Glad I'm at home relaxing ....

My create post page seems to have a problem. The format is so weird. Ok, anyway I am at home now cuz I am on off tomorrow to go for driving lesson and meet my friend Hazwan.

Ok, so what did I choose in the end? I gave up the NZ option. Well, after so much hackle about it, I actually gave up the idea. Well, lots of reasons but this type of thing I basically went along with some gut feel and some reasoning. But thanks for all those who contributed their ideas in one way or another.

Been feeling some tension at work these days. Getting a little fustrated at how certain things are moving these days. Cannot believe how people can do certain things which defies logic all so as to cut some corners here and there. Worse still is to be oblivious to what one is supposed to do and concentrate on having fun. Unbelievable. Maybe I have high expectations or I am just harsh but we have to be reminded that we are in charge of people here and not just faceless creatures. You may feel that I am being vague here but I thought that I should not go into specifics here but rather to just state how I feel.

Gonna try to have a relaxing day tomorrow. Hope for everything to go smoothly for range. Can see effort being put in by the guys. See how, may need to conduct check for cigarettes. Have a sneaky feeling that someone has cigarettes. I already saw a slit in one of the matresses. Hmmm....

Had one guy who suddenly collapsed due to exhaustion last night. Remembered his look as he rested against the wall. It was a look of not sure what is happening and blaming himself for what happened. Felt a little sad for him. Anyway, been starting to have cases of conjunctivitis already. For those of you out there who do not know, we are facing problems of conjunctivitis too, besides dengue. So take care and do not spread the viruses around.

New Zealand or UK? ...Decisions, decisions, decisions

As you can see, I have yet to update my blog for a damn long time. Too busy, lack of technical support and busy with some other things.

Attended a NUS dance performance on last saturday with weilin and zhen hao. Pretty good, though there were certain times when I had trouble keeping myself awake. Then we went to Tiong Bahru Market for supper cuz weilin had not eaten dinner. Was my first time there and the food's there really great.

Then yesterday went to one of my ex-rec, Jack's birthday party. All the way at Jurong some more. Bought the present on my way there. Got him a Giordano t-shirt which I felt suited him and then took a super long train ride home. Almost teared my hair out enduring the long journey. Then, I had to go home myself cuz no one else lives so far away. Lucky took a ride on a motorcycle by Gordon to the MRT station. Must say was a little apprehensive taking a bike. Was prob my third time. First time was on my uncle's bike, then second time was in Laos. The Laos one was prob the worst cuz I didnt wear helmet. Anyway, the ride was ok though I must say it feels rather different compared to being in a car. Duh! But I'd rather be in a car anytime. Man vs metal, who do you think will win?

MOE sent me an email which had me vexing for the last two days. You see, New Zealand's MOE is giving scholarships for undergraduate studies there and they ask MOE for nominations. So, my scholarship officer sent us an email asking if we are interested. Only 1 or 2 will get the scholarship and will start studies in Feb 06. Of course, most ppl will say UK is better and I agree. But it is something different and NZ prob safer than UK now? Well, thinking and still thinking. Anyone got any opinions to offer?

Next weekend gonna be burnt due to range, so most prob will be busy again. Hopefully i can squeeze one day out for driving and doing something relaxing. In the process of organising a trip overseas.*fingers crossed*

Delta Platoon 3

Saw this photo on a friend's friendster. We were on our way to parade rehearsal at the parade square. Got see me in no.1? The slope you see in the background was a constant battle for me in OCS every morning during 5BX ...if you know what i mean ...

A stationary object will not move unless a force is applied to it ....is this happening to me too??

Now watching a rerun of the superstar as I am online.

I am now at a stage where I feel that I am not doing much and not achieving much. I have yet to decide on where to apply, yet to settle my ucas application. I have not started on some important work in camp. Damn, sounds like I am underachieving.

Received 2 emails yesterday which was of great value to me. First, my scholarship officer from MOE finally sent me an email to find out how I am getting along and whether I have applied to any unis. Don't really blame her cuz there are so many moe scholars out there and I cannot expect special attention from them right? Still, there were times I wished there were people there who could have advised me on my choice of unis and the course to do. Partly my fault too I suppose, cuz I never take the initiative to contact them and ask them for help. Well, at least there is an offer to link me to some of my seniors to consult them for advice. Better grab this opportunity.

The second one was by LTA Tiger, my OCS instructor. To be frank, I was never really close to him and we probably have characters that don't click that well. But he was a great instructor in the sense that he was the one who would always come up to our common corridor and gather us to talk to us. He would give us advice on how to prepare for our overseas training and motivational stories. Come to think of it, my instructional style is somewhat influenced by him. He used to be part of this group of 3 instructors who will terrorise us. 2 Guards officers and 1 commando officer.*Shudder* Will never forget the last day in Heng Chun Camp, Taiwan. Kena tekaned like shit but lucky next day was R n R. He was a rather tough talking person and yet able to connect with us well through frequent interactions. Anyway, I've digressed. He sent an email to ask how we are getting along and inform us he is ORDing soon.

Should start studying soon. Maths is damn difficult to pick up after such a long time. Better start soon. Have not gone for driving for a while too. My improvement is far too slow and I am taking my test end of the year. This won't do ...better work harder man!

