Saturday, January 27, 2007
Finally the weekend is here again, sigh, the weeks seem to just come and go for me and I am eternally looking forward to the following weekend, and the following weekend, and so on and so forth.. Life has gradually taken a monotone timetable where time seems to have lost meaning and days trickle by somberly. Weekends come with muted enthusiasm, and go just as quickly as it arrived, the weekdays are always more lengthy in perspective, and the weekends always too short.
This week hasn't been too different from previous weeks, only more physically strenuous, I've got a pulled muscle still waiting to heal, and every muscle and ligament in my body is crying out for respite and mercy. My whole body aches with every attempted movement and I move like a man 20 years older. We had an IPPT (That physical test in the Army), a killer SOC (Standard Obstacle Course) with 6 sand-cans for additional weight on top of our usual burden. When I did the low-rope I felt as if my arms were ripped out from my shoulder sockets! My wrists hurt after carrying 24-kg missiles and I just feel bone-weary after countless sessions of physical exertion.
Since I had no mood to go out, and when the new Samsung Home Theater system with it's 5.1 surround speakers replaced the Hi-fi set in my living room, I've had 2 heavy-duty Hi-fi speakers lying around, and today I took the opportunity to install the old Hi-fi speakers to my XPC. Now I have an additional 800watts of audio power! Talk about audiophile overkill! The 2 speakers are even larger than an average full-cased computer casing. It may still be analog and stereo, but it's got dual woofers, dual tweeters and mid-range speakers. Eat my dust Creative!
1:06 AM
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
21st CENTURY...
Our communication - Wireless
Our dress - Topless
Our telephone - Cordless
Our cooking - Fireless
Our youth - Jobless
Our food - Fatless
Our labor - Effortless
Our conduct - Worthless
Our relation - Loveless
Our attitude - Careless
Our feelings - Heartless
Our politics - Shameless
Our education - Valueless
Our follies - Countless
Our arguments - Baseless
Our boss - Brainless
Our Job - Thankless
Our Salary - Very-less...
12:52 AM
Sunday, January 21, 2007
The year 2007 is here and is going to be an exciting year for movie-goers!
In March, you have Ghost rider, Rocky Balboa and Zodiac. April will be the opening of TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and Transformers!!! (April 7th).
In May you have the movie everyone is waiting for Spiderman 3.
Also not forgetting pirates of the Caribbean 3, 28 weeks later and Shrek the third, (essentially Shrek 3).
In July, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, August we have Jackie Chan again in Rush hour 3 and The Bourne Ultimium. (Bourne Identity 3)
In June we have Fantastic Four - Rise of the silver surfer, Oceans 13 and Die Hard 4! Almost every show in the year 2007 is a sequel, but who cares? We can’t wait for the movies to screen!
A very good year for movie goers in the year 2007.
2:31 AM
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Absence makes the heart grow fonder?
You fell helplessly in love, never left each other's sides. But now don't get to see each other as much anymore. How should you keep the love going?
It starts off innocently enough, boy meets girl, girl smiles at boy, boy gets electric shock and then bam! We've got another couple thanks to cupid's arrow. Okay, maybe it isn't always as clichéd as that, but you get the idea. As time passes, both of you grow as individuals, and so does the relationship. There might be quarrels here and there, but at least the love is still strong. That's when you're physically together. But there will come a time when you might not get to spend as much time with your partner as you like.
It doesn't mean the relationship has cooled down, it just means either one of you have a commitment that is eating into the time that you both might have once shared.
Common problems with teen couples in Singapore is the boyfriend being enlisted into National Service, requiring his other half to compromise meeting only on weekends instead of anytime. Sometimes the guy is too tired after a week of exhausting physical exertion in camp, he might not have the energy to meet you and would prefer to sleep instead. Or another problem could be a transition into a higher school level such as polytechnic or a junior college. Being thrust into a whole new environment, you and your partner will need to explore and adapt, which means less time together. Couples can also be separated geographically, leaving the country for studies or even permanently, this causes havoc to people in a relationship because chances of being physically close are nil.
