Sunday, July 31, 2005
Saturday, July 30, 2005
Celebrating the nation's 40th preview...
Today is the day when I attended the National Day preview at the Padang.
Initailly, I was supposed to go back to work on some last minute job in CNB at 3pm. But after some negotiations and deal-making with Thomas, I managed to persuade him to replace me so that I could go for the preview.
I met my aunt at her house and from there, she drove the both of us to the Golden Shoe Carpark in town and parked the car there. We then took a walk in a slight drizzle down to the Padang. But the Cavenagh Bridge was only for Yellow and Blue sector ticket holders only. We Green sector ticket holders had to go to the other end of the Padang. The SRC end. And since roads like Connaught Drive were closed to all types of traffic, we had to take the long way around. Going round the Fullerton Hotel, we crossed the Esplanade bridge and walked to the Esplanade to use the toilet. From there we walked through an underpass and finally emerged at the wet and soggy Padang. Total time walking: 30 minutes. On a normal day, a walk to the Padang from Raffles Place would take less than 10 minutes.
And so we queued to get in and absorbed more rain during the wait. When we finally got to our seats, we found them wet. And to make things worse, the seats were those which have rounded bottoms and hence, catchment areas. Luckily the pack provided a poncho which I used to cover the seat and prevent me from absorbing more water. And the wait began. The pre-parade finally started at 5:20. I won't bore you with the details of the parade but here are a few comments.
One of the Regimental Colour-bearers fell flat and face down just before the arrival of the GOH, Mr Abdullah Tarmugi. Medics who were on-hand took over 5 minutes to discover that he had fallen as the other contingents were blocking their view. To simulate the arrivals of the MPs, MM, SM and PM, stand-ins were used. And they did the job very well, waving to the crowd as the real ones would. Normally, these VIPs would draw respect. Today, the stand-ins drew laughs from the spectators. The aerial display was much better than the prevoius years' as it featured more aircraft rather than just the 'normal' F-16s and A-4s. The mobile column was rather good, featuring over 200 vehicles from the SAF, SPF and SCDF. The rest of the parade was quite 'standard'.
When you want to tell your neighbours not to mess with you, you display your weapons and use them as a deterrent. This is what I believe the parade at the Padang is. The fly-past of Chinooks, Super Pumas, C-130s, Fokker 50s, E-2Cs, F-16s, KC-135Rs and F-5Es show the might of the RSAF. The rolling past of SM-1 tanks, Bionix IFVs, Bronco ATVs and Primus 155mm SPHs display the strength of the Army. Too bad the Navy could not sail their Frigates into the Singapore River. Now, that would be quite a sight. Deterrents, whether directed as a show of strenth to possibly hostile nations or to potential terrorists that may target our shores, have worked rather well at least till now. I wonder if a nation which recently purchased nearly 100 T-90 Main Battle Tanks would be afraid of our 300+ SM-1 Light Tanks.
A birthday celebration with a political agenda.
Initailly, I was supposed to go back to work on some last minute job in CNB at 3pm. But after some negotiations and deal-making with Thomas, I managed to persuade him to replace me so that I could go for the preview.
I met my aunt at her house and from there, she drove the both of us to the Golden Shoe Carpark in town and parked the car there. We then took a walk in a slight drizzle down to the Padang. But the Cavenagh Bridge was only for Yellow and Blue sector ticket holders only. We Green sector ticket holders had to go to the other end of the Padang. The SRC end. And since roads like Connaught Drive were closed to all types of traffic, we had to take the long way around. Going round the Fullerton Hotel, we crossed the Esplanade bridge and walked to the Esplanade to use the toilet. From there we walked through an underpass and finally emerged at the wet and soggy Padang. Total time walking: 30 minutes. On a normal day, a walk to the Padang from Raffles Place would take less than 10 minutes.
And so we queued to get in and absorbed more rain during the wait. When we finally got to our seats, we found them wet. And to make things worse, the seats were those which have rounded bottoms and hence, catchment areas. Luckily the pack provided a poncho which I used to cover the seat and prevent me from absorbing more water. And the wait began. The pre-parade finally started at 5:20. I won't bore you with the details of the parade but here are a few comments.
One of the Regimental Colour-bearers fell flat and face down just before the arrival of the GOH, Mr Abdullah Tarmugi. Medics who were on-hand took over 5 minutes to discover that he had fallen as the other contingents were blocking their view. To simulate the arrivals of the MPs, MM, SM and PM, stand-ins were used. And they did the job very well, waving to the crowd as the real ones would. Normally, these VIPs would draw respect. Today, the stand-ins drew laughs from the spectators. The aerial display was much better than the prevoius years' as it featured more aircraft rather than just the 'normal' F-16s and A-4s. The mobile column was rather good, featuring over 200 vehicles from the SAF, SPF and SCDF. The rest of the parade was quite 'standard'.
