This is it! I’ve passed the military public road test for my motorcycle, which means that I can be zipping around on the road soon. But the catch is that my licence will limit me to military vehicles, which really takes the wind out of the news…
The civilian test appears to be a tough nut to crack, according to some of my friends who are currently taking it. The traffic police screens out many people every test (the passing rate is an appallingly low 47%!) I was initially shocked by the figure. Were this coming from an academic school in Singapore, it would have been thrown into Davy Jones’ locker, or relagated to the ruins of Infamy!
Now, even as I mull over whether to pursue a civilian licence (it sure would be helpful to ride to my camp, as it is about 40 km away, just about the other side of the island), the realities hit me. Being a military personnel would mean no time off to pursue the lessons, let alone take the test. This means that I would have to go for the lessons on Saturday and Sundays. Probably not too bad a sacrifice though. How much suffering would that amount to, if I can have the leisure of driving to camp? (After all, it is located in some extremely isolated part of the island…)
Now, how do I get to that driving centre…
Scribbled under:
Army Days
It is with a sombre mood that I share this, even though I have expected it for some time.
The rejection letter from NUS (National University of Singapore) came in my mailbox. Frankly speaking, I was not really holding my breath for an entry at all, given my dismal A level scores.
That said, I think I can carry on with my plans to re-take the exam. Forget about the C and Ds I’ve gotten. Time to look ahead, and plan. I am going to shock everyone with triple As, so much so that this time, I will be the ones rejecting universities clamouring for my grace. That is my vision.
I remembered that two years ago, just after I’ve gotten my O level results, I was planning to give Junior College education a shot. I’ve managed to pass it, which definitely proves to me that I have the ability to score. Time was not on my side, and I must say, I did exceed my expectations.
Time to surf the Internet for private tuition courses! Watch this space. I promise that three years from now (that will be when I am discharged from my national service duties), you will see positive news on my exam results this time!
Excerpt from the rejection letter:
Thank you for applying to NUS. Due to extremely tough competition, I am sorry that your application for admission to National University of Singapore (NUS) has not been successful.
Please be assured that your application was treated carefully and thoroughly. Admission to NUS is very competitive as a large number of talented students, such as you, apply each year. However, the number of places for the course you have applied is limited and hence, we have arrived at this very difficult decision.
If you are reapplying for a change in course as a place had been reserved for you at NUS due to full time National Service commitments, please be assured that your place reserved is still valid.
We appreciate your interest in NUS and wish you all the best in your future endeavours.
Scribbled under:
General
While reading a book on financial management, my brain somehow decided to get excited about my portable CD player. Don’t get me wrong, it has nothing to do with sexual stimulation. I was getting so involved in it that I began to dream about all the possible featuers of the perfect CD player. Thought I would like to share it with you:
Features list:
- 500 seconds buffering for playback (effectively placing 2 to 3 songs snug for when doing those crazy aerobic workouts)
- Dual pick-up lens (so that if one gets knocked off, the other can pick off)
- 100 hours guaranteed long play on 2 AA alkaline batteries (2 batteries is all you need for that holiday trip of yours!)
- Error correction algorithm to over come reading errors from the CD
- CD-R, CD-RW support
- MP3 compressed inside ZIP/RAR archives support (Now that will pack a lot of music inside)
- Virtualiser for 6 channel sounds (Great for surround sound CDs)
- Electronic equaliser with 25 tunable frequencies, including an "Gain" lever, and bass booster
- Anti-rock positioner helps keep pick-up lens stable from all the shakes and knocks, effectively eliminating skipping music
- Internet connectivity to stream Internet radio formats
- Pick up over the air FM radio transmission, with advanced tuning for out of the area broadcasts
- Lyrics display support
- Sleep timer for those who bring their CD players to sleep with them, and do not want to waste the batteries (hell, I think this is redundant if a CD player has 100 hours of playback!)
- Organic LED 65535 colours display to display a visualised version of the music (Refer to Winamp’s Visualiser to see what I mean)
- Song bias information to give more opportunities to songs which the listener likes to be played when in "Random" mode
- Fingerprint access system to allow only the owner to operate the player
- Support wireless headphones and remote control with wireless range of 10 metres
- Rubber armour to keep the player safe from water splashes, accidental drops, or simply to smash over a moron’s head.
