324 : Rough

Its kurisumasu once again ! Here's a recap of what i did 1 year back too.

Seems like POP was just a wink of an eye like yesterday. If you bothered to read last year's post of around this period of time, i was going to this particular somewhere to do this particular thing. At first, i thought oh shit, my life in the ahmi is gonna be so screwed, but hey, it didn't turn out as bad as i thought. So to those friends who just got your first real shave/haircut while wearing your green fatigues, don't think too much, "just do it".


Time sure passes fast when we got lots to do, keeping ourselves preoccupied with the usual work/life balance. This christmas weekend was a blast with 3 parties and loads to do to chill out during the off hours. I had the sudden idea to clean and pack up my room after so long. The architectural cutting boards and foam had been collecting dust for several months now, and i though of doing something cool with it. I also found some extra copper sheets lying around from one of the older projects i had back in 2007. A few ideas ran through my head.



I looked at the "raw" materials i laid out on the floor and quickly made this sketch.

The initial idea here was to make a hang-able christmas tree that dangles up and down, you know... like a baby mobile or something like that. But i figured that would be too common and further expanded on the idea.... and then... i drew a circle on top of the tree to let it grow a head, just for fun. And it struck me, the shape looked like a head, with heads, and wearing a dress. Ah.

I'll skip the design process of the clothes and hair blah blah blah. I originally intended to make male angels, but i needed the long hair for more glueing area to the body. Thus, i only made female angels.

And due to time constraints and a bad stomach, i could only make 3 of them out of the 6 intended. Oh shit, 4 more hours till daybreak, how how, 3 more undone. Something caught my eye, i was making another gift for another close friend when he comes back from overseas, a notebook with "fur" all over. That i will leave it for another post. I saw this.

An extra piece of architectural grass i cut out last week with my pen knife. I made something similar 2 years back too, and i remembered it was fast. CARDS. COOL LOOKING FURRY CARDS. My SgtMaj recently threw away his old 2008 calender with some pretty nice printing on its rear, i salvaged it when he wasn't looking and cut them all out, all 12 months. Here's a preview :

And of course, the nice reversed-side printing.

Mounting glue, some extra cardboard from my new PC's packaging boxes, old calender + grass + corny wordings = Very cool cards.

Here's what i did for the past 8 hours.

Another view :

I caught a few hours of sleep before meeting out with the usual gang for food and movie. I never had so much fun (and time) making things. Oh boy, i can't wait for school to start. Christmas came and go, so will ahmi.

Next project, 3D modelling using Styrofoam and hot wire.

323 : Avatar

What a way to conclude the end of another 'off' period here in Sg. I've got so many friends/chiongsua buddies/ex-classmates going on holidays overseas, its actually pretty boring spending time at home. Of course, i could now officially declare Dec 2009 as the month of Modern Warfare 2. It was absolutely a total 'switch off' month where i just bo-chup about all the firefighting back at work, and just relax... Think of nothing. Nothing at all. Ahhhh....

Today's the last sunday i'll have for the next 2 months to spend it at home (projected), there's going to be more conflicts, fighting, pushing of responsibilities while throwing MCs at your face. Argh.

Good news, just watched avatar, and it totally blew my brains out. I'm super impressed with the motion acting and the whole rendition of the environment which is pandora, it felt surreal yet absorbs you into it at the same time. Story is thankfully not draggy for a 2hr40mins show (i had concerns after watching the 風雲which was 2hrs long). In fact, you don't even realise 2hrs was up. I didn't even want to leave my seat after the credits rolled finished. For awhile throughout the movie, some parts of the design of the beasts somehow hinted at all the FFs i had played, it was reminisce of some of the mighty creatures i fell during the duration of the game. Awesome-ness.

Haix, time to fight fire again.

322 : Pew Pew

What better way to spend another course break again than to prone, crouch, sprint away into the dense vegetation with an assault rifle constantly banging against your back. When in doubt, empty the magazine, that's what i had learnt over the past 2 weeks of training. Night training ain't as bad as i though it as it was used to be, just the weather getting hotter just a 'lil bit and gotta turn up the air-con.

Sure, my mouse and keyboard would get greasy with sweat and oil now and then, but that's why i bought a handy dandy baby wipes to handle all these interferences. I even got my mic up and running to exercise my extensive commanding knowledge online, though during actual situations, my voice was muted in the midst of all the triggering happy.

After 2 gruesome week of day time working/night time gaming, i've finally reached the highest attainable level in the game with all the shit unlocked. Ah yes, spoken like a true lifeless gaming addict. If you're a guy you prolly know what i'm talking about :

Meet Mew-Chan, my beloved wrist cushion rest buddy.

Of course if anyone is interested in adding me on steam, provided you know me, just use my default live messenger email address.

On a different note all together, it is confirmed i will not be leaving this holiday season for another country. Why ? School starts August 2nd next year. And at best i can only leave the force ONE WEEK BEFORE. Manpower directives blah blah blah, cutting the crap short, i will not have enough off accumulated next year for me to participate on all the fun filled events next year during orientation and stuff. So i am push forward-ing my leave next year to "enjoy". I can't believe i am actually applying my disruption, it was just like yesterday i was still eating green packet rations in the middle of the forest.

Now, i'm unfit, flubby, unmotivated and a total armchair whore. Its been ages since i've felt like this, and it feels good.

Back in home ground, my quartermaster is finally back from his lecture-filled-sleep-buffet course and he put on weight twice as much as i did, and i would like to give him a heartfelt congratulations on being a greater bum than i am. Now that he's back, there's finally someone i can finally have a proper conversation in english without relying on too much hokkien vulgarities.

Status : Currently waiting for my sickness to wear off.

321 : Pentium2

1. The ahmi had just rolled out something new, in which some of us had dubbed it as the fantastic Pentium2. I'm quite sure about other organisations out there investing tens of thousands of dollars in IT infrastructure, and safe to say, the ahmi had prolly spent a little of our tax payer's kaching as well. Now the question lies whether the money was well spent on something useful here... I see us clarks as a huge and safe contingency plan to cushion and mitigate all the problems the ahmi has to over. That includes clicking a couple of million times on the approve button instead of implementing a check box function inside their own HR system, of course that's just an analogy of hows it like inside.

2. Been taking loads of taxi lately, and all the taxi uncles are just... mad. They seem to like to talk to ahmi boys like me about their days back in their units. The other day a neatly dressed uncle asked me to gather some ka-kia and pool up money to set up a HOTEL in the jurong area, preferably in twas, where there's a market for erm well... you know...chickens. Throughout the entire journey, he verbally mapped out his business plan, like how much to charge per hour and the size of the room, future expansion into other heartlands etc. . Madness, but fun.

Sometimes, there will be bad experiences. One taxi driver asked me to get out of the taxi halfway down the road after he realised i am heading back to a ulu place called twas in which i assume ITS TOO FREAKING FAR for him to get other customers later on. He came out with some crap that he's got a date in town and he needs to return his cab on time, what a load of bullshit. Such errant drivers should be stripped of their licences, jailed, caned, and then castrated.

3. I just got a surprise gift from a group of old friends for my long belated birthday, and it was more shocking than erm well, pleasant. I'm now holding in my hands a pair of bright yellow (you know those NEON yellowish yellow that super stands out) socks. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the colour i must say, its just the printing on it is just so wrong. I'm not even going to imagine which inane person is going to don on those freak cotton. But thanks guys, the package was freakily fun. On a side note, you guys can come over my place for the night after kuah's BBQ this friday if you want (or if its too late to go back home), got the clearance le.

4. I know its probably too late too... but i'm (trying) going for a trip to some place with snow, either japan or korea to skii this coming 1st week december. I've got 1 month to plan as of today. Interested parties drop me a mail or sms.

5. Checked the papers today, and i can safely assume the press and media are being issued a gag order on touchy issues like suicide. There was some big fuss around my area for the umpteenth time, well you know, area being barred off with police tape, huge police tent on the floor, blood. Thats the problem when we have too many high rise, and public escape stairs functionally being wide open for natural ventilation. My good buddy's mom who lives on the 25th floor had tactically (though illegally) planted some potted plants around the landing to make it less convenient for climbing over the parapet. I have to insist these people who decide to end their life prematurely either have no balls to face their own problems. I do not condone ending your own life by any means, that includes jumping off from the 24th floor.

6. ITS NOVEMBER !!!! Another month ! 10 more days to pay day. Time sure passes by so fast when we're busy. Hmm... I can almost smell my CPF money liao.

320 : Celebrations

Nuuuuuuuu ! I'm officially 21 as of last week ! A big thanks to all friends and family who sms-ed me the wishes. If you did call and it did not get through, that's coz i switched off my phone, did not want the people back at work to ka chiao me (they called and sms-ed me anyways...). Its a busy period for many, that's why no party or what not for anyone, just had a simple dinner + lunch with my 2 families.

The highlight of this week should be my short 3 day trip to macau, with my closer family members. Was my 1st time taking budget airways. Everything was budget, right from the airport budget terminal to the food in the air ( i bought $5 cup noodles), and to the in-flight services. As an archi student, i was so shock to see our local airport terminal's ceiling exposed. ZOMG, they didn't even bother to do up the false ceiling to cover the nasty steel structures and vermiculites, its a freaking warehouse for god's sake. The only thing that looked more presentable was the duty free shop located at arrival, chocked full of liquor thirsty budget travellers (including me). Ok enough of that, i'm just grateful they kept prices low in par with the products/services.

