cHrOnIcLeS oF sHeRmAn

Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp

2009-06-01T14:48:00.003+08:00

The next is a concentration camp in Germany. They have plenty of them around but this one is particularly famous.Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp. Remember this lady? She is Anne Frank, the lady who wrote the book "Diary of Anne Frank".

Her memorial is in the camp, with a distinctive teddy bear on her memorial.
A view of the park in Bergen-Belsen.
Walls of the museum, does it look like a jail.
You will see plenty of humps of soil like this in the camp and the words, they say here rest 2500 causalities. Even after the war ended and the liberation of the camp, people still die of starvation in these camps. As the causality rates are too high and plus the dead people from before the liberation, the allied forces had no choice to dig a big hole and lay them to rest all together in these hump.

War is indeed scary. Lucky the Rein of Nazi is long gone.

Bergen

2009-06-01T14:13:00.004+08:00

This is the closest town you can find near our camp. This is Bergen, which people in Germany usually call it Bergen-Belsen. I got to learn from my German friend, Peter, that Bergen means hill in German.The town of Bergen. It was closing the end of winter that I took these photos. The flowers are about to bloom!
The railway of Bergen. My friend was crazy enough to run down to the bottom of hill to get this picture taken.
The sign of Bundesweer
I met this girl in a Italian shop in Bergen and I would try my best to marry this girl. They say to keep a man is through the stomach. And this lady had scored 11/10 for my stomach! She cook the best spaghetti in the whole of Germany. If I had a chance, I will go there once again just to try her cooking.

Soltau

2009-06-01T14:08:00.004+08:00

It will be the smaller towns of Germany that I will be talking on from now. This post will be dedicated to Soltau, one of the small towns near my camp.

As you know most of the sundays in town are usually dead, I was lucky to be around Soltau on a shopping sunday. The town was packed with people.
The busy Sunday morning of Soltau.

It was also start of spring time that I went, so there were many plum blossom tat time and the whole town was beautiful.

Braunshwieg

2009-05-28T23:56:00.005+08:00

Welcome to Braunschweig this time.

In English, this city is called Brunswick. This is one city I ventured myself. At first sight as alighted from the train station, it was a boring sight. I was worried that I am going to be disappointed. Lucky thing is that it was just the city border.Bet you cant guess what this place is. Haha.

It is actually a shopping centre and it is a grand one.
The Cathedral of Braunschweig is awesome. This seven armed candle of Braunschwieg is of central importance in Christian Symbolism. Some of them are like the Seven Sacraments, the Seven Archangels and the list goes on. The front view of the candlelabra. It isn't Jesus on the cross. It was actually This man Victor who was known to have the holy face. The famous Braunschweig Lion, Henry.
They even had sewers with him on it. I guess it is almost everywhere in the city. The inside of another church I went. I cant remember the name though. Colourful street of Braunschweig. The Obelisk of Braunschweig. People having fun in Braunschweig.

Frankfurt

2009-05-28T23:20:00.005+08:00

Welcome to Frankfurt.

This is a city which is more commercialize than any other cities that I have been too. But certainly, there is still beauty within the commercialized city.
The first artistic bridge that I encounter in Frankfurt. The park by the river. With many girls running in the park, I am this park is a good place for a run. My friend and I at the park by the river. River view of the city. The city view is indeed nice that it looked like angels falling from the skies. Cool shots under the bridge.
No pooping by the park.

I will start with the artistic portion of Frankfurt before I head on to other.
This is the preserved Rathaus of Frankfurt.
The under-maintenance Cathedral.
We headed into a museum of alien and this is what we have got.
My friend frightened by the alien.
Myself attempting to make a call home.
Commerce street of Frankfurt. I did not venture into the area though.
Lastly the place is quite known for their red light district. It was just across the train station. This Dolly Buster Centre is a store that sold movies, and there was something very interesting inside. They have covered cubicles that will play porn movies and best of all, there is a box of tissue in every cubicles for... erm... you know what. Lol.

Tschus!

Lübeck

2009-05-24T21:43:00.005+08:00

Welcome to Lübeck. A pity I do not have much time in this place. Pardon me if there is too little pictures on this beautiful city.
This is the famous gate of Lübeck. It is printed all over in their famous delicacy called the Marzipans. Maripans are almond coated chocolates. The handsome lion before the gate of Lübeck. The Rathaus of Lübeck More nice jumping shots.

Lüneburg

2009-05-24T21:22:00.005+08:00

Welcome to Lüneburg this time round, this is my favourite city of all cities that I have been in Lower Saxony. Beautiful city! That is me across the busy main street.The Rathaus of Lüneburg. Many gather and sit around to chill mainly because of the cool and low humidity weather. If it were in Singapore, you will never get such a sight.
This is me at the top of the water tower overlooking the whole of Lüneburg.
I told you I suck at jumping shots. My friends are better.
The churches here are beautiful. Take a look at their ceiling. They have posters of this picture selling at €8. I had it for free with my semi-dslr. Candles makes peaceful artifacts for pictures.
Nice pictures in the churches. Flowers too make beautiful scenery around the world. Lucky I was around there during spring. I am so loving Spring. I shall visit Europe again in Spring.

Some pictures that I though have beautiful contrast with colours.

Bremen

2009-05-24T20:51:00.004+08:00

Welcome to Bremen this time. This is a place where my doctor is dying to go.
That is me at the Haup bahnhof. Me at the bridge connecting to the city centre. And this is doctor happy with his box of chinese noddles.
Then again, this city like many other cities, has many beautiful structures. The picture
with the animals stacking on top of each other is the main sight for Bremen. Within the church are also beautiful. A picture of kids giving their offerings. This is one of my best take away picture in the church. Germany in general has very beautiful garden. This is one of those beautiful ones you will get to see in Bremen.
This is where Doctor found some of his friends of Werder Bremen.

Hannover

2009-05-24T20:15:00.005+08:00

Welcome to Hannover!This is a picture of their town hall of Hannover. Like any town in the world, there should be a place whereby they do their town's administration right? Grand isn't it?
This is me at the top of the town hall.
This is the rear view of the town hall. A more beautiful sight of it.
This was were I tried to do jump shots but it was ugly though. It is better that I am the one taking the picture. These are some jump shots that I have taken for my friend, he is a natural isn't he? It does look like he is jumping outta the picture. This is the famous opera house in Hannover, this is also a central place for gatherings, most commonly riots especially in my time there.
This is the opera house at night. Magnificant!
Germany is a cultural place with many statues and structures. The prettiest of them all I will say is these lights that you will see at night. A little bit on the night life of Hannover.

Hamburg

2009-05-20T20:43:00.004+08:00

Hamburg is a place I did not really explore much. I thought it was too much of a metropolis that has too little cultural sights to see. As such, do not expect much of Hamburg from me.
But it was my first city that I have been to by train.Hamburg is well known for their Sunday Fish Market. This was taken in the hall.
This is a standard counter of the fish market. The interesting thing is that they joke about their sales so much that the people just enjoy the jokes.

End of Stone Age!!

2009-05-18T10:37:00.002+08:00

The internet connection is so bad in Germany that I am so lazy to wait for the thing to load up to my blog. It has been months since I last blogged. My Goodness.

But I am glad to say Stone age is finally, I am back to proper civilian world and fast internet speed. Never had I appreciate such connection speed.

Certainly this time I am back with many nice pictures of Germany, so many that I don't know where to start. Haha. I guess I should start by cities that I have visited.

Stay tune!

Willkommen in Deutschland!

2009-03-11T19:59:00.018+08:00

It means "Welcome to Germany!" At least this is what I got from the German-English Dictionary from my Ops room. Guten Tag to my friends. It means "good day".

I was sent onto a work trip to Germany and have been in Germany for about a week and have taken quite a few pictures. I am currently in Bergen, Lager Horstern Camp. I have tried to upload them but the internet is too slow to upload the usual big pictures. Today, the unlucky Friday 13th prove to be a different luck for me. I was able to upload my pictures! Though they are little smaller and lower quality than usual, they are really nice pictures of my lot till now.

Germany indeed is a very beautiful country. Maybe it is because they have larger land than Singapore, and that their building looks more spacious. Their scenery here is definitely much more prettier than Singapore. At least they have plenty of lands around. And most importantly people here have very good work life balance!

Unlike Singapore, people will work till late nights everyday, and even weekends, people here will serious close their shop sharp on time like 5 pm. Saturday is half day for them and Sunday is a total rest day and it is total dead town in Bergen. When asked what they do on Sundays, they said it is house cleaning etc . Very good life balance.

We came in from Hamburg and this is the City of Hamburg. I took a private car rented by my unit and headed back to camp, and the moment we got out of the airport, we met up with an accident. It was only a small scratch on both cars but still the German old man wanted to call on the police to report. In the end my first destination in Hamburg is the police station.

This is a rest point by the side of German AutoBahn (Expressway). Unlike Singapore, driving at 100km/hr on the expressway is considered fast. In Germany, 100km/hr is considered road hogging, the normal speed is about 180km/hr!
Sun set in Camp
Sun Rise in Camp
Night sky of my Camp. Day sky of my Camp. Even my camp has such nice scenery.
Railroad at Bergen
This is the Pond at Munster. Munster is about 25km drive from Bergen, it is where our liason training centre is situated.
Town of Munster

This is my favourite picture of all, "The Peek-a-boo Sun". I managed to take this while my doctor went to check out on a bus stop. I guess this is one of my best picture of all times. I shall blog more if time and the connection permits me.

Lights

2009-03-01T23:32:00.004+08:00

Lights play a important part in our daily lives. It can make one moment as beautiful as heaven and the next moment it is gone.

I was hanging out at Raffles Place one morning and I started taking this picture.I like this picture because of the morning light peeking out of the building. You can guess where is this taken. But the lights was just as crimson as the sun is setting. The moment was only less than 5 minutes.

This goes to say moments are to be treasured and not wasted. Sometimes people just have their pace too fast that they actually miss the real good gist of the world.

Prawning

2009-02-15T23:44:00.005+08:00

Today was supposed to be a get together to meet up with Eva, however the prawns became more intriguing than Eva. Haha.
This was me with my first prawn. I had a prawning spree initially, within the first two hours I managed to catch 10 over prawns. That made me going for more prawns and that also ended my spree.
This was Eva and Wai Leong with their largest prawn.
This little lady got so interested with prawns that she doesn't want to leave them alone.
This was a group picture of those that were present.Our two largest prize. They had tried to crawl away and there were punished heavily.
The punishment was as such!! We were so cruel.
End state of our prawns. We barbecued 24 prawns in total.Barbecuing Time.

I learnt quite a bit of my camera today, my friend had educated me on the flash intensity. I am so loving photography. This was a unintentional photography that I took which I thought was quite artistic.

JM's Departure

2009-02-07T23:39:00.000+08:00

It is new year though, but new year are not technical breaks for people to rest entirely. Jian Ming had to leave to some isolated place for work.
This was us missing each other so much.
What lovely couple!
Me at plucking orange.

Well, it was a short trip for him, so nothing much to miss. Haha.

Hatred

2009-02-05T20:13:00.002+08:00

I had a conversation with one of my friends at work today. It goes like this:

Friend : Are you going to the cohesion on the 23rd?

Me : Nope

Friend : You really hate this unit don't you?

Me : Actually not really....

When the "not really" came out of my mouth, my feelings soured with all sort of emotions that will spoil a relationship. I guess my answer to his question should be "Yes I do really hate this place."

I am kind of upset writing this post because I cannot really pin point what was it that made me hate this unit!

Was it the people? Hell no, it was the people who kept me going in the unit.

Was it the job perhaps? But I do get lessons learnt taking up an appointment two ranks higher than me!

Was it the culture then? Maybe the culture is forceful onto people, but I survived. Perhaps that is why I hate this place? Perhaps I hated the process of survival in this unit.

