CG on fri

Actually can't really remember what happened on this CG liao.. haha.. today is 22th Dec liao.. my memory is failing me.. hehe

I rem that there were 5 songs that we sang for P&W. The thing that struck me the most is that I still rem the first song that we sang. Occasionally I will also recall the song and started humming it. It's called "I Love You Lord". Pris led us, singing this first song without any music. I felt that its a good start. It helps us concentrate our thoughts on God and also on the words that we sing.. cos sometimes even music can distract us from God.

Guitar practices

Arranged with Pris to go to Irving's house to practice the P&W for this fri. Got the song list from her on Mon, but could only find the chords for one song. Pris then send a link to the chords for each song in a website. hmm... useful website.. so resourceful...

Went to Irving's house on tues to practice.. I must have been such a jialat guitarist as i dun know many chords and lack of practice. Luckily Merv was there to teach me some strumming techniques as well as chords. He was so patient!! Pris was also trying to reassure me that its ok, and telling me not to be so stressed up, that this is abt praising the Lord, so should be happy and joyous. I know she herself is quite stressed worrying abt singing in the right tune, singing loud enough, and also leading well.. still she considered my feelings also.. I also know that Merv needs rest but still take the time to guide both me and Pris, and to reassure us as we prepare.. Both of them are so amazing!!

Wed night, the 3 of us doing the P&W come together to practice for the final time. Ming and Pris did some tuning of songs, and running through, while i practiced on my own my part. I believed if i'm not wrong that we took out some Willie Wonker bars and took some funny pose with it (Pics are for personal laughter, not to be displayed in public places.. haha) Practiced together with Pris later. The 3 of us also run through a bit what we're going to do in terms of flow. What a practice we have, with Irving joining us also for some laughs.. haha...

WCG

Went to WCG or World Cyber Games 2005 after church service. Its held at Suntec Convention Centre. Today is all the finals for Counter Strike, Warcraft, etc. watched the CS finals with CS.. hee.. the US team is really good.. they trashed the Kazakhstan team (hope i rem the correct country).. hehe.. the way they play, they'll trash the gang that played CS last night with me, maybe like 10000 to 0?

Anyway, got tired watching all the action and went back home to rest. For a more exciting description of the event, go to Ink's version

Singing and fragging bout

KTV today!! Thats the programme for the day as suggested by the programme manager, Pris. Together with Merv and Pris, the time to meet is set. We met up at the KTV and proceeded in. Basically, I have a problem with KTV... Due to my memory leak with regards to names, I dun know what songs to choose!!! So, I left the choosing of songs to the KTV queen (guess who is that... actually not too difficult, there's only one female there!). Ming, MC and CS joined us a while later as we sing our hearts out. It was so fun singing so loud (without the mic of cos), one song after another. For pics, go to Junming's blog

Done with the singing, its time for dinner. We were all starving. The place we chose, Carl's Junior. The burgers were huge man.. I had difficulty trying to finish it, I'm sure the rest also has the same feeling. Pris even had to abandon the burger-gorging!! What a waste!! hehe.. juuuust joking...

Finished with dinner, we had to think of some entertainment. We went to the WCG at Suntec to take a look. The competitions for the day has already finished. The time and event for tomorrow was noted so that we can plan for tomorrow, to know what time to come.. hehe

Still not willing to go home, we went to a LAN shop and played CS.. I mean Counter Strike... not Chang Shiung.. haha.. We did a random assignment, and Merv was teamed up with Pris and MC, me with CS and Ming. The top scorers of the day was Merv and CS. Merv, with his irritatingly good aim and good strategy, and CS's good aiming.. luckily at least one of the top scorers is on our side!! haha.. Pris also showed her prowess, and killed me quite a few times.. dun play play arh..

well.. thats all for the day as Ming and MC sent all of us back home. Poor Ming has drive even though he got a headache from the Counter Strike game!