I initially thought, yes i can finally get my feet wet on the craps table, or button mash away on the slots with my ascension into another age category. The all the excitement, the exhilaration building up in me lost its tempo when i was initially rejected into the casino by the security officer at the gates. He wanted to check my ID, so i showed him my ELEVEN BEE (ahmi ic). The fella, read the thing a few times, flipped to the reverse, read it again, and insisted that i present a valid identification. GOSH. The exact same thing happened back in my genting trip earlier this year, and during the customs at the airport in macau. They have never seen an ELEVEN BEE before, the immigrations officer, the 2 casino security who tried to stop my legitimate entry to the casino, none of them knew that i only had that silly green card as an ID. Of course i could show them my passport, but its locked away in my hotel safe.

Suddenly i notice something important :

.... i wore that exact same shirt on all seperate events.

Obviously wearing sneakers, a mickey shirt and a backpack does not help at all during casino entry. Everyone please note this and make no same mistake ever again. The next day, i donned on long black pants, a sleazy pink shirt, with an unshaven chin messed up hair, which greatly improved my image as a proper gambler.

The irony is, i spent nada on the tables, as i could not stand the smell of cigs and tabacco in the air-con room for even 5 minutes. The only way i will sit there and throw all my money away is with a oxygen mask and 2hrs worth of gas tank beside me.

The rest of the trip was pretty mundane, taxi-ing all over the city, looking at sights for less than 1hr and its off we go... The bestest best part was probably the cirque de soleil show in the venetian hotel, in which i got to sit right in the middle of the theatre. We even got a $40 discount off the tickets too ! Worth every cent of the price of the tics. The music, acrobatics, theatrics were all up up class.

As i look back of the week i spent eating, sleeping and travelling, i really wonder if another 20 years down the road, will we still be able to spend our time doing leisure activities ?

As i recall past year, around this date, i was in some island jungle digging graves and getting my feet and undies wet as the rainy season kicked in. And i'm here now, blogging in an aircon room with a glass of duty free plum liquor. Oh and did i mention ? I caught some bad flu back in not so humid macau and currently suffering the consequences of expensive medical bills (but that means another 2 day extended break from work !).

20 more days to pay day. 10 more months to school start. Many more years more to retirement. I can't wait to withdraw all my CPF.

319 : Open yon eyes !

The current situation is as it is, battling mindless green man with my handy pocket ball point pen with rapid click action. Pretty grim, a good analogy would be playing left4dead 1P with only a pencil, nope, not even a pocket knife. How long can i last ?

318 : Disasterific

I for one, got only a pair of hands. I'm not too sure if there's mutant out there who's lucky to have more hands than i have. The first week of 8 for this batch happened to be extremely understaffed and chaotic, up till the point when my boss, a man in his prime had to do a run down obstacles and fly through man-made ramps. That's something which will happen when half of the company takes leave/go for course/falls sick, and left the pai ka pai chiu to fend for themselves. They got me, a clark to march kids around and lead morning runs. I never really expected people to use me as a true last resort, and that feeling sucks when you got like 40 over things on your hand(s).

I suddenly recalled a chinese proverb, 祸不单行, and its damn true. My favourite $15 dollar guitar just had to be stolen during the chaos, disappearing without a single trace. WHY WOULD SOMEONE TAKE A GUITAR WITH TWO FREAKING NAILS STUCK ON THE GUITAR BOARD ?

In case no one knew, my storemando had to go fiddle with my guitar while i was on leave, and dropped it, and the whole guitar board gave way, with the string's tension giving the piece of flimsy wood an unsightly curve. So i took a hammer and 2 nails, and nailed back the wood on both sides, and tada, can play the thing again le. The birdbrained storemando even had the shame to tell me "Wah, you fixed it ah." when he didn't even have the balls to apologise to me.

I think the thief probably eyed my DUNLOP capo attached to the neck and took the whole damn thing because he's also probably too stupid to know how to remove the expensive capo from the guitar. May karma hit him where it hurts the most.

Friday night, the storemandos and i got arrowed to attend some party in camp not because its a terrific party, but one of poor taste which suffers from a premature lack of attendance. My boss probably knew no one wanted to attend the thing and sent us there to fill up the space in the event photographer's shots. There were the usual low budgeted dancers the ahmi could actually afford to entertain the unappreciative "crowd", and some boring games to kill time for the sake of killing time, MY TIME. On the bright side, i enjoyed the cheapo tapioca chips the party had during the 3hr torture session. I had better fun watching automatic doors open and close infinitely.

Today went to play a mtg pre-release tournaments after a 4 year break from the game, and boy, the crowd shrunk to such a pathetic size with around 120 players only... I only manage to play the afternoon flight as the morning flight was FULL. Apparently due some very interesting rumour, more players turned up than expected. WHO DOESN'T WANT TO OPEN UP A BLACKIE LOTUS IN THEIR PACK ? Well thats the more exciting news. The packs i opened and registered was utterly unplayable, in another sense i was glad while registering as the judge would probably rotate the cards around the table, so i would prolly get another set of cards. BUT NOOOO, "Players will KEEP THEIR REGISTERED CARDS." GG, had to play 3 colour liao. Ended up with 3 lose 1 win, there goes the ranking.

Grand Prix was zoom zoom and vroom vroom when i got out of the tournament area and entered into 2 meter high barricades littered all over the bay area. Uniformed guards a plenty, and everyone's just walking around with their HDD camcorders or their DSLRs handing down their neck. I manage to find a spot near a grassy ledge slightly elevated up and caught a few glimpse of the cars zipping by, no pictures though, carrying my ahmi safe mobile phone with me then.

I realised i'm not too good with impromptu reactions to solve problems or handle an unforeseen circumstances, and i often take for granted things will just happen as i plan with murphy's law an unknown concept. I plan a lot, setting up parameters with some margin of errors, check through them meticulously up till the point i feel confident about a project/issue, then i will simple let go, expect it to automate and work wonders. More often than not, i fail to judge a particular factor and acknowledge its erratic prowess, the human.

To quote my boss who probably quoted someone else (he's a big fan of quotes and an english guru), "Treat man as not a creature of logic, but as a creature of emotions." I freaking can't agree more.

317 : 53rd

Ah, feels good to be blogging again after a short hiatus of 1 month... How's everybody ? Healthy ? Eating well ? Me ? Oh, i gotta say, it was a blast for these 5 weeks of nothingness, just relaxing, pushing aside my usual duties and just staying chilly.

First it was ahmi open haus, practically went for it everyday with different people every single time. I even did duty on the last day, and i saw how freaking fast they packed up the area and all the nice arsenal of displays simply vanished within a few hours in the not so silence of the night...

Then it was shopping and eating and shopping and eating and eating my brains out of all the delicious food i can eat, and the more i ate, the happier i felt about it. One of the sushi chains in sg had the $1 per plate promotion recently and best of all, i manage to get friends to join me for a sumptuous meal on PAYDAY. Let looooose baby, oh and the top buckle on my belt too...

I have this very "sexy" tan line on my back and shoulders now after 4 2-hour sessions at my kamp tennis court, 40% of the time actually playing and the rest picking up balls. Just started some serious lessons from some of my kamp mates who were ex-school teams and are VERY good. I can almost never return a proper serve overhead serve from them... Made a few more friends from other units too.

Other than tennis as a sport to kill off a minute percentage of my carbs, my fellow cq from HCJC who is an up up up CKKia, became my fellow run-mate/babe watcher. We run, and kua zhar bor at the same time whilst running... The route ? Well, none other than along the road in the most expensive district in Singapuur, where it features a central water canal. Hint hint. I was sceptical about the babe watching part before we ran, as seriously, its a very boring road... until i remembered the number of schools that are located along the road. Pwned. Well, that HC kia friend of mine sure knows what he was doing. We ran from the mac at one end of the road to the other end... and back. Madness i tell ya.

A bit about my work now... Manpower is running very low, and big boss wants us all to adapt to the faculty concept, where critical personnels are being stationed in a centralised location, to be shared within the whole school. This on the surface sorta solves the manpower issue, but deep down one would not feel emotionally motivated and attached to their work, because in actual truth, you're being treated like soccar buur, kicked here and there, a tool to fulfil the needs of a larger organisation. The cycle continues with more people not wanting to do their job properly, and thus taking the easy way (and smarter way) out, resign and leave the place to corrode. In a nutshell, my workplace as a whole is like a huge energy sink, a cranky generator, eating up more fuel than actually producing feasible results which in turns churning out more negative energy than needed. Bottom line ? Not my fight, not my problem to solve, its beyond my pay scale.

