kangwei_here's Xanga

Kukup weekend getaway

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:20:44 GMT

Finally an OAC trip after so long... Although I didn't get to go Kinabalu after so much futile anticipation, at least this Kukup trip made up for some of the disappointment.

Supposed to have 10 of us going because the package is S$750 for up to 10 pax but in the end only 8 of us went (feel sorry of Chay Ngee who last min pull out due to stomachache (...again)). Anyway, Kukup is a fishing village (or used to be one before turning to the more lucrative tourism) at the Southwestern tip of Johore. Quite near Jurong. After some delays at the immigration customs, we took a van there at 8am on Sat morning and reached there well before noon.

"Checked in" to our "Chalet on stilts" and rested for a while. The place is especially clean and new, complete with 2 giants speakers for explosive KTV at night. We took up only 2 out of 3 rooms which had 4 double-decked queen sized mattresses. So one bungalow can probably take up to 20 people or more easily. Windy and spacious, there wasn't much foul smell or anything even though it was low tide. So quite relaxing and at home generally the moment we checked in.

The seafood lunch was decent in terms of taste but kinda inadequate in terms of quantity. Had some "free" rice to hold up our half-satisfied hunger for the moment. We then went to visit the mangrove park (RM5 if you get a Malaysian to buy the tix) and Kelong which was free. Mangrove park.. kinda boring, Kelong... alright if you haven't been to one.

I think overall the trip was a short but really quite relaxing one. No strict itinerary to follow, just chat, eat, gamble the day and nite away. The main highlight for us I think was the BBQ dinner. Quite a good spread of sotong, stingray, chicken wings etc... Best part is, the owner of the house prepared all the cooking for us!! So hassle free, oil free and smoke free.... Chicken wings were awesome. The quantity this time was abundantly sufficient to the point we can't finish the food.

Then there was the fireworks which we bought for RM100. I think for the rest who never really played with fireworks (other than sparklers) before, it was something new. I played with fireworks during CNYs when I visit my grandparents in Selangor so I sort of guided them on what to buy. The girls had more fun than the guys i think. Guys are too "macho" to be excited over fireworks... Haha....

The next morning, unfortunately started rather abruptly with Yupinto's fiancee, Liting, receiving news that her father was admitted to hospital. So Yupinto and her rushed back first on taxi. Eventually, it was relieving to know her dad is not in as serious a condition as we first thought. Or else the holiday would have a bad end to it.

All in all, this was a good break for all of us and for me, before I start work in the coming week. Good to reconnect with these bunch of OAC friends again after so long. Wished more of the OAC bunch were able to come but there's always next time. Kudos to Yupinto for organizing!!

Photo Album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/kangwei.here/Kukup280608
http://picasaweb.google.com/yupinto/Kukup
Videos:
http://www.sgmahjong.com/MOV01429.zip

For Sale...

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:21:45 GMT

Hi people,

Here are some stuff I have that are for sale.... Have a look....

1) Brand New AIGO 7" Digital Photo Frame (still in packaging)
I have one of these digital photo frame already so this is surplus. Retail is $199. Make your offer...

For details click here

2) Philips TV Tuner Card 3139 147 13291B# for DIY computer fans
Salvaged this from previous computer. Anyone who have a use for it?

3) Acer speakers with Bass
Salvaged this from previous computer. Anyone interested?

4) Brand new IBM monitor
Not used yet cos I upgraded my monitor. Anyone interested with an offer?

Back to the Past!!

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:20:08 GMT

Having a 1 month break gave me some time to sort out things I had in my storeroom. Turns out there are some stuff in there that my dad have kept for ages!!! Some of them are real artifacts worth keeping but some are karang-guni-rejects standard.

Check them out....

1) Analogue video camera
Apparently there is a footage of me when I was still a baby captured using this but till date, no one has seen the footage yet because we need to use this camera to play the old old film tape. I think we can't find the battery or the cables for this camera to play it.

2) YASHICA film camera
This is the camera that took all of my baby photos. Wonder if I can still buy the battery at Peninsula Plaza. Anyone any idea?

3) My mum's Accordian
I wonder if there's anymore of this accordian in Singapore. Maybe it's an antique worth thousands!! My grandpa bought it for my mum. Still works!!

4) Typewriter
This isn't that old but still.... something rare these days. Need to replace the ink ribbon.

5) Black and White TV
I tried to turn it on but only got sound. Sadly no image. Dunno if it's fixable. Uses antenna. Wow....

