Blog of a CPL in VS NCC(Land): My school blog

my life in the little red dot.2010-02-12

My NCC Badges & Rank (Update 2)

Yesterday, on 11/2/2010 (training changed to Thursday), I got my Corporal (CPL) rank. It was quite unexpected for me, since I thought we are not going to get our Corporal ranks, just like our seniors last year. They went to the Specialists' Course with their Lance Corporal rank (LCP).
The training yesterday was the longest in terms of drills session, from around 2.45 p.m. to 5.30 p.m, where normally it was from 2.45 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. After this we had our singing and talking session with our ASM till 6 p.m. Because of this, our PT was the shortest, only consisted of 10 push-ups and 1 round around the hostel in full no. 4, compared to having 25 push-ups, 50 crunches, 20 squats, 30 counts of 4 flutter kicks and 30 counts of 8 jumping jets. Due to the lack of time, there was no games.
During debriefing, our teacher-in-charge SUDDENLY told us that we were going to get our ranks! I am so surprised! I thought we were never going to get our ranks. One by one, we collected our ranks. This brightens up my mood, this is the right time to get our rank, just before the Chinese New Year, it is a good start. Too bad for my friend Aquashah, he did not turn up for training since he had a family reunion (not because of CNY since he is a Muslim).
Immediately I went home, I went to the army shop near my house to get my rank sewn.
Once again, I wish everyone, including my family and friends a HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!

Labels: Corporal, lance corporal, NCC, ranks

another day in the SINGAPORE ; 8:20 PM

my life in the little red dot.2010-01-18

1st Birthday of this Blog

Today is the 1st birthday of this blog (with reference to my first post), which is also my 15th birthday. For some reason, I created this blog on my 14th birthday, probably a coincidence. Well this blog was initially created for my English project which I screwed up (why should I use the word "screwed up" on such a lucky day), anyway after the English project, I got damn pissed off (another bad word of "damn" and "pissed off") so I stopped using it for 2 months until April. I realised that it was not worth abandoning this blog just because of 1 project, though it is free. This blog can be quite useful in capturing some of the unforgettable events in my school life, letting me recall all the events happened. I hope that this blog would continue to capture more of the events in my school life (I mean good ones) .
So once again HAPPY BIRTHDAY to this blog, and to myself too.

Labels: blog

another day in the SINGAPORE ; 8:26 PM

my life in the little red dot.2010-01-09

Reflections on my SA2 results

Well I guessed this post is done too long after after the SA2 exams. Reason is that I had no motivation to post my results since my SA2 was a TOTAL SCREWED UP for ALL subjects!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is the trend I would always get-Good CA1, SA1, CA2 results and a TOTALLY DISASTROUS SA2 results. Here are my following results:

English: 58.5 (C5)-Summary totally screwed up, getting 9/25!!! The rest of the components are quite fine, even though they are still considered sucked up.
Maths: 61 (B4)-Paper 1 totally screwed up, 28/50. Paper 2 was FAR worst from expected, guessed I got too much careless mistakes and wrong presentation of working.
Higher Chinese: 63.5 (B4)-Summary again!!! 6/20!!! Since I summarised the wrong part of passage. Summaries is seriously killed me badly this time!!! Or else I would at least gotten a B3 or even A2.
Science: 63.6 (B4)-Section B of the Biology paper was very badly done, failing badly, that led to the fact that I almost failed my Biology paper and therefore pulled my total marks down badly! Chemistry and Physics was quite fine though not really well done.
History: 65 (B3)-Poor time management, I had to rushed through the SEQs so I lost lots of marks on that since I spent too much time on SBQ (which was also badly done-a waste of time!)
Art: 67.5 (B3)-Happy enough after all the animation was done within ONE day!!! Characters screwed up-my partner was too LAZY to draw the characters properly!
Home Economics: 76.5 (A1)-The only A1 this time. Not happy since lots of people scored higher than me. Teddy Bear and Practical 1 (frying omelette) was badly screwed up.
MSG: 3.4. A horrendous MSG!!!-Compared to 1.8 in CA2.