The perks of going home almost every single day is well, the usage of teh komputah. I got a PS3 controller just to hack it mod it as a wireless bluetooth controller for my kick assed system. Completed prototype (mediocre), mirror's edge (nice graphics but ridiculous gameplay), devil may cry 4 on hard (button mashing goodfun) and currently trying my hands on resident evil 5 in which the first few hours was pretty painful (controls were horrid). Currently Scribblenauts is the in-thing as of this season around the world, and at the same time, inviting my bunkmates, an indian national, a lion dance ah beng and my CCKia HCJC buddy to come out with interesting words to solve puzzles are just humorous. I notice how they like the violent approach of solving a problems, using words like knife, gun, minigun, while i rather stick to interesting and not so violent means like chainsaw (to cut wood) or death (kill mobs w/o weapons) or even balloons to solve the toughest of puzzles.

Being able to play DS games at work, or hit the gym or getting my ass kicked in tennis means there's no gahment around at work... Boh Cheng Hu. Some are not even coming for work, some playing extreme truant, some just basically heck-caring and self declaration of 1 month OhAhDee. This is what happens when no one cleans up their mess and live a half-f attitude in life...

An artist's impression of what it would be like it no one gives a shit.

It could be a lot worse if there were bloodstains and phlegm on the floor and walls...if fights and epidemics do break out in the room. I've leave that topic for another day.

I recently watched a video on economics, in brief the topic was on how having lower expectations in life can lead to greater happiness. I discussed it with a few buds and all of us could not agree more to it. If we could reduce the "want" in every of us, life could be so much less of a pain, and be satisfied with each and every little thing that's being given to us. Its a whole load of philosophical nut crack, but i think i can sum it up simply by saying... LOOK WHAT WAS THERE and NOT WHAT IT MUST BE THERE. Perhaps architect legend Mies van der rohe all along wanted something to mean something else... ?

316 : My Last Supper

Blogger been's cocking up lately, my 1k word draft didnt manage to save while i was typing it during duty last week and the pc just died. Either that or the system in the ahmi knows i'm saying not-so-nice things about the whole deal. Thus, my hiatus for the past weeks....

Some small things on my mind lately. Not particularly interesting though...

1. I've hit 70kg for once, not too sure if its fats or muscles... i think its the former...
2.Been kenna-ing some serious flu these weeks, missed like 5 days of work in total (yay), luckily no work piled up. Been advised to take more vitamins because some people can't afford me not working
3.Will be reverting to frontline guy in 3 weeks, not too sure they will keep me as clark or not. Hmm
4.Some people going to oh-ar-deeeeeeeee in 2 weeks time in my bunk, no more intelligent conversations anymore (see previous posts...)
5.Personal financial slump... i've been spending on clothes and accessories (friends b'day and stuff, and i've smacked a good amount of kaching aside for my cpu cooling system, another gizmo cum IT related fair coming up in weeks. Need more outsourcing jobs=(
6.My sketching skillz is nowhere near "presentable" yet. I've honestly over the weekend drew like crazy, sitting in subway/tcc/kopitiam just drawing away..... and yet nothing. HOW >!
7.I'm been recently (past days) seeing things in my room, hearing things in the day that you won't normally hear(being very vague here...), not sure why, but i think its the flu, or... the 7th month... i better go bai bai soon.
8.I've been advising a friend on gambling, especially soccer bets, man... these guys are really crazy betting over 1k every month... and using up their almost non-existence ahmi allowance every month...

Thats all for now, my scanner is down, so no sketches to erm... archive...

315 : The Red Knot

The other day one of my trainees approached me to apply for marriage leave. I smiled at him, and said "So, forgot to check clear eh ?". For someone who's at the same age as i am, and tieing the knot at such an early age, you gotta assume that something had gone wrong.

"Nope, we just decided it was time." He replied me firmly. I was honestly puzzled, "Huh, you mean no kids ?"

"Yeah."

"Been dating for 8 years."

"That's since you were fricking 13 years old....."

"Yeah."

"So... when you getting married ?"

"Next week."

Then i realised, he had signed his life away in the ahmi, drawing a fatter salary than us all. We chat on and he told me how his parents were supportive of his decision and even funding most of his wedding banquet. With just that 10minutes talk cock, one could tell he's easily likeable and friendly. No wonder he was rated so high by peers and commanders alike.

I forgot who told me this.... If you want to live a comfortable life, work. If you want to be successful, network.

Well, as for his marriage leave, i didn't manage to apply for him because i have never done it before, and the king of clerks is currently having chicken pox. I told him it could get ugly if KOC doesn't come back... but i'll try my best to help him.

There seems to be a influx of people (chinese esp) getting married, having kids at an early age nowadays. In the past, having kids under 25 is a norm, and now its all coming back to haunt us. Are the baby bonuses working ? The news and statements report a no, but that's not what i observed... I have some 80 kids(trainnnees) under my wing, and 7 are either married, or with kid(s). HAHA KIDS WITH KIDS THEMSELVES.

On a totally unrelated note, GIJOE was a blast to watch, 2 hours of mindless action, graphical eye candy and your typical american heroes movie. I'll just list my favourite things that i saw in the movie.

Gigantic submaries, evil mad scientist, nanomachines, really fast planes, snow mobile, armored SUV, shapeshifters, red heads, blond-turn-brunette, explosions, morrocans, big scary black spec ops guys, eiffle tower, powered suits, underwater dogfights, shurikens, epic sword fights, self destructing enemy base, ballistic missle launches, flashbacks, masked man, evil dictators, undying soldiers, really cool sunglasses, medieval knights and torture, airstrikes, polar bears, magical ablities that dodges bullets.

My buddy kuah didn't enjoy the movie as much as he was holding his pee for 1 hour, he literally shun-poed out of the cinema. Pity.

"Where got Ghost" was Singaporean-esque awesome as well, especially the ahmi episode, liked the N for 南 and S for Si (西) joke, a good reminder of the Car fuel joke back then, F for finish, E for Enough.

Its already half past august ! Can really start counting down le.

314 : Let's talk about something else, shall we ?

-Managed to sneak back home for a quick hair cut at my favourite saloon today just before it closes.
-Went to BJ for dinner, curry rice, yummy.
-Shopped for new clothes, new shoes.
-Bought extra rations/3-in-1 kopi to store in my cupboard.
-Updated my ipod with 4hrs worth of erm... dramas.
-Printed tabs of new songs (chicago blues) to play in kamp.
-Read some online manga while installing my adobe creative suite 4 (again....)
-Wrote a rhyme/lyrics
-Did 3 chip-ins on my favourite golf game while riding the train home. More pang, more luck.

Witnessed 4 primary school girls in their uniform battling out near my house. They were using pokka water bottles as mortars, presumely they ran out of balls to play dodge ball, and thus playing dodge "pet bottle". A few aunties around were actually shocked and disturbed when they witnessed the scene, could tell they wanted to stop them as it was kinda dangerous as they MIGHT hurt someone if they threw the bottles read hard. Well luckily as kids/girls, they were bobo shooters. The pokka bottle did cracked though when it hit the floor after like 4-5 throws, and some of the contents inside spilled onto my favourite red shoes. I approached them, cracked my fingers, twist my neck a bit, and they ran away. Goodness.

On another side note, i finally found someone in kamp to teach me carpenting. He's been working in a furniture house for like 2 years and been helping out in weekends, i can't wait to learn more.

On yet another interesting note, there's a rumor going around next year 2010 there's gonna be some big disaster that's gonna happen around the world... And today's news said sydney opera house gonna sink if global warming continues, so i thought lets build a ark like how noah did in the story. The point is, someone told me its not a story... its freaking real.

And all that done within the limits of 4 hours. Ok back to lovely labablablablah.

313 : POOF

Yeah i know, don't even remind me...

Been conciously telling myself to stay away from a computer, because at work, i'm just mindlessly typing and printing and fixing problems for everyone, sitting infront of a PC seems a bit phobic for me already... So been doing some other stuff using recycled paper from my office...

Random Lady 1, Chinagraph on A4

HL's girlfriend's passport sized photo, Pencil on Crappy random A4 printing paper

Random Lady 2, 0.3 Felt tip marker on yet another A4 scrap paper lying on my table

Past 2 weeks been tweaking my system yet again, my XP is running kinda weird and slow laterly, decided to give windows7 a go for the RC version... Startup seems a bit faster in which you get to "control" all your applications right after login. Prettier too i guess... hmm maybe that's because i always turned off all the animation and graphics on my previous PC... until now.

I like my thumbnails extra big, good on the eyes.

Top left: More cardboard boxes, Top Right: Ok... my first graphics card with 2 fans...
Bottom Left: A super heavy motherboard... at least twice as heavy from my previous one..
Bottom Right:Power Cables mania. Cable tie works wonder here.


Bottom: Complete working DIY PC. Notice the graphic card is longer than my mainboard.


Some might say "wtf, in ahmi still buy komputah, wait till ohardeee la!". Well, prices are a bit lower now, and i need the rendering power of an i7 cpu. Nothing like converting a 2hr DVD file in less than 15mins, and transfer it to my ipod and watch in my office.

Oh and don't talk about gaming and me playing zombie vs platnts, i've tested crysis on up up up settings and lag was a thing of the past. Only complain is the room is a freaking sauna while the GPU and CPU goes full throttle while playing games and running renders.

I'll be away for another 2 weeks due to much more glorious ahmi admin jobs and weekends burning for the future of our nation.

Blah.

