Did not expect that I would finish work so late on Friday night [actually Saturday morning], and that I will have to book in at 5pm later, so I signed up for it weeks back, along with some friends.
I thought we were going for the 15km leisure route, until they told me we had signed up for the 45km endurance route.
We started off late; the ride flagged off at 8am but we only started at 9am, so by 11am they closed off the route, and we had cycled an average of 35km before we were to turn back. But still, it was very, very, very, very, tiring.
Have to go now; I seriously hope the problems we face now can be solved as soon as possible.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
visual
I always get alot of complaints that its all text here and no pictures. Well one I don't have much pictures to show, two its a hassle uploading them.
I really don't wish to remember what happened this week, so for a rare change, photos from my trip to the Republic of China. Sadly it was not my camera, so I had no control over what to take.
As mentioned, the "huge golden Buddha that towered over the surrounding hills."
See I told ya there wasn't much of a difference from a rectangle of green created using Microsoft Paint.
日月潭，or Sun Moon Lake. Taken when we went...
...here. Very majestic temple, facing the very beautiful lake.
Danger!
Haha this was at a wine factory in 台中 I think. Sadly the entire poem was not captured.
Yes I went through this shit. Heart nearly stopped by the end of it.
I took this after I took the previous one. Heart really nearly stopped.
Ocean World. Really kudos to these ang mohs who had to act as clowns on the show, because that day we went it was...
...so bloody cold, the only audience there were us, and the grandstands were empty because we watched the show from inside the building, through the doors.
The same ang mohs who had to perform stunts too. So much for the salary.
Forgot the name [UPDATE: I remembered! Its called Miramax.]; it was a very big shopping mall with an attached ferris wheel. Nothing much to buy though.
Taipei's Metro which worked the same as our MRT system so no problem travelling around.
This was only half of the track. I did not try this one for fear that my heart really stopped.
人山人海。
Because I'm not niao with food I didn't find it extraordinarily good.
Something familiar in a place far from home.
Something familiar in a place far from home 2.
Horrible week I had, horrible week I am going to have, and all of a sudden, horrible month upcoming.
I really don't wish to remember what happened this week, so for a rare change, photos from my trip to the Republic of China. Sadly it was not my camera, so I had no control over what to take.
As mentioned, the "huge golden Buddha that towered over the surrounding hills."
See I told ya there wasn't much of a difference from a rectangle of green created using Microsoft Paint.
日月潭，or Sun Moon Lake. Taken when we went...
...here. Very majestic temple, facing the very beautiful lake.
Danger!
Haha this was at a wine factory in 台中 I think. Sadly the entire poem was not captured.
Yes I went through this shit. Heart nearly stopped by the end of it.
I took this after I took the previous one. Heart really nearly stopped.
Ocean World. Really kudos to these ang mohs who had to act as clowns on the show, because that day we went it was...
...so bloody cold, the only audience there were us, and the grandstands were empty because we watched the show from inside the building, through the doors.
The same ang mohs who had to perform stunts too. So much for the salary.
Forgot the name [UPDATE: I remembered! Its called Miramax.]; it was a very big shopping mall with an attached ferris wheel. Nothing much to buy though.
Taipei's Metro which worked the same as our MRT system so no problem travelling around.
This was only half of the track. I did not try this one for fear that my heart really stopped.
人山人海。
Because I'm not niao with food I didn't find it extraordinarily good.
Something familiar in a place far from home.
Something familiar in a place far from home 2.
Horrible week I had, horrible week I am going to have, and all of a sudden, horrible month upcoming.
Monday, May 19, 2008
beautiful words
It was right then that I started thinking about Thomas Jefferson on the Declaration of Independence and the part about our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And I remember thinking how did he know to put the pursuit part in there? That maybe happiness is something that we can only pursue and maybe we can actually never have it. No matter what. How did he know that?
-The Pursuit of Happyness
*
Because when I was young and I get an A on a history test or whatever, I get this good feeling about all the things that I can be. And I never became any of them.
-The Pursuit of Happyness
*
The Square Root of Three
I’m sure that I will always be
A lonely number like root three
The three is all that’s good and right,
Why must my three keep out of sight
Beneath the vicious square root sign,
I wish instead I were a nine
For nine could thwart this evil trick,
with just some quick arithmetic
I know I’ll never see the sun, as 1.7321
Such is my reality, a sad irrationality
When hark! What is this I see,
Another square root of a three
As quietly co-waltzing by,
Together now we multiply
To form a number we prefer,
Rejoicing as an integer
We break free from our mortal bonds
With the wave of magic wands
Our square root signs become unglued
Your love for me has been renewed
-David Feinberg
-The Pursuit of Happyness
*
Because when I was young and I get an A on a history test or whatever, I get this good feeling about all the things that I can be. And I never became any of them.
-The Pursuit of Happyness
*
The Square Root of Three
I’m sure that I will always be
A lonely number like root three
The three is all that’s good and right,
Why must my three keep out of sight
Beneath the vicious square root sign,
I wish instead I were a nine
For nine could thwart this evil trick,
with just some quick arithmetic
I know I’ll never see the sun, as 1.7321
Such is my reality, a sad irrationality
When hark! What is this I see,
Another square root of a three
As quietly co-waltzing by,
Together now we multiply
To form a number we prefer,
Rejoicing as an integer
We break free from our mortal bonds
With the wave of magic wands
Our square root signs become unglued
Your love for me has been renewed
-David Feinberg
Saturday, May 17, 2008
chaos
Just as I thought the cyclone that hit Myanmar was bad enough there came the earthquake that jolted China. So in a matter of two short weeks some 150,000 people were wiped off the face of the earth just like that.
The news were especially graphical this time when it came to reporting the tragedies. The grief, tears and anger of the victims were clearly telecast on national TV and splashed across newspapers; reading and listening to the grim reports about rising death tolls and helpless survivors were just as depressing. Those who wanted to save could not save; those who wanted to be saved could not be saved.
Should I feel sad for those who died, for they have left the world without a proper goodbye? Or should I feel angry, for they have left many who loved them deeply? Or happy, for they have escaped this living hell for somewhere heavenly?
As usual the week was spent preparing for the major event coming up. Went to jump into dirty water on Tuesday to practise escaping from sinking vehicles, while the rest of the time was trying to get something we never tried before to work.
Although there is still alot of work to do next week the bosses still decided to squeeze time out for a SOC practice and a test, the number one morale destroying physical activity which I will probably fail anyway.
I decided to wait at least till the end of the month before I consult a doctor regarding my foot rot, since word has it that we will have to throw ourselves into more dirty water during the major event itself. My feet doesn't look as bad as the name sounds though.
Never too late to say, since 120508, 9 more months to ORD! One digit looks [slightly] better than two digits.
The news were especially graphical this time when it came to reporting the tragedies. The grief, tears and anger of the victims were clearly telecast on national TV and splashed across newspapers; reading and listening to the grim reports about rising death tolls and helpless survivors were just as depressing. Those who wanted to save could not save; those who wanted to be saved could not be saved.
Should I feel sad for those who died, for they have left the world without a proper goodbye? Or should I feel angry, for they have left many who loved them deeply? Or happy, for they have escaped this living hell for somewhere heavenly?
As usual the week was spent preparing for the major event coming up. Went to jump into dirty water on Tuesday to practise escaping from sinking vehicles, while the rest of the time was trying to get something we never tried before to work.
Although there is still alot of work to do next week the bosses still decided to squeeze time out for a SOC practice and a test, the number one morale destroying physical activity which I will probably fail anyway.
I decided to wait at least till the end of the month before I consult a doctor regarding my foot rot, since word has it that we will have to throw ourselves into more dirty water during the major event itself. My feet doesn't look as bad as the name sounds though.
Never too late to say, since 120508, 9 more months to ORD! One digit looks [slightly] better than two digits.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
as a soldier
One of the rare weeks where I felt more like a soldier than a IT helpdesk support staff. Exercise on Monday, shooting on Tuesday, more shooting on Wednesday, saikang party for regulars' range on Thursday [ because the crabs and bars were not expected to hang up target boards, pick up rubbish and expended rounds and wash toilets], and mounting signal sets on vehicles on Friday.
I am having foot rot; just like the heat rashes a while back its the first time in my life that I ever got it. I was pretty resistant to it, having survived my BMT fieldcamp, Wallaby and Starlight without anything, but fell victim this time as it spreads around like wildfire, at least within my platoon. I have not got down to curing it though; apparently the medication that the medical centre provides does not solve anything, and waiting three hours just for that five minutes of consultation and medication isn't time well spent.
On the other hand by the time I wake up on Saturday the clinic near my house has already closed. Which is also why I am still coughing to this day.
Maybe I am really dying.
I read with interest how Myanmar's military can turn the recent cyclone to its own advantage by sticking their generals' faces on the aid that flew in from other countries, to lead their people into thinking the military is doing its part to save them. The country's constitutional referendum carried on as usual, and most people that the newspaper interviewed had no idea what they were even voting for. They simply said 'yes' because they were told to do so. Talk about the power of the soldiers.
I am having foot rot; just like the heat rashes a while back its the first time in my life that I ever got it. I was pretty resistant to it, having survived my BMT fieldcamp, Wallaby and Starlight without anything, but fell victim this time as it spreads around like wildfire, at least within my platoon. I have not got down to curing it though; apparently the medication that the medical centre provides does not solve anything, and waiting three hours just for that five minutes of consultation and medication isn't time well spent.
On the other hand by the time I wake up on Saturday the clinic near my house has already closed. Which is also why I am still coughing to this day.
Maybe I am really dying.
I read with interest how Myanmar's military can turn the recent cyclone to its own advantage by sticking their generals' faces on the aid that flew in from other countries, to lead their people into thinking the military is doing its part to save them. The country's constitutional referendum carried on as usual, and most people that the newspaper interviewed had no idea what they were even voting for. They simply said 'yes' because they were told to do so. Talk about the power of the soldiers.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
please do not waste your time here
I still remembered way back before I enlisted my friends were telling me how xiong route marches were, and I could not understand how difficult can walking get, until I experienced it myself.
Since 'graduating' from Tekong I have not done any route marches, until yesterday. The distance covered was supposed to be just a third of the final one I did at Tekong, which was furthur reduced to a quarter because of bad weather, but having not walked for so long my legs were giving way by the time I completed it, with two blisters appearing at the 'usual places' of my feet.
Also I underestimated the weight of the signal set. It turned out to be as heavy as the fieldpack I carried back in BMT.
Tomorrow is Labour Day [Happy Day to everyone!], and because I couldn't get an off on Friday I have to book in tomorrow night, which is less than twenty four hours from now.
Still Friday will not be a easy day. Different events of various magnitudes are coming up next month; there's quite a number of things to do.
May I go in peace.
Since 'graduating' from Tekong I have not done any route marches, until yesterday. The distance covered was supposed to be just a third of the final one I did at Tekong, which was furthur reduced to a quarter because of bad weather, but having not walked for so long my legs were giving way by the time I completed it, with two blisters appearing at the 'usual places' of my feet.
Also I underestimated the weight of the signal set. It turned out to be as heavy as the fieldpack I carried back in BMT.
Tomorrow is Labour Day [Happy Day to everyone!], and because I couldn't get an off on Friday I have to book in tomorrow night, which is less than twenty four hours from now.
Still Friday will not be a easy day. Different events of various magnitudes are coming up next month; there's quite a number of things to do.
May I go in peace.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
mind over body
Another physically demanding week.
Finally completed my icct by passing the test on Wednesday, which was not too difficult except for the two-minutewayang sparring session with a partner, which by the end left me with almost no strength to even hold my water bottle.
Immediately the next day on Thursday there was IPPT. Having turned second year soldier meant I had to clear my annual physical fitness test, and being so lucky to be able to take the test just two weeks into my second year I must get a decent result so the bosses will not harrass me anymore till I ORD.
A silver I got, and besides being untouchable now there is also the additional $100. Yay.
While everyone booked out on Friday I had guard duty, an indirect consequence no thanks to Mr. "Mike Sierra Kilo". @#$%!
Now that in camp I eat dinner at a very early time of 1700 everyday my stomach will start grumbling again by 2200, so recently I have started feasting on supper haha, usually mee pok or bee hoon noodles with an egg and chicken wing, finishing off with a coffee, milo or bubble tea, courtesy of friends who happen to be outside and can buy in. I'm quite glad I am quite resistant to growing horizontally; in fact I am almost underweight.
Then again of course I am not the only one who eats supper. McDonald's and zi char deliveries come in almost every night, and with some of the mates going to bring in toasters and mini hot pans and whatnot soon we may have a kitchen right in our company.
Now that I am spending most of my time doing useless things my memory has started deteriorating. Now without Friendster's reminders in my mailbox I have trouble remembering birthdays. Its worse when everyone else remembers mine. Apologises for that.
Countless times I have told myself [ and probably many others ] I will stop 'investing' in my dear desktop and my next major purchase will only be my laptop in university, however there is still plenty of promotions and offers that tempt me real hard [ forummers call them 'poison'. Indeed. ]. Just this morning when I returned home there is yet another one. Have not succumbed to any of those 'poisons' yet, but given the length of time between now and July 2009, to resist all that for more than a year is truly, mind over body. Hahaha.
My "mind over body" experiences are not over yet; there's a 4km route march next Tuesday, something I have not done since I passed out from the lovely island at the North East of our motherland. Hopefully I can survive it.
Its 五月天's concert tonight; always wanted to go, but always reluctant to spend the money. Must go someday. Meanwhile wish them good luck for tonight's concert!
I am still coughing. Randomly but everytime it comes I will almost cough my lungs out. I am still wondering whether I am dying soon.
Last by defintitely not the least, a piece of great news here.
May great game companies live on!
Finally completed my icct by passing the test on Wednesday, which was not too difficult except for the two-minute
Immediately the next day on Thursday there was IPPT. Having turned second year soldier meant I had to clear my annual physical fitness test, and being so lucky to be able to take the test just two weeks into my second year I must get a decent result so the bosses will not harrass me anymore till I ORD.
A silver I got, and besides being untouchable now there is also the additional $100. Yay.
While everyone booked out on Friday I had guard duty, an indirect consequence no thanks to Mr. "Mike Sierra Kilo". @#$%!
Now that in camp I eat dinner at a very early time of 1700 everyday my stomach will start grumbling again by 2200, so recently I have started feasting on supper haha, usually mee pok or bee hoon noodles with an egg and chicken wing, finishing off with a coffee, milo or bubble tea, courtesy of friends who happen to be outside and can buy in. I'm quite glad I am quite resistant to growing horizontally; in fact I am almost underweight.