Personality Test 2

Another personality test I did from Ink's blog


Your personality is Phlegmatic-Sanguine

Overall:
Melancholy:6
Phlegmatic:17
Sanguine:16
Choleric:1

Strengths:
Melancholy:1
Phlegmatic:8
Sanguine:10
Choleric:1

Weakneses:
Melancholy:5
Phlegmatic:9
Sanguine:6
Choleric:0

Can't believe I'm so young!!

Did a personality test on Ink's website.. jialat man.. I'm still a kid! Ink's page

You Are 16 Years Old

Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

Eventful Day!

Quite an activity packed day today.

IPPT

First, IPPT. The dreaded part of NSmen, at least those who dun exercise much. haha
Had to wake up early as I had chosen a 7:30am slot. Arrived on time (took a taxi to do that), but I'm already no. 111! Did all my stretching and .. stretching.. and more stretching... as I wait for my turn to go through the static stations. The 1st station I had to do is the shuttle run.. got a 10.5 secs!! I was thinking, I must be too relaxed when I ran. So, unsatisfied, I requested to run again. This time, I got a timing of 9.9 secs. Now.. this is more like it.. Satisfied (Like I got choice, cos cannot try more than 2 times.. haha), the next station is the situp. I managed to do 39 in one min, to get the maximum points for this station, nothing more, nothing less, to conserve energy for the 2.4km run later. Then came the easiest station for me, Standing Broad Jump. I got 243cm for that to got the max point also.. hee.. The last stationary station is 1 of 2 I dread most, Pull Up, cos I never train at all this time. With anxiety and fear of failing, I managed to do 6, barely.. phew.. pass!!

The last station, the 2.4km run. As I said before, I didn't train for this. So, basically, I have to depend on sheer determination to finish and pass this cos I know that I have tendency to run out of breath. My no. was 111, so I get to start first. On signal by the PTI (Physical Training Instructor), I started. This 2.4km run is on the road in the camp, with one up slope and a corresponding down slope. The first round was quite ok, physically, timing was 3:41 min (ok.. slow, but considering never train, ok lah for 800 metres). On the 2nd round, I was starting to feel my lungs trying hard to pump air. I had to constantly force myself to keep my mind blank and eyes unfocused so as to concentrate on breathing regularly and not get distracted, to pace myself. In my mind, I also ask God for strength to finish this, as I cross the 3rd lap mark. Time, 7:56...

The 3rd round was torturous. I had to really force myself not to stop, as I know if I stop, I may fail this test already (calculating from the last 2 laps, I may fail this just barely). I also prayed harder for strength to continue (I had told God earlier that I'll give whatever incentive money gained to him, and also that I dun wanna waste time coming back again, time which can be better used to serve the church.. hee). Every breath I take seemed like its going to be my last. As the finishing line became closer and closer, my determination became stronger and stronger. I gathered all my strength for one burst of speed. I ran like there's no tomorrow, and finally cross the finish line. Normally, this time, I should be feeling happy and relaxed, but no.. I was desperately gasping for air! How I wish there was an oxygen tank nearby! I looked at my time.. 12:19.. Ooh.. I barely passed, as the time for a pass is 12:20 min.. or so I thought.. I went to take a look at the standards chart to double check if I pass. Guess what I saw? The time to pass is 12:40 min!! wah liao!! I had so much time left, and I nearly died from lack of breath!! haha.. oh well.. thank God I pass.. grinz..

Movie

Arranged with Pris and Junming to watch movie at Junming's house in the evening. Elaine also came later. We watched the show where Andy Lau acted as a boy who grew up in 3 days, and learning the adult world. I feel the show is teaching abt not looking at things on the surface and to appreciate ur family, that every member in the family is important in forming the unique characteristics of each family. We then had dinner with Junming's mom and his neighbour cum junior (Junming is such a good host hor??). We then watch Dark Water.. I still dun know who chose this show? thought we were going to watch Cinderella Man? haha... Anyway, the show was not scary at all.. Its more of a tragic show than a horror show. The fun part though is seeing Pris using a pillow to cover her face whenever there's a potential scary part, and also Elaine's attempt at scaring me.. haha.. (I couldn't find an opportunity to scare Elaine cos the show dun have scary scene). By the time we finish the show, it was quite late, so we decided to go off and not to impose on Junming and his family further.

