Singtel obviously does not endorse my blogging at all, I have been totally unable to post anything from home, and the only way I can get anything online is by going to a wireless hub somewhere to post. Irritating as hell, but at least I've got some other way to put stuff online.
So basically my past few weeks have been rather relaxed, enjoying life as I promise I would before having to leave home. Finally got my license last Monday, and never felt such a sense of liberation before, removing the shackles of SBS and SMRT schedules, and away from the tortures of paying Comfort and Citycab another fare. Driving does have its down side (pump price and CTE jams), but hey, I'll rather deal with those then go on another ride with a taxi driver who doesn't know how to change gear and has a sense of direction so weak he can't find his way around Singapore with a GPS hardwired to his brain. Managed to drive my parents, my girlfriend and my buddies around, soon I hope I can drive myself to work.
Speaking of my buddies, just had them over yesterday to catch the World Cup matches last night. Admittedly I am not a fan of soccer, but much entertainment could already be derived from watching Jun Seng cringing dramatically as Ghana misses a goal, and Fabian battling it out with Zhaoyang and shouting "SHOOTO!" at the top of his lungs. Furthermore we had a special guest yesterday, Lau who makes a rare appearance at Guys outings once in a while. Sharing my lack of interest in the beautiful game, I was glad he still came at least to meet a couple of the Guys.
While walking him home very early this morning, we somehow arrived back at my level of happiness, and how I filled my time with things to occupy myself and fill my inner void. Lau probably didn’t notice it himself, but I knew that his evangelistic streak was making its appearance again. Somehow the purchase of my Xbox 360 and me getting the Guys over for a round of soccer, even when I talked about living life while having a girlfriend was becoming a routine, all of it narrowed down to a problem. There was something missing in my life. There must be. I may look happy on the outside, but inside I’m depressed and suicidal, because my life is seemingly incomplete.
No offense to Lau, it’s not that he was doing anything wrong on his part, I know it is the duty of every Christian to spread the word. It’s just that I can smell a sales pitch from a mile off. Maybe even 2. But here’s a counter-argument which I feel I am obliged to provide to those who feel their lives are empty, and that there is more to life then the ‘pursuit of happiness’ by being with friends and loved ones and having your own Xbox 360 to play with.
I am happy when I smell the shampoo in my girlfriend’s hair, or when she tugs my hand along and giggles gleefully as she spots a sale item which looks particularly appealing. I enjoy the company of friends, and their interactions. Putting Guys like Fabian and Alvin and ZY in a room elicits a smile simply from how they GL each other, and nothing can garner laughter better than watching a bunch of my pilot trainee dudes getting drunk off their arses. It’s these simple moments which give me the motivation to live on, and get from one moment to the next.
The problem comes in when we question ourselves, is there more to life then this? It is when the pursuit of happiness no longer makes one happy, and one is convinced that he or she needs something more in their lives. There has to be an eternal happiness, not that type of fleeting happiness which one derives from the things one experiences in life. There must be the Holy Grail in happiness, that one thing which will ensure happiness in any situation, and it lies with…well now it’s up to you to decide which name suits you better.
Lest we forget, having a religion doesn’t absolve you from having to pay your bills, or getting fired, or having a quarrel with the missus, or losing a loved one. It provides one with the mechanism to cope with sadness, and that is the crux of the issue. Religion is only a mechanism for sadness, or happiness. What can truly keep one happy, eternally? You could keep yourself full of marijuana at all times of the day, everyday, but even then, you are still prone to the low when the weed runs out. Truth is, eternal happiness doesn’t exist, and if you’re about to be convinced by someone selling the notion that believing in God is eternal happiness, stop and ask yourself, am I just getting more depressed listening to this guy?
So how can I be happy? The answer lies in that bit of gray matter which lies behind your eyes, above your nose and is encased in your skull. For me it’s simple pleasures like having loved ones over for dinner, or seeing a smile on that old lady’s face when you give her 2 dollars for nothing when she offers to sell tissue to you, or playing with a bunch of orphans and letting them be the pilot while you fly them around a room. For religious folks, it might be prayer or singing your lungs out every Sunday. But if your idea of happiness involves the police or armed forces in any way, I suggest a chat about it with your psychologist first.
