Sunday, September 30, 2007

Mary Had A 'Lil Lamb


On a Side Note...
Had yummy yummy pizza for dinner. That marks the end of my eating frenzy for this weekend. Back to camp =\


Bailey had a much-deserved grooming today. He looks like a little lamb now, doesn't he?



BLP #007

"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".

Can you think of any other words that end with 'mt'?

Labels:

Penning my heartfelt thoughts at 7:52 PM

0 comments scribbled

 Direct link to this post

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Drink, Drank, Drunk


On a Side Note...
Had my first live intravenous therapy training today. Suffered two haematomas, including a ruptured vein, which does kinda hurt. Seems like not everyone is cut out to be a medic. Neither am I.

Backpost to last Saturday, Ling Yang suggested throwing a drinking party at a chalet since none of our accommodations was available. It was a rather impromptu decision, and at that time it was almost impossible to get a room on a weekend. I suggested the SAFYC at Changi, knowing that it shouldn't be that much of a problem getting a room there.

We did, and had hell of a time there. The drinking party was thrown in conjunction of Wilson's posting to OCS, as well as a good time for us to catch up since we haven't gone wild for a long time.


Spacious floors


Pool AND Sea-side view

For 2 queen-sized beds and a rather spacious room, the fee is considered affordable. The only down side to it is that being situated in Changi, it IS out of the way so you can forget 'bout booking the chalet if you don't drive. For us we didn't have this problem =) All the regulars of Bean's Supper Club attended, resulting in a full house with close to a dozen of us. We were noisy, and we got complaint against, but it didn't spoil our mood or fun. Lawless.

While waiting for Shawn to arrive with some of the others, we went for a swim in the pool that is located directly beneath our unit.




Wilson and I

We never seem gay enough for some reason. After our dinner-cum-supper at Changi Village, we returned for boozing. Some of them suggested playing push-up drinking games, which was totally lame lah. Two guys go head to head on a push-up competition, with the loser drinking. It's sad to know that I'm among the weakest T_T


GoldIPPT-Wilson against Commando-SayEe

I really take my hat off Commandos. Even after entering repeated rounds (randomly chosen players), Say Ee could still win. It's really no wonder commandos are so respected. Our agenda that evening was to get Wilson really drunk, which we eventually succeeded.


Bowl hugger No.1

Wilson didn't stay till the end 'cos he had to go to the temple in the morning, which was his safety amulet. Usually, I was the one who took pictures of the drunkards, but somehow, this time 'round, I ended up being in the picture.


It was baaad

I threw up so much that my throat, chest and stomach hurt for days. This prompted me to swear off drinking - for some time at least. I had bad experiences during meal times for the first few days of my training. Anyway the training kinda sucks. It's not really tough, but lectures lasted up to 5 hours a day with a lunch break in between. I had difficulty staying awake, and we hardly had any free time as well as sufficient rest.


We've had better days, not to forget longer hair too. Wonder how you're suffering in OCS now =P



BLP #006

A combat medic is a trained soldier who is responsible for providing first aid and front line trauma care on the battlefield. In most armies, medics wear specific insignia (with a prominent Red Cross on a white background).

These symbols signify to enemy soldiers that the medic is a noncombatant, providing medical care. For many years, most medics have carried at least a side arm like the handgun and knife (and now, frequently a rifle), to be used as a defensive weapon. Medical personnel may be armed, but may only use their weapons to protect themselves or the wounded and sick in their care. If they use their arms offensively, or carry arms that qualify as offensive, they then sacrifice their protection under the Geneva Conventions.

Generally, a medic holding his/her weapon is considered to be an armed, military threat. According to the Geneva Convention, knowingly firing at a medic wearing clear insignia is a war crime.

Either way, terrorists don't give a damn 'bout Geneva Convention.

Labels:

Penning my heartfelt thoughts at 1:34 AM

0 comments scribbled

 Direct link to this post

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Goodbye, Goodbye


On a Side Note...
It's been a week since Granny passed on. Spent the last weekend attending to her wake and funeral. After three long years of battling stomach cancer, Granny has gone to heaven, leaving me with no surviving grand parents. I wonder how it's like having grand parents to dote on me, as I've never had that experience.

Since my enlistment, I have not clubbed, which makes it a long abstinence of several months. Lately I've had the clubbing fever, and yesterday made a good day to hit the clubs since most of my friends have passed out from BMT. Coincidentally, it was also yF's birthday so we all went to Versus for a drink before going to MOS.

