Random thoughts
Hey all, Peter here. so is this blog thing more like a msg board or online diary? Weird if its a diary cos that's kinda personal right. Anyway i thought it would be a gd time to contribute something cos i just had 3 hrs of sleep last night so, like alcohol, am feeling a little drunk haha.
speakin of msg boards check this out:
http://www.sg-jeonjihyun.com/ JJH fans unite!
Well i guess (for most of us) its gonna be ORD soon! Think its appropriate to share wat we all learned frm the unique experience. For me I've had the opportunity to work in a mostly civilian office environment, so its almost like doing a real job except with the NS mindset of course. So basically i've learnt (among other things) to lie without remorse, avoid work, suck up and 'smoke' ppl.
Lots of interesting things happen in an office, don't really know if its the unique nature of SPF (part-uniform part civilian). Lets take one of my supervisors Lee Chee "Bye" Shan (CB) as an example. Ok, so when I first came in there were these 2 regulars working under him. Well they got frustrated with his mgt style (i'm paraphrasing here) and both wanted to resign. Here’s an incident that happened during that time:
One of the regulars (Gary, an ex NSI who signed on as civilian) took an MC and asked the other regular to inform CB. Ok for some reason the whole thing blew up and I include below a series of mails sent out, with comments (naturally).
Chee Shan LEE/SPF/SINGOV
03/10/04 11:45 AM
To: SPF-PTD-AD & PM
* this is the list of all the big shots in the dept
cc:Lawrence THAM/SPF/SINGOV@SINGOV, Kok Fei LEONG/SPF/SINGOV@SINGOV
Subject: Behave Responsibly
Peter / Yong Tai / Yi Ren / Qader and Zheng Wei,
*these are all the NS guys in our div. Don’t ask me why he named us, probably ‘sound in the east, attack in the west’ as they say.
You are all the current and future core of PMD staff. All are capable NSPIs - Yi Ren writes better than us regular SOs :)
You all can think, write and manage important tasks.
We work hard in PMD, and we are demanding. More `challenges' are on the way. But certain give and take is granted.
One thing I as a supervisor do not accept is lack of basic discipline and courtesy. An example is reporting sick.
If you are sick, pls inform your supervisor (ie. Kok Fei or me * none of us work under him) personally (by calling our HP or sms). Informing by proxies is not acceptable.
Pls note how your conduct reflects on yourselves as SOs (NSPIs) and on PMD as a whole.
Bobby FAY/SPF/SINGOV *this is one of the big shots, nice guy tho
10/03/2004 11:45 AM
To: Chee Shan LEE/SPF/SINGOV@SINGOV
cc:
Subject: Re: Behave Responsibly
what happened??
Chee Shan LEE/SPF/SINGOV
10/03/2004 11:53 AM
To: Bobby FAY/SPF/SINGOV@SINGOV
cc: SPF-PTD-PMD
*this is our division list
Subject: Re: Behave Responsibly
It was meant for PMD only. Send to wrong pple. * as if.. anyone who uses our email system would know its pretty damn hard to mix up email groups
It's ok. The expectation is the same for all.
Gary LIM/SPF/SINGOV
12/03/2004 09:55 AM
To: SPF-PTD-AD & PM
* note this
cc:
Subject: Re: Behave Responsibly
Hi all,
Apologies for causing such 'tense' atmosphere with my absence. Maybe i had forgotten to inform my suppervisor about my MC on 10th Mar, as i
was too sick in the morning. Anyway, like Mr Lee Chee Shan said, basic discipline and courtesy should not be compromise.
However, certain things are showed due to respect of one's superior. If an officer did not show such basic discipline/courtesy (not refering to this
case) to supervisor, it may meant something. Respect is something that you earn, not ask for. Also to lead by example and refrain from taking urgent
leaves on meeting days frequently for instance. *hehe some past prob apparently
Just a thought, i don't see why informing by 'proxies' is not acceptable, unless we are taking things too personal here.
regards,
Gary LIM/SPF/SINGOV
12/03/2004 09:55 AM
To:SPF-PTD-PMD
cc:
Subject: Re: Behave Responsibly
Apologies, sent to wrong emailing list.
Its meant for PMD. *… the coup de gras!
Well Gary resigned shortly after and I was reassigned to CB for a few months but that’s another (horror) story altogether.. needless to say it wasn’t a pleasant experience or I wouldn’t be writing this..
As for the class birthday well it wasn’t ALL abt driving right. There was some attempt at a singing (I think) performance but don’t know how that turned out, cos we didn’t stay for it heh… they were dragging it out right.. tryin to force layz cousin to start singing but he kept refusing.. oh well.
