Wife

yay! got the 512 RAM from my fren today and installed it myself. Very satisfying to start up my computer and see the words 768MB of RAM on it. Test drove it on DotA with great results!

My this current com, Blazingsun, was bought at end of sec3 that time, after begging my mum for months that it was a worthy investment. And it still is. It's my first com that has served me for more than a year. my previous com's all nev lasted more than 6 months.

i was so happy when i got it, that i mentioned to chee kong as my "wife". it had a few graphics card and virus probs over the years, nothing fatal, but each time i'd get so depressed when it had problems. but i learned it's quite dumb to hinge ur happiness on ur computer. nowadays i more worried about losing schoolwork and photos than games...

Explosive

Tuesday

Missed the first class of the day caus i didn't know about a changed timetable. Arrived at the aero lab for the first experiment of the semester.

The aim of the experiment was to determine the amount of energy released by burning a gram of petrol. It involved exploding the fuel together with oxygen in a chamber and measuring the temperature rise in the water around it. Pretty cool i think.

During 2 hour lunch break, played soccer with my class as a street soccer court in school. Quite fun even though i sweat on my new shirt. played a middle winger role, that dun hav to defend much. in my best chance at scoring throughout the game, the ball bouncing in front of me and an open goal, i totally missed the ball. v. paisheh.

was 10 mins late for class, but the whole class managed to dupe our lecturer into believing that our timetable states that class starts at 2.10. lol.

class early so ended up at bedok library while waiting for Elektra. At bout 6, met her at bedok mrt to pass her some of her old CYA stuff, and chatted a bit about life in SP and SIA Engineering respectively.

Then headed to orchard Lido theatre to meet my dad to watch the Jackie Chan movie, Rob-b-hood. Actually got this tickets free from my uncle who works for Pioneer. The movie was pretty exciting and funny at times. Not bad. Better than the Banquet at least.

Wednesday

school finished at 10 today. Super early. went with my frends to Sim Lim square to look for RAM to upgrade my com. not too sure what kinda RAM my com supports so in the end didn't buy. after that they went to watch Miami Vice which i watched le, while i went to my uncles house to try fix the com my family gave them.

No such luck. the old P3 coms always had some v. buggy problem about them. glad this com hasn't given me much trouble, even though now a bit old le. but still love ya. Muacks!

Oo, i was looking at an initial D model car my uncle had on his shelf, when he offered it to me. "No more space in my cabinet liao, you can have it", he said. I take it as a blessing, caus just on sunday, i saw a shop which sold the same car, and was prepared to get it for christmas. now can get it free. so good. yay.

went dentist to tighten braces. now aching like mad. will be eating porridge the next few days liao.




I apologise for the point form style of writing. Know it's not v. nice to read, but i juz had to write out of habit. by the time reach 2nd term won't have time le. haha.

Feeling my age

usually you only say such a phrase when you're old... but i suddenly feeling quite old liao... suddenly occured to me, that i'm 18... hmm... i always thought when ur 18 years old, sppsed to be more mature...

new semester, new modules, new teachers.... wished the hols were a bit longer, but dun feel the dread of going to school like pri or sec school... going school is quite ok.... new modules this sem, powerplants and aircraft electronic systems. like quite fun. especially powerplants.

CYA resume normal service today. actually, CYA more fun than IMF duty la. 2 more duties and the 5th batch offically finish liao. super fast. yet another batch leaving. thats what makes me feel old. wonder what those old guys like mr. lky feel when their ex-colleagues and frends all start to die... muz b similar.

at the same time, new batch coming in. hope to be closer to this new batch, caus i wasn't so close with this present batch. mayb nev put in enuff effort. uhh well, it's late. school tml. nites!

The power of 5

The reason i am sitting here, typing, while my family is at City Harvest Church, is bcaus we have 5 people in our family. FIVE is not a good number when u wanna take a taxi, and we haven't had a car since my dad started working overseas again.

oh well. it's ok. there's always tommorow.

played soccer with the guys today. it's been a while since the last game. turnout was quite a decent number, though not (as scott claimed) 19 or 20. or even close to that number. guest appearence by pradeep.

