stupidity.

tuesday evening what good is a text book and lecture slides when they seem to contradict one another sometimes or fail to even be reflected in one or the other? mgmt1003 is an utter joke of a module and the slides are so poor it takes effort to comprehend its arrangement. to make it worse, it's pure information overload to a certain degree that i think it's ridiculous.

but heck. i'm almost done. the sweet smell of my black bean sauce hor fun is so near. chen fu-ji restaurant, here i come!

foot race.

monday morning i'm trying to study for my last exam but have failed to concentrate for more than an hour at a time. while it's supposed to be a straight-forward paper to prepare for (more like preparing for 12 essays), i'm finding it challenging not to get carried away with the fact that i'm almost done for the semester.

the first two papers have gone reasonably well and i'm secretly hoping to be able to hit certain grades that i thought i couldn't so we'll see how it goes.

in any case, lesson for the night: one bottle of wine + miami vice + studying for management = one hell of an unproductive night. spain versus brazil in half an hour. ha! so much for studying.

revoultion underway?

friday morning post-elections are always dangerous times. especially if one party wins under controversial circumstances. in any case, the protests and dissent shown by the general populace in iran is reminiscent of those seen in 1979. october 1977 to february 1979. that was how long it took for the last revolution to come full circle.

it started with the death of a revolutionarist's son, blamed on the then-intelligence service of iran, the SAVAK. it is no coincidence that with the fall of the shah and the rise of new democratic reformists led by a certain khomeini, SAVAK was "disbanded" and reformed into a new agency.

the elections held just in the past week by iran was nothing more than a farce in the eyes of some observers. in my opinion, for all the complaints about the election being rigged, could it not be that ahmadinejad really won fair and square? plausible but i doubt it too.

so where does all this leave iran? there are a few possible outcomes:

1. the incumbent agrees to a re-vote if sanctioned by the guardian council (a group of 12 charged with the interpretation of the constitution of iran) and the incumbent wins again. the opposition accepts the results and moves on.

2. after a re-vote, the opposition wins and the incumbent is forced to step down, possibly triggering another wave of protests and clashes between each respective sets of supporters.

3. the council rules the votes valid and the opposition accepts the results, though highly unlikely at this moment.

4. the council orders a recount (not a re-vote) and finds the incumbent to be the winner again.

5. after a recount, the opposition is declared the winner.

whatever happens, i'm fairly sure that the protests will go on for a while longer, at least until the oppoisition gets what it wants. whoever wins, it is still a catch-22 for all the foreign services to deal with iran. all 3 opposition and the incumbent believes in the need for nuclear weapons. the question perhaps is, who is the lesser of two evils? one who wants to (and i quote) "wipe israel off the face of the earth"? or one who encourages closer dialogue and slightly warmer ties to everyone in the international community?

edit: and now brute force is used. one does wonder if a second tiananmen square of sorts is possible..

2 down, 1 to go.

wednesday night i feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. accounting and computing is done and both went better than i expected. all that's left is management before i head for a good (albeit short) winter break.

the week has been tainted by news of the passing of a brother-in-arms. the starlight family has lost yet another member. and to quote andy, "家里失去了情人， 我们失去了兄弟，国家失去了勇士。"

such is life. sigh..

frost.

friday morning i'm looking out of my window now and the amount of frost visible is amazing. it feels as if everything's built amongst the clouds.

studying the past few days have been relatively productive if not uneventful. i'm taking a gamble by focusing more attention on my accounting paper instead of my computing one only because i feel that's where my weakness is. i just hope it doesn't come back to bite me.

moving on. trasfer news of the year. ronaldo off to real madrid for 80 million pounds. i'm pretty sure i won't be the only one left feeling amazed at the same time annoyed at the amount of money being paid for a player. whatever happend to everyone else living tough lives through this economic meltdown? yet them players are commanding such ridiculous transfer fees and gobsmacking amounts of wages.

also, i find it odd that no one questions the source of income for real madrid. how is it they can afford to splurge 59 million pounds for kaka and then still have 80 million for ronaldo? and if the transfer news is to be believed, a fee of 35 million pounds is in the works for valencia's david villa. absolutely mind-boggling.

