All he wants is just a little piece of this dream, is that too much to ask?

2008-05-03T09:41:00.009+08:00

hello world

Haven't touched this for a while. BSLC at sispec has been a blast..well on hindsight as always. That sort of thing's never fun while you're at it. 14 days more and BSLC will end, and perhaps this short chapter of my life as an infantryman will come to a close. Observing the way the Army works as a rank-and-file soldier has been rather...eye-opening, and rather frustrating at many times. An extract from Lord Tennyson's Charge of the Light Brigade aptly sums it up:

'Forward, the Light Brigade!'
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Someone had blundered:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die,
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Being in the Army for 4 months so far and having to contend with all that has made me wonder whether choosing to sign on was a good idea. But I guess (and hope) that army and air force are worlds apart in that respect, and that I'd enjoy the life there infinitely more than where I am now. Also, I have God to thank for keeping me safe throughout these few months, no major injuries save for massed insect bites all over my body and ringing ears due to people firing blanks next to my ear.

Supposedly what will happen to me now that my application process has been cleared (according to the folks at RSAF) is that i'll be posted to air force recruitment centre after BSLC, while waiting for the next OCS intake. Completing BSLC allows me to skip the common leadership module of OCS (no confinement yay) and go straight to air wing... and from there go on to air force school before leaving for basic wing course in Australia assuming all goes well.

University wise..i'm sitting here watching the world go by as everyone around me's going for interview after interview for scholarships and university admissions, and some already receiving offers from many places. No qualms about that though...but it will be amusing if I get into the only course and university I applied to =D

In other news, I failed my first driving test (hoho) yesterday. Would have gotten a total of 16 points (fail to confirm safety x2, insufficient acceleration [omg?] and failing to keep left[that's actually considered road hogging eh]) and probably a pass if not for a brief lapse in situational awareness halfway through the test, where I did not notice a motorcyclist in the next lane as i filtered into it, causing me to receive another 16 (not enough side clearance given to other road users [duh i didn't see him] and causing other vehicles to take evasive action [hahaha]) and failure to give way to traffic with right of way (which is an immediate failure). Guess I am deemed unsafe on the roads =(

Oh and by the way if anyone actually knows what "fail to confirm safety" means, plz tell me tell me tell me. I have no idea what it means (simple though it may seem). Ironic ain't it. Being able to pass a flight test on the first attempt but not a driving test. Nevermind there's always MRT.

Right. I'm going back to leading my happy life until the next book in =D

2008-03-21T20:59:00.004+08:00

and IIIIiiiiii don't wanna lead an army life...

posted to SISPEC as an INF LDR.

how fun.

NOT!

air force air force where's my FEP TRAINEE postinggg

When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
-John 19:30

today we remember.

2008-02-24T16:17:00.003+08:00

and here we are again, same situation as the last time I posted.

going for 2D-echo of my heart tomorrow as per RSAF requirement to exclude cardiac abnormalities, due to a strange ECG report the last time round.

It's come to this, either pilot or downgrade...gogo heart. I heart you =D

and i get to book in a day later. woo

"I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved" - Psalm 16:8

2008-01-10T23:28:00.000+08:00

Everything went rather well today =)

Hopefully ECG's fine, and nose isn't too bad.

18 years of security this land has given me. Duty and obligation calls. Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow I lose my pink IC. for 11B. or SAF CARD as they call it now.

As always, prayers will be very much appreciated.

The hour is go

2008-01-09T21:31:00.000+08:00

dear nose, either way it goes, tomorrow you will shape the course of my future.

And whatever happens, I love you because God gave you to me =)

gogo nose.

For those in the know, prayers would be very much appreciated =)

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
-Romans 8:28

God, its in Your hands

2008-01-08T00:47:00.001+08:00

zomg what turd why no one tell me my results

kk 12th prime number not bad not good

but nvm. I have medical to worry bout. Plz nose dun explode kthx.

Thank You Lord =)

2007-12-29T20:16:00.000+08:00

Off to DEUTSCHLAND, then results, medical then tekong. God help me

2007-12-15T17:46:00.001+08:00

my K800i exploded. so i got a nokia 1650. it pwns because it has no camera (woo NS).

but it has a flashlight and RADIO. video would have been better though. because VIDEO KILLED THE RADIO STAR.

i <3 1650 =D

2007-12-11T19:58:00.000+08:00

oh happy day

Had my maiden F-16 flight today =D

after being delayed twice due to weather conditions, we were told to suit up. An announcement that only instrument-rated pilots were cleared to fly was heard over the 143 Squadron building's PA, and we took the bus out to the hangars. On a sidenote, my G-suit was really tight...must be all the food I had in Malacca over the past 3 days.

walked out with the pilot flying with me, Major Desmond (callsign was Demon. I guess he got it due to his name), and strapped in to F-16D tail #639. It felt so surreal when the canopy closed shut. Just us and the bird. The oxygen mask was rather laborious to breathe with though...but it really helped in the high-G maneuvers. The taxi out to the runway was rather fast compared to what I was used to, but that was just the beginning of everything fast.

"Ninja 1 cleared for takeoff"

The afterburner lit and the Pratt and Whitney turbofan roared to life, and the F-16D shook and thundered down runway 36 and into the air. The combination of the deep rumble and vibration of the jet and the extreme acceleration felt during the afterburner takeoff was simply exhilarating.

A few seconds after getting airborne, we did a 3-4G climbing turn to the right to avoid Malaysian airspace. It felt great after not feeling any sustained G forces for more than half a year. While proceeding to the training area over the South China Sea, we climbed through thick cloud formations. The sight of flying into cloud in a bubble-canopy aircraft is amazing...it felt as if we were on a magical flying carpet.

On arrival at the training area at around 20000ft, we did some basic aerobatics. A 4G loop, a barrel roll, an immelmann turn (or up-and-over), and a 7G turn. Somewhere along or between these maneuvers, we broke the sound barrier at 16:04:49 Singapore time, reaching Mach 1.03. The climax of the maneuvers was a descending turn which reached 8.9G. At that point my vision was all faded and blur, and my lower body muscles rather tired from all the straining.

The experience of high-G maneuvers in the F-16 cannot really be described but has to be experienced to fully...say...enjoy it, unenjoyable though they may be, but I will attempt to describe it. At the start of the maneuver, you feel the G-suit slowly inflating and squeezing your lower body and legs. Progressively, you feel your whole body being forced into the seat, and at 5-6G you tense all your lower body and leg muscles to stop blood from draining out of the brain and pooling there, in an attempt to stop the feeling of lightheadedness and preventing your vision from blanking out. And it just all increases in intensity as 9G is approached.

After all that, Major Desmond gave me control of the aircraft. I managed a 3-4G level turn, and flew the F-16 back to Singapore through the guidance of the waypoints in the multifunction display, and the "thing that looks like sperm" on the heads-up display. Over the island, he took back control, steepened the descent and landed back on Tengah runway 36, where we taxyed back to the hangar and shut down the aircraft.

It was an extremely eye-opening day for me, not to mention an adrenalin-rush filled day too.

Thanks be to God who makes all things possible. Thanks to the RSAF and SYFC for starting this programme, and to the men and women of 143 Squadron for organizing, accomodating, and flying us =)

here's to the F-16, the first aircraft which ever made me feel a little nauseous.

2007-12-03T23:27:00.000+08:00

and history repeats itself.

arr plz dun clashzor

2007-11-13T22:31:00.000+08:00

and on the 13th, history is history.

enjoyed it loads though. poof.

2007-11-11T21:52:00.000+08:00

A day I have always wanted to come since 2002.

tomorrow, the 12th of November 2007, will be a beautiful day.

The world would be a much happier place after 0930hrs.

oh joy

2007-10-30T20:52:00.000+08:00

xin: yep i saw it when you first posted it...but couldn't really think of many. Anyway here goes =)

she says:

"I want to start a meme!

It's called the materialism meme, and you have to state and describe/detail 5 unfulfilled material desires, which can be any price, ranging from priceless to 10-cents. 3 of these must be highly desired. You then go on to tag 5 people."

Highly desired...by society at large or by myself?

1. BMW E92 M3...small, rather practical and not overly flashy, with a 4.0L V8 putting out 414hp and a peak torque of 400Nm. With BMW M standard transmission, suspension, and handling. Not to mention a carbon fibre roof and the quad pipes. Sweet.

2. ATG Javelin

A fighter-like civilian aircraft. Not much utility though, maybe for the occasional joyride..Not that I'll ever get close to owning one, but hey, its the materialism meme =D

3. 100 bucks worth of Starbucks vouchers.

I blame my impending poverty on the exams. Home contains too many distractions, school's too far away, no libraries within walking distance, and fast food outlets are noisy.

4. New desktop computer. Homebuilt of course. This laptop's fine but a little slow, old desktop is slow and well...old.

5. Oh yes. A watch. Big face analog watch with many little faces inside and many markings all over the place which you'll probably never use. Or one with an emergency VHF air-band transmitter. Breitling Emergency plz.

haha kk. um now tag.

IAN CHEONG
RONALD IP
and uh. the next 3 people who see this. that probably means you you and you.

ohnoesexaminoneweektimedai.

2007-10-23T23:01:00.000+08:00

2007-10-21T20:28:00.001+08:00

haha finally uninstalled WC3. kk mass study now. woo

2007-10-06T12:23:00.000+08:00

must study aaah. i'm hungry

Main Type	Overall Self

Take Free Enneagram Personality Test

Enneagram Test Results

Type 1	Perfectionism	\|\|\|\|\|\|	26%
Type 2	Helpfulness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	38%
Type 3	Image Focus	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	62%
Type 4	Hypersensitivity	\|\|	10%
Type 5	Detachment	\|\|\|\|\|\|	22%
Type 6	Anxiety	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	34%
Type 7	Adventurousness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	78%
Type 8	Aggressiveness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	50%
Type 9	Calmness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	62%

Your main type is 7
Your variant is sexual

Take Free Enneagram Personality Test

2007-09-27T22:03:00.000+08:00

actually i pwned compass =D

and i got sunburnt. my skin is falling of. aah

2007-08-14T20:29:00.001+08:00

i got pwned at compass test. ohnoes

2007-07-14T23:21:00.000+08:00

haha. 17 has been great; lots and lots of firsts...but 18 will be better =)

thanks to everyone who celebrated with me yesterday and today..this has been the most hectic but enjoyable birthday and birthday eve for me in my whole life (i never had mcdonalds parties)...woot.

i guess birthdays are times of great thanksgiving as well...for the things we often overlook, for good health, for this (relatively) safe country, for great friends and loved ones, for good times and bad, and above all for the love of God and the greatest sacrifice of His son Jesus Christ for our sins =)

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
- Psalm 23:4

one eight, here we go.

