Mambo Night!

It has been a long time...

Hope it'll b fun tonight ^_^

... ... ...

today, i woke up wif a quite jialat diarrhea... it has been a bit queezy for the pass days but today starting to felt more pain... so went to polyclinc and waited 2hrs for the doc...

first qns she ask me is... "u jus came back from overseas izzit...?" "uh...yes?"

she said i ate too much singaporean food liao... sigh... too much char kueh tiao, bbq wing, si ham and stuffs... too oily and my stomach cannot take it liao... sianz... haha...

sigh...then lidat cannot go market 85 for a while liao...

'I've learned that all a person has in life is family and friends. If you lose those, you have nothing, so family and friends are to be treasured more than anything else in the world.'~~Trey Parker and Matt Stone, South Park, Prehistoric Ice Man, 1999

"Don say no time. Time is always there. It's jus a matter of prioritizing."

I was innocently eating my lunch yesterday when my boss and his DY decided to spice up their conversation. It lasted for about 1/2hr and all i can do is diam diam sit down there and listen (-_-") The contents din reali concern me, but i find it kinda interesting to see how two chocolate bars got smashed and torned into pieces by two crabs. Was i watching a sneak preview of my future???

Anyway, the above statement stick to me like chewing gum for the whole day. I felt like dang tou bang he, and i began to ask myself... haf i been procrastinating? Almost one week le, and wat haf i done? I haven reali call up old friends for some knee-knocking session, and i haven update my blog since i came back... all tis, i have been blaming them on my 'tight schedule'... i think it's time to get things moving...

Alright, ppl i'm back!!! My schedule isnt reali tat tight so don worry about callin me out, k? ... i can make time one... jus like how i manage to make time to play computer game.

Tis week has benn kinda buzi... wif my new posting. Post course admin is a big one too. Then still got one day wasted in FETS 'secret vault', rotting away... cant believe i got paid to rot. But everything shld b kinda steady next week liao.

Oso kinda buzi wif adapting to life back here... almost got lost in ngee ann city and wisma tat day ^_^ And suddenly see so many people on the street I very bu zi zai, no more kangaroos...and every one speak my language tis time...no more 'huh?'. Bak chor mee at market 85 still as good! And fried carrot cake, chew kuey, mee goreng, laksa...one word: SHIOK!

Before i go, jus wanna wish qiming, jiamin and jiaying, happy bdae and happy belated birthday!

Slept thru EMA

I was woken up tis morning by loud banging on my cabin door... and some1 was behind it shouting, "Limmy, wake up!!!" I looked at my watch, my eyes still half-asleep... it's 0630... WAT?! SHIT, it's 0630!!!

I cant believe i slept till 630 and missed the whole of our last EMA tis morning! They had 3-way tug-of-war and no one realised i wasnt there till nearly the end of the match. Wat the... (-_-")

But it was a good sleep ^_^

'All my bags are packed i'm readi to go...'

haha... i think i might haf chosen the wrong words for my title. It came frm a pretty sad song (leaving on a jet plane). Yea... i do feel kinda sad now... sad to leave tis not-so-wonderful-but-still-not-bad place... sigh... I'm an emotional beast and always hate to accept the fact that all things hafta come to an end some day. My 5 months stay here wasnt a long period of time, but it was long enough for me to make a few good mates, soul-mates. The course has come to an end and now, every1 will ge4 ben1 qian2 cheng2... will we meet again?

Anyway, My room is packed and readi for removals to ADFA... hope everything will go fine wif my removals tis afternoon. I hav had lotsa of problem wif my removals for the past few weeks, and even till tis morning, it hasnt been sorted out yet... sigh... watever...

It's not far now

Jus one more week... or to b more precise 5 more days excluding today and i'll b on my way home.

Tis week is parade trg week... haven realli recoverd from all the sore and blisters from Exercise Matapan, and hafta immediately jump into full-scale parade trg on sunday. But no one seem to b very concerned by that. Well... it's onli a few more days of bull-shitting that we hafta put up wif and, tat's it... it will b 'The End'. After which we can rest all we wan...

hmmm... how 'fortunate' izzit to undergo two graduation parades in a year???

Prince Henry, The Navigator

(my history essay due today)



Prince Henry (Infante Don Henrique), the Navigator, was the third son of King João of Portugal, born in 1394. He was a very devout man, and was Governor of the Order of Christ from 1420 until his death in 1460. The expedition to capture Ceuta (a Muslim stronghold in Morocco), commanded by him on 24 August 1415, where only eight Portuguese were killed had provided Prince Henry his moment of glory. It was not, however, as a man of war or of politics that Prince Henry had won fame. He was most famous for the voyages of discovery that he organised and financed, which eventually led to the rounding of Africa and the establishment of sea routes to the Indies. He probably never sailed out of sight of land and certainly never ventured farther from Portugal than the closest shores of North Africa. Yet he wondered what lay beyond the known world of his age, and had the money and talent to send people into unknown danger on his behalf.

Prince Henry was responsible for a disastrous attack on Tangier in 1437, which caused the captivity of his brother Fernão, the master of Avis. His brother was imprisoned in bad conditions, held in hostage for the return of Ceuta to the Muslims. For eleven years, the Portuguese debated whether or not to give up Ceuta, until in 1448, Dom Fernão died in captivity. Prince Henry’s military reputation suffered as a result, and most of his last twenty-three years were spent in exploration activities, or in Portuguese court politics.

Prince Henry was a visionary, someone who could imagine something that had not yet happened. He owned a globe when many people believed the world was flat. He knew that Africa was more than endless sand. From the conquest of Ceuta, he learned about the riches of Africa, and started studying the geography, riches and trade of western Africa. He wanted to give Portugal a share in these riches, and if his sailors could circumnavigate the continent, he would even find a water route to India.

