Saturday, December 30, 2006
Today is the day! Today is the last day of Basic phase and the day where we are told what weapon system we will be trained in, I got posted to RBS70. Nooooo!! It was a very big disappointment, because it wasn't what I wanted to go into. I had wanted to go to the IHAWK because the missile system is definitely much more prestigious, a larger and more potent SAM system that looks really menacing and cool from a distance. The IHAWK is the largest missile in the SAF arsenal. However, the RBS70 is a laser-guided short-range surface-to-air missile with a much shorter range and kill probability. Considering that all missiles in the RSAF will always be bigger and more menacing than anything the infantry has to offer, it is probably insignificant to be so choosy about a particular missile system isn't it?
I guess it's the recognition, but in the next hour our so, I found out the main reason why I had wanted to go into that IHAWK instead of other systems, I mean, the Mechanized-Igla is pretty cool as well, mounted SAMs on an APC (Armoured Personnel Carrier).
RBS70 training is definitely more tough, road marches with the 24.3kg missile on top of a regular field pack, a 12kg signal set and various other launcher accessories. (All the other missile systems are too heavy to be man-packed, and are mounted on armored vehicles), the RBS is also mounted, but that will come later. I am not afraid of tough training, but we were all put off by our new officer.
He is just so screwed up, he gave such a demoralizing brief, "you'll feel worse than earthworm shit." Almost everything we said was shot back at us extremely blunt and crudely without any consideration at all. He didn't smile at all throughout the 1 hour briefing and all of us came out feeling like shit after the 1 hour.
Then did I realize that the instructor really counts a lot for the morale of the men and now its rock bottom because of him. It's like the first 3 weeks of OCS all over again (The hellest of hell in Officer training and every cadet has his story to tell.) and our mood was all spoilt.
Being at officer ain't going to be easy at all, next time when I handle my men, I must remember that I don't want them to feel the same shit that I went through during training, not all officers have to be so screwed up.
Everyone had mixed emotions when they were told what weapons were going to. Most weren't posted to their choice and more than three quarters didn't get what they wanted and most felt screwed up. Most of the I-hawkers were happy though, the officer of IHAWK is just so jovial and homely. RBS is not the one I wanted to go to, I had wanted IHAWK because of him, but I guess it's fate. Sigh, the instructor is such a dread!
I guess I can gripe initially, but as officers-to-be, we are constantly reminded that we must uphold our stature and integrity. Officers don't gripe, whine or complain isn't it? We're still human after all!
Actually I dun mind tough training. If it was another instructor teaching RBS70 (there are a few very nice instructors), I wouldn't have minded at all, those instructors make the toughest of training seem fun, but this RBS70 instructor is so strict and regimental. It's back to infantry and extreme regimentation all over again, I think all we can do now is take it all in our stride, at least it's not so bad with 2 of my bunkmates who are with me in RBS. I guess, this 20 weeks of training will really show what mettle we are made of.
The RBS70 Surface-To-Air Missile System
2:51 PM
Friday, December 29, 2006
Why do guys lie? Well sometimes it's essential. What else makes the world go round and smoothes out love's sharp edges? Not alcohol, that's for sure. Alcohol makes us tell the truth, which is why we always insist on doing out serious drinking in all-male groups. Ever so often a woman wants to know why men lie, to which there are 3 answers, (all lies, naturally).
1. You are right to pick us up on this, because of course women never lie.
2. Because chivalry is not dead and we want to protect you from the distressing realities of a harsh world.
3. Because we can't help ourselves.
Actually, two and three are crap, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a man who hasn't used them or a version thereof. Truth is, we lie for a number of reasons – the essentialonesbeingkindness,selfishnessandconvenience. Put another way, our lies will always be a variant of one of these, "Of course, I love you", "No, I won't come in your mouth" and of course, "My cheque's in the post".