2007-07-05T21:56:00.001+08:00

12 hours time, it'll be all over.

somehow this exam seems to be the most drawn out, dreary one of all the others. and i'm getting pwned by everything, especially math. hahaha. what suck.

i'll be happy if i don't fail anything. monkey head.

i like cheese.

2007-06-28T20:45:00.000+08:00

cheese bun. 5 down 7 to go. and i still have cas file and world lit and IOC to bug me after the exams. then there's the prelims. then IB. woot.

i'm burnt up already. and i haven't exactly studied much either. i should quit school and go sell roti prata. but then again i don't like waking up early. so i have no choice but to study now so i can get a piece of paper which allows me to wake up a bit later next time.

is jc life supposed to feel like this, or did we even have one to start with? bah. no point complaining.

hmf. i miss flying. chickenwing.

2007-06-24T22:03:00.000+08:00

I am studying chemistry
like a monkey in a tree
peanuts, alcohol and alkane
make my head so very pain

SN1
machine gun
i want to eat bo lo bun

dinitrophenylhydrazine
why not for him magazine
crazy bright orange crystal
but dinosaur is green and purple

Chemistry is fun and friendly
so is barney drunk on brandy
ooh. CH3COOH
another stanza on this page.

CH3COOH
there is no bird in the cage
it flew off to neverland
and went to eat peter pan

What is esterification
it's a condensation reaction
carbon carbon carbon carbon
put a donkey in the oven

i have lots of carbonyl
so much that it's in a pile
where is my chemistry file
it became a projectile

okay. i should study more. Chemistry is fun and friendly. yep

2007-06-23T12:35:00.000+08:00

four niner niner

I'll run my hand gently over the wing of a small airplane and say to him, "This plane can teach you more things and give you more gifts than I ever could. It won't get you a better job, a faster car, or a bigger house. But if you treat it with respect and keep your eyes open, it may remind you of some things you used to know -- that life is in the moment, joy matters more than money, the world is a beautiful place, and that dreams really, truly are possible." And then, because airplanes speak a language beyond words, I'll take him up in the evening summer sky and let the airplane show him what I mean.
-Lane Wallace, 'Eyes of A Child'

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
- Matthew 11:28-30

2007-06-23T01:27:00.000+08:00

i got bitten by a mosquito.

hahaha. wouldn't it be fun to feign a dengue 'attack' during exams.

"ARRRRRRRRRRRRRGHH DENGUE!!!" during math paper or smth

then collapse on the ground and start writhing about, knocking everyone's desks over. then when the teachers come, you run away and collapse somewhere else, and knock other peoples' desks over. hahaha.

cheap thrill yes. but oh well. what a perfect world it would be. even more amusing considering dengue is nothing like that.

hmf. i need to go study.

2007-04-30T19:05:00.001+08:00

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

2007-04-25T21:40:00.000+08:00

woot. FHT was teh win...finally got my wings. i'm tired, will blog about it some other time. =)

To God be the Glory

2007-04-24T19:10:00.000+08:00

FHT postponed till tmr. anticlimax...but fun =)

rain rain come now, don't come again tomorrow morning. whee

2007-04-21T21:44:00.000+08:00

We thought humble and proud at the same time, all at once in love again with this painful bittersweet lovely thing called flight. - Richard Bach, A Gift of Wings.

heh. today was my last flight as a trainee pilot at SYFC..It was rather bittersweet. Lightning warning ended at around 1700hrs, and hence after we taxiied out and took off. A rather amusing radio call was heard while taxiing, by some guy on his first flight.

"Seletar ground, Skylark Nine-Nee(i guess he misread niner) four"

and another by the same person, reading back ATC instructions..

"Skylark 94, whiskey 1, runway 21, Q...Q..." and it trailed off.

it was rather hilarious. nevermind.

yeah. flight was rather good, and the after rain scenery was rather breathtaking. The south and west of singapore were still rather rainy, whereas the north and east had this...foggy post-rain look to it. Up north, only the tops of malaysian buildings in Johore could be seen, but it was mostly covered in fog too...the silhouettes looked really cool and fantasy-ish...if God had a job, he'd probably had been an artist =) (and no, its not because of "our Father, which art in heaven"). Was taxiing back to the syfc aircraft dispersal, with the orange glow of the sunset sky visible above the syfc building, when it hit me.

Hit me that it was my last time flying as a trainee at SYFC. For the first time, I realised that this wonderful and memorable chapter of my life was quickly coming to a close. All the days of having to miss lessons for flights, coming down every saturday for groundschool, and all the work put in and the really enjoyable flights...will soon just be a happy memory. Ironic isn't it, when you're given your wings, then you can't fly anymore (to quote Haoyi "kk you win game, let others plae plx")...well for the time being at least. Until the Air Force decides to fly me hopefully =)

Oh well. Final Handling Test this tuesday. Hopefully everything would go smoothly as it has been...and prayers would definitely be appreciated =)

Thank You Lord, for this gift of wings.
Dual Hours: 49.2h
Solo Hours: 10.8h

There's just too much that time cannot erase =)

2007-04-16T19:14:00.000+08:00

hahaha. found these all over the net...rather amusing

a little excessive, but you get the idea =D

2007-04-15T20:33:00.000+08:00

this is very useful indeed

2007-03-30T18:25:00.000+08:00

Thunderstorms are nice. It's even nicer when you're in a place that's not at home, and you're looking outside just watching the rain pour down, water trickling down the windows. Watching on as people outside walk around calmly under shelter, the ones in the open, some under umbrellas, and some without, hurriedly running for cover. Vehicles going by, people around you going by, all through the storm. There's just something beautiful about it all =)

Solitude, another beautiful thing. Haven't had any time alone for a really long time, and just having one afternoon to myself is a wonderful break from the hectic school and social life. A quiet place, just me myself and the presence of the Good Lord...No rushing around trying to meet deadlines, or trying to get to any place on time, or anyone to mess with your head. I don't know where all the time went, but its was an experience I don't have very often, to sit there alone, watching the world go by and not worrying or giving much about it =)

Did the usual 3.6km run up and down all over the estate after that, and the runner's high at the end of it all always just takes the cake. Somehow that feeling just always attempts to spur you on to put the best into anything that you do, believing that something good would come out of it all. Sadly, after the high goes off, it all goes back to the uncaring, apathetic self.

Weekend's here. Wonderful. I survived another week of this crazy world.

2007-03-29T20:13:00.000+08:00

pah. another week of school's coming to a close. weekends are always good. After passing my final CAAS paper, i finally have my saturdays free again. Around 5 more consolidation flights, and then the final handling test. God willing, I'll be able to pass it the first time round and...well. It would mark the end of a rather significant phase in my life, joining the ranks of aviators. It was around April last year, when I skipped the week of OEP to fly. I remember being planned 3 times, but the first 2 rained, and I had my first flight then. Quite a while has passed since then, and I thank God that I'm able to be at where I am today, 53.1 flight hours, of which 9.8 solo hours were as pilot in command. Well, God willing once more, the next step would be to add 'professional' in front of 'aviator'. Hmm. Haven't been on an airliner for a long time though. Hopefully this June.

School's still rather draining, causing me to be mentally and physically drained by the time i reach home, though i don't think i actually do much in school. I guess it's just the long school hours. Though this week there has been the year 5 council campaining, and it has added a rather carnival atmosphere to the school, which is much welcomed. And i managed to get a lot of food today, which is also very much welcomed. I've been trying to get more sleep on the days which I can, and less when I have work. Which has been working quite well actually, as I feel more awake nowadays. And I'm abstaining from caffeine. hah.

oh yes. and juggling. hahaha. thanks to haoyi bringing 3 tennis balls to class last week, i've been attempting to juggle. I daresay I'm getting quite okay at it, given that i just started less than a week ago, being able to keep the 3 balls up for around 10 seconds before dropping stuff. Surprisingly, its quite a good stress buster. You all should go try it.

Oh well. One more day of school. Can't wait for the weekend. I need the time to sit around and read stuff that's unrelated to school. It's quite a weird habit of mine, that thing. Just last night, I was (attempting to) do my lit presentation, I spent at least 80% of the time on the internet reading about the Tamil Tigers instead of King Lear. King Lear is so boring. Should do king kong instead.

ahahahha. and james BONG has shaved his head. rather amusing, considering the fact that he used to use a lot of wax for his hair. and his strange fringe that he loves to shake around. hehe

BYE.

2007-03-06T20:08:00.000+08:00

.........

hello world.

haven't touched this little thing here for a long time.

much has happened since the last time I blogged, but one of the more memorable ones was when choo yang, ian lin and I took a taxi to east coast for our class party a few weeks back. We had this extremely entertaining taxi driver who accelerated and drove unusually fast for a taxi driver, and told us about his escapades, eg. 'racing' random toyota vios who cut him off or smth, cursing at other drivers because "if you're a taxi driver you have to do such things"(all said in chinese), pointing out which cars on the road are good, and also telling us that he could race in any car (gei wo zui lan de che, hyundai matrix, ye ke yi). He also told us about some ang moh tourists who wanted to get from changi airport to harbourfront in 10 mins, so he drove at 160km/h. The actual recounting of the story was way more hilarious, especially his attempts to imitate a western accent.

And at one point, when we were going round some curve near east coast, he made some hand gesture near the handbrake and shouted "DRIFT!", and started smiling and telling us more stuff after that. Extremely entertaining I must say. The life of a taxi driver is quite cool.

anyway. school's been quite draining these few weeks. The way I see it, the school hours are way too long and the time isn't being utilized well. Staying back all the way to 1540-1640 some days, with almost a third of the day spent in free periods are really killing my attention span. and maybe lifespan. Maybe it's something to do with the ADD.

I got my rear kicked by the latest chem test too. QQ.

Ah well. One more week before we get a much needed week off school. Hoping that I won't have to go back to batu pahat. That dump killed most of the rest I should have had during CNY.