- Auto-protection of the lenses whenever the player is opened
- Negative air-flow system with high-grade air filter ensures clean air goes into the CD player, and keeps the system cool
- Air suspended rotation tab to minimise friction, resulting in less mechanical wear and tear.
I guess I had better stop. The drool is already threatening to flood the keyboard. Perhaps that will set the challenge to the engineers of CD player systems. Hopefully, I would be able to see such a product in my lifetime (perhaps I might pay a premium for it?), and fulfill my craze. As we can see, some of these features are within reach, while others will remain just what they are: a dream. What was I thinking? Negative air flow system? I’ve got to be kidding. How could anyone port a clean room technology into a portable CD-player?
Scribbled under:
General
Yawn… It appears to me that this blog is still mired in the deep bowels of the Internet, and apparently, I am expected to harbour no hopes of being rescued from this virtual rubbish dump unless Google, or any other search engine decides to show some grace, and finally give me some decent exposure on their search result pages. No matter. My optimistic nature dictates that I soldier on, regardless of the unsurmountable task (I’ve always liked that word). My blog shall be as famous as Microsoft’s website (my mission), and I shall be adding tons of laden blog posts to achieve the vision!
Fame. Reportedly, it seems that people of my star sign (I am a Leo) have an incurable addiction to being in the spotlight. I guess that it does apply to me. I am seeking attention through my blog. Perhaps this is a manifestation of an extremely deprived childhood? (In case you were wondering, I did not play with teddies, nor did I ram toy cars against each other. I just, well… slept.)
I took the time to get down to SAFRA (the local club for national servicemen) to redeem the "free" gift they said they were going to give me to sign up for their 5-year membership plan. Being the sucker for deals, I went along, and judging from the product they were giving me in exchange for my $150, I figured that I would be better off spending the bus fare (a mind boggling $3 in total, not including another side trip I took to procure some decent biking equipement) on a decent tube of ice-cream. I could use some fattening before the huge slaughtering when I start my scout course.
In case you were wondering, my writing seems to have taken a significant change from all that weary details of my life. Well, I have decided to focus more on my thinking, instead of documenting my life (I could have used a diary for that!). Now, that should bring in the crowd!
Scribbled under:
General
(This is a catch-up post to cover the two missing days, Monday and Tuesday (24th and 25th May 2004).)
As the last continuous post mentioned, I was at the driving circuit to take my circuit riding test (a pre-requisite before they would take the risk to unleash me onto the public roads). My course mates were left scratching their heads, and wondering whether I was going bonkers. I was telling them lame jokes the whole time since that blog on Monday. What did the light bulb say to the switch? You turn me on!
Guess it is probably my own way of dealing with the enormous stress. Sweating it out in the sweltering tropical extreme heat inside a helmet, hands covered in gloves, and feet covered by shin guards, boots and knee guards, I was probably going derilous waiting for my turn to start…
Finally, the chief examiner waved at me from the start point. Time to move out. I could feel a lump wedging itself into my throat as I began to signal. Ok… turn on the right signal, check back, signal with the hand, check back again, ease off clutch and gently increase the throttle. It turned out that the testers had lesser interest in me than I had thought previously. They were obviously concentrating at some of the other weaker riders, and eagerly scribbling condemning notes on their notepads.
So, what was the result? I passed, with a total of 4 demerits, for forgetting to check back before tackling a bend, and for checking the wrong blind spot. It still eludes me why I checked the kerb side blind spot instead of the traffic side… Perhaps I was in a trance, or was I more interested in going through the motions? Ah… a potential road hazard in the making.
It so happens that I found out on Tuesday that we would be given fresh new number tags to don for the actual road riding — to my extreme horror. Images of how I would be attracting stares to me with that big glaring yellow tag, with the number “14″ printed proudly in big, bold, black colour made me embarrassed.
“We are going to wear this on the road?” one of my course mate asked incredulously, his eyes showing obvious disdain at the tag.
