sailing today...... hopefully the trip will be enjoyable.. no camera.. so pathetic.. cant bring.. prohibited item.. think i'll prob go buy disposable ones at indo and develop at m'sia.. see how.. haiz..

my unit badge.. haha.. bo liao.. but i think its e nicest of all the badges in navy..




taz everyone..
p.s. soon huat, when u gonna submit that memo? update me on the outcome ok? lolz.. good luck..

and to those lucky few going to start sch soon.. cherish it man.. unlucky pple like me have to wait 2 more years.. unfair.. study hard!!

oh ya happy birthday singapore..

went onto the ship ytd to load the medical stores.. managed to bargain for both medics to sleep in quarantine room with the doctor.. heng.. otherwise we'll be sleeping in some bunk way below.. that'd stink! hah..

went shopping today.. more tidbits and beverages.. saw the ship crew loading A LOT of tidbits & drinks ytd and i realised my supply might be a little lacking.. lolz..

no internet connection on ship though.. sucks..

stayover at the 3 ports are around 5-6 days each...

surabaya 4th-9th aug

fremantle 15th-19th aug

kuching 28th aug - 2nd sep..

those are estimates from the email i saw.. might change though.. apparently i'll be back on 8th sept.. there's been some changes.. dun noe if its true..

on embarkation off today and tmr.. whee..

shore leave expires sat 1pm.. means i've to be on board by 1pm.. most prob sailing off around 3pm..

will be visiting ports in Fremantle (Aus), Surabaya (Indo) and Kuching (M'sia).. hard to imagine myself as a sailor.. lolz.. i'm jus sailing attached as a medic..

will sail from this sat (29th july) to 9th sept.. 43 days leh.. so long so long.. wun get to see my nation celebrate birthday.. :( lolz.. will be sailing with another medic and a doctor.. actually 2 doctor but 1 at a time... they'll substitute each other halfway.. they get to fly.. so unfair..

so long away from family.. sigh..

and i dont know if its a good or bad thing, but i'll probably have nothing to do at all on the ship.. jus eat sleep shit.. literally.. oh well i brought 7 novels, my psp with 4 games and some mp3, a few TIME, a few Newsweek, A LOT of tidbits.. yea thats all..

so many things yet to do.. still got some packing, settling my leave forecast, change currency etc etc.. so busy... heng got thurs and fri off..

haven met up with bmt mates, medic frens, s13 since so long.. guess we'll have to procastinate again and again.. hah..

postponed my driving.. sucky.. made me hate the trip a lot initially.. but now i'm kinda looking forward to it.. a free holiday.. courtesy of the SAF.. well at least thats what most pple have been telling me.. but considering i'll only get about $20 per day when we dock at the ports (maybe 3-4 days at each place), i doubt its enough to spend.. of course i hope got more shore leave.. den not so sian on the ship at least can go out walk walk..


yea anyway dun keep ur hopes too high on the gifts part... haha, fremantle is a port city near perth.. the shopping attraction is a market.. -.- diao.. lolz.. unless u want rotten fruits for gifts.. cos by the time i'm back sure rot already..


not sure if i'll have internet connection... if not, boo... otherwise i might update in between.. so long peeps..

last i checked, i have 29 lesson stamps... a modest 4 1/7 stamps each lesson... finished 3 test routes and S & Crank course today.. kana swan by instructor.. lol.. he asked whether i do b4, i say 1st lesson tried.. but turn out my crank course on 1st try KNS.. lol.. more comfortable on S course.. hopefully i wun have to take up to 14 lessons.. i wouldnt mind being refunded.. (ok in case u're wondering, my progress is in part (the emphasis is PART) due to e fact tt i'm taking auto.. yea yea.. say all u want.. bleah...)

so far my worst showing is 3 stamps a lesson.. twice.. the rest i'm sure u know the math.. lol.. but i fear the worst is yet to come sia.. with parking on the horizon.. lol.. sucky..

i'm sick.. yes still sick.. panadol doesnt seem to work.. anti pyrexia my foot.. my temp like hardly decrease.. fever (39.4 ytd), sore throat, cough, flu.. never felt so sickly b4.. sickening (literally).. wonder if i caught the virus on ship...


and den i might miss my tp test.. while its possible to be refunded, might not be fully.. SHIT... why must all my driving tests meet with so much controversy?? btt, officer almost din allow me to take.. ftt, almost had to go for a last minute sailing... now TP, might have to sail again.. (and for 1.5 months mind u).. to darwin, bali, and somewhere in m'sia.. sucks! 3rd time lucky? let's hope..

