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Smallville

I know I'm a little slow, but I just finished watching Smallville Season 5, Episode 12. Calling it a heart-wrenching episode is probably too mild. The producers took us on a emotional sky dive; soaring high up in the sky before dropping us off like water off a bird's wings. The descent was slow, painful and .. beautiful. The episode was so beautifully shot and accompanied by a soundtrack so complementary one might be led to believe the songs were made specially for it.

Beauty makes the saddness a little more palatable. I remember reading in Picture of Dorian Gray that beauty makes up for a lot of things, even sin. Hrms, maybe Oscar Wilde didn't say it explicitly, but that's the feeling i get from reading the book. Of course that philosophy's wrong though =)

My father's stalker .. a crazy lady that has been hounding him for more than 2 years is now hounding me. And I'm fast losing my patience ............

New Wallet!

Finally used my starhub $20 Tangs voucher today. The king of procrastination had been holding on to his father's IC for over a month while he decides what to buy from Tangs.

Got myself a brand new Braun Buffel wallet .. and it's the first wallet I bought for myself .. in .. er .. damn. A damn bloody long time.

Camp tomorrow :)

What a day.

It was our first time. We entered our client's office with apprehension; inadequately armed in both equipment and knowledge, Jianming our only trump card, God our only hope.

Jia an stepped forward and announced us as the people who were there to service the computers. The company's receptionist/admin clerk, June, motioned us in, and I unconsciously moved forward to take the lead. It was decided before-hand that Jia an would do the speaking, since he was the one who liased with them over the phone. Jianming would be the techie, and I, his assistant.

I'd like to think it wasn't my ego, and that it was because I was too nervous and so anxious for everything to go well that I didn't want to risk anything going wrong if I could help it. I asked the questions, took down some notes, started getting a headache. We were supposed to clear 4 systems of spyware/virii, but it turned out things got a little more complicated.

I shalln't bore you with the details, but we spent 6 hours in the office, all 3 of us hard at work, learning new things from Jianming and applying them instantly. Not a single moment was wasted; every problem received a dedicated storm of brainwaves till we solved it, things were moving simultaneously even as new work requests came in. We fielded questions and jumped hurdles like dancing fencers on hot coals, smiled in the face of building panic, and took turns taking the heat off one another so we could work. Even Jia an, who had comparatively lesser technical knowledge than us gave his all, helping out in every little way he can and backing me up while I was busy throwing smoke bombs and setting up mirrors.

The result? The company's apparently impressed with our service and working style cause they asked us for a regular maintenance contract even before seeing the results of our labour, and a wireless LAN setup might be on the way. Each of us walked away with $110 in our pocket, a generous serving of experience under our belt, and a satisfied client in our wake. Tomorrow we'll truly know if our work was up to scratch - when our clients start up their computers, and begin their normal business operations.

Our celebration was with Janet in Changing Appetites, and an Erdinger with Daryl at Bark Cafe. What a day. Great job guys =D and THANK GOD everything went well.

-

Janet gave Jianming and I self-designed tee shirts for valentine's day, and I absolutely adore mine. I found Jianming's one hilarious too. He's a technician in PC Clinic, a computer servicing shop in Sim Lim Square and his tee shirt reads, "NO, I will not fix your computer!". Haha, and mine? It reads, "BY THE WAY, I'm a cow-killer and a skirt chaser". =D thanks always-hungry-but-never admitting-it Janet!

-

Think you know me well? Go here and prove it!

-

Back to camp .. la di da.

What a day.

It was our first time. We entered our client's office with apprehension; inadequately armed in both equipment and knowledge, Jianming our only trump card, God our only hope.

Jia an stepped forward and announced us as the people who were there to service the computers. The company's receptionist/admin clerk, June, motioned us in, and I unconsciously moved forward to take the lead. It was decided before-hand that Jia an would do the speaking, since he was the one who liased with them over the phone. Jianming would be the techie, and I, his assistant.

I'd like to think it wasn't my ego, and that it was because I was too nervous and so anxious for everything to go well that I didn't want to risk anything going wrong if I could help it. I asked the questions, took down some notes, started getting a headache. We were supposed to clear 4 systems of spyware/virii, but it turned out things got a little more complicated.