By lies, I don't mean the big whoppers, I mean the small get-you-through-the-day lies we use without thinking. Except for the real bastards, most men begin relationships believing that the greatest compliment they can pay a new partner is to tell them the truth – whatever the cost. And each time we learn quickly, that the truth should be kept where it belongs – in the witness box. Because, sometimes, lies are, well, kinder...
I have a friend, who has a rather attractive girlfriend, and one day during a party she came in a dazzling outfit, until the evening she asked him what he thought of her new top. Like an idiot, he told her. She had a major sulk all evening and a week later made a real point of telling him that she'd thrown the offending garment away. The odd thing was that Mike felt dreadful, not about her binning the top but about having hurt her feelings.
But don't get me wrong. Kindness isn't everything. In fact, there's usually a healthy dose of selfishness in most male lies. PMS and bad hair days are nothing to the icy chill of terror that goes through a man when his partner says, "Do I look fat?" (Now don't lie! We've ALL heard that!) Because there's just no right answer. Say yes, and we're dead. Say no, and we'll be accused of lying...
Almost every girl I know loves to bring up the "fat question" one time or another, sometimes out of the blue, but most occurrences are triggered during meals. However as a guy, if you think "What the heck, just say it!" and admitted that your partner had put on a bit of weight. You might as well have slit your own throat on the spot for all the food you're going to be allowed to put down over it for the next few weeks, amid cries of, "so it's okay for you to eat, but I have to cut down!" There's only one answer to the "Am I fat?" question. It's "No!", said loudly and with absolute conviction. Truth doesn't even enter into it.
If kindness and self-interest are reasons to lie, so if wanting a quiet life. I mean, truth often needs explaining. And most of the time we don't tell real lies. They're what would be the truth if life was a bit fairer. Face it, men will never stop lying. We lie about your clothes, career, friends and weight – and we expect you to return the favor, and we love you anyways!
5:17 PM
Monday, December 25, 2006
These few days have really added up a tremendous amount of driving experience, I drove to the airport to pick my family up, then drove to East Coast hawker centre to have lunch as well, then driving all the way back as well. I packed my bags for camp this week, resting at home before going out again at night to watch "Curse of the Golden Flower",
China, Later Tang Dynasty, 10th Century.
On the eve of the Chong Yang Festival, golden flowers fill the Imperial Palace. The EMPEROR (Chow Yun Fat) returns unexpectedly with his second son, PRINCE JAI (Jay Chou). His pretext is to celebrate the holiday with his family, but given the chilled relations between the Emperor and the ailing EMPRESS (Gong Li), this seems disingenuous.
For many years, the Empress and CROWN PRINCE WAN (Liu Ye), her stepson, have had an illicit liaison. Feeling trapped, Prince Wan dreams of escaping the palace with his secret love CHAN (Li Man), the Imperial Doctor's daughter.
Meanwhile, Prince Jai, the faithful son, grows worried over the Empress's health and her obsession with golden chrysanthemums. Could she be headed down an ominous path?
The Emperor harbors equally clandestine plans; the IMPERIAL DOCTOR (Ni Dahong) is the only one privy to his machinations. When the Emperor senses a looming threat, he relocates the doctor's family from the Palace to a remote area.
While they are en route, mysterious assassins attack them. Chan and her mother, JIANG SHI (Chen Jin) are forced back to the palace. Their return sets off a tumultuous sequence of dark surprises.
Amid the glamour and grandeur of the festival, ugly secrets are revealed. As the Imperial Family continues its elaborate charade in a palatial setting, thousands of golden armored warriors charge the palace led by , Prince Jai. Where do Prince Jai's loyalties lie? Between love and desire, is there a final winner? Against a moonlit night, thousands of chrysanthemum blossoms are trampled as blood spills across the Imperial Palace.
