Vigil Guard for the late S Rajaratnam

What appeared in page 4 of the Home section in The Straits Times on 25 February 2006...

(With apologies to SPH!)

Tutorial 2 for DSZS2121

Guess where I am!??! In room 5.39 of HQ Block in SIM University!!! Kewl...doing SPSS for Windows...Mag is bringing us through the internal workings of SPSS...

TMA 1

Woke up at 0400hrs to finish my Tutor-Marked Assignment 1 (TMA 1) for EDZS2091 Child Psychology...original due date was to be 21st Feb but our kind tutor pushed it back to the 23rd instead...thanx Dr Yeap! You're a doll...

Question is...
"What are the images of childhood and how have these images shaped our views toward child development? What are the implications for childcare practices? Discuss."

1500-2000 words...no sweat...I hope!

Next up is my TMA 1 for my DSZS2121 Exploring Psychology on 7th March...

And also the Engineering Subject Self Evaluation (ESSE) @ NUS on 10th March for entry to the Graduate Diploma in Defence Technology and Systems (DDTS) in the middle of the year...gotta revise those A-levels Physics and Maths in between completing my TMAs and reviewing new lessons and tutorials...

Words words words

In Delifrance @ Lot 1 having lunch with the wife. As usual I ordered my café mocha. That’s my SOP beverage in the coffee houses. So far I like those made by McCafe the best followed by Delifrance’s. Anyway, was talking to the wife about kids in Alisha’s class. She commented on how the boys in the class were higly hyper-active. “Nge-le-nya!” she said. I asked her if she didn’t know that word to describe the boys, what Malay word would she have used. “Tak tahu duduk diam?” she enquired. Hah…that didn’t have as much impact as the original description! So I have decided to start a series of unique words I grew up with! I shall call it the UWIGUW Series…

Nge-le-nya

1. Tak tahu duduk diam


2. Macam bulu sehelai – usually shortened to ‘macam bulu selai’!


3. Hyper-active?

I'd like my dear 'readers' to try help filling in some of the rest...

Nge-le-jat

Te-ngah-ngal

Haram-jadah

Nge-loh

Te-nih - This one from Rina...never heard before!

Names names names

In Starbucks @ United Square now…doing my TMA – can you believe it!?!? Ahh…the sacrifices one makes for continuous learning… First time in the Starbucks here. Usually I would be at McCafe on the ground floor. It’s kinda small and there’s a lot of people today so I decided to change venue. Bumped into Raz, one of my LAW gunners in the Spartans back in 2000. He’s a shift manager here. Only remembered his name after one of his staff hollered it out across the room! I’m not very good at remembering names… Most of the time when my former trainees and men meet me they would just address me as “Sir” and I would be left wondering what their names were after that. I know that I should just ask him for his name but you know, it’s the same reason why men don’t ask for directions…ah well, back to the books…of Vygotsky, Skinner and Chomsky…

GRE Results

I received my official GRE results from Education Testing Services (ETS) from the US of A. Henceforth are my results:-

1. Verbal : 580/800
% below: 80%

2. Quantitative: 580/800
% below: 41%

3. Analytical Writing: 5.5/6.0 converted to 750/800!
% below: 86%

Not bad for the Analytical Writing huh? I guess the 2 years of doing TMAs (Tutor Marked Assignments) came in useful! Oh well, according to the entry requirements set forth by the Temasek Defence Systems Institute (http://www.tdsi.nus.edu.sg/), I apparently qualified for the Graduate Diploma Programme in Defence Technology and Systems (DDTS) whose minimum score is 1600. Mine’s 1810…now I just gotta wait for the ESSE thingy by Mindef…

Was at Singapore Botanical Gardens on Sunday morning. Superb weather for the girls and for photography! This was taken at the Symphony Lake. Forgot to change the ISO setting. This was taken at ISO 1600!!!

Reflection

"I never know what I think about something until I read what I've written on it" - William Faulkner (American Writer, 1897-1962)

This quote which I found while reading the foreword of Pointer Vol 30 No.1 (2004) reminds me again of the importance of reflection. Our fast paced modern lives leaves us little precious time to engage in this simple but important act. Whether thinking about how our actions have affected others and how we can improve ourselves after what we had done for the day, reflection helps us to consolidate our thoughts and actions. It helps reflect on our mistakes, our achievements and what we can learn from them. And nothing does this better than writing it down be it in a 'traditional' diary or the ubiquitous blog.

