I See IC

I am getting a big present for my birthday, a new IC.

For the ignoramus ( or hippotamus, or hippotamus"es" plural), this meant that I have reached the golden number of 30. As required by law, a citizen at the age of 30 ( not 40, or 50 or even for the record, 34 years and 2 months) have to make a new IC to reflect his/her new look ( balding or frizzly hairdo, plump or aneroxic, glasses or san glasses). This is to make sure that if you are somehow caught of doing something bad/evil/nasty/angelic and they have to submit a picture of you, they will not be using the one that you have taken when you were in JC 1. I hated my picture in the IC; in fact I have accidently showed it to a couple of ex girls before and they liken it as reading Stephen King "Pet Sematary", not that it was THAT scary, but it is just that the ancient look with the bifocals was alittle 1980s ( anyway that was what it was supposed to be, what do you expect, 1960s, I am not that darn old)

Anyway the IC will be with you until the day you see GOD. That will be when the hospital will punch a hole through your IC and certify that you have expired your stay as a citizen of Singapore. Nothing really morbid about it, just that I guess every birthday passed is just a step closer. But most importantly, you must live life to the fullest. The greatest regret is when your life flashes past you, and you realise that you have done nothing significant in your life. I think that will be even more horrific than dying.

Talking about dying, I caught the movie "Vertical Limit" on Channel 5 yesterday evening. Anyway I got the DVD of the movie but I was still religiously and faithfully sitting in front of the TV set , with the commericals and such. I think what struck me most while, was the persistence and the passion he had, and I am not talking about Chris O Donnell but me. Hey I could have easily switched to watch the DVD and save my time going through those repeats of "Singapore Idol' commericals and trailers from the "Bachelorette", and of course the Carlsberg beer advertisments. I realise the most important thing that I learn from the show was the strong belief that Chris O Donnell has to save his sister, to conquer his fear and phobia of climbing. To send 6 men to save 3 was suicidal and to return with only 3 is certainly not cost effective. But then again that was what I mean by living life to the fullest, although the people died, they died for a good cause, for it was really in doing the act of rescue, that they finally did something about their lives. Dying in the middle of an avalanche, is definitely a no-no when it come to ways to die...

Anyway, forget about the morbid stuff. A couple of blog readers ( yes outsiders and not present IJ girls) asked me what I would like for my birthday. Well here is a simple wishlist. ( I hope my wife is reading)

1) A cool looking haversack for me to carry my markings and other stuff (preferrably deuter)
2) A BMW Series 3 metalic grey car which costs S$112,000 ( It doesn't hurt to dream a little)
3) A romantic dinner with my wife at Equinox
4) A romantic getaway to Bintan over the weekend
5) A nice birthday cake ( blackforest my favorite)
6) A couple more teachers to go for the mission trip with 3/4
7) The mission trip can go on as planned.... ( cross fingers)
8) The book "The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia" by Richard Overy
9) Series 4-10 of Friends ( Sigh! not available yet)
10) Peace and Quiet on my birthday.

I think that with my age, I think I treasure point 10 the most...

And that is my 2 cents worth.