I've come to terms with not being able to enter OCS, which was hard to swallow at first. Gone along with it are the hopes of being in the cockpit of a F16D. Alternatives have presented itself to me since then, but it's difficult to settle for less when you've had high hopes from the start. There has been a lot of disappointment. Almost too much to bear.

Met up with Hannan during the session last night, and learnt about his deserved posting to OCS. Wilson also made it to OCS, much to my surprise =X Even Darryl made it, which is almost unbelievable. Many of us didn't think that he could make it. It makes it harder to accept when my friends all say that they are certain that I would be there too if not for my injury. Why, why, why? Am I destined to remain as a 'man'?

The best that is left of my NS is to perform well and request an overseas posting to Taiwan/Brunei as the allowances are better than the measly sum for local postings. I'll go wherever I have to, for the best of what I can make out of what's left.



BLP #005

To burn off the calories from eating one plain M&M candy, you need to walk the full length of a football field.
I remember reading from somewhere that you need to run a really obscene distance to burn of the calories from eating a plate of Char Kway Teow.

Labels:

Penning my heartfelt thoughts at 4:18 PM

0 comments scribbled

 Direct link to this post

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

A Pair of Sea-Legs I Got


On a Side Note...
It sucks being a 'man'. I don't wanna spend 2 years following the orders of sergeants who may not even have the required initiative and intellect. Some are born to lead, while others, follow. There's only one way to find out which I belong to.

This post is bound to be lengthy, even if I cut down on text, the pictures may be an overkill. But I can't resist against putting up the pictures that I took at Pulau Tioman, and I'm certain that no one would mind =P

I set off on Friday evening, following the Wong family's vehicle from the Yacht Club. Mom didn't join us as she has mild aquaphobia. We reached the town of Mersing about two hours past midnight, and spent the night boozing in our accommodation there as the ferries don't operate at night.


Embassy Hotel (More of motel than hotel)


Area Map

I looked kinda funny as I brought along my Crumpler bags and pouch, making me pretty much of a Crumpler person overall. The ferry to Tioman took approximately two and a half hours, but I'm not sure 'cos I spent most of the time catching up on sleep. The waters are crystal clear, and the scenery was great.


A CrumplerBean


Clouds?


Abandoned Resort (Incomplete)


Fish under the jetty

We stayed over only for a night, which was sufficient, considering that other than the rather limited sea sports, there was not much other entertainment. Other than restaurants and bars, the commercialisation of Tioman (or the resort that I stayed at) is rather weak. It certainly is one of the world's Top 10 divespots, not entertainment spots. This is my one-sided view, since that are about 10 resorts on the island and I was only at one.

I think that the island has a more deserving name - Pulau Kuching. The island's population of cats is comparable to the locals living there. Everywhere you go, you see cats around, but not a single dog. Weird eh. Over at Tioman you will find:


One-Eyed Cats,


Sleeping Cats,


Sickly Cats,


Pregnant Cats,


Cats that love being buried in sand...


And even Swimming Cats!


Meow

I'm not kidding when I said that their numbers are on par with the locals. Swimming cats are rare, and that cat certainly didn't end up in the sea willingly. It was standing at one corner of the jetty when Derek decided to check if cats could swim. /shrugs

Other than spending my time taking pictures of pussycats, I snorkeled and, well took more pictures. Underwater photography is very challenging, framing the ever-moving subject (in this case - fish), and having to maneuver in the water as well. If I was using a SLR, I'd still have to worry 'bout focusing and external strobes too. Not one bit simple at all. Let's check out the underwater world:


Fish feeding on bread


Security in numbers


Swim-pass


Food For One


Coral


A Marine Ballet


A True-Blue Drifter


Sea PeniCucumber


AnotherSea Slug


Blu Fish


Uh, Red Fish


Purplish-Red Fish


More Coral


Rainbow Fish


Feeding fish

I always believed that nature is at its best when untouched. Its tranquility brings out its own beauty that no words can describe. You need to be there to experience it. There's so much of the sea that we haven't seen, and I am actually intending to learn scuba diving sometime next year. I've already got a handful of interested friends, so if you're keen do join us, we might be able to get a better price ;)

Giant clams are decreasing in numbers due to over-harvesting and water pollution (read BLP #003 for more information). I spotted a small group of snorkelers who found a medium-sized big giant clam. They were actually trying to pry open the shell for its flesh. If caught, they could be fined up to 5,000RM. While I was totally against their actions, I couldn't resist having a small bite at this rare delicacy when they offered me some And raw, no less.


Snorkellers trying to rip the Giant Clam apart


Prized himejako

The highlight -


An Underwater Adventure

Underwater pictures/video was taken using Olympus mju 725 SW. All other pictures were taken using Sony T10.

