UBERCOOLKIAs! :)

Oh no I've got exams coming up

2011-06-13T20:24:00.001+08:00

hello i am very free

2010-08-26T20:54:00.001+08:00

Inception as I see it – Thoughts, theories, and spoilers.

2010-07-22T21:44:00.001+08:00

Writer’s note:

It’s been a long time since I have been actually inspired to write anything of a substantial length, which just goes to show just how awesome and mind-blowing Inception is as a movie. (It may also be because I have too much time on my hands, but you’re never going to catch me admitting to that.) If you haven’t watched it yet, I highly recommend that you watch it, not least because this discussion contains spoilers, and reading this discussion alone will not do justice to the movie. This discussion assumes you’ve watched the movie, and understood at least half of what was going on. I’m not going to bother much with literary devices, bombastic vocabulary or what-have-you to make this a well-written essay, instead, I’m just going to hash out all my points and describe them as best as I can in the shortest time so that you can go and watch the movie a second (or third) time straight after reading this.

The most resilient and contagious virus is an idea. That is the basic premise upon which inception works – the insinuation of an idea deep into an individual’s mind. Once rooted, it would be nigh impossible to remove. Such ideas have potentially far-reaching effects, because as quoted in the move: ideas can create a person, or destroy him. An idea may eventually come to redefine a person’s entire life.

Such planting (or extracting) of ideas into people’s minds is made possible in the movie with a special technology that allows people to share each other’s dreams, literal expressions of the subconscious where secrets can be kept in security vaults and broken into just like in reality.

In the dream world, the dreamer’s mental defenses are lowered, allowing others greater access to the secrets that his subconscious unwittingly expresses, be it in the form of confidential documents hidden in a safe, or a projection of a dead wife as a result of guilt and grief. At the same time, the subconscious is also vulnerable to external influence, and becomes increasingly so the deeper one goes into dreams. That is the reason why Cobb and his team chose to enter the 3^rd level of Fischer’s (the mark) dream, risking stability issues in order to plant an idea so deep within Fischer’s consciousness that he would be fundamentally influenced by that idea, and be unable to distinguish it as a planted idea (rather, he would believe it as his own idea). Similarly, Cobb was only able to permanently resolve the guilt and grief issues concerning his wife, Mal, in the deepest level of his subconscious, his own personal ‘limbo’. In the third level, experiences there will make the most impact on the subconscious, and leave the deepest imprint upon the mind.

In the movie, it seems that the main conflict is between Fischer and the team, as the team struggles against Fischer’s subconscious projections in order to plant an idea within his subconscious mind. Yet, as the movie progresses, it is apparent that there is another conflict present, and it is this conflict that is actually the main highlight of the movie, and distinguishes Inception from most other movies. This conflict revolves mainly about the concept of the conscious vs subconscious, to be specific, Cobb’s struggle against his own subconscious as he tries to come to terms with his wife’s death. In this conflict, the conscious mind is incapable of knowing, or controlling what the subconscious does, whereas the subconscious knows everything the conscious mind knows, building up to perhaps one of the greatest internal conflicts in protagonists throughout movie history.

Throughout all of Cobb’s dreams, subconscious projections of his wife and his kids continue to recur, representations of his two greatest subconscious desires, so great that they continually intrude upon his (and that of others) dreams beyond his control. The very fact other characters are not faced with such problems suggests that it’s a serious problem (duh). The continual reappearance of his kids signifies his overwhelming desire to return to his children, while the former is slightly more complicated.

Unlike most other faceless / anonymous subconscious projections, Cobb’s subconscious projection of Mal is unusually vivid and personable, such that in most cases, it is nigh impossible to distinguish the projection from the real Mal. This is possibly because of Cobb’s degree of closeness with his wife, such that even a subconscious projection of her appears to take on a life of its own. Furthermore, Cobb’s projection of Mal is almost always involved in sabotaging his missions, and continually tries to persuade him to follow “her” by killing himself. It cannot be stressed enough that it is not the actual Mal doing all this, but Cobb’s own subconscious trying to persuade him to give up on his current pursuits / missions and just kill himself.

This strongly suggests that no matter how strongly Cobb insists upon his grip on reality, his subconscious betrays him by showing that at a fundamental level, he continually doubts his reality, and tests it by spinning his top frequently, almost obsessively. On one incident, before his children called him (after the first failed mission), he tests his reality with his totem, and from the way he picks up his gun, it is evident that he is already fully prepared to shoot himself should the totem keep spinning. It is further confirmed that Cobb’s grip on reality is not as strong as the audience is led to believe initially, when in the ski fortress, he hesitates in killing his own projection of Mal, because, as he tells Ariadne, he can’t be sure it isn’t the real Mal.

Apparently, Cobb’s inability to truly believe in his reality is not common. Throughout the entire movie, we only see Cobb continually testing his totem, and no one else. This problem may have arisen due to the long time he spent in limbo with Mal, as well as his own penchant to live in his own dreams constructed out of memory (as Ariadne discovers the night before the mission), such that he cannot truly distinguish between reality and dream. In that aspect, he has become no different from the dozen dreamers slumbering in Yusuf’s basement.

This brings us to the concept of totems: small, heavy objects that serve to help dreamers distinguish dream from reality. As much as I understand, the underlying principle behind these totems is that personal totems are meant to be kept a secret. That way, when the dreamer finds himself in another (possibly hostile) individual’s carefully crafted dream, and tests his totem, it will betray the truth of the dream, as that other individual who creates the dream is ignorant of specific details of the target’s personal totem. As such, a spinning top may continue spinning, or a loaded die may fall on the wrong side, because it is an overlooked detail on the dream creator’s part.

Understanding how a totem works has a very important implication: a totem truly works if you are in another person’s dream, or if you are in your own dream and know that it is a dream. It will fail to function correctly if you are in your own dream but fail to realize it, as your subconscious will be aware of your totem’s secret and, believing in the reality of the dream, change the dream to allow for the correct outcome of the totem test, tricking you into believing the dream as reality.

Upon this hinges an important outcome of the entire movie (the main topic of discussion in this movie): whether Cobb’s entire believed reality is a dream. At the end of the movie, it is irrelevant whether the top continues spinning or falls: if Cobb is living within his own dream, and believes it to be his reality, it will fall.

Certainly, there are many hints which seem to support the theory that right from the beginning, Cobb has been living a dream, and that the entire team are all simply projections of his own mind. Yet I shall proceed to refute them and show why this is not so.

Arguments for why it is all a dream:

1) In the helicopter, when Saito makes his initial proposal to Cobb, he asks Cobb whether he wants to see his family again, or if he wants to become ‘an old man, living in regret, and dying alone’. This phrase is strangely reminiscent of the exchange between Cobb and Saito much later, when discussing the effects of being stranded in limbo for years, and may hint that Cobb is already stuck in limbo.

-It is a hint, nothing more. It is not concrete, and I believe it is simply meant to tantalize the audience and give them doubts about whether the entire reality is a dream. Much later, when Cobb and Saito converse in Saito’s limbo, they use the exact same words because these words are familiar to them, and represent something they hold very close to their hearts, and are used to fully convince Saito that he is still dreaming.

2) When Cobb meets Miles (Mal’s father and Ariadne’s professor) in the movie in his search for an architect, Miles asks him to come back to reality.

-Taken alone, it may seem like a hint that actually, Cobb isn’t already in reality, but still dreaming. However, if one looks at the context of the conversation, it is clear that is not what Miles means. Instead, he wishes for Cobb to stop participating in dream crime and lead an honest life, and the ‘reality’ he mentions is simply a metaphor.

3) When Cobb and Ariadne enter limbo to confront Cobb’s projection of Mal, the projection whispers Cobb’s own unspoken fears to him: that his own believed reality is but a dream, where he is persecuted by countless nameless, anonymous projections (from the corporation).

-As mentioned earlier, a personal totem only serves to distinguish reality from dream only if the dream is someone else’s creation and not if it is Cobb’s own dream. From Cobb’s tests in the movie, it is readily apparent that if it is a dream, it is definitely not someone else’s but his own (I shall not go into the possibility that someone who is aware of Cobb’s secret totem is recreating his reality as a dream). If Cobb’s reality is a dream, it is no one’s but his own. As such, it will not make logical sense for the ‘faceless projections’ (his projections) to hunt him down.

Arguments for why it is reality:

1) Cobb and Mal took years to build their own city in limbo. The cities and surroundings displayed in reality in the movie are all far too detailed, and on too large a scale for it all to have been created by Cobb’s subconscious alone (unless there is someone else participating in Cobb’s dream / limbo who is consciously supplementing it by constructing every single detail). For me, there was no discernable lack of detail of that I could spot. Notice that in Saito’s limbo, all the detail that is shown is just a sea fortress.

2) If the rest of the team is all projections, then they are very convincing projections. Their personalities are highly detailed and complex, even Fischer’s relationship with his father, perhaps too complex to be simply projections. They exhibit no odd behaviour, such as coordinated staring when the dreamer (Cobb) is stressed or doubts his reality. Cobb’s projection of Mal is the only one rivaling the characters in terms of personality (only because Cobb knows Mal in such intimate detail), and even then, she is almost too single-minded in wanting Cobb to kill himself, and the circumstances of her appearance are always abrupt and illogical, such that it becomes clear she is a projection.

3) As clearly illustrated previously, Cobb maintains little control over his subconscious where his wife and his children are concerned. In his dreams, whenever he feels a desire to return home to his children, they will appear randomly almost anywhere, in the oddest of places: a hotel, on the beach of his own limbo, and even on the beach of Saito’s limbo. In reality, they don’t do this…at most, they give him a call.

There are two possibilities:

Cobb is living his dream, and several very skillful people are participating in the dream with him, supplementing every single detail carefully. Since his subconscious believes this dream is real, it makes the top wobble and fall every time. Or he is living the dream of someone who knows the secret to his totem.

Second possibility is that his reality is real. I choose to go with the latter, the former being unlikely (but not totally ruled out).

So what really happened?

As mentioned in the movie, Cobb planted an idea within Mal’s subconscious while in limbo: a spinning top, the idea that your reality is a dream. Unfortunately, it is folly to believe one can brainwash a person that casually without disastrous consequences. That act eventually wrecked havoc within her mind, changed her forever, and resulted in a lot of unhappiness for everyone (never mess around with people’s heads – a possible moral of the movie?). Cobb failed to understand the full gravity of inception when he carried out that particular act, but went ahead anyway.

(In my opinion, since Mal locked away the top and promptly forgot about it, what he should have done was to take out the top and spin it in front of her instead of playing around with her mind [the safe]. True, he’d get hell from his wife for breaking and entering into her mind, but in the end, it’d have been better for the both of them. But if that happened, there’ll be no good movie.)

Cobb successfully brainwashed Mal for his own ends, but subsequently, his plan began to spiral out of control. When the couple returned to the real world, Cobb failed to realize that within Mal’s “safe”, her deepest subconscious, the top was still spinning…and he’d forgotten to take it out. As long as the top remained spinning within her head, she was doomed. Regardless of whether she was in a dream or reality, she would keep killing herself, over and over again, an endless cycle, until she truly died. So she jumped to her death. And that was supposed to have been the end of it all…

But as Cobb says at the beginning of the movie, and repeats later on before he faces his own projection of Mal in his limbo, an idea is the most resilient and contagious virus. That is the true reason why his own subconscious construct of Mal kept trying to persuade him to kill himself (not so much his guilt). Because at a subconscious level, Cobb himself has been infected by the very same creeping doubts he planted in Mal, an idea impossible to totally eradicate. Coming from a person that he trusted and loved for more than fifty years (in limbo, at least) with such conviction, it is inevitable that Cobb would also be affected by the idea, especially when Mal gave her life for it.

This explains his continual doubt of reality throughout the entire movie, his almost obsessive habit in testing reality with his totem. This explains the recurrent projections of his doubts about reality in the form of Mal, the avatar of his disbelief at a subconscious level. He claims that he believes he is in reality, but fundamentally, his own subconscious projection betrays his true doubts (as mentioned earlier).

Finally, Cobb is able to weed out that particular idea from within his own head within his limbo (where his subconscious is most vulnerable to influence), when he confronts his own subconscious projection together with Ariadne. There, he admits to having performed inception on Mal, and Mal’s delusion was the direct result of his interference. He is the true source of her idea, and Mal was not acting rationally when she jumped to her death, as there was no evidence that they were living a dream. These facts (as well as resolving the guilt he felt towards her) enabled him to free himself of the idea which had ensnared him as well, and permanently set his own doubts to rest. He tells her ‘but we’ve had our time together, don’t you remember?’, and in doing so, shows that he is willing to forsake any possibility of him joining her by killing himself.

My interpretation of what happens next may be slightly different from conventional interpretation. Several concepts were not described very well in the movie (either that or I’m just stupid), but from what I could discern about limbo, I highly doubt that there is a ‘universal limbo’, the whole point of limbo being a personal limbo.

As far as I can deduce, when Cobb and Ariadne followed Fischer into limbo, they probably connected themselves with Fischer before they went to sleep, thus explaining how Fischer came to end up in Cobb’s limbo (the abandoned city). Yet, following that, I do not see Saito being linked up with Cobb at any point in time (in the ski fortress, when Saito died in one corner), and I fail to see how Cobb managed to end up in Saito’s limbo almost magically.

(You can argue that in reality, in the van, and in the hotel, both of them are still linked, but judging from the movie creators’ treatment of ‘dream within a dream’, the ski fortress has to be treated as reality before Cobb can go further into limbo. Thus, he has to be connected to Saito in the ski fortress if he is to find Saito…unless there is a ridiculously complicated explanation about limbo being parallel to all the dream states.)

My interpretation is this: when ‘Mal’ stabbed Cobb in limbo and Cobb ‘died’, he did not magically transport himself to Saito’s limbo, but fell deeper into his own limbo. The rest of what happened in the movie is all a dream. There is an abrupt transition from when the old Saito picks up Cobb’s gun in limbo, to Cobb waking up, that leaves a hanging question in the audience’s minds…what happened after he picked up the gun? And the universal question that should be asked in dreams: How did Cobb get there (back to the plane seat)? (And it is impossible to escape from limbo by killing yourself, due to the nature of the special sedative used on that mission. Cobb and Mal were previously only able to escape their own limbo because they used a different sedative, I presume.)

When Cobb wakes up, there is an announcement on the plane saying that the plane will land in 20 minutes. That means that the sedative wore off. According to the movie, the rest of the team were able to end up safely back in the ‘raining LA dream’. As I see no practical way of giving the team freefall jumps in the plane (or for that matter, for the air hostess to know that the mission is complete, and wake them up), the only way for the team was to remain 1 week in the raining dream until the sedative wore off. The movie literally skims over this entire part about Cobb and Saito waking up in the raining dream and hooking up with the rest of the team, which leads me to doubt the reality of the scene of Cobb actually waking up when the sedative wore off.

Notice that after Cobb wakes up, everything seems strangely dreamlike. There is minimal conversation; instead, all that is shown is the team members smiling at Cobb in approval as he floats through immigration in an almost dreamlike manner (with inspiring music playing, to fill up the silence). The sequence passed almost too smoothly and quickly, and the team members displayed a noticeable lack of personality in my opinion.

Since Cobb has also laid down the doubts about his reality and come to terms with his wife’s death, projections of his wife no longer appear. He reaches home, and out of habit, spins his totem. Yet it becomes clear that he does not need his totem anymore, and ignored the outcome, as he becomes distracted by his own children. His mind distracted, his subconscious overlooks the minor detail of the spinning top, which will keep spinning, and spinning, until he remembers the top, upon which the top will wobble and fall, as he believes it will. Ultimately, it is the faces of his own children which will tie him down permanently in this dream, for Cobb has come home at last.

Inconsistencies and flaws in the movie

1) When Arthur (or Cobb, I can’t remember) explains the concept of dreaming to Ariadne, he cites the popular myth that we only use 10% (or thereabouts) of our brain’s true capacity when we’re dreaming. It is scientifically proven untrue.

2) In the first layer of the dream (the raining dream), when the van goes into freefall, the physics of the second dream are changed, and everyone becomes weightless in the hotel. Technically, this should further apply into the third dream in the ski fortress, but then the movie would turn into a comedy. It is possible (but unlikely) that Ariadne, being the architect, was consciously maintaining gravity in Fischer’s dream in the third level. It should be noted that only the dreamer could alter the physics in his particular dream. Otherwise, Arthur could have reinstated gravity in the hotel and made life a lot easier and a lot less exciting.

3) I am under the impression that there are only two ways to wake up from a dream. First is to have someone wake your sleeping body up (ie subjecting it to freefall, or the ‘jump’ and the ‘kick’). Second is for your dream self to kill yourself, or get killed. In the mission, with the use of the special sedative, the latter option becomes void. The problem comes when Ariadne tries to wake both herself and Fischer up from limbo. She subjects both of their dreaming selves to freefall, and it is this freefall which wakes Fischer first and Ariadne later. On the other hand, Cobb seems to believe that by killing themselves, him and Saito can wake from limbo. Furthermore, the charges set to blow up the ski fortress (to give the team freefall) seem rather redundant, given that the ‘kick’ is already being provided to their sleeping selves in the hotel elevator, to wake them up from the ski fortress dream. I’m confused.

4) Cobb and Saito were not connected before Cobb entered Saito’s personal limbo. But then again, my earlier theory gives a possible explanation.

5) The film does a rather mathematical treatment of dream-within-a-dream-within-a-dream. I find it rather hard to visualize such a possibility occurring. Granted, the movie made allowances for such a possibility by introducing a special sedative that stabilized such dreams. Still, the idea that in the third level of the dream, your mind works 8000 times as fast as normal stretches the limits of neural science (as far as I know) and gives a convincing argument for sleeping in the examination hall.

Interesting points to note

1) It is noted that whenever an individual enters a dream (doesn’t have to be his own), his mind automatically populates it with people, projections of his subconscious. This is demonstrated in the training dreams between Ariadne and Cobb / Arthur. In Cobb’s and Mal’s shared limbo, no projections were shown, not even their children, for that matter. In the mission, only Cobb’s and Fischer’s projections appear, in the form of Mal and military / security dudes respectively. None of the other team members had any projections appear.

2) Apparently limbos (Saito’s, Cobb’s, and Mal’s) seem to be characterized by one thing: it is a land surrounded on all sides by an ‘infinite sea of the subconscious’. On this land is the only refuge for the dreamer, where he encloses and isolates himself in the middle of this infinite sea.

3) It seems that within dreams, the team members possess a certain capacity to manipulate the dream even if it is not their dream. Ariadne, as an architect, designs the mazes within Fischer’s dreams. Arthur, one on occasion in the hotel, manages to twist a set of staircases into a paradox, allowing him to come up behind a projection and defeat him. On the other hand, on the tundra in the third dream, team members are unable to create paradoxical shortcuts to reach the fortress faster; instead, they have to rely on Ariadne’s knowledge of the maze she designed.

4) At the beginning of the movie, when Cobb meets his projection of Mal while trying to steal from Saito, she asks him, “If I jump, will I still live?” Cobb replies, “A clean dive, perhaps.” He tries to evade the true meaning behind the question, and in doing so, shows that at that point in the movie, he is still unwilling to face his doubts, and tries to deny them, up till the point where it gets progressively worse.

5) On their wedding anniversary, Mal discarded her totem (the top) and left it on the floor of the hotel room. In her eyes, her totem was no longer useful in determining her reality, as it did not correspond with what she firmly believed in. It was then that Cobb picked it up and started using it thereafter as his own totem. It appears he had no problem dealing with reality before that, and therefore had no use for a totem.

On the whole, Inception is a beautifully crafted movie, with layers upon layers, much like dreams (not to mention the tantalizing hints and clues in both directions, leaving much room for speculation). As some people say, it can indeed be called a dream: a shared dream where Nolan is the dreamer and we are the targets, a dream where the actors, producers, and the rest of the set all have a part to play in filming a movie so real, and with such incredible detail, that it just blew most of us off our feet.

A train is coming. You know where it might bring you, but you don’t know for sure. You get on anyway, because you’d be together.

Feel free to criticize (I read too much into things), feedback (disagreements with certain arguments?), or suggest your own theories.

screwed by perth airport again

2010-07-17T05:21:00.002+08:00

@$%@$^&

i was supposed to reach perth at 1330 to catch a 1600 flight to sydney. i got deleyed for 30min at changi and 2hr at perth. apparently it takes 90min to get to the guy who stamps your passport and another 30min to the guy who x-rays your luggage, yea asians always kenna 'random sampling of passengers for security check'. then there's the 30min wait for the domestic terminal transfer bus and 20min drive. in the end qantas rebooked me on a midnight flight to arrive in sydney 25hr after i left home in sg. at least they gave me a $25 meal voucher to spend at the dismal domestic cookhouse.

on a lighter note, i met this swedish guy who also missed his connection and he taught me how to pronounce ikea properly.

BEST.MONTH.EVER

2010-06-27T22:33:00.003+08:00

23 MAY 2010 - 27 JUNE 2010

Probably the best period of my life.

So far at least.
A big Thank you to all who have made it possible.

And now back to my hectic lifestyle in my little corner.

lalala
ys

When i get older, i will be stronger.
They'll call me freedom, just like a waving flag.

Update

2010-06-24T22:29:00.000+08:00

I took the taxi, I'll be damned if I miss my flight because it takes me more than an hour to get to the other terminal. The taxi's odometer racked up 11km and the fare meter stopped at $24.60.

Why did Perth Airport not win Airport of the Year?

2010-06-24T21:56:00.002+08:00

Because it costs AUD8 to take the transfer bus from domestic to international terminal.

And the bus runs once an hour.

Alternatively you can take a taxi there for AUD30.

Brilliant.

Reservice

2010-06-22T08:57:00.002+08:00

I've been posted to 97 Signal Bn and my first ICT is in September. I'm going to Bedok camp to slap the Guards RSM with my 6 year exit permit.

so happening...