These are my SA2 combined scores, note that all the combined scores are pulled down by the SA2 scores!:

English-61.6
Maths-68.6
Higher Chinese-68.6
Science-67
History-73.7
Art-62.9 (this is a case of exception since the CA2 was a screwed up one instead of SA2)
Home Economics-76.5 (There is no CA2 for Home Economics so SA2 is 100% of overall score)
MSG-2.9

These are my overall scores for the whole year (including Geography, D&T and Literature):

With these results, I got a level position of 156/371 -that put me to class 3H this year, compared to SA1: 74/371, that would have put me to 3A, the top class! Looks like I must work harder this year in order to get a better score-especially in SA2 to broke the stupid trend of screwing up SA2!!!

Labels: grades, results, SA2 2009

another day in the SINGAPORE ; 1:39 PM

my life in the little red dot.2009-12-16

NCC (Land) December Training Camp 2009 Part 3

After 6 hours of sleep, I woke up with lesser cramps compared to the previous night. Glad that I slept even better this time, quickly immediately after I closed my eyes. I think this was due to the tiredness accumulated from last night and the DIY "pillow" made from clothes stuck inside my sleeping bag's cover.
Soon, I fall-in in my detail level in the Wushu area. Then I knew that there would be no PT on the last day. I was quite relieved though. But the boring thing cane: We had to clean up the place. Our detail was in-charge of the school canteen. I was in-charge of cleaning the tank that was used to dispense drinks for our meals. It was indeed troublesome to clean that up but somehow I managed to. After the clean-up, we waited for inspection. After the inspection, we were told that the benches that were not in use by us were unclean. Our sergeant Major told us that even though we did not use that area, we should also help to clean up since this is our school. So we took another 10 minutes to clean up that area and waited for another inspection.
After the clean-up was feedback time. Our sergeant Major asked us some feedback about the camp events.

The first question he asked was how was the Inter-detail Games. I would think that it was quite fun and engaging, it also bonded us as a detail. But at the same time it was quite boring waiting for quite a long time and the fact that it was quite dangerous playing with legs tied.
The 2nd question he asked was how was the War Game. I would think that the War Game was also quite exciting and engaging. It taught us the importance of being strategic in whatever we do. But I felt that more time should be given for the game.
The third question was how was the Amazing Race. I would think that the distance covered was too long, from Paya Lebar to East Coast to Simei! Either the distance covered should be shorter or should be longer with the use of public transport.
The forth question was how was the Cadets Night. I would think that it was quite fun and engaging with the auctioning session before the actual event. In between the skits, there were games to keep you engaged. I feel that the Cadets Night should be longer.
The fifth question was how was the Night Walk. I would think that it was not scary after all. More props should be used to increase the scariness of the walk. More types of actions should be used instead of just popping out and yelling. The distance covered should also be longer. Overall, I think that the walk was not as good as last year's and the specialist had failed in some ways.
The last question asked was how do you find the camp overall. I would say that it was quite well organised, especially compared to Camp STEEL organised by the NCC HQ. It was also quite engaging and exciting even though extremely tiring. I feel that the camp should be longer to keep us engaged during the school holidays.

After that, they gave us some feedback forms. Inside they asked some questions regarding the camp, can't remember all the questions. But I remembered 2 questions. The first was which was your favourite activity. I hesitated for some while and put down Night Walk. I hesitated as I find many flaws in the Night Walk as mentioned earlier. But that was the event I looked forward in the camp. The second question asked was what rating (1 to 10) would you give the camp. I gave the camp a solid 7, much better than Camp STEEL, where I gave a 4.
After that was the prize presentation ceremony. There was the best cadet award in every detail. For my detail, another Part B cadet got the prize (a mug). No surprise-he was much more enthu than me, he was the one who came out with the food cheers. There was also the Best Part A cadet award (a plug) and the best overall cadet award (a plug). For me, I did not really mind not getting an award. The most important thing was that we learnt the importance of teamwork and many skills required for NCC.
After that we Bersurai and broke camp and HOME SWEET HOME!
(This post was done much later due to some technical problems with my computer)

