After spending almost the entire week last week at the NDP floating platform helping out with AHM, its finally over.

We the new signallers were stationed in the AHM command post, the main nerve centre where all orders and information went through. My work wasn't exactly that tough actually, perhaps because of my rank haha. Mostly I just helped carry stuff around, swept, cleaned, and did and printed charts. Most of the time was spent doing nothing, or playing with the family of cats haha.

The eve of the Big Day was the busiest of the week. Upon reaching there at 9pm we helped set up a function room for officers' and VIPs' wives and children, which involved shifting sofas and coffee tables around. Then I pasted posters around the place.

The remaining night was spent standing next to the charts pasted on the walls in the command post, updating the charts as road closures and setting up of waterpoints, medical posts and ambulance posts came into effect. The room was almost exactly a scene of a war room haha, where all the walkie talkies screamed at the same time.

By the time the run started in the morning I was already very tired, since I never slept at all, and the many cups coffee I drank did not help.

Being in the command post meant I could see almost everything that happened during the run. I saw the complaints from the public and the hotels on the noise pollution, the updates of people being hospitalised, and yes, the death as well.

We waited for the event to be over, tore everything down and sent them back to camp.

Now that its over I can no longer go home on weekday nights, have my lunch and dinner at Marina Square, and no longer work in a place outside camp. Life will be back to normal when I report back to camp later.

Good morning! Blogging on my old Linux machine haha.

It has been a long time since I used Linux, after I got my new Compaq running on Vista and for some reason, refused to let Linux run on it.

My father recently bought a router, which has since resulted in my first ever computer network in my own house (haha, years after many others have done so). The good thing now is that I no longer need to fight with others over the use of the computer haha.

My father is using this Linux machine, and he wants to surf Chinese websites, so I installed Chinese support on this Linux. Now its displaying Chinese characters correctly, and the only thing I haven't do is allow the input of Chinese characters, which I have forgotten how to.

"Once Chinese, everything Chinese".







Right now I have a Vista + Fedora Core 5 + XP combo on my network. I haven't tried file sharing yet. Heh.

I think I'm easily impressed haha.

I came home today to read a sad news about a young 16-year-old student who got killed in an traffic accident.

Its a waste, everyone says. A school runner whose family has already planned for an holiday two days after his 'O'-Levels ends. Died before he could say his last words. Well, at least a consolation is that many people are crying for him.

I wonder what will happen if I were to die someday somehow all of a sudden too. So far all I know is that my good friend will be happy that I have died. In a way it makes sense.

I spent this entire week at the NDP floating platform, helping out with the Bay Run which will be held on Sunday. Besides fellow humans the saikang warriors there had another species of animals for company: 3 kittens and their mother.

The tiny blue-eyed kittens are very, very, VERY, cute. No kidding.

Unfortunately when we returned today the number of kittens was reduced to two, and we had no idea where the last one went. Hope its still alive though. The siblings seemed oblivious to the absence of one of its members, still happily playing with us and among themselves. They took our boots as objects for them to sharpen their claws and teeth.

The mother, while looking tired the entire day, was still able to eat a packet of rice given to her. She gave off low meows whenever she saw us, and I wondered if she was asking for more food or if she was pleading us to look for her child.

Then again the entire family looked pretty relaxed. Literally 吃饱睡，睡饱吃。When it rained they just hid in the shelter, and continued sleeping. What good lives they lead.

On the first day in armour my sergeant sent to me...

An order to do saikang.

After breakfast in the morning, went down to Marina Bay to do setup and carry stuff. Finished late in the evening, thus we were given the option to go home and book in tomorrow morning.

Definitely its a little of a morale booster, even though the time spent at home is short. Hopefully I can get through the rest of the week peacefully. Starting tomorrow, technical handling of my new weapon.

On the second day in armour my sergeant sent to me...

Thankfully the day has been very peaceful so far, so I guess nothing should happen until next week.

My (then) platoon back at SI has created a little uproar, because we were trained to do what is not required by the units, and in our respective units we are told to do what we were not trained in. Emails are flying around to gather support, and our course commander promised to look into it.

Frankly speaking I had not expected this little unhappiness among my platoon mates. The same problem happened to me too, but I thought that me a lowly Private should just accept whatever is given to me, so I had just resigned to my fate. Haha perhaps I have sat on the fence too much that I lack my personal stand. Now that the big shots are looking into it, I give my support as well. Its not about retifying our problem; its ensuring that the same problem does not occur in future batches.