His original article is HERE


The authorities response is HERE


and as a result, he gets removed as a columnist on Today...






I quote:

"You can get anything you want in Singapore. You can travel, you can bring it in. You can - you can organize what you want. You can say anything you want, and all sorts of things are said and debated in Singapore."

- Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, interview with Charlie Rose, Aug 2005

"We encourage people to express their views and to have a view. Our problem in Singapore is that many people don't really have a view."

Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Business Times, 30 June 2003

"We don't mind if you have different views, but you must have some views. If you have no views, I have a problem. If you have different views, we can talk about it and let's do something about it together."

Lee Hsien Loong, NDR Speech, 2004

"Whether Singaporeans fully agree with the Government's point of view is less critical than whether people are following the issues at all."

- Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the Singapore 21 Conference, July 2001



HOW VERY CONTRADICTING... HAHA...

Pirates of the Caribbean 2 Banned in China

reason: for excessive violence and supernatural theme..

wat utter bullshit...




Ronaldo's home attacked

ANGRY England fans have smashed the windows of Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo's mansion.

Neighbours said drunken yobs pelted the 2million pound mock Tudor house in Woodford, Cheshire, with empty pint glasses and an egg after leaving the pub on Friday night.


MOST DESERVINGLY SO haha...

Dear Mr Teow,

I refer to your email dated 09/06/06.

Thank you for your valuable feedback. On behalf of Comfort Driving Centre, we would like to offer our apologies to your good self for the unpleasant experience you encountered with staff. I would very much appreciate it if you can kindly furbish me your details (Customer id no. or NRIC no. and your full name) so that i can further assist you.

We assure you that we will take all necessary action to ensure that all our customers receives quality service that is not only pleasant, but memorable.

Thank you.

Warmest Regards,

Ms Ng Mei Chu
Customer Service Liaison
Comfort Driving Centre Pte Ltd
Tel: 6841-8900 Fax: 6841-8913
Website: www.cdc.com.sg


and i believe i received a copied and pasted template reply to complaints.. cos its jus too flawless.. plus the reply din mention anything about my lesson and tel line complaint.. thanks man...

shit i forgot my email got name 1.. kns.. they prob already know my details liao.. kaoz.. but wat the hell..

disgressing 1st..

Go FRANCE.. rooting for you.. though i nv buy... no chance.. its 2am tmr morning on channel 5 or 27 peeps.. dun miss it.. 1.5 billion will be watching..


back to the email..

To whom it may concern,

I have been a CDC member for about 3 months and find that certain services provided by CDC are rather wanting at times.

I have come to notice that the phone line given on the website and book (6841 8900) never ever seems to get answered. Or perhaps it does get answered, after 100 rings or so. Somewhere around there. I'm not the only one who has noticed this particular phenomenon, many of my friends (past and present members of CDC) have also brought this to my attention.

Furthermore, I observe that a minority of the receptionists show disinterested looks when queries are put forward to them, and often speak way too fast when responding to the them.

I believe this is unbecoming of an organisation which happens to be an awardee of the ISO 9001: 2000 certification, a Singapore Quality Class recipient and one which has attained the People Developer Standard, among many other awards. Bluntly put, it devalues the awards.

Another point that I would like to bring up is about practical lessons. The lessons (in fact EVERY SINGLE LESSON - as my friends and I have noticed again and again), starts late and ends early. The instructors are often not puntual, many a times arriving at the car around 5 minutes late for lessons, and end the lessons 5-15 minutes early. Be anything, but on time (Is this an unspoken motto? - I wonder). I would also like to voice my dissatisfaction about the digital clocks in the cars. They're 5 minutes early and I believe give the instructors the wrong impression of the time, contributing to the early release.