Clueless, am I? I ain't even sure?

Learn and Forget

2009-02-01T22:23:00.003+08:00

When I was about to take this picture, there was a Hyundai Tuscani right before me and my friend was like exclaiming: "No! Don't take the car!"

So I was explaining that it is not the car that I am interested in, but the colourful buildings. Tuscani is so common nowadays and it is the cheapest of all sports car.

But this friend brought me a point that I had known, but was forgotten deep inside of me. It is to understand people and be more attentive to individual.

I am quite certain I am very attentive to environment, but not to individual. I have always thought that to allow people to open up before I can talk to them, but I never thought tat I should be the one driving the topic in order to get them to talk. It is like "In order to gain respect, you must give respect".

Sadden to forget things, however that is human nature. As much as you learn, you will forget others.

新年快乐！

2009-01-23T23:26:00.002+08:00

既然是农历新年，就要写华语。

牛年的到来是一个及大的好事！第一，要过年了，我就在这恭祝大家新年快乐, 年年有余，万事如意,身体安康！

牛年，牛年，既然是牛年，我这头牛就会人人所说的，今年我会“牛”转乾坤。这就到了我第二点，我今年就要服完我的兵役，再回反校园了！真是一个及大好事！可是我在回返校园之前，我将要出国公干。

这就是我第三点，我可以免费的出国！还出国两个月！在过年之前，我的老板和我说我们出国的计划可能会取消。就是应为牛年“牛”转乾坤，我有这个感觉我们一定出得了国的！

大家！我就写到这！恭喜发财！新年进步！

Summary Of the Visit

2009-01-11T17:06:00.003+08:00

如果你不了解你的过去，你就像是一片树叶，不知道你是树的一部份。

If you don't know your past, you will be like a leaf that doesn't know you are a part of a tree.

These are exact words taken from the last moments of Little Nyonya whereby Felicia Chin said on the couch bus leaving Malacca.
A revisit to your roots is certainly meaningful, with every pieces of history piecing up together. A quick pictorial review on the trip.
I have also realized that I love to take pictures of kids.

Hainan Island is certainly a nice place to go. Shopping is cheap, air is fresh and best of all, I have relatives there. It makes visiting the place more meaningful.

Back to Homeland Day 7

2009-01-06T12:39:00.000+08:00

This is our last day at Hainan Island. I have thought that I have finished walking 海口 (Hai Kou) but there is more beautiful stuff that I have not walked.
First we explored the beach of 海口 (Hai Kou). I thought it was a better beach than any other beach in Hainan Island. At least it has lesser people, comparing to those at 三亚 (San Ya). Here is more peaceful. But it is very chilly here with the sea breeze coming in.
This was us at the beach. It took us sometime to take it as the wind was very strong and it blew my camera off position all the time.
This is me by the beach.

I took a picture of a girl secretly because I thought she makes a beautiful model. I hope the boyfriend takes good pictures of her. This is the container that keep the sweet potatoes hot. Selling sweet potatoes is very common there. Especially when you are cold, these food are served to you as delicacy. Purple potatoes are a first for me. We tried the bus ride here. It was more spacious than in Singapore.We headed to a street of Haikou, my relative said the things here are very cheap. Theft here is also common. My father selling fruits. Some weird jobs being done by the streets. Mr Muscles moving goods. Buildings around the streets. We had steam boat at night. The seafood is SUPER FRESH!! My goodness, imagine prawns you can just squeeze abit of the shell and then the whole shell will fall off. We also had scallops and oysters. This is some pictures of a family photos.

Back to Homeland Day 6

2009-01-05T12:23:00.000+08:00

The sixth day we headed back to 海口 (Hai Kou).
These were some pictures we took with the relatives before leaving the hotel.Typical looks of a 海口 (Hai Kou) Ah Lian. My goodness, so ugly!I did mentioned that the island do not have 7-11 right? They have a 7 Day Inn. Streets of Hainan Island. Something I really enjoy taking. Playing around with the shutter speed and apertures gives you different effects. But these shots cannot be done in the day, I guess I must try more.
I tried it on human traffic, but it wasn't as fantastic. I guess I will have to try harder too.

Back to Homeland Day 5

2009-01-04T11:59:00.001+08:00

We headed to our ancestral home on the fifth day of the visit. It has been nine years since the last visit. I had almost forgotten how it looks like already. I only had memories my late Grandfather taking up the drumstick and beating the drum.
But first of all, I stumbled upon the village's school. The school my grandfather had contributed alot to.
The school had my grandfather's picture to commemorate his contributions, along with other contributors. That is my grandfather at the center. It was taken from the walls of the school. This is my ancestral temple. A chicken was slaughtered as an offering to our ancestors.
This is the one of the village padi field. A picture of my grandparents and relatives wedding photos.
This was where the family started, at least to when photographs are common. This are my great grand parents.
This was the bed made by my Great Grand Father for my Grandfather's wedding. My goodness, it is still around! It would have been at least half a century old.
In Singapore, we were never allowed to play with firecrackers. But here, this was my first time lighting one up.
This was the spread they had prepared for us. They have a lot of vegetables and also that fatty pork you can never find in Singapore.
This is the land that my grandfather bought in Hainan Island. My goodness! I have a family land!
We had quite a lot of fun plucking coconuts and enjoying them.
The animals you can find in the village.

Back to Homeland Day 4

2009-01-03T22:52:00.000+08:00

This day is the last day of the tour. Our first stop of the day was at "蝴蝶谷 (Hu Die Gu)".They have very nice gardens for the butterflies.

This was us outside of the garden. Sea Shells are after the butterflies. It was close to one of the most famous beaches in Singapore. “天下第一湾（Tian Xia Di Yi Wan)”

A quick look at the beach
Next we went to a tribal exhibition and it was here I was married. Too bad my father's photography skill is lousy, I couldn't take a picture of my wife properly.Lastly, we went to "红色娘子军 (Hong Se Niang Zi Jun)". It was said there was this bunch of ladies who had contributed to the WW2. Survivors of the remaining troops. Just a picture of a girl at the doorway.

Back to Homeland Day 3

2009-01-02T22:02:00.000+08:00

The third day was the day when we hit the southern most end of the Island. Ever been to a beach whereby you have to wear a jacket? This is my first beach that I had to.
This is "三亚 (San Ya)". I used to have very good memory of this place because of the beach, but it was disappointing this time. It used to be a very clear beach which you can see fishes swimming under the bridge, but now this place is sardined with people. It was known to be to be the end of the world back in the olden days of China. I will elaborate more on the end of the world portion later.My feminine relative cluttering around a beads store, marvelling at the beads. This was a test of skill of taking a kite. Calamity on the beach. We decided to have a short fruity break by the beach as most of our tour group when for sea sports.They have a outdoor massage area!?Next we went to a crystal factory. This is my parents beside some crystals. Cute kid by a huge crystal ball.
"天涯 (Tian Ya)" Rock. Everyone is queue to take picture with this rock. Although there was an unofficial queue but still people cut queue.
"海角 (Hai Jiao)" rock. This rock was even more challenging. I had to climb another rock in other to take this picture.

These rock was why this place is called "天涯海角 (Tian Ya Hai Jiao)". Both rocks are craved on different time of Chinese History. It was known that Hainan Island was a place for exiles in the past and there were two exiles of different times was wandering where is the end of the world, walked down south to this place and carved the words.
Some structures of "天涯海角 (Tian Ya Hai Jiao)".Water photography always amazes me.
This is the Guan Yin Statue that was built for the sake of tourism and worship. It is 108m high. The nice structures around the park of the Guan Yin Park.

Back to Homeland Day 2

2009-01-01T21:16:00.000+08:00

Second day was the start of our tour package around Hainan Island. We had to wake up 6am for it! My goodness who wakes up so early in their holidays? But it was a memorable day of the tour. Many interesting happened.

The first thing was the first stop point. I remembered vividly about the toilet. I will brand it the most disgusting toilet I ever entered.

Imagine they do not have standing urinals, so they had to use buckets. Everyone just stood by the buckets and urinated. The best of all, the buckets were almost full already! My goodness!

The first place of interest was this port that my Grandfather used to leave Hainan Island back in those days. It was the only port around in Hainan Island in those days. There was this small isle that formed a small opening out of the port.
This was us boarding the ship to the small isle.
My father and Uncle Johnson at the isle.
There were quite a number of statues around for people to take pictures with. However payment must be made. There was this particular interesting statue that caught my attention. There was this lady who will block people to take pictures with an umbrella, unless you pay.
This was lunch.
Check out the fatty pork! Other tables finished this dish, I guess being the health conscious Singaporeans, we left the plate almost untouched.This is "东山岭 (Dong Shan Ling)". It was said that this is an auspicious piece of land and that it will give good luck to those who had buried their ancestors here.
This was us going up via cable car.
This was the scenery during the cable car ride. I did say this place was for tombs right? There are an estimate of 4700+ tombs on this mountain. One of them is the Song's Sisters parents.
It was said their goats had certain spiritual difference and there were many of them on the mountain.
Rocks with poems and writings were abundance in the mountain.
Our last stop of the day was the Botanic Gardens. This is my father by the entrance.

Back to Homeland Day 1

2008-12-31T16:48:00.000+08:00

It has been nine years since I last came to Hainan Island. I remembered that I promised to come back here 10 years later after that last visit. It was super warm last time I came, I guess it was about 30 degrees? This time it is cold. At least 15 degrees? Just imagine Genting with thunderstorm.

This was us with our distant relatives picking us up at the airport.

This is my auntie (Father's elder sister) with my grand-aunt (Grand father's younger sister-in-law). Chinese have different naming nomenclatures for different relatives of the family.A typical looks of a control tower in an airport.

Our first hotel was Seaview International Hotel, though there is no seaview. It used to have, until reclaimation works.

This was our lunch. OMG the fatty pork is really aweome. The fats just melt away in your mouth.

A picture of us with the grand lobby of the hotel.

Having walked the vicinity of the hotel, it seems that 7-11 and Macdonals are not famous around the region. They have KFC that opens until late night though. Wonder who will eat fried chicken in the night? Is it the heritage of hainanese chicken rice?

And their KFC is really well to do, just look at the size of the outlet.

A typical streets of the island.

There is many brands around in China, they have fake nike. They are called "Anda".

People setting up night market.

Their sex shop sounded like case trust in SIM LIM Square.

A look at their alcohol.

Us eating a sumptous dinner.

We had so much to talk about we stood around the lobby until late at night.

This was the cute girl that held my hand whenever we walk around the last time we came. Look at her now. All tomboyish. Maybe things will change. Lets give her five more years.

Cousin Settlers Outing

2008-12-28T06:36:00.002+08:00

I hanged out with my cousin this Saturday over at Settler's at SMU. Settlers at SMU is quite spacious and I particularly like the area with those pretty arts ornaments around. Thinking of which, we have not met for quite sometime.
We had a couple of games at Settlers'. But the most interesting on was the one you got to have telepathy with the other player when you see a picture. You must both write out something of the same when seeing that picture.
This is us after the exciting moments.
I took some pretty lighting while walking away from SMU. My friend was correct about the ISO and the blurry pictures and I managed to correct this time round.
We had quite a spread with duck rice and pork inards.