What I’m advocating here is that everyone has his or her own way to being and staying happy, and we should respect that. It disgusts me when I have to fend off people who insist I’m internally unhappy, and that my pursuit of happiness is futile. I hope I don’t have to waste another breath in explaining to someone how my Xbox 360 can keep me happy, because it simply does. Do I have to know why it does? No. Sometimes, ignorance is truly bliss.
But if you’re unhappy, then what’s a surefire way to happiness? If you lack the $660 for an Xbox 360 Premium, then here’s a method which work for me almost all the time, and which people have proven to work.
Make someone else happy.
It’s as simple as giving a treat to someone you love, or just giving a dollar to the tissue paper auntie, or simply keeping a smile on your face. With those first steps, you are on your first steps towards your own pursuit of happiness, and happiness you shall get.
Don
20060618
20060531
Farewell and godspeed
Today sent off my fellow course mates from 130 BWC, who leave for 130 SQN today. It was with a tinge of sadness that I could not leave with them, but I guess the sacrifice is worth it. Hope my buddy does well, and don't get too demoralised over there, seeing how he looked to be a bit low today as he walked through the gates. My turn will come in a few months, but till then, it's about making my rolling over worth the while. Time after all, is a luxury not many in my line get...
Don
20060516
and i love you too
Yay! someone loves us! he's so sweet! yup we're fugly and compatible woohoo! not to mention sweet and intelligent beyond belief and so totally happy together. aren't we sweet honey buns fruit tart apple pie sugarsugar candy darling light of my life? don't you love 'em 'passerbys' giggles
Love,
Fugly girl
Love,
Fugly girl
20060423
Walkway
The walkway leads from the academic block to the canteen and hall. Every Rafflesian who has been to the Bishan campus, will remember the House and ORA boards, the wooden benches, the chairs and tables stacked inside the stairway to the top of the clock tower. The open air walkway with bougainvillea flower bushes on the second level, and that breeze that never goes away. This was the only photo I ever took from the Gryphon Lair, next to the prefect's room and the scout dens, a picture of just the shetted soccer field. Now walk that same walkway from the staff room and you hit a wall, cordoning off the construction site where once the canteen was. Where the physical world has left nothing behind, your memory carries on...
I used to just sit on the portion of the walkway where they cut off, inches behind the wall that stands now. The never-ending breeze would blow, and I would just have my random thoughts, or not even think at all, just taking in that moment between lessons, enjoying the view of the field or people walking to the canteen. Or watching the sun set, slowly but surely over Junction 8 in the distance.
Further on, it was the Gryphon's Lair, the relac corner above the canteen. It was the place for some carrom or board games, or just to sit on the old, discarded couches. If you were from 01 or 02 and more recently the RIPB, you would be in front using the lousy and loose powerpoint, connecting your hifi or radio and practicing some funk dance. Scouts would be having their meetings, or having first aid, rope tying or any number of activities in the Gryphon's Lair.
In the midst of all that activity outside the prefect's room, some poor prefects would be trying to plan an upcoming event, or would be holding a departmental meeting. The radio would be on to compete with the noise outside, the phone might be ringing off the hook with some teacher trying to reach a prefect for an event, someone would be shouting in jubilation for scoring an ultra-difficult win in carrom, the guitar would be playing as someone strums a tune, or at least trys to, and I would be writing in the board diary about that 'quite chio' gal.
Across from the PB room, would be the scout dens. The 01 den would be in its usual state, with that funny but familiar smell coming from the carpet from god knows when, and god knows what has gone into that carpet over the years. The cupboards lining the side of the den would be filled with patrol logs all the way from the first years of our group, the table surfaces would have been lined with notes for lashing or pioneering or (name your scout skill), 486 computers would be operating with someone playing some real oldie, older than doom or dune 2. Think really old. Some poor Sec 1 would be having his first lesson in playing expert carrom, getting trashed by a J1 or other who would be teaching the finer points on a seasoned carrom board (A secret which neither the prefects nor the 02 scouts have been able to crack, how 01 gets super-smooth and shining carrom boards without powder. I have made my , and shall say no more.) If you came really
late one nite, hear laughing and then bored voices, a long sermon-like speech on the essence of scouting, or just plain bullshit, relax, it ain't the moose head hanging on the wall of the den talking, nor have our dead old boys paid a visit. It's a GC meeting.
