Normal normal, frustrating bugs.

Booked out early on Thursday for Friday company cohesion at Sentosa. Everybody ended up splitting into groups to play one of the following: beach volleyball, beach soccer, frisbee, or just random slacking around in the background. Well, I took my first foray into Vivocity finally (and it took joining the Army to do just that). Sentosa has changed since God-knows-when-I-last-went-there (when Musical Fountain was still Musical Fountain?)

Then I spent the weekend slacking. Silent Hunter 4 occupied most of my attention. Prety damned frustrating when it crashes here and there and you didn't save at the correct moment, or a huge amount of spamming "P"s for periscope depth and "S" for surfacing when you have a ton of holes in your sub, your damage control teams trying to fix bulkheads and you trying to get the hell away from pesky destroyers escorting a task force in which you just sank two battleships and a heavy cruiser. My crowning achievment thus far... 100,000 tons of shipping (war and merchant) sunk in a single patrol! I doubt it happened like that in real life... :P

Did take Mom's car out for a spin, and I just went and had a ride on the Singapore Flyer today. Well, the view from down low to up high was just... what you'd expect from a place up high. Or maybe it was just me. My cousin and I spent the whole time talking and pointing at stuff here and there. Then it was off to lunch and a cruise around Singapore River, not listening to the guide blabbing about landmarks, and trying to shake the feeling that you're a tourist in your own country off. And all these with a bunch of aunties and uncles. :P *sighs*

What a busy day to keep going out and out and out.

Negativity, once again. Hah.

Lets start off with the Olympics. Beijing 2008 is over, and the chase for the the ultimate sporting glory resumes once again at London 2012. Well done Team Singapore! For bringing home a medal we haven't seen in 48 years (and I didn't read the papers for the past 3 days :P). Of course, notable mentions would be the swimmers, Tao Li, Quah Ting Wen, etc etc, and very obviously, our paddlers, successful products under our Foreign Talent Scheme. I wonder what would have happened if Ng Ser Miang managed to poach Zhang Yining back then. Since citizenship is a choice and they have currently decided to represent us this way, then I shan't comment further, I guess. Heh. Well, also, pats on backs all around for our representatives who sweated it out and did their best in providing some competition for the others at the Olympics, too.

I managed to get Silent Hunter 4: Wolves of the Pacific downloaded and working (barely! It still crashes once in a while). It's pretty immersive and realistic (if you want it real, you can even calculate your own torpedo firing solutions and stuff like that). I felt as if I was really a submarine commander fighting the Japanese in the Pacific. So lonely... :P

Army Half Marathon was okayish. Lots of hot girls to look at. Yays. :) Hmm, Elaine came along with her NUS friends too. Pint-sized Elaine, packing lots of... er... strengths in that small, lithe(?) frame of hers. Teehee! (studies... studies! Among others. What were you thinking about?) I did the 10km Sheares Bridge Run, since it was mandated so, by "higher-echelon command", that people who looked for Mas Selamat can only run 10km. :P Didn't see any others that I recognised. Too many people! You could see the backs of heads stretching off far ahead, and like, gazillions of faces behind you. I wonder how many participated.

And my slack life is so gonna go downhill. Ramping up for exercise! :(

filledwiththoughtsfilledwiththoughtsmustgetthemout

And what a day to post about every damn thing. I've got a million and one things to rant about, some I've ranted before, others something new. Lets get it started. I'm going to rant about the Army once again. because the disillusion with it cuts deep. When the organisation you serve doesn't take care of its own (as it's supposed to be, it's a long story and the details I shall not post here, despite now being a private blog), it ceases being an organisation to aspire working in. MINDEF needs talent, yes, but talented people and good bosses are at the top. Where are the understanding mid-level managers, the field commanders. We have flag-grade officers, yes, but we need more mid-level people. Judging by how the SAF focuses on education as a measure of your ability (and hence, rank), this isn't likely gonna happen. We ain't gonna get no mid-level talents. But for every shadow, there is light. There is hope out there. Maybe it's just 3 Signal that's fucked up.

I've also been forced to eschew my previous way of life. I must re-learn all that I have learnt at Signal Institute because I have been transferred to an operational detachment instead of a supporting detachment. Life is going to become hard, because I have a phobia for setting up. I hate setting up! Especially in the dead of the night. Can't handle it physically. But what gives? Suck thumb. What can I do but take it in my stride?