I therefore tell myself to set aside time everyday to engage in a bit of self-reflection...

Who knows, others may actually learn something from them...

Days like these...

I've been awake every hour since 0100hrs...my littlest princess is having one of 'those' days...she got up at about 0115hrs, 0230hrs and somewhere between 0359 and 0400hrs! After making her milk - as a form of bribe to get her to back to sleep! - I decided that I might as well get up and do my GRE revision...

Friday is my GRE day...have to get a minimum of 1000 points for both verbal and quantitative sessions and a minimum of 600 points for the quantative part. And also a minimum of 3.5 for the analytical writing. I have been averaging 1100 points for the practice tests so far. Sure hope can maintain that...the verbal sessions can be a killer with words you've never heard before. It's useful to know the root words especially Latin root words in order to be able to effectively 'decipher' the questions. The quantitative or maths session is relatively easier but the language used is a potential pitfall...I understand that the scores for both the verbal and quantitative tests would be known immediately after completion but the analytical writing results will only be known 2 weeks after...

Well folks, tune in again on Friday night (after BK's BBQ) for the latest in my long road to SCSC and beyond!

6km fartlek

The highlight for the day has to be the morning edurance run. Instead of the usual 6km run - which is not very useful for 2.4km training - we incorporated fartlek (Swedish for 'Speed Play') into the run. And it was shag, shag, shag! Slow run to the pool...cross the zebra crossing and stride all the way to the Warrant Officers' & Specialists' Mess...slow run to the SOC gate...stride all the way to the SEOC low wall...and slow run in the hilly SEOC terrain (this is heartbursting shag!)...go up the staircase to heaven - why staircase to heavan? run up the bloody thing and you will feel like you've died and gone to heaven once at the top!!! - then hit the medical centre and stride all the way to hotel wing. And that completes only round 1...3 klicks. The next 3 km is the same thing! And that is how, ladies and gentlemen, we train super-fit officer cadets!!!

Note to self: Must definitely get the Polar Running watch. (www.polarelectro.com.sg) It's a good tool to motivate oneself in terms of fitness improved...

What I've learnt - #1

So what if you are in a particular unit for a long time? The important thing is to be able to distil the lessons learnt from the experience...It's no use being somewhere for a long time but there's nothing to takeaway from the experience...

40 down...80 to go...

I would just like to announce to the world that I have cleared my 2nd year in UniSIM! Just got the result after many hours of trying to get to the site. Of course the entire school would be logging in and trying to get their results... We were told that the results would be released on 13th December so I guess that the kiasu ones tried to log in as soon as it passed midnight of 12th December! I finally called the Exam Results Admin and they informed me of my results over the phone..."But cannot let you know the detailed results...only pass or fail, ok?"..."OK!", I said..."Well, you've passed! Congratulations..."

When I finally managed to log into the UniSIM website (at 0445hrs on 14th December, mind you), I managed to check my detailed results...not too bad...

Well, cleared my Introduction to the Humanities and English: Past, Future & Present...on to Pshychology next year... 2 modules at that...

Another one joins the Palm gang!

I would like to officially welcome Zahed and his family to our neighbourhood! It's good to have you around bro! May we have many tee-off sessions!

Nièce misses her tante

Ah...Jules, your niece misses you...we can tell...how? She asked Mum for the postcard with the picture of Stephane and you in front...the one that you sent about 2 years ago. With snow in the background. She carries it everywhere she goes. Even to sleep...She keeps staring at it once in a while...

"Kakak, do you miss Bik Julie?", I asked.

"Yes...", she answered softly...

One can never get enough of this...

The Data Lifeguard Tools software is doing fine now...chugging along for the past half-an-hour. Bought myself a Western Digital 250GB hard disk during the recently concluded SITEX 2005. Realised too late that I bought the serial version instead of the parallel. Duh...