2010-06-06T20:47:00.003+08:00

The past few weeks have been busy. Usually, that is something i don't enjoy, but this time round, it's a different kind of busy. It's a form of busy that some people consider leisure. 'Busy' going to all sorts of miscellaneous events and meeting up with friends all over the place =)

Starting from the 23rd of may, I've been reaching home late at night for almost every day. Tiring, but enjoyable. Not quite sure how they fit, but they just did. Half of me tells me this cannot continue, else my backlog will pile up once again(it's already very large). But the other half of me hope it does =) lol. Regardless, my coming week is filled already, with the exception of friday.

In the meantime, I'm very very happy! For being able to do the following activities which i haven't done in years: Rock climbing, cycling, pool, telescope star-gazing. And also to the following people for spending time(and in some cases, money), to meet-up since 23rd may!
Yiting, Eugene, Gerard, Gen, Chinny, Shun Cheng, Kelvin, Jasper, Wing Chung, Zann, Tricia, Ms Low, Mr Joseph Chong, Mr Pang, Shi Xiong, Joshua, Jing Xun, Teddy, Willy, Aaron, Sherman, Matthew, Margaret, Shawn, Guangyan, Yee Sian, Thomas, Xin Ying, Charlotte, Timothy.

Thanks alot ppl! Long list already(30!), but can get longer! Still got a few people who would be nice to meet up with but are absent from this list. Come back from overseas soon!

how did all these happen?

2010-05-01T19:20:00.011+08:00

The past month has been a very interesting one, and has also been a revelation, with the focus on two incidents which happened yesterday, the last day of the month.

The month started on a relaxing tone, so much that i was free to play games sometimes even on weekday nights. As the month passed by, it started getting hectic. the weekday games disappeared, and the weekend ones followed suit. It wasn't long before the common test preparation came into full swing, and all my time went to the students and tuition kids.

Time constraints aside, other things were happening. "How to train your dragon" came out, exciting me to no end. Stupid rumours of me and someone died down, much to my relief. And gerard and chinny celebrated their 21st birthdays. (HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! once again!!!) And i learned something so shocking it made me re-look at the amount of trust i place in friends.

then came yesterday. I stayed back in school to an crazy time of 8.30pm because of a whole wide array of factors. When i finally stepped out of school, i received a call from an insanely weird and long phone number. Against my better judgement, i picked it up.

Turned out it was a call from my bro(who's overseas in australia now, hence the weird number). That is of course, fine. Except that prior information i have attained informs me that my bro should be with his gf now, and hence, a certain classmate and friend with the initials 'lz' as well.

And all of us know lz well enough to know that when he calls you out of the blue, it has got to be either one of these two things:
1. he's calling you to go online and play dota.
2. he's calling to ji siao you and screw you up.
This call had nothing to do with dota.

And so after spreading unbased rumours of me to my bro, asking me random stupid questions with regards to those rumours(i have to admit they were quite funny though), and wasting about 5 mins of my phone bill on an international call, they(my bro, lz and cheryl) cut the phone call abruptly. which i, of course, didn't mind.

Then came the bomb when i reached home. I'm not gonna talk about it here. All i'm gonna say is that it sums up the point on this month being one of revelation. and that my feelings thereafter could be best described, i think, as one of 'confusion with a pinch of happiness'.

ok that's all folks.

lalala
ys

P.S lz why don't you entertain my bro and his gf with ACCURATE FACTS like your infatuation with a certain person whose initials happen to be 'pp', instead of entertaining them with baseless rumours of me? hahaha

europe

2010-04-24T18:56:00.002+08:00

i had a most interesting conversation with my mom:

me: my friend in uk ask me go europe this december.

mom: i guess you better start eating grass.

follow up

2010-04-21T17:52:00.004+08:00

Ministry of health, or its facebook proxy said this 3hrs ago:

Thank you all for the comments on the pre-employment grant. The hospital clusters are in the midst of obtaining feedback on the parameters from the various stakeholders. Some of you have shared on the seeming disparity in grant amount /bond ratio between local and overseas students, and the need for a more conducive working environment, with goodtraining opportunities.

Through a careful consultative process, the hospitals will be able to finalize the specific terms and conditions in such a manner as to attract as many good doctors home as possible. On the whole, responses from overseas trained doctors and students have however been favorable. We will share more updates when ready.

Obviously they did not get my response.

A joke and an insult

2010-04-19T17:36:00.012+08:00

No offence to chinny hor, use as generic example only.

I refer to this article: http://www.asiaone.com/News/Education/Story/A1Story20100416-210789.html

In summary, the government is going to tempt people like Jameson and I (overseas Singapore med students) to return to Singapore to work in the public healthcare system. The health minister announced a month or two ago that MOH is mulling some kind of pre-employment grant (note they do not use the term scholarship) to entice us back. Hastily, they came up with something that seems great to the layman but fails to impress anyone in the profession, just like they did with the new residency program.

The article starts with:

To woo them back, the Government is looking to offer them up to $50,000 a year while they are still in university, to cover about 60 per cent of their fees in the last two years of their course.

I interpret that to mean: $50k or 60%, whichever is lower, and only for the last two years. Take my case for example at today's school fees and exchange rate, that equates to $31k a year or $62k total. For that, they want me to serve a minimum of 4 years, it is unclear if the intern year (or postgraduate year 1) is included.

Now lets consider what the government is doing with the local med students, namely YLLSOM and Duke-NUS.

YLLSOM:
According to NUS, tuition fee this year is $107k, of which $88k is paid by the government so Chinny pays $19k and change. Discounting annual inflation, the government pays each YLLSOM student $440k over the course of his/her studies. For that, Chinny has to serve 5 years in addition to a year of housemanship (i.e. internship). Source: https://share.nus.edu.sg/registrar/info/ug/UGTuitionCurrent.pdf

I could not find the full tuition fee for Duke-NUS so I shall use Duke University Medical School's fees for argument's sake, hopefully it is comparable. Duke's fees this year is USD46k or SGD64k (which begs the question, why is NUS so darn expensive?! Harvard is SGD57k, Hopkins is SGD42k, Edingburgh is SGD57k). Duke-NUS charges $35k so the government is topping up $29k per student per year or $116k for the whole program, again discounting inflation. For that, the student serves 4 years in addition to a year of internship. Sources: http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/items/04081 http://www.duke-nus.edu.sg/web/admission_fees.htm

To quantify our government's love for medical students/noob doctors with pink ICs, I shall use the Money Invested to Length of Service Demanded ratio. A higher ratio implies that the candidate is able fulfill his/her worth (to the government) in a shorter period of time, hence he/she is more competent and efficient.

University of New South Wales (me): $15.5k/yr
YLLSOM: $73.3k/yr
Duke-NUS: $23.2k/yr

Wow, so I am 20% as competent as Chinny and 65% as efficient as a Duke-NUS guy. Granted I did not get into the former (DOH!) and do not qualify for the latter but UNSW can't be that bad; after all, MOE has all the primary school kids doing our math/sci/english tests.

It gets better:

Writing in his blog, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said that the 'pre-employment grant' (PEG) would be based on merit and offered to students of top schools overseas.

bla bla bla

the grant target Singaporeans in top medical schools recognised by the Singapore Medical Council, such as Harvard Medical School, Imperial College and the University of Melbourne

Firstly, I seriously doubt any Singaporean went to Harvard. For the few that went to Imperial, I doubt they'll want to return to Singapore for $92k (which is how much this PEG will pay them) unless they are fanatics who want to build a democratic society, based on justice and equality, so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation. After Melbourne changed its medicine program from undergrad MBBS to postgrad MD, Singaporeans stopped going. The earning potential in UK or AU or anywhere else in the developed world totally owns Singapore. A Singapore Houseman (intern) makes ~SGD2.7k while an Australian intern makes ~AUD5.5k, specialist wages vary too much even within the same country so it would not be a fair indication of median pay. Anyway I doubt the foreign talents MOH dug from India and Philippine graduated from Harvard, Imperial or Melbourne.

As an interesting contrast, the 3 year officer contract with the Army (essentially 2yr on top of NS) pays $10k sign-on bonus, $6k combatant bonus, $6k end-of-contract bonus and ~$10k total difference between NSF 2LT and REG 2LT during the second year of service (discounting pay difference as a REG OCT). Their worth turns out to be ~$16k/yr, and they only need to pass A level/diploma as opposed to graduate from a 'top medical school(s) recognized by the Singapore Medical Council'. Source: http://www.mindef.gov.sg/arc/officers.asp

I'm not done yet.

As we ramp up local training and reduce the shortage, the scheme may hopefully become redundant

This is why they call it a pre-employment grant instead of scholarship, it is just a stopgap measure to get all the people they rejected to go back, there is no bright future ahead like there is for any typical scholar. Call me a sour grape but the government did not help me get my licence to practice so I have no legal or moral obligations to return and serve. If you say MOE provided me a good primary/secondary/jc education to study medicine in uni, I refer you to this blog post: http://angrydr.blogspot.com/2010/04/elite-bashing.html Hopefully, as they ramp up local training, less Singaporeans will need to go overseas. The statement goes to show that the government couldn't care less about our welfare, the whole point of the scheme is to plug the doctor shortage. When NTU medical school starts churning out doctors to fulfill Singapore's needs, there will still be Singaporeans who can't make it to local medical schools and head abroad, by then they will be considered 'redundant'.

Statement of the century:

We are still working out details to develop a package that will be both cost-effective and attractive to top talent.

Wow, what I want pales in comparison:
I need a double cheeseburger and hold the lettuce
Don't be frontin' son no seeds on the bun
We be up in this drive thru
Order for two
I gots a craving for a number nine like my shoe
We need some chicken up in here
In this hizzle
For rizzle my mizzle
Extra salt on the frizzle
Dr. Pepper my brother
Another for your mother
Double double super size
And don't forget the fries.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhlUVyDBusg
All that and a figure like Keira Knightley's.

And for the cherry on top:

Singaporean medical students who qualify for the PEG also have the new residency programme to look forward to, as it presents an additional opportunity for specialty training

Yea, I don't really look forward to the unaccredited and overcrowded residency program, Chinny do you?

Question: Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of CF arrangement

2010-04-12T20:40:00.004+08:00

Condittional Fea Arraangementt (CF.A) (spelling mistake is meant so that this article is unsearchable) was introduced by the Access to Justice Act (AJA) 1999 as an attempt to transfer legal funding from the treasury to the private sector. This occurred as a result of an increasing and ridiculous growth in the cost of legal aid, namely from a few hundred million to well over 2.1 billion pounds from the 1980s to 2000. Moreover, it was not because demand was growing. Rather, number of cases relying on legal aid had decreased. Due to the need to control budget, CF.As are used to fund many civil cases which legal aid now excludes, and the issues brought about by CF.As have been debated over the last decade.

Admittedly, based on my research, the only groups of individuals who have really benefitted from this scheme are the lawyers, the claims management companies (CMCs), the banks and the insurance companies, which, is typically the supplier base for this system. In contrast, the consumers themselves have little but complaints, even though the CF.As were targeted to helping them in the first place. The introduction of Lord Justice Jackson’s report this year 2010 is new and the effects have not been visible in the current market, though we may look at the theoretical and legal implications that such an upheaval in the CF.A this would bring.

Firstly, we look at the advantages.

In terms of access to justice, CF.As have provided for many who could not qualify for legal aid. From 2000-2005 alone, personal injury cases saw a jump in a million[1] consumers seeking redress through CF.As. This is likely because of a few reasons. For one, the strict means test introduced by the AJA 1999 has led to the middle income group not qualifying for legal aid, but they are not able to afford legal services either. Secondly, the AJA 1999 has taken away certain civil cases from its funding, personal injury as an example. Thirdly, CMCs have been actively educating the masses as to seeking redress for personal injury cases especially, thus promoting a culture that citizens fight for their rights, and the CF.A is one avenue that they can do it for free. The statistics[2] speak for themselves. Especially in road traffic accidents, sometimes it is not proportional the damage to apply for legal advice but now it is made possible without the burden of bearing those legal costs. CF.As have increased accessibility to justice in a way that legal aid with a budget can never provide.

In terms of cost, in particular the success fee, it has been said to be an incentive, the only incentive for lawyers to ever enter into a CF.A. A huge risk of not being paid a cent should equally mean that there should be a larger chance to earn more[3]. Lawyers themselves are taking this risk and in order to maintain a supplier base, a success fee is a must. Currently, the success fee stands at any bonus amounting to up to 100% of the normal legal fees. However, it does not mean that it is up to the lawyer’s whims and fancies to set the percentage. This sum is decided in an agreement between the lawyer and the insurance company, based on the chance of success in a case. Opposition to this has argued that the success fee leads to perverse profits, but statistics show otherwise. Since implementation of CF.As, two large firms of CMCs have gone bankrupt within a short span of 4 years[4] and this makes us wonder whether doing CF.As are way more profitable than regular legal work.

Next, we look at the disadvantages.

The quality of justice has been described by the CAB (Citizens Advice Bureau) as appalling ever since the CMCs have started to act as middlemen for lawyers and clients in setting up a CF.A in personal injury cases. CMCs use hard-selling marketing tactics which pressures victims into entering into a contract with them. Often, they start by saying that they do not need to come out with a cent in seeking compensation but later on in some tiny footnotes they would write that the client may be subject to some payment. Essentially, not paying a cent is true, where legal costs is concerned, but damages are not always enough to pay back the interest rates of applying for a bank loan, which was meant to supply the insurance premiums. Because of the straightforwardness of some cases, some lawyers also take advantage of the situation to drag the case so that they may be paid more legal fees. Many consumers have complained that CF.A cases are so inefficient that they find it hard to resume their daily lives. Some straightforward cases were said to take up to months[5].

The one-way cost shifting is also a disadvantage for the defendant. If the defendant has failed to take up BTE (Before the event insurance), then he might find himself burdened with high legal costs from the other party when he loses[6]. What is worse is that he also has to pay the other party’s success fee, which means he could be paying up to 2 times the price of a normal fee. This is not fair to the defendant[7]. Another issue is that the defendant cannot control the legal costs of the other party and explained earlier this could be abused. Statistics have shown that the market for BTE is still very premature and hence defendants ending up bankrupt as a result of CF.As are a reality[8].

Next, we look at the former aims of CF.As. CF.As were meant to help those who were too poor for legal advice but failed the means test for legal aid. Recent cases such as Campbell v Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd[9] have seemed to imply that CF.As are available to just about anyone. This issue was brought up in the London Seminar as they said that for “Hollywood actress Sharon Stone, footballer Ashley Cole, supermodel Naomi Campbell… none of these were seen denied justice on financial ground”[10]. While this does not seem to bring about any problems since it is still applied as a CF.A, what we are introducing is a whole new culture of people who tries to take advantage of a no-risk system to earn a quick buck. In the case of Campbell, Naomi sued for breach of confidence, and earned £3500. To note this case, it was also “mortifying to find that… they (MGM) were made to pay legal costs in the sum of £1,086,295.47”[11].

Looking at the efficacy of the CF.A also brings shivers down one’s spine. While it is meant to provide claimants an avenue to seek compensation so that they can use the damages awarded to resume their daily lives or seek medical treatments, most of them end up having to pay for medical fees by themselves. Statistics showed that after the interest rates deduction, claimants were left with a meagre 10-15%[12] of the total damages awarded. Some even had to pay more. This does not seem to be a system to help the poor!

Lastly, on the point of abuse, it seems that lawyers doing CF.As are paid better hourly rates than a normal lawyer. Based on statistics, a CF.A lawyer easily earns 103-115%[13] of the normal lawyer fee based in London. Because their demand is not cost-led, it is easy to see instances of over-claiming and over charging of fees. Furthermore, in cases like personal injury, CMCs act as the middlemen and abuse the fact that there is no regulation stating the requirements of the lawyer. Some unlucky claimants would be stuck with newbie lawyers or lawyers that are not even lawyers at all[14]. However, it is not really the lack of regulation but rather it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to enforce those regulations as the general masses are unaware of CF.As as they are.

The Jackson Report this year has led to many changes to the CF.A scheme and though the effects have not been felt there has been much feedback.

For one, the Condittional Fea Ammendment Act 2010[15] aims to reduce the success fee from 100% to 10% maximum. This is something targeted to help the defendant as there has been much feedback that success fees are perverse to a point of landing people into bankruptcy. However, many such as the Law Society and the Manchester Law Society have spoken up for the lawyers saying that the 100% success fee should maintain. Many lawyers also seem to object to this move[16]. This goes on the grounds that it is important that there are incentives for lawyers to do CF.A work. After all, if they lose the case, they are not paid, and these lawyers are really gambling out there. Based on my opinion, what this amendment does will cause severe repercussions. This will not stop the problem of cherry-picking. Rather, it will result in more cherry-picking because there is a tendency to do almost no-risk work. Also, this would mean that many people would lose the option to enter into a CF.A as supplier base would probably decrease due to less sure-win cases. Next, to look at the problem of dragging cases to increase profits, this might actually persist and get worse in order to earn more. Hence I would feel that this is an effort, despite its good intentions, that would be difficult to bear fruit.

Secondly, there is a proposal to shift costs from the defendant to the claimant. Rather than bearing the full cost, it is suggested that the success fee be paid by the claimant. Courts have shown an apprehensive attitude towards this as the adversarial system has always been one that has a principle that the losers should pay the winner’s cost. This again is a move aimed to help the defendants. However, having this in play would mean that the claimants have less damages to recover. Yet, to look at it from another perspective, this would mean that lawyers can now no longer abuse success fee setting. It would shift the demand of this market to the hands of the claimants. In a way, this provides competition, keeping success fees low and efficient. It would also solve the problem of case dragging, since lawyers would be pressured by claimants not to take so much time. Although this means more lawyers would exit the market because of low profits, I would feel that it is still an advantage as it increases efficiency and cost.

In conclusion, there are many disadvantages and little advantages of the old CF.A system as I have researched and analysed but the new reforms by the Jackson Report might actually be able to solve some of those disadvantages so that CF.As become a good substitute for legal aid.

[1] No Win No Fee No Chance - James Sandbach, Dec 2004

[2] As from FN 1

[3] Win first, Pay later - Bob Maynard 2009

[4] UK Personal Injury Litigation 2003, Datamonitor

[5] Opinions expressed and reported by CAB based on 385 evidence reports between Jan 2002 to Sept 2004

[6] see Callery v Gray - [2002] All ER (D) 233 (Jun) Lexis case search

[7] Cardiff Seminar 2009, speech by Sir Anthony May

[8] The Trade Union Congress submission in the Lord Justice Jackson's Final Report

[9] Campbell v Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd (No 2) [2006] IP & T 54, Westlaw case search

[10] The London Seminar Report July 2009

[11] Conditional Fee Arrangement & Freedom of Expression – Thomas Gibbons, 2005

[12] Civil Costs Newsletter 2010

[13] Segmental Analysis Report by Ministry of Justice, data for 2008-2009

[14] The Review of the Regulatory Framework for Legal Services in England and Wales (‘Clementi

Review’), Sir David Clementi, March 2004

[15] Lexis Legislation search

[16] Access to justice: Jackson report is self defeating - ANdrew Tucker, 2010

NS Call Up?

2010-03-23T20:23:00.004+08:00

I received a MINDEF notification for a call up yesterday.

Usually, such events are associated with shock, cursing and sadness on the part of the receiver. Mine was more than that.

Part of me thought it was a very very bad joke.

Reason? The date of the ICT was 12/10/2010 to 29/10/2010.
For those of you who are wondering what's wrong with that date, take a second look at the month of the call up.

Like hello? It has been repeatedly clarified to us that those who are headed off to institutes of higher learning(IHL), which is practically the entire RJC cohort, will either be deferred(overseas cases) or be called up during a common black-out window(local cases). That above date hardly complied with that.

It can only mean 1 thing. Someone somewhere screwed something up. And the administration failed to pick it up.

Now half of me feels like posting my NS call up email on failblog and then write in to the straits times demanding an explanation. Usually, i can take things pretty calmly. But with the burden on an unlimited workload, seeing such a mess up is pushing me to the verge of explosion. And if i require a deferment, i actually have to send a copy of my uni acceptance letter, a copy of my course time table, as well as a copy of my exam time table. Of which i have none cause i've missed all my uni briefings so far due to work commitments.

How much trouble is it going to cause me to procure all that? Surely much less than a simple write-up to the straits times. Well, SAF better pray they clear this mess up soon, not just for me, but for 10 of my platoon mates as well, or risk a serious blow-up.

noobify†™
ys

Great 6N swop?

2010-03-16T21:05:00.002+08:00

Ok i'm somewhat inspired by this great idea of an event that recently took places in the RI staffroom. To those of you wondering what i'm doing in RI staffroom, you're way behind time, do something about it.

Ok back to the event. This event was called the great RI swop. and to spare myself from having to describe it, i've attached the email that i received instead.

----
Dear teachers,

The SWC is proud to present the Great RI Swop!

Day: Term 1 Week 10, Friday, 12 March 2010.
Time: 10am - 3pm
Venue: Staffroom 3 Meeting Room

What EXACTLY??

Staff are to bring item(s) for swopping with others. The idea is that you get rid of things you DON'T WANT and bring home things that you WANT, and they may even be NEW! For FREE! How great is that??? And how environmental!!

Rules:

1. Bring only items that you do not want anymore and are in good condition. You can bring used CDs, DVDs, books, children's clothes, toys, baby items, UNUSED toiletry items like SHAMPOO, HANDWASH (think Christmas gifts that you just had no use for), photo frames etc etc.

2. If you bring ONE item, you may pick ANY ONE item to bring home with you. If you bring TWO items, you may pick ANY TWO!

FAQs:

Q1. What are some things I can't bring for the Great RI Swop?
Ans: No unethical and/or human-trading is allowed, i.e., you cannot swop marking/timetables/classes, or attempt to swop children, spouses, parents etc. Oh, pets also not allowed! On a more serious note, things for swop should be safe, hygienic and non-personal, which means no expired toiletries/items and no undergarments please.

Q2. Do we all have to be at the venue at the same time to do the swop?
Ans: No. Come in to the SR3 Meeting Room any time between 10am - 3pm and you may pick your item(s).

Q3. If no one wants the item(s) I brought, can I still pick item(s) to take away?
Ans: Of course you can!

Q4. What will you do with the leftover items that no one wants?
Ans: If you want to take home the item(s) that you brought, you may do so, but do indicate your wish to us. Otherwise SWC will donate the unwanted items to the Salvation Army.