312 : 1 year, 1 freaking year

AHMI RANTS BELOW. RAOR (read at own risk)

I like how time passes so quickly, you don't even have time to strike off the day box on my table calender. Yes, i have a table calender that comes free with those issues of men magazines with some pretty naughty pictures. One of my fellow buddies in the ahmi didn't want the calender even though he subscribes yearly for the magazines, because he "didn't want to destroy his pure and innocent image" in front of his superiors by using it at work.

And so he gave it to me, to destroy my clark life by super-gluing it onto my table. Strangely my superiors didn't question the obnoxious calender, and flipped through the months to see all the pictures from time to time. MEN.

2009 is past its halfway mark as we welcome the next half of the year with more shit coming our way. July... which is the month of orientations and fun stuff that goes on in universities in Singapore, and when 2010 July kicks in, i will be a freeeee man. Though i am officially done with my FT job in the ahmi in september, i am so not gonna wait for another freaking year for uni to start.

Which means, if comparatively with my JC friends of the same age, well, guys, say... GAYRY and pravarataratnamvin and rui-ge, i'm just 1 year behind by following the more "practical" route of the poly kias. If i had continued archi, i'm on par with the with my 1 year advance standing, which i am gladfully not.

The ladies of course, are still gonna totally own our asses for many years to come, until when ahmi is gonna be just "around 8 months" in 2025.

Hmmm... at this point of time, i'm sure many of us inside the protective walls of the ahmi camps feel the same shit as i do, and those out there with your preeehhhhshasss pink IC probably hummed on the same note as i.

Oh wait, my report just came in.... and its thankfully only 11 pages to process. During the feverish hell week last week the daily report hit an amazing 30 pages... and peace times its only 3-5 pages. Time to crunch more data and words and appease the great generals sipping tea on this sunday afternoon with the report from my side.

END OF REPORT.



Here's what's gonna be my standard schedule for my evenings during weekdays and weekends hopefully for my next year left.
1: Clear all outstanding work thrown to me from the higer mortals
2: GYM and producing a sketch of the week.
3: Nights off with my errr... bunkies (see prev post) for L4D
4: GYM and Ninjaaaa warrrioor/PSP/DS
5: GYM and Night Run ... or Go home !
6: Gaming/3D modelling at home/lunch+movie with ka-kias/late night shopping
7: Switch off/go back kamp.

As the saying goes, WORK LIVE PLAY ! I hope i don't get sued for this.

311 : 人多很

They say that in the ahmi.... one would meet many types of people... and i can't bloody agree more.

As a clark working in a training school who handles more than 500 different students every year, you get a nice variety of weirdos. 1 including myself of course.

But for me as a permanent feature in my camp, i get to sleep in the same room with all the other unlucky people who runs the school. And boy, they are more than colourful. If my tehkong life meeting ah bengs and keng-sters are 24 bits colour mode, currently my life here is an insane 32 bits.

A brief introduction to the 5 of them.

1. A 3 roof sarge with a record of both going to the infamous jail for ahmi and getting a silvah bahyonat. He's also a mix blood of peranakan, malay, chinese and some dutch. Speaks malay but looks extremely chinese. Vocalist in a heavy metal band which performs monthly in pubs and other night hang-outs. Works out in a gym 5 times a week just to look more "ROCK" during his performance. Very sweet tongue.

2. Another 3 roofer who's gonna fly back to the states in august to complete his degree. A singaporean who grew up in hong kong but completed his high school diploma in america. Fluent in cantonese and english. He's our quarter master and another gym enthusiast even though he's having some eczema problems since young. Has six pack and loves reading obscure literary titles which no one ever borrows in the library. Consumes 3 200 page books a week. His english is so zai that one would find it a bit hard to understand him.

3. A high caste indian who just turned 18 year old. Being made a logistic assistant because he's having some diabetic problems. Love to eat. Recently came to Singapore with his father and became PRs. Was previously posted to another place but he got pulled out as he lacked the kiasu-ness and kiasee-ness of a typical citizen (in which is pretty acceptable). Insults people by accident due to his mouth not being wired tothe brain. Sent to my company for training as my bosses are all indians. Currently learning english, social etiquettes and not pissing people off. Self proclaimed lance korporal....(he's a recruit). Turning vegetarian but still sometimes succumb to temptation of chicken curry puffs. His belly is bigger than his head. Steals my food during meals when i'm not looking.

4. A former boys school student who landed a position in ITE to study engineering due to his street smarts. Even though he studied engineering and graduated with a cert, he could barely spell the word engineering. Extremely good in DOTA, and only DOTA. Also a logistic personnel to deal with stores and equipment, in which he gives no damn shit about. Talks to me all day about his former glories of fighting in schools and winning fights in which he rarely got injured. Currently suffering from migraine, possibly from an old head injury he got from playing street soccer a few years back. Sleeps 12 hours a day. Only book out at night to play lan with us. Loves my company as i speak mandarine and english he can understand. Loves wang wang biscuits.

5. A new 18 year old malay guy who just came in (newer than me) from tehkong. Fetched him myself from HQ to our company and intro-ed him to everyone. Very quiet and loves doing mundane jobs. Worked previously as a cleaner in a famous publishing company in singapore as he only had a primary school cert. Currently dating a girl he met in the same primary school for 6 years, in which curiosly is the same school i was from as well ! Approached me one day to help him apply from finacial aid but he smokes 10 cigarettes a day to de-stress. Similarly, he's poor in english and only speaks fluent malay. Afraid of answering calls in office due to his disadvantage in the language. Self taught classical guitarist.


As you can read, i'm in a tight situation for communication with my staffs and sometimes it feels like really duck and chikens talking to each other. They sometimes get into fights because of mis-communication and i have to step in to err... mitigate the insults. Its funny to see 2 person of different backgrounds throwing hokkien vulgarities in each other.... Hmm...

Maybe we should make hokkien the administrative language in my company.

Just maybe.

310 : Quick-time

A quick summary of things which happened all too quickly.

First up some design pointers i picked up while speed reading at a hon-ya.
- Using materials as a design concept or engine to propel a project forward.
- A 1 piece object vs a modular object
- Homogeneous vs Combination
- Function as a by-product of form
- Sophistication is a very useful word.
- Think multi layering, think kueh lapis.
- Think ease of production.
- Transforming 2D into 3D produces very intriguing results.
- GLASS vs PLASTICS


I did an interesting sketch today in which i gave it away to a new friend i met today. It was a piece of paper used to record scores with pencil but i doodled on it anyway. The table had some texture on it, and the pattern resulted of my pencil shading turned out wonderful.

Boy time passes when you're having fun. Finally got to met pravvy and gayry those 2 BFFs and got to see another side of human nature. Transformers was not as half bad as i thought, i did get a hard on when i saw the CGs. Oh and yeah, fox.

I dug this up while err sorting out my pictures back from way then.

Believe me its one of those less embarrassing photos lying dormant inside my pc. Bloody hell he looks exactly the same as 5 years back. Sorry gayyry. I'll this picture here till i find a lawsuit in my mailbox. And yes i only check my mailbox on weekends.

For those who didn't believe me when i told you guys i had an A1 picture of a naked guy in my room.

7 more weeks of course to go till another lull. Will take this time to bulk up (again) and break a few more bones. For the time being, i'll try to get less paper cuts while serving my clark duties.

309 : Long time no see.

EDIT : (230609 2204HRS)
-I'VE PURCHASED THE TICKETS AT 9.50 BUCKS. EXACT CHANGE THANK YOU.

-WE WILL SETTLE THIS AMOUNT ON THE DAY ITSELF WHEN WE MEET EYE TO EYE.

-I'VE BOUGHT FOR YK (ME), KUAH, SIMMY, BR, SHORTY, GAYRY, PRAVIN (7 OF US)

-WE SHALL HAVE DINNER AT A RESTAURANT IN WHICH I WILL DICTATE ON THE DAY ITSELF.

-TENTATIVELY WE WILL MEET OUTSIDE STARBUCKS AT BUGIS JUNCTION AT 1800HRS.

-DO NOT BE LATE. LATE COMERS WILL PAY FOR THE MEALS.

-PLEASE DRESS PROPERLY THIS TIME ROUND. KTHX.

REGARDS
KPL K.



DEAREST GARY & PRAVIN !

A FEW POINTS :

-I'M TELLING EVERYONE IN THE WORLD WE'RE WATCHING TRANSFORMERS THIS COMING SATURDAY NIGHT (270609).

-YOU GUYS BETTER COME.

-I WILL GRAB SOME OTHER GUYS FROM OUR CLASS AS WELL, PEOPLE FROM OUR GROUP.

-WILL BE BOOKING THE TICS ONLINE IN CAMP. PROBABLY ON WEDNESDAY.

-MAKE YOURSELVES FREE THAT NIGHT.

-POP ME AN SMS FOR CONFIRMATION OF YOUR ATTENDANCE. CONTACT ME ONLY THRU MY CELL.

-OBEY. YOU HAVE NO CHOICE. (BECOZ WE HAVE NO CHOICE!)



KAI

308 : Carrot and the 100m long stick

Recently i bought Dan brown's The Da Vinci Code for a friend as a birthday gift, because throughout the whole of this person's life he had never finished reading a single damn story book. At the fiction section corner i got another book for myself for the long hours in camp this week, Digital Fortress also by the same author.