personally, i think it's a good thing that finally ronaldo's on his way out. the 80 million could be put to good use to fund new players. franck ribery, david silva, karim benzema. 3 players i'd love to see manchester united buy with the money. perhaps paying the damn 25 million to retain tevez might be a good idea too.

changeover.

wednesday morning since 2006, the international alliance of research universities has been led by prof ian chubb, vice-chancellor of the anu. today marks a new beginning and it surprised me a little bit (in a good way) when i read that the president of the nus, prof tan chorh chuan, was voted by the alliance to be its new chair. how's that for nationalistic pride?

speaking of which, changi airport's now ranked 3rd in the world. seems so long a go when they were ranked 1st. oddly, it's been 2 years since they relinquished top spot. hah. why am i not surprised?

what rubbish.

monday morning people who leave their laundry in the washing machines and dryers long after they are done and find them placed on the laundry table in the laundry room, have only themselves to blame for being inconsiderate and oblivious.

knowing that the washing or drying cycle will be done within a certain time, is it so difficult to go down and clear the laundry? and when people put it somewhere else just so they can use the machine, what the hell is with the idea of wanting to "get back" at them for clearing your laundry?

bloody asswipes! the next prick i see who tries to sabotage my laundry, or anyone else's for that matter, is going to get hell. i can't stand for people who act out in spite and claim to have a living owed to them.

what does anyone get out of revenge and vengence? yes, the feel-good factor is sure tempting but the harm done in the long run serves no purpose other than to hurt one's ownself. believe me, i've been trying hard over the past 3 years to dampen my temper and i think so far it's been pretty good. i may not yet reach the point where i can show no emotion when i'm happy/angry/sad but at least i don't flare up like i used to. sure, there's a visible anger etched on my face when i'm very nearly there but i don't flare. i do however, release bursts of emotions at a time and i must apologize to whoever has to bear the brunt of it. plain dumb luck for whoever does or says something that triggers it.

vastly inconsequenctial and random post. that's what happens when you have an argument with someone in the laundry room at 2 in the morning and then have to wait another 2 hours to rewash and dry your laundry. fucking wanker.

a week of remembrance (and reflection).

sunday morning i suppose not many of us realize the significance of the week that just passed. on thursday, it was the 20th anniversary of the tiananmen square protests of 1989. on saturday, the 65th anniversary of world war two's now famous d-day landings.

perhaps we are too young to know what happened but i am sure history will tell us something about the significance of each. the former, a tragic end and testament to the ruthlessness and brutality of the chinese communist government then, in the wake of protests and calls for change and even the desire for democracy. the latter, the unimaginable loss of lives for freedom and liberation. all ideals we take for granted in our daily lives.

we live in a world now where most things we need is almost a guarantee, put in some effort and we are more or less safe, for the day at least. things were so much different then.

history speaks of how a certain person wanted to rid the world of jews and form europe as we know of today, in his own image. his 1000-year rule that was to last a mere 4 years. while the reasons for world war two are many, some pointing to expansionism, racisim, isolationism and facisim, perhaps it is more than likely that it was a combination of all, and then some.

most would agree that the d-day landings marked the turning point in the war in europe. it started off with paradrops in the nights leading up to the 4th. pathfinders and scouts going in early to mark out landing sites and such; the lesser known story of what is known as operation overlord. as depicted in films like "saving private ryan" and games like call of duty or medal of honor, the landings were nothing short of carnage and a nightmare scene of dead bodies. bullet-riddled bodies filled the chanel that the vast armada of ships had just crossed.

war. whether we like it or not, is sometimes necessary. the ideals for which we believe in, those that we live our lives by, stand as nothing more than our perception and everyone else's judgment on what is right and wrong, what is acceptable and what is not. the fundamental similarity is that we all fight for what we believe in. the methods which we employ will differ but therein lies the similarity of us all - the drive to fight for what we believe in.

tiananmen was one such example. while the protesters did not fight per se, they did stand up (literally) for what they believed in and that was for a reform of governance. they believed that the governement then was corrupt, that socialism instead of communism was the way of the future. from what became an organized and daily routine of marching from the various colleges and universities to the square, turned to a sit-in hunger strike that struck a chord with the masses. the protesters, all students, had the momentum in their favor. the general public began to rally around their cause after deciding that the protesters were looking out not just for themselves but also for the entire population.

the movement was not just contained within beijing. countless other cities around china had student-led protests going on. some time after, the government then decided that the use of force was needed to disperse the protesters and restore order. martial law followed and eventually, 2 armies (each having 4 divisions under its command), moved to secure beijing. starting on the night of the 3rd, soldiers with armour support started to clear the streets one after another eventually clearing the square by 6 in the morning on the 4th. perhaps the most poignant and recognized image of the suppression of the protest was that of a lone man in front of a column of tanks.