As paying customers, we pay as much as almost $70 for a 100 minutes lesson. Costly as it already it, the last thing we would want is to be shortchanged by 20 minutes. That is equivalent to throwing $14 into the drain, or into the bin, whichever is more wasteful.

I know that for lessons that begin late and those that end early, students are required to type their passwords to acknowledge (and in the process agree to it happening), but, when the instructors has already parked the car and turned off the ignition, I do not think there is much we students (and customers mind you) can do about it but type the password and end the lesson.

Perhaps it is that my friends and I are too observant (overly?), or that many have noticed, but failed to voice out. Well in any case, today I am doing it, and I seriously hope some action will be done to follow up on this complaint.

Yours sincerely,
a dissatisfied customer


i'm bored.. lolz.. probably sarcastic enough... i shall exempt the above letter from copywrite laws.. so dun hestitate to copy and paste and emial to them

to start it off the bloody instructor was already asleep in the car when i approached it.. i had to wake him up at 1245...


ok then i drove off...

wth?? he kept dozing off... wat the!!!! and he had the cheek to tell me off for asking him whether i had to do a u-turn.. pls loh.. if i din ask him, and as he was sleeping, i would have driven straight to macpherson there liao loh.. wat a fool..

and he cheated me.. dumb idiot.. i'm very sure i clocked 5 test routes.. he only indicated 4 on my book.. and worse off, he din even have a stamp.. jus wrote on my book instead.. and forgot to indicate in the front that it was my 6th lesson.. wat kind of instructor man...


got my steering wheel hijacked twice... zzz.... both when changing lanes at eunos there... sian diaoz.. i tot it was quite ok wat.. forgot to signal once and failed to check blindspot twice... soso i guess.... this lesson brings my total test routes to 7... could have been 8.. grrr...

watever!

do u pple notice the bloody cdc phone line takes ages to be answered?? i seriously wonder how the hell they can get ISO, Singapore quality class, pple's developers certification.. how the hell the can pass the audits... in changi medical centre, we have to answer the phone within 3 rings.. for cdc, i think they'll only answer if u're patient enough to hang on for 300 rings...


and... the lessons start late but end early.. EVERY SINGLE TIME... i'm sure everyone noes this and therefore think its normal.. but think about it, we're paying for 100 mins of lesson.. arent we getting cheated?? i'm considering bringing this up to CASE... its unfair for the consumers man.. rofl..

heck.. i think i'll go email cdc and tell them off 1st..

couldnt blog ytd.. was on duty and e camp pc cannot sign in to blogger.. think they banned the site...

anyway u can access the site here: http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:DWCf5cUVG0cJ:www6.tianya.cn/new/publicforum/content.asp%3FidWriter%3D7015203%26Key%3D0%26idArticle%3D172042%26strItem%3Dfuninfo%26flag%3D1%26+xi%27an+nus+exchange+student+blog&hl=en&gl=sg&ct=clnk&cd=3


it's a cache.. the original site seems to be down..


i'll post short quotes from the site.. lol..


author (a nus student on 5 month summer exchange program [SEP] in xi'an, china)starts by complaing
"March 02
　　
　　Why am I here?
　　
　　I don't like it here. Weather - too dry, too cold. Food - too oily. Air quality - very very bad. Sky is always grey. Streets are dirty. Lessons sucks. And I'm sick. I don't like the campus one bit. The school toilets stink like hell and you can smell them from afar. Classroom facilities sucks. They still use the chalkboard and the chairs and tables are made of wood. "


and then continues to complain...

"The ppl here - both male & female are all very short. I think 90% of the guys are less than 1.7 m. I wonder if Yao Ming (NBA player)'s genes got something wrong and that's why he's so tall? 90% of them are all below average guys in terms of looks, charisma, dressing. Terrible and they don't shave. Singapore Chinese are descendants from China but how come we look so different from them? We are all Chinese wat."



and complains....