Labels: camp, NCC, part 3, school

another day in the SINGAPORE ; 4:11 PM

my life in the little red dot.2009-12-11

NCC (Land) December Training Camp 2009 Part 2

After 6 hours of sleep (weirdly I slept much better this time with hard floor and improvised pillow made of my clothes compared to Camp STEEL with spongy beds and decent pillow).
We reported at the Wushu area at 0630hrs. There, attendance was taken in the formal way. Each detail would be an IC (for our detail it was another Part B), then the Ic would report to the Company IC, each Company IC would be in-charge of 3 details so there would be 2 Company ICs. I was appointed one of the Company IC. I felt damn shiok when I could command half of the whole camp mates, especially my friend Ahmad Aqashah who hated me commanding him during practices. I would then had to report to the OIC. The whole process was rather screwed up as this was our first time doing it.
We then flew to parade square for PT. The PT was far slacker than first day's. Only 5BX, 10 counts of 4. I still found some difficulty in doing so as I had cramps due to yesterday's scary PT. We then only had to run one round around the school but better shouting were expected.
After that we had our breakfast was our drills. We changed into our no.4 and flew up to parade square. We were taught 2 songs, where we were supposed to scream like some jokers over and over again! After that was just some marching.
After that we had our Amazing Race briefing. There were 6 checkpoints altogether. You were supposed to do something at each checkpoint. We then pressed the stopwatch to see which detail stopped at an exact number first, that detail would start the race first and followed by second, third, etc. Our detail started second.

The first checkpoint we went was East Coast Park. There we were supposed to find 2 ping pong balls each blindfolded on the grass.
The second checkpoint was at Paya Lebar Singpost. I was surprised that the checkpoint was situated at such a faraway place and I was totally shocked that we had to WALK to there. It was freaking tiring and took close to 2 hours walking there! However when we saw the building, I felt a great sense of accomplishment. This is the longest distance I had ever walked in my life!!! Anyway, when we reached the checkpoint, we were supposed to guess the price of some items.
The third checkpoint was at Eunos MRT Station. It was another long walk to there. We had to play some matching games until we found all the matching numbers.
Then we took MRT (we were supposed to do so) to Simei MRT Station. We were supposed to transport water using sponge, so we threw the sponge to one another until it reached another bucket and back.
The fifth checkpoint was at Bedok Interchange. We decided to cheat and took the MRT but sadly, our ASM spotted us. It was another long and tiring walk of 1 hour + before we reached Bedok Interchange. On the way we met our ex-sergeant who would be coming later for cadet's night. At Bedok Interchange we just had to shoot some tissue paper using water gun.

The last station was in school. However, we decided to cheat and took the bus back to school. At school, we were supposed to throw water bombs at the selected guy in our detail. It was damn fun to throw and see him being drenched. After that we had to go to the canteen and find some paper which I found it on the other side of fire extinguisher. There ended our race.

We got the 4th position in the race (the first position was won by my friend, Ahmad Aqashah's detail). Later it was found out that 5 out of 6 details cheated-only Aqashah's detail did not cheat and they got first!
After that was our free time, followed by dinner. We then made our last preparations for our cadet's night.
Before the cadet's night started, there was some auctioning game. We were given paper money (amount based on our performance in inter-detail games, War Game and Amazing Race). There were 16 items. Our detail won a packet of twisties and a voucher to perform our skit and cheer first. When the cadet's Night started, we were the first to perform the cheer followed by skit (some joke war scene). After 2 details performed, there was some game where you were supposed to pass a message-to see if message became distorted by the end! After another 2 details, our ASM called us up to dance with him, quite fun though. After all details performed, there was a game which was something like Pass-the-message, except you did it in form of acting it out. Every detail would get a turn. After the game marked the end of Cadet's Night.
After that was the activity that I looked forward-Night Walk (or Confidence Walk). Before that, they showed us some Japanese horror movie called "Infection". Soon it was my turn, together with one of my Part B platoon mate. We were given ice-cream sticks to put one each in one checkpoint.