That's not all. Here's more of the dry shots I took after retiring from snorkeling:


Monitor Lizard (there's an entire family of these)


This is how the flower of the banana plant looks


Macro on a purple flower


" " red flower


" " yellow flower


Butterfly feeding on nectar


Stamen and pistil of a Hibiscus

For ages, people have been saying that Singaporeans are 'kiasu'. Today I'm gonna debunk that myth with pictorial evidence.


International Kiasu-ism

As seen clearly in the picture, Caucasians can be seen trying to board the ferry even before the passengers have alighted. And this ain't the first time that I've seen it. Kiasu-ism is a world-wide phenomenon (whether it originated from Singapore, no one knows for sure) which affects people of all nationality. Singaporeans are NOT the only ones who suffer from this social disease. I rest my case.

It's quite challenging trying to piece long posts together and make it 'flow', especially when there are so many pictures to accompany it. Whenever I make lengthy posts with accompanying pictures, I feel inadequate of my writing skills. Maybe it's time to really start reading books again.


Satisfying



BLP #004

Monitor lizards belong to a group of carnivorous lizards (wait a minute, aren't all lizards carnivorous?). The largest living lizard is the KotexKomodo Dragon.

Monitor lizards are very intelligent and some of them can even count! But count what?

Labels:

Penning my heartfelt thoughts at 8:38 PM

1 comments scribbled

 Direct link to this post

Monday, September 10, 2007

Bean2D


Introducing KY2D's new friend, B2D.


Ngahaha I'm 2D!
Quote by Kuan Yi:
Because of his constant whining, and also maybe because he is one of the only 4 people who i am sure visits my blog on a constant basis, i decided to fulfill Bean's request to put him in one of my shitty comics.
A WINRAR IS ME! KY is a good friend as you can tell. Purchase KY as a friend now and receive a complimentary 2D character of yourself! *Am I trying too hard?* NGAHAHA

In case you haven't (most people can't), Bean2D's beanie has got a bean logo on it, which makes B2D much beanier than Bean himself. Now check out Bean2D's first appearance in KY's comic.


Crap aside, I'm back from my short tropical escapade at Pulau Tioman. I shall be following up with a post on that pretty soon. Watch out for my amateurish underwater photography =D



BLP #003

The giant clam is the largest living shellfish. They can weigh more than 227 kilograms and measure as much as 1.2 metres across, and have an average lifespan in the wild of 100 years or more.

Their numbers in the wild have been greatly reduced by extensive over-harvesting for food and the aquarium trade. On the black market, giant clam shells are sold as decorative accoutrements, and the meat, called Himejako in Japan, is prized as a delicacy. Yummy.

Labels:

Penning my heartfelt thoughts at 12:14 AM

1 comments scribbled

 Direct link to this post

Thursday, September 06, 2007

i Pod, Do You?


It's here. It's here. It's REALLY HERE! Okay maybe not literally, but the new iPods are set to hit the shelves by the end of the month. Yes, NPNT (no peekture no talk), but my posts are seldom NPNT, so here goes!


4GB - S$248
8GB - S$348


80GB - S$428
160GB - S$598


8GB - $498
16GB - $698

iPod nano
Cool, but not totally cool. The nano now comes with video playback, but honestly its 2-inch screen (with a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels) make watching movies on it rather tiring. And it does look stubby. As always, a new toy is cool to have, but not a must.
Temptation factor:

iPod classic
With the birth of the iPod classic, the older generation lucite-faced iPods are gone. It's good in a way since the new classic comes in anodised aluminium (same as shuffle and nano), which is scratch resistant (read: resistant, not proof). However without its classic lucite make, how can it really be called the classic? The only classic part is its shiny back (chrome), which is (still sadly) very scratchable.

Its extravagant capacity plays both ways, being redundant for storing such a monster load of songs, or being handy as a portable drive. S$170 for 80GB of capacity might not sound too good a deal, but if it's an iPod, I'd buy it.
Temptation factor:

iPod touch
The legendary mythical iPod that everyone is talking about. Probably not everyone that I know of, but everyone who keeps up with the latest gadgets probably do. Boasting of Wi-Fi and the iPhone's interface, it makes me wonder why would anyone choose the touch over the iPhone? Since they are so similar, I'd definitely get the iPhone if I were splurge money. S$200 for 8GB? Nuts.
Temptation factor:

For technical specs, check out Apple.com.sg. Here's a walk-through the pages of the recent iPod evolution:


From stick to clip


White to vibrant


Classic to elegant



BLP #002

MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3) is a compressed audio encoding format that became a standard in 1991.