Its been 4 days of reading and i'm already halfway though the book. Pretty impressive considering i read the book during cough*toilet*cough breaks, lunch break and the 15 min train ride home, or any other chance i find myself not doing anything and waiting... which doesn't happen all too often thanks to my job =(.

Ok. 'nuff said.

I was talking to myself in the shower and i realised all this bad working conditions is due to the culture of the place and people. Ahmi is too concerned about image and the culture is just as the title says, Carrot Danglers. Promise you this that, but the action falls short of all the big talks, won't state any examples as there are just too many. Argh.

There was some concerned there are eyes prying the net looking for idiots who reveal too much about how ahmi is/was. There was also some concerned that as blogs are often accessible to anyone, my future employee or interviewer could run a search string on my name and err... read all about me. Responsibility responsibity. I know well even if one day i delete everything here, they could be retrieved somehow (i won't tell you how) and bam the past will come to haunt you.

So fellow readers and ahmi personnels bloggers, be careful what you write and be responsible about it, your ass might just catch fire one day without you knowing. Oh tweets are also being monitored too btw.

As a disclaimer to CC (cover car-chng), everything you guys read here are just to be taken with a pinch of salt, and never quote me and reference me for anything i write here. kthx.

At time of writing, i just saw the trailer for Modern Warfare 2 and this DS game called Scribblenauts, do check them out and be wowed. I've always been a serious player for COD4:MW and erm, its time to move on. I can't wait to play them coming... end of year.

Long way more to go for ahmi, 1 year 3 months. Loads of people left the service today, envy envy. My next 2 weekends will be burnt in camp thanks to poor planners and people who don't give 2 shiets about feelings.

307 : Oh no !

"We are pro-workers OEI OEI ! We are pro-business OEI OEI !"

306 : Lipsticks

So much to do so little time. Time, we all need time to do things, we also need energy and in a way we need sleep to regain that energy lost. And then there's food, food for the mind and the body.

Looking at the new Sims 2 game, well, with old concept, and looking back at my own life.... haix, what a mouthful.

My short short short 1 week block leave is soon reaching the end of its run. My 3 day genting trip was in a way.... fulfilling, as they say, time pass while you're having fun (and spending lotsa cash while at it), time flew like .56s whistling past your ass.

Its june now, midway of the year. I always seem to take notice of this every single year and blog about this, just check out the archives. Exactly 1 year back, i was in Sydney, enjoying the air, the cool nice 10-17 deg C temperatures with the azure blue sky over my head. Good stuff, during then at the back of my mind i was counting down to shaving my head and getting myself some good tekan. Now, with my this mini holiday come to pass.... what should i be counting down for ?

Some suggested my 21st birthday celebration... which is in like... another 4 long long months more. I'll probably be busy till mad as i'll be preparing to lauch to taiwan for training. Ok, how about year end breaks ? Hmmm... December holidays are just as non-existant as having a life. Goodness gracious. Fast forward a bit more, into 2010 august, and i'll be busy preparing for university orientation and mental prepness to study again, which means no holiday.... The next university school holiday, i'll need to serve back the extra 1 month i owe the nation. GG.

Its times like this you stop and wonder, what in the world are we doing with our lives man. Are we merely following the flow, having a few breaks in-between if you could afford and carry on a monotonous lifestyle ? There must be something else.

2 more nights to bookkkkinnnnnn. Dang i need more rest. Once the madness starts again, its gonna be another admin nightmare.

305 : A Sketch a Day

Black chinagraph on fine grain paper, 149 x 210mm

Kai's private paper bag of miscellaneous scrap sketches.

One night, it was freaking hot. I fell asleep on my comfy bed without turning on the ac or my fan.... but i dreamnt of this lady above. She was looking at me with eyes of untold sadness, as if telling me, hey dude life ain't too bad eh ? Lookee me, the worst for me was far from over, you just have to tong for another 1 year 3 months and it'll all (mostly ) be over.

A good movie these few week was probably monster vs aliens. The price for the 3D film, another 5 more bucks is quite worth it if you ask me. The animation is just awesome and the jokes, well, if you get it you get it. I liked the president's character and how he's being portrayed, makes you want to get into politics/power and push buttons, big red ones to make coffee.

I'm off for my much anticipated holiday this coming week as i'm taking (forced to) my 14 days of leave and heading off to another short holiday to lovely m'sia. I can't wait to see my relatives in casino land and relieve all those great times i had with all my y0unger cousins there.

304 : How bleak can it get ?

Maybe its just me, but i think it was too long of a time since i donned on contact lenses. My freaking astigmatism just went up again and now, everything's a blur. Since i need to work next week infront of my stinking 4 year old PC and type type type, i reckoned i should get some daily disposal ones.

And yesterday i tested my new buy, and hmm, comfy and clear vision... i like it. After some work and helping out at the company, had some dinner went back home wash up and realised, shit, i can't take off my contacts. I'm too used to wearing specs, and even my previous experience with my hard perm contact lenses was a breeze to take out.

Just imagine me, spending 1 hour gouging at my eye in front of the toilet mirror trying to get that damn piece of plastic out. It was a horrible experience, hurt like hell, and my eyes were blood shot red. Not a nice sight either. My fingernails were a tad too long, and its been scratching my eyes pretty bad. A voice in my head advised myself to cut them off immediately and to continue my assault on the stubborn plastics in my eye.

AND finally after another 10 minutes of fun, both sides were finally out. I flushed the disposables down the sink instantly. I got so tired of gouging myself, i fell asleep on my bed within minutes.

Today, Sunday, another weekend, another end of the weekend, another coming to start another monday of endless phonecalls paperwork to handle. I've been assigned clark duties finally for the month of june, and i'm so not looking forward to spend a precious weekend inside camp manning a phone and an empty bed. Maybe perhaps, i can ultilize the buffer time in between to think of ideas for a new piece of furniture competition coming up.

*Wow i posted this post via mail and it worked, just that the tags don't show up... hmm...

303 : Conversion ?

I'm grateful i won't be studying accountancy or business management. There's a gradual growing fear of spreadsheets and basically anything that's got to do with answering phones. Today's my precious 1 day off to go renew my passport at the Merleisure Ambassy. Here's a quick recap of what happened.

-Woke up at 6am (as per normal on weekdays -.-' )
-Took cab to at 645am to ambassy
-Took queue number at 730am
-Admitted to ambassy at 815am, received 3 phone calls from camp (asking where i am, what i doing and when i will be back )
-Chiong all the documents and photocopy and stuff
-Called my queue number at 9am. Finished submitting at 930am
-Went home to sleep at 10am only to wake up to answer another call at around 11am
-Out for lunch till 2pm
-Went back to ambassy by bus (40min ride, 2 more phone calls then) to collect finished passport at 230pm.
- Went to cut hair, make A1 size picture frame, buy groceries back home (another 1 more call....)

Its so not in the name of good fun when i pick up the call with the number XXXX999 (my camps' outgoing extension)

Suddenly, not having a mobile phone seems more convenient after all.

You might suggest that i either switch off or ignore calls, but i don't think there is a culture in my to do that. But one day, when my patience really gives way, i shall make an effort to put "NIL" under the HP NO. field whenever i fill up forms.

Speaking of forms, i paid an extra 10cents when i needed to collect the application form for renewing passport at the ambassy. The 4 pieces of forms to fill by right cost only 50c. I paid 60c in total. Here's what happened. Long queue, impatient people behing and front. I have like my old passport IC and other documents in my hand, with only 1 other hand left to dig my wallet out from my back pocket and retrieve some coins for the 50c, the first digging in my wallet came out with 40c(2x10 cents and 1x20cents), which is not enough so i dug out another 20 cents accidently from my wallet and put it on the counter along with the 40c, i was about to take back the extra 10c when the officer in-charged of handling, CORRECTION, selling the forms just swiped all the coins off the counter and arranged the coins nicely into their respective boxes. I HIGHLY DOUBT HE MADE A MISTAKE IN COUNTING THE COINS AS HE HAD SORTED THE COINS INTO 10C AND 20C AND PUT THEM INTO COIN BOXES. Of couse, with the long queue behind me growling and waiting, i simply walked away in utter astonishment.

My goodness, 10cents.

The key point i trying to make is the annoying procedure i have to go through to apply for a citizenship here. I need to have a valid passport which has yet to expire. Curiously once my application gets through, the passport which is currently valid for another 5 years is suddenly... useless. Not cheap, $130 for a 32 page A6 booklet with red leather cover.

At least its red.

302 : The Whimsical Green Elves

They say change is good. Change force us to adapt to different environments. But i've been put into a whole lot of awful circumstances that i cannot say how or why or what. Its really sad.

I've been away from here awhile because of all the silly admin work i need to do even though i get to go back every night. I've been recently occupied with learning how to do quick sketches and draw using my right brain. And i've been thinking a lot about my next step in life should be.

I fear a lot recently about my health. Fell ill for 2 whole damn week, still can walk and talk, but when it comes down to people asking me out or asking me to do things, i just can't find the energy to do so. I mean, yeah though its strictly "light duties/jobs", just... no drive to do it. Been coughing non-stop, lots of phlegm, lots of undying phlegm that refuses to go away even after lots of medical treatment, oh boy.

