for 2006. When you are spending half the time reading the subtitles, it is really quite hard to take good notice of the tear-evoking acting and wonderful special effects (remember the SMS scene? hehe)

As for Number (2), well all I can say is that I HEARD it was a great show. I happily came in 1hour15mins late and just in time to see Jet Li deliver this amazing spinning punch to this Japanese dude who has this uncanny resemblance with the soundman in my church.

So I guess that makes Casanova the winner!

Hey I really thought it was a fantastic show loh. Well it was not exactly the most polished, the acting might have been a little bit exaggerated, and Siena Miller didn’t look THAT fantastic, BUT it was so entertaining and totally my type of show!

World-class seducer, Casanova needs to get married or faces expulsion from his beloved city. Since all the women love him, or at least love his ‘skills’, it seems like an easy task. However love, being the strangest thing, once again rears its spastic head. The one woman he finds truly attractive is the only one that doesn’t fall for his charms. So girls, take this show as a lesson in love, if you want a guy to like you, don’t fall for him! The spastic head of love

Ok fine, doesn’t sound like a very intelligent show but really really, it has my full endorsement. I watched it at half past midnight and I was fully awake for the whole 108 minutes of smooth jokes & comedic love. And though Siena Miller wasn’t HOT, she was really COOL!

So quite obviously, the Oscar for best movie in 06 goes to …. the romantic comedy Casanova! Yup, unlike love, no surprises here.

Over the last few days, with all the parties, house visits and the sheer variety of great tasting unhealthy food at our fingertips, most of us would have surely put on a few pounds of that CNYF (Chinese New Year Fat).

So I have kindly put together a compilation of articles from various sources to help us rid ourselves of that CNYF.

Avoid the four-letter word
When you lose weight on a "diet," muscle is the first thing to go. It's more expensive for your body to retain than fat is, so when you run low on calories, your body dumps muscle mass and turns it into energy. When you go off the diet, you begin to gain back the pounds - but because you now have less calorie-burning muscle, the weight you gain is fat. By dieting, you've effectively turned muscle into fat.

Put exercise first
Research suggests that the best way to eat less at a meal is to work out right before it. This works in several ways:

First, you're less hungry when your metabolism is revving, such as right after a workout.

Second, you're thirstier, so you drink more water, which uses up space in your belly and relieves hunger.

Third, with your metabolism revved, the calories you do eat get burned for energy pronto - not stored as fat.

Endure & Excel
Here's an eye opener exercise tip. For the first 20 minutes you exercise in your aerobic zone, you are burning about 80% carbohydrates and 20% fat.
For the next 20 minutes, you are burning about 50% carbs and 50% fat. You're getting better. Now you're gonna start to lose some of that weight as the fat is being burned!
So what happens if you start exercising into the above 40 minute range?
A reversal. You are now burning about 20% carbs and about 80% fat. Now that’s some serious CNYF burning!

Calories - that dreaded word
Basic weight loss rule is to use up more calories than you consume. Below are some facts and figures.

Firstly the bad news:
7,700 excess calories would create 1 kg of new fat on your body.
By the way 1 tiny pineapple tart is already 166 calories (GG)

For a very comprehensive food-calorie chart click here

Then the good news:
Resting weight loss: On the average 26 calories per kg of body mass per day

So for e.g. if I am 60kg, I would be burning 26 x 60 = 1,560 calories by simply sitting my 60kilos on my bum

Then add in some exercise and good bye to CNYF!



For a more complete exercise-calorie loss chart click here

So gong xi fa chai & have a xing nian qui le!

Courtesy of, your vurry fat friend