Superstar Virgo

Day1
Boarding was a bit of a hassle compared to boarding a flight as the queue is really long though we came at the 4pm which was the time boarding starts, a long queue was already there. Issued the access card and finally boarded the ship at about 5 plus pm. Took a quick tour around the ship before heading for dinner, buffet dinner. Food wasn't that fantastic but definitely passable, but there was this old indian couple sitting beside us who ate bread with salt, pepper and long beans, wierd. So took another tour around the ship, visiting the observatory, looking into the Captain's Bridge and punctually at 8pm, we set off for Redang. Shortly after setting off the casino was open and of cos we went in to take a look, it was rather interesting looking at others play. Roulette caught our eye cos of the vast number of chips placed on the table during each round and only about 5% of the chips placed won something. A lucky guy got a Full House in poker and won $250 just liddat.

Access card

Day 2
Terrible nite, people were walking around outside and when it finally settled down outside, people were hanky pankying in the next cabin. I finally can relate to those people staying in the hostel, tough on u guys man. Headed to the gym since we ate so much last nite, b'fast was buffet again i think, so-so, we decided to join the snorkelling tour when we get to Redang, that will set us off $35 each. Then we got about playing the many games on board, we first tried the mini golf course after we saw people playing then we went to have a game of table tennis after jon and maybel had b'fast 2 of cos (they have a bottomless pit). After the game we hurriedly proceeded to the chinese restaurant to have an early lunch before going to Redang. I must say the food was rather good, esp the steamed Cod fish, heavenly. As we gathered for the tour briefing we realised we didn't bring any Ringgit, rather we didn't even bring any cash. You can credit payments to ur access card on board so we got used to it, but obviously not on Redang Island but we found out we dun get to even use the cash on the snorkelling tour. The diving tour provided was quite a bargain actually $90 for 2 dives with equipment provided but i didn't want to dive with strangers and i didn't bring along my divelog.

Rescue ship as ferry

At first we started to regret going on the snorkel tour after we realised that we're snorkelling near the beach but we soon realise the $35 was well worth it after we reached the island. Schools of fishes could be seen swimming under the jetty, corals reefs were abundant and large. If u tot only small fishes could be seen, u're damn wrong. We were literally swimming with the fishes, among the marine life seen were clown fish, sea cucumber(live ones) and Moray eel(not manta eel, sorry).

Moray eel

Anyway those who dun wanna to join any tour can go the Laguna Redang resort via the ferry service for free though i have no idea wad u can do there. Rested a while at the cabin before heading to the pool before everyone comes back. Pool was pathetically short, probably 30m in length and 15m in width yet we could amazingly come up with ways to swim in an orderly fashion(swim team, dun play play). Due to the short length, u tend to get dizzy after swimming a few laps cos u kept turning after swimming a short distance. They had 4 Jacuzzis but its always packed, sometimes with babes, but most of the time with people u prob wouldn't want sharing in it. Dinner at the chinese restaurant again, had tiger prawns and sweet and sour fish, both were gd i would say. Then there's the BBQ party at the pool with of cos loads of other food, buffet style.

The most interesting form of entertainment would be the casino though it was opened almost throughout the day, its more interesting and crowded at nite. This time we played. Jon, Eugene and I pooled some money together to change $50 worth of chips. We tried our hand on roulette with a young couple and a friendly croupier. You win some but most of the time u lose since betting using probability doesn't work most the time but beginners' luck were on our side when maybel won $55 using just $5 betting on the winning row. So now we set aside our $50 and played with the rest, it was fun as people started to crowd around our table and more players joined in. We had 'free' fun for over half an hour since there was no losses, gambling is addictive, beware!

Day 3
Woke up early for sunrise but it was way too cloudy to see anything, wad a waste. B'fast at Bella Vista, the western fine dining restaurant. Food was superb since they also had a small buffet bar offering cereals, pastries and fruits. Settled the check out procedure and collect our passports before packing our bags and taking a short nap in the cabin before lunch. Bella Vista for lunch again, this time it ain't so good, at least for the main course. Then we're stuck in the mahjong room playing cards since its the most quiet place and we can't go back into the cabins. When we alighted the ship, some of the crew were singing songs to our farewell, how sweet or maybe they can't wait for us to leave. haha, all in all quite a nice trip, hope to visit redang again, maybe with mi dive buddies this time.