THURSDAY

unknown to me, this would be my last IMF duty (i thought it was second last). For a last duty though it was pretty slack. All we had to do was to report to our desks (we didn't have that before), plop our butts down onto the seat, and use the computer for just about whatever we liked. oh, and get paid for it too. not bad eh?

i mentioned before that there was nothing much to do during our IMF duties at the airport. therefore, they decided at the end of my shift, that this would be the final duty. well, it's been fun.

met the guys at kembangan for dota, but ended up waiting more than an hour for our seats. we even had time for prata. in the end we only played one game, but it was pretty fun. the lack of match fitness showed though, when i got pawned like 5 or 6 times in the early game. mid and late game were ok though, as i got a few sprees, and we finally pushed down the opposing team.

the movies were not such a great success as our victory against the scourge. yes, i said movies. with an S. there wasn't meant to be an S. but alas, things never really go according to plan.

we arrived at tampines too late for our intended movie, and we couldn't decide on a suitable movie for everyone, so in the end we split into 2 groups watching 2 movies. The Banquet and Miami Vice. honestlu speaking, Miami Vice was much better. I ended up watching the banquet, and i'm not sure how to say it nicely but it sucked.

i can't point out any particular point, but it was soooo boring. i've decided i hate this whole new modern arty, wu xia typey genre. u know, the House of Flying Daggers, Hero kinda show.

FRIDAY

a reception was held by the Airport Workgroup, who were coordinating the airport activities during the IMF. arrived a bit too early, and ended up talking with a general and other organizers while waiting for the others.

after the customary speech and food, it was a mini photo taking marathon for the best part of an hour. oh, if ur wondering y there no photos, tt's caus i didnt bring my cam, and havent' got the pics from other ppl yet.

thus, another batch of CYA's finished their duty. Most of they guys from my batch will b stopping too after this. now just a handful of us left.

At night, went with my dad n mum to take a look at a house in tampines. it is located opposite century square that side, where i think i noe a few ppl also live close by.

From the moment i stepped in, could smell and feel something was wrong about the house. The agent warned us that it would be messy, but no one expected this. Piles of books and paper stacked all over the house, on the sides of the floors, tables, chairs.... grafitti on the walls, an unused oven sitting on the dining table.

A peek into a jc gal's room stunned me. A mattress on the floor, with the bedsheets strewn all over. A folding table in the middle but not a chair or cupboard in sight. Hate grafitti scrawled in black on the walls. A gals room leh. More messy than any guys room i've ever seen.

In the kitchen, a light was hanging from the ceiling with all it's wires exposed and dirty pots and pans dumped in the basin.

As i sneaked a peek into the master bedroom, i saw the gal studying. She looked pretty normal and all. But it won't take a genius to tell ya that this family has serious issues and it isn't that their poor.

Instead of a house viewing, this was more like an educational tour. Really eye opening.

Swift

i dun really have anyth much to do now, so i think i'll introduce some cars to ya. Not juz any cars, but affordable, sporty cars which still can b driven for daily use. You never know, ur first car could be one of these.

Specifications
Engine Type	:	DOHC 16 Valve VVT
Engine Capacity / Compression Ratio	:	1586cc / 11.1
Max. Horse Power	:	92KW (125ps) @ 6800 rpm
Max. Torque	:	148Nm (15.1kgm) @ 4800 rpm
Transmission	:	5 Speed Manual
Exterior Dimension (LxWxH)	:	3765mm x 1690mm x 1510mm
Brake F/R	:	Ventilated Disc / Disc
Wheelbase / Ground Clearance	:	2390mm / 140mm
Suspension System	:	Coil Spring / Torsion Beam
Minimum Turning Radius	:	5.2m
Tyre Size	:	195/50R16 (Alloy)
Fuel Capacity	:	43 Litres
Fuel Consumption	:	14.6km / litre
Weight	:	1060kg

This is the New Suzuki Swift Sport.It comes with a 123bhp 1.6-litre engine that sees it from 0-100km/h in 8.9 seconds and on to 124mph.

