It used to be that my patience can tide me through many things but lately it seems, my patience is being tried and it is no longer as dependable as it was. Time as it seems, is no longer on my side as I now try to surmount some rather tough odds as I start finding myself worrying more than ever as the sense of urgency creeps up on me to get an answer. The pressure and stress of work is not helping (neither is the fact that my supported teams are not performing well, whats the go Ferrari?!). Heck, I'm even contemplating on going overseas to chase someone down if it comes down to that.
It all sounds a little cryptic here but thats the way it is. I'm back to my cryptic secretive ways. The walls have eyes, or I may be going mad from all that anxiety...
Monday, September 29, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
Brief respite
And so it came to pass, the brief respite I had from the toils and troubles of work and (gasp) more work. This planned trip to the land of the rising sun had taken far too long to materialise but it finally pulled through and I, for one, am finally having a long break from all the worrying I've been doing.
For this purpose, I hopped on board the new A380 for a short flight to the Eastern Capital of Tokyo, for what had been a trip 3 years in the making, with a good friend of mine. We reached our destination early morning on the 5th and after a breif stopover at Tokyo station for some coffee (he insisted on filling his stomach) before making our way to our ryokan. But due to an error in taking the trains, we ended up in the wrong direction, at Akihabara. Omnious sign to reach the very stop I had always wanted to come to. But we had our luggage in tow so we made our way to the ryokan (the right direction) and reached there by 10-11ish. The check-in was pretty simple and the room was cosy. We popped in to a nearby 7-11 for our first meal of instant noodles. Hey, it was no shame at all since it was a totally new experience to be eating something of such good quality.
So there we were for the whole of 7 days, running around (the train system was surprisingly not that complicated) and going plenty of places. We, or rather I, hung around Akihabara for a good portion of the trip. It was my Mecca and paradise. To be able to finally enter Animate, hunt in Toranoana and explore Mandarake was so indescribable, I spent a few hours scouring through the stuff at one place that I almost forgot the time!
But all is not about Akiba. We did go to the famous fish market at Tsukiji (and feasted on some very fresh sushi), scooted over to the famous shrines in Nikko, visited the various temples in Asakuza (the famous Raimon too), Ueno, Ochanomizu and others (including the notorious Yasukuni). I ended up getting several charms for my colleagues and friends (friends got most of the charms praying for love, I got 4 for myself alone :p). I was so bowled over by the place and the feeling that I didn't really want to come back. A visit to the Maid cafe (Pinafore) was so unreal but it was like a chicken going into the pond. Had a real hard time trying to communicate and the girls were so cute trying to make sense! I was a very sad soul when I was boarding the plane.
Coming back home, I came crashing down. Suddenly everything became drab and the public transport was a total let-down (not that it was that fantastic to begin with).It was tough picking myself up to get back to work, especially when I landed smack in the middle of a fire-fighting session back in the office. Sigh.... back to work.
For this purpose, I hopped on board the new A380 for a short flight to the Eastern Capital of Tokyo, for what had been a trip 3 years in the making, with a good friend of mine. We reached our destination early morning on the 5th and after a breif stopover at Tokyo station for some coffee (he insisted on filling his stomach) before making our way to our ryokan. But due to an error in taking the trains, we ended up in the wrong direction, at Akihabara. Omnious sign to reach the very stop I had always wanted to come to. But we had our luggage in tow so we made our way to the ryokan (the right direction) and reached there by 10-11ish. The check-in was pretty simple and the room was cosy. We popped in to a nearby 7-11 for our first meal of instant noodles. Hey, it was no shame at all since it was a totally new experience to be eating something of such good quality.
So there we were for the whole of 7 days, running around (the train system was surprisingly not that complicated) and going plenty of places. We, or rather I, hung around Akihabara for a good portion of the trip. It was my Mecca and paradise. To be able to finally enter Animate, hunt in Toranoana and explore Mandarake was so indescribable, I spent a few hours scouring through the stuff at one place that I almost forgot the time!