After 45.8 hours of flight time, with 8.1 of those hours as a solo pilot-in-command of an aircraft, i'm finally feeling the end of my PPL course being in reach. I thank God for the opportunity that He gave me to fly at this age, and for all the other blessing He has showered upon me throughout the entire duration of the course. The journey has been long, but enjoyable and sweet, and hopefully the grant of my licence would mark the start of better things to come. Around 12-14 flights more till my final handling test, and hopefully the combined stress of preparing for that as well as common tests/mid-years doesn't explode me.

i'm done. will try to update this more often. out

He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart
- Psalm 91:4

2007-01-18T21:48:00.000+08:00

haha. i got pwned by weather, GUANO, and more weather today. what an exciting day.

When stuff like these happens, I always start wondering whether its all worth it. Its not that I find it a chore; I love it. But the inconveniences are starting to pile up. Nevermind, I need it for my cas anyway.

But at the end of the day, whenever the 160 horses under the cowling sends the little bird thundering down the runway and the force of C_L½pV²S* tears me from gravity's hold, any semblance of doubt would disappear, and it is then, when I know I'm home.

When this life I'm in is done,
And at the gates I stand,
My hope is that I answer all
His questions on command.

I doubt He'll ask me of my fame,
Or all the things I knew, Instead,
He'll ask of rainbows sent
On rainy days I flew.

The hours logged, the status reached,
The ratings will not matter.
He'll ask me if I saw the rays
And how He made them scatter.

Or what about the droplets clear,
I spread across your screen?
And did you see the twinkling eyes.
Of student pilots keen?

The way your heart jumped in your chest,
That special solo day-
Did you take time to thank the one
Who fell along the way?

Remember how the runway lights
Looked one night long ago
When you were lost and found your way,
And how-you still dont know?

How fast, how far, how much, how high?
He'll ask me not these things
But did I take the time to watch
The Moonbeams wash my wings?

And did you see the patchwork fields
And moutains I did mould;
The mirrored lakes and velvet hills,
Of these did I behold?

The wind he flung along my wings,
On final almost stalled.
And did I know I it was His name,
That I so fearfully called?

And when the goals are reached at last,
When all the flyings done,
I'll answer Him with no regret-
Indeed, I had some fun.

So when these things are asked of me,
And I can reach no higher,
My prayer this day - His hand extends
To welcome home a Flyer.

— Patrick J. Phillips

*for the purists, p should be rho. but rho doesn't show. lousy rho

2007-01-12T00:52:00.000+08:00

doing TOK essays at unearthly hours is akin to taking a cocktail of psychedelic drugs. All these hazy concepts and -isms about reality, truth, perception and knowledge, and faint shimmers of brilliant thoughts which disappear as soon as you decide to start typing, all overshadowed by the dominant thought that flashes at you periodically, increasing in frequency as time passes, "I WANT TO SLEEP"

2007-01-02T15:22:00.000+08:00

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

- Matthew 6:25-33

Yep. What I should keep in mind for the rest of this year. School's starting. Let's roll.

2006-12-19T20:14:00.000+08:00

rah. got all wet today, lousy monsoon surge..haven't seen the sun for a while. hope i don't fall sick.

rain rain go away, come again another day (when i don't have to fly). Clear by tmr morning so i can fly around in the bright yellow and blue little aeroplane. whee

2006-12-17T23:26:00.000+08:00

a hundred and three years ago, on this day, man first took to the air in an powered aircraft. 103 years on, I'm glad to be able to be part of it all =)

Because I fly
I laugh more than other men
I look up and see more than they,
I know how the clouds feel,
What it's like to have the blue in my lap,
to look down on birds,
to feel freedom in a thing called the stick...

who but I can slice between God's billowed legs,
and feel then laugh and crash with His step
Who else has seen the unclimbed peaks?
The rainbow's secret?
The real reason birds sing?
Because I Fly,
I envy no man on earth.

— Anonymous

2006-12-15T22:09:00.000+08:00

navigation flight to malacca was really fun, flying over malaysia at relatively low altitudes (1500'-2500'), and through a storm on the way back in the afternoon =) haven't really been updating much due to work and laziness >.<

Sorties 24-27 DCO
Dual hours: 25.4h
Solo hours: 4.2h

oh yes, we saw steven lim at orchard yesterday. and IAN took a picture with him.

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out where the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with dust and sweat and blood. At best, he knows the triumph of high achievement; if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt

2006-11-24T20:37:00.000+08:00

haha. how sad. another flight got rained on. Ah well, at least they gave me another one tomorrow. Did the following quiz thingy...long time since i did any. Found it interestingly accurate on most points. Besides the point about getting a lot of dates of course. Seen these sort of quizzes a few times, and its quite interesting how they come up with all these from just choosing seemingly mundane, non-related answers that give you the results. ah well =)

neh. its here http://www.quizbox.com/personality/test82.aspx

Your view on yourself:
You are intelligent, honest and sweet. You are friendly to everybody and don't like conflict. Because you're so cheerful and fun people are naturally attracted to you and like to talk to you.

The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:
You like serious, smart and determined people. You don't judge a book by its cover, so good-looking people aren't necessarily your style. This makes you an attractive person in many people's eyes.

Your readiness to commit to a relationship:
You are ready to commit as soon as you meet the right person. And you believe you will pretty much know as soon as you might that person.

The seriousness of your love:
Your have very sensible tactics when approaching the opposite sex. In many ways people find your straightforwardness attractive, so you will find yourself with plenty of dates.

Your views on education
Education is less important than the real world out there, away from the classroom. Deep inside you want to start working, earning money and living on your own.

The right job for you:
You're a practical person and will choose a secure job with a steady income. Knowing what you like to do is important. Find a regular job doing just that and you'll be set for life.

How do you view success:
You are confident that you will be successful in your chosen career and nothing will stop you from trying.

What are you most afraid of:
You are afraid of having no one to rely on in times of trouble. You don't ever want to be unable to take care of yourself. Independence is important to you.

Who is your true self:
You are mature, reasonable, honest and give good advice. People ask for your comments on all sorts of different issues. Sometimes you might find yourself in a dilemma when trapped with a problem, which your heart rather than your head needs to solve.

boing.

2006-11-09T22:24:00.000+08:00

hello world. long time no post.

mostly due to laziness more than anything else.

another academic year has come to an end, and I suppose its time to take stock and see what we have gained and lost.

I have to say this year, being in the so called next level of education, didn't really seem different. After all, it's still in the same compound, same teachers, same...a lot of things. The addition of the opposite gender into the environment hasn't really had much of an effect. On me at least. Perhaps thats due to being in a class of 24 with only 3 girls. Of course, one of the biggest (relatively) changes is that there are no more gep classes. Not that I liked having segregated gep classes, but after 7 years with the same kind of people, a little change is quite refreshing. Got to know many interesting people as well. Hah.

Academically, I have to say it doesn't feel any different from any other year. Though there's added pressure with the physics and chem pracs now due to the fact that they're all graded. But i don't think that has changed the quality of my pracs. they still suck quite bad.

Of course, there was that period this year around the june hols where I started feeling rather strange and all. Look back in the archives if you want to figure that out. But it put things in perspective for me, and made me far more grateful for what God has blessed me with.

This is rather interesting. KIM JONG IL > TIGER WOODS in golf

Kim Jong Il has aviophobia. what a noob. he can go take his armoured train all over the place with the cows in the cattle cars.

Sortie 23 DCO on 9V-BOG
Dual hours: 22.5h
Solo hours: 1.8h

2006-10-08T16:41:00.000+08:00

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

- Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

everything in its time...

2006-10-01T21:48:00.000+08:00

the final countdown.

here we go. exams once again. Though this one supposedly has more significance, due to the threat or focus camp or retention. ahaha. As far as I have noted, the general consensus is that people are worried that their not worried for this coming exams. Perhaps we have been examined too many times, and this just seems routine. Ah well.

I feel rather academically inadequate at this point of time, despite many hours spent on some subjects. Whatever it is, this isn't in my hands. Come what may.

Blessed be the LORD my strength which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight - Psalm 144:1 (KJV)

We're in hot.

2006-09-27T21:07:00.000+08:00

bugger the haze. it looks really bad from where i live. looking across to tan tock seng hospital, the fogginess of it is really visible. and looking at far away buildings and lights, everything's rather fuzzy too. And i can smell that familiar hazy scent, reminiscent of the bad haze of...hmm. i think 98. where the pi sai went all the way past 100 (which meant unhealthy).

thanks to that I got grounded yesterday. supposedly you couldn't see the ground clearly from 800 feet up. and that's not very high >.<

oh well. mug mug. its quite boring. promos faster go away pls. gg no re(tain)

2006-09-21T22:22:00.000+08:00

it has been a productive day. happy happy

Sortie 22 DCO on 9V-BOL
Dual hours: 21.1h
Solo hours: 1.3h

2006-09-11T17:32:00.000+08:00

2006-09-08T23:14:00.000+08:00

Fun day. cell, fly, bs =)

but sadly, holidays have ended. its now the weekend. oh wells.

Sortie 22 DNCO on 9V-BOG
Dual hours: 20.5h
Solo hours: 0.8h

2006-09-06T21:24:00.000+08:00

okay. no more emo or asking me whats wrong. I'm good.

finally managed to solo again after a long time. hoho.

haha I was held back at the taxiway for quite some time with a few others just before I took off for my solo. After around 10 minutes of holding at taxiway whiskey 1, radio silence on 118.45Mhz was broken by a certain november-niner-mike receiving clearance to land at seletar. It turned out to be this Gulfstream IV with the registration no. N9999M (hence the callsign N-9M), with only 3 people onboard (which is quite strange for a large private jet like a Gulfstream 4). The pilot had a rather distinct american accent, and the aircraft was American registered (all US registered civil aircraft have reg numbers beginning with N). I wonder whether it was some VIP flight carrying some bigshot...due to the aircraft having a rather strange registration number and the rather small amount of passengers (1, and 2 pilots, or 2 and one pilot), and that all the aircraft in the circuit were grounded as the jet was on a long final approach. Usually that doesn't happen, as we have learjets and the occasional 737 taking off quite often there and we don't have to all stay on the ground. hmm. interesting. Or perhaps we can take a less exciting view of it, and hypothesize that it was just a normal private jet with a cool reg number due to its owner being rather eccentric, and that the 3 people on board were just the crew, and it was just coming here for maintenance by ST Aerospace, which has a maintenance facility at seletar.

It is deliberately unparagraphed so that only interested parties would read. However this paragraph here might have nullified that effect, and aroused curiousity in those who would not have read it if this paragraph wasn't here. boing.