Salsa

I checked my hp and found out that Hazel is confirmed going to salsa tonight. As I had already promised her to go with her a week ago, I took a taxi to meet up with her at Union Square. I was the first to arrive.. hee.. waited outside of the bar for her. I saw Andrew leaving and tried to call hiim, but he couldn't hear me, and his hp is not on. I couldn't wait, so I went into the bar first to take a look.

First thing I noticed is that I dun recognise any of the people inside. Must have been a long time since I visit this place! These people are cool though, dancing beautifully to the beat. After Hazel arrived, we danced a little as she patiently encouraged me as I had almost totally forgotten how to dance this. She helped me recall some basic steps to do and we tried them out (heng she patient arh). After a while, I felt a bit embarrased as its supposed to be her night. Cos after this, she may not get to come here for a while. So, I encouraged her to find her friends to dance with, so that she won't feel obliged to stay with me. A few guys also invited her to dance (shows how good she is, in dancing and in looks.. hehe). Met Michael who I know from Ballroom Dancing during the Uni days. He also taught me some moves that I tried out with Hazel.. (Salsa is abt more variations, the more u know, the more fun it is, else becomes repetitive, something which I can't stand.. hehe). Enjoyed the night but had to go back early cos got to go Church the next day. Hazel also wanted to go back rest, and so we called it a day.

Civ 4

Today Civ 4 is out!! Not that I'm following the game. However, I have 2 very onz people who informed me of the launch date, Ink and Merv.. must be in the blood.. haha... We met up at Peninsula Plaza as Ink went to Funan earlier to buy for us. Then we had dinner with TY at the food court in the plaza, while at the same time savouring the feeling of opening our "treasure" to look at the technology maps, the manual etc. btw... saw an old TV actor there also..

Concert

hmm.. actually nothing much to add.. hehe.. This is a concert by Paradise. Went with the CG.. Only know 1 song out of the many they sang.. "One Way".. haha.. So, its a challenge to enjoy it, as compared to the normal church service. hehe. This ends the day for me, as I go back home to unpack the luggage.

Reservist - Ex Wallaby, Australia

Day 1 (18th Oct 2005)

Gathered at the airport to prepare to board the plane. Supposed to wear a collared shirt, but forgot.. hee.. :P . Panic for a while, but after thinking a while, conclude that its not serious, not like i'm wearing slippers and beach wear.. haha

Day 2

Arrived in Rockhampton Airport early in the morning. Some of the people were randomly chosen for bag inspection. They had to take out everything in their bag, to check for soil, foodstuff, etc, cos Australia has very strict rules regarding these. From my tone, its easy to guess that I had that "innocent" enough look to escape from this.. hee

Arrived in camp by coach, and as expected from experience from last time here, the base camp is basically tentages. There are quite a big of changes from 10 years ago though. The camp is bigger, and there is tap water and toilets with flush! It used to be huge tubs and toilets which are basically holes in the floor, and with worms breaking the shit down. The bathing facilities are the same though, which is basically bag with sprinkler at the bottom. We have to pour water into the bags and then hang it up. There's a mechanical knob to turn the sprinkler on or off to allow the water sprinkle down until there's no more water.


The "Famous" pulley system shower

Work started immediately after we've settled down. I found out that a lot of the work had already been done for me, with some loose ends that I have to tie down. I had been so worried that this ICT will be very tiring, cos my able assistant is not here for this ICT. Thanks to a good friend, Ker, as well as prayer request email sent by Pris, I have much less work to do.

Subsequent Days

The rest of the days are quite routine.. going out for field exercises, going back to camp to prepare for the next one.. doing alot of checking equipment and changing faulty ones and test again. Gratefully, I have a few friends, who I made since years ago, who are very helpful, else I'll be so overwhelmed with so much to do. During the exercises, I kept looking out for some form of animals, like kangaroos, or wallaby, or emu. I was not so lucky...... haiz.. seems like all the kangaroos are hiding somewhere, cos my friends keep telling me that they saw one or two!