When you want to tell your neighbours not to mess with you, you display your weapons and use them as a deterrent. This is what I believe the parade at the Padang is. The fly-past of Chinooks, Super Pumas, C-130s, Fokker 50s, E-2Cs, F-16s, KC-135Rs and F-5Es show the might of the RSAF. The rolling past of SM-1 tanks, Bionix IFVs, Bronco ATVs and Primus 155mm SPHs display the strength of the Army. Too bad the Navy could not sail their Frigates into the Singapore River. Now, that would be quite a sight. Deterrents, whether directed as a show of strenth to possibly hostile nations or to potential terrorists that may target our shores, have worked rather well at least till now. I wonder if a nation which recently purchased nearly 100 T-90 Main Battle Tanks would be afraid of our 300+ SM-1 Light Tanks.
A birthday celebration with a political agenda.
Friday, July 29, 2005
The Bullies
This has been a really bad week. And it started last week. Last Thursday to be exact.
NMTB celebrated Racial Harmony Day with a gathering at HQ NMTB last Thursday. All NMTB staff were invited but as I had detail that day, I did not go. So Alan and Thomas went instead. There, they talked to my OC and discussed if we could meet him some day and bring the problems we had with our supervisor forward. He was rather willing and said that he knew stuff was going on in Changi but he was just waiting for someone to step out and say something so that he could take action. The die was cast.
The next week, we met him in Changi on Tuesday. The dialogue was strictly between us STOs and him, the OC. We asked questions about offs and leave. But whatever we asked and questioned, he always had an answer. And his answers were not to our benefit. His answers were rigged. This was confirmed when we asked questions backed with statistics and he could not answer them, sometimes giving ridiculous explainations. And so the meeting concluded with us receiving nothing of worth. The wost was yet to be.
After coming down from the conference room, a transport supervisor informed us that before the meeting, my supervisor and the OC had a private talk and the transport supervisor overheard them discussing tactics on how to answer the questions that we could potentially raise and how to twist policies to their favour and to our disadvantage. That was it.
The very next day, a new rule was passed that in the future, no off will be given to personnel who do not pass their IPPT. Yes, some units practice that but it is a complete contradiction to the definition that the OC gave of off which is actually rest time. Should the new rule be implemented, it would mean that even if we perform an overnight loading operation, there would be no rest the next day before we carry out other details and increasing the risk of accidents occuring.
And it is because of this that I have come to the conclusion that NSFs are targets and that regulars are those which prey on the NSF targets. Not all regulars are like that, but it is unfortunate that my unit is full of them. Back-stabbing bastards like the OC and dogs like my supervisor. Should we take further action? It may cause more rules to be implemented but will it be worth it? Will my CO take action? Will the OC bastard us again by sucking up to the CO?
There are now three options. First, to face reality and live on. Second, to bring this matter to a higher level and fight again. Or thirdly, to try to get down-graded and get posted out. I'm currently considering choice number 3 and I might just do it.
NMTB celebrated Racial Harmony Day with a gathering at HQ NMTB last Thursday. All NMTB staff were invited but as I had detail that day, I did not go. So Alan and Thomas went instead. There, they talked to my OC and discussed if we could meet him some day and bring the problems we had with our supervisor forward. He was rather willing and said that he knew stuff was going on in Changi but he was just waiting for someone to step out and say something so that he could take action. The die was cast.
The next week, we met him in Changi on Tuesday. The dialogue was strictly between us STOs and him, the OC. We asked questions about offs and leave. But whatever we asked and questioned, he always had an answer. And his answers were not to our benefit. His answers were rigged. This was confirmed when we asked questions backed with statistics and he could not answer them, sometimes giving ridiculous explainations. And so the meeting concluded with us receiving nothing of worth. The wost was yet to be.
After coming down from the conference room, a transport supervisor informed us that before the meeting, my supervisor and the OC had a private talk and the transport supervisor overheard them discussing tactics on how to answer the questions that we could potentially raise and how to twist policies to their favour and to our disadvantage. That was it.
The very next day, a new rule was passed that in the future, no off will be given to personnel who do not pass their IPPT. Yes, some units practice that but it is a complete contradiction to the definition that the OC gave of off which is actually rest time. Should the new rule be implemented, it would mean that even if we perform an overnight loading operation, there would be no rest the next day before we carry out other details and increasing the risk of accidents occuring.
