Going to start a new blog soon!

Wow, this blog is currently quite dead, eh?

So many things have happened since the last post that I probably need 1 month's time to put everything into words!

Anyway I am thinking of starting a new blog to concentrate on transport networks. It will effectively act as a portfolio for me, since I consider myself as a budding transport network planner!

When the new blog is ready, I will provide a link to it. In the meantime, I may continue blogging on personal stuff here, but perhaps on a more infrequent basis ...

Wheel of Fortune funny videos

Here's a series of funny videos regarding the TV game series Wheel of Fortune. Have fun watching the contestants fail and win, and I hope that these videos will make you laugh! ;)

WWTBAM funny videos 3: All kinds of people

Part 3:
Why poll the audience if you are not going to accept the advice of others? (Makes no sense ...)


An episode filled with sexual innuendo, courtesy of the host:


And to finish off this post, a BOSS. But since I can't embed this video, I'll have to provide a link instead: Playing WWTBAM like a boss

Hope you enjoyed this series of videos ;)

WWTBAM funny videos 2: Pokemon :)

Part 2: Americans are really clueless when it comes to Pokemon. Look at these two examples:

Example 1: $16k question: What colour is Pikachu?


Example 2: $500k question: Which of these is not a real Pokemon?

WWTBAM funny videos 1: Dumb people

WWTBAM stands for Who Wants To Be A Millionaire
Starting off on the wrong foot:


So much for basic Math education:


A science teacher who does not have a basic knowledge of science: (Ahh the irony ...)

Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? Obviously she isn't ...

Today, I would like to share a video clip from the game series Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader. Let's just say that this features a typical American (or blonde, depending on your viewpoint) ...


It's not just the dumbness of the contestant that got me laughing, but some responses from the host were hilaroious:

Contestant: I'm listening to what you are saying, but I only hear what I want to.
Host: That's called being a woman.
Later ...
Host: Women don't really want to hear men's opinions, they just want to hear their opinions in a deeper voice.

Let's just say that this host is awesome ;)

Damn it, another MC?!?

Ever since I left Tekong, I have been getting an average of 1~2 days of MC per month (Apr, May, Jun). That's way more than in my schooling days. I wonder if it is due to the air-conditioned environment or the fact that I haven't been exercising as much as I wanted to. (So much for being a clerk ... Could this be a hint that I probably should siam away from clerical positions in the future? :/)

Anyway this month, I was hoping to break the cycle of MCs by not falling sick this month, and I succeeded all the way until this week, when I fell sick, again! :(

Well, maybe I can try to break this trend of MCs in August! So now here's a new mini-goal for next month: (Try) not to fall sick in August!

1 vs 100 funny videos

Here are some funny videos from Youtube, regarding the TV series 1 vs 100. I wonder if Mediacorp will eventually bring this show to Singapore in future?

Anyway, here's how a typical show is like:


And here's one funny response from a member of the mob who got a relatively basic question wrong:

I am officially a trained soldier!

This week was a good week, because I was away from work!

Instead I was in another camp learning new things. Picking up vocational skills that would make me a proper/trained STOREMAN. Except of course, I'm only a storeman by vocation, and my appointment I'm actually a clerk!

Here are some of the experiences/things I learnt during the 4-day course:

• There were a few other guys like me who are only storemen in name (when in reality they do all kinds of funny stuff, like me)
• There was also one guy who had all kinds of excuses (excuse heavy load is just one of many) and somehow he's a storeman. He never appeared again after the first day of the course.
• The theory of being a storeman. Then again, it's all theory, and without practice (which will be so in my case) sure will forget everything one. If I do end up as a storeman for real in my reservist life, well, good luck for that!
• Curry food everyday. Well almost. In any case even if the Non-Muslim meal did not have curry, the Muslim meal would ;)

And if I could only bring one thing back from my time at the storeman course back, it's this:

The life in HQ is really much better than out in the units!

Anyway, I am now officially a trained soldier! Well, not in the traditional sense that I've gone through the full BMT, but still at least I am trained in the skills needed to be a storeman :)

Why did I have to get myself injured, AGAIN?