6) 3M Portable OHP
This is like a toy.... It can transform from this briefcase....

Taa daaa.....to this OHP!!!

Apparently my dad says in the early days, they carry this on the PLANE to make presentations on transparencies!!

7) Oscilloscope
Don't ask me how I got this....

It was quite satisfying to dig out all the stuff in my storeroom and throw away some of the useless stuff. I would recommend you to do it some time when you can.

There are more but some are classified stuff.... haha.... just joking... next time then show... Anyone can do a valuation on these "antiques"?

DIY Stuff

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:17:49 GMT

Having some creative juice overflowing and some time to spare, the following are some items I made DIY over the week.

1) Improvised photo frame with potpourri
Very simple to make.... cost price <$10

2) Analogue Clock with your choice of clockface
Relatively simple to make....
cost of clock from IKEA $2.50
cost of hard cardboard FREE
cost of calender paper FREE

Will be making more of this... anyone want to make an order? I got an order from Yunshi liao. (Maybe she bo bian has to show support...)

$$$ Financial Knowledge in a Board game $$$

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 06:35:13 GMT

Inspired after reading the book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad", I went for this Cashflow 101 Workshop by an entrepreneurship club last night. Cashflow is actually a board game created by the author of the same book, Robert T. Kiyosaki.

The attendance was a little less than 100, comprising of mostly the working class. I was surprised at the number of club members who turned up to support the workshop. Ratio was about 3-4 attendees to each club member. 1st impression of the initial part of the workshop was that it felt like a game show, with the MC inviting the audience to applaud for any and everything.

"Give a round of applause to all of you for attending... *Clap* *Clap* *Clap*..."
(After asking for foreign friends in the audience...)
"Give a round of applause to our friends from Malaysia ... *Clap* *Clap* *Clap*..."
"Give a round of applause to our friends from Vietnam... *Clap* *Clap* *Clap*..."
etc...
(After a story about her mum and her going shopping...)
"Give a round of applause to my mum... *Clap* *Clap* *Clap*..."

Wow... This feels so artificial. But maybe it's just me, because everyone else around me seems so enthu about it. Maybe I've been in the army for too long and this was the norm in the civi or corporate world nowadays. I've heard from my friend about attending some financial course where the audience are super enthu about answering the speaker's every question with a resounding "YESSS" or "NOOO".

Anyway, I think the more interesting part of the workshop was when we really start to play the Cashflow 101 game. Attempting to simulate every financial aspect of our working life, there were everything from stocks, properties, spending money on "toys", getting retrenched and even having a baby (I had a baby at the age of 60 in the game). The game revolves around a balance sheet where we try to increase our "passive income" so that it exceeds our monthly expenses. When that happens, you can move out of the RAT RACE, and move into the FAST Track.

Imagine if we really are able to do that in our real life. Having enough passive income to cover our expenses. That means we can practically rot at home, without changing our lifestyle. Going to work would then be a past time instead of being a burden. It was not as easy as it sound though. We played for an hour to simulate our age from 25 to 65. At the ripe old age of 65, I retired with only $5000 and no passive income. Pathetic...

But I think having read the book, I do appreciate what the author was trying to convey. If we depend solely on our employment income, we will not be able to attain the "nirvana" state of "financial freedom". Of course, this don't mean we should dive into the next bank or brokerage firm we find and "hantam" our life savings in stocks and shares. In fact, with some research, you should find that property would provide more stable passive income, though it requires considerably more capital.

The science of investing surely needs much more study and research. I've only just began my financial education journey as I begin my working life. Hopefully, after gaining more financial knowledge, I would figure out how to get our of the RAT RACE.

Achmed the Dead Terrorist

Thu, 01 May 2008 06:52:14 GMT

Back from the dead

Thu, 01 May 2008 06:16:00 GMT

It's been so long that I doubt anyone ever comes visiting this page anymore... Anyway, I found some mood for some blogging this May Day holiday so here I go...

After waiting for a good 2 years, it finally about time to go ORD on June 7th. 4 more weeks of wearing green before I enter the next phase in life in civilian. Somehow my NSF liability has been about going for course after course. 3 weeks BMT, 3 months OCS (old syllabus), 8.5 months (new) OCS, 5 weeks CTC and 7 weeks EOAC. (Nmind if you don't understand those abbreviations.) What a SIAN way to spend 2yrs 4 months in green.... No ops, no ETEP, no activation... Personally I feel it's a great waste of resources to spend so much time on training but never letting me put the training to actual use. These courses I went for definitely cost loads of $$ but most part of the courses are not relevant to my vocation!! Supposedly the courses are for PSC scholars and the top 10%, (which included me by both criteria), but I believe they ought to tailor the course intake base on relevancy to their job scope. Why train a camel to swim? Unless I'm missing something in the big picture, I think someone should look into this issue.

