How I am feeling Today..

Lethargic is how I am feeling now, after stopping work since last Thursday, I find it hard to maintain the minimal momentum remaining from that last day..... Another 37 days, I should be free from here. Missed Singapore alot. Of course it had been fun here too and there're wonderful experiences. In fact this blog will be more boring if not for the little adventures I had here. Furthermore..the purpose of my course is to acquire marine engineering knowledge and be more competent as NEO. Life back in Singapore would have been routine. Sometimes I wonder why..and the reason I could provide for myself of losing all the passion for stayin overseas must have been age and priorities. Unlike my younger days when I felt all ready to go for overseas adventures, I have since grown to be attached to my partner and family members and will always look forward to going back home after my trip oversesas (even when my partner is with me). Maybe 8 months period is really long. I miss my swimming, diving, cycling, asian food (I don't cook well, anyway cooking facilities not available here), sports climbing (learned but no opportunities to take it up actively), jogging up Mt Faber, SAFRA, playing pool, church services, city lights, fresh air of greenery, my kitchen, my studyroom....the list goes on. Eh, not forgetting my life here is rather coolz too, meeting foreign navies' personnel, having a meal with our partner, the Malaysian and Pakistanis, cheonging with the ang mohs, having lessons with them, talked to very experienced sailors, watching theatre shows in London, shopping at modest Fareham Shopping Centre, vibrant active sea sports life by the locals, travelling in national express, saying Good Morning everyday, working my 72 muscles to smile numerous times daily....OKay, life's not that bad..besides all the tests and assessments:P

This is the nice doctor that takes me in her car for the fleet review! Oh yes, that's a sumptous dinner at New Bengal restaurant.

Eh, a failed attempt to put the "Son et Lumiere" in photo memory..all the ships of the international fleet lighted up and horned througout the southsea! It was a wonderful feeling!!

Spectacular FireWorks Display!! It is really towards the end, cause we could only see the "high" fireworks from where we were.

2nd Evening 28th June 05, waiting for the Air Display. Look at the choppy sea and the clouds..But "every dark cloud has a silver lining"...

1st Evening looking out to the International Fleet on the 27th June 05.

Wait for me!

Hi, back again. Today is the Fleet Review. I am rather lucky, cause joined another working personnel in HMS Sultan to see the event. She got a car, which made the travelling very convenient and comfortable. There are many ships seen on the Lee-On-Solent. It consists of 167 ships from RN(Royal Navy),foreign navies and merchant navies. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4627453.stm. In 15 minutes time, I should be going out to catch the fireworks at 10pm. Have not been doing work since 4 days ago, hope to do some quality studying in the next few days. Will update again with pictures!

Bright and Sunny

Breakfast on the first day of the week, is quiet. Many of us are free for today. This is because many are also going to be on duty for the Fleet Review Rehearsal. Surprised to see the Canadians. I quite like them, at least with those that I talked to..I can feel they are genuinely talking to you, not entertaining small talks or whatever..very sincere ppl. They have a good sense of humour too! 1st July is their Canada Day, they were telling me that it is just another day of partying! Then I shared with them how Singaporeans get ready our National Day Celebration half a year ahead! They, themselves had organised a celebration this week at Icarus Bar. I went back to office to work this morning, Tom was there too. He is a responsible guy, hardworking and an all rounder! So unlike the other British ppl that my friends told me about.

Hope to get some work done, to make up for lost time over the weekend!:P

Fareham Country Market - They are selling muffins, fruit cakes, jam, biscuits, honey, and some handicraft.

Done Nothing...but spent $$$

I woke up at 6am..what a gloomy Saturday morning, my body was giving all the excuses for me to lie on the bed. At last, I brushed my teeth, put my clothes in the wash and start working...Hm..not on my books, but on my laptop, online. My hobby is to surf net and upload photos! Breakfast was great, ate cereals, sausage, scrambled eggs and brown toast. And this weekend I had alot of company at the breakfast table. Apparently, not all Canadians are out for the weekend.
After breakfast, keep thinking about Porchester Castle. In fact have been talking about it since I came back here from my Easter break..... In the end I decided to catch the 915am bus to Fareham, on my way to the Castle. Alighting from the bus stop, totally attracted by the shopping malls...was walking around til I miss the bus going to Porchester Castle. My body complained again, gave me a splitting headache and send me back to the cabin after 3 hours of shopping....Not too bad, bought a short skirt at GBP10! (believe it will be S$10 back home haha). I had also bought some groceries, treating myself to nice canned sardines for my snacking.
Back in my cabin, I continued my exploration online, played some games, chatted with my friends and monitored my files upload to the remote server at home. Ironed my clothes, walk around in the cabin, did some dips and standing broad jump, worried about my results and IPPT.....Time flies and it is already 7 pm now..I STILL have not done anything productive!! Then again, don't I deserve a break from books of all kind?

