Simply awesome!
I grew up watching a lot of the Muppets. I think that's where I get my warped sense of humour.
Wednesday 25 November 2009
Monday 23 November 2009
Time In Green
Despite going back to the same place and meeting the same old faces, each in camp training has its quirks and highlights. This was my 4th ICT. Off the bat, it was a much longer distance to camp, or the equivalent of $21 taxi fare in the morning or 1 hour 15 mins by public transport and walking. Seriously too long. On my first cab ride to camp, with my gigantic, laden field pack, the taxi I was in zoomed by a familiar face by the side of the road, just metres from the Punggol Road exit to TPE (SLE). I could not react in time to stop the vehicle and split my fare in half. I later discovered the man in green was hitching a ride from another comrade in green living in the neighbourhood but complemented with vehicle. Aaah, bells aringing. It turned out that 5 guys were living close to each other. (By the end of camp, the number expanded to 7). So we shared taxis back and forth quite a few times. I also attempted the bus and train routes. It was too painful to reconsider. Hougang is somehow only great for travelling along the purple line, that's it. All else fails. Well, IKEA Tampines in nearby too.
In camp, I shared a 4-man bunk with one other guy because one of two ceiling fans groaned with each spin. He works in a quasi-gahmen company in a PR role. An interesting experience. The guys I was with in the last ICT were next door, so we hung out there for the newspapers and friendly conversation.
This ICT proved instrumental in some respects. New leadership was one aspect, our reaction to goings-on was the other. The situation with reservists is that one can't treat them like NSF and order them around. It takes some tact, some humour, some declaration of commitment. But ICT was however tricky - some participants weren't quite feeling the vibe and this made the more responsive folks upset. So what happened was that I put all the complaining down on paper, and went to talk to the leadership. From what was an approach to my PC began a sitdown with all 4 officers in charge. A little overwhelming, especially when our conversation happened in a windowless room. They listened as I ranted off points discussed with among the concerned, jotted in a notebook. They 'bars' expressed that my feedback was very useful and similarly, I am glad they took the time to take this seriously. They also shared their perspectives and problems with managing this bunch of old fogeys. It was enlightening, heartwarming and somewhat disarming. We're all just Singaporeans too, making this work, trying to make a useful difference.
I had a nasi lemak from the canteen on my last day in camp. The chilli sambal was excellent.
The day after I out-processed, I discover a skin infection under my toes. Yes, ewwww. A present from the field? I dunno. I have antibiotics to take and cream to apply.
In camp, I shared a 4-man bunk with one other guy because one of two ceiling fans groaned with each spin. He works in a quasi-gahmen company in a PR role. An interesting experience. The guys I was with in the last ICT were next door, so we hung out there for the newspapers and friendly conversation.
This ICT proved instrumental in some respects. New leadership was one aspect, our reaction to goings-on was the other. The situation with reservists is that one can't treat them like NSF and order them around. It takes some tact, some humour, some declaration of commitment. But ICT was however tricky - some participants weren't quite feeling the vibe and this made the more responsive folks upset. So what happened was that I put all the complaining down on paper, and went to talk to the leadership. From what was an approach to my PC began a sitdown with all 4 officers in charge. A little overwhelming, especially when our conversation happened in a windowless room. They listened as I ranted off points discussed with among the concerned, jotted in a notebook. They 'bars' expressed that my feedback was very useful and similarly, I am glad they took the time to take this seriously. They also shared their perspectives and problems with managing this bunch of old fogeys. It was enlightening, heartwarming and somewhat disarming. We're all just Singaporeans too, making this work, trying to make a useful difference.
I had a nasi lemak from the canteen on my last day in camp. The chilli sambal was excellent.
The day after I out-processed, I discover a skin infection under my toes. Yes, ewwww. A present from the field? I dunno. I have antibiotics to take and cream to apply.
Monday 2 November 2009
U2 webcast
Where were you when this was happening? I was about to have lunch. Instead I didn't really work, watched the concert through lunchtime and was famished at 230pm Singapore time. I remember reading about the concert being on Sunday and completely didn't realise it was Sunday West Coast of the US time. Thank goodness for Twitter and all the buzz the folks I'm following created about the concert. I believe the folks on the Internet had the best seats in the house! The streaming was clear and relatively faultless. Youtube did a great job beaming it across live. The power of Akamai.
I know U2 is a rather politically-inclined band but the concert at the Rose Bowl too became a platform for their messages, perhaps too much of it was skewed to make concert goers (viewers) think. Are all of them like that? Mandela, Aung Sun Suu Kyi, Martin Luther King, Archbishop Tutu - all somehow made an appearance. Bono declared Stephen Gately was gone too soon. And did a line from 'You will never walk alone' that brought a smidgen of a tear to my left eye.
I had to stay late that evening for the 2 hours of semi-work that afternoon. Not a bad trade.
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