Random Randoms

Have you wondered how to take this photo?




It's quite simple actually.
Well it takes no more than the simple logic of taking it up close!

~~

been trying out more photo taking again!
i really love my dslr! photo-taking used to be so restricted by my Yashica camera years ago, to such an extent that whenever i upload 80 photos, i only publish 10. but now, i delete only about 1/3 of all shots taken on the spot, and publish as many as flickr allows! ^-^

No Swimming; Who would want to anyway?


Finding The One In Hundreds


Being Indifferent


My Panning Improved!


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41 DAYS; COUNTDOWN TO PINK
5th entry

The screeching sounds of metal against metal echoed through the bunk. A few people from Support Coy stared at me as they lay relaxed on their beds. Suddenly, the saw in my hand lost control, as it flew to the side and went straight for my left hand, guiding my right hand along. A sharp and acute sensation was felt in my left thumb as a small triangular rusty blade of the saw pierced into my skin. An exclamation of profanity could be heard, followed by the sound of the saw hitting the ground. What seemed like a clean cut turned out to be a bloody one, as waves of blood oozed out within fractions of a minute. I have just experienced yet another episode of my series of misforunate events.

The series started off with me buying an expired prepaid phone card (for international calls). That was not realised until the night when I happily made my way to the canteen, finally having my first early night (@9pm) to myself... Well I wanted to call my family and friends back in Sg to tell them how I was faring. However, probably due to the card's age or to my excitement, the 10-digit PIN got scraped off along with the foil. That totally ruined my night. After all, it's $10 wasted. But hey, Shih Shun (a perm staff at LC and my BMT platoonmate came and said hi to me!) He suggested that I use the internet. To which I did, but the bandwidth was being stretched by all those permstaff using the internet via their own personal laptop, and it took me 15 mins to sign in to MSN messenger!

So anyway had a quick chat before heading back to bunk, still feeling dejected by the fact I wasted $10...

Before I could cheer myself up, I locked my cabinet key inside the cabinet itself. Bloody shit... that worsened my already-ruined night. On a side note, I forgot my shower foam too when I went to take a shower, and had to borrow from a friend who was there forunately..

So anyway in the morning, I took half an hour walking around the camp looking for a lock-cutter, in vain. I decided upon a saw upon deseration, which was successfully borrowed from a construction worker after getting help from a Malay translator, my friend Rizal. Back in the bunk, I was hesitant at first, as I was unsure if a thick padlock really could be sawed. It was only after a prelim trial which scratched the silver metal that I was convinced that the saw is made of a harder material. So, after failing ot pick the lock with two sewing pins, I threw down my last card, though not a triumph card, and proceeded with the sawing.

It was successful, it took an hour, and I cut my left thumb. I hope that puts an end to my series of misforunate events, because I already suffered a night without brushing my teeth, washing my laundry, lost $10, and a $11+ padlock.

=|

been having weird dreams, as usual. last night, dreamt of my family in a setting about 5-8 years ago. we were eating dinner, and theres this black pepper crab dish that tasted quite nice. i could almost taste it in my dream. *drools*

so anyway i resumed furnishing my room today, and opened my hongbaos from this year's CNY. ya i know it's already march, but it's not as late as last year, when i opened the hongbaos only in nov/dec (can't remember the exact period). maybe im lazy to open the red packets, or maybe i prefer being able to see unopened red packets knowing i have money inside, just that i dunno how little it actually contains.
=/

had an assignment of taking pics of a stream to show how dark it is at night (residents of that region comlaint that it's too dark).
but after taking 1 photo, i decided to try my hands at some photo huntng. here's what i got...










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41 DAYS; COUNTDOWN TO PINK
4th entry

38 days and counting, today things were much better... or maybe I'm adjusting to the stressful environment of a Bn overseas exercise. By the way, temperatures in Brunei make Sg seem like paradise. It is always cloudy here, due to heavy humidity (owing to the dense vegetation) yet the day temperature is so freaking high. My laundry dried up at a speed comparable with P.Tekong conditions, despite the dense humidity. Lunch never fails to cause me to sweat, even though the sunlight I'm exposed to is not intense.
I seriously do not want to experience combat training in such weather conditions. With that, I sympathise with the troopers.

On a side note, the stories I heard about suicidal chicadas are real! Everyday, chicadas fly around the room, getting itselves stuck in the fans, putting themselves just centimetres from being sliced or diced by the fan blades Over the past few days I've seen chicada half-bodies, wings, and other weird insects I've never seen before.
Can't wait to go back Sg for warm and cool air, that is more dry than here.... Seriously... the laundry, the towel, the sandals....

~

Yesterday, was the first time my camera went out for a walk with me! so exciting to bring it around. to my dismay, it rained heavily and i was quite worried that my camera will get wet. on the way to yk's house, lightning struck bishan park. it was probably 100 to 200m away when it happened. the pulse of flash totally engulfed me, causing me to shut my eyes unvoluntarily (though it didn't even make any difference). for a while, i thought the bus had been struck. i could hear 5 beats in the cracking of thunder. the passengers on the bus were shocked too. but our instinctive reaction was to see if anyone had been struck. however the curtain of rain had obscured our view...

in any case, it later dawned on me that it was a dam good opportunity missed, an opportunity to take a shot of lightning so close up. it will prolly take me a stroke of luck too.

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41 DAYS; COUNTDOWN TO PINK
3rd entry

39 days to go... It is almost hard to believe and accept that today is JUST MONDAY! Started the day with... pills. It was not my first time consuming anti-malaria pills, so what struck me was an unpleasant surprise; I didn't expect to vomit after taking 2 green pills that kill worms.