Review:
It's not a bad movie, in a nutshell, the Emperor (Yun-Fat) hates the Empress (Li). He's trying to poison her with a fungus that causes insanity, profuse sweating and heaving cleavage. Meanwhile, she's having an affair with her eldest son, but he's not really her son, because there was another wife before the Empress, one who got kicked to the curb. That woman lurks in the palace seeking revenge, and her own daughter is also having an affair with the eldest son, who is, yes, her brother. The other two sons wind up as part of a giant civil war on the outside and the inside. Then come the black-cloaked imperial S.W.A.T. team of flying swordsmen. What I'm trying to say is that a lot goes down in this movie, lots of spice!
The story line is nothing amazing but flows well although not devoid of a few loopholes. For the people who're not familiar with the entire power struggle, backstabbing stories of Chinese royal families, some relationships and emotions may seem a bit too much. And it did actually get a bit overheated at certain point possibly for theatrical tensions. For those who didn't appreciate "Hero" or "Crouching Tiger hidden dragon", you won't like this show. .
This movie focuses on Gong Li and she's a good actress. Chow Yun-fat is also good but his role is not as rich as hers. Liu Ye (crown prince) is adequate for his role and the character also has a limited range. Jay Zhou (the second son) is not quite up to par with the others but he has improved tremendously since "Initial D". As for visuals, the movie thrives on sheer opulence and extravagant luxury, tons of bright colors and shades.
Yimou's greatest mistake with Golden Flower is to allow his natural impulse towards regal spectacle to overwhelm practically every other element of the story leaving a poorer plot development. After an energetic start, the first half of the film drags perilously and stiffly from one declamatory scene to the next, and with hardly any action to be seen. Left adrift without the zippy fight sequences of Yimou's other wuxia, the performers still perform their scenes of passion and betrayal in a state of constant high anxiety that verge into camp more than once.
I gave the movie 3 out of 5. For a Zhang Yimou movie, the plot is really shallow. The movie did have its good points however, most men would have been distracted with all the heaving and bouncing cleavages the movie had to offer, but the ended plot was a bit of a disappointment, with the end coming too abruptly without fair development.
Which is a shame, as Golden Flower takes some impressively unexpected turns near the end. Amidst a bloody cacophony of combat, (the scene where the palace guards fought the coup was a bloody massacre, it wasn't even a fight). Obviously the king is a better strategist than the prince, and it was like shooting fish in the barrel, the trapped golden warriors stood no chance and were either shot by arrows or crushed and impaled by a closing wall of metal. The films takes a more philosophic than pulse-pounding approach, highlighting warfare's deadening horror instead of its thrills. Also unlike many costume dramas of its ilk, Golden Flower maintains a welcome cynicism about power; it becomes clear that all the luxuriously maintained rituals would go on unabated no matter who is in power, and regardless of their wisdom or cruelty.
At least I enjoyed the ending song theme sang by Jay Zhou, a very fitting song for a bloody and sad tragic ending.
3/5 stars.
10:55 PM
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Woke at 10am today, had a dian xin lunch at Tun Amina, then I drove back to Singapore smoothly, my first inter-country drive. I drove all the way to Orchard to meet dear, J, Kc & Xc at Orchard, the Traffic was just crazy. It was a mini-TKD gathering. We ate at NYDC! And the guys spent most of the time talking about NS-stuff, much to the exasperation of the girls.
Nevertheless, we had a lot of fun after dinner, walking around shopping, chatting and just taking a lot of pictures from the roadside Christmas attractions, Christmas tree etc. It was fun, but extremely crowded, it was a challenge to merely make our way through the throngs of people, and the pictures taken are a priceless memory, considering how rare it is to be able to find time to meet up now that everyone is busy with their own commitments and agendas.
This year I wanted to avoid all the major places of interest during the holiday season. Sales registers were ringing non-stop as shoppers pack malls. Last minute shoppers hit the malls at full force, department stores, shops and food courts were packed to the brim while long queues snaked at taxi stands.