Worried for my Test Results, Happy that it is the weekend again!!!

Yes, I am worried for my results especially if it bottomed the class. Nevertheless I had done my best (must admit, I dislike studying, and had to be disciplined to focus on my studies.....tried hard in maintaining my attention span).
The week ended with enjoyable games of badminton with my coursemates! Whoa! Tom is good at badminton, even knows the rules at his fingertips! He is really an all rounder. I mustn't tell my Dad about my ignorance in badminton, would have embarrass him thoroughly haha...Nevetherless, the badminton session was good and I am glad I went for PT (Physical Training) in the end..
Not too sure what to do for the weekend. Hope to go to Porchester Castle if the weather is as good as the last few days. If not, I guess some shopping at Fareham will be lovely too. It is now raining cats and dogs, the best time to sleep and surf net in the cabin!

Nightmares and Fears

Life is good here, at least this is what you would have gathered from all my previous blogs. All the little happenings and happier times are usually over the few weekends. Just want to share that most of the time, I am struggling with fear of not doing well, and have to "answer" to my bosses back at home. I woke up this morning in cold sweat cause I just had a dream of not being able to complete my test as I didn't know how to do it. Then the instructor told me cruelly that the rest had done extremely well, and I will be the last in the class....Sigh..This is not the first time I had dreamt that. I should not blame the management from having too high expectations from me, I myself would like to do well too. However, each time I have a test, there's always something that I do not know either because I did not study enough or had misinterpreted the question. I am starting to worry about being the last in the class, it would be such an embarrassment. 8 months had been long and torturous, struggling with my own faith in the midst of all my nightmares and fears. 44 days left, how I wish it can just pass by in a flash, and I'll be back in familiar Singapore. Could I just put everything as God's will? If I were a bird, I would have fly home.

They are under the HoT SuN

Here I am, taking lunch in my cabin..not that I am anti-social, or throwing taxpayers' money for the meals provided..BUT the Ang Mohs are crazy over the clear sky and 27 degrees celcius hot sun...the whole lunch venue had been shifted to the garden, well it is quite a coolz idea without enough shelter from the HoT SuN..But I am going to be smart and stay coolz under the heat. Somebody please give them good advice on survival under the heat.....

We had our first brief on Duty Watch, quite excited and looking forward to the different roles that we are playing. They are MEOOW1, Stoker, and lads flashing up the freshwater pump, Diesel engine, Tyne GTRB, centrifuge, lubrication oil system and the steering system. Basically we will be working as a team to get the "ship", HMS Sultan, ready for sea. It is pretty realistic as these machineries are for real......and we will be mainly assessed on our ability of command and control, and fault finding as a MEOOW1. I personally find it tough and challenging especially on building up the teamwork cause my group differs in our priorities and of course, I am not exactly good in all practical stuff...need more practice. I will be running along on my own to sort things out before facing the challenge!!

45 days back to Singapore! Wait for me!!!

Yup this is London again...met up with a friend as I was feeling homesick..Top row from the left you will find "Phantex" Moonwalk to create awareness for breast cancer. I have also cropped out a small picture of ppl dressed in self-decorated bras (but the pictures are not clear...hee). Interestingly, as I was walking towards Princess Diana's Memorial Fountain, I saw people swimming in the lake! Watched Mary Poppins at Prince Edward Theatre, impressive quite worth our GBP49 stall front seats. On its right, you see vendors and artists opening their stalls for the morning..The Beatles picture was vandalised...taken in the hostel, don't think the backpackers like them very much. Famous Harrods "destroyed" in my photography skills. Picaddilly Market at the bottom left, bought 6 key chains there for GBP5. The pic at the bottom right, pretty right? Found along Piccadilly Road

Test is Over, More to Come.....But it is the Weekend!

Another week gone!! 50 days left. Had my structures test this morning, grr..misunderstood the instructor's instruction, did exactly what he didn't want! The highlight of this week's lessons is actually the dockyard visit. The Dock is big about 200metres long, a ship T23 (Royal Navy's Frigate) was docked. Quite a good exposure to see how docking was done with all the huge dock block, breast shores, transom, and stem shore, agouti structure etc. The Kiwis are going for their Field Gun Compeition at HMS Collingwood this weekend, http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/static/pages/content.php3?page=8858, should be very interesting to watch but I won't be going..just wanna be in my cabin, surfing the internet.

This season, lots of things happening around here, most probably catch a few events over the weeks, it is all part of Sea Britain 2005 http://www.trafalgar200.com/programme.html. Summer is beautiful here. That's why Singapore is nice, summer throughout the year. I am going central London again this weekend, meeting up with a friend and hope to catch Mary Poppins show www.marypoppinsthemusical.com! Yeah need to visit the Abbey Road Zebra Crossing.....the famous picture of The Beatles and the Zebra Crossing.....