Then again of course I am not the only one who eats supper. McDonald's and zi char deliveries come in almost every night, and with some of the mates going to bring in toasters and mini hot pans and whatnot soon we may have a kitchen right in our company.
Now that I am spending most of my time doing useless things my memory has started deteriorating. Now without Friendster's reminders in my mailbox I have trouble remembering birthdays. Its worse when everyone else remembers mine. Apologises for that.
Countless times I have told myself [ and probably many others ] I will stop 'investing' in my dear desktop and my next major purchase will only be my laptop in university, however there is still plenty of promotions and offers that tempt me real hard [ forummers call them 'poison'. Indeed. ]. Just this morning when I returned home there is yet another one. Have not succumbed to any of those 'poisons' yet, but given the length of time between now and July 2009, to resist all that for more than a year is truly, mind over body. Hahaha.
My "mind over body" experiences are not over yet; there's a 4km route march next Tuesday, something I have not done since I passed out from the lovely island at the North East of our motherland. Hopefully I can survive it.
Its 五月天's concert tonight; always wanted to go, but always reluctant to spend the money. Must go someday. Meanwhile wish them good luck for tonight's concert!
I am still coughing. Randomly but everytime it comes I will almost cough my lungs out. I am still wondering whether I am dying soon.
Last by defintitely not the least, a piece of great news here.
May great game companies live on!
Sunday, April 20, 2008
wonders of technology
Having played with computers since young [and most probably till the day I die] doesn't mean I support everything that holds bits and bytes and confuses people by displaying virtual objects that look exactly like real ones. Like a double edged sword advancements in technology has no doubt help us alot, but now it seems like we are so absorbed in it that we cannot live a day without it.
Back in the good old days of school a long bus ride from Point A to Point B with a good friend meant endless chatting and laughing on almost everything under the sun. Now everyone is armed with a portable entertainment device in hand, whether mobile phone, MP3 player, or Playstation Portable, or all three, with earpieces stuck in ears. Throughout the trip the total number of words exchanged probably does not exceed ten. No offence to anyone, I myself plead guilty to that.
Online advertisements are well hated by many. Actually there's nothing wrong with them; the Internet's another place to reach out to consumers, but they have to thank the irritating little windows that pop up at almost every single website and the tiny trackers that record your surfing habits and send them back to advertising companies so they can pop up more relevant advertisements for you, which is no different from an intrusion to privacy.
And now there is this. You pay a sum of money to buy a number of referrals [you can choose not to, but you take a longer time to earn money.] , and everytime you and/or your referrals click on the ads listed on the site and stays there for thirty seconds you earn some money. A couple of my friends have already paid a couple of hundreds of dollars, and are slowly earning money back.
Of course there is nothing wrong with it, but somehow I feel that like the pop ups and the trackers, it defeats the purpose of advertising. Because people click on the links and go to the websites for the sake of money, not because they are genuinely interested in them. And it seems to give an impression that earning money is easy, which..shouldn't be the correct mindset..?
Of course, technology is not that bad, there's still this. Haha.
Gotta run. I'm late.
Back in the good old days of school a long bus ride from Point A to Point B with a good friend meant endless chatting and laughing on almost everything under the sun. Now everyone is armed with a portable entertainment device in hand, whether mobile phone, MP3 player, or Playstation Portable, or all three, with earpieces stuck in ears. Throughout the trip the total number of words exchanged probably does not exceed ten. No offence to anyone, I myself plead guilty to that.
Online advertisements are well hated by many. Actually there's nothing wrong with them; the Internet's another place to reach out to consumers, but they have to thank the irritating little windows that pop up at almost every single website and the tiny trackers that record your surfing habits and send them back to advertising companies so they can pop up more relevant advertisements for you, which is no different from an intrusion to privacy.
And now there is this. You pay a sum of money to buy a number of referrals [you can choose not to, but you take a longer time to earn money.] , and everytime you and/or your referrals click on the ads listed on the site and stays there for thirty seconds you earn some money. A couple of my friends have already paid a couple of hundreds of dollars, and are slowly earning money back.
Of course there is nothing wrong with it, but somehow I feel that like the pop ups and the trackers, it defeats the purpose of advertising. Because people click on the links and go to the websites for the sake of money, not because they are genuinely interested in them. And it seems to give an impression that earning money is easy, which..shouldn't be the correct mindset..?
Of course, technology is not that bad, there's still this. Haha.
Gotta run. I'm late.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
india charlie charlie tango
pain. head. neck. shoulders. triceps. elbows. palms. hips. thighs.
very, very pain.
This entire week [well almost] was spent in the hall learning how to break falls and apply various types of armlocks. Besides a couple of breaks here and there the rest of the time was spent throwing ourselves onto mats, slapping them and yelling out loud like mad men, or getting a partner and doing the locks on each other. Everytime I hit the mat a wave of migraine will pass through my head, and before its gone we hit the ground again.
"Ouch!" was an underestimation.
Exercises were repeated to condition ourselves, so thanks to the neck rotation exercises on the first day my neck was immobile for the next three days.
Yesterday was equally disgusting when we had to roll across the hall repeatedly. No headache, but the giddiness was no less torturing. The stuffy environment did not help at all.
I'm glad my bones and joints are still intact.
No less relaxing next week. Lessons continues, with final grading on Wednesday, IPPT on Thursday, and @#$%! guard duty on Friday, thanks to last minute additions.
very, very pain.
This entire week [well almost] was spent in the hall learning how to break falls and apply various types of armlocks. Besides a couple of breaks here and there the rest of the time was spent throwing ourselves onto mats, slapping them and yelling out loud like mad men, or getting a partner and doing the locks on each other. Everytime I hit the mat a wave of migraine will pass through my head, and before its gone we hit the ground again.
"Ouch!" was an underestimation.
Exercises were repeated to condition ourselves, so thanks to the neck rotation exercises on the first day my neck was immobile for the next three days.
Yesterday was equally disgusting when we had to roll across the hall repeatedly. No headache, but the giddiness was no less torturing. The stuffy environment did not help at all.
I'm glad my bones and joints are still intact.
No less relaxing next week. Lessons continues, with final grading on Wednesday, IPPT on Thursday, and @#$%! guard duty on Friday, thanks to last minute additions.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
五月天 all of 小太阳 a sudden...
多麼难忘 是你纯真的模样 突然的吻 弥漫著茶香
...the US dollar weakens.
多麼向往 梦想总是在他方 你说等我 不管多漫长
...rice is in limited supplies and everyone is worried whether they have enough rice to eat, and whether the rice is cheap enough to purchase in the first place.
你就是太阳 蒸发了彷徨 所以挖开土壤 种下希望 离开了故乡
...the Tibet issue appeared and many people go crazy trying to extinguish the flame on the Olympic torch.
看著你的眼眶 忍著泪 闪著光 我会很快回来 继续我们 未完的天堂
...another dumb rule came up; we are not allowed to clear off on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. [ They have since amended it to be on a case-by-case basis. ]
看著你的脸庞 微笑著 要我去闯 你的盼望 是我握在手中 小小的太阳
...I came down with rashes all over the body and I wondered whether I was going to die soon. [ I was fine after some calamine lotion and one day. ]
念念不忘 此刻应该是农忙 如繣风光 有你在歌唱
...I can't stop coughing and I wonder whether I am going to die soon.
你就是太阳 照亮了方向 你让地球旋转 月亮发光 让我有翅膀
After getting two consecutive weekends burnt due to guard duties [ last week of March and first week of April hurray ] I fortunately got today off. Fortunately because the rules say I was supposed to get it approved one week before, but I got it signed on Tuesday. Seeing how they go all the way to make our lives difficult when it comes to clearing off I think today's off will be the last one for at least the next two months to come.
Spent today resting and reading Kindachi, I don't collect comics; I just buy randomly. I particularly liked the way this issue's case was executed, how 'one became two' and 'two became one'. Otherwise, it was a quiet day at home.
I used to be fine with cooling fans in CPUs, but now that I hear them everyday at work because of the server and at home because of my desktop, I'm beginning to find the constant humming irritating. Haha.
...the US dollar weakens.
多麼向往 梦想总是在他方 你说等我 不管多漫长
...rice is in limited supplies and everyone is worried whether they have enough rice to eat, and whether the rice is cheap enough to purchase in the first place.
你就是太阳 蒸发了彷徨 所以挖开土壤 种下希望 离开了故乡
...the Tibet issue appeared and many people go crazy trying to extinguish the flame on the Olympic torch.
看著你的眼眶 忍著泪 闪著光 我会很快回来 继续我们 未完的天堂
...another dumb rule came up; we are not allowed to clear off on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. [ They have since amended it to be on a case-by-case basis. ]
看著你的脸庞 微笑著 要我去闯 你的盼望 是我握在手中 小小的太阳
...I came down with rashes all over the body and I wondered whether I was going to die soon. [ I was fine after some calamine lotion and one day. ]
念念不忘 此刻应该是农忙 如繣风光 有你在歌唱
...I can't stop coughing and I wonder whether I am going to die soon.
你就是太阳 照亮了方向 你让地球旋转 月亮发光 让我有翅膀
After getting two consecutive weekends burnt due to guard duties [ last week of March and first week of April hurray ] I fortunately got today off. Fortunately because the rules say I was supposed to get it approved one week before, but I got it signed on Tuesday. Seeing how they go all the way to make our lives difficult when it comes to clearing off I think today's off will be the last one for at least the next two months to come.
Spent today resting and reading Kindachi, I don't collect comics; I just buy randomly. I particularly liked the way this issue's case was executed, how 'one became two' and 'two became one'. Otherwise, it was a quiet day at home.
I used to be fine with cooling fans in CPUs, but now that I hear them everyday at work because of the server and at home because of my desktop, I'm beginning to find the constant humming irritating. Haha.
Friday, April 04, 2008
its a pain thinking of a title everytime I start a new entry
Again another relatively free week, with the big shots involved in "major events" which we are not, at the same time planning for upcoming "major events" that will not concern us until the events near.
Because we had nothing much to do, they decided to ask us to do things like find posters to hang onto the bare walls of our lecture room, and come up with names -.-' for our auditorium and lecture room [how does Sleepland sound?].
Today was even more out of the world when a movie Idiocracy was screened to us, apparently recommended by the biggest boss in my company. However the only thing I can find inside the movie that is related to where I am now is a simple short phrase.
"Lead, follow, or get out of the way."
Because we had nothing much to do, they decided to ask us to do things like find posters to hang onto the bare walls of our lecture room, and come up with names -.-' for our auditorium and lecture room [how does Sleepland sound?].
Today was even more out of the world when a movie Idiocracy was screened to us, apparently recommended by the biggest boss in my company. However the only thing I can find inside the movie that is related to where I am now is a simple short phrase.
"Lead, follow, or get out of the way."
Sunday, March 30, 2008
hot days, hot tempers
Very precious weekend, because my Saturday was eaten up by a guard duty. The weather added salt to the wound by maximising its heat and humidity.
As mentioned before, I like "major events" because they make the days pass very quickly, as was what happened in the two middle weeks in March. In this last week where there was no "major event", we simply had physical training everyday, the rest of the days just waiting for things to happen. The weekend took forever to come.
Its actually quite sad to see Creative being reduced to this, after having being emphasised for so many years by the government as a small local company that made it big internationally, and labelled a "role model" tobrainwash encourage Singaporeans that we can all one day do great things too. On the other hand, I have to agree what Creative has done has indeed gone a little overboard, since what that guy has done was very well in the interest of the company, minus the donations.
The root of the problem, as it appears to me, is the fighting over what is mine and what is yours. Has always being a problem for mankind isn't it? Since young one would already have fought with siblings over whose toys belong to who, and as one grows up this argument balloons to money, custodies, land mass, airspace, oil, kidneys, the list goes on.
Won't the world be a happier place if people share instead of fight?
Ok maybe not. Maybe a little respect and compromise going both ways instead.
Forummers have since seized the chance to bombard Creative with cries of poor QC, with many of their MP3 players "up-lorry" after a year or so. While I admit that my Zen Micro has not been in the best of conditions for a long time, it has nevertheless served me for three good years, and I have never regretted my purchase.
盘底的洋葱像我
永远是调味品
偷偷的看著你
偷偷的隐藏著自己
杨宗纬's 洋葱.
如果你愿意一层一层一层的剥开我的心
你会发现你会讶异
你是我最压抑
最深处的秘密
Was a little surprised when I you-tubed to find 五月天's 阿信 singing this song on a Taiwanese variety show, where I then realised it was written by him.
如果你愿意一层一层一层的剥开我的心
你会鼻酸你会流泪
只要你能听到我
看到我的全心全意
Interesting to use an onion as a comparison; a novelty. And the lyrics are aptly written. I like!
As mentioned before, I like "major events" because they make the days pass very quickly, as was what happened in the two middle weeks in March. In this last week where there was no "major event", we simply had physical training everyday, the rest of the days just waiting for things to happen. The weekend took forever to come.
Its actually quite sad to see Creative being reduced to this, after having being emphasised for so many years by the government as a small local company that made it big internationally, and labelled a "role model" to
The root of the problem, as it appears to me, is the fighting over what is mine and what is yours. Has always being a problem for mankind isn't it? Since young one would already have fought with siblings over whose toys belong to who, and as one grows up this argument balloons to money, custodies, land mass, airspace, oil, kidneys, the list goes on.
Won't the world be a happier place if people share instead of fight?
Ok maybe not. Maybe a little respect and compromise going both ways instead.
Forummers have since seized the chance to bombard Creative with cries of poor QC, with many of their MP3 players "up-lorry" after a year or so. While I admit that my Zen Micro has not been in the best of conditions for a long time, it has nevertheless served me for three good years, and I have never regretted my purchase.
盘底的洋葱像我
永远是调味品
偷偷的看著你
偷偷的隐藏著自己
杨宗纬's 洋葱.
如果你愿意一层一层一层的剥开我的心
你会发现你会讶异
你是我最压抑
最深处的秘密
Was a little surprised when I you-tubed to find 五月天's 阿信 singing this song on a Taiwanese variety show, where I then realised it was written by him.
如果你愿意一层一层一层的剥开我的心
你会鼻酸你会流泪
只要你能听到我
看到我的全心全意
Interesting to use an onion as a comparison; a novelty. And the lyrics are aptly written. I like!