Raleigh Power Walk

2008-12-21T12:21:00.011+08:00

I took my first run after my one week break on Friday because of my back injury. It was a 6km run as I met friends along the way so I did not stop at my usual 4km. This was the biggest mistake I made as I will be walking 50km the next day.
The team was Team FECK. I was not the official team member but I was the so called pacer. From the right, Jonathan, me, Matt and Michelle. And this was just the energetic start for us. I swear I was confident of completing the walk at this point of time. Our first land mark at IKEA. No swedish meat balls though. Our first check point at Pasir Ris Park. It was not a challenge yet as it was just walking the first 10km. Matt and myself in Loyang Industrial Estate. Home of the Commandos.
Our second checkpoint at Changi Village. We ate the well known nasi lemak and Hokien mee from here. Us resting and applying deep heat. It was here I start to feel a tingle of strain in my right calf. Our embarkation to the next Park Connector. I never knew Changi is connected via park connector to East Coast Park. It was 2:30am. The place where most singaporean men's nightmare begin and this is where our nightmare tonight begin. The connector was a straight road of 9km. It was never ending! The only motivation we can see is the Airport Terminal coming to an end.
It is 2.4km away only after a 2 and a half hour walk. It was at 4am.
Some demotivational Posters. This is quite a good one. Macdonal Breakfast!! I had my Mega McGriddles at ECP. Finally some motivational posters.
It was 07:30am. This was taken at the big splash, minus 11 hours because of 100km walk, we have already travelled 12 hours exactly. Those 100km walkers are mad men worth our respect. This was also the time we gave up. My legs are just too cramp to go ahead. We took a cab to bugis and we tuang there until 10:15am before we headed off for the end.This was us at the end point of Campus Green of SMU, tired and shagged.

The Day the Earth Stood Still

2008-12-12T20:01:00.000+08:00

This movie is deep. Well, at least that is what I thought to be. It had a underlining meaning to it. I won't spoil the movie for you.
No doubt humans are of destructive nature, we had a soft side to all of us. It is sacrifice. We are willing to sacrifice even our own life for the sake of our love ones.
I was just searching the net for picture of the movie, I stumbled onto this picture. Apparently it looks like it is a remake of an old movie. Nowadays it seems as such that people are digging into the past movie to make new ones.

Standard Chartered

2008-12-08T14:26:00.002+08:00

Although I didn't run 42km this year, I took a 10km run this year. And I made a target of hitting under 1 hour and I did! It was 58 minutes.

It was painful though. I remembered that pain in my chest as I sprint my last part into the gantry.

It was also disappointing for myself as I have not ran 42km. As I passed through the booths, the treatment that they gave the 42km runners, it was good. Well, these people deserved it and I wish I was one of them. I will make sure I run next year.

I have set my target then again. For Sun Down Marathon, I will take part in 10km. For Army Half Marathon, I will take part in 21km to ramp up towards 42km of Standard Chartered! I am also taking up vertical marathon!

The only problem is that I hope when I get to Germany, I still can continue running. I hope that there is a indoor track or something for me. I hope...

Lesson Learnt

2008-12-03T20:37:00.002+08:00

People say army is a waste of time. I strongly disagree with that. Today, I am proud to say I have learnt lessons that I must never forget and be integrated with my future self.

I have been working so hard, yet I have not seen a significant result that I can be proud of. I have always thought I would be able to do any job since these jobs were meant for humans, B]but it doesn't seems that way. It seems so pointless that I almost deem myself useless. Until two great teachers enlightened me.

Although the lesson came a little late, but still at least it would help me for life.

Lesson 1 : Pleasing Your Boss' Boss.
Just by doing jobs that your boss had allocated you is just not enough, you have to think ahead and do jobs that your Boss' Boss will think of. No doubt it is a challenge to read people's mind, it is the only way you can impress your Boss' Boss and make your own boss look good. Of course you cannot be stealing the limelight from your boss, he is your boss after all.

Lesson 2 : Managing a team
This is one lesson I have been trying to learn since young but it is just so hard to digest. Giving your subordinate welfare is essential to better working relations, but giving them too much welfare is giving yourself torture. As a job of a manager is not to do work of your subordinates, but to manage them and to anticipate problems. The physical job aspect of a manager is minimal, your job is to ensure and plan ahead.

Tough to digest though, but it must be.

Last Lap

2008-11-23T23:04:00.003+08:00

I can't imagine I am in my unit for one year already. I wonder how I survived so long in here. It is my last three weeks here and my last in-camp the coming week before I hand over to the next better player.

My upper study said "If you can survive Armour, you can survive anywhere." I wanted to believe his words, but thinking again, there is nothing in Armour that can kill you. At least for the job scope wise, nothing would. It is a matter on how much effort and perseverance you would put into a job to stay hanging.

I will just give my best to this last three weeks as a Signal Trainer in this unit.

Disappointing

2008-11-23T22:25:00.002+08:00

I guess not everything runs smoothly in one's life, at least not in my life. After so much of planning and anticipation, I had always wanted to go overseas for further studies. I had even told my whole world of friends that they can expect me to go Australia next year, inclusive of my family.

This big dream of mine, burst just by a string of unexpected advice. My father couldn't support me.

Then why didn't he told me earlier and so I can plan earlier?! I had this plan since three years ago! Why didn't he tell me then?

He said that if he were to support me, he couldn't retire as early. He would have to work another three years. I cannot let that happen.

Study opportunities, I can have plenty. Father? I can only have one. I will just have to re-look at my options.

Late Photography

2008-11-16T22:21:00.004+08:00

Besides taking day photography, night photography is a challeng for me. I always had problem with night photo and they usually look very pixelated. I guess the best way to improve is to keep doing it.

I was out at Orchard to catch "High School Musical 3". Apparently the people are starting to put up Christmas lightings already. It was not completed but it still looks beautiful.

These are my accomplices of the day. Of course there is also Justin, whom I refuse to take picture of. :P

A mountainful of Ice.

My dish of congee.
See what is the problem.When I got back home, my mother's plant bloomed again. It was really beautiful. Lucky thing I came home just about midnight to catch it as it is the time when it is the most beautiful.

School of Artillery

2008-11-16T21:59:00.005+08:00

I had to wake up early to see my brother's passing out parade today. It had been nine months since he entered army. Time really flies. I am going to ORD soon!! An artillery gun of Singapore. And that is my brother's toy for his rest of National Service.
That is my brother. Don't know why his helmet is tilt to one side. Lol.

That is us after the parade.

Although I am in the army and in armour, it is rare chance for me to be able to bring in a camera and take myself in an armoured vehicle. This is good chance. Lucky for me, I need not do the overturning drill before entering the vehicle.

I even had the chance to go to the commander's hatch. Cool. It was tough getting up there.

Looking at the pictures. I think I am getting better at using manual photography now. Haha. Seems so fun to get the correct effect that you want.

Work Work!

2008-11-14T21:56:00.000+08:00

I wonder when has my work load increase so drastically. Work just seems never ending. Fortunately, my computer had broken down and sent for repair. Well, blessing in disguise.

For your information, I am blogging with my brother's laptop.

Well, lets look forward for weekends and it will be another phototaking time. Wahahaha..

Com Crashed!

2008-11-09T21:54:00.000+08:00

Crap!! My computer have crashed for the first time! I just got back from a short meeting with my friends and the next thing I know, I am unable to boot up my computer. No!!

It would be a week of no computer...

Busy Busy Busy

2008-11-07T22:53:00.002+08:00

I had quite a busy week for this week after my Thailand trip. I even had to stay in almost the whole week because of work.

Regardless, this week is a very happy week for me. My understudy is posting in on 15 December!! I can finally slack! One year of non-stop action has finally coming to an end!

Early this week, my unit had Chief of Defense Force came down for a visit. During the visit, I met up with my Hd Manpower and was asking about my career. Knowing that I am going to ORD the coming June and that my understudy is coming this December, he actually insist to post me to Germany. Well, actually something I do not mind at all.

It is Europe that I can tour. What are the chances in life that I get to go Europe during army life? I really want to go Germany!

These incident made me happy for the rest of the week man. Till then.

Thailand Trip

2008-10-29T19:35:00.007+08:00

I have just gotten back from my thailand trip and if I had to write down everything that happened during my trip, it would take out at least the whole webpage. So I have decided to just put in my best take away for the trip.
That is us before leaving Singapore.
A typical street of Thailand.
Good number for a house.
A rare sight of electric distribution. At least for Singaporeans.
I think kids there looks really cute. Can't help to stop taking pictures of them.

Thailand is a religious country and so Temple visit is a must not miss in Thailand.
One of the temple that we visited is the Fifth King's Temple, King Chulalongkorn. It was a very steep temple and apparently it has many different cultural ornaments in the temple. And that is me at the peak of the temple.
It was a city tour that included the temple visit. However it was these fishes that amused me. They are catfishes which I think is as big as my legs!A Typical Streets of Thailand
One of the best takeaway was the shopping trip, not that I have bought a lot of things, but more of the skill of bargaining. I got away from Thailand that if almost any items there which is more than 200 Baht is expensive.A typical shopping street of Thailand.

They sold a wide variety of colorful stuff there.

Us getting some cheap bargains.

And of course going Thailand you can't miss the girls. There is much more....Terence Yap's Favourite BBQ girl.

Of course there must be an end to everything.
That is us leaving Thailand.
And the clouds that accompanied us while being airborne.
Isn't this a familiar sight? Ring a bell?

Some nice picture I thought I should share.

Testing Out of Camera

2008-10-18T21:36:00.003+08:00

I signed up for Murdoch University and University of Western Australia today with IDP in Orchard Hotel. I guess I am quite fixed on the idea of studying in Australia already.

While I was queuing up to check out on UWA, I met this girl who is heavenly gorgeous! I cannot determine where is she from as she has good english accent as well as chinese's. I did not have the guts to take out my camera to snap her. How disappointing. But I hope I can see her again. Haha.

Besides making the decision on Australia, I made quite a good discovery today. I found out how to play around with shutter speed and apertures!
I was speaking to my cousin about camera effects and he gave me an example of a waterfall, with adjusting both of those factors, we can make a misty effect. This was purely taken by a camera and that it was in Orchard after I went for IDP. I never knew camera can do this! How mountain tortise.

More of such thing will come for sure. I will try out more.

Sentosa Outing

2008-10-17T21:00:00.000+08:00

I was out at Sentosa with my guys on Friday, it was our branch cohesion. This is the family.

Well there is time for work and there is time for play.
And of course Photography.
I never knew Sentosa had changed their monorail system to ezylink card system and that you can reach to the beach in two stops. Convenient.
With plenty of sand and the sea, this is Singapore's well known beach. I guess there is the only good one around. We had a great game of volley ball. It was enjoyable and I thought I am quite good at it. With a little more practice, perhaps someday I should join Jacklyn for volley ball game.
Before we left, we met up with three girls who took our group photographs. I had a cheekiest thought at that time to take down their numbers. But well, I got MSN email, but she has yet to add me... Sobz...
Ending off the day, we had a Luge ride. It was expensive but for the first try, I thought was worth it.
We had to take this sky ride up to a top of a hill before taking the ride.
Evidence of Luge Ride.

Meaning of Photography

2008-10-15T13:32:00.003+08:00

It was a eventful evening on Sunday when I met up with an old friend, Ai Ling. Being artistically inclined, Ai Ling suggested that we go to a photo gallery behind The Cathay in Orchard.

Initially we wanted to walk the inner gallery but it was closed. How unfortunate! But it was a blessing in disguise, there was a outer gallery with quite a good spread of photograph. We spent about half an hour looking through the photographs.

We shared our feeling of the photographs thereafter and we had different views of just one photograph. It made me realized that a still picture, though picturing stationary image, it can have many interpretation. It made me realized that one can see stories behind pictures. It was a captivating beauty that had rekindle my flame for photography, which was lost a month now.

She carried on to share with me the use of her DSLR. It had added oil to my passion of flame.

I went on to research the next few days. I looked into many photographs and had different light to them.
This is a picture from Cosmin Bumbut, a fashion photographer. What would you see in the picture? What I saw was helplessness. A women being robbed in the tunnel and there is no one else to turn too.
Take look at the picture, what do you see? I saw a lady, probably happy, running with a dog.

The truth about the picture is that this lady is running for shelter during a air raid. It was a picture by Robert Capa, a Combat photographer during WW2 peroid.