Q5. Can I bring my item(s) in earlier than 12 March 2010?
Ans: Yes you can. In fact you are encouraged to do so, so that we can get some simple admin work done prior to the fantastic event! Just pass the item(s) to your Staffroom SWC representative! Please do so only from Week 10 Monday though!

Q6. Can I bring my item(s) only on the day of the Swop?
Ans: Yes you can!

Q7. I brought 3 items but I only found 2 other items that I really want. Is that okay? Do I HAVE TO find exactly 3 items to bring back?
Ans: No you don't have to. As long as the number of items you pick to bring home is less than or equal to the number that you brought.

Here's looking forward to a great swap swop day! :)

Warmest regards,
Your SWC
----

ok as you guys can see, it's quite an interesting idea. and it turned out very well in RI. so i'm wondering, should we, as a class, have something like that too?

ok a few points about it.
1. i suspect part of the reason why it turned out well was because of the large number of staff, which is definitely bigger than our class.
2. another part is that some teachers brought like 46 items and took none, thus starting a huge pile of junk for others to happily grab.
3. logistics could be a problem with the remaining junk(which in RI's case was donated to salvation army). Donating makes us feel good, but bringing it to the donation point could be a problem.

yup that's all. just something to get you guys interested. If it is to happen, we need a class gathering/chalet/whatever, preferably around may to august when the overseas ppl might be back.

Prince of persia

2010-03-16T19:17:00.003+08:00

Ok this entire post is going to be my thoughts on prince of persia, game, movie and whatever. Those not interested, just stop reading at the post above, since the post below is rard's post on POP too.

firstly, the game. to be exact, the original trilogy of sands of time, warrior within and two thrones(i'll deal with forgotten sands later). Well, prince of persia is essentially an action-cum-puzzle game. action from the fighting, puzzle from thinking of weird ways from getting from point A to point B. Weird because normal people would never be able to achieve those feats. for example, running horizontally on a wall for a distance, then jumping off before you fall off onto another wall, jump back and forth between the 2 walls to get up. impossible, it may look, but it is precisely these acrobatics that make prince of persia unique. Prince of persia would not be prince of persia if the acrobatics were removed(remember this point).

However, i would not qualify a game as action just because of some fighting time you get. What an action game should do is get your heart pumping like crazy and your adrenaline flowing. Which prince of persia: warrior within does to perfection. It introduces this unstoppable(for most of the game anyway) beast called the dahaka who relentlessly chases the prince to infinity and beyond. ok no, it can't get past water, but water isn't something that is everywhere, so what results is a crazy heart-pounding, adrenaline-rushing chase whereby everything has to be done to near perfection without the luxury of time. This is what i call action(frustration as well, but that's another point), and warrior within would therefore qualify as a really good action game.

However, i doubt the same can be said for the other 2. In sands of time, the dahaka isn't after the prince yet, and in the 2 thrones, the dahaka is gone(and would have no reason to be around either). That said, i've never played those 2 before and cannot comment further(in case there's some dahaka-like thingy).

And speaking of dahaka chases, some of them can get ridiculously long. gerard you know there's some special weapon, which i accidentally found but couldn't spare the time to pick up, in the middle of the longest dahaka chase i've come across so far? the ones when you first defeat kaileena and then u have to escape the dahaka 4 times. 4 f***ing times with no sand replenishment. and the 3rd/4th one, after you've pulled out the 1st stone tablet, is ridiculously long. and there's this white colour weapon that looks like a glove in the middle of it. Crazy. Are there any longer chases than that? I don't think my heart or mind can take a longer chase.

On to the movie. 'Prince of Persia: the sand of time' will be released on the 27th of may, starring jake gyllenhaal and the pretty gemma arterton =). I'm looking forward to it, despite the storyline having nothing to do with the game at all. There are, however, a few potential pitfalls which i hope the movie will avoid.

1. The acrobatics must be there(refer to above mentioned point), else this movie should just be called sands of time. More specifically, the WALL RUN must be there. It's so unique and cool.
2. The ability to control time(if it is featured) must not be messed up. Time travel and control is a very intricate and delicate issue that is very hard to pull off well. (eg if in the future, you're gonna go back into the past to do something, then the something should be happening now)

Let's hope the movie does well.

And lastly, the game. 'Prince of persia: the forgotten sands' need no further intro(if you've watched the trailer rard posted). I have only 3 comments on it.

1. the prince looks very different from all the 3 versions in the sands of time trilogy. In fact, it looks like jake gyllenhaal. It makes me suspect that they're gonna use the movie to drive up publicity for the game, having similar release dates and all, hence the lookalike. Casual players like me wouldn't mind it, but i can hear the murmurs and criticism from the hardcore fans already, that their beloved prince is being changed. If the hardcore fans refuse to support this, this game could fare badly.

2. the game says it's going back to the time between sands off time and warrior within. meaning the prince has released the sands already, but hasn't been punished yet. so will the dahaka make a comeback? I hope so! What a great game it would be!(but no crazy chase sequences please)

3. the trailer shows the prince freezing water to do more imba acrobatics. like wow! now he can freeze water? Is that a stop time skill or a new skill entirely? I sense puzzles getting so much tougher, like when you think there's no way across then u realise u can freeze the water and run along it. crazy.

Ok so i've come to the end of a really long post. feel free to add further comments on this really wonderful game(and hopefully, movie).

2010-03-15T17:39:00.003+08:00

Okay I just realized from my membership points that I've spent about a thousand dollars on Challenger over the past 2 years. I must be their favourite customer man. Hm i feel abit stunned that i spent so much, but ah heck -- earn money don't spent then earn for what.

So, the next game i'm awaiting is Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands. I'm glad they're finally going back to the storyline of the Sands of Time trilogy. The last one that was just released a year back totally sucked in terms of gameplay. But i loved the ending. Anyway the prince of persia is as imba as a slark with 6x eaglehorns. His acrobatics and fighting moves are quite leet, and the scenery of the environment is quite awesome also. Can't wait for its release.

See here for my review on Warrior Within -- the 2nd game of the series.

2010-03-15T17:22:00.002+08:00

I was looking through the posts from a while back and chanced across something gerard wrote. So i decided i'd write something from my perspective.

List of games which I have impulsively bought over the last 2 years and never got down to finish playing:
Zero.

Shit I have no life. (\end sarcasm)
(But actually I really don't)

Personality Type #7

2010-02-24T14:34:00.003+08:00

You're an insecure person. You hate uncertainty, especially the uncertainty you face where no one is really sure of their duties and boundaries, and you end up having to play aardwolf at work.

You miss a clearly defined rank structure, where someone much higher than you usually doesn't *********. You miss a competent boss who can discipline you when you screw up, it is a sign of your submissiveness and a possible hint of sado-masochist tendencies.It is clear that you need a dominant woman in your life. (I know Jameson definitely doesn't miss the boss bit about army).

You fear to tread where no man has stepped before, and you find security in rules, routine, regulations and regular results i.e. not risk taker. You feel uncomfortable without a sense of direction or a guiding compass. You feel that SOPs have to be well-oiled, regulations kept up to date, or the world will come to an end in the hands of incompetents.

You probably distrust your own abilities and judgement calls, a probable sign of low self-esteem. This may have resulted from being unable to cope with problems when you screw up, as there was no SOP. As a result, you deride those you deem inferior to you, such as a boss who cannot give clear instructions or discipline their underlings when they play aardwolf during office hours. Also, you prefer to play carry heroes in DotA which usually own without too much difficulty, hence -random agi. In a way, it is a method of self-preservation, and prevents your self-esteem from hitting an all-time low.However, this should be largely mitigated when *************.

Missing army, there is also a possibility that you miss the comfort that an almost all-male organisation provides you, and hate the uncertainty and dangerous grounds posed by frequently unpredictable females.

What you need:
Work:Sign on, or work within an MNC where there are well-established rules and SOP, where everyday passes without a hitch, and every emergency is attended to, if not efficiently, but surely swiftly and with certainty.That, or work in SMEs where you have good connections and the opportunities to rise up very fast. Once you are at the top, you will certainly be free to establish a set of well-oiled SOP, controls, and balances. You will be entitledto be a control freak, if you ever were one as dyS3. Oh, and you'll be free to play as much aardwolf as you like in the office.

Life:If you feel yourself to be completely without direction in life, and feel totally hopeless when you screw up, you can immerse yourself totally in religious fervour, which is not without precedent in our class.Alternatively, you can get yourself a dominant lady.

PS I'm sorry rard this is nowhere as near as Barnum's statements but at least it's personalised. Really.
PPS To others who read this, ***** parts are those which I have deleted on rard's request.

army

2010-02-24T08:59:00.000+08:00

As strange as this may sound, I find myself missing army. To be more specific, I miss the organization of army. I miss the system well set in place where everyone knows their duties and boundaries. I miss a clearly defined ranking structure. I miss a competent boss that can give me clear instructions and discipline me when I screw up. I miss having upper-studies whom you can turn to for advice. I miss a well-oiled SOP to follow, with in-built checks and balances to correct you when you make a mistake.

Maybe i should quit and go join an MNC or something.

(So sc what do u think this says about my personality?)

lalala

2010-02-21T00:21:00.002+08:00

ok i haven't taken much of a look at this yet. cuz i wanna sleep. today whole day outside damn tired le. but note the presence of 'ity' and 'ing' so 1 glance will give me 'webbing' or 'cabbing'. will think more tmr.

how about this

2010-02-19T11:15:00.002+08:00

ok now that the previous guy has gone down in 2 hits(aerobatic and then jeoparded, imba duh), i'm left with this. too much vowels. long words abit tough. i see 'belongs', which is crap.

2010-02-19T09:28:00.003+08:00

Ok this one really needs help in terms of long words. The letters don't look bad, so i'm sure there's one somewhere. but i just can't get it. aerospace needs 's', projectile needs 'L', and objective needs 'v'. so i have nothing unless u count 'project' as long. Anything cool u can see in there, sc?

one word search per day

2010-02-17T00:17:00.003+08:00

hmm. after a few rounds myself, it's time to post an easy puzzle. It is precisely the ease of word forming that these letters offer that you can form long words. 'fraudulent' is missing an 'L'. so best i can see is 'radiance'. any better ones, sc?

sc can advise?

2010-02-14T00:22:00.004+08:00

since sc was so astonishing with his word search, y not help me again! i need an imba word, especially now that imba words give rewards. If your word is powerful(long), you'll get a gem tile(hence all the colours u see there). They give damage boost and add effects. The green one(emerald) heals and does 20% bonus damage, the purple(amethyst) poisons and deals 15% bonus damage, the blue(sapphire) freezes and gives 25% bonus damage, the orange(garnet) weakens and gives 30% bonus damage, while the white one is the imba one. diamond tile. fully heals, gives 1 of every potion, and gives 100% damage boost. I got this from the word citizenry, which now resides in my hall of fame. The other tiles are gotten from weaker words.

so help me get a good word! go for length first. that's the first priority. if u can, put the 'y' in. that's second. third is if u cannot get a really long one, go for either words that are metals or colours. they do bonus damage this round. 'white' is around but is a little short. yellowish is short of 1 L, and stealthily is short of 1 L too. wittily feels very wasted. any good words? use up any of the gem tiles if u have to. try to go for 9 letters and above. uneasily is there wif 8. so is alienist.

and feel free to help too, every other reader!

CNY

2010-02-13T22:27:00.003+08:00

Hi everyone!

Wishing you all a happy and prosperous CNY in the year of the tiger! All the best in your endeavours, and for those flying off for studies this year, enjoy your last CNY for a long time :)

It is done

2010-02-11T20:49:00.004+08:00

Armed with my old arsenal of tactics, the lvl 7 comp has fallen. yay.

For snivelling critics who think it's a fluke, i let the comp have a rematch.

Tough it may be, but it can be done. wooh.
For those wondering where the 2 draws went to, i'm wondering about the same thing. I'm still very proud of those draws, and i hope they haven't been deleted. I fought very hard for those draws, cuz the comp outplayed me for long periods. oh well. nvm. win is still better.

Girls

2010-02-08T22:36:00.002+08:00

Well, sc wanted a post to somehow correct his inet problem. so here it is.

The title is simple enough, and it is one that strikes nearer home than most of us care to admit. but that doesn't mean they don't exist. In fact, they're all over the place. so much that apart from lz and jameson, rard and kel and even sc is discussing about them while i'm still totally clueless. Care to fill me in?

Ok on with the discussion. Every girl, just like every other human being, is unique. There can therefore be no classification for them. How then, can people still classify them? By our own criteria.and when you classify something according to a criteria, you have to first define your criteria, considering everybody has a different set. So something like "I think that girl is damn chio" is ambiguous. Why? Where? How? all these questions remain to be answered.

aiya i feel like sleeping le. it's 11.30pm alrdy.i shall abruptly end this little intellectual discussion. Feel free to continue it if u want to. and i hope this solves ur problem sc.

lalala
ys

BBC sitcom

2010-02-07T12:41:00.000+08:00

I just spent the past hour watching this bbc sitcom series called Coupling on youtube, and it's quite amusing haha. Thought i'd share it on uber cos i dunno how long my motivation to post here will continue..

501

2010-02-06T22:05:00.001+08:00

Hello, all.

*waits for gasps of astonishment to subside*

Okay, for reasons unbeknownst to me, YS' prev post inspired me to write a similar entry as well. Rest assured I will not ~~bore you out~~ engage you intellectually in the intricacies of chess strategy. I shall instead talk about a new game, well not so much new as an old game I used to play in the past, that I am currently occupied with.

As some of you may already know, my current job in Eunos leaves me a lot of spare time throughout the day due to the coughefficiencycough in which I accomplish my tasks. Having nothing else to do, I decided to re-visit this online mmorpg that i used to play in P5. That's like, 10 years ago. Surprisingly, my game-friends who used to play with me in sec sch are STILL playing the game.. So I started chatting with them, and one thing led to another, which ended up in me creating a new character in that game.

Aardwolf is a text-based MUD (multi-user dungeon) that looks similiar to that of a DOS interface. It's entirely text-based, like for eg. if u wanted to move, u would type "north" or "down", and if u wanted to kill someone u would type "kill ". This is how a typical game situation may look like.

***********************START SAMPLE*********************

What be thy name, adventurer?
drareg

Existing profile loaded - please enter your password.

Password: ******

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to Aardwolf
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
May your adventures be mystical, challenging and rewarding.

(Friend) Redryn: 'hi drareg'
(Friend) Candlejack Resiliang: 'IN AMERICA'

>> ft heys
You tell your friends: 'heys'
[HP: 100% | MP: 100% | MV: 100% | Qt: 10 | Tnl: 1060] *[NOEXP]*

>> wake
You wake and stand up.

Among the Philosophes (G)

To the south of the Grand Plaza is a magnificent Stoa built entirely of
white marble. A series of steps lead into the body proper of the building,
which is encircled by peristyle ionic columns and decorated in the ionic
style. The greatest minds of all Andolor congregate here to debate matters
of philosophy, or just to think great thoughts in the same corridors where
thinkers past have done so. The most sought-out magister of them all is
Questor, who dispenses worldly knowledge and experience by giving
assignments to those who ask. Those who yearn for knowledge and
understanding flock to the Stoa, and they are never disappointed. Any time
of day or night, conversations can be heard on subjects as lofty as the
meaning of life and the nature of death and the hereafter.
[Exits: north east south up]
A long elegant steel sword catches your attention.

Espol the Elementalist is here.
(W) (Linkdead) Gymer the Berserker is here.
Flyswapper the Berserker is here.
(W) Nei :3 is sleeping here.
Victoire the duck. quack. is sleeping in a trivia sleeping bag.
(W) Mathoran the Berserker. is sleeping here.
The world famous Master Questor of Aylor hands out quests to adventurers.

>> runto gallows
Running to: Gallows Hill

Breaking out into the field of Gallows Hill
[Exits: north south]

A peasant is here harvesting rye grain from the field.
A black cat is here, trying to cross paths with you.
A furry little field mouse scampers around here. [TARGET]
A drunk peasant stands here, wobbling back and forth.
[HP: 100% | MP: 100% | MV: 93% | Qt: 50 | Tnl: 1060] *[NOEXP]*

>> k mous
[1] Your stab **** DESTROYS **** A field mouse! [96]
A field mouse is slain by a final deadly stab!!
You receive 186 experience points.
You have set your character to receive no experience points!
QUEST: You have almost completed your QUEST!
Return to the questmaster before your time runs out.
You get 1 gold coin from the perforated corpse of A field mouse.
Ayla gives you 1 gold coin for the perforated corpse of A field mouse.

You inform Questor that you have completed your quest.
Questor tells you 'Congratulations Drareg on completing your quest!'
Questor tells you 'As a reward, I am giving you 10 quest points and 2636 gold.'
You gain an extra 2 quest points 'MCCP Bonus'.
[HP: 100% | MP: 100% | MV: 99% | Qt: 30 | Tnl: 1060] *[NOEXP]*

>> sleep
You go to sleep.
[HP: 100% | MP: 100% | MV: 99% | Qt: 30 | Tnl: 1060] *[NOEXP]*

***********************END SAMPLE*********************

So this is what I have been spending my time at work on..."super newbie-ing", or in other words staying at level 1 and continue doing quests to accumulate quest points. Since quests can only be done once every 30mins, it complements my work well as i can do work and while waiting 30mins for my next quest. Sometimes you may even see me afk in dota for a short while, as I go do my quest while waiting for hero to respawn. Hehheh.

Anyway, despite the lack of a graphic interface, I have been hooked on this game ever since I started it again 5 days ago. Even between the 30mins waiting for quest, I wander around exploring and chat to my friends on the game. I fear my colleagues or worse, my boss will find out sooner or later =\

If any of you are wondering, you don't need to install anything to play this game. Any computer with an internet connection can start playing. Start --> run --> telnet --> type "open aardmud.org 4010" --> create new character. It's that easy.

Okay, enough about my obsessing. YS' list of games inspires me to pen down my list of games as well. If any of you want to borrow, pls tell me so this game doesn't get wasted.

################################

List of games which I have impulsively bought over the last 2 years and never got down to finish playing

1. Red Alert 3 (currently with cuz kel)
2. Tiberium Wars
3. Assassin's Creed (got bored halfway)
4. Overlord
5. Crysis: Warhead (realized i dun really enjoy FPS =S)
6. Fallout 3 (combat is abit boring)
7. Mass Effect (I used a cheat code for infinite money and it got too easy lol)
8. Far Cry 2 (same as s/n 5)
9. Borderlands (the graphics engine keep crashing on my comp! damn all nvidia games)
10. Dragon Age: Origins (my most recent game. cuz kel bought it for me from JB. has potential to be great fun!)
11. World of Goo (bought this on steam cos it looked cute. puzzle game; i got stuck halfway)
12. World of Warcraft (stopped subscription since I'm working now)

List of games yet to come out that I may consider buying
A. Diablo III (omg omg omg yeahhh must-buy)
B. Mass Effect 2 (eh...i dunno, no point buying if i dun finish the first one)
C. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm (um lol, i only just started on wrath of the lich king. see how ba)

List of finished games
I. Batman: Arkham Asylum (really good! highly recommended)
II. Prototype (currently with cuz kel)
III. Portal
IV. Plants vs Zombies
V. Prince of Persia

List of games from so long ago I won't consider playing them le
Guild Wars, Guild Wars: Factions, Guild Wars: Nightfall
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II
Battle for Middle Earth (currently with kel feng)
Thief: Deadly Shadows
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
Neverwinter Nights II (currently with cuz kel)

################################

Okay shid, after compiling this list I realize that I freaking spent A LOT of money on games that I don't play. I feel super guilty now...all you guys interested in any of the above plz let me know so that my shelf doesn't look so full of games.

Final note: I find the following sentence rather ironic -- "despite hardly having any games, I've always had good games to entertain me" -- eh isnt that like self-contradictory? Ok anyway, YS send me the bookworm game! Another game to add to my list of half-played games :)

500

2010-02-05T22:13:00.010+08:00

This is the 500th post on this blog! wooh. and what better way to celebrate it than to post nonsense! so here goes.

Ok actually all this isn't nonsense. at least to me. but i suspect it's gonna be a whole load of rubbish to most of you.

Anyway, i found a new nice game! Somehow, despite hardly having any games, i've always had good games to entertain me. So while i can be envious of the amount of games other people have, i have nothing to complain about when it comes to nice games. Over the years, i've had
1. Journey to the West (this was a DOS game, impossible for you to find ever again)
2. Recoil
3. Heroes of Might ad Magic III
4. Diablo II: Lord of Destruction
5. Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings
6. Caesar 2
7. Unreal Tournament 2003 and 2004
8. Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne
9. Left 4 Dead
10.Plants vs Zombies
11.Chess Titans

and now... ...
12.Bookworm Adventures Deluxe!

Ok i know it looks kiddy. But it's fun! It's free! and it's only about 22mb in size! and best of all, it improves your english!!! What more can you ask from a game? Basically you spell words using the tiles provided. the longer the word, the more the damage! Then you can gain experience and collect items and potions along the way to completing your quest. wooh. Try finding as long a word as possible from the above picture! I managed to get quite a long word and hit the boss hard, eventually winning without using potions. but do try finding! so i can see if i missed out on some imba word.

Next up, we have a commentary on game number 11! Chess titans! Since level 7 comp was really tough and i haven't had practice in a long time, i decided to train against level 5. and after 11 games, i think i'm finally ready to take on level 7 again. My arsenal of tactics are coming back =)

Game 5: positional tactics

I was slowly plodding along trying to improve my position. to no avail. but note that it somehow managed to produce a stalemate where neither side has captured anything after dunno how many moves. insane tension.

Game 10: much better positional tactics

The opening was sicilian. and while black attempted to undermine my strong pawn chain, i manage to chance upon the strategy of attacking him on the kingside while his forces were positioned on the queenside. It was devastating. He had to sacrifice pieces against my pawn wall just to gain mobility to mobilise his forces to the kingside. which was still not enough.