The first checkpoint was the Sportsman room next door-a specialist suddenly popped out under the table (I found it lame), then we watched part of some movie.
The 2nd checkpoint was at the gym toilet, where someone hid in one of the cubicle and pulled our legs.
The 3rd checkpoint was at the spiral staircase. One of the specialist suddenly shouted like a retard on the way up. It was lame compared to last year where someone suddenly dropped some scary doll with scary music.
The 4th checkpoint was inside the toilet near the foyer. Someone just popped out and screamed.
The 5th checkpoint was some bushes but no one was there to scare us.
The 6th checkpoint was outside the D&T workshop but no one scared us though ASM was there, I guessed he already knew that we knew him hiding there.

There ended our Night Walk. This year's night Walk was far lame and far less scary compared to last year's. I didn't even utter a single scream neither my partner. They should have used more props instead of just popping out and yelled some noise. After that we went to sleep.

Labels: camp, NCC, part 2, school

another day in the SINGAPORE ; 6:18 PM

NCC (Land) December Training Camp 2009 Part 1

4 days ago, 7/12/2009, it was my NCC (Land) Annual Unit Camp conducted by our unit's Sec 3 specialists. It was a 3D2N camp held at our school. This was my second time attending this camp (Of course I had attended the camp last year when I was Sec 1).

I reported for In-Processing at 0745hrs. After our attendance were taken, we were split into details. I was in Detail 1 with the name of "Eagle" together with 1 other Part B and 4 other Part As (which 1 of them went home later as he was unwell). Sadly I was not in same detail as my best friend Ahmad Aqashah (put in Detail 3) like last year.
After we got our valuables confiscated and bags checked, put in the hall, we were told to design a poster for our detail. So we decided to use our detail name EAGLE to make an acronym for Excellence, Awesomeness, Greatness, Leadership, Enthusiasm and we decided to draw an eagle eating some yummy food.
After that the nightmare of the camp came! We were told to do push-ups + Sit-ups + Jumping Jets and we were told to repeat many times since we screwed up in one way or another. After that we were told to jog 3 rounds around the school (about 1.6 Km)! Not only that, we had to shout while jogging as instructed by our ASM. On the way, we got knocked down another 30 for not running together and not shouting. By the time we completed our PT, I was 3 quarter dead!
After that we had our lunch, the food was quite nice except too much vegetables compared to meat. After lunch, we had our inter-detail games of soccer, floor ball and captain's ball. For soccer, we played as normal but for floor ball, we had to find a partner and had one of our legs tied together. It was indeed much more difficult to move! Due to accidents occurred during the floor ball match, we need not tie our backs together for captain's ball to prevent further accidents. For each game our detail played against 2 other details. Overall, our detail did not do as well. We got 4th for soccer, 6th which was last for floor ball and 2nd for captain's ball.
After that was our free time, which I spent bathing, followed by dinner.

After that was one of the highlights: War Game. Firstly, we had to buy a rank, each rank would be able to defeat a rank lower than it though there were exceptions (For list of ranks, click here). We were given 3 lives in means of puzzles. When we won a battle (by means of flashing their ranks together, the one which rank could defeat another won), we received their puzzle piece (gaining extra life), when we lost, we gave them our puzzle piece. When we lost all our lives, we went back to the base to wait for someone to donate lives and the winner takes your rank and sold it. Ranks could be switch between your detail mates. The detail who everyone lost their lives would be eliminated. The team with the most money and points (1 point=1 life left) won. Sad to say our detail screwed up like crazy, getting last!
After that we had our supper and went to the hall to sleep.

