the aviator
Booked out early this evening cos tml is public holi! Hmm, I managed to take the free bus service which took me to Jurong Pt and when I passed by GV, I had the sudden urge to catch a movie. Well, tried to jio friends to come but failed lahz, can't blame them, it was a last minute thingy on my part. In the end I watched the movie alone lorz.
The aviator is the life story of Howard Hughes, a legendary great director and aviator. It is an excellent show which truly depicts the qualities of a great man above all others...eccentricity, an eye for things many ppl do not see, seeing things in a way that's different from others and self-confidence. The show also lets us know tt behind all great men who appear on tv, there lies a real side of them tt is always protected and nvr seen by the public.
The highlight of the show is mainly on his eccentricity, an immense obsession with cleanliness shown by him demanding one of his employees to wipe a white speck of dirt on his coat and then throwing the handkerchief away. Every now and then at any ball(concert/performance), he goes to the toilet to scrub his hands real hard wif a soap he carries ard all the time(on one occasion he even scrubbed til he cut his hand). After which he'll use a tissue to hold the door handle to open the toilet door. The show begins with him directing a film titled "Hell's Angels" which he spent a huge fortune, millions, keeping many planes without flying them, waiting for more than 1yr b4 clouds appeared in the sky, something which he needed in the backdrop of a lot of planes flying ard in the air so tt the speed of the plane could be seen by movie-goers. He went on to make many more films but the story mainly revolves ard him investing extremely heavily in designing and manufacturing new planes that could fly higher, faster and further.
The best thing was tt he himself takes the new planes on their maiden test-flight. He derives great pleasure in flying those planes breaking the speed limits which were previously also set by him. Only at the end of the show did we get to know tt when he was a young boy, he told his mum he will make and fly the fatest plane on earth and also make many movies and be the richest man on earth. He has a very keen sixth sense for things which makes him very successful. Some of the planes were designed by him. He has a great memory for the blue-prints of the planes. Just a brief glance at one or two of the blue prints of the plane and all its characteristics are at the back of his hand. A look at a model plane and a few details provided by the designer and he can gauge other stats by himself.
He had a bad patch some time in his life after he crashed one of his planes on its maiden test flight. After he recovered from severe injuries which nearly killed him, his airline business declined to a terrible state but he held on, refusing to sell it to his rival, who intends to monopolise the market. He even went on trial due to a senator conducting a public investigation on him regarding every financial aspect of his life. With the help of one of his beloved(he had many women), he recovered sufficiently, temporarily from his eccentricity to fight the trial, win it, and successfully fly the biggest plane he has ever designed and built(which he said tt if it failed to fly, he'll leave the country and nvr return!). That was where the story ended larz, but from some reviews, he went on investing in other industries as well.
posted by sc @
15 jan
On this very day last yr, it was the day I entered BMT at tekong. It was a long-awaited day for me. I was very neutral abt it, neither fearing it or looking forward to it. Taking the fastcraft wif my parents over to tekong, I was just praying hard I'll settle down quickly cos I, for one, take a long time getting used to a new environment. When we collected our duffel bags, also known as 'Ali Baba bag', we had to empty all it's contents to check and make sure everything was present. I was really lost sia, the commander shouted out all the stuff very quickly tt I had difficulty following. After everything was checked, we had to keep everything back in double-quick time and I ended up stuffing everything in a messy way back into the bag lorz. As expected, I had problems closing it up and when when everyone started leaving the training shed, I remember I had to strain my fingers to carry my bag cos it wasn't properly closed. Luckily one kind soul saw me struggling to carry my bag to move wif the grp and offered his help.
We were then directed to our bunks and very luckily for me, there was Hao Han and Nicholas also frm NJ and I felt more relaxed then. I unpacked my stuff and it was already evening time. After dinner, we tot we escaped cutting our hair on the first day...How wrong we were, haha. At ard 7+pm, we were gathered at a training shed jus downstairs of our block and we had our haircut! It really made me feel like a different person le being botak =P. After we had our bath, it was time for sleep and of course, I had problems going to sleep lorz. I think I only managed to fall asleep ard 12+am. The next morning, our revelle was like 5.30am and it was the first time I had to do an exercise immediately after waking up b4 having breakfast! Felt very shagged, haha, not like now, 5BX(basic exercises) is no kick wanz.