Game 11: Blitzkrieg

This game was amazingly fast and was even more morale boosting than the previous game. and i could see the use of most of the moves. yay.
Chess notations: K - king, Q - queen, N - knight, B - bishop, R - rook, x - capture, + - check, # - checkmate, 0-0 - kingside castling, 0-0-0 - queenside castling, ! - good move, ? - bad move, !? - interesting move,
?! - dubious move, !! - excellent move, ?? - blunder

1. e4 e5
2. Bc4 Nf6
3. Nf3
I offered black an important central pawn in a gambit to develop my forces quickly.
3. ... Nxe4
Black accepts the gambit.
4. Nc3 Nxc3
5. dxc3 e4?!
Black pushes his pawn out of harm's way further down the board, threatening my knight. However, his forces are not developed enough and he should instead have supported his e5 pawn with f6, preventing my scalding attack.
6. Ng5!
I now have a fierce attack on the f7 square, and this threat is hard to cope with.
6. ... f5
Black pushes his f pawn out of harm's way, supporting the e4 pawn at the same time. but it still doesn't solve the problem on f7.
7. Nf7
My knight moves in to fork the queen and rook.
7. ... Qe7
8. Nxh8 c5
9. 0-0 Qh4?
Aiming at the weak h2 pawn is good, but doing so prematurely and without support just doesn't make sense.
10.Nf7!
I found this brilliant move which brings my knight back into play from the obscure h8 corner while threatening to trap the black queen with 11.Bg5!.
10. ... Qf6
Moving his queen away from the intended trap.
11.Bg5 Qb6
The black queen threatens the now unguarded b2 pawn, but the removal of the queen from the d8-h4 diagonal, coupled with the occupation of it by my bishop, has trapped the black king.
12.Ne5
There's no need to guard the b2 pawn as i now threaten Bf7# checkmate.
12. ... Bd6
Opening up an escape square for the king while threatening my knight.
13.Qh5+!
The introduction of my queen into the fray proves fatal for the black king.
13. ... Kf8

14.Qf7# 9-2

14 moves. how fast is that. and notice how my 2 bishops and knight is swarming all over black's area while his forces are still at their starting positions. damn nice game. I didn't even need to capture a single pawn. time for level 7.

$219.70 data usage

2010-02-05T11:15:00.002+08:00

hello people, this is aimed at gerard occ and jameson.

bloody hell, that time go out with you all dunno which of you(read jameson) play with my phone and surfed 22mb of idk wat. now m1 slaps me with a $224.70 data bill charged at 10c/10kb. they were kind enough to give me a $5 discount-.-

STOP IT!!!

2010-02-01T20:30:00.002+08:00

this blog is a nice place for me to vent my frustration because the parties involved will not see this(i think). So for all of you reading this, u can just ignore it.

ok i've had enough. All you faggots out there. Just because i'm nice to you does not mean u must use this 'niceness' to your advantage! Damn you ppl for eyeing that private stash of mine! You know how hard it took me to amass it? do you know? you fucking don't! You ppl wif all your unlimited canteen breaks, all your clubbing and all your good food! while me? I had none! I ate cookhouse food for 1 yr 10 months! ALL of it! every single day! I scrimped on food, on transport, on any and every fucking thing you can think of. n here you are thinking i have alot of money. You think if i had alot of money i would be doing this? huh? You think that this small amount of money u're touching will not change my financial position much? let me tell you, it does, you stupid noob shit. It's because u think like that that i have this stash and u don't! becuz u think $2 canteen food doesn't matter! but me? i saved on all that, all right? So FUCK OFF! I'm already on the verge of shifting that all into my mum's acct, so all u get is a blank empty acct.

hmm ok. this just makes me realise that i'm becoming like someone. very nice to fringe friends, nice to friends, and not so nice to closer friends. so to those closer to me(chances are you'll be reading this), sorry for all the shit i've given u ppl. i'll be nicer to u ppl!

Fail (not epic yet though)

2010-01-27T20:05:00.003+08:00

I really enjoy chess, be it international or chinese. However, i haven't really played either for 3 years, mainly because nobody plays with me. Somehow, my closer circle of friends in jc does not include anyone remotely interested in chess. So i find myself missing the good old days back in RI when i do not even have to look for someone to play chess with, challenges by friends simply come my way.

So, it's been 3 long years since i last played against credible opposition(inter-hse chess tournament in jc). I've more or less forgotten most of my tactics and with the recent job hunting, chess has somewhat slipped out of my mind.

Until my US trip. New York, Union Square. I was walking into the subway to get abit of shelter from the cold when i saw this black guy with a chess board, challenging people to a game of chess for money. So i watched as a white guy took up the challenge, and took the position of white(lol).

His opening move: e3 (king pawn 1 step up)
'Wtf' was the first thing that came to my mind. Why did he open with such a defensive move when he's playing white? Evidently, the black guy wasn't expecting this as well, and took a long time pondering this opening move. I didn't continue watching, as i was too cold. but my interest in chess had been rekindled.

Considering i lacked a partner, i decided to play chess titans! The free game that comes with windows vista. Having smashed level 2 and 5 before(a good example of non-credible opposition), i attempted level 7. And while the comp was good indeed, it was the most time-wasting game i've ever played. Just look at how it ended.

A human opposition does not need to play to this conclusion before deciding that it's a draw, damn it. People usually propose a draw, and then move on to the next game. No way you can do that against a comp. so fight all the way i did. to such a conclusion. While it may have a been a draw(a hard earned one), I was outplayed for long periods in the match. Great opening, trashy mid game, before struggling to a draw. Way too rusty after 3 years. Couldn't even see through certain moves by the comp. But i wasn't convinced. I can win this, i thought, so here comes the rematch.

FAIL. And another waste of time. Damn the comp for being so good at eating my pawns. I give up. for now. need to find a way to brush up my skills again...

Teaching, the noble profession

2010-01-26T20:40:00.001+08:00

I never wanted to teach. Part of it stems from the fear that students will be assholes and mess up your lessons. The other part comes from the excruciatingly long hours teachers work. Yes, official working hours are similar to that of a student, where you start work at 7.30am and end at 1.35pm. And then you go home, everyone who is not a teacher will tell you that. Ah relaxing indeed.

That view is way too simplistic. That argument, you do realise, can be reversed to say that student life is way too relaxing. You start at 7.30am, end at 1.35pm, and go home and sleep till the next day. REALLY? Was that how your days as a student were? The answer would definitely be no. You complained, there's too much school work, there're afternoon lessons, there's cca, there's this, there's that. THE SAME GOES FOR A TEACHER AND MORE.

A teacher would have afternoon lessons, pupils staying back to ask more questions and to discuss problems, 120 times more school work than the student(assuming 4 classes of 30 each), a need to prepare for lessons(where do you think those powerpoint slides come from?), cca trainings to attend, random courses to go for, and plenty of staff meetings to attend. The hours are actually longer than the typical 8-5 jobs you find around.

So why am i teaching? The reasons have changed greatly over the past few weeks. What started out as a gesture of goodwill is now a drive to see certain students do well. By now, most of you should roughly know the events leading up to my appearance back at RI that gave many teachers a pleasant surprise. Nevertheless, i'm still getting questions on that and i don't want to repeat myself for the 100th time, hence i'm gonna write it down here and refer anyone who asks to this place.

28th dec(5491 south hyde park blvd, chicago, IL 60615) 8.30pm
I was freezing happily alone in my sis' room, attempting to assess the net on my E51 phone when it rang. To be exact, it vibrated, as my phone is permanently on silent mode. It was a message from a former teacher back in RI, requesting a discussion. As I was in chicago, i asked him to send an email, which i checked with my phone. In it, the mail says that he'll be on mc for the first 2 weeks, and as he is teaching Raffles Academy students(advanced physics), he hopes i can help by relieving him for those 2 weeks. Knowing that he is probably running out of options(i'm probably the weakest in the entire sci club quiz team in my batch) and as a 'repayment' for all the help he has rendered over my years in RI, i agreed.

26th jan(1 Raffles Institution Lane) 1pm
Fast forward to today, and i've accepted another teaching offer. This time, it isn't just a gesture of goodwill. There is more to it. So what has changed? Where has the fear of the students and long hours gone to? Well, the fundamental point that has changed is my own perception of how teaching should be. Teaching is about helping students, just like how i've received help from my teachers in the past. However, students have to be willing to help themselves before they can be helped, a point well put across by Saw IV(all go watch the Saw series, plot is very amazing). That said, i simply can't be bothered by the idiots who mess around in class, but in every class i've been to, even a supposedly weak sports class, i see students with a drive to study, to understand the concepts behind what drives this world. 'How water goes up a straw due to pressure, how the moon looks like a line instead of a ball across the sea due to reflection' It's this drive that forces me to ignore the clowns, and to focus on helping those who want to help themselves. And i really hope they do well.

What about the long hours? Sure that can't be helped, every job has its own bad points, and this is what a teacher must cope with. furthermore, marking physics papers is a hell lot easier than marking english papers. Only bad point is in booking and preparing a lab lesson.

so for anyone who's jobless and has persevered to the end of this long post, here's a reward for you. A JOB! There's an opening to relief teach upper sec physics at RI. If you think what u've read above is what you're looking for as well, teaching is for you. Contact me if you want the job! I can help you get it!

On a side note, i'm amazed by some teachers' memories. They can still remember my name after all these years, even though i'm not prominent to most of them(except physics teachers). Truly amazing. Ms Pang from rjc PE dept remembers me. cool.

Jury

2010-01-26T19:52:00.000+08:00

The Jury

Uses of the Jury

The Jury is described as the 'Bulwark of our liberties' in Ward v James. The jury represents the just face of the law. Because they are not trained in law, they are not bound by the black and white letters of the law and many of its issues. Instead, they can use their conscious to decide whether the defendant should be liable or not. Unlike the judges or the lawyers, they are not bound by the evidence, they have no prior knowledge and hence can be said to weigh the evidence that is presented before them without any biasness. They are also the representation of society, especially in a community of democracy, public involvement has never been more important to make contain the abuse of power that is likely to be in courts in cases that favouritism arises.

Problems of the Jury.

1. Racial Discrimination

To explain its racial discrimination would first be to understand how the jury is selected. The Lord chancellor has derived a method of collecting jury members from the electoral roll, but this has proven to lead to problems mainly that the electoral roll does that truly reflect the composition of citizens in the UK. Based on Darbyshire, many minority ethnic groups do not register themselves with the electoral roll for a variety of reasons, even including evading council tax. However, courts have taken a strict approach as to modifying the jury make-up. In R v Ford, the courts maintained that it would be overstepping of the judge's powers to grant a change in jury, even in cases that involved race. However, studies conducted by Ugwuegbu indicated that whites tend to rate a black defendant more culpable than a white, which clearly shows the racially discrimination that exists. Yet while courts say that they are not trying to be racially discriminatory, in the IRA cases that were held the jury could not have any people from Ireland involved. Does this then mean that the jury is biased towards the majority race in the UK?

2. How the jury arrives at decisions.

Much of how the jury arrives at their decisions is unknown because it is a rule that no one can question the decision reached by the jury. For someone to question the jury would be unfair to the other party, as juries can rely on a couple of reasons above that of evidence, for example, self-consciousness, pity, and many more. However, the problem with this is that there can be no accountability on the jury's part. The unpredictable way the jury decides often leaves lawyers and judges vexed. For example, in R v Young, the jury used a medium to call back the dead from the spiritual world in order to find out if the defendant was guilty. Such absurd ways not only makes the losing side to cry out unjust but also they diminish the whole concept of having a legal system.

Moreover, different people tend to have different ways of arriving to conclusions. From the evidence by Vidmar and Hans, the research found that people tend to form alliances with people of similar thinking, notwithstanding the evidence that was displayed. These alliances can cause a huge influence over the minority in the jury hence often leading to unanimous votes. Another research by Sealy and Cornish also found that women tend to convict more than men in mock rape trials. The inconsistency and over usage of unconventional methods lead to many parties crying foul.

3. Understanding Directions

Another problem to the jury is that since they have not been legally trained, it is very difficult for them to understand the directions that lawyers and judges give. The technical jargon is a barrier, certainly something should be done to let the jury understand better, and certain courts have started to issue out directions in printed form so that the jury can go through it slowly, but this measure has not yet been implemented in all courts. The Auld report also gives suggestions such as allowing the jury to ask questions and take down notes. By all logic this would seem practical and only aid in serving justice better but courts are generally against this because such unprofessional asking would tamper with the cases put forward by the prosecution and defendant, risking an unfair verdict.

Also, there have been many criticisms from the directions given by the judges. Because of the eloquence of judges, it is often very easy to give a biased direction to the jury which subtly includes the opinion of the judge, hence making the verdict unsafe. Also, another issue is the problem of beyond reasonable doubt. Although the judge would give the jury the direction that the prosecution or defence has proven the case beyond reasonable doubt, there is doubt and conflict in the issue of reasonableness. Is it 100%? Or merely more than satisfactory? Most of the jury would think that it is 100%, and that would mean it would be almost impossible to convict anyone, but the level of reasonableness cannot be set that easily. Studies have shown that even judges cannot give a definite percentage, and gave results from between 80% to 100%.

4. Other Problems

The often lengthy trial process is one which affects the jury's decision. Studies have shown that in such cases the jury often reaches a verdict out of boredom, they do not have the capacity or ability to process every single piece of evidence. Moreover, certain trials can last over months, and hence some jury may forget some important evidence. This lengthy process also means that the jury is subjected to more bullying and more swaying. As fatigue kicks in, it is easy for lawyers or judges to influence the jury and secure a desired result.

Yet, despite all these problems that stem from the jury, why is it still that the legal system is unwilling to abolish the jury system? The main reason is that the jury represents the just face in the legal system. Since the past, convicted criminals were given the choice to opt for jury or non-jury trial. Jury trial was favoured for the basic reason that the jurors were people whom the criminal could associate with, and not some hardened solicitor or prosecutor who did nothing more than sprout complex legal theories that the criminal would not be able to understand.

CJS

2010-01-26T19:48:00.001+08:00

The Criminal Justice System

The problems faced can roughly be divided into

1. The Adversarial system.

The adversarial system is a characteristic of the UK legal system. Unlike the Inquisitorial system, it emphasizes more on parties’ participation in court. However, this traditional system poses some problems. For one, an adversarial system in the UK has been complained as encouraging trials to proceed in a competition based format. It is like a debate contest where 2 parties will display each others cases and attempt to strike down the other's case. The judge will sit in an umpire position, with little or no intervention at all. The problems have called for reforms to take place, such as the Runciman Commission, which involves changing certain trial proceedings such as a pre-requisite to give a summary of the cases each party would present before entering the courtroom, or that the judge now has new found powers to call certain witnesses to court without anybody's notice (from the report by Sanders and Young). This however has been protested by the fact that the UK system is no longer traditionally adversarial, many of such reforms tend to shift it to an inquisitorial style. The most basic of the adversarial system is that the 'truth is best discovered by powerful statements on both sides of the question', but the intervention of judges and the like now pose a question of whether the system has changed for the better or worse. For one, it could be better if the judges made due process to call out important witnesses that might drastically affect the outcome of the proceedings, but it is also possible that only witnesses which the judges favour might end up being called upon, hence creating a biased viewpoint, no more an 'umpireal' role.

The introduction of the CPIA (Criminal Procedures and Investigation Act) has led to a requirement for the police to disclose any information that might help the suspect or in otherwise undermine the prosecution's case, but then again it is pretty much up to the police if they want to disclose it or that since they might easily argue that they thought that the evidence was of no importance and might not have any undermining effect at all.

2. The Evidence Collection.

The collection of evidence in criminal cases would most certainly be collected by the police. For example, the suspect or witnesses are usually interrogated by the police. The problem posed by this is that many atime people would not know what goes on during the police interrogation. Cases such as the Cardiff Three seem to suggest that even torture or a forced confession is possible in police interrogations. All these have seemingly been solved by recent acts such as Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, where regulations such as a compulsory taping of interrogations be made, but that does not take away the root of the problem. Now, interrogations are psychology specialists, trained in asking leading questions that would tend to confuse the ordinary mind. Questions like 'You killed him, didn't you', 'you put the poison there didn't you', are just a few examples where the suspect is expected to say 'yes' and more often than not the untrained ones would be unwittingly deceived into confession, maybe in an indirect manner even. Another factor is the often excessively long hours of police interrogation done. In order to escape the psychological hell in an interrogation room, many atimes suspects would give in and succumb to the questions and give a confession even. Although some action has been done to reduce this problem (s37-s44 PACE ACT 1984), by limiting the time that interrogations take place, untrained suspects would still find it difficult to cope with such long questioning hours. The fact that interrogations are still held in police stations means that the police would still have the overall control of the situation; it would be difficult to enforce such a rule as well.

Due to technological advances, the police can also now rely on forensic science to crack criminal cases. Good as it might sound; the forensic scientists are often not trained to give an evaluative answer to the forensic evidence. For example, in the case or Judith Ward, the court prosecuted her solely based on the forensic evidence of gunpowder in her pocket and derived a conclusion that she was involved in the murder. However, in the end, after serving long years in prison, they decided that the gunpowder was of negligible amount to base a case on that and hence she was acquitted. Often, scientists are asked to find out if a substance is present, for example gunpowder, but to determine whether or not it is of substantial quantity is different. Scientists cannot take an empirical data and say, oh this is just barely sufficient because scientists work with definite values. People such as the judge, the prosecutors, the layman, would not know how much is considered sufficient and hence the case is normally based on minor circumstantial evidence. Furthermore, such tests are often not done in a properly sterilized environment. Scientists have to rely on the police to collect samples from the site, but often how clean are the samples? It is possible that contamination can occur and substances originally not in the sample can be detected. Even Glidewell J in R v Ward proclaimed that forensic scientists may become partisans

3. The police.

Due to the fact that the police are the main one to get the evidence, it is often the case to say that the defendant would have very little access to the evidence. Often, as explained by the issue on lengthy interrogation hours, defendants are unable to recall what they said during the interrogation hence even their lawyers have a very difficult time to develop a case to help their client.

Another issue is the way the police construct cases. Since the adversarial system is a debate, it would make little sense for the police to disclose every single bit of information. Instead, information is sieved out into what would help the prosecution's case and they would exclude most of the important evidence that would likely help the defendant's case. As such, the case construction by the police is very much a one-sided affair. It just further serves to deny the defendants from utilizing useful information. Also, it has been complained that sometimes the police can construct cases based on very circumstantial evidence. By excluding certain information, they can construct a case such that all guilt points to the defendant, and often, the defendant, being non-experienced the wars of eloquence would end up agreeing to most of what the prosecutor says and this affects the defendant's case in the jury's eyes. All this is well in the adversarial system if the defendant had a similar approach and similar resources, but they have neither. The case put forward by the prosecution can hence be so strong that it can withstand scrutiny by anybody else.

Another abuse on the police's part is the creation of facts. For example in the Guildford Four case, 4 suspects were convicted based on a letter which had incriminating evidence. However, it was only discovered after a few years that the letter had been heavily edited such that the guilt pointed to the four suspects because the original note containing many cancellations and amendments which matched that of the note produced in court had been found. The fact that the police got away with nothing more than a mere apology statement makes matters worse. This just acknowledges the abuse of the police's discretionary powers. Imagine if that note was never found! The four innocent suspects would have spent a lifetime in jail!

Also, on the police's discretionary powers, they are empowered with the powers to make an arrest on reasonable suspicion, this is based on the PACE Act 1984, as usual, the concept of reasonableness is vague. What would constitute a police officer to reasonably suspect someone? For example in the case of Murray v UK, Mrs Murray was held under arrest in her house while the soldiers went around searching the house for any criminal evidence. However, the courts ruled that the police had such a power to arrest on reasonable suspicion and this just puts academicians into further confusion onto what exactly reasonable would constitute. It would be that reasonable suspicion is lower standard than information sufficient to establish a prima facie case looking at Shaaban Bin Hussien v Chong Fok Lam. However otherwise than that there are no cases which would seem to deny police of their discretionary powers; such was the case of Castorina v Chief Constable of Surrey.

4. The Lawyers.

Often, it is the prosecution who has the upper hand than the solicitors based on a variety of reasons.

Although claimed to be an independent body, the Crown Prosecution Service CPS is actually very dependent on the police for evidence. As from the Runciman Commission, the doctrine of separation of powers was emphasized. However, the only source that the CPS can get its evidence from is only the police. It is the fact, and often the CPS relies on the police statements to make a case, often which is already very one-sided. Up against the well endowed CPS are the defendant and not always his lawyer because of extraordinary legal fees. Moreover, due to expensive legal fees, it is often difficult for defendants and their lawyers to meet up. Even with legal aid it does not solve the issue as the aid is unwilling to finance many meetings. This would mean few can have the privilege of getting a strong case in the defence, save the lawyers who are willing to work for justice than for financial reward.

The Problems with the Appeal Process.

1. The Legal Aid

Many atimes convicted suspects are not rich hence they have to rely on legal aid. Legal aid is given based on a means test and if successful all legal costs would be borne by the help scheme. However, without legal aid, appellants run the risk of having to pay extra legal costs to the COA if they deem it necessary. The factor of high costs without the certainty of a successful appeal is what deters most people from applying.

Even after a successful funding, many legal aids are not willing to pay for extra meetings with solicitors and clients because this would incur extra costs. The concept of minimising costs often makes it difficult for the lawyer and his client to discuss the major issues and greatly hampers the effectiveness of the appeal.

2. The lawyers

Though blessed with legal aid, the lawyers have a major role to play in many failed appeals. Erroneous advice such as sentencing would become longer if the appeal fails deter people from appealing. Moreover, while most of the time lawyers are the ones at fault for losing the case, they do not admit it for the reason of saving their reputation, rather than to save the client's liberty. Not that we can blame them either, Many lawyers are bound to the problem of not having enough data to form their case because clients are often unwilling or unable to provide them with what they had said during the police interrogation. People might have the viewpoint that the police is the higher evidence collection authority and think that once they had said it to the police every single detail would be taken to account, which, as discussed above prove otherwise.

Bottoms and Maclean even quoted that convicted persons feel that the appeal process is a somewhat remote affair that is best left to professionals. The overestimation of risks involved by the lawyers is often also the ones that make clients feel that appeals are somewhat hopeless.

