I arrived at e airport early
celebrated my bday in advance with my family just now
my bday will be spent out in e wilderness this yr
nothing bad abt that at least I'll be with my brothers

15 mins to meeting up with e rest at T1
I'm looking forward to e trip
gonna be tough but I'm gonna pull thru n drag everyone along with me
we 've come so far
no one or obstacle's gonna stop us now

cya all when I'm back on e 10th

pray for our safety n well-being =)



Post from mobile portal m.livejournal.com

Thanks to my AE86 canoe drift partner Ah boon who scanned my profile from the magazine.

Please vote for me at the link below yaa. Thanks =)

http://www.askcleo.com.sg/campaigns/meb2009/polls.html

Hey guys thanks for the birthday well wishes thru sms or facebook
appreciate it for remembering. stay in touch. hope to catch up with u all again soon :)

I still remember e monday after PM cup
i was feeling pretty lost.
my priorities had changed
from post PM cup to AHM, my focus was solely on AHM
so i did my running trainings, cut down on weights training
inevitably lost some strength n muscle mass
but e gains were justified by my personal achievements this AHM

e monday after AHM
i was still trying to accept that i had outperformed my own expectations
e whole experience made me believe that the mind is indeed powerful
n i could achieve if i had set my mind to it
and so I decided that i will take e route less travelled
and answer e higher calling.
i would join e ELITE
selection is in nov
gonna talk to boss on wed
i hope he will approve and give his blessing
if he doesnt, i guess i'll just have to convince him..

Did my personal best timing today 1:23:35
I had set a target of 1:25 for myself for this year.
Did much better than i had expected.

Felt great all along the whole route
Minor aches and stitches did pop up once or twice
but i cleared them out of my mind immediately
Many thanks to roystan and evan who set a consistent pace for me up to the 10km mark.

Quite a few did better than we expected.
Some delivered
others didnt
We got 3rd for team
But we did our best and we'll come back stronger next year.
Been great training with u guys these few months
At Changi terminal 1 now flying off to Thailand for 2wks
Be back on 8th Sept.
Cya all when im back.

Those who knew me for a long time
know that i used to ride my Honda CBR1100XX Blackbird
during my 1st 2 years of my uni life
There came the time when i gave in to my mum's nagging
and finally sold my beloved bike for my 'xiaohong'

'xiaohong' was reliable, fuel economic, safe but boring
it was a huge downgrade in terms of horsepower and fun :(
i missed riding badly ever since then

lately, this weird idea
of getting another bike
as my secondary mode of transport
came to mind
so i have been actively searching the local bike forums for good 2nd hand bike deals
and fate so happens that my army friend/mentor is leaving for e states for a month
and he has a Class 2 BMW R1100R whom he entrust me to take care of
while he's not around
can satisfy my bike craving for the time being =D

2nite was the first night i seriously rode a class 2 bike again in a very very long time
felt different...
not many bikes can match up to Blackbird's handling,power and acceleration
the smoothness of the Honda V-tec engine....
R1100R felt more tamed.. more comfy
yet the lack of fairings expose the rider (me) to great wind resistance when
travelling at speeds of 110km/hr and above
Upright posture with super comfy seats made for a great ride home

But i miss e thrill of having endless power ready at my finger tips
riding on the blackbird...

will update my experience with e BMW after more time with 'her'
3rd week of work starts !
Its monday again =)


Honda CBR1100XX Blackbird


Had my FYP presentation yesterday !
Had my last paper last wed !
School has officially ended

Work starts next monday
Time to tune my mind back to work
Met up with my ex-boss desmond yesterday
He shared valuable experience, opinions and insights
on the role of a unit PC
Started me thinking about what i would
demand and expect from my men soon

Things like
what role i should be to them,
how regimental i should be,
how close i will allow myself to be to them,
what kind of relationship i want with my commanders, etc

Yesterday was a stressful day
FYP presentation and my final DB Evaluation with e guys
Hmm sometimes they think Jona n I are horses?
Hahaha side-betting to see who would run faster...
I think i ran a faster timing e other time for my 2.4
Nevertheless, it was still a respectable timing
Good run to jona and all e guys who improved :)
I think Nicholas is up and coming
Really glad to see the team getting faster on the whole
Jona, nicholas, leslie, zongxuan,
u guys better maintain e standards n improve from there ah

When u guys dont see me during weekday trainings,
i'll be doing my own trainings in camp
Ok, need to go dig out my army stuff n
start to prepare my equipment for work
will upload recent pics soon !

