Day of Depression

Too many things had happened. In a short span of time. Yesterday, to be more specific.

CN's mom is in a critical condition.

Yesterday, i had received a call from CN, asking about some medication. The doctor had prescrible some medication, and she called me to ask about that medication. She inform me that her mum has been admitted to NUH.

From her tone, i did not suspect anything, even she told me that her mum had a stroke.

Later, as i was sending Aaron back (we were at starbucks again), Aaron called Henry (CN's bf). From what i overheard, its not a simple case. Its more serious than i had initially thought.

I called up Henry.

From what he told me, its becoming a more serious case. Full body paralysed. "Okie", i thought. "its not as simple as i had thought." "Update me if there are any progress", i told Henry.

Henry called up about 20 minutes later. CN's mum condition had taken a turn for the worse. She had stopped breathing, and on artifical ventilation.

That's when i decided to go down to NUH. Went back to change (planning to go to work straight from NUH the next day).

Reached hospital, Henry informed me that the condition remains the same. No improvement. That's when he explain the condition to me.

CN's mum was still consious when she arrived in the hospital. She is still alert, and can recognise everyone, according to Henry. The doctor had mentioned that she is okie, and can be discharged soon. But she turned unconsious.

Doctor had ordered a scan. Five hours after CN's mum had admitted to the hospital, doctors had detected a blood vessal burst on the most critical area of her brain. By that time, she has stopped breathing.

Somewhere around 0130 hours, doctor had declared her brain-dead.

One grasp at the fragility of live.

Lives, be it human or animals, are fragile. One moment, they can be joking with you, the other moment, they will be in another world.

Well, one cannot escape from birth, aged, sickness, death, (sheng, lai, bing, si). Its the path that everyone must goes through. Being together and separation is something that everyone will go through, and each time you went through a "crisis", you learn a valuable life lesson. Learn the lesson, and carry on life.

Also, for those who had never went through the loss of a loved ones, the pain is unbearable. It can never be describle, as there are no words exist in the present vocabulary. Its only you must went through the stage to feel it.

Treasure your loved ones, because sooner or later, they will leave you, even though they will be part of your life forever.

Personnally, i am affected by all these incidents. There are some other incidents which its not nice for me to post in a blog. I have been asking too many "why" questions... WHy all these are happening to my friends? why all these things have to come in a single night? Why??

But still, lifes goes on. Live each day to the fullest. May god bless all my friends out there!

Dropped your mobile phone?

Let me ask you all a question.

What do you do when you are walking behind a friend, and you see your friend dropped his mobile phone and he is not aware of it?

Will you pick it up for your friend, or let you friend know that his mobile phone had dropped?

I guess all of you peeps out there will do the same thing... well, almost... not to mention friends... even strangers who had dropped their mobile phones, then a lesser percentage will actually let them know. The others will just pick it up and slip it into their pockets.

Is there another methods that you will use?

Perhaps.....

Like........

You saw the phone, but you did not pick it up, saying "i am too busy to pick it up..."

A horse

Alright... I shall talk about horse for this topic.

Nope, its not the horse, you get to see in the zoo, or what cowboys sat on... Anyway, sometimes i wonder in the west, why do ppl who sat on horse, called cowboys and not horseboys?

What i am trying to inform you readers is about an chinese idiom... or rather, a chinese saying. "Hao Ma Bu Chi Hui Tou Chao" Direct translation from chinese to english is "Good horse no eat return head grass".

Cheem right?? A more sensible translation would read "A good horse will never return to eat grass".

Meaning is "what is over is over... No sense going back to the past." Correct me if i am wrong, or you have a better meaning to it.. i just suddenly dun know how to explain...

Prob HS will retort my statement, as he had done before... but i am still sticking to this saying. What is in the past, is already in the past. Move on. Look to the future. Even if you get to the past, things will never be the same. People does change.

The hidden meaning is "treasure what you have now" because, once its gone, prepared for it to be gone forever. Lots of ppl actually regret what they have lost, coz in the beginning, they never treasure it, when they are in the procession of it.

Once its gone, they will miss it, and wish that they could start all over again, which is a very hard, and even if they got a chance to start all over again, it will never be the same again. NEVER EVER.

Moral of this topic is... "Treasure what you have today. Be it your family, friends, items, loved ones." loss of your procession will be painful, but not as painful as when you start to regret the loss and why did you not treasure them in the first place.

To those who have lost and regret, a word of advise for you all....

You will have to move on and don't look back. What is past is past. Life first, things second. Let it be a lesson learnt, and don't repeat that mistake.

May god bless you all.



Words of Advice from Bruce Lee:

2 moons??

I had received the following message in my various E mail accounts. And if does not know, i have 8 E mail accounts... scary hor?? I used to have 10, but i gave up. Only frequently use only 5 E mails account...

Planet Mars will be the brightest in the night sky starting August. It will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye.

This will cultimate on Aug. 27 when Mars comes within 34.65M miles of earth. Be sure to watch the sky on Aug. 27 12:30 am.

It will look like the earth has 2 moons. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Share this with ur friends as NO ONE ALIVE TODAY will ever see it again.

I almost forget the date and the time... supposed to go plaza for coffee, but ended up at pool factor instead, wacking some balls... Thanks to SY for reminding me of the appointment of the 2 moons...

Did anyone see the 2 moons?? Well, i did... And here's it looked like...


See the small reddish dot?? Is it Mars? I dunno...
Okie... I ADMIT... I LIED.... I did not see the 2 moons... That picture is a fake... I took it with my mobile phone thr a microscope... Thought its quite nice, and hopefully, can fool someone someday...

So, are you one of the fool who was fooled?

I did try to see the 2 moons... but think of it, 27th Aug is the third day of the lunar month... and at that time, you cannot see the full moon.. you can only see a thin crescent of the moon... So, me and aaron deduced that if we see something, that is not the moon.

But we see nothing... Nothing at all.... the sky seem overcasted... Can only see a few stars... no moon, no mars, no aeroplane, no helicopters, and not even an UFO... Nothing, nothing and nothing at all...