Prince Henry knew clearly his aim to discover what lay beyond "The End of the World", Sagres (south-western tip of Europe), and he had five good reasons to support it. Firstly, he hoped to know the country beyond Cape Bojador, the furthest limit of the known world on the west side of Africa of his time. Next and certainly no less important was that he wanted to establish trade with any lands that lay out there, especially if they were Christian lands. Thirdly, he hoped also to catch Islam in a gigantic pincer movement by joining forces with the mythical ‘Indies’ Christian kingdom of Prester John, the wealthy and powerful priest-king of the medieval legend. Fourth, he wanted to learn the extent of the Mohammedan power in Africa. The fifth was to spread the Christian Faith.

Prince Henry was passionate about his grand ideas and was very willing to spend a great deal of money, time and resources to prepare for the expedition. He had to meet the costs largely out of his own pocket or from the revenue of the Order of Christ, and his acts were therefore derided by the many who did not buy his ideas. However, he showed great determination and enthusiasm to achieve what he had set out. He communicated his enthusiasm to his people; shipbuilders and other craftsmen, inspired by their master’s zeal and generosity, worked day and night, and the citizens gave up eating meat so that it could be preserved for the expedition. Prince Henry had great difficulty persuading his captains to sail beyond Cape Bojador. According to legend, beyond this point was an area known as the ‘Sea of Darkness’, where the sun was so close to Earth that a person’s skin would turn black, the sea boiled, ships caught fire, and monsters hid waiting to smash the ships and eat sailors. But Prince Henry never gave up trying. It took fifteen voyages over a period of twelve years until a ship commanded by Gil Eannes finally sailed beyond the dreaded cape and returned.

Prince Henry had made extra effort to learn from history. Sufficient information about Senegal to enable his men to recognise it when they reached it was obtained from some captured natives (Azenegues). Studies were also made on ancient geographers and medieval maps.

Prince Henry knew well the principle of engaging the best man for each task. He enlisted the help of some of Europe’s finest experts to teach him and his sailors in matters of navigation. Several important cartographers and instrument-makers were brought together to create new, more precise charts. Jews, Muslims and Arabs, Italians from Genoa and Venice, German and Scandinavians came to Sagres, which had by then became a high-tech (for the 15th century) base for exploration. This community developed navigational instruments, such as the quadrant, and new mathematical tables to aid in determining latitudes. The nearby port of Lagos saw the development of a new type of ship, the caravel, which combined cargo capability, manoeuvrability and seaworthiness and thus was the ideal ship for exploring. Seamen who knew they were going out in a vessel specially designed for their sure and speedy return were more cheerful, more confident and more willing to risk longer outward voyages.

One other trait that aided his success was his requirement for details in charts, maps and note-taking. On these papers he wanted bearings, wind directions, dangerous anchorages, places where food and water could be found, landmarks, and so on. The Catalan Jew from Majorca, Jehuda Cresques, son of the cartographer Abraham Cresques, was brought to Sagres to supervise the collation of these geographic facts brought back by all the explorers for use on future voyages. This is quite significant, as most mariners of the time did not bother to write down anything.

Most of Prince Henry’s crew had been brought up in his household, and quite a number of them were very close to the Prince’s heart for their courage and resourcefulness. Therefore, the loss of Nuno Tristao and most of his crews, all killed by the natives while exploring the Rio Nuno sixty leagues south of Cabo Verde, definitely brought particular grief to Prince Henry. He gave handsome pensions to the wives and children of the dead.

Prince Henry made his contributions in numerous and varied ways, but one way he did not do it was through navigation, despite his title. He certainly sailed in his life, but most of his efforts were on land where he organised voyages and improved navigation devices and techniques. By his voyages, he removed the imagined terrors of the deep and established the first exploring and commercial companies of modern times. His contributions to navigation were so impressive that it was thought for years that he actually had a ‘School of Sagres’ that focused only on navigation. It is now known that this is not true, but the fact that it was assumed to be, showed how heavily Prince henry contributed.

Prince Henry’s work began the Great Age of Discovery that lasted from the 1400s to the early 1500s. His captains explored the Atlantic islands and coast of Africa to an extent never before attempted. By sending out ships and soldiers he made Portugal into a world power with colonies in Africa, India and South America. Brazilians today speak Portuguese in large part because of Prince Henry’s efforts. The discovery of America by Columbus was also inspired by his achievements. His talent of obstinacy and his power to organise had proved essential for the first great enterprise of modern discovery.

No. of words: 1272

Holy Shit!

I jus ran over a pretty huge snake wif my bike!!!

I was on my way to the lower sports ground where a game of criket was playing. I was moving pretty fast, going downhill on the dirt-track, feeling shiok... I thot I saw a branch or sth across the track ahead, so i tried to stay close to the side. It was when i was like 2 metres away, then i realised it's a snake! i started to kan cheong and deviate from my course and opps... i ran over it...

I haf no idea wat kind of snake tat was... all i noe is tat it's huge and black...

you jing wu xian **raise one eye brow**

Wat else can i do on a weekend...?

sigh... basically i can do nothing exciting... Went to Nowra tis morning to walk walk see see... sigh... still the same... nothing interest me.

There's a history essay due on Monday. But i've finished it on TOBRUK, and i'm satisfied wif my work. I've like gone thru it a million times myself and wif a couple of my oppos... it looks perfect... alright, good to go.

So here i am back in the library playing wif the lousy computer... So glad tat the tag boad is back again. Oh, look! They changed the CPU! But it’s still running on 2000Pro and 56k... (-_-“)



Hope u’ll like the new music: Gu Dan Bei Ban Qiu by Ocean Ou. I'm not a great fan of tis guy... the music jus sounded nicer without his voice. Has he shown his expectedly ugly face yet? I hope no one wld die of heart attack after seeing his face...

Next week is gonna b a tough week for me... wif Exercise Matapan underway from tues to fri. Another outfield exercise to assess our leadership... I like camping in the woods, it’ll b fun. But I jus hate to march around wif those stupid heavy field pack. My legs are built for other stuffs like jumping and running... not pack marching! Tat’s why I’m not in the army. Sigh... they promised they are gonna make it tougher tis time... cover a longer distance and last for a longer period of time... shit...

Off i go to Nowra, again, for another round of counter strike...