NZ.. always thought it was a scenic place and all. Guess an army camp wouldn’t be. Yea at least we’ll be out soon.. anything screwed up that happens now makes ORD sweeter keke
Ah goin to the Muslim prayer corner to sleep now… army guys got anything to share?
To Jiaqi:
Too Bad! N pls buy souvenirs back for us, thank you! =D
In NZ
Wah lau not fair...I didn't get to go for the class party...WTF. And let's see, what was I doing on the 15th? Hmm...sitting in the office here stoning away waiting for the sun to set which never seems to set. The sun rises at 5am here, and it gets dark only sometime around 9.30pm. CMI!!!..because I can't sleep as soon as the sun rises, which means I automatically wake up at 5am everyday. WAH KAO EH.
Haha.
And what am I doing here? Absolutely nothing--just sitting around waiting for things to happen. That is SO bloody fun. Hahaha. Of course, it helps that the food here is amazing--I think I'm eating like twice as much as I usually eat, maybe more even--the weather here is crazy; got slight hypothermia on the first night sleeping in the office (because we can't lock the doors and my computers have to be guarded haha--great excuse to get away from the bunk and authority ;>) because it's a metal-container-complex that is unheated, and I didn't realise--it got as hot as 30 degrees two days ago in the day, and it gets as cold as zero at nights, though the daily range these past few days (and probably for the next few days) is sometime between 5 and 20 degrees. So cold.
Yay. Doing nothing is so fun. :)
13 more days. ARGH!!! I want my R&R!!! I want to ORD!!! WTF!!! WHY AM I HERE?!? Haha.
Its all about driving ey?
Haha as according to serena's post? Golly and to think i was going "Huh wateva happened at the party manzz, darn i didn't go!" when i read the start of her post only to go "Oh its the driving.."
Well.. Aiyo i thot nobody was going la.. sianz. Had plans to watch mega-big screen soccer near chijmes already after i assumed that no one was going. Sian diaozz. But at least i enjoyed the soccer.. Man Utd won!! Woohoo!! It was even sweeter when the place was flooded with Liverpool fans la. Victory fist pumped into the air right at the end of the game, cheered like there was no tmr. Yea the atmosphere was pretty good i guess. Just too bad my friends were sulking cuz they were Man U haters. Hahaha. Very fun when we kaobei at each foul by someone against ur own team. I'll go "Oei your kelong Liverpool #%%@&^@#%@ !!!!" and then the next minute my 2 friends flanking me will go "Kaoz wat the f***!" into my ears. Kinda like the World Cup qualifying match, England vs Greece match we watched back in '02. Haha.
Erm anyway, sorry i didn't turn up. Wished i were there though.. \= Next gathering, anyone??
Class Birthday Party
Too bad to all those who didn't go to the class birthday party. :)
I admit, it was a last minute decision. On a comfortable saturday evening, I was at home reading my notes when suddenly peter called me out of the blue. "Hey are you going for the class party?" I kept insisting I was a bit too old for this, but since a number of people were going, I knew I was going to give in eventually. Ahh. But it wasn't too bad. At least 1/4 of the class turned up, translated to numbers would be the 5 of us: peter, zhiyuan, minhao, laykiat and myself.
I met layz at paya lebar mrt first before taking a cab down to the house together. Lucky for us, the cab driver knew where he was going.
The house was a nice big cosy place. A rather steep staircase led up from the front to the living room. Inside were bright chandeliers hanging over those seated underneath, who were busy eating and singing along to the guitar-played music. The catered food was just outside the living room.
Chivalrous peter and zhiyuan got layz and me food and drinks and peeled the prawns for us. :)
After eating, we decided to go for a spin in peter's car. Yes, peter just got his licence on monday and already he was allowed to drive his mom's car alone. (!!!) Oh well. And I insisted that I should get a feel of his mom's Nissan Sunny. :) It was very smooth, although the steering was a bit tight (because it was new). But overall, I'm happy that I finally drove another car other than my mom's big and bulky Toyota Picnic.
With the rest in the car, I drove layz to paya lebar mrt first coz she had to go off early. Then I literally had a spin in peter's car coz in my haste, I missed a turning and had to go pretty far before I could U-turn. Wasted a bit of his petrol.
We finally returned to the house, where we waited for the item the great great grandjuniors said they were putting up. But since they weren't doing anything and taking a long time to figure out who should sing and whatnot, our impatience got the better of us and we went up to the host to thank her before leaving the party.
This time it was minhao's turn to drive. And since he never drove an automatic car before, it was pretty funny to see him try to start up the car. zhiyuan said he was going to fall asleep already before the car even started to move. Haha. But in the end, it got started and the ride was understandably shaky.