Initially during my BMT, I could only do 3 chin-ups which is short of 3 from a pass. We had a daily chin-up regime b4 lunch where we lined up in front of the chin-up bar in our sections and had to do 4 sets of 4 wif 20 push-ups after each set. If we couldn't finish the set, our buddies behind us will assist us by pushing us up on the chin-up bar lorz. Wah, very siong for me then lorz, me very weak wan mahz. Towards the end of BMT, I managed to scrap a silver for my IPPT wif 9 chin-ups. Now, my norm would be 12 chin-ups and I try to do chin-ups everyday after RO wif Cheng Hon to maintain the standard lorz. 12 compared to 3 b4 NS, quite a huge different sia...=P
I've settled down now at Sungei Gedong so life is considered ok larz. But compared to life here initially, I would say life at Tekong was way much better. I was in L(Leopard)-coy, a welfare coy cos most of the ppl there are sort of like scholars lorz, my grades of 2As, 1B, 1C and 2 ungraded is the lousiest in my platoon, u can imagine! Since they're all a'lvl ppl, it was easy to interact and everyone was very understanding. Another reason is tt everyone(except a few of us, including me) was pia-ing to get into OCS so when volunteers were required by the commanders, everyone was very automatic wanz. Not like now, when our commander calls for volunteers, we take a while b4 someone takes the initiative, very sad case.
As a tankee now, well, we dun have to chiong like the AIs do when outfield but when we return to camp from outfield, wah, we're very siong wanz. Needa service our tanks and also clean all our MGs...the AIs only have to clean their personal weapons. Somemore our commanders demand standard in terms of cleaning the MG so we always take at least 5hrs cleaning our MGs. Well, will be going to India for training in late Feb(luckily aft New Yr...) and in Apr and May, will be having ATEC(duno wat it stands for larz, but it's a test of our battalion's standard for war). Jus when you think we will get to relak after ATEC, we're also involved in NDP! But aft Aug, life should be good for us le, relaxed pace, just servicing and maintaining our fitness until we ORD. Til then, hafta sian1 ku3 hou4 tian2 lorz.
posted by sc @
low lor, an unbearable heartache too difficult to settle
Hmm, wat's 'low lor'? It's the latest army jargon I've picked up in camp recently started by one of the armskote men from HQ platoon. We usually say this to him when we see him and it means 'morale low lor' =P. Well, a rather relaxed week in terms of training as we were having revisions for tank gunner stuff. Glad to be back home, really, was feeling terrible the moment I stepped into camp last wkend lorz, had to be back on the night of Monday when my grandpa was sent for cremation.
In dad's car on my way back to camp, I was still feeling quite alright larz, could be very much better of course. I received 3 sms-es from 3 friends all asking me to go for outings in this mth. Hai, also duno why larz, after I read the msgs, suddenly felt really sad again abt my grandpa's demise. Things got a little better when I reached my bunk and my platoon mates returned as well. Some of them offered me words of encouragement and pats on the back, very nice of them, somehow really needed them when I din think I did lorz. I won't feel bad when i'm occupied larz, but like now, feeling the terrible unbearable heartache. Hope I won't plunge into a depression. *SIGH* Needa recover b4 lunar new yr cos shortly aft tt would b my trip to India for training. My tolerance these days are really little so hope my frens will forgive me if I'm rather unwilling to chat wif ya, esp those needing to share their feelings wif me. One of them I'd want to apologise to is Hui Jian...
Anyway, once training resumed the next day, the pain eased away and I could concentrate better on what I had to do. Today's training was terrible to say the least. We were at the simulation centre where we trained engaging enemies in a computer program. The tank platoon of 11 was divided into 2 grps and my grp was attached to an instructor who was said to be one of the top guns for tankees yrs back. Well, also duno why larz, my grp's performance was totally unacceptable given the fact tt we're already 1yr-tankees. We took a long time to aim and engage our enemies, too long for us to remain alive in real war lorz. We forgot the proper techniques which will enable us to engage our enemies much faster, stuff we learnt abt 1/2 yr ago. I keep forgetting switching the guns to 'fire' mode and took a long time aiming moving targets and the tank drivers somehow messed up their 'lefts' and 'rights'. Even my buddy, Kok Boon, one of the better gunners ard, also screwed up today's practice badly. The instructor was wondering how the hell we became operationally ready lorz, really insulting sia, but really can't help it lorz, hai. Really low lor...Luckily book out today...