And it is because of this that I have come to the conclusion that NSFs are targets and that regulars are those which prey on the NSF targets. Not all regulars are like that, but it is unfortunate that my unit is full of them. Back-stabbing bastards like the OC and dogs like my supervisor. Should we take further action? It may cause more rules to be implemented but will it be worth it? Will my CO take action? Will the OC bastard us again by sucking up to the CO?
There are now three options. First, to face reality and live on. Second, to bring this matter to a higher level and fight again. Or thirdly, to try to get down-graded and get posted out. I'm currently considering choice number 3 and I might just do it.
Saturday, July 23, 2005
i just got home from work... bazooka loading this morning... we had to get to camp at like 7 and since there were no buses at that time, i had to persuade my dad to let me take his percious merc to work on my own...
so after quite some debating, he reluctantly handed me the key... i fetched alan and soh on my way there and ended up 45 mins early... so we had breakfast in camp before the loading commenced... everything went smoothly... even boss seemed quite calm although we complained to oc about him the previous day... so as we would say, "chop chop" done... by 830 it was complete and we were dismissed...
since the car had some space, i managed to pack in patrick and lta soh cos they were going the same was as i... fetched all of them to sengkang and i went home... so now i'm contemplating and planning today's activities for myself... bleah...
so after quite some debating, he reluctantly handed me the key... i fetched alan and soh on my way there and ended up 45 mins early... so we had breakfast in camp before the loading commenced... everything went smoothly... even boss seemed quite calm although we complained to oc about him the previous day... so as we would say, "chop chop" done... by 830 it was complete and we were dismissed...
since the car had some space, i managed to pack in patrick and lta soh cos they were going the same was as i... fetched all of them to sengkang and i went home... so now i'm contemplating and planning today's activities for myself... bleah...
Monday, July 18, 2005
and here i am in camp, blogging while the rest of my mates are playing chinese chess and just waiting for a chance to get their hands on the computer...
well, after going to bed at 230 last night, i woke up at 515 to get to work... bad combination... today i was really cranky and got pissed at every little thing... bleah... i'm still pissed...
early detail tomorrow so that's why i gotta stay in... probably another us carrier coming in early... they really should get thier own force protection detail instead of having to rely on us...
ok... better hand over the com to the rest of them... night...
well, after going to bed at 230 last night, i woke up at 515 to get to work... bad combination... today i was really cranky and got pissed at every little thing... bleah... i'm still pissed...
early detail tomorrow so that's why i gotta stay in... probably another us carrier coming in early... they really should get thier own force protection detail instead of having to rely on us...
ok... better hand over the com to the rest of them... night...
Another Fellowship of Friends
Meal at a fancy Thai restaurant in Suntec City: $18/-
Drinks at Harry's in the Esplanade : $8/-
Hanging out with S41 : Priceless
There are somethings that money cannot buy. For everything else, there is S41.
Yes, today was another day where I had the chance to catch up with the people from my former JC class of 02S41.
It actually started out as a normal Sunday would be. I got up early to go for service in church at 9am. For the first time in quite a few weeks, I actually made it on time. After service, it was YAF time and Bible study. I really like this new series on finding satisfaction at work as it is rather applicable to what I am doing now. Problematic boss, low wage etc. BS was followed by lunch with Ben Smith, Jane, Daniel and Eric. The chicken rice was great and the topics we discussed over lunch were splendid. A controlled democracy. That is the way to a healthy country free from uprisings and riots.
I then went to the hobby shop to continue on my new F-16 that I have been building for one week. Halfway while building, I received a message from Razif.
"U going tonight?"
"Tonight?", I replied.
"Class outing at Suntec at 7..."
"Hmmm... U going?"
"Yah..."
"Chau?"
"I'm waiting for his reply..."
"Ok... Will probably go..."
So at 6:15, I promptly packed my equipment and headed off to Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station to catch a train down to City Hall. However, on the way to the station, I ran into Ida and Wai Wai. So I ended up walking with them to City Hall. Razif was late so after Ruiying came, the 3 girls left first while I waited for Razif. Thankfully he was only 10 minutes late. We chatted about work all the way through Citylink Mall to Suntec City where we met the rest of the class. In all, there were 13 of us who met at Suntec City. Razif, Ida, Wai Wai, Ruiying, Lawrence, Siu Po, Audrey, Albert, Dingyan, Jun Yi and myself were early. Boss Yip and Edmund joined us later over dinner at the Thai restaurant.