Saturday, March 22, 2008
two great jokes
After stopping for almost two years I restarted my problem solving recently, in one of my several moves to "keep my brain alive". Being out of touch with it for so long I am very rusty now, already forgotten all the little tricks hidden inside the problems to trap me. Like the fact that the first value read in is not necessarily always smaller than the second value.
Thankfully there is a forum full of helpful people who pointed out all the hidden tricks, so I can correct my mistakes before submitting.
"Marking" is done by a robot, as in a software bot, and the data it uses to test the programs we submitted is kept secret; all it tells us is the end result, so awaiting the result yields the same feeling as receiving my O Level or A Level results.
At that moment nothing can be happier than seeing the word "Accepted". And nothing can be worse, in my own opinion, than seeing the word "Wrong Answer", because to me its the most vague result among those it gives.
Right now I have only solved a pathetic number of forty problems, out of the two thousand over problems it offers. And to complete this joke my ratio of submissions to accepted problems is 5.875 : 1, which means on average I have to submit a particular solution six times before I finally get it correct.
Wahaha.
***************************
My first major problem after "upgrading" to Service Pack 1 has just surfaced. Apparently my save files for my racing game DiRT have all been "corrupted". I check that my files are still there, but somehow the game can't read them, which include the many days of effort I put in to complete my "career".
Service Pack 1. Wahaha.
Thankfully there is a forum full of helpful people who pointed out all the hidden tricks, so I can correct my mistakes before submitting.
"Marking" is done by a robot, as in a software bot, and the data it uses to test the programs we submitted is kept secret; all it tells us is the end result, so awaiting the result yields the same feeling as receiving my O Level or A Level results.
At that moment nothing can be happier than seeing the word "Accepted". And nothing can be worse, in my own opinion, than seeing the word "Wrong Answer", because to me its the most vague result among those it gives.
Right now I have only solved a pathetic number of forty problems, out of the two thousand over problems it offers. And to complete this joke my ratio of submissions to accepted problems is 5.875 : 1, which means on average I have to submit a particular solution six times before I finally get it correct.
Wahaha.
***************************
My first major problem after "upgrading" to Service Pack 1 has just surfaced. Apparently my save files for my racing game DiRT have all been "corrupted". I check that my files are still there, but somehow the game can't read them, which include the many days of effort I put in to complete my "career".
Service Pack 1. Wahaha.
yesteryears
One highlight during my years in AHS and VJC was watching sports matches and supporting my schools.
VJC days were much more fun because the staff there were much more flexible; they allowed us to cancel lessons to go down to external venues for important matches. AHS, being a secondary school, could not afford that. The only time I remembered going out of school was in Sec 1, to support a basketball match at a very old stadium to be torn down.
Fortunately AHS had an indoor basketball stadium (just about the only thing left that we can boast about), and most East Zone matches would be held there. Because we usually ended up among the top four in basketball, students from other schools found it unfair, going by the comments that they left here.
Stumbled across this sometime back, which I think is not bad, given that sports matches are not played on weekends. The bad thing is that the reports are submitted by volunteers, so if no volunteers, no report.
Looks good for AHS in their nationals; may the best team wins.
*****************
My Zen Micro is dying =( It is showing its age; Connecting it as a removable drive throws me a empty drive, and I cannot get any songs out into my computer, which I had planned to do so to back up. Also its battery now runs out noticeably faster than last time.
I'm thinking of getting its upgraded cousin: the 8GB Zen MicroPhoto which was on a Chinese New Year sale at $99 at the Marina Square Creative Shop at when I went there last month, although production has stopped long ago. $99 for a 8GB player is very good a deal, but common sense tells me I should be using my PlayStation Portable instead.
On the other hand I like to play games while listening to music, which the PSP cannot do at the same time. And I actually listen to the radio more often than my songs, which was one major reason I chose the Zen Micro over the Ipod Mini back in 2005.
*****************
My @#$%! Vista SP 1 is still @#$%! sluggish. Its @#$%! eating up @#$%! 1GB of my @#$%! RAM in @#$%! idle mode. @#$%!
VJC days were much more fun because the staff there were much more flexible; they allowed us to cancel lessons to go down to external venues for important matches. AHS, being a secondary school, could not afford that. The only time I remembered going out of school was in Sec 1, to support a basketball match at a very old stadium to be torn down.
Fortunately AHS had an indoor basketball stadium (just about the only thing left that we can boast about), and most East Zone matches would be held there. Because we usually ended up among the top four in basketball, students from other schools found it unfair, going by the comments that they left here.
Stumbled across this sometime back, which I think is not bad, given that sports matches are not played on weekends. The bad thing is that the reports are submitted by volunteers, so if no volunteers, no report.
Looks good for AHS in their nationals; may the best team wins.
*****************
My Zen Micro is dying =( It is showing its age; Connecting it as a removable drive throws me a empty drive, and I cannot get any songs out into my computer, which I had planned to do so to back up. Also its battery now runs out noticeably faster than last time.
I'm thinking of getting its upgraded cousin: the 8GB Zen MicroPhoto which was on a Chinese New Year sale at $99 at the Marina Square Creative Shop at when I went there last month, although production has stopped long ago. $99 for a 8GB player is very good a deal, but common sense tells me I should be using my PlayStation Portable instead.
On the other hand I like to play games while listening to music, which the PSP cannot do at the same time. And I actually listen to the radio more often than my songs, which was one major reason I chose the Zen Micro over the Ipod Mini back in 2005.
*****************
My @#$%! Vista SP 1 is still @#$%! sluggish. Its @#$%! eating up @#$%! 1GB of my @#$%! RAM in @#$%! idle mode. @#$%!
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Good [thing it's] Friday
Really glad that there is a public holiday today for me to rest. Past two weeks had been tiring alternating between two different places for two different events, and the short weekend did not help.
Nothing physical, but there was the mental stress with the bars and crabs all over the place and we were expected to fix any computer problem they encountered, in the shortest time possible. Everytime they called for me my heart would skip a beat because I would wonder what to do if I was presented a problem I have never seen before and had no idea how to solve.
Maybe that's why I have more white hair now; I worry too much.
First time I saw so many bars and crabs there. The one who left me the deepest impression was one with six different wings across his chests, excluding the one on his collar and another on his sleeve.
But good thing everything is over now. At least until the next event comes.
***********************
After reading all the hype, and all the [mostly] negative comments, I decided to go ahead with the installation of Windows Vista Service Pack 1.
Download via Windows Update and installation took about an hour in total, and the first thing it did was to cut off my Internet connection, although it was solved with a restart. Noticeably more sluggish now, although forummers say that things will be back to normal after a day or two.
Other than that, not much difference; the service pack was not meant for any visual changes though.
Nothing physical, but there was the mental stress with the bars and crabs all over the place and we were expected to fix any computer problem they encountered, in the shortest time possible. Everytime they called for me my heart would skip a beat because I would wonder what to do if I was presented a problem I have never seen before and had no idea how to solve.
Maybe that's why I have more white hair now; I worry too much.
First time I saw so many bars and crabs there. The one who left me the deepest impression was one with six different wings across his chests, excluding the one on his collar and another on his sleeve.
But good thing everything is over now. At least until the next event comes.
***********************
After reading all the hype, and all the [mostly] negative comments, I decided to go ahead with the installation of Windows Vista Service Pack 1.
Download via Windows Update and installation took about an hour in total, and the first thing it did was to cut off my Internet connection, although it was solved with a restart. Noticeably more sluggish now, although forummers say that things will be back to normal after a day or two.
Other than that, not much difference; the service pack was not meant for any visual changes though.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
2X
I think, there is no need for me to hide after all.
Thanks for the help!
***********
Never knew saikang can come in the form of exercises. For the first time since I entered my company I reached home only after midnight, missing a dinner with my friends, and instruction to us is: Sunday 5pm in uniform.
Hurray.
***********
Went NUS Open House today, which was about the same as last year. Mind Cafe after that, [Sua ku me was the first time there.] and ended the day with a class bbq at a friend's house.
***********
This has got to be the most happening birthday since ?; I cannot recall the last time a celebration(or somewhere near one) was thrown for me. After the class bbq a birthday song and cake was presented to me, together with two others whose birthdays fall in the month of March. [The last time I had a birthday cake was.....primary four?]
I have been officially labelled a nerd, because I was given a Rubik's Revenge as a present from the class -.-.
Fifteen SMS birthday greetings, which is another record I think. Thanks to all; really touched.
Having said that, I am still not used to birthday celebrations, and I don't think I will ever be.
And so my 2X has started. Its a long ten years before I enter 3X, which is..., haha too far away to think about it now. 2X sounds old =(, hopefully these ten years will be a good one.
Huat ah!
***********
Its so painful when you have bought something but you could not get to touch it until a week later. Then throughout the week you will be missing it very dearly...
Bought a Maxtor 250GB external hard disk last week at IT Show, but because I was going straight back to camp after that, and obviously I could not bring that in together with me, I had no choice but to leave it in my friend's care. Finally today I managed to get it in my hands.
An external hard disk has been on my wishlist for quite a long time [some friends are already irritated that I keep harping on it for the past few months but has not bought it, till now.] Two hard disks had kee chia before, and I had lost many many many things, and I don't think my heart is strong enough to withstand a third hard disk crash.
Hopefully this new guy does not disappoint.
***********
Formula One is starting! This year should be an exciting one, partially because of the Singapore GP, and partially because of the three way rivalry between Kimi Räikkönen/Ferrari, Fernando Alonso/Renault and Lewis Hamilton/McLaren Mercedes, not forgetting the black horse Felipe Massa/Ferrari and newcomer Heikki Kovalainen/McLaren Mercedes.
Local newspapers take out several of their precious Sports pages to analyse this new Formula One season, and maybe I am wrong, but I don't recall our newspapers having such an extensive coverage in previous years.
Biased.
Too tired to continue, or maybe nothing important else to continue.
[Entry created on 160308 0210.]
Thanks for the help!
***********
Never knew saikang can come in the form of exercises. For the first time since I entered my company I reached home only after midnight, missing a dinner with my friends, and instruction to us is: Sunday 5pm in uniform.
Hurray.
***********
Went NUS Open House today, which was about the same as last year. Mind Cafe after that, [Sua ku me was the first time there.] and ended the day with a class bbq at a friend's house.
***********
This has got to be the most happening birthday since ?; I cannot recall the last time a celebration(or somewhere near one) was thrown for me. After the class bbq a birthday song and cake was presented to me, together with two others whose birthdays fall in the month of March. [The last time I had a birthday cake was.....primary four?]
I have been officially labelled a nerd, because I was given a Rubik's Revenge as a present from the class -.-.
Fifteen SMS birthday greetings, which is another record I think. Thanks to all; really touched.
Having said that, I am still not used to birthday celebrations, and I don't think I will ever be.
And so my 2X has started. Its a long ten years before I enter 3X, which is..., haha too far away to think about it now. 2X sounds old =(, hopefully these ten years will be a good one.
Huat ah!
***********
Its so painful when you have bought something but you could not get to touch it until a week later. Then throughout the week you will be missing it very dearly...
Bought a Maxtor 250GB external hard disk last week at IT Show, but because I was going straight back to camp after that, and obviously I could not bring that in together with me, I had no choice but to leave it in my friend's care. Finally today I managed to get it in my hands.
An external hard disk has been on my wishlist for quite a long time [some friends are already irritated that I keep harping on it for the past few months but has not bought it, till now.] Two hard disks had kee chia before, and I had lost many many many things, and I don't think my heart is strong enough to withstand a third hard disk crash.
Hopefully this new guy does not disappoint.
***********
Formula One is starting! This year should be an exciting one, partially because of the Singapore GP, and partially because of the three way rivalry between Kimi Räikkönen/Ferrari, Fernando Alonso/Renault and Lewis Hamilton/McLaren Mercedes, not forgetting the black horse Felipe Massa/Ferrari and newcomer Heikki Kovalainen/McLaren Mercedes.
Local newspapers take out several of their precious Sports pages to analyse this new Formula One season, and maybe I am wrong, but I don't recall our newspapers having such an extensive coverage in previous years.
Biased.
Too tired to continue, or maybe nothing important else to continue.
[Entry created on 160308 0210.]
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Sunday, March 09, 2008
E*
I have seen the phrase "ASUS Eee PC" popping out in forums for some time, but back then I did not take much notice of it because I thought it was simply a small sized Windows PC.
Until I went to the IT Show and saw one.
While there is a Windows version of it, there is also, interestingly, a Linux version of it, and instead of a hard disk drive it comes with a 2/4/8GB Flash Drive, with sufficient memory and processor to surf the net, play simple games, and from my guess, the Linux can be hacked to do programming. Heh.
*remembers the VJC days where my senior was still using a Pentium laptop*
Very portable, and rather cheap at $598 only. Good product! Hopefully can get my hands on one next time.
I have to report back to camp very early tonight, and will setting off now for some errands before meeting my friends for dinner. Good week ahead!
Until I went to the IT Show and saw one.
While there is a Windows version of it, there is also, interestingly, a Linux version of it, and instead of a hard disk drive it comes with a 2/4/8GB Flash Drive, with sufficient memory and processor to surf the net, play simple games, and from my guess, the Linux can be hacked to do programming. Heh.
*remembers the VJC days where my senior was still using a Pentium laptop*
Very portable, and rather cheap at $598 only. Good product! Hopefully can get my hands on one next time.
I have to report back to camp very early tonight, and will setting off now for some errands before meeting my friends for dinner. Good week ahead!
Friday, March 07, 2008
F*
Good weather this week, but not in a good health to enjoy it.
After sneezing and coughing for almost two weeks I came down with a slight fever on Wednesday. Seeing the medical officer was a very troublesome process, and given the number of ridiculous rules coming up in the past two weeks, I reckon I may even be punished for falling sick. So in the end I survived on eleven-month-old Panadols, loads of water, more Panadols from my friends, and very cold water during my night baths.
Was lucky enough to skip Wednesday's physical training because I had work to do, and Thursday was Games Day instead of S0C. By today I was well enough to participate in today's training, though weakened, perhaps by the medication.
I was considerably cheered up today, thanks to my friends. I was asked to stay back to wait for a meeting to finish, and my friends waited together with me for two whole hours even though they could spend their time better elsewhere. Really apprectiate that.
Conversion of my unit life back to recruit days is almost complete, now that they have implemented a chin up regime. Forty eight every day, or two sets of eight each 5BX, lunch and dinner. The only thing they have not implemented yet is marching to the cookhouse.