But all is not about Akiba. We did go to the famous fish market at Tsukiji (and feasted on some very fresh sushi), scooted over to the famous shrines in Nikko, visited the various temples in Asakuza (the famous Raimon too), Ueno, Ochanomizu and others (including the notorious Yasukuni). I ended up getting several charms for my colleagues and friends (friends got most of the charms praying for love, I got 4 for myself alone :p). I was so bowled over by the place and the feeling that I didn't really want to come back. A visit to the Maid cafe (Pinafore) was so unreal but it was like a chicken going into the pond. Had a real hard time trying to communicate and the girls were so cute trying to make sense! I was a very sad soul when I was boarding the plane.
Coming back home, I came crashing down. Suddenly everything became drab and the public transport was a total let-down (not that it was that fantastic to begin with).It was tough picking myself up to get back to work, especially when I landed smack in the middle of a fire-fighting session back in the office. Sigh.... back to work.
Monday, August 25, 2008
August Frenzy
I know its been a while, quite alot has happened for the past month or so. First, got called up for my very first In-camp training. And then the much awaited Olympics came. Lets talk about the ICT first.
There I was, newly assigned to the unit and then was thrown into a Brigade level full-troop exercise.Well, all was rather fine since I was able to click with the other platoon commanders but had a slightly hard time trying to merge completely into the scout platoon. I understand since their original PC had been with them all the way so its unrealistic to expect total acceptence for a new guy like myself. Still, that remains a minor issue. It was the scheduled 8 days of exercise that raised quite a few eye-brows and lowered morale for many. What made it so long was actually a series of "breaks" in between the mission. Only thing is, these "breaks" sap more energy than replenish it because of the waiting and wondering. It does no good to lower our fatigue levels.
Anyway, first mission was a supposedly simple recon mission but on one of the tougher objective routes for my team. And we were inserted at the wrong time, giving us only an hour of cover under darkness to walk. As if that was not bad enough, it seems as if I overrated my own capability cause the moment I picked up my field-pack and started walking, I knew I was in deep trouble. The other guys were just as bad but I did manage to put up a front to push them on but it was futile after 3 hours when we eventually resulted in 5 minutes of walking followed by 10 minutes of resting. It was just that bad. Our mission was FUBAR (F*cked Up Beyond All Repair) and we got "killed" by a patrolling Armour vehicle after a while. Why FUBAR? There was only 1 road in to our objective and there was a whole company of enemy troops waiting for us along the way. AND to top it all off, the objective was changed to another one AFTER we were declared "dead"... Consolation though that we get to rest for the entire duration of that first mission, only having to deal with surprised remarks of us scouts being "captured" (hello, we are dead, not captured. And dead scouts dun talk).
2nd mission wasn't so bad if not for me being trapped by an enemy patrol on my way to the objective from my Observation Point position. For 3 whole hours, I disappeared off everyone's radar (I think my team declared me captured). So there I was, trying to think of ways and means to get back to my OP. I eventually decided to try bashing through some very tall cane plants, making quite a fair din with the rustling. To think of the fact that its the Chinese 7th month did not help. I ended up at a road junction near an enemy OP position that was the very same one that trapped my only route back. They heard me alright but I was lucky they never came to investigate. So I just sat tight near the road in the bushes, tired, tirsty and very very pissed. I bidded my time and calculated the risks before making a run for it. A distance from the spot, I jumped into the forest and move quickly in the general direction of my OP. Either the enemy were asleep or too surprised to even give chase, I won't know. I knew for sure my heart was pumping like a motor piston. The guys were all damn surprised to see me for sure.
Final mission was something new to me. I was to act as the intel officer for the Armour-fighting force for the Battalion's defence mission. Nothing much happened though since the enemy opted to attack from another direction so nothing for me to do, right? Wrong! Another group launched their attack at another Battalion's defence position and I happen to be right in the area. And when the other OPs could not get through to the main intel centre, I ended up being the mobile intel centre in the field. Its not easy in that cold damp environment where water condenses everywhere, including rubber tyres. It was an eye-opener of an exercise really but hell no I don't want to go through it all again!
Not to mention that this whole thing made us missed a whole chunk of the Olympic events! Even though I'm not a fervant fan to watch every event, I'm still a strong supporter of the Olympic ideals and celebrating the best of Athleticism. Kudos to Michael Phelps and Usain "Lightning" Bolt for their prowess and to the Chinese (Whom cannot be entirely trusted for their product quality) for organising such an extraordinary Games that no other Nations can possibly match. (London has alot to think about and do). Good show but it's back to work now.