A bit disappointed... no more chance to see the 2 moons... unless i can get to live till in the year 2287. And with my present life-style, i guess i will prob die in maybe 20 years time or more, if i am lucky if i change my life-style... or if i don't get knock dead by a car first...

No chance... not one at all... No more 2 moons... so sad....

Hope that the papers will have some photos...

Or unless the statement above in red is a prank by someone, and i am one of the fools who believe it...

Am I?? Yet to find out...

NUS M1 CFA

Been busy and tired these few days... That's why i never update blog. Sorry to all the die-hard fans out there...

Okie, okie, i dunno if i got any blog die-hard fans, and i am thick skinned... On a serious note, i don't care if who is reading my blog, i don't care if my blog is never read. It's just me...

Went down to NUS on Wednesday and Thursday. NUS Medical Year 1 community First Aid Program. See our future doctors... They were like "taking things relaxing", but hey, when its year 3 or even year 2 onwards, see if you all can relax or not. Anyway, all the best to all the doctors-to-be! Study hard and play hard!

This is the third time that i have been helping out. Hope they can remember what we had taught. It will come in useful.

Overall, its relaxing and fun over there, with the usual gang. DC, Rafi, AK, SQ... We even have time for a vcd screening during lunch break on thursday.

Friday (today) there were tons and tons of things for me to do. That's what happen when you went on a 2 day leave.

Finally, its night time... time to relax, time to chill, and hope i can rest on the weekend.

Our Rafi bro telling jokes while teaching the finer points on unchoking a choking person... Hes good at teaching... GO BRO!!!

SQ lecturing a group of spell-bound doctors to be... how to do CPR on an infant. Quite a number had asked me, how to do CPR on infant, i mean, they are so small... From their movements, i know that a lot of them had never look after an infant before... they way they carry the infant, their handling of the infant... OMG!!!

First aider concentrating on her elvation sling, while the "casualty" was concentrating more on SMSing her friend (perhaps bf???), woah, such a cool casualty... if all casualties are as calm and as cool as when we encounter them... how good life is...

Hmmm... at the end of the day, someone had bought me a small present... Its a key chain... Thanks... i like it very much.... But the "he who hears" is a bit hard to pronounce.... So, i guess, what did i heard?? hmmm... Thanks anyway...

I'm in Love!!!

Yeah, its true... I am in love!!!

I can imagine some ppl out there saying "Finally... About time", "At last..." and "wonder who..."

I hate to disappoint those who are thinking about those....

I fell in love with William's house, or rather, his TV.... to be more specific, his SCV TV!!!

Okie, i can almost hear the groans of friends around me, and thinking..."Get a life, Simon!!!", "Lame", "What an asshole".

Well, to be honest... I am not a couch potato, even though i may look like one. TV has never been part of my life... I can gladly miss some very nice show for my other commitments. But in a way, i was "hooked" on SCV channels when i am at William's house.

Last wednesday, I was at William's house with Aaron. We watched 4 movies straight. Just happened that when a movie ended, the next one or the movie at the other channel was very nice, or comical. So, its time for a quick sprint to the toilet and then, its back to the tube box.

Just now, i was at William's house again with Aaron, and guess what? I watched 2 movies straight. First one is "Hainan Chicken Rice" with the movie filmed in Singapore, starring Sylvia Cheung, and Zheng Wen Da, the famous chef.

The show was about a mother, (sylvia) and her 3 sons, the first 2 elders being gay, and she was worried that her third son was becoming one. She enlisted the help of her admirer, (Zhen Wen da) to try to "show" her son to the "correct" road.

Learned some life lessons from that show. "Life first. Things second. Keeping moving down the road, don't wait for no one." How true it is!!!

The second show is a comedy. It is an edited version of "Infernal Affairs 1, 2 and 3" combined. Its so funny that i actually fell off the sofa onto the floor laughing non stop. Too bad William went to bed liao, and Lina also keep on laughing. Going to look for that VCD or DVD liao... Definity worth a buy, just for the laugher...

After the second movie, the third one was also a nice movie.. but we forced ourselves to go back home, otherwise, we will be spending the night at William's house... I guess, we ourselves are also comical at that time...

Well, sorry to make some of my friends, (or most?) disappointed with my title... But i did that with punk intended... wahahaha.. Take care, folks...

New Balance Run

Frankly speaking, i dunno the exact name of the event. Some people called it "NS HOME TEAM NEW BALANCE REAL RUN", some called it "NEW BALANCE RUN", some called it "REAL RUN". Lazy people like me just called it "RUN". Its the same anyway, just that the sponsers might not like it.

Anyway, the "run" happened overseas. Its held in the popular island of "Pulau Belakang Mati" which was the old name for "Sentosa".

Well, dunno if i am consider "heng" or "suay". Only one serious case today, and my ambulance was the one who was activated. With the "China made, SCDF trolley cots". Damm pissed off with that trolley cot. Damm you sunny. Damm your eyes. Damm you stupid pea brains. The things you purchase really affects our operation readiness and effectiveness.

That case is a heat stroke case. Body temperature was very high, (40.2 degrees C) when taken after the casualty was sent to the medical center, after 2 bottles of water was poured over him. He was simply unresponsive, not sweating, and his skin was very hot when i first attend to him.

Started 2 fast drips, and a quick evacuation to SGH. Did a IV swop during the journey there. Finally, after a crash "refresher" course byu EC, skills finally put to good use. Thanks, EC.

Casualty vomitted during the journey to SGH, and one incident is that when i want to recover the canvus from the ED (casualty is still lying on top), i have to support the casualty's head, which is full of vomitus. Had to scubbed my hand clean immediately.

Saw SY also. She's in the 10 click run, and congrads on her completion of the run. Rest more, and take care, SY. All the best in your exams!!!

Was pretty tired at the end of the duty. Slept a bit at the medical point, and back in HQ. Went for lunch (and that's the only meal i had so far today) in a "tired" mode.

One joke occured there. Was trying to keep awake during lunch when i heard the auntie saying something like "ICE LEMON TEA, YOU ALL WANT IT COLD OR HOT?"