02 scout den? no comments, too boring. Oh maybe one thing, they like to throw shit over to our den, because the dividing wall between our dens is really that low.
Then there is the canteen, heaven on earth, provided you're willing to queue, you can find a seat or table without bird shit on it, and YOU ONLY ORDER FROM THE LEFT SIDE OF THE CANTEEN. LEFT SIDE. SAY IT WITH ME, LEFT SIDE OF THE CANTEEN. EMPHASIS IS FOR A REASON, REPETITION IS ALWAYS FOR IMPORTANT POINTS. LEFT, LEFT, LEFT SIDE. Drinks, dessert, WESTERN FOOD, and KI. Kampung Istimewa. Genetically modified HUGE chicken thighs fried with an oily but oh so wonderful batter. Nasi Briyani, only on Fridays, and only if you come fast enough and auntie can remember your name. Nothing else. Right side at ur own risk, it's your digestive tract so heed my advice if you want to continue having one.
The atrocious first floor toilets, where people eating from the wrong side will converge, and the banner painters, and the sportsmen who need to take a leak running in with their shetted boots, and the odd Rugger who has just been stepped on in training with metal studded soccer boots, and is bleeding profusely with a head wound above his right eye and getting his red Moor House shirt even redder, washing his wound in a basin where someone has spat in, washed his dirty hands or leg in, washed his paint covered hands with thinner in, and others we shall leave unmentioned. That odd Rugger is still very much alive...
And he is currently feeling nostalgic. That was the RI canteen block, as I remember it. Now there is nothing there, a construction site with piling equipment and cranes. Soon it will be the new auditorium, from 2007 onwards. Soon it will give some new Rafflesian his own memories, something he can hold onto even when he is old and graying, and the building itself no longer exists.
I guess this was how the Old Boys from the Grange Road or even the Bras Basah campus felt, seeing their school only in their memories. Bras Basah campus is now Raffles City, you can read the plaque for the memorial for Raffles Institution. Grange Road is now still part of MOE, but no longer a school. But I guess in feeling this sense of loss, I feel something else, that I have moved on somewhere in life, I am walking on in life. But right now, I'm just taking a glance back, through that walkway I have passed through, past that metal wall the world has constructed, but where my memory doesn't stop.
20060331
Happy Birthday to me.
So this is me, or a recent collage of what has been my life recently. Some photos are obviously not taken by me, and some seem totally irrelevant, but hey, I'm entitled to say what has inspired me right? After all, it's my birthday. I can't display some of the stuff I've taken, so there are some replacements for the things I can't put up. Overall, the things which matter to me most are in here, including the lady in my life now, who is coming over tonight to cook me dinner, even when I'm sick and grumpy and picky about what I eat (warning to her now), of which I am highly appreciative. I'm going to do something which I haven't done in some time, which is to end with a quote.
'Our lives teach us who we are.'
Salman Rushdie
Don
20060322
20060307
Learning to fly
Absence makes the heart grow fond. When you're thousands of miles from home, on a dark, wintry night and after one hell of a sortie, you will wonder why you put yourself in such a position. Why did I sign on? Why do I want to fly? Is being a pilot really what I want? Such questions run through my mind during that time, and gradually I was losing the battle to fight on. I needed a familiar voice, who could listen to me gripe, who would tell me what is going on at home, who could just say, "It's alright." I gave her a call, and listening to her voice at the other end of a 3000 mile line, I found my little piece of heaven right there and then...
I sat quietly beside her, looking far beyond the rooftop to the docks in front of us. A gentle sea breeze blew, and our swing seemed to follow the swaying of the wind, the beat of our hearts. There wasn't much else to be said between us. I asked, she said yes, and that was that. That was all I needed, in that one moment. Her long hair stroking my face, my hand around her, the smell of her, all my senses were engaged, filled with her. That was my moment for eternity, the moment i said I loved her...