"A Picture Speaks for more than a Thousand words." A picture can say many things, it is how you perceive.

Lost in Translation

2008-09-30T13:13:00.000+08:00

If you realized I have not been blogging for more than a month now. The main reason was because I was lost. Lost because there was no meaning to what I was writing anymore.

However, a meet up with a girl had made me realized the true meaning of photography and I have found a purpose in life.

This post was posted on 15 OCT 2008 but for the fluency of the story, I will post it on 30 Sept 2008.

New Experiences

2008-09-02T23:07:00.003+08:00

Today is my first time trying out watching movie alone. It was after a meeting which ended about 3pm, after which I felt was too late to return to camp to do anything. So I head down to North Point to catch Journey to the Centre of the Earth.
I thought the movie is interesting. Imagine a world within a world. Awesome. And of course I will be filthy rich by journeying there with all the raw stones by the side of the walls.

I love the part when the boy was floating on magnetic stones. Dangerous but cool!

Today was also my first day in LCCI taking accounts. This subject was a subject I actually wanted to take in secondary school, but my teacher advise not to as I will have to drop A maths.

The class attendance was great! At least at the start. I was third to be coming for lessons. There was one cute girl walking thereafter. I didn't want to pay alot attention on girls lest I will suspected of ogling at them. Thereafter another great bodied girl came in(/me making cat calls in the brain), then I started to message to my friend saying that the girls standard in my class is good. After that, the standards dipped. Saddening.

Well, I think I will prefer the cute girl who walked in after me. Looks innocent and guilible, meaning easier to cheat!!! Wahahaha. Till then to my adventure.

Tampines Revisited

2008-08-31T22:24:00.004+08:00

I was back with Kwan Shen to Tampines Secondary School in Bedok. In the location formally Temasek Secondary which is my elder brother's secondary school. I caught sight of many nostalgic sights like this photos.
Black and white photos are definitely old school. Especially you have the photos of our first president and other old timers in the government.
Typical likes of a school.
I remember the days when I had my O levels.

Although this isn't the original school that I attended. There is certain things that don't change in a Secondary School.

Improved Autoreply

2008-08-27T20:01:00.002+08:00

I just came back from the field today, imagine after 21 km run on Sunday, Monday I had to move out to the field. Saddening.

When I just got home, I switched on my computer. There was someone who added me to my MSN by the email "minnierycrb@hotmail.com". As usual, I will add then ask for who is the person. Below is our interesting conversation.

Minnie says (7:51 PM):
Hi
eBaLaNcE - gReAtEsT fRiEnD oF mY lIfE ...... says (7:51 PM):
hey
eBaLaNcE - gReAtEsT fRiEnD oF mY lIfE ...... says (7:52 PM):
sorry you are?
minnierycyb@hotmail.com says (7:52 PM):
hey, A/S/L?
eBaLaNcE - gReAtEsT fRiEnD oF mY lIfE ...... says (7:52 PM):
23 M Singapore
minnierycyb@hotmail.com says (7:52 PM):
hey whats up babe, U got a webcam? finally someone adds me, I am soo fuckin horny today for some reason lol
eBaLaNcE - gReAtEsT fRiEnD oF mY lIfE ...... says (7:53 PM):
it is a longest since someone ask me this
minnierycyb@hotmail.com says (7:53 PM):
listen hun, I am just about to start my webcam show with jen, come chat me there in my chat room? We can cyber, I will get naked if u do..lol!
eBaLaNcE - gReAtEsT fRiEnD oF mY lIfE ...... says (7:54 PM):
where is you chat room?
minnierycyb@hotmail.com says (7:54 PM):
I can show u how to watch if u promise not to tell anyone else how to do it???PLEASE
eBaLaNcE - gReAtEsT fRiEnD oF mY lIfE ...... says (7:54 PM):
go on
minnierycyb@hotmail.com says (7:55 PM):
well since its the law that u gotta be 18 (nudity involved), u have to sign up with a credit card for age verification! BUT.. Once you are inside, just clikc on "Webcams" let me know what name you use to sign in with so I know it is you babe! http://www.lovelocalgirls.com/janefun fill out the bottom of the page then fill out the next page as well and u can see me live!
eBaLaNcE - gReAtEsT fRiEnD oF mY lIfE ...... says (7:59 PM):
haha
eBaLaNcE - gReAtEsT fRiEnD oF mY lIfE ...... says (7:59 PM):
thanks
eBaLaNcE - gReAtEsT fRiEnD oF mY lIfE ...... says (7:59 PM):
i will skip this portion
eBaLaNcE - gReAtEsT fRiEnD oF mY lIfE ...... says (7:59 PM):
:D
Minnie says (7:59 PM):
Please dont mention anything about that in the chatroom once u get in ok?
eBaLaNcE - gReAtEsT fRiEnD oF mY lIfE ...... says (7:59 PM):
nay
eBaLaNcE - gReAtEsT fRiEnD oF mY lIfE ...... says (7:59 PM):
i will skip
Minnie says (8:00 PM):
OH SHIT.. k I am late to start my show, I gotta get off msn...I will see ya inside my chatroom babe.. remember not to mention that I am upgrading u... You can use your msn name to sign in so i know it is you..
eBaLaNcE - gReAtEsT fRiEnD oF mY lIfE ...... says (8:00 PM):
k get lost
Minnie says (8:00 PM):
AUTO-RESPONSE: hey just in the middle of my webcam show if you want to watch click the link http://www.lovelocalgirls.com/janefun

I thought I was speaking to real person. It was blondie on the picture and best thing is, it asked for A/S/L!! It was longest time since I switched from MIRC to MSN!

It was until the end when I start to say that I will skip, I realised it was a prerecorded scam! Lol. Interesting this world is getting. Great way to advertise.

AHM

2008-08-24T15:01:00.000+08:00

I had to wake up like 0430 hrs in this early morning for a run! My goodness! Who does that! Apparently there is a fraction of Singaporeans did that.

I got to Padang at about 0530hrs and it was a mud pool! I got my shoes soaked in mud even before the run. What a letdown.

That is not all, I think it has been a trend since last year that before every AHM I will get a tummy ache. Perhaps I am just nervous. Good thing the tummy ache isn't as severe as last year.

I shouldn't have joined the middle crowd of the run. It was crowded all the way even till I end, unlike last year. I think run nearer to the end. The route this year is terrible! When I had to run into the mud track after Fort Road, I gave up at about 2km in the mud track. Crappy and uneven road.

While running, I met this particular girl. She is my friend's friend. Well, I guess I only met her once because we were from NCC. But it was about five years ago. Well she actually still reconised me! Haha. I must be really impressive back then.

I took 2 hour 40 min to complete the run. I still thought of completing the run before 2 hour 30 mins. Haiz. Thereafter I rested at home the whole day. Shagged!!

Race till Death!

2008-08-23T22:40:00.000+08:00

I think I have been having the laziness mood to update my blog recent, or perhaps it is just that my life is getting boring. Haiz.

Whichever the case, this is an update of my weekend.

Death Race is out this weekend. Matthew, Jackson and I got out of the house before 2 to purchase the tickets for fear that we will not be able to get good seats. Well, it all paid off when we had the best seats in the cinema. It was 2 rows before the centre seats of the cinema.

Before the movie, we had Yuki Yaki, a Japanese buffet restaurant in Marina Square. The restaurant had a pretty cool hot plate which can be turned cold so as to make ice-cream! Amazing.

Back to the movie, it was about a prison which was commercialised and in order to make profit, they create Death Race for the prisoners to race. In the race, you are allowed to kill anyone who is in the race. Best and the worst part is that there will be HOT girls being your navigators. Not that the girls come in voluntarily for the race. They are from another prison who hold girls.

It is a real pity that the girls had to die in the most cruel way you can ever imagine, especially the asian girl. It seems like I have the mentality that guys can die but women can't. Male cauvinistic thinking huh?

Great movie! A must watch! And do not drive to watch this movie. Lucky thing is that we didn't, I could feel the adrenaline after the movie. Especially my father's car is a manual car. Lol.

Corpse Scare

2008-08-18T22:36:00.003+08:00

I was looking at the papers when one of my sergeant came into my office nervously telling me there is a rotten smell in the server room. It is like the room with security lock and fully air conditioned. You have a rotting corpse inside such room,needless to imagine, it stink bad.

The smell was hard to horrendous. Just by standing outside the door, you can smell that stench already! I had to stick around the room to find the source of the stench! It was quite some time before I found the source.

The corpse was in the trunking of the cables. It probably climb half way, got stucked and died there. This point of time you would probably be thinking of a dead rat. You are wrong. It is a lizard of at least a full arms length! My goodness. I really wonder how did it get into the trunking? And worst of all, it was in its own pool of blood. Probably got injured while struggling in the trunking.

To be honest, I had no guts to pick it up and throw it. I had the image that the corpse will break into half when I try to do so because of the rotting process. Gross! imagine all the remaining blood will burst out!

In the end there was one courageous man hu did it. Well he broke the neck. Almost to my image I had previously. Nevertheless, he did it!

After the whole saga of dumping the corpse, we had to clean the blood stain. We used a bucket of diluted bleach to whip away the stain but was ineffective. In the end we poured bleach in to the spot and used a broom to scrub it. The stain managed to come off but not the stench. At least the stench had a combination of rot and bleach.

We had phobia for the rest of the day. We wouldn't take the road towards that server room unless necessary. Grotesque adventure.

12 Lotus

2008-08-16T09:19:00.003+08:00

12 Lotus is a super sad movie, to think
that the girl actually suffered since so young. I am not going to be a spoiler to the movie so I ain't touching much.

However, my friend had mentioned something that made me realize something about the movie. The show might have deeper meaning to every of it scene. I was not able to analyze that at the point of the movie, so I think I will be watching it again!
Mindee Ong is so pretty! OMG. I am falling for her. LOL.

Jusco Tebrau City

2008-08-02T23:32:00.006+08:00

My friends and I had decided to head to Malaysia for some shopping this weekend. We had to make our way to Bugis and there we have a little bus interchange whereby you always see it on TV before the cast goes into Malaysia. There is also a lot of Malaysian Taxis to hire to get into Malaysia. We chose to board a bus that cost SGD$2.40.
Isn't this ticket very nostalgic?

It cost us RM$18 to get to Jusco Tebrau from Malaysia Customs. And the first thing we had was Dunkin' Dounuts!!
Look at their selections!

They have quite a number of interesting shops. Very nice and cool decorations.
Girly StuffsTattoo shop.Street sign in a shop
Picture of a soldier.

Flintstone Bistro where we had our lunch.

I ordered Black Pepper Steak which turned out like this.
It look like it is covered with poop, but this poop is really good stuff. The black pepper is so hot that you do not need anymore chilli.

We did a little more shopping before we headed for ice cream at Baskin Robbins. It was said to have 31 flavors for each day of any month.
Just something to share about Jusco's architecture.
Exit door beside a main entrance. See the irony?

We had seafood for the night which amount to RM 300. We thought the most expensive was the crab which is about RM 66. However when the bill came, the fish won! RM 129 for Soon Hock Fish!!

I thought there is better option to seafood in Malaysia. I remember when I just graduated from Poly, I went Malaysia for seafood, had 7 dishes of which 6 of them are seafood. It was only RM 120. Well but that was a isolated place in Malaysia. It will be a problem getting out of that place.

Must get to know Malaysia well, so next time I can bring my friends in for greatest deals ever.

Friday Off

2008-07-26T02:01:00.002+08:00

I feel kind of guilty, I have subconsciously declared this week my "chao keng" week I think. I sort of don't want to work for this week because it is like a break after a long drawn war. First was Range then MC then was Friday day off, I practically worked only 1 and 1/2 day this week. Cool!