Stiffened suspension and a chassis that benefits from Suzuki's experience in the Junior World Rally Championship should keep the keen driver entertained, while electronic stability control is standard as a safeguard.

Author's notes: Ok, the Suzuki Swift is one of the rare small cars i really think looks sporty and cute at the same time. With a DOHC engine, and all the gear ratio's and suspension n stuff from Suzuki's WRC experience, should make it a really fun drive. Plus, it comes with ABS (anti lock brakes), Halogen headlights and fog lamps, Air conditioning, body kit and sports rims, mp3 player and sports rims?and disc brakes? and did i mention Airbags? for $54,588 or $600 a month?

hmm... writing car reviews is difficult... think i'll try again next time. anyway. for fun.

Lucky

I was woken up by my dad this morn, to help him bid for some phone on e-bay. We never tried buying stuff online before, so i juz anyhow whack, then went back to sleep. Had a weird dream, about how i had to go back to Pasir Ris Primary school after getting O level results, and waiting for poly to start. Weirdddd shitt....

Went with my parents to tampines to visit my grandparents and for lunch, their dog Lucky nowadays v. cute. Met him when he was a kid like a year ago. Nowadays, hair long and curly. His body grow longer, but his legs like never grow. So looks kinda stumpy. Best part is he dosen't bark, and is fun but not hyper. I hear he races with my grandfather in the mornings for the use of the toilet.

After lunch. My mum went tuition n my dad wanted to go People's park or smth. I feeling quite sleepy, so i opted to go library instead. Library didn't have the book i'm looking for so went White Sands library. By then feeling very lonely n very sian, for no particular reason. Same kind of feeling when studying for exams. Mood swing. no bleeding though.

Along the MRT walkway shops, met an old classmate. Now thinking back, i was very cold during the convs. Nvm, i'll make it up next time.

Shopping Paradise

i forgot to mention yest, my dad landed from sydney yest, he'll b staying about a week or so, then flying to kuwait... cool huh, or shld i say hot? anyw, kuwait is right beside iraq, so may b bit dangerous... but trust God to protect him.

was watching zhao an ni hao this morn (note: not smth i usually do), and they were interviewing 2 CYA's about their IMF duties! hmm... not bad, not bad... increase our publicity...

My dad wanted to take a look at wat was going on around suntec, and also the papers reccommended going there as well, caus of the relatively low no. of shoppers, so i tagged along...anyway i'm off.

even though I've been to suntec countless time's liao, caus my church holding service there n all... today was different, as there were less shoppers and more time and space to go into each shop for a look see... there were lots of discounts and the staff were super friendly, caus of their IMF training n all...

somehow was the high-end brands like Raoul, n Mont Blanc that attracted me.... but they're way way, way way out of my budget. still though it goes to show, at least there r stuff i'd like to buy from them, budget aside. In NZ, even if i had all the money in the world, i couldn't think of anything i'd like to buy there, besides the cars.

while having lunch at the foodcourt, met one of my CYA frenz working there and saw one of the super rare DARE course gals having lunch by herself. i should mention that DARE course gals r an endangered species, and it's a pity Steve Irwin didn't get a chance to catch and examine one. =)

later went Wisma Atria n Takashimaya for a look see... didn't buy anything, but still not really waste time as at least if i'm looking for anyth next time at least noe where to find... met to ex-NPCC gals vivi and one more N class look like hui ping gal seperately... sorry i sux at names.

when my dad comes back to Spore, it isn't us who takes him on a tour, it's him who brings us out... caus normally we dun do that... weird huh?

Of NS men, Chio bu's, delegates and CSO's

tml is my day off (yeah!), so got time to do a bit of update. the last 2 days at the airport have been slightly more busy the previously, in that i mean no. of delegates arriving. sadly though, it's been announced that as there will be less people arriving over the next few days, the no. of staff needed at the airprt will be reduced.

let's take a look back at the people working at the airport during the IMF.