I held on tight to that moment, trying to feel again her warmth. The rain came down hard, and fast, and relentlessly. Lightning streaked across the dark night, illuminating the jungle which surrounded me. I was soaking wet, and trembling violently, and feeling so tired because sleep was being robbed from me by the rain, the 2nd night in a row. My shelter could not serve its purpose because the roof wasn't up yet, and left me exposed to the elements. My uniform was drenched, I could barely feel my extremities, and I was losing my will to fight on. The radio crackled, there was a lot of traffic even though it was 3 in the morning. Someone's structure collapsed, someone's area was flooding, someone was experiencing complications, someone needed help. Everyone wanted to go home. I was tempted to just call it a day, radio in and surrender. But I held on, because I knew she would have wanted me to. I gripped my rifle tighter, tucked it in close. I sensed her again, close to me, smelling her hair, touching her lips, and hearing her say she loved me. Tears ran down my cheeks, mixing with rain to become indistinguishable. I held on, because of her. Maybe this was true love, one that transcends all boundaries. A thousand miles away from home, in the middle of a tropical rainforest living up to its name, in the dark of night, soaked completely and trembling, hungry after days without food, I felt love. Her love.
Don
I sat quietly beside her, looking far beyond the rooftop to the docks in front of us. A gentle sea breeze blew, and our swing seemed to follow the swaying of the wind, the beat of our hearts. There wasn't much else to be said between us. I asked, she said yes, and that was that. That was all I needed, in that one moment. Her long hair stroking my face, my hand around her, the smell of her, all my senses were engaged, filled with her. That was my moment for eternity, the moment i said I loved her...
I held on tight to that moment, trying to feel again her warmth. The rain came down hard, and fast, and relentlessly. Lightning streaked across the dark night, illuminating the jungle which surrounded me. I was soaking wet, and trembling violently, and feeling so tired because sleep was being robbed from me by the rain, the 2nd night in a row. My shelter could not serve its purpose because the roof wasn't up yet, and left me exposed to the elements. My uniform was drenched, I could barely feel my extremities, and I was losing my will to fight on. The radio crackled, there was a lot of traffic even though it was 3 in the morning. Someone's structure collapsed, someone's area was flooding, someone was experiencing complications, someone needed help. Everyone wanted to go home. I was tempted to just call it a day, radio in and surrender. But I held on, because I knew she would have wanted me to. I gripped my rifle tighter, tucked it in close. I sensed her again, close to me, smelling her hair, touching her lips, and hearing her say she loved me. Tears ran down my cheeks, mixing with rain to become indistinguishable. I held on, because of her. Maybe this was true love, one that transcends all boundaries. A thousand miles away from home, in the middle of a tropical rainforest living up to its name, in the dark of night, soaked completely and trembling, hungry after days without food, I felt love. Her love.
Don
20060301
So the lady says
The first time i saw him. the first guy hand i held for a friendship dance. little did i know that this would be the man whom i'd go through so much together with, for the next 3 years and counting...
A typical RI boy in my impression. quiet, intelligent, a gentleman. i was impressed, by the way he carried himself. i wanted to know him more. he drew me closer to him with time, but seemed to be holding a distance at times. for the year or so, i was confused. i couldn't make out our relationship. are we heading towards something more? or maintaining merely a friendship is what he wants? as our conversations grew longer over the phone, and as our 'outings' got more frequent, these thoughts began to haunt me, more frequently, more intensely.
Inevitably, a turning point of our relationship has to come. i began to realise that nothing is going to happen between us. that i shall let things be the way, i perceived, as he wants. merely friends. i became more receptive to the advances of others, and paid less attention to him. guess i was somehow... annoyed? tired? of the ambiguity of our relationship. somehow, i decided that i had enough. i wasn't to dwell on him anymore.
The Lady
A typical RI boy in my impression. quiet, intelligent, a gentleman. i was impressed, by the way he carried himself. i wanted to know him more. he drew me closer to him with time, but seemed to be holding a distance at times. for the year or so, i was confused. i couldn't make out our relationship. are we heading towards something more? or maintaining merely a friendship is what he wants? as our conversations grew longer over the phone, and as our 'outings' got more frequent, these thoughts began to haunt me, more frequently, more intensely.
Inevitably, a turning point of our relationship has to come. i began to realise that nothing is going to happen between us. that i shall let things be the way, i perceived, as he wants. merely friends. i became more receptive to the advances of others, and paid less attention to him. guess i was somehow... annoyed? tired? of the ambiguity of our relationship. somehow, i decided that i had enough. i wasn't to dwell on him anymore.
