Of A Long Story III

K's involvement in NPCC was much more than normal, K was determined to prove his worth and it is true K did not put in as much effort as he should for his studies..

K's sec 1 and sec 2 NPCC had a lot of potential and it helped that there were ample guidance in the form of Sec4/5 NCOs and 4 good CIs. Now the missing gap is this group of sec 3 cadets, there were some who were still active and contributing to the unit, but it was not long before it was apparent how the sec2 could easily out-perfom the sec3s..

The Adventure Training Camp, a commodity for Sec 3 cadets, was one of the program that K's unit sent both sec2s and sec3s to attend. K and 2 others also had the opportunity to attend a NCO Training Course which were meant for sec3s towards the end of the year..

Each year, sec3 cadets will be "promoted" to sec4 and thus hold official appointments within the unit. The top 4 honours, so to speak, are Head Training, Head Logs, Head Admin and Discipline Master.. there were also other "hot" positions such as Sec1 Commanders, Sec3 Commanders etc..

By the time such arrangments were due for the sec3s, K(still in sec2), were among the few that were selected to take up such leadership roles too. K was made Commander Sec 1 together with his squad leader in Sec1..

For K and his squadmates, it was obvious that their hardwork has been rewarded, they are holding positions in the unit that would normally take them one more year..
this was the beginning of leadership development and maybe some form of power struggle that would soon follow into the life of K's involvement in his NPCC activities..

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A Long Story I

A Long Story II

To be continued...

Of A Long Story II

There came a time when K had to decide which ECA to join in secondary school, K was pretty certain that it had to be a uniformed group. K was from Cadet Scouts and so naturally he considered Scouts, but somehow, the scouts in his school were notorious for being beng-ish.. now that's not how K wanted things to be..

K secretly wanted to join NCC, but he was aware of his lack of physical fitness, on top of that, K also could not swim, so instead of joining NCC only to be sacked for failing to meet requirements, K looked elsewhere..

It was a phonecall from K's primary school best friend that made a difference. Lets join NPCC. And K thought, why not, it'll be interesting, it is afterall a uniformed group and K can further his interested in marching, parades and camping.

K promptly signed up for NPCC. In the early days, K was somehow assigned by a senior NCO with duties even before the main squad was formed, K was given a list of "fellow cadets' residential numbers(handphone wasn't common then) and K had to call these cadets during his time after school to inform them of saturday NPCC sessions and to confirm their attendance..

One would think that such duties at the tender age of 13 would signify the start of many leadership/sai gang roles that K will later take.. but what is meant to be, is not meant to be..
When the squad was eventually confirm(frequent MIA people were struck off), there came a time where squad leader for the Sec1 was to be choosen, K did not know what were the criterias or how the selection was done, but it seems then that a fellow cadet which had a sister that is a Cadet Inspector(CI*) was made the squad leader.

*[CIs are ex-npcc cadets who enrol for a course and return to serve NPCC units after their secondary education]

K's NPCC unit was one of the units which used a system of "achievements" to gauge and award promotions, for example, in order to be promoted from Cadet to Lance Corporal, one would have to achieve some badges and also pass the promotion test, which includes Footdrills and Campcraft knowledge such as knotskills and tent building..

K saw these series of test as an avenue to advance his standing in NPCC and work hard he did.. it was till his second year in NPCC that he was taking his Corporal promotion test. When the CIs was announcing the results, they reveal the top 2 names for the test, in second place was a female cadet, XXX, and in first place, XXX.

"XXX, who's that?"

While many would be happy to have his name announced that he topped a test, K was not exactly overjoyed at his achievement, the fact that the CI which has been guiding the squad for over half a year could ask "who's that" sadden K..

was K's presence for the past year so insignificant that the CI cannot put a face to the name.. but still, this performance for this test was a confidence boost to K.. that despite the lack of guidance from siblings who were CI or external bias from examiners, K was able to prove his ability through hard work







A Long Story I

To be continued..