Labels: camp, NCC, part 1, school

another day in the SINGAPORE ; 2:28 PM

my life in the little red dot.2009-11-18

Sec 3 2010 Subject Combination

At the end of Secondary 2, everyone would have to choose their subject combination, this includes me. There were criteria for you. For me, I am only allowed to take 8 subjects since I got 70.9% for my total overall average and 72.75% for my English, Maths, Science and Geography, where the criteria states that you just need to get 65% for both averages in order to take 8 subjects.
English, Elementary Maths (E-Maths), Additional Maths (A-Maths), Higher Chinese, Chemistry, Physics and Social Studies (part of Combined Humanities) are compulsory subjects so you must take them. For me, I can only choose between Geography pure/elective, History pure/elective, Biology (there were other subjects such as Literature, PE, etc. but I showed zero interest in offering them).
For me, I must first take Geography since it is my best subject. Next, after much consideration, I decided to take Biology although I screwed up badly this time. The first reason is that my Biology practical is quite good, second reason being that only 6 classes offering Biology, it would be a privilege if I take it. The third reason is that many of my friends are taking it, so more chances of being in the same class if I take. Sadly, I have to sacrifice my History then (since I am not very good in History).
So I entered my subject combination on the school website. I was given 3 choices. The first choice I put Geography elective + Biology, second choice I put Pure Geography + History elective, third choice I put History elective + Biology.
Today I am glad that I got my first choice!

another day in the SINGAPORE ; 3:16 PM

Part B IMT Range Visit

On the 16/11/09, 13 Part B cadets including me went to the IMT Range (initially Live Range). 10 of the cadets were absent as most of them had a camp called Veloc-T to attend.
I woke up at 10a.m., had my breakfast at the hawker centre at Bedok Interchange and met my friend Ahmad Aqashah at the bus no.197 berth. When we boarded the bus, we found out that we were almost late! One of my classmate called me to remind us, by the time we reached school, our teacher-in-charge yelled at us to hurry up the bus.
When we reached the Singapore Discovery Centre (SDC), we were given cakes and distilled water. We were then told that we had to board another bus to Pasir Laba Camp. Well, that SICKENED me and my friend Aqashah as we think that there would not be any fun at a military camp.
So we boarded the bus to Pasir Laba Camp. Reaching there, my camera phone was confiscated since camera phones were not allowed at military facilities. We were then briefed on some details for the day. It SICKENED me and Aqashah more when the Live Range was changed to IMT range due to some problems. We were next split into details of 9 each.
When we went into the IMT range. Unlike last time where we shot targets, this time we were told to shoot "enemies" coming from the screen. We watched others played while waiting for our turn. When it was our turn, I tried the SAW rifle first and found out that it was hard to kill an enemy, as a result, I killed none. Next I swapped weapon with my platoon mate and this time, with SAR21. To me, this was easier as there is a scope for you to aim. But still, I only managed to kill 2 enemies. Then we swapped weapon again, this time, with M16, the one used last time, it is lighter compared to SAR21, but there was no scope for you to aim. I managed to kill 2 enemies which to me was quite little. Overall, I would say that my performance was really sucked up.
After the shooting, we waited for around 2 hours doing nothing which made us pissed off, we just talked about some random stuffs.
Finally the bus came, I got my phone back and we got back to school and released. Aqashah and I decided to go to KFC since we were so hungry. After that I went home.
To me this trip was quite boring and a waste of time, spending 75 % or more of the time boarding the bus and waiting. But that is the stupid criteria set by the NCC HQ in order for us to get our Total Defence badge (Silver). Glad that I can get my Total Defence badge (Silver) now!