Problems, temptations everywhere, the lesser time spent with the other half, the more time for your own, TV, games, all these are monotonous activities and sooner or later, you will crave for something more interesting, one could even become resentful about not being able to spend enough time with your partner, and could lead to picking up a new hobby or finding new "friends", or a new friend of the opposite sex. Risky.
Anger management issues, you love your partner, it's natural to spend time together. Being deprived could lead to a short-tempered grump. All hell breaks loose when a fight starts over the smallest issue, nasty names thrown back and forth. Not good. Legitimate reasons, school commitments, both will have to learn how to compromise and understand his or her partner's inability to spend as much time as they like with them. However, if you suspect your partner is avoiding for unexplained reasons, and then it may be time for you to trash it out, bitterness building up isn't healthy at all.
I love you.. not, being apart a few days is okay, a few weeks at a time is still manageable but being consistently away will eventually take a toll, there is less contact, hence feelings, thoughts and emotions are not conveyed to each other. Being physically apart consistently will cause the love to eventually die out, where's the fun in the relationship if you can't be physically together?
So what should you do if the above circumstances occur in your relationship? There are a number of things you could do, you could keep your partner involved in your life, a simple Sms or a phone call a day will help tremendously. Or even sharing a blog where either partner can log in to update the other on their daily activities, would help if both are in different parts of the world.
Doing the small little things like the girlfriend tidying up the closet for her boyfriend, baking cookies or just going out to have dinner together will score extra points. A little effort goes a long way.
Make an effort to do things together. Do some sports or get involved in some shared activities; something both of you enjoy or are interested in. It could be as simple as watching movies together, or jus strolling hand-in-hand down Orchard Road. Watch soccer with him once in a while though the green patch on TV puts u to sleep in 3 seconds. And guys, do give in if your girl asks for another day at window-shopping, rather than suggest that she go out with her girlfriends for "that sort of activities" instead. If you're spending more time with your friends rather than with your partner, it's a warning sign that you're drifting apart!
=) Let the love blossom!!
6:52 AM
Thursday, January 11, 2007
New Apple iPhone Vs O2 XDA Atom Exec
The newly unveiled iPhone by Apple is really something, it's really the glimpse of what handheld communication devices will be like in the near-future and sporting many similar features and designs of my own "dream-phone", the Apple iPhone really sports many features unseen in today's most advanced pda-phones and bearing the trademark of Apple for both functionality and as a fashion icon, the svelte iPhone has a very nice GUI, GPS-mimicking functions, with collaboration with Google Map, everything is very seamless, like a handheld street directory and phone book all in one.
iPhone features the most revolutionary user interface since the mouse. It's an entirely new interface based on a large multi-touch display and innovative new software that lets you control everything using only your fingers. So you can glide through albums with Cover Flow, flip through photos and email them with a touch, or zoom in and out on a section of a web page all by simply using iPhone's multi-touch display.
It is really a "smarter" phone, incorporating built-in advanced sensors that really doesn't require the user heavy stylus-tapping to scroll through tedious levels of menus, instead it's more "human", the iPhone's accelerometer detects when you rotate the device from portrait to landscape, then automatically changes the contents of the display, so you immediately see the entire width of a web page or a photo. The same XYZ motion sensor that I put into my "life-saver watch" has been finally put into a communication consumer device!
The proximity sensor detects when you lift iPhone to your ear and immediately turns off the display to save power and prevent inadvertent touches until iPhone is moved away and an ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the display's brightness to the appropriate level for the current ambient light, thereby enhancing the user experience and saving power at the same time.
It is basically a media-centre, mp3 player, phone, street-directory, storage device and internet-browser. Lets see how the iPhone fares when compared to another smart-phone of similar caliber. The O2 XDA Atom Exec.
