Burning Labour Day..

Sian. I'll be doing duty again on a public holiday. Labour Day.. Dammit. And another guard duty at the end of the month on a Sunday. Wa kao.. Super sian.. To have 2 weekend duties in a month is super low.. Well, apparently it is to punish me for forgetting to bring my beret on one fine morning. Well, I did have a beret in the end to show for, but it was without a backing. Ah crap.. So punishment it will be and I have to suck my thumb.. But it seriously hinders my plannings for weekends. Grrr... On a brighter side, 1 more week to go and it is 1 more year to ORD! Whee!!! But thinking of it, I haven't even served a year yet! Ahhh..

On a much much brighter side, my Man U is gonna clinch the title!! Wohoooo... Last night was a wonderful night spent catching the action of a Man U comeback plus a Chelsea slip up. Haha.. Really wonderful. Now it's a matter of time before we lift the trophy. Hehe.. Went to Mel's house to talk to her dad for awhile. It's really quite funny.. Mel's dad asking me over to talk about Man U's triumph. Haha.. But at least got a bit of entertainment also la.. Anyway, thanks Mel for the info on ATFL.. =)

Gonna be a slack week in camp I guess. But already kenna a few arrows already for the weeks coming after that. Sian.

Giant....

Finally got to pop into Giant in Tampines yesterday. Morning not so crowded, so got parking space and also manouvering space in the store. I tell you, the afternoon crowd is crazy. The place will be jammed right from the time you try to go into the carpark. So I've never entered Giant there before. Anyway, my dad seems to like that place a lot and I think I'll be visiting there often from now onwards.

Watched Film Fest yesterday with Boss, Ryl and Aaron. We watched a 'compilation' of 10 short films that's the brainchild of Singaporeans. Really cool.. Like what Boss said "It makes me wanna shoot a short film myself.." I agree! I would relish an opportunity to do a short film again. And I've an idea. To do either a documentary or a film on... The Gang! Wahaha.. I mean, seriously.. I think it's a good idea. But how to go about it is another thing. Friendship that started since you were 10 don't normally last beyond your teenage years, do they? So a film on friendship since young might be good. Idea ah! Heh..

Now, about my ankle again. I think it's a bit bad. Saw the specialist on Wednesday and he's sending me for an MRI and some physio session before seeing him again in late May. He din say much about my condition. But in his referral letter for physio, he wrote "Likely cartilage tear in Right ankle AFTL". God knows what AFTL means. Maybe Mel can help me with it? But, yah.. Apart from this early diagnosis. I'm feeling that my ankle is deteriorating. Bah.. I don't bear to think what will this injury translate into with regards to my NS duty.. ZJ asked me, "I thought everyone will prefer to slack?" (Meaning I down-PES or what..) I was stumped. I really don't know how to answer the question as much as I don't know what the answer is myself.. Is it good to downgrade? What's so bad about it? I really don't know. I dread having to chiong-sua and all those shit, but I also dread to think I'll serve the remaining of my NS in an office doing clerical work..

Bottomline, like what she said, "But your leg is still the most important, right?" I nodded. I know it is still the most important, my health. But I also said, "It'll take me some time to come to terms with it if it were to really happen.".

And there's this thing, in me (and I think everyone else), probably named sub-consciousness? that's telling me, it might just happen to me.

Guards Convert?

Supposed to be confined this weekend with chao Recruits. But it was decided that Support Company should not take recruits cos we'll conduct the next Guards Conversion Course in June.. Hmm, Friday night a bunch of Recruits still did come over to Support. They are re-coursee whom the CO decided should not be mixed with freshies. So we'll still run a platoon of BMT. Diao. But luckily I'm not directly involved. Phew.. But I think these people sure do alot of cock things for you to f*** them one. Haha... Already heard got pple come in don't want to cut his hair and all this. Wad the hell, re-coursee big F*** ah...

Anyway, after a night of splendid football when my Man U bulldozed a hapless Roma 7-1, it was back to camp to do sai kang to welcome those bloody recruits on Friday. My 3 other Engineer friends and I in-charge of tying the bloody banners again. Sian.. Tempers nearly flew, seriously. It was lucky I was not there to witness those provocative scenes, if not even God can't save my ass from being charged.