"I'm sick of the ppl here. I find them childish. The guys are always pushing each other around like kids. And they are always comparing handphones with each other. And their phones aren't even nice! Don't even noe what brand is that. [this part is absolutely hilarious] I think it's got to do with the One Child Policy. They are the products of this policy. [i actually dun see the link, but watever]"

goes on to rant about the uncomfortable, but cheap train ticket, the expensive, but enjoyable shaolin experience.. about the polluted xi'an and yan'an, about how there's only 1 kfc in yan'an, about a 14hr bus journey to see a magnificient waterfall..

also goes on implicitly to thank the PAP for the progress package and promises to vote for u know who.. "And thank you to Young Lee for your generous gift of cash! I will vote for your ka kias! Don't worry"

here comes the controversial part... lol..

"Just FYI, Yan'an has a population of abt 17 million 土包子 (country pumpkins)[i believe its bumpkins.. but mean watsoever.. and funny too] out of which maybe 80% are poor like mice. There's no fat ppl there. Why? Becoz this place is so dry & poor that they are all undernourished. They look ugly too. As ugly as their black hearts. All of them are out to cheat outsiders' money."

"Anyway, ya summary. 土包子! Very poor, ugly, bad, uncivilised. I learnt that in China, 80% of the ppl are BAD. Bear that in mind. CHEATERS. FUCKERS. No wonder they are all so poor. Coz they are all so BAD." --- of course i believe this part must have infuriated all the chinese readers.. well maybe not all.. but at least 80% of them... rofl..


NB.: in reading the page + comments, i endured about 1 hour of reading chinese characters.. it was difficult... skipped a lot.. mainly because i got turned off by long paragraphs of chinese words and also because i couldnt read most of the words anyway..


but i'll post some funny comments..

its funny looking at it from a neutral perspective...

我只想说操！！！！你tmd新加坡人滚回去！！！
　　丑女+穷人，滚回去！！！不要把我们中国的土地弄脏！！！不要吃我们的粮食！！

　这个女人，没别的说的，建议立即将其遣送回国。


she gets swanned here..

1st trip outside of Xi'an. On fri afternoon, me & a Korean friend - Dodam took a train to Luoyang in the province of Henan. The journey took 5 & 1/2 hr. We bought the cheapest 'hard seat' ticket (cost abt $10 sgd) and it was very uncomfortable esp with SO many ppl around & making SO much noise.
　　--------------------------------------------
　　买最便宜的硬座又嫌不舒服...
　　
　　　　Visited the famous Shaolin temple the next day. The admission ticket was damn ex. $150 RMB!
　　--------------------------------------------
　　到底是谁穷啊?!

lol..


then there's this person who comments on her english proficiency... lolz..

ur English is just so so. As one of chinese people, I personally accept ur apologize. [ shouldnt it be apologies?? lolz.. his english cant even make so-so]


he also says this..:
"Well, about pasting ur blog, [its supposed to be a private blog on myspace] I don't think only we chinese people behave like this. U must hear about the famouse sex video from ur country about a girl making love with her boyfriend. If a video like this your Singaporean person can put it on Internet and let it broadcast to all the world, why we cannot paste your blog?
　　
　　BTW: I am in Sydney. I know the video because one of my Australian friends showed me about that. So you can know how famous it is! [din noe its THAT famous]　　
　　Besides: We Chinese never show how large our country is. Because we know we are large. Do you think u are necessary to say how clean ur WC is?" [ frankly speaking i dont see how this example is even relavant. but watever]


well there're some pple (both sg and chinese citizens), who supported her true views, her own views.. but of course some who're blinded because of the cheater comment.. but i dun think she should be expelled from nus due to this.. apparently some idiots already complained to the sch(my future sch fyi) regarding this.. lolz..


anyway, a classic example of how k-po journalists are..