20 years on, china's youth is no more willing to abide by the rules than the generation before them. the difference? they now know not to make their displeasure public, choosing instead to keep things underground and utilizing the internet as a form of outlet. how much the governance has changed is not for me to say but one can only look at the development and growth of china and ponder the difference should the reformists had gotten what they wanted.

though i am no expert on either events, reading up on them serves only to remind me of the joys of life that we have all come to take for granted. the lives we lead these days are lives of sheltered and spoilt children. true, i should not generalize but think about it for a moment. i may or may not be wrong but it still is good to reflect upon our lives once in a while.

as far as what i said about wars being necessary, i must first state that i am no war-monger. i write that statement with a different meaning and a somewhat warped rationale that i'm sure many will not agree with and that is perhaps the sufferings of war will allow us all to better understand ourselves, the pain that our forefathers went through, the hardships that we have not known and perhaps wish not to know.

it is the same as how some of my friends and i get very frustrated with wimpy soldiers in the army. complaining about how the sun is too hot, how the mud is so dirty, how we all smell bad out during exercise. we have become too reliant on things other than the simplest in our lives. whatever happened to being able to appreciate the very fact that we come home every weekend to a family, food on the table, television to watch, internet to surf and friends to hang out with?
is it so difficult to once in a while, take a step back, breathe and enjoy the fresh air in the early morn instead of the mechanical smell of recycled air in an air-conditioned place?

society as a whole, has forgotten about the lessons that we can and should learn from the past. no single country is perfect, no society in this world can claim to be superior to another. when the end comes for us all, we face the world and look at ourselves, wondering, have we lived our lives as fully as we could have? have we done things that we now regret?

i only hope we never forget history - those of our world, our country, our families and our own. once we forget the past and it's accompanied lessons, we fail to make good on our future.

health warnings.

saturday morning from the straits times online:

THE Ministry of Health advises the public to avoid non-essential travel to these affected areas:
- Melbourne and the State of Victoria in Australia
- Kobe and Osaka in Japan
- Chile, USA, Canada and Mexico

Should they become unwell within seven days of their return from affected areas, they should seek medical attention promptly and call 993 for an ambulance.

They should avoid taking public transport or taxi to minimise exposure. To help in contact tracing, the public may find it helpful to keep records of their movements for seven days, for example, keeping taxi receipts, after their return from the affected countries.

For those who are unable to avoid travelling to affected areas, they should:

Avoid crowded areas and contact with anyone who appears unwell.

Maintain high standards of personal hygiene at all times.

Wash hands regularly and thoroughly with soap and water, especially before touching the eyes, nose or mouth.

Turn quickly away from anyone near if they are about to cough or sneeze.

Cover the nose and mouth with a piece of tissue when coughing or sneezing. Dispose of the tissue paper properly in the dust bin after use.

MOH also advised travellers to see a doctor as soon as possible if they feel unwell overseas and refrain from travelling until certified fit by the doctor.

wanker.

thursday morning i take great interest every time someone writes in to whinge or complain about anything army related. here's one for your reading (dis)pleasure.

to summarize, the author is appalled at the lack of defibrillators and common medication for personnel to use should there be a need.

in bits and pieces i'll offer my two-cents worth because really, people like the author should be put in their place..


If your upcoming reservist stints include military exercises that require you to spend several days and nights out in the field, then please, please make sure your full pack is well-stocked with basic medicines for common ailments such as fever, flu, diarrhoea, nausea, and even ointments for rashes.

Because if you ever fall sick or find yourself suffering from the runs during the field exercise, the medic who is assigned to your exercise will not be able to provide you with much help or relief.

> well, it is our own responsibility to pack our own personal medication anyway. medics assigned to units outfield are combat medics. operative word: combat. they are trained to treat combat-related wounds and injuries. got shot through the balls? they'll help. down with a diarrhoea? well, take your own medication. quite simply because the medics are not allowed to dispense medication. having paracetamol (or panadol as most people know it by) is a blessing for most people.