NSTD

HeeeHA! I'm back... i'm back... i'm back... YES! I'm back!

How's every1? Getting along well wif ur work, exams, tests, projects and wat haf u? Still kicking? (sori jikok... u can do it soon too) No matter how busy you mayb, don forget to breathe! huuuuuuuuuuuuu... xiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii...

Jus had my final written exam on monday... sigh... i hope i'll pass. i had onli like one night, sunday night, to study a book as thick as our o-level physics textbk... shld haf started earlier. i did brought my book for the sea deplyment, but i'm jus too lazy... so, yuan bu de ren... sigh... the passing mark is 70%, so i reali donno if i'll pass tis time. i'm crossing my fingers, i realli hope i managed to grab hold of buddha's leg...

Forget it, lets tok about my sea training deployment.

ermm...how shld i start? ...? ... ...?

it's a training cruise where we hafta live, work, eat, drink, shit in the same conditions the junior sailors are facing...but at the same time bahave like officers. The experience was very, very diiferent from my last one, where the focus was more on navigation, bridge watch-keeping... Correct me if i'm wrong, i'm trying to recall the routine for my last deplyment...

0530 wakey wakey
0540 EME...rounds and rounds the tank deck wif onli one eye open... 1 2 3 4, 2 2 3 4, 3 2 3 4...
0630 [ . . - . ][ . - . . ][ . - ][ . . . ][ . . . . ][ . ][ - . . - ] and then breakfast
0740 Morning muster... in our perfectly pressed overall...
0800 Lessons... DCX... achoring plan... study... AOPs... sun run sun... gunnery... radar... HF... VHF... UHF...
1630 Dog watch... must look good, so every1 muster at the hangaar and we'll move to flight deck 2gether... more rounds...100 tis time!?
1830 Dinner... Argh, green chicken!!!
2000 Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep... standby mess deck for rounds

...and e night was all ours to work on achoring plan, AOPs, study, task book x 3, port-pre and events preparation, etc... and how could i forget the watches in the MCR (midshipman can rest), the raido room (it's heaven) and the bridge (it's hell)... 1st watch 2100-2359, 2nd watch 0001-0300, 3rd watch 0300-0600. we wld b so grateful when we could get in the first (best) watch and haf 5 hrs of sleep for that night... we had so little sleep during the deployment that our little 'brothers' were not waking up b4 us!... haha... sigh... "sleep is a luxury, not an entitlement!"

^ ^ good old days...

what issit like tis time round?

Well, some things wld never change.

The sea, the horizon and the sky, they haven change a bit since my last deployment... That's all u normally get out in the middle of no where... what do u expect? Mountains? or cars? We did get visitors like sea gulls and albatross once in a while... the clouds changed it's form everyday too... and when we're lucky, we wld also find a dot at the horizon--"hey, we've got contact (finally)!"





The sun rises and sets everyday. They are beautiful and u'll b tempted to take fotos. At the end of the trip, u looked back at the fotos... hmm... which ones are sunset, and which are sunrise? hmmm... which is from monday, which is from tuesday?... and u started deleting those that look similar... but don worry, in the end u're still left wif at least 2 fotos... one wif clouds and one without :p

I was so glad that i din get seasick tis time round like when i was on seahorse, eventhough we'd got to seastate 4 for consecutive two days or so during our transit to Norfolk Is. HMAS Tobruk is a flat-bottomed landing ship heavy... and so it rocks like hell even at seastate two. So it is definitely worst at 4... It was a challenge trying to walk straight. Standing still for both watches wasnt easy too. It was a even greater challenge when taking aim at the toilet bowl! I'd got a few cuts here and there from falling cooking utensils while working in the galley (kitchen)... and i broke a glass too... opps

Other than these, life onboard TOBRUK was kinda different from that onboard RESO. We realli gotta work like a sailor and had lotsa interaction wif them...

In the Executive Department: sanding and painting bulkheads (walls) and guardrails, running around the ship ensuring everyting were secured, cleaning (the whole) ship... We still keep watches on the bridge, but onli for 4 days, and the concepts are kinda different. They have a life buoy sentry standing at the quarter deck maintaining constant look out for man-overboard. They don require lookout in the day, and when they do at night, the lookout stands on the deck above the bridge where 2 super binoculars will b available. It's still a four-hour watch system during peacetime cruising... but tat doesnt mean they hafta do helms or lookout for the whole of the 4 hrs like we do. They rotate every hour, and since the number of ppl on watch is greater than the positions available, they might even get an hour or two free time during tat 4-hr as spare hands in the cafe... watchin DVDs!!

Engineering Department: rounds, and cleaning of machineries and bilge. My watch din get the honour and luxury to experience tat and get our face and overalls black and greasy... prob we're lucky or they were all cleaned... haha... heng1 ar!! heehee...

Supply Department: carrying stores (like beer, soft drinks, vegetable, toilet rolls...) to where they are required, washing at the scullery, frying eggs, skinning carrots, serving the officers in the wardroom, mopping the cafeteria and galley... I'm kinda surprise that there are stewards onboard. They are sailors who take care of the officers--serve them food, do their laundry, clean their cabins... how nice is this? And the CO's has got his own pantry and steward... He is a lonely man though. He doesnt eat in the wardroom wif the officers... they seldom see him too.

I'd got a great deal of free time actually during the deployment... which we're supposed to spend on task book and journal, and 2 assignemnts due after the deployment. We still manage to find spare time for chess, cards, boardgames and tok cock sessions... and time to feel bored and turn insane too. One good thing: i seldom get less than 7 hrs of sleep :p




Vanuatu

This is where i had a little more fun than usual. I paid 1000 Vatu (ard $15) to ba shan se shui to cascade falls where me and another oppo showered under the falls and took lotsa fotos. The beaches are realli nice and the weather is realli good--warm and moist. And so on the second day, i did snokelling and kayaking at hideaway island, for a couple of thousands more vatus... This was my first experience wif snokelling and i swear i love it! ...it is awesome! I definitely wanna learn scuba someday and haf more fun in the water! Any takers? Their eateries and restaurants serve delicious and cheap food too! Yummy!



i only brought 300 sing wif me for tis trip and already i spent 200 here... i bought nothing... all of it was spent on transport and fees and food... but it was definitely money well spent.