Sortie 21 DCO on 9V-BOK
Dual hours: 20.0h
Solo hours: 0.8h
Thank You Lord, for that and everything else that happened recently =)

2006-09-02T21:33:00.000+08:00

Circumstance has had me cornered.

I don't know exactly why, but after spending days and months in the trash can of shallow life, i have climbed out, only to face the world with much more cynicism than ever.

Especially this thing they call love. No not romantic love, but love in general.

It has been said: "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

It has become apparent, of late, that I am unable to give nor receive love in any capacity.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
- 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

what shall be my next course of action, mud-hued bovine?

2006-09-02T20:00:00.000+08:00

Went to RSAF open house at paya lebar airbase. It was nice being back at paya lebar, as the last time I went for an air force one was in 2001, a few weeks before the PSLE.

besides having the usual lineup of currently active aircraft at the main display area, there were the legacy aircraft just at the entrance...One Hawker Hunter, One UH-1H Huey, and the newest addition to the retired fleet, a TA-4SU, with the kewl tandem cockpits.

The aircraft that were displayed in the main display area were the Block 52 F-16s (C, D, D+), F-5S/Ts, AH-64D Apaches, AS332 Super Pumas, CH-47SD Chinooks, a C-130H and a KC-135R. Long queues everywhere just to sit in the cockpits of the fighters, or just go into either the helicopters or the huge transport aircraft. It was 5 years ago that I first sat (not been. i had been in a A310-300 cockpit when i was younger, courtesy of SIA =D) in a cockpit, and it was the cockpit of an F-5S. Lovely little thing. Except that back then, I was too short to see over the instrument panels of the F-5.

The main attraction (for me at least) had to be the aerial display. It started off with a scramble demonstration, where some air raid siren thing was sounded and the pilots and groundcrew of 2 F-5Ss and 2 F-16Cs ran out from dunno where and started up the aircraft. Shortly after, a single F-16D+ roared down the runway and did a vertical climb, followed by a roll in the vertical and leveling off inverted. The 4 scramble aircraft then followed, with the 2 F-16Cs doing a vertical climb after takeoff too.

I always loved these 'muscle climbs' or so they're called, by F-16s or any other fighter aircraft, where the high thrust to weight ratio of these aircraft are evident. I would definitely love to do these sometime in the future.

Everything else was quite cool too, the solo aerobatics by the F-16D+, which displayed its rather high rate of turn and small turn radius, though if my memory doesn't fail me, i've seen the F-16C do better. There were attack runs performed by the 2 F-16Cs and 2 F-5Ss, and those were quite spectacular. They should have dropped live munitions instead of just detonating some charge on the ground though. But i suppose they'd rather not, safety concerns and all. They also did some aggresive maneuvering after the run, which was supposedly to show how they would evade ground fire. They should have fired off flares at the same time to make it look nicer, and possibly more authentic. But it would cost the air force some $$ i suppose.

The heavy lift capability of our CH-47SD chinooks were displayed as always, by lifting 2 jeeps, and then the new pegasus 155mm howitzer. Then the apaches came out from behind the treelines, reminiscent of the Cold War era doctrine of attack helicopters popping in and out of terrain in the European plains. They demonstrated rather nice maneuvering, though i rathered they have at least gone inverted at least once, and should have fired a few flares too.

There was also an aerial refueling demonstration, consisting of a single KC-130B and 2 F-5s, but they didn't really connect to the tanker. It would have been cooler if they did, but i suppose other considerations prevented them from doing so. Pok.

There was a rather amusing part, where the Super Pumas and the Chinook dropped off infantry and 2 jeeps, and then these 2 APCs also came from nowhere and they all started firing at these 6 guys who were firing back. After wondering what was happening for a while, the 6 guys 'died', some with rather animated death sequences. It was clearly overkill, having 2 APCs and 2 jeeps with heavy machine guns, and 2 infantry squads vs 6 guys. But still, quite amusing. Then the Red Lions and their parachutes came. Its quite cool how they're able to flare at the last moment and land so gently.

anyway, i shall put up some pics =)

The interesting person who was there with me.

The aircraft that were to be scrambled

F-5 taxiing after being scrambled

Aerial Refueling

2006-08-30T22:30:00.000+08:00

school comes to a close. however, sept holidays are only a brief respite from the dreary-ness of the aforementioned.

2 additions to the logbook.

Sortie 21 DNCO on 9V-BOE, 22/08/06 due strong crosswind.

Sortie 21 DNCO on 9V-BOH, 30/08/06 due wet runway.

Dual hours: 19.4h
Solo hours: 0.2h

And I passed my CAAS radio-telephony paper. Dunno pass by how much though. yay

sleep beckons

2006-08-23T21:33:00.000+08:00

work work.

math portfolio, IOP, long overdue chinese orals, physics test and chem test, plus unfinished pracs, and a host of other less important academic endeavours face most students in year 5 of the ACSI IBDP programme.

How interesting that every year, there always is a period of mad rushing of high-value assignments, which somehow always seems to come in waves, not unlike the allied forces on the beaches of normandy on the 6th of June, 62 years ago. Perhaps its due to poor time management on our part. Year after year it has been emphasized, both soft (pastoral care talks) and hard (spamming us with work, hoping we'd learn) ways, but the lazy, procrastinating human nature (or is student-nature more apt?) always wins out in the end. Only at the point when the urgency-due-to-impending-doom function graph exceeds the benefits-of-slacking-off function graph when plotted against time, do we begin to attempt our work seriously. That point for many of us, unfortunately, is around 1-3 days before the due date, some more, many less.

I have reached that point a while ago, but unfortunately the gradient of the urgency graph is not sufficiently steep enough to warrant really focused work, hence my concurrently typing this out now while doing my math portfolio. Doesn't matter. Soon, sleep will come, and pain will fade away slowly into the night. Well, until tmr morning that is, if I haven't finished my portfolio by then.

Not long ago, I was unceremoniously referred to as a part-time student (or so i've heard), in reference to my constant disappearing acts at school due to my airborne commitments. Then today, yours truly was questioned about whether it was 'right' for me to miss lessons due to that, and the party referred to continued to go on rambling about things while completely missing the irony of the whole situation. In light of these recent issues, and others concerning skipping school to do work (yes. DO WORK. tell that to any student 30 years ago and he'll have a field day laughing his rear-end off) and even more other unspeakables, I have begun to feel rather disillusioned (maybe I'm a little slow) about how education is being treated.

Caught up in a storm of image/book-keeping and the nuances of bureaucracy ever-present in every large organization, certain people easily forget that the objective and primary mission of the noble profession of education is one of nurturing talents and dreams among the raw, unpolished young people, to allow them to harness the potential that is in every student, and allow them to achieve far greater things than if they were left to their own devices. Yes, that, not things like whether one comes to school on time. Granted, a certain level of decorum is needed both for organizational purposes and preparation for the working world, but overemphasis on that or any other administrative duties above actual education is definitely a step backwards.

As an esteemed counterpart of mine has put it:
"i’ve said this one time to many, but it seems to keep happening over and over again - people actually ponning school to do work or study is has been come a far too commonplace occurrence already. as if it were the most “noble” form of ponning, it already says a lot about school and the workload.
1) unlike previous years, the objective to pon this year is actually to miss as few lessons as possible instead of missing more (so short days are better to skip)
2) this shows students actually value lessons and want to learn
3) ponning to do work defies the original definitions of “ponning” in the very first place. (when you pon you would think it was to go watch movie, have fun, pak tor, or something!). this shows our students are actually hardworking"

This gives much faith to me, that the education system, though very conformist and intolerant of oddballs, does in fact have some hope. Although the abovementioned observations could just be attributed to the paper-chase so prevalent in this system, I would try to be optimistic for once.

Of course, we in our school are very privileged to have many brilliant and inspiring educators/educationists whom I have had the honour of being taught by or known by, definitely worthy of the noble profession of education. The purpose of my writing today (at the expense of 45 mins of math portfolio time) is to get this load off my chest, which was triggered off by my abovementioned unpleasant berating this morning. Which in turn was due to myself attracting attention by laughing at the party concerned telling us 'time management' was one word, before hastily correcting the mistake.

I did not attempt to give my points then, due to the common interest of the class, lest it degenerated into a counterproductive flurry of points being shot forth from dissidents from all corners of the classroom, and coupled with the party concerned's unwillingness to accept any criticism (whether healthy or otherwise) of the establishment, would lead to frustrated individuals and bruised egos, with a net productivity of zero. The next time it happens though, I will stand my ground.

Nemo Me Impune Lacessit

Semper Viper

2006-08-18T22:12:00.001+08:00

There are 6,470,818,671 people in the world.
Some are running scared. Some are coming home. Some tell lies to make it through the day.
Others are just now facing the truth.
Some are evil men, at war with good. And some are good, struggling with evil.

6 billion people in the world, 6 billion souls, and all you need is One =)

2006-08-15T20:03:00.000+08:00

bah. stress. work work.

we were given 6 brooms and 6 dustpans today. as many of us predicted, students from multiple classes all over sch began using them as melee weapons. What else could happen when you give a bunch of schoolkids anything long and hard (don't let your mind run anywhere now). Amusement indeed.

in other news, CHEE MUN is paul twohill's biggest fan. go look for him for paul twohill posters =P

here's one of those quiz thingies. i found it and felt like doing it i also dunno why.