The Lady
20060126
Reminiscence
I stood at the MRT station control, waiting for my friend who was late, again. 'He's closer to Yio Chu Kang MRT, and he's later than me. AND it's our first day of school, wtf.' I thought to myself. Watching the streams of multi-coloured uniforms passing me heading for AJC, I wondered if I was going to be late. Then i felt a tug behind me, Lau finally here. We made our way like mad dogs, not wanting to be late on our first day in school. Then she caught my eye, a gal in Cedar uniform, standing by the gate seemingly waiting for someone. I thot to myself, thank God i'm finally out of a boys school. Time to get to know more gals in JC, and smiled to the pretty gal in blue, who probably thot of me as a flirt...
...My luck couldn't be that great, could it? That gal by the gate, is in my OG? If I was going to be so lucky with gals, might as well juz wait for love to find me...
It’s been 3 months, a good 3 months. Life in JC was expectedly full of surprises, just a continuing wave of contradictions. In 3 months I found so many new friends, yet juz when we had got past the hellos, I had to say goodbye. In 3 months I found another life outside of the rat race of top schools, but now was leaving to join back something I loathed. In 3 months I found someone I liked, and now had to leave her before I could love. It was so impossible, seeing her on the 1st day, then having her in my OG, then totally not talking after that. I thot we couldn’t click, that there was no chance. Thank god she had a nephew with my name, it’s funny wad kind of topics can get people talking…
Somehow we kept in contact, something kept us talking. We went out once in a while, for a movie or just a meal. The late night MSN sessions continued, then progressed to calls which went on forever. We talked, or we just kept silent on the phone, content only to know someone else on the other side of the line was ready to listen to anything if we opened our mouths. The relationship lived a paradoxical existence, and seemed it would have to meet its inevitable end, an end which came all too suddenly. I wished her all the best with the guy, let her go. I told her it was alright, what we had wasn't love. I assured her we would still stay as friends. I lied. The calls ended, the outings stopped. Who cut who off? It didn't matter, the result was the same. We, was now you, and I. Alone.
20060109
to smelly
Happy belated anniversary to mr smelly!
Thanks for all the bigsmall things that you've done for me...
Helping me move in and out... going shopping with me although you're obviously bored... sheltering me from the rain while getting yourself wet... popping by just to countdown with me... just being there wih me...
Sorry for showing you bad attitude at times... hope you'll still love me despite... hahas... thanks for putting up with me...
Heehees.
Loving you,
miss shot
Thanks for all the bigsmall things that you've done for me...
Helping me move in and out... going shopping with me although you're obviously bored... sheltering me from the rain while getting yourself wet... popping by just to countdown with me... just being there wih me...
Sorry for showing you bad attitude at times... hope you'll still love me despite... hahas... thanks for putting up with me...
Heehees.
Loving you,
miss shot
20060105
amomentforeternity. hacked.
This is no don. this is a hacker. muahahaha.
I can't continue your story cos my story doesn't start from here.=P you write more first lah.
Omg who's that pretty girl in blue?!? huh!!? *mumblemumbles
Love,
hacker
I can't continue your story cos my story doesn't start from here.=P you write more first lah.
Omg who's that pretty girl in blue?!? huh!!? *mumblemumbles
Love,
hacker
20051208
I'm a survivor
Someone get that Runt of the litter to sing me his song. I managed to come back in more or less one piece from the jungle, perforated with bites but still alive.
20051121
E&E
Off to a jungle somewhere out there, hopefully able to come back in one piece. And breathing. Let the rain pour, or the spar be ever elusive, let the road be long and the journey ardous, I will escape and evade, I will not lay down my arms or raise the white flag, I will never give up. All for you.
Don
Don
20051108
20051103
Jarhead
*Reville song plays in the background. Good morning one and all. Rise and shine! Just booked out from camp, what a way to spend a holiday, being holed up in the Duty Room staring at the wall...But it's ok, I had much entertainment and I was about to waste my day sleeping at home anyway.