The manager personally served us and we got some really great discounts from him. Fish that was originally priced at $18 was reduced to $1.99. Now that is a bargain! And so we enjoyed the meal, atmosphere with friends and all. Some things just never change. Albert was cracking lame jokes which no one could catch but this time with a bizzare Canadian accent. Dingyan and Lawrence were the Dog - Owner couple again but this time armed with Pocket PC phones. Edmund was the classic bastard again and Boss Yip "came".
Dinner ended at 9:30 and we all went to the Esplanade for a chit-chat session. On the way there we, "ran into" Chris Chau and his girlfriend, Selene. Greetings were exchanged and pictures were taken. Then Chau had to leave as he was escorting the missus home. He's flying off tomorrow so he had to spend some one-on-one time. The class settled for driks at Harry's, a pub in the Esplanade Mall. It was rather warm in there maybe because of the number of people there. We had Coke with Rum and Cranberry with Vodka. Both the drinks were over-diluted and really were not worth the money. So more photographs were taken and more stories were shared over the session.
Plans for the next outing were discussed. Friday, 8pm at Albert's place we will meet. From there, we will take a cab/bus to town to another pub/club for more drinks and a great time. I'm really looking forward to that outing. I'm hoping that I can get the car by then. Anyway, I just managed to catch the last train home and just got back less than an hour ago. I probably won't be able to wake up for work on time tomorrow. I'm off to bed now. Till the next time, leave a mark....
Drinks at Harry's in the Esplanade : $8/-
Hanging out with S41 : Priceless
There are somethings that money cannot buy. For everything else, there is S41.
Yes, today was another day where I had the chance to catch up with the people from my former JC class of 02S41.
It actually started out as a normal Sunday would be. I got up early to go for service in church at 9am. For the first time in quite a few weeks, I actually made it on time. After service, it was YAF time and Bible study. I really like this new series on finding satisfaction at work as it is rather applicable to what I am doing now. Problematic boss, low wage etc. BS was followed by lunch with Ben Smith, Jane, Daniel and Eric. The chicken rice was great and the topics we discussed over lunch were splendid. A controlled democracy. That is the way to a healthy country free from uprisings and riots.
I then went to the hobby shop to continue on my new F-16 that I have been building for one week. Halfway while building, I received a message from Razif.
"U going tonight?"
"Tonight?", I replied.
"Class outing at Suntec at 7..."
"Hmmm... U going?"
"Yah..."
"Chau?"
"I'm waiting for his reply..."
"Ok... Will probably go..."
So at 6:15, I promptly packed my equipment and headed off to Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station to catch a train down to City Hall. However, on the way to the station, I ran into Ida and Wai Wai. So I ended up walking with them to City Hall. Razif was late so after Ruiying came, the 3 girls left first while I waited for Razif. Thankfully he was only 10 minutes late. We chatted about work all the way through Citylink Mall to Suntec City where we met the rest of the class. In all, there were 13 of us who met at Suntec City. Razif, Ida, Wai Wai, Ruiying, Lawrence, Siu Po, Audrey, Albert, Dingyan, Jun Yi and myself were early. Boss Yip and Edmund joined us later over dinner at the Thai restaurant.
The manager personally served us and we got some really great discounts from him. Fish that was originally priced at $18 was reduced to $1.99. Now that is a bargain! And so we enjoyed the meal, atmosphere with friends and all. Some things just never change. Albert was cracking lame jokes which no one could catch but this time with a bizzare Canadian accent. Dingyan and Lawrence were the Dog - Owner couple again but this time armed with Pocket PC phones. Edmund was the classic bastard again and Boss Yip "came".
Dinner ended at 9:30 and we all went to the Esplanade for a chit-chat session. On the way there we, "ran into" Chris Chau and his girlfriend, Selene. Greetings were exchanged and pictures were taken. Then Chau had to leave as he was escorting the missus home. He's flying off tomorrow so he had to spend some one-on-one time. The class settled for driks at Harry's, a pub in the Esplanade Mall. It was rather warm in there maybe because of the number of people there. We had Coke with Rum and Cranberry with Vodka. Both the drinks were over-diluted and really were not worth the money. So more photographs were taken and more stories were shared over the session.
Plans for the next outing were discussed. Friday, 8pm at Albert's place we will meet. From there, we will take a cab/bus to town to another pub/club for more drinks and a great time. I'm really looking forward to that outing. I'm hoping that I can get the car by then. Anyway, I just managed to catch the last train home and just got back less than an hour ago. I probably won't be able to wake up for work on time tomorrow. I'm off to bed now. Till the next time, leave a mark....