Of A Long Story I

There was this boy, fresh out from the local PSLE system, that choose his own secondary schools to attend. Independence is a strong but relative word, the freedom to make choices and follow through to such choices have been the hallmark of this boy's life, lets name him K

Now K made is choices but was unable to get into the top choice of secondary school. Somehow, the local education system meant that the "grade" of school that you attend will affect you somehow, although every school has it bad eggs, it's the rotten apples that stands out from the glorious food that K goes to..

A vicious cycle maybe, but the quality of students will indirectly affect the performance of the teachers and also the school, had K's class in sec3 n 4 been more disciplined and hardworking, the lifes of most teachers would indeed have been more pleasant...

K's A-maths teacher was the best in school, teaching the Science(top) Class, a Commerce class and lastly the Technical class in which K was in

Back then, only boys took Design and Technology and thus K's was in a all-boys class that took Design n Tech and as a subject.

Back to A-maths, K tried hard to understand and learn, but at times, it does seem that the teacher was not that interested in teaching nor guiding.. K even went for the first tuition class in his 16 years alive, he wanted to make it..

And as the prelimary exams creep nearer and nearer..

It was apparent how his A-maths teacher, the HOD for Maths too, used a A-maths lesson to explain how the national average and school average for O levels is calculated, to quote:

"You know how many A1s i need from the Science class to cover one of the failures in your class?"

Deep down, the class knew the answers very well, maybe he was trying to use reverse psychology to motivate, but the class were much more aware of the underlining message

That's the reason why K and some 20 others did not taken either of the A Maths paper for his Os







To teach is to nurture?

Of Pictures and Pictures

I would say that i have an interest in photography, there was indeed an active urge to join the Camera Club back in secondary school and again in poly, however, i never did, back then, i was never able to get a decent camera and it was late in the last year of polytechnic that i was able to afford a Olympus Digital Camera..

it was a decent camera that shared many great moments with me, somewhat disappointed with the way it operates in low-light conditions and how it totally failed me when i was taking pictures after my final presentation with my Marcom classmates, one who eventually became my wife

Perharps to mark another stage in my life, i willingly sold the Olympus and got myself a Canon Ixus 60.. this trusted camera has been in action in for overseas trips such as Bangkok, Malacca, Perth and also numerous local destinations, most notably my ROM in june

14Feb, another great day to spend with a loved one and i truly enjoyed my day. To keep my blog my way, i shall not start posting pictures of myself, instead i present these:































Nice?






DSLR is a distant dream

Of a Pope and an Ah Pek

The following is not meant to show any disrespect to any person/group/religion. By continuing to read, you agree that the following is of humorous intent and not meant to cause any discomfort or dissent... Hehe

Have a good laugh

Pope V.S Ah Pek*

*ah Pek is an old man in Chinese

About a century or two ago, the Pope decided that all the Chinese had to leave Italy. Naturally there was a big uproar from the Chinese community. So the Pope made a deal. He would have a religious debate with a member of the Chinese community.

If the Chinese win, they could stay.
If the Pope wins, the Chinese would leave.

The Chinese realized they had no other choice.

So they picked a middle-aged man named Ah Pek to represent them.

Ah Pek asked for one condition to be added to the debate. "To make it more
interesting" he said "neither side would be allowed to talk".
The Pope agreed. The day of the great debate came.

Ah Pek and the Pope sat opposite each other for a full minute.

Then the Pope raised his hand and showed three fingers.
Ah Pek looked back at him and raised one finger.

The Pope waved his fingers in a circle around his head.
Ah Pek pointed to the ground at where he sat.

The Pope pulled out a loaf and a glass of wine.
Ah Pek pull out an apple.

The Pope stood up and said "I give up. This man is too good. The Chinese can stay."
An hour later, the cardinals were all around the Pope asking him what happened?

The Pope said "First I held up three fingers to represent the holy trinity.
He responded by holding up one finger to remind me that there was still one God common to both our religions."

"Then I waved my finger around me to show him that God was all around us."
He responded by pointing to the ground and showing that God was also right here with us."

"I pulled out the wine and loaf to show that God absolves all sin.

He showed me an apple to remind us of the original sin.

He had an answer for everything. What could I do?"