Jarhead, cool movie. I am so going to catch this one with the guys, it's like BMT all over again. Except we'll be the one watching someone suffer in boot camp. Synopsis, real story of a Marine who goes through boot camp then goes to Iraq for Ops Desert Storm. The life of a soldier, the months of training, days of waiting, hours of boredom, minutes of unsurpassed excitement, and seconds of sheer terror. Wow, I might as well be an ad for the movie or something, but hey, I guess it's cool to see how my life looks like dramatised for the silver screen. Ok, so maybe not my life, but generally so.
It's been one year exactly since I started this little blog, and have been rereading my entries since day 1. How I have grown, from an idealistic schoolBOY, to kickass pilot...err, trainee. Hahaz, I never expected to take this path, but hey, people grow along the way, and things change. Like I said in my first post, change is truly the only constant. In one year in the army, I have learnt more, done more, than in my entire 12 years in schooling. I feel that the armed forces have given me something most will never have, a chance to do and dare, to be and bear. I love my job, and I thank God everyday for giving me a chance to be in the force which is above all.
20051016
Making pledges
I admit I took my time to write this up, having not blogged for well over a month. I must try and at least keep up the schedule of updating my blog, and not be so lazy. Lots of stuff has happened between the last post and now, with certain milestones in my life having popped up in my life. I chiong Peng Kang sua, ate CS gas, CASEVACed, got initiated, switched to No.3, learnt stuff most people will never get to know, blew targets away estatically with my P226, and I guess the most important one of all is when I found a part of myself, in someone else. Life has never been better.
Sitting here writing this up in my wing line, I guess it's a blessing in itself. The SAF is evolving, and I think I'm in the force which will see this transformation first. To all those in NS and who cannot imagine the SAF to be nothing more than wayang, I challenge you to sign on and find out more, because there is so much more.
Happy Birthday to the various people who are having theirs this month, including my mum and sis. A year older, but also a year wiser, or so I hope. Some people just don't grow up, and though sometimes that may be a good thing, most times it just makes you backward, lost in a world which has gone on without you. Let's hope 'forward looking' becomes a mainstay in the vocabulary of more people around the world.
A blog without a point, but hey something is better than nothing. When I'm a bit more awake and sane, maybe I'll put in a more substantial entry. Till then, let fly yourself, don't hold back. You never know what heights you can reach...
Don
Sitting here writing this up in my wing line, I guess it's a blessing in itself. The SAF is evolving, and I think I'm in the force which will see this transformation first. To all those in NS and who cannot imagine the SAF to be nothing more than wayang, I challenge you to sign on and find out more, because there is so much more.
Happy Birthday to the various people who are having theirs this month, including my mum and sis. A year older, but also a year wiser, or so I hope. Some people just don't grow up, and though sometimes that may be a good thing, most times it just makes you backward, lost in a world which has gone on without you. Let's hope 'forward looking' becomes a mainstay in the vocabulary of more people around the world.
A blog without a point, but hey something is better than nothing. When I'm a bit more awake and sane, maybe I'll put in a more substantial entry. Till then, let fly yourself, don't hold back. You never know what heights you can reach...
Don
20050912
Like Nothing on Earth
My next ride in the sky, looks kinda cool. At least I no longer have to suffer the torque and mannerisms of a single prop aircraft anymore, I hope. Yes, the SIAI Marchetti S211, a jet aircraft built for "anti-insurgency operations" and more importantly, as a trainer jet for people learning the ropes of flying (aka me). It's an aging beauty, soon to be retired and replaced by another trainer aircraft, but hey, I'm thankful for small graces, being the last few batches to fly a jet for basic wing course.
Met up wif Lingli and John and all her pals for her birthday cum farewell party, seems I'm not gonna be the only one doing all the flying. To my co-OGL, best of luck in London, and here's hoping you can navigate safely with my gift. I'll be there to send ya off, even if it means I gotta make the long trip there and back at 3am in the morning...
It's just one day after the 4th anniversary of 9/11, feels like a long time already since I got glued to the TV set that night, seeing all the death and destruction. I went to bed that night, thinking what I could do in such a situation. And I felt helpless, even when I was half a world away from where it happened, there was nothing I could think of doing. Guess that is when it hit me, that the only way to respond to such a terror attack, is to prevent it, and maybe that was my impetus for wanting to join the armed forces. Put those terrorists where they belong, not in a commercial jet airliner, but in a hole deep enough they can hear the devil call their name.