My back pain has gotten worse recently too, and due to this i had largely avoided exercise. I am skipping my physio because of my day job (disgustingly true).

The ID job fell through because of my new job, i no longer enjoy an odd day work schedule and yes i am officially booked out from mon-fri 24 hrs from now on.

Well the only good news that came this awful month of may is ANTHILLASS's offering me a seat in academic year 2010. Which also means i have to defer my service to the nation, and give it back during my precious uni holidays. Disgustingly true... too.

At least i got another buddy from archi joining me in this journey. Its gonna be sad, but it won't be lonely.



Alrighty, here is one more ang-sek-ness for the record.

Terminator 4/Transformers 2 are just around the corner !

301 : Clark

And post 301 marks the beginning of my humble journey to become a measly little company clerk. It ain't 8-5 as most people would imagined and i do hope its kind of... lax. I'm not sure, today's my first day and i'm at home busily packing my things back into my bag again for the 3rd time this year while i brace myself for a brand new home.

Let's have a quick recap :
1. tehkong
2. paiseh rubba sixpack K (twainee)
3. paiseh rubba sixpack E (ohohsee)
4. paiseh rubba sixpack gutroom (ohohsee)
5. paiseh rubba tuadog oxroom (observar)
6. paiseh rubba sixpack B (clerk)
7. No, i don't think there's no. 7

Oh jeese. Imagine for every new place i go, i need to pack in all my things, and then unpack, then pack again, bring back the things i thought i do not need only to bring them back the very next week because i'm going somewhere else. The leh-ceh-ness is fantastic !

But after 6 times of moving here and there, you kinda get used to it, meeting new people, keying in new contacts into your phone only to call these people once or twice. I've met more Jeremy(s) than i can count with both hands, oh and did i mention ? 3 Jeremy tan. And i thought the name weilong was common. (HAHA)

I remember back in secondary school (after we toured the off-icers school on a fieldtrip, i had envisioned myself already inside ahmi, in a lonely outpost in the middle of nowhere, reading books while listening to a dying radio. I was a clerk, jotting down vehicle numbers going in and out of the compound, it was boring-lish hell. But that was many years ago when i was pure and don't throw vulgarities at a random stranger on a street.

Now... yes now, its 943pm and another good 2 hours plus before the time i need to land my ass back inside my new (yet old) home, with toilet paper, undies, night snacks, coffee, books and batteries to last myself a FULL WEEK till friday night.

Aiming for my golden keyboard.

300 : Heng Sai

On the usual days, you don't normally have a good story to share, here's one :

I knew i will sure kenna the interview for my uni application. Well, AT LEAST there was still an interview in line for moi.

Reality is, 3.43 just ain't gonna make the cut for anything =(

With just 12 hours notice beforehand for the interview, i was already mentally prepared to sell myself like a telemarketer high on coffee and coke. And when that lucky email came, i had already booked out and armed myself with my B4 photo-portfolio, ready for an all out war.

I'll skip the part about how the interview went, other than 2 adjectives from me; quick and decisive. Ok, maybe i say a bit ba, there were 2 professors, one taiwan, the other european, both of which i can't really understand from their incredible slang, or perhaps my ears didn't developed as well as i thought during puberty.

That was all 4 days ago history.

TODAY WAS AMAZINGLY TYCO/TAIKO/泰国. Today, being a public holidays, people get out, fewer at home, more shopping, less money in pocket, sit down in mall sip coffee kill time to spend less money. Simple logic.

I was sipping coffee alone while waiting for my ka kia to show up, vivo was flooded with over-eager consumers who goes out but refuse to buy anything mentality because a great flood is coming. My crowd hating switch triggered, and i instinctively teleported myself to another neighbouring mall with lesser mindless shopping zombies. Ah, again my coffee detector switch lit up and it was all automatic from then on. *beep*

Alone, i chopped a seat nearest to the kopi counter with my red red bag and went about ordering my drink. A boy, being a kid and you know... playful, seeing there was an empty seat with an empty table sprinted towards it and sat down on the chair just right beside my bed. Of course, i felt uneasy and inside my head i was like : " Oh great, jia lat liao." And then the kid waved to his daddy queing beside me at the counter who was getting something to eat and drink too.

The dad turned and looked at me with sad meaningful eyes...

"Oh... err its ok we can share no problem."
"Hey thanks!"

I got my order of kopi-c first, and went ahead to sit down at my 4 seater table, me being the minority... The mother was tending to her son who was busily being busy almost never sitting still. "Oh boy..." , I thought to myself, "Lets whip out some entertainment baby."

I reached into my bag, and took out my 1 yr old black ring sketchbook with a black copic pen clipped onto the inner loop of the rings.

THEN, the mother went about to her child, "See, kor kor AYE DEE one. Must learn how to draw like him ok?"

Ah, these people must be designers... but.... aye dee, how the heck did she know i just applied for aye dee, or did she meant interior design ?

The father poped the question, "Are you a designer....?". The best reply i could thought of at the moment was to reply with another question, "Are you one.... too?".

And there it was... "YEP, i am a product designer." Exciting. We continued on the conversation about me from where study what and which company he from and stuff like that, things people would ask and inquire when strangers meet for the first time.

He later asked for me portfolio, and being the well-prepared kia that i am, its readily available on my ipod and i confidently handed it out for him to see. He quipped : "Ah this must be fate."

I explained to him some of my previous projects i've done in both educational institutions and my half year experience in the public sector, and he seemed pretty interested. He later offered me a freelance job for website design and layout planning which sounded pretty cool to me. Extra cash and some practice again in this line is never a bad thing, especially with my pathetic ahmi pay and bad economy.

And here's the most zai part. The conversation shifted to my interview for uni... turns out his wife is an artist from taiwan and her good friend... was the taiwanese professor who interviewed me 4 days back.

Once we're both done with our kopi, we exchanged contacts and parted ways. And here's another zai part, his name is exactly the opposite of mine, just flip the entire words around. COOL RIGHT.

Life is going to get pretty interesting now~ All that's left is me getting thru my application and striking 4D.

299 : Round 2

I don't think i'm eliminated again... its just i feel i didn't do too well in the test. Abstract i was in my drawings and the modeling part, i now i reap the fruits of of sins. haha lol.

Here, we go... meet simple joe.

何じゃこれ～！

Of course the topic was "transcending identity". How the heck do we make a model of that. The drawing part was rather easier, you could express more with a pen and 'create' images faster as time was of the essence. Perhaps it was my inability to think beyond my means and thus.... i'm up for another round of filtering first thing tomorrow morning for them to conduct sanity inspection on me. And right after that, its back to duty at my lovely home at tuas.

298 : TIM(R) SUN

The test is tomorrow and i am not one bit anxious at all. If i do get in, its bye-nara to my Australian prospect, but aloha to a fatter wallet. Pros and cons a plenty... would be cool to live off a friend overseas... haha. Alas, there's nothing like studying close to home (4 bus stops !) and living off your parents for another few more years. Ok i shall not delve deeper.

I've been thinking a lot what questions will pop out in the test, as i've been largely adviced to go there with a super open mind. Provide answers which you think the tester would like to see, convince not confuse. Avoid a direct approach to answering but with a concise message to be communicated through. Believe in yourself, don't copy others.

Confidence in victory.

俺には負けない！　必勝！

297 : Rats

Rats. Was i surprised to find my huge ali baba bag filled with cereal and milk powder all over the sides and even in the pockets. I looked closely and noticed this 5cm wide hole under my bag..... and it looked really like bite marks... of what i'm not sure... but you get the idea.

Yes, rats bit through my leather-liked bag and chewed through another few layers of plastic, to find their (actually its mine, bought them at NTUC downstairs near my place) tasty snacks and had one hell of a buffet... of super 3-in-1 cereal.

And so i spend the next 1 hr cleaning up the mess in my bag at home while waiting for my posting all the way to changi. So its sayonara to my 4 month stay in tuas.... and konichiwaz to loyang/changi.

I packed my new bag free of rats leftovers and prepared to report the next day... only to find out 4 hours later i got posted back to lovely durvy tuas. Feel so damn like ping pong ball now=X.

But i've learnt much in the realm of dippinig my thumb in sweet ambrosia and lollipop my way into ignorant bliss.

And one for the win.

296 : The Way Out ?

It pays off sometimes to be a nice person everywhere we go, because you will never know especially in this tiny sunny island when you would actually bump into a fellow acquaintance, or someone you know... or not.

Having myself tossed around like ping pong regarding my ahmi posting ( don't we all love TV dorama ), you get to know a lot of people; bad, evil, oscar-grade, fat,  lazy, and the worst types are the siao-on types. And finally, i think that i do not really have to tahan the annoying types. Here, at my yet-another-new work place, which is actually within 500m from my previous work place, the people here are more people-like, more human. Unlike the slave drivers that dominated us previously, its more of a cozy environment where you could, eat, sleep, watch TV ( channel 8 dorama), work, fulfill your duties, shit and shower... oh and use the internet, like right now. 