Norfolk Island

My stay in Norfolk Island was a short one...jus two hours. Even though we anchored in the bay for three days. First day, i was granted leave at ard 1500, but onli got ashore at like 1600 bcos of long queue for the onli liberty boat! Kinda irony, Tobruk is a amphibious assault ship but she cant seem to get every1 quickly ashore... anyway, and leave expired before sunset. The second day, due to weather inclement, 2/3 of ppl hafta stay onboard. Having granted leave the day b4 (they don care how long), i hafta stay onboard...tough luck! The third day, the weather was better... and 2/3 gotta step ashore... sigh... i belong to the 1/3 who were on duty... ... Wat pissed me off most is tat there were ppl getting 2 full-day leaves...



It isnt an exciting island. It is roughly only as big as tekong and i managed to cover the whole town, looking thru most of the shops in ard an hour and still had time for a brew. In total, i spent less than ten bucks here... It is definitely a very beautiful place... greenery, flowers, i realli felt relaxed in that island... how i hope i could haf one more day, jus one more, to explore the untouched part of the island.


Lord Howe Island

Din get to haf much personal time here too, jus a total of 1hr 50min... sigh... We anchored two days here. The first day i was on duty. The second day, gotta do marching for their Remembrance Day and 30th (?) Anni of their airport, which consist of onli a runway and a small building... ... ...



Tis island wasnt any bigger than Tekong too. It is well-known not for it's town but it's beauti... sadly, i din get a chance to explore the treasure hidden within... And at the end of the day, i looked into my wallet... i only spent 5 bucks!

tat's all folk... i am tired, my brain is half-dead, my eyes are hurting... cant type anymore... i din even bother read wat i haf jus typed... if it doesnt make sense, jus too bad... i'll clarify them some other day... i've got more than a hundred fotos loaded in my gallery too

good night...

Till We Meet Again...

Summer Rig

Well...some of u may haf been expecting tis, it was jus a matter of time...and now the time has come... Laugh all you want now...sigh...





Pretty gay isn’t it? Cant believe I’m in tis piece of shit! Argh!!! Sigh...australian is such a modernised place, but why is the defence’s fashion sense still so out-dated? Someone tell me WHY???...it’s realli horrible! realli hafta suck big thumb tis time... Cant believe I actually got the courage to post tis foto... Now, take a deep breath and count...1...2...3...4...5...alright, tat’s it, time to stop laughing...

"Always smile, even if it's a sad smile, because what's sadder than a sad smile is the sadness of not knowing how to smile."~~Anonymous

Crazy Sports Day

It was supposed 2b a day of sports...or tis was wat it was written on our timetable...we had nothing but sports for the whole day. the first thing that came to my mind was telematches, ball games, prob some beach games...which i thot "wow...tis will b fun and exciting!"

The day started wif beep test...yes beep test!!! then a 5k x-country jog, run or walk in chiong shua boots, as a team carrying barang barang like...inflatable raft, modula tent set, mountain bike, manila hawser, log and super huge tyre...phew wat a morning. i thot the morning was a crazy way to haf a sports day...i haf never imagine it to turn out tis way... it's more of a physical torture...

After lunch, some "treasure hunt" around the base. Followed by raft-and-bike relay, mass-swimming in the icy water...The day ended wif 4x400 and 4x100 relay. The finale was supposed 2b 2.4k run...luckily it was cancelled. i'm pretty worned out now...well...the raft-n-bike relay and the swim is prob my idea of wat sports day wld b like...it was fun...i reckon it's the best event for the day. team work is essence. it's not all about individual strength...it was sports day!!! not some adventure trg or athletics meet...

urgh...test tml...duty tml...still gotta pack for deployment tml...urgh...

'N'STD

I think I’m spending too much time in front of tis crap computer... fixing my blog (i seriously have no idea how i manage to churn out so much rubbish)...checking for replies in my shitty-mailbox tat I may never receive (well every1 seem 2b exceptionally busy...other than me)...peering into other ppl’s business and bla...i did tis at least once each day as long as I’m in base. Probably I realli haf got too much time to spare here. Well, as compared to life as a middie or an AO, I realli do haf considerably much more time for myself now. I even found myself working on a couple of my ex-favorite pastimes again.



I seriously cant believe I’m doing it again...sth I used to enjoy doing in my sec school yrs. I was quite good at copying stuffs...as in drawing. Gimme a mechanical pencil, an eraser and a picture, I can copy exactly the same or close enough fer ya...i cant draw frm nothing or frm my mind though. As far as I can remember, the last ‘master-piece’ was completed in sec4, jus b4 prelim, a half-body copied-portrait of Saitoh Hajime frm samurai x, which was like 4 yrs ago. I prob was still doing it during JC yrs or mids trg...but well it’s never sorta completed or good enough to go into my archive. It’s more of like jus occasional scribbling on the table or on the lecture notes for the purpose of keeping awake...hee...I’m sure I’m not the onli one doing this. I never realli haf enough time ever since graduation frm dhs. Any extra time I used to haf, would probably go into my sleep time. "Sleep was a luxury, not an entitlement"...watever... haha...still can rem how LCDR Rajesh used to say in his weird indian accent, "MOD, gimme 5 counts" whenever we started dozing off during his navi lessons...haha...

My most recent work...frm samurai x again

I din drew tis alright...not tat powerful yet. But I’m working on tis in jus black n white. It wld b a new challenge for me though...i tried to do shading b4 in sec 4, but it turned out 2b a piece of shit meant onli for the bin. It’s not too bad tis time round...i’m half way there...



I’m beginning to haf time for day-dreaming again... Well, I think I shld b spendin more of these ‘luxurious time’ tat I haf now on reviving my other pastimes before the time runs out again...