The last burst of shopping will give a further boost to retailers which are reporting a bumper Christmas with higher shopper traffic and increased sales. The crowd was something you wanted to avoid, and the scene was similar everywhere, along Suntec, Marina, Orchard and including the newly opened Vivocity.
The economy is good and people generally feel like spending and consumers willingness to spend shows a strong economic sentiment, with handsome bonuses and the impending GST hike next year. All these are translating to a jolly good Christmas for retailers this year.
At centre point for example, shops reported an increase in sales of 20-25% this festive season compared to last year. Some businesses say that retail could have been even stronger if not for last week's heavy downpour which may have resulted in many shoppers staying home.
Thankfully, the weather held up yesterday and shopper traffic soared at malls across the island. More than 167,000 shoppers visited Vivocity, compared to the 150,000 at the same time of it's opening. At Ikea too, 10,000 more shoppers were at its Alexandra outlet.
Everyone was clambering for last minute deals and shopping to the last minute to jostle with the Christmas crowds and fighting the crazy traffic? Haha, I understand that sentiment quite clearly! After all I did all my shopping last week, I mean 50% sales for G2000 apparel? Even I couldn't resist that!
Pictures Courtesy of Johnny
11:29 PM
Thursday, December 21, 2006
I am sorry about the long time-lags in-between entries, but it's tough to update entries whilst being in camp, and the weekends are precious, and I'd just don't have the time or mood to update. I'll try after this holiday season...
Meanwhile I really need a break...
1:25 AM
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Christmas shopping December 16th
Christmas is round the corner, and I did my Christmas shopping today, buying several presents from Carrefour and wallet shop and a necklace pendant for my mom from Taka jewelry.
Nevertheless, today is a date. We walked around marina square, roamed the whole of Millennia walk chatting and just enjoying each other's company whilst she scoured the whole of Candy empire for a particular chocolate. Then we headed to Suntec city where I bought myself a G2000 blazer that I've set my eye on for a long time. It's a gift for myself for this Christmas, and it was surprisingly cheap! It's a 50% discounted sale, and I got a matching pair of pants and a blazer for a mere $130! What a bargain! It would have usually gone for $199 and $69 respectively. To add on top of it, you'll get a $20 gift card for every $100 spent, which effectively means I only spend a $110 for my purchase.
Headed home for dinner, don't wanna sound too long-winded her, because it's really uncharacteristic for a guy to talk about his day's shopping purchases...
11:59 PM
Friday, December 15, 2006
Finally it's the end of another week. The 4th week in Basic Phase in Air-Force school, the whole week was both physically and mentally strenuous with a multitude of drill and exams, and we're just glad to booked out and head home.
10:52 PM
Saturday, December 09, 2006
It's been sometime, but I guess I'll update since when I last left off, I've been rather busy and updating a blog takes up a considerable amount of time.
Dec 9, 7pm.Had dinner and walked around PS for a while before heading to Clark Quay, since it was early we spent the time watching people get hurled into the air in the Gmax reverse bungee ride. It's interesting, considering last year I was tempted to try it out, the $25 price-tag per 3-min ride was an effective deterrent though.
There are two major clubbing events tonight, one is Zouk OUT 2006 and the other is MOS (Ministry of Sound)'s Milkshake night! Free entry for NSmen and students with the invitation entry card, we were the first there and almost instantly regretted going, the place was insanely crowded, with the queue snaking all the way to Coffee-club. There's at least several thousand people here tonight!
Along the way, I met up with several old acquaintances! Fazli, Yilong and Ruqiao, the Air-Force guys were there queuing up as well. Soon after, some of other other friends arrived and because of the crowd we decided to leave and we headed to Double O bar instead, who says Singapore doesn't have a nightlife? The whole Clark Quay was teeming with people at midnight.
We went to Double O at MS, another club that they frequent, and there was another queue forming there already. So we decided to catch a midnight movie at Cathay tower instead and caught "flyboys" and I reached home at 4am.