It looks a simple job tying banners to lamp post. But it's tedious. The whole bloody day we were doing it, consistent phone calls from Platoon Sgt checking on our progress, and everytime the progress was reported, it was met with sarcasm that we were doing very slow. "Why so slow? Tie banners very easy one wad, why take so long?" Sgt, if it was that easy, please help us do la, instead of MIA-ing the whole day and then cameo appearance awhile say some more shitty things to us then F.O again. Anyway, it's really damn scary, the banners have to be damn high up and we were using a freaking thin ladder that is super unstable cos we only could lean it against the sshaky lamp post.. Kudos to Jonathan for making all the banners go up.

The even more bitchy part came from my CSM. It was around lunchtime and we took turns to go for lunch. And there was a thunderstorm brewing, skies damn dark. Lightning flashed and thunder roaring every half minute or so.. I went for lunch and heard this from my friends after I went back to work.. CSM came, and asked if we could finish the job by 1345hrs. It was about 1300 then. My friend replied, "Encik, impossible ah, we still have quite a few to go." Encik reiterated his point that he wants the job done by the deadline. My other friend said, "Encik, but now CAT 1 (meaning lightning) cannot do." Encik still insisted he wants it by 1345. I do not dare to quote him for fear of mis-quoting cos I wasn't there. FUCK!!! (Notice I don't censor anymore) It's a frigging CAT 1!! You mean your bloody banners are more important than our lives?! Not to mention one life, it's a good handful of us down there.. Did you even use your brain?! or heart?? I mean it's just totally insane! It's not even a case of working in an area without shelter. We had to climb the bloody ladder! If we had done that it'd be a case of live human 避雷针.. Right?! Damn dulan. If I were there, I think I'd have gone ballistic.

My friends lan lan, had to go and do. Until our S3 drove past. He immediately asked us to stop and called CO to delay his vetting.. Phew.. Luckily, common sense prevailed. And S3 is a Major, so Encik LAN LAN! (Though he's already disappeared into thin air after putting our lives on the balance.)

Anyway, the title. Guards Conversion Course. Sian. I seriously wonder if I can go for the course, not because of other thing, but my ankle. It's a tough course. Si bei jia lat one.. Kenna whacked the daylight out of you. I'm relishing to challenge myself to see if I can earn the khaki beret. It'd be immensely satisfying if I were to do it. However, my ankle that I rely on to stand, now stands in my way of going through the course. I'm walking perfectly fine, but I just know things aren't right in my ankle yet. The fear was further re-confirmed yesterday, when I did a simple thing, getting up from a proning position to answer a call at home. My ankle felt an instant pain, the part where it hurt the most during the injury. Sigh............ We'll see what the specialist say on Wednesday, though he most probably sending me for a scan only..

*sigh*

22nd Birthday..

Birthday was Sunday. Had a long, tiring but great time celebrating my 22nd. The day was pre-dominantly about eating (typical Singaporeans).

Ended Saturday late cos Utd had a late kick-off, slept at nearly 4am and woke up before 7am to go pray for Qingming festival.. I always look forward to this day, it's really great to see so many families coming together to pray.. But the choking smoke also made me think about global warming for a while. But it's tradition, what to do. And anyway, though burning of incense paper does contribute CO2 to destroy the depleting Ozone further, it is really nothing as compared to industrialisation and sorts..

After praying, went for lunch with family. Wanted to go Vliage at China Square Central but it was closed! Thing is, it doesn't looked like it was close, with all the lights and stuff. BUt the shutter was down, nobody was inside. Asked around and the shopowners around there said they were still opened the night before! Crap.. Anyway, headed down to Marina Sq for Jap food on Sis' recommendation. My sis live some mid-high life on the food front. She and her friends always go some good restaurant for food one. Haha, the power (spending) of unmarried, working young adults. Anyway, lunch was good, some exquisite Jap food.. The price also quite nice. Sis footed the bill. Hmm, somebody got a pay rise! =x

Dinner was at Bugis with the Gang! Whee.. Steamboat buffet at Liang Seah Street.. Chongqing super spicy steamboat. We ordered the 'weakest' degree of spiciness and it was already choking. Imagine "ma la" (as in numb-spiciness).. But the bad bad part of it all is everyone was late, (including myself) but somebody topped it off by being 2 hours late. No names here, Mel can make a guess. Correct answer will earn you a kaya toast treat, courtesy of the culprit. Hahaha.. Anyway, dinner with them is always good. Kaiyi brought his new girlfriend to meet us too. Towards the end of the makan session, Gab and I just whacked the prawn.. This was the best part..