Haiz. Already at the start of this year, I had to slip and fall to break my toe, thus resulting in a toe fracture, effectively putting me out-of-action (and Out-Of-Course) for the rest of my BMT.

And this Wednesday, during a routine street soccer match, as I was vaulting over the boundary of the court to retrieve a stray ball, my right knee suddenly gave way and hit the concrete wall hard. There was quite some pain, and I thought I might have fractured my leg, but I was able to continue nonetheless. But for the rest of the day, movement was difficult as the region around the right knee hurt when I tried to walk.

Thank goodness when I visited KTPH the next day, I found out it was only a contusion, not a fracture! However, I have signed up for an upcoming run next Sunday, the Jurong Lake Run, so I am now wondering if I could actually take part in this run. After all, I can't possibly go and run if I have a freaking leg injury!

Oh well, I guess I'll just have to wait and see if my leg can recover at a super quick rate ...

The Price Is Right funny videos

Here are some video clips from the game show The Price Is Right. Hope you found them funny ;)

This week was Aladeen

This week could be said as a rather ambivalent week for me. In terms of the work week, I felt rather negative coming out of work on Friday. Throughout the week, just about everyone was on a holiday mode. My upper-study conveniently took this (and next!) week off for plucking out his wisdom teeth, and even my direct superior was also away on holiday for much of the week, thus their jobs eventually became my job. With a to-do list spanning more than 10 entries, how am I supposed to relax (or chillax)?
While the first 4 days of the week were bearable, I felt that Friday was horrible! My work at the computer was disrupted so many times on Friday, and to make matters worse, some jokers decided to play soccer in the office! I eventually got so pissed off that I decided not to continue with whatever I needed to do, and opted to go home in a more comfortable way - the taxi! At least my emotions have eased somewhat after I reached home ...

Then arrangements were made for me to meet up with some of my friends to watch a movie. We decided to watch "The Dictator", which turned out to be such an awesome movie! :D Apparently there are 3 versions of the movie trailer, of which the last one (also the latest version) is rated R! All 3 versions are below for your viewing pleasure ;)





So let me explain the title for this week's blog post. Here's a short quote of a description of the dictator from the movie himself:

Often described as ignorant, he changed over 300 Wadiyan words to 'Aladeen', including the words 'positive' and 'negative', causing mass confusion ...

Therefore, relating back to the title of this post, this week could be seen as either positive or negative for me, depending on the viewpoint.

Anyway there are so many uses of the word 'Aladeen' in the movie, so I was just thinking if it would be fun to substitute key words with 'Aladeen' when I return to work next week? Hahahahaha :D

Dating is like riding a rollercoster ...

... because of the following:

• It takes courage to ask for a date, much like it takes courage to even queue for the rollercoaster ride.
• You can be rejected for both of them if you do not meet certain criteria.
• You get nervous at the start of both, but the nerves go away soon after the start.
• A date is hardly a straight-forward affair; same goes for a rollercoaster ride!
• You may enjoy them so much that when it ends, you want to go on it again!

I thought of the above while I was queueing up to ride the Battlestar Galatica: Human rollercoaster at USS yesterday:

The Battlestar Galatica rollercoasters. The red tracks are for the Human set, while the blue tracks are for the Cyclops set.

It was crazy. I don't know what propelled me to take up the challenge to ride the rollercoasters (adrenaline maybe?), but I went and joined the queue anyway. While I was getting secured onto my seat, somebody gave me a useful piece of advice: "Only the first decline is the scary part. After that everything's all right."

After all the passengers were secured, the rollercoasters blasted off, up the tracks. While ascending, there was a "turbo boost", increasing the speed of the rollercoasters even further! And then came the scary descent!!!!! But true to the advice, everything felt better after that initial descent, such that when it ended, I felt such a intense adrenaline rush from the ride :D (But for some reason, my legs went weak after the ride!)

That wraps up the first main attraction I visited as part of my unit's cohesion yesterday. Everyone in our unit was given free tickets and meal vouchers for a day of fun in USS. I set off with a couple of colleagues from my section, and we visited some smaller attractions upon entering USS, as a form of "warmup" for this main attraction.