Today is Tracom's 11th Anniversary

Today was Tracom's 11th Anniversary and we had a carnival in camp and so I brought along my family. Grandma was there together with mom, sis, my aunts and cousins. Two of my cousins got first and third for the art competition, though I pretty much expected it cuz of the smaller competitive field. The few of us who were older went to play sea sports. I got to go on the jetski, banana boat and speed boat. The banana boat was basically all about capsizing cuz people were like deliberately capsizing and in the end we swam back to shore cuz I think the boat couldn't be bothered to come pick us up. The jet ski was great fun and I had the chance to try out the throttle and steer the jet ski. Well, at least the fun I had today erased some of the horrendous memories of the last sailing experience I had. I think many people were surprised to see so me bring so many people.

Came up with a stunt yesterday before the recruits booked out. They kena scolded by ellard because of the poor area cleaning standards. I was about to brief on certain things before they booked out but upon hearing this, I just stood around and looked stern. Den just as they fall in and got ready to march out, I took over and started scolding them. I got them to gather at the fence where they see the bus waiting for them right outside. Then,

Me: Gentlemen, I told you that I expect standard right? Dun think that cuz I applied leave for you on Friday means I cannot make you all stay in. Since you cannot show me standard, why should I let you all book out?

At this instance, I asked one of my instructor on the bus to let the bus drive off. You can see the collective gasp as the bus drove off right in front of them. Classic.

Anyway, to cut the long story short, I made them promise to give me good standard from then on and then pretend to call the bus back and they booked out happily. It was premediated act to scare them a bit and also required some co-ordination with the bus driver. Hehe ...

Gonna have lots to do for the coming weeks. Make sure they soak their uniforms in this chemical thingy called permethrin cuz of the dengue fever outbreak so all the extra work for us to do in order to protect them. Then got to prepare for range cuz I am conducting officer this time round, so must prepare the admin instruction and do the range recce. Hopefully can psycho someone to drive me to nee soon this week to go take a look.

Tallking to zun you on msn now and was thinking about today. Saw them come up with the various games stalls for the carnival and was quite impressed with their creativity. Ken, Crono, Pang and I had to go up the dunking machine to be dunked. My first dunk was super cheapskate one, cuz the guy ran forward. Then had to do a second time. They seemed pretty excited to see us get wet ....oh well cant be they hate us so much right? Kenneth caught a few fishes but too bad I didnt manage to find time to go see him fish. They were all complaining about having to do all the shit work of keeping all the stores at the end but well, a trainee's life is like that, what more you are at the bottom of the chain now. But they are also really poor thing cuz they stand in the hot sun see people have fun but they cannot take part in it.

Ok ciao ...gonna sleep;0

Photos Galore Part 2

Sorry for the avalanche of photos. My weekend in the civilised world was short so it's a pretty amazing feat for me to accomplish so much within such a short period of time. Just saw the photos my mom developed for me. Yes, I'm still using the rather primitive way of taking photos: camera using the film roll. Anyway, started exploring the scanner function of my new printer and voila, you have just seen the result of it.

Amanda gave me a teachers' day prezzie, which was a box of fererro rocher. Quite weird but then again, even her father had a present from her too, which I felt was even weirder. Then, she pasted a little printed card on it. Cute ...She did not too bad for her prelims, though can always be a lot better. Oh well, one more month only ...

Anyway, due to my excellent planning, I am going to do an endurance run tomorrow, so yeah gotta sleep soon. Hope you guys enjoy the photos. Will upload more over the next weekend if I have the time. Ciao~

My working space

That's me in my cubicle in the office. Ok, it looks a little messy but I tried my best :p

PT and Sports Team

PTIs, lifeguards and me ...and weixiong

02S37 Dinner @ Suntec

Class Dinner at NYDC

Outing to Sentosa

Me and the guys at sunset bay!

POP dinner @ Ritz-Carlton

All the instructors looking funky...well almost.

The table at Ritz

Barry, me, chang hong and section 4

Me, Bryan and section 3

Dinner at Ritz ...all dressed to the nines.

If your life is a movie, how would you like it to be?

The picture you guys see below is supposed to be a video clip but I can only upload the picture.

Fairly uneventful week, depending on how you look at it. Anyway, my guys are sleeping upstairs now, anticipating the fire drill they thought will happen today but will never come. No way am I going to let them anticipate it and be ready for it, though they are pretty helpless even they knew about it.

Was thinking of coming up with an exercise scenario for this. Maybe a fire, followed by bomb threat? Or there's a dangerous chemical substance in our camp? Hmm...ideas ...hehe.

Damn disappointed to see Kelly lose the finals, though she's so obviously the better singer. Oh well, what can I say? Singaporeans are a sympathetic lot. Which reminds me of one thing. Was damn pissed off with something that happened this week. Felt that I was treated with disrespect not just as a friend, but also as a person. The more I think about it, the angrier I get. ;(

Saw a new idea of the new navy commercial today cuz these people came to do a survey with my guys in order to get some feedback. It's generally about a guy who suddenly see advertisements about his life stories everywhere and when he went to the cinema to watch the movie, the audience was sleeping. Then a caption came on like if ur life was a movie, how do you want it to be? Then all the navy stuff come out. Quite cool if you ask me. So look out for it when it appears.

Doing night PT ...infinite counts of 4 jumping jacks
cLaReNcE