I found this out on my last reservist stint which saw my platoon spending five days and five nights (including one burnt weekend) up on a rocky, mosquito-infested hill in Lim Chu Kang with just a training shed for shelter and no running electricity.

Nothing wrong with that, actually. In fact, save for the scorching sun, stifling heat and humidity, living conditions were generally manageable.

> unfortunately, someone has been spending too much time whinging, bitching and complaining and getting all too comfortable in the air-conditioned office of his. if you think the sun is scorching, the hear stifling and the humidity high, come over to australia during the summer and just sit in a room doing nothing. you're in the army for crying out loud. what the fuck do you expect? if you're displeased with it, go AWOL. really. then just face the consequences and have fun with the sandbag regime in mowbray camp.

is it me or does the author sound like a wimp? then again, what's there to be surprised about? a fair bit of guys in the army nowadays are too spoilt, the inate need for air-con, king coil beds, restaurant food etc.

We had fresh rations and water every day. We each had a safari bed to sleep on and we were allowed to go for a shower run at a nearby army camp on Day Four of the exercise.

i wonder, are you out on exercise or on some outward bound camp? going outfield and being able to sleep on a safari bed, given fresh rations and even a shower run, i'm pretty sure the author has forgetten his roots - training in bmt, sispec and ocs. again, he does sound very wimpy. perhaps it is no fault of his that they were provided such "amendities" but the fault lies with the unit commanders. how is one to run an army when the troops are being pampered?

This happened one afternoon, when the heat finally got to me and I started feeling nauseous.

> further reinforces my point that the author can be found in his air-conditioned office very easily.

I had some tablets stuffed in my toiletries bag. They were leftover medicines from my previous trip abroad. There were some panadols, some loperamide (for diarrhaoea) and buclizine hydrochloride (for colds).

But I wasn't sure which were the tablets for treating vomitting, nausea and giddiness as I hadn't labelled them. I didn't want to risk taking the wrong medicine so I went to the medic to ask for something to treat the nausea.

His answer floored me. "I only have paracetamols," he said.

Excuse me? "I only have paracetamols," he repeated

But isn't that just a pain-killer? Don't you have anything for nausea?

"Er...no," he replied, shrugging his shoulders.

> first things first. the author is smart enough to bring his own medication but dumb enough to not label them? whatever happened to common sense? in any case, the "miracle pill" of paracetamol does make nausea symptoms subside for a bit.

I was really annoyed by then. Battling the poor mobile phone reception on that hill, I SMS-ed my father-in-law, a family doctor, to ask which of the two medicines that I had at hand - cinnarizine or dhaperazine - were for treating nausea and vomitting. He replied a couple of minutes later: "Take either cinnarizine or dhaperazine but not both."

> oh. my. goodness. i never knew that going on exercise meant one could use his cell phone! quite obviously someone was very free (or malingering) or the training was too slack. either way, the blatant use of one's cell phone during exercise is unacceptable. the only times i remember we were allowed to use our phones outfield were.. not at all! and in any case, if he's so inclined to rely on his father-in-law, perhaps his father-in-law could follow him outfield too?

"What other medical equipment do you carry with you? Do you guys carry a defibrillator?"

The medic shook his head. Our jaws dropped. "Er...so what happens when a guy collapses or suffers a heart attack when out in the field then?" asked my platoon mate.

"We will try to rush him to hospital as quickly as possible," the medic replied.

"But what if he needs immediate help?" my platoon mate persisted. By now, a whole bunch of us, all in our late-30s, had all developed an interest in the conversation.

> for starters, the implementation of defibrillators in public places, in industries and even goverment organizations, takes time. one cannot expect to have these in place at the snap of a finger. not to mention the costs involved to purchase them as well as to conduct training for people in its usage. referring back, there are reasons why there is always at least one safety vehicle (a rover or a tonner) accompanied by an ambulance. in the case of serious emergencies, helicopter evacuations are used. case in point: during my field camp during bmt, someone in another company was helivac-ed to changi hospital after collapsing from heat stroke. the time taken from assessment to the helicopter arriving was around 10 minutes, not ideal perhaps but at least the infrastructure is in place.