After two years of subscription to the U.S Men's Fitness,
i was never realli impressed by our local Men's Health magazine
see mine at least got color,
not like Men's Health cover FOREVER in black & white

So i decided to come up with my very own homemade
magazine for e young n hippy
Vinz World
now open for yearly subscription =p

now will someone please teach me
how to draw the abs using photoshop?
hahaha

Finally made some progress..
more than halfway thru now,
seeing the light at e end of e tunnel
lagging behind in my core modules due to FYP for e past 2 wks
Aiming to settle e entire report and send to prof for vetting by next tues
Things are lookin much better now..
Poker luck also changed for e better last wkend,
E guys look like they are pushin harder during land training nowadays too

Inspired by the spartan movie 300 2 years back
Hanming intro-ed me n faizal the spartan workout which we tried out just now
was pretty tiring ,
if e whole team can do it
i think we can all star in our own version of 'NTU' 300 already haha
Anyway if u r interested ,
here's e 300 workout


want this? do this !! hahaha

Start with
Station 1) 25 Chinups
Station 2) 50 reps deadlifts with Olympic bar and 20kg aside
Station 3) 50 pushups
Station 4) 50 Box jumps , height should be slightly higher than knee level
Station 5) 50 Floor sweeper with Olympic bar and 20kg aside
Station 6) 25 each side of single arm dumbbell clean n jerk
Station 7) Finish with 25 CHinups

total will be 300 reps.. u can take a rest any time u wan during any set
but the objective is to do good form and finish the workout within e shortest time
apparently the fittest guy in the 300 cast did this workout in 18min++
all of the 'spartan' actors had to complete this test..
do try it if u feel up to it :)
thanks to faizal for doing with me and hanming for spotting us
shall do it again ! ah wooo

Lets recap my recess week
Went for 5hole executive golf course at Jurong Country Club
with Adrian, Clement & Douglas
It was a great experience other than some minor hiccups at e start
didnt wear proper golf shorts, didnt know where to loan e trolley
and our bad encounter with a very rude old man
who complained that we played too slow and
demanded that we give way to them...
of cos we would give way BUT..
Can't you ask politely??
The way some people speak just reflects their EQ n character

Thanks Clement for his golf balls, Douglas for his wooden tees
We found some golf balls n lost some along the way haha
I think i played not too bad for a first time :)
Managed to hit on par for one of the hole
Of cos everyone had their fair share of off-form moments
when e sweet spot of the club missed e ball
n the ball rolled instead of flying
E guys were very encouraging
Great time playing with them
Cant wait to get my PC card n move onto other courses !!

Went for Mambo on wed with Clement n his SMU friends

Clement, Me, Charmain, Chui ye, Miranda


Charmain, Clement, Chui ye, me , Kah Sian

Nice Photos courtesy of Charmain
Hmm my face is always soooo red whenever i drink
See e difference btw e 2 photos?
e other less red one was taken
when i was collecting my car n about to go home
Anyway it was a packed night
Phuture entry was sold out by 10..
prob due to e common term break of NTU,SMU & maybe NUS
great night out :)
Anyway i think i slacked toooo much during recess week
Way behind schedule for my FYP report

But the good thing is im finally getting e hang of typing
progress is not too bad this week..
1st draft must be out by friday
trying my very best to focus on the tasks on hand
E&S presentation on thurs
FYP 1st draft on fri
MR500 race on sat & sun
Fluids quiz on monday
Time is not on my side ...
plus something is on the other side on my mind..
Bad timing...

Ok end of break..
Back to endless typing....