That was last Friday. Had to go back to other end of the island in Changi to exchange for a parallel version. And guess what? Parking was a nightmare...had to tawaf the whole place a couple of times...thought of parking along the many roads around the industrial area but changed my mind when I saw the fluttering summons tickets in the breeze adorning many of the parked vehicles' windscreens! Poor sods... In the end, I parked on the other side of the whole place. Near some landed property. Had to fast march for about 6 minutes to get to Hall 5 but it was worth not having to fork out money to pay for summons!

The kind folks at Pluto Systems agreed to exchange the Maxtor 250GB hard disk for a Western Digital 250GB...they even gave me back $2!

Went to the Palm One booth and toyed with the new TX, the T5 and the Lifedrive...greatest take-away - that the Lifedrive stylus is compatible with my Tungsten T! Thanx Kelvin...sucker!

Anyway, am using the Western Digital software to partition and format the new hardware and also to copy over files from the old 80GB disk. I officially now have 1/2 terabyte worth of space! But...like the title says, one can never get enough of this...tune in to find out when I will be purchasing the next hard disk...probably a whopping 500GB one!

Murphy's Laws of Jungle Training

• The moment your groundsheet has lost its waterproof capability, the skies will open up and prove it to you...in the middle of the night...while you are sleeping fitfully in your hammock...
• The moment you return your life-jacket to the store, you realise that you will need it...to cross Sungei Temburong...which is 50m wide...and fast-flowing...and has crazy currents!
• The moment you realise that you need everyone to have machetes to chop through the impossible vines and thorny rattan plants, you find out that only 2 persons have it!
• Trust the GPS...trust the pilots who have been playing around the area for months...don't trust the guy who plotted your checkpoint in the map!
• Be very afraid when you see areas in the map with no contour lines! What? You think there are wide open spaces in the middle of the jungles?!? Two words...HIDDEN KNOLLS!
• Even though you may have marked the route, Murphy Law states that the moment you have to back-track, you will have a bitch of a time looking for the markings!
• Never let the sounds of vehicles in the jungle fool you...they may be miles away!
• Murphy Law states that you will get your balls wet in the jungle no matter what. You may have kept it dry all the way but the moment you want to reach a critical point which will lead you to your objective, you will have to cross a deep river...
• Murphy Law states that you will fall down in a way that will make your mates helpless with laughter at least once...if they have not caught it on camera that is!

Lala & her poo...

Well, this is what happens if you let a very young child loose around the house with nothing but her birthday suit on! She leaves behind presents...

Home of the Officer Corps

Well, I'm back again...After an absence of 7 years! Missed the wide open spaces, rolling landscape, greeneries, singing cadets, the 'grand old' HQ block, the puzzling gazebos, the Tower...and of course Charlie block! Check them out at http://www.mindef.gov.sg/safti/ocs/

Ah...my office space has increased by 400%! A room all to myself! Some privacy after about 4 years of 'shared office environment'! Has its advantages and disadvantages...

Rafi - I'm always chasing after the bugger in terms of holding appointments! - gave me a quick rundown of the personnel in the Wing-line... seems like a nice bunch...

A person I didn't expect to run into was the makcik at the canteen. God...she still remembers me after all these years! I was quite impressed with her memory. Seems to have a good rapport with Rafi...bantering away about her trip to Thailand and advising us not to "pergi sana sorang-sorang ah..."!

Learnt something new today...didn't know that 'mata-mata' is to go dutch...duh!

Transition

It’s a time of transition for me…I have been in this place for nearly 4 years. More specifically, it’ll be 1 month shy of 4 years. The longest I’ve been in any unit…Like all transition, I will leave this place with a tinge of sadness…I have learnt a lot from my years here. Here are some of my takeaways…

1. Have passion in what you do. This is the main difference between a mediocre output and a good one.

2. Be PROACTIVE and not REACTIVE. Don’t wait for things to happen…make things happen.

3. Don’t compare…it will only frustrate you…do what you are supposed to do and do it well…and then some…

4. Always look for the next best answer…never be satisfied with the status quo…

5. Always do self-reflection…in whatever you do…it will help you improve, give you space and rejuvenate you…

Philips dudes the Saviours

The Philips guys came today. My seemingly ‘unconnectable’ internet connection was actually due to me changing my password to my ISP…duh…Anyway, my internet connection was up and running in no time. Good to be back!