I shld take a break frm updating tis blog...and I definitely will. There will b no more update starting frm some where middle of next week till prob middle of next month...cos I’m going for another ‘N’STD—NEOC Sea Training Deployment! Sigh...wif exp from my prev MSTD, donno whether I shld b feeling happy or sad about it...bai gan jiao ji...realli confused... Anyway, will b heading for some exotic islands in the south pacific region...frm Brisbane to Port-Vila in Vanuatu, Norfolk Island, Lord Howe Island and finally back to Sydney...heehee. They shld b pretty nice places to visit being tourist attractions...further more they are a little more tropical than Jervis Bay. I reckon it’s gonna b a great time out there, even though it might b jus a few days of liberty ashore.



But tis great deals don’t come without a price to pay...lotsa sai-kang and taskbooks to do onboard the flat-bottomed and pretty aged (and rusty) HMAS Tobruk. I think I’m gonna miss our star cruise RSS Resolution, after hearing so many ‘horror stories’ about tat grandpa ship...sigh...guess wat, there might not, and most probably true tat there wont b proper bedding. We’ll hafta sleep in hammocks for the whole deplyment! And we might even hafta b waiters for cocktail! Kaoz...sian 1/2...

"Suffering is justified as soon as it becomes the raw material of beauty."~~Jean-Paul Sartre...suck thumb...further more it’s onli for a short period of 3 weeks... : > I'm actually wondering wat we're gonna do onboard as we're onli taught peanuts about navi and seamanship... No need to do anchoring plans, no port-pre and oso no need to do calculation till late at night and wake up b4 the civil twlight to shot stars...and 'sun-run-sun'...

I promise I’ll get as many pictures as my SD cards can hold of the ports I’ll b calling into...and put them up in the gallery as soon as I get back. Meanwhile, don forget about me and tis blog... And all the best to all still struggling wif exams, esp my sis....work hard and good luck!

"People just don't land on mountaintops...they had to climb."~~Trevor Stienburg, Hockey Coach

"No pressure, no diamonds."~~Mary Case

There shld b one last post b4 I leave coming out on mon or tues...it'll b a shocker...i promise.

Midi Heaven

last update: 9 Mar 05

CHINESE

4 In Love – Yi Qian Ling Yi Ge Yuan Wang

5566 – Cun Zai

Ah Niu – Dui Mian De Nu Hai Kan Guo Lai

Ah Sang – Shou Le Dian Shang

Ah Sang – The Rose

Ah Sang – Ye Zi

Andy Hui - Tu Ran

Angela Zhang - Ou Ruo La

Cai Li Lian - Xi Shui Chang Liu

Cass Phang – Si Shui Nian Hua

Chen Han Wei & Cai Li Lian - Guan Huai Fang Shi

Cyndi Wang – Ai Ni

Cyndi Wang – Dang Ni

David Tao – Angel

David Tao – I Believe

David Tao – Ji Mo De Ji Jie

David Tao – Runaway

Deep Ng - Ze Ri Shi Lian

Eason Chan – Shi Nian

Elva Hsiao – Xing Fu De Di Tu

F.I.R – Wo Men De Ai

Faye Wong – Dan Yuan Ren Chang Jiu

Faye Wong – Wo Ye Bu Xiang Zhe Yang

Fiona Sit – Nan Gua Che

Fish Leong – Jie Shou

Fish Leong – Wo Xi Huan

Fish Leong – Yong Qi

Gigi Leung – Xiang Ni

Guang Liang - Tong Hua

Jade Kwan - Can De Guo Wo

Jay Chou – Kai Bu Liao Kou

Jay Chou – Jie Kou

Jay Chou - Wa Jie

Jenny Yang - Bu Gong Ping

Joey Yung – Fen Shen Shu

Joey Yung – Shen Jiao Rou Gui

Joey Yung – Shen Jiao Rou Gui

Jolin Tsai – Shuo Ai Ni

Li Shen Jie - Yuan Zou Gao Fei

Lin Jun Jie – Jiang Nan

Lin Yi Chen - Gu Dan Bei Ban Qiu

Liu Ruo Ying - Yuan Lai Ni Zai Zhe Li

Miriam Yeung - Xiao Cheng Da Shi

Nicholas Teo – Dang Ni Gu Dan Ni Hui Xiang Qi Shui

Ocean Ou – Gu Dan Bei Ban Qiu

Penny Tai – Fang Kong Dong

Penny Tai – Ni Yao De Ai

S.H.E. – Always On My Mind

S.H.E. - Bao Chi Wei Xiao

S.H.E. - Bie Shuo Dui Bu Qi

S.H.E. - Hou Niao

S.H.E. – Nothing Ever Change

S.H.E. – Only Lonely

S.H.E. – Yuan Fang

Sun Yan Zi – Hai Pa

Sun Yan Zi – Wo De Ai

Sun Yan Zi – Wo Ye Hen Xiang Ta

Sun Yan Zi – Yu Jian

Vic Chou - Rang Wo Ai Ni

Wang Li Hong – Forever Love

Wang Li Hong – Qing Di Bei Tuo Fen

Wang Li Hong - Xin Zhong De Ri Yue

William So – Lu Zhi Lu Wan

William So – Nan Ran Bu Gai Rang Nu Ren Liu Lei

Wu Si Kai – Te Bie De Ai Gei Te Bie De Ni

Wu Si Kai – Yi Ke Xin Jiao Gei Shui

Wu Si Kai – Zhe Bian Na Bian

Wu Yin Liang Pin – Wo Zhao Ni Zhao Le Hao Jiu

Xiao Hu Dui - Hong Qing Ting

Xu Mei Jing - Cheng Li De Yue Guang

Xu Mei Jing - Yang Guang Zong Zai Fong Yu Hou

Yang Qian Hua - Ye Hai Zi

Zhang Hui Mei - Yong Gan

Zhang Jing Xuan - Wu Ng Wei Li

Zhang Xue You – Ai Shi Yong Heng

Zhang Xue You – In Love With You

Zhang Xue You – Xiang He Ni Zai Qu Chui Chui Feng

Zhou Hua Jian - Yi Qi Chi Ku De Xing Fu

ENGLISH

Backstreet Boys - Drowning

Faye Wong – Eyes On Me

FF8 – Waltz For The Moon

Starship - Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now

JAPANESE

Cartoon - Doraemon

Kubota Toshinobu - La La La Love Song

With Love - Once In A Blue Moon

Jus Another Saturday

It has been a realli uneventful week, apart frm e irritation on tues...urgh...the thot of it disgust me...yeeks!