Initially there are 2 of us being attached to this place, but the other bugger, he hates the air-con bunk and the need to stay inside here for 24 hours in a row. Frankly, i think he's claustrophobic and he doesn't like to read. I like to read, people here likes to read. And best of all, we all watch DVDs. The old birds here like DVD too(after 5pm).

Today is my 2nd day a weekend inside this 10x5m room with all you can eat night snacks. And my upperstudies are letting me go early to spend time with family because next week is intensive training eveyday to equip us with the relevant skills to answer phone calls, handle keys and on how to identify showers that doesn't go full blast on you. Its a small family here unlike other places where strength lies in numbers, here is where strength lies in doing the wrong things at the right time.

295 : Knowing is better.

One of the nicer movies i watched this whole month is probably the oscar winning japanese movie Departures or other wise known as Okuri-Bito. I'm not the drama mama type but this one certainly got my golden stamp of approval for goodness and the not so touchy wouchy but still teary scenes. But thats not the movie i would like to write about today.

With a large influx of silly time travelling tales of recent serialised TV dramas, etc. heroes or sarah connor chronicles, it seems that the play-around of the space-time continuum theme is getting pretty old. ( i just started playing red alert 3 again and boy, was it cliche~)

Yet the movie Knowing avoided it ( expected something along the line of time travelling in order to predict the future ). It fact it left quite a number of loopholes that left my movie buddies annoyed and disappointed and nagged about it all day right after the movie. Without spoiling too much, i liked how they blurred the line between scientology and christianity and haha... how they depicted *SPOILERS* the aliens to be as winged humanoids when they "provided salvation" before earth became a scorched piece of spherical rubble. Good tie in when they did some calculations at the beginning of the movie giving us an idea of the possibly of extraterrestrials' existence. Interesting ending with 1x boy + 1x girl running towards a lone tree in a vast grassfield with the aliens leaving the planet as if like... something godlike. Coolness. *END SPOILERS*

So here at this moment we wonder, is everything pre-destined ? Or is there somehow a method to break the chains of fate and be free ? No one is truly free. As long as we're confined in this 3D space, as long as we're in this body of flesh, we're bloody hell stuck on this MRT of doom, unable to derail, enslaved in an established system of order and rules. I felt afraid watching this movie, for let's say one day GG day comes, where can we run ? To quote the movie... is this truly the end?

Of course if there's some religious biasness in the film. Where did all the hindus and buddhist and muslims go ? Were they saved too ? Haha... loopholes. Seems that the movie is speading some religious faith too, of course while promoting scientology at the same time i guess... win-win.

294 : 14 hours

6 points to note today.

1.We try not to think too much about it, but the thought of going back to ahmi land keeps getting strongly as buku in as the clock ticks by. Ah heck. We half year grunts should be used to the meaningless tortures we go through inside, locking us up, whipping us with their nasty tongue, and at the end of the day dangling the off-pus book infront of us. Dang, they're damn privates too. Me ? I'm proud of my single chevvy plus atap chee hanging down my shoulder sides.

2.Despite tomorrow's Highly Advance Relay Duties ( HARD ) for the Chamber Of Higher Incompetence Learning Laboratory ( CHILL ) over this weekend, I've managed to pull up my socks and endure whatever sian-ness that will totally overwhelm me. I have equipped myself with proper equipment for ANY ordeals; Pokey moan the latest version to fight off sleep by "gotta kill em' all" for the 2563rd time. Or the loading up the latest episodes of HE-ROLLS, seeing how bad guys turn good then turn bad just to shock us again by turning good... again, and turning bad again, and of course watching all that on my tiny media player on my soft comfy bed with the same old GREEN blanket over my cold feet.

3.I dug up my extremely yellowish story book titled "ANNE FRANK". Found it lying underneath a 6cm layer of dust under my bed. I recalled promising myself i will somehow finish the damn book before my final literature exams back in secondary 2. I though, hmm, maybe i can finish this in ahmi land, where i can show off to my bosses how well cultured by err... reading anne frank. The next second i knew it would'nt work, and i threw the book right into the bin. Never passed my lit anyways.

4. Bought some new goods, part of the package after i watched the recent shopaholic movie in which i realised i'm spending too little to help the economy move. Best part is, these babies are... yup, they're RED. I can't wait to post up the pictures of them, they're soooo cute and oh my god, can i say... absolutely charming ? Too bad my webcam is down, its at night, not enough light also to take a decent photo from my camera (i mean too lazy to use the flash).

5.On the way back today by train, there was this huge eye sore (super pun here), it was flashing, it was moving, it was stuck on a wall, and you could see it from 1km away. After walking a few steps more out of the train, holy crap, there's one more at the side.... You know what talking me ? CB try to make a guess. Oh mans, it was worse on ground level, it was distrating as hell, the 9-5 crowd was already bad enough plus friday night and people had to walk even slower now thanks to that. I am so disgusted in these people ultilizing all available space to generate revenue from basically anything that could be milked from. Eeehek.

6. Best shit that happened to me a few days back was probably opening up a letter i thought i was never going to recieve. I got short-listed for interview + test at a nearby university after being rejected last year despite being not so confident of getting in. Strange thing was i did not submit ALL of the documents needed for admission... and why the heck did i got chosen anyway ? Devil's luck i guess. Well, now need to prepare the damn CD and my portfolio nicely filed up to show this coming end of month. If i do possibly confirmed a position inside... i think i first thing is get a bike, then can bike to schoooooool everyday. Imaging the awesomeness involved. Bah, that's 2 freaking years from now. TWO. YEARS. ORDORODORODOODOROSROOSRO.

Goodnight, have fun, good day.

293 : Day off

Spent my day off on something i had been procrastinating since last year.I finally got my portfolio site done with all my works from the past 2 years. Take a look ( click above !)

Koped the template from somewhere off the net though. Lots of work still anyways... Have to buku-in later also, the sian-ness....

I think i gonna remove my cbox permanently, the pop up ads are getting irritating doncha think ?

292 : Stay out !

No no, i'm not that lucky. My luck ran out since august 2006 and i'm living on my real abilities now. Been sent to Ohohsi lobby to watch over a room that watches other room that are pretty much not too important unless your surname is Teo.... It takes extreme talent to handle the extreme boredom and you will encounter in this endeavor, handling well over 3 CCTV cameras running on a limited supply of coffee.

Of course, if you're smart like me, you'll want to bring your own coffee maker and your cheapo filters from daiso. My good friend recommends green tea, but i think the old birds would laugh at me, maybe along the lines of "Eh sia la this guy wanna be jippun lang is it ?". When in Lome, do as the Lomans do, drink, coffee, no decaf, kau kau extra sugar.

On a side note, i just came back from JJ concert 2009 with a bump on my head. Read that he was in the sing song play piano company back when he's in the ahmi, and sure enough, there was this song that involved some mixing of the sounds of the rifle reloading and some hard banging bang bang. My "free" ticket this time round, came with something nasty. I should be more merticulous about what i say and agree with people, because if you still do not know, humans are annoyingly stupid and mistake prone.

The Earth Hour minute during the concert was... hilarious. It didn't last an hour nor a full minute, and it sure ain't dark. All the lightsticks put together would probably form a mini sun.

明天会更好。

291 : Distractions

They say a good sketch a day keeps they bad karma a way. I was wrong.

Today was awfully a bad bad day in the ahmi. I guess, its pretty normal for most of us.

290 : Submissions = Stress

Its clear. This society is littered with mindless, selfish, gutless liars. And today, it proved just that. I'd like to share a short story with everyone.

There was a farmer named Tyke. He lived alone in a small and poor county 5 miles off the city center with his small farm of sheeps and chickens. Day by day, he took care of his beloved animals, feeding it and grooming them for one day they will be sold off in the city AS FOOD.

And so, years gone by, and Tyke was getting pretty old. He found it difficult to move around and mend his sheep and filling up the chicken feed would break more than a sweat. One fateful day, a little boy from a nearby village asked Tyke whether he could help him with his farm work, in exchange for some gold. Tyke agreed, and allowed him to help out for a day.

At the end of the day, seeing how a job well done the boy had performed, he requested the boy to come back tomorrow, as it was a small price to pay for someone to do the work for you. And, the boy agreed.

After not too long, the boy had been coming over to help almost every single day, either cleaning the pen or washing the farm. He had gained the trust of Tyke through his continuous hard work. Tyke knew, one day, the boy would request for more gold for the work done, he made a mental note to fire the boy's ass off once he requested for a pay rise.

And sure enough, that day had come. Tyke paid him his final salary and kicked him out of his farm. The boy, saddened, reluctantly walked home with a half empty purse. Tyke wasn't too nervous or anxious to find an extra helping hand immediately. He could still probably survive using his own effort to raise his animals.

But then, he realised he did not have the strength to lift up the water from the well, he could not catch up with the sheep when he herded them in the prairie, and the feed was too dirty for him to clean alone. He knew, he was in deep shit.

Gradually, the sheeps died, and the chickens thinned, they could'nt even be sold off for cheap chicken rice. And his wealth faded each sunset after sunset. He prayed for a moment, for the boy to return and help him out, for such help could never be found anywhere else.