First time, and it did not register with me. I though i was dreaming. And then the stall auntie repeated it "ICE LEMON TEA, YOU ALL WANT IT COLD OR HOT?"

I replied without thinking. " Ice Lemon tea leh, you think leh? Of course cold lah"

At that time, i dunno whether i am pissed off by her question or be amused by her question. Its just like the same lame joke which i had been telling everyone, and prob my friends are pissing off with,"Milo Peng, Ai sheng mai leng". Its so "obvious".

Could not finished my lunch. Everything taste so bland. No no no, the problems does not lie with the food. The problem lies with me. Its like i lost my sense of taste. The chicken is tasteless, the rice, the veggies were tasteless. Even the can of coke i dranks taste bland. Ate about half the plate of rice and most of the chicken. Maybe i am too tired liao. The same thing happened last week, after NUS Triathlon duty also.

Till now, still no feelings of hunger. Slept a bit in the evening... Just knock out. And i have to search for my the other 2 eyes (spectacles lah, you goondus). Kinda drop them unknowningly when i passed out. Feels so blind without them.

Well, pretty interesting day today.

Committing Suicide

Something dramatic happened today. Near ZX's house. I dunno what's the case, but from at the scene, seems like someone's attempting suicide by jumping down.

Fire engine on standby, with water hoses connected and pumps running.

Counted 1 fire engine, 2 SCDF command vehicle, 2 SCDF equipment closed vans (dunno what they are), 1 SCDF ambulance, 1 red rhino, 6 marked police vehicles (one is all from Bukit Merah NPC) and numerous private cars (suspected to be officers from SCDF, MCYS, Police)

Air bag in place, but there's a goddamm tree there...

Air bag's up and running. But there's a tree in the way. Been wondering what if the fellow had jumped and crashed into the tree first? Wouldn't he /she sustain serious injuries? Does the SCDF ppl got the authority to chop off the tree without informing N Parks? This would be better right?

Perhaps some one in authority can look into this.

Anyway, the "incident"had been going on for hours. We were informed. So, instead to watch the ending, i rather go home and rest. What a serious waste of resources. What happen if someone needs those resources urgently for a live-threatening situation, and the resources are all gathered at a place where some fools wanna commit suicide but don't dare to?

Damm the fools.

Hope everything turns out fine for everyone.

Final Word:
SUICIDE WILL ONLY ALLOW YOU TO ESCAPE FROM YOUR PROBLEM, BUT IN THE AFTERMATH, IT WILL CREATE A LOT MORE PROBLEMS FOR YOUR LOVED ONES AND THE INNOCENT ONES.

THINK TWICE AND CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU DECIDE ON IT. PLEASE.

ITS ALSO A CRIME FOR COMMITTING SUICIDE AND ATTEMPTING SUICIDE.

World without thieves

How nice it is to be in a world without thieves.

Sound familiar? The "world without thief". Its actually a movie title, that was screened not too long ago. Starring Andy Lau and Rene Liu.

For those who are alien to TVs, Cinemas, SCV, let me outline the brief storyline of that show.

Andy and Rene are thieves who extort, cheat, pickpocket from victims. Rene is willing to call it quits, but Andy refused to quit. Things happens when a country boy announces that he is loaded, and become the prey of plenty of thieves in a train. Its up to Andy and Rene to protect the country boy from becoming a victim.

I watched that show yesterday, at William's house, together with Aaron.

I had not seen such a nice show for ages. Shows that have a complicated-looking plot, but yet so simple at the end. Shows that really moved you. Shows that really have a lasting deep impression, with a simple message.

Those who had not watched that show, and wants to watch it, please stop here.

Those who want to know my interpretation of that show, please continue.

That native country boy had believed that there are no thieves in this world. He had never seen one, nor encountered with one. He has a pure mind, a mind without any contamination from the harsh reality grey world.

But in actual fact, in this world, there are lots of thieves, lots politics, lots criminals, lots of crime going on. Terrorism is still at its peak. Who would be in the right state of mind to kill another fellow human? In the animal kingdom, HUMANS ARE THE ONLY CREATURES THAT KILL FELLOW HUMANS, FROM THE SAME SPECIES...

Ain't we supposed to live in harmony? Who's in the right state of mind can eat, sleep at ease after killing or responsible for the killing or robbing of fellow humans?

Ain't this world be a better place if there are no such things like "hatred", "revenge"?

Well, a bit out of point, but you all got my point?

The main part of this story is actually shows that it is not easy to turn over a new leaf. Andy at last decided to turn over a new leaf, and he paid it with his live. Just to protect the country boy's money.

Yes, he died, but he earned the respect of the policeman. He EARNED IT. Its not easy to turn over a new leaf, and sometime, have to pay dearly for it, but i think, its worth it. Its never too late to turn over a new leaf. Never.

Anyway, its a nice show... set my brains moving...

Imagine a world without thieves... what will happen?

Prob Venod will be in the army for NS rather than in the police.

Job responsibilities...

I am sooooooo tired... And soooooooo sleepy.

I wanna a break... from work, from my life... I need a rest, a whole week of doing nothing, but just staring blanking at the wall, eventually falling asleep.

Can I?

NS Home Team / New Balance Run coming up. Another weekend burned. Burning too much weekend can burn me up too. Can i afford to rest?

With these kinds of notices, who can afford not to work??

Hmmm... seems like i still don't have enough exercises? I don't jump to conclusion, i come to a conclusion, the handle flies off and hit me, my boss runs me down, and i don't have a knife, i cannot dodge responsibilities, as no matter how much i dodge, it still hits me... SO, now, i just sit there, relax and let all the responsibilities arrows hit me. And finally, i got no luck to push.

I am going to tell my colleague this:

From now you, you will be having more responsibilities. You will be responsible for anything that goes wrong.

super tired Monday

Woke up at 1600 hours on Monday, (today). Been sleeping for 17 hours straight.

Guess its a way to compensate for not sleeping on Sat Night and only 4 hours on Friday. My life is damm complicated. I don't have 7 hours of sleep everyday. I don't have regular sleeping hours and regular meal times.