The rules:
Bold the statements that are true to you.
Italise the statements that you WISH are true.
Then, tag 5 people to do the same test

I miss somebody right now.
I dont watch TV these days.
I wear glasses or contact lenses.
I love to play video games.
I've tried marijuana.
I have been in a threesome (hahaha. not really but still...hmmmmmmm.)
I have been the psycho-ex in a past relationship.
I believe honesty is usually the best policy.
I curse sometimes
I have changed a lot mentally over the last year.
I carry my knife/razor everywhere with me.
I'm TOTALLY smart. (hahahahaha. ya right. but whatever =P)
I've broken someone's bones.
I'm paranoid sometimes
I would get plastic surgery if it were 100% safe, free of cost, n scar-free. (zomg no way. i love me =D)
I need money right now.
I love sushi.
I talk really,really fast.
I have long hair.
I have lost money in Las Vegas.
I have at least one sibling.
I have worn fake hair/fingernails/eyelashes in the past.
I couldn't survive without Caller I.D.
I LOVE the way i look. (see above)
I am usually pessimistic.
I have a lot of mood swings.
I have a hidden talent. =(
I'm always hyper no matter how much sugar i have.
I have a lot of friends.
I am currently single.
I have pecked someone of the same sex.
I enjoy talking on the phone. (not everybody pls)
I practically live in sweatpants or PJ pants.
I love to shop.
I enjoy window shopping
I would rather shop than eat.
I don't hate anyone.
I'm a BETTER dancer.
I'm completely embarrassed to be seen with my mother.
I have a cell phone.
I believe in God.
I watch MTV on a daily basis.
I have passed out drunk in the past 6 months.
I've rejected someone before.
I have no idea what i want to do for the rest of my life.
I want to have children in the future
I have changed a diaper before
I've called the cops on a friend before.
I'm not allergic to anything. (raaah)
I have a lot to learn.
I have been with someone at least 10 years older or younger.
I am shy around the opposite sex.
I have tried alcohol before.
I have made a move on a friend's significant other or crush in the past. (zomg)
I own the "South Park" movie.
I would die for my best friends.
I think that Pizza Hut has the best pizza. (nice, but not teh best)
I have used my sexuality to advance my career.
I love Michael Jackson, scandals and all. (MJ is a n00b)
I think Halloween is awesome because you get free candy.
I watch Spongebob Squarepants and i LOVE it.
I am happy at this moment!
I'm obsessed with guys.
I study for tests most of the time.
I tie my shoelaces differently from anyone I've ever met.
I am comfortable with who I am right now.
I have more than just my ears pierced. (piercing sucks! bomb you!)
I walk barefoot wherever i can.
I have jumped off a bridge.
I love sea turtles.
I spend ridiculous money on makeup.
I plan on achieving a major goal/dream.
I'm proficient in a musical instrument.
I worked at McDonald's restaurant.
I hate office jobs.
I love sci-fi movies.
I think water rules.
I went college out of state.
I like sausages.
I love getting hugs. (not from everyone pls)
I've fallen for the worst people.
I adore bright colours.
I can't live without black eyeliner.
I don't know why the hell i just did this stupid thing.
I usually like covers better than originals.
I can pick up things with my toes. (can't everybody? o.O)
I can't whistle.
I love kisses. (not from everyone pls)
I can move my tongue in waves, much like a snakes slither.
I can tie a cherry stalk with my tongue.
I have ridden/owned a horse.
I still have every journal I've ever written in.
I can't stick to a diet.
I talk in my sleep. (this sucks. especially when i'm in the same room as my parents)
I try to forget things by drowning them out with loads of distractions.
I think climbing trees is a brilliant past-time.
I have jazz in my blood.
I wear a toe ring.
I have a tattoo.
I can't stand at LEAST one person that i work/study with.
I am a caffeine junkie.
I cosplay or know what cosplaying is. (i don't cosplay. i just know what it is cuz (refer to above) i'm TOTALLY smart =D)
I have been to over 15 conventions.
I will collect anything, and the more nonsensical the better.
I'm an artist.
I only clean my room when necessary.
I like a person of the same sex.
I love being happy. (who doesn't)
I am an adrenaline junkie.

ROTI PRATA!

2006-08-08T22:21:00.000+08:00

"Seletar ground, skylark 86, request taxi for bay alpha 1"
"Skylark 86, taxi to bay alpha 1 approved"
"Taxi to bay alpha 1, skylark 86"

"Skylark 86 changing callsign to Niner-Oscar-November, student on first solo"

Yep. after 4 months of part time flying, I finally went solo =)

Thank You dear God for giving me the instincts and ability to fly well enough to go solo today. Thank You also for the calm winds and light drizzle, and the fine aircraft, Piper PA-28-161 Warrior II registration no. 9V-BON, to take command of for my first solo. Thank You Lord for providing me a fine flight instructor, instructor siva, who brought me all the way here and hopefully to my private pilot's licence in 30 or so sorties time =)

Got into the PPL course. Cheers to many more months of propellors, instruments, and flame-retardant nomex flightsuits. Seems rather stressful though..8 hours of groundschool per week, and lots of in-house tests, 6 CAAS papers, in addition to the actual flying and the final handling test. Add all that to my schoolwork and bam...stress.com.sg

Lord...I need Your strength and grace to see me through these 2 years. You've placed me here for a reason...lead me in the way everlasting.

And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
- 2 Corinthians 12:9

oh i went for some CIP briefing/collect stuff to sell thingy. We all got these rather large boxes containing lots of tissue paper, foolscap pads and socks. So we, the ACS(I) people, decided to go back to sch and put the stuff in the locker. As we left the place, it was quite amusing. The whole bunch of us, isaac, haoyi, choo yang, alex liew, joel khoo, ronald ip, and me, all walking down a housing estate with huge boxes and huge plastic bags, making us look like looters. hahahaha

Sortie 18 and 20 DCO on 9V-BON
Dual hours: 18.0h
Solo hours: 0.2h
Father in heaven, Thank You for watching over me

2006-08-04T20:36:00.000+08:00

lol check this out. This guy is leet.

Man destroys town with armored bulldozer

52 year old welder Marvin Heemeyer lived in Grunbee Colorado fixing vehicle mufflers. His small repair shop was located near a concrete factory called Mountain Park. To Marvin and his neigbors' horrors, the owners of Mountain Park decided to expand the factory, forcing the people living near-by to sell their land to Mountain Park.

Sooner or later the factory's neigbhors gave up, except for Marvin. Having tried every way possible, the owners of the factory failed to acquire his land. However all the surrounding land was now owned by the factory, which resulted in Marvin's shop getting cut off from the rest of the world.

Marvin tried everything in his powers to restore justice. Obsiously, the city council and other politicians of the state were on the factory owners' evil capitalist side.

It's not suprising that Marvin lost the case to the owners, in court. After that Marvin was also given a $2500 fine for not having a connected sewer line. When paying the fine, Marvin attached a note to the check and ticket that read "Cowards".

He was just one of those who would not give up.

On the 4th of June, 2004 during a rainy day Marvin rolled out into town on a bulldozer reinforced with metal sheets. He started with the concrete factory, destroying building after building, until the factory was demolished. Then it was the city council's turn followed by the town hall, then the bank, the public library, the fire station, a warehouse, the local paper and other buildings belonging to the mayor.

Having tried to stop Heemeyer, the police finally understood that Marvin's bulldozer was unstoppable. More than 200 bullets were fired at the vehicle, causing no harm at all. The police force then decided to battle the titan with hand grenades. Once again their efforts were useless. Later a vehicle rigged with explosives was put in Marvin's path to destruction, it also had little luck in stopping him.

Marvin returned fire using two semi-automatic .23 caliber rifles and a single .50 caliber semi-automatic rifle through specially designed holes in the vehicle's front, left and right sides.

All the police were able to do, was evacuate 1500 inhabitants (the town's population was 2200) and block all the roads, including a federal highway that lead to the town.

Marvin's war ended at 4:23 PM.

Having just finished destroying the Gambles Mall, the bulldozer suddenly stopped. The only thing that could be heard comming form Marvins death machine was smoke out of a damaged radiator.

At first the police officers were too afraid to approach the thing. Trying to get Marvin out of his fortress, they had to make a hole in the armor. When they finally got through, Marvin was allready dead. He wasn't going to get into the enemy's hands alive.

Despite the great damage to property (13 buildings were destroyed, most requiring hundreds of thousands of dollars to be replaced), no one besides Heemeyer was injured; observers noted that Heemeyer appeared to go out of his way to avoid injury to bystanders.

The governor said that the city looked as if a tornado had just gone through.

Later an investigation was carried out. It was discovered that Marvin's creation was so strong that even a powerful artillery blow would only cause minor damage. The bulldozer was totally covered in sheet metal, with each piece being at least half an inch thick. In places, the vehicle's armor was over one foot thick, consisting of concrete sandwiched between sheets of steel to make ad-hoc composite armor.

To fit the bulldozer with this shell, Marvin had to use a self-made crane. "Lowering the protective armor onto the vehicle, Marvin knew he wouldn't be able to get out"- said police officials.

Although Marvin packed the interior with supplies such as water, food, ammo and a gasmask. To control the killdozer, Marvin used 3 monitors and a couple of video cameras. In an event of the cameras being blinded by dust, they were fitted with air compressors.

It took Marvin 2 months to design the Killdozer, and according to sources, 1.5 years to build it.

"He was a fine lad", - said the people that were close to Marvin. "They shouldn't have made him angry". "If he was your friend, he was your best friend. And if he was your enemy, well he was your worst and most dangerous enemy." - said Marvins friends.

2006-08-04T18:29:00.000+08:00

no solo today. hmf.

Sortie 17 DCO on 9V-BON
Lord, help me walk on stronger in You

2006-08-02T21:14:00.000+08:00

twisted ankle, pulled calves and sprained back muscles.

once again I've been reminded why I don't do competitive sports. No its not about the injuries. Its always about uncontrollable emotions that cause me to think say and do things i should not and will not under most normal, even stressful situations. Only competitive sports...especially team ones. Oh well.

Dear God...please help me keep my emotions in check in those situations.

Woe to me on the day where my thoughts and words become actions.

A wise man fears and departs from evil,
But a fool rages and is self-confident.
A quick-tempered man acts foolishly,
And a man of wicked intentions is hated
- Proverbs 14:16-17

2006-08-01T20:05:00.000+08:00

peanut men, cheese cake and choo yang the mad scientist.

hello everybody

we have found the next einstein.

and

see the resemblance? =D

anyway, i had a rather good flight today...dark cloudy skies over sch, but still, it was mostly bright and sunny at seletar...of course with quite a bit of cloud cover. I'm getting less and less stress everytime I go up in the air now, and that is of course a good thing. Glancing out of the window and seeing the sunset glittering off the wing of the aircraft, as the landscape passes below is certainly quite a sight to remember, and i thank God for the gift of wings =) I'm cleared to go solo after this sortie. wahaha =D so God willing and weather permitting, my next sortie will be my first solo. WIN

haha. anyone who can tell me where i took this photo from wins a peanut.

Happiness is a tub of phish food.

Sortie 16 DCO on 9V-BOG
Praise God from Whom all blessings flow

2006-07-27T19:02:00.000+08:00

Charity cafe day. A few rather interesting things happened.