Thursday, July 14, 2005
So what excites you?
being an STO really sucks... the job is sometimes exciting and stuff but the real problem lies when i interact with people on the outside...
every now and then, i get people asking me, " So what do you do in the Army?" first thing's first... i'm not in the Army... i'm navy... there's a difference... as for what i do, i am a sea terminal operator... "What's that?"... well, we STOs enhance the navy's capabilities by helping out with stuff like ammutioning of vessels, loading of stores, lifting people to hard-to-reach places such that they can repair stuff etc... we operate things like cranes to do this... "Wah! You can operate a crane? Do they give you licences?"... no... they are too afraid that if we screw up outside, they'll get the blame...
it's always like that... from friends to relatives... the same question.. the same answers over and over again... getting boring...
then there are other requests from friends like ,"Now that Razif has shared, Mark, so anything exciting happened during your week?"... take note that this question was asked after Razif shared about his week as a policeman, barging into people's houses and finding blood, axes and bastard files in poeple's noses... naturally, i would just shake my head and say there was nothing... the probing continues, "Come on lah. There must be something..." i'm telling you, there really isn't anything... honestly, would you really like to hear about the missile loading we did that day? and how one of the harpoons nearly hit the other? or would you like to hear about the day when we spent a whole 7 hours waiting for the navy to locate a sunken weight so that we could retrieve it? come on, don't try to kid me... all this stuff is boring to you... i mean, which normal person actually cares what TL-300E really stands for or what class of ship RSS Formidable is? i don't deal with pistols, handcuffs, death, blood, axes or bastard files... i deal with cranes, forklifts, harpoons, gabriels, 57mm HDAA rounds, hardhats, tsunami relief operations and strange sunken objects that the navy wants to retrieve...
So, what really excites you? What makes your adrenalin pump? Cranes? The Navy? I don't think so... So please ask the right people to tell their adventures and not me, a lowly pawn in the service of Singapore's largest organisation...
every now and then, i get people asking me, " So what do you do in the Army?" first thing's first... i'm not in the Army... i'm navy... there's a difference... as for what i do, i am a sea terminal operator... "What's that?"... well, we STOs enhance the navy's capabilities by helping out with stuff like ammutioning of vessels, loading of stores, lifting people to hard-to-reach places such that they can repair stuff etc... we operate things like cranes to do this... "Wah! You can operate a crane? Do they give you licences?"... no... they are too afraid that if we screw up outside, they'll get the blame...
it's always like that... from friends to relatives... the same question.. the same answers over and over again... getting boring...
then there are other requests from friends like ,"Now that Razif has shared, Mark, so anything exciting happened during your week?"... take note that this question was asked after Razif shared about his week as a policeman, barging into people's houses and finding blood, axes and bastard files in poeple's noses... naturally, i would just shake my head and say there was nothing... the probing continues, "Come on lah. There must be something..." i'm telling you, there really isn't anything... honestly, would you really like to hear about the missile loading we did that day? and how one of the harpoons nearly hit the other? or would you like to hear about the day when we spent a whole 7 hours waiting for the navy to locate a sunken weight so that we could retrieve it? come on, don't try to kid me... all this stuff is boring to you... i mean, which normal person actually cares what TL-300E really stands for or what class of ship RSS Formidable is? i don't deal with pistols, handcuffs, death, blood, axes or bastard files... i deal with cranes, forklifts, harpoons, gabriels, 57mm HDAA rounds, hardhats, tsunami relief operations and strange sunken objects that the navy wants to retrieve...
So, what really excites you? What makes your adrenalin pump? Cranes? The Navy? I don't think so... So please ask the right people to tell their adventures and not me, a lowly pawn in the service of Singapore's largest organisation...
Saturday, July 09, 2005
just to let u all know, i'm still alive... been doing other stuff lately so i havent spent much posting... anyway...
welcome back to those who are on uni break and are back here is sg... hopefully i can catch up with the whole bunch of you soon...
everything has been pretty stagnant recently... there is just no life whatsoever... this is bad... sheesh...
thankfully, the new STOs are here... heh... time to switch to ord mode... let's see... as of today, it's 276 more days till ord... time flies yea?
ok... gotta play for yaf/plh worship tml... night!
welcome back to those who are on uni break and are back here is sg... hopefully i can catch up with the whole bunch of you soon...
everything has been pretty stagnant recently... there is just no life whatsoever... this is bad... sheesh...
thankfully, the new STOs are here... heh... time to switch to ord mode... let's see... as of today, it's 276 more days till ord... time flies yea?
ok... gotta play for yaf/plh worship tml... night!
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