Talking about meals... Sunday, i only had my first meal at about 1600 hours, after the duty... And i could not finished my meal there.

At night, i had a small plate of Char Kway Teow and a small piece of cake.

Come Monday. Its 1645 liao, and i have yet to eat my first meal of the day.

Its complicated rite? When you are very sleepy and very hungry, what do you do? you eat, the food does not have any taste. Sleep? you gets hungrier. (not really true for me, as i still don't feel hungry).

Tomolo its back to work. My boss just called me... Lots of things to do, to clear... Going to be busy tomolo!!!

Friends (part II)

Here i am.

So we ended up at william's house to cut the cake, and later went to aaron's house downstairs for some idle short talkcock session.

Went home later to update my blog and slept for 17 hours straight.

GOT A MESSAGE TO ALL MY WLNY FRIENDS.

Its been exactly a year since i went down for supper (first time i joined you all for supper is on my birthday last year.) Thanks for the friendship and support, advice, joy, fun, laughter, outings, suppers for the 1 year.

ANOTHER MESSAGE TO ALL MY SJAB FRIENDS

Thanks for the fun, joy, laugher, outings, advice, support, i had all along during my time in SJAB. Especially the duties super siaos and the see hum gang.

Thanks to the following fellows for making my life a pleasent one.

EC, JH, Rafi, Asiah, DC, SQ, SY, HP, CH, HS, YX, YN, MS, Cecila, Eddison, Venod, 10, ES... (from SJAB) and all the others in the SJAB family!!!

Aaron, ZX, CN, Yvonne, AW, CY, Lina, William, Jan, Joshua, HJ, JB, Shermain, for wishing me a "Hotel Bravo Delta" . Thanks for the shoe polish in a chocolate box placed in a guess paper bag, CY.... you are goddamm funny.

And also to the rest of the supper gang, former SJAB friends.

You all are wonderful.

Friends

Went back home after 32 hours outside. 32 hours without any sleep, 8 hours of NUS City Triathlon.

Nope. I am not a superman, its just that i am super tired. Right now.

Went HQ on Sat afternoon to help out with the collecting of the tin cans from the flag day. After that, its duty planning time, dinner time, briefing time, fun time, packing time, and more planning time, buying breakfast time, and by the time everything's finished, its reveil time, breakfast time and deployment time. No time for sleeping time.

Went down to the duty as the appointment of GC. The NUS triathlon covers all of the East Coast (Ford Road - Golf and country club) Mountbatten Rd, Nicoll Highway, Republic Ave, Raffles Ave. A long distance (not as much as Marathon) to cover.

The saying, "it never rains, but it pours" had proven itself to be very true once again. Once a report of a casualty is reported, i dispatched an ambulance to the scene, and the reports of casualties keep coming in, non-stop, till i have to enlist the help of EC to monitor the Medical Net, while i monitor the Marshall Net.

But the saying "it will shine after a storm" come true again. Once the cases stopped, there's total peace. But the MP at the finishing point got lots business. The MP team, led by EC did a fantastic job. Spotters did a good job also, being independant and making some important decisions that a GC does not have a time to make.

After duty, went BK for my first meal of the day. (It was 1600 hours then). Extremely tired, no mood, and no appetite. Could not finish my burger / fries, and i manage to glup my drink down. I was that thirsty also.

Went meet Aaron after that. Ended up at our former usual place for "supper" and while waiting for the others to arrive, we had a great time singing the "oldies" and the Chinese of "folk" music.
Ended up at William's house for some special event.

Am too tired to update liao. Friends (part II) will be the next season... Stay tuned.

Well-deserved rest!

The beginning of all fire works over at national stadium on National day.
Anyway, this is the only photo that i managed to upload, the rest i cannot. Dunno why.


Am on leave on Thursday and Friday. Need some well-deserved rest before going back to work. Thursday been particular tired and busy. Went out, drove around singapore the whole afternoon.

Went Recee the triathlon race route on Thursday, East coast, to Republic Ave, then, did some work by collecting something and deliver it to another place. Ended up at starbucks planning my duty.

One big gathering again at starbucks. But somehow the atomsphere was not there. William and Aaron in bad mood.

Come friday, spent the whole day lazing at home, watching DVDs, VCDs, TVs, Sleeping, surfing the net.Basically whole day never go out except in the afternoon, when i went down to buy makan. WIll be going out later to meet aaron.

That's basically my last 2 days. Super no life here.

Happy 41st Birthday, Singapore!!!

I am seeing lots and lots of red. Red, redder and reddest!!!

Nope, i am not angry over someone, something. Its just that today is National Day, Singapore's 41st birthday.

I see lots and lots of people in red. I see lots of Singapore Flags flying around. I see lots Red crosses, (ambulance lah). That's why i am seeing red. In case some of you don't know, Red and White are the colours of our state flag.

Went down to Stadium for medical cover today.

At SJAB HQ preparing for the duty.

Row of SAF Ambulances

Of course, not forgetting SJAB, Red Cross.

Other ambulances from NUH, TTSH, SGH are there also. That's why i am seeing lots of red crosses. On top of it, there's SAF disaster Coach, MRF forces, EOD, Disaster 5 tonners, SCDF DART team, SCDF PDV buses, Fire Engines, SAF mini Buses, SCDF Command center, SCDF "tonners", etc etc. This is only the Medical Evac teams, not mentioning the numerious Medical Posts in stadium, MOH Team, ambulances in the stadium.

Ah, yes, there's even a Super Puma Search and Rescue Chopper (Helicopter) on standby too!

One can imagine the amount of medical cover just for a Birthday Party/Parade celebration, attended by 55,000 spectators, thousands of participants, Marshals, "Sai-kangers" etc etc etc.

Its indeed a huge task to ensure the security and the safety of the event.

Free fallers. What happen if the main chute does not open?

Well, they got back-up chutes!! But i cannot imagine what will happen if the reserve chutes also cannot open.

I like watching the free-fallers / Sky divers. I wish i can try sky-diving as a sport someday. Its nice to be falling, to the terminal velocity, and most prob, still survive.