So you attended a talk where the big boss asked for feedback, which in the end backfired on you after a whole new set of ridiculous rules came up, all in the name of discipline. Then now there is another talk by the small boss to tell you to decide carefully what you want to feedback, because it may backfire on you. Then at the end you are asked for feedback again. Will you still say anything?
The coming two weeks will see a change in usual routine as there are major events coming up, although its at these major events where punishments will be given out like free gifts. Like how a friend describes, "in packets of three".
If where I am now is a reflection of society, then I can be quite sure society is a f* up place.
After sneezing and coughing for almost two weeks I came down with a slight fever on Wednesday. Seeing the medical officer was a very troublesome process, and given the number of ridiculous rules coming up in the past two weeks, I reckon I may even be punished for falling sick. So in the end I survived on eleven-month-old Panadols, loads of water, more Panadols from my friends, and very cold water during my night baths.
Was lucky enough to skip Wednesday's physical training because I had work to do, and Thursday was Games Day instead of S0C. By today I was well enough to participate in today's training, though weakened, perhaps by the medication.
I was considerably cheered up today, thanks to my friends. I was asked to stay back to wait for a meeting to finish, and my friends waited together with me for two whole hours even though they could spend their time better elsewhere. Really apprectiate that.
Conversion of my unit life back to recruit days is almost complete, now that they have implemented a chin up regime. Forty eight every day, or two sets of eight each 5BX, lunch and dinner. The only thing they have not implemented yet is marching to the cookhouse.
So you attended a talk where the big boss asked for feedback, which in the end backfired on you after a whole new set of ridiculous rules came up, all in the name of discipline. Then now there is another talk by the small boss to tell you to decide carefully what you want to feedback, because it may backfire on you. Then at the end you are asked for feedback again. Will you still say anything?
The coming two weeks will see a change in usual routine as there are major events coming up, although its at these major events where punishments will be given out like free gifts. Like how a friend describes, "in packets of three".
If where I am now is a reflection of society, then I can be quite sure society is a f* up place.
Friday, February 29, 2008
crazy men on the loose
I very nearly had to be confined through the weekend, thanks to him.
It was back to usual business on Friday after the biggest bosses of all decided that there were enough people on the ground, so the crazy men of my company decided to give us a tekan session which they insisted was not one.
That fine day they decided to have a stand by bed. So after the morning run we practically spent the rest of the day cleaning every single corner of our cupboards, bed frames, windows, doors, the exit signs, the fire extinguishers, the floor plan that is pasted on the wall, among others.
After area inspection perhaps they found that it was not tekan-ish enough, they made us fall in to check our attires and dressings, and handed out more 'carry on 20's and show parades to those who did not pass.
**
Its quite an unfortunate incident that the terrorist managed to escape, especially just as things are looking up for our wonderful motherland who has just gotten the chance to host big time events like Formula One and the Youth Olympics Games. Quite embarrassing for this to happen when the whole world thinks that Singapore is a no-nonsense country, and yet that guy could actually escape through a toilet window, a scene right out from television dramas.
Personally I think its not really a good thing that he has escaped.
**
I think I am the most health unconscious person among my friends. While those around me are now eating only egg whites and leaving egg yolks out, I am one of the few who still gobble down entire eggs without thinking.
I have eaten three today.
**
Just completed World in Conflict! This strategy game is a class on its own, because there are no bases to build, unlike almost all other strategy games. Each mission starts off with a number of reinforcement points, which is used to call in tanks and infantry and attack helicopters. Whenever an unit is lost the points are slowly fed back, so replacements can be called in.
Tactical aids are also available in the form of air strikes, off map artillery barrages and laser guided bombs(my favourite!) that can be called in to aid in battles.
One complaint I have is the variety of objectives to complete, or the slight lack of it. Most objectives involved only capturing strategic points, and nothing else. Another complaint was that I found the story line weaker compared to other games like Company of Heroes and the Command and Conquer series.
Last complaint I have is the cutscenes in between missions. Unlike other games where the purpose of cutscenes is to unfold the story and bridge the previous and the next missions together, the cutscenes in WIC are refreshingly about phone conversations between different soldiers out on the field and their loved ones at home. But also unlike other games where cutscenes were animations or videos, WIC cutscenes were, disappointingly, only still images with audio.
The game sort of makes up for those shortfalls with good graphics and audio, and interesting units like the ability for airborne troops to call in artillery barrages. Since this game is set in the Cold War period, units are more modern, such as Apaches and the Leopard 2A4s that Singapore is getting.
Overall, not bad a game, but perhaps not worth the 10/10 our Digital Life gave.
**
A new version of Director is finally coming! Director is one of the first and main software I played with during my four years in my secondary school's computer club. Lost all the kiddy games that I had created back then, but the fond memories still stay.
Ever since Adobe bought over Macromedia that had been no news of Director for almost four years, until now. Quite alot of features added from what I see, and am I glad there is finally Unicode support! It was nightmarish creating the Inter-School Chinese Current Affairs Quiz when I was in junior college.
Sadly everyone uses Flash now; not many have even heard of the word Director.
The godly-ness of Director, not that I know everything, of course. Then again, Director and Flash complements each other, not compete.
Hurray! Can't wait to try that out.
**
Typing out this entry using Windows Live Writer, something I downloaded along with Windows Live Messenger 8.5. Live Writer is actually standalone, as can see from the words '(No recently Posted)' under 'Recently Posted'; it doesn't import all my entries from my blog, although I can import individual entries. So its more of a interface to type out entries before it uploads onto the blog.
As for Messenger, besides some cosmetic changes, nothing much different.
I think everyone can see that Live Writer is one of the many attempts by Microsoft to win users over in this era of Web 2.0. Still too early to say if its a success or not, but Google is definitely one hell of a formidable rival.
It was back to usual business on Friday after the biggest bosses of all decided that there were enough people on the ground, so the crazy men of my company decided to give us a tekan session which they insisted was not one.
That fine day they decided to have a stand by bed. So after the morning run we practically spent the rest of the day cleaning every single corner of our cupboards, bed frames, windows, doors, the exit signs, the fire extinguishers, the floor plan that is pasted on the wall, among others.
After area inspection perhaps they found that it was not tekan-ish enough, they made us fall in to check our attires and dressings, and handed out more 'carry on 20's and show parades to those who did not pass.
**
Its quite an unfortunate incident that the terrorist managed to escape, especially just as things are looking up for our wonderful motherland who has just gotten the chance to host big time events like Formula One and the Youth Olympics Games. Quite embarrassing for this to happen when the whole world thinks that Singapore is a no-nonsense country, and yet that guy could actually escape through a toilet window, a scene right out from television dramas.
Personally I think its not really a good thing that he has escaped.
**
I think I am the most health unconscious person among my friends. While those around me are now eating only egg whites and leaving egg yolks out, I am one of the few who still gobble down entire eggs without thinking.
I have eaten three today.
**
Just completed World in Conflict! This strategy game is a class on its own, because there are no bases to build, unlike almost all other strategy games. Each mission starts off with a number of reinforcement points, which is used to call in tanks and infantry and attack helicopters. Whenever an unit is lost the points are slowly fed back, so replacements can be called in.
Tactical aids are also available in the form of air strikes, off map artillery barrages and laser guided bombs(my favourite!) that can be called in to aid in battles.
One complaint I have is the variety of objectives to complete, or the slight lack of it. Most objectives involved only capturing strategic points, and nothing else. Another complaint was that I found the story line weaker compared to other games like Company of Heroes and the Command and Conquer series.
Last complaint I have is the cutscenes in between missions. Unlike other games where the purpose of cutscenes is to unfold the story and bridge the previous and the next missions together, the cutscenes in WIC are refreshingly about phone conversations between different soldiers out on the field and their loved ones at home. But also unlike other games where cutscenes were animations or videos, WIC cutscenes were, disappointingly, only still images with audio.
The game sort of makes up for those shortfalls with good graphics and audio, and interesting units like the ability for airborne troops to call in artillery barrages. Since this game is set in the Cold War period, units are more modern, such as Apaches and the Leopard 2A4s that Singapore is getting.
Overall, not bad a game, but perhaps not worth the 10/10 our Digital Life gave.
**
A new version of Director is finally coming! Director is one of the first and main software I played with during my four years in my secondary school's computer club. Lost all the kiddy games that I had created back then, but the fond memories still stay.
Ever since Adobe bought over Macromedia that had been no news of Director for almost four years, until now. Quite alot of features added from what I see, and am I glad there is finally Unicode support! It was nightmarish creating the Inter-School Chinese Current Affairs Quiz when I was in junior college.
Sadly everyone uses Flash now; not many have even heard of the word Director.
The godly-ness of Director, not that I know everything, of course. Then again, Director and Flash complements each other, not compete.
Hurray! Can't wait to try that out.
**
Typing out this entry using Windows Live Writer, something I downloaded along with Windows Live Messenger 8.5. Live Writer is actually standalone, as can see from the words '(No recently Posted)' under 'Recently Posted'; it doesn't import all my entries from my blog, although I can import individual entries. So its more of a interface to type out entries before it uploads onto the blog.
As for Messenger, besides some cosmetic changes, nothing much different.
I think everyone can see that Live Writer is one of the many attempts by Microsoft to win users over in this era of Web 2.0. Still too early to say if its a success or not, but Google is definitely one hell of a formidable rival.
Friday, February 22, 2008
First
Couple of "firsts" this week.
Went for my first ever aqua jog yesterday, which the name implied, running in the water. Instead of wading in a shallow pool, which I(and probably everyone else who had never done that before) thought it was, we had floats attached to us before getting into a pool where one end spelt 1.2m and the other end, 4.3m. Only our heads were above the water, and we did a couple of laps in running motion.
Looked easy, but it was not long before the hamstrings started to tire out. Still I guess this was better than S0C, and most of us won't mind more.
Just as everyone thought today would be a relaxed day after the usual physical training, the bosses decided to turn all of us out, the first time ever. I just came out of the bathroom half naked [upper half, in case anyone is strangely interested] when the turn out was called, and five minutes later I was at the parade square in full battle order.
Personally I think I am a much more tolerant person than many out there; I can tolerate abuses hurled at me, bad service, bad food etc; usually I just smile and forget. But one thing I can never tolerate is hunger!
The boss decided to call for a meeting today, not earlier, not later, at lunchtime. He is well known to be very naggy and long winded, as usualy it took him more than an hour just to tell us the events to come in the following months. Really difficult to bear through it.
A hungry sqw is a very, very, angry sqw.
Hurray to Singapore on getting the first ever chance to host the first ever Youth Olympics Games. I always love big events like this; they spice up the otherwise boring everyday atmosphere. With YOG there will be more things to read in the newspapers, more things to see and hear in the news, and more things to discuss with friends about. Hopefully they don't screw up like the Singapore Grand Prix ticketing system.
I am looking forward to the first ever Singapore Grand Prix too! I have always enjoyed watching the Monaco Grand Prix because its a bloody difficult track so the race is usually an exciting one. Hopefully the Singapore GP will provide the same, if not better, entertainment.
Go McLaren Mercedes!
My computer has gotten unstable after I added a fourth fan at the front to take in cold air to cool the components inside. Occassionally the computer keeps restarting itself instead of booting into Windows, a problem which I don't know why. I can only guess some loose connection somewhere. Also now this additional fan gives off a soft but quite irritating humming sound, because its quite a powerful fan.
Sudden mental block, until next time.
Went for my first ever aqua jog yesterday, which the name implied, running in the water. Instead of wading in a shallow pool, which I(and probably everyone else who had never done that before) thought it was, we had floats attached to us before getting into a pool where one end spelt 1.2m and the other end, 4.3m. Only our heads were above the water, and we did a couple of laps in running motion.
Looked easy, but it was not long before the hamstrings started to tire out. Still I guess this was better than S0C, and most of us won't mind more.
Just as everyone thought today would be a relaxed day after the usual physical training, the bosses decided to turn all of us out, the first time ever. I just came out of the bathroom half naked [upper half, in case anyone is strangely interested] when the turn out was called, and five minutes later I was at the parade square in full battle order.
Personally I think I am a much more tolerant person than many out there; I can tolerate abuses hurled at me, bad service, bad food etc; usually I just smile and forget. But one thing I can never tolerate is hunger!
The boss decided to call for a meeting today, not earlier, not later, at lunchtime. He is well known to be very naggy and long winded, as usualy it took him more than an hour just to tell us the events to come in the following months. Really difficult to bear through it.
A hungry sqw is a very, very, angry sqw.
Hurray to Singapore on getting the first ever chance to host the first ever Youth Olympics Games. I always love big events like this; they spice up the otherwise boring everyday atmosphere. With YOG there will be more things to read in the newspapers, more things to see and hear in the news, and more things to discuss with friends about. Hopefully they don't screw up like the Singapore Grand Prix ticketing system.
I am looking forward to the first ever Singapore Grand Prix too! I have always enjoyed watching the Monaco Grand Prix because its a bloody difficult track so the race is usually an exciting one. Hopefully the Singapore GP will provide the same, if not better, entertainment.
Go McLaren Mercedes!
My computer has gotten unstable after I added a fourth fan at the front to take in cold air to cool the components inside. Occassionally the computer keeps restarting itself instead of booting into Windows, a problem which I don't know why. I can only guess some loose connection somewhere. Also now this additional fan gives off a soft but quite irritating humming sound, because its quite a powerful fan.
Sudden mental block, until next time.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
run alert
The first sign of me not used to life before R0C showed up even before I left home when my mother reminded me to bring my camp pass, an object I had already completely forgotten.
And then I forgot where I had placed it.
Entire family took half an hour before it was finally found within a stack of other cards; by then it was too late to take the MRT anymore, so had to take a cab down.
Having not using my legs to travel faster than walking speeds for a month, I had difficulty switching back to the daily physical trainings in unit. Was totally shagged out during S0C training the following morning, which was apparently the slackest among those I had missed. Wednesday and Friday were runs with static exercises, and thankfully my boss gave us a Games Day on Thursday instead of more S0C.
No such luck next week; an ah-gua jog is scheduled to take place on Thursday.
I mean, aqua jog.
Red Alert 3 is in development! I had alot of fun playing RA2 back in secondary school, especially during LAN sessions with classmates. Tiberium Wars was a disappointment to me, no thanks to EA, so hopefully RA3 will not end up the same way.
And then I forgot where I had placed it.