On the ferry
The Pantheon Pool
Dessert 'Hot Love' with jon as background
from left: jon, maybel, eugene & cx

More than meets the eye

I was reading Transformers The Beginnings comic yesterday. This was supposed to be the original comic that was circulated years ago and to my surprise I saw Spiderman in it. He was in his black suit which suggested that he had already made contact with the alien symbiote as shown in Spiderman 3. Everyone who had watched the Transformers cartoon would know the Autobots had a human friend together with his father helping them. Turns out the dad was a mechanic and had the means to convert our petrol into fuels the robots could use. The Decepticons captured him while creating a ruckus among the public and Peter Parker was sent to cover the story. Your friendly neighbour managed to save the day by helping the Autobots save the dad but that was about it where Spiderman was concerned.

Going on a cruise tomorrow, so until friday.

Back to Bedok

Been a long time since I've been back to TJ since I graduated, today was having lunch at eBlackboard which was opposite TJ with eugene and zic.
Had lamb chops($11.90), 4 pieces of lamb chops with broccolis and baked potato which i changed with eugene for his fries. The meat was pretty tender with nice grill lines and eaten with the mint sauce was just so good. After my diving trip in 2005 i came to realise that lamb chops are best eaten with mint sauce but this mint sauce was not as good as the one i had at the dive resort but still passable.

After lunch we decided to take a walk around TJ since we're already here. Students were a little puzzled why 3 guys dressed in home clothes were walking around the school. There were quite a few changes to the school since we lasted visited, like the turnstile for students leaving after school hours and fresh coat of paint. Benches under LT1 were shifted to extend the dining area of the canteen. One vast difference would be the fact that students were wearing an assortment of different shirts in school, including the classrooms unlike our time where we only wear the standard uniform in class. Sport complex was more or less the same though we can't seem to find the swim team's notice board. I met Mr Ho my year 2 maths tutor under LT2, he still remember that I was from 11/02 though he can't recall my name but after these years it was good enough. Anyway security in the school was damn slack, no one questioned our purpose in the school though we came across quite a few tutors.

Eugene the glutton brought us to Eastwood, the shopping mall opposite Bedok Food Centre for apple strudel which i think was normal. Apple strudel now dun seem to appeal to me like before, dun really seem to justify its cost.

Simple ways u can do to help save Gaia

Firstly for people who still have no idea who Gaia is, Gaia refers to Mother Earth, the very planet we live on.

1. Avoid Fast food - Fast Food tends to have excessive packaging which increase rubbish
2. Buy recycled products when possible
3. Always keep the fridge door close - Decide what u wanna take before opening it
4. Keep your air-con to a temperature between 24-26 deg C - Your air con works less, saving energy
5. Bring your own bag when u shop or avoid taking plastic bags from supermarkets
6. Reuse the plastic bag if u do need to take one
7. Turn off your lights or electrical appliances when not using - Leaving a photocopier on standby for a night waste enough energy to print hundreds of paper
8. If your refrigerator is more than 10 years old, u save more using a newer one since it uses lesser energy
9. Use compact fluorescent light bulbs rather than the standard filament ones
10. Last but not least - reduce, reuse, recycle

These 10 ways seems simple but how many people actually practice them in our daily lives? Most people say its a habit not to, but if u dun try doing it, how can u make such practices ur new habit. Start now people!

Go Green with CNG

CNG stands for Compressed Natural Gas and its fast becoming the next big thing to power cars. I was doing a paper last semester that involves a little research into this green fuel and I must say I was a little astonished on wad CNG could do. Presently there is only one CNG refill station in S'pore and its in Jurong Island but come next year and there will be one up and running in Mandai with 4 more by 2011. Most people dun really know that normal cars can be refitted to run on CNG, nor do they know about the benefits of doing so. It can basically work by adding a conversion kit into a normal car to allow it to run on both CNG and petrol by using a switch. A gas tank is installed in the boot for the CNG storage

Advantage

1. Per litre of CNG cost much less than that of petrol 75 cents to $1.60 for a 92. Save $$.
   
2. CNG produces much less pollution than petrol or diesel. E.g. CNG produce 25% and 50% less CO2 than petrol and diesel respectively.
3. As it burns more cleanly, its supposedly less stressful for the engine

Disadvantage
This is not god's juice, so there's bound to be disadvantages

1. Decreased performance due to added weight for gas tank and engine optimally designed for petrol use.
2. Lesser space due to the added gas tank.
3. Car's warranty may be void due to conversion kit.
   