“Or would you prefer the old number tag?” came the shot-back, refering to the old dilapidated number tags we used for the circuit test.
With no choice, but to offer numbers for the public to punt on in the lottery, we set off. I was actually unaccustomed to travelling at 45 km/hr consistently, having no chance to speed on a straight road. I took to it with glee, before realising that I was supposed to switch lanes before a traffic junction…
Having learnt my lesson, I proceeded with more caution this time, and I applied all the techniques that I have learnt. The highway situation problems class did do some good (for all its hair-tearing experience!), for I saw the hazardous state of the road! For the first time, I saw for myself how dangerous the road actuall is. Motorcycles weave in between stationary lorries, and vans cut sharply into one’s lane at 70 km/hr in a 60km/hr road zone without signalling, Mercedes and BMWs dashing across the double white line (in Singapore, vehicles are forbidden to even touch that line), and Protons accelerating across the zebra crossing, forcing pedestrians to watch in bewilderment (in case you were wondering, vehicles must give way to pedestrians at the zebra crossing). I actually rubbed my eyes in amazement! (sidenote: forgetting the fact that I was wearing gloves, my eyes ended up smarting with cotton fibres caught in my eye lashes…)
Then, as I looked into the mirror at my instructor, his lips set in a grin or grim line reminded me of how motorcyclists always get the raw end of the deal. I swore to myself: If I ever were to get a motorcycle, I would get a monster bike, at 1600 cc or above, to ensure my safety. I ended up returning home totally shacked out from all the mental stress…
Things took a turn for a worse today. In theory, changing lanes only involve signalling to the appropriate direction, and after checking the mirror, one would accelerate gradually into the next lane, and the vehicle behind would accomodate by slowing down. What difference! As I signalled, I saw the vehicle accelerate with such abruptness, I lost the courage to pull into the lane. After that vehicle passed, I attempted the lane change again. This time, I opened the throttle more, and only barely managed to get into the lane before the traffic junction. The resulting jamming of the brakes was probably something I do not want to happen very often. I hurt my sensitive part…
While things are turning to be less favourable than I expected, I figure that I would be able to adapt quickly to this extremely realistic world… Hopefully, I do not turn out to be a worse devil (probably hardened by all that hard driving) than the drivers currently on the road now.
Scribbled under:
Army Days
I am so sorry for the lack of updates since that last blog. What happened during the circuit test would have to remain a mystery for the time being, as I am too tired to blog now. Perhaps driving takes up more energy than I would predict.
Anyway, I will try to update the blog as soon as possible (probably via my cell phone tomorrow), but given my current state (I am struggling to keep my wrinkled eyes open even as I type), it is already a miracle that I have not committed a bunch of grammatical mistakes in my typing!
Scribbled under:
Army Days
The circuit test has started. Actually, it started 2 hours ago. Right now, I am having a break right now, which explains this blog entry. I am sending this via my cellular network. Amazing how technologies make updating a blog such a breeze!
Anyway, I’ve just passed my balancing and emergency break tests. What is left is the actual circuit riding. If I pass, you might see me on the roads tomorrow. If I fail, well, it is back to the balancing and emergency break tests again, before going through a NEW test route! If I pass, I will be rewarded with a long weekend this Saturday, which means more time to blog! Now you see how important it is for me to pass!
Scribbled under:
Army Days
I know that it is premature to do so, but I do need to beg your pardon for any tardiness in my posting. Even though the posts will still come on their respective times, they will only appear at one shot during the weekend, if it so happens that I am in camp that week. As I am a stay-in personnel, I am expected to be in the camp the entire week, with Saturdays and Sundays being my book out days. The reason why I am blogging so aggressively is that I am on a motorbike course, which is stay-out (which means I can get home, turn on my computer, and crap on this blog!)
My course will end somewhere at the start of June, and that is when I would have to report back to camp. That will mean the end of daily updates (as you would technically expect it to be). However, I will try to keep a chronological log of my blogs in camp, and try to upload them all at one shot during the weekends.
Meanwhile, I will rant all I can during the whole duration of my stay-out course!
I do sincerely hope that my effort will be rewarded by your viewership. So… come back often!
Scribbled under:
Army Days
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