Entire family took half an hour before it was finally found within a stack of other cards; by then it was too late to take the MRT anymore, so had to take a cab down.
Having not using my legs to travel faster than walking speeds for a month, I had difficulty switching back to the daily physical trainings in unit. Was totally shagged out during S0C training the following morning, which was apparently the slackest among those I had missed. Wednesday and Friday were runs with static exercises, and thankfully my boss gave us a Games Day on Thursday instead of more S0C.
No such luck next week; an ah-gua jog is scheduled to take place on Thursday.
I mean, aqua jog.
Red Alert 3 is in development! I had alot of fun playing RA2 back in secondary school, especially during LAN sessions with classmates. Tiberium Wars was a disappointment to me, no thanks to EA, so hopefully RA3 will not end up the same way.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
Return
Spent Sunday at my rich cousin's house. 三代同堂, many people were present.
Booking in tonight; Tuesday blues is already here. Having been away from unit for one month means I am going to have some trouble getting used to "normal" life. Not sure what to expect, hope there aren't too many changes inside.
Booking in tonight; Tuesday blues is already here. Having been away from unit for one month means I am going to have some trouble getting used to "normal" life. Not sure what to expect, hope there aren't too many changes inside.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
My Happy Ratty Moley Rodently Cheesy Lunar New Year
is one of my loneliest lunar new years yet, when everyone in the family except me had to work on the first day. Although somehow the house doesn't seem any different whether anyone is working or not.
CNY is half as exciting now that I no longer attend school. It was always a fantastic feeling to know that school on CNY eve would end after a concert.
CNY is half as exciting now that I no longer attend school. It was always a fantastic feeling to know that school on CNY eve would end after a concert.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
"thank you very much"
Of course the trip was not entirely a smooth sailing one. On the day I flew I realised, only at the airport, that I was a passport holder and not on the nominal roll. Well I did went for the briefing, but somehow I just missed the fact that I were to use my passport. Complacency set in as well because I assumed all trips under the name of the organisation were by nominal roll, so I didn't ask.
Joining me was a fellow colleague, who asked his parents to rush it down for him. Me? My passport has already expired, so no use rushing it down.
In the end I got through after a barrage of scoldings.
The problem with travelling with trainees from a training institute was that they treated everyone like kids. I drew many comparisons with my trip last November, where my identity was as a personnel belonging to my 'company'. And I should say I don't like people seeing me as a kid. Haha.
Let's see:
1) No jeans, only pants at the airport.[There was not a problem to me; old fashioned me was already wearing pants, but I, together with everyone else, wondered why not. Jeans were allowed for my November trip.]
2) No PT shoes, only dress shoes. [That was a problem, because it meant we had to bring along an additional pair of shoes. Again, why not?]
3) Safekeeping of disembarkation forms and 11 "bravo"s [no such thing for my November trip; we were told to keep ourselves.]
4) Haircut before going for R&R [what the hell, even us the attached personnel had to do so, no such thing during my November trip. Luckily the barbers did not do a bad job.]
5) Kitbaginspectionforreturntrip, before going for R&R [I wonder why there was a need for that when we are coming home. No such thing for November trip]
6) Rollcallat2359, and no movement out after that. [Although some people ignored that, going to a nightclub till the wee hours of the morning. No such thing for November trip.]
7) Vehicles were at our airport to take the trainees' kitbags back to camp for them, after we came home. [Now this was one move I wouldn't have complained about. I had to lug my kitbag home.]
After so many weeks on regimentation the trainees were obviously used to it. Returning home on early Sunday morning they were over the moon upon hearing that they were to report back only on the following day, on Monday morning.
Me? I return next Monday. To be frank I will be sulking if I am told to return the same day as them. Hahaha.
Well alright through this trip I saw for myself what kind of shit they had to go through [like carrying a backpack almost the weight of a human and walking 200m upslope, 81 steps upwards, and another 50m upslope, on a very, very steep hill where a missed footing will guarantee a return trip inside a coffin, or sleeping out in the field with freezing temperatures and non stop rain], and I salute them for their effort put in. Good job!
On my previous trip I also returned on an early Sunday morning, and after a short sleep I was on my way to my secondary school for its open house. This time, after a short sleep I met up with my secondary two classmates and teacher at lunch.
A close link somewhere between my alma mater and my arrival to Singapore. -.-
A good rest before returning after Lunar New Year; after three weeks away I hope I can get in sync with normal life soon.
Joining me was a fellow colleague, who asked his parents to rush it down for him. Me? My passport has already expired, so no use rushing it down.
In the end I got through after a barrage of scoldings.
The problem with travelling with trainees from a training institute was that they treated everyone like kids. I drew many comparisons with my trip last November, where my identity was as a personnel belonging to my 'company'. And I should say I don't like people seeing me as a kid. Haha.
Let's see:
1) No jeans, only pants at the airport.[There was not a problem to me; old fashioned me was already wearing pants, but I, together with everyone else, wondered why not. Jeans were allowed for my November trip.]
2) No PT shoes, only dress shoes. [That was a problem, because it meant we had to bring along an additional pair of shoes. Again, why not?]
3) Safekeeping of disembarkation forms and 11 "bravo"s [no such thing for my November trip; we were told to keep ourselves.]
4) Haircut before going for R&R [what the hell, even us the attached personnel had to do so, no such thing during my November trip. Luckily the barbers did not do a bad job.]
5) Kitbaginspectionforreturntrip, before going for R&R [I wonder why there was a need for that when we are coming home. No such thing for November trip]
6) Rollcallat2359, and no movement out after that. [Although some people ignored that, going to a nightclub till the wee hours of the morning. No such thing for November trip.]
7) Vehicles were at our airport to take the trainees' kitbags back to camp for them, after we came home. [Now this was one move I wouldn't have complained about. I had to lug my kitbag home.]
After so many weeks on regimentation the trainees were obviously used to it. Returning home on early Sunday morning they were over the moon upon hearing that they were to report back only on the following day, on Monday morning.
Me? I return next Monday. To be frank I will be sulking if I am told to return the same day as them. Hahaha.
Well alright through this trip I saw for myself what kind of shit they had to go through [like carrying a backpack almost the weight of a human and walking 200m upslope, 81 steps upwards, and another 50m upslope, on a very, very steep hill where a missed footing will guarantee a return trip inside a coffin, or sleeping out in the field with freezing temperatures and non stop rain], and I salute them for their effort put in. Good job!
On my previous trip I also returned on an early Sunday morning, and after a short sleep I was on my way to my secondary school for its open house. This time, after a short sleep I met up with my secondary two classmates and teacher at lunch.
A close link somewhere between my alma mater and my arrival to Singapore. -.-
A good rest before returning after Lunar New Year; after three weeks away I hope I can get in sync with normal life soon.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
"tango yankee various monkeys"
I'm home! From "romeo oscar charlie".
It was cold. Very cold. I breathed out steam. When I urinated the pee gave off steam too.
I once thought Wallaby was cold. Now I think it was chicken feet. Back then we could sleep on the grass with just one set of clothes. In R0C I wore two sets of clothes, a winter jacket, another jacket to cover my head, covered myself with the sleeping bag, and I shivered throughout the night. Genuine uncontrollable shiver.
R0C is a agricultural country. In fact more agricultural than Australia. Countless numbers of farms rearing everything from flowers to vegetation to oranges to chickens and ducks dominated my sights as we took a four-hour bus ride from the airport to our destination, and throughout our stay there.
Whichmademewonderwhyakitbaginspectionwasrequiredforaustraliabutnotneededforr0c.
R0C has majestic power lines that run across the lands, through the mountains, and disappear into the horizon. The highways stand high above the ground, run overhead other highways and under high speed rail lines. The infrastructure was a sight to behold.
The efforts put in towards recycling can be clearly see too. Two to three bins always appeared together, one for general waste, and another one or two for recycling purposes. Everywhere. Something that can never occur in Singapore. Quoting my friend: "We just throw into any bin we see. You put a pail in a random public place and it will be filled with rubbish at the end of the day."
My first job involved staying at the top of a hill for four days and three nights, to help pass messages to parties who could not reach each other. Sometimes traffic got heavy; I would have three parties yelling for my attention at the same time.
My second job allowed me to travel around the town. The rural area was one place one could never find in Singapore. Bidirectional single-lane roads ran through the town, with shops and houses clustered together along the sides. Traffic was light, mostly scooters or small trucks that the residents used to carry their goods around. Height of buildings never went past four storeys, and the highest structure there was a huge golden Buddha that towered across the surrounding hills.
The countryside scenery was very beautiful. No pictures [hopefully a yet], and a friend told me to draw the scenery out. So drew I did:
Its all green!
*Runs and hides under the table to avoid the punches and kicks thrown at me*
The very, very fresh air and lush greenery made the place a perfect escape from the urban jungle.
It was the season of oranges, and we were generously given bags and boxes of oranges and kum, so many that we could not finish them.
Weather-wise, it doesnt rain there. But when it does, it rains for several days straight. It rained almost one entire week without stopping, although small.
R&R was very, very, very, fun. It made the one I had last November a total trash. We travelled upwards to the capital city, stopping along the way to visit a temple, a nearby lake, and a wine brewery.
We visited a theme park, where I sat a ride that took me up to 85 metres before dropping me down. And a "suspended looping coaster" that took me through two loops at 4.5G. Basically I wanted to scream but nothing came out from my mouth. The feeling was...high.
I chickened out at a ride at a second theme park. I decided that sending me flying at 122km/h was a little too much for my heart. There's no hurry anyway; two rides were enough for this trip.
At night when it was free and easy for us we visited the famous night markets around the city, travelling to different places using the metro system that worked the same way as the Mass Rapid Transit in Singapore. Those night markets were easily twice the size of Bugis Street, and the crowds were strong, especially on Friday where the weekend was here.
And of course, the famous dress sense of the youngsters that beat us hands down. They were not afraid to wear shocking colours and spot outrageous hairstyles.
The traffic scene there was again something we could never see in Singapore. In the rural town I once spotted a man, one hand on his scooter, another hand carrying a baby. Another one had a dog sitting on the legrest of the scooter. Because the roads were single lanes, the only way to overtake was through the opposite lane, which happened very often.
In the city pedestrian crossings were generally ignored. Vehicles and pedestrians alike just found their own way to cross the roads. Something smart I saw was the operation of traffic lights. Traffic lights did not come into operation on roads with light traffic. Blinking amber lights meant a major road with a intersecting minor road, while blinking red light meant the opposite. Smart in my opinion. Unlike in Singapore where the car stops at a empty junction at 3am, just because the traffic light is red.
I enjoyed my trip there very much; definitely I will go back again someday. Four days was not enough.
It was cold. Very cold. I breathed out steam. When I urinated the pee gave off steam too.
I once thought Wallaby was cold. Now I think it was chicken feet. Back then we could sleep on the grass with just one set of clothes. In R0C I wore two sets of clothes, a winter jacket, another jacket to cover my head, covered myself with the sleeping bag, and I shivered throughout the night. Genuine uncontrollable shiver.
R0C is a agricultural country. In fact more agricultural than Australia. Countless numbers of farms rearing everything from flowers to vegetation to oranges to chickens and ducks dominated my sights as we took a four-hour bus ride from the airport to our destination, and throughout our stay there.
Whichmademewonderwhyakitbaginspectionwasrequiredforaustraliabutnotneededforr0c.
R0C has majestic power lines that run across the lands, through the mountains, and disappear into the horizon. The highways stand high above the ground, run overhead other highways and under high speed rail lines. The infrastructure was a sight to behold.
The efforts put in towards recycling can be clearly see too. Two to three bins always appeared together, one for general waste, and another one or two for recycling purposes. Everywhere. Something that can never occur in Singapore. Quoting my friend: "We just throw into any bin we see. You put a pail in a random public place and it will be filled with rubbish at the end of the day."
My first job involved staying at the top of a hill for four days and three nights, to help pass messages to parties who could not reach each other. Sometimes traffic got heavy; I would have three parties yelling for my attention at the same time.
My second job allowed me to travel around the town. The rural area was one place one could never find in Singapore. Bidirectional single-lane roads ran through the town, with shops and houses clustered together along the sides. Traffic was light, mostly scooters or small trucks that the residents used to carry their goods around. Height of buildings never went past four storeys, and the highest structure there was a huge golden Buddha that towered across the surrounding hills.
The countryside scenery was very beautiful. No pictures [hopefully a yet], and a friend told me to draw the scenery out. So drew I did:
Its all green!
*Runs and hides under the table to avoid the punches and kicks thrown at me*
The very, very fresh air and lush greenery made the place a perfect escape from the urban jungle.
It was the season of oranges, and we were generously given bags and boxes of oranges and kum, so many that we could not finish them.
Weather-wise, it doesnt rain there. But when it does, it rains for several days straight. It rained almost one entire week without stopping, although small.
R&R was very, very, very, fun. It made the one I had last November a total trash. We travelled upwards to the capital city, stopping along the way to visit a temple, a nearby lake, and a wine brewery.
We visited a theme park, where I sat a ride that took me up to 85 metres before dropping me down. And a "suspended looping coaster" that took me through two loops at 4.5G. Basically I wanted to scream but nothing came out from my mouth. The feeling was...high.
I chickened out at a ride at a second theme park. I decided that sending me flying at 122km/h was a little too much for my heart. There's no hurry anyway; two rides were enough for this trip.
At night when it was free and easy for us we visited the famous night markets around the city, travelling to different places using the metro system that worked the same way as the Mass Rapid Transit in Singapore. Those night markets were easily twice the size of Bugis Street, and the crowds were strong, especially on Friday where the weekend was here.
And of course, the famous dress sense of the youngsters that beat us hands down. They were not afraid to wear shocking colours and spot outrageous hairstyles.
The traffic scene there was again something we could never see in Singapore. In the rural town I once spotted a man, one hand on his scooter, another hand carrying a baby. Another one had a dog sitting on the legrest of the scooter. Because the roads were single lanes, the only way to overtake was through the opposite lane, which happened very often.
In the city pedestrian crossings were generally ignored. Vehicles and pedestrians alike just found their own way to cross the roads. Something smart I saw was the operation of traffic lights. Traffic lights did not come into operation on roads with light traffic. Blinking amber lights meant a major road with a intersecting minor road, while blinking red light meant the opposite. Smart in my opinion. Unlike in Singapore where the car stops at a empty junction at 3am, just because the traffic light is red.