On to something happier. Singapore finally made history, securing our first medal in 48 years in the table tennis women's doubles semifinals on Friday! Our team (of foreign-talent imports) managed to beat Korea 3-2 overall to secure a place in the finals, and at least a silver medal. We've got nothing to lose, we have to go all-out, and hopefully beat China. Is that wishful thinking? :P A bit of xenophobia sets in because these are after-all, foreign talent imports. I dug up a bit on Tan Howe Liang (our weightlifting silver at the 1960 Olympics) and I found out that he had come to Singapore from Shantou, China too. When he was 14, to be exact, in 1937. I guess I should stop being as such because they are Singapore citizens, after all, be it whether they have been here one year, or ten years, or whatever. Cheer on for Singapore? Li Jiawei credits her achievements to Singapore, and yes, we have indeed nurtured her along the way and stuffs. Trivia: Our women's coach is the brother of China's women's coach. Lets see the big fight tonight.

*Phelps is sensational! 8 golds! + 6 from Athens, = 14! OMG.

Decadent me doesn't have a future. My mother has been rubbing fresh salt into the raw wound ever since I was in Secondary 3, more so after my A levels. She is the architect of the misery that I built for myself. I think I am too shallow to see past what lies beneath though. Silently I berate myself for all this, AND not doing anything to further stall my slide. A parasite.

I WANT TO SHOUT IT ALL OUT LOUD, I CAN'T BOTTLE ALL THESE IN ME ANYMORE. I MIGHT JUST SNAP...

I HAVE NO RIGHT, I HAVE NO SAY, I LONG TO BE FREE ONE DAY. FROM THE SHACKLES OF LIFE, BUT NOT UNTO THE WELCOME GRASP OF DEATH. NOT YET. まだまだだね。

Blogging frenzy!

The papers today ran several pages of raving reviews and reports about the National Day Parade and it's success, once again. For the first time in 40 years (yes, it happened back in 1967), there was rain at the parade! Although the heaviest part of it fell before the main parade segments started...

Everybody interviewed were happy to be at the parade. Even Mr Choo Khoon Hock (sp?) the guy featured in the papers who has been to every NDP, tickets or not, managed to get tickets last minute thanks to a member of the public. The performers were happy that they were performing in front of the whole country, and so on. Foreigners (foreign workers, students, and the like), gathered around (or inside, for the few lucky ones who got tickets) the Marina Bay floating platform to watch and immerse themselves in the festive atmosphere. That's a good sign.

Well, special mention goes to the fireworks this year with the circle and the S inside, ostensibly representing Singapore and the Singapore Spirit? (I maintain my previous stand that the fireworks display was... normal. They say the Olympics one was a spectacle, but I didn't watch and it's a different scale of comparison so no comments.) I wouldn't mind helping out at the NDP though, be it in the SAF, or not. Unfortunately I ORD in February, and unlike a certain Artillery Officer from last year, I DO have qualms abotu extending my ORD for SIX MONTHS to help out. But I will try to find a way to become a volunteer, I guess. It will be an eye-opening experience, indeed.

I finally caught the Olympics bug. Saw the 10m APW (air pistol - women) finals on TV today. Pretty darned exciting... The Russian made a mistake on her second shot (8.5!!!!), but clawed her way back to close within 0.5 points of the Chinese competitor, but faltered at the last 4 shots shooting 9-pluses compared to the Chinese's 9-pluses, and a magnificent 10.8 that all but sealed her victory. The bronze medallist, a Georgian should have special mention too, because the Chinese averaged 10.2 for the finals and she averaged I think a 10.1 or something like that. She only got third because she didn't shoot as well for the qualifying. And with the Russian-Georgian conflict going on, seeing the competitors so friendly here at the Olympics is definitely heartwarming (the commentators mentioned that, too). Politics set aside for the sporting spirit...

http://en.beijing2008.cn/news/sports/headlines/shooting/n214524276.shtml - full report on the event. Final results: Gold - GUO Wenjun, China. 492.3 points (102.3 finals), Olympic Record. Silver - Natalia PADERINA, Russia. 489.1 points Bronze - Nino SALUKVADZE, Georgia. 487.1 points. I didn't hear the comments clearly, but I think Natalia was the reigning world champion, or something like that. Well, not any more. Shooting is probably the only thing I will keep track of, since I'm not really into sports and stuff. :P (maybe some of the martial arts, I will look, too? :)) I'm curious to find out how a trap shooting competition works as well. A certain someone by the name of Sandy once said in my face that he didn't think shooting (the air weapons events) was a sport, because shooters don't sweat. THAT IS WRONG. Because the range is air conditioned, that's why we sweat less. The comfort is there so as to allow you to focus on shooting. Rifle shooters still sweat, definitely, I know I did even though there was air con and my hands were cold and clammy. I sweated in my jacket. But I don't think he meant sweating of that kind (due to the oppressive heat of being stuck in the shooter's jacket). I think he saw shooting as something that doesn't require much physical exertion. True, it's not as fierce as your soccer, but the mental strain is there, just like any other sport. We train ourselves to be able to hold our weapons properly with as little strain as possible, and also to maintain a healthy heart (heartbeats can affect your shooting, just ask any shooter. You get excited, your heart pounds, your head pounds = you're screwed.) All in all, I feel he fails to see deeper into shooting and with only a shallow level of understanding, misjudged and wrongful comments are made. Very annoying, indeed. Shooting is a sport in my opinion. It is another avenue where people can engage each other in a test of skill, determination, luck and so on.