3. The time limit.

UK has a 28 day time limit for appeals to be made. However, the problem here is often the rigidity of the system to not except any appeals even if it was submitted just after 28 days. This just reflects the stand of the COA that they treat many verdicts with finality and are quite unwilling to accept appeals.

4. Common law.

The historically restrictive approach that courts have to appeals is also main deterrence factors. Based on the Criminal Appeals Act 1995 appeals are only allowed if the COA feels that the verdict has been unsafe. This is not withstanding unfair verdicts even, following the case of R v Kennedy and R v Mills. It would take either some fresh evidence or some major mistake in the principles of law before the appeal would be allowed, or in some cases new issues that can be considered to have great weight on the verdict.

CCRC

The Criminal Cases Review Commission was established in the 1997, during the period that the HRA 1998 came into effect. The purpose of the CCRC was to take over the COA's duty in reviewing appeal cases. They would evaluate which criminal cases should make it to the COA based on the arguments, fresh evidence, and the principles of law that could have been flawed in the previous trial. However, despite the CCRC's efforts to make the appeal process better, as it was the intention in the Runciman Commission, new problems have arisen instead while solving some old ones.

1. The police.

Because the CCRC is state owned, it gets its evidence from the police. This pretty much defeats the purpose of the appeal process because, as discussed earlier, the police have quite a large part to play in the miscarriages of justice. However, the CCRC has said that the police have satisfied its requirements for the evidence and it is actually quite impossible for the CCRC to use other methods of investigation as well, especially since factors such as high costs, shortage of manpower are involved.

2. The Legal Aid

There is no legal aid available for those appeals that go through the CCRC, and this is detrimental for the people who cannot afford legal fees. Similar to the previous appeal process, appellants would have to pay their lawyers to go through the CCRC but not having legal aid just means that more people would not be able to afford this method of appeal and there are but few lawyers who would be willing help their client for little financial rewards.

3. Shortage of Staff

The CCRC has had a severe shortage of resources for a very long time, such that many appeal cases take not months, but years to process. This extremely slow appeal system would mean that the appellant would pretty much have spent a long duration in prison already before even the appeal is heard which leads to a lot of unfairness. Moreover, due to the excessive workload, now the CCRC has chosen to take the approach to settle the high profile cases which are most likely to succeed, leaving those mundane appeals to a corner. How exactly the CCRC views cases as important are even a mystery, making it very difficult for one to appeal through this channel.

4. Views of the courts.

Despite its shortfalls, there has been none but good praise for the CCRC. In Mattan and Ex Parte Pearson, the courts said that the CCRC was an indispensible committee in delivering and solving the miscarriages of justice. Reasons why people would still go along with the CCRC despite its shortfalls are because it would be easier to get an appeal, notwithstanding the time that is taken. However, for the CCRC to be really effective isn't it plain that more resources should be allocated for cases to be processed faster? Why in the counter against miscarriages are the authorities so slow to provide?

common sense

2010-01-25T22:56:00.002+08:00

If something is making you pissed, you stop utilising it. That is common sense.

Unfortunately, that is something i haven't been practising for a while now. In other words, i've been lacking common sense for some time now.

Today shall be the day I start practising some form of common sense.

FOOD!!!

2010-01-20T08:29:00.005+08:00

I miss good food. To be specific, the good food i had in the US. No, this is not to say that singapore doesn't have good food. On the contrary, singapore has alot of good food too. It's simply because i don't have the spending capacity that i had back in the US. I'm pretty broke now, so i've just been scrimping on food in sg. haha

So anyway, what good food did i have in the US? Let's just start by saying that within 21 days in the US, i've tried more different kinds of cuisine than i have over the 20 years of my life. And it's the first time, i've ever been in a fine dining restaurant. Damn awesome, damn awestruck. And i documented everything i ate down. So here they are!

For you people who are reading this, you can just take note of the good food(which are in bold), as well as what i feel are the value for money food(which are in italics)(bold and italics means both lor), and then try them yourself next time or something. The pictures will be uploaded soon(when i say soon it can be up to 6 months?), if not on this note, then in a US photos album.

here goes.(format will be ) btw, the price is sgd is for those of you who keep telling me, "Actually that's not very ex what". Look at price after conversion. It is damn ex.

Day 1, 11th dec.
dinner - Sakura - aki soba - $9($12.60)
My first meal in the states is at a random karaoke place. well done.
Day 2
lunch - Morton's of chicago - Seafood platter, chicago style steak, chocolate cake - $80($112)
Best meal ever, most expensive too. I can have 37 meals in sg in the price of this.
dinner - Medici - Pizza, Quesadilla - $14($19.60)
not bad, but dun think i can classify this as good. Above average, i would say.
3
lunch - random place at wicker park - pulled pork sandwich - $11($15.40)
The serving was big, plus they were having a discount for burgers for $5. which would make it very worth it. The price quoted here is without the discount.
dinner - Saint Alps - Pork with rice, green bubble tea - $12($16.80)
Their bubble tea is supposed to be really good.
4
brunch - Original Pancake House - shared too much stuff, can't rmb - $10($14)
dinner - random vietnamese restaurant - pho - $10($14)
5
lunch? - Rocky Mountain - caramel apple - $5($7)
flight day, so didn't have a proper lunch. but the random caramel apple i bought at the airport was really nice. i dun rmb the stall le.
dinner - Mill restaurant - kimchi stew - $12($16.80)
6
lunch - Cafe Boulud - lobster bisque, grilled leg of lamb, pineapple gingerbread upside down cake - $45($63)
dinner - random street cart hot dog - $3(4.20)
7
lunch - Giovanni Vintecinque - mussels, bite-size veal, coffee with biscuit - $32($44.80)
dinner - 5 napkins - some burger, can't rmb le - $20($28)
8
lunch - The Petrossian - smoked salmon, grilled flank steak, seasonal fruit tart - $30($42)
dinner - Chipotle - burrito - $8($11.20)
9
lunch - Ippudo - Seafood with mentaiko, ramen - $20($28)
dinner - random chinatown restaurant - spare rib rice, mapo tofu - $9($12.60)
10
lunch - Grimaldi's Pizzeria - pizza with a hell lot of extra random toppings - $17($23.80)
BEST PIZZA EVER!!! ok maybe not, hard to say. but it sure is damn good.
dinner - random japantown restaurant - ramen, yakitori, unagi tofu, salmon, fried fish cake - $13($18.20)
11, 21st dec
brunch - Good Enough to Eat - red snapper with fries - $14($19.60)
This place is supposed to be highly recommended. but i found nothing special with what i ordered. maybe i should have tried their omelettes. but oh well. and I FORGOT TO TIP! shit.
dinner - Macdonalds - angus third pounder - $4($5.60)
XY said "let's eat here". So i ended up eating at the restaurant which some of you know i dislike, but it turned out to be not bad. hell lot better than sg anyway. So now i only dislike SG MACDONALDS!
12
breakfast - Ess-A-Bagel - Chocolate chip cream cheese bagel - $3.50($4.90)
Their bagels are damn huge and damn nice! so huge that i got sian of my choc chip bagel halfway and had to throw about half away. It kept me full for the rest of the day...
dinner - Macdonalds - angus third pounder - $4($5.60)
XY and Heng Jie again. Macs again. haha but that's cuz we had to catch a broadway show. I like the 1/3 pounder so much i had it again. but with a different topping of cuz.
supper - Planet Hollywood Cafe - VIP platter, California ranch chicken pizza - $13($18.20)
13
breakfast - Ess-A-Bagel - Cream Cheese bagel - $2.35($3.29)
Leftover bagel from previous day. Still nice, still good. Lasted me through lunch again. I liked this one better than the choc chip one though.
dinner - Pinch and S'Mac - pizza, macaroni and cheese - $7($9.80)
Probably the best meal i had in the US factoring in both price and food. Credit to Heng Jie and Xun Yong for finding this place. Thanks!
14
brunch - Noche Mexicana - tamales - $9($12.60)
This place is supposed to make one of the best tamales in new york, but since i've never eaten a tamale before this, i have no basis for comparison. It was not bad though. And they give free chips.
dinner - Pan Ya - Beef curry - $7($9.80)
lol the name looks and sounds like ponyo.
post dinner - Saint Alps - pearl milk tea - $3.25($4.55)
back to the famous bubble tea.
15
lunch? - shortbread with chocolate - $1($1.40)
another flight, another screwed up meal.
dinner - some chinatown restaurant - soup, chicken, salted spicy prawn, vegetable with double mushroom, desert - $12.50($17.50)
Went to chinatown cuz everywhere else is closed on christmas day. Food turned out to be good, but didn't take note of restaurant name due to cold.
16
lunch - Ribs and Bibs - Ribs and fries - $10.50($14.70)
The bbq sauce was awesome! and the smell lingers on your fingers for a while. I dunno if that is disgusting or what, but the smell was so nice, i liked it.
dinner - Mellow Yellow - Chilli spaghetti with cheese - $7.50($10.50)
17
breakfast - Treasure Island - Apple turnover - $1.19($1.67)
lunch - Maxwell Street Market - Quesadillas and taco - $4.75($6.65)
The street food was surprisingly good, but the weather was too cold for me to enjoy it much.
dinner - Portillo's Hot Dogs - hot dog, burger - $6.50($9.10)
After you eat the hot dog here, you'll realise sg hot dogs cmi. damn good stuff. and it's only $2.45.
18
brunch - Original Pancake House - Apple Pancake - $11($15.40)
This was so huge i couldn't finish it.
dinner - Uncle Joe's Jerk Chicken - jerk chicken dinner - $10.50($14.70)
19
brunch - Leftover Apple Pancake - FREE!!!
dinner - Rodity's - flaming saganaki, moussaka - $23($32.20)
The flaming saganaki(fried cheese) here is amazing.
20
breakfast - some chinatown eatery - congee, toast, milk tea - $4($5.60)
dinner - Pizzeria Due - deep dish pizzas(numero uno, spinach) - $9.20($12.88)
Wooh i managed to get a taste of a unique chicago dish on my last day in chicago. How fortunate.
21, 31st dec
breakfast - mini donuts - $2
Clearly, i have a flight to catch.

So my total expenditure on food alone comes up to 531 USD. which is about $743 in sgd. which can easily last me for 4 months back in sg. crap. well at least it meant that in 21 days, i've tried jap, korean, chinese, greek, american, mexican, carribean, italian, and french cuisines. Something which i haven't achieved in 20 years in sg.
ok yay, now that i've written this down, i can clear some space in my memory for some other stuff. woohoo. more random US posts to come i think.

Change, the only constant

2010-01-14T09:25:00.003+08:00

When returning to an old place such as your alma mater, most people get a nostalgic feeling that slowly wears off with time spent there.
I, on the other hand, had it the other way round. The first few days of my return back to RI was marked with deep anxiety and apprehension as I prepared to walk unprepared into a class of people I have never met nor dreamt i would meet. Lab sessions had to be prepared, certain topics had to be revised, lessons had to be planned. And so the first few days passed in a flurry of activity that did not allow time for my previous post mentioned thoughts to settle down.

Those thoughts have still not settled down yet, but now that the flow of teaching has been started, the anxiety that numbed my mind has now given way to a new clarity that allows me to view my surroundings in greater detail and thought.

Same old school, but with new surroundings, being viewed from a different perspective, viewed in a different time frame. We've only left RI for 5 years and RJC for 3 years, but the changes to the school are so great it feels like i've left for 10 years. Management of the school, running of the school, all the way to the physical aspects of the school have been almost thoroughly changed. Listing the changes here would take forever. You guys have to see it and experience it for yourselves. I'll upload a few pictures of the school(jc side) soon(hopefully together with my US pics and maybe my taiwan pics too), and you guys can see for youself just SOME(not all) of the physical changes. I cannot capture all the changes. Every corner you turn, something has changed(and is still changing).

So why do i have photos of RJC(or rather RI, the jc side, as what it's called now)? I decided to walk there! haha since it was
1. so near
2. rjc open house(13th jan)
3. a good opportunity to meet and catch up with former teachers, which i've already done for the RI side.
And so i found ms june tan, who somehow still remembers most(if not all) of us. Tried to look for mr francis chong and mr paul cheong but both were in a meeting. The rest are not around anymore(or so i think). So i spent some time taking in the amazing changes to rj, as well as catching up with random friends i found around school who've gone back for the open house too.
Anyway, i found mr paul cheong today(14th jan). He's still full of rubbish. and rj's staff room is super duper huge.

So for those of you who have yet to visit the school after all this while, do go back and take a look(and be amazed like me). The bridge connecting the new RI block(raja block) and rjc is gone, so walk by the first floor. yup. That's all for now! Gotta rush off for advanced physics lesson. 2 hrs.(knn since when was there 2 hr straight lessons in our time?) Will be posting more stuff(regarding US and school) soon, so dun worry sc!

lalala
ys

Reality

2010-01-09T15:58:00.003+08:00

It's ridiculously classic, hopelessly cliche, yet all the more true, all the more significant for it.

As I sit here, with my hands still reeking of disinfectant, I cannot help but wonder at how much time has passed over the years, and how I simply glossed over certain things. I wonder at the seeming permanence of people, of things, and of the true fleeting transience that can rob you of things most precious without the luxury of an instant's notice.

There are some things I have always been dimly aware of, yet singularly failed to realise its true significance. There are some things I have always taken for granted, until harsh reality had me around the throat, and refused to let go. The helplessness and frustration experienced feeds upon themselves, building with each single moment of helpless waiting. The myriad feelings of anxiety, concern, and worry concentrated and overflowed within my heart, and it was then that I was painfully reminded of the fragile balance my life stood upon, and my life, my family, is not immune to the trials and tribulations that others underwent. I realised the extent of love and concern I felt for my family (yes, and you, my friends, too) completely overwhelmed any petty arguments or squabbles in the past, and I remembered two words which had whispered past my ears so many times, but only now did I truly comprehend its true meaning -- 'Carpe Diem'.

Ordeals bond people together, but I would sooner not go through them, for the ruthless hurt it deals to those people I care about. This particular one may be a relatively minor one, but I can sense the darkness it portends...distant and insignificant, but hauntingly present nonetheless.

I write this not as a simple blog post, but to remind myself of what I felt this day. That one day, when things have all returned to complete (?) normalcy, and everything falls back to the same routine, all things will eventually be taken lightly once more, except perhaps for the light, yet indelible mark, the specter of dread haunting the very back of my mind.

It is inevitable, though I hate to say it, I can see myself with startling clarity -- no matter how hard I try, I will eventually revert back, for it is human nature to do so. Once past, the mind does not dwell overmuch upon certain matters unless one desires it, and it is the nature of all feelings and memories to fade with time. Already, as one feels the familiar surroundings, memories fade. One day, I will read this, and know that I have once thought like this.

Until the next ...which does not even bear thinking about.

Cliche. But there you go. That's life. I'm human too.

As an afterthought, I wonder: Have I been changed, or is it the same me? Is this change permanent? But I cannot say.

spamblog.com

2010-01-05T19:02:00.003+08:00

Ok it's my turn to make a post now. Happy New Year everyone and the best wishes in your endeavours.

before i get started, i would like to highlight again to rard the questions raised previously by ys: what does the number 897, and what's the fine print about? it's ok, you can tell me privately if you don't feel up to posting here =P

right.

New year, same life. well, pretty much, anyway. since ORD, we are now officially out of the jurisdiction of the SAF, and our lives are pretty much our own (except for the ICT i'm already going for THIS year).

I've no job, I'm not studying, I'm not pursuing any active interest. I'm not on holiday, considering that I've just returned from one. And I'm not addicted to games. Strangely enough, I'm not bored. Life is what you make out of it.

Since my life is pretty boring, I'm not going to write about it here.

Instead, I'd like everyone who's free and has time on their hands to consider looking at their life, their memories, and get their minds in order. Consider your mentality and mindset, your thoughts and philosophy, maybe rethink it. Look at yourself in your entirety, your past, your present. Maybe go out and learn more about life itself, all the way until you are perfectly untroubled by most matters. Or until you run out of free time. Learn to accept.

All these years since adolescence and maturity, we've all found ourselves (or at least, I have) caught up in daily commitments: schooling, family, army. Such day-to-day worries and commitments caught us up in the heat of the moment, leaving us breathless without a pause to rest. Any breaks were used for rest and recreation. Then, we were taught to think about thinking (metacognition), but rarely did I find myself thinking about my own mindset. Now's the time. After twenty years of learning about the world, it's time to learn more about yourself. After two decades, if you haven't found out where you're going in life, perhaps it's time to.

Knowledge is gained by schooling, experience is gained by killing creeps. But how is wisdom gained? Certainly not by listening to me. Words of wisdom are pieces of knowledge, nothing more. Wisdom is gained by truly listening to yourself, although a certain degree of arrogance is gained as well from pursuing that path.

The above is an example of what happens when you think too much. You start rambling, but you remain content and feel perfectly at ease. Hurrah.

PS it has been empirically proven that playing slark does NOT cause the team to lose.

reshuffling, reorganising, rearranging

2010-01-02T05:06:00.004+08:00

My mind's a huge jumble of mess now. Too many thoughts, too many things to do, too many things to write, too many things to complete. And worse thing of all is that i'm doing this at 4am in the morning under jet-lagged conditions with a brain that's too excited and won't calm down for me to smoothen out my thoughts. So now, i'm just catching whatever flies out of the mess and throwing them on a piece of paper(or computer) and hopefully i won't miss out anything. HOPEFULLY.

Ok this post is not meant to be a showcase of all the thoughts that are zooming about within the confined space of my skull. So i can guarantee more posts in the near future when i sort things out a little.

So what exactly is this post for? Nothing. Just throwing out a few pieces of mind jumble that came out flying out and looked like they should be posted. so here they are(still in a pretty messy state i think, but better).

Nice revamp of this site gerard. Looks different at one glance, but looks the same as the old one after a longer look. Except the memories slideshow. And the numbers at the top. 897. Any meaning to that? And there're small lines of words which i can't read. Any hidden code within? Haha

And beijing is not that cold, minimum -6 deg? You don't need 4 layers, though that will probably keep you comfortable. You probably didn't try what it feels like in less than 4. so let me give my experience.
Chicago was having a weird period of extreme cold the day i arrived. So normal chicago temperature of -3 to 1(based on last year) was sorely missed. Because the temperature was -20 to -12. The day i arrived was -17. I felt frozen(like seriously), but i was alive. It was tough and really painful to do many things, but i could breathe easily and walk easily. That said, i only had 2 layers on my body and 1 layer on my legs, and no gloves.
I was better prepared later in the day. I felt tempted to change to 4 layers(thermal underwear, t-shirt, hoodie, down jacket), but i was lazy so i went with 3 layers on body and still 1 layer on legs, with gloves this time around. I was perfectly fine. If you're really cold, all you need to do is to pop into a random shop, though i didn't really need to do that.

Furthermore, chicago is known as the 'windy city', and the wind is really f***ed up. That was 1 point in time i nearly fell down to a sudden faggot gust of wind. I'll talk more about this in a later post.

Hence, if 3 layers is fine in -17, i conclude that -6 has no need for 4. haha. ok besides the great wall where winds can be crazy and if you're feeling cold, there'll be no help for you. So bundling up in 4 layers would be smart.

And cool rard, you actually bothered with experimenting with the jade. I doubt many of us would have done so(don't pretend you would, dear readers), and i applaude the action. However, since you actually did, let me suggest a better way of doing that.

Instead of dropping it back in your hotel room, this is what you should have done.
When he was teaching you ppl to differentiate real and fake jade(something about shining some special kind of light and seeing if it's green right? i think i rmb), kindly ask if real jade smashes easily.
He would say NO.(jade is known for its toughness, and is even used in ancient times as weapons)
Then, 'accidentally' drop the free jade in front of him, and watch his fine-spun lie smash to pieces with the jade.
Take a photo of the initial expression on his face, and post it on failblog.org.
Kindly offer to clear up the mess, and ask if you could have a real piece of jade since he must have 'accidentally' mixed up his gift.
Happily leave with the new piece of jade(which he'll give to save his own face, and which has a 90% chance to be real so as to save face in front of all the other tourists).

Oh well, things always look so much easier on hindsight, isn't it?

Oh and i realise that of the last 100 posts, I have have more posts than everyone else combined(52-48), so if this blog is to stay alive, everybody needs to do something. NOT me all the time. And it's weird seeing a request for blog revival that is not written by me, considering all my previous requests have fallen on deaf ears or inactive hands.

Sorry, i'm having weird mood swings now. Need stabilisation. Will be back in awhile. And i hope there'll be a post by the time i come back.

lalala
ys

outing

2009-12-28T21:39:00.002+08:00

Ok so today we had a cooliozzzxxzxzxzx outing in which only the cooliozxxzxzx people were invited. Sherlock holmes was better than expected. After that, we walked into the toilet and luzhou slipped into a puddle of vomit, and had to wash his whole foot and slipper with water for 5 minutes. Congratulations.

The most exciting part came at ben and jerry's where we had a lot of exciting stuff to talk about. And look at. But since we were alone and without LAN we got down to talking about very serious stuff. Which was real nice if you ask me; I really like meeting in small groups so you can get to know people better and catch up.

Also, gerard said some realllll exciting stuff about what preferences he had about stuff in general (actually some were quite specific). As a result, lz made a couple of prank calls which were quite hilarious. Luzhou go post the sound clip lol.

And good job with the layout I'm trying to keep this thing alive. Please assist.

a new beginning

2009-12-27T11:49:00.009+08:00

Hello everyone. Haha omg it has been eons since i last posted on this blog. I don't know how many of u still visit this blog, but I think it's high time for a revival, as observed by misc.

This all started when i realized the gmail acc i'm using is not a member of this blog (omg?). Did some tracking and discovered a super old gmail acc i totally forgot about. So i added my current acc to this blog, explored around abit, and one thing led to another. Poof. A new blog layout haha. If you are reading this from google reader or some other rss feed, u won't see the layout so come along to the blog! Make sure u have plenty of anti-spyware and ad blockers though.