I enjoyed my trip there very much; definitely I will go back again someday. Four days was not enough.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Send
So in a couple of hours time I'll be going off.
I'm more nervous than excited, because its a change of environment and I'm going quite alone. Quite because I'm going with two colleagues but I don't know them very well yet.
I don't know why I should be nervous actually, since I should not be doing anything more than 'shit jobs', but it may be because of the uncertainty of what I will be expecting there that causes the anxiety. There's nothing much I can do; I just hope life there will not be too bad.
Sayonara! See everyone soon!
I'm more nervous than excited, because its a change of environment and I'm going quite alone. Quite because I'm going with two colleagues but I don't know them very well yet.
I don't know why I should be nervous actually, since I should not be doing anything more than 'shit jobs', but it may be because of the uncertainty of what I will be expecting there that causes the anxiety. There's nothing much I can do; I just hope life there will not be too bad.
Sayonara! See everyone soon!
Friday, January 11, 2008
F5
Refreshed.
Its one of those default templates; a little lazy to create one. Will see about it when I come home.
This week was xiong arhhhh. A new boss came, fresh from theoven school. I guess either he is not used to unit life yet, or he was instructed by the new big big boss; there was SOC training ["in the last 600m, you will be shagged beyond all imagination."], and alot of PT after the usual live run.
"PT IS FUN UNDERSTAND!", exclaimed him.
I'm pretty sure nobody minded some PT, but his tone could have been better. Now nobody likes him haha.
I skipped yesterday and today's training, because of that, otherwise I could have been completely knocked out. It was an unanticipated move actually; now everyone envies us. As for me..half of me wants to go; but the other half of me wants to stay. Not that I can change anything anymore though.
Last weekend was a busy one. Class chalet at Aloha Loyang, where the major event was cycling overnight to Changi Village. Saw the distintive feature that made Changi Village (in)famous. Haha.
Sunday was wedding lunch at Aranda. Had already gone there twice for chalet, but it was the first time I went there for a wedding lunch.
As mentioned the containers came home last Friday. Monday was spent unpacking everything. It was a huge mess; kudos to the store guys because of the number of things they had to clean.
Wanted to show this to everyone but was reluctant to do so in the first place.
During Wallaby doodling on the vehicles were very common, because of the large amounts of sand being kicked up onto the bodies during travelling. Using oil [I think] its possible to make the sand stay:
Its one of those default templates; a little lazy to create one. Will see about it when I come home.
This week was xiong arhhhh. A new boss came, fresh from the
"PT IS FUN UNDERSTAND!", exclaimed him.
I'm pretty sure nobody minded some PT, but his tone could have been better. Now nobody likes him haha.
I skipped yesterday and today's training, because of that, otherwise I could have been completely knocked out. It was an unanticipated move actually; now everyone envies us. As for me..half of me wants to go; but the other half of me wants to stay. Not that I can change anything anymore though.
Last weekend was a busy one. Class chalet at Aloha Loyang, where the major event was cycling overnight to Changi Village. Saw the distintive feature that made Changi Village (in)famous. Haha.
Sunday was wedding lunch at Aranda. Had already gone there twice for chalet, but it was the first time I went there for a wedding lunch.
As mentioned the containers came home last Friday. Monday was spent unpacking everything. It was a huge mess; kudos to the store guys because of the number of things they had to clean.
Wanted to show this to everyone but was reluctant to do so in the first place.
During Wallaby doodling on the vehicles were very common, because of the large amounts of sand being kicked up onto the bodies during travelling. Using oil [I think] its possible to make the sand stay:
Friday, January 04, 2008
Alas, the containers came as we had our dinner. So next week I will have to help with crate unpacking.
Weekend will be a busy one. Besides a class chalet on Saturday and a wedding lunch on Sunday, I have my own stuff to pack, thanks to a stunt by a specialist to have a inspection on Monday.
I will be missing alot of things because of that. Damn.
Weekend will be a busy one. Besides a class chalet on Saturday and a wedding lunch on Sunday, I have my own stuff to pack, thanks to a stunt by a specialist to have a inspection on Monday.
I will be missing alot of things because of that. Damn.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
So it was the Orion constellation that watched over the soldiers throughout the exercise in Australia. Unmistakable because of the three stars in a row, equal distance from each other. No one who went Wallaby would have missed it, because the clear skies there meant we could see it, every single night.
I spotted it again on Sunday night while doing my guard duty. Nice.
Besides being the new year day today is also the 25th anniversary of TCP/IP. Haha very interesting. Thanks to Google for the reminder.
Through Facebook I realised I have primary school friends who are now friends with my JC friends, either they met somewhere throughout their education years, or are now colleagues in army. Small world indeed.
Sad I have to book in tonight. The containers are still nowhere in sight, which is a good thing. Best case scenario will be for them to come only after I have left. Heh. Highly impossible though.
Good week ahead to everyone!
I spotted it again on Sunday night while doing my guard duty. Nice.
Besides being the new year day today is also the 25th anniversary of TCP/IP. Haha very interesting. Thanks to Google for the reminder.
Through Facebook I realised I have primary school friends who are now friends with my JC friends, either they met somewhere throughout their education years, or are now colleagues in army. Small world indeed.
Sad I have to book in tonight. The containers are still nowhere in sight, which is a good thing. Best case scenario will be for them to come only after I have left. Heh. Highly impossible though.
Good week ahead to everyone!
Monday, December 31, 2007
As I await the arrival of the new year I do something which I do every year - recap, reflect, and resolve.
This year, just like the last, was an eventful one. I had my first work experience at a convenience store. I went through one of those 'rites of passages', National Service. Suffered under Gryphon Company in Basic Military Training, learnt alot in Signals Institute, and saw alot as I serve in my unit. Went overseas on an aircraft for the first time, to Australia. Was not on a holiday there, but I was happy I finally got out of my little well.
Below is my resolution for the year 2007:
1) Get into army in one piece, and survive in it until the end of this year in one piece.
["Come out in one piece" is 2008's resolution haha]
2) Enough money to support my [slowly increasing] gaming expenses, with enough to support myself, and also enough for university expenses. [That sounds difficult.]
3) Learn something useful and thereafter, build up a portfolio perhaps. This is really difficult, given that I have not much time left. But I definitely need to do something if I want to have some form of a "bright future".
4) Keep my brain alive. [Two years inside the camps can apparently make people lose all forms of thinking skills.] I may restart solving programming problems.
5) Seriously, the world a better place.
6) Peace and health and happiness for everyone around me! Including myself haha.
Reflecting,
1) Haha I got the year wrong. That aside, I have survived! Done!
2) I was spot on. I spent hell lot of money on gaming haha, namely graphics card to run the ever demanding games, with a power supply box to power that card. An additional piece of RAM, and Playstation Portable. After supporting myself there wasn't much money left for university. Oops failed. Consolation was that I did not end the year with lesser money than I started the year with.
3) I did learnt useful things, but I don't think the amount of effort I put in was enough to warrant a pass. Failed.
4) I helped a friend with programming problems through a couple of months, but in terms of ACM UVa problems I did not do anything more than registering a new account with their new server. Brain is half alive I guess.
5) Nope. Still a f* up world as ever.
6) From my own perspective I guess everyone is still overall happy ba; everyone has their ups and downs, but at the end of the day I think its still a bright day for all. Pass ba!
I admit I have neglected my little resolution, chucked it aside and deep into the archives not long after I came up with it; hadn't been a great year. Having said that, I have another year of contract with the government, so I have decided to give myself a second chance to fulfil it; a second year to turn those fails to passes. Its the same resolution for year 2008!
Resolution for 2008:
1) Survive in it till the end of the year, in one good piece, alive and kicking and able to make my own logical decisions. 'Come out in one piece' is2008's 2009's resolution.
2) Save money!
3) Learn something new, and not procrastinate anymore.
4) Keep my brain alive.
And I realise I have confused resolutions with wishes. So,
Wishes for 2008:
1) The world a better place.
2) Everyone, including me, to lead happy lives.
The hand on the clock has crossed twelve; I sincerely hope year 2008 will be a much better year than the previous.
Happy new year to every single person on this Earth. May everyone achieve what they set out to do.
Last but definitely not the least, one year, one month and twelve days to ORD!
This year, just like the last, was an eventful one. I had my first work experience at a convenience store. I went through one of those 'rites of passages', National Service. Suffered under Gryphon Company in Basic Military Training, learnt alot in Signals Institute, and saw alot as I serve in my unit. Went overseas on an aircraft for the first time, to Australia. Was not on a holiday there, but I was happy I finally got out of my little well.
Below is my resolution for the year 2007:
1) Get into army in one piece, and survive in it until the end of this year in one piece.
["Come out in one piece" is 2008's resolution haha]
2) Enough money to support my [slowly increasing] gaming expenses, with enough to support myself, and also enough for university expenses. [That sounds difficult.]
3) Learn something useful and thereafter, build up a portfolio perhaps. This is really difficult, given that I have not much time left. But I definitely need to do something if I want to have some form of a "bright future".
4) Keep my brain alive. [Two years inside the camps can apparently make people lose all forms of thinking skills.] I may restart solving programming problems.
5) Seriously, the world a better place.
6) Peace and health and happiness for everyone around me! Including myself haha.
Reflecting,
1) Haha I got the year wrong. That aside, I have survived! Done!
2) I was spot on. I spent hell lot of money on gaming haha, namely graphics card to run the ever demanding games, with a power supply box to power that card. An additional piece of RAM, and Playstation Portable. After supporting myself there wasn't much money left for university. Oops failed. Consolation was that I did not end the year with lesser money than I started the year with.
3) I did learnt useful things, but I don't think the amount of effort I put in was enough to warrant a pass. Failed.
4) I helped a friend with programming problems through a couple of months, but in terms of ACM UVa problems I did not do anything more than registering a new account with their new server. Brain is half alive I guess.
5) Nope. Still a f* up world as ever.
6) From my own perspective I guess everyone is still overall happy ba; everyone has their ups and downs, but at the end of the day I think its still a bright day for all. Pass ba!
I admit I have neglected my little resolution, chucked it aside and deep into the archives not long after I came up with it; hadn't been a great year. Having said that, I have another year of contract with the government, so I have decided to give myself a second chance to fulfil it; a second year to turn those fails to passes. Its the same resolution for year 2008!
Resolution for 2008:
1) Survive in it till the end of the year, in one good piece, alive and kicking and able to make my own logical decisions. 'Come out in one piece' is
2) Save money!
3) Learn something new, and not procrastinate anymore.
4) Keep my brain alive.
And I realise I have confused resolutions with wishes. So,
Wishes for 2008:
1) The world a better place.
2) Everyone, including me, to lead happy lives.
The hand on the clock has crossed twelve; I sincerely hope year 2008 will be a much better year than the previous.
Happy new year to every single person on this Earth. May everyone achieve what they set out to do.
Last but definitely not the least, one year, one month and twelve days to ORD!
I was early New Year feast to the mosquitoes residing in my camp. At least twenty mosquito bites on me, and three deaths for eating without permission from the food.
The guard comd 'did not want to see anyone sleeping in the TV room', ordering all those who wanted to sleep to sleep on the beds. He himself took a pillow and went in to sleep.
One fine day you were at a very, very, crowded food court, about to die of hunger and eagerly searching for a seat and a table to sit down so as to fill up your grumbling stomach. Unfortunately all seats were filled up with hungry patrons induldging (slowly) in their meals. Then you spotted a table where the occupants were about to finish their meals, so you decided to stand beside them and (in)patiently wait for them to get lost (haha).
Just at the moment when they stood up and were going to leave and you were about to conquer their land, suddenly out of nowhere came a tray with food down onto a table. Irritated you looked up to see...an old woman.
You tried to argue that you had been standing there for a very long time, but she refused to listen to you. She asked, where's your food, where's your food.
Where's your food.
The guard comd 'did not want to see anyone sleeping in the TV room', ordering all those who wanted to sleep to sleep on the beds. He himself took a pillow and went in to sleep.
One fine day you were at a very, very, crowded food court, about to die of hunger and eagerly searching for a seat and a table to sit down so as to fill up your grumbling stomach. Unfortunately all seats were filled up with hungry patrons induldging (slowly) in their meals. Then you spotted a table where the occupants were about to finish their meals, so you decided to stand beside them and (in)patiently wait for them to get lost (haha).
Just at the moment when they stood up and were going to leave and you were about to conquer their land, suddenly out of nowhere came a tray with food down onto a table. Irritated you looked up to see...an old woman.
You tried to argue that you had been standing there for a very long time, but she refused to listen to you. She asked, where's your food, where's your food.
Where's your food.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Leave is like school holiday. They are always gone before you know it.
Instead of reading up on Ubuntu I spent the remaining two days gaming. Wasted my time away, wasted my life away.
The latest winner of McDonald's contest is yet another female. Haha the forummers are complaining that the probability is not adding up.
New year is coming! New year means new hope!
Hope tomorrow will be a good day.
Instead of reading up on Ubuntu I spent the remaining two days gaming. Wasted my time away, wasted my life away.
The latest winner of McDonald's contest is yet another female. Haha the forummers are complaining that the probability is not adding up.
New year is coming! New year means new hope!
Hope tomorrow will be a good day.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
UPDATE: I finally got Compiz Fusion to work. The guides I found did not quite work, but they gave me some ideas where to look into, so I went deep into the lib folder, made intelligent guesses and created symbolic links around.
But I was very disappointed to find the special effects, and the entire computer, very, very sluggish. Effects were at most around 10fps, and even web surfing was a little of a chore.
Well at least its working. I think the effects are sluggish because they are no longer optimised by the graphics card. Shall take a rest for now. Perhaps spend tomorrow tweaking Ubuntu for better performance.
END OF UPDATE.
Another day of dirty work.
Today I tried to setup my graphics card, in order to get the infamous cube spinning on my computer, aka Compiz Fusion, the special effects which are way more cool than those on Vista.
Its one problem after another. The installation of all packages went fine, but the special effects did not come up, and worse my entire computer became very sluggish.
One thing good about Ubuntu is the large number of users, so there is bound to be someone who has the same problem as me. This time, unlike the SATA harddisk driver problem, I did not take long to find out what the problem is. Its quite a common problem.
Turned out ATI's proprietary drivers have no support for this new OpenGL extension, something which nVidia has done long ago =(. The solution is to either use ATI's open source drivers, or link up to Mesa's library.
I am taking a break now, hopefully I can solve it by tonight.