Trivia: When the shooting finished, the range was cleared so the crew could come in, clean up, and prepare the rostrum. I managed to catch the WCG 2005 Theme Song, "Beyond the Game", playing through piped music just before they gave out the medals! xD Teeheehee.

Someone define 'sport' for me then, please? >.>

I should be less cynical.

Happy 43rd, Singapore! XXIX (Summer) Olympics (i.e. Beijing 2008)... among others.

Today is our nation's 43rd birthday! A day to reflect upon past achievements, and to celebrate our continued survival and existence. To reflect upon the past, to live for the present, and to plan for the future. Woke up at 1pm, because I was so tired out after the marksmanship test yesterday (reached home at midnight). Went to aunt's home to watch the parade. Kudos to all who participated and helped make it a success, again. But I don't feel anything for the performances anymore. I seriously only pay attention to the military parade segment. Maybe it's because I like the pomp and pageantry of a military parade. The performances kind of just feel the same each year (maybe I'm not a performance person)... hell, even the fireworks this year looks... normal.

Having watched just a snippet of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games opening ceremony last night, the magnitude of that cannot be compared to our own NDP. Ours will feel like peanuts when you place both events side by side. But of course, the scale at which they are conducted is different. The NDP is well done for Singapore standards.

Not much into Olympic fever too, anyway. I'll only mention the 10m air rifle and air pistol events (so far). 10m ARW (air rifle - women) won by Czech Republic (report on Yahoo.com), 10m APM (air pistol - men) won by China. Saw a bit of the swimming heats and stuff at aunt's home too.

I went for my first Combat Shoot yesterday. It's a mixture of team and individual segments, the individual segments being the Instinctive Action Drills where you engage targets at around 50m. The team segments has you and your detail firing at targets from foxholes at a distance of 100m, both in the day and at night (couldn't see anything!) My team scored 57% overall, second highest of the Combat Shoot 1 details that day. Well, we passed. And that's all that matters. Getting Marksman is just a bonus. After 98 rounds, and one night's sleep, my right shoulder now hurts because of repeated slamming-intos by the rifle butt. Ouch. :P

Reading a book about reading people. Am applying what I've learnt to myself first. Hmm... I'm quite a crappy person. Heh. Oh well. Whatever. :P

That's all for now, updates if necessary.

While we celebrate and be happy, we must not forget about the horrors of nuclear war. Nagasaki was bombed on this day in 1945... It must never happen again.

Ahh... Home.

Finally got to kiss my bed after two stupid weeks in camp. How nicee... :) Went to watch Red Cliff (赤壁) with my mom yesterday, too. It's an epic movie indeed... the battle scenes were shot beautifully, and everything else about the movie was generally good. Except for the fact that Takeshi Kaneshiro looks too pretty (even with a goatee!) to be playing the master strategist Zhuge Liang @ Kung Ming. Guan Yu and Zhang Fei looked exactly like I thought they would look like, kudos to the people who found these guys and their make-up crew for turning them into the much-loved characters in the Chinese classic.

My first foray into the Kallang Leisure Park too. There's this place up on the third floor called Memory Lane or something like that, chock full of antique stuff from Singapore's history, like old irons, claypots, memorabillia (CDs, gramophones, etc etc), even the Boys' Brigade cap badge which was selling for $25 (hey, I still have mine! :)).

Anyway, if you're ever watching a movie at Filmgarde@Kallang Leisure Park cinema 6, please avoid seat C11 because there's something up on the ceiling that keeps dripping (faulty air con piping, must be!). Kinda irritating...

I visited the doctor today to finally get something for the stupid cough plaguing me. There was a new GP (general practitioner, for the uninformed) at Faith Family Clinic, and he's rather clumsy. Like the bumbling cute of Mr Bean... He mistook correction tape for air con remote, and pressed at it to no avail, then when he left the office, the door somehow locked on him and he couldn't get back in! xD. He tried to enter from the counter side but he pushed the swinging door the wrong way and it jammed on him initially.

I couldn't help but keep smiling.

This is the happiest I am in two weeks, although I'm rather bored still. And I still dislike camp for the many reasons I've hinted at or outrightly whined about before.