I Read or heard this somewhere sometime ago
You know more than you can speak
You speak more than you can write
Simply put, you may be very knowledgeable but you may not be able to speak well and transfer your knowledge to your listeners.
On the contrary, if you can speak very well but may not know a lot, you can appear to your audience that you actually know alot.
For the army guys, this is called the art of 'smoking' :p

Brilliant ideas are worth nothing if they just stay in the mind and never translate to anything concrete.
In this society where you need to interact with people constantly,
the ability to speak well and convey your ideas and message across to people is invaluable.
The exceptions are that either you are a researcher or scientist who works in isolation from the rest of the world.

To inspire and influence others thru ur speech is a indispensable asset that is highly valued practically in every industry.
Look at all e great leaders in the world, of them all, who lacks e ability to address a audience of thousands in person?

They say empty vessels make e most noise.
Good speakers dont speak all e time, instead they listen attentively to what the others have to say and they quickly & quietly process what they want to say.
When they speak, they do not have to deliberately raise their voice, instead, they exlude a quiet sense of confidence with every word they speak.
Ever wonder how the same story sounds so different when its told by different people?

So which do you belong to ?
The quiet passive type that speaks only when asked to?
The attention seeking type that speaks all the time to impose onto others that you know alot?
Or are you the confident, motivating speaker that every team or company wants?

To speak well is a skill and ability, some say its in born , others say it can be trained.
Similar to writing, you need your brain to process your thoughts and turn it into appropriate output.
Our brain is one big piece of muscle and like all the other muscles that gets stronger n better under constant training,
our ability to speak and write only improves when we keep using it.

That said, I have been neglecting my writing skills for far too long, haven't been even updating my blog.
Now that I'm trying to type my FYP, I find my writing skills rusty...
Need to write n blog more now as I shall return to the force soon and more writing awaits me.
Dont think chong sua dont need to write one k.

So brush up your speaking n writing skills as they will prove to be your greatest assets one day.
just came back from can A mugging with e guys..

I have forgotten since when i started to put on weight exponentially
its true !
everyone who sees me now say im fat :(
i can feel it too..
but i cant help eating ....
Eating is probably e thing i enjoy doing most now...

hmm so how come im putting on so much weight?
i eat 3 meals a day ley
but some ppl say at my age now,
i should prob eat 1-2meals only
but if i eat only 1-2meals,
i'll be hungry !! how to survive?
haaa n i tink i havent been exercising enough lately
used to jog more often but barely 1-2 times a week now

this excess weight is really becoming quite a problem
im having a liitle difficulty getting onto the bed !!
isnt dat bad?
maybe one day when i cant get onto e bed
i shall just sleep on e floor le
N my clothes .. all cannot fit le.. cant even button laaa...
but seriously i dun like to wear clothes also so doesnt matter much
haa i should prob do something about it soon

hmm maybe i should take some fat burners?
i wonder if there are any specially made for me?
hmmm oh well i hear someone at e door
maybe he's back from mugging in school
gotta go answer e door !
gd nite dear readers



*woof woof*

I have been poisoned ...
its e kind of poison that hurts ur wallet..
its called 'audio poison'

it started 2 years ago when i was looking for a good set of earphones for use with my Ipod
I bought this ...
Westone UM2



A pair of costly In-Ear-Monitors (IEM)
e type of earphones u put into ur ear canal
when u put it in ur ears, u get transferred to another world
literally, it shuts e external world out
i started to hear details i never did with normal earphones n speakers
music e way it was meant to be enjoyed
this faithful companion is 2yrs++ old now n going strong
usually use it when i study in noisy places such as cant A

lately, i decided to upgrade my speakers..
so i bought this
Aego M series 2.1 speaker set



it was much smaller than my previous speaker creative gigaworks G500 5.1 speakers
but when it comes to music, bigger doesnt usually mean better ya
while e G500 was great for bassy songs n surround sound effects in movies
e Aego was dedicated to bring out e songs musically

music is subjective
most ppl are not v particular about their audio setup
some cant tell e difference btw a $100 audio setup n a $1000 setup
but that doesnt mean they dont enjoy their music!!
its just that they never kana poisoned!!
hahaha

so what makes a 'good' audio setup in e eyes of a audiophile??
in sequence, e setup consists of