My eight week stay at SI has been quite an interesting one. During my stay I experienced the complex relationships that exist among human beings. Haha ok its not that chim, but I saw for myself how the superiority complex that some people have can make them think they can push the 'lowly' beings around, casting out all forms of respect we should have towards each other.

Extending my point I also saw how people who behave differently from the rest of us are being ostracised and made fun of. Indeed, there seem to be a certain formula to which all of us are expected to be adhering to, and those who do not follow that standard formula are declared abnormal, and frequently becomes the butt of jokes. Interestingly this formula is the formula just because the majority acts this way, so again this superiority complex descriminates the minority.

I need to say that I am no saint, but a ordinary human being just like anyone else, so there are times I couldn't help but laugh along too. There are times I get fed up too. But I think there is no need to say it squarely in his face that he is stupid.

There is a need for a compromise somewhere sometimes I think.

On a less serious note there were times I enjoyed myself. The platoon as a whole, especially my bunkmates, were all pretty easy to get along with. I enjoyed reading all the comic books my friend brought, and playing the card games with others. In fact I was more upset leaving SI than compared to leaving Tekong.

Unforgettable also, of course, was the female toilet at the first storey of the accommodation block. Two groups of prowlers from my platoon heard the doors inside slamming repeatedly when they walked past during their prowls. It didn't happened to me, (un)fortunately. After this news came out, a whole lot of ghost stories from Tekong to SI was told by fellow platoonmates.

In my new unit I am allocated to a bunk (literally) full of PSPs, which I have no idea whether its a permanent or a temporary one. But I expect myself to be ostracised soon, since I did not follow the majority and get a PSP myself. Hmm.

Not long ago I had installed a fan on the side panel of my computer, and it used to be a intake fan. I turned it around now so it becomes an exhaust fan, and I think it is working wonders in bringing down the temperature of the system. I am considering drilling more holes on the side panel so I can add another fan to bring out the hot air coming out from my graphics card, and it shall be on hold for now.

I've ran out of things to say. Till the next time. It will be a long week.

Past two weeks have been very eventful.

Last second week was my final tests and exercises. Not too difficult, half screwed only.

Absence of an entry last week was because I went down to Sim Lim Square to get these:



Not exactly a well-known brand, but I bought it because the distributor can be trusted. Bought a power supply box as well, because my previous box could not supply the power it requires.

I spent a long time deciding which to buy: high end but old, or mid range but new. In the end I settled for the former, because I decided that I rather the graphics runs smoothly than have eye candy at a horrendously slow frame rate. I'm very happy with my purchase, and what is really needed now is time to play the games.

I spent the day fixing up everything, hence the lack of time to blog.

Last week was the final week at SI. There was summex; nothing much to say, except it was f-up at usual. Last day ended with a graduation ceremony, and half a day of area cleaning until we were finally allowed to go.

Friday was my first day at my new unit. Everyone was so busy with all kinds of stuff to attend to us; by the end of the day we booked out still not knowing what we are supposed to do. And shitty stuff awaits me when I book in on Sunday night.

Life currently sucks, and morale have dropped to a new low. Hoping things will improve very, very soon, although I think I still have a long way to go.

Last monday was radio exercise, and while other platoons get to travel to various parts of Singapore in their exercises, ours was held in different parts of the camp. I was quite disappointed actually, but I guess the purpose of the exercise was to learn, and I did learn quite a bit.

Wednesday was my first ever guard duty, and I did prowling with my friend. Time passed fast, but it was tiring walking up and down the slopes and stairs.

Inside the guardroom I couldn't help but noticed a plaque which stated that the guardroom was 2nd position for the "Army most courteous guardroom", although that was many years ago. I am rather amused, because I wonder to what extent courteous can a guardroom be.

"Good morning! Welcome to x Camp! How may I be of service to you?"
"Will you please take out your camp pass and show it to me? Thank you for your cooperation!"
"Please raise up both hands and place them behind your head, and squat down, so that we can arrest you. Thanks!"
"Please put down your weapon or I will have to shoot you. Sorry for the inconvenience!"

That particular morning many people were coming into my camp to take their IPPT, so they needed to get camp passes from the guardroom. In that case...

"Thank you and have a nice day! May you pass your IPPT with flying colours!"

One night we ordered fast food from a particular fast food chain, and it was a rather big order. When the delivery came they missed out my burger, and they promised to come back with it. In the end they took one hour to deliver, and I had to force it down my throat in half darkness in my bunk, because it was past lights out.

Two platoons have completed their course and passed out, and next week another platoon will be doing so. The place's getting quieter.

Awaiting me in the coming week is four tests and preparation for my last exercise.