Waking up for basketball has been rarest of the past 1 year, it was always to work. I had about an hour of balling then went for 20 laps in the pool. Initially I set my mark for 20 laps, however, while swimming I cut it down to 10. But for god knows the reason, Kaizhong kept swimming, so all of us followed suite.

We headed for lunch at about 2pm. I had the worst fried kway tiao and fried carrot cake in century food court.

I also had supper in the night which rendered my exercises in the morning useless. The carrot cake I ordered this time was so much better than the afternoon.

Quite a fruitful day I reckon. Equality of exercise and food. Till then.

Break after Long

2008-07-23T22:49:00.005+08:00

It seems that it has been ages since I had a break from work. I had the whole day to myself, though there is some calls here and there.

Throughout my these 2 days MC rest, I watched 4 movies!! My goodness!
I watched Timeline late on Tuesday night. It was about a group of archaeologists sent back into the past of 14th century France. They were caught in between the raging 100 years Wars between the French and the English.

Next I watch Street Fighter in the early morning of Wednesday. It was kind of a boring show. Big bad guy wants to unite the world under his reign, the righteous hero leads his army to war and wins the war. That is about it.

Hills have eyes was the next movie after I came back from interchange from meeting Grace.

Oh, I bought new sandles after I threw away my old ones in Tioman.I particularly like the woven threads by the side of the sandles.
Anyway, Hills Have Eyes is about this family goes for a holiday trip to California via caravan. On the way, they met up with an accident and got themselves stuck in the desert. While they were still thinking that no one else is in the vicinity, mutated humans, who survived from nuclear testes, lurks around.

Although I was suppose to be home-ridden by the MC, I sneaked out for basketball. For only about an hour, just to break sweat.

In the night, I had yet another movie, Sky Captain and World of Tomorrow.
The movie is about saving the world, what interest me is that the movie is made in the early 20th centuries, with technology even impossible in current time. If you have played BioShock before, you will know what I mean.

Never had I tried to watch so many movie at one shot. Certainly having a full day off from work is definitely relaxing.

Time for Siesta time. Sleep tight.

Siti's Wedding

2008-07-21T20:38:00.003+08:00

It was very nostalgic that almost all of my poly friends came together again after almost close to 3 years. All seems to happen yesterday. It was such a happy yet sad occasion, at least that is for me.

Happy: I have met up with alot of my friends and that it reminded that I had spent alot of great times together.

Sad: One of my friends is going to get married and that I realized that we will soon leave each other somehow eventually. Today's meeting is only a temporary ease of pain.

However, sad things aside. Let me show you my friends.
The class of E062 (Less the bridegroom).
If you have seen my album, I must admit that these two girls have grown so much prettier. Remaining hunks of the class.

We headed for billy bombers for desert.
Picture of the drinks that we ordered.

I am really wishing to hang out with them again. It is a pity Siti cannot be with us more often.

Work Work

2008-07-16T20:53:00.002+08:00

Wonder why am I always doing other people's work?

Work that are not mine to take, soundlessly I did it and got the recognition over and the next thing I know I am doing it for good already. I used to say people give me more work is because I am the better one of the lot and is able to handle them. Some how or rather I am starting to think differently.

Can it be of their convenience? "Sherman can do it in no time", that will probably be what they are thinking.

How about those who have gotten the appointment to do such stuff? Have they forgotten that they have this job? Have they forgotten that there is specific appointment to do the job? Or do they not care who does the dirty work and just making sure it is done?

Then in the first place why give them the rank, appointment and pay? I am just a lieutenant, drawing a lieutenant's pay, doing many others work!?!?!?

My higher ups say they are taking care of me. Then why is it that they will post a NSF officer to somewhere where there is little work and not my office whereby it will take at least 3 months to undertake? What fairness is this? And yet they still want me to go on to "SAVERS" scheme for what? So that I can undertake more work and allow people to abuse me more.

So much for being willing to work.

Food for Thought

2008-07-06T13:02:00.002+08:00

I had a little discussion yesterday with issues of the matured, which makes me ponder and question the origin of the fault.

The issues were:

Premarital Sex
Self inflict Pleasure aka "Masturbation"
Usage of vulgarities

Premarital Sex
Since from man's earliest times as far as I can remember, everyone has disagreed with this issue. It is shameful to do so and from chinese movies, when they find a couple who is not lawfully married, they put them in to pig cages and drown them. People also say it is against religion.

Now the question I posted to myself is, who determines that they are not married? Who sets marriage as the marker of Love? Who deems that these are shameful sins?

I am not implying that casual premarital sex is correct. Sexual intercourse, the term itself is a very intimate phrase and I think it should be shared just two person.

From my knowledge, biologically; having sex is so that you can reproduce, like what happens in the animal world. Emotionally; it is a marker implying you really love the other party and wishes to have offsprings with that partner.

So what makes it so shameful? My view, it is us, humans who deem it this way. Marriage is a unison of two person and that people wants to recognized this unison of the couple, thus the big event that follows up. Then again, marriage is a unison of two person, why would people want to forcefully instill any other thoughts onto them? If these two person wants to commit their relationship to a higher level of intimacy, why can't they?

Self inflict Pleasure
I must admire those guys who say that they do not do this because I personally am not able to put that statement into my verbal log book. Then I would like to ask them, when is the last time you entertained a lustful thought? I am so curious to find out.

I like the idea of this statement that I picked out from my conversation with bus driver. "If a man is not attracted to girls and keeps looking for them, how would there be couples? If a man is not horny, how would there be children to carry on the line?" Although both the statement is not quite true now, because both gender now are quite on the same par now. But the statement stays true to both genders.

It seems to me that it is genetically engineered to our bodies, that we are sexually attracted to opposite genders, less some cases. I am not able to vouch this for the feminine gender but I am quite certain about the masculine gender.

I once had a friend who shared with me the reason for why the red light district will never be close down. The reason is simple, if you close down the red light district, rape cases would go up which results into more crime. Therefore, human sex trade will always be legal due to this cause. Well, this would means many casual premarital sex going on.

Then it comes to my point, then self inflict pleasure will cut down much casual premarital sex. And that when you break your thresh hold of tolerance, you at least have a way to relieve yourself, rather than doing wrong things.

So now, which one is better?

Usage of Vulgarities
I would say this is a social language. It is a language whereby it allows you to relieve your stress verbally. It is almost similar to screaming your hearts off at the beach, but of course you do not start and end a sentence with these language all the time.

Those vulgarities that we hear often meant swearing or abusive meaning. Often enough it also meant things of great intimacy, like the "F" word. So thinking deeper, it just meant statements of reprimand but just in the uncouth way. Now, besides being uncouth, what is wrong with the statements?

Then it comes back again, who thinks that these statements are actually wrong to use? Humans again.

I remember hearing this from my psychology class, when you see someone who acts differently from other, you will deem this person crazy. But actually fact is that they just think different. it becomes a social psychology issue.

Ending off by side tracking, the "F" word, "mythically" it meant "Fornication Under the Courtesy of the King". Reason why I say mythically is because there is no solid proof on this saying but it is a good information to think about.

Back in times where by we have kings and queens, to have population control, the people have to ask permission from the King before they perform sexual intercourse. So upon the approval, they will hang the sign with the "F" word before their door while they are at it. And that is the origin of that word.

Interesting huh? It is up to you to believe.

Been Out....

2008-07-05T23:44:00.005+08:00

I was hanging out with a bunch of friends in Cathay Cineplex playing Wii and Xbox360. It was so much fun. It was so interactive that even just by looking at people playing, it gives you so much pleasure.
My friends playing Xbox360.

We went to Bukit Timah for a barbecue, but it ended that I only went there to set up the fire. I left like real shortly, but I took great pictures of sunset there.
Another picture which I think is nice.

After eating in Ajisen, Justin and me met up with Fifi for "Hancock".
It is the second movie with a hell good twist. I believe everyone is expecting a villain to appear to beat the shit out of Hancock, but in the end it was his wife who has the same power, appeared and gave him problems. It was not his wife that is the villain, but it is like if they become close to each other, they loses their power. And you know, villains are always behind Hancock's back so he almost got himself killed.

There was a moment of time that I thought before Hancock lost his memories, he was actually quite a bastard. This goes to show not only it has a hell good twist, it is hell good teaser.

Lau Pa Sat

2008-07-05T01:57:00.004+08:00

Today it is Singapore Food Festival at Lau Pa Sat. I met up with Jian Ming, Justin and Aloysius to try out the food at Lau Pa Sat.

I had myself in great offer!! Guess how much is the below food?
It cost me only two dollars! Well, I saw this great offer to purchase a Kopithiam card at the price of two dollars with a card value of nine dollars. It was limited to the first 300 customers only. Lucky me with extra value.

Besides this, I had fermented toufu too. I wonder why alot of people do not appreciate such great delicacy.

Highlight of the day, I had ice ball!!! I have always wanted to taste ice ball ever since I got wind of the desert. Hardly can I find it in Singapore now and this was the reason why I came here!
It is only 10cents!!
Pictures with Ice balls.
Ice balls at the wrong place.
We went home after these ice balls. We initially wanted to catch Hancock, but decided not to due to transport.

A picture of two grown ups acting cute.

Jackson's 21st Birthday

2008-07-05T01:37:00.004+08:00

For god know what reason, Jackson organized his birthday party on a Sunday whereby I had to go back to work the very next day. Regardless, I went ahead with the party.

I initially wanted to go for a swim but the pool was a fun pool and I couldn't achieve much so I dropped the idea.

The food was excellent though, painfully adding more weight to myself.

Just some picture of Jackson's 21st birthday.
Jackson 's birthday song. Jackson kena sabo.
Aftermath!

Movie week

2008-06-29T01:59:00.004+08:00

I have watched two movies in a week! That would be a record for me. Most of the time I will restrict myself to one each week to save money.

I watched "Wanted" on Friday evening with my Jian Ming, Fifi and Justin. We had it late, at 12mn. The actions in this movie is almost impossible. Swinging the car side ways and the next thing you know the person is in the car, curving bullets, falling down a cliff and not be dead and shooting bullets from miles away. All of this? Impossible.But what is impossible is the factor that makes the whole movie so cool. I wish I have the ability to curve bullets. Lol.

We went for late supper till 5am the morning. Latest record I ever had to bring my father's car out.

Today, I watched "Deception" with Justin and the girl who thinks too much. I shall officially introduce her today as requested by Justin. Her name is Charlotte.

This is the poster I found off the yahoo.
In Singapore, the poster had Maggie Q under the face of Jack Hughman. Sales technique to increase sales only in Singapore. She only had about 10 minutes scene in it. But the best thing, she is so scantily dressed in the movie. Oh.... My.... God.... It is Maggie Q almost naked.

The show has this part about the guy getting into a sex club. You will receive a call by mobile saying: "Are you free tonite?". Then a place will arranged to meet up to have sex. Or, you can do it the other way, you will be given a list of numbers with no names. You just need to dial any of the numbers and ask her: "Are you free tonite?".

Rules of the Sex Club

The initiator gets the room
No names
No conversation
Just plain sex

OMG, I wish I am in such club. Wonder if Singapore has one?

Of the above show, both of them had twist. Talking about twists, there is no twist like "6th Sense". It was only the end that I realized Bruce Willis is dead. I thought he was alive the whole show. Extremely sharp twist! I should try to get the movie.

Spizza!!!

2008-06-22T15:50:00.007+08:00

Some how I suggested to head down to Vivo City this weekend with my friend for a movie, but I ended up watching midnight movie at Tampines mall instead. Interesting journey I had today.
My partner for the day.