SCDF had bought along a couple of TVs to view the event "live". Everyone's very engrossed watching the parade to try to spot anyone from the GOH who marches on the wrong foot, or the wrong timing.

The flypast of the enormous state flag hung under a chinook. i am focusing more on the Apaches than the state flag.

I really like the Apaches attack helicopter. A real killer. Laden and blistering with weapons, technology. Not forgetting, the longbow radar.

As the night starts to darken, i managed to take this picture. I certainly looks nice, with the sky turning golden with the setting sun. More like the clouds turning golden.

At night, the best part is the fireworks. Took a couple of photoes, but there's some problem uploading into blogspot. Shall upload them hopefully soon, and let you all view the gorgerous fireworks!

Went back HQ early today. After slacking some time in HQ, i sent them back. Met up with Aaron, Henry and CN. Introduced Venod to them.

Alright, i shall sign off here. Stay tuned for more pictures and the world as seen from the eyes and the spectacles of the S.O!!!

Lastly, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SINGAPORE!!!

Words of Wisdom from the S.O

* If you think nobody cares that you are alive, try missing a couple of car payments or your credit card bills.

Pre-National Day

Its 8th Aug. One day before our nation's birthday.

Schools are half day, no lessons, scores of working ppl took half day, (need to look after their kids), more families going on a holiday.

We had came a long way. From a small tiny fishing village, when Sir Stamford Raffles set foot here in 1918, Singapore has been progessed under the goverment of British, till Japanese capture the "Fortness of the east" in 15th Feb 1942, as singapore was nicknamed.

I am sure all of you know the hardships the ordinary citizens faced during the 3 years and 8 months of Japanese Occupation. (If you think NS for 2 years is long enough, try to imagine 3 years and 8 months!!)

"Operation Sook Ching" alone killed thousands of chinese people, Shortage of food, Ordinary Citizens subjects to humilitation, Raping of girls and women by the Japanese. It was certainly a time of hardship.

1945, Japanese surrendered. British came back to Singapore. But it was short-lived. The local gurrilla forces, named MPAJA (Malayan People Anti-Japanese Army) changed targets to MPABA (Malayan People Anti-British Army). They want independance for Malaysia and Singapore.

Singapore was then given self-goverance. However, Defences still falls on the shoulders of the British Army. Singapore, in order to speed up the independance process, merged with Malaysia and comes under Malaysia rule. However, the merger causes a lot of unhappiness over the style of goverment between Singapore and Malaysia, and riots are happening everywhere.

On the 9th Augest 1965, Mr Lee Kuan Yew announced that Singapore will be seperated from Malaysia. Thus Singapore as a Republic was borned.

Over these 41 years, we certainly had progress a lot, but there are lots of things that need much improvement. The "jokes" below serves as a joke, but besides that, there are something to be learn from the "Jokes".


The following was extracted from the website "www.talkingcock.com"

60 SIGNS THAT YOU ARE A TRUE SINGAPOREAN (Have Fun reading it!)

1. Thanks to SMS, you have an extra large thumb.

2. Tks 2 SMS, u oso dun no how 2 spel n e mor.

3. You pat MRT and bus seats to cool them before you sit down.

4. At lunch, you start discussing what to eat for dinner.

5. Your wedding photos include shots of you dressed up like Louis XIV, Michael Jackson, or Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in Titanic.

6. When speaking to foreigners, you somehow feel a need to adopt an accent. (If you’re a DJ, this happens even when you’re not speaking to foreigners.)

7. You won’t raise your voice to protest policies, but you’ll raise your fists to whack someone over Hello Kitty.

8. You’re forever talking about businesses you want to set up but will probably never get around to starting.

9. You don’t know ¾ of the people attending your wedding.

10. You separate food into 2 basic groups: ‘heaty’ and ‘cooling’.

11. You’re never completely sure how many times you’ve sung the second verse of the National Anthem.

12. You think that what makes you ‘married’ is not the legal registration but whether you’ve thrown a 12 course dinner.

13. You marry for the real estate breaks.

14. You have kids for the tax advantages.

15. You move to where you want your child to go to school.

16. You feel you can’t walk around naked in your own flat.

17. You force your children to take Speech & Drama classes, but pray they won’t wind up in Arts later on.

18. You suddenly realize you’re very interested in biotech - just like you suddenly realized three years ago that you were very interested in e-commerce, and before that, engineering, and before that, medicine and law.

19. You think being an entrepreneur is setting up a bubble tea/Portuguese egg tart/gao luck/porridge shop right next to an existing bubble tea/Portuguese egg tart/gao luck/porridge shop.

20. You think people are inconsiderate when they don’t leave their table immediately after eating at the food court but think you have every right to take 25 bites to finish the last red bean in your ice kachang.

21. You find it impossible to make suggestions without drawing a fishbone chart first.

22. If you’re a guy, whenever you get together with your guy friends, you invariably trade army stories.

23. If you’re a girl, whenever you get together with your girl friends, you invariably trade stories about how your stupid guy friends are forever trading army stories.

24. You think the most important sporting event in Singapore this year was David Beckham switching from Manchester United to Real Madrid.

25. You somehow feel that food tastes better when eaten by a longkang.

26. It actually makes a difference to you being called an ‘NSMan’ rather than a ‘Reservist’.

27. You’ve eaten more times at the Esplanade than you’ve actually seen shows there.

28. You need campaigns to tell you how to be courteous, to flush toilets, have sex, etc.

29. When you visit the Zoo, you wonder what the animals taste like.

30. You feel the urge to add the suffix ‘-polis’ to everything, viz. Biopolis, Airtropolis, Fusionopolis, Entrepolis, etc.

31. You always feel oddly hungry at 11 pm, and are willing to drive to far away places for supper.

32. You meet in hotels a lot.

33. Your children have a rudimentary knowledge of Tagalog or Bahasa Indonesia.

34. You work at McDonald’s when you’re old rather than young.

35. You’ll gladly spend $50,000 on a car, but will go to great lengths to save a few bucks on ERP charges or even a few cents on a parking coupon.