As some of my colleagues went to ride both rollercoasters, I could not push myself to ride the Cyclop set of rollercoasters (there's a freaking vertical loop!!!) so I decided to settle for the Human set of rollercoasters ...

And after the ride, we went on to the other attractions, like the Revenge of the Mummy indoor rollercoaster ride. After the Battlestar ride, I thought this was nothing, until I read in the warning panels that this ride involves (among other things) the car moving backwards! After riding it though, I did not find the ride that scary (though the sudden backwards motions is freaky still!).

There was a light drizzle after we came out of the Mummy ride, which did not go away until some time after lunch. Lunch happened to be fried chicken, expensive when compared to prices outside, but there was the meal vouchers! And after lunch, we joined up with another group of friends and visited another bunch of attractions.

By the time we visited all of the major attractions, it was about 5~6 pm. I revisited the Transformers ride and the Battlestar rollercoasters, and it was about 7 pm when my friends and I finally left USS (it seems that we were probably the last ones in our unit to leave USS). We went to Vivocity for cheaper alternatives to dinner (as compared to having dinner at USS/RWS), and after that, we made our separate ways home.

All in all, it was a very tiring day, having visited most of the attractions at USS, and spent our time there to the fullest! So much so that I slept for more than 12 hours after that! I really hope that my unit can organise more of such cohesions in the future! :D

Changi Beach to ECP, in 1 hour!

As a leadup to the National Vertical Marathon 2012 that I have signed up for, I decided to challenge myself to cycle from Changi Beach to ECP within 1 hour (the route I took is shown here).

So I decided to start from Changi Beach and head towards ECP, and turn around and go back towards Changi Beach when I have cycled for about 1 hour. Turns out that in 1 hour, I was able to ride all the way to ECP, slightly past Marine Cove (where there used to be a McDonalds outlet) before I needed to turn around to go back to Changi Beach. So this meant I could cover 38 km in 2 hrs, making an average of 19 km/h. Hopefully I can cover this same distance in future at a much faster speed!

Overtime week!

Being a clerk is good, so they said.

Being able to stay out everyday is good, so they said.

These are the two common things that just about everyone says about my current position in the SAF now. But are they really that good?

"Being a clerk is good" - Good only in the physical sense as you don't get drained physically. But mentally you can get stressed like hell, especially when you have so many things to do ...

"Being able to stay out is good" - Good only when you stay close to the camp, otherwise the travel to and fro camp is equally hell ...

Anyway, I wanted to bring this out because over the past week, I have been working overtime for all 5 days! And the average was going home 1.5 hrs after official book out time, so it's fair to say working overtime isn't really the best way to use your time efficiently ...

Oh well, hopefully with this experience I don't OT like mad in my working life as an adult in the future :)

Induction

After 3 weeks in my current unit, I was more or less familiar with the unit. Still there is a need for a formal induction program, which pretty much covers the same ground as what my colleagues have told me about the unit since my stay here ...

Meanwhile, I have a lot to learn from my upper-study. Thank goodness there is 3 more months to absorb whatever knowledge he has garnered over his stay before he ORD, so it doesn't seem so bad ...

First public holiday in my NSF life!

Since I first enlisted in end-Jan, there was only 1 public holiday, which was Good Friday. But that day did not feel very special, since it was somewhere in my long 7-week Att C period.

Now that I'm back in action serving my 2 years, Labour Day is actually the first public holiday that I get to enjoy, since it's time away from SAF. And Vesak day is actually just round the corner, so this period of time does feel like a lull period, where there is little motivation in just 'chionging' all the work.

However, after Vesak Day, the next public holiday is National Day, almost 3 whole months away! That's nearly 3 months of no breaks from work (apart from weekends of course), which is such a contrast to school, whereby the longest period of schooling is about 10 weeks! While I may have 13 days of leave available for me to use, I do intend to use them only in Nov-Dec, where I have some activities planned for that period, like volunteering in StanChart Marathon Singapore 2012 and participating in Swissotel Vertical Marathon 2012.