Vivo City's cinema was packed and I couldn't get good seats in the cinema so I suggested to head back to Tampines for late night movie. However we didn't want to waste our trip here, so we decided to dine out here in Harbour Front Centre. We couldn't decide where to eat until I remembered my friend once introduced to me a pizza place in Harbour Front Centre which sells good pizzas.
Yup, Spizza is the one. The moment we entered the restaurant, I took out my camera and did endless snapping. Looks like an idiot who wants to document every seconds of his life. Click Click Click...
The oven that made our pizza.

Looks like besides our pizza, there is more pizzas on the way. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you "Comodo"(left) and "Superbo"(Right). Both are very healthy salads, Comodo has great mushrooms topped with very smooth cheese, Superbo has very fresh mussles with a squeeze of lime.
Last but not least, this is "Sophia", the main dish of the day. Excellent spread of seafood on a crispy thin crust.

After dinner, we had quite alot of time. So we decided to take bus dangerously back to Tampines. There was a 65 straight back to Tampines, however my friend suggested to take bus 80 that goes Bugis and change for a bus 23 back to Tampines. She always misses bus stop and had to travel further, that is why I said was dangerous. But no worries, Sherman is here to save the day.

We managed to get back to Tampines before midnight and catch The Incredible Hulk.
While walking back home after sending my friend back, I took pictures of cats. Unlike human's red eye effect, it is amazing that cats' eye actually reflect light no matter how you position your camera to snap it.
Hungry cat having its supper. Till then...

OCS Dinning In

2008-06-15T13:21:00.006+08:00

6 months has passed since I last attended one, but the last time I never bring along my camera but this time I did. Cool!

Some pictures of myself with my friends in No. 1.
The dinner was kind of boring as I am facing a table of strangers. Well, the food was good and I was sitting with quite a pretty lady by my side. Luckiest of all, I have a friend on my table.I went on to pick up my friends from the zoo as we have agreed to have supper.
And there, the girl whom I said think too much. She asked me if I like the other girl that we went out with, my answer was that I am not interesting to settle down yet. Well actual reason is that I can't love myself yet, how can I love others?
Bubbles in soy sauce.

Lesson Learnt from books

2008-06-15T12:55:00.004+08:00

There was this one girl whom I met recently told me that I read a lot and that I will always take reference from books. It was this girl whom I mentioned in earlier posts that she is the girl that think too much. Very observant girl.

I denied initially but coming to think about it, what she said was very true. I do learn alot from books and that I always mention stuff through them.

I am halfway through this book "The monk who sold his Ferrari" by Robin S. Sharma. By the name of it, the monk must have gotten a high level of enlightenment in order to sell away a Ferrari.I picked out two phrases from the first forty pages of the book: "How Can you care for others if you cannot even take good care of yourself? How can you do good when you don't even fell good? I cannot love you when I cannot love myself." and "How can anymore go in... Until you empty your cup."

"How Can you care for others if you cannot even take good care of yourself? How can you do good when you don't even fell good? I cannot love you when I cannot love myself." This phrase sounded very self centered, however it is very true about life. I am not even loving my life now, how can I appreciate others? It has made me wondered, how can I improve the quality of my life? I couldn't find an answer until I saw the second phrase.

"How can anymore go in... Until you empty your cup." I have been complaining that I have learnt enough in my unit right now and that I wishes to get out of the place. However knowledge is everywhere for us to grab. There is no such thing called "I have learnt whatever I can in this area". I have been intentionally putting myself in a state of saturation that I refuse to absorb more, how can I learn more? With that I came up with a conclusion that I have to empty this cup of mind and bring myself out of the state of saturation. Only then I can improve my life quality.

What interesting conclusion of life I can come out from books. I wish hints of life can come to me easier.

CO ABGTC COC

2008-06-14T00:35:00.001+08:00

Because of this I was so stressed up for the whole week! Everyone seems to want me to do everything in the world. I can't even catch up with my own pace already and now you want me to run faster?

Coolest thing is that this Change of Command was held on a Friday the Thirteen! I was kind of worried that things might go wrong.

Regardless, I managed to pull through this whole week of terror. Apparently the word "Terror" does not only apply for me, but also the whole of SAF with the two death case. So sad.
I really love this photo. It is so damn cool to sit in between two dragons! Next time I must take picture with myself at the center!

Busiest Weekend

2008-06-08T20:45:00.006+08:00

I didn't understand why have I packed my weekend so tightly this week. First I had to complete a video project for my boss, then I went to commit myself to going out with friends, then lastly, a wedding dinner to attend.

Friday night, I hanged out with Justin and this girl. Like what Justin said, she is impressive with her way of thinking. But, too mature for her age, thinking too much for her age!

I spent my whole of Saturday morning to late afternoon working out on my video project. It was quite a sucky product when I showed my colleague.

At six plus that evening, I went to meet a few long lost friends. They are my NCC mates whom I met 5 years ago. Time flies and we haven't met up for ages!
I must say Lay Pheng have grown so much more pretty. Perhaps I can consider this option. Lol.

Too bad I had to rush away for CPT Wong's wedding. It was held in Hotel Inter Continental. It was good food but we were very unlucky to have a new waiter who always spill and topple stuff. Apparently some one still enjoyed the day and hope to spill on others.
We started out with nine person on the table and till the photo taking, 6 people were left.

Mission Failed

2008-06-01T21:27:00.004+08:00

Apparently my mission on reporting sick failed and I had to go to the dreaded ATI retreat. However the retreat proved useful. Now I am clear of what is my commander's intent and my purpose in ATI.

At least this is what I hope.

I went on to Plaza Singapura to meet up with Stephanie so as to get her phone repaired, and there were many of the similar handphones coming in with the same problem: Her handphone model and a charging problem.

Before we headed back to Tampines, we shopped at Daiso and I got a couple of weird things, Like a rat trap of a shape of a house!Many more weird things to come, there was a attack of PS by a giant scorpion!
We went back Tampines to meet up with Fifi to celebrate his birthday with a good movie: Sex and the city. Great plot with hell lot of sex.

Till then!

Operation Report Sick

2008-05-27T23:04:00.002+08:00

I got no idea why I am torturing myself. I woke up early in the morning feeling a bit of sore throat and a stroke of idea came into my mind!

I wanna eat oily and dry food today! And I am gonna drink as little water today as possible! And all these just to get an MC for tomorrow and the day after.

I just did not want to go for the ATI Retreat that was organized, but yet must follow law and order. My order was to go for the ATI Retreat. What a obedient soldier.

Well I just have to do things the legal way to get out. Lol.

Blue Blue Monday

2008-05-26T22:48:00.002+08:00

I think this is the blue-est Monday I ever had. I was so low moralled that I took out my contract that I had with SAF to check out my Minimum Term of Engagement. I probably can break my contract next year February!!

I am not saying SAF is not good, and I have not regretted my choice of signing on. It is just that the unit is giving me so much pressure that I think I may not be able to handle.

I AM UNDER PAID FOR THESE WORK!!

In fact I have been underpaid since I commissioned. I have been siting on a Captain Establishment even since I put on my rank! I was just a green horned 2nd Lieutenant.

To make the misery worst, I really missed my school days a hell lot. It was so much fun back then. The amount of freedom that I had. Not saying that you should waste your youth playing only while still schooling, but army has taught me that one must have a balanced life.

I just do not understand people who dropped out of school saying that school life sucks.

SO BLUE SO BLUE SO BLUE.

I think I have seen enough blue for the day. Lets hope tomorrow I will be able to see more colour though.

Longest Outfield Trip

2008-05-23T15:06:00.003+08:00

I think this would be the most terrible outfield trip I have till date. It was just a short 4 days 3 nights outfield, however I took a almost no morale mindset to head for this field trip.

My core umpire is a 2WO which by appointment is of higher appointment than I do. However, somehow or rather, he kept pushing jobs for me to do. Giving me work to do is ok, however, those work seems like his primary job as a core umpire. And yet he somehow insisted that I am the one suppose to handle the work. Wouldn't that render his appointment useless? Wouldn't that make myself a Core Umpire.

Well, this will be my last ATEC that I will need to attend to. I will leave it to ATEC to sort their problem out.

The worst of all is that I will not be given any day off for this event!! My goodness!! While those attached personnels suffer at night, the rest of the trainers actually get to go home and sleep on their own comfy bed at home. Wouldn't that make it such a unfair treatment? The rest will get to go home in smirk, and in the future, who will want to go ATEC for the unit?

I really cannot understand some bosses at times. But still, I still think I have a great boss, just lacking at this aspect. Well, who is perfect in the world?

East Coast Park On Vesak Day

2008-05-19T22:01:00.008+08:00

Just when I thought my DHL Balloon or Singapore Flyer trip is ruined for the weekend and I will not be using my camera. I have had a interesting Vesak day.

My Vesak Day today was intended to be a good rest at home then night basketball. However, my Secondary school friends called me out for a picnic and I wasn't given much option to refuse.
The ladies I was with.

Our first activity there was playing the poker game Dai Dee. Then we head on to our next mission of attempting to fly a kite. We score pretty badly for the first one, however we managed to get it up only at the second attempt. Myself on the first attempt.
People just have weird way of flying a kite.
Look at our findings at the beach.

Frisbee was the last activity for us! I actually went to the bicycle shop nearby to purchase a frisbee so that we can play. It took us quite a while to caught the feel of throwing a frisbee.The afternoon just seem to pass by so fast with these little activities. But I sure glad to have been given no option to refuse.

ATEC will be pressing on the back of my mind the coming day!!! Sad!!

Till then

Comparison

2008-05-12T23:18:00.003+08:00

Wonder why people like to compare? I am not talking about comparing items, like you do in a sales. I am talking about comparing the past.

I have heard too much of the late, last time that guy do this, last time that guy do this.

Time for wake up call!!

Hello!! Wakie Wakie!! Last time police wear shorts!! If people are so into the past, how can we progress?

Just don't understand people.

Tioman Trip End

2008-05-04T21:55:00.002+08:00

I just came back from my Tioman trip. Comparing my two Malaysia trip this lull period I have, I think the more fruitful one is this Tioman Trip. It was hell lot of fun and adventure.

Besides it gave me another light to my job. The outfield trip that I have for my job, I think I will have another view to it after Tioman trip.

I can still feel myself rocking even after so long since my fishing trip.

The best point is that I even feel more relaxed after the Tioman Trip unlike my Genting Trip. I guess this is really a good trip that I actually have plans to go again in July or September!

Anyone game for it?!?!?

Tioman Trip Day 2

2008-05-04T20:19:00.005+08:00

I think it is profession disease for me, I actually woke up as early as 6am. So I took a walk at the back yard of the resort. Although my jobs will require me to go out to the field, the wildlife scene is heavenly compared to those training area of Singapore.Half-way through the forest, I ran back to resort upon hearing a roar.
The plan for today was for us to snokle first, feeding at the marine reserve park and lastly visit to the duty free shop.

Snokling is a fresh experience for me. Never in Singapore we can see such clear waters and being able to see corals and fishes this clear.

Regretably, my digital camera cannot go underwater. Lucky enough, I predicted this so we actually rent a underwater SLR camera so I will have to wait till the photo are being developed before I can blog.
Ending off the tour for the day was a trip to duty free shop.

On our way back, our guide, Alan,suggested to bring us out for fishing trip before our dinner.

We started out our trip at about 3pm after coming back from the tour. Our first few stops along the sea was futile. It was only at about 6pm that evening we start to catch some fish. Alan and his mate caught most of the fish.

Lucky for me and Kai Zhong, we managed to catch 3 fishes. 2 for me and 1 for him. A achievement of my life. I had to vomit first before I catch both the fish. Sea sick!!

We had quite a number of fish at the end of the day, 15 in total I think. I included the aftermath.
The fish was damn fresh compared to the fish they gave us at the resort.

Ending off the day, We stayed at the resort and played pool with Alan. I did up my blog draft there.