Anyway, the exercise is tiring due to the need to travel long distances and the summer heat. Its very cold, more accurately, freezing cold at night.. imagine very hot during the day and very cold at night.

But it was interesting also, cos I got to know a fellow soldier better. Seems like he's serving in an organization that helps Jews who want to be Christians, or help other organizations like churches to minister to Jews. I learn from him that Jews have very different views with regards to the Bible. The structure of how their books are arrange are different, not like what we have. He also gave examples of the significance of some festivals to Jews, festivals that we non-Jews may not feel is important. I remembered a comment that he made, that there are also a certain sect of Jews that believe that the Messiah (Jews won't know the word "Christ" cos it came from a Greek word) has already come. However, that sect believe in another person and doesn't fulfill all the prophecies. To be the Messiah, all the prophecies has to fulfill.. all as in ALL!! An example of a festival


Aspiring photographer trying to take cool pics


hee.. a nice pic, only my friend will know who this is.. hehe

Last Few Days

Yay!!! The tiring part of the whole ICT is over since the exercise is over, or so I think. The handing over is just as tiring! I even had to work overnight and catch like 1 or 2 hours of sleep. There are people who dun get to sleep at all too! But the thought of doing everything well and be able to get out here smoothly kept us going. There were alot of administrative things, equipment checks, coordination, counting and recounting of everything to be returned. Finally we're able to finish everything, and can relax.

R&R (2nd Nov 2005)

We have one day of R&R or Rest & Recreation. The Army paid for a guided tour to the Heritage Village, the Cultural Center and a trip to a shopping mall. The Heritage Village is interesting. They recreated the past, with horse carriages, Smiths, tractors pulling tour coaches, even games that involve driving tractors (too bad we didn't have time to play that). I even had my first horse ride!! (ok.. I sua ku, ok?). Will be more fun if can gallop though.. through a forest in Europe kind.. hehe


Antique Car Exhibition..


Farmer learning how to feed a goat


Imagining myself riding through the woods.... actually trying not to get thrown off the horse

Didn't do much at the Cultural Centre though. Threw boomerang (Deja vu cos did that at the same place 10 years ago!!) and walked around looking at exhibits of the aborigines' history. Next we were taken to a Shopping Mall. We have abt 3 hours of shopping time. With a sense of urgency, we proceeded with our shopping. One of the things I desperately needed was a pair of shoes, cos mine is currently held together by some ingenious tying using strings thought of by a friend. Found a very good one that was quite cheap. Then I started my food shopping. Bought alot of chocs for CG, family and colleagues. So much that I felt a bit embarrassed when I went up on the coach later. My good friend, Wengang, who's shopping with me wanted to buy a sunglass, and so I helped him choose one, giving my opinions as best as I could (like I know sunglasses.. haha).


"Artistic" shot near the place we had dinner.. nice right? The houses and the sea, I mean..


Another shot at the same place, people doing para-surfing.. looks fun!

This SAF-sponsored tour ended with a night's stay at a resort hotel, the Ridges Capricorn Resort. It was a beautiful hotel with nice pools and palm trees. Not a bad place to stay, if u're looking to just relax. Wee rested there until abt 3 plus where we had to wake up to take a coach to catch our plane. Did all the necessary checks and boarded the plane.


Attempt at 15 secs shutter exposure at the Resort Hotel..


Rare chance to take a plane up close


Shots from plane, taken with help of friend, cos my seat is at the wing side, same as when I came!!





Arrival (3rd Nov 2005)

Alighted the plane and all of us went to take a look at the duty free shops. I bought a few bottles of liquor (This is the first time I'm doing this, so asked a lot around.. haha). Took a taxi home. Messaged Irving that I'm back, and he told me that the CG is going for a concert at Nexus tonight. I agreed to join after I put my stuff back home.... To be continued.....