Of course that is only possible if my BMT recourse does not fall within that period! Right now, there seems to be a few possibilities for my BMT recourse dates:

• BMT batch that POP on Oct 12
• BMT batch that POP on Jan 13
• BMT batch that POP on Apr 13
• BMT batch that POP on Jul 13
• BMT batch that POP on Oct 13

I'm hoping that my BMT recourse would be the batch that POP on Apr 13 or later, so that I can take part in the activities listed above ...

What's my posting?

Monday morning, I returned to Tekong, and reported back to my coy line. For the first time, I see a nearly deserted School 3 (only the PTP enlistees in S coy are still around), and there were new guys around the coy line. I waited awhile before I was brought to HQ BMTC to wait for my next posting. There I met another OOT-ed recruit like me, whose period of MC has also finished. So it was nice to chit chat with someone else in the office. Among the things we did were:

• Having canteen breaks (For the first time!)
• Shredding papers (Classified info ...)
• Sharpening pencils (until I damaged one of the sharpeners. Oops!)
• Going to the medical centre to endorse our MCs (only to find out my MC was endorsed the last time I made the visit to the medical centre...)

Tuesday morning, I returned to Tekong, and I was told that my posting has been confirmed, but the NSF clerks wouldn't tell me what it was until 2 hours from bookout (3 pm). And when I found out I was to be a storeman, i couldn't feel more relieved! (Thank god I'm not a medic!)

Wednesday morning, I made my way to my new unit, which was the HQ of a certain formation. Apparently there was a major event on that day, so I was roped in (together with 2 other newly posted in NSFs) to help out in the event.

Thursday morning, I returned to my new unit, only to be told that there is a chance that I may be posted out to one of the hubs. Then during an interview with the Manpower Officer, I mentioned that I would rather be posted out as a storeman than to remain as a clerk in the HQ (effectively, since no storeman is needed in the HQ). After the other 2 newly posted in NSFs were interviewed, we were then told of our posting. One of us (actually me) was supposed to stay in the HQ, but I requested not to stay in the HQ, so I was then given the alternative of posting out to another hub. Only to be told (as I left home) to come back to HQ the next day ...

Friday morning, I returned to my new unit, and met another one of the NSFs who also rather be posted out to the hubs than to stay in the HQ. I asked him if he also received the same call as I did the previous day, and yes he did. The admin officer then told us that HQ actually needed some extra manpower (to replace the guys who are ORDing), thus we had to stay. So what else can we do but to do this:

So now I'm (effectively) a clerk in this HQ. How would life be as a clerk? I don't know, only time will tell ...

And here come the end of my MC ...

Finally, after 7 long weeks of recovery and rehabilitation, my MC has come to an end. This means that I will have to resume the life of a NSF, one that was thrown aside when I fractured my toe. Frankly, having lived much of the past few weeks with a civilian mindset, I think I may find it a challenge to assimilate back into the military culture, where there is little freedom, much restriction, and the like. So in a sense, I would need to adjust my system back into the "NSF mindset" ...

Anyway, I would be going back to Tekong tomorrow morning to retrieve my next posting. I recalled that during my first week at home nursing my fractured toe, I was extremely worried about my future vocation (no medic for me, please!!!). However, as time went by, I found out that I wasn't so worried about my next vocation. Therefore, while I hope for the best, I am very much expecting the worst (read: medic), though I guess any vocation would be fine for me.

Oh well, I gotta go to bed soon; I need to catch the first bus to reach Tekong on time tomorrow morning!

So now's my block leave ...

Into the middle of my last week at home, I'm still pretty much living life as I did over the past few weeks: FB, 9gag, blogging and Sudoku puzzles. It would have been my block leave right now had everything went smoothly in BMT, but I guess it was not to be. I certainly hope that the company clerk don't take away 5 days of leave from my quota (of 13?), because I'm still on MC, otherwise I would be real mad!

Anyway, over the past few days, I have been trying to get my right feet used to the normal walking posture (whole foot down instead of just the heel). Right now, I'm walking around with my SAF-issued sandals (not bad, BTW), with the straps loosened as much as possible. Soon, I'm going to need to walk around wearing shoes and eventually boots as well. Hopefully, my right foot would be able to adjust well to wearing shoes as well as boots!