36. Pork floss and mayonnaise on bread is a completely natural combination to you.

37. If you’re pregnant, you have the strange ability to make people on the MRT fall asleep instantly.

38. You ask for the bill by miming a signing movement.

39. You’ve started referring to foreign employees as ‘talent’ instead of ‘expatriates’.

40. At the dinner table, you’re always discussing which other food places serve better versions of what you’re eating.

41. You copy down licence plate numbers of cars involved in accidents.

42. You think your boyfriend doesn’t really love you unless he gives you part of his liver.

43. During sales, you book hotel rooms near malls to enable you to shop more efficiently.

44. You pronounce the letter ‘R’ as ‘ah-rer’ and the letter ‘H’ as ‘haytch’.

45. No matter how old you are, you keep associating people with their secondary schools. (alternative: No matter how old you are, you secretly need to know what other people got for their PSLE, O levels and A levels.)

46. You’re always on a quest for the definitive version of your favourite local dish.

47. When you explain things to people, you keep (a) using alphabets, and (b) speaking in point form.

48. You believe that you can generate ‘creativity’ through rules and committees.

49. You ‘chope’ a seat by placing a packet of tissues on the chair.

50. You’re very forthright with your criticisms of the Gahmen, unless there’s a chance they might actually hear you.

51. You diligently track the whereabouts of your favourite hawkers, i.e..you know that the famous Tiong Bahru Bao is now in Jurong, the famous Outram Char Kuay Teow is now in Hong Lim Centre and the famous Lau Hock Kien Hokkien mee from the old Lau Pa Sat is now at Beach Road.

52. Your mother probably can’t speak your ‘mother tongue’.

53. You’d rather drink your own pee than pay someone more for water.

54. You secretly find that the best part of the Speak Good English Movement is hearing the Singlish bits in their ads.

55. You have an automatic sensor in your head which categorizes people you meet into stayer/ quitter, cosmopolitan/heartlander, normal/ express/ gifted, etc.

56. You think we’re living in a modern, sophisticated country even when our leaders still insist on wearing their school uniforms.

57. You wish your constituency is in a walkover, because otherwise it’s damn ‘leceh’.

58. During elections, you decide that there is no credible opposition even though you don’t know the name of the opposition candidate in your constituency.

59. You think having a constitution is like the condition you get when you don’t eat enough fibre.

60. You can never quite remember what “the core values” of Singaporeans are.

http://www.talkingcock.com/html/article.php?sid=1139

Happy National Day from the folks at TalkingCock.com!

Sunday, a day to rest, but.....

Same thing happened. Slept at 5am in the morning.

The only thing different is that i got nothing on in the day, can wake up very late.

Or so, i thought.

Woke up at 1330 hours by SQ calling me, asking me where the NDP passes are. He is in HQ. In my slurred speech, i asked SQ where is he. "In HQ", he replied. He mentioned about the briefing of the new CPR procedure for the NUS M1 students first aid program.

I was instantly awake. At that moment. Same effect as someone poured ice-cold freezing water on you when you are still in a sleeping state of mind.

"What? today is the briefing? What time is the briefing?" i asked SQ.

"1400 hours" he replied.

Oh shit, i was going to be late! This briefing had completely slipped out of my mind! I had totally forgotten it!

"sir, wait for me, i supposed to be attending also. I rushing down now". I informed him back.

With that sentence, i washed up in a haste, have a change of shirt, and zoomed out of my house like a ferrari zooming past the finishing point. Rush down to the carpark, open the door, got in, start the engine, and off i go.

Still, i was late. The briefing had already started, but i was present for the important part, the changes of the CPR compression to ventilation ratio. Briefing was done by lawarance from NFAC (national first aid council).

After briefing, Dennis, Rafi, Asiah and me went down to Boon Lay market for dinner. In my case, its breakfast, lunch and dinner combined. 4 of us finished 7 big glasses of sugercane. Can believe it?

After dinner, i don't feel like going home, and ask the others if they wanna go routing with me. Dennis ask me where, but my mind is blank. I though of Changi Airport aloud, and Dennis stared at me.

"Siao, so far away" was all he can say.

We ended up at Rafi's house. My first time there. Saw Rafi's kids also. His youngest son was very cute, and kept playing with dennis. Me? i saw a guitar, and played it, all while watching E.T on TV.

In the end, i raided Rafi vast VCD collections. And brought back about 8 movies back home to watch. That night, i wacked 2 movies straight, "full metal jacket" and "633 squadorn".

Yah, that night also managed to contact someone who i had not been contacting for quite sometime. That someone getting more and more busy hor??

A day of fun and laugher, pain and anger.

Woah!! what an interesting day today i had. Whole day filled up non stop, a day of total frenzy, anger and relaxation. A day of fun and laugher, pain and anger... This post is goanna be a long long one, so, sit back and happy reading, folks!!!

Let me start in the morning, at about 0530 hours.

Nope, that's not the time that i woke up. That's the time i went to sleep. Its that early. Couldn't sleep at all eariler, coz i've been a pig the pervious day.

Woke up at 0645 hours. Need to wake up that early too. For IPPT test. Back to Maju Camp, back to see all the PTIs there. The PTIs are surprised to see me taking the IPPT test. Well, for me, kinda miss them. Kinda minor sprained my shoulder (old injury, haven recovered) when doing chin up.

Skipped the 2.4 run. Cannot pass anyway. Out-process about an hour after i had in-process.

Went straight to HQ. Thinking of catching a nap there before its "sun-tan" time. (AGI COLOURS Training). But the nap managed to slipped away from my "net" (intentions), when i met Siew Mei and her sister, Siew Ping at HQ. They are distributing tin cans for St John Flag day. That's the time my leg muscles start to hurt.

End up helping them to distribute the cans.

Finally, its time to load up the minibus and proceed to Ping Yi Sec for CT (not counter-terror, you CS freaks, but Combined Training) between the colours party and GOH (Guard-of-honor, not Guest of honor, just an information to all parade idiots out there).

The day was hot. Very hot. Very very hot. A perfect day to sun-tan in the parade square. But it might be a lot better if i was sun-tanning at the beach, instead of the parade square.