1) a good source of storage
audio cds, or music stored in digital form eg WMA, MP3, WAV etc


2) Reader / player
Reads e information stored for example ur CD player n computer


3) Digital-Analog-Converter (DAC)
oki maybe u dont know whats this but u alr have this !
if u are playing music on ur computer, ur soundcard does this job
as u know/ dont know, on ur CD/harddrive, data is stored in digital form
0010101010011 something like this ... digital form
but when u play ur songs, they dun sound like zero,one, one, one, one zero ... right??
hhaha lame but its true.. ur soundcard converts e digital signals to analog signals which are then passed to e next component

This pic shows a high end external DAC
costs abt SGD$2500..

4) amplifiers / headphone amplifiers
yup e analog signals go somewhere, say u connect ur com to ur speakers set
most computer speaker sets come with built in amplifiers
e amplifiers amplify e signals for output thru e speakers


5) speakers / headphones
yeap this is where u hear ur music from !




looks complicated not?
oki give example
u see a portable CD player?
e source is e cd inside
e cd player is e reader..
it has a built in DAC.. i didnt know abt this last time ... ALL cd players have laaaa
it doesnt need a amplifier cos all earphones r easy to drive (low impedence/resistance)
den u connect ur earphones to it..
wala ! music .... to ur ears

now any components of e setup mentioned above could easily cost u thousands of $$$ each
so for those who havnt kana poison or are immune to poison
ur wallets are safe !!
for those who are in pursuit of audio nirvana
good luck =p hehe

my mac mini is my main computer now
its onboard soundcard sucks.... realli ... its cui
on e other hand , most built in soundcards on laptops are quite crappy too
there's alot of external soundcards available that will improve e audio quality of ur setup
if u are using ur com to play music

since e mac mini soundcard is crap
i got myself a external DAC city pulse DA2.03

it has a built in headphone amplifier so i can use my headphones with it

end result..
last week i went thru all my cds again..
re-ripped all e songs into FLAC format.. a lossless form
e Killer i was referring to.. MP3 !
ever wondered why ur audio cds (700MB) got only like maybe at most 20 songs ?
n ur mp3 songs are only 4-5MB each?

dats bcos when u rip ur songs in e mp3 format, sound quality is lost!!
depending on e bitrate u rip ur cds at..
from 56kps (radio broadcast quality) to 320kps ( best quality for mp3 format)
a 56kps 4min song takes up 2MB on ur harddrive
a 320kps 4min song takes up 9.2MB
a FLAC ( free lossless audio codec) 4min song file takes up 55MB
its not fair to take these numbers to make a direct comparison in e loss in quality
but if u hear e difference, wldnt u wish ur music library files were all in FLAC format??
provided u had a lot of storage space hahaha cos FLAC files are massive !!
dats why a original audio CD do not usually store so many songs

i still remember e days when i listened to my shiny blue Sony discman on my way to TCHS
dat was music in e original format..
e way e musicians wanted us to listen to their masterpiece
since e introduction of music in mp3 form
n e gaining popularity of online piracy
i guess not much ppl realli buy CDs anymore
let alone listen to e lossless form of music

maybe i sound a little anal abt this
but i feel poor quality mp3 forms realli dont do much justice to e artists who spend so much effort creating music
Music should be enjoyed..
Just like live music at Wala or Timbre
with good equipment n good source
music doesnt sound like 1 flat piece ( ever heard music from lousy speakers on a handphone ? thats crap )

most songs actually consists of many 'layers'
piano, guitar, drums, vocals, etc
with a good setup,
u hear each instrument as it is, separated, each key n note clearly
even e distance/location of each instrument from u is different !!

i spent quite a bit of time running thru my CD collection
n re-ripping e songs into FLAC format
n thru my headphones, im falling in love with my CDs over again

Conclusion..
this is poison
n e only cure is satisfaction
only when u are satisfied with ur setup
will u be cured
but this poison feels sooo gooooood.....
except for my poor wallet
hhaha