Sure enough, the boy was passing by his farm from the village to the city. Grabbing the chance, Tyke offered to pay the boy extra gold for him if he could produce the same results previously. The boy, now slightly older than he was before, and smarter a bit, agreed.

Tyke went back to his rest area away from the sun to relax and watch TV, while the boy was busy outside doing his duties. When the boy returned to report that the job was done, Tyke gladly handed over the gold and let him go. Tyke decided to go the city the next day to sell off all his animals and retire.

At dawn, Tyke went to get his wagon, and prepared to load all all his poultry. To his horror, all the animals had died, their eyes white out with signs of blood gushing out from their slit opened intestines. The chickens had lost their heads too. He knew at that instant who's doing it was. And he wanted to pursue the matter with the boy.

However, the boy was never found or seen again.







Yes, i am at the edge of my sanity threshold. Hanging by the pinky.

289 : Bending the Rules

Rules are meant to be broken. With that said, I've successfully covered my backside. Ok, lets go.

The bad thing about being sick, is well, not physically apt to do things that are too overwhelming. And the bad thing about being inside ahmi for HALF A YEAR already is that, your appetite increases, you get used to the usual exercises everyday. So usually you burn what you eat. When you're grounded in camp or home, you stack up lots of calories and fat. Not good.

Today, i made an abrupt decision to go running. I didn't decide how far i should run, simply made a mental note to stop running when i feel like dying or something. 7 minutes into my usual 2.4 pace, i felt like dying today. A strong sign of down sloping fitness. I'm running the clementi loop track, which stretches towards JE side, and the end is nowhere in sight. Ok time to walk back slowly......

A sudden gust of cold evening wind sent a chill up my nostrils, and i'm instantly reminded of the 怖い顔　of my <<<@>>>.... if you didn't get that its ok, not important.

"Friend, your hair looks long ar, you better bloody hell get it cut when i see you again"

No, i'm not his friend. Never going to be. But i still went to cut my hair today anyway.

I've managed to venture towards my way home, when i passed my an odd row of shophouses (no there are no shophouses in clementi, but those silly flatted 3-4 storey HDBs with shops on the 1st floor) , and there are like.. 3-4 hair saloons/barber scattered EVENLY along the alley. I smell conspiracy. I hate choices.

Here's the fun part, choosing the hair cutting services. Most people who live on this not so sunny island would most probably rank and base their choices on price, followed by service standards, and maybe by the ambience of their shop. For me, i don't have much hair anyway, and i just need a quick cut and shave to trim off my sides. So the obvious choice was the barber, cheap too.

Problem was, the barber had a long queue, and my dinner was getting cold at home ( it was 8pm). The other 3 saloons didn't have a queue, and they charge a slight premium $3-8 bucks more. I didn't mind, as long as its quick and neat. I took a subtle peek into the first empty saloon, HOLY SHEIT, the saloon lady was picking her nose. Next.

This other saloon had a nice atmosphere, with a budding manicure service too located 2 shops down. 1 or 2 in line, could consider, but there wasn't a saloon lady anywhere in sight, all middle aged looking guys... hmmm... better not take my chances of getting the touch again, if you know what i mean. Next.

You know, the most importantly thing of opening and starting a business is NAMING your business. What the heck is EXTREME HAIR BEAUTY SALOON, the shop is extremely run down thats for sure, the posters of model with beautiful hair are already yellowing, and the air con most probably smelled of mold, or evil aunties. Next...... .. ..

I backtracked, and joined the queue at the indian barber. Whoever said competition was beneficial to consumers ?

288 : ただめいしじゃねい～

We're making a new name card! Well, thats the good news, finally. The bad news ( actually super good news ), is that its a weekday, and i'm once again sitting infront of my PC doing some proper work, which is wonderfully non-ahmi related.

Was tasked last week to update and revamp my coy's fitness notice board, not that i'm a fitness instructor or what not, we're worms under the strict orders to make ourselves busy, or in most cases, SEEM busy. So i dug up my old architectural model making materials, the usual foam board, vanguard sheet, wire mesh to "recycle" into something useful. FINE, i'm actually being cheapo here, but hey i bought a march issue of body building USA just for this, and its not cheap, $15 plus probably can't be claimed.

Its a really interesting magazine about 2cm thick, lots of information on protein shakes, infact 1/3 of the book is chuck full of advertisments on pills and bulking up drugs. And since its from the US of A, i guess, well being the first time i bought an american magazine, i was quite shock to find some pictures of middle finger pointing men and women on the pages. Ok, culture shock for 5 seconds, we move on.

Our shoulder to shoulder distance is about 2.2-2.5 heads apart, anything more or less, a person would look... strange. These men depicted inside the magazine are huge, as in real huge, 3-3.5 heads apart shoulder to shoulder. If you thought the incredible halt was ugly, ugh, i really wonder why people want to build up and train their muscles to such unusual proportions. I would really like to hyperlink a picture to show you what i mean, I'm just afraid I'll feel guilty you won't be able to sleep tonight when you look at it. Google at your own discretion.

And why the heck am i home ? Doc said, "Conjunctivitis." Much less gruesome than overly sized men.

287 : Honourable Duties

Our <<<#>>> is a real pain in the nostrills and he's like my childhood horror amplified 45x equipped with a rifle for a mouth. Worst off, he's dark like charcoal, burning on a innumerable scale of rage in eternity.....

He's the epitome of garang-ness and the embodiment of pain. HE IS THE BANE OF THE OhOhSi kids.

That's us, the child labourers of the ahmi. Instead of equipping us with guns, we're handling brooms, sponge and the duster 24/7 now. And thanks to this training, i can sweep up dust like a SM goddess with a leather whip, or whatever she holds in her hand. =X

At the end of the day, its either I GO, or HE GOES.

Garang-ness and garand-less are like oil and coffee. I'm coffee.

POSE OUT POSE OUT POSE OUTTT !

286 : Ruthless

Its been another long long long week in the ahmi, not that i want to emphasis the length of the sian-ness we kids get to experience inside... Haix....... And since i got plenty of time idling, i used that precious period of stoning to think about things.

Yesterday's the last day of the application excercise. So lets say, lets JUST say ahmi is being abolished, with boys hitting the age 16.5 being not liable for bleeding for the country. So we guys would spend more time hitting chicks and clubbing business would become a boom, more gangs would rock the society, thus higher paying jobs for policing. A 10% GST would have been implemented 10 years back to feed more mercernaries to bleed for our sake instead.

And probably me, my close friends and my bunk mates would be worrying about exams, project schedules or work frustrations this coming monday. Yeah, its an endless road ahead of us i realised, with still lots more "omg sian" gonna splurt out of our mouths.

On last wednesday, i told myself, "ok this coming weekend must enjoy". And shit does happens, i got told last minute i got GUT DUTY on sat till sun morning, and yes my guts did shrink to the size of peanuts. I've already booked movie tics for both slumdog and suspect X. Well, i was only nominated among 3 people for GUT and 1 only need to do it.

33.3% chance of tio-ing.

When we were interviewed each by the sai-kang delegate, i prayed silently to myself, believing that there is a god in everyone of us. But most importantly, i answered questions with honest and truth, tried to not seem too sad or reluctant, and most of all, LOOK UNIMPORTANT. For heavens sake, getting under the radar does help. And it did paid off, with another CKK (ciaokengkia) having the mortar up his...

I'd like to announce i've successfully level up on the skills of evasion and luck. I'm more confident of similar confrontations in the future now. Judging from the current condition, i reckon i just need to pump my MAGIC and more EVADE so if my luck fails, i can do the huhar ! like david copperfield and escape any mean situations.

Either that, or there's always the ASS-EH-EFF hotline. =X

285 : New Lease of Unlife

Its late no doubt. With the stale air from the crappy VRV unit blowing onto my face, i looked out of my window, and i see those graduants from ASL sheee strolling out from the faraway cookhouse, loved ones alongside.

We finally had some rain (my PC said "wah tsunami" when he saw the storm) after a few days of extreme dryness. Ok not that extreme relative to the disaster that occured in melbourne. The parade went on okay, with minor hiccups.

And with all the sediah, cheers and whatever going about. I was very occupied, not with work, but with the exciting things that are being presented in my itouch. HEROES SEASON 2. 10 episodes of blissful coolness tucked into my pathetic 8gb gadget. Hours of conversion at home last weekend to the silly mp4 format.

But its worth it.

The rest of the twainees are busy sending their blaster rifles into the armoury downstairs, and there's a couple of jedis watching their holographic news report behind my terminal.


ada ddq e1 tZfasf af f . . .aw Ahhhh oh no ! A Sith raid ! TO ARMS !

284 : 殺害！

I would like to bring some attention to this upcoming film on the 19th March 2009. Its the type of crazy comedy that blends music and the usual japanese madness to the big screen. I've watched animation adaption at a friend's place and i'm hooked. The theme is dark with erm... vulgarities being hurled around due to the "heavy death metal" nature of the band. I'm not gonna spoil anything here about the story but all i can say its definitely gonna be NC16 at least.

Haha to quote one of the songs inside : "rape. rape. rape. rape. rape. rape" with the funny nihongo accent.

レイプっ！

I'll probably catch it on Friday night on the 20th. Anyone wanna join me i can advance book the tics.