In 2008, four national servicemen died either during physical training, while on a run or when out on a field exercise.

So far this year, there have been three reported deaths - two warrant officers collapsed while out on runs while an army recruit soon after completing a field exercise.

One would have thought that all these incidents would have ensured that the combat medics are better prepared and equipped before they are sent out with the troops on military exercises. In fact, one would expect a portable defribillator to be a must-have in a medic's kit.

One would also expect a medic to have at hand several types of basic medicines to treat the most common ailments while out in the field.

No, I take that back. We should demand this.

> i will not venture to speculate on the cause of deaths for the servicemen but the media (and indirectly the general public) is overhyping the deaths of servicemen. when one serviceman dies during training, SAF as a whole gets criticized for insufficient medical coverage, for incomprehensive medical screenings etc. and when a whole dragonboat team dies after an accident due to their own stupidity, they are called heroes. what the fuck is wrong with singaporeans?

if one were to be ignorant and not abide by training regulations (in the case of the officer cadet who died in brunei), who is at fault then? the organization or the individual? we are only too quick in putting the blame on the organization.

also, there are reasons why the combat medics have the label "combat" attached to them. in time of war, treating a fever will be the least of their priorities. i dare say that a bullet would or a bayonet injury takes priority over a diarrhoea case. anyone with decent observation skills and have seen a combat medic's full combat load, will realize how much these selfless men have to carry. apart from their field pack, they have to have their medical kit (duh), a portable stretcher and their personal weapon. to argue that what the total weight they bear is still less than that of say, the m203 gunner or even the matador gunner, is moot. a matador gunner throws away the tube after firing off the round, a m203 gunner's load gradually gets lighter after firing off the grenades and in any case, how does one put a value to combat medics being in the middle of a firefight rendering assistance with disregard for his own safety?

For that matter, shouldn't Mindef consider sending trained doctors to accompany national servicemen or reservists on military exercises?

I was really angered by my discovery during my recent field exercise. It left a bitter aftertaste, one that soured the sense of accomplishment that accompanied the end of the exercise.

I am just grateful that I had the common sense to bring my own medicines as a precaution. More importantly, I am grateful that my platoon mates and I survived the scorching heat and stifling humidity for five days without any unfortunate incidents.

i've seen my fair share of excercises, helped plan a few as well. the medical coverage is as comprehensive as it can be - helicopters on standby, ambulances outfield with the troops, medical center always primed to receive casualties, evacuation routes planned etc. one cannot expect medics and medical officers to be everywhere all the time. there are only so many of them.

if the author feels so strongly about the need for better equipped medics and more medical officers outfield, perhaps he'd like to sponsor them? as it is, being a medic (or nurse) is one profession that people shun. i have no shame in admitting that i would have loved to be a combat medic if it weren't for the fact that i wanted to be a pilot more than anything else.

perhaps then he'll also consider bringing his father-in-law along for his future reservist training?

survinging 5 days of outfield is nothing. there's nothing to feel proud about simply because almost every other guy in singapore has done it (save for those who are exempted from going outfield).

call me a war-monger but i think MINDEF's money is better spent investing in equipment and training that helps make me a better soldier. of course i believe in better medical care but for a lot of my friends and i, in the very unlikely of us going to war, fighting for each others lives will take priority over what is in the medical kit bag carried by a medic.

hmm..

thursday morning time to consider moving out of b&g perhaps? it really is perplexing how things work out.

anu and its shit internet.

wednesday night it puzzles me as to why and how the internet service provider won its contract (if there was even a bidding exercise to begin with) to provide internet to all the halls and colleges as well as the anu itself when:

1. its system for logging on and off the internet perpetually disconnects by itself
2. though the speed of the internet is fast, the connection when online is erratic
3. the same system that provides internet also provides free tv channels through the lan network always seems to have some sort of interference
4. the same old excuse time and time again is that the disconnections are caused by heavy usage on the network
5. the wireless internet is now no longer free
6. the rates for the internet vary amongst the halls (okay, unfair because only the rich kids in unilodge have to pay more for their internet)


now, if a software vendor is to provide support and services to any company, government or even a school, it is expected that they should have done their study on the types of users they are catering to.

