I was back at JI more than a year ago yesterday. My LF122 section was there for STN 14 HRI Drill @ one of the Shell Petrolchemical plants. Once we entered the island, I could instantly feel the distinct difference of the quality of air. The air definitely lingers a smoke-like smell and a tinge of a weak acid that I could detect faintly. I bet those people working there will suffer long-term consqeunces after their 50s or 60s.

The drill wasn't too good. The DO didn't had a good start in the first place. Shan't talk much about the drill. The drill started later than scheduled and ended earlier than expected. Afterwhich, we were each given a lunchbox with fried rice and fried fish, which I felt was abit under-standard.

But where is our petrol voucher?!!! lolx

Anyway, I've decided on my bike, and HASA it is. Hope to get it soon. Hate to wait for buses and walking for extra distances. Imagine taking 1 years 7 months or more of your lifetime just to wait for public transport assuming you start to take when you are secondary 1 till you are 85. You don't think that you could live up to 85? Better take it as a matter of fact 'cause the goverment said so. xD

Watched 3 movies during last duty. Luckily I didn't watched any of those in the cinema. =p



Firstly - the simpsons movie. It's a crappy show with a primary school kind of plot. The only plus point about this movie is, ironically, it's crappiness. The humour used was lame, but that's about it. It's a great movie if you're bored doing nothing at all and in search of some entertainment. I rate it 6.5/10.



Secondly - ratatouille. It has a much better plot than simpsons with abit of a moral story that you can infer. An inferior being may be much better than the superior with much hardwork and determination. However, the last part was abit of a let-down as I thought it would be a happy ending where the restaurant will be accepted. 7.5/10.



Thirdly - rogue assassin (a.k.a. war in US). The movie was about triads and revenge. The mission - to assassinate the 2 traids (using the POC- at world's end method) for avenging his wife and daugther. To fully comprehend the whole story one must re-watch this flick. However, to me, it's quite a dry and little or no climax flick. Jet li's fighting scenes were less than ever. And didn't he just said that fearless would be his last action movie and he'd retire afterwhich? 6/10.

After gotten 2 LOVAs from 2 different OCs, I got my third punishment - 6 hours of confinement - all because of an equipment again. Bad things really come in 3? That would be the end of the bad luck I'd been having far too long?

Being in the middle of your men and the higher authorities really isn't an easy position to be in. Give them too much freedom and trust, bad things happens; give them harsh orders, nothing is done. Seems like a lose-lose situation, but it's between this 2 options which can make you a respectable leader in the eyes of your men and a competent section commander in the eyes of the senior officers. Whatever it is, it's easier said than done and it also depends on what kind of men and senior officers you have.

Want me to sign-on; not even in my dreams! Bootlicking, serving those who you do not like to serve and being forced to accept any kind of chores whether you like it or not isn't my cup of tea and criteria for a job.

Anyway, just let time accelerate and make my ORD earlier... ...NS life is getting hard to passby; no wonder nobody likes NS! xD Not because of the training (but that can be one of the reasons), but because of the people you get to work with. Especially the old (not literally) sign-oners.

*48 more duties to be living in fear and slavery

Yesterday was the most tiring 1st duty off. I got back home at 10 00 and was preparing to leave home for lunch at kovan with zhen cong, les and low at 11 30. Bet they couldn't wake up in time; and yes indeed! xD Waited for 1/2 hour before we head down to the usual western stall.

Later, I rushed down to bishan for tuition at 14 00. It's my first day, so didn't want to be late. I was on the dot in fact! =p His parents were nice people. His mum even gave me a drink. Today wasn't an exception as well. Wonder what happened to my first tutee? Last saw her on 27/8. But it didn't really matter anyway.

After the tuition I was suppose to meet jin jie, lim and low for dinner at AMK but was too tired to even go out again! Sorry to pangseh~ Anyway, I slept from 18 45 to 08 00; a whooping 13 hours and 15 minutes!!

*49 duties to ORD on 10/2/08!