I've committed myself to start reading up some of my jc stuff relevant to my future study of Chem Engi in NUS. Hopefully still have the free time and have the determination when my platoon mates play Risk often...
posted by sc @
clearing and tidying up
Well, a brand new yr has begun so I felt it was time to clear and tidy up my rm. =) It was rather easier than in the past cos I now spend most of the time in camp mahz, not much new purchases added to my rm over the past 1 yr so clearing the 'rubbish' in my stuff wasn't tt hard.
I'm a rather sentimental person so whatever little notes, b-day cards or greeting cards ppl give me, I'll keep all of them. Most of them were given to me in sec4 by the gals from my class. As the yr was drawing to an end and nearing our o'levels, it was more or less the last time we'll all be together in CSS so they made very nice little gifts and cards for everyone. Many of those are very nice artwork by my classmates so really won't ever have the heart to throw them away, haha.
When I was in p6, after the PSLE, I managed to make a pen-pal wif someone I liked from my p5 and 6 class and we sent letters to each other quite often. Only in sec2 when the internet started to make it's way into our normal life, did I slow down sending 'snail mails' as it was later known when emails were born. Those letters definitely mean a lot to me but a few yrs ago, I thought I lost them le. I could only find a few of them when I actually had more larz. Very sad and guilty lorz, I even let her noe abt it. I always believe in being truthful and frank to ppl. =P Haha, but the wonderful thing is, I've found them!! They were hiding somewhere in the depths of all the stuff that I keep and this mini-spring cleaning allowed me to recover them.(including the bookmarks which come along wif the b-day cards that were sent, very very happy!)
I also found some stuff which I keep since I was young which will reflect my studies lorz. Haha, fond memories are very much attached to them larz, cos generally speaking, my results in my life so far have always been consistent at a certain level, no more, no less, jus occasional slip-ups. These stuff will serve as a reminder to continue working hard when I enter the uni larz, cos now I can feel myself getting very very lazy le.
A happy start to 2005 for me, wif my dearest Newcastle winning the 1st game of the yr beating Birmingham 2-1. A very crucial win, the 1st in their last 9 matches lehz, very very glad. Can imagine how much sadness and frustration they've caused in me for the past few mths? The thing is they aren't playing very very badly all over the pitch lorz, jus the defence letting the team down from time to time and rather unlucky for the strikers not to convert wif the amt of chances created for them. Yeh! Hopefully this'll kickstart their winning ways lorz. 2005 is starting off well for me, hope it'll stay this way!
posted by sc @
Happy 2005
Our pa outing was changed from going to Escape to having dinner at somewhere ard somerset, quite a big change but i guess it still turned out fine =P. We had our meal at this cafeteria and 'chilled out'(not used to using this word, haha) at a corner of the cafeteria wif sofas and a coffee table aft the meal. We chit-chatted in small grps and stoned for periods of time as well. There was this IQ toy tt jiayun brought along and they 'confiscated' it cos it promoted 'anti-socialness'(duno got such a word or not lorz, lol). After staying there til ard 10pm, we left the place heading to Esplanade for the countdown. We ended up at the Merlion wif less than 5mins to midnight and after the countdown, we spent the rest of the time taking photos wif the Merlion as the main feature lorz, haha. Well, the atmosphere was quite dull and cold lorz, which I think is because of the lack of fireworks(bo bian larz, cancelled due to the tsunami disaster which I knew very little of because i've been neglecting the newspapers for quite a long long time le *feeling guilty* =P). Maybe the countdown at sentosa has a better atmosphere? Hmm, 2005 resolutions for me? Mus finish up the storybk i'm reading and start reading up some physics stuff le...totally lost all my knowledge which i've gotten during schooling =X
posted by sc @
Gran Torino - Jamie Cullum
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