But I was very disappointed to find the special effects, and the entire computer, very, very sluggish. Effects were at most around 10fps, and even web surfing was a little of a chore.
Well at least its working. I think the effects are sluggish because they are no longer optimised by the graphics card. Shall take a rest for now. Perhaps spend tomorrow tweaking Ubuntu for better performance.
END OF UPDATE.
Another day of dirty work.
Today I tried to setup my graphics card, in order to get the infamous cube spinning on my computer, aka Compiz Fusion, the special effects which are way more cool than those on Vista.
Its one problem after another. The installation of all packages went fine, but the special effects did not come up, and worse my entire computer became very sluggish.
One thing good about Ubuntu is the large number of users, so there is bound to be someone who has the same problem as me. This time, unlike the SATA harddisk driver problem, I did not take long to find out what the problem is. Its quite a common problem.
Turned out ATI's proprietary drivers have no support for this new OpenGL extension, something which nVidia has done long ago =(. The solution is to either use ATI's open source drivers, or link up to Mesa's library.
I am taking a break now, hopefully I can solve it by tonight.
Yay!
After almost a day of dirty work, Ubuntu 7.10, or Gutsy Gibbon, is finally running perfectly on this computer!
Since the day I got this Pentium D I have wanted to install Linux on it, but when I tried 6.10, or Edgy Eft, many months back, it stumped me with weird errors, which I suspected had something to do with my SATA hard disk, but I had no idea how to solve it.
Today I got the urge to try again, so I downloaded Gutsy Gibbon, burnt it on a CD, and installed it. Yay it booted into the desktop; the SATA error was gone!
But it was not a smooth sailing trip. For unknown reasons my network adaptor could not work. Ubuntu detected it fine, but it could not be activated, and the light on the router did not light up.
Combed through one entire night of forums and articles, tried countless ways, switched between Vista and Ubuntu a million times (because I could not surf the net on Ubuntu), but could not get it to work.
Just as I was about to give up, it miraclously came online. I have no idea why, although I suspect its because of the update to the latest drivers.
There's still alot to be done, but that's all for tonight.
After almost a day of dirty work, Ubuntu 7.10, or Gutsy Gibbon, is finally running perfectly on this computer!
Since the day I got this Pentium D I have wanted to install Linux on it, but when I tried 6.10, or Edgy Eft, many months back, it stumped me with weird errors, which I suspected had something to do with my SATA hard disk, but I had no idea how to solve it.
Today I got the urge to try again, so I downloaded Gutsy Gibbon, burnt it on a CD, and installed it. Yay it booted into the desktop; the SATA error was gone!
But it was not a smooth sailing trip. For unknown reasons my network adaptor could not work. Ubuntu detected it fine, but it could not be activated, and the light on the router did not light up.
Combed through one entire night of forums and articles, tried countless ways, switched between Vista and Ubuntu a million times (because I could not surf the net on Ubuntu), but could not get it to work.
Just as I was about to give up, it miraclously came online. I have no idea why, although I suspect its because of the update to the latest drivers.
There's still alot to be done, but that's all for tonight.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Early Christmas morning I did one of the dumbest things one can do. I took a train down to Jurong East, pass two passport-size photos to a specialist, then took the train back.
The station was packed withcommunters commuters, because train service between Yew Tee and Woodlands towards Marina Bay was disrupted. Communters Commuters were everywhere, on the platforms, at the control gates, on the escalators, not knowing what to do. Announcements boomed over the PA system every few seconds informing, and apologising, of the disruption.
Quite oddly, by the time I reached Tampines, the displays read the disruption of the service was from Woodlands to Kranji, towards Jurong East, which was, the opposite direction.
I have yet to know what happened, since the announcements did not say anything more than "an accident". Hmm lets hope its nothing serious.
UPDATE: So I see. There were two accidents.
Back at Tampines there were dark clouds hovering over the sky. I made a gamble that it would not rain until I reached home, so I decided to walk home from the interchange.
Unfortunately I lost.
The moment I stepped into the corridors of the sports complex the rain came down heavily. This was one of the few times that I really apprectiated the efforts of our government - sheltered walkways linking up the flats. So I was relatively free until I was at the closest possible distance from the clock tower erected in the middle of the park behind my house.
Alas! There were sheltered walkways on this side of the park, and there were sheltered walkways on the other side of the park, all the way to my house. But there was no sheltered walkway across the park!
Some small event, but over-exaggerated by me. Ha.
Christmas eve was spent waiting to book out. Haha. Our kind boss let us off at noon, although all I did was to follow a few friends to an Egyptian restaurant for a little meal, after which I spent the rest of the day rotting at home.
Hurray for the next few days! Clearing my leave all the way till Saturday night, and I wish they will leave me alone. Sunday will be my second (and hopefully my last) extra, and also praying Monday, New Year Eve, will be another half day.
Merry Christmas again to all!
The station was packed with
Quite oddly, by the time I reached Tampines, the displays read the disruption of the service was from Woodlands to Kranji, towards Jurong East, which was, the opposite direction.
I have yet to know what happened, since the announcements did not say anything more than "an accident". Hmm lets hope its nothing serious.
UPDATE: So I see. There were two accidents.
Back at Tampines there were dark clouds hovering over the sky. I made a gamble that it would not rain until I reached home, so I decided to walk home from the interchange.
Unfortunately I lost.
The moment I stepped into the corridors of the sports complex the rain came down heavily. This was one of the few times that I really apprectiated the efforts of our government - sheltered walkways linking up the flats. So I was relatively free until I was at the closest possible distance from the clock tower erected in the middle of the park behind my house.
Alas! There were sheltered walkways on this side of the park, and there were sheltered walkways on the other side of the park, all the way to my house. But there was no sheltered walkway across the park!
Some small event, but over-exaggerated by me. Ha.
Christmas eve was spent waiting to book out. Haha. Our kind boss let us off at noon, although all I did was to follow a few friends to an Egyptian restaurant for a little meal, after which I spent the rest of the day rotting at home.
Hurray for the next few days! Clearing my leave all the way till Saturday night, and I wish they will leave me alone. Sunday will be my second (and hopefully my last) extra, and also praying Monday, New Year Eve, will be another half day.
Merry Christmas again to all!
Sunday, December 23, 2007
The past four days was a nice little break for me. A proposed outing to Ubin for biking was cancelled because of heavy rain, so we ended up rotting at Suntec instead. Still not that bad, spent time catching up with each other.
It has been a very, very, very long time since I went to Sentosa! The last time I went was in primary school, and I have completely no memories of the place, save for some photos. Then again the place has changed so much that even my friends could hardly recognise it.
A little letdown in the morning, when only half of us turned up, but the day changed for the better when we bumped coincidentally into four colleagues from our unit (very, very, coincidentally, considering how small my unit is and how big Singapore is.). Ended the day with cycling, something which I have not done for the past year.
Saturday was watching National Treasure and attending a choir concert, in support for a friend. I was there to make up the numbers, because I can't really apprectiate choir music. Haha.
Going out for the past three days pissed my mother off, so I was grounded today. Spent the day resting and getting my energy back, before booking in tonight.
Some people think taxi drivers earn more now that fare prices are up. Ya right.
Someone realise that so far the winners for Mcdonald's Ring, Eat, and Win contest are all females. Haha so interesting. Conspiracy theory, according to a few.
It has been a very, very, very long time since I went to Sentosa! The last time I went was in primary school, and I have completely no memories of the place, save for some photos. Then again the place has changed so much that even my friends could hardly recognise it.
A little letdown in the morning, when only half of us turned up, but the day changed for the better when we bumped coincidentally into four colleagues from our unit (very, very, coincidentally, considering how small my unit is and how big Singapore is.). Ended the day with cycling, something which I have not done for the past year.
Saturday was watching National Treasure and attending a choir concert, in support for a friend. I was there to make up the numbers, because I can't really apprectiate choir music. Haha.
Going out for the past three days pissed my mother off, so I was grounded today. Spent the day resting and getting my energy back, before booking in tonight.
Some people think taxi drivers earn more now that fare prices are up. Ya right.
Someone realise that so far the winners for Mcdonald's Ring, Eat, and Win contest are all females. Haha so interesting. Conspiracy theory, according to a few.
Friday, December 21, 2007
As I have said in my tag, I don't really have anything to say. Past two weeks we just sat in our workplace and waited for phone calls to come. Phone calls meant work. Once done, back into the room, and waited again.
It was not a happy week, then again. Wearegivenofftomorrow,andallthosewhohaveappliedforleaveorofftomorrowwillbegivenhalfadayoffincompensation.
To top it off alloffdaysawardedbeforewewentoverseashadbeenwrittenoff,whichmeansmytwoandahalfdaysofoffaregone.
Sometimes its not because of the people one meets inside that turns one into a vulgarity-sprouting, middle-finger-pointing machine. Its really because of all the shit that one gets inside that he really needs either or both of those mentioned to get all that off his chest. Otherwise he will simply go crazy by the time he comes out.
You see how your boss pesters you to finish your work quickly, because he is rushing off to a chalet organised by the big boss. So you run around on an empty stomach trying to complete the task.
You see how everyone comes back to attend an important event, because the boss of the bosses says that everyone, except those overseas, must come back. Then on that day you see your every own small boss missing, and you know very well he's somewhere here in our motherland having fun.
I may have exaggerated a little, but its more or less there.
Don't say time will pass very quickly, because it is not. I really can't wait to go back to studies.
It was not a happy week, then again. Wearegivenofftomorrow,andallthosewhohaveappliedforleaveorofftomorrowwillbegivenhalfadayoffincompensation.
To top it off alloffdaysawardedbeforewewentoverseashadbeenwrittenoff,whichmeansmytwoandahalfdaysofoffaregone.
Sometimes its not because of the people one meets inside that turns one into a vulgarity-sprouting, middle-finger-pointing machine. Its really because of all the shit that one gets inside that he really needs either or both of those mentioned to get all that off his chest. Otherwise he will simply go crazy by the time he comes out.
You see how your boss pesters you to finish your work quickly, because he is rushing off to a chalet organised by the big boss. So you run around on an empty stomach trying to complete the task.
You see how everyone comes back to attend an important event, because the boss of the bosses says that everyone, except those overseas, must come back. Then on that day you see your every own small boss missing, and you know very well he's somewhere here in our motherland having fun.
I may have exaggerated a little, but its more or less there.
Don't say time will pass very quickly, because it is not. I really can't wait to go back to studies.
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Nothing can be more demoralising than having to go back to camp on a weekend. For the mistake I made in Wallaby I have been "awarded" two extras, which I serve tomorrow and on the 30th.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is very fun! Very intense, really took me into the game. The cinematics and special effects made me felt like I was watching a movie, yet involved in it as well. At the last part of the game the entire team was injured after the bridge they were standing on was bombed. I was on the ground, the surroundings blurred, then the bad guy appeared. To my left the leader of the team, also injured lying on the ground, slided me a pistol, for me to pick it up, and shoot the bad guy, ending the game.
The screen tilts when you reload your weapon, because you have to retrieve a magazine from yourself. It tilts left and right repeatedly when you run, because thats what happens when you run. The smoke from the smoke grenades were so realistic, during one mission I threw too many of them that I myself could not see the way forward. Haha.
Besides playing as an infantryman there was also one mission where I played as a gun operator onboard the AC-130 Gunship. Three guns for me to use, the 25mm, 40mm and the 105mm O.O. And the screen was a thermal imaging TV, so everything was black and white, with friendly forces imitating faint IR beacons on themselves.
I guess the only bad point about the game was that the game was too short. But overall, very fun game!!
My short weekend ends here; hopefully tomorrow will be a good day.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is very fun! Very intense, really took me into the game. The cinematics and special effects made me felt like I was watching a movie, yet involved in it as well. At the last part of the game the entire team was injured after the bridge they were standing on was bombed. I was on the ground, the surroundings blurred, then the bad guy appeared. To my left the leader of the team, also injured lying on the ground, slided me a pistol, for me to pick it up, and shoot the bad guy, ending the game.
The screen tilts when you reload your weapon, because you have to retrieve a magazine from yourself. It tilts left and right repeatedly when you run, because thats what happens when you run. The smoke from the smoke grenades were so realistic, during one mission I threw too many of them that I myself could not see the way forward. Haha.
Besides playing as an infantryman there was also one mission where I played as a gun operator onboard the AC-130 Gunship. Three guns for me to use, the 25mm, 40mm and the 105mm O.O. And the screen was a thermal imaging TV, so everything was black and white, with friendly forces imitating faint IR beacons on themselves.
I guess the only bad point about the game was that the game was too short. But overall, very fun game!!
My short weekend ends here; hopefully tomorrow will be a good day.
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Years back I subscribed to Starhub's 1.5Mbps broadband plan. Through the years they doubled the bandwidth to 3Mbps, then to 6Mbps, and soon from 1 Jan 2008, to 8Mbps. The price had however remained the same (in fact went up due to the rise in GST).
And now they launched a 1Mbps plan, at about half the price -.-'.
Wouldnt it have been better if they had kept the bandwidth the same, but reduced the fees we paid every month?
At the start of the year DDR2 RAM was selling at $160 for a 1GB piece. It dropped to around $100 in a couple of months, which was the time I bought a piece to increase my system RAM from 512MB to 1.5GB, because then I thought it would not drop furthur.
Fast forward to now, it cost $30 a piece >:(
Too cheap to resist, so now..
And now they launched a 1Mbps plan, at about half the price -.-'.
Wouldnt it have been better if they had kept the bandwidth the same, but reduced the fees we paid every month?
At the start of the year DDR2 RAM was selling at $160 for a 1GB piece. It dropped to around $100 in a couple of months, which was the time I bought a piece to increase my system RAM from 512MB to 1.5GB, because then I thought it would not drop furthur.
Fast forward to now, it cost $30 a piece >:(
Too cheap to resist, so now..
Heh.
External hard disks were also hard to resist. Maxtor and Western Digital were selling 320GB hard disks at $129, which was about $0.40/GB. I very almost bought one yesterday. But in the end I didn't.
I still need one..two hard disks containing four computers worth of information had failed in the past years[because I always transferred my stuff over whenever I changed computers], so I lost quite alot of stuff, some memorable ones. So far I have not done any backup for this computer I am using, and although its a new computer there is no telling just when the hard disk is going to fail.
So much for those 0s and 1s.
My five days of off-in-lieu has come to an end, and tonight I will be booking in again [although I have already went back last Wednesday to do guard duty :(]. The store are still on sea making their way home, so I don't know what is in store for me this week. Hopefully nothing more than some moderate physical training.