Joel Khoo is the mochi commando. He was supposed to bring a carton of mochi to sell at the charity cafe today. So he came this morning with a trolley and the cartons tied to it, and came through the back gate of our sch next to UWC. But there was a problem. The back gate was locked! So with his amazing leet skillz as teh mochi commando, under the cover of darkness in the morning, he slid the trolley under the gate, and proned and crawled under the gate. Suddenly, the searchlights focused on his still prone body, and guards armed with assault rifles cornered him. Undaunted, the mochi commando used his leet kendo skillz and pwned them. hahaha. no just kidding. no searchlights no armed guards and no leet kendo skillz. Just UWC security guards curiously staring at him as he did his stuff. i find that very amusing indeed.

and james managed to destroy joel khoo's router adapter today. how amusing. what a james thing to do. oh well. off to prep chinese oral. raagh

2006-07-26T21:17:00.000+08:00

hoho. today was fun. played soccer during PE. haven't done that for a long time. they had the girls do some cheerleading thing after sch today. sadly i had to rush to seletar so couldn't stay to watch. boo hoo.

another circuits sortie today. 1 more sortie left before i hopefully can go solo =D somehow managed to pwn the OLEO extension (read: hydraulic suspension/shock absorbers) on one of the main landing gears today. after taxying back to the parking bay, we got out and checked the aircraft. The OLEO extension on the landing gear strut, which was supposed to measure 4.5 inches, had become 0 inches, with hydraulic fluid sprayed all over the floor and trailing the path which i took back to the flight line. how interesting. hopefully it wasn't really due to my landings (which were way better and softer than my previous few sorties btw)

the oleo extension is the metallic part between the wheel and the...white thing. a compressed one doesn't look that bad from this pic, but the one on the aircraft i used really looked quite bad. especially with all the hydraulic fluid coming out all over. ahhh.

anyway, the actual flight was rather nice. First time since i started flying circuits that i had the time to look out of the side windows and see the Singaporean landscape with the sun just above the horizon. Quite a beautiful sight, especially when you're only 800 feet off the ground and everything is still quite big =) had some really smooth landings too. yaye.

oh i had KFC O.R. chicken chop for dinner. i like =)

Food for thought..
"Open your doors, O Lebanon,
That fire may devour your cedars.
Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen,
Because the mighty trees are ruined.
Wail, O oaks of Bashan,
For the thick forest has come down.
There is the sound of wailing shepherds!
For their glory is in ruins.
There is the sound of roaring lions!
For the pride of the Jordan is in ruins."
- Zechariah 11:1-3

Sortie 15 DCO on 9V-BOE
Thank You dear God for everything

2006-07-21T22:10:00.000+08:00

results day today. I did better than I expected, however it was still rather horrible. Regardless, i'm rather pleased with my results. For one, I did reasonably well for math for once, and i didn't fail chem despite leaving out a whole section which was worth 22.2% of the whole paper. Credit must go to God, Who helped me through the exam period even though i was feeling rather sick throughout the whole 2 weeks =)

In other news, Ike See, the dude who got accepted into Curtis institution (some uber leet music place) has been granted deferment by MINDEF. Rather happy with the decision...talented kids like him should be encouraged to follow their dreams

Had another circuits sortie today. Rather strong crosswinds, and had engine failure after take off emergency practice...as well as radio failure emergency practice. The latter was rather fun, as visual cues had to be taken from the control tower in the form of flashing lights.

It was rather amusing that this kind of weather was considered CAT I (highest) lightning risk. The CAT I warning was due to this huge cloud formation that was moving in from the south at a speed of 5-10 knots...but didn't really reach us before it broke up.

Also managed to take a grainy pic of a Bombardier Learjet 45 on runway 03 in seletar before I flew.

This was taken this morning in school...a rather nice sky i must say. The beauty of God's creation =)

Sortie 14 DCO on 9V-BOI
Thank You my dear heavenly Father

2006-07-19T19:45:00.000+08:00

done with my mock IOP. have to say it was rather not good, but it isn't the real one, so doesn't matter.

first time flying in the rain today. it was a very nice experience, and thank You dear God for holding back the lightning =) had many rough landings though, but still, it was nice to take to the skies after more than a week. First Solo, here we come...You and me Lord =)

Sortie 13 DCO on 9V-BOK
Our God is an awesome God

2006-07-18T21:32:00.000+08:00

lots of work to rush, in addition to Mock IOP tmr, Chinese oral on friday, and I have yet to prep for either one. Flight was cancelled due to lightning on friday morning. prospect of getting back probably lousy marks for my common tests. I'm not getting enough sleep cuz i've been sleeping much later. Thank you dear Lord for all this.

Thank You that I am able to worry about all these mundane things, rather than what i was worrying about few weeks back. Whatever I was complaining about a few posts ago, actually is happening to me again.

I miss waking up at 6 grumbling that I could not get enough sleep.
I miss the times where I would get upset by something as trivial as lousy test/exam results.
I miss worrying whether the weather would cancel my flights
I miss worrying about major projects that are due 12 hours away and I only started on it.
I miss laughing without worries.
I miss falling asleep in lectures and missing out important points.
I miss feeling very annoyed at my handphone when the joystick doesn't seem to work.
I miss the feeling of being anxious about exams cuz I didn't study enough.
I miss falling asleep at my table doing work.
I miss worrying about where i'd end up after university.
I miss being able to wake up refreshed, and enjoy the cool morning air
I miss having the ability to be happy for the little things in life
I miss feeling normal.

yep. all these things i missed are all coming back now. my handphone is acting up again..and i'm feeling more normal than ever..praise God =)

Indeed, God did have a reason for putting me through all that.

But still. I wonder what if things hadn't turned out so nicely. Would I have blamed God? I don't know. I know that i'm no Job, for now at least. But I pray that in time, I will learn to have greater faith.

Thanks to everyone for their concern and prayers over the past month or two =)

Had a really nice birthday, even though I didn't get to fly due to lightning on that day. I guess birthdays are meant to be spent with ones we love, rather than inorganic pieces of winged metal =)

oh well. off to do the stupid IOP.

haha. weather permitting, I'll be going round in circles to 800 feet tmr afternoon. win!

Blessed Be Your Name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name

Blessed Be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name

I am healed in Jesus' name

2006-07-11T18:53:00.000+08:00

woot. i am the win =D

circuits are quite fun =)

neh. back to earth. have to study for 2 more papers for common tests. sian.

Sortie 12 DCO on 9V-BOE
Thanks Lord, for everything =)

2006-07-09T14:33:00.000+08:00

iamsingaporean

I have a nickname, and I don't know where it came from.
and no, i do not resemble an aquatic creature in any way.
I speak in broken english most of the time, as it is easier that way.
I grew up playing Super Nintendo, Sega, and watching power rangers
I once brought digimon to schools, and everywhere else i went, and would fight other kids' digimons.
I failed to collect 150 pokemon back when I was 12.
I learnt how to ride a bike at peirce reservoir
I spent hours of my childhood at the road parallel to runway 2R/20L at changi watching aircraft take off and land.
I learnt how to multiply multi-digit numbers before I learnt how to speak proper english
I'm learning how to fly a plane before I even know how to drive a car.
I was sick during SARS period and was sent to Tan Tock Seng Hospital
I could sing the SAR-vivor rap by heart
My parents compared my school results with other kids
My parents wanted me to go to RI, like most Singaporean parents.
My parents want me to be a doctor, lawyer, or a scientist, not a pilot.
My highest educational qualification is the PSLE
I have trouble with the chinese language
I do not know whether i'm a jc student or a secondary school student
I am here now because I was too lazy to take the O levels.
I did not get streamed in P4, nor do I pay as much school fees in secondary school or even now as most of my contemporaries.
I get all that for doing a test back in P3 better than others.
I fly for free because the Air Force sponsors me
I know how tyco I am.
I have my gripes about this place, but I love my country
My name is Victor Ang, and I am a Singaporean.
So say we all.
So say we all.

2006-07-07T23:05:00.000+08:00

hmm. apologies for the semi-angsty post.

opiates aren't much good for health anyway.

But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. - 2 Corinthians 12:9

2006-07-06T15:03:00.000+08:00

It never rains but it pours.

Why does misfortune come in such a big stinking pile at once.

stupid thing. did not see section B of today's chem paper till i had to hand the thing up. So much for thinking i finished the paper before everyone else. 20 marks just went poof. And it doesn't help that those were far easier than section A. 30% of promos some more. what a turd. along with that, i still can never get to sleep at night and i still have some piece of organic shit jammed somewhere up my windpipe/trachea and its making it hard to breathe. With all these things happening to me, I won't be surprised if my ceiling collapses on me this very moment.

aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

The most frustrating period of my life ever, and this new shit comes along and plonks its ugly rear end on the mountain of trouble i'm having now. Just great.

what a turd.

grr. angst is the opiate of the youth.

2006-07-04T21:12:00.000+08:00

I know this spirit, this soul, this mind, was made to fly. All I pray for now is that the body will be up to the task. It hasn't been functioning well for quite a long time, for reasons unknown but hopefully not serious. Couldn't really enjoy today's flight as much as I wanted too due to my current state of health. Kinda wasted though. At least it was quite good. Circuits, take off land take off land take off land over and over again. Very fun =)

For people who are reading this and believe in the power of prayer, please pray for me. I have no idea what's wrong with me but i'm still hoping and praying for the best. Thanks

God, please don't take away my wings.

Sortie 11 DCO on 9V-BON
Thank You my Lord

2006-07-01T13:44:00.000+08:00

I miss waking up at 6 grumbling that I could not get enough sleep.
I miss the times where I would get upset by something as trivial as lousy test/exam results.
I miss having relationship 'problems'
I miss being able to appreciate days which i can sleep-in.
I miss worrying whether the weather would cancel my flights
I miss worrying about major projects that are due 12 hours away and I only started on it.
I miss laughing without worries.
I miss falling asleep in lectures and missing out important points.
I miss feeling very annoyed at my handphone when the joystick doesn't seem to work.
I miss the feeling of being anxious about exams cuz I didn't study enough.
I miss falling asleep at my table doing work.
I miss worrying about where i'd end up after university.
I miss being able to wake up refreshed, and enjoy the cool morning air
I miss having the ability to be happy for the little things in life
I miss feeling normal.

Something's really wrong with me. Physically. I can feel it. Went to two doctors already, a GP and a specialist, and they both concluded there was nothing wrong with me. The lymph nodes that I thought were enlarged turned out to be normal sized, according to the docs. But somehow, I feel really sick. Been feeling like that for over a month. Haven't been able to sleep for more than 4 hours straight, and i feel fatigued and half dead but not sleepy all day and all night. The nights are especially agonizing, being unable to sleep or do anything else except lie there and let thoughts run wild. Perhaps I should have gone for scans, x-rays or even biopsies to put my mind at ease. But the doc didn't think those were needed. Sigh.