Here i am loiterin on the net again. Did some polishing of boots tis morning...laundry and ironing wld b tml...sigh...

Bush Fire!

Bush fire spotted some where in the forest...uh...few km away i think. Did we move closer to the sun or did sth happen over the weekend? i cant believe it jus turned so warm all of the sudden...36° today! HeeeeHA! Well, warmth is better than the biting cold i had at the start of the course, i'm not and shldn't b complaining. Or rather, i shld b the last one to complain about it. Anyway, i realli enjoyed my afternoon at the beach playin volleyball, touch rugby, sun-bathing and swimex for sports today...well, definitely putting e flies out of the picture here.

I truely understand how Sun Wu Kong in "yue guang bao he" felt now tat i haf five Tang Seng around me...is the Goddess of Mercy gonna help me too?

The Aussie Salute

Beautiful weather today...nice and warm and sunny. It was said 2b 32°! Well, it may sound impossible, but it's realli hot today, but still dry though. i actually found beads of perspiration trickling down my back and in my peak cap as well, which is not normal here. I'm not complaining...but if the level of humidity is higher, it wld feel more like home...

But my day was ruined by those stupid god-damn flies. This place is infested with flies! While marchin, u can find at least 5 flies bugging each person, at least 5...one on the hat, two resting on ur shoulder and the other two buzzing in front of ya TRYING to get ur attention. They tried all means jus to make themselves significant...buzzing around ur ears and nose...crawling on ur eye brows, the ears and even on ur lip!!! A couple even try to get into my ear!...si can lan da is not even a proverb good enough to describe the situation. The colours (flag-raising ceremony) this morning was the most horrifying, appalling, god-awful, gross, watever 10min standing at attention in my life. i was practically raped by not jus 1, not 2, not 3, not 4...i donno how many...but it's at least 5 or 6 flies, and i cant move (too obviously) to get them away! AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! For Christ's sake, get the hell away from me!!! It's definitely 10 times worst then my ah-ma's place in malaysia.

If i'm ever a billionaire, i'll fund a research to find a virus to kill all the flies in the world!

urgh...i've showered and cleaned now...but i still haf the irking feeling of them buzzing ard me, in my ear especially...

Thanx

To all those who haf been reading, thank you.

U may noe me or probably not, or not good enough, or watever...but the fact that u bother to read, tells me that someone out there still cares about my presence in tis world tat is growing more & more lonely.

I'm grateful to the few who haf showed me 'the light' thru ur blog or mail or by leaving a comment. Thanx, i realli appreciate tat.

10 Things I Wanna Do In Singapore

1. Spend more time with my family
2. Stuff myself with cha kuay teow, fried carrot cake, satay, Hokkien mee, roti prata, etc...
3. MAMBO!
4. Hang out with all my piglets and puppies
5. Sun-bathing at Sunset Bay!
6. La-teh at Market 85
7. Cycling at east coast...or Pulau Ubin...or both
8. Cuddle in my bed
9. Kiow ka on my rocking chair
10. Visit DHS

Exercise Coral Sea

Exercise Coral Sea... a 3-day-2-night field exercise to test on the individual’s ability to lead a small group of unfamiliar ppl to complete a task within the stipulated time frame and available resources. A failure in the exercise will b rewarded with a kick out of the course. If tat mishap falls on me, it’ll meant tat my cousin-in-law and junrong will hafta pay lotsa money...(was it a six or five digit fig?)...if I cant afford to pay the SAF!...shld I b nasty?...hmmm...

Tis exercise happened the day after CMDR Gray Cup...woah...so my main challenge wasn’t actually the ‘test’ but more of how to carry the heavy webbing and field pack, with all my sore muscle for the duration of the exercise...

Well...it turned out tat my worries were redundant. We din march in tat enormous field pack for long...at most was 10 min frm station to station...the exercise was sth like the Sit Test in BMT, but no weapons tis time round, jus ropes and poles. So no worries man, it was a piece of piss. The most physically demanding one was probably a 10 min run on the beach with all my pack...wat wld u do when u cant take it but still wanna b seen putting in effort? Walk when no one see u or act extremely shack out la... I wont wanna break my sore fragile back for tis...

The rest of the stations were pure thinking and actions on the spot. And there were definitely lotsa knotting and lashing done... haha…wat wld the team b like without my superb campcraft skill!...hee...well, an alpine butterfly knot, a huge tent-guy loop and a single commando crawl even hafta come into action somewhere! It was smooth sailing for every1 in my team...everyone did pretty well, me too... haha...we’re jus too good, so no drama there. I cant say the same for other team though...some haf got retestees...a couple of them.

Main take-away from tis exercise—ticks!!! It's almost spring here, lotsa insect are lurking out frm their long winter sleep—moths, giant flies, worms and field ticks especially. Found a tick on me yesterday while showering...YEEKS!!! ...i hope tat’s the one and onli one on me...i’ll b praying hard...amitabha...

Titans Glory

Well, I din expect to win anyway. I was fifth, or shld I say second last, whichever way u prefer, I don realli care. I enjoyed myself actually, more than wat I’ve expected... Probably bcos I din go in with an attitude tat I’m gonna win sth; I jus wanna see where my limits are since Temasek Titans, which was two yrs back, and of course to haf fun! I did haf fun, in fact lots of it! It’s a job well done I wld say, slightly over my expectations, and decent enough 2b impressive...hee...**pat on the shoulder**

There were 10 events altogether. I flunked most of it in terms of ranking i.e. either got fifth or sixth. Well...wat can I say? Muscle bu ru ren? Probably I can put all the blame on the fact tat I was the first to do all events except for push-ups and 2.4 which were done together. I’m sure the last guy had got a lot more advantage than I did, having seen his predecessors’ mistakes and having longer rest esp after the pushups... But I was (still) pretty impressive with my forté...push-ups and chin-ups. Here’s the result:

Chin-up...1st ...tis was the first event, so my performance was excellent, one less than my personal best: 26. Nobody came close...heehee...