Anyway, I just got the confirmation that I'm going to MHA (Home Affairs) after I ORD. Although it's my 2nd choice after MOM (Manpower), I still think it's an interesting posting because of the opportunity to look into the operations that goes behind the scene. I think home security is something most Singaporean take for granted. The ministry only comes into the foreground when something goes wrong. Otherwise, if MHA is inconspicuous, it only means that it is doing a good job as everything is nice and rosy at home. Another thing about MHA is that it's security measures should affect everyday life to the least extent. If everything can be monitored without the public's attention, without the sort of hassle caused at the immigration checkpoint due to the MSK incident, that would be the most idealistic scenario. Of course, in reality that won't be the case since law enforcement will still have to show its presence as a form of deterrence.

Enough about MHA... Priority now is to get through my remaining weeks in the unit without committing silly mistakes that warrants extra duties. I think I'm the busiest ORD personnel in camp. I'm still conducting 3 major practical lessons for my new trainees in camp before they graduate and these have been a major headache. Luckily I cleared the bulk of my off and leave before i went for course and before the new trainees came in from BMT. Since I am serving till my very last day in service, I can demand the same from my specialists and I manage to convince them to do the same till they ORD next Tues. Never tekan them lar... but juz conduct some lectures b4 they ORD. Partly is because I think we have maintained a good working relation since we were from the same course.

Anyway ALL THE BEST to Jonathan and Keegan!!

P/S:
To ALL interested in trekking/climbing, I'm planning to go Mount Kinabalu on 1st JULY. Anyone onz?? Let me know soon...

Be like the Duck...

Sat, 06 Oct 2007 13:00:14 GMT

So long since I have an entry... kinda feeling sorry for this blog now... So i'm here to enter an entry.

On course at SAFTI now. Besides seeing those officers from my batch, my PC from OCS Golf Wing is also on course. I guess this course is supposed to prepare us NSF to become potential OC in our NS Coy. Not so interesting start to the course tho.... Sitting there listening to discussions on leadership and Organizational Learning. Familiar concepts which I have heard more than once. Nonetheless, I did come across an interesting analogy about leadership. The Course Commander talked to us in his opening address and told us this analogy.

He said we as commanders, have to be like a duck on water: Cool, calm and graceful on top of the water, even though it's paddling like mad underneath. I laughed out loud at the analogy when I heard it. There's a lot of truth to it, especially in difficult times. With people waiting for your instructions, even though the world is collapsing around you, you have to appear calm and composed, to inspire confidence in those around you.

I guess those who knows me well enough, especially those who had been on course with me should know how I hate to be flustered, and always try to be (or at least appear to be) composed, even when shit drops from the sky. I guess it worked well so far. I believe this duck mentality can be applied to other parts of your work. No matter how much pressure you are under, how hard you are paddling under the water, always have the presence of mind to be in control of where you are going. No point paddling so hard under the water but going around in circles.

So be a Duck.

Guitar Pro

Sun, 29 Jul 2007 13:57:03 GMT

Life at Seletar Camp

Sun, 01 Jul 2007 11:43:49 GMT

It's been 2 weeks since I'm at Seletar now. I'm a bit mal-adjusted to the change in culture over here compared to in OCS. Things are much more toned down in terms of pace of training and regimentation. Furthermore, being new in the unit, there's so many things to learn and I'm still trying to absorb as much as possible in as short a time as possible. My upper-study has already left on his course, leaving me in charge of the Platoon.

For a start, I'm trying to get to know the pioneers under my charge by their names as soon as possible. Also, I'm trying to get a feel of how the dynamics in the platoon works. Glad to know that they are siao-on abt soccer as well. Now I have no worries abt finding soccer kakis to play cos they play almost every night.

So far, my first impression of the guys has been positively encouraging. Their attitude is quite positive and the cohesion in the platoon is quite healthy. Hopefully I can get to understand the system here asap and starting implementing the training and changes I wish to make. Culture is a little too slack for my liking but I will take Maj Ong's advice: "Don't rush into command."