Exams and all these internal assessment things are all around the corner...and shit. I'm not really worried about them. I can't seem to worry about anything else besides endlessly worrying about what's happening to my body. I think i'm screwed. Everyone says its stress or anxiety, but I really fear its something worse. Maybe i'm hypochondriac. Hopefully so. I never find anything satisfying or fun anymore. Perhaps only flying. The adrenaline produced then probably overrides everything, but as soon as I leave the cockpit, everything sinks in again. If this feeling of sickness or real sickness goes on, I might have to withdraw or get phased out from my flying course. Any more of this and i'll go into clinical depression.

I pray that I will remain sane until at least my 17th birthday.

"Because I fly, I envy no man on earth"
hmf. I fly, but I envy everyone now. for being able to go on with daily life without any strange things to worry about, besides mundane, temporal problems.

Lord, I beseech You. Help me.

2006-06-25T21:20:00.000+08:00

so ends the month long break. Really has been a break for me, as I totally did not do anything productive except to go out or go up. This is one June hols to be remembered, for many many reasons, mostly good, some bad =)

as the next three hours pass, paradise will fade away, and we will be thrust into the real world (or so they say) once again. A world of work, exams, waking up early, and all the other stuff to worry about. But all that isn't necessarily bad. One day we might even look back at all this with nostalgia, wishing that we could cast away all the worries of adulthood and return to what we're worrying about now in our schooling days, which would of course seem infinitely simpler. Of course, that is taking into account the assumption that we would all emerge from the tertiary education system largely unscathed, and possessing with us pieces of paper that would open the doors of opportunity all around. viva la paper chase.

I have learnt much during this holidays, though (maybe) regrettably, none of it have any academic purpose. But personally, I would say I have benefited much from it. and the force is strong with me. hoho.

I shall share something that i have learnt during this holidays. One fine day, I was watching kids central. I wasn't watching it as in watching it, but watching it as in i was flipping channels and found something that caught my eye. It was during one of those commercial breaks, and they were advertising another tv programme. I found the title of the show rather amusing. It was called "SUPER ROBOT MONKEY TEAM HYPERFORCE GO!" I kid you not. The way it was said/sang during the playing of its theme song enhanced its amusing-ness many times over. Though this was one of the more brainless things i've learnt (okay, maybe i didn't learn anything from this, but who cares), comic relief is always welcome, no?

see.

this is monkey team.

SUPER ROBOT.

hohoho.

anyway...

A dear friend got me to memorize the 91st psalm. It would definitely come in useful very soon...

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust."

Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare
and from the deadly pestilence.

He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,

nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.

A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.

You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.

If you make the Most High your dwelling—
even the LORD, who is my refuge-

then no harm will befall you,
no disaster will come near your tent.

For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;

they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

You will tread upon the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

"Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.

With long life will I satisfy him
and show him my salvation."

oh well. i guess this is it. no more long holidays for another 4 months. bleah.

"Clear the ramp! Thirty seconds. God be with you!"

"Keep the sand out of your weapons. Keep those actions clear. I'll see you on the beach."

here we go =)

2006-06-22T21:29:00.000+08:00

Sortie 10 DCO on 9V-BOJ
Thank You Lord for the weather, the aircraft, and the flight. Circuits up next. hoho

2006-06-18T13:55:00.000+08:00

During the mass brief, when we were being taught the advantages of swept wing aircraft...
"anybody know anything about supersonic flight?"
"uh...it is very fast"

Had the air exercise of stalling today. Stalling is fun. beeeeeep, vibrations and nose drop. haha =)

Sortie 9 DCO on 9V-BOJ
Thank You Lord

2006-06-14T21:10:00.000+08:00

bittersweet?

had my 8th sortie today. It was rather okay, considering I was not feeling well when I took to the skies. I don't think I'm supposed to fly when I'm sick, but I don't really know whether I'm sick or not. I don't feel well. Its a general feeling of unwellness, but there's not really any symptom of any sickness. Its been there for almost a month already. That's what worries me. Docs all say I should be fine, and the symptoms are vague. Had a blood test today, and I pray that nothing is majorly wrong with me when the results come back.

With today's sortie, I clear Phase 1 of the flying course and got into Phase 2. Thank God for his guidance and protection throughout the past 8 flights. I just hope whatever is wrong with my body doesn't interfere with my flying. bah

Sortie 8 DCO on 9V-BOI. Phase 1 completed
To God be the Glory

2006-06-09T15:45:00.000+08:00

perpetual rain throughout the day pwned my sortie. still, its always a joy to sit in the cockpit of the piper warrior, with the familiar scent of the upholstry, and all the instruments in front of you. Even twiddling with the altimeter knob, setting it at airfield elevation and finding the corresponding atmospheric pressure in millibars is strangely fun in itself.

the week has been rather tiring, accompanying the mother all over the place with her shopping. I don't know whether its just her or is it a trait of all women to spend a lot of time at a certain shop, only to come out without buying anything. The female mind is also something rather hard to understand (no not just because of my mum. really). To us at least.

sometimes i wonder what sort of people are in those cartoon character suits at shopping centres and all. Not those human-like characters, but those cartoon kind. especially the cuter ones, such as powerpuff girls, garfield, etc. All the little kiddies tend to hug them to take photos and all. it is quite a weird job to take up, but i suppose some people need the money. or physical proximity. hmmm.

the habitat people have returned from kuching. maybe I should have went. All i would have missed was one sortie and one groundschool lesson. But nvm. As a wise man once said, "grass on the other side always more green".

Ikea names their furniture weirdly. Maybe its just a swede thing. in swedish. stuff like POANG.

goodbye, and choose your POANG here.

LIKE THAT IS NOT WORKING!

2006-06-06T20:41:00.000+08:00

I have a new chair. Its called BONNY. and i assembled it myself. hahaha. blah. i'm bored.

D-Day 52nd anniversary too

2006-06-02T14:22:00.000+08:00

Release the key the moment the engine starts.
trim trim trim. must trim more. hohoho =)

Sortie 7 DCO on 9V-BOH
Thank You Father =)

2006-05-31T12:20:00.000+08:00

yeah baby. keep em coming.

Sortie 6 DCO on 9V-BOH
Thank You Lord as always for the excellent flight =)

2006-05-26T23:02:00.000+08:00

I've been thinking(surprised?) about flying and where it will or might lead me recently.

for all the plans I have, might not be what the Lord wants me to do.

maybe it isn't in God's plan for me to fly F-16s, F-15s, or F-5s
maybe it isn't in God's plan for me to fly KC-135s, C-130s, or F-50s
maybe it isn't in God's plan for me to fly Apaches, Super Pumas or Chinooks
maybe it isn't in God's plan for me to fly 777s, 747s or A340s
maybe it isn't in God's plan for me to fly 737s, A320s or Learjets
maybe it isn't even in God's plan for me to be a flight instructor in Cessnas or Pipers

but whatever His plan may be, I thank Him for already giving me the opportunity to fly in the left hand seat, and I pray that He will guide me in the way everlasting, for His will is good, pleasing and perfect.

and thank you Father for the very good flight today

Sortie 5 DCO on 9V-BOF

2006-05-25T21:04:00.000+08:00

school closes for the term

Thank You Lord for a really good flight today. lots of clouds though

Sortie 4 DCO on 9V-BOJ
=)

2006-05-19T22:56:00.000+08:00

rah. must cut fingernails. the tip of the fingernail of my left middle finger cost me $4 today. dumb 100ml measuring cylinder.

while nat, ian and I were rushing to church today...
"every 3 steps you take i have to take 6" - Ian to nat
"I wish i had longer legs" - ian
"I wish i had...more ice kachang" - nat, while carrying an empty plastic bowl of ice kachang from adam road hawker centre

Edit:
this test i took here...rather weird but surprisingly accurate i must say...

your subconscious mind is driven most by Curiosity

This means you are full of questions about life, people, and the potential of your future. You spend more time than others envisioning the possibilities of your life — things that others are too afraid to consider.

Your curiosity burns with an almost physical need to know and do more. It's only through new experiences that you feel a greater understanding of yourself or the world — which ultimately is the greatest way for you to feel satisfied.

It is possible that the underlying reason for your drive towards curiosity is a deeply rooted fear of boredom. That means that you are probably more susceptible than others to feel like you're falling into a rut when life slows down into a comfortable routine.

You need to make sure you have stimulation in your life — that makes you feel like you're innovating or being exposed to the ideas and experiences that truly inspire you.

With such a strong orientation towards curiosity, you're also prone to a rebellious quality that shows up when you feel you are just going through the motions, and are unable to really influence the world around you. But interestingly enough, your drive towards novel experiences also indicates an openness others don't have, but wish they did.

Unconsciously, your curiosity presses you to learn more, experience more, and get the most out of life.

Though your unconscious mind is driven most strongly by Curiosity, there is much more to who you are at your core.

2006-05-18T21:13:00.000+08:00

The test period has ended. Only chinese left, but that is unstudyable, so neh mind.

chem test was rather horrible. but the good news was that it was a general consensus, so it isn't that bad. history and physics were rather easy. but carelessness might prevail.

telling everything in narrative is rather boring. but no choice, i don't really think much nowadays so i can't post anything that requires anything more than the minimum amount of brain >.<

hmm. had a nice flight today. Thank God for the good weather and aircraft. I think its the last of my nice flights. Heard next sortie is rather stressful. we'll see

Sortie 3 DCO on 9V-BOD
Thank you Lord

2006-05-11T23:57:00.000+08:00

I asked of the Father, "Lord, get me airborne"

and He did.

that was through a thunderstorm. I said it would be a miracle if i got to fly, and I did in the end. CAT I lightning warning was lifted 15 mins before we went out to the flight line.

God's still in the miracle business this day =)

a broad place? perhaps it was seletar airport(in my case).

Had a rather interesting flight today. First graded flight, not that bad =) female air traffic controllers do elicit different responses from pilots when compared to male ATC ppl, i have found out. hoho.

rah. a few days back, i set out to pwn a math test. today, math test pwned me BACK. how sad. Cheese bun. NEH MINE. i just need to ZHNG MY MATH

Sortie 2 DCO on 9V-BOJ
Thanks be to the Lord =)

2006-05-10T21:43:00.000+08:00

I called on the LORD in distress;
The LORD answered me and set me in a broad place
Psalm 118:5

broad place. we'll see =)

2006-05-09T21:25:00.000+08:00

So no one told you life was gonna be this way
Your job's a joke, you're broke, your love life's D.O.A.