Bench press...5th...told u I sux at tis. But someone sux more. I struggled real hard for 19...9 more than the last guy

Rowing machine...6th...I haf never realli put my feet on tat machine b4, it was my first time. Well...guess I din do too well, I was the onli one below 800m in 3 min

Situp...unknown...pretty weird way of testing abdominal strength...cos every1 seem to get the same score...still prefer the titans way...whack for 3 min!

Dips...5th...beat the same guy in bench press here...26 in a min...6 less than the first man...argh...

Agility run...5th...I could haf done better, if I wasnt the first runner...i made a mistake, a stupid one, and was onli split second behind the 2nd, 3rd and 4th...argh...suck thumb

Push-up...1st...it was done in one-second beeping cadence played from a CD... beep...down... beep...up... beep...down again. Phew...it wasn’t easy...the other five were dead at ard 50. I carried on though, trying to break the record of 80, which is the end of the ‘beeping’ CD. I finished the 80 but they din accept the last count...not up to their standard they said...watever...watever...



Monkey bar...6th...4 behind the fifth guy. I was simply too tired after the push-ups to grip well...

100m sprint...5th…won the tallest guy...lost to the rest who were not as tall but still taller than me...



2.4km run...i met my expectation...6th...heehee...i still managed to get ard 940 despite of all the physical done b4 the run...and I was rather surprised tat I was able to keep two of all the other five ppl, who can run under 9min, within reach. They were jus 15 sec ahead of me...

Tat’s it. I’m happy with the result, it wasn’t tat bad. Temasek Titans was definitely much tougher...there’s the 1.6km shuttle run, 3 min alternate leg thrust and 5k lucky heights run...wooo...which I’m sure I haf no prob now. I reckon I’ll b ready to grab another Mr. Titans title with jus another week of trg... heeha...but well, I’m overage...



The main take-away frm tis event...the very familiar feeling of sore arms, muscles and back...wat haf I done to deserve tat?

Places of Interest - My Foto Gallery

It's done... ... ...finally...yes...finally...

It's a pain in the arse trying to load all those photos up...take a look at the post time and u'll understand why.

Be greatful alright.

A Wonderful Long Weekend

It was the best weekend ever...i cldn't wait to tell the whole world about it!!!

Fri, rot a little and watched 'Thomas Crown Affair'. Sat, went to Nowra, the nearest town but 40km away, to play LAN...counterstrike...battle field 1942...unreal tournament. i aint a great fan of such LAN gaming...but i guess it's the best form of entertainment in the town. Thank god, i'll be outta tis place in Dec...ti gong po bi... Canberra will b a much better place, it better be! Together wif 4 other lonely souls, we bought 2 extra large Pizzas for dinner and rented a few DVDs to spend the night...'the butterfly effect', '50 first dates' and 'a man apart'. Sunday, mould grew...did some ironing...ate a few junk...borrowed a laptop to play games...and ended the day with 'Master and Commander'. Today...sigh...boots polishing...laptop games again...and here in the library blogging...

Tell me it was a great weekend...sigh... the plan to go to sydney din turn out too well apparently. it was the AFL final...and cheap accommodation are all booked out...sianz..tough luck

Wat do i haf to complete b4 i hop onto bed today? Hmmm...laundry, drink lotsa water in preparation for tml and upload pics while i type this...tat shld b all...woo...how exciting...

And how should i spend the rest of the time...? Some cloud-staring?



Can someone tell me that there's nothing wrong wif my email account...messages expecting replies were sent out ages ago...but none of it came back... It's realli disapointing to see no replies whenever i open up the inbox...sigh...

'We're all lonely for something we don't know we're lonely for. How else to explain the curious feeling that goes around feeling like missing somebody we've never even met?'~~David Foster Wallace

To make my weekend worst...the chief at the cook house today sux...bad breakfast and lunch. I wonder wat yucky food he's goona make for tonight...grrrr...

I noe i'll b alright tml...I'm a 'half-full' person. I look at thing frm the perspective of 'half-full' rather than 'half-empty'. Oh well...nothing beats a positive attitude. but it is onli until tml tat this foul mood wld disperse...urgh...

The Mess Dinner

Get wat i meant now?...imagine a white dot in a crowd of 100 blacks...some sort of abstract arts??? hahaa...it aint funny. anyway, it was a good nite 'messing' wif these guys. i din get very serious attention...jus a few occasional 'Limmy, u look outstanding today!'...'wah, looking sharp in tat white'...at least the commodore din come and bother me [phew]. i was sitting at the corner of the hall...far away from 'Ms President', close to normally where Mr. Vice will b seated. infront of me was the chaplain, the 'counsellor' of the org. he definitely make an excellent counsellor...my nerves were cool...i haf never felt so peaceful toking wif someone b4... ... ... btw, i tied my own bow-tie cos i wasnt allowed to wear the ready-made bow-tied issued by the SAF.....kinda proud of myself...hee...but it took me more half an hour to get it sorted out. bugger...why was such a thing ever invented...

A gift from my oppo...wonder if there's an underlining behind tis.

Actually, it wasn't the 'great aussie slang' tat i'm having prob wif. it's jus tat theyseemtobejoiningalltheirwordstogetherastheyspeak...that the main prob ...watever... things will get better wif time.