Tioman Trip Day 1

2008-05-04T19:37:00.010+08:00

One of my colleague actually asked me if I love Malaysia alot. The answer is not really. It is just that I was targeting to spend 1k on traveling this month of April. It is either I split the money and go two places or put them together and go somewhere further. I chose the former. And here I am heading to Tioman. Winding roads of Malaysia never fail to amuse me, as it is something we never get to see in Singapore.Before I go on, I must introduce to you the bus that I took to Tioman. Not that we are going to the Zoo.
After a four-hour bus ride, we finally reached the ferry terminal. But we still have an hour and a half's boat ride.

However, the boat ride was amazing! I never felt so carefree for the longest time. The sun was scorching onto our skins but the wind was blowing so hard that it seems that the scorch never existed.There is plenty to see on the deck on the fast craft For the first time I actually saw a real fishing boat with my own eyes. There are also many sea scenery to be viewed. Like the islands around us.I cant help but to take a picture of this. I thought it was beautiful. Plus the girl is pretty. :P

After an hour and half and a stephen chow's film that repeated itself for 4 times, we finally reached the little island, Tioman. The beach was fantastic. This is the second beach I saw with such clear waters.
Never in my army life that wildlife actually have so much serenity effect on me. Just take a look at the wilderness of Tioman.
Even our resort looks so cozy with the wildlife, though a bit run-down.
We couldn't make up our mind on what to do at first and in the end we decided to go for snokling. These are some pictures of us preparing to snokle.Look at Zhen Yuan's and my loot from the sea.
Take a look at mine.Now take a look at Kai Zhong's loot.Too bad I cannot bring my camera down to the waters. The view was fantastic under water. I guess I will have to loan a filmed water proof camera from the auntie by the beach tomorrow.

When we got back to resort, it was about evening time. Judging from from the map, we are actually facing the west side of the island, which means we can view sunset!We ended the day with a hearty meal back at the resort and few rounds of drinks! Take a look at the pub.

Casual Walk

2008-04-30T16:55:00.007+08:00

Then again, I have decided to take a little stroll after collecting my new Biometric-passport. Unlike current HDB colourful designs, Beach road is a older estate and has pretty old housings. Old things somehow eludes a certain sense of beauty for me.

Flowers too! If you have been reading my blog, you would have noticed that I actually had a few pictures of flowers on the streets. Perhaps one day I should go Botanic Garden.

What amazed me is the array of lingerie I saw before a mosque. How disrespectful but ironic.
I have never took a picture of Concourse from the bottom of it. The view was cool!Have you heard of 7 Storey Hotel? It was said that they have the oldest manual lift in Singapore. I wanted to step in and take a look, however the people are too busy so I gave up the thought.
And it was my first time so close to the DHL balloon! How I wish someone will take this with me. I hate to take such rides alone.
I headed to Parco Bugis Junction and was walking by the fountain, I caught sight of little children playing with the water. How carefree. I wish I could live back those life.

Chris' Wedding

2008-04-27T23:48:00.003+08:00

This is my first friend's wedding I attended. My friend is the bridegroom. Both himself and the bride are just twenty-two years old and the bride is expecting already. Shotgun? No way!

Both of them are actually engaged already, theoretically they are legal, so no shotgun.

These are some of my colleagues.The NSF boys.
My Colleagues.
Auntie Kim and myself. CO and Auntie Kim.

We actually have a mix for the bridegroom for tonight. It actually looks good at first, not until we stirred it.

Before stirring

After stirring.

Wrong Target

2008-04-24T22:04:00.003+08:00

I was scolded for something I am not suppose to do today. I am the UCITO of the unit, and my commander was actually scolding me an issue that is supposed to be done by USO. Even himself openly declare that "What is the USO is doing?". I really wonder who is this question targeted to, but he was looking at me.

I really cannot get what is he thinking about. What boss am I working for?

What is the end state of your life?

2008-04-23T23:09:00.003+08:00

Have you asked yourself this question? I met a new friend today and I was actually totally dumbfounded when he asked me what do I want to achieve at the end of my life? I had, or should I say I have. I have so many in mind that I don't know how to achieve them.He gave examples like Bill gates. Why is he the third richest man in the world? And that since he is so rich and still working for more money? Is he so money minded? Most people will say "yes, he is". Then what explains the charities that was headed by him.

He gave me another explanation. Producing good computer software is his passion. And when he met his target, he wanted to repay the society by doing charity. He painted Bill Gates' goal clearly right in front of me.
Another example he gave was Mentor-Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew. People has been questioning for years now for what reason he refused to step down. Speculation went that he refuse to give up power, etc. All sorts of negative stuff were on this issue.

He gave me another explanation. Singaporeans are his babies and how would a parent bare to see his children suffer? That is why he couldn't step down. His passion on driving Singapore better made him stayed on. Admirable view on this issue. I had never thing in this aspect.

Then why is there so many negative remarks? Most people are jealous of great man's achievements and they will do anything to pull down great man's achievements. Even go to the extend of petty behavior of badmouthing. Human's mentality, he claims.

Like the recent case of MSK's escape, PM Lee mentioned that while the government must admit its mistakes openly and honestly, Singapore should not encourage a culture where officials resign whenever something goes wrong on their watch, or encourage witch—hunt.

All four limbs up for his statement for me.

What about these people's past achievements? Haven't Singapore been safe since Independence? Why judge people with a mistake that may not even his fault? Human's mentality, I say.

Coming back to my point, I really should think what do I want to achieve in life. I can't live life aimlessly.

Till then.

First Day at work

2008-04-22T23:07:00.004+08:00

Is it hard to start work after a holiday?

I really wonder. I had problems. First thing when I came back from Genting, I called my SO2 to ask about something which I think was important. Then I sort of reprimanded him for not following up. He sounded pissed at that time and took the next day on medical leave.

I am not doubting his MC but I got a sms from him that he is not faking illness. Does he has no confidence in himself or does he has an issue with me? Am I failing in my job? How helpless, I cant even have the confidence in myself now.

"Don't give up!" that was what the coach taught me when I was on course the other day. I guess I will have to do a good coaching session to improve our relationship.

Not only that, I was caught in another row of complains again. Really do not understand why am I at it again. I had to let her win, she is elder. Respect my friend, that is what I told myself. But why the hell is she complaining so much and not getting things right. Blaming others is not the way to go.

Well, I do admit I said the wrong thing, but spare me the complains. I am not in the mood to hear any.

I was at a gathering today and I met one of my superior's wife. She is so beautiful. Unlike the picture on his desk, she was petite and good looking. On top of those, I think she has a very kind heart. I really wonder why does he still need to go for wild-lives.

The world is just so puzzling. I guess it has to be, else why would life be so interesting?

Genting Trip - Day 3

2008-04-22T22:27:00.007+08:00

This post will be about the trip down of Genting and back to Singapore. Firstly I will like to show you the people whom I went up to Genting with.The curves of the down slope must have been a great challenge for the driver. Unlike my previous day cab driver, the trip down was exceptionally smooth.Take a look at the beautiful mountain scenery I took as I went down Genting.Some stores and inhabitants along the way.
Some interesting stuff I came upon while on my way back to Singapore.

Genting Trip - Day 2

2008-04-20T23:48:00.013+08:00

Genting is generally boring if you don't gamble and go to the theme park. I don't gamble and my friends are so into gamble, so I fell into this catagory. Boring!!

Lucky for me, we headed down to Kuala Lumpur for a half a day tour. While heading towards the coaches bay, I ran upon some monkeys with their youngs. Not like I never seen them before, I just thought it is nice to take a picture of them.

The trip down by the car driver was horrible. He did not slow down while negotiating a bend, travelling at super high speed, all warrent him to get his licence suspended. All of us got off with a giddy state.

We stopped by somewhere nearby BB plaza. Queer name the plaza has.

Malaysians are always thinking of winning us. We have Lot 1, they have Lot 10. Let them win man. Lol.

This is some stuff you will never get to see in Singapore.

Like a door that leads to your fall from second level.

And a man who sleeps on the streets drooling even.

Some pretty and interesting stuff I have seen on the streets of KL.

Liang Xin Foot Massage. Are they full of heartless people?

Cool?

Till then....

Genting Trip - Day 1

2008-04-20T12:23:00.020+08:00

I wonder when is my last time since I came Genting. It was a last minute decision for myself to head for this trip. One of my friend was not able to make it to the triip so he had to sell away his place at half price to cut his cost.

I was late the morning, supposing to meet a friend in Tampines at 0430hrs but I only woke up at 5. Lucky I was still able to meet the bus timing at 0630hrs. It took us 6 hours to hit Genting and about 1230hrs, we hit First World Hotel.

Picture of First World Hotel, Day and Night.

There was this sand model of Genting which I found in the lobby of First World Hotel.

There is a huge indoor amusement park with many interesting rides. There is also many interesting figures by the wall. I wish I can show you all but there is just too many. These are just some appetizer.

Look!! Merry-go-round!!

The most obvious thing about Genting is the cloudy atmostphere. The cool breeze was the best part of standing out in the open. I must say it is evening cooler than the air-con. Wonder why they install air-con in the buildings. Wait, I think they don't!!

The most unforgetable memory I had in Genting was the outdoor amusement park. They have roller coaster rides, boat rides and many more. I remembered when I last came, I spent the whole day playing in the amusement park. Hell lot of fun and hell lots of years ago. How nostaligic.

I also caught sight of some performance in one of the stage area in the indoor amusement park. There were some hot dancers doing hiphop dancing for a starter. It was then followed by chinese aerobic dance. I must say these aerobic dancers are really good at it. it was lastly followed by a magic trip. Cliche magic trick but still they are good.

I went clubbing later in the night. I think I should have drank at least 6 or 7 glass of Vodka with sprite. A first for me, so please appauld at least for the effort you kow. I even had problems walking back. Lol.

This are some interesting pictures I took from Day 1 of my Genting Trip.

Saturday Nites Out

2008-04-13T03:02:00.004+08:00

I was hanging out since noon at Raffles City where I caught sight of this beautiful fountain. It spurts out water from the top, forming words like "Raffles City". I thought was nice that is why I took out my camera and stood there for about 15 mins for the next "show". However it never appeared. I guess it is just not my day.

While walking from Beach road to Suntec, I caught sight of my favorite building, the Parkview Square at its night view.

Not only my favorite building, I also saw the hot air balloon that I always wanted to hop on to see the horizons way beyond.

When I hit Suntec, I took a stoll around the fountain of wealth. I didn't know that fountain of wealth actually provide word dedication service. There was this group of dragon boaters actually wished a girl in their group happy birthday. I thought the idea was sweet.

There was also a Mitsubishi car fair at the Suntec. Though car wasn't much of my interest as of now, I can't help to take a picture of Mitsubishi's hottest car, Mitsubishi EvoX.

Ending off, my friends and I saw this capsule-looking massage chair. Wonder if it is time capsule. That chair cost about 8k. My goodness people sure can spend for a chair that presses hard on you.

Summary of Coaching Course

2008-04-12T22:34:00.003+08:00

I think it is my job hazards that I will work out some sort of format to whatever thing I have.
This is my format and summary of what coaching course has for me.

Coaching Conversation

Firstly you will determine certain things of the meeting.

Location - Must be conducive to suit the meeting
Preparation - Information of the coachee must be collected
Desired Outcome - What you wish to achieve

Then you will prepare for things you will want to ask your coachee in this session of coaching through the GROW model. All these are done through the coachee's mouth, meaning to say you will have to seek the answers in the coachee

Goal

Set objectives of the session
"What do you think we can achieve from this session?"

Reality

Getting facts from the coachee
"How do you think we have fare for the job?"
It seems like luring coachee to say what is the problem so set up a trap to do so.

Option

Opening up options for the coachee
"Given another chance, how would you have done it better?"
By doing so, it somehow make the coachee committed to what was said.

Wrap up

To summarize what was being said previous.
To reconfirmed what is to be done.