The RSAF new line in their TV ads, a force like nothing on Earth, I truly hope we can live up to that motto. It's the only way we can stop those who threaten me and those I love, by an unprecedented action that they will never expect, giving them back the nasty surprise they first threw on us. By giving them 1 X GOOD ONE, like nothing on Earth.
20050904
20050828
CAVOK
WARNING, OBNOXIOUSLY LONG ENTRY.
Ok, now that I have warned you already, I shall go ahead and let off 6 weeks worth of rants and raves. So much has happened it's hard to remember where it all started, so maybe it's better to just go in dribs and drabs of information. I've been training overseas, and it's been quite a long month. Now I know what it means to miss home, every smell and sight and sound and touch. And especially taste, goodness gracious you won't know what hell it is for a Singaporean not to have the assortment of food we have here. Char Kuay Teow, Bak Kut Teh, Nasi Lemak, ROTI PRATA, I miss you!
And then there are the long and lonely nights, when you just miss the voices of those you love. I feel that my 170 dollar phone bill is worth every cent, considering how just listening to those I love back home when overseas is such a precious thing. To all friends and family, you kept me going when I thought there was nothing left in me. In aviation terms, you were the wind beneath my wings, that kept me flying.
Flying is an experience that really help me see who I am, it puts you in a situation where how well you do depends on how much you ask of yourself, and the rest was just up to how good you are. Anyone can fly a plane, but it takes grit and natural talent to be a pilot. Seeing how naturally my instructors took to flying made me envious, flying seemed as easy as breathing to them. Of course they have the advantage of thousands of hours of experience, but I think it was more of an innate ability then anything else. To be able to control a plane, watching for aircraft all around, handle 20+ instruments and watching gauges and pushing the right switches at the right time, navigate the area, AND still enjoy doing all these, it takes a superhuman. I enjoyed flying, but am still a bit wonky on multi-tasking.
I have to thank all the instructors who took me, for being the devil in the plane, taking me apart on the smallest of mistakes, shooting my ego to pieces, and generally giving me 1 x good one in the air. Without all of you, I don't think I'll ever keep a plane safely in the sky, let alone keep my country's skies safe. Despite how ruthlessly I was clamped down on in the air, I thank all QFIs, you taught me what it means to be a pilot, and more importantly, all of you let me discover what I truly loved to do, something I loved so much I was willing to 'tahan' everything you could throw at me and still want to go up again. I may never be as great a pilot as any of you, being only a 'justifiable training risk', I sure as hell will give it everything I have.
To 0805, it's been a pleasure to fly with all of you. Thanks for all the movie nights, the morning ops briefs, the minesweeper matches, the walks down Peel St. , the $8 pizzas, the guniang soccer games, the EODD 'tips', the callsigns (Black Lips, Harry, Chui chui, CB Lips, Room, Countryman, Grago, Wings Already, 07.505, Magneto, Stupid, etc.). The memories. Special mention to the 'Cold 4', every Friday we were out on a balcony sipping Carlton's or Coronas and paying tribute to Philip Morris with our lighthouses. I would gladly freeze my butt off any day to sit with all of you anytime again, to drink myself silly till I get liver cirrhosis and smoke till my lungs fill with tar. Cigarettes and alcohol, forever.
A quote, about flying, from none other than the father(s) of modern aviation
More than anything else the sensation is one of perfect peace mingled with an excitement that strains every nerve to the utmost, if you can conceive of such a combination.
— Wilbur Wright
My fellow aviators will know what CAVOK means, but here's to all who don't. It basically means great weather to fly in, and that describes my life now. Perfect.
Don
Ok, now that I have warned you already, I shall go ahead and let off 6 weeks worth of rants and raves. So much has happened it's hard to remember where it all started, so maybe it's better to just go in dribs and drabs of information. I've been training overseas, and it's been quite a long month. Now I know what it means to miss home, every smell and sight and sound and touch. And especially taste, goodness gracious you won't know what hell it is for a Singaporean not to have the assortment of food we have here. Char Kuay Teow, Bak Kut Teh, Nasi Lemak, ROTI PRATA, I miss you!