NS guys

there are lots of Mindef guys working at the airport, some as baggage handlers, some as VIP escorts etc. can always find them watching Cartoon Network at the rest areas, slacking or flirting with any gals nearby.

met 2 regulars today, one's a captain from NJC (he told me last time cut off only 9 points!) and one from another JC... can see from they're face they JC guys... from all the story's i heard so far, NS actually not so bad, and can b even quite fun. tt's a relief.

Pretty's

i dunno whether issit caus i nev saw a single cb for 2 weeks in NZ, but suddenly find Spore like got a lot... they come from basically everywhere, the tourism board, chartec, NUS and of course within SP itself...

between serving delegates, walking around aimlessly and going for coffee breaks, i found time to speak with a few and found out that, suprise suprise! they're people too!

Delegates

nev got to speak with many of them, but majority of those i've seen are caucasian or from africa or pacific island's etc... who know's how many hundereds have slipped by without declaring themselves?

Civil Society Organisations (protesters)

my encounters with CSO's so far have not been very pleasent... apparently, quite a few have been unhappy with the goverments desicion to restrict their activities, and as such, don't like ppl working in the airport v. much...

i greeted one such CSO "Hi, Sir welcome to Spore", his sarcastic reply was smth like "Yeah, i'm sure you welcome us." before marching angrily away.

Singaporeans and Cabin Crew

Singaporean's passing by and seeing us, always seem to have something to say to one another... snatches of words like "16000" or "IMF" are quite common...

the flight stewards of SIA usually have smth positive to say like "gd job" and stuff like tt...

stewardesses reactions are much more unpredictable. they range from anything like a smile, to the "you wanna fight?" look. which i totally dun understand why.

hmm.

Banking on it

It's day 4 of IMF/World Bank duty already, and so far of the supposed 24000 delegates coming down to S'pore, i've only seen less than 50. I'm wondering where the other 23 950 are?

Over the past 4 days, i've been deployed at various locations in the airport serving as Customer Service Executive (CSE's). Quite a cool name right? but the duty we do is even simpler than CYA, and just involves directing passengers through the shortest route out of the airport. Then again, with so few passenger's even this, we don't get to do very often.

Yesterday i was posted to the immigration area, but most of the day was spent talking to the Immigration Officers there. They actually quite funny de, then ask me a lot of questions about my duty, and schl and stuff. Think Spore immigration officers are friendlier than those in other countries, and also not as picky. When i was in NZ airport, the officer there didn't even let me help my grandfather explain some stuff, cause my grandfather a bit blur and summore dun speak good english.

Everyday we work in 5 hour shifts, mine is 7am-12pm and they pay us $35 which i think is pretty good. They also provide uniforms, though the one they gave me is uber big. Think my dad could wear it. So no choice have to send for alterations.

Today we were visted by the CEO of Singapore Tourism Board and a few other big bosses in the IMF. Also met some TP CYA's who were doing CYA again as they're industrial attachment. i think should be quite sian for them caus after like 2 years of CYA duty, then another 5 months of daily CYA, don't think they learn many new things...

got my results yesterday, and they were pretty ok, an improvment over last sem, but no distinctions which i hoped for. zzz. Differential Equations was also a suprise, D+! i was totally expecting to fail this subject caus the paper was super tough.

Don't Dream It's Over

remember the NZ advertistment on tv, the one with the song, "There is freedom, within, there is freedom without, try to catch a deluge in a paper cup?"

The South island of New Zealand is really a raw untamed beauty... the last 4-5 days have been spent on the road, travelling South. about 2400km of driving in total. From Christchurch to Spore is about 8100km, so you can imagine it's a pretty long drive.

Drove south to Wellington, took a ferry to picton town. And over a couple of days drove through Christchurch to Wellington. At night slept in motels and mountain lodges which are actually a lot bigger and more comfortable than hotels. Did lots of sightseeing, phototaking, even did some skiing. This evening, took a plane back from Christchurch back to Auckland.

Here in NZ they took Stever Irwins death pretty hard. I guess everywhere else too. The same day Agassi retired from tennis. Remember Princess Diana's death when i was on holiday in Thailand too.

Eh scott, dun cry k?

Flying back to Spore tml evening. See if i can post more pics when get back. Souvenirs r limited. Pls place ur bookings early! Nite.