Listening now to Corrinne May's Album - Fly Away
Good stuff..
Highly recommend
- Fly away
- If u Didnt love me
- Journey
- Something about u

Long entry .... hope u enjoyed readin n gained some enlightenment
n kana some poison too =p

Sometimes i wish i had started blogging earlier, or at least kept a diary
Somehow, I don't quite remember how i spent my past x-mas and new year eves for the past few years
No more crowded countdowns for me this year :)

X-mas eve
Had a peaceful dinner with clement at Timbre
where i met this young gal from RJC n she turned out to be only 18...
are girls getting younger nowadays or its just me ? haha
Went over to Ivan's place for late BBQ n gathering with a few MAE friends
LOST to Ivan's brother during poker at his place!
Beginner's luck .... haaa no excuse ... haha


X-mas
Its become a annual thing
X-mas gathering at Uncle Daniel's place
Its nice to catch up with relatives once in a while









Went over to Ashley's place later in e evening
e guys were already there.
Most interesting n desired gift came from my buddy Shun cai
it was a nike shoe bag n a hit-urself massage stick
Most undesirable gift was from Zhanjing haha
he bought a box of chocolates
which would be perfectly suitable for any other gift exchange sessions
except for health-consious dragonboaters
I bought a Solar powered 招财猫
n Jiaqi got it as his gift exchange
Hope it brings him good luck ..





Had our own namdai post x-mas dinner on thurs
at this indonesian restaurant at riverside point
hmm e portion served.. i think the best value for money option would be to dine in fours
food was quite little for 7 of us
still, not too bad for e price =p
most importantly was that we could get tog n hav a meal tog
spend some time tog other than just playing poker haha









This year, the annual penang bonding trip was cancelled because of unforeseen cirumstances
But fortunately, we had a bonding camp as a replacement
Considering e limited amount of time to plan for it, i would say e appointment holders had done a great job making it happen
and though there wasn't much physical training, we played lots of sports throughout the camp
n it was damm shag man.. i believed most if not all enjoyed e camp too :)
last camp for me le
haha so many last... last subject registration, last sem..



Food was not really up to standard for most of e camp.. Hall 16 Golden Spoon .. good luck to u








some 80-90 Dragonboaters at ECP MacDonalds after amazing race



Ashley with his 'long service award'

Hi everyone, dunno when's my next entry gonna be
so let me wish u all a Merry Merry Merry Christmas to all =)
hope u share e love ard to everyone around u

my 'colleague' n biathlon mate desmond invited me to his church x-mas celebration yest day
so i agreed n went with a open mind .
when i met him, he gave me 2 x-mas presents n a card !
a Cd by a local singer n a biathlon tights
i had not prepared any gift for him .. opps

then we went to his church ..
it was huge.. saw his 2 v v v cute boys who were dressed as x-mas elves
was intro-ed to many of his church friends who were v friendly ppl
christmas was a a grand event for christians ya
e venue was huge.. did i say huge? v v big
had hundreds of ppl attending.. mixed crowd of young n old
e music was v professional considering e performers were homegrown christians from e church
throughout e service, e majority of e crowd sang passionately along with e singers onstage
it was like a v 'high' live performance
i didnt sing along but i found e atmosphere n music v engaging

at that moment
i truly understood e beauty of music
how it could get ppl involved
n e power of faith n belief in a religion
ok im stepping on landmines here when i mention religion
but my personal stand is
i respect every n any religion that urges ppl to do good n improve themselves
n from what i experienced at desmond's church
i would say the church n pastors there
sure looked like they were leading their ppl in e right direction

e pastor was preachin about love during e service
unconditional n sacrifical love for others
noble n hard to obtain, i was at that level for someone b4
wonder when i can reach dat realm again for someone special other than my family
interesting quote ' ppl who seek love will not find it, ppl who give love will receive it'
sounds v true
he gave e example of team HOYT as an example for unconditonal n sacrifical fatherly love
not sure if u have heard of them, do take a look. its v touching



oh at e end of e session, i got to meet desmond's wife.. she was as pretty as what zhihao described when he was back in 1SIR =)

on a lighter note
here are some misc photos to share




Nick & Andy during our recent K lunch session


Sophie went to do weights with me in old gym =p


Clement, his cousin sebastian, me n 3 v young gals at velvet haha


recent hall 7 retired road relay runners dinner
sanny ran 4:11 for her 42k marathon ! amazing timing for a gal laaa, inspirational


ah boon..... wat u doin???