This new layout is because google introduced some new Gadgets thingy, which our old layout isn't compatible with. I tried to retain most of our old stuff by keeping the picture and all, but if any of you suffer from intense nostalgia and want the old layout, I can always switch it back. Okay on your right (--->) is this thing called Follow. You can follow any number of blogger blogs, and subsequently view a consolidated update on your blogger dashboard, or you could link it to your google reader as well (i love how everything is connected nowadays).

Also, there's a photo slideshow of some of the pictures taken during our rjc days in all our fun moments. feel free to take a trip down memory lane and keep your tissue box at hand. i still haven't managed to figure out how to add a chatbox though, so for now the interim solution is to use post comments instead. comment on this post at the bottom to converse with each other. [edit: cbox added. forget comments. it's a lousy idea.]

Alright, now that introduction of the layout is over, on to updates on life.

The following event is exclusively extended only to selected people on a closed invitation basis (lol @ ellen). Those of you who are involved should already know about it. This is a reminder to assemble at Plaza Sing at 1020hrs on 281209. Regardless of whether you turn up or not, you owe luzhou $7.50.

I just returned from Beijing a week ago, and it is really super cold. Sub-zero temperatures of course, but the killer is the wind which constantly bites at your face, leaving your cheeks numb and your ears red, your nose running and your head a perma brain-freeze. Minimum 4 layers of clothing required.

Nothing much to comment about the sights there; usual monuments, architecture, scenery, shopping, etc. 2 comments though, about the lifestyle there. Firstly is the permeating sense of the struggle to be first. The adage 'survival of the fittest' can truly be tangibly observed over there. Be it getting onto the mrt or ordering food over the counter, there is always that rush to get it done first and to do it the best. There is a harshly unforgivable sense of impatience where you are quickly ousted from the game the moment you show a hint of hesitance. People queuing behind you have no qualms of cutting you if you haven't decided what to order, and the counter staff will gladly skip you too.

It is a herd mentality that forces everyone to play by the unwritten rules if one wishes to stay in the game. If you don't play this way, you don't keep up with everyone else, and you'll just be mercilessly swept aside. It's as simple as that.

Of course, more developed parts of Beijing or the more educated younger generation could perhaps be an exception to this. I can't speak for all Beijing but what i saw in my mere 8-day stay there. It does however, make it sound so much more epic when i make such sweeping statements :)

The second point is about the traffic conditions there, which is also linked to the prev point. The cars on the roads simply do not give way to pedestrians, even with a zebra crossing and a green man sign. It is the pedestrians' job to carefully maneuver oneself between the weaving lines of traffic when attempting to cross the road. Underpasses are thus greatly appreciated.

There isn't a rush hour, there's just a rush day and a rushier hour. There is always a traffic jam at all times of the day (while i am awake, anyway), and people sound their horns indiscriminately. You can literally form a melody from the cacophony of blaring horns that sound as you walk along the road.

Okay, i shall end off my Beijing recount with an anecdote. We signed up for one of the local day tours to the Great Wall when we were approached by one of their agents on the ground, since it seemed convenient and cheap. We got cheated btw; they said they would bring us to Ming Tombs after the great wall, but it turned out to be a drive-by

Anyway, (note: pls read the following paragraph in huge inverted commas) nearing the end of the tour, they brought us to some rest station while they re-fuel the coach. Coincidentally, the rest station was in this building that sells jade jewelery, and the tycoon of that jewelery store just became a father of 2 sons that morning. He was overjoyed as his previous 6 children were all girls, and he wanted to share his happiness and blessings with us by giving us all a free piece of jade. But that is not enough, he says. He sincerely wants to be friends with us all on this joyous occasion, and so he offers to teach us how to differentiate between real and fake jade. So he brings us to this exhibition room and proceeded to impart several of his tips. After that, he proclaimed that since this such a blessed day, he will let us buy anything in this room at cost price (read: 1/3 retail value). It was about an hour after we left the coach before we were finally released from that jewelery store.

Subsequently after returning to the hotel, i did an experiment and dropped the free piece of jade onto the floor. It promptly shattered into pieces. I don't know whether jade is supposed to do that, but it got me thinking. If people in Beijing are willing to go to such extent to make a few sales, to spin up such a fantastic story just to win our trust, what is the extent of such trickery and fraud in the supposedly less developed and educated provinces of China? These 8 days have given me a small insight into the kind of background that PRC workers in Singapore come from.

It is now 1.15pm on a Sunday afternoon, and no one has propositioned me with a single Dota game this whole morning! Wth where are all you people and why aren't you at home online keeping me entertained. All you no-life creeps. Lol. Okay let's hope this blog continues to stay alive with more intermittent posts like this one.

lalala

2009-10-21T17:36:00.002+08:00

ok while i know that hardly anyone reads this blog, i pray that, in my absence from singapore for this next week, some one will have read this post and replied to it in one way or another(in reference to the 1st n last point).

Firstly, is there anyone here who flies regularly to the US? Probably not, but i'm still gonna ask anyway. Which airline is best for a trip to chicago? ANA, UA? Please take into account the airfare prices. Please reply. Thanks.

Secondly, if there's gonna be another christmas gathering this year, i'll apologise in advance for missing it the third time in a row. No true fault on my part though. J2 i had mr shah's wedding, J3 i had deployment(ops vigilant lion), and this year i'm gonna be overseas. so yup.

Thirdly, if anybody wants anything from taiwan, sms me by tonight and i will reply you. Alternatively, sms me anytime over the period of next week and i'll consider your request but NOT reply you.

Lastly, anybody has any nice songs please tell me. wait let me phrase it better. Nice as in you personally feel it's your favorite song or 1 of your favorites(due to one reason or another). reply me the song name(and singer preferably) pls. kind of like i love the song "Whatever it takes" by lifehouse. yup cuz i'm no music expert and i know there're definitely alot of nice songs of different genres out there that i don't know of.

ok that's all. Thanks in advance to anyone who replies(email, blog post, tagboard, or whatever method you like).

Mirror Image?

2009-10-19T21:31:00.002+08:00

With the release of DotA Allstars 6.63, a new load screen was introduced as well, artwork by Kunkka. For those who are as yet unaware, the tall, dark, intimidating dudes on horseback in the foreground (and in the background, too) are actually Chaos Knight and his images. Notice that one of them holds his weapon in his left hand, the other holds it in his right. Technical error or literally mirror images?

Image courtesy of Kunkka

To the island!!! and back

2009-09-23T20:44:00.003+08:00

So right after Army Open House concluded, with me having gained the ability to smile continuously for 10 hours straight, i was shipped off to THE island.

Where i traded that ability for a new one that sustains me through movies for 10 hrs straight.

Welcome to tekong!!! Where a new(relatively) operation that we are undertaking to protect the island and its trainees is well under way. Shan't reveal much details here, for fear of getting my ass shipped off to db with only 1 month left to ORD.

All i can say is that tekong seems hotter than ever, and i've become a new museum exhibit named "The Human Lobster" after spending 3 hrs swimming in tekong pool.

My skin is bloody pain and itchy now. knn.

Oh well, till the next deployment then.

ys

this is good

2009-08-13T18:16:00.003+08:00

Who wants to go watch?

2009-08-11T20:28:00.000+08:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/movies/22raimi.html?_r=1

What do you see?

2009-08-01T23:22:00.004+08:00

NDP 2009 is just round the corner. As with every year, an integral part of NDP is the theme song. And this year's theme song is following in the footsteps of recent NDP theme songs. That is, heavily criticized. The tune is too moody, lyrics not good blah blah blah...

But pause. wait a while. and take a closer look. This year's theme song is a ROCK song, as opposed to previous years' pop songs. It may not appeal to the general masses as much as the cheery tunes of pop songs, but that does not mean it's a bad song. In fact, it's a good song. I must admit that when I heard electrico would be composing this year's theme song, I expected something better, but this is good enough. Come on, it's the first real rock song we have for NDP!

So how would i compare this song to past year's songs? If you asked me to rate it, i would give it an 8.5/10. Let's look at past year songs and see how they would compare.

1998 - home, kit chan - 9/10
1999 - together, evelyn and dreamz fm - 9/10
moments of magic, tanya, fann and elsa - 9/10
2000 - shine on me, mavis and jai wahab - 7.5/10
2001 - where i belong, tanya chua - 9/10
2002 - we will get there, stefanie - 9.5/10
2003 - one united people, stefanie - 9/10
a place in my heart, sean wong - 7/10
2004 - home, young voices - 9/10
2005 - reach out for the skies, taufik and rui en - 8/10
2006 - my island home, kaira gong - 8.5/10
2007 - there's no place i'd rather be, kit chan - 6.5/10
will you, various artists - 7.5/10
2008 - shine for singapore, hady mirza - 7.5/10

so yup, as you can tell i disliked 2007's songs. kinda sucked in my opinion. Anyway, there's actually a chinese version for this year's song as well. '就在这里' Bet you didn't know that! yup. it has a mrbrown version too! lol.

Anyway, happy birthday singapore!

Le kua simi?

Deathly hallows

2009-07-26T20:27:00.000+08:00

K before i go on, let me remind lz and sc that there's still 2 unpublished drafts written long ago before this post. just finish them and post them ok? mai tu liao.

So i spent the whole of today doing nothing except reading up on HP's last book. which i have to admit that yiting is right. to really refresh yourself, you have to start from the first book. damn. but since i already have this last book, i shall just finish it first before i get the rest i suppose. oh well.

and i'm running out of money. too much treats and stupid nights outs. lol.

lalala

backkkk

2009-07-07T22:28:00.002+08:00

so. I realised that you just have sign in to gmail to be able to blog. wow.

anyway. Organising a class outing isn't that hard what chinee. Given that most of the guys:
1. Are in army
2. Book out on fridays
3. Have nothing better to do,
all it takes is an sms and 4 hours later you'll see everyone at dhoby ghaut. except just make sure to key in all the numbers correctly if not some people will think they're not invited and get very sad. hor kelvin. and i couldnt get some of you guys sorry!

was great to meet up anyway and just sit down and talk. I think that's really fun, because then you can talk about very exciting things. like lz's preferred specialisation in the medical field.

ys: confinement always sucks. just suck it up man. i know how hard it is, and especially with ord coming soon you don't expect this kinda thing. anyway just wanted to clarify some stuff. contrary to what you might think, I do think about what I say (haha), and I meant it when I said you were difficult. Maybe you could spare a thought for the rest of the guys. First of all, we always would want to accommodate you since you're a part of the class, so I really hope you didn't mean it when you said you had better things to do and did not ask us to accommodate you anyway. After everything that everyone and especially xunyong did to work around your schedule, I don't think it's fair to them at all for you to say that. It was never going to have anything to do with me since I was going home anyway whether or not you guys were gonna catch transformers, so I can safely say I was very objective through the episode.

I understand that you came only for the movie, but don't you think that everything would have worked out equally well had you not shown a black face right from the start of discussions about movie plans? Even then, isn't catching up with friends more important than catching a movie? I always show up for gatherings knowing full well they always degen into lan outings, but the hour or so of catching up is good enough for me. Do I get annoyed when all everyone else wants to do is lan even when it is such a time-consuming, life-wasting, geek-creating, bad-posture-and-health-causing activity? Of course I do, but do I make a big fuss out of it and insist you do it my way (i.e. walking around and looking at exciting stuff)? No, because I know you guys really get a kick out of it and that it constitutes the only fun and laughter that luzhou gets in his life, considering his luck in other stuff. Sure, the circumstances that day might have been slightly different, what with your upcoming confinement and all, but it was supposed to be a celebratory lunch for txy after all (and a chance for us to get our very first meal on him). Just think about it.

I don't mince my words and only say what I mean. So treat this objectively; it's not personal. Don't worry.

Anyway, congrats to txy again. From the moment he signed on I could see this coming because despite appearances he's quite smart and wouldn't have signed on otherwise (i think). And chinee's getting fat. Like luzhou. As in lz was always there, chinee's just catching up now.

Ok so since it's so easy to blog can everyone just do so. then if enough people show support for the idea we can pressure txy to treat lunch again. I think it's a great idea for our next class outing.

The calm before the storm

2009-07-06T20:45:00.003+08:00

3 more weeks of shit begins in less than an hours time. so here i am writing this, hoping to clear things up, get things out before i disappear off the singapore mainland.

Firstly, sunday. I'd like to apologise to chin ee for using him as scapegoat when u guys kind of treated me badly. I regret the outburst, but i do not think i need to apologise for it. Let's see it from my point of view.

I'm about to be confined for a period so long off mainland none of you would have experienced before(it's longer than your BMT confinement). This means i'll have to wash my own clothes, survive on SFI rations, so on and so forth. That doesn't really figure in the picture, so i shan't elaborate. but the thing is, by the time i come out, i'm not sure transformers 2 would still be showing. and even if it is, i doubt i can find anybody who hasn't watched it yet. and i want to watch it, hopefully with somebody. Which is why I PANGSEH MY ODAC FRENS WHO WERE AT EAST COAST TO GO OUT WITH YOU GUYS. with that, i specifically told xun yong over the phone that i'm coming MAINLY for the movie. which is why if u guys dun wanna watch it, you could have told me earlier, i have better things to do. and there goes jameson saying i'm hard to accommodate. like hey, did i ask u guys to accommodate me? NO. you guys could have called me earlier to say if you guys dun wanna watch the movie. so THINK before u talk next time jameson. In the end, i was prepared to go watch the movie alone. which would have left a really bad taste in my mouth cuz i
1. could have watched a weekday movie myself at cheaper prices and better location
2. could have gone out with my odac frens
3. need not rush out of my house right after lunch.
Thankfully, chin ee helped clear things up. and shun cheng's eagerness to watch it helped too. Thanks guys.

Secondly, Damn the confinement cuz i'm going to miss liverpool's entire stay in sg. like wtf? my team comes down all the way to sg and i'm effing deployed. knn.

So thirdly, i went to get my 3 weeks worth of dota in the past few days. with amazing results! play 14, win 12 lose 2. wooh. and once was with chin ee's two noob frens who just started dota. the other loss coming from sc randoming spider then dun want so he took my th. lol. but then again, i had randomed th too many times le. haha. many thanks to tidehunter(x 3), tinker, lina, windrunner, ogre magi, pugna, morphling, earthshaker, lion, obsidian destroyer for making those games great. so till aug, see ya!

noobify†™
lalala
ys

H1N1 and deployment

2009-07-03T21:31:00.009+08:00

*Long Post Warning* - Do not read when sleepy

The past week has been crappy, and it can only get worst. I think karma has finally arrived. so much for my slack posting.

Anyway, let's start from the very beginning of the crap and how things actually looked great then. And for analysis sake, let's use the happiness index always found in the New Paper. For those who dun know what it is, it's just a random number used in an attempt to measure happiness. Let's start with 50 on the morning of 20th june 2009.

200609 1100 hrs. My 'sis' just came back from chicago! So i went out with her the whole day. dim sum buffet, pool, window shopping, jap restaurant dinner. wooh. +30 = 80

210609 1500 hrs. My relatives all came my house to celebrate fathers' day. hell of a ruckus.but it's fun and at 3 o'clock they wanted to go swimming so i brought them there and manged to get a good swim myself too. yay. +15 = 95

220609 1100 hrs. It's a monday but i'm using one of my 21 days off in army so i dun hav to go back camp. Went out with my sis whole day again. kbox, esplanade, her hse. Met up with chun tsen, kang wei and kin wai who all went her hse. yay. Catch up with so many frens at one shot. wootz. +30 = 125

220609 2200 hrs. Received news from my bunk mate that 1 alpha coy personnel in maju camp(my camp) is h1n1 positive and that all of us may be confined. wtf. quickly called chinny to confirm with me prawning date b4 i go back to camp.. -10 = 115

230609 1000 hrs. I have a medical review for my knee so i'm still not back in camp yet. chinny confirmed prawning date, my med review told me that my knee cmi need more physio sessions. Called camp to inform them i hav physio appts so can't go back camp else i can't come out. Off was granted by PC. +10 = 125

240609 1700 hrs. Received ill news from camp. OC wants EVERYBODY back unless u're dying or smthing. sucks. sounds like an order to go back to camp to get infected. Left 4 Dead comes to mind. I have to go back and at the same time cancel my physio appt. knn. -25 = 100

240609 2230 hrs. Back in camp. The atmosphere was shitty. The air has this still dead feeling. places sealed off, signs hung up here and there. Many changes have been implemented. Learnt from an officer that total confirmed cases is now 8. Meeting chun tsen and kang wei again at clementi and learning that a tv has myseriously appeared in my bunk lessens the damage considerably though. -5 = 95

250609 1200 hrs. Our camp has made front page news. Only the headlines elude us. Republic Poly took it. Theorize that if our cases continue to surge we might just get it. -5 =90

270609 0800 hrs. It's a saturday! but i'm in camp. and i just learned that we now have 18 cases. And i'm gonna miss my prawning date. knn. -40 = 50

280609 1000 hrs. It's sunday, i'm in camp. only good thing abt this is that i wun get monday blues. lol. and kudos to camp personnel who have come up with various ways to liven up the time in there.

290609 1500 hrs. CO wants to separate the deployment personnel(those who are going on ops) from those who are non-deployed ppl. A simple instruction, but some stupid BLACK PS from surveillance platoon took things in his own hands and ask everybody to pack ALL our things and move out so he can rearrange bunks, without doing the planning first. Result? 90% of the coy went back to their own bunks. Complete wastage of time and effort. btw, i'm not racist. It's just that that guy is asshole. -10 = 40

290609 1600 hrs. CO brings us bad news. He says deployment personnel will have to stay back after quarantine is lifted so we can go for ops. like wtf. 2 week ops plus after ops need quarantine. A quick calculation reveals that it'll mean 5 weeks consecutively in camp. holy shit. transformers 2 may even be out of cinemas by then. -40 = 0

290609 2200 hrs. Confusion has been cleared up. We are deploying as second batch of personnel so we get to come out for a week first, before going back in for a long long time that would mean it'll be august by the time i come out. +10 = 10

300609 0800 hrs. Official quarantine stand down timing is at 1400 hrs. which means we get to go out after that. but i'm the COS today so i wun be going out any time soon. -10 = 0

010709 1000 hrs. Finally completely handed over my COS duty. cuz my takeover is a first timer so i had to help him do almost everything. but it's ok, i'm finally out going out. first thing me gonna do is to have a nice long hot shower. wooh. then i'll login to facebook(wah rarity leh) and update my status for the FIRST time. yay. +10 =10

Fast forward to 060709 2200 hrs. I'll be back in camp again, and i'll only come out in aug. how sian is that? worse than recruit. that's y i say things can only get worse...

So anybody wanna watch transformers? else i go in come out sure gone le. lol.

lalala
ys

Upcoming meteor showers

2009-06-23T20:28:00.003+08:00

ok random matters first before i proceed to the above-mentioned topic.

Firstly, i'm damn high and happy now that my 'sister' is back from chicago! One year since i last saw her le.

Secondly, i'm free for a week cuz i can't go back to my camp. it's quarantined off cuz of a confirmed h1n1 case inside. shan't say more cuz i dunno if this is classified or not.

Now back to my favorite topic - astronomy. Half the year has gone, and many meteor showers have gone by, from weak ones like delta velids to strong ones like quadrantids. but there're plenty more to come! Nobody will bother about weak ones, so here's a list of upcoming strong showers.

Perseids - With a zenithal hourly rate(zhr) of about 90, it's a great shower. except that this year, it could be even better! Astronomers predict that this year's activity could peak unusually at 116, like last year. This hasn't exactly been explained yet.
Peak date: 12 august

Orionids - Not a very strong shower normally, but it's nearing its 12 year cycle of unusual peaks and this year could be it! usual peak is 20 per hour, but it could go up to 30 this year.
Peak date: 21 october

Geminids - Probably the finest, and the most reliable meteor shower. With a consistent zhr of 120, it's a feast for the eyes. but i kinda watched this too many times le. The last time round with xy and jasper.
Peak date: 14 december

Quadrantids - Another 120 zhr meteor shower, this one's next year so i'm not sure when the peak date is.
Peak date: 1-5 january 2010

lalala i suddenly got urge to view meteor showers, which is why i'm posting this. lol

ys

Class Outing Poll!

2009-06-14T17:50:00.003+08:00

okies!

i passed my exams so i'm damn happy! lets have a class outing! (: wohoo..

what are the dates that you all are free?

sc suggested that after nat day.. since most of you all are involved in nat day.. so yea. but i start school after nat day. so hmmm but i can arrange.. maybe i skip one day school? lol..

anyway, july which dates you all free? other than weekdays which i noe le (:

yupp!

you all prefer:

Early Afternoon Activity:
Cycling/rollerblade
K Box
Bowling/Pool/Lan
Sentosa
Senkang water sports complex
Escape theme park
Ice Skating (kallang)
Movie
Others - pls specify

Evening Activity:
Buffet
Pot luck
Chill in Chalet - Cater in
Buy food & Dine by the beach
Others -pls specify

SMS --->

[Early Morning Activity] , [ Evening Activity] , [Dates Free]

to 96260212 NOW!!!

Left 4 Dead 2!

2009-06-06T20:03:00.002+08:00

November 17 2009

The zombie apocalypse just got extended.

"the title adds melee combat to enable deeper co-operative gameplay, with items such as a chainsaw, frying pan, axe, baseball bat, and more. "

let's wait for it.

lalala

Thailand

2009-06-04T14:42:00.004+08:00

After 2.5 weeks spent in thailand, i'm finally back home. needless to say, it's good to be back. and a big thanks to all those who remembered my birthday!

Thailand wasn't so bad, except for the ingrown toenail and my viral infection in the other toe. Unfortunately, I can't say much else about my experiences with tarantulas and overgrown insects, beautiful night skies, daily CAT 1s, bogged down vehicles, and the bits and pieces of Thai which I learned...just this: the Thai canteen was great, and I frequented its computer shop whenever possible. Oh, and coconut ice cream is IMBA. mango sticky rice too.

Time passes so fast - it seems only a short while ago that I boarded the plane for thailand. It's going to be NDP prep now, and pretty soon, it's going to be ORD.