Then it was zhiyuan's turn. And it was more scary because he had no licence whatsoever and only drove a tank before. And according to him, to stop the tank, he just has to jam-brake it. So his tendency to wait until just before turning before braking was high. Guess he wasn't used to the sensitivity of the brake but eventually got better.
Peter took over the car in the end and drove me back home. :) Then I'm not sure where they went after that.
Juz to join in the fun~~
Hey howz everyone doing?? dun noe how many ppl really do frequent this blog but hey who cares?? and who did u extend the invitation out to huh?? only our class?? =P we have advanced as we can see... last time need to pass a book ard for class diary now got online version somemore~~ hahahahha~~
anyway... those going for CNY take more photos!! and post them on the class blog or something~~ girls, do well for ur studies~~ guyz, ORD loh~~ (but dun suan me hor... wah lao...=P) take care ppl~~
P.S. sorry jiaqi... nothing interesting happening in my life... hahahhaha~~ so nothing to update... =P
Natural death?
Is this going to die a natural death before it even starts? Haha. Please post, everyone! Like, you know, share with everyone what's going on in your (I'm sure are) very exciting lives, ideas for the next class gathering, etc..stuff like that :).
Anyway, I'll be away for another good 19 days come the day after! I'll be off to New Zealand to shoot sheep (yay haha) and burn grass, so you guys won't hear from me till next month when I'll be back come 1st Feb, just in time for CNY. So, take care everyone! Until then, have fun :)
P.S. Anybody interested in going down to Hwa Chong on CNY Eve? If there's enough people interested, maybe we can meet for breakfast that morning before heading down. I, for one, will definitely be going.
School & Age
Hello people. Let me be the third person (and coincidentally the only other dumb person to go for hc's orientation campfire 05 with the first 2 who have written in this blog) to write.
School has started and thankfully, the first day hasn't been so bad after all. Public law is mind-blowing with components of the constitution, history and politics richly intertwined. Credit must also go to the highly-respectable lecturer who teaches with an attitude none can rival. She speaks so fast, so forceful and so strongly opininated that it's hard to imagine her anything else other than a lawyer. Ha.
Old? I try not to think that way, though it's becoming hard not to, especially when one constantly immerses oneself with younger people (think orientation campfire). I do tell myself that I must do things that I want to do very badly now before I regret it. But can such energy sustain me for the rest of my life? Or should I divide my energy wisely so that even when I'm old in terms of numbers, I'm still young at heart?
I learnt a new phrase today. Chronological-snobbery. Not everything old is bad.
I feel old
Hmm. That's all I have to say about going back to HC yesterday. Hahaha.
05S60! Great great grandjuniors! Hmm. Too bad we couldn't claim that we were the oldest because Jiefeng and Xiangbin were there (00S60 for those who don't know) as they merrily flashed their pink ICs when Alvin and I went "ORD loh". Haha.
At any rate, I was trying to look around for the youngest people I still know...and as I scanned the faces of the councillors leading the new juniors around, trying to recognise those I knew, I couldn't figure out why I didn't know any of them--then I realised those I know are from 03, and the ones left are the 04 ones. Hmmm...真的老了.
And so being the bunch of oldies, we just stood around, and watched everything as onlookers rather than participants in all the merrymaking (老了!!! haha), watched as the 03s and 04s and 05s did everything, as the 00s and 01s and 02s stood around making stupid remarks, much to the tune of muttered knock-it-downs and how-long-you-needs. The army la. What to do? Hahaha.
In the end, I think it was all just, standing around and looking, 回味往年, relive the past--not an altogether unpleasant exercise I must say.
P.S. And oh yah, for those who have your own blogs, please add the link to the side menu! If you can't figure out the HTML then ask me to do it for you?
Yay
Yo!
Nuttin much to say also la. Went Orientation1 just now with jiaqi n serena. So left out. But it was kinda fun in the self-entertained way la. (= Yea seeya guys at CNY perhaps? Afterall, guys clear leave, gerls.. clear pockets to make way for angpows?
Cheers
First Post!
And so here we are again. Yet another class blog. Will anyone post this time, or will this die another miserable death like the last one? Hehe. Only time, and
you, can make the story come true. Welcome to reality-Internet--the real paradox. Haha.
Ok all that aside, all those who want to post, give me your email addresses and I'll add you to the blog. Hopefully this will be more successful than the last because Blogger is easier to use and quite a few of you guys should have Blogger accounts, right? Even if you don't have a Blogger account, I think you can just give me your email and when I invite you, you can create one.
So there. Happy new year everyone!--albeit a rather belated one. Hope everyone is fine and well.