The recent announcement of raising the bus fare by 1 to 2 cents for adults (without any concession) and senior citizens by 1st October this year just further proves my stand of getting our own transport beats a public one. Remember the last increase in fares a couple of years ago?

People starts re-starts to moan about this increase and even longer after getting a 7% GST slap right at our cheeck. The standard of living in Singapore is, no doubt, rising; and so rapidly that our pay increment isn't fast enough and/or high enough to make a balance out of it.

I feel that the Iris thingy is just a waste of money to invest in. The priority isn't right. We do not really need to know when the next bus is coming when we will be taking the bus anyway. We do not need to know when the next bus is coming if we made up our mind to take a taxi instead.

What we really need is to increase the frequency of buses. People are wasting too much waiting time for buses to arrive. It's even more agonising to transfer to your 2nd bus after the 1st, thinking that you'll have to wait for another 10-15 minutes.

I plead SBSTransit would brainstorm more on the efficiency of the buses. If the duration for the next bus is shorten to less than 10 minutes, Iris will not be necessary. More money could be saved from this high technology and can be given to increase the number of buses.

In conclusion, my stand of getting a bike still holds!

Last duty was really shagged due to the long duration of our HRI Drill. It was located at an island not so far away from the sentosa island - Pulau Sebarok. It was an island with lots of extremely large tankers (about 26m in diameter); so much so that the people working on that island need to use bicycles as a mean of transport.

We took a ferry to our destination (so did our vehicles). The weather was hot and we had to wear our full gears under the blazing sun from 09 00 to about 13 00. It was nice to just sit beside the tankers admiring the clear blue sky. Opps! =x Heard that the private fire fighters over there were earning much much more than SCDF's. No wonder so many SCDF officers are resigning to join the private sectors. =x

Albeit the tough and gruelling exercise, it was an unforgettable, one of a lifetime experience. How many people will have the chance to even walk into such a highly security-tight and highly dangerous area in their lifetime?

After half a day of rest (wasted), some of us went back to station today for CB Day. Don't think the other way round, it's community bonding day! We had to introduce to the public some of our capabilities as a life-saving force and how they can play a part as well. I even met my grandma coincidentally! The whole event ended at around 17 00; and I got back home at 19 00. Another off day wasted.

Looking forward to a simple scenario drill for tomorrow... ...=)

This morning received a phonecall from my DRC saying that there'll be HRI Drill next duty and I'm involved. What was even more devastating was that I'd to report for duty at 07 00; 1 hour earlier!! This meant that the drill will be held in the morning lah!

Anyway, just now went to esplanade to watch a free performance at the concourse after being abruptly invited by chang sheng and tze rong exactly 1 hour before it starts. After the first performance, chang sheng treated us fondue at haagen dazs. Thanks very much for the satisfying, yet sinful, dessert. But I found it weird to eat dessert then when I'd be heading back home for my overdue dinner. Afterwhich, we headed back to the concourse hoping that they would change the pieces they had played earlier. The performance was not bad, what they really need to improve on was their introductions to the songs. lolx

Here's wishing Dr. Mr. alvin tan a happy and stressless 21st birthday!

Finally, after more than half a year of waiting, we had our 'once every month' outing policy for '77' gang being carried out, albeit 6 months late! xD

We were supposed to meet at ps at 17 00, but the organiser (none other than eric) said he will be 30 minutes late. I waited 30 minutes only to see the rest of the gang members (jian cheng, aidan and jon) in addition to a SMS stating "..still at bishan...". As the saying goes - "不到好过迟到". =p The rest of us just headed to MFM for our dinner. We waited till 18 00 before eric came. Soon, jian cheng was victimised, without any struggle to retaliate, by us! lolx

Later, we had our dessert at swensen's. Thanks eric for the treat! =D We talked cock, degraded jian cheng more, planned about our future outings like night cycling, go overseas and other sports-related activities, and degraded jian cheng even more!! xD

N.B.:Thanks low for giving me his leave tomorrow; which means no work tomorrow!!! =D