My beautiful art pieces:
Top - product from using milling, lathing and drilling machines. It has no meaningful use intended.
Bottom - A crude attempt of spelling out my name using the gas cutting.
Nevertheless these are the machinery exposure we have, rather interesting although I doubt I will ever use it at my workplace....

Fire! Fire!

Okay, tell you the truth...I tried very hard to keep away from the internet...and I was successful for the past 2 hours, really concentrating on my work til the alarm rings ONCE Again..this is the 4th time it had happened since I was here in January! And to top up the wonderful experience, the rescue team announced,"We had reset our alarm panel, without noting which detector was activated..could any of you who suspects that you had set the alarm ringing.....tell us, so that we could start checking your room first?", complete SILENCE...he continued "Great, just got to wait longer...". Standing out there with the evening wind blowing..I thank God it is springtime and not winter....

Reflections

Sometimes when you're feeling important,

Sometimes when you're egos in bloom,

Sometimes when you take it for granted

You're the best qualified in the room;

Sometimes when you feel that you're going

Would leave an unfillable hole,

Just follow these simple instructions

And see how humble your soul.

Take a bucket and fill it with water,

Put your hand in it upto the wrist.

Pull it out... and the hole that remains

Is a measure of how you'll be missed.

You can splash all you wish when you enter

You may stir up the water galore,

But stop and you'll find that in no time

It looks quite the same as before.

The moral in this quaint example

Is to do just the best you can-

Be proud of yourself,

But remember,

There is NO indispensable man.

-extracted from HMS Sultan PIPELINE Magazine

Stratford-Upon-Avon: Okay, yes these pictures are still too squarish, must clarify that it is due to my limited skills in the software, nothing to do with my creativity which is great! haha. On the right hand column, from the top, it is Shakespeares's wife's residence followed by his birthplace. I was standing at the side of the pond waiting for the gate to open for the boat to go through...apparently the boat will "lock" itself in a confined area, and slowly wait for the water to rise up.This system is to maintain the pond level to the desirable level. We ate at this Barnaby's Fish Restaurant, cheap and good!

'Travel Blog'

Yeah, I must admit I am a rather lazy person, was actually planning to log down my blogs for the travellling, but always not discipline to do it. To make it up, I will include a few sentences of things that I particularly remembered of the trips at the bottom of my pictures.

This week the big group of 24 Canadians joined establishment. I have since talked to a few of them. They seem very friendly and fun to be with. Heard so many stories of them during our classes. I had two of my tests yesterday. As usual, I was careless...missed out a few things. Sigh...Nevertheless I want to choose to be optimistic and continue to have faith in what God's plan has for me. Another 15 months to go and I will be back in Singapore. Really miss Singapore alot.

Warwick - If you are able to see clearly, the picture with both of us in it, there is a garden behind us. It is a pretty sight with all the flowers blooming. The exhibitions are terrific especially the King's Maker which tells the story of a town preparing for battle. At the bottom right hand corner, the oldest hospital I had ever seen built since 18th century:P. Oh yes I like the banner that says,"Death of Glory", wonder how many military personnel can swear by that at this modern times.

Windsor Castle & Legoland- Windsor Castle is a pretty sight. To top it up, we were transferred to a HOTEL instead of a normal Bed&Breakfast cause the latter had one of the main pipes burst. Didn't go in to Legoland, but we have fun taking pictures along the road sides..the Lego builds up from alphabet A to Z!

Central London and me. I was so happy and excited to meet Kok Sung! Although I have been to London, nothing beats the company of a different person. Our stay at Piccadilily Backpackers Hotel is my most memorable; perfect location with great facilities. If you could look at the picture with my food. The store at the background is "Singapore Sam". You bet I love my noodles very much! (found at Victoria Coach Station). I also watched my first theatre show "Chitty Chitty Bang! Bang!", what a wonderful experience of the theatre setting. If only I am an artist..........

A Few Favourite Pictures

Hi! Back again! it had been one week since I had last updated the blog. Been rather busy last week with travelling and project submission for CDR (Critical Design Review). I was both excited and glad that Kok Sung came over last weekend. He has been such a wonderful company! We went to a few places over last long weekend. These are central London, Windsor, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Southampton city, Beaulieu, Winchester and Bognor Regis.Each has its own interesting places and history to tell. I have yet to add the links to these places, do visit my blog for the travel links. Just sent Kok Sung off this morning, rather sad as I settle down again into my routine life in training school.

Need to revise for my coming tests on this coming Thursday. Hope there are not too much bad news on my progress for the rest of the training!

Swans on a Diving mission!

Beaulieu Motor Musuem : Mr Bean's Car

Looking at his own reflection: "Boy! I AM a handsome dog!"

Bognor Regis - A game of Bowling Green