melvin wanna be takeshi in warlords " 大哥是对的 "


hungry boon

wow one week of holidays had just passed in a flash
i finally started on my FYP again,
as i worked on my interim report due last fri,
things started to clear up n i sort of found my direction to 'tackle' my FYP le =)
knowing that im making progress feels good!
knowing what you don't know is definitely so much better than don't know what you don't know
need to form a habit of spending sometime everyday on my FYP starting this week
met up with my prof this morning
he gave some pretty constructive suggestions
good lets get down to work !

last week my lower back felt weird , in fact it was so bad i thought i oso kana slip disc like hanming
didnt dare to do heavy weights last week haaa shall last this week as light training to recover
lucky, my back's getting much better lately already
still hurts a little after last nite training thou
still need to stretch more thou.
time to whack training again le
prob doin intervals with faizal later at 5

poker again last fri at my place
9 players the ideal number to play
been on a lucky winning streak lately
last night was another great game of poker for me :)
i think im making better decisions during the games
started the session with pocket Aces
ended the session with pocket Aces
it really is a great game, i enjoy e company of my reg poker click
too bad i usually hav trainin on sat mornings or i wld hav joined them for post game supper

no overseas trip planned for this holidays
its a short one too
hope to catch up with some old friends b4 e year ends
met my running buddy for dinner last wk
haa stupid rain made us postpone our running
hope we get to run again b4 she leaves for Shanghai for her IA



Do what you love
Love what you do

*my entries getting a bit wordy ah, gonna take more pics n post them up in my blog soon =p stay tuned*

The tragic accident in Cambodia has caught massive media attention these few days
Headlines n cover pages on Straits Time,New Paper, Lian He Wan Bao & Shin ming misc
As you know, some of these rubbish papers tend to manipulate news in order to get readers attention
so read with discretion, not all written is true

And if you dont know them in person.
Dont even judge them by what you heard about them thru e news or papers
Thats all i can ask of u.
Show them their due respect
Rest well my brothers
Stephen and Boon San
You will always be remembered in a special place in my heart

If u have read or watch the news today
5 of our Singapore Dragonboaters are missing in Cambodia river after their boat capsized
details
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/313368/1/.html
andy's blog has all e updated news
bro, dun mind i link to yours hor
http://menglang.livejournal.com/

Its been 1 day since it happened
two of my ex NTU teammates boon san & stephen are in the missing five..
they both just graduated from NTU & NIE respectively in June

Got the news from andy first thing this morning when i woke up..
couldnt quite believe it, it just felt like a dream cos i was half awake when andy told me..
next thing when i went out into e living room, my dad passed me e lian he zao bao
it was headline news..
suddenly e truth slapped me in e face..
oh god what has happened?
bros, where are u?
ah san & stephen
the whole team is praying for ur safety
muz come back safely k
please.. god from all religions please bring them back to us safely
God bless

if u r reading this, please help to pray for them too

haa this entry is long overdue le
im gettin more lazy to blog
thats bad... Recap of last week
Finally sold my faulty O2 phone!
Replaced it with a iPhone haha
thanks to zhizhong for his lobang n help
went shopping with huisian on wed
got my tailored shirt, bought another nice shirt from zara
n a canon ixus 860IS for my sis bday(sharing e cost with mum)
so Im officially broke now haaa
anyway right wisdom tooth popped out on thurs causing alot of irritation
gonna extract it tmr le ... Finally!
took this 10min break to update blog while studying at canteen A
nothing much done during weekend as usual
so gonna start mugging till 2 this week
back to studies!