I might be feeling a lot better if my colleague did not keep calling me, and telling me about some minor problems that he encounter. First phone call went something like this:

"hey, simon, got steam leaking dunno from where. Temperature stopped at 99 degrees C"

"so? trace the leaks and trace the pipe to the valve. There must be some valve that you forgot to close. Did you close the air outlet valve?" I replied.

"Close liao. but still got steam leaking leh"

"Follow what i had said, Trace the leaks and follow the pipe till you find a valve"

"But what valve?" he asked.

"JUST DO WHAT I TOLD YOU! TRACE THE LEAK AND TRACE THE PIPE TILL YOU COME TO THE UN-CLOSE PIPE!!!" and i hung up. "Beep, beep, been (sensored), "

Minutes later i call him back.

"Hey, did you trace the pipe?" i asked.

"Yah, found the valve liao. Close liao."

"*@#&%^!@(%^(!@#*&" i exclaimed after i hung up the phone.

Spoke to Mr Tian about this thing. He offered me some advised, and besides that, all he can do is just shake his head and smile. Told me about his similar experiences also.

That's not all.

I got some (3) missed calls from office, and in fact that i was still training in CT, i did not realised that my phone had rung.

Called him back.

"What's up again?" i asked

"Got steam leaking from the Acid pipe." he answered.

"Close the valve on the pipe, to stop the steam." i advised.

"what valve?"

I blew my top. He has been operating the machine for over half a year, almost 9 months liao, and here he is, asking me what valve again. Mr Tian looked at me, and all he can just do was to shake his head and smile again.

I attempted to explained patiently to him, asking him to trace out the pipe. He keep interrupting me, and tell me the things that he had done. But i am trying to point out the things he HAD NOT done, in the end, i need to yell at him over the phone to stop him from interrupting and listen and follow my instructions step-by-goddammed step.

During the trip back HQ, i called him up and asked if he had solved the problems.

He still cannot get my step-by goddammed step. That's when those ppl in the minibus i was driving got a taste of my full fury.

I hung up the phone and threw the phone to the dashboard with such force that the battery cover and the battery flew out. The whole mini-bus quieten down. So quiet that you can hear a pin drop above the engine noise.

Finally, i reconnect my battery, and made a last call back to him.

"Stop what you are doing and wait for me to come!!" i yelled at him and hung up.

Reached HQ. Went to change and go straight to office. Solved the problem within 2 minutes.

After that, i went down to Dover market to get some chow. Gian Wanton mee and some sugarcane juice. To my utter disappointment, both are closed. End up buying some sandwiches from 7-11.

Went back home to bathe, and its time for me to go to plaza to meet up with CH and his friend, simon. Did not see him for months. Had msg him eariler that i was in a foul mood, coz of my colleague. Went starbucks to chill out, and we chatted a lot about SJ things, besides the incident that happened eariler.

3 of us end up at Bukit Timah for supper. Tastes great!

After Makan, still in slight foul mood, i made my way alone to woodlands, an area near to the causeway, with a view of JB coast, buildings, and yes, the sea.

Maybe the heaven wanna to cheer me up, i was treated to a minute of non-stop fireworks that was setted off in JB. Enjoyed the fireworks, though it was far away. My foul mood disappeared, just as quickly as it had came.

Went back to BP, and met up with Stuart and Aaron. Had a nice chat with them. That's when my stomach muscle starts to hurt. The little talkcock session ended and the group disbursed at about 0330 hours. It was that early again.

On the way home, after dropping Stuart off, a stupid LADY DRIVER stopped her mini-cooper in the CENTER of a ONE-LANE ROAD, with DOUBLE WHITE LINES. Thinking that her car might be in trouble, i stopped one side and apprached her, and asked what had happen.

"Sorry, my friend pang sai urgently" she said in a heavy china accent. (She spoke in chinese, except for the "PANG SAI".

At that point of time, i dunno whether to laugh or to be pissed off.

Interesting day huh??

At long last, nothing on on Sunday, and its going to be my sleep-catching-up day.

Guniness Stout

What do you do when someone offers you stout when you don't drink?

Slept the whole day, very tired, with the fever and all. At night, i woke up, feeling better, decided to go BP plaza. Met up with Aaron, Monique, Joshua, Stuart there. June, Yvonne and her BF came later.

Nothing much, just sat there, reading my book, joking, crapping around. And me and aaron finally end up at Aaron's house downstairs for a chat.

A van came in (we were just sitting beside the loading and unloading bay). An uncle came out, seeing Aaron's bandage, enquire about what had happened. Aaron reply that he met with an RTA, and the uncle enquire about his condition.

The uncle then told us he is staying on the ground floor. His house was just opp where i was sitting, and the stone bench and chairs that we were sitting were brought in by him. Me and aaron was very surprised. All along, we had though that the tables and chairs were HDB property.

We then chatted a bit and finally the uncle asked us if we want a drink. We declined his offer, but he went in, and came out with 2 cans of Guniness Stout and 2 mugs of ice. Me and aaron was shocked. I don't drink, and Aaron cannot drink. But the uncle had went back to his home.

Well, i was actually very paiseh. That uncle was very nice to us. Next time must buy something back for him and his family. In the end, we placed the mugs outside (he told us to leave them outside after finish drinking) with a thank you note, and each of us took our stout back.

Its good to have such a neighbour, (that uncle is aaron's neighbour), and its nice having a chat with him. I mean, how many of you out there does not know who your neighbour, does not greet each other in the lift?

I had been staying in this flat for about 18 years. I have seen my neighbours shift out, changed ownership for quite a few times. Some are good, some are cold. But bear in mind that we are living in the same block, and we should have a good relationship with them, coz in times of need, your neighbours are the ones that may come to your help.

I had read about lots cases whereby neighbours had quarrelled with each other, fights between neigbour, the famous incident being at Joo Chiat, the Dr Chan Soo Yin and her neighbours. (In actual fact, Dr Chan was my lecturer in Ngee Ann Poly, and was also my lecturer during my part-time degree course.)