There I was, newly assigned to the unit and then was thrown into a Brigade level full-troop exercise.Well, all was rather fine since I was able to click with the other platoon commanders but had a slightly hard time trying to merge completely into the scout platoon. I understand since their original PC had been with them all the way so its unrealistic to expect total acceptence for a new guy like myself. Still, that remains a minor issue. It was the scheduled 8 days of exercise that raised quite a few eye-brows and lowered morale for many. What made it so long was actually a series of "breaks" in between the mission. Only thing is, these "breaks" sap more energy than replenish it because of the waiting and wondering. It does no good to lower our fatigue levels.
Anyway, first mission was a supposedly simple recon mission but on one of the tougher objective routes for my team. And we were inserted at the wrong time, giving us only an hour of cover under darkness to walk. As if that was not bad enough, it seems as if I overrated my own capability cause the moment I picked up my field-pack and started walking, I knew I was in deep trouble. The other guys were just as bad but I did manage to put up a front to push them on but it was futile after 3 hours when we eventually resulted in 5 minutes of walking followed by 10 minutes of resting. It was just that bad. Our mission was FUBAR (F*cked Up Beyond All Repair) and we got "killed" by a patrolling Armour vehicle after a while. Why FUBAR? There was only 1 road in to our objective and there was a whole company of enemy troops waiting for us along the way. AND to top it all off, the objective was changed to another one AFTER we were declared "dead"... Consolation though that we get to rest for the entire duration of that first mission, only having to deal with surprised remarks of us scouts being "captured" (hello, we are dead, not captured. And dead scouts dun talk).
2nd mission wasn't so bad if not for me being trapped by an enemy patrol on my way to the objective from my Observation Point position. For 3 whole hours, I disappeared off everyone's radar (I think my team declared me captured). So there I was, trying to think of ways and means to get back to my OP. I eventually decided to try bashing through some very tall cane plants, making quite a fair din with the rustling. To think of the fact that its the Chinese 7th month did not help. I ended up at a road junction near an enemy OP position that was the very same one that trapped my only route back. They heard me alright but I was lucky they never came to investigate. So I just sat tight near the road in the bushes, tired, tirsty and very very pissed. I bidded my time and calculated the risks before making a run for it. A distance from the spot, I jumped into the forest and move quickly in the general direction of my OP. Either the enemy were asleep or too surprised to even give chase, I won't know. I knew for sure my heart was pumping like a motor piston. The guys were all damn surprised to see me for sure.
Final mission was something new to me. I was to act as the intel officer for the Armour-fighting force for the Battalion's defence mission. Nothing much happened though since the enemy opted to attack from another direction so nothing for me to do, right? Wrong! Another group launched their attack at another Battalion's defence position and I happen to be right in the area. And when the other OPs could not get through to the main intel centre, I ended up being the mobile intel centre in the field. Its not easy in that cold damp environment where water condenses everywhere, including rubber tyres. It was an eye-opener of an exercise really but hell no I don't want to go through it all again!
Not to mention that this whole thing made us missed a whole chunk of the Olympic events! Even though I'm not a fervant fan to watch every event, I'm still a strong supporter of the Olympic ideals and celebrating the best of Athleticism. Kudos to Michael Phelps and Usain "Lightning" Bolt for their prowess and to the Chinese (Whom cannot be entirely trusted for their product quality) for organising such an extraordinary Games that no other Nations can possibly match. (London has alot to think about and do). Good show but it's back to work now.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
System failure
I hereby declare the BYOB day a failure, along with all the whacko ideas that the authorities have come up with. Why? Because everything just failed from the end-users' viewpoint.
First up, BYOB day was implemented to try getting people to cut down on the use of plastic bags. Just the other day, I was down to the local supermarket (with my own bag in tow) and was greeted with the sickening sight of all the lazy folks gorging themselves with the plastic bags to carry their merchandise with. There at the side of the counter was a small can which 10cents was to be donated for every plastic bag taken. Not a single cent was ever dropped in after observing 10 people with obvious plastic bag fetishes moving off from the check-out counters. Instant failure...