Like companies out there, this month being the last of the year, is the month of clearing leave and off. Some people have fourteen days of leave to clear, but I only have a pathetic four days of leave, which I have applied around the Christmas period. Then again my big boss says the stores will come home right after Christmas, if that happens my leave will be converted to off-in-lieus :'(
Good week to all!
Friday, November 30, 2007
I still have more to say.
During our R & R we stayed in a motel which was directly opposite a ceremetry. Nothing happened throughout the night; i was dead asleep, but my friend whom I shared the room with saw a white light went across the room.
Done by some homesick guy I guess
It was the eve of the Australian elections, so I guess its no surprise to see..
During our R & R we stayed in a motel which was directly opposite a ceremetry. Nothing happened throughout the night; i was dead asleep, but my friend whom I shared the room with saw a white light went across the room.
Done by some homesick guy I guess
It was the eve of the Australian elections, so I guess its no surprise to see..
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
I was a member of the computer club back in secondary school (last time still got very zai name one - Advanced Computer Applications Club, or [AC]² heh).
Sec 2 days were the days we spilt into the respective groups. I went into Multimedia, where I learnt how to use Macromedia Director to create animations and games. End of Sec 2 there was the annual National Software Competition, and that year we were supposed to create a ten minute animation on telecommunications.
Well back then the club was rather poor to afford expensive graphics design solutions, so when we needed a picture of a "wildman", we couldn't find any (back then our source of graphics was Microsoft's Clip Art gallery)
We consulted our senior (one who inspired me alot), and he told us to modify ourselves, using Microsoft Paint! I was in charge of getting that wildman. Haha.
The "wildman" was afterall, a man, so first of all I needed a picture of a man.
I used Paint and edited it, until it became....
The wildman was to fan a fire to create smoke signals, which was a form of telecommunications in the past, so we needed an action of fanning.
Lastly we used a software called GIF Construction Set (which was already available in the school computers back then), put both pictures together, and....
Ta-Ta!
I'm very proud of my work ok! But in case if anyone is curious, we did not win anything. Lol.
Something to share, hopefully cheers readers up. Secondary school days were so fun then.
(In case Microsoft wants to sue me, we only used it for educational purposes! No commercial purpose! And we never claimed it to be ours!)
Good day!
Sec 2 days were the days we spilt into the respective groups. I went into Multimedia, where I learnt how to use Macromedia Director to create animations and games. End of Sec 2 there was the annual National Software Competition, and that year we were supposed to create a ten minute animation on telecommunications.
Well back then the club was rather poor to afford expensive graphics design solutions, so when we needed a picture of a "wildman", we couldn't find any (back then our source of graphics was Microsoft's Clip Art gallery)
We consulted our senior (one who inspired me alot), and he told us to modify ourselves, using Microsoft Paint! I was in charge of getting that wildman. Haha.
The "wildman" was afterall, a man, so first of all I needed a picture of a man.
I used Paint and edited it, until it became....
The wildman was to fan a fire to create smoke signals, which was a form of telecommunications in the past, so we needed an action of fanning.
Lastly we used a software called GIF Construction Set (which was already available in the school computers back then), put both pictures together, and....
Ta-Ta!
I'm very proud of my work ok! But in case if anyone is curious, we did not win anything. Lol.
Something to share, hopefully cheers readers up. Secondary school days were so fun then.
(In case Microsoft wants to sue me, we only used it for educational purposes! No commercial purpose! And we never claimed it to be ours!)
Good day!
Sunday, November 25, 2007
(I wrote this halfway one day after I came back, but never found the energy to complete it until now.)
I'm home! After 23 days in a foreign country.
Before all, happy (belated) birthday to my blog!
Sun, sand, sand, sand, alot of sand, rain, mud, sweat, shivers, shooting stars, kangaroos, cows, horses, 18 wheelers, beer, wine, chlorinated water (really aqueous chlorine), bathing with 6 men together in one room; been there, done all that!
I breathed sand, ate sand, drank sand, wore sand, bathed sand; I touched more sand in 23 days than in my last 19 years. In fact some of us joked we would die from excessive sand intake soon.
It was my first time I work in my unit, and now I have a clearer view of my job scope, what to do, what not to do. I have also better understood the personalities and characters of the people around me, just how @#$%! some people can get, so I now know who to look up to, who to ignore, whose tails I should not step on.
Then again who knows? Maybe to the others I am @#$%!, and should be ignored.
It was during outfield that I realised handling long entangled cables really sucked. Especially when I was trying to untangle them and someone hollered into my ear to hurry up. We really should go wireless asap.
We used to think camouflaging ourselves was horrible, until we had to camouflage our vehicles.
Right now I (may) have at least three extras waiting for me, because of a mistake I made. Hopefully it was only a threat my name was not sent in.
Two things I regretted not bringing to Wallaby: Camera and gloves.
We were told then that if we brought cameras we would have to surrender them, only getting them during our R & R. It turned out instead to be free-for-all photo taking, although a warning was given during one of our ROs to take note what photos we took.
On some days the weather there got really cold, so while my uniform and jacket some warmth, my hands were freezing away. Terrible feeling.
The afternoons there were very hot. So hot that sometimes I just could not stand under the sun for one more second. After the sun set the weather got drastically cold, really balls shiver. The sun started rising at 4am, by 6am the sun was high up in the sky shining brightly at us, yet the air was still so cold then we had to wear our windbreakers just to walk from our tentages to the toilets.
I saw the biggest night sky I ever seen in my life. In the outfields of Australia it was total darkness at night and on some nights where I was deployed on a huge open ground, the night sky I saw could not be contained in my vision, and the number of stars I saw was simply uncountable. That was also when we spotted shooting stars. Especially the last night of exercise where four of us laid a groundsheet on the ground, and slept under the stars.
I only spotted kangaroos near the end of the the exercise, when a family of four hopped past us. Some of them followed them all the way down the hill, where they saw an entire pack of about ten of them. I could only regret not following. There was a cow farm and several pony farms along the route from camp to town, thus I saw more cows and horses than kangaroos.
No luck with koala bears though.
Rockhampton was a little similar to the Singapore heartlands. I guess its sort of a transit town between large cities, because of the large number of motels there. I guess they valued family more than we do in Singapore; most of their shops closed after 5pm, with late night shopping till 9pm on Thursdays, and were totally closed on Sundays.
During R & R we went on a trip to the Capricorn Caves. Nothing much to see actually, its simply caves. Or maybe its just me who don't know how to apprectiate those flowstones and such.
I drank a grand total of three cans of beer, from brigade, company and platoon happy hours, plus several more mouthfuls from losing at some dumb games, and a couple of cups of wine. I still don't like beer. At all.
After spending almost a month there, most of us agreed that we have actually gotten quite used to life there. Living conditions was much better than we expected, except that place lacked entertainment, and we somehow got that extra bit of freedom compared to Singapore. In fact we wouldn't have mind staying there for a longer time. Great experience!
***
After coming back home I had a two hour sleep (actually three because I overslept by an hour), then met up with my friend to go back to Anglican High for its open house. Nothing much has changed; it felt more like CCA orientation day when I was back in Sec 1. Alot of new and unfamiliar teachers now, though a few ones from my time were still there. Didn't get a chance to see them unfortunately.
I'm home! After 23 days in a foreign country.
Before all, happy (belated) birthday to my blog!
Sun, sand, sand, sand, alot of sand, rain, mud, sweat, shivers, shooting stars, kangaroos, cows, horses, 18 wheelers, beer, wine, chlorinated water (really aqueous chlorine), bathing with 6 men together in one room; been there, done all that!
I breathed sand, ate sand, drank sand, wore sand, bathed sand; I touched more sand in 23 days than in my last 19 years. In fact some of us joked we would die from excessive sand intake soon.
It was my first time I work in my unit, and now I have a clearer view of my job scope, what to do, what not to do. I have also better understood the personalities and characters of the people around me, just how @#$%! some people can get, so I now know who to look up to, who to ignore, whose tails I should not step on.
Then again who knows? Maybe to the others I am @#$%!, and should be ignored.
It was during outfield that I realised handling long entangled cables really sucked. Especially when I was trying to untangle them and someone hollered into my ear to hurry up. We really should go wireless asap.
We used to think camouflaging ourselves was horrible, until we had to camouflage our vehicles.
Right now I (may) have at least three extras waiting for me, because of a mistake I made. Hopefully it was only a threat my name was not sent in.
Two things I regretted not bringing to Wallaby: Camera and gloves.
We were told then that if we brought cameras we would have to surrender them, only getting them during our R & R. It turned out instead to be free-for-all photo taking, although a warning was given during one of our ROs to take note what photos we took.
On some days the weather there got really cold, so while my uniform and jacket some warmth, my hands were freezing away. Terrible feeling.
The afternoons there were very hot. So hot that sometimes I just could not stand under the sun for one more second. After the sun set the weather got drastically cold, really balls shiver. The sun started rising at 4am, by 6am the sun was high up in the sky shining brightly at us, yet the air was still so cold then we had to wear our windbreakers just to walk from our tentages to the toilets.
I saw the biggest night sky I ever seen in my life. In the outfields of Australia it was total darkness at night and on some nights where I was deployed on a huge open ground, the night sky I saw could not be contained in my vision, and the number of stars I saw was simply uncountable. That was also when we spotted shooting stars. Especially the last night of exercise where four of us laid a groundsheet on the ground, and slept under the stars.
I only spotted kangaroos near the end of the the exercise, when a family of four hopped past us. Some of them followed them all the way down the hill, where they saw an entire pack of about ten of them. I could only regret not following. There was a cow farm and several pony farms along the route from camp to town, thus I saw more cows and horses than kangaroos.
No luck with koala bears though.
Rockhampton was a little similar to the Singapore heartlands. I guess its sort of a transit town between large cities, because of the large number of motels there. I guess they valued family more than we do in Singapore; most of their shops closed after 5pm, with late night shopping till 9pm on Thursdays, and were totally closed on Sundays.
During R & R we went on a trip to the Capricorn Caves. Nothing much to see actually, its simply caves. Or maybe its just me who don't know how to apprectiate those flowstones and such.
I drank a grand total of three cans of beer, from brigade, company and platoon happy hours, plus several more mouthfuls from losing at some dumb games, and a couple of cups of wine. I still don't like beer. At all.
After spending almost a month there, most of us agreed that we have actually gotten quite used to life there. Living conditions was much better than we expected, except that place lacked entertainment, and we somehow got that extra bit of freedom compared to Singapore. In fact we wouldn't have mind staying there for a longer time. Great experience!
***
After coming back home I had a two hour sleep (actually three because I overslept by an hour), then met up with my friend to go back to Anglican High for its open house. Nothing much has changed; it felt more like CCA orientation day when I was back in Sec 1. Alot of new and unfamiliar teachers now, though a few ones from my time were still there. Didn't get a chance to see them unfortunately.
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Poor country pumpkin me is going out for the first time! I'm quite excited actually, although I know there's the hundred crates waiting for us there. [Secretly I'm hoping the half of the people who have already reached last night will have unpacked everything by the time we reach there today. Heh.]
Alright, I'm off to
See everyone soon!
Something interesting for everyone to see:
Anglican High School Open House
Saturday, 24 November 2007
8.00am - 11.00am
I wonder what do they have to show. Hmm.
I'm seriously hoping I will come back alive and kicking in one piece.
Alright, I'm off to
See everyone soon!
Something interesting for everyone to see:
Anglican High School Open House
Saturday, 24 November 2007
8.00am - 11.00am
I wonder what do they have to show. Hmm.
I'm seriously hoping I will come back alive and kicking in one piece.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Back in trainee days the people around me were, sadly but frankly, all hi-bye friends. We spent a few weeks together going through training, then thats it, they go east, I go west.
In unit its totally different. We stay in our respective units permanently till we ORD, we hold permanent positions, so basically I eat, sleep, shit, bathe, suffer, with the same bunch of people for at least a year. Should some happens, they are the ones I work alongside with.
Perhaps because of that the unit realises the importance of us knowing each other well, and it goes to great lengths to achieve it. Last month I had platoon cohesion, where my platoon booked out early on a Friday morning to have lunch together. Today was company cohesion, where the entire company booked out yesterday night (except for poor me and my friend who had guard duty), gathered at The Chevrons today and had a little inter-platoon bowling competition.
My platoon narrowly lost to another platoon, so there goes a half day off tomorrow for us.
I do wonder if cohesion really serves its purpose. Last month when we helped the other platoons packed their crates under the bloody hot sun the bosses encouraged us on with "Company effort! Company effort!". Then now when its my platoon's turn I don't see any company effort anywhere.
Nevertheless I still enjoyed myself. At least its something different from the routine PT and regimentation everyday. Nothing beats sleeping at home too.
Kitbag has finally been inspected and sealed. Now we are all just waiting for the big day to come.
In unit its totally different. We stay in our respective units permanently till we ORD, we hold permanent positions, so basically I eat, sleep, shit, bathe, suffer, with the same bunch of people for at least a year. Should some happens, they are the ones I work alongside with.
Perhaps because of that the unit realises the importance of us knowing each other well, and it goes to great lengths to achieve it. Last month I had platoon cohesion, where my platoon booked out early on a Friday morning to have lunch together. Today was company cohesion, where the entire company booked out yesterday night (except for poor me and my friend who had guard duty), gathered at The Chevrons today and had a little inter-platoon bowling competition.
My platoon narrowly lost to another platoon, so there goes a half day off tomorrow for us.
I do wonder if cohesion really serves its purpose. Last month when we helped the other platoons packed their crates under the bloody hot sun the bosses encouraged us on with "Company effort! Company effort!". Then now when its my platoon's turn I don't see any company effort anywhere.
Nevertheless I still enjoyed myself. At least its something different from the routine PT and regimentation everyday. Nothing beats sleeping at home too.
Kitbag has finally been inspected and sealed. Now we are all just waiting for the big day to come.
Saturday, October 06, 2007
"Not many people from this company gets confined, so there are not enough people to do saikang during the weekends."
The downright stupidest thing one can ever hear coming out from a mouth. Its like saying there is nobody to clean the jails because there are not enough criminals getting thrown in there.
Seriously. Really. Very. Stupid.
The downright stupidest thing one can ever hear coming out from a mouth. Its like saying there is nobody to clean the jails because there are not enough criminals getting thrown in there.
Seriously. Really. Very. Stupid.
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