It's like you're always stuck in second gear
And it hasn't been your day, your week, your month,
or even your year...

zzz. everything's been rather boring and dull. even doing work seems more exciting than...not doing work. Some more I haven't been assigned a flight ever since my first. neh. will book more after the 9th week this term.

can't wait for this year to end. will bring many uncertainties to an end too. perhaps bring in new ones? who knows.

math test tmr. pwn it man.

In other news, choo yang pwned my mechanical pencil today twice over. now it lies in 2 pieces with its rear jammed in without its spring. haha. its quite amusing. it would be even more amusing if it wasn't my pencil.

The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD
Forever.

The 23rd Psalm

Dear Lord, help me

2006-05-06T00:17:00.000+08:00

Tell me did you sail across the sun
Did you make it to the milky way to see the lights all faded
And that heaven is overrated

Can you imagine no love, pride, deep-fried chicken
Your best friend always sticking up for you even when I know you're wrong
Can you imagine no first dance, freeze dried romance five-hour phone conversation
The best soy latte that you ever had . . . and me

2006-04-28T15:03:00.000+08:00

"Seletar Ground, Skylark 83, Yankee, 2 POB, Request taxy for area alpha"
"Skylark 83, Taxy for whiskey 3, runway 03, QNH 1010"
"Skylark 83, Whiskey 3, Runway 03, QNH 1010"

haha. i finally flew today. after being pwned by the weather twice. Got to do all the checks and all. The radio chatter is rather distracting though.

"Skylark 83, departing" - Me
"eh press the button, you're not transmitting" - instructor
"oh ya"

Stuff to remember: Put on headset correctly. Move body less. Move head less, use peripheral vision.

win.

hmm. sort of wasted my whole week though. but nvm, still got MAY DAY. hoho

Sortie 1 DCO on 9V-BOI =)
Thank You Lord

2006-04-27T18:52:00.000+08:00

rah. at least i got further this time. we got into the cockpit before we were grounded due to low cloud base and poor visibility.

2006-04-26T16:01:00.000+08:00

got a sortie at 1120hrs tmr. but met services says "Thursday: Late morning and afternoon showers with thunder."

pfft.

God please hold back the weather a few hours tmr >.<

2006-04-25T16:44:00.000+08:00

wa lao. did all the admin, had my flight briefing, went through security, got my headset and jacket, then when we walked out, the lightning warning siren went off. so no flight today. rah.

2006-04-22T21:00:00.000+08:00

During chapel this week, the speaker was telling us about his secondary sch life...
"I regretted starting to study too late...I only really began studying in sec 3" - speaker
"thats quite early. most of us haven't even started yet" - haoyi

about a bird being stuck in the carburettor air intake of one of the aircraft...
"so the bird flew through the propellor and ended up in the intake?"
"what happened to the engine?"
"was the bird alive?"
"oh yes it was enjoying itself, mating, reproducing, and having a very good time in there" - Instructor Singh

oh well. to the lot who has left, is leaving, or about to leave for OEP, hope you all have fun. Only thing i envy you all (some of you that is) for is getting a long ride on an airliner. pfft. nvm. i shall make do in my little piper warrior =D

2006-04-20T22:03:00.000+08:00

No use worrying about what is beyond my control.

The Big Guy up there is always in charge

Thank you Father =)

Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.
- Proverbs 3:5-6

2006-04-12T23:57:00.000+08:00

hello all. i got this from mel =D

1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18 and find line four
"Fred Weyand, the last US commander in vietnam, has further emphasized..." - Vietnam: A History. By Stanley Karnow, borrowed from Mr Alvin Tan =D

2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can.
I hit my laptop monitor

3.What is that last thing you watched on TV?
Channel NewsAsia.

4. Without looking, guess what time it is.
0000

5. Now look at the clock. What is the actual time?
2359

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?
nothing.

7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing?
RAHBEE finals. followed by a long long walk back to chua chu kang MRT and the shopping ctr near it for dinner with a lot of crazy people, then a long mrt ride home

8. Before you started this survey, what did you look at?
Ah? um...my flight reference cards

9. What are you wearing?
pyjamas =D

10. Did you dream last night?
don't have. WEN HAO IS THE CHINA SUPERMAN. hohoho

11. When did you last laugh?
after dinner

12. What is on the walls of the room you are in?
picture of me with people, me with a South korean F-80, black hawk down poster, some aircraft calendar, a poster of the cockpit of a Piper PA-28-161 Warrior II =D

13. Seen anything weird lately?
ian lin

14. What do you think of this quiz?
haven't done one in a long time. this is quite weird though

15. What is the last film you saw?
Star Wars Ep II

16. If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy?
a Cessna Citation X (neh down here), and lessons to attain the relavant qualifications to fly it =D

17. Tell me something about you that I don't know.
I'm quite normal. bet you didn't know that

18. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you change?
hmm. nothing really. i'm a contented person

19. Do you like to dance?
No

20. George W Bush.. American?
wad kind of qn is this? oh bush videos are quite fun to watch though. the one about tribal sovereignty and the one where his "speech-writer" talks about him

21. Imagine your first child is a boy, what will you call him?
seng choon egg farm

22. Imagine your first child is a girl, what will you call her?
konnyaku

23. Have you ever considered living abroad?
not really. maybe after i retire, but by then it'll be quite hard to gain immigration to most nice countries

24. What do you want God to say to you when you reach the pearly gates
"DO YOU WANT A HAMBURGER?" haha. no la. hopefully smth like "Well done good and faithful servant...Enter into the joy of the Lord" =)

25. 4 people who must do this in their journal
YOUYOUYOUYOU

2006-04-10T23:37:00.000+08:00

O Lord forgive me.

Time and again I fail

for once, work has got the better of me

2006-04-09T20:51:00.000+08:00

9th of April 2006, a day that will live in infamy

actually, its the day i learnt how to use and fix up the sewing machine. hohoho. so fun =D Thank the Lord our God for giving us the efficiency and skill to sew so many bags today =)

napfa results (for those i had taken) were rather good too. thank the Lord for that also =)
9:38 for 2.4km (yay finally below 10 min)
8.6s for shuttle run
71 sit ups
waaa. but only 4 chin ups. nvm i shall re do this week

"the Lee Suan Yew speaker of the year award is named after Dr. Lee Suan Yew" - Mrs Fanny Tan

"What bird is associated with death?"
"dead bird?"
"Vultures lah"

2006-04-05T22:56:00.000+08:00

haha. looking at the other post i just made, i realised all my posts are all rather similar. nvm. i shall make a pseudo-intellectual sounding post soon. i hope. and amaze you all with multitudes of polysyllabic words that appear to make sense. hoho. oh ya. i have to make another point here

choo yang is has the most l33t coordination skillz ever.

few weeks ago, he was talking to me. then he turned around and talked to someone else, and walked backwards into me. he then goes "oops i didn't see you there"

in the morning, he put his bag on the floor, came over to talk to me, but then tripped over his own bag.

then while going home, at the bus stop, he stepped on my foot twice unintentionally, and banged his head into mine, all while talking to me, in a span of 15 seconds.

hahaha. and the chinese teacher thought he was a china scholar cuz his name is CHOO YANG.

wa. almost a whole post dedicated to him. i should get him to come read this =D anyone have any idea what his msn is? his looooooooooooop gmail doesn't work

2006-04-05T21:22:00.000+08:00

School has been rather sian so far. for lack of a better word. Life has become rather mundane, mostly due to the late dismissal times in sch. Struggle out of bed, breakfast, go to school, schoolschoolschool, come home, eat dinner, work/attempt to work/pretend to work/slack, rest, sleep, then repeat. Weekends bring a little reprieve to that cycle. Can't wait to fly. 18th April and beyond. rah.

"When you go on your first solo (flight), its a big thing. Everyone will know and everyone will give way to you. But that's because they're scared of you" - some dude at syfc

"He's damn siao right?" - Ian, referring to me
"No he's normal, you're the siao one" - Issac

while talking about malaysia trying to send a malaysian into space...
"I will be the first Singapore on Earth!" - Elizabeth, making a grammatical and a logical error in a span of less than 5 seconds

"Haha who the hell calls himself hellmann" - i don't know who said this, but it was saved in my phone which meant someone said it at some time which i found amusing.

Lord of thunderhead and sky
Who place in man the will to fly
Who taught his hand speed, skill and grace
To soar beyond man's dwelling place
You shared with him the Eagle's view
The right to soar, as Eagles do
The right to call the clouds his home
And grateful, through your heavens roam
May all assembled here tonight
And all who love the thrill of flight
Recall with twofold gratitude
Your gift of Wings, Your gift of Food.

2006-04-02T00:04:00.000+08:00

God will make a way
Where there seems to be no way
He works in ways we cannot see
He will make a way for me
He will be my guide
Hold me closely to His side
With love and strength
For each new day
He will make a way
He will make a way

By a roadway in the wilderness
He'll lead me
And rivers in the desert will I see
Heaven and earth will fade
But His Word will still remain
He will do something new today

Expresso was rather nice. Though i found electrico too loud for my taste. Girls are crazy. well, lots of them at least.

2006-03-24T22:25:00.000+08:00

hello boyos

yay. weekends are good =) this week has been rather tiring. I remember that PE lesson with all the nonsense like that weird crab run and the whole class caterpillar thing. argh. they should have just asked us to run 3km or smth. And the ping pong ball physics prac, which was rather amusing in itself. And some girl extorting my money. rah

oh during lit, the teacher was asking us about whether we heard about the vedas (the hindu holy books) before...

"have any of you heard of the hindu vedas?" - Ms Rachel Cheung
"anyone?" - Ms Cheung
"Darth Vader?" - Haoyi

then today during TOK...bunny kept trying to pass up his consent form for the OEP, as the TOK teacher was his OEP teacher too. after trying to pass it up multiple times during the lesson...

"wait wait. Pass it to me after the lesson" - Dr Tieh

at the end of the lesson...

"eh eh! Sir my OEP consent form!" - bunny, passing the forms to Dr Tieh
"His only aim in life is to hand up consent form" - Issac

i'm done

SHALOM

2006-03-18T19:50:00.000+08:00