Ziling: Eh, you guys still want to eat anything? Want then go and take..
Gab (standing up): Ok, I go take..
Few of us started giggling. (Are we surprised who volunteered to take more food.. keke)
Ziling: What you all want to eat.
Gab & Me (together): Prawn lor...
We burst into laughter. Then told Ziling it was a 'duh' qn. Haha. Steamboat finale is eat prawn until u drop silly one leh... Hehehe..

And so the day was spent eating myself silly and wondering when I can start running again to shed some weight. And booked in extremely tired and I just zonked out almost immediately.

Thank you Mel and Jo for making overseas call to wish me. Albeit bad timing cos their calls clashed. Haha. Next yr you two make booking ok? Lol.. Thanks to Dil for sms-ing from overseas. And the numerous well-wishers, whom I reckon half of them got reminders from Friendster. Hehe.. Thanks Budd for remembering to sms after coming back from Nippon. And yeah budd, one year has passed so damn fast. I'm looking forward to my next birthday and hoping it will go even faster this year, but just for this year. =p

Thank You pple.

Number Game

The number game is a genius game. It gives people an alternative way of looking at things and perhaps, change their perception of certain things. Let's talk soccer and play Football Manager a bit. Say I'm Fergie and I'm gonna take Cristiano Ronaldo in for negotiating a new contract.

Now let's post a situation that Fergie might face. Ronaldo is underpaid. The fact that he is one of my best players tells me that I have to pay him what he deserves, increase his pay to be one of the highest, if not the highest, among all my players.. But how am I supposed to go persuade my owners that we should give him double of what he is earning now? Or worse, how do I justify to fans who might have to pay more to watch a match so that the escalating cost of running the club is balanced? Now, this is the tricky yet ingenious part. I just have to play, the number game! Here is what I should tell them:

"I think it's quite plain to see what a player we've got in Cristiano. He's a gem, totally brilliant. I can confirm that the reported rise in his salary is true. He'll take home almost double what he was earning from next season onwards. He's in great demand now in the footballing world and I just can't let other clubs lure him away, can I? Now, he'll be on £120,000 per week now, making his annual intake to about £6.2 million. Yes, this is a significant increase from his £70,000 p/w wages previously, but let's not forget Ronaldo is one of the best footballer on this planet who can turn games round and win us many competitions. For a club with a revenue of over £150 million annually, the increase in wage is only a small percentage of it and poses no problems. Imagine if we lost him, our club can't win that many games, the lost in revenue, other great players would mean our famed club could lose whatever it has in a short time!" (The players' wives or even my wife might even have to go to foreign lands to be maids instead of being taitai!) [obviously this part is un-publishable to fans]

See, that would really put things in perspective for the pay rise. Now let's say another manager who is more stingy is in charge. He thinks that Ronaldo is already well-paid, thinking of cutting his pay even. He should say this:

"Well, no doubt Cristiano is a very important player, he can turn games round, win you some games single-handedly. No doubt. But I believe he is already very well-paid. At £70,000 per week, he is already one of the best paid in the world. I might increase his pay a little cos he is really very important. But double his wages? You must be out of your mind! Do you know the structure of the wage bill? Star players, about 7 of them, take up about 60% of my total players' wage bill for 30 players! If I doubled his salary, it will become 62% of the total wage bill! I can't do that. I can pay for another 2 good players who can contribute well to the squad with the extra £70,000 that I'm gonna pay Cristiano. No question about that. Increase, maybe. Double, no way!"

So you've seen my number game. Pretty fun to play ah? Go think about your own game.. Or see if my game applies elsewhere other than money. =)