Girl review

2009-05-22T21:48:00.003+08:00

Ok i meant to give an overall review on the visits, but since gerard asked for a review on the girls involved, why not do it? So i mashed the 2 reviews together, and here it is.

Ok the visits and girls i'm talking about have been mentioned before(if you dunno, just scroll down to the blog entry titled 'visits'). They are the visits to our camp by the entire CJC j1 cohort, as well as 600 trainee teachers from NIE.

Before i start, i would like to thank CJC(esp the girls) and NIE for their attendance. I earned 4 days off because of you guys. A big THANK YOU! ok before u guys think i'm a perv or something i thank the cj girls esp because of all the screams and noises they made in reaction to our mock intrusion display. That convinced our OC that we had put up a very good performance and helped us with the 4 days. Which means i have 18 days off now. yeah.

So to those who think that the 4 days came easy, allow me to say that it was hard work ok. Waking up early in the morning to set things up by 7 am is no joke. Machine guns, assault rifles and grenade launchers had to be drawn for the shooting gallery, equipment weighing 80kg had to be brought up the stairs for the static display segment. But all in all, it was great seeing the delighted faces of our visitors, who came in 2 waves, 1 in the morning, 1 in the afternoon, for both days.

Which brings me to something i observed. Wave 2(afternnon waves) always has prettier and cuter girls. serious. For CJC, i was wondering how a school known for high pregnancy rates can have an assortment of girls who are only about average looking after seeing the first group. That is, until the 2nd wave came. That group had some pretty ones, alot of cute ones, some average ones and a few crap ones. Holy shit. How often do you ever get such percentages?

As for NIE, the percentages of pretty ones among girls were roughly the same for both waves. However, wave 2 consisted of like 95% females. Don't ask me why, i don't know why either. So small percentage still churned out quite a number of them =)

So looks wise, how would i rate the girls from both institutions? CJC 7.5/10 NIE 1.5/10

yup. but if all you care about are looks, you are one shallow freak. so let's look at other characteristics. CJC first. CJC girls are really cute and bubbly. kinda reminds me of trish. Some are really daring(oh machine gun! let me try it!), while alot of them are rather shy(hey you fired the gun yet? no? wanna try? come on, it's a once in a lifetime experience for you. Come? hey just come lah, it won't hurt, i promise. come on...). Most of them are very short(a girl named elizabeth looked shorter than 1.5m, while another, debra, looks 1.55). They scream and shriek alot, and love to spam camo cream on their friends(reminds me of what gen and gang did to me at gerard's house).

As for NIE, i would say they're alot more mature. Most are more sporting, and willingly try things out. They ask more questions and listen to you more attentively when you explain things to them. More professional, i would put it. And they are pretty tall. I didn't ask for their names(unlike CJ, lol), so i can't give examples. yup.

Ok with that, i leave you with a few interesting things and quotes i got from the visits.

1. Machine guns give off a one-time-only invisible shockwave on JC ppl. The first time the machine gun fired off, all the CJC ppl took a few steps back in recoil. yes, ALL of them.

2. Dogs perform much better to cheers. CJ ppl didn't realise(during our mock intrusion display) that our canine had been unleashed and was charging at the intruder, so the dog ran really really slowly, like taking a stroll in the park like that, as if waiting for a response. NIE, who were cheering the dog even before it was unleashed, saw the dog sprint at a speed i never saw before in all the rehearsals.

now the quotes.

1."Wah, this is even better than CJ food." random cjc guy, refering to the combat rations. wow.

2."Why don't you look up your own skirt?" a cjc girl's response to her friend, who was holding a portable camera system used to search cars, after she told her she could see her face on the screen.

3."Did i hit the target?" a very excited cjc girl, asking after she had fired the SAR21 with M203 attachment. We were firing BLANKS, btw.

4. To those who are wondering how the conversation went on for 2 and 3, here it is. For 2, which happened in front of me(i was the one who passed them the camera system), there was damn awkward silence right after that cuz i blanked out and dunno what to say. I ended the silence in the end by asking if they're done with it.

For 3, which happened to my friend beside me, it went
"Did i hit the target?" silence for a while, clearly stunned by the question.
"Yes."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Ok! Thanks!" Turning to her group of friends, "Hey, i hit the target leh... ..."
I'm seriously wondering who's gonna burst her bubble, seeing that she's so happy and excited. well done lah, my friend.

CR0WND

2009-05-16T18:30:00.005+08:00

CR0WND
Kill a Witch with a single headshot.

Yup i got it before with extreme tyconess, when my friend startled the witch accidentally and just ran like crazy. I rushed to his aid and fired a single shot, bringing down the witch. achievement gotten through pure tyconess, so i set out today to achieve it without fluke.

ta-da

Maybe it's tyco again? Let's do it one more time then.

woot lack of fluke confirmed.

The witch doesn't scare me anymore.

Some more!!!

2009-05-15T22:35:00.007+08:00

Ok i did it. akimbo assasin and unbreakable. woot! something which didn't sound possible has been done! yep.

101 CREMATIONS

Set 101 Infected on fire.

UNBREAKABLE

Finish a campaign without ever using a first aid kit on yourself.

AKIMBO ASSASSIN

Survive an entire campaign using only pistols.

the other minor ones are

DO NOT DISTURB

Sneak past all Witches in a campaign without disturbing one.

STAND TALL

Survive a campaign without being incapacitated.

MERCY KILLER

Survive the No Mercy campaign.

The Konami Code

2009-05-11T21:53:00.001+08:00

Well well, it seems cheat codes don't just limit themselves to video games huh?

If you dunno what i'm talking about, one day you'll know.

If you know, good for you! Qte pointless anyway. lol

lalala
ys

another achievement finally!

2009-05-10T20:18:00.003+08:00

yay spinal tap! and if you are wondering wat's wrong with the name, it's my bro's i couldn't be bothered to change it, that's why. simply played under my bro's name. yup.

And blogger refuse to upload my other screenshot. which was a more cool and harder to get achievement. dead giveaway! anway, if you were wondering what they are about, here it is.

DEAD GIVEAWAY

Heal a fellow Survivor when your own health is below 10.

SPINAL TAP

Kill an Infected with a single blow from behind.

Civil Military Relations

2009-05-03T21:12:00.002+08:00

It's the first time I felt something remotely positive when doing duty. I helped somebody and it felt good, which did absolutely nothing in relieving the pain of having to spend 34hrs of my weekend in camp.

I was the Gd Cmd on Saturday, around 0230, some civilians approached the gate. They said that when playing soccer on a field just outside the camp, the ball got kicked over the fence into my camp. Initially I sent 2 guards to look for it but they were unsuccessful, I told the guy we could not find it and asked him to leave his contact. I could see his disappointment and he must have thought 't0k c0ck 1, even if they found it surely they'll k0pe it for themselves'. I told my Gd2 to stand in for me and I went to search for the ball personally. I realized that it's in a restricted area which required me to draw the gate key from the Ops room. I retrieved the ball eventually and returned it to the grateful owner on Sunday morning at the end of my shift.

I feel that this is an examplary textbook display of good CMR, I should be promoted to LG and awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, then maybe I can abolish NS and become a hero of the people(read males >16.5y/o)

Visits

2009-05-03T16:58:00.003+08:00

A whole load of propaganda. But it's good propaganda! that's what they say. Our camp is hosting 2 visits and paying another organisation a visit to showcase and display stuff. Static display, like what i've always done since coming to maju camp. I should like be given 2 years work experience in marketing in my resume lor.

Going to civil service college soon, then back to back visits by CJC(yes CJC!!! dun get pregnant in our camp pls, it's not cool) and NIE(y wld trainee teachers visit our camp?).

But it's ok! i'm kinda looking forward to CJ and NIE visits. Ought to be interesting!

P.S ok chinny and rard and sc, will cook for u ppl if i hav the chance and the time! but then again, chances and time are hard to come by this days. esp chances.

Next post: 10 may 09

Happy Birthday again!

2009-04-27T22:53:00.003+08:00

Yup happy birthday again! This time to my mum!

Ok her birthday was definitely going to be more than just a few warcraft pics so those now famous pics of mine are not around. Instead I cooked her a special meal! Some Spanish(I think) thingy called quiche and some salmon with Italian herbs. Sounds cool? Sadly, it didn’t really turn out as cool as it sounded.

But it was still good! Though there were many minor hiccups along the way of my foray back into cooking after a break of more than 1 year. The last time I can remember cooking was at paul cheong’s house I think… I havn’t cooked since entering army.

So started off with the simple task of cooking the veg. Everything had been cut washed and prepared nicely when I realize that my mum had changed the place we put our cooking oil since a yr ago. And I can’t find it. holy shit. Worse still, after I found it, I realized that I hadn’t chop the garlic. Up there lah, I’m pretty sure that 2 years ago I would never have forgotten these things.

Anyway, after veg and mushrooms are done and transferred into a nice pot for the next stage of cooking, it looks like this

From UBERCOOLKIAs! :)

Now the eggs and milk, I must say my egg beating skills just rock. My house DOESN”T HAVE AN EGG BEATER, so I beat it with a spoon. To perfection =) ok fine, near perfection. End product looks like this

From UBERCOOLKIAs! :)

Add it to the bowl of veg and mushies, add parmesan and cheddar cheese and bake, and the quiche is done! And it’s good!!! Only bad thing is that there’s way too much.

From UBERCOOLKIAs! :)

A bowl this size is >>> 3 ppl. Way too much for 3 ppl. But still qte happy wif it.

Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the salmon, so I shan’t really say much abt it. It’s good tasting, but not as good as I tot it would be. Below expectation. Yup. Anyway, the final thing looks like this

From UBERCOOLKIAs! :)

Yup yup happy birthday!

Next estimated post date: 1-3 may 09

Happy Birthdays!

2009-04-21T22:14:00.006+08:00

ok i'm at it again.

AND

ok i know gerard's one abit cram despite using short form. And chinny's one have to use initials else too long. but nonetheless i hope they're ok! enjoy ur birthdays! chinny past 1 day while gerard's one will be spent in taiwan. lol

Next estimated post date: 26 april 09

yet another article

2009-04-18T21:32:00.003+08:00

lol i wanted to post about something else one, but this article caought my eye. So this post first, the something else another time. Here it is.

Bad mood, better recall, researchers find

SYDNEY (AFP) - - People grumbling their way through the grimness of winter have better recall than those enjoying a carefree, sunny day, Australian researchers have found.

The University of New South Wales team used a Sydney news agency to test whether people's moods had an impact on their ability to remember small details.

Researchers placed 10 small items on the shop counter, including a toy cannon, red bus and a piggy bank, and quizzed shoppers about what they remembered seeing upon their exit.

Lead researcher Joseph Forgas said subjects were able to remember three times as many items on cold, windy, rainy days when there was sombre classical music playing as they were when conditions were sunny and bright.

Rainy-day shoppers were also less likely to have false memories of objects that weren't there, said Forgas.

"We predicted and found that weather-induced negative mood improved memory accuracy," he wrote in the study, which was published in the latest edition of the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

"Shoppers in a negative mood showed better memory and higher discrimination ability."

Forgas said a worse mood helped to focus people's attention on their surroundings and led to a more thorough and careful thinking style, while happiness tended to reduce focus and increase both confidence and forgetfulness.

"This finding suggests that some allowance for such mood effects could be incorporated in applied domains such as legal, forensic, counselling and clinical practice," he said.

ok point of article? study when u're in a bad mood when it's raining outside =)

Next estimated post date: 19-21 april 09

how to improve your eyesight

2009-04-10T22:35:00.002+08:00

I chanced upon this article a few days ago.

PARIS (AFP) - - Slaying hordes of bad guys -- the more the better -- in fast-paced video games improves vision, a study published Sunday showed for the first time.

Far from being harmful to eyesight, as some had feared, action games such as Counter-Strike, Call of Duty, or Left 4 Dead provide excellent training for what eye doctors call contrast sensitivity, the study found.

Contrast sensitivity is the ability to notice tiny changes in shades of grey against a uniform background, and is critical to everyday activities such as night driving and reading. It often degrades with age.

The findings, published in Nature Neuroscience, reveal a previously unsuspected adaptability in the brain, and could open the way to new therapies, the researchers said.

"This is not a skill that people were supposed to get better at by training," said Daphne Bavelier, a professor at the University of Rochester in New York state and the study's lead researcher.

"It was something that we corrected for at the level of the optics of the eye -- to get better contrast detection you get glasses or laser surgery."

"What we found is that even without this correction you can help your brain make better use of whatever information is received from your retina," she said in a phone interview.

For the study, Bavelier and three colleagues conducted two sets of experiments.

In the first, they compared the contrast sensitivity of hard-core action game players with video game aficionados of the same age who preferred less rapid-fire fare.

In action games, players typically target and shoot figures that pop up suddenly on a computer screen.

The researchers found that the action buffs were 50 percent more efficient at detecting contrast.

But there remained a chicken-or-egg question: had their vision been improved by playing, or did they become action game players because they had better than average contrast sensitivity to start with?

To find out, Bavelier asked two groups of non-action video game players to undergo 50 hours of training. One played a popular point-and-shoot game called Call of Duty, and the other played a game that offered a rich visual experience, but one bereft of action.

"We found that the people in the first group improved by 43 percent, and the other group not at all," she said.

As important, the study also found that the improvement was not transitory. "The positive effect remained months, even years after training, indicating long-lasting gains," she added.

Is there some limit beyond which playing action games loses its positive effect or becomes detrimental? Can you, in other words, have too much of a "good thing"?

"For your visual system, probably not. For your social life, perhaps," said Bavelier.

yup end of article.

wah this could actually be used as an excuse to play left 4 dead huh. though i havn't played that for more than a month cuz nobody plays wif me =(

and that, along wif the fact that my warcraft 3 is not patched up, means i havn't played comp games wif anyone for more than a month le. oh yeah!

Next estimated post date: 12 or 18-19 april 09

lalala

2009-04-08T21:58:00.002+08:00

Ok it's been more than a month since i made that random emo post that turned out to be the last post on this blog for a long long time. That fact changes today. NOW.

And since calls for the rest of the ppl involved in this blog to do something abt reviving the blog has gone rather unanswered, i shall treat this like it's my own little blog(wooh no need to go through trouble of creating own blog!!!) and post random stuff. which chances are will not concern much abt the rest of this class. which won't really matter cuz i bet 70% of the class will not read this anyway. think it'll just be me, rard, sc, lz and occasionally jameson. hmm. 5 ppl. looks like the 70% is an underestimation then.

ok to keep this blogging going, i'll post the expected date of the next post at the end of every post. That gives me no reason to slack off, and give readers an estimated date of coming back to the blog instead of checking repeatedly to find it not updated which puts ppl off.

The revival/transformation starts now.
Next estimated post date: 9-10 april 09

random thoughts

2009-02-26T22:23:00.002+08:00

Something never fails to bewilder me. How can anything go wrong in a short time? It would logically seem that something that takes a thousand years to build would require at least hundreds of years to take down, but things just don't seem to work that way. Empires that take hundreds of years to build can be crushed in a few days. A castle that takes years to build can be defeated in hours. A piece of work painstakingly done over a few days can be gone in mins. And friendships built over 4 years can be gone in a week.

Now that we do not have an answer as to why things can go wrong in such a short time, we think about what could have caused it to go wrong. but usually the answer will evade the seeker for a long time. It takes long studies by generations down the road to finally figure out how an empire collapsed in a few days. It takes structural engineers and warfare historians months to figure out how a castle did not withstand an attack. It takes weeks, months, even years before you figure out why someone would destroy a piece of work you spent so much time on. but sadly, lost friendships are seldom figured out.

Why? Why is it that while it takes a long time to figure out some things, some things are never figured out? If you bring it with regards to friendship, the answer is surprisingly simple. EGO.

A mutual trust that disappears between people may leave the people involved stunned as to why it can happen. But if they are looking for an answer, they need not look any further than at themselves. This is when ego comes in. It steps in, shields the people from the answer, and leave red herrings everywhere, usually at other people. Few people realise that when friendships are lost, usually BOTH OR ALL the parties involved are at fault. It is seldom the fault of anyone solely. Yet ego tends to block this from being seen, from being realised.

Anyway, moving on to another thought, ever since something happened a few years back, i'm been pretty obsessed with this number 30 000. especially if this number is linked to finances. How much difference can $30 000 do to a person? to his family? A lot, it seems, at this point in time. Sleepless nights, quarrels, brainstorming, changes in attitude, bonds forged, bonds broken. You name it, you probably have it. Both fortunately and unfortunately, this changes take place internally, and is seldom detected by anyone not involved, unless they are esp observant and close to the people involved. Fortunate because it keeps out unwanted nosying by unwanted people, unfortunate because some close friends or potentially close friends do not understand the change, do not understand the circumstances, do not understand the gravity of the circumstances. People who have not been involved with this number, 30 000, do not fully understand the actions, mentality, and attitude of people who are involved. This makes it tough for people involved to fit in with the rest. Life has always been a juggling act, and this juggling act just got tougher.

Anyway, i always believed in the saying that no one is irreplaceable. but yet, i'm being forced to eat my own words. and in dire circumstances as well. It brings to mind something mentioned in "the day the earth stood still", that only in dire circumstances do people change. Why? Wouldn't it be better off if people changed before encountering those circumstances?

It's ok. I've learned many lessons. And i'll remember them. every single one of them.

.. ..-. .- --. .. .-. .-.. - .... .-. --- .-- ... .- - .- -. - .-. ..- -- --..-- -.. --- -. --- - .... .- -. --. ..- .--.

left 4 dead achievements

2009-02-22T17:22:00.003+08:00

I recently realised that there's an achievements thingy in left 4 dead. These achievements are given to you when you do something special, sort of like a quest like that. There are 50 of them, and i've managed to achieve 30 of them(most qte easy one). The other 20 are not easy, and need the team to be well co-ordinated. It's hard to explain without seeing it, so let's just see what they are.

Some of the easy ones which i've done and i'm sure all of you can do:

DRAG AND DROP
Rescue a Survivor from a Smoker's tongue before he takes damage.

PYROTECHNICIAN
Blow up 20 Infected in a single explosion.

TOWERING INFERNO
Light a Tank with a Molotov.

and the list goes on. let's look at the harder ones which i've done(qte proud of some of them).

CLEAN KILL
Shove a Boomer and then kill him without him splashing on anyone.

TANKBUSTERS
Kill a Tank without it dealing any damage to a Survivor.

WITCH HUNTER
Kill a Witch without any Survivor taking damage from her.

BACK 2 HELP
Leave a safe room to save an incapped teammate and bring them back safely.

All 4 Dead
Kill all four Survivors on one life as a Tank.

CR0WND
Kill a Witch with a single headshot.
(This one was damn tyco, did it once and then nvr managed it again)

MAN VS TANK
Single-handedly kill a Tank.
(WOOT)

So if i've already gotten all these y do i still want to play? Why do i want all of you to play and get more pro? cuz 1. it's fun and 2. my friend challenged me to get some of the achievements he has gotten(which i havn't), and i can't do them without a good team. like these...

JUMP SHOT
Headshot a Hunter while he's leaping.
(ok this one not so much abt the team, just need to be abit more tyco. like the one i did to the witch)

AKIMBO ASSASSIN
Survive an entire campaign using only pistols.
(this is what i mean by need a good team)

UNBREAKABLE
Finish a campaign without ever using a first aid kit on yourself.

STOMACH UPSET
All Survivors complete a campaign without being vomited on.

SAFETY FIRST
Play an entire campaign with no Survivors taking friendly fire damage.

And hopefully i can complete some which he hasn't completed yet. like these...

ZOMBICIDAL MANIAC
Survive any campaign on Expert.

UNTOUCHABLES
No Survivors take damage after contacting the rescue vehicle.

WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO PROVE?
Survive all campaigns on Expert.

NOTHING SPECIAL
Survive a campaign with no Survivors taking damage from Special Infected.

Whee. so wanna play when we have the time? When i come back from prowling arnd the airport. which is some time arnd may. lol sad.

MORE games!

2009-02-15T10:09:00.002+08:00

Haha our blog came alive! but it's like transforming into a game blog.

btw wif regards to a previous post, i made a mistake (the mistake has been rectified). l4d can rival diablo II and WoW in awards, not starcraft. When starcraft came out, it swept all the game of the year awards. how imba is that. l4d only had a clean sweep in multiplayer awards. Game of the year 2008 is quite shared between left 4 dead, MGS 4, GTA 4, and fallout 3.

So there'll be very high expectations for starcraft 2. i dun think it'll do as well as its predecessor, but it'll still be good. It's ok sc, when it comes out we'll play it. and d3 too, since u lost ur d2. very sian to fight on in hell difficulty alone, so i stopped playing it. Luckily, left 4 dead came out. As wing, rard, occ and lz found out on sat, l4d seriously rocks.

Anw, it's time for me to start walking arnd changi airport looking impt. Just finish some police course that qualifies me to do that. Anyone going changi airport tell me pls. then you can help me buy food and stuff since i'm not supposed to do it in that green uniform of mine. Thanks. lol.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T21:15:00.003+08:00

Today's valentine's day! in case you haven't realised. So, happy valentine's day!

I'd like to gush about how great starcraft II is, and how everyone should play it when it comes out, but I've got dota to play. Anyhow, I prefer d3 to sc2.

Happy Valentines' Day!

2009-02-13T19:14:00.003+08:00

Tmr's valentines' day! in case you havn't realise.

So, happy valentines' day in advance!

I LOVE YOU!!!! LET ME GIVE YOU A HUG!!!

pic from left 4 dead. lol

lalala

2008's best game

2009-02-12T21:00:00.010+08:00

Ok enough of warcraft III. and dota. They weren't particularly great games, just games with great fanbases. So, it's time for some publicity for a game whose awards can rival that of Diablo II and world of warcraft(still lose to starcraft duh).

Presenting the BEST game of 2008 ----

LEFT 4 DEAD!!!!

Ok mayb fallout 3 deserves the title as well. Or 'metal gear solid 4'(never heard of it, just seems that people are infatuated with it). But that's besides my point. Left 4 Dead is a compelling game that elevates the idea of teamwork to whole new levels. Teamwork has rarely been so desperately necessary, or as tense and exciting, as it is in Left 4 Dead. Many games can emphasize teamwork, but none compels you to exercise it to an extent equivalent to this.