PURE GRAFFITI

It din meant 2b a guest book...but u can treat it as one if u feel shuang. it's jus an alternative to tag board...boon (seng) complains he cant tag. it wont b erased when it's full...so feel free to hit a few letters in there

the link is under 'places of interest'. Scribble any thing u feel like expressing...anything under the sun...no constraint...no string attached...no small prints

Well...it seems tat i've got some unknown 'frens' visiting tis site on Sept 17 and 24...whoever u are thanx...esp the Canadian...thans for the advice...i haf never cease to believe in myself :>

Looking forwd to the coming loooooooooooooooooooooooong weekend... off work on friday noon...monday is labour day...so tuesday then start work again!!! HEEEEHA!! sydney...i'm coming...

Wat Haf I Got Myself Into?

sometime last week, some1 came up to me & said: "well, Lister cant take part bcos of some injuries now, so u're up for the CMDR Gray Cup together with Tim!"

Wat!!!?? the competition is next week, & tat leave me wif onli 2 weeks or less to train for it!!! how can i participate in sth tat i'm not ready for??? Wat the hell is going on?

but it seems tat no one else frm my div is up to it...suck thumb...sigh...

CMDR Gray Cup is sth like the Temasek Titans...yes, the TITANS!...fond memories in TJ... Anyway, i think tis wld b much tougher. there's more events...like e bench press which i'm EXTREMELY weak at... and the competitors are much stronger...there are freaks running 2.4km at 7-8min...wow... ... ...

did some running today...9.22...way to go...

bench press...urgh...dying at 10 rep at 45kg...loser...

chin ups...still not bad...22

dips...25 in a min...lotsa catching up to do

pushup...unknown...too tired to carry on...went to kick some soccer in the end

...

sigh...

...sigh...

don really hafta the heart to participate in the cup...sigh...

they cld haf inform me earlier...more time for me to train for it but no they din...sigh...sigh...

argh... i'll b screwed

The Best Days In Creswell

Tis week has been my best days in Creswell.

I was out sailing, as in really under sail...not powered-driven vessel but sailing vessel...away from the dreary classroom lessons for a week...out into the huai bao of mother nature.

Monday, lotsa of basic theory on the physics of the sail, ROR and other shit...watever... Excuse my ignorance (or stupidity?), I thot we can onli sail downwind. I never knew tat we can actually sail in other directions as well. Of course, we cant sail head on to wind, but I was really surprised by the fact tat we can sail at an angle of 40 degree towards the direction from where the wind is coming frm!


SV Salthorse

Anyway, the fun part started on Tues when I finally set sail on SV Salthorse. It was a windy and sunny day...a perfect day for sailing...a perfect day for me to strip down to jus t-shirt and shorts...a perfect day for some sun bathing!!! We were taught how to get the sails up, control the sails for various maneouvre and bla...we picked up quickly and became really competent and comfortable after some time... It wasn’t very tedious keeping the vessel moving in one direction. So as long as there wasnt a need for any direction change or man-overboard drill, most of the time we wld be sun-bathing on the weather deck, toking cock, playing cards, enjoying the breeze and sun, watchin the sea gulls diving into the water, and occasionally visited by small little penguins and dolphins…wat a way to enjoy life...


wat a wonderful day...


Tim and me

The weather was pretty bad yesterday. Near the end of sea state 2, almost 3...huge swell and strong wind...and cold as well. When under sail, the boat had a constant list of almost 45 degrees to one side!!! Salthorse is onli 20plus metre long so it pounded and rolled a great deal under the hostile weather. And it was definitely tough when we tried to put the sails down. Kinda scary...but it was fun and exciting as well...heehee...


the calm before the storm...


HeeeeeeeeeeeHA!!!

How sad tat the week hafta come to an end.

Mission Failed

Oh well...it seems like the animations din turn out too well in the end...

Hidden Talent

Forget about what I wrote earlier on. You wont see the "boxes" now cos I've got it all sorted out. You wont believe how talented I am in all this stuffs...technogeek? I find it hard to believe too. I struggled for many hours, refused to read any manual, and even consulted Regina via ICQ. Btw, I've never read or train in html before. For some unknown reasons, I scan thru the html, did some editing, try and error, and YeeeeeeHA...I've got it all sorted!!! BZ!!!

It's raining out there...wet and cold, the worst combination u can ever get. I have planned to go for a run along the beach, thru the jungle trail...the cross-country route. But it doesnt seem possible now. I'm alone in the library, feeling bored and donno wat to do...sigh... so i thot it'll be good to venture on some animation...


Hopefully these doesnt become few days later. Let me noe if this is slowing down 56k user.

Any one haf got better idea to put in animaton...how to get rid of those boxes??

Half Way Through

I'm counting down...76 days more to go...

As It Turned Out, The Stone Was Mightier Than Both Sword And The Pen

Tricky Iceberg

My Mistake, I Wasn't Saying Anything Actually

As expected, I din really enjoy the evening. The glass of white wine that I had was probably the best part of the evening. I spent most of the time listening; I onli spoke when probed. I was simply too engrossed in trying to comprehend wat was said than to think of wat to say. Were they mumbling becos they had too much drink or was there sth wrong with me? I don seem to have any great problem in understanding them for the last few weeks or so...but why am I struggling yesterday? Or was I jus freaking myself out too much?...I’m feeling so demoralised. I just lost a battle that I have been preparing for. I think it’ll take a while before I recover all the confidence I have lost.

Sori, What Was I Saying?

I’m kinda worried bout wat’s going to happen tis evening. There will be a cocktail party tis evening at the CO’s residence. Tat means I’ll hafta do wat I dread most—socialising...sigh... Being the only foreign trainee in the div the CO is bound to tok to me. I really donno wat to say...I can imagine myself tongue tight and blabbing nonsense...I’m afraid I will not be able to present myself well enough. =X It is fairly obvious tat I’m a recluse. I jus don like to tok to ppl I donno esp when it’s in a formal setting. Tis is me and I am happy about wat I am. sometimes I do hope tat I can become more extrovert so tat I would not have to frown over such a thing again. Is it really possible? I am kinda doubtful.

Pictures from City to Surf held in Sydney, sth like the Big Walk

Feel good and ready for the 14km walk!

Caitlin, Munch, Nashy, Hoody, Depper, Gale, Vic and me

Munch and me

Bondi revisit