The iPhone sports a 3.5 inches 320 by 480 at 160 ppi Multi-touch screen compared to the older and smaller Atom 2.7" 240 x 320res LCD touchscreen. The iPhone has Quad-band 3G GSM connectivity compared to the Atom's Tri-band 2.5G GSM. The iPhone has Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) + EDGE + Bluetooth 2.0, the Atom Wi-Fi(802.11b) only and only Bluetooth v1.2.
OS is rather ambiguous, the iPhone sporting the Mac OS X, with the Atom running on Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0, it's beyond debate to know that the Mac OS X has much better intuitive GUI interface and eye-pleasing animation, lively menus compared to a static drop-menu box of the Windows Mobile 5.0.
Both have a 2.0 mega pixel camera though. Some strengths noteworthy will be the 4GB or 8GB Storage for the iPhone compared to the miniscule 64 MB RAM, 192 MB ROM of the Atom, but it can be complimented with a 1Gb miniSD though, (that's a mere 1.192Gb of storage compared to the 8Gb iPhone).
I guess the new iPhone totally 0wnZ the O2 Xda Atom Exec in terms of user functionality, animation, features and specifications, it's not a completely fair comparison though, considering the O2 Xda Atom Exec is 2 years old. But still we can see the trend of communication devices these days. Media is a very strong factor. Not to mention the "cool" factor.
1:09 AM
Monday, January 01, 2007
It's Year 2007, and I'll be commissioning as an officer in 23 weeks time if everything goes smoothly. Actually, tradition calls for a resolution to be made, I'll be 21 years old this year, my my, how time flies in the blink of an eye and we're now already looking at the younger generation and thinking how fortunate they are, or "still so young", man! I am starting to act as if I have pushed past thirty. Actually I am very happy the way my life is going about right now. I have great friends, a loving family, a understanding girlfriend, comfortable finances and reasonable instructors. I mean, what's more to ask for? I am easy contented now I guess. You're only young once, and live it once!
Pretty much the 2006 ended with the graduation from NP, and the next chapter begun during NS enlistment when the guys shaved their heads to ironically serve the nation in BMT, then came OCS and now here I am in Air Force School. Reflections have been done before and I doubt I'll repeat it just because it the end of 2006. But unlike the Army, the Air Force has very good welfare and each trainee is treated like a fellow human, unlike the unpleasant experience that I had in BMT. Profanity isn't commonly sprouted so fervently in AFS and everyone has adequate welfare and amenities. I am glad I am in the Air Force instead of the Army, one thing is for certain, you definitely use more of your brain in a more specialized weapon system, and as a result, our skills are very specific. We've just recently finish training on a armored car and slowing moving on to the technical specifics of my missile system.
The main baulk of my time is now spent in camp, 5 days a week training, leaving little or no time for personal pursuits. But the depressing issue stays, as we grow older, our creativity wanes. Knowledge increases, but Creativity decreases. This is due to wisdom and reasoning that we learn along the way. Whereas, Children has no boundaries and are more creative, but their creativity starts to decrease the moment they go to school as their imagination starts to be bounded by education.
Still the main focus for me will still be my training these remaining 5 months till my commissioning. Now that'll be something really to look forward to! The image of us commissioning by the President as Officers is alone enough to be a strong motivation factor. 9th June 2007! Now that'll be the day! Singapore's No.2 Parade, the Officers commissioning parade at SAFTI MI. After I commission, then I'll worry about other pursuits such as my studies and such. After commission, then I will worry about my studies and apply for the relevant scholarships
Some minor resolutions that may seem quite silly blogging about, but will be done nonetheless.
- Improve fitness (goal: crack the 9-minute barrier for the 2.4km run, meanwhile I'm hovering around the 9min 20 secs zone)
- Survive my OCS training and commission successfully as an Officer in June.
- Update a complete version of my resume.
5:44 PM