Ten years later in 2001, the first iPod was launched. In 6 1/2 years, it has sold over 100 million units, making it the best selling digital audio player in history.

Labels:

Penning my heartfelt thoughts at 8:00 PM

0 comments scribbled

 Direct link to this post

Monday, September 03, 2007

Rumours, Rumors


2 more days to Apple's press conference. From DigiTimes:
The new iPod video will also come with a wide-screen panel, high storage capacity and Wi-Fi connectivity, the sources indicated. In addition, the new iPod video is expected to be powered by NAND flash, instead of a hard disk drive (HDD).

Apple's new products will also include a new iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle, to cash in on the upcoming Christmas season, stated the sources, who also noted that sales of the new iPod series is expected to total 22-23 million units in the fourth quarter of this year.
For those who can't identify the technical terms, it means that the new iPod video is rumoured to come with wireless technology for connecting to The Internet and other Wi-Fi enabled devices. It will also be using a flash drive (think: Thumbdrive) instead of a... hard disk.

Though not 100% confirmed, this is the table of the envisaged/deduced changes by DigiTimes:


Well... I am pretty satisfied with my iPod now so I don't think I'll be changing to the new one... Unle$$... *bling bling* Some techies have actually Photoshopped/created their personal impression of the new iPods:


From Gizmodo


By MacFranky

Personally I think that the iPod's gonna lose its classic taste if it follows the current Apple trend, but considering that the shuffle has caught on to the nano's skin, it seems very possible that the iPod might lose its trademark white for good. Oh whatever, its got nothing to do with me anyway. And oh, it's also rumoured that the 6G iPod may be relabelled as iPod Touch as it is speculated to be touch controlled. *don't get tempted don't get tempted*


YP-P2


K3

On the other hand, Samsung is geared up to release it's cool P2. Boasting of a screen resolution of 480 x 272 (same as the PSP), it plays videos as well *NGAHAHA /points at Yao Wei and chuckles*

Introducing a new feature to my blog - (I call it the) Bean's Learning Pod (BLP in short). From today onwards, I'll be bringing everyone (and myself) an interesting fact (that I don't know) for the improvement of general knowledge! As the Chinese saying goes; 活到老,学到老, we should constantly feed ourselves with new knowledge.



BLP #001

A lamb is the young of the sheep.
A male sheep is called a ram, while the female is called an ewe.
Their meat is called mutton.

Male goats are known as bucks or billies, while females are known as does, nannies, or mishas.
Their young is called a kid.
Goat's meat is called chevon.

Labels:

Penning my heartfelt thoughts at 7:43 PM

0 comments scribbled

 Direct link to this post

Sunday, September 02, 2007

Aye Cap'n


Was having lunch when my Mom received a call from our family friend, Doris, who was asking my Mom to join the group on a fishing trip. Initially Mom declined, but I figured that since I didn't have any plans for the day, I might as well tag along, so with my rare enthusiasm she went with us as well. I wasn't really going for fishing, but I just wanted to go out to sea and relax.


Leaving SAFYC


View from the stern

It was drizzling when we set out. *My hands are tired from typing already, and <insert something else totally random>* It's been raining a lot for the past few days, and <insert something relevant>. So anyway fortunately the drizzle stopped after awhile and we experienced great weather. The winds were good, making it a perfect day for sailing.


Pulau Seletar


Bridge

Their initial plan was to fish off Pulau Ubin, but it was already mid-afternoon so they decided to head somewhere nearer. As I had somehow expected, the fish weren't biting and it was more of a chill-out-drink-beer kinda session. I got to steer Kelvin's boat on the return journey and it isn't as easy as navigating a car.


Just one

Taken by Mom. It's been a long time since any pictures of myself made it here. My hair isn't long, but at least I got some hair now. Somehow it looks a 'lil gay. Like the saying goes, you can take me outta the gay, but you can't take the gay outta me =X Brain must be half asleep now for me to be saying such nonsensical stuff. Well, here's some of the other pictures taken:


MWO Eric


Kelvin & Eric


Drifting


Singapore's(World's?) largest crane: Asian Hercules, weighing 3200 metric tonnes


Cap'n giving orders


Macro on Spidey


The only catch

Mm the CX300 is a really good earphone for its price - it managed to isolate the loud noised made by the boat's twin-engines. For $80 it's a good buy! Is that... random?

Labels:

Penning my heartfelt thoughts at 3:04 AM

0 comments scribbled

 Direct link to this post