I still remember ever week during my PTP phase in P.Tekong I had to take 2 anti-malaria pills. Well, it wasn't as bad as those with G6PD, those poor fellows who had to consume an alternate daily pill. The irony to the practice was that it had to end just before the enhanced batch enlisted. (P.Tekong was declared malaria free) Now, why such timely coincidence...

So anyway, the green pills caused me to vomit. Let me tell you, I could have endured that vomitting sensation. But no, I had to go to the latrine... Walking into the toilet, I noticed a soldier rinsing his mouth after vomitting. I then proceeded to find a clean cubicle.

1st cubicle: Guy vomitting
2nd cubicle: Toilet bowl clogged with faeces
3rd cubicle: Another guy vomitting

I couldn't take it anymore.. as though my disgusto-meter had reached its brink, the warm yet acidic fluids shot up my oesophagus and flew out of my mouth, as I aimed at the toilet howl to minimise "collateral damage"

To be continued...

Guy sleeping above me= Sleep-talker
Guy sleeping beside me= Snorer

>_<

Transiting to CV life

still a bit not used to being a civilian haha.
im wake up at different times every morning, i snack whenever i feel hungry.. i dreamt of my army colleagues.....

anyway i went to learn driving yest! my very first practical lesson. honestly i thought the instructor would drive me round to orientate me... but i took the wheel right at the start... so basically i practised on 1st and 2nd gear, but i went up to 3rd gear too. quite fun, wished i could practise the whole day though. perhaps if u give me the car and 1 month to myself, i can learn everything by myself too. XD.


IT Show 2009



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41 DAYS; COUNTDOWN TO PINK
2nd entry

1st day at Lakiun, and things weren't as bright as I hoped to be. So, the journey to camp was a torture, not that I was expecting sth luxurious or a holiday trip, but having to travel in the wee hours and then take a torturous watercraft in the hot and humid conditions of Brunei for 3 hours...
Sometimes the wait is more miserable than the actual misery, because it's the fear and uncertainty that toys with the mind...
just like how I used to fear NS.
Gotta sign off, because CO is enforcing the lights out order. Apparently one soldier, who was given inadequate rest and even meals, had collapsed in the jungle, activating a heli-evacuation ... And so.. here I am, on my first night in LC, trying to sleep in my dirty clothes, waiting for my first shower and teeth-brushing (since I left home) when dawn arrives...

Celebrating the progress

yest we bronco plt 4 02/07 gathered for a cause. we celebrated the 2-year anniversary of our enlistment! i bet most of my friends don't do that. becoz, unfortunately, their bmt was not long enough for them to bond with their platoon mates, and their 2-year anniversary ain't special anyway, whilst mine is a ord weekend.

not everyone turned up though. prolly about 55% attendance. but my section only had 3 ppl including me. quite sad. but we still had a great time. even though we only had dinner at F&Co and a few went for a movie, it was great catching up old times and sharing our experiences.
Can't believe we still talk about the horror incidents that happened back then. haha. in fact, jackie revealed another story that took place in Pegasus coy. though skeptical, we found the story exciting. well... there was this 2 recruits who went to the toilet in the middle of the night to pass motion. as they were almost done, they heard the toilet flush. both thought the other was done, but after asking each other, they realised that it must be someone else. however, they did not notice anyone else in the toilet. as they were washing their hands, the tap beside 1 guy suddenly depressed, and water flowed into the basin. they were not sure if it was because the tap was faulty. nevertheless, the guy beside that mystery tap pulled back the tap into it's "off" position before they hurried back to sleep, in worry that their sergeant might reprimand the platoon for leaving the tap on. so why did the tap beside the soldier suddenly depress? was it the water pressure? was it their drowsiness that made them oblivious of the flowing water? quite a mystery i would say....

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41 DAYS; COUNTDOWN TO PINK
1st entry

So here goes... the plane is on the runway now, on a silent countdown to takeoff. And yes, I'm on my own countdown to ORD, the big day of many men of Singapore.

As the engines pick up speed, the aircraft started to move. Oh my, the acceleration is thrilling, and within seconds we have liftoff! At a ground speed of 400+km/h, I'm actually feeling a lil dizzy. Soon enough my eardrums are 'popping', at an altitude of 3km off the ground. Here I am, wondering "what am I doing on a SIA Raffles Class flight... to Brunei?"

Blog Rebirth

All right! my blog is now officially open! the last entry of my previous blog was on 30 dec 2007. and now its 13 mar 2009! the day i left my batallion. coincidentally, i ord on a fri-the-13th (F13).

lets hope my branch will be able to manage without me. its not becoz im that indispensable, but becoz without me, my branch is officially short of manpower (my understudies are on course). i just had to leave my unit when they are on standby... but hey, better than leaving with the Feb batch, mostly deserters that did a bad job on the overlays, real bad job. Kinda disappointing.

but hey, i should really stop worrying so much about my unit now, now that i'm officially off duty, for good.

so how did i feel today, about ord?
i think it's overrated. i dun feel euphoric, just relieved. its just a mere transition to a next part of our lives, where we take on more responsibilities and stress ourselves with many other issues in life.
this leaves me to wonder why people shout "ORD LOH". my conclusion is that they just want to make other people jealous. a simple act that passes on, batch after batch, and now a traditional practice.
i'm not saying we can't be happy about it. it's just that i treat ORD the same as graduation, and i seldom see people going around asking "when you graduate? I GRADUATE LOH!"
haha come to think of it it's quite comical.

i wanna get a dslr, but frens are telling me not to buy from the IT show, but get from a camera shop instead. decisions....
stay tuned to my blog to read my short diary, titled "41: Countdown To Pink"