"大家好。我是新加坡《新报》的记者。请问这儿有谁知道如何跟I_Am_Very_Sorry 联系，或者知道此人原本的Blog网址？各位能帮我的话，无限感激！
　　
　　-刘汗青 (hanqing@sph.com.sg)" HAH!




ok i gtg scram liao.. have driving.. n crap its raining.. kns.. adios..

add $50 bucks to the previous figure for the cost of the card.. and however much the 3m product is going to cost.. =D


i must, i have to, i will!!!!


forgot to add.. ytd i did another IV on a patient.. it was.... as satisfying, if not more, than the previous 1.. another medic missed once, and i helped do the IV on the other arm.. great feeling.. ~

one day i must take a photo.. must smuggle something into camp.. LOLz...

passed my ftt.. muahahaha.. godly.. tp booked... on a sat but bus lane timing.. dun noe good or not.. power sia 1st lesson on 18th june and btt on 23rd june today can book tp le.. 无敌.. hah.. current expenditure: $1267.65/- (this's excluding the transport fees to and fro the driving centre... $1.24 per trip.. sian..) .. hopefully that'll be all.. still have 9 lessons booked but haven go.. around 2 more months to tp test..



wth??? as if taxi rides are not expensive enough.. they jus had to make it even costlier.. kns.. the midnight surcharge 1.5 times like not exorbitant enough.. and peak hour 2 buck surcharge.. conspiracy man.. SCAM!!! scamming us commuters.. let's all boycott taxis..

ok go let's take bus and trains.. wait a minute.. the fares are going to rise too.. 99% possibility.. WTH!!! my travelling expenditure already so great liao.. they still want to increase..

and the excuse they provide? in light of rising petrol prices, rising pay?? and few years nv raise liao... yeah RITE... treating us like suckers.. helloooo?? how about in light of the bloody unreasonable increments, u get S*F to increase my pathetic allowance [which happens to be inferior to that of a construction worker]... how does that sound? since we all happen to know that the bus company, taxi company, train company and S*F belongs to the same big happy family.... not very feasible rite?? since the additional profit $$$ earned from scamming commuters will be lost to nation servers treated like slaves..


ass.... nvm i think lets all walk instead...

gonna miss my ftt... ka na sia... CRAP!!!! going sailing tonight.. back on friday only... hell shit..... screw the organisation.. dumb!!! my plans are all screwed... argh... nvm.. i'll camp at the website again.. and next time, i'm going to take leave on the test date.. sucky...


hope i dun vomit much.. haiz... hate it!!!

went to johor today.. as usual got driving practice.. haven driven there for almost a month.. the drivers there are totally diff from those in ubi.. they dun signal, overtake RIGHT in front of you (from the left too!), drive recklessly etc.. but its good.. cos it makes me better.. haha.. managed to practice lots of u turns and lane changing and turning.. mainly because all the while in there i was the one behind the wheel.. heh..

petrol there is really much cheaper.. by more than 2 times loh.. 95 in sg costs $1.65 per litre.. i think... there.. the lousiest grade they sell is 98!! and even then its like 80 cents sing per litre.. imagine.. better quality fuel for less than half the price.. who's to blame? i doubt its Shell.. if so, then who?? or rather, which organisation?? i'll leave it to my discerning readers..

went to a shopping centre.. erm let's call it X since hardly anyone would know about its existence anyway.. so X was having this Philips fair at the ground floor.. jus some gimmick to cash in on the world cup.. selling lcd, tvs, sound systems etc.. den got table soccer to play there, some com's with winning 11 (i think) and a make shift goal..


after walking around for a while.. realised they were having this shootout competition.. lol.. 3 chances to score goals + 1 leg must be stationary.. (for the sake of soccer idiots, to score a goal, u actually kick a soccer ball pass a goalkeeper, into a netted rectangle.. yea..) lolz.. @ 1st i tot is only for pple who buy philips products den get a chance to kick.. den the emcee say anyone can kick.. jus queue up..


a little pai seh leh.. so many pple watching.. wait miss.. sidetracking.. the prizes.. 0 goal = a key chain.. 1 goal= a magazine.. 2 goal= pen + mag.. 3 goal = pen + a size 5 philips world cup soccer ball [2 available].. den so many pple try (and FAIL to score 3 goals), so i tempted.. went to queue too...