And then there are the long and lonely nights, when you just miss the voices of those you love. I feel that my 170 dollar phone bill is worth every cent, considering how just listening to those I love back home when overseas is such a precious thing. To all friends and family, you kept me going when I thought there was nothing left in me. In aviation terms, you were the wind beneath my wings, that kept me flying.
Flying is an experience that really help me see who I am, it puts you in a situation where how well you do depends on how much you ask of yourself, and the rest was just up to how good you are. Anyone can fly a plane, but it takes grit and natural talent to be a pilot. Seeing how naturally my instructors took to flying made me envious, flying seemed as easy as breathing to them. Of course they have the advantage of thousands of hours of experience, but I think it was more of an innate ability then anything else. To be able to control a plane, watching for aircraft all around, handle 20+ instruments and watching gauges and pushing the right switches at the right time, navigate the area, AND still enjoy doing all these, it takes a superhuman. I enjoyed flying, but am still a bit wonky on multi-tasking.
I have to thank all the instructors who took me, for being the devil in the plane, taking me apart on the smallest of mistakes, shooting my ego to pieces, and generally giving me 1 x good one in the air. Without all of you, I don't think I'll ever keep a plane safely in the sky, let alone keep my country's skies safe. Despite how ruthlessly I was clamped down on in the air, I thank all QFIs, you taught me what it means to be a pilot, and more importantly, all of you let me discover what I truly loved to do, something I loved so much I was willing to 'tahan' everything you could throw at me and still want to go up again. I may never be as great a pilot as any of you, being only a 'justifiable training risk', I sure as hell will give it everything I have.
To 0805, it's been a pleasure to fly with all of you. Thanks for all the movie nights, the morning ops briefs, the minesweeper matches, the walks down Peel St. , the $8 pizzas, the guniang soccer games, the EODD 'tips', the callsigns (Black Lips, Harry, Chui chui, CB Lips, Room, Countryman, Grago, Wings Already, 07.505, Magneto, Stupid, etc.). The memories. Special mention to the 'Cold 4', every Friday we were out on a balcony sipping Carlton's or Coronas and paying tribute to Philip Morris with our lighthouses. I would gladly freeze my butt off any day to sit with all of you anytime again, to drink myself silly till I get liver cirrhosis and smoke till my lungs fill with tar. Cigarettes and alcohol, forever.
A quote, about flying, from none other than the father(s) of modern aviation
More than anything else the sensation is one of perfect peace mingled with an excitement that strains every nerve to the utmost, if you can conceive of such a combination.
— Wilbur Wright
My fellow aviators will know what CAVOK means, but here's to all who don't. It basically means great weather to fly in, and that describes my life now. Perfect.
Don
20050814
Trying hard to stay in the air
It's been some time since i last updated, but it's also been some time since i've been allowed near a computer too. Been busy here trying to stay up in the air, flying's quite a handful/headful. Never knew it was so tough just to keep a plane in the air, and starting to see that being a pilot means having more than a hotshot attitude and perfect eyesight.
I try my best on the ground preparing as much as i can, but like i said to many before, it's simply different when you're in the air. I have only started to be able to manage some semblance of flying, still making mistakes in some basic points of flying, and they're already teaching more advanced stuff, wondering how i can ever catch up to this pace. But like the instructors say, i try my best, they do the rest. if i can't make the cut, then i guess i wasn't made out to be a military aviator in the first place.
Missing everyone at home and all my friends, but i should be wrapping up soon here, as a pilot or not. Here's a lil shout to all the scouts and councillors and frenz, gd luck in all that ur doing, meet u soon.
Don
I try my best on the ground preparing as much as i can, but like i said to many before, it's simply different when you're in the air. I have only started to be able to manage some semblance of flying, still making mistakes in some basic points of flying, and they're already teaching more advanced stuff, wondering how i can ever catch up to this pace. But like the instructors say, i try my best, they do the rest. if i can't make the cut, then i guess i wasn't made out to be a military aviator in the first place.
Missing everyone at home and all my friends, but i should be wrapping up soon here, as a pilot or not. Here's a lil shout to all the scouts and councillors and frenz, gd luck in all that ur doing, meet u soon.
Don
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)