Meanwhile, the Chinese community had crowded around Ah Pek. "What happened?" they asked.
"Well" said Ah Pek "first he indicated to me that all Chinese had 3 days to get out of here.
I replied to him f*@k off and not one of us was leaving.

Then he pointed that this whole city would be cleared of Chinese.
I showed him that we are staying right here."

"Yes, and then???" asked the crowd.
"I don't know" said Ah Pek "he took out his lunch and I took out mine!!!"

The power of body language

Of a Dash of Satisfaction

Whether its at work or at play, there's always a dash of satisfaction when you performed to your standards, performed beyond your expectations or just tried so hard you applaude yourself for the effort..

after 14months of working, i have finally found that dash again, the need to celebrate, the joy of completion.. i know i have worked around many events big and small for the last 14months, some, i did not put in all my effort, but surely, there were plenty in which i did my best to cover the holes and fill the gaps.. but this is just so different..

perhaps its acutally sad that it took so long for my to feel such satisfaction once more.. it was way back at my NS stint that i felt so good when an event ends, its not a sense of relieve, its a pride of completion

getting back in work was great too as my direct boss found a good solution to my problem, kudos to the flow of events and help i have received in making life better.. much better

the weekend ahead is burnt once more, nation before self? Yes, but i doubt there's any direct benefit to the former for this weekend

Been great meeting up with guys you meet once in a while and yet able to gel together and crap like long-lost brothers, there is indeed an element to link us all and just how crappy we can be, maybe its in our blood to look at things differently and laugh at ourselves





A weekend of work and fun.. hopefully

Of Pots and Kettles

The pot calling the kettle black? It's all too common in the modern world, but what happens from the government, yes, our first world, world class corruption-free government does something similar?

Way back in July06, the blogsphere was frustrated and up in arms when a blogger cum colunmist, Mr Brown, was hit hard by a press secretary from MICA..

The government, as represented by Press Secretary for Minster, MICA, said:
"And he should come out from behind his pseudonym to defend his views openly."

and now.. PAP's official, has declared in a news agency that "the identity is not important, it is the message that's important" as they begin to reply to post online without disclosing their identities as PAP officials, MPs no less..

In short, this post provides an idea on what happen back then.. albeit the vulgarities, the issues were well-covered:

Presenting.. Rockson

Mr Brown, on PAP's move to reply to "counter the internet "insurgents" anonymously

I don't have much to say, guess its clear how some people can say one thing and meant another










Now we know the black Pot better

Of One plus One

Getting myself involved with event planning and management once more.. sure, i'm just a technical IT man.. why get involved? but guess its just me to point out a gap and try to fill it.. nothing is foolproof, but cover as many holes as you can.. why not?

It made me wonder, why was i so disappointed and irritated at the early Jan's event and yet so willing to make my brain tick and work my pants off for the feb's event? the scale or VIP invited certainly did not matter.. it was the organising party that affected me

Once more, i felt that i had something strong to contribute, i have valid points to make and best of all, i was able to lead and get people to identify solutions together.. it was a joy to plan and cover the gaps.. all the hardwork and talking did not seem to tired me, it was indeed a pleasure working with people who appreciate your assistance is sincerely open to ideas, comments and suggestions..

it was just recently that i was more determine to finally take steps to make the change.. why did this event and group of people have to come and make "pull-factors" to make me want to stay in this shithole?

Oh well, maybe an sms during the badminton session sums things up..

meeting on mon

i can't, its the dry-run, i'm out for tues too since its the actual event, Wednesday sounds good, but the morning "business meeting might just need some last-min help, it always happens anyway, thur is ok, except i'll be gone for reservist from 2pm.. fri left

"do it thur n fri, no more delay"

it just hit me.. perhaps there was no menace meant, it was after all part of the job, another part which i didn't like, but tried my best to do anyway.. sometimes trying just don't seem good enough

"i can talk to (your big boss) or (your direct boss) if need be"

ah.. so my primary job is taking a back seat now because because my big boss' boss is probably unhappy..

what a bad burden to carry into the weekend, decided not to get my direct boss' help to carry it, so lets see how things work out on monday...






A shitty monday, a great friday, except for this last bit