let's not go into the details of how i scored the goals.. really felt bad that i had to disappoint the crowd and take home a ball.. lol.. not that the ball very ex or wat la.. jus for fun loh.. hah.. den my bro next in queue.. embarassing.. he kicked the 1st ball into the audience.. and e keeper saved the other two.. lol..



but din really buy much.. sian.. saw a white nike shoe with gold swoosh.. quite chio.. no size.. plus rather cheap.. went 3 shops all no size.. not my day.. some grocery shopping and buy back some dunkin doughnuts nia..


oh ya went pass e cinema.. 2 fast 2 furious tokyo out liao sia there.. singapore i think might have to wait a few more years.. crap.. lol.. hope e show nice.. and graphics clear.. gonna watch it now.. will watch cars and just my luck when i get the time.. actually want to watch she's the man.. but i think sg nv show liao.. diaoz..

enuf bout my driving...

wanna talk about ns.. haha.. actually is the happenings in my medical centre..


monday i performed an IV on a patient in sick bay successfully.. guy had fever.. i mean there's a sense of satisfaction knowing that the 10 IVs i did as training during my combat medic course on my buddy as training paid off when i pushed the catheter successfully into e patient's vein.. sense of accomplishment man!! its different from getting good academic results.. this is a matter of life n death.. sort of ba..

got other funny things.. some p-case.. psychiatric patients.. lol.. got 1 guy bring chopper to camp and declare at the guard house.. tell the sea-soldier he want to kill his chief clerk.. lolz not sure if soon huat heard about this.. haha.. doctor send him to saf ward @ AH (saf woodbridge) den later transferred to IMH.. haha damn funny.. but dun noe if he really p-case or fake 1..

got other p-case pple.. talk to themselves, behave weirdly etc.. den also have patient with suicidal tots.. its a totally different ns experience from arti, contacted, leopard crawl, field camp etc.. though i'm currently still wearing green.. guys shd noe wat i mean...

then there're lousy customers too.. seems like majors and 2nd wo have very bad tempers.. wah kao the queue so long.. expect to be seen immediately by the MO.. wait 10 mins den complain take so long, walk out and start shooting emails around to complain too.. bastards.. hello?? the board says waiting time is 90 mins!!!


guys for goodness sake.. unless u're really dying or seriously sick, try not to report sick on tuesday!!! the queue confirm damn long cos pple come back from weekend monday blues, tuesday sure chao keng.. so medical reviews etc, come on thurs/fri...


soon i'll be going sailing.. they say its gonna be real boring on the ship cos have nothing to do.. but i wouldnt mind if got port of call.. going to darwin (aus), gao xiong (taiwan), pattaya (thai), bali, batam, new zealand, china, jap, etc for free appeals to me..

tts all folks...

....

only 5th driving lesson today... and completed 3 test routes le.. think i'm going too fast man.. ytd e instructor see my book he tio stunned.. oh well guess its not a bad thing financially..

shit man today kana cheated 15 mins.. thats like 10 bucks loh.. stupid cdc.. supposed to be car 203 the paper put 204.. waste time.. den the car not at the spot its supposed to be.. made me perspire under e hot sun walking up & down looking for it.. grrr..


still kinda sucky @ turning... always making too wide turns or turn into the wrong lane.. sucks.. keep having phobia of being too close to the left kerb/obstructions too.. argh... den instructor always say i too to the right of the lane..


need more practice.. and free ones as a matter of fact....

instructor also let me park e car once.. stupid sia.. sort of empty car park also cannot park into the centre of the slot.. diaoz.... must hone up my parking..

ftt etrial today also.. did 5.. failed 1.. quite ok i guess.. 86, 92, 92, 100, 98.. not bad not bad.. 2 more trials.. must pass!




side note: anyone whose btt/ftt super far away and want earlier dates, i could help.. for a fee!! LOLz.. i mean, waiting more than 1 month for a theory test sucks..