I shalln't bore you with the details, but we spent 6 hours in the office, all 3 of us hard at work, learning new things from Jianming and applying them instantly. Not a single moment was wasted; every problem received a dedicated storm of brainwaves till we solved it, things were moving simultaneously even as new work requests came in. We fielded questions and jumped hurdles like dancing fencers on hot coals, smiled in the face of building panic, and took turns taking the heat off one another so we could work. Even Jia an, who had comparatively lesser technical knowledge than us gave his all, helping out in every little way he can and backing me up while I was busy throwing smoke bombs and setting up mirrors.

The result? The company's apparently impressed with our service and working style cause they asked us for a regular maintenance contract even before seeing the results of our labour, and a wireless LAN setup might be on the way. Each of us walked away with $110 in our pocket, a generous serving of experience under our belt, and a satisfied client in our wake. Tomorrow we'll truly know if our work was up to scratch - when our clients start up their computers, and begin their normal business operations.

Our celebration was with Janet in Changing Appetites, and an Erdinger with Daryl at Bark Cafe. What a day. Great job guys =D and THANK GOD everything went well.

-

Janet gave Jianming and I self-designed tee shirts for valentine's day, and I absolutely adore mine. I found Jianming's one hilarious too. He's a technician in PC Clinic, a computer servicing shop in Sim Lim Square and his tee shirt reads, "NO, I will not fix your computer!". Haha, and mine? It reads, "BY THE WAY, I'm a cow-killer and a skirt chaser". =D thanks always-hungry-but-never admitting-it Janet!

-

Think you know me well? Go here and prove it!

-

Back to camp .. la di da.

Blading Missionary strikes again

I brought Jasmin and Wesley to ECP last night to get their blades. And the night before, I went with Daryl and Jianming to get theirs =D

But .. as I was rotating the wheels on my blades, I broke 2 of the screws. Bummer. Gonna get them repaired this Wed.

Off to camp I go..

Hrms.

Yesterday, I had the most exciting moment in my national service history. I was abruptly awoken at 3pm and was told that I had to go open some rusty gate near the runway and basically just stand there for 2 hours. Not exactly the best reason to be awoken. In fact, off hand I can already think of several more pleasant alternatives.

Anyway, grabbing my helmet, and water bottle, I reluctantly trudged my way to the gate, cursing the sun that was emerging after the rain. I arrived, eventually, and lo and behold, it started to rain. Yipee. The nearest shelter's probably in India and I had no goretex-jacket(army issue raincoat) with me. Great.

After a few pathetic minutes that I spent getting drenched, I finally decided to seek shelter under the belly of an american aircraft that was being re-fuled by two ST fuel tankers. I stood there trying to be as inconspicious as possible while the ST personnel and americans holler conversationally at each other over the roar of the 4 engines of the idling plane.

Naturally, being me, I spotted the only lady at the wretched scene. An aircraft maintenance engineer of sorts, presiding over the re-fueling process. *grin*

To cut to the chase, after the re-fueling was done, she and her collegue came over to talk to me, and while her collegue went to get me a coke from the plane, we introduced ourselves, and made small talk. Her name's Holly =D. Holly's collegue came back. More small talk. He went away. She asked whether I was allowed to leave the flight line and board the plane for a quick tour. Hell Yeah!

I found out that the plane was a C-17, a cargo plane. Holly introduced me to the load masters, who're in charge of the cargo, which, incidentally, took up the bulk of the hull. I even went up the steps to the cockpit where the 2 pilots were having a steaming hot microwaved lunch. Damn, there must have been a hundred switches, dials, and gauges. Amazing. I stood there in awe, not even finding the voice to reply when one of the pilots said "nice to meet you".

All good things must come to an end, and I was relegated to standing under the belly of the plane while the rain got heavier, and the wind strong enough to unstablise me if I took too long taking a step. Know what I mean? Lift leg up, gale comes, whoah. Anyway, thankfully by then one of my sergeants braved the rain(silly guy didn't wear a goretex) to pass me a goretex, so at least my upper half was dry. Pants, socks, and boots were soaked through by the time I was done there though.