Labels: 2009, badges, NCC

another day in the SINGAPORE ; 1:59 PM

my life in the little red dot.2009-11-06

SANA Course

Just 2 days after the civil Defence Course, on the 4/11/09, it's our Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association (SANA) Course. This course is basically about teaching us the harmfulness of drugs and appoint us to be transfer agents to tell people about the harmful effects of drugs.
We met up in school at 7.30a.m. from there we took a bus to Sengkang Community Hub which is next to Compass Point.
When we arrived there, we boarded the lift up to the fifth floor. We were told to sit down and wait until our turn to enter our details on the computer.
We then had to line up in another corner until they called us. It was damn freaking frustrating that we waited for so long, even those who came before us got to go in first!!! After a long wait, we finally got to enter the room.
After distributing the course materials, the talk started. The speaker was an ex-police officer in the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB). He was appointed here since he was too old to run. He was quite humorous in his speech even though he sounded fierce.
Firstly he talked about the introduction of the course, followed by introducing some of the drugs and what effect they caused. After the talks, they showed us a video about a young man who chose to take drugs and how he felt after he was caught, the video was trying to tell us that drugs not only harms you, but also your family members emotionally as they were upset. After the video, we went for our lunch break.
My friend, Ahmad Aqashah and I went to Compass Point, at Banquet, to have our lunch. We had Nasi Ayam Penyet (flattened fried chicken rice). This was my first time trying the dish, it tasted quite nice except the freaking thing that the chicken got so much bones. After lunch there was still some time left. We went to Popular Book store and Comics Connection to look around before going back to the place.
After we came back from lunch, we watched another video about some interview with ex-drug addicts. Soon it was our test. We were given the question and answer sheet and started the test.
The test was also quite okay with some tricky questions. I managed to complete all of them.
After the test, we had to perform a skit about anti-drugs. We were split into groups according to our seating position. My group members were all from different schools. As for the skit, I acted as a drug addict, convincing the kids to take drugs. In the first scene, I was arrested but in the second scene, I got too "high" and in the end, jumped down the building, dead. I am proud that our group won the best skit and each earned a set of binoculars worth $12 (don't know is it true or not). We also knew that all of them passed the test.
In order to get the certificate and the badge, you still need to tell 5 people to go to this website: www.sana.org.sg/badgeproject to complete the quiz and submit using your badge ID.
After the course, we waited for long time before the bus came and went back to school.
This was another "slack" course for you to earn a badge and cert. I enjoyed myself a lot during the course as we had lots of fun. I am looking forward to more such courses!

Labels: 2009, badges, courses, NCC

another day in the SINGAPORE ; 5:02 PM

Civil Defence Course

On the 2/11/2009, I, together with 6 other platoon mates and 1 of my seniors, attended the Civil Defence Course conducted by the SCDF.
As I was not supposedly chosen to attend the course, I was a replacement for my friend, Ahmad Aqashah since he could not attend the course as he had to send his grandparents off to the airport. He called me just the day before the course, at 10 p.m! My father scolded me for wanting to attend the course which was informed at the last minute as I needed to go to school early in the morning to get my boots as I need my full no.4 uniform then proceed to Tampanies MRT Station. My father also scolded my friend for informing me at the very last minute.
The next day, I woke up very early, had my breakfast and went to school to get my boots. When I arrived at school, thank goodness the gate was opened! I went to the locker to get my boots and changed into full no.4 uniform. I then took bus no.31 to Tampanies MRT Station.
When I arrived there, I met up with them and went to took bus no.34 to that place.
When I arrived at the Tampanies 2nd SCDF HQ, the place is huge! We exchanged our student pass for the visitor pass and entered the lecture room.
Over there, the people there were very humourous. There were 4 or 5 of them. Their rank is either Private or Corporal, so they were not really firm and fierce. One of the staff looked like Obama! Everyone in there called him Obama. Another one has some problem with pronunciation, so we laughed when he mispronounced some words.
Firstly, they taught us how to lift an unconscious person up a stretcher. I laughed all the way but when it came to my turn, it was indeed harder than expected. There were many steps to lift a person up a stretcher. Our group made a total of 8 mistakes and had to do a forfeit of dancing.
After the tea break, we were taught about what to do during a fire and learnt some types of fire extinguishers. After that we went for our lunch.
For lunch, they had their own canteen on the third floor. I had rice with fried beef lungs which I missed from school. After about 30 minutes, we returned to the lecture room.
When we returned to the lecture room, we were taught about peace time emergencies such as natural disasters. After that we went to another room to take our test.
The test consisted of 15 questions, the passing mark is 11 in order to get the certificate and the badge. The test was okay for me with few tricky questions.
After the test we went back to the lecture room to fill up the evaluation form. Then we were told that we passed the test. We then got our certs and badges. But sadly, our senior was told that he was supposed to keep the certs and badges for us and gave it back during NCC training.
After the course, we got back our student pass and took the same bus back to Tampanies Bus Interchange and I took bus no.67 home.
To me, this was a slack course where you can easily earn a badge. 2 days from then would be my SANA Course.
To find out more about the course, go to www.scdf.gov.sg

Labels: 2009, badges, courses, NCC

another day in the SINGAPORE ; 3:41 PM