Powered by FeedBurner

Powered By Blogger

Thursday, June 29

And Now For Something Serious

I just got a new keyboard, exchangeed it since the last keyboard had a spoiled Spacebar key (can't press it properly now). The keys are kinda smooth to press, the Backspace button has effectively shrunk to allow space for the Enter button (which now occupies two rows of keys) that I am not accustomed to yet. Sometimes i make typos here and there, only because I wouldn't be able to enter a letter if I half-press the Shift key, that wasn't used to either. Oh, wel.

But, I'm not happy about something else. Time to blog it here.

As you all know, I am actively invovled in my CCA, NCC Land (for those who still don't know what that is, it's an extra-curricular activity that does Army schtuff). Just recently I went for a camp-course, and got promoted to Sergeant rank; this meant I was a specialist, and I was in total control over my juniors.

One problem. Ever since that Specialist Course ended (which was two weeks ago), I have never found out my rank, whether it was 2nd Sergeant, or 3rd Sergeant. All my fellow NCC mates, who had gone to Specialist course before me and had already attained (and sewn on) their ranks, had constantly pestered me about my rank; I culd only say I was a 3rd Sergeant (the less-better rank betwee the two), judging from my performance in my Specialist tests. Worst of all, I found out I had lost my Specialist badge on the way home from NCC Headquarters, the day the course ended. Without that badge on my Uniform, I was effectively powerless (that is, if my superiors are around during training; if not nobody would care), and this was quite a blow to my pride. Damn, I have to fix things fast. Starting with me getting used to pressing the Shift key with more firmness when I type.

Okay, that was just another story. I'll tell you all about what happened in Spec Course next time. Now let's talk about the thing I am not hapy about.

NCC Day's coming up (it's tomorrow), and we've been rehearsing for it over the past few days. As usual, our so-called Company Sergeant-Major, 3rd Sergeant Fawwaz (at present, he is among the majority of us Secondary 3 Junyuan NCC cadets who are 3rd Sergeants, only two lucky buggers emerged out of Spec Course with the 2nd Sergeant rank) is in charge of all the happenings that are to take place during the morning assembly. We were to arrange ourselves in a formation (that's the whole of the NCC company, which, seriously speaking, comprises of not more than 30 people at most) around the Parade Square. It was supposed t be a simple affair, nothing more than telling a few people to stand here, another bunch of guys to stand there, and so on.
Thing is, he was just making things confusing for everybody. I expected that, knowing how incapable he tends to be when it comes to dealing with major situations. Heck, I could've done a better job than him, if only I had the chance. Well, there he was, arranging everybody around on the Parade Square, trying to get them in order but in vain (I couldn't blame him, the Part As and Bs were being rather uncooperative that day). We were in that Parade Square and all that, the supposed 'Holy Ground' for us NCC cadets, and there was Fawwaz, swearing and cussing at the junior cadets as though he owned the place. We finished training that day with a 'light workout' that involved 50 push-ups and 20 sit-ups for the juniors.

Anyways, yes, that was what I disliked. seriously hope things would turn out fine during tomorrow's event...

On a side note... I bought Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince with my book vounchers just this Sunday. I finished the book last night. It was really awesome, and as much as I'd like to talk about it more here, I have to go to sleep. Sorry, guys.

Oyasumi.

Tuesday, June 27

The Importance of English

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
This is why English teachers from the West are high in demand in Japan.

Tuesday, June 6

5/6/06

It's a Monday, on the second week of the holidays. During the whole of this week I'll be busying myself at Dunman Secondary (my former secondary school), doing stuff in the Lifescience Center located there. You see, me and two other friends signed up for a genesis program that would've costed us $500, and learn all about Genes and stuff. Today was the first of five sessions, each session is from 9AM to 3PM.
We were taught by a sciende professor called Dr. Yeo. He looks like Andy Lau, has spiky hair, a rather dry sense of humor, and a strange British-like accent. We learned how to handle a micropipette, and studied DNA and RNA coding, transcription, and a whole lot more genetic stuff I won't mention here. It was really fun and exciting, during lunch I even got to meet my old friends of the Dunman Sec NCC. They've all gone for their Specialist course and gotten their sargeant ranks, I still have to wait till 12th June though.
After that, the three of us, Li Qiang, Yong Keong and I, decided to walk all the way back to Junyuan, from Dunman. It was approximately 5 kilometers away. On the way we stopped by a fitness corner and did some exercises, and encountered dizzles that tended to come and go. We headed for school to look for our biology teacher, only to realize she had already left, and that we were trapped in the school building with heavy rain pounding outside. Li Qiang and I passed time playing Chinese Chess, but we didn't have any pieces, so we used 'imagination' instead. It was really funny, and it was crazy enough to work. Yes, it did work, and it trains my memory.
Yeah, Li Qinag won in the end. I was never a pro in Chinese Chess.
Rain stopped, we headed home. Whee!
Haha, that's all for today! Oyasumi!

Saturday, June 3

3rd June 2006

Whew! I've been really busy over the past couple of days, mainly because of this Biodiversity two-day course I (and nearly the whole of the rest of the biology class) signed up for. It was an incredible experience; I got to see first-hand how biology reseachers do field work in natural habitats all around us. I learnt techiques and methods the researchers employ to help them in their studies, and I even got to do a little field-studying myself at the beach. I found many animals and other organisms I had only seen in Discovery Channel, it was awesome for me to actually look at hermit crabs and sand dollars with my own eyes.
Today I followed my dad to the office, as we had to prepare for this new shop that he was opening at the Buona Vista MRT station. There we unpacked boxes of soap products, and my dad handed me a piece of cloth and a bottle of spirit and told me to wipe off the ink-printed expiry dates underneath the packaging, as they was all at least one year past the printed date (he explained that all European products, not matter how long it takes for them to expire, require a printed expiry of one year after the production date, so it was okay to still distribute these products).
Ah, that was it for today. If you hadn't noticed, my Internet activity, or computer activity for that matter, has been decreasing lately, mainly ue to the fact that I have to share the comp with my siblings. Oh, well. See how I cope with it.