in the context of anu, is it not expected that people will be logged on all day, all week, all the time? add to that the uncontrollable fact that some imbeciles will use the internet to download movies, mp3s and whatnot. sure, you can't account for all these selfish asswipes but there should be a contingency to cater for the increase in bandwidth usage.

the software provided is called starnet data accounting (sda). i was a little bit surprised to find out that unsw has the same system which makes me wonder who provides the internet service to the unis and if starnet has anything to do with it. i may be wrong. but. point is, it triggers vulgarity-based annoying emotions whenever the "starnet data accounting system health check failed" or "sda unable to connect to server" signs pop out. it is utterly disgraceful that an internet service provider fails on its two key aspects: internet and service.

as far as i'm concerned, i only use the sda internet when i'm in my room if not most of the time i'm surfing the net with the wireless broadband plan that i subscribed to (which isn't cheap to begin with).

some may find it ridiculous that there is no such thing as "unlimited" internet here in australia. on one hand i find it silly, given that i'm to accustomed to my unlimited cable internet back home but on the other, it does make sense - as a form of bandwidth control; such that selfish imbeciles are limited to either very slow speeds when they exceed the cap (aka 28kbps) or no internet connection at all.

pfft.

i was in a very foul mood at floorball just now, not so much because we lost 9-5. i'm okay with losing as long as we played reasonably well and if the other team genuinely won in the spirit of the game. but not today. the other team was grossly dirty. unfortunately, with only one referee instead of two, a lot of off-the-ball and blind-side fouls were committed. i was elbowed, stepped on, kneeed from the back, pulled back and even had my stick grabbed. all when the referee was unable to see.

as a referee and as a player, i play and abide by the rules. today was one of the exceptions. perhaps out of frustration with my own team mates (who i will rant about later), i viciously swung my stick at the main culprit's shin when i was trying to tackle him (though i did get the ball too). a bump on his shin is a small price to pay for all the shit he was doing through out the game.

and yes. the team. apart from this czech lady that plays with us, none of them are any good. sure, there are two of them who score a fair bit (more than me too) but their goals-to-shots ratio is attrocious. regardless that they have no proper technique whatsoever, they still score so that's fine by me. what pisses me off is that they are overly selfish. knowing that another player is in a better position to score, they refuse to pass and take the shot themselves, either leading to a counterattack or a lost chance.

then there's another player. tries to dribble everyone during the game, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. if it works, nothing comes out of it because again, he refuses to pass the ball and attempts to shoot by himself. it gets very annoying when all the chances go to waste.

what ticked me off even more today is when one of them even tried telling me how to defend. oh my god. i swear i would have flared if i were younger (ha..). tell me how the hell do you defend against a 3-on-1 situation when none of your teammates are running back to help.

for some strange reason i'm reverting to more of a playmaking role this season, having had around 20 assists so far versus 11 goals. that's 31 points in 6 games? much better than last season. i think i'm satisfied with my overall playing but i'm not one bit happy with some of the people i play with and against. i guess it's what can be expected from people without formal training like i did back in singapore.

on a brighter side of things, i got back more results today for my assignments and essays. infs3024 is almost done and dusted - high distinctions for both my essays - i just need a high credit for the course project to guarantee myself at least a distinction. hd is not too difficult i think. my essay for mgmt1003 was returned as well and i was a bit surprised that i scored 2nd highest in the cohort. i'll attribute it to a few reasons:

- i did a topic that very very little people chose to
- that i started on the essay pretty early which gave me plenty of time to revise and edit each iteration (i redid the whole essay three times..)

i'm more or less pleased with my overall marks for mgmt1003 thus far. distinctions for both my first presentation and this essay, all that's left is the marks for the second presentation and of course, the final exam on the 25th.

can't say i'm too pleased with busn1001 though. i was expecting better of myself but i guess sitting on a low credit average after the mid-sem paper and the assignment is still alright. i'm pushing for at least a credit in this module so we'll see where i go with that. the exam promises to be challenging considering all the irrelevant things (fact: my degree is in IT, busn1001 is just an elective i chose to take because there wasn't any other modules that i could fit in my timetable and that i could take this semester) that i have memorise.

i shall not bother talking about comp3110. i'm sitting on a mid-credit average so far and intend to keep it that way. again, the paper promises to be challenging and it doesn't help that it's right before (or is it after?) busn1001.

all in all, a mixed week thus far.