You need teamwork to play dota well, but a hero can still stand alone in the midst of a massive gang from the enemy and still survive and win. Counter-Strike emphasizes teamwork, but you can stand alone and still take out the whole opponent team. The same goes for unreal tournament and many other FPS and RTS games.

Not left 4 dead. Survival when stranded alone drops to an absolute zero. You need your team, your team needs you. Fight together... or die alone. This game bests all other fps, including the famed CS and Gears of War, and is definitely worth playing.

It's time to drop your dependence on dota to satisfy your gaming needs guys. Left 4 dead is available at both lan shops and garena. Time to change to a more fun and exciting game =)

noobify†™

lalala

yong sheng

AYAR?

2009-02-08T12:52:00.004+08:00

For those of you who are not-so-proficient at AYAR, here is a sneak preview of what the end looks like:

Well, maybe not exactly the end. Cuz you got to go through a few more obstacles.

THIS is the end....or so I think.

Happy Chinese New Year

2009-01-25T22:06:00.002+08:00

I was at home on CNY eve, after returning from reunion dinner, and having nothing better to do, decided to talk with Jameson on MSN (because he's very sad no one else talks with him =( ) And, at the same time, I noticed that this blog has been devoid of any real posts not just recently, but for a long time. Not that this is a real post, mind you. Whenever I'm free, or for that matter, whenever we're free, either we're out enjoying ourselves, watching TV, or playing dota on garena rm 16. Except for Jameson who's very free being CBRD staff officer, but has no time to blog, nor the inclination to dota....It appears that he forgot his username and password and cannot blog as a result.

So bottom line is:

We should blog more. Or have class outings sometime! and strive towards A Happy And Prosperous Chinese New Year.

PS To Chinny: Jameson says that your mind is messed up.

class buffet..

2008-12-16T17:52:00.005+08:00

okies.

gratz to all the officers! one bar! ehh and your green IC says officer.. hee.. time for a treat hur! (: treat the commoners first! haha

ehh.. class outing.. i was thinking since we got many good eaters. why not we go crystal jade xiao long bao steam boat buffet? holland V there..

menu: free flow of xiao long bao , and some char shao bao.. and usual steam boat.

down side: limited prawns per person about 4-5/person

maybe put it on 27th night? any objections? any one got other suggestions? i was thinkning we go like hort park before that .. and go for like buffet at holland V?

yeah? its 21.50 after gst if i'm correct. i think the officers can treat us the gst :P

27th all ok?

so far those who told me can go: occ, lz,txy, gerard. kel.

wing reply me leh. and um esc you not free even on weekends ar? jameson only free on 21st ar..

anyway came across this joke when i was mugging..

what do you call an ant which ate growth hormone?

.
.
.
.
.

ANS: Tolerant ( Taller - Ant )

yeah please somehow tell me whether you can make it. esp wing and jamie

Please read

2008-10-27T20:18:00.002+08:00

The post below is a very very long post. But especially to GERARD, ellen, gen, yiting, tricia, chin ee and kelvin, please do take the time to read it. dun just skim through it. please.
and to shun cheng, read it as well. haha.

thanks!

Liverpool end Chelsea's 86-game unbeaten home record

2008-10-27T19:06:00.004+08:00

Wow the above is like one great bday present man. Chelsea 0-1 Liverpool. No need for 80-90 min goals some more. Ok i shan't elaborate on details for the sake of a good friend by the name of genevieve. Who happens to support chelsea. In fact if the same thing had happened to liverpool, i would be pretty sad too.

And so, i checked the epl fixture list. Don't worry, the return liverpool vs chelsea fixture at anfield doesn't fall on dec 12 =) or dec 11 or dec 13 for that matter.

Anyway, thanks for an even greater bday present from the usual ppl! being gen, ellen, yiting, tricia, gerard, chin ee and kelvin. yups! and a few short messages for u ppl in reply for ur long messages!
To chin ee: eh hurry up graduate then i go take mc from u!
To yiting: uni shld get better soon lah! or at least hopefully! I'm sure someone of your calibre will pull through fine!
To ellen: hey kiappy girl! yup of course i miss rj days! esp now that they going to change rjc name. i dun even know what to comment abt that. anyway, stay happy too! and study hard!
To gerard: shall i type random things to fill this space up too? haha. well anyway now u're completely on track wif regards to my status wif wl le. haha
To kelvin: hello u envy my slack life??? look in the mirror and envy that person instead. I think he's having a hell of a great time. and hey we can still dota again some day! even though i no longer hav wc3 in my comp le.
To gen: 1 yr more to ord! and then another 10 months to start of uni? nah i've a few things to work on alrdy before i ord, which i hav a feeling i wun be able to complete them. be safe and healthy and happy too! don't ever be a stranger =)
To tricia: hey u nvr write! but i understand! poor you got so much work to do u had to come late to timbre! anyway work hard!

in addition,
To shun cheng: hey take care in thailand k! Crescendo is a tough place. But you're an even tougher guy! just dun navigate wrongly and ambush own forces!

Anyway, with regards to the wu lei thing, i'm all right k. Been prepared for this way back when i enlisted le. yup. just didn't expect it to take this long. lol. Her decision is her decision lah. just respect it lor. And before gerard starts another 'hey now that you're free from the shackles of wu lei u can go for ellen" gossip, let's make it clear that I HAVE NO INTEREST IN ELLEN WATSOEVER. not yet at least. still dun believe? let's put this into perspective.

starting with my bday wish. Unless you guys tried really hard to lip-read me when i was making my wish i doubt any of u will know wat my wish is. Here it is. I hope to be able to accomplish many things in my remaining 1 year in NS. 1. Help my little cousin improve his study grades. which is why i'm giving him free tuition every saturday. 2. learn driving. 3. learn both the guitar and piano to a proficient level. 4. climb 1 mountain. 5.take at least 2 non-saf related courses. 6. complete 5 characters in diablo II before diablo III comes out. 7. Save at least $15000.

All this to do with 2 free days each week, barring the 14 days of leave and random burning of weekends. I don't even think it's possible to complete le, like i told gen above. add in a "8. get a girlfriend" to the equation and you might want to explain to me how all this can work out. A girl, ellen or wu lei or any girl for that matter will mean time, compromising point 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6, as well as money, compromising point 7. Getting a girl will either mean a complete destruction of those objectives, or being very very very unfair to the girl by hardly spending any time with her.

Believe me now, gerard? and anyone else who think so too(lz, kel?)?

Anyway, i hope the above doesn't sound too harsh(to gerard) You know, i can take a photo with yiting, with tricia, with gen with complete ease, but sometimes i dun even dare to take a photo with ellen. So gerard, please? If u believe what i said above, tone down on the teasing. you dun hav to remove it completely if u feel uncomfortable but at the very least, tone down. really. yup.

Anyway, the above is just an explanation of what i'd like to do. and hopefully come next yr i can complete 90% of those things. Only then will it look like a better time to get a girlfriend =)

anyway, once again thanks for a great bday!

p.s i actually can't believe i'm paying $170 per month of insurance premiums. If someone murders me now, my parents will be rich.

lalala

2008-10-20T22:32:00.002+08:00

hey guys, let's post smthing!

like if we get 1 post per person will hav qte abit of posts le. even if it's random crap like the type me and lu zhou post.

anyway, had 2 family days recently. one organised by my father's company at sentosa. not as good as previous yr's organisation, but this yr we actually won qte abit of prizes. beach soccer 3rd and lucky draw 6th =). though i think my father is giving the lucky draw prize(Sony Wi-Fi) to his colleague who gave me the free tickets in the first place(the winning ticket was originally the colleague's) =(.

the other one was organised by my unit, 2pdf, in celebration of their anniversary. My friends weren't exactly enthusiastic abt it, seeing that it was an army thingy, so we ended up laming arnd and practically wasted half our day away. Which i tot was damn ultra dumb, cuz since u're alrdy going to lose half the day, y not spend it meaningfully? furthermore the thingy was held at HortPark, this gardening hub thingy(never heard of it right? i didn't before this either), so i kinda wanted to explore it. nvm i'll explore it again some other time. wanna go ther class outing or smthing? though i foresee non-nature/outdoor lovers getting extremely bored. I'm like from odac so i'll be excited u see.

and my current ipsc(installation protection and security course) is a stay-out course so i'm at home every night! for this week only. transport fares hurt though...

there's a meteor shower peaking tmr! at arnd midnight i think, can't rmb, been a long time since i lasted touched any astronomy stuff. shun cheng correct me if u know any better. anyway, this one is the orionids, which has a very small peak number, not really worth watching to beginners. only good thing is that its position in the sky is easy to find. comes frm Orion constellation(hence orionids)! I'm sure u all know how to recognise orion.

haha ok see random shit can type so long post le. eh all go spend like 5-10 mins type smthing leh. yups.

lalala

_

2008-10-02T22:38:00.002+08:00

Since posts are wanted, I'll just post a bit abt recent events in my life.

This week was a number of firsts for me. First of all, I reported sick for the first time. Partly bcos we had SOC training. My knee had been swelling over the past day, apparently accumulated pus was causing hurt to my joint whenever i bent the knee or exerted pressure on it.

Then the doctor said that the faster way to recover was to make an incision to drain out the pus. So I had my first taste of anesthetic that day too. After that, he informed me to go to the medical centre to change dressing every subsequent day. So that means that I'll have to go 'report sick' everyday. Keng ah.

And tuesday was the first time we booked out in the evening before the sun set. lol

intentionally left blank

2008-09-30T20:02:00.002+08:00

hmm okies.. haha just to "revive" this blog lol.

k haha so anyways, its dead cos nooo one posts! duh. haha umm in case you people are wondering, i'm busy preparing for my CAs on 24th oct.. so ya from now till then i'll be quite busy.

k you all have any suggestions on where we should go?

supposed to have ice skating some day.. but sorries.. i'm bogged up with hall stuff..

anyway, if we have ice skating.. you all mind? or you all wan lan again ar. or like steamboat. haha.. my ideas quite limited.. actually you army people can like ask around your camp people of interesting places to go.. heh heh..

hmm if not we have to wait for the ocs people to commission then we ask them for a treat! (: wohooooo!

well blog something. anything.. or i'll start blogging about the 20 muscles in the forearm ,the 31 spinal cords, the 200 over bones of our body.. 4 types of primary tissue. skin being the largest organ of the body.. basilic and cephalic vein, arteries, bones, fascia, dermis, epidermis, etc...

'I find your lack of faith disturbing.'

2008-08-27T20:25:00.004+08:00

- Darth Vader, StarWars Ep IV

that, is the coolest phrase in all of starwars

army life in camp is boooring despite tv in the company office and internet in the company rest room(w/o war3 and youtube!!!) i've watched everything in my ipod touch twice, everything meaning [hancock] [speedracer] [avp1&2] [starwars ep1-6] [harold&kumar go to whitecastle/escape from guantanamo bay] [goal1&2] [american pie 1-5] yongsheng, before you start b!tching, don't ask why i revellie otot and laypak whole day except for lunch and dinner and nights out, say any more and i'll be charged

my 3wk trip to taiwan for training was interesting in either sense, i'll post some pictures and talk more about it some time later, i think

ellen: i've got a pic you can use for your food blog, w0ah i actually read it? ya you can call it airline food

meanwhile, surfing wikipedia and amazon.com, i found this: http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Beedle-Bard-Standard/dp/B001DB0HG2/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219839501&sr=8-2, i thought there's only 7 or so handwritten ones sold at charity auctions, it would make a great present

on a side note, i'm going to eat steamboat with the prcs this weekend, saturday evening i hope? anyone free is welcomed to join us

Culture shock

2008-08-23T17:19:00.002+08:00

My life in NS has always been with tough companies. From Orion in BMT to Hotel in Sispec and then to ETI, it has been shit all the way. Especially, in ETI, where the regimentation is tougher than even BMT. Finally graduating as a 3SG(3 Star General) on Tuesday, i was hoping my crappy luck would run out.

And it did. I was posted to 6SIR, which is a battalion committed to the protection of key installations in Singapore. I didn't really know what to expect, but i heard that life there is good. So with my morale somewhat on the rise, i booked into maju camp together with 9 other specs. And as we got introduced to the camp, our morale just rose higher and higher.

The first sentence we heard when we entered the camp was "It's too late to apologise, it's too late". Woah that just shows how relax the camp is lah. And they were somewhat unprepared for us. As we passed the Spartan wall(they are known as the spartans, and their camp is Home of the Spartans), the first person who came to meet us and bring us around is a ... ... recruit. Right...

so we settled down, they randomly found an unused bunk for us, which was the first culture shock we got. The bunk is the dirtiest place in the world i've ever seen in my life. We spent 3 hrs cleaning it up, and the trash and dust we cleared out filled 8 trashbags full. crazy. And then, they said they had nothing for us, and asked us to book out. like wtf! so ok lor, we booked out, but i stupidly forgot to bring home my keys, which was how i ended up at ajisen with the rest of the girls. yup.

booked back in on wed night, woke up on thurs, and had a 8 km run they last min wanted us to run. cuz they wanted us to run ahm on sunday, which we were not supposed to. lol. then after that, we had practically nothing the whole day, and nights out at night. So slack, i cannot get used to it. like really very bad culture shock, after all the shit i've been through to get this rank(btw, 3SG is third sergeant, not 3 star general. lol). Kept on thinking there was something to do, but there's nothing, cuz the man under us havn't finish their bmt yet. so we have to wait for them. in the meantime, we stone.

Which is good. cuz my camp is near like a hell lot of places. near nus(nights out mayb ellen or yt can show me arnd sch?), near wing's hse(can go?), near jameson's hse(can go?), near yt's hse(no i wun go, i'll die to rard's fury), near ngee ann poly and sim(got cute girls), near a lot of good food(time to pig out), and the list doesn't end. In fact we just went ikea on thurs nights out to buy atable into camp. The guards looked at us like we were aliens. lol.

ok so yup, for now, i can just prepare to sleep more and eat more =) i.e grow fat. till my man come in then start to xiong liao. yay. that's like a few more months. for now, ahm on sunday! ppl running wanna meet up?

post post!

2008-08-17T23:21:00.001+08:00

okies. haha shall post something.. er okies. i guess you army pple nothing much to post rite.. so i shall start the ball rolling..

umm so yup i finished 1 week of med school. now on second week. been quite fun.. loads of lectures and only 1 tutorial so far. theres PBL. lol. problem based learning.. and many ethical lessons. to make sure we turn out humane haha :P jk.. its important lor. haha.. we're always prepared to serve the public (: loving my school days so far.. how's stuff in army now man pple!

post something. like when you pop.. where you posted too. i bet those people who just went overseas.. lz rite. post something! (: your survival guide haha..

uummm yeah.. will organise class outing from time to time.. quote sc. haha (:

till then.. cya!
chinny!

library book sale @ expo!

2008-07-19T14:27:00.003+08:00

i read about it in the newspapers in camp. quite fortuituous, actually.
so i took a ride to expo after college day on saturday.
got 16 books at $2 each.
yup.

now i'll have something to do during admin time and guard duties in time.
cya guys on sunday.

the "push up game"

2008-06-29T12:33:00.002+08:00

like wth la. who else does push up when

1) its a class outing
2) some of the guys just booked out
3) they have to book in the next day
4) as if army does not give you enough opportunities
5) when there are only 3 girls around. maybe for certain people its good time to show off. :P haha
6)when one of us nvr go through army life b4 ( aka lp )
7) most importantly, when your're a civilian.

7 reasons because apparently, paper cannot be folded more than 7 times. unless you watched mythbusters.

well anyway, it's a good idea. haha!so ya. lz gj! at least less pain then the pinching and slapping game. see if ya hosting, you'll be prepared for all these! so i wore jeans. muahaha. but lp's really PAIN.

link for pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ongchinee/ClassOutingGerardSHouse28thJune2008?authkey=wmybZb2-Fp8

Unfortunately, there is no link for videos: cos its nearly 2 GB. lolz. my com will crash if i upload it. lol. and its embarrasing. lol. maybe we'll watch it next class outing! so if ya wanna watch the otherwise unwatchable on BIG SCREEN, pls look forward and turn up for the next class outing!

promise to have less pain, more fun..

on a more serious note. the ocs people are/have flying/flewn off.. jasper, jameson, shun cheng. gerard soon. yupp take care you ppl!

rmbr to bring back stuff from brunei okay.. heard you all got SHOPPING TIME?! lolz. SAF ROCKS! welfare to soldiers means welfare to soldier's friends! so we'll be waiting okie ocs people. (not like they'll hear me now)

so anyway, hpe you all like the food. its the best i could find in tp. or at least from the internet. except that its not that fresh. will have more veggies next time. welcome feedback (:

Anyway, hurrays and thanks to 6n peeps!

6n!
Chinny

ORD LOH! (just joking)

2008-06-21T09:45:00.002+08:00

pink ic! wohoo. happy. (:

well with many strings attached. and a mocc in 7 yyears time. my boots will stink. and rot. yikes.

mocc. woahh. xiong sia.. i'll be 25-26? and have to march 10km. old alr. haha!

but yup went to tekong then cmpb to get pink ic today! wohoo (: happy!

class outing 28th confirmed! details out soon. will be around toa payoh. central location! =) trellis towers function room!

i'm too elated to type properly!

hee (:

eh but i'll ord 2015.. zzzz, sian.

chinny

CEO

2008-06-21T01:51:00.002+08:00

We're both going to combat engineers. Jameson and I. If lucky, see you there Yong Sheng.

POP LOH and Class Outing!

2008-06-11T21:55:00.003+08:00

heys people!

okies been sometimes. thing like since i went army. okies. so many things happened. BMT to me was a good "retreat from studies".. okies. well i think your brain rots in some way, but you also mature to some extent. so i guess its a trade off.. BMT makes me think more. more about things around, people, life, area, bed, universe.

intellectually, i'm degrading more than i think i thought. so yupp. okies so bmt, excluding the physical part.. which was challenging to some extent. due to lack of childhood lol. (stupid swing trainer) okies. and the route marches.. haha somehow i always enjoy the 4th to 8th km march. and always hate the first 4 km.

so after 9 weeks... i'm a trained soldier! POP loh! okies. haha orion coy is nice. ( yeah i'm supposed to only say what i can say ) anyway, ys, 2lt xiao ye left le. rahman ord, soh ord, zainuddean on course.

last batch of m16 in tekong, so we threw our rifles away man. haha. for me its like really the one of the last time touching something lethal.. hopefully. waiting for deferment letter..

haha i'm not a chiongster in army, so yup. dun think ocs. haha. sispec? arty! lol.

sianz sia. block leave, pockets of break always give me headache. dun wanna waste it away, dotaing or like slacking. need alot of rest tho. need to reflect. reorientate. recharge.

haha anyway, played bball with army frens yest. haha my bball is damn bad now. lol. well okies, at least was something i din do for like many years.

okies yupp a class outing is on the way. will confirm more stuff this week. probabaly 21st or 22nd June. probabaly somewhere near centre of sg. like rard's house condo function room. subject to availability. food will be prepared.

gonna be like prolly one of the last few outings till we all go for UNI! haha at least for the girls, PRCs and um maybe me...

so yupp! active participation is greatly appreciated and anticipated.

those who haven reply me, pls do so k? thanks. as in which dates you are free..

till then, cya!

chinny (:

BMT rec death

2008-06-11T10:02:00.003+08:00

REC Andrew Cheah Wei Siong from the Basic Military Training Centre fainted at 8.35am while participating in a 2km walk training activity at Pulau Tekong. He was rushed to the medical centre and arrived within 5 minutes. He was given immediate medical attention by the doctors. At 9.24am, REC Cheah was heli-evacuated to the Singapore General Hospital (SGH). The SAF medical team continued to resuscitate him en route. REC Cheah was pronounced dead at 10.50am in SGH.

MINDEF and the SAF extend their deepest condolences to the family of the late REC Cheah. MINDEF will assist the family in their time of grief and is investigating the incident.

Heard the heli flew over orion coy line leh, chin ee. damn sad. very sad leh.
Wonder wat medical centre doing for 44 mins before they decide to heli-evac. 8.40 arrive, 9.24 evac. wtf sia

Happy Birthday!

2008-05-25T16:55:00.002+08:00

Happy Birthday to sc and yt! would have made smthing wif wc3 again but i'm in no mood le. cuz have to book in le. ultra sian. end of block leave. haiz. why combat engineers. so erm just hope this post will do! Have a good day!

Posting

2008-05-17T20:26:00.002+08:00

freaking hell, postings were qte bad except for a certain guy.

for me,

course score: 73/100
course grade: B
section ranking: 2nd
platoon ranking: 11th

posting: Field engineer

wtfwtfwtfwtfwtf

engineer? the place where i'm second least inclined to go to(ASLC takes first spot). wth. shit. and the camp is so far somemore.

and worse still, guess what?

kelvin's posting: ARTILLERY

wtfwtfwtfwtfwtf

there must have been a mix up man. lol. but actually it's not that bad yet. because...

lu zhou's posting: ASLC

hmm, you guys shld have seen lu zhou's face when he got his posting man. hmm, next up for lz, 32km march. haha take care man.

POP

2008-05-14T20:39:00.002+08:00

I'm having SOC (standard obstacle course) test tmr, and i don't know whether i want to pass it or not. cuz they say the best and worse of te company get posted to ASLC (advanced section leader course), which means you either go infantry or guards. which i don't want to go(cuz i'm not crazy). and based on the scores of the whole course so far, i've the best score in my whole section. which means if i pass my SOC, coupled with my IPPT gold, i have a damn high chance of going ASLC. On the other hand, if i fail, it'll look damn weird(few ppl with IPPT golds fail SOC). Arh crap. hmm.

Anyway, watever it is, we're passing out soon! as corporals! nice new rank on the arm. hoping i get posted to artillery to complete my 3 stripes. wooh, then i slack the rest of my ns liao. which trish had told me not to. hmm.

Nvm, still hoping for artillery =) pray hard. and i'll try not to slack too much.

Kicked out of the last 8

2008-05-14T20:37:00.000+08:00

f***ing hell, this just sucks.

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