Next comes the road traffic regulating measures, most "fondly" in the form of higher payment on what used to be heavily-congested roads (which are still congested). Has the ERP succeeded in easing traffic flow? Hell no! Let's put this in the form of a simple analogysince the brains behind it fail to see it so clearly. If I have 100 cars heading to a single point A with only 3 roads leading to A I get congested roads on all 3 with perhaps road 1 being more congested. If I make people travelling on road 1 pay more, I successfully "eased" the traffic flow for road 1. What the nit wits dun see is there are STILL 100 cars on all 3 roads and that number is still allowed to grow! Why is it so damn hard to just cut the number of new cars sprouting out on the roads? Is it because daddy's little boy just got his licence and he has to make sure he gets one so as to show that your family is well-to-do?
Hello people! Yeah, you sitting in that office chair in some Ministry or authority. I seriously question your credentials to be sitting in your positions. I even question your qualifications as graduates or professionals with any common sense.
First up, BYOB day was implemented to try getting people to cut down on the use of plastic bags. Just the other day, I was down to the local supermarket (with my own bag in tow) and was greeted with the sickening sight of all the lazy folks gorging themselves with the plastic bags to carry their merchandise with. There at the side of the counter was a small can which 10cents was to be donated for every plastic bag taken. Not a single cent was ever dropped in after observing 10 people with obvious plastic bag fetishes moving off from the check-out counters. Instant failure...
Next comes the road traffic regulating measures, most "fondly" in the form of higher payment on what used to be heavily-congested roads (which are still congested). Has the ERP succeeded in easing traffic flow? Hell no! Let's put this in the form of a simple analogysince the brains behind it fail to see it so clearly. If I have 100 cars heading to a single point A with only 3 roads leading to A I get congested roads on all 3 with perhaps road 1 being more congested. If I make people travelling on road 1 pay more, I successfully "eased" the traffic flow for road 1. What the nit wits dun see is there are STILL 100 cars on all 3 roads and that number is still allowed to grow! Why is it so damn hard to just cut the number of new cars sprouting out on the roads? Is it because daddy's little boy just got his licence and he has to make sure he gets one so as to show that your family is well-to-do?
Hello people! Yeah, you sitting in that office chair in some Ministry or authority. I seriously question your credentials to be sitting in your positions. I even question your qualifications as graduates or professionals with any common sense.
Monday, July 07, 2008
Say what?
I now wish to refute a very popular gripe among the locals here. Singaporeans are NOT inconsiderate. They are the most kind and generous people around. They can have the heart to throw millions away to every disaster area that needs relief, oblivious to the fact that most of it probably ended up in some politician's pockets, funding their Mercedez rides. They can even donate tens of thousands in "blood money" to a poor murdered girl, which ended up with her mother whom promptly packed her bags and left for her home town in China and live in a life of semi-luxury. All these thanks to our generosity.
So why is it that many of us berate our fellow countrymen as inconsiderate and yet we show such a generous side? The answer is very simple. Singaporeans are ILLITERATE and hence STUPID. Take for example the many sign boards telling people not to litter and yet you see litter underneathe that very sign. What irony. Escalators with signs telling people to stand on the left to let people pass on the right side are not understood, even though its in the universal language English. Whats even worse are the cars that park next to signs asking them not to park there. How do these people even get a licence to begin with!?
Well, thats just it. The government has to step in and start sending the majority of the population back to grammar school instead of harping over the official "statistics" that we have a 98% literacy rate. Because the evidence just points otherwise, that many of the adults and working professionals are simply not up to par yet.
So why is it that many of us berate our fellow countrymen as inconsiderate and yet we show such a generous side? The answer is very simple. Singaporeans are ILLITERATE and hence STUPID. Take for example the many sign boards telling people not to litter and yet you see litter underneathe that very sign. What irony. Escalators with signs telling people to stand on the left to let people pass on the right side are not understood, even though its in the universal language English. Whats even worse are the cars that park next to signs asking them not to park there. How do these people even get a licence to begin with!?
Well, thats just it. The government has to step in and start sending the majority of the population back to grammar school instead of harping over the official "statistics" that we have a 98% literacy rate. Because the evidence just points otherwise, that many of the adults and working professionals are simply not up to par yet.
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