The conversion kit cost about $2000 in total while this is expected to be recouped within a year. With the new CNG stations coming up, I hope to see more people converting their car to run on CNG and more CNG cars being brought in. Save the World!
For more info on CNG conversion in S'pore, click here.

For the bored, here's something interesting, 50 ways to cook instant noodles.

Post-dated post

A little busy the last few days so this post is rather post-dated. Firstly the special date of 07/07/07 where many many couples around the world tie the knot and one of them would be my ns pal Chun Kiat, congrats to u. Anyway this day would have made it into the history books for the Live Earth concert to bring about awareness to global warming. Though this concert would have gathered audience in excess of billion but like many critics I do not agree the rewards would be high. I dare to say 99% of the audience did not watch the concert with the concept of saving the environment in mind, but rather to watch their favourite artiste in performance. Most of the audience would probably have forgotten about the pledge they made at the concert on saving the environment and stuff by now and carry with their normal daily routine. However I believe that this series of concert have made an impact on many people's life. The large amount of ticket fees would have gone to support a far greater cause than ending up with MacDonald's. I estimate at least 10% of the people would have taken note of the key message of this concert, that is to make effort to saving the environment and taken steps to actually do it. Thus it would have stil served its purposes though not as significant as everyone would hope to.
From left: ZhiHao, Hanlong, Ben, me, Wanting, Kian Yip, Elson, Sheila

Goodbye to Ben who left today for Brisbane Australia for studies. 1 year pass rather quickly, so before we realise it, Ben would have been back already. So while i was taking 27 back, i realise they now play a short 'announcement' telling passengers to move to the back of the bus. Cool!

Connie Talbot - Over The Rainbow (BGT Final)

Pity she didn't win.

Connie Talbot, 6, Britains Got Talent * Semi Final

Britain's Got Talent- Connie

NS 40

More than a year has passed since I ORDed from SAF. In celebration of this memorable day, Sunday Times have a special edition for NS 40 which I think was rather interesting to read. Serving more than 2 years NS, I have my own fair share of unforgettable encounters. Esp so since I spent close to 1.5yrs as a tainee. Recruit, private, corporal, 3rd sergeant, officer cadet, 2nd LT; I've been through all.

My Longest course:
I would say a tie between the Tank Commander Course(TCC) and the Tank Officer Commander Course(TOCC). The former lasted about 21 weeks and the latter was probably a tad longer.

My shortest course:
Again a tie between Basic Military Training(BMT), Basic Section Leader Course(BSLC SISPEC) and OCS Service Term 2. All three lasted about 8 weeks but as u can see the diffculty levels are vastly different.

My 'shiong-est' out field:
It just have to be the one in OCS Alpha wing's Patrol cum Ex Spade. First we were silently activated back, meaning sms u and report back within 4 hrs. Then with this demoralised feeling we were sent to P.Tekong for a week long in rain. That really stretched me to the limit, battling 'trench foot', heat rash plus all the fighting and digging.

My most tiring training:
That would be the one when I was a corporal training during TCC overseas training in taiwan. Yes the base where the fighter jet crashed. Last phase of training involves a 4 day battle course and out of these 4 days I've only slept for about 3-4 hrs. Returning to camp at 6pm, servicing the tanks til 8pm and cleaning the weapons til 5.30am, send in the arms, nap til 6am, go for b'fast and draw arms at 6.15, back to tank; for 4 days. People will try sleeping at any opportunity. I've tried sleeping while driving my tank on a straight road, while the tank is stationary, literally every opportunity. Last day we were saved when the instructors wash the tank for us becoz of water shortage(trainees tend to waste water) and course warrant couldn't stand to see us dozing off and let us sleep at midnight.

My most fun course:
That would be the Company Tactics Course(CTC), firstly all trainees are of rank 2LT to Cpt, instructors are min Maj and treat us with much respect. Trainees dun play rank amongst ourselves and as NSF there was no need for me to work so hard, slack a bit pass can liao. Anyway the real fun part comes when we're always in air-con rooms. The only outfield was just walk the ground and we're equipped with ice box with soft drinks, field chairs and a tonner for each syndicate of abt 20 people. Nice! Did I mention the stay out part and the computer simulation we fought which was a bit like fighting red alert.

My most memorable:
I must say the pride and joy during commissioning parade is unrivalled. In precise drill steps and smart No.1 uniforms, this is the 3rd best parade in the SAF after NDP and SAF Day. And what's more I was a contingent commander who holds a ceremonial sword instead of the drill rifles. This is a parade made to elude awe and prestige. 'Go run around the parade square, u swine!'