This is a pictorial summary of the format I am talking about.

Coaching Course

2008-04-09T20:49:00.003+08:00

What is the difference between a Coach, Mentor and a Councilor?

Mentor - Someone who has been through the process and is to impart to another person
Coach - Someone who may not been through the process but yet able to correct on the expert. e.g. Tigerwoods' coach.
Councilor - Coaching in a slower and more emotional and advice orientated.

Listening is the key factor to these roles, however the level of listening gets lower as it goes up.

These is what I have learnt today at my coaching course. In line with my centre's vision of us being coaches coaching NSmen, my CO arranged for this course. Definitely beside the definition of each of the roles, I also picked up a important tool of communication.

Guys being guys, we are much more problem-solving orientated. Whenever we hear a problem from a friend, we often give solutions even before listening to the whole story. The usual case is that when someone complains, the person is usually looking for a listening ear. Often enough you will hear words like "I understand how you feel, but....."

My centre actually came to equation of "I understand how you feel" equates to "shut up and listen to me". And the word "but" is the starting word for more harm, as the solution will come after that word.

The useful tool I learnt is called the 3 R's.

Repeat
Repeating keywords of what person said is to show that you are actually paying attention. You send a message of interest to the person and then the person will be more comfortable to tell you more.

Rephrase
This is usually used for longer winded person. By using your own words to summarized what the person had said is also similar to REPEAT. However this sends a message inclusive of confirmation of the information. Even the message is wrong, you will still score some points for telling the person you are putting effort in listening.

Reflect Feelings
This looks easy after being enlighten by the coach, however putting it into practical usage is tough. You just had to put the word of the feeling into your sentence, that is all. E.g. If the person is feeling sad and is complaining to you, you can say things like "I feel your dismay in this exercise".

These are the icebreaker tools of communication with problems as of what I have learnt today. Of course it doesn't just stop here, you will have to carry one with with open ended questions. "Who, What, When, Where, Why and How" are the key to these open ended question.

E.g. "Is your favourite colour red?" There are plenty of colours on earth so when are you going to hit the right colour. "What is your favourite colour?" is the open ended question you can ask to solve all the problem.

Lastly, I like the Coaches' Rule : 80% Listening 20% Talking. Indeed listening is a vital factor to a conversation.

1st Blog with eeePC

2008-04-06T16:02:00.002+08:00

Well, if u are seeing this, means my blog managed to get through the first time on my eeePC with wireless SG.

I simply had some diffculties with loading pictures down at the Macdonal's over at Tampines Interchange. At the start I even had issue with connecting to the wireless over here.

Whichever it is, it is worth the time to do up my first blog here. Something worth to note down. Given our Prime Minister's direction, I hope the wireless can really go through in Singapore, making Singapore truely a wireless hub country.

Mummy's Birthday

2008-04-04T23:31:00.001+08:00

4th April is my mummy's birthday. I actually intended to take leave for this day, but was stopped as my boss insist that we go for a cadence run organized by the HQ. Too bad, had to do it. In the end, what I did for my mom to is get a cake for her in the night.

The cake I bought.

My mum and I.

IPPT Silver!!!

2008-04-02T20:15:00.003+08:00

For my entire army career, this is the first time I have gotten silver! Well, less those training days. Never would I imagine that I could still maintained my running though it is considered poor already.

My results:
Sit Ups 41
Chin Ups 8
Shuttle Run 9.9s
Standing broad jump 234cm
2.4km run 11min 18sec

Looks like I am going to have slightly more money this month!!

Hotel Rendezvous

2008-03-30T21:51:00.009+08:00

Welcome to Hotel Rendezvous!!

The road down to the carpark was so narrow that I have had difficulties going down. I parked at the first lot I saw, not noticing that beside me was a porche. Nissan Sunny beside a porche. How queer.

When I hit the lobby, I was fascinated by this revolving ball. The only disappointing thing is that the ball is not in the correct angle. The sign was facing downwards. It would be beautiful if the sign is in place.

Not all is disappointing, when I look up, I caught sight of the roof structure of the building. It was a magnificent sight. Like those you see in the urban areas in the future.

Back to a little disappointment, the food at the hotel was not as great as I expected it to be. The variety is considered little and yet not appealing. Then again, there is food that I found quite pleasing. They are actually egg plant and mushrooms.

A picture of my family at the hotel.

Murphy's Law

2008-03-28T16:30:00.002+08:00

Week 13 of the year, I officially declare this week's as Murphy's week. Nothing seems to go right and I have had to struggle so much to keep my week going. Lucky now it is over now.

I was assigned to conduct two ranges and a IPPT this week. Not so much of an issue about conducting them. However it is the time given to me. I was only give one day each to conduct each range. Range! Mind you.

I had to work to late night each day. Now I know army's money is hard to earn.

My previous ranges took me and my unit about at least 2 weeks to plan. This 2 ranges, I only had 1 day each. And not only that. there is just so many hiccups here and there.

Wonder if Murphy will do me any more harm? Better not bet onto it. Things will come and go.

Joke of the Day

2008-03-24T23:28:00.002+08:00

I was having a unit meeting today, an issue about car clamping is brought up by one of my colleague in the meeting. Basically people had not parked at their lot and the person affected gave orders to clamp the vehicle.

The funny thing is these bunch of people are colleagues and we should be working as a team, not fighting each other.

The funnier thing is the person who issued the order was a closing 50 years of age, isn't this people suppose to be wiser, not petulant.

The funniest thing of all, we actually wasted 30 minutes of our time discussing the issue and the issue wasn't even solved at the table.

Gosh! I don't even have a car and I am caught in this whole issue, just listening. Where on earth can you find such a place anymore?

Labrador Park

2008-03-23T13:24:00.017+08:00

Taking bus 408 from Habour Front interchange, Stephanie and I managed to get to Labrador Park. The bus driver actually missed the opening to the park and had to make two U-turns to get back there again.

The weather was not so good but was forgiving enough for us to explore finish the park.

Ominous clouds lerks our ports.

We were greeting by many wild lives and plants. Interesting plants and creepy crawlers infested the area. In fact the park is bombarded with the heavy sounds waves of crickets.

Carrot-like flower and a dome of flowers.

Just how pleasing is the nature. Unlike those when army wants you to get into.

Check out the rocks there.

Creepy crawlies.

Part of the Dragon teeth gate. It was said that every ships that came into Singapore had to come through this gate, else the ship will sink. However it was blow up to allow larger ships to come in when the british came to Singapore. Of course this is a fake. Wonder where is the real one.

Labrador Park was actually once a fort to saveguard Singapore from pirates and invaders from the seas. This place actually held a gun battery in the nature reserve area pointing out towards the south-west area of Singapore.

A gun was at the spot of tree shrubs before it was removed.

A dummy gun with dummies. Lol.

We ended our tour here at the secret tunnel that is known to lead to Sentosa.

Steph said the food here was nice. I thought it would be a nice place to bring my future partner here for a date. With the nice ambiance, I am sure to score. Lol.

EeePC

2008-03-23T01:59:00.003+08:00

I was trying to blog at Tampines Macdonald's today. The wireless seems to suck real bad tat I cannot get into blogger home.

Anyway I just gotten my new EeePC and that it is so small!!!Check out tat size to my other laptop!!

Lastly this is my 1st blog with it!!

What Ifs...

2008-03-10T22:59:00.003+08:00

I was cautioned by a MAJ today, not so much of a scolding. He was questioning why am I leaving work at about 6pm today. I do understand it is the ICT period however that doesn't means I have to give up my life for it.

Just that I am unwilling to do work for him when he asked me to at 6pm, he started to give me all the "What ifs" around the world. "What if CO wants to see you?" "What if this, What if that" Wonder when will all this end if there is so many What ifs?

If that is the really so many What ifs, might as well I shift to CO's house so that I can be at the beck of his neck.

Bored!!!

2008-03-09T21:11:00.002+08:00

Bored!!! I just spent the whole day slacking, doing nothing at home! Not that I have no life but is that I chose to stay at home. Somehow time seems to be longer if you waste time though. My weekend doesn't have much left to spend so I guess this is the best option to recuperate and prepare for the coming week.

Hectic is the word. I will be working out my life for the coming week plus a duty on Friday. Not much of a weekend again. However I can look ahead to the coming week. My working week will end about wednesday, which means a long weekend!! Wonder where can I go for that week end?

At least something to look forward to in the coming week. And of course My EeePC!!!

Technology Advancement

2008-03-09T15:36:00.003+08:00

I was walking around the IT show at Suntec yesterday and I was really amazed with how technology is advancing. Lets take a look about storage space.

5 years ago, a 1GB thumb drive would easily cost about 1 grand. Less than 1 year ago, 4GB thumb drive cost about 50dollars. Today, a 8GB thumb drive cost about 50 dollars and a 160GB 2.5" harddisk cost barely 100 dollars.

Looking at the advancement, we have no problem with storage. However what I would like to see is the speed of internet connections and drop of oil prices. 1TB connection? Wonder when can we have no problem with these.

Anger Management

2008-03-06T21:48:00.002+08:00

I remember some one told me something about anger, that when you are angry, most of the time you are not exactly clear what are you angry about. Most of the time I would say you are actually angry at yourself not being able understand the issue you are angry about. However, the moment you realized what exactly is the problem, your anger will dissolve into solving the problem. Perhaps next time when you are angry, you will just have to sit down and find out what are you exactly angry about.
I ain't sure what I am angry about now. One thing for certain, I am not in the best condition to work on. I have unresolved issue at heart which I am not able to find out yet. I seem to hate the working environment I have, I seem to hate the people working around me and I seem to hate myself for not being better. It can be so many possibility.

Unlucky for me, I am having such intensive month that I think I will not be able to sit down and think through what am I mad about.

Red Dot Museum

2008-03-02T21:43:00.004+08:00

Officially stepping into Red Dot Museum, I think this is the second. The first was because my cousin invited almost the whole family tree down to take a look at his display. He has such a cool photo gallery, all taken by old technology film-based camera. The display was arranged in colours ranging from red to blue to green, connected fading from each other. Awesome sight I remember.They have really interesting stuff in the Museum, some of them weird (perhaps I do not have the artistic eye). For example this pillow like thing that is mounted to the wall. I do not really get it why is it up there. Lol.
Doesn't this remind you of Kobe Bryan's one of the first advertised shoe? It is actually a prototype shoe that runs on the kinetic energy when walking to power up its head light at the front.
My mom will love this flower pots. It can tell you when is it lacking of water. There is a counter weight on one side of base of the pot, the other is an empty space for water to sip in. So when it is empty, it will topple to the side of the counter weight thus the indication of lacking of water. Innovative huh?
Waterless Urinal? Wouldn't it stink?

Doesn't this picture makes you miss Underwater World?

In Dedication to My Basketball Friends

2008-03-01T22:16:00.006+08:00

This was my first night shot, quite tough for a first. I have actually learnt quite alot from this shoot, and coming to think about it, day and night shots have their beauty in their way.

I was just thinking to do up something about my neighborhood. Since I have Matthew and Michelle that has been away, something about my basketball friends and those places that we hang out often.
Firstly as I live in Tampines, You can never miss Tampines Mall and Century Square. Attention will be brought to this open air area with a play ground and a interactive room in Tampines Mall. With eateries like Pasta Mania and Ajisen, it is a good place for adults to rest while kids play.
This is particularly for Matthew. Doesn't this colorful court just bring back good memories? Since the old white wooden board till the current yellow plastic board, say, it has been closing a decade. We are sure getting older now.
Do you still remember how does the hoop looks like at the three point line? I had to ask the boys to stop their game for a while for this shot.

Then again for the rest of the people, these are just some other nice pictures I took.
Caged-up Air-Conditioners!

We almost formed a basket ball team by the Hokien dialact of this block. Remember?