So, next time you see your neighbours in the lift or in the corridor or even at the shopping center, take some time to greet them engage in some idle chatter. That way, we can learn about neighbour tolerance, can make new friends, and in case of emergency, you can rely on someone close by to render help.

Smile and greet your neigbours!!!

Am sick...

I caught a fever this morning. Or rather, last night... Was playing pool with Stuart, Joshua, Hanjie, when we were going home, i felt something is not right. Felt that my body temperature keeps going up. Felt feverish.

After i went home, I took my temperature orally, and it was 37.6 degree C. I shugged it off, and went to sleep after surfing the net.

Woke up this morning, feeling hot all over. Took my body temperature again, it had rose to 38.2 degree C. Took some medication, and after msging my colleague that i was unwell, collaspe (sleep) again.

Woke up at 12 noon. Feeling a bit better and a bit hungry, went down to KSL to tabao some food. Bought something light to eat. Still feverish. Went back home, ate the food down, took some medication again, surf a bit of net, read a bit of my books, jam a bit of my guiter, and finally i went back to sleep around 2pm.

Woke up at 7.30pm. Feeling a lot better liao. Might be going out to meet aaron at starbucks, plaza.

Tomorrow morning still got IPPT again, and yes, Maju camp again. Kinda miss the PTIs there. Dunno if i got the condition to take IPPT tomorrow. Die die must take, coz this is the only chance for me, as my window will be closing soon. No more dates liao.

After IPPT, got Colours training, combined with the GOH for AGI. Ping Yi sec. Well, walk one step and see one step bah.

Wish me luck!!!

Aaron's back!!!

Aaron's back in Singapore after his operation!!!

We are all surprised. But that's good news!! His operations was yesterday, and he was discharged today. He's supposed to come back on Friday.

Anyway, we are all glad to see him back. ZX, Henry, CN, Monique and me went to visit him. He's back using clutches, as the doctor had advised him not to use his leg for about a month, to promote recovery.

Speedy recovery, aaron!!!

Visit to Ngee Ann Poly

Just came back from Ngee Ann Polytechnic. They had a Biotech Fair, and i was invited there as a guest. In case you all don't know what's that, Biotech fair is an annual event, organised by Ngee Ann Poly, School of Life Sciences and Chemical Technology (LSCT) and Singapore Science Center.

Its an prize giving event, whereby students from secondary schools had completed in scientific projects, and accessed. Its also an event whereby some lab suppilers also displayed their wares and advertise themselves. I did not set up a display brooth, but i successfully market out our product. Generate some sales from the social functions with the suppilers.

Its more like internal event, between LSCT, Secondary schools, and Science Center.

As i was driving in, fond memories of my poly life came flooding back to me. Its the best student life i ever had. Poly life was great!! I had a great time chatting with the lecturers, my head of department, (now is senior director) and some former students. Memories of me skipping class, my lecturer asking me to stay awake in class came back, and we joked over it, years later.

Ngee Ann Poly was the place which i get to know my buddy, Gary. And that's how i get to know zone 3 ppl, especially Derek. And it results in me knowing all the fantastic friends in SJAB, and be part of the SjAB family.

This year, the projects are diversified. There got the simple ones like how certain plants, herbs can inhibit a certain bacteria, to those who are more business orientated, like slow release of food for fish, to more "cheem" projects, like, "making Bio-diesel from cooking oil"

I am surprised by some of the projects that the students had done. Its pretty clear that life sciences had advanced well into secondary schools. The students there know how to streak a agar plate, knows chemistry stuffs on hydrocarbon, knows more about bacteria etc etc.

And that's a good and bad thing.

Good thing is, our future leaders have a very good headstart on life sciences, and that is the next step that our goverment is focused on. Money is being pumped into R&D areas in medical, farms, control of infectious diseases etc.

Second thing is that these experiments arouse the student's interest in this particular area, and thus, spurring them to pursue a course in that particular area after their secondary school education, and who knows? Some of them might be successful in creating a drug to cure disease that has no cures now.

Thirdly, if these carry on, Singapore will have an enormous boost in her economy in the future.

But the bad point is that i have to run harder, faster to stay ahead of these youngsters. Cannot smoke them anymore. Sometimes, they will know more than you do, and we old timers must do more to stay ahead of them.

Gd luck to Aaron and William!!!

Damm the upper management assholes. Dunno who the hell are they, but still, damm them anyway.

Aaron went back JB for his operation on his leg this morning. I don't think i can find time to go JB and visit him. Anyway, he is projected to return on the 4th Aug, this coming friday. Hopefully, his leg can heal, and he can go back playing Basketball.

William going for blood test and treadmill right now. He complaining of chest pains, and an ECG showed nothing wrong. But he's back today just to make sure.

All the best, Aaron and William!!!

Seems like everything is going wrong nowadays. There goes my work performance bonus, my increment, without notification. I dun mind not receiving the extra money, but the least they can do is inform us and the reason why. Someone is keeping quiet, everyone is guessing, cursing and swearing, and no one has the motivation to work hard anymore. Why work hard, going the extra mile, when there's no performance bonus?

All what the HR can say is "To be advised." Advise what? My 2005 work performance bonus has already been eaten by the company. And now, this shit happens again. Then why am i working so hard for the company, when i do not get anything back at all?

Those in the upper management level should sign up for our zone NCO Course. We can teach them something a bit about management, innovation, thinking out of the box, creativity thinking, motivation, and the most important thing, finance management.

But still, damm the upper management, damm their deceit, damm their silence, and damm their lies.

Sick and tired...

Sick and tired of excuses. Sick and tired for taking us for granted. Sick and tired of poor management. Sick and tired of not telling us anything. Sick and tired of all these troubles. Sick and tired of politics. Sick and tired of all those lies.

When will it ever stop? When can deliver the promises, When can give us some motivation? Its the same old bloody shit that falls on us. Same old pattern. When will it ever change? Do not give us false hope when you ain't able to deliver.

What for i focus so much when all i get back is silence, false hopes, deceit, lies and the feeling of being taken for granted? What for i pia so much when i gets nothing in return?

Damm the Upper Management.