11:34 PM
Bicycle Shopping
I went to do bike shopping with a pal who had tips on good deals around Singapore. First we visited ULU cycles at Keat Hong Shopping centre, he is a local dealer for Ironhorse bikes.
The Specialized FSR XC comp
Iron Horse MKIII
Some specs will include:
ANTHEM 1
FRAME: GIANT AluxX SL 3.5" travel w/ Advanced MAESTRO Suspension System
SPEED: 27 SPEED
F/R DERAILLEUR: SHIMANO XTR FD-M960/ XTR RD-M960
F SUSPENSION: ROCK SHOX REBA SL w/ LOCK
R SUSPENSION: GIANT MAESTRO-A
Unfortunately $3000 is a pretty steep price to pay for a bicycle and I am still considering whether I should settle for a cheaper bicycle.
My personal ideal bicycle if I were to mod one myself would be a
Frame: SCOTT Ransom ($3000)
Front shocks: ROCK SHOX REBA or BoXxeR ($800)
Rear shocks: ROCK SHOX 4.0 ($740)
Rims: Mavic rims or Maxxis tyres ($400)
Brakes, F/R derailleur: SHIMANO XTR FD-M960/ XTR RD-M960 ($600)
COOL! But unfortunately, insufficient funds.
http://www.konaworld.com/bikes/2k7/STINKYDELUXE/index.html
http://www.ironhorsebikes.com/
1:35 AM
Friday, December 08, 2006
Finally after a long and draggy week the weekend has arrived, but it has been quite fun, we've just finished the "Common Officers Training", basically more NE lessons, self-awareness, leadership and safety modules, we visited the Air Force Museum, went for a Golf appreciation course, yes! It's my first time playing golf, now I know what the heck is putting, chipping, the different holes played. We got to play with the clubs, woods, putter and after the brief introduction around the course, we got to try chipping as much as we wanted at the driving range. It is said that as future officers to be, we have to know what Golf is all about, because when foreign ambassadors or military officers comes for a visit, they may enjoy the game of golf and we have to be introduced to it as well. It'll be really embarrassing when a foreign military officer visits, and as an officer yourself you have no idea how the game is played.
Golf is the unofficial sport of the business world. It is often said that board meetings merely confirm decisions that are actually made on the golf course. For this reason, the successful conduct of business golf (which extends beyond merely knowing the game) is considered a useful business skill; various schools, including prestigious universities such as Stanford University, have started both undergraduate and graduate-level courses that teach "business golf".
Oh well, it's true, if you want to have a successful business associates, a lot of unofficial agreements are made on the golf course, and that's what it's all about.
I didn't really enjoy the sport, it's more of a skill and practice, but maybe from my more physical sport interests, the game of golf doesn't appeal to me much. Moreover, it's an expensive hobby that I can't afford to take up. (maybe when I am earning a 5-digit salary in the future), then such a sport could be an alternative hobby. I personally don't enjoy the game of soccer nor golf, but it could be a biased opinionated view, but soccer is when 20 guys on the field chase after an air-filled rubber ball. And golf is worse! It's a full-grown man swatting a hi-tech hybrid polymer rubber ball with a titanium stick across a field into a hole in the ground! But it's still an interesting experience, not my cup of tea though. I'd stick to martial arts.
11:03 PM
Sunday, December 03, 2006
I'm starting to see that my blog is fast turning into a movie-review site instead of a site for my reflections about my activities.
It's the 2nd week in Basic Phase in Air Force School. Phew, for the last 2 weeks, my schedule has been pretty hectic though on paper it may seem that the timetable is very lax. That would be an unfortunate misconception for a spectator's part. We had 4 exams to tackle with during the past week! We have 7 weeks of basic phase where basically we have lectures had exams everyday before we go fully into weapons phase where we'll be physically training with our weapons everyday for 19 weeks.. It's still a long journey.
I hope I get into the Mech-Igla, But it's too early to say now. I'll elaborate more about our weapons systems next week.
5:06 AM
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