So much more to say. The americans were en-route to some british island off the African continent, and they were apparently in Singapore for the first time. Pity they couldn't visit the city. I told an american that we can see City Hall from where we were if the weather was clear, saying that it was the "heart of Singapore". His response? "Wow, is that like a palace or something?". And he enthusiastically told me of this giant snail he saw on the runway(wtf?!) that was *this huge* and that he could literally see it chewing. Er, I had my reservations, but I just smiled, nodded, and made appropiate noises. I guess they think Singapore's some exotic and primitive country with Sultans and giant creatures. Haha. He was telling me about how beautiful Singapore is; all the palm trees and all. I didn't have the heart to tell him that that was probably Malaysia.

I also had the chance to talk to 2 americans who were stationed in the airbase, and were there to faciliate the refueling. Nice chaps, humorous and friendly. Asked about my gun, told me about how big the barrel of a Magnum is, and one of them said that if he were to own a gun, it would be a shotgun; for the psychological effect it would have on potential burglers. Haha, after a lot of laughing, they gave me a lift back to the gate where I resumed my dull and boring duty. Sigh. At least I've the coke can as souvenir, and the envy of my friends in camp of course.

-

On a sadder and much more stressful note, the web application that I developed for my step dad's company has bugs, bugs that as of now I've no idea to solve. In fact, I didn't document my work, nor their requirements, so I've no idea how to go about fixing them. I can't even remember why I coded some stuff. I'm in deep shit man.

To get a boulder moving

Just a quick update before my usual pre-book-in 2 hour nap ..

Started work on a VB.NET project with Daryl today. It was slow going at first, two newbies trying to find their way around, but it was also fun in its own way, and well, at least the project's started .. the boulder is moving, intertia overcomed(sounds nicer than overcame right).

Blading in the night with Jia an and Timothy. Finally learnt how to do a C-brake.

Oh and a skate shop in ecp's having a huge sale this coming friday evening. According to the shop owner, it might even be "buy one get one free"! Whatcha waiting for Jianming? And er, Angela, I couldn't have known this would happen right? *grin*

Ok, to bed, then camp tomorrow.

Shaun gets shit

Shaun and Angela walk from Somerset MRT to Heeren for you-know-what-burger.

Shaun feels a wet drop on the back of his neck, casually wipes the spot with his right hand, continues walking.

-feels something weird-

-for some unknown reason, smells hand without looking-

-actually smelt nothing-

-looked. saw bird shit-

-exclaims .. WTF!!!!-

-

Oh. And Angela bought blades! Woohoo. Shaun the Blading Missionary. Haha.

-

I also completely forgot that I was supposed to go climbing with Weeli today. I'm really really sorry bro .. totally slipped my mind. I still remember our run next saturday though. Sorry man.

Japheth smells shit.

Japheth and Shaun were waiting for bus no. 16 behind orchard mrt to go to Zouk.

Waits.

Bus arrives, our heroes board the bus.

Japheth: -gesticulates wildy- Oh my God what's that fucking smell?! Smells like SHIT!

Shaun: -notices driver's open window- YAH MAN, fucking hell!

Japheth: -hands on nose- This is killing me!

Shaun: -notices people all the way at the back pinching their noses- The smell is even at the back! No escape! -moves to sit down near the front- Might as well sit here.

Japheth: NO WAY MAN! It's fucking smelly. You wanna go to Zouk smelling like shit?!

Shaun: Oh ya ah. But wait no taxi how? We're already fucking late.

Japheth: You rather be late or smell like shit?! You want people in Zouk to move away from you cause you smell like shit?!

Shaun: OK OK! -presses bell-

Our heroes hurriedly alighted the smelly bus at the next bus stop. A malay guy on the bus pinches his nose and looks at Shaun who grinned back while shaking his head. The malay guy smiles.

Haha, the above conversation was carried out at almost shouting volume, and the passengers in the bus were staring at us. That's Japheth for you. And he was saying that the passengers must have admired our courage to